Introducing: My Kids

Since I started this blog, I have made it a point not to post my kids faces on it. I thought it was for safety, keep my kids faces off the internet. But now that I think about it, their faces are already all over the internet. On my FaceBook page, on my Twitter page. Yup. No hiding them.

Frankly, I am tired of trying to take pictures of them looking away from the camera just for the blog. So, here they are! My kids!

Little Man



Little Miracle



Little Miss



Aren't they cute? And now that they are out "in the open", I have a few more posts I am going to be sharing!!

2011 In Review

2011 was a busy year for us!

In January, we got to see our precious Little Bean
and see that it was a baby and not another molar pregnancy. {Each time I get pregnant, the risk is higher that it will be a molar again, so we have early ultrasounds to rule this out}

We also decided not to find out the gender of our “Little Bean” this time around. It was something I had wanted to do in previous pregnancies but never ended up having the patience to do so.

In February, Little Miracle started walking and also weaned from nursing. Just like his older brother, he did both at 14 months.

In March, I played with chemicals again to get some “guesses” on the gender of the baby. Both tests said “BOY!”

We also painted our house and did lots of other small projects

In April, we had our 20 week ultrasound and stayed strong with not finding out the gender. At that appointment, Stephen swore he saw “nothing” between the legs {even though they did not even look}, so he was convinced from that day on that the baby was a girl.

In May we celebrated 7 years of marriage. We went out to dinner. I was craving a bacon cheeseburger so we went to Chili's. This was the first year we did not go somewhere REALLY nice, but the pregnant lady had a craving! We also went to The Melting Pot for dessert.

June brought us our annual Florida trip and my growing suspicions that the baby was, in fact, a girl based on how I was carrying.

July we finally redecorated the boys bathroom and finally got them out of my bathtub.

August brought us the birth of Little Miss. Another fast birth, though we {barley} made it to the hospital this time around {And Stephen missed the whole thing. He was parking the car.} I had it planned that no one would tell me the gender. I was shocked and surprised to look for myself and see that she was a girl!

In September we started AWANA and my Little Man started preschool. They both love AWANA and Little Man is doing amazing in preschool.

October my Little Man turned 4. We also spent lots of afternoons playing in the leaves. Our fall this year was absolutely gorgeous.

In November we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family. I hosted and we had 15 people in our house for Thanksgiving dinner. Lots of delicious food and great company.

December brought us another birthday. My Little Miracle turned 2 and shortly there after started putting himself to sleep

We also celebrated Christmas {and I have not written that post yet}. The boys LOVED their Santa gifts and the gifts that we got them. Little Miss also got some fun stuff from Santa and us, though most of it was socks and tights.

What’s the plan for 2012?

Well, we have our annual Florida trip planned in June. We are planning a Chicago trip {and TweetUp} for some time this year. Little Man will continue preschool and Little Miracle will most likely start preschool also. We have a lot of house improvement projects planned for the beginning of the year, and Stephen and I are going to be buying a whole new wardrobe for us. It’s seriously been 10 years since we bought anything significant for our wardrobe. Little Miss will most likely start walking and also celebrate her 1st birthday!

I am excited to see 2012 here!

Random Act Of Kindness

Last week we were eating at our new favorite pizza place and a man came up to our table and handed Stephen a gift card. He mumbled something about "it has $35 on it, but their machine was not working, thanks for your service" {Stephen was in uniform}. He quickly walked away. We thought it was originally a $35 card, and he was giving us the change that was left on it. Still a nice gesture.

We thought nothing more of it until yesterday. Yesterday the pizza place posted this on their Facebook page:

“So we had a family eating at one of the outdoor picnic tables and the dad was dressed in his military uniform... Another man walks in and buys a $35 gift card and then walks outside and hands the card to the soldier and says Merry Christmas and thanks for your service and then walks away... Huge brownie points to this man for the anonymous gesture!!! God... I love this country”

I called Stephen and asked him to check the gift card out, that the restaurant was posting about it on Facebook and it should have $35 on it. He looked into it, but the card was originally bought in June and had $10 on it. Some was spent in June, and the card was zeroed out in October. Talk about confusion.

I went back and forth for an hour with myself about contacting the company. I decided to contact them so they would know there was a mistake. Maybe their machine WAS down, or the man was just mistaken. I emailed them and explained that we were that family they were talking about on Facebook and that we had checked the card and it had nothing on it. I said that maybe the man was mistaken (like he had 2 cards, and gave us the wrong one maybe) or maybe their machine messed up. I was not expecting anything in return, just wanted them to know, incase their machines were malfunctioning.

Imagine my surprise when the owner of the company replied and said “I would love to fix this for you. The man did buy the card and we must have messed up somehow”. There was a new gift card waiting for us in the register.

I don’t really know why I am sharing this story other than to praise the anonymous man who gifted us with the card and also to praise the restaurant for fixing a mistake. It was such an odd thing, the man mumbling and handing the card over and leaving just as quickly as he came, then the restaurant posting about it almost a full week later and being so willing to fix something that they did not have to do.

