M&E Turn 4!

Madeline and Eli turned 4 years old on Saturday. We had planned to celebrate their birthday on Thursday before I headed to the hospital on Friday, but Ward proved to be a very considerate brother and allowed us all to be home on Saturday for their birthday.

There were balloons galore, a delicious cake and plenty of fun gifts, which included ballet clothes for Madeline, soccer and other sports-themed clothing for Eli and several fun arts and crafts. Mama Kaye and Julia were in town and helped us celebrate with hamburgers and hot dogs and cake and ice cream.

These two sweet children have been so much fun over the past four years. We love them so much and look forward to what they will learn and grow to do in the next year. Happy Birthday, Madeline and Eli!

Isaac Ward Rooks

Our sweet baby Ward came into the world at 12:36 pm on Wednesday, July 6.

I was scheduled for a c-section on Friday, but Ward had other plans. I woke up around 5:30 Wednesday morning with contractions... and they hurt. I sat in bed for a while trying to figure out whether or not I should call the doctor (not wanting to go to the hospital if it wasn't really necessary) and then I decided to get up and do some laundry since I was in pain and couldn't sleep. I called Mama Kaye and told her to get on the road. Then I took a shower and got dressed. Then around 7:30 I decided it was time to call the doctor, who told me to go on and head to the hospital. Finally at 8:30 we left the house.

As a side note, no one seemed to be taking this very seriously. Brandon left me and went to work for a while, Mama Kaye stopped for coffee and M&E complained that they were too tired to go to the hospital. Madeline also told me that I said we could go the beach when the baby was born and asked if we could go now since we were having the baby. I suggested that they could drop me off and go about their business and I would call them to come pick me up in a few days when I could go home...

We decided from the beginning of this pregnancy that we did not want to know the sex of the baby before delivery. However, Brandon was convinced that he saw the ultrasound tech plug into the computer that it was a girl. I on the other hand, had no feeling whatsoever about what we were having. Brandon got to make the call in the delivery room. It was so fun that he got to be surprised too - it's a boy!

We are so grateful that the Lord has blessed us with another beautiful healthy baby! My recovery has been so much easier this time around also. In fact, we even got to go home a day early, which was so nice as it's impossible to sleep in the hospital with the constant poking and prodding.

M&E have been so sweet with their new baby brother. They call him "my sweet baby brother Ward" and constantly tell him they love him. They have not skipped a beat and have even offered several funny anecdotes in the past week...

Eli when seeing me standing up for the first time post-delivery:

"Mommy, it looks like you still have a baby in there. Is there another baby in there?"

Both M&E took some time to learn their new brother's name. They kept calling him by all of their friends' baby brothers' names. He was baby Michael, baby Anderson and baby Owen within the first 24 hours of his life.

Nursing has been an interesting topic for the kiddos, too. Madeline nurses and burps her baby doll while I nurse and burp Ward, and Eli has had some hilarious comments on the topic...

Eli: "Why are you feeding him out of your bellybutton?"

Eli: "Yuck."

Me: "Yuck what?"

Eli: "He's eating you."

**Here's a PSA for the moms out there: Allowing a 4-year-old comedian into your room after a c-section can have painful consequences.

We're all enjoying loving on this sweet new baby boy.

Ward is so, so sweet and has taken to nursing like a champ. He lets us know when he needs a diaper change and is the squirmiest baby ever, making diaper changes challenging. He's also sleeping for 3-5 hour stretches at night already. Brandon and I are amazed at how much easier this one baby thing is as compared to two babies. Thank you to Mama Kaye and Julia and to all of our sweet friends for their help over the past week!

Diving Board Update

Yesterday, Madeline decided it was high time she passed her swim test so she too could go off the diving board. Of course, she accomplished the task with flying colors. In fact, I was swimming in front of her and she kept running into me because she's so fast. Eventually I just got out of the way so she could finish her lap. She said, "Now I can keep up with Eli!" Indeed, Missy!