It’s May and we’re starting to get settled with our new house-member Andrew. C-section recovery was uncomplicated and after about a month we stopped accidentally calling Andrew “Christopher” most of the time. The week we came home from the hospital our wonderful neighbors pitched in once again and brought us several meals. They are all so nice that it is hard to figure out how to repay them. We also received beautiful flowers from both of our workplaces, and Jason’s work fully spoiled us with a bunch of gift certificates for food.
So what is this new little guy like? Andrew’s personality seems like a mix between William and Christopher. He is not as mellow as Christopher was, and not nearly as high-strung as William. He continues to be a better sleeper than both of them
were. Usually a few nights per week I can get away with feeding him at 9 or 10pm, then again at 2:30am (give or take) then again at 6am. He is a noisy eater and sleeper. He’s always snuffling and grunting and stretching. I will never know how some moms can sleep with a newborn in their room in the first months and get any sleep themselves. Burping, farting, and pooping cause him great distress sometimes. You can’t reason with a newborn and explain that if he didn’t fight burping during and after eating, he might not have to deal with so much farting later on. He has slightly fussy evenings, but they are hit-or-miss and much better than I remember William’s being. He is just starting to lay on his play-mat and focus on his face in the mirror and toys around him. We are getting cute smiles although he makes us work for them. I think he looks VERY much like Christopher did at this age. It will be fun to see him continue to grow.
Jason’s six weeks of paternity leave went by much too fast. Jason was amazing help as usual, however it still strikes me as funny how little two grown adults can get accomplished with a newborn in the house. Leave time started off with a lazy Easter Sunday and 
towards the end my parents came for a week and were quickly put to work on various projects around the house (more on that later). Jason experimented with growing a beard. As we expected, it looked like he had mange, and I was glad to see it go. Although the bigger boys still went to daycare several days each week, we did manage to have some fun family playtime mixed in with all the naps. Having Jason at home for 6 weeks, the lawn and garden are in pretty good shape. We did the usual planting and weeding, and I also moved around a few perennials. It has been a fairly rainy spring, which has been nice to get everything going. I know sooner than later we will need to get serious about watering the lawn and garden again, but for now it is nice that it’s taking care of itself. Other maternity/paternity projects of note: we cleaned out the garage, and started to clean out one of the utility rooms in the basement–that still has unpacked boxes (and TONS of junk) from our move 3 1/2 years ago. Out of sight, out of mind I guess. Sadly all good things must come to an end, and last week was Jason’s first week back at work and my first real test at our new normal. It is quiet during the day when the older boys are at daycare, but it sounds like Jason will go straight back to working several late nights each week which will make evenings and bedtimes challenging. For my first solo bedtime grandma Marion came up to help, which was much appreciated. Eventually I’m going to need to figure out how to juggle the three of them solo.
The boys enjoy having a new baby brother about as much as you can expect from a 2 and 4 year old. They were excited to come see him at the hospital, and excited to show him off at daycare, but then he just became part of our house…like the couch only noisier. I imagine if they were girls they’d be more excited to play mommy and smother him with love, but since they’re boys the new baby just exists most of the time. William is usually willing to help out when asked directly, and is sure to ask us to quiet Andrew down when he’s crying (as if we hadn’t noticed and/or were ignoring him).
My parents visited to meet Andrew the 3rd week of April. The plan was for my dad to build a sandbox for the boys as a belated Christmas/birthday gift and help install some drip line irrigation as a Me/Jason Christmas gift during their visit. Not 
only did my dad 
accomplish those two projects, but he also fixed two gate hinges, patched a hole in our siding, replaced the downstairs toilet, repaired two light fixtures, and installed a new porch light. For anyone keeping track, we only made 73 trips to Home Depot. My mother of course held Andrew all week so I could accomplish a few things that required the use of both hands. We made sure their visit wasn’t all work and no play–we also hung out, did some shopping, did some visiting, and spent the better part of a day checking out a local tulip festival (all 55 acres of it!!). At the end of their visit we had a picnic get-together for Christopher’s second birthday and to break in the new sandbox. As always it was nice to have them here and sad to see them go. We will enjoy the summer in Utah and look forward to our next Midwestern adventure in the fall.
Yesterday we had a Baxter get-together to celebrate
Jason’s grandparents’ 80th birthdays (they both turned 80 this Spring). It was their first opportunity to meet little Andrew and we snapped a cute picture of the three of them. My mother asked if we could have gotten the two older brothers to pose for a picture and Jason and I both laughed and cursed at her under our breaths. Getting a picture of all three of them doing anything right now is nearly impossible. William won’t hold still, Andrew can’t sit up, and Christopher tends to be a teething wreck. Even in the quiet confines of our home with well-rested, well-fed children, we are mostly unsuccessful at picture taking…so taking a photo in the middle of a noisy party with 14 dozen children running around…sure! Here are a few recent snaps for your enjoyment documenting our attempt at taking pictures on Mother’s Day. Take Care Everyone!~
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