We are so blessed by people in our lives, be they anonymous or ones we know.

Thank you to everyone.

Little Miracle, My 'Going to Sleep' Fighter

Little Miracle has always needed help falling asleep.

When he was a baby he would nurse to sleep while swaddled. When he weaned we would swaddle him and rock him with a bottle of milk for him to go to sleep.

When he was about 17 months, I was swaddling him for nap, he screamed “UP” and immediately gave up the swaddle. Now I was worried about how to get him to sleep.

We started lying him down in his crib with his milk at nap time, letting him put himself to sleep. This worked from day one for naps.

Bedtime was a different story.

He flat out refused to be left in his room at night to put himself to sleep. He would SCREAM and beg us to get him before we had even left his room. I know many people who believe in the “cry it out” system, but it is not something that I believe in for my family.

So, for about the past year, Daddy has been sitting downstairs while Little Miracle lay next to him on the couch and fell asleep. Then Daddy would have to lug the sleeping boy upstairs and lay him in his crib. It was a lot of work, but it worked for us. He would sleep all night once he was in his crib.

We have wanted to change this habit for a while now. With him falling asleep downstairs, I am forced to stay upstairs. This was nice while I was pregnant, because I would just lay in bed and relax. But Little Miss is a night owl, not going down until around 10. I had to stay upstairs with her while Daddy got him to sleep on the couch. All of her "stuff" is downstairs, so if she needed a diaper, I had to sneak down and get Daddy to toss me one. If I needed to do laundry or tidy up I had to wait until Little Miracle was asleep.

We wanted to be able to lay Little Miracle down in his bed, tell him good night and walk out; having him put himself to sleep quietly.

For the past few weeks we were talking about starting to lay him down and leave the room, just to see how he would take it. We planned on going into his room and rubbing his back, rocking him or getting him if he fussed and putting him on the couch like we had been doing. We had decided on a start date of Monday for this.

Seems he got the memo.

Monday we were at urgent care all afternoon (Little Miracle took to stage diving Sunday, and was still limping pretty well on Monday, so we went in for x-rays ~ nothings broken, just a strain, sprang, tear or pull). By the time we ate dinner and got home, it was bedtime. We put Little Man to bed and then changed Little Miracle to get him ready for bed. It was such a long day I had all but forgotten about him going straight to his crib. Seems he knew what was up though. Without me saying anything, he walked over to his crib with his milk, and pulled on the side, as to say “I want in please!!”. I asked him if he was ready for night-night and he said “yes”. I picked him up, kissed him goodnight, laid him down and left the room. I walked down the stairs and waited for him to start fussing.

It never happened. We didn’t hear from him until about 4 am, when he needed a diaper change. He went back to sleep after that and got up around 8 am for the day.

Last night was the same thing. We changed his diaper, and he ran over to his bed. Put him in, tucked him in, and left. Again, didn’t hear a peep till this morning.

I feel like that was too easy. He is such a strong willed, independent child that I fully expected a fight. I envisioned telling him over and over that it is night night, rubbing his back, laying him down over and over and over in his crib. I guess he was ready to give up using the couch to fall asleep on.

We shall see how tonight goes.

Wish us luck!!

To My Little Miracle On Your 2nd Birthday

To my Little Miracle…

You are now 2 years old. I can’t believe you made it to two. You were the fussiest new born EVER. You screamed for 11 weeks straight. Non stop. SCREAM. Night and day. Day and night. We tried reflux meds, gripe water, catnip tea, every trick in the book and they did no good. IT.WAS.HELL.

But now. Now you are a somewhat different child. You don’t scream as much because you are working on learning to use your words. You are VERY independent and strong willed, you know what you want, and you want it NOW.

You were my toughest newborn. And my hardest toddler. Separation anxiety hit you again, for the 3rd time, after your sister was born and it has not ended at almost 4 months. You still LOVE.YOUR.MAMA.

Nothing wrong with that. You are a lover. Buy only on your terns. Mama wants to snuggle? No way. Only when Little Miracle is ready to snuggle. But when you are ready, you pile on the love, hugs and kisses. Then as quick as you decide it was time to snuggle, the snuggle is over. You love your brother and sister with all your heart. And the Christmas tree. “Night Night Is-mis”. You say every day before you lay down for a nap.

You LOVE cars and trains and balls. You ask for a sucker every time you get in the car. You want a soccer ball from Santa. You will sit and play with cars on the floor all day if I let you.

You wanted nothing to do with your sister when she was born but now you are in love. You giggle and she giggles. You love to look at her and laugh. She laughs right back at you. You have always been in awe of your older brother. You want to do everything he does. He’s jumping off the couch, you are right behind him.

You were swaddled until around 17 months, and then as I was swaddling you to put you down for a nap one day, you screamed “UP” and pushed your way out of the swaddle and never looked back. I am hoping you will do the same with the bottle here soon. You nursed until you were 14 months, and then Mama was pregnant with your sister and got the flu. You took milk in a bottle that week and never looked back.

