Elijah's 2 months old

Wow another month has flown by! Elijah is doing so well. He is growing and gaining so much weight. He now weighs 10 lbs 9 oz. He is 21.5 in long. He still has GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). He gets medicine twice a day to help reduce the acid in this stomach. All three of our kids had this. It went away by the time the other two were four months old. So we are expecting the same with Elijah. Other than that Elijah is doing really well. I am so happy and grateful to God for how well he is doing.

He handled his shots like a champ. He hardly cried. I was really impressed. He is able to stand holding his own weight with his knees locked (of course we are helping him balance). According to our Pediatrician Elijah is a month advanced in development. Which is so surprising to us given just how early he was born. We cannot believe how strong he is.

He is really starting to smile and coo. We have little conversations back and forth with each other. He loves grabbing his toys on his tummy time mat. It's so hard to get him to let go once he has taken hold of one of the toys. Tummy time is hard to incorporate into our day with two other toddlers running around who could trample him. We try to make it work though.

He is sleeping well. The longest he has given us is close to five hours. Although we did not go to bed when he did so we did not get that amount of sleep. But Paul and I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our Pediatrician told us that he should sleep better once he reaches about 12lbs. I cannot wait for that to happen!

JP's Art Projects!

JP is really getting into his creative side and he enjoys doing art projects. So I thought it would be fun to post some of his latest work. He is so proud of his accomplished art work and cries when we are all finished.

Here is JP paining the letter "J" for Jeremiah. He also painted to stars.






























































Here is JP making rice krispies treats...eating rice krispies treats!
























He also made a wreath with cutouts of his hands. He helped glue them on.

Elijah is already 1 month!!

Where has this past month gone? I can't even believe it has already been a month! Elijah is growing and filling out nicely. He was skinnier than either his older brother or sister when he was born but now is looking rounder.

Elijah's accomplishments thus far include rolling over from his front to back (yes, all by himself!), lifting his head and looking around, looking us in the eye and smiling (and no, it's not always gas), and eating like a champ. Thus far he's avoided developing the "baby GIRD" that plagued his brother and sister. Of course we chalk that up to improved parenting :) ! He is doing so well that we have nicknamed him "Tuffy" because he is just so tough and strong.

Jeremiah and Rachel have adapted well to their new sibling. JP showed some signs of jealousy at first but for the most part that has gone away. He loves to kiss and pet his baby brother and really wants to hold him. We have let JP hold Elijah while sitting and JP says, "Awe, so cute!" which is, well, SO CUTE! JP also says, "It's OK 'lisha" and "Calm down 'lisha" when he's crying. Rachel also loves kissing him and bouncing him in his bouncer.



Here's hoping the next four years go just as fast. Then I'll have a break when all three are in school! (Of course I'll be crazy lonely and long for these days back...)

Halloween 2010

Here are some pictures of the kids all dressed up for Halloween. JP was a doctor. He had a pager and all the doctor tools but he didn't want to wear them. Rachel was Tinkerbell if you could not tell. And little Elijah was a skeleton. JP and Rachel went down our street to do some trick-or-treating. JP thought it was great that all he had to do was ring the door bell and he would get candy. He had lots of fun! We all did!!

It's a Boy! . . . Welcome Elijah Paul Laufer!!

So, where to begin? After a long and difficult pregnancy Elijah Paul Laufer is here! He's a month early, but he's here, healthy, and everyone is doing just fine.

It all started a long long time ago... No No No, that would take too long to type out. Basically, I started going into pre-term labor somewhere around 18 weeks. Long story short I ended up getting a circlage at 24 weeks. Between the high risk doctor and my normal OB doctor I was going to the hospital every week, taking progesterone shots weekly, and "Procardia" every 4 hours (3 hours at the end). Even at night! It was like having to wake up to take care of a newborn but the newborn was still inside. So tiring! Fast forward a few months to Monday Oct 4th and I was back in the hospital with steady contractions and a circlage in me. The high risk doctor decided that we were far enough along to warrant removing the circlage. That way I wouldn't have to stay in the hospital under constant supervision and could return home to take care of Paul and the kids until the baby really decided to come.

