Who does he look like? And recent happenings...

Joel after first bath... 

Judah after first bath...

Luther after first bath...

Wow! When he first came out we thought he looked so much like Joel. But now.. as you can see... a lot more like Judah!

And here's a pic of Luther sucking down his first bottle given by Aunt Emily...

Our new swingset acquired off Craigslist for free has been the center of all entertainment recently...

I told Joel a long time ago "once it gets warm out, the baby will come out of Mommy's belly and then all of us will go to the Zoo!" Of course, the day Luther was born, Joel asked if we were going to go to the zoo.  He patiently waited for a good 3+ weeks. Then we finally went!

The boys had a blast..

The first 3 weeks with 3 boys under 3 1/2!!

Oh man, things have been crazy.  Lets just cover each family member in the past 3 weeks.  This by all means is not a 'oh poor me' post.  I decided to blog on this because I thought it would be interesting to cover for the moms out there.  And quite funny to look back on when things (hopefully!) get easier.

Daddy
Since Luther's birth Joel has gone on one 1 day speaking trip, one 4 day speaking trip and one 2 day speaking trip.  The two latter trips have involved evening flights which are never a good idea.  Thankfully, he has made it home on time to help with the children.  For him that usually means the following -

Waking up at 6am to drive to his speaking engagements, set up for speech, give presentation, talk to people and sign autographs, tear down, drive to airport, then pray for flights to not be delayed while grabbing something to eat.  Arrive home around midnight, wake up at 5am to bring Luther to Mama, 530am change Luther and swaddle, put Luther back to bed, 630am wake up to read Bible and watch boys on monitor so they don't climb out of their bed or hurt themselves, 8am get Joel and Judah up change/take off diapers, feed breakfast, 9am family worship, then begin the day.

Family worship...

Yeah.. he's amazing!

Mommy and Luther (3 weeks)
Luther does extremely well at night when Mommy has a good chance to nurse him well and make sure he's up every 2.5 or 3 hours during the day to nurse.  However, when Mommy is home alone, Luther's schedule and feedings take a back seat to other things;)

Luther usually gets up somewhere between 1:30am and 3am to nurse. Then he will get up again somewhere between 5am and 7:30am to nurse again.  He is really stretching out his time between feeds at night very well for such a young baby.  He went through a growth spurt from 10 days old to a little over 2 weeks old and after that I developed two plugged ducts. ugh!  Luckily (so far) they have not turned into mastitis.  He has a blocked tear duct in his left eye that needs massaged and cleaned daily, but breastmilk has worked well to clear up the infection if he does get green discharge (yes I squirt breastmilk into his eye.. it works!)  He also had a bad bottom rash that was bleeding at one point but has just recently cleared up with an aquaphor/maalox homemade mixture.  Thank goodness! Poor babe.  He is proving to be pretty predictable/moldable (is that a word?) which is nice.  I can usually tell what kind of a night we will have based on how the day went, and that puts me somewhat at ease;)

Judah (19 months)
Judah had roseloa just recently.  3 days of a fever above 103 followed by a rash and some irritability.  Thankfully he didn't cry to loud or too much with it as long as he was held.  Ha! Yes, that was tough.  Since his roseola, Judah has proved to be the lowest maintenance member of the family besides Daddy;)  He repeats almost every word that you ask him to say and absolutely LOVES to play outside.  He is in a very cute stage.

Joel 3 (39 months)
Joel has had some major problems behaviorally that started, you guessed it, about 3 weeks ago!   We prepared Joel very well for the birth of Luther, but I guess it still is a rough transition for him.  Other moms have told me that 3 is a tough time for obedience no matter what, so we are pushing through with prayer and consistent discipline.

The boys playing outside...

On a good note, Joel has been extremely affectionate and into 'helping' with Luther.  He wants to hold him, kiss him and help in any way that he can.  This has been great, but a little hard to control when he's sick.  I can totally sense the difference in how Joel interacts with Luther as a baby vs. Judah as a baby.  Its like he knows that Luther is a real person.  Very cute.