You are fiercely smart. You knew all of your colors and letters by 18 months and now at 24 months you know some of the letter sounds. Your brother loves teaching you what he learns at preschool and you soak it up like a sponge. You are my cleaner. You love to help pick up and will pick up every piece of dirt off the floor if I let you. You let me know when its time to vacuum.

You are a sugar addict. I blame this on your older brother who gave you a sucker when you were a tiny newborn and Mama left you on the floor to run to the potty. You eat cupcakes by the icing only, love suckers and think Halloween is the best holiday EVER. You don’t like it when Mama says no to sugar. But Mama knows best.

You will always be my middle child. We conceived you on St. Patrick’s day shortly after a molar pregnancy. We found out you were going to be a big brother on your first birthday. Middle child syndrome hits you hard.

You are finding your way in this world. I are so proud of how far you have come and I can’t wait to see what you will do!

I love you.

Fall Fun In The Leaves

We are enjoying fall. The weather has been gorgeous. Fall festivals have started. Hay rides have been had. The most fun we have had though, is playing in the massive piles of leaves in our yard that we rake up.

Little Man helped Daddy rake up the leaves


The boys surveyed the pile


Mommy joined the boys, and brought Little Miss too


Daddy played too


We buried Daddy in the leaves


Then Little Man buried himself


How are you enjoying the fall?

Friday Review

Saturday Stephen had drill. I despise drill weekends because it means I have all three kids by myself all weekend. It makes for a LONG weekend.

My mom came over on Saturday and helped me with the kiddos. Stephens mom was also at our house off and on thru out the day. It was very nice having both Grandmothers to help with the kiddos.

Sunday was church. I started back working in the nursery for the second service. I was working it when I was pregnant, but it got to be too hard for me to get up and down off the floor and I knew I would take a break when Little Miss was born, so I stopped in July. It was very nice to get back to the nursery and the little kids I have missed so much!

After church I picked up Stephen from drill and we headed out to Norcross for the Labor Of Love reunion picnic. Labor of Love is the doula and child birth educators we used for Little Miracle and Little Miss. They have an annual reunion for all of their current and past clients. It was nice to see some of the ladies that I took my child birth classes with and also to see our doula and child birth educator.

The boys had a blast playing on the play ground while Little Miss and I ate and chatted. When we got home, I went to get Little Man out of the car seat and noticed what I thought was dirt on his forehead. I went to wipe it off, and it was not dirt, it was a bruise! He BUSTED (hard enough for a LARGE goose egg on his forehead and a nasty bruise) his head while playing and did not even flinch! I did not know he hit his head until we got home, over an hour later! Needless to say, he is fine.

Monday was back to preschool for Little Man and back to the daily grind for me.

Tuesday was appointments for Little Man and Little Miss. Little Man had his 4 year check up. He is 43 pounds and 42 inches tall. Perfectly healthy and growing like he should. Little Miss is 11.12 pounds. This blows my mind. I looked back and Little Man was 11.5 pounds at 4 months, Little Miracle was 12.6 pounds at 4 months.

She is a big baby. Little Man at 2 months was in the 4th percentile for his weight, Little Miracle was in the 5th. Little Miss at 2 months is in the 71st. Shes perfectly healthy though, just big. I am not used to a big baby, but I have always wanted a chunky baby, looks like I finally got it!

Wednesday was school again for Little Man and then AWANA. It was store night. At AWANA they earn "bucks" for things like attendance, wearing their vest, saying their verse and bringing their Bible. Little Man had 32 AWANA bucks. He bought a Cars ping pong game and two Veggie Tales CDs for the car. He also saved some of his bucks for the next store night.

Thursday was another chill out day at home. I started a fire in the fire place because it was overcast and quite chilly for Atlanta.

Little Miss laughed for the first time Thursday night. She was smiley and trying to poop, so I made up a silly cheer about poop, and she laughed! I find this really funny since Little Man laughed for the first time with poop also. What is it with my kids and poop?

Friday, well, its Friday morning right now. I haven't done much. Little Man is at school and Stephen is working a half day. We will see what trouble we get into tonight!

See ya next week!

Friday Review

This week was amazing!

Saturday we celebrated Little Mans 4th birthday at Catch Air. Little Man had.a.BLAST! Him and a bunch of his friends played for well over an hour then we went to the party room and had pizza and cupcakes. After they all ate, he opened his presents. He got a bunch of new toys that he LOVES.

Little Miracle playing with the light floor.


Little Man hiding under the light slide.

Sunday was a chill at home type day. After church we went home and relaxed.

Monday was Little Mans actual birthday. I made cupcakes for his pre-school class and took them there for him. He LOVED Mama being in his class. We sung to him and he shared his cupcakes with his class. After school, we went back to Catch Air (he wanted to go) then came home and had spaghetti and broccoli for dinner, one of his favorite meals.

Wednesday Little Man got to play games on the computer for the first time. He loved it! He now asks me daily to play games.



Thursday we got Little Man a new car seat and recovered his old one for Little Miss. New seats for both!





