The Night Watches

I am a tired and busy momma these days with my three boys... BUT I have been taking lots and lots of photos and just have not had time to edit or post any of them... alas, this is the season we are in!! But here are some of my sweet baby boy...

It is still amazing to me, the way my life changed 4 years ago. This sweet special boy made his entrance into our lives 3 weeks early and on New Years Eve to add a little extra special meaning to his birthday! I can hardly remember life before I was a mommy to him, and am more aware of the kindness of God in giving us this little man to raise up. Tyler, we love all the unique things that make you who you are, and cannot wait to see how the Lord uses those things as you grow up. Thank you for being so others focused, and always asking how our day was, and for smothering us in kisses and hugs, for wanting to be with us all of the time, and still thinking we are the coolest people in the world. Thank you for always telling me how much you love me, and for being honest. I love how deeply you feel things, and how thoughtful and caring you are. I love the way you seek to reason through things, and the moments of brilliance that shine when you are focused. I love the way you have become a big...

The tradition continues, of our family going to Pine Valley Farms to cut down our Christmas tree! And now this is the second time I have done it right after having a baby! We headed out the door bright and early with everyone, and put on some happy Christmas tunes. I think we found our tree within 5 minutes, but helped Mimi and Popop find the best and biggest tree we could find! Tyler "helped" cut down the tree and was jumping up and down shouting "TIMBER" when it fell. What made me laugh, and a few people who were passing by, was Jordan sawing the tree with Jack bouncing up and down on his hip the whole time... Little helpers... Oh how I love them... Then that afternoon, after we all had a nice nap, we continued in our Holiday traditions, of going to buy each of the boys a new ornament for the tree. We also watch the Muppet Christmas Carol every year while we decorate the tree. I love our little traditions... Every time we told Jack to get an ornament for the tree,...

I love the sweet smell of a clean baby, especially with Johnson & Johnson's Head to Toe wash... I had been wanting to wash his full head of hair for days, so when I finally got to give him a bath, oh the sweetness of it. Like my other kids, he did not care for the sponge bath, but when it came time to wash his hair, well he was in heaven... and I got to enjoy every whiff of that sweet clean baby smell! Here are a few pictures from his first bath...

This post has been in progress for several days now, and as you can imagine, I am finding it difficult to find time to sit at the computer for more than a few minutes at a time these days! When I look back to 10 days ago, I can still vividly remember most of the details, unlike the births of my other boys, which seemed like a big blur in my memory. So, for those of you interested, and for my ailing forgetful brain, here is the birthday story of Dylan Michael Kauflin . ( fyi ... it's a little long) I was up at 4 am, my head was congested and I just couldn't sleep. Although our boys were sleeping over at Grandma's house, and I had no reason to be awake, my mind was just whirling. I tried to go back to bed and by 5:30 I fell asleep again. We called the hospital at 6 to see if they had a room for us, and sure enough, we were set to go. After a quick McDonalds stop, we arrived at the hospital a little after 7 am. To Jordan and my great surprise, we were back in a delivery room ...

yet again, I am amazed at how the Lord increases the love of a mother's heart in so brief a moment. I am already so love with my new baby boy. I wish I could somehow bottle the sweet new baby smell, capture the newness of his little cry, and remember how snuggly and sweet those first moments are. I'm so enjoying our new little guy, can't wait to introduce him to Tyler and Jack. Here's a couple more pictures from day 1!

Dylan has arrived....3:37pm, 9.2 lbs, 20 1/2 inches. Tali's doing great. Pictures to come shortly

She's ready to push....10cm...ready to go... our boy should make an appearance soon.

Epidural is finally starting to work, Tali is resting a little...contractions are getting closer together... oooh....the suspense....

Tali go an epidural at around 12:30pm, she was around 4 cm's and still 90% effaced.

The doctor just broke her water and upped the pitocin to get things moving along.... Tali's not in pain yet, and doing great. More to come....

...Tali's here, I'm here, we're ready to go. Pitocin was started at 8:15am, she's 3cm dilated, 90% effaced, and -1 station. Thanks for your prayers! More updates to come...

well, we are about to leave.... I have been up for a while- filled with nervous excitement. It's amazing how exciting and nerve wracking this time can be! Bags are packed, kiddos are at Grandma's, house is clean, and we are as ready as we can be!

So today was our last day as a family of 4! Hard for me to believe sometimes that we will have 3 little boys to love on and our family is growing by 1 more tomorrow, and yet there have been many moments where I thought this day would NEVER come! Tomorrow morning, gosh, in a few short hours, we are heading to the hospital to be induced. In case you were wondering why get induced and not wait it out- well, it is really due to the size of the baby and my past history of having my babies get "stuck" with something called shoulder distocia. Basically, they have broad shoulders and I have a narrow pelvic bone, and bone on bone can lead to difficulty getting the little guys out. Both Jack and Tyler had it (Tyler was by far the most difficult), and given the size they are predicting this little boy to be- well, it just doesn't make sense for us to let him keep getting fatter any more. If you remember, 4 weeks ago he was almost 7lbs (give or take a little in either direction)......

Long long long overdue, here is the latest going on here at the Kauflin casa ! My sister's baby Addison came home a few weeks ago, and is healing so well. She is adjusting to life at home, and is at times, giving my sister and her hubby a tough time, being a little bit more than average on the fussy side. But I know they are just so happy that she is whole and healthy, that all the fussiness is worth it all. I went down to North Carolina a few weeks ago and here are a few picts of my little niece , Lotte and my massive belly! A little side story about all my trips to NC.... the day of Addison's surgery, on the way home from the hospital, I was involved in a car accident. My car ended up needing repairs in such a way, that I had to leave it down there and drive a rental car home. The boys were with me, and we were all fine! But, it left us with a small rental for 2 weeks and another drive down required! Needless to say, I think I have driven more times to NC in the past two mo...