Enjoying Our Christmas Break!

If the Shutterfly album below is any indication, we've had a fabulous Christmas! Here are a few shots of the chicks enjoying their post-Christmas high...

Christmas 2012

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The Third Time is a Charm...

I don't think Brinkli is an "easy baby" by mere coincidence. Perhaps the fact that I sort of know what I'm doing by round three has a lot to do with her temperment? I"ve tested too many parenting theories and strategies to count. To be honest, Sydni was an experiment. I had NO CLUE what I was doing and I say "I", because (and not to diss Donnie) what do men REALLY have to do when you have a newborn? If you choose to breast feed, Mommy pretty much does the dirty work. Don't get me wrong, Donnie did what he could with our new babies, but it wasn't until they were off the boobie could he really help out and take on some of the work load. I remember some days he would be frustrated because he COULDN'T help, so don't think I'm bashing him in any way.

During my last month of pregnancy, I reread all the books I'd collected on parenting and babies during the past seven years of being a mom. To be honest, I cringed while rereading "Baby Wise" and had flashbacks of Syd's awful wails from her nursery. I knew after finishing that book that I would never again "train" a baby in that way. It was awful for me to have to endure, and Donnie would have to leave the house so he wouldn't go pick her up during her crying jags and "undo" all of our training. I'm actually pretty embarassed to admit that I let my baby "cry it out" because I now know how EASY and tear-free the method I used with Brinkli can be.    I was pretty much a zombie after having Mak 17 short months after Syd's birth, and most of Mak's baby days are foggy.  I just tried to keep my head above water and try not to lose my mind. (By the way, I would never recommend PLANNING to have your babies that close together....talk about a HARD three years. Yeesh! I was determined to ENJOY Brinkli's newborn days and didn't want to repeat my former mistakes. 

I came across the book THE HAPPIEST BABY ON THE BLOCK by Harvey Karp during the tail-end of Makenzi's babyhood...she had colic the first four months of her life, so I was desperately reading anything I could get my hands on that might help her.  It saved my life when it came to figuring out how to soothe Makenzi. During the reread, I also thought Dr. Karp's priniciples matched my beliefs on newborns. He feels that you can't "spoil" a newborn by holding and cuddling them...they are fresh out of the womb. Cuddling and closeness to their momma is all that they know! Now that I had the luxury to take my time with Brink and didn't have any other babies to tend to, I felt confident that employing Karp's five "S's" would help me turn Brinkli into the happiest Hart girl...and her first four months have been a breeze thanks to his methods.  I've been buying this book for my pregnant buddies and HOPE that they just take the time to read it, even though it probably goes against what others are telling them about the best ways to bring up a newborn.His methods are unconventional in that he encourages swaddling, sleeping the swing or carseat, and treating the newborn like its first three months of life are the fourth trimester.  I was getting a full five to six hours of sleep a night by the time Brink was six weeks old thanks to this book, and she is currently sleeping eight to nine hours without a nighttime feeding. I owe it all to her Graco swing, swaddling and her white noise machine. I guess since she's been such a breeze we should just go ahead and plan on a fourth? Hahahahaha!

Sisterly Love!

I knew the girls would love Brinkli, but didn't think their attentiveness towards her would last long. I sort of thought she'd arrive, they'd be excited about the novelty of it all, and go on about business as usual. I was so wrong. They wake up and seek her out, and go to bed arguing who gets to hold her next. They are constantly seeking out her attention and she rewards them with beaming smiles. Brink looks at them like they are the two coolest chicks on planet Earth! It's so funny to watch Brink's expression when the girls are wrestling and goofing off in front of her. She has such a look of longing and her little legs wiggle with anticipation...she wants to join in the fun! I hope they will always be this loving and protective of her. Especially when she becomes mobile and can jack with their stuff!

Growing and now...TEETHING

I know that God has a grand sense of humor. I know this because after twelve solid weeks of barely sleeping four hours solid at night, Brink started sleeping six to eight hours without interruption....then the stinkin' teeth decided to show up! Now we are back to every four hours or so. Our dentist once told Donnie that if you could remember the pain of teething it would be traumatic. Babies are apparently pretty tough cookies to endure such pain, and Brink has definitely been a trooper thus far. She's not too whiney, and her sleep seems to be the only thing that has really changed. Here's to hoping these two bottom teeth go easy on her, but as you can see in the pics below, she's still all smiles!

Sydni is Eight Today!

If you want time to fly, have a kid. In fact, have three if you want it to be a blur of growing babies! Sydni is eight today, which is incredibly hard to believe. She was our first little Hart experiment, and she's grown into such a sassy, sweet little girl.

Three Months Old!

It's sad and also amazing how quickly a tiny, squawking newborn morphs into a smiling, gurgling baby! Brinkli is beyond adorable and sweet. We couldn't of asked for a better baby. I'm looking forward to spending the summer with her and savoring her delicious babiness!

Family Pics

I'm beyond behind with this blog. My hope is that summer will change this trend. Having three kids is, well, challenging to say the least, but we are managing! Here are some family pics that we had taken on a whim on Mother's Day. I want to have more "professional" pics taken once this baby weight is gone, so look out for soem great shots this fall. (Yes, I plan on it taking the entire summer and part of fall to lose it! Ha!)

Spring Break!

Yes, more pics of our sweet Brinkli...I'm not ignoring my other children, I promise! We had a special treat to kick off our Spring Break - Aunt Hayli and the boys came to visit, and in my defense, the girls are going 100 miles an hour when their cousins are in town, so it's really hard to get a decent picture of them. :)