Today Little Miracle and I went to Joyful Noise Acres Farm for a tour with our local moms group. Little Miracle got to hold a baby chick and helped feed the laying hens. It was a ton of fun.



After the farm, we picked up Little Man at school. I was very surprised when I got home and pulled out his folder and saw this.



Those of you who know me, know my love of my kids footprints. I have both boys newborn prints tattooed on my shoulder, and will add Little Miss as soon as I can. I love that they did a footprint craft. A 4 year old footprint sure is bigger than a newborn print!

This next week is slow, with not much planned. Cant wait to see what fun we have!

To my Little Man on the eve of your 4th birthday.

I am so proud of you. You are becoming such a little man. Your nick name suits you.

This year you welcomed a sister. You told Mommy she was pregnant before Mommy knew, told us it was a sister and told us she would be born on a Sunday. You were right. You love your sister with every inch of your being. You always ask me to let you hold her, if she fusses, you tell me she is crying and will get her pacifier for her. You swing her in the swing and love kissing and hugging on her, even if she is screaming at you. You would probably change her diaper if I would let you.

You started preschool this year too. You LOVE preschool. You only go 3 days a week, but you would go every day if they offered it. I love seeing your artwork that you bring home from school. Painting, drawing smiley faces, practicing your letters, I love it all. You love playing outside at school. Every day when I ask what you did, you tell me “we played outside”

You know all of your letters, numbers, shapes, colors… You are as smart as a whip. Quick to correct me if I am wrong. You love learning. You love sharing what you learn.

You love to sing. ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star are your favorite, but you love singing Rock A Bye to your sister. You learn so quickly that we can sing a song once and you have all the words down by the next time we sing it.

You are in AWANA right now too. You love it just as much as preschool. You learn your verses every week, and have not missed one yet. You even get the address of the verse, even though they don’t ask your class to do it (you are one of the oldest in your class because of where your birthday fell). You are so proud of your patches you get on your vest.

Your favorite thing to do at home is play outside. You got a bike for your birthday this year. A real bike! You tell me all the time “I am learning to ride my bike”.

You still love to cuddle with Mommy in Mommy and Daddys bed. Any chance you get to come in you will. You also fully potty trained this year. You had day time down at 33 months, but night time was tough.

You love to help Mommy cook. Although brownies are your favorite thing to cook, you LOVE broccoli and snow peas to eat.

Your best friend right now is your cousin Sydney. Your eyes light up every time you see her. You just love her! I love seeing how close you two have become.

Your favorite color is blue. And you tell me all.the.time.

You love your little brother too. You love to play on the floor with him. He tries to steal your toys all the time. You are not the best sharer, but you are learning. You always tell Little Miracle that we are almost home when he is fussing in the car. You tell me when he is up from his nap and demand that I go get him right then and there.

I am so proud of who you are becoming. I can’t believe that you are 4 years old. Time really flies when you are having fun! I am excited to see what this year bring us!

Love Mommy

Friday Week In Review

This week was fun!

Saturday we went to the fair. Little Man and Little Miracle had SO much fun riding the rides and at the petting zoo. Little Man got to feed a cow and thought that was the coolest thing in the world. Little Miss slept thru the fair.



Sunday our church had a tailgaiting party. Lots of food and fun. Little Man loved the bounce house the most! I liked the chili cook-off! Lots of different kinds of chili to eat.

Monday my mom came and hung out with us all day. I love when my mom comes over. It's very helpful to a stay at home mom to have some adult conversation during the day! Out new next door neighbors got a new fridge and we stole the box. We made it into a fort and then had the boys paint it. It takes up a massive amount of space in my living room, but the boys are still playing in it tonight!



Wednesday Little Man got his second patch at AWANA. He got the first one last week for completing so many pages in his workbook and memorizing so many verses. I am so proud of my Little Man. He learns his verse every week and proudly says it to his teacher when he gets to his class room. At 3, he is not required to say the address of through verse but I make him learn it also. This week his patch was for attendance. He has not missed a week yet!

Wednesday Little Miss wore her first tu-tu. It was adorable!

Yesterday was a play day. We went to Catch Air and played for hours. The boys love that place. Little Miracle loved going down the huge slide in my lap.

Today we went to the park while Little Man was at school. Then we went to the bookstore with daddy and played with Thomas the Train. Tonight we spent time learning to ride his bike and then we walked to the neighborhood playground and had a picnic. We talked to our new neighbors and some old ones on the way back.

Tomorrow kicks off a new week for my week in review, and next week is going to be epic!

This Week: In Review

My favorite day since Little Man has started preschool is Friday. That is when the teachers send home a "this week" paper. It is a review of everything they did and learned that week. I love talking to him about everything he did and reviewing what he learned.

I am going to start a "This Week: In Review" here on my blog. Every Friday I will post what we did that past week. I am excited to start this!

Here we go!!

