Easter Pics

So we went to the mall today and got Easter pics done, here are the kids before we left. They did pretty well, or should I say Owen did pretty good. The girls both did well but it's just hard to get all 3 looking and smiling at the same time. I did get a few good ones though so that is what I was going for.
Owen was in Joe's car a few weeks ago and saw a picture of Maggie Joe has in there. Owen was just staring at it and Joe asked him what he was doing. Owen pointed at it and said, "where's my picture?" Joe told him he didn't have one because he never smiles when I take him to get his picture so that was my bribe today was that daddy would put his picture up in his car. Joe surprised us and met us at the mall so we got to have lunch with him which was nice. We then took them to see the easter bunny which they were so excited about. Owen said he wanted cars and Maggie said she wanted a doll house. I then explained to her he was the easter bunny, not Santa. :)

Here are a few pictures of Josie today, she was in such a good mood and just smiling and cooing.













It just dawned on me today that I don't have her an easter basket or anything for easter, although I have Maggie and Owen's done. I guess it doesn't really matter since she needs nothing and has no clue what day it is though.

While we were at the mall today there was a little boy about 1 or so who was into everything and Maggie was watching him. She said, "boy, he sure is curious." The mom and I both started laughing. She is getting so big and acting so much older, it makes me so sad sometimes when she says or does "big girl" things. I am doing my best at keeping her little as long as I can. I painted her nails the other day for the first time and she thought she was such big stuff.












Owen was talking about MOPS the other day and how he doesn't like going. He said he always cries and wants Mommy when he's there. I asked him why he does that and he said so matter of factly, "because I love you mommy." Here is my adorable "little prince"


























And lastly, here are a few pics of Josie in the nude where you can see how big she's gotten.
























And my little sleeping beauty. :)














No big plans this weekend. Hopefully it will be nice so we can head back to the park. Sunday Neila and I are planning on taking a girls day and going to the outlet malls for the day without the kids (well, except for Josie)

Snow, Smiles, and More

Okay, so I am finally getting some time to blog....although I should be asleep. We have had....you could say a rough last 2 weeks or so, and lets just leave it at that. :) But we are all well, Josie is doing great, and we are ready for spring and the warmer weather.
We finally got a ton of snow so the kids could get out and play in. Owen and Joe made a fort which Owen wasn't fond of getting into after he saw Joe get stuck in it.












Yes, I am aware my son has on hot pink snowpants....I couldn't find his and Maggie wasn't going out that time so hot pink it was.
They also all made a snowman with thin mint cookies as eyes....but it melted before I thought to get a picture of it. A day or so after they made it we were headed out somewhere and Owen takes off running towards it while I was getting Maggie and Josie in their carseats. When he came and got in the van I went to strap him in and he is eating cookies....I had no clue where he got them until I look at the snowman and see he is "eyeless". Yes, Owen had pulled them off the snowman and was eating them. :)
Josie had her 1 month checkup today and is up to 10 lbs. 7 oz. so she's growing well. She is such a good baby, so laid back. She is already sleeping from 10 pm until 5am. Everynow and then she'll have a night where she gets up more but not very often. She is very happy and is smiling alot, although I have yet to get a picture of her smiling great big like she does. Here are some I took of her tonight where she is smiling some. As you can see she's done quite a number on her face with her nails...even though I am constantly cutting them.





























We are headed to the mall tommorrw for easter pictures so wish us well.....wish Owen well. :) Today it was so nice out so we headed to the park for a few hours. Joe got back from Alabama around 2 so he met up with us there. The kids had so much fun and enjoyed getting to be outside and run off some energy. They are really beginning to play well together. Don't get me wrong, at times it feels like WWF around here still, but there will be hours go by sometimes where they play great so that is hopeful for me. Listening to them play latley Owen reminded me so much of my Papa Whitey. For those who knew him I am sure you remember that no matter what you said, he'd smile and say, "yeah yeah." Well, Maggie was talking a mile a minute and no matter what she'd say, he would say, "yeah yeah Mag, okay." I couldn't help but laugh and hope he'd turn out as agreeable as Papa was.
Owen is very into telling us what he wants for his birthday and the other day we were driving along and he starts yelling, " look daddy, look, I want that for my birthday!!" We could not figure out what he was pointing at until finally I said, "Owen , do you mean that 18 wheeler "big rig" beside us?" and he says, "yeah yeah, I want that for my "birfday". Joe and I cracked up and broke it to him that he in fact would not be getting a 18 wheeler truck for his birthday. Well, hopefull I will have goodnews tommorow about the pictures!!