Funny things
Figuring out how to take all 3 into stores without melt-downs is tough.  Joel 3 is old enough to get out and walk beside me responsibly, but with his recent behavior that would be quite a risk as we might spend the entire time in the bathroom doing spankings.  Not a risk I"m willing to take at this point with limited time.  As I researched online to prepare for my trip to target (do they have those massive carts or not?) I find myself reading blogs of mothers of twins.  Quite appropriately, when in Target the other day a lady working at the store asked if Joel and Judah were twins! I thought it quite hilarious at the time, but then realized its perfectly understandable to assume!

And yes, Target does have 'those massive carts'... it came in handy:)

I bought a used joovy big caboose (triple stroller) off craigslist for walks around the neighborhood and zoo trips.  Joel isn't quick enough on his bike, or responsible enough to walk by me and stay off the street just yet.  Plus he would get tired after like 10 mins.  The first walk we took I put the carseat up too high and the whole thing threatened to tip over like a double-decker bus!


After that walk I re-arranged the seating situation... and it worked much better. No tipping ;)



Luther has had more food dropped on him than any other newborn in the family.  Frequently I nurse him on the boppy (positioning him so that I am hands free) while eating lunch or dinner and also reading emails/blogs.  This is, of course, during naptime (1pm) or after 8pm.

Joel has fallen out of the top bunk twice.  Both times, thankfully, he was not majorly injured.  The second time was only about 1.5 weeks ago when Joel's dad was here to help with the kids.  We both ran upstairs (Luther in my arms) to find Joel standing up but crying very loud.  We turned on the light, checked him out and determined he was ok.  I think Joel's dad almost had a heart attack.

Often, when Judah is sick, or we know Joel will have behavior problems, we take Judah down to the basement pack n play for his nap or nighttime.  It's super dark and cool down there and Judah (very high metabolism, always warm and sweaty) loves it!  We have an old video monitor set up down there to keep an eye on him.  Quite frequently, I am taking to bed  watching 3 video monitors at once! Thank goodness for technology.

WE ARE THANKFUL

Yes, this might seem crazy, but we are so incredibly thankful for a 'quiver full' of children.  And 3 is nothing compared to Biblical times!  We thank the good Lord daily for these boys whom we are privileged to train up and disciple.  We take our responsibility as parents to steward their lives very seriously and we are so honored to be blessed in this way.

Praise the Lord!

Homebirth videos

A couple weeks before the birth I took this video of our bedroom prep...


at 10:15 my water broke.. after a good 16 hours of contractions every 10-15 mins.  Apparently Patty thought I was further along than I was because she told me to lay down and wait until she got there.


Around 1am (Patty checked me, found me at only 3cm, then asked if she could take a nap on our couch:) we decided to double make the bed, check on the pool, and start covering the room with plastic.  Joel was a little paranoid about the potential mess.


4am. Contractions more intense, but not that frequent. Only every 7 minutes.  However, strange things are happening in the Penton household... other than a homebirth, of course.. .


1pm. About an hour and a half after the birth. Mommy nursing Luther, Joel and Patty just finishing some clean up.


The boys say 'hi' to their new brother...

Homebirth of Luther Joseph Penton!

Luther Joseph Penton was born on April 19th, a mere 10 days past his due date.  He was also born at home with a midwife.  Here are some pics to tell the story of his arrival.

 The bed set up.

Other supplies...

More set up...

In pool during contraction.. Patty, my midwife, coaching me through it.

In pool between contractions.. hence the smile :)

No rest for the weary...

 Yeah, there was quite a bit after that. Yelling, crying, praying, sweating, pushing, etc. 

But eventually at 11:45am...

Luther Joseph Penton was born! 

Daddy got to 'catch' baby Luther!  (Although he refused to pull on Luther's head to get his body out.. as I was yelling/instructing him to do) There were more tears and more prayers and HUGE sighs of relief!  

Baby Luther nursed for 45 mins like a champ...