This Week:

We went to Hilton Head, SC for Stephens work. While there, we got up early to watch the sunrise



We played in the ocean with our clothes on



We looked for and collected shells



We built couch tents in the hotel



Back home, Little Miracle started using sentences! "Light on please" and "Let's play outside" are his current favorite.

Little Miss smiled for the first time!

Little Man got a REAL bike for his up coming birthday! We got to watch them build it!



That is our week in review. What happened at your house this week?

My Favorite Picture

This is one of my favorite pictures of my boys. It captures a typical day here of play. This was taken in late July.

We were playing hide and seek. The boys both took off for the play room and I counted from the living room. As soon as I looked in the play room, I bust out into laughter.



Where could they be?

New Adventures

My Little Man is growing up way too fast. He will be 4 in 3 weeks and I am in complete denial. He was just the size of Little Miss a few weeks ago it seems.

I have been debating sending Little Man to preschool. I know it will do him good, and he will interact with kids his age more, but I want to home school the kids and thought we didn't need preschool. Well, I changed my mind. I'm allowed to do that, right?

Little Man started a 3 day a week preschool on Friday. He LOVES it! This morning he woke up and was ready to go! It gives me more time to spend with Little Miracle and Little Miss also.

I can't wait for him to come home and tell me what he learned, who his friends are and what his favorite part of the day was. Although, on Friday all the answers were "I don't know".

Both boys started AWANA a few weeks ago too. Stephen and I both grew up going to AWANA and really wanted our children to go also. Little Man loves AWANA also. He quotes his Bible verses and wants to read the Cubbies book every day. Little Miracle is still not so sure about AWANA, since he does not like being away from Mommy.

Finally, Little Miss. I need to change her nick name. She is no LITTLE Miss.

Little Man and Little Miracle both started out at 7.5ish pounds, and stayed little. Both boys were always in the 5% or under for their weight until around 18 months, and that is when they started to pack on pounds. (Little Man, at almost 4 is in the 90% for his weight now)

Little Miss must know she needs to catch up to these boys. At 2 weeks old she was back to her birth weight (8.3 lbs) and at 1 month old, was 10.5 lbs. 10 POUNDS!!! A weight gain of 2 pounds in 2 weeks! Her newborn clothes no longer fit her. This just blows my mind since both boys were in newborn clothes for a few months. I know each child is different, but I thought since we had 2 skinny boys, we would have a skinny girl too.

I always wanted a fat baby.... looks like I may have it!

Life With Three Kids

Life with three kids... its going good so far!

Little Miss is a very chill baby. Unlike Little Miracle was. Little Miracle screamed non-stop for the first, oh- 3 months? He is still a very opinionated child,and like his mama in that he knows what he wants and he wants it N.O.W.

Little Miss is content sitting in your lap, or in her swing, or laying on the floor. When she is done, she lets out a little fuss, and that's it. She sleeps most of the day still, and already gives us a 3 hour block of sleep at night. She nurses like a champ and goes right back to sleep.

Little Man is doing great with "his baby". He LOVES to hold her, wants to help with diapers, and is always hugging and kissing on her. I am thinking about signing him up for a church preschool so he can get to interact more with kids his age, since we don't get out much right now. I know we will get back to play dates and outings, I am just not sure when. Plus, preschool will do him some good!

Little Miracle is not too sure about Little Miss. I finally got him to hold her the other day, oh-my-goodess, the cuteness. He ignores her most of the time. Until she cries. Then he will tell me her name, and say "cry". Or if she is sleeping. It's her name, then "sleep". Then he shushes me. Finger to the lips and all.

We started the boys in AWANA last week. Little Man LOVES it. He proudly walks into his class and says his bible verse from the previous week. Last weeks was 1 John 4:10. When he told me the verse, I then asked him where it was found. He, in his smart ways, said "the Bible"... well, yes, but not the answer I was looking for, but how do you argue with that?

Little Miracle, on the other hand, screams during his class. Not just at drop off, the. entire. time. The first week he was screaming on the playground when I finally rescued him. He screamed thru play time inside, screamed outside on the playground, and even screamed thru snack time of a banana and cookie. This week was the same. He is fine if I stay in his class. Next week the teacher has told me to just drop him and go. She apparently has a child with his personality, and is ok working with him to stop fussing. He is almost 2 so he knows if he fusses long enough Mama will come rescue him, which I will.

Little Miss stays with me during AWANA. Shes way too little to be in a class room and around other kids.

Stephen went back to work full time this week. Life at home with three is not too bad. I hit the wall of exhaustion around 3:30 and that's when we all lay on the floor and read books, or pop in a movie. Then Daddy comes home and rescues me!

Stephen and I are not sure if we are done having kids or not. We will make this decision over the next year or so. Meanwhile, we are both savoring Little Miss and all she does, since she may be our last baby.

The Birth Of Little Miss

Little Man told me when I was pregnant before the stick turned pink, said the baby was a girl and picked Sunday for the birth of “his baby”. He was right on all three.

