Saturday, October 30, 2010

Our bitty baby is two months old, already.


She started rolling over from tummy to back this week.

She's got the cutest little dimple I ever did see.

We get pretty excited about these smiles. Way too excited to focus the camera...

She is settling into a predictable routine, but has yet to sleep through the night- she wakes up to nurse sometime between 2-4AM. If I went to sleep when she does, I'd be getting two 4-5 hour stretches on either side. If. I. went. to. bed.

Her sisters are very into her.

Speaking of, these two are nuts. Here they are going to sleep in the playhouse.

I think Anna gave up and crawled into her bed pretty quickly. Sonja has spent a couple nights in there. We've become pretty lax about their sleeping arrangements. Maybe a month ago, they agreed to switch bunks so Sonja sleeps on top now, when she sleeps in her bed, that is. (One evening, we went upstairs and found her on the bedroom floor, another time in the hall...) Never a dull moment.
Okay, MY bedtime. Night, folks!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Welp, it is Monday and for the first time in many moons we are hitting the pavement at a dead sprint. I mean it. Except about the running part, which is metaphorical.
Our dinner for tonight is already made. I made a beef stew last night and put in the fridge overnight to allow the flavors to develop. A completely unrelated fact- we had cereal for dinner last night because the beef stew wasn't ready. Anyway, Chris was home most of this morning to meet the electrician, which meant I could take a shower in the AM and also that our house is less Twilight Zone-y. The electrician coming meant that I tidied up everywhere yesterday because you never know where an electrician might go. Additionally, having an electrician around, I didn't feel I could chat with my mother in my usual Monday fashion, so bathed the children and worked on projects until he left and I could return to standard operations.
So, my clean home, self and children, dinner already made, projects worked on Monday is probably an isolated event. Unless we always have cereal on Sundays and electricians on Mondays.
Anyway, the real reason I came on here was to put up pics for the relations. These are from a visit to a local farm last Saturday.
Anna had been asking for weeks about milking a cow. This was the best they had, but she seemed satisfied with the experience and hasn't asked since.

The girls rode horses and Sonja uncharacteristically participated and asked to be on the big horse instead of the little pony.


They had a very fun bouncy obstacle course.

The final wall was a little much for Sonja and most of the little kids, so Chris went in and tossed kids up for awhile.



The Saturday before the farm festival, in which we went to the farm on the wrong day so played at the park.




Alright then, I'm down to one kid still asleep, so things are getting crazy here.

Thursday, October 07, 2010

What we've been up to the last couple weeks...
Playing with Rachel. =)

My Anne Geddes moment.

Napping.

I turned 28 and don't know how I managed the candles before children.

Anna and Sonja started taking ballet.

Anna adores her teacher and endeavors to please her.

Sonja sidles away from her teacher and strives to avoid any physical contact. She does like the bears used in class.

Rachel made it to one month...

...despite persistent loving from a certain sibling.

The girls are still very enamored with their baby sister.

And we're generally learning to live life with three chilidren. Currently, that means I type one handed, which is slow going and means this post is done. I plan to be back soon. Although, knowing how well my "plans" go these days, that means nothing. Cheers for now.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Something has happened.


It's happened to me!


Yesterday, I was only three.


But when today came through the door...


Suddenly, I turned to four!

Happy Birthday to our little cupcake. =)


Anna's friends had cupcakes while she opened her gifts. After most folks had left, Anna asked Chris if she could have one...I completely forgot to give the birthday girl a cupcake.

(The above may or may not have contributed to a dramatically increased blood pressure resulting in Rachel's early delivery...)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Chris and the girls are out at the Orioles' game...I think all blog posts for awhile will begin something like that.
We've been on our own for two days now. My mom was here until Saturday and she is sorely missed, by everyone. Sonja sometimes just sits on the guest bed with a book, waiting for Grandma. =( I sometimes just sit at the kitchen table with a plate, waiting for Mom. Just kidding. Thanks, Mom, for being a huge help to our family!
So, it is onward to reality. Forward, ever forward. Actually, I feel like we've been pretty stagnant the last two days. We aren't running errands, I'm not doing projects, the house is on basic upkeep mode. I guess we're just easing into this party of five scene. My goals for today were 1- dress everyone. That was it. Baby steps.
Anyway, let's go back a bit, before baby came, to a day of productivity... A week before Rachel's arrival, we had a wonderful time celebrating a wonderful little Anna turning four. I can't believe we've had Anna for four years. Alas, no time to wax reminiscent. The clan will be returning soon and little R is starting to wake up, so here go pics... Nope, blogger isn't cooperating and Rachel says time's up.
Pics will have to wait...will I ever be productive again???

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Hello, hello! Here is Rachel Aileen!

August 29th, 5:12AM.
6lbs 1oz, 18in


Chris has the girls out at the mall, Rachel is snoozing, and there is an empty candy bar wrapper next to the computer (and an ice cream sandwich wrapper in the trash bin...yes) so I'm feeling pretty peachy. =)
We are just thrilled with Rachel. She surprised us a bit, arriving at 37 1/2wks, but we were hoping she would come early. If you'd like to hear the story, read on. If not, squinty up your eyes and scroll down for some pictures.