 Then we (Joel and Patty) began clean up...The hose was submerged completely and filled, then one end threw out the window. (white trash? it was clean water at least..)  It siphoned out very quickly and Joel was proud of himself for thinking of this efficient method.

Daddy checks on Luther..

Look at that cone head!

Sweet babe..

After some nursing, cutting cord, and delivering placenta.  Luther was ready to be checked out.  8 lb 1 oz..! Patty predicted "a little guy maybe 7 pounds max" After 30 mins of pushing I knew he was much bigger than Judah was! (he was 6 lb 11 oz and came out in 2 pushes)

Daddy inspects his newest son...

Open eyes..

Joel threw a spaghetti bake in the oven and Joel, Patty and I destroyed it in a matter of minutes.  Nobody had eaten all night or all day.

Patty left around 3pm.. thanks Patty for torturing me.. I mean..getting the baby out safely ;)

After Patty left everyone took a nap...

After that Joel (39 months) and Judah (19 months) came for a visit to meet their new brother with Emily and Whitney (11 months).  That experience was so chaotic and we were so deliriously sleepy that we forgot to take pictures.

Luther got to stay in our bedroom that night but after a few snorts and whines he was moved to the bathroom...

The next day the brothers came over to check out Luther...

They decided that he needed an Easter bunny toy to keep him company...

And Mommy enjoyed breakfast and baby in bed...

Praise the Lord! We are so thankful for little Luther's safe arrival. 

41 weeks...still waiting!

Whew! Past due date again. So thankful Joel is home and able to take care of Joel and Judah all day.

Easter
I thought that since I have time to do things I'd post an update about Easter. This Easter was our first as a family at our own home. Since the next day was my due date we decided not to leave town.  It was super nice and laid back.  We went to church in the morning and then had an indoor egg hunt.



Judah did an incredible job in his room 'hunting' his eggs. Once he discovered there was a jelly bean inside each egg there was no stopping him! After naps and a nice dinner we had our family worship time which included a teaching lesson about Jesus death and resurrection, using 'Resurrection Eggs.'  Joel loved the project, Judah had a hard time sitting through it, no surprise there.



Joel
Joel has finally mastered riding his bike, and has a blast doing it.  It took some perseverance from Daddy (Joel wasn't really motivated to learn, most of the time) but now that he 'has it' he wants to do it all the time!



9th Month of pregnancy quality time spent with Joel 3 is usually on the couch reading books.

Judah
Judah and Daddy have had some fun the past 2 weeks catching up on much needed quality time together. They are like best buds lately.  Daddy enjoys Judah's extreme playfulness and Judah enjoys Daddy's willingness to take him outside all the time:)

Some of Judah's favorite new words are "Haa Maa" for "help me" with arms up in the air (a sign we taught him for help a while ago). "Jaa-do" for Jesus.  "Ahh-bee" for Amen.  His pronunciation is not that great, but he tries to say almost everything now, and usually gets the number of syllables correct :)

What are we doing with ourselves while we wait?
Fun projects, like mulching.

Selling Joel's motorcycle.

and playing outside with our version of a 'water table.'

 

What else is going on as we wait?

As we wait we are challenged and reminded to rely on God for everything.  Our daily family worship sessions have been a huge blessing for me during this time.  As we sing and pray and talk about Jesus together as a family (yes, its short.. 5 minutes? I mean.. Judah is 1.) I am able to refocus on what is important and that produces more patience and an attitude of thankfulness within me.  We are so blessed.

2 weeks and counting!

Judah's shirt says "Nobody consulted ME about this NEW BABY thing!" Little does he know, we used the same shirt on Joel to announce my pregnancy with him not that long ago! 

Practicing rocking the baby and being gentle, they look like they are having too much fun though!

Wow! I cannot believe how fast this baby crept up on us! I am 38 weeks and we are getting excited to welcome  the newest Penton boy into this world. Joel talks a lot about his 'new baby brother' and even gives him kisses, hugs, and tries to feed him pretend ice cream :) Judah has found out what the word 'baby' means and says it whenever he sees a picture of a baby, a carseat, or a kid smaller than him.

Judah is a big boy all of a sudden!

