Admiring Siblings

Grace is very loved by her siblings.

We weren't sure what to expect from Grant but he absolutely adores her. Whenever he hears her make a peep he goes running to check on her, "Baby. Baby. Baby."

Abby adores her and could sit and hold her all day.

Clara tires quickly from holding her but she loves to lie next to her on the floor.

Grace sure is blessed to have three adoring older siblings.

Abby Turns Six

My sweet Abby turned six years old! With a new baby in the house, six is kind of blowing my mind. 

Abby is a great big sister! She leads Clara in all sorts of activities. She's very sweet to Grant and has always been a big helper when I needed things. She is absolutely in love with her baby sister! I couldn't have asked for a better first-born.

Before school, she really wanted to open a present. I let her open new earrings. The girls haven't changed their earrings since they got them pierced so it was fun to pick out a new pair to wear.

Being Halloween, she got to wear her costume to school, which was lots of fun. She also got to have her Grammy come to her class party.

In the afternoon, the cousins came over and when daddy got home, she got to open the rest of her presents.

Do you think she was excited about this mermaid Barbie that Ella picked out for her?

We ate Jack-o-Lantern pizzas and pink cupcakes.

Cupcake kisses for Uncle Roo.

We sure love our girl!

Halloween Festivities

The girls decided they wanted to be Elsa and Anna for Halloween as soon as they saw the movie. I had looked at some tutorials and was contemplating making the dresses. However, when I saw these dresses on sale, I decided to snatch them up. I ordered them in May and they didn't come until mid-September. I wouldn't let them wear the dresses until Halloween.

We figured that Grant should be Olaf to coordinate with his sisters. I finished making his costume the night before Grace was born.

We attended a neighborhood trunk-or-treat that Sam's office was participating in. It was a lot of fun!

Grant wasn't being very cooperative for pictures. He was people-watching and was very distracted. His costume was a hit. There were so many Elsas and Anna's that an Olaf was quite a novelty.

Sam's parents were visiting last week to help with Grace so we had the cousins over a few times to play and to hang out with Grammy and Grandpa. He did pumpkin carving one night.

Abby and Ella insisted on doing stencils on their pumpkins and it took forever. Abby finally let me help her finish but pumpkin carving is not one of my talents.

Grant was obsessed with "carving" the pumpkins. He cried inconsolably for like 20 minutes when we cleaned up all the pumpkin stuff.

The cousins came back over for Abby's birthday and they went trick-or-treating together. They made out like bandits and had a blast.

Grant's costume looked the best when he was looking down.

Grace Lilian

I've been out of the blogging world for a while. But, there is no better way to get back in than with a good birth story, because who doesn't love a good birth story (or at least pictures of a newborn baby)?

On October 21, I went to my 38-week doctor's appointment. The doctor stripped my membranes and sent me on my way with a 39-week appointment scheduled. I was a little bummed because I was under the impression he was going to schedule an induction rather than another appointment but he said he didn't think I would make it that long.

I went to bed that night still very much pregnant but we had a lot going on during the week that would keep us busy and make the time go by fast. At around 3 o-clock or so, I woke up with really bad heartburn and I was having a hard time controlling my body temperature. I took a shower to get warmed up and then went and sat on the couch so I could be propped up. I fell asleep for a while and then woke up again with the chills and nausea. I was having some uncomfortable contractions but they weren't consistent so I got in the tub to try and stop the chills and relax a bit. I was sitting in the tub, thinking about Clara's rushed delivery and I felt like I should go to the hospital, just to be safe.

At around 5, we called my brother-in-law to come over to be with the other kids and my parents got ready and headed down to stay with the kids while we were at the hospital. We arrived at the hospital a little before 6 and got checked in. I was still having irregular contractions but I was feeling a little better otherwise.

