I am SOOOOOO behind!

I hope none of these are duplicates!

One of the boys (I believe Justin) w/his foot across Lily, sleeping, when she was only a couple of days old. I knew it was a sign of things to come!










Lily's first bath at 6 days old.








Aunt Therese bought this "My first 4th of July" onesie for Lily, and when she was 6 days old we got a 4th of July Ty Beenie baby at an event we attended....how appropriate!













Our family and Matt's sister Therese and her daughter Savannah went to the Ohio State Fair one night. This is just 1 picture of Austin & Savannah riding one of many rides that night. Matt went on several w/them. The kids had a BLAST!











The boys were pretending to be crocodiles. Grandma Paula says they aren't going to be very happy w/me when they see these pics in the years to come.













COSI
Justin is a structural engineer in the making! Look at that bridge!













OK, maybe not.











Justin was fascinated w/putting balls up in the air, and they stayed there. He played at that spot for a long time.













BFF'S FOREVER!!!!! It's Lydia on the left and Lily on the right, or is it the other way around? No matter, they each get called the others name often, even in their own homes!










Sadly, this was the first and last time the boys were in our little baby pool this year, in AUGUST!











This was just last weekend at a birthday pool party. The boys had a blast playing in this kids pool.











How cute! Not posed!!












Imagine seeing this guy in your backyard! In the city! Sadly, he couldn't fly away w/the squirrel, so after making sure it was good and dead, he left it under a pine tree and flew away.

Lily update

She will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. Wow how time flies! She is gaining weight with NO problem, as did her brothers (at 25 days old she weighed in at 10#15 oz.). her 1 month b-day she smiled at me while watching me and in reaction to me talking to her. The 4-5 week mark turned out to be pretty big: following you with her eyes, laying on her belly for 5 min. with her head up the whole time and no crying (neither of her brothers would go on their belly for this length of time let alone w/o crying), staying awake longer and just hanging out in her bouncy seat or swing WITHOUT crying, and lots of baby talking/cooing. I just LOVE those sounds! Especially with 2 talkative boys, I can appreciate the cooing even more. I will try to post some new pics soon. The biggest difference is she has less hair than when she was born. She is losing it from the front back, just like Justin did. Austin was the only one born w/more hair and didn't lose any of it except a small patch on one side. If she wasn't in girly clothes she would look more like her bothers. As far as the results from her follow-up PKU goes, in 1 hour I found out she has a small degree of Galactosimia (sp?) and would need further testing done by a geneticist, we would need tested by the geneticist, she might have to have my milk supplemented w/soy milk, she and us didn't need to be seen by a geneticist because her percentage was so low that she would lead a completely normal life w/her 1 recessive gene functioning at 75% and only Matt or I carried the recessive gene so we wouldn't ever have a child w/full Galactosimia....any questions? Whew! Thank you Lord that it turned out the way it did.

Kiddie updates

The boys at COSI with daddy recently (while mommy was at Children's with Lily.) .












Lily at 2 weeks old.











Lily is 3.5 weeks old. At 9 days old she weighed 9#4oz and at 18 days old she weighed 10#3oz. She needed to have blood drawn at Children's as a follow up to her PKU test. We STILL don't have those results! At 5 days old she was watching my face while I was talking to mom, and she got the biggest smile on her face. Then, 2 days later in church she did the same thing. At 2 weeks old she started hitting her toy giraffe rattle that hangs from her vibrating chair. And yesterday I caught hr staring down her fist. She was EXTREMELY fussy her 2nd and 3rd week so the midwives suggested I remove dairy from my diet. Ever since she has been much much calmer. Not fuss-free, but calmer. We don't have several times during the day where she has outbursts that last an hour plus, and at night we don't have 2-3 hours of crying. Hope its really the diary removal since I am dying for a glass of milk or a bowl of cereal. I tried the soy milk on my cereal.....that lasted 2-3 bowls.