Joel has 1 more tough week of traveling and then has some time off.  My dad is here in Columbus to help with the boys this week though, thank goodness!  I also went to Cincy for a week this month so that the kids could run around a bit more and I could rest a bit more:)  I am feeling pretty good, Just last week I had to take off my wedding ring due to swelling.. getting to week 37 for that is pretty good for me!  I get pretty tired around the boys nap times, and usually need a nap myself.  I am still sleeping well so that is nice.  I am hoping for only 2 more weeks of being this large, but we will see :) My due date is April 9th, we do not expect this one to come early, but it would be nice!

Joel and Judah had a blast in Cincy - outside every day for hours!

 The Boys
Joel and Judah are FINALLY in a room together in their bunk beds.  It has been quite an adjustment.  Joel III has always done well playing by himself in his room and staying in his bed.  However, when you add Judah to the mix apparently the temptation to get rowdy and loud is just too much.  I expected the novelty of being together to wear off in a few days, but it has taken a couple of months and they still have issues at times.  Joel and I are experimenting with walkie-talkies, a monitor with two-way talk, and of course numerous spankings. So far the best course of action seems to be spankings immediately when Joel gets too loud/kicks the wall/stands up/yells/hands things to Judah/etc. Unfortunately, the execution of that is extremely exhausting at a time that I usually count on to relax! Thankfully, Joel has taken over 95% of childcare when he is home now.  (I usually prepare 1-2 meals and read them some books each day and that is about it!)  Judah has been just exhausted from lack of sleep and that means more crying and tantrums.  He had a short week of getting out of the bed/trying to climb the ladder/acting crazy but since then has been a very good boy when he is in his bed.  I get the feeling that if he could talk he would just say "Joel! Please be quiet so I can go back to sleep!!!"

Joel and his cousin Indy, reading books like nice little boys!

Anniversary
March 19th was our 7 year anniversary! I am so thankful for an amazing husband who loves the Lord so passionately.  It is interesting to reflect on the last 7 years... 4.25 of them I have been either pregnant or nursing!  For 2 of them, we were still in college! (well.. Joel was.)

Joel surprised me with flowers in the morning, and I, of course, cried tears of joy.  (I mean.. I"m really pregnant!) Joel III, who has never really seen me cry, thought the whole thing was quite interesting and kept asking why I was crying and offering to give me hugs. We had a nice date the next night to celebrate.  What a huge blessing this marriage is!

Hope in the midst of Denial
People keep asking me if I'm 'ready.' I think what they really mean is "are you ready for 3 boys under 3 1/2?" And the answer: "Um.. no. I"m in denial, and I want to stay that way.. thanks!" I need to take things one day at a time at this point I think.  I get slightly overwhelmed when I think about simple tasks like how to get them all into the car and strapped in (yes, I will need go around the van and open all 3 doors and strap each boy in myself).. However, I am so incredibly thankful for the blessing of these boys.  God has taught me so much about myself and how I relate to Him through my boys.  Because of this, I now long to be a more obedient and trusting child of God.  I love how my patience and faith is challenged literally every day with these boys.  Seriously.  I do.  It keeps things interesting, combats complacency, and forces me to grow and depend on God.  How awesome!  Not only that, I am consistently blown away at how awesome of a father my husband is.  He does an incredible job of modeling Christ as our Father to our boys.  I learn so much from Joel and I am so thankful for his passion for Jesus.  Ok.... I'm also pretty thankful for the huge help that he is in taking care of them .. especially now!

Joel's 3rd Birthday!

Joel LOVES cake!