So, Monday last week, my blood pressure went up and I had proteinuria. My ob scheduled a non-stress test for Friday, checked my cervix to try to get things moving, and said to take it really easy. Cancel upcoming beach trip...

On Friday, my bp was pretty high and they said I wasn't going home unless it came down. Cancel any fifth anniversary plans??? The NST showed baby was doing great, my bp came down, the doc swept the membranes and I came home. No contractions or anything so Chris and I left the girls with his parents that night and drove up to the outlets in Lancaster, PA. Contractions started on the drive up, but were not getting any more intense, so we continued to drive away from the hospital. We walked around the PB outlet to the rhythm of ctx every five minutes, found nothing to buy, and decided to make for home. I felt bad about dragging Chris all the way up there, not finding any furniture and heading home, but I felt even worse about possibly delivering a baby in an Amish barn somewhere north of the MD border. So, for our fifth anniversary dinner, we had Panera in the car and talked of ctx.

Once we were within 40 min of the hospital, the ctx petered out and stopped. We stopped by C's parents' house to check in on the girls and I walked the neighborhood, but all was calm. I was a little bit bummed, but then I remembered that NOTHING was ready for baby. So, we went home, just we two and I resolved to get my mama act together the next morning.

Next day, random ctx in the morning to keep me on task preparing for baby. Chris and I went to the post office and mailed out my last, and biggest, sewing obligation and I felt free as a bird, light as a pregnant feather. I told Chris that NOW, we could have the baby whenever... We went to Chipotle, sat outside and chatted...discussed if we would still name her Rachel if the baby had red hair, etc. Came home, did all the laundry, including baby's first load, organized everything including my purse(?), put all in its rightful place, nested my little heart out. Chris finished putting up new doors in the house.

That evening, C's parents brought the girls over and some dinner. It was a very nice dinner, but I didn't want to eat at all, which I figured was because of Chipotle's five pound burrito. Anyway, at 9PM, a very strange feeling came over me. I was irritable, which is not really that strange, but for no reason I felt like I was going to die if I heard the football announcer say one more word. (Chris had earlier asked if I could kindly wait to have the baby until after the Raven's pre-season game 3. I was not having ctx then and said sure, but I was taking that back, swiftly.) So, I shut myself in the bathroom with the lights off and plugged my ears so I wouldn't hear anything or yell, or die. Ctx started right then, every three minutes. I filled in the mister, who turned off the tv and started getting things ready, just in case this was it.

Ctx continued and increased in intensity for a couple hours. I finished packing a few things and laid around, hoping each ctx would be stronger so we really would be in labor. C's mom came back over around midnight and we got into the hospital around 1AM. Ctx were completely tolerable, but I've never gone into labor on my own, so we didn't know how fast or slow things would go.

I went into triage, they monitored ctx for awhile and checked me- I was at 3cm. We went over to labor and delivery at 2AM. Ctx were still manageable, I just needed to really focus on relaxing and thanking God that I actually did go into labor on my own. At 3AM, my ob came in, I was 4/5cm and we decided to break my water. That ramped things up and ctx were getting pretty intense. Chris used a hot pad to apply counter pressure to my back at each ctx, but even that was losing its appeal. As with Anna, Rachel was prone with the back of her head against my back so it was all back labor. At 4AM, I was ready to be done getting through ctx and asked the nurse to check me. I was at 5/6cm, which is not 10cm. I was more than a little discouraged and said so, emphatically. C and the nurse pointed out that I was almost to 7cm and things would go much faster then. It wasn't that helpful to hear, but I had nothing better to do than continue so we went on. 15 more brutal ctx later, I was overwhelmed by the urge to push and made it known to the greater Annapolis area. The doc and nurses came flying in and I shrunk when I realized it was really time to push her out. As the first ctx came, I held my breath and pretended to try but did not push because I didn't want to. The doc looked at me and said, "Okay, you need to try." So, I took another breath and did push, and out came Rachel. Also, a small explosion of amniotic fluid which soaked Chris alone. And there we were. Rachel, and Chris, were cleaned up and we praised God for bringing us through.
We came home Monday and have just been hanging out. The girls love fawning over their new sister and Rachel has been a tolerant child, except when she was sat on momentarily.

Okay, here are the pictures of our little lovely:











Thursday, August 26, 2010

Summertime photos.
Chris' company picnic was at a park on the beach. We didn't know about the beach part until we arrived though so did not have swimsuits for the girls. But what was that when there was such fun to be had? We drove home with two naked children.



Another Saturday, we went up to see C's grandmom.

Then had lunch with Opa and started for home well into naptime. En route, some friends phoned to say they were at the pool near our house. We decided to stop by to just say hello as we didn't have the girls' swimsuits. Again, swimsuits are optional, apparently. Second Saturday of driving home with naked children.
Later that evening, we went to a neighbor's birthday party.
Scavenger hunt:

Anna earning her Junior Camper badge.

Going fishing.

Another Saturday, we enjoyed a backyard bbq with a sandbox.

And a juice box.

Summer days are made for bike rides.

And of course, we've had lots...

...and lots...

and lots of frozen treats.

So, we have had some fun this summer. =)