Baby Andrew

I knew I was far behind on the posting, but I didn't realize how much I need to catch up on until I started going through pictures the other night. It's been four months since our little Andrew was born and it feels like he has always been part of the family.

Here's a condensed version of the birth story. I went in for a doctor's appointment the day before my due date. They checked me out and of course nothing was happening any time soon. A few days later I got into that last minute cleaning mode - scrubbed the bathrooms, kitchen, vacuumed, etc. to get the house ready so it would be clean in case something actually decided to happen. Well, I guess that got things in motion. I was having some contractions here and there all day, but nothing too out of the ordinary. We put the kids to bed and I was lounging on my bed trying to rest after such a busy day. The real contractions started around 9:30 pm. I started timing them - too far apart at 10-15 minutes each. I have to admit at this point I was not very happy that we were going to have another all-nighter labor, so I thought I could hold them at bay and sleep until the early morning. Around 10:30 pm I told Kevin I was having contractions about 7 minutes apart (Nope, hadn't told him about the contractions yet. I figured what was the point unless it looked like we were in for the long haul.) We put the family on alert and sure enough the contractions continued to get closer together. We called Kevin's sister at 11:45 pm to come and watch the other boys while went to the hospital. The contractions slowed down a little in the car, but once I got out and started walking again they were back to normal, about 3-5 minutes apart. The nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 5! Hallelujah! This was around 1:30 am. Around 4:20 I started feeling pressure, so the doctor got all set up and in two pushes the little guy was out at 4:50 am. We were so excited to meet the newest little boy of the Tams family.

Baby Andrew

The oldest brother Matthew - Wasn't he just born yesterday?


Ryan was especially enchanted with his newest little bro


Zachary was not so sure

Mom and her boys

ALL of the boys. What a great looking crew!

Patterns

I told Ryan one morning it was time to make his bed. He didn't want to do it and kept insisting that I help. I told him he had done it by himself lots of times before and that he could do it again.

Ryan: Nuh-uh.

Mom: I know you can. You are a great bed-maker.

Ryan: But Mom, I need your help

Mom: I know you can do it by yourself.

Ryan: I did it by myself yesterday, but I need your help today.

Mom: Why is that?

Ryan: Because it goes in a pattern - Need help, don't need help, Need help, don't need help. See?

Zachary's Happiness

Zachary was having a hard time sleeping at night, so I tried to help him think of happy things to help him go to sleep.

Mom: What about Lightning McQueen and Mater? You can dream about Cars.

Zach: No.

Mom: You can think about Thomas and Friends.

Zach: No.

Mom: What about riding your bike or playing on the swings? That's fun.

Zach: No.....I know what to think about Momma!

Mom: Really? What?

Zach: I'll think about digging!

This boy is never more happy than when he is covered with dirt.

Digging in the Dirt

*This was from March. We're still trying to do some catch-up since we've been lazy bloggers lately.*

It was such a nice day that Kevin proclaimed, "It's time for us to go dig something!" So out the boys went to go dig in the dirt. They thoroughly enjoyed getting dirty with their dad.

Our Little Soccer Team

This year both Matthew and Ryan are playing soccer.

They call Ryan a bulldog, because he can hold the ball so well. He is having so much fun playing with all his friends and cousins. Update - Ryan scored two goals tonight. So cute!

Matthew is also having fun. He has played four games and has twelve goals. He really likes playing with his classmates from Freedom. He is learning the game and is passing the ball and playing good team soccer.

Zach tells us that he is playing too, even though he isn't, and always let us know that he won.

We also wanted to add some pictures of Andrew. The little guy is growing up so fast!

A quick story. Last Sunday we asked the boy's to put away their toy Lightsabers as we have a no weapons rule on Sunday. Matthew quickly responded to Ryan; "That's okay. We don't need Lightsabers we can use the FORCE."