-----
8/14/2011

I woke up Sunday morning 39 weeks and 3 day pregnant, and OVER IT. The August heat was getting to me, I couldn’t sleep and just felt all around miserable. I knew the baby would come when the baby was ready, but I was ready. I dreaded going to church because I knew the “your STILL pregnant??” comments would start. I also knew if I skipped church, my phone would blow up with people thinking I was in labor, so off to church we went.

After church we came home and I managed to have a nap. I remember taking a nap the afternoon that Little Miracle was born, so I was still hopeful. I had a feeling about that night.

When Little Miracle got up from his nap we headed down to Atlanta to see my father in law. He had kidney surgery a few weeks ago and was not well. He has been slowly improving and Stephen wanted to see him again before he had to go to work on Monday.

I was having contractions all week the week before. When we were at the hospital they were gaining in intensity, but still random and not strong enough, so I ignored them. After Stephen visited his dad we headed back towards the house to run some errands.

When we got home the contractions had slowed down and spaced out. I still had a feeling about that night but I was becoming less hopeful. We took a short walk around the neighborhood then got the boys in the bath and Little Man off to bed. I thought maybe after we got the boys to bed that the contractions would pick up.

((Now, let me back track a little. The entire pregnancy I was praying for my body to give me a sign when it was time. I did not want another unassisted unplanned home birth. I wanted to make it to the hospital.))

Just before 9, Stephen was downstairs putting Little Miracle to sleep. I was upstairs and the contractions got stronger. I was still thinking “maybe?”. I was back and forth between the bathroom and my bed questioning myself wondering what to do. I went back to the bathroom and had a very loose stool and a bit of a bloody show. AH- HA! A SIGN. I immediately called my mom to come over to watch the boys and called my doula. I remember telling my doula that if nothing else, we can walk around the hospital. I guess I was still thinking I had a long labor ahead of me.

I walked halfway down the stairs to tell Stephen what was up and that everyone was on their way already. My mom was there within minutes. I met her outside because Stephen was putting Little Miracle to bed. I had two contractions while I was outside. Stephen got back downstairs and my mom and I came inside. I grabbed my last minute items and we were off. I called the midwife to let her know what was going on.

I put my iPod earphones into my ears so I could have music while I was contracting. I needed to focus on something. The contractions were not that bad and they seemed to be well spaced so I thought I was still in early labor. I was talking between the contractions and could have walked thru them if I wanted.

We got about half way to the hospital when I started thinking “I am not ready for a third child, what did we do? Cant I just go home and not have this baby”. I thought that way for a second and then realized that I was in transition because of the irrational thoughts. I did not tell Stephen this, but glanced over at how fast he was going. Ah, 90, that’s good. Contractions had picked up and I was doing all I could to stay calm thru them.

When we reach Atlanta there is traffic. A bridge over the freeway had fencing fall off of it, and they were fixing it, so they stopped traffic on the freeway. I told Stephen “just get off, it will reroute us” (meaning the GPS). As soon as we got off we realized the traffic was moving again, so we had to drive around the block to get back on the freeway. This entire time I am praying and saying loudly “please God, get us there”

Back on the freeway and then off at our exit. “Almost there” I told the baby.

The final turn before the hospital is a left with a light. It always backs up. Sunday night is no expectation. We were the third car back when the light turned red. I told Stephen to “get over and turn from the straight lane”. He did just that.

When we finally pulled up to the hospital I told him to drop me off at the ER and to bring my bags. I walked into the ER in full transition mode and really ready to just be up in labor and delivery and have my baby!

((Now the story gets fun. The hospital is doing construction, so things are not how they usually are, and the hospital is in a … um… not so safe area of town, so they lock things down at night. Just remember that.))

I walk into the ER and there is a security guy sitting behind a desk. I pointed to my belly and said all I could manage to say at that point… “labor”. He then told me to go back outside to the security desk and they would have a wheelchair to take me to labor and delivery. The woman in the transition part of labor yelled at this poor man “you have to be kidding me!” he said he was not so I walked back outside.

I got to the security desk and the guy looked at me like he had no idea what I needed. Isn’t it pretty obvious, woman with massive belly looking like she is in pain needs LABOR AND DELIVERY. I did not see the wheel chair that I was told would be there, so I just asked him which way I needed to go. I figured I would birth a baby on the sidewalk if I stood around and waited for a wheelchair, so I took off walking.

I went thru the first set of double doors, then went to the next set, and they would not open. I stood there for what feels like forever when a group of 3-4 men came up behind me and wanted to open the door too. I yelled at them to “go see why this door is not working!”. Then one of them pushed a button and it opened. Oh- I see. Rational brain does not work this late in labor I guess.

I walk past a set of stairs and decide stairs might not be the best option. (maybe rational brain DOES work) I make it to the elevators. 4 of them to be exact. 3 of them said they were on the ground floor. Awesome! I pushed the up button for both sides hoping one would open. Nothing. Minutes passed and I realize I am alone in a hall way about to give birth. I scream as loud as I can “why aren’t these (enter choice words that I am not gonna type) elevators working?” Just then the one that was originally on the 7th floor opens. Thank you God!

