February 4, 2007 - Catching a snooze with Papa on a Sunday afternoon!

January 30-February 2, 2007

Samuel's First Week

We started off the week with a very sleepy boy. I am not sure if it was because he was early, OR some say that bigger babies are more content to begin with. Anyway, Sunday through Tuesday of this week Samuel did nothing more than sleep. I had a difficult time getting him to even wake up to eat, and when he did he barely ate anything at all. He was even sleeping 7 hours at night. Something I am totally not used to...both Gabrielle and Allison ate every 2 hours around the clock after they were first born and they were both big babies too. Anyway, by Tuesday afternoon, he started to be awake more and catch on to the eating thing and now he is a pro at nursing and definately filling his allottment of diapers.

He still will go 3-4 hours comfortably between feedings, but eats very well when he does. BONUS....he has only given us one sleepless night so far, the other nights he is only waking once during the night (between 3 and 5 am) and then sleeps until 8-9am. Totally not used to that....Allison has been keeping us up during the night more than he has.

He seems to be a very content baby so far which reminds me a lot more of Nicholas as a baby. It seems like Nicholas was laid back and sort of settled himself into his own routine quite early. Both boys were sleeping well in the bassinet, or the bouncy seat or where ever...they also both sleep well on their back (so far). Both of the girls were "moody" and more agitated right from the beginning. It seems like we had to work more to get them to settle down and both of the girls ended up being stomach sleepers, because they just wouldn't get comfortable anywhere and would rarely sleep more than an hour at a time. Hopefully, Sam's contentment trend will continue as we have a very busy household these days.

Here are some pictures we took throughout the week.....

First sponge bath.

He didn't like it...but in his defense it's not very warm anywhere right now.

I tried to make it as quick as possible.

He likes to be touching or holding something in his hands when he sleeps.

In this case, I caught him apparently saying his prayers.

Allison spends some time with her baby brother.

She is doing pretty well so far, but has been caught hitting him once.

She loves to give him kisses and bring him his blanket...only problem is

that she likes to put it right over top of his face.

Allison and Sam have a conversation!

Sam loves to be swaddled nice and tight when he is sleeping.

However, we quickly found that he needs to be able to get his hands

up to his face or he just won't settle down.

Check out my new duds....aren't I handsome?

Hanging out with Papa!

January 25-27, 2007 - HE'S FINALLY HERE

We are excited to finally introduce to you the newest member of our family.
Samuel Robert Van Wesep

was welcomed into this world on

January 25, 2007 at 9:38 pm.
He weighed in at

8 pounds, 15 ounces

(imagine our surprise when an ultrasound the day before predicted a 8lb 2 oz baby, which was still big for being 2 weeks early).

He measures

21 inches long.

After arriving at the hospital at 1:15 pm for labor to be induced, we spent several hours waiting for things to get going. Between getting me settled, then waiting for the doctor to put in his orders, then waiting for IV, waiting for an anesthesiologist, then waiting again...they finally broke my water to start labor at 6:04 pm, by 7:10 we had pitocin to get the contractions going a little stronger and by 9:20 I was ready to push and then had to wait for the doctor...again! Needless to say there was a moment there where I thought the nurse was going to have to deliver. The rest is history as we had him in our arms by 9:38pm.

We still ended up spending a long night, as housekeeping was behind and we ended up waiting in the delivery room until 4:00 am to be moved upstairs to my room. UGGGHHH, we were definately sick of waiting for things. Like Catherine says...they work on Hospital time, not ours!

Here are some pictures.... Enjoy!

Paul and Samuel Here he is.....#4

The kids finally get to see him on Friday morning.


Allison gives him a kiss!

Nicholas gets to hold him all by himself

(Gabrielle still doesn't want too...oh well, in her own time)

Allison is pretty proud of getting to hold her little brother too!

When it was Grandpa's turn, one little girl wanted nothing to do with that.

She got quite upset and had to crawl up on Grandpa's lap to hold Sam some more.

Here is a close up...what a handsome boy!

He already loves snoozing by his Papa!

Getting ready to go home!

The kids are so excited to get Samuel home

and couldn't stay away from him for at least the first hour.

They are being very good about being gentle

and not keeping their hands out of his face...so far!

Saturday afternoon, I found Nicholas just sitting there on my bed, watching

Sam sleep in his bassinet. Later that night, he didn't want to finish watching their

bedtime video, he wanted to sit by Papa and watch Sam.

Nicholas is very interested in making sure Sam is taken care of, he brings him his blanket

and his stuffed puppy, and constantly needs to know where he is.

Sound asleep in the bassinet, it's been a busy few days

I think he's pooped.

January 24, 2007 - Baby Update!

We should be welcoming our newest addition to the family within the next 24 hours. Last week my doctor began wondering how big the baby was. Therefore, he ordered an ultrasound for this morning. With 2 weeks to go before my due date they are estimating that the baby is already just over 8 pounds. Given several circumstances, (the size of the baby, the fact that I am already dilated to 3 cm, and the fact that both Gabrielle and Allison came very quickly--we barely made it to the hospital with Allison) I am scheduled to be induced sometime tomorrow. We don't know what time, they have to call when they have an "opening", but the arrival of baby #4 will be soon.

