Picture Wednesday

These are the types of pictures that kids hate when they get older but mom's just love! (Scott also probably wont be happy with this picture).  But Seriously, I think I might frame this in my house.

Dolls with Lily

Lily turned 2 years old this weekend. Happy birthday Lily! For her birthday she got a doll gift set with everything you could need to take care of your baby doll.  Caleb , Lily, and Aunt Bekah had a fun time playing with lily's new toys.

Although blurry my favorite picture is of caleb playing with 1 doll while lily carries 5 in her arms!

Sorry the pictures aren't turned...I am still learning my smart phone...

Hair Cuts - Summer in Review

June 1st

At the start of summer I noticed the boys were in desperate need of a hair cut.  Especially Caleb; and as this was Caleb's first hair cut, I of course took pictures. 

The bath before the hair cut, since my boys always seem to be covered in dirt...

I have found that the best way to cut the boys hair is a pair of clippers and a stool outside on the patio.  While it was sad to cut off Caleb's curls, it was time to get rid of the baby curls and have a big boy hair cut.

Caleb was first.

 He did surprisingly well, sat still through the whole thing without being bribed with a Popsicle or anything!

 No more curls!

Brendan was next.  

Although he usually hates hair cuts and wont still through to the point that I have to hold him down while Scott cuts his hair, I made such a big deal about Caleb sitting so still that Brendan decided he would too.  I still had to give him a treat when he was done though.

At the end I had two good looking boys, and at 2 years old, Caleb had his first hair cut!

Summer in Review

Since I was not very good at blogging about all our summer "adventures" these past few months, I want to catch up with our family happenings, mostly with pictures.  Bear with me as I update my blog with pictures and posts, and hopefully I wont fall so behind again!

Enjoy!

Abby the Tabby

Our family has grown again, a week ago we brought home the newest member of our family...a tabby cat.

Meet Abby the Tabby

I saw on facebook a friend trying to find a new home for one of her cats, since we had been talking about getting a cat for a while, we pounced on the idea!

Okay, so it wasn't quite a pounce, rather we carefully contemplated the idea of introducing a cat to our family so soon after bringing home a baby and with our kids so young and bringing home a cat with previous issues. 

The situation seemed like a good fit for us since Abby is already 2 years old so we don't have to worry about training a kitten, and she has been raised in a family with three young children already so I don't have to worry about how she will be around our young rambunctious kids.  And since she had a few previous issues in her first home, our friends agreed that we would give Abby a two week trial type period to make sure she was a good fit for our family, and if not, they would try to find another alternative for her. 

So last Saturday, we went and picked Abby up.  We didn't talk to the kids at all about us bringing home a cat so they would not overwhelm her with their excitement.

The first few hours she spend under the bed, but she would slowly come out for attention if Scott or I went into the room alone.  By the next day she was sleeping at the foot of our bed and begging for attention.  A few days later she would timidly come out to eat and then retreat back to our room either under our bed or at the foot of the bed.

Now a week later, Abby has made herself at home, sleeping at our feet, eating well and even curling up on the couch (after the boys go to bed).  The boys love the new kitty and she tolerates their little grabbing hands.

Austin @ 1 month

As of Wednesday, August 21st, Austin is now 1 month old.  I has been a crazy fast month with family, visitors, and getting used to a routine with 3 kids now. 

Overall Austin is doing great and sleeping well.  He is on a 3 hour feeding schedule for now and usually sleeps 6-8 hours in a row at night.

His brothers are doing great with a new baby in the house, Caleb especially wants to be around me and Austin all the time and help with anything that he can...even if I don't need/want any help, Caleb is right there by my side. 

Austin is a pretty laid back fairly easy baby although he is wanting to be held more and wants more attention as he gets older, but he takes good naps for us.  Bath time is not his favorite but he tolerates them.  (You can see my little helper in the background during bath time).

 Austin now weighs 10 lbs, 12 oz according to my scale at home, That is more than 2 pounds since his birth. And although I didn't measure him, he is defiantly getting longer as many of the newborn clothes are not stretching as long as he is.

Although we are tired and it has been a bit of a struggle for me getting used to three kids so young, I love watching Austin grow and our family come together as one unit.

Austin @ 1 month:

Wordless Wednesday

One of my favorite pictures from the Hospital:

Bringing Baby Home

After getting settled in our recovery room on Saturday, we were able to get a little rest between the constant interruptions of hospital staff checking on myself and baby Austin, visitors, and the frequent feedings a newborn requires.  Our pediatrician came by to check on Austin, let us know that everything looked good and asked if we were going home say day.  Since my doctor was not going to release me same day, our Ped said he would be back in the morning to check on Austin again. 

I was fortunate enough to have Scott stay the night with me to help with Austin and be there to support me.  This was the first time he had the opportunity to stay as our previous hospital did not allow him to stay past 9:00.  The first night was really tough, as was expected.  But both Scott and I were exhausted and by Sunday morning we were ready to be home and get some sleep in our own bed.

First thing Sunday morning, before breakfast, my doctor came to check on me.  After confirming that I did NOT want to stay another night in the hospital, she cleared me to go home.  Shortly after, as promised, Austin's doctor came by to and checked Austin over and circumcised him.  With this being our third boy now, and since our doctor has seen us fairly regularly over the past 4 years, he told us what to watch for and said he didn't need to see us until Austin's two week check up.  We were free to go home.

