Sundance and Sleepovers

The kids got invited to cousin sleepovers. Kate and the girl cousins went to Rob & Jenny’s house, and Cole and the boys went to Brian & Andra’s. The parents (and Max) decided to party hardy. We took advantage of being almost kidless and went to the Sundance Film Festival with Annette and Curtis.

This was a first for us, and we were fully prepared for a crappy, inappropriate film that we’d have to get up and walk out of. But actually, the movie Mississippi Grind, featuring the one and only Ryan Reynolds, was just fine (how could it not be with Ryan Reynolds?-- I sound like a sick, old woman, huh?). The movie was longer than it needed to be, but plenty of fun. And having a sleepy, brand-new newborn worked out perfectly as well.

This was Cole’s first cousin sleepover so they were sure to send pics.

A funny note: During the boy sleepover the boys were shining a laser light, getting Kash, the dog to chase it. At one point, Cole shouted out, “Shine it on Tanner’s penis!” All the boys stopped in their tracks, stared with dropped jaws, and then died laughing (as they’re all several years older than Cole and would have never expected such a comment from someone younger). Uncle Brian asked, “Where did you learn that word?” To which Cole replied, “At Miss Annette’s ABC preschool!” Which, of course, brought many more laughs and a good story to tell Aunt Miss Annette the next morning.

Failing Eyesight?

We noticed big brother doing weird things with his eyes lately; kind of like he’s having a hard time focusing. We took him into the eye doctor, where he was quite nervous at first. He thought maybe they were going to pull his eyelashes out, or maybe the doctor would turn his eyes into the infected, warty eyes from the poster on the Dr’s office wall (both were questions he asked). In the end, he learned he loves visiting the eye doctor! In fact, the doctor commented on how very social and with-it he was for a patient of his size.

 

The result: good eyes. The culprit for the weird eye behavior? That new Kindle Fire from Christmas! We hid it for several days and noticed a complete difference in Cole. And although we had already set screen time control locks, we’ve decreased them even more now. Glad to know the little guy is fine!

Baby Max

January 12th finally arrived and heaven sent one of its sweetest! We got to the hospital at 6am and went in for C-Section number 3. The mom was nervous for her first time; just certain something would go wrong. Alas, all went swimmingly. The nurses even encouraged Dave to pull out the camera during the surgery, so we got lots of gruesomely beautiful pics as shown below;)

Right as my belly was opened, the PA assisting said, “Well, hello, there little face!” She said it was the cutest thing ever to cut in and see a little face staring up. So here he is being pulled out. Yes, that is a head (and cord) being pulled out of a little slit from my belly:

Coated in cheese like the best things in life!

Dr. Jones holding up the Baby Simba:

The lips. Every one of my kids have pouty, kissy-lipped newborn pics like this:

Mom’s first snuggle:

Everything was wonderful about the hospital stay: got to be in a quiet room for once, speedy recovery, lots of snuggle/bonding time, and excellent salmon (not joking). The stinky parts were: the older kids were not allowed in the hospital to meet their new brother, I had one less-than pleasant nurse that I had 3 DAYS IN A ROW, and finally, we COULD NOT make up our mind about what to name this little person! We ended up naming him Max Reese Blackhurst, which I love (Dave MAYBE had to compromise on the name a little). The nurses thought the name “Max” suited him well, however, since he could eat more than any other baby there.

He was 8 lb 8 oz, born at 8:04am, was 18 inches long, and was the cutest baby born this year (I may have thrown that last fact in, though I’m certain it’s true).

LOVE THIS SWEET BOY!