On the mend

We are back home now, Josie got discharged Wednesday night after she was able to stay on room air for 24 hours. She is doing great and I am so happy to be back home. She had a pretty rough night last night and didn't sleep very well, I think it will just take her a few days to get back to being home, in the hospital they come in every 2 hours or so and turn on lots of lights so she wasn't on a very good schedule, so that will just take time to get her back on.
Today I took on the wild task of running TONS of errands with my kids. I had several things I had to get done, such as paying taxes on the car, getting a new license since the kids lost mine, taking Josie to the dr. for a follow up, and of course shopping! We headed out at 8:30 this morning, which is early around here, and didn't get home until almost 4. I have to say the day was great, we had alot of fun and I got every thing on my list done. Josie got a clean bill of health and was up to 9lb. 9 oz. so that was good news. We went to pick up Maggie's pictures and there is a huge picture in the window of the studio of her so she was really excited about that. We then went to eat lunch at chick fil a so the kids could play some and then finished our running.

First time for everything

Well, I never thought my first trip to the ER or first hospital stay would be with my 3 week old baby.....but it has been. :( Friday afternoon Josie really began to show signs of distress in her breathing that would come and go. Joe was out of town adn wouldn't be back until that night so my brother-n-law, Matt, was sweet enough to drop his friday night plans and come keep Maggie and Owen for me so I could head back to the dr. for them to check her out. Her oxygen level was pretty good when we got there so rather than expose her to who knows what in the ER we headed back home to just watch her some more. Her night was pretty good but Saturday she had several "episodes" and was really working to breath so I headed into Louisville to Kosair's ER. Luckily when we got there my dr. had called ahead and we didn't have to wait, since she was 3 weeks old they just took us right back. Her oxygen was in the high 80's and after they examined her we got admitted. Saturday was actually my birthday so not such a fun way to spend it!
So, Josie and I have been here at the hospital since Saturday while Joe has been home to stay with Maggie and Owen. She has gone up and down, during the day she does great and has come off the oxygen they are giving her but when she gets in a deep sleep she drops down in the 80's again. One of the criteria for going home is having no oxygen for 24 hours and staying in the 90's so that is what we're wating for. Today she's done great and has been oxygen free since 10 am so I am hopeful we'll get to go tommorow but we will see how the night goes.

I have never had so much free time since I became a mom as I just sit here all day with her and have caught up on all the news of the world. If you have any questions about britney spears ask me because I have watched 5 hours worth of "specials" on her. They also bring me food since I am nuring Josie so between eating all day and watching TV i will probably weigh more when I leave then I did when I was pregnant. :) I got to watch the oscars as well and can I just say, seriously!! There was more foreign language spoken than english! This is America people. (small pet peeve of mine) This is the longest I have ever been away from Maggie and Owen, so that has been the hardest part. I have missed them so much, although they seem to have been having lots of fun with daddy.

My wonderful mom was so sweet to come up yesterday to keep Maggie and Owen so Joe could get back to work. She probably feels like she lives with us as she's been at our house pretty for a month! We really appreciate her coming back to help out with all this going on and thanks to dad as well for letting us have her yet again! I know you miss not having her there.

Well, I just wanted to update on what is going on with her and thank everyone who has prayed for her. They have been answered, she has gotten through all this great so far and is even up to 9 lbs. 1 oz! If you know about RSV, especially in a 3 week old it could have been a very bad situation so thanks again for praying for her. Here are a few pics of her in her first hospital stay...and hopefully last.