I get on and press 7 and the door close button at almost the same time. I am thanking God for finally getting the elevators to open. When it dings that I am on the 7th floor I am SO thankful to have FINALLY made it to labor and delivery where someone can help me get this baby out! The doors open and I realize it’s another long hallway to walk down.

Now, it was a full moon this night, so I expected the place to be packed. It was DEAD. Like, you could hear a pin drop on the floor dead quiet. And no one to be seen in any direction.

I start walking down the hallway and see a nurses station. YES!! Someone can help me. I get to the nurses station and a huge contraction hits. I lean over the desk and the lady tells me which direction I need to go. This contraction is taking forever and she says “as soon as it is over you need to go down the hall”. I don’t think she realized where I was in labor. I half squatted and half bent over. Before I did this I see a tall man walking towards me. He appears to be a doctor from his lab coat and scrubs. He yells from down the hall “are you ok?” and the nurse sarcastically says “she’s in labor”. Gee thanks Captain Obvious.

He walks over and holds me up. I was assuming he was an OBGYN since he was on the labor and delivery floor, but he seems to know nothing about a laboring woman. He asks me who my doctor is and I tell him. The nurses station finally realizes that I am NOT walking any farther and grabs a wheel chair. They wheel me to another station where they want me to fill out paper work. I get it in my hands and then say “I can’t” and throw it back at them. At this point they ask if I am Lisa Strickland and when I say yes, they said they knew I was coming and I was finally off to my room.

The nurse wheels me into my room all while asking questions.

“has your water broken” no

“are you feeling pressure” no

“do you need to use the restroom”- ah yes, I need to pee.

We get to my room and she wheels me straight to the bathroom. I get up and sit to pee. As soon as I pee I realize something else.

“I need to poop” I told her.

“honey, that’s not poop” she said. Ah yes, pressure! She asks me if I can make it to the bed. Not happening. I am NOT moving.

“no” I tell her. Then my water breaks. I announce this.

At this point several other nurses have joined in my party. One feels and says “oh honey, the baby’s head is right here, you need to get off the toilet”

I am still not moving and one of the nurses runs next door to get my midwife who was with another patient. They come running in and the next thing I remember is blue towels and such being thrown on the bathroom floor.

My midwife wants me off the toilet, and I know why. I lunge forward onto my hands and am half standing, half to my knees while pushing. The baby comes sliding out into my midwives hands. At this point I remember the ONE thing that I knew I could control in my labor and delivery was that I wanted to be the one to look and see the gender and announce it myself. So I start screaming “don’t tell me the gender, don’t tell me the gender!!”. Someone in the room said “we won’t honey”

My midwife tells me when ever I am ready to sit down and take my baby. I sit down and tear off my shirt and bra. She hands the baby over to me. The baby has its sack over its face still, born in the caul. My midwife pulls the sack off of the head and the baby starts to cry.

I peek between the legs. A GIRL. OMG. It’s a girl!! I cant believe I just had a baby girl on the bathroom floor. I ask my midwife if I saw that correctly and check again. Yup, it’s a girl.

At this point I look around. Where is my husband? Oh yeah, he was parking the car. I ask for my phone to see where he is. I call him and he is on the 7th floor looking for me. He could hear the baby cry from the phone. I knew he was close so I didn’t tell him what we had just yet.

He came walking into our room and to the bathroom.

(Me, my midwife and Little Miss. I had Stephen take this pic after he found us.)

He just smiles at me and the baby. I ask him if he wants to know what the baby is, and he says yes. I told him “you have a daughter”. His smile widens.

I did manage to make it to the bed to deliver the placenta. My doula walked in a few minutes after the baby was born. She told me she was walking in when she heard “happy birthday” playing (they play it after every birth) for my baby. She almost made it.

Another super fast labor. If you count from the time I was wondering if the contractions were real it was 4.5 hours. If you count from the first real “this is labor” contraction, it was less than an hour. I think, IF there is another baby, it will be a planned home birth!

Welcome New Baby!

Little Miss was born on 8/14/2011 at 9:34 pm

She was 8.3 lbs and 20 inches long

Her birth story is coming soon. It is similar to Little Miracles in that it was super fast!

Nesting

I thought I started nesting a few weeks ago when we decided to redecorate the boys bathroom.

It started with a trip to Home Depot to get a $2 piece to fix their toilet.

It ended with almost $100 worth of paint and decorations, a two day project of painting the room, making wall hangings for them and finally putting it all together.

Before: (this is how it was when we moved in)


After:


It seems that I like to paint when I am at the end of pregnancy. I painted wall hangings for the nursery when I was pregnant with Little Man. I painted a wall art for Little Mans room when I was pregnant with Little Miracle, and now I painted their bathroom wall hangings and the bathroom when I am pregnant.

I thought nesting was still going when I decided I needed to cook enough food for a month and put it in our new chest freezer.



I was wrong.

While I am glad all this is now done, I hit nesting in FULL form on Saturday.