Justin is doing better w/his new sister. He started asking to hold her about 1 week ago. He still has screaming fits when he can't nurse on demand, but the duration is getting shorter (I think). I think he is cutting his last 4 molars because he has been shoving all 4 fingers as far back into his mouth as he can and biting down. He is also biting furniture, toys, and occasionally his brother and daddy. He is talking a lot more and much better. Probably the cutest thing he does right now is stress his T's at the end of a word. Don't know why or where it came from, but its funny. A couple of weeks ago he got his first shots in his legs and he was pretty sore. He walked hunched over and wouldn't bend w/his knees to pick things up. Very sad to watch.

Austin has gown 4.5 inches in 1 year. Doesn't resemble a 3 year old in height. Watch him have a fit over something and he reminds you of a 1 year old! He seems very interested all of a sudden in learning school things: letters, numbers, counting, etc. He keeps asking me if he is going to go to school, and can I start teaching him now. I can only hope and pray that kind of enthusiasm lasts the next 15 years!

Cookies, Cousin's, and Grandpa

Grandma Sue and Austin making cookies......they were delicious!!!






















Cousin Sabrina (1 month old) came to visit her new cousin Lily. awwwwwww!















Grandpa Fritz holding Lily for the 1st time. Much earlier than normal for him. He prefers to wait until he can't break them.

Lily Renee' Bauer makes her debut!

Lily was born July 4th at 9am at home in water, just like her 2 brothers. They were both there and eager to play in the water and throw things in the water, as well as give mommy some encouraging hugs, kisses, and words of advice. Austin said to me several times, "Just breath mommy," and "Don't cry mommy, just pray to God." Lily was 7#14oz, 19.5" long, and I think she looks like Justin did when he was born.

More birth details: My contractions started at 3:30am and were 10 min. apart and 45 sec. long. After 1 hour, went out to the couch to continue watching time and length. I wasn't sure this was the real thing. After 2 hours of this, Matt came, got an update from me, and then asked if it was safe for him to go to the bathroom (you would have to know story of Justin's birth to appreciate that question.). I decided to call 1 of the midwives to see if she would be willing to come check me and give me her professional opinion. I didn't want to call everyone over if it wasn't the real thing and ruin anyone's 4th. After she got here at 6:30am and checked me, my contractions immediately started coming every 5 min. It was decided to call everyone else. Matt had already started filling up the tub w/water. By the time Lily arrived, the water had just gotten warm enough for her to be born into it. My water hadn't broken, so as I was pushing it felt like trying to birth a water balloon. Matt was able to help deliver her, which he hadn't been able to do with the other 2.

Altho water birth is far from pain free, I can't imagine it any other way.

New baby #5 at RBC

Congrats to the Knudsen family on the arrival of their newest son. Beth was scheduled for an induction next Tuesday, but after Beth was put through the ringers at a baby shower last night (she had to walk/waddle w/a water balloon between her legs from one end of a yard to the other....as did the other 4 pregnant ladies and all of the other non-pregnant ladies), the baby could wait no more. Only 4 more to go, that we know of!

A Few Pics....

What happens when you allow a 1.5 year old to hold a baggie newly filled with cheerios/kix....













COSI with daddy.
I bet you didn't know the boys went to Cairo that day!











COSI slide fun.











Clifford at COSI.












After 3 hours at the Arts Festival and 5 min. in the car.......(anybody wondering what happened to the driver/picture taker?)





Couple of updates:
Austin is making an effort to move his tricycle by using the pedals after seeing his friend Jack from church riding his own big boy bike. Austin knows there is a big boy bike in our shed that he can ride when he is big enough and can peddle really good.

Justin is cutting his left upper and lower canines. They started coming through at the end of May. 4 more molars to go!

New baby is allowed to make an appearance anytime in July, so say the midwives. Possibly even late June depending on their general consensus. However, all 3 birthing tubs are currently out, so someone has to have a baby before I need it or it will be into my own bathtub, and after using a birthing tub twice, that doesn't sound very comfy!

Some interesting trends (and you know how Karen likes trends)....on Matt's side of the family they have had 3 new babies this year, all girls. At our church, we have had 4 new babies born this year, with 3 more due in July (me included), 1 in Sept., and one in Oct. All but 1 of the babies have been born/will be born to mom's w/other children. All of them have had or will have the opposite of what they had last (with the exception of the Oct. baby because they haven't found out the sex yet). So, based on both of those trends, we should be having a girl. However, I never really fit into trends well, no matter how hard I tried :)