This is how she's looked the whole time, happy and content. I almost think she's enjoyed the break from Maggie and Owen. :) I know for sure she's never had such peaceful quiet nursing sessions as she has had here.

Daddy Daughter Date Night

Joe and Maggie went to the Daddy/Daughter Date Night at our church this past weekend. They have dinner and a dance for them to have an evening together and Joe and Maggie both really enjoyed it. Joe said Maggie danced the entire night and she told me she had "the most fun in every way." I am not sure what that means but sounds like she had a blast. I let her pick our what she wanted to wear since it was her special night out with Daddy and she decided on one of her princess dresses. I asked her if anyone else had on a princess dress and she said, "no mommy, so I was the real princess of the whole party!" Four is such a cute age as she was not embarrased at all that she was the only one in a dress up dress but thought it was very cool.


















We had a great time with Aunt Amanda last week when she came to visit.





She came last Thursday morning and kept Owen and Josie for me while I went to Maggie's Valentines Day party at school with her. It was alot of fun for her, but I totally forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures. Joe and I went out to the movies Valentines Night and took Josie with us. They kids got to stay home and have fun with Amanda. It was nice to get out and Josie did great as she just nursed and slept through the whole movie. By the way, we don't reccomend "Jumper."
Friday morning I had my 2 week appt. with my doctor so Amanda kept the kids for me whiel I went to that. Then we went to get Owen's hair cut. I should have gotten a clue he wasn't up to his usual self since he was really whiney through the whole hair cut and usually he doesn't make a peep. Anyhow, he began coughing that evening and did not sleep well that night. We had the kids pictures to be taken Saturday morning so we got up and ready and were there by 11.

















Maggie was awesome and her pictures look like they could be in a magazine, Owen was not up to this challange and didn't get in many of them. There were a few cute with him in it but he just did not want to "model" at all. We ran a few errands before heading home and by that time Owen was full blown fever of almost 104. He slept most of the evening, my friend Sheila and her little boy came over to hang out with us while the dads took the girls to their date night and after the motrin kicked in Owen he was ready to play. We didn't go to church Sunday since Owen was running a fever again and coughing pretty bad. Joe kept him in the basement with him so he wouldn't get close to Josie pretty much the all day and slept with him down there through the weekend. He left Tuesday morning for Dallas and Peoria for a few days and Mom headed back down to stay with me while he was gone. We didn't do much of anything since Owen was sick and in a pretty grumpy mood. I went to pick up Josie's announcments and pictures from Celebrity kids Photography and they are so cute so be watching the mail! I also got to see the flyer they are sending out for Easter and the front is a huge picture of Maggie. They are sending out 7,000 around the area so if u live around here you may get one. There is a pic on the back of the two of them also. Mom headed home Thursday since we were supposed to get an ice storm, it didn't turn out to be too bad though. Thursday night Josie began having a bit of a snotty nose so despite all our efforts of hand washing and keeeping Owen away she seemed to pick up his bug. By Friday she was really working to breath so I took her in to the pediatrician and she has RSV! I couldn't believe it, in a big kid or adult this is just a cold but in a 3 week old it can be really serious. He said if I was not a nurse he would admit her but since I knew the signs to watch for her getting worse he wouldn't yet. So that is what we're doing, just watching her. I am so surprised she got this as she is still covered with my immunity and is breastfed so she's getting even more protection but I guess the more kids you have the higher chance of them getting sick?? Keep us in your prayers since being so small this could get worse before better.

HEre are a few pics for you all!

America's next top models???

