February 5, 2007 - This is what happens when your diaper doesn't hold!

Every mother has gone through this, but they become more rare the older our children get (unless an illness is involved). Well, Allison has a bad episode the other day where she made a mess out of t-shirt, sweatshirt and of course her pants when her diaper definately didn't hold. There was only one option, and that was a middle of the day dip in the sink. She wasn't happy with the idea at all at first, as it has been a long time since she has needed a kitchen sink bath, but once Nicholas brought her one of his bath toys she actually enjoyed the experience, and got mad when I took her out.

February 4, 2007 - It's way too quiet in there...
... We should have known better!

It was Sunday afternoon and we were pretty much snowed in. Most of the churches in W. Michigan were closed. Ours wasn't but we weren't going to venture out in sub zero temperatures with 4 kids as young as ours, one of them being a newborn. Anyway, Allison and Sam were taking both taking a nap and Paul and I were actually going to relax a little in the living room. Nicholas and Gabrielle were playing nicely in the den, or so we thought.

First of all, they had their activity boxes out: crayons, markers, glue, etc; which is normally a "kitchen table only activity". I guess we were being a little lazy and since they seemed to be getting along quite well we let things go that afternoon, as everyone was suffering from cabin fever and a little peace and quiet were a welcome reprieve. Needless to say, we learned our lesson, a couple of hours later I found a chunk of hair on the kitchen floor (see below). This was the first chunk of about 5-8 that we ended up finding. Apparently, Nicholas decided that it would be fun to take a scissors to his sisters hair. UGGGHHH...I almost cried. I can't believe Gabrielle didn't make a fuss when he did it. Once they were done playing and she began moving around the house, the chunks of hair that had stuck to her clothes began falling in various places in the house.

Thankfully, he didn't touch her bangs, and he didn't take any chunks out of the bottom of her hairline. There are several areas where she has small sections that are now as short as 3 inches long and a couple of areas where she has 4-6 inch long pieces. He mainly stuck to the top section of her head and around her part. So far, most people won't notice and I have still been able to pull most of it into her pigtails. If you don't look for it you won't find it, but it is going to be quite a while before these sections grow out.

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