Keep an eye out for the next update, I should be able to provide you with a much better picture next time. Here a profile shot.... cute kid eh?

December 28, 2006 - A Trip to the Grand Rapids Children's Museum

We were looking for something to do with the kids over Christmas vacation, other than work around the house (which isn't very fun for them). We decided to go out to dinner with Grandma and Grandpa on Thursday night and then spend some time at the Children's Museum downtown. Thursday night is family night from 5:00-8:00 so it's only $1 admission for each person over 2. Considerably cheaper than the regular price so that's when we like to go even though it can be quite busy. We took over 100 pictures that night of the kids having a blast in every area, here are just a few of the pictures to show what kind of fun we had.

Playing in the balls at the bottom of the penguin slide. Going down the penguin slide
"Feeding" the penguins
Going down the slide together
"Hello Mr. Penguin, you're taller than I am"
Racing cars down the track
Doing some shopping.

This cart is pretty cool and I can actually reach

all the fun stuff and no one is telling me "no-no".

Blowing bubbles with Grandma

A giant bubble that we can fit inside.

Driving thru the drive-thru at the "bank"

We can work at the bank too...Nicholas tries to close an important business deal,

and Gabrielle is ready to complete the transaction.

Dealing with some serious cash

Making a bird feeder with a pine cone, shortening

and bird seed in the craft area. They each got to make one to take home.

Stacking some rings with Grandma

December 27, 2006 - Kids Rooms

During my time off over the holidays we tackled the project of getting Nicholas' room ready for the new baby. We did not have a dresser for the baby, and since boys don't have as many clothes as girls typically do we decided to do some closet organizers and drawer units in the closet and getting rid of dressers altogether. Nicholas helped Papa with the closets as much as he could and got to try out his new tool belt, etc that he got from Grandma and Grandpa for christmas.

As long as I was up there with the camera, I was reminded that I never posted any pictures of the girls room after we re-decorated it last spring. So, I took some pictures of both rooms for all to see.

December 25, 2006 - Get Together at Grandma's House

We knew that we were going to get to Grandma and Grandpa's house before most of the other people that were expected to come over. So I suggested to mom that she save a couple of the kids presents (games for example) for them to open on Christmas Day instead of opening all of their presents on the 23rd with everyone else. I'm glad we did, it gave the kids something exciting to do when we first got there and kept them occupied through most of the afternoon.

Trying to get a picture in their Christmas dresses before we head to Grandma and Grandpa's

A bag of goodies for new baby doll

New Dora Dominoes

New video

Playing with the new paddle ball game with Grandma and Grandpa

December 25, 2006 - Christmas Morning at Home
The kids got to open the rest of their presents from us before we got ready to go to Grandma's house for the afternoon. Here is a brief summary of our morning.
Click to Play

tpvan-December 24, 2006- Christmas Eve

December 24, 2006 - Christmas Eve After our evening Saturday night at mom and dad's we quickly realized that the kids like to open the present and play with or put together their present right away. Instead of having to push them off from discovering their new toys we have adopted the policy of only putting one present for each child under the tree at a time. Once they have had a chance to open the present and play with it for a while we bring out another present for each. We always open stockings on Christmas Eve, but we decided to start some of the other gifts also, in order for things to be less rushed on Christmas morning. Watch the video

December 23, 2006 - Hager Family Christmas

December 23, 2006 - Hager Family Christmas We celebrated the Hager Christmas on the 23rd. What a great, yet hectic night. We started off with a nice dinner which included the Hager Family Tradition of the necessary: Ham, pretzel dessert, and of course, Christmas Bread. We barely fit around the table this year, well actually, mom and dad had to lay a great big conference table on top of the regular table in order to accomodate all of us. Next year, will probably have to include a kid's table. Then we proceeded to open gifts. This was the hectic part. Of course, the older kids just always wanted to know when they were getting another present. Joshua and Allison were often too busy playing with someone else's gift to care about their own, let alone opening another one. There were presents everywhere, and poor Uncle Shawn was trying to keep straight who's turn it was and which one Grandma wanted handed out next. Overall, it was a great night and everyone had a great time. Here are a few clips of our evening.... Watch the video

December 20, 2006 - First nap in my new bed!

Well, as you know we are soon going to be needing Allison's bed for our new addition. Even though the baby will be in a bassinet in our room downstairs for the first few months, I like to have the crib sit empty and waiting for the new baby for at least a month before it's arrival to make for an easier transition for the older child. This meant that Allison needed to give up the crib and adjust to a new bed soon. This will allow her time to see the crib as NOT hers for a while before we put someone else in it. I got 2 toddler beds from a friend of mine before Gabrielle was born. One was being used here, and we kept the other one at my mom's house. Thanksgiving weekend we brought the second one home and set it up in the girls room. Allison loved it right away, but only if she could get in, stand up and jump. If you tried to get her to lay down for a nap or anything like that she didn't want anything to do with it. We let her just get used to the bed being there for a while and then a couple of weeks ago we started trying the new bed at nap time. We would keep putting her back for 20-30 minutes and then finally give up and put her back in the crib. On Dec. 20 she finally gave up the ghost and fell asleep for her first nap in her new bed. The first of many..... ( as you can see her "friends" take up more room than her, she always comes up with something new that has to be in bed with her).