Things are going great here at the Burke house....busy but great! Debbie and Larry just headed home today so we had our official first day alone and I must say it went very smooth. I had all 3 kids napping at the same time so I had a good couple hours to myself which is always enjoyable. Josie is doing great, she had her 2 week check up yesterday and weighs 7 lb. 12 oz so she is already over her birth weight. I took her to get her newborn pics done yesterday which went well, so everyone can expect her birth announcments sometime in the next week or so. While I was there the photographer and I got to talking and it came up that I had 2 other kids. He asked me their ages and if I had any pics of them. I told him yeah and showed him their picture. He looked at it and said, "okay, they are really cute....so would you be interested in letting them be our models for our easter promo?" I laughed and said, "sure, but I will warn you up front that my little boy is not the easiest kid to photograph." He was like, don't worry about it, your not paying for it and you get free pics." So they go for their photo shoot Saturday. This place is really nice, I had never been there before and they are supplying Maggie and Owen with clothes from Strausburg. So....we will see how it goes, after our Valentines picture shoot I am not holding out much hope for Owen. He did not do well at all so there won't be any Valentines Day pics this year. But I was pretty excited about it and Maggie thinks it is really neat.

We got our first big snow in forever yesterday. Everything was cancelled today so Joe went in to work late and we took the kids out to play in the snow. They loved it! It wasn't very good snow as the whole top layer was ice but they had a blast playing. Owen spent a good deal of his time eating the snow...which I am pretty sure is how I spent my time in the snow when I was little.






























Joe helped them make a little snowman (snowgirl) who is now in our freezer since Maggie wants to be sure she doesn't melt.















Josie is sleeping pretty well now and only wakes about every 3 hours to nurse and then goes back to sleep. I am hoping she stays on this track and keeps up the good schedule as it makes my days much easier. We took her to church on Sunday for the first time so everyone got to see her. It has been great getting meals since right now I am not really in the cooking mode and I have enough going on all day without having to think, "what is for dinner." Amanada is coming Thursday to meet Miss Josie and of course see Maggie and Owen so Joe and I will be able to go out for Valentines Day! Maggie's Valentines Day party at school is Thursday so I will be able to go to that with her and leave Owen and Josie at home so she and I can have a little time together, which I think she will really like.

So Owen really loves my nursing pads and whenever I am feeding the baby he gets me new ones or just plays with them like they are balls, airplanes, or whatever he feels like at the moment. Today I was feeding her and he had peed so he took his diaper off and threw it away. I told him to get a new diaper and bring it to me and so he disapeared and came back with one of my nursing pads held up to him and said, "look mommy, a new diappy."












He was cracking up laughing, and so was I.



Here is some new pics of Josie, she is looking so much like Maggie did at this age. I got a picture of Maggie out at 2 weeks and it looks just like her.















The 3 of them were lying on the bed tonight and I couldn't get over how big they both looked next to Josie. Just a few weeks ago Owen seemed like such a baby to me and now he looks huge beside her.



























It is hard to believe my 2 big babies were that little not very long ago. It goes by way too fast and makes me cherish every little moment I have with them. I am so thankful that I have such a great husband who has provided so well for our family that I am able to stay home with our kids and not have to miss a single moment of their lives. I can honestly say my life is exactly what I hoped it would be, actually even better.

Storms, muffins, and sleepless nights

We are in major need of a routine around here as the kids are a little wilder than usual and I am sure it's just the change of having Josie here and that things are not as "structured" as usual. It will come though, hopefully Maggie and Owen won't kill each other in the meantime. Josie is doing great and already is so alert which Maggie loves. She always says she is looking for her big sister when her eyes are open. Joe took Maggie and Owen swimming Tuesday night at the indoor pool to get them out of the house a little, they had alot of fun. Mom and I gave Josie a bath while they were gone and she really seemed to like it.












She is always very alert for about 30 minutes or so after her baths so they must wake her up. She is doing really well at night as she is eating every 3 hours or so and goes right back to sleep after nursing. I can't say I am rested in the mornings but it is better than having to fuss with her to get her back to sleep.

Maggie loves cooking with mom, especially making banana muffins, her favorite. But this time Owen got in on the fun as well and had a blast, he especially loved licking the batter out of the bowl.









