Cousins!

The boys had a blast with the sprinklers!

We were excited to have my brother and his family visit last week. For the first time, all SIX of the Thomas-Wells cousins were together! As you can imagine, it was often a madhouse, but we had a great time with them, and the boys loved having each other. No one was ever in need of a playmate!

Above are some photos from the week, including our trip to Jamestown. Thank you for making the drive up here, Shawn and Erin. We hope we can see you all again soon!

TV time gave the tired parents a break- and some peace and quiet!

The baby boys were SO sweet!

Chris and Andrew (who slept the whole time) at Jamestown

Aboard the Godspeed

The boys in their armor

Andrew: Two Months

As I was trying to get a "sweet" photo of the boys on the floor, N&D kept trying to goof off, and the more frustrated I got with them, the sillier they became! The above photo was worth the silliness. :-)




Andrew is still a "dream baby" at two months! He is truly a delight, and has begun smiling from time to time (when he's well-fed and rested). He is sleeping for longer stretches at night, and even made it from 7:30 p.m. last night until 4 a.m. this morning!

At his last doctor's visit, he weighed 11 lbs and 10 oz, and had grown from 20 inches to 22! Looks like he will take after his big brothers in appetite and girth. :-)

Daniel Turns Three

Our at-home celebration (Unfortunately, we were so busy video-taping Daniel w/ his cake that we forgot to take still pictures!) This was his big gift from us
(with Grandma Jo's PlayMobil fire truck).

Daniel wanted a Thomas cake like the one Grammie got him last year.

His party was at the park!

There were about 20 kids present! We almost ran out of cake!

Daniel is our verbose three-year-old! He has had to deal with some big changes this summer, but he has handled it pretty well, despite the occasional lapse into baby-talk and lots of silliness. Daniel still loves construction trucks and trains, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Let him enjoy these "little boy things" as long as possible!

After a few weeks of diligence on our part, he is FINALLY almost potty-trained. There are still accidents, and we have to remind him often, but he has had several dry days lately.

Daniel is definitely in the "questioning" phase! In the car, especially, he asks about a million questions- about the trucks going by, why people throw trash on the road, the list goes on... He will start preschool on Monday mornings at the home of a friend, but we are learning letters during homeschool time right now.

We love our sweet, happy boy so much!

Andrew: One Month

Andrew was one month old yesterday! Although it has been four short weeks since we brought him home, it feels like he has always been a part of our family...

He is a great little eater and sleeper! We think that he is probably the least fussy infant of all three boys, although we sometimes have a hard time getting him to go to sleep at night! We think we are waiting too long to put him down, and he is getting overly tired. We plan to remedy this by putting him in bed about an hour earlier than we have been. When he does go down, Andrew will usually sleep for about six hours, so I am only getting up once per night to feed him- thank goodness!

Nicholas and Daniel are doing well with their new brother. Both love to touch his hair and talk to him, and Nicholas especially seems to be very affectionate towards Andrew. :-)

Andrew will go to the doctor on August 9 for a check-up, so we have no idea how much he weighs now, but I'm guessing around nine pounds. He already has some meat on his bones, and eats well (just like his brothers!).

Andrew's Birth Story

Today we came home with our new addition, Andrew Thomas. Thinking over the past couple days, I am so in awe of God's goodness and mercy during the labor and delivery. Chris and I showed up at the hospital on Thursday morning thinking that we were headed for a "boring" and probably uneventful delivery (Like the delivery of any baby is every boring! But, compared to our first two middle of the night births, this one seemed a lot less exciting).

So, after having my water broken by the doctor around noon, and getting an epidural a bit later, I began having very strong contractions. "Won't be long now!" we thought. Because of the epidural, I wasn't aware that I was having a five-minute long contraction. The nurse noticed that Andrew's heartbeat was rapidly decelerating, and rushed into the room along with a couple of colleagues. The doctor was called, and came over with surprising speed from his office across the street. Meanwhile, Andrew's condition was not improving. Dr. Reutinger had Chris dress in surgical scrubs, and told me that if the drugs they had given me to stop contractions didn't work quickly, I'd have an emergency c-section. I was quickly taken to the operating room to prepare for surgery. Although this wouldn't have been an ideal situation, we knew that God was in control, and Andrew's safety was our main priority.

After a couple of scary minutes, we were told that Andrew was better, the drugs had worked! Thankfully, we returned to our original room. We still didn't expect to wait another five hours before delivery, but were so relieved that Andrew was doing well, we didn't care! Finally he arrived at 5:44 p.m., perfectly formed and made. Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful blessing.

Psalm 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well... All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Andrew meets his big brothers for the first time!

Andrew Thomas Wells

Delivered happy and healthy at 5:44 6/24/2010. 7 lbs, 10 oz. Mom and Baby are doing great.

40 Weeks!

Today, June 21, is my due date. I never thought Andrew would hold out this long, especially since I've been having contractions for the past 6-8 weeks! The end is near. I'll be induced on Thursday morning if he hasn't come before.