When they got me hooked up to the monitor, they noticed that the baby's heart rate was really high. They took my temperature and discovered that I (and in turn, the baby) had a fever. I had checked my temperature at home because of my symptoms but I often don't register a temperature until I've been exhibiting fever symptoms for a while. They started me on IV fluids which helped the baby's heart rate go down but I still had a fever. They didn't know if I was in labor or if the fever was causing me to have contractions. They gave me Tylenol, started me on antibiotics and said they were going to admit me but that they didn't know if they would keep me. I was super stressed that they were going to send me home and I figured I would be back later that day based on how I was feeling.

When we got into the labor and delivery room, my doctor came to see us. He sat down to deliver his speech and Sam and I were both convinced he was going to send us home. He was worried that if I had a fever and was getting sick, it would be hard to care for a newborn. However, they had no idea what was causing the fever and my platelets were dropping and would probably continue to do so. After weighing all of the variables, he said they would start me on Pitocin and deliver me that day. Whew! I wasn't going home!

The next several hours involved a lot of waiting. The doctor didn't want to break my water until I had received two rounds of antibiotics. The nurse figured it was best to wait to start the Pitocin until I had the epidural and the anesthesiologist wanted to start the epidural as soon as possible, before my platelets dropped anymore. I don't normally get an epidural right away but after a stressful morning, I was exhausted and wasn't feeling up to dealing with the pain.

The anesthesiologist came in around 3 and started the epidural. The nurse started the Pitocin shortly after that and then the doctor came in to break my water. I was 3 cm when I arrived at the hospital, 4 cm when I checked into labor and delivery and 5 cm after he broke my water. The contractions were still pretty sporadic so they kept turning up the Pitocin. A little after 4, they nurse noticed that the baby's heart rate was doing funny things so she started me on oxygen. She asked if I was feeling any pressure and I said that, now that she mentioned it, I was. She checked me and, true to form, I had cruised through the end of labor and was ready to push.

At 4:25, our beautiful baby girl was born. She weighed 6 lbs. 5 oz and was 21 inches long.

We still hadn't decided on her name and with the nurses coming in and out, we didn't get a chance to talk about it for a little while. When, we got to the recovery room, we finally decided on Grace.

She is such a precious baby. She is a wonderful sleeper, which sometimes impedes her nursing. Her siblings are all absolutely in love with her. The girls want to hold her all the time and Grant goes running to her side anytime she makes a peep.

We are so blessed to have this sweet angel in our family!

Abby's First Day of Kindergarten

My beautiful firstborn started kindergarten. And, like most first time school-moms, it's been an emotional experience for me. It's a strange thing for me to send my daughter off for six hours a day when I've spent nearly every waking moment with her for the past (almost) six years. I picture her eating lunch and playing outside and I get a little weepy.

She's been very excited to start school. She loved going to buy school supplies and a few new clothes for school. She picked out this dress for the first day and wanted her hair in a pretty bun.

Clara missed her sister. After we picked Abby up, they were practically glued to each other the rest of the day.

Here's Abby in her classroom. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Wilson and she's exactly what you picture a kindergarten teacher being--young and sweet and vibrant.

She seemed to really enjoy her first day. She had lots to talk about, especially since she hadn't really done any speaking for six hours. I hope she'll open up and talk to the other kids before too long.

Here are the pictures of her first preschool days. Oh, how she's grown.

Family Staycation

Philip and Merrick came into town and my parent's decided to treat us to a resort in Scottsdale, AZ. We stayed at The Westin Kierland Spa and Resort. It was a gorgeous hotel with a delicious buffet breakfast.

We spent most of our time outside mixed with a little bit of relaxing in the rooms for naps/bedtime. 

We all had fun playing in the pool, going down the slide and floating in the lazy river.

These three have so much fun playing together. I love that my kids are close with their cousins.

I didn't get a lot of pictures. Sam had to work so he didn't get to spend a lot of time at the resort and I didn't want to leave the kids to fetch the camera. I was able to snap these shots on the morning we got to go to the pool with daddy.

Grant loved the splash pad, particularly laying down in the middle of it.

It was a fun weekend but not super relaxing juggling the kiddos without my partner in crime. Oh, the things we endure for our sweet little ones.