I think that this was the 3rd batch she made while she was here as they are a huge hit with the kids. They have had lots of fun with her here and Maggie has had enough MIMI soup to last her quite sometime. Mom headed home on Wednesday, we decided to let Dad have her back as I am sure he is tired of eating out! Tueday night we had a huge storm and woke up to a tornado basically outside our window. I felt like we lived in ILlinois again! We had to get all the kids down in the basement and stay there for a while until it passed. It really did alot of damage around here, but aside from being without power we were fine. Joe put Maggie in bed with mom and she barley woke up aside from saying, "mimi, this is fun." Owen on the other hand was pretty scared and once we went back upstairs could not go back to sleep so we put him in bed with us and he was quite the chatter box. He kept saying, "daddy, let's play hide and seek". Not really what Joe wanted to do at 3 am. Needless to say, we didn't get alot of sleep that night.
Debbie got here Wednesday afternoon and is staying until next week to help out with the kiddos. I am not sure how I am going to keep up the attention the kids are used to getting when it's just us again!
Here is Josie enjoying her new Moses basket that Neila Susan got for her.








Tomorrow I have an appointment to get the kids valentines picture taken. I am hoping it goes well, Maggie and Josie will be easy, but we will have to see how Owen does! Nothing else going on around here, we are all pretty busy trying to keep everyone content! Josie is the easiest at this point as she seems very laid back. Hopefully she'll stay that way!

Doing well

So I know there are many of you wondering just what is going on with us.....pretty much we are just getting settled in and enjoying Josie! She is doing great and I got to have her come out to my room sometime Wednesday since she was able to keep her oxygen up all night, which is just what I knew would happen. Mom brought Maggie up on Wednesday and Maggie fell in love with her.











She was so excited to hold her and did not want to let me take her back to the nursery. We got to leave the hospital about 7 Thursday night and Maggie and Owen got to meet their new little sister.











Maggie couldn't wait to get her hands on her again
















and Owen held her as well for a minute or so.


























When we asked if he liked her he told us we could just take her back to the hospital....but he seems to like her pretty well, just doesn't pay much attention to her other than every now and then saying "Koochy Koochy Koo to her. Maggie is a great big sis and takes every chance she gets to hold her and doesn't like sharing so much as she had a total meltdown when Jaja took a turn. The kids have had a great time with with Mimi and Jaja taking plenty of trips to the "sticker store" and getting other "surprises." I also enjoyed my "break" in the hospital. All my friends thought I was weird because I told Joe not to stay with me there, but I love being there those few days and having the only "alone time" I will get for along time. Things are going smooth since we have been here, it's been great having mom and dad here to keep Maggie and Owen from feeling left out as all of my time is consumed with nursing Josie. She is quite the night owl right now, she doesn't ever cry but at night she's wide awake and wanting to nurse like every hour, although last night she did much better and only ate every 3 and once went 4.5 hours so hopefully before long we'll be in a steady schedule which will make things easier.
The kids have been really good, here is a picture of Owen yesterday trying out a pair of Joe's boxers and showing us his muscles.



















Maggie is quite the little mommy and holds her and loves to help me by getting her new clothes and diapers when I need them. Josie was breathing fast yesterday like newborns will do sometimes and Maggie said, "oh, she is smelling me." It was so cute. Yesterday she "watched her" for me on the bed while I did a few things and was very proud of herself.















Dad headed back home yesterday but mom is staying a little longer to help me and then Joe's mom is coming to stay a little while too so that is going to be nice. Also, between my MOPS group and bible study I have meals coming for over 3 weeks so after all this help is over I won't know what to do! Yesterday Josie went to the doctor for a check up and was 6 lb. 14 oz which isn't a bad weight loss and the way she's eating I figure she'll pick up soon. They said everything looks great so we don't go back for a few weeks. WEll, that is all going on here, here are a few pics of Miss Josie.





















Can you believe she has enough hair to pull it up in real clip! You can also go to the website at the hospital she was born at www.baptisteast.com and see her newborn picture. Just go to "baby net" on the site and click B for burke and find joe adn meghan. For some reason the hospital doesn't use the growing family site, they use their own website. Well, I am off to nurse the baby and get some sleep, I hope.