Only one more hurdle, hospital standards say that the baby has to have one wet diaper after circumcision before being released.  Austin was circumcised at about 10:00am.  We waited, and waited for that baby to have a wet diaper, but all he wanted to do was sleep...

The nurse, would come in, check on us and say "we still waiting..." and would walk out.  By lunch time, we were tired of waiting.  How long do we wait for a wet diaper before we do something?  Call the doctor? Check baby out? It had been 4 hours and no wet diaper...

We tried everything to get that baby to pee.  I nursed more frequently, wiped him down with a baby wipe, undressed him.  It wasn't until 3:00 that Scott got so frustrated he decided it was time for Austin to stop being warm and comfortable.  While I went to the bathroom, Scott unswaddled him, Austin started to cry and Scott let him get mad.  It worked, Austin finally woke up from his peaceful rest and we finally got a really full-wet diaper. (and we have been going through diapers like crazy since...)

After we got our wet diaper, we signed the last of the paperwork, were given a free car-seat, dressed Austin in his new going home outfit, and were sent on our way.

Coming home was so refreshing!  The boys really missed us and were excited for the new baby.  Both boys were able to really hold him and took turns giving him kisses. 

Aunt Bekah, Uncle Kevin & Lily came by to visit that evening.

We were so happy to be home, our new life with 3 kids has begun...

My Birth Story

My official due date from the beginning was July 19^th based upon my last cycle, the date on the first ultrasound based on size was July 16^th, from then on my date fluctuated between those dates.  Unfortunately for me, due dates mean nothing for me, my babies do not like to come without a little “encouragement” and I knew that, no matter how many Braxton-hicks contractions I have, my babies do not like to come out. 

My "birth plan" for this one was to labor at home as long as possible in hopes of a delivery without pitocin for once and check into the hospital for a nice easy natural delivery.  Unfortunatly, things do not always go as plannned.  Especially something as unpredictable as Childbirth.

On July 12^th, I had my weekly doctor’s appointment…still not dilated at all.  Since this was not an unusual state for me to be in, my doctor suggested we set an induction date.  Friday, July 20^th was set as the day.  One week later I had another appointment, July 19^th, the last due date.  I was still only dilated to 1 cm, so the induction was on.

July 15th, 1day before my 1st due date

On Friday morning while Scott went to the gym at 5:00 am, I got up, showered, got dressed and called the hospital to confirm they were ready for me.  We checked into the hospital at 7:00 am.  The staff got me all checked in changed, monitors connected and IV in.  I was checked out…although I had begun contracting on my own…I was still only dilated to 1 cm. 

At 9:30 am I received my first dose of Cytotec to speed up labor, I was then to wait 4 hours until they would check me again.  After 4 hours there was not change, still not dilated.  At this time I was moved from the spacious labor/delivery room in order to make room for patients who were actually doing something.  The new room we were moved to was so small, there was no chair for Scott only a skinny bench for him to sit/sleep on. Doctor ordered another Cytotec was and we waited another 4 hours with still no prevail.  After three doses of Cytotec I was done being in that hospital bed and was ready to go home.  I was tired and uncomfortable, I wanted to call it quits and tell them I would be back on Monday to try again.  But my doctor wanted to go ahead and keep things going since I was contracting. 

At 7:00 we said goodbye to our nurse and waited for the next set of nurses to come.  To my surprise in walks Brittany.  I woman I went to college with, attends our church and a friend of my sisters.  She asked if it would be okay if she was my nurse.  It was so nice to have a familiar face during the stressful time.  She was such a support to both Scott and myself.

At about 1:00 am they started the Pitocin, moved me to a large labor/delivery room, and we waited while Scott tried to get some sleep.  Brittany, my nurse, checked me about every half hour to an hour and I was finally progressing.  Although I was only 6 cm dilated at 3:00 am, I knew baby was coming not soon.  At about 3:45 I told Brittany it was time to call the doctor and they started prepping the room.  One of the nice things about not getting an epidural is that labor goes faster, not slowed down by the medication, Unfortunately, even with the warning, we still didn’t give my doctor enough time to come and deliver my baby.  My first push came with a gush as my water broke, by push 3 baby’s head was almost out.  After push 5 I had a beautiful baby, Scott leaned over with the biggest grin on his face and said “We got our boy!” 

At 4:17 am, July 21^st they laid my third boy on my chest while they finished cleaning up and there he stayed for his first hour of life.  The nurse assigned to the baby asks, “Does he have a name?” Austin William.  From the very beginning he was sucking on his hands looking for his thumb and would stick his little tongue out while looking for food. 

After an hour they took him to get bathed and measured.  I was shocked when he weighed in at over 8 pounds!  8 pounds, 2.5 ounces, 20 inches long, my biggest baby. 

Scott was then able to hold Austin for the first time, so happy to have three beautiful boys.  After my doctor finished checking me out and stitching me up, we were moved to our recovery room.  Brittany tried to get us a private recovery room, but all rooms were full.  Luckily, she was able to get us into a room with a patient that was checking out that morning.

After we were settled in our recovery room, and I had my pain medication.  We started letting everyone know the news and my mom got to hold her 4^th grandchild.  Bekah came with Brendan and Caleb at 8:00 to meet the new baby.  We had to teach Brendan to call him Austin, and not “the new baby” but both boys just loved Austin from the beginning.

Our family of 5 is not complete.  Three wonderful boys, who could ask for anything better!  I love being a mom of all boys!