It started while I was laying on the floor playing with the boys. I looked at my tv cabinet and saw how dusty it was. Yuck. After I dusted that, I dusted the rest of the house. Then decided to scrub toilets. Then the kitchen floor needed to be cleaned, then the carpets needed to be steam cleaned, then the rest of the house needed to be decluttered. 6 hours later, my house looks brand new! You think I would stop there? Nope.

The baby seat had to be installed. Which meant the car needed to be cleaned out. Then I had to move the boys seats.

I have a little over 3 weeks until my due date, but I keep thinking this baby is coming earlier, and that would be a welcome relief from the August heat that is coming.

Here are my 36 week belly shots from all 3 pregnancies.

30 Weeks

ACK!! Almost 30 weeks!

When did that happen?

I always get nervous around this stage in pregnancy because I was a preemie born at 29.6 weeks. I try not to dwell on the fact, and instead think that in 8-12 weeks, we will be adding another child to our mix!

So far, all is going well. Had my gestational diabetes test a few weeks ago, and since I have not heard anything yet, I am assuming I passed. I declined drinking the nasty sugar drink and opted instead to eat a certain meal for the test. It was much easier to eat breakfast then to fast and drink that nasty syrup.

We started our birth classes last weekend. I am so excited to be gearing up for another natural water birth! I am trying to tell my body daily to take it slow. I do not want to have another unassisted home birth! I want a longer labor with this one. I know, that sounds really odd to most women, but if you had the experience I had last time, you would probably be saying the same thing.

We still do not know what we are having. We have names picked out for each gender, and a coming home outfit for each also. I am beginning to think we will be having Little Miss just by the way I am carrying and how different my cravings are this time around.

With Little Man, I wanted puffy Cheetos, watermelon and Skittles. Little Miracle had me craving hot dogs. This one has me craving crunchy foods (apples, carrots, cucumbers). Really different!

Tell me what you think? Is this my Little Miss or my Little Mister?

No more naps for Little Man

I know I said 6 months ago I was going to write this post, and here it is. A little late, but life is super busy over here!

I always LOVED nap time. When I only had one child, it was MY time. I could nap, clean, read a book, do whatever I wanted to do! Then we added Little Miracle to our house, and both he and Little Man eventually napped at the same time. Mama still had "me" time.

I had both boys napping at the same time for a few months. I always dreaded the day that Little Man would give up his nap time.

Then it happened.

Little Man started fighting his nap for 2 hours, then finally sleep, then he would fight bedtime for 2 hours. It was just not worth it anymore to force a nap on him when he clearly did not need one. So I started to just skip his nap.

And I was TERRIFIED.

Then I realized all the possibilities this opened up. We could stay out later if we were out in the morning because Little Miracle would nap anywhere at that age. It gave Little Man and I "our" time back. When you add a second child into your family, you no longer get the one on one time that you get all day with only one child. Little Man and I could do things that we wouldn't do when his brother was awake. We could bake, paint, build with blocks and have them stay up. All the things that Little Miracle would make difficult at his age.

Now most days Little Miracle's nap time is Little Man's quiet time. He needs time to wind down and relax after our busy mornings. It’s our time to watch movies on the couch. We snuggle up and watch a movie or his favorite shows. Quiet time usually lasts about an hour, and then we get to play, just him and I. We have started working on writing letters and hearing the sound letters make in this time too.

I guess the moral of my story is this: don’t dread the day your child gives up their nap. It will open up a world of possibilities for you!

When my Little Man gave up his nap, it made a happy mama!

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day. The day where people try to bring awareness to the things we are doing that harm the Earth and bring awareness to things we can do to lessen our impact on the Earth.

I consider our family pretty Earth friendly. We try hard to keep our impact on the Earth small.

What do we do? Here are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head.

We use cloth diapers so no waste going into the landfills. We have used the same diapers for both of our children and will use the same ones for the third and any more children we are blessed with.

I breastfeed my children, so no formula cans or bottle liners going into the trash and no extra water used on washing bottles. Plus, its free!

We don't use paper napkins or paper towels, we use washcloths and rags instead since these are reusable.

We turn off lights when we are not in a room or when we are not at home. Gotta save energy too.

I shop with cloth bags most of the time, so less plastic ones that never go away.

We try to get most of our food from local sources. Eggs and meat come from a farmer that is about an hour and a half away. Fruit and veggies are bought from the farmers markets (looking into the cost share from our farmer this spring/summer). Buying food local saves fuel and you get fresher food!


These are just a few things you can do too. What does your family do to lessen your impact on the Earth? Any ideas for us to add this year?

Spring Cleaning

We have been doing a lot of spring cleaning around here. Other than cleaning out closets and such, we have been doing house repair. So far we have:

Replaced the play room (was dining room) light and put up a celing fan

Replaced the very old and very noisy garage door opener

Pressure washed the deck

Painted the garage

But the biggest project yet? We painted the house...

Before:


After:


And replaced the french doors that lead to the deck

Before:


After:


Next up? Staining the deck, redoing our bathroom, the boys bathroom and yard work.