Fast forward two long weeks of constantly wondering if these contractions were getting closer together or stronger and at 35 weeks 5 days finally things started to progress. We called our friend Holly to come watch JP and Rachel and went in to the hospital. Sure enough I was dilated to 4cm which is far enough along that I was considered to be in active labor. We told them we didn't want to stop labor and to see what happens. Within an hour we had progressed to 5cm! But the last two pregnancies I've gotten stuck at five. A few hours later they broke my water and within an hour of that I was dilated to 9cm, ALMOST ready to push. With my last two pregnancies once I got past 7cm I was ready to push within less than an hour so that's what I was expecting. But this time I got stuck at 9cm! After 45 minutes that seemed like 2 hours they moved me to another room with a hot tub. The thought was that by relaxing in the tub my body would move to 10cm and I'd be ready to push. It worked! They were afraid I was going to have the baby in the tub! So they got me back into the bed, with some nice warm towels, and after a few short pushes Elijah was born! We were so excited and relieved when he came out crying, breathing, and not blue.

They did the usual baby checkout and Elijah was found to be in perfect health. He never needed to be put in the NICU. Thank God! He even wanted to nurse right away and get acquainted with mommy! Dad was all smiles and taking lots of pictures. But I did manage to take this picture!

We spent as short a time in the postpartum room as possible. It is impossible to rest with nurses, doctors, lactation consultants, lab techs, hearing test, baby nurses, pencil pushers, etc. coming in and out at all hours. We let the staff know we wanted to leave ASAP and since this was our third child they figured we knew what we were doing and didn't object, especially since Elijah was doing so well.

About an hour before leaving the day after his birth Grammy made it to visit with the older siblings. Jeremiah saw Elijah and asked, "Baby Rachel?" We introduced him to Elijah and asked him if he wanted to come closer. Jeremiah walked up, got a scared look on his face, and ran and hid behind Grammy! It was so funny and totally unexpected. Rachel seemed unsure and somewhat affectionate with her new baby brother.

All in all it couldn't have gone better. We're home and adjusting to life outnumbered by our kids as best as we can.

♫ Happy First Birthday Rachel ♪

Happy 1st birthday Rachel! This past year has gone by so fast. We cannot believe that Rachel is one! She is such a joy to have in our lives. We had a wonderful birthday celebration with the Dreger Grandparents coming from Cali and lots of friends from our church.

Rachel had lots of fun eating her cake...




























and opening her presents...Rachel is so close to walking. She takes several steps on her own before falling. She will be walking in no time now.She is talking more and more all the time. She says "hi", "up", "what that" while pointing at something, "alk" (milk), and a few others. Rachel loves playing with JP's cars. She is learning to make the car sounds like "big brother" does and wants to do whatever he does. She chases JP around the house all the time. They are always making each other laugh. We are excited to see her interact with baby #3. She is so patient and kind. We know she is going to make a great big sister. We love you so much Rachel! We are looking forward to seeing what she has in store for us in the near future and as we become a family of five!

God bless you Keiki!!!

Rachel is 11 Months

Rachel is growing up so fast! We cannot believe that next month she will be one. Where does the time go? She has changed so much. Rachel is cruising and has taken her first steps. Although we would not say she is fully walking yet. Jeremiah really wants her to chase him. It is so cute to see the two of them interact. She is starting to say real words now. She loves saying "Mama" and "Dada". She is really starting to get into books now. Although she prefers to read (look at the pictures) herself. She can drink out of a sippy cup by herself.



But she is happiest right now with her bottle. We are going to need those bottles though when baby #3 comes, but for now they belong to her.













Rachel's hair is starting to get curly in back. We are sure she is going to have Elizabeth's curly hair but then again you never know. She also loves to snuggle with us. Which we love!

Grandma Bea and Grandpa Martin came to visit this month. They came between the two kids birthdays. Grandma Bea loved playing with Jeremiah and walking with Rachel. Grandma Bea played outside with Jeremiah all the time. It was hard to figure out which one was the kid (Bea or JP) because Bea was having so much fun.


Rachel is just so much fun to be around. She makes us laugh all the time. We cannot wait to see what she has in store for us in the future. We love are little Rachel so much! We cannot imagine our family without her in it.