D day

I had been looking forward to this day for so long. I really do hate being pregnant and this one just felt like it was dragging on. I would have contractions but nothing strong enough to put me into labor. Or I would have them all evening, then go to bed and they would stop. So frustrating!! But finally the day arrived. We had to be at the hospital at 4 am...so early. Jeff was not happy about that. But we made it and we were only 20 minutes late.

This is me right before they hooked me up to the monitors. I was all belly. I only gained 13 lbs for the entire pregnancy and lost weight the last 3 months. The doctor was not concerned about it and so neither was I. It just meant less weight to lose later.



They got me started on the pitocin and really it went by so quickly. The Dr. broke my water at 9:30 and then just after 11 am Kate was born. She was 8 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long. The labor and delivery were so easy. I was really nervous about my epidural but things went well and it worked awesome. I was nervous because a friend had told me about the last one she had and it was recent it did not go well and she said it was a woman who did it and when I saw a women walk in the door to do it the nerves set in, but things went well. When I had Addison Jeff was sitting on the couch and reading a book while I was getting my epirual....nope not right there holding my hand or helping at all. I really gave him a hard time about that and this time, even worse....he was snoring on the couch. Yep, my darling husband was sleeping on the couch next to me. The three of us (me, the nurse, and the anesthesiologist) were all laughing. He said that he heard the whole thing, but I doubt it. Let's just say he is not an ideal birthing couch. Good thing I didn't go natural. After the epidural was given I felt much better and it was smooth sailing from there.





Right after Kate was born we found out she had an extra toe. Get those crazy ideas out of your head....it was not as bad as it sounds. There was an extra flap of skin on her right pinky toe. It did not have bone in it, but it did have fingernail. The dr. put a tourniquet on it and took the blood supply away and it started to turn black. Then they snipped it off after 24 hours. So we took home a 10 toed baby.


This was with the the tourniquet on it. Addison was concerned for her...it was kind of cute how concerned she was. She did not want something hurting "her" baby. As she now refers to her as. It really looked worse than it was.

This is a picture of her foot a few days after she got home.

Jeff's parents brought the kids to the hospital and Addison was super excited, the only problem was that Kate was still in the nursery and so they took her over there to see her. I just love this picture...she is so proud. She loved seeing her. Parker saw the snack machine and was more interested in that. His first response to me was, "Does she really have 11 toes??" He was really concerned about it. Once he saw it he calmed down and realized that it was okay.


It was so nice to have Jeff's parents there. They have actually been able to be there at the hospital for all three of the kids. They were so wonderful with the kids. That was my biggest fear, going into labor with my kids and having no where for them to go. They took a huge stress off of my shoulders.






We are excited to have Kate join our family. I was certain it was a boy and so to have a girl was very unexpected. She is just so little too. She is my smallest so far. You may think that 8 lbs 9 oz is huge but for me she is just tiny. She has the smallest little head. She does not fit into 0-3 months and so I have had to buy some newborn stuff. I also now have lots of boy clothes and have lots to return, but that is okay. So far she has been a great baby. We are trying to get a schedule down and things will start to settle down. She is not a very good nurser but she is catching on. Recovery was VERY easy and I feel great. Well if you don't count the fact that I am tired all the time. But I can handle that. The hardest part is having to deal with the other kiddos and this new little one. (that is so demanding) I always feel like I am feeding her and it is tough when all I can do it sit there and hope the kids will listen. It is hard when Addison has to pee and she won't run into the potty without me and then I watch her as pee runs down her leg and onto the carpet....and I get to sit there and be okay with it while my baby eats. We have also had wonderful friends that have helped out a ton and we appreciate all of them.

Entertainment arrives...

Alright so I won't bore you with all the details of my delivery of Kate right now. I will save that for later. But everything went well and so fast. It was the easiest one so far. I am feeling great!! I am just trying to get into the routine of things. That is why this blog has been ignored. But I have lots of family that read it and so I would love to keep you updated. So there are lots of photos to come. I will try to get this thing updated in the next week or so.

