Ellie's first doctor visit

We went to the doctor today - she dropped 8% of her body weight and they wanted to check and make sure she was gaining appropriately. She is! She is back up to 5lbs., 15 oz. Still tiny for Burke standards (she's only in the 5th percentile), but they were pleased that she is putting on weight.

A little excitement today as Bo decided to pick her up out of her bouncy seat on the floor and accidentally dropped her. Thankfully, she is fine. Mom and Dad here are still on edge a little from the event.

We have been overwhelmed with good wishes and meals from friends and family. We haven't had to worry about a thing since we've been home (well, except for worrying about where Bo is).

Aside from all that, she is eating and sleeping pretty well for a one-week-old. She'll usually wake up around 12:30am and 4am. I can handle that! I am becoming reacquainted with tv at that hour which is pretty dull. I planned ahead today and tivo-ed a couple shows to keep me interested. I would nurse in a quiet, dark room - but who am I kidding? With four kids now, I would be falling asleep and out of the chair!!

Drew starts school in two weeks - I cannot believe it. Jack will be home with me till after Labor Day and Bo will stay till I return to work (probably the last week in September or first week of October)...

The best big brothers ever!!

Ellie in pictures

We are so wonderfully blessed these days - enjoying this new TINY baby and spending time with the boys (who are adjusting remarkably well)... I wanted to post some pictures on a quick break (Bo and Ellie are napping, Drew and Jack are at a movie with Dad)...

Ellie's Here!

Well, Ellie finally made it yesterday: July 22 at 11:22 AM. She is our smallest so far - 6lbs. 3oz. and 19.5 inches long. She's a cutie and healthy. Tiny by Burke standards! Liesa is doing fine as well and we are at the hospital catching up. I will be posting pictures sometime this morning.

At the hospital

Well, Liesa's water broke last night around 11 PM. We are at the hospital, and waiting for things to progress more. Liesa and baby are doing fine. She had the epidural around 5:30, so she is feeling great.

Slacker

I know... I know... It's been a while. There has been so much going on. Anyway, I wanted to post some pictures of the boys from the spring... There is one of Bo and Grandpa at a Barons game, Drew at the zoo and Jack and Bo at my office...

Ellie Updates

I have nicknamed her 'party girl' because she is quite the active one! She is really moving (all the time) and we are doing well. I am still measuring that our due date is between August 3-5. Since the others have come quickly once I go into labor, my doctor seems to think we'll have her around July 30th.

We are working diligently around the house to get things ready. The big boys are in their bunk beds (and they have been GREAT about it). We are sorting toys and getting things organized. John was wise and decided we should take it ONE ROOM AT A TIME. So, next is Bo's bird-themed room (he and grandpa LOVE birds). Then, Ellie's room. The only bad thing is there is so much painting to do - quite a time-consuming activity with these kids running around!

I am excited about meeting Ellie... We are 24-25 weeks now and it seems so far off. Then again, in just over three months she'll be here. Wow!

A little more Easter

I love these pictures! The first is during the kids Easter Egg Hunt. My niece, Anna C. would bring eggs to Bo. He was COMPLETELY CONTENT to sit down and let her bring them to him. That is, until she decided she wanted his basket with all the eggs SHE collected. They were so funny!

I also love the one of Grandpa with the kids. We celebrated his birthday (a month late) with a cake and the kids just flock to him!!

Finally is one of our kids with our niece Becca. It was really neat that she happened to match their outfits!!! They are so funny together!

Easter 2009

We had a wonderful Easter! Grandma and Grandpa had an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday for the kids and we went to John's parents for lunch and fun on Sunday. All in all, it was a nice weekend. The Easter Bunny always leaves a jelly bean trail from their rooms to the location of their hidden baskets. Bo was completely distracted and sat down with the beans and just ate those. He didn't care too much about the basket (till he discovered some candy in there!).

Happy Easter to you all!

Smokies!

We are spending the weekend in the Smokies. We went hiking yesterday. Drew was very excited about his hiking stick.

Jack in classic hiker pose.

Ultrasound

OK, so I got a little carried away with iMovie on the Mac today (thanks to a long and boring conference call), but here is the "official" ultrasound. We have a very healthy baby girl still due August 5th. Hopefully she will come a little sooner.

Bo Snow

Bo was really curious about the snow, as he is about everything. This is a video of him when he woke up looking out at the "mo".

SNOW!!!

We had about 3 inches of wet snow today. The kids had a blast! More videos to come!

How lucky we are!

Today is John's birthday... And to say that me, Drew, Jack and Bo are lucky is the understatement of the century. We sure love our daddy!!!!

Baby Burke

So, we've come to what I feel is a final name for the baby (if she's still born a girl - which I think could still be wrong...)...

Elizabeth - we'll call her Ellie. We don't call any of our kids by their direct given name ... why start now?

In other news, she hates shrimp. And I love shrimp. I have tested my theory and come with the conclusion that she does hate it. I can eat it and enjoy it, but the next day, I pay for it ALL DAY LONG. Lent could be really penitent this year!

We are working on the kids 'chinese fire drill' room swap. We are finishing the bunk beds this weekend. Then the big boys can move into one room. Then we'll paint and fix up the room Jack used to have for Bo. We are debating taking him out of the crib (he'll JUST turn two this coming June). We did it with Drew, but there will be enough changes without taking his crib away too. Finally, it will be girl decor time. Fixing up Ellie's room... Move her in hopefully around July 31st.

That wraps up most things here - hope all is well in your neck of the woods :)

It's a ...

GIRL!!!

Updates All Around

Here's a wrap of winter 09 so far... Drew is still LOVING basketball. He plays all the time when the weather allows. Jack got to run in the school Boosterthon and was so very excited to be with the 'big kids'... The run is a fundraiser, but it's a really fun time for the kids. Bo has been hanging in there. He has walking pneumonia (diagnosed yesterday) but is really rebounding from the medication already (thankfully)... No fever today!!

I am including a couple favorite pictures from the year so far. One is of Bo and his friend Cooper - they are only a couple days apart age-wise. So cute!

Picture of Baby #4

Unfortunately I had a wreck yesterday (slight fender bender - no biggie), but the good side was getting checked at the doctor and having an ultrasound to make sure the baby was okay. The baby looked great and WOW has some long legs... The baby was stretching and it was great ot see... Here is a new picture!

Basketball

Yeah - it was a rough game... Final score 9-2. Drew's team didn't pull off a victory. One discovery was that I am not good at being the sports mom. The other team's players were so big compared to ours. I found out they were all 2nd graders (our team is mostly first graders). My slight competitiveness came out and I started yelling. It got uglier as the game progressed. John is attending this weekend's game. I am going to miss it (other birthday party obligations).

In other news, Drew received his second-quarter report card and all is well, he did great! He isn't behind in anything at this point. He laughed and told me, "Wow. I didn't even try my best." (To which I mentioned he should and see what happens)...

New baby news: Not much to report. I am finally feeling human again after a VERY long December. Dinner time is not so good still, but John is quite a trooper and pitches in every night :)

Jack and Bo are growing - they have both grown two shoe sizes since early fall. We are looking at getting them skis at this rate!!