The Elmo balloon was a big hit for everyone

Wow, a whole month later and I am finally blogging about Joel's 3rd Birthday, which was Jan 17th... we had a small party with our friends, the Hollidays.  We had pizza (with goat cheese - no, not like that, its sliced and very mild! so yummy!) cake, and presents.  Joel had a hard time waiting to open his presents, but other than that the evening was splendid!  Joel especially liked his Melissa & Doug ice cream play set and has been so obsessed with it for the past few weeks and he keeps it up in 'high' places "so Judah won't get it." *sigh*

This past weekend we spent some time in Van Wert to celebrate the January/February birthdays.  Joel opened some more amazing gifts, including an awesome pirate hat and sword, but...again.. his absolute favorite toy was a Melissa & Doug sliced cookie set.  (they should really be paying me for advertising;) Judah also was obsessed with cousin Eliza Spath's princess crown and wanted to wear it the entire evening.  Daddy wondered where he had gone wrong as he watched his two boys enjoy really girly things.  (Side note: props to any man who bakes cookies!:)

Joel opening his favorite gift - Melissa & Doug ice cream play set

Joel update
Since Joel has turned 3, it seems that he is much more opinionated and likes to begin his statements with "you should..."  He also becomes fixated on how things are 'supposed' to be and has a hard time letting go of that ideal.  However, on the bright side, Joel seems to be even more a sponge of information than ever.  He absolutely loves to read long, long books and seems to follow the story line very well.  He also enjoys babysitters more than before, I think because he tells them what to do and they listen ;)

results - NEGATIVE!

Joel was recently allergy tested and the results stumped even the 'Asthma and Allergy' specialist.  Based on his symptoms and history she expected something to show up as a positive allergy.  Plus, since 80% of childhood asthma is allergic asthma, she said that the results would give us a clue as to whether or not he actually has asthma at all (he was wheezing at the time and agreed that his symptoms are different from typical asthma).  The entire test was negative.  She said Joel was an 'atypical' case and mentioned a few possibilities:
1. Joel might be allergic to something but it has not shown up yet. Sometimes it takes years.  She suggested coming back in 1 year if he was still having symptoms.
2. Joel might have non-allergic asthma. (not common)
3. Joel might have reflux or large adenoids that may be causing his wheezing. (she confessed that probably these are unlikely since his tonsils looked 'great' and he does not have reflux symptoms)
4. Joel might have viral asthma.  She stated this was her best guess.  I agree his symptoms match up with viral asthma more so than anything else.  However, this is usually something found in babies. So, kinda weird.  What happens is that the child is exposed to a virus, wheezes mildly during the sickness and then continues to wheeze (only slightly but oftentimes with no other symptoms) for multiple days even weeks after the illness is visibly gone.  This type of asthma commonly disappears when the child gets older.

We were there for 3 hours and I've heard it is super expensive.  Thank goodness Judah was with Daddy at home.  However, finding out Joel is probably not allergic to anything was definitely worth it.  Also, we recieved lots of free Singulair samples and for us, this is huge.  Singulair is a chewable pill with a much different mechinism of action than other asthma or allergy drugs.  It has minimal side effects and seems to work wonders!  But, the makers of Singulair know this of course and so the price is sky-high.  For us, one month of singulair would be $130!  At $4.50 a pill, I use it very sparingly but have found that it does work very well for Joel.

Joel and Judah like to play "doctor"

Judah update
Judah is still not saying much but understands a ton.  He follows commands well when he wants to;)  We started spanking Judah this month and I forgot how tough it is at first.  We are sticking with spanking him for only 2 types of disobedience - 1. not coming to us when we say "come here" and 2. touching something after we have said to him clearly, "no touch"  I think he is slowly understanding the whole obedience thing.  He is getting frustrated with 'not getting his way' and has loud crying fits when that happens.

Judah is now very fond of pretend play, dancing, and getting beat up by his brother.  In fact, he likes his brother so much that ff he is ever in a room without his brother he is looking for him constantly.  He calls him 'ba-duel' for Brother Joel.. duh, could you not figure that out?  I am already using Joel's influence on Judah to get Judah to do what I want.  For instance, when Judah goes up the stairs for fun Joel always follows along (the way that Joel follows his little brother around is a story for another time).  I tell Joel to come back downstairs and he immediately says "but Judah, Judah!" as he slowly, and unhappily complies.  Sure enough, about 30 seconds later, Judah will come down as well.  Maybe that is an evil game to play. Oh well.

sweet Judah all bundled up