This is the dawning of the age of Stellarius!

Ok, either this website, or Buck's laptop (or my brain) is malfunctioning because I can't get anything in this post to copy or paste as I desire. So, all the words come after these pictures, which are all posted backwards, chronologically. Enjoy!

Here's me and the Bot, wearing hats that I so cleverly fashioned out of newspaper.

Stelly, enjoying (well, not really enjoying) some tummy time.

Rowan, comforting Stellan because he remembers how lame tummy time was.

Mother Theresa never looked this good!

Stelly Bean :)

Brothers, being brothers.

Getting some shut-eye.

The after-effects of Rowan's first professional hair cut!

The before pics.

Cuddling in black and white.

Ready to leave the hospital!

Hey guys! Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to updating the blog. I haven't yet mastered the art of finding free time with two babies in the house. But, brace yourselves because this post is bound to be a lengthier one--loaded with plenty of pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Life with three boys has so far turned out to be pretty much as expected-only much much better :) Buck has been SUPER helpful in trying to relieve me of as much responsibility as possible whenever he's home and awake. It has made a huge difference. It also helps that Heavenly Father seems to have blessed me with two exceptionally easy babies, probably because He knows better than anyone that I couldn't possibly handle this business otherwise. And I have no complaints!

Stellan still hasn't gotten the hang of sleeping when normal people sleep, but he's slowly getting better. Luckily, both boys seem to be reasonably heavy sleepers so I haven't had much trouble with them waking each other up with their crying/baby noises. Stellan seems to be a lot more into eating and cuddling than Rowan was as an infant and I'm lovin' it! He's such a chubby little sweetheart :)

I felt pretty confident that Rowan would be a good big brother and that he would adjust well enough, but he has far surpassed my expectations. At first, he didn't seem to really notice that there was another baby in the house. He went about his days as usual and paid little attention to Stellan. Now, he helps me change Stellan's diaper by getting out the diaper and wipes and throwing the diaper away, whenever he hears Stellan cry, he goes over to him and tries to put the pacifier in his mouth and he rubs his head or pats his back. He likes to help feed him when we use a bottle and when I'm nursing, he tries to put the pacifier in Stellan's mouth and usually ends up sticking it in his eye. (It's the thought that counts, right?) And when Stellan is in his bouncy seat, Rowan will gently rock it. It's so fun to watch and it seems like Stellan's pretty fond of Rowan, too because he follows him with his eyes wherever he goes.

I've been taking medicine for anxiety for almost a month now because I never fully recovered from the post partum depression after Rowan was born and it was starting to get out of hand. I was reluctant to try medication because I had a really bad experience with depression meds in the past but, thankfully, this time the medication seems to be doing it's job properly and as a result I have been more blissfully happy in my role as a mother than I had thought possible :)

I'm so in love with my boys.

Ok, so here's how the labor and delivery went down for those of you who don't already know:

After having gone in to get my membranes stripped, I was given a 72 hour period of time in which to look for signs of labor but as I said in the last post, I wasn't really willing to wait that long for things to get rolling. So, I scheduled an appointment to get induced two days later on the 4th of February just in case. As expected, nothing had happened by the time Thursday (the 4th) rolled around. I recieved a phone call from Labor and Delivery that morning at 5 o'clock inviting me to come on in and get things started.

We arrived at the hospital around 7:00 and they broke my water at 8:00. Then, they started me on the pitocin and I decided I would see how long I could go without the epidural this time. (Last time I asked for it when I was dilated to a 4.) This time, I waited till I was dilated to a 7. (A mistake I don't mean to make again...) by noon I was dilated to a 9 and judging by how quickly things escalated from there with Rowan, the nurses made sure to have everything ready so that my doctor could pretty much just come in and catch the baby as it popped out. That turned out to be a very good thing because my doctor came in right away and after pushing for 4 minutes (down from 8 with Rowan), Stelly popped his little arm out in an attempt to get out on his own and was promptly helped out the rest of the way. The end!

Here are the stats: Rowan Craig Smith-6 lbs 13.5 oz, 19.5" Born with black eyes and hair

Stellan James Smith-7 lbs 10 oz, 19.5" Born with blue eyes and red hair