A week before I was to deliver Jeff's parents came into town and were here to help out. They were so helpful with the kids. I was so miserable and did not want to do much with the kids. So my guilty feelings were put aside when they arrived. They entertained the kids very well. Addison was so cute!! She really took a liking to Papa and most of the time did not want him out of her sight. They took many trips to the park, went to storytime, went on lots of walks, played lots of toys, visited Parker's school and did lunch duty with the kids and also read lots of stories. Here are some pics of the kids on one of the trips to the park that I took with them. Parker found his kite he got a few years back and finally got to fly it. It does not tolerate our windy weather and so he can't get it out too often. He loved it!!




Conveniently my washer broke right before Jeff's parents got here. We have visited the laundry mat a couple of times and Allan was nice enough to help me out and carry all that laundry. It really is bad timing. With a baby and a potty training toddler...the laundry starts to pile up. The guy came today and looked at it. He knew exactly what was wrong with it and said he would get the parts ordered and he is to come back on the 11th of May. Are you kidding me???? That is the longest wait of my life. Luckily I have great friends that are taking care of me and take a load here and there. I am very blessed!! I just hope they are willing to help out for a little bit longer. Addison was so cute at the laundry mat. She loved being a big helper.


I am very thankful to Jeff's parents for coming and entertaining my kids and helping out so much!! I am not sure what I would have done without them. I have been blessed with such wonderful in-laws. They were sad to go, but they did tell me that they were exhausted and that their hats are off to us. Kids are alot of work. I just smiled and agreed. That is 100% true!!

It's a...

We are pleased to announce the arrival of another girl to the family. Here is a sneak peek at her. She was 8 lbs and 9 oz. 20 inches long. She is healthy as can be and we are excited to have her. Her name is Kate. More info later, this momma is tired!!!

Sprink Break Fun

So we ended up not going out of town, but Jeff is back at work full time...yay!!!! He still has some lifting restrictions but he can now go back in the field. So we are happy about that. But sad we did not get to go out of town. I tried to keep the kids busy during the break....kind of hard to do here in Midland. There is really not much to do here. I tried my best.

I have been talking about taking them over to the CAF Airpower Museum for a while and have just never done it. They LOVED it and I am glad that we went. They both love airplanes and so they had a great time.



This was Parker's favorite plane.

This was by far the kids favorite part. There were so many buttons to push and levers to pull. I had to drag them out of there so the next people could see it.

We also had some friends over and the kids got to enjoy the warm West Texas weather. Yep they played on the slip and slide. I got a new one this year....a double one. They kids loved it. Well most of them. Two of the younger boys did not like it. But my kiddos are water babies and loved every minute of it. Addison cried when we made her stop. I am sure we will spend quite a few days out back on that thing.




On Saturday we took them to visit some of our friends. They have 20+ horses and so it wasn't hard to keep them entertained there. Addison loved riding the horses and has already talked about going back. She was right at home up there. Parker said that he was not sure. He did take a ride but I could see the concern on his face the whole time. I know that we will for sure go back. The cats and dogs kept Parker busy the rest of the time. Thanks Rick and Shirlee for the fun time.

Bug Collectors

Who knew that some $1 bug collector kits from Dollar Tree would be so much entertainment for these two. They loved it and spent the rest of the day collecting bugs. It was so nice.

COOKIES!!!

My kids new favorite thing to do. Make cookies!!! They have always loved it, but I learned a new way to make icing and so they LOVE it even more. We use royal icing that dries hard. Then they are easier to store and go great stacked in a bag. We put the icing on with little bottles. The pictures will help it to make more sense. We made some cookies last week for St. Patty's Day and Addison helped me the entire time and she was sad when the cookies were gone. She asked if we could make more. Parker asked if we could do them like this all the time. It makes it much more fun for the kids. I felt like all they did was make a mess with frosting and then play with sprinkles when we did it the other way. Now the mess is minimal and they LOVE it, so why not? Here is some more info about these cookies if you are interested. They are kind of addicting. Once you get a system down it does not take very long to get things set up. Plus we can make the cookies one day and do the frosting the next. They are looking forward to Easter, I told them we could make them again when it gets closer.

Toothless Grin

Parker has lost another tooth. The Tooth fairy finally came to visit, after only 3 days, (oops, darn pregnancy brain kept forgetting) and so we blamed it on the tooth fairy being on Spring Break. He was pretty excited to find $3 under his pillow this morning. He now has a lisp and he says that he talks funny. It is weird to think that my little guy is growing up.