Stop and Smell the Roses

A few weeks ago, I took some impromptu pictures of the girls in front of our rosebush.  The roses bloom every year in May and last for a few weeks before their petals start to drop onto the ground.  It makes for a pretty backdrop ...

 

Taking time to smell the flowers:

The girls then collected a handful of petals and then scattered them like flower girls in the front yard.  They had so much fun doing it ... 

 

 



Swartz Creek Playground

On Friday, I needed to attend a business meeting at the orchard.  So, I left the girls with my mom and took Jack with me.  After I was done with the meeting, my mom and I decided to take the kids for lunch and then we went to a playground in Swartz Creek so that they could run off some excess energy.  It was definitely hot (my mom and Jack stayed in the shade), but the girls didn't seem to mind.  They had a blast!

Yes, Sophia was definitely happy with this playground:

Sam loves "monkey-bars," especially ones that are a little closer to the ground like these:

And she likes anything that tests her balance, which I have to say is pretty good:

Sophia prefers the swings, and this one was SO comfortable for her.  She stayed in this swing for quite some time.  (I would too).

Jack missed out on all of the fun, opting to take his nap over in the shade. Frankly, it worked out perfectly so that I could chase after the girls!

The three loves of my life (sweaty and tired):

Father's Day 2013

As the girls are getting older and understanding the meaning of holidays more and more, I try to involve them in as many details as possible.  They are thrilled with decorating envelopes, and Samantha is in charge of signing all cards.  Wrapping paper and bows are a big deal to them (and me too).  And the concept of a secret (i.e. not telling Daddy what his gifts are ahead of time) has been quite successful so far.

For almost an hour, the girls worked with me behind my closed bedroom door, cutting, taping, coloring and putting together Steve's Father's Day gifts.  each girl was assigned a special task and they took their roles quite seriously.  In the end, I couldn't be any more happy with the jobs that they did. 

 

The girls take such pride in pointing out all of the details, right down to the stickers that they chose to decorate the envelopes.

 

 

And we all know that one of the favorite things about holidays is opening presents.  Steve is always so gracious to let the girls help him ...

 



 A camouflage gift bag ... Steve's favorite!

This was a project that the girls and I worked on together.  I had seen the idea online and knew that it would be perfect for our family of three kids.  The girls happily posed with their respective letters out by my rose bush, but Jack was a definitely a difficult subject to photograph -- mainly because he can't sit up on his own yet, of course.  And he's not as tall as the girls for the sake of proportionality.  And he couldn't hold his own letter (much less hold up his own head).  And the shadows from the sun were giving me trouble.  But, we made it work!

And not only did I think that it turned out cute ... Check out the excitement on the girls' faces!

Jack Is 1 Month Old

Jack turned one month old today.  Sometimes it seems unbelievable to think that it has already been a whole month since he joined our family now; and other times (like in the middle of the night when I am up for yet another feeding), it doesn't seem that hard to believe.  What is most striking for me is how much he has changed in that span of time -- his cheeks are filling out and he has become so much more alert and aware of his surroundings.

We have been using some of our "baby equipment" around the house to see which things Jack prefers to use.  He really isn't too fond of the swing (the girls weren't either), but he will often sit in his bouncy seat for an extended period of time.  Of course, he is usually belted in; we were just trying it out for the first time in the following photo:

Jack will also lay propped up in the boppy pillow.  This is put to use quite a bit after a feeding if I am worried that he didn't get all of his bubbles out. 

Jack will also lay on his activity mat for a little while if he is fat and full from a good feeding.  While he doesn't have great focus yet ... his big sister is always right there, encouraging him to play with his toys. 

 

Jack loves his car seat (and I am grateful for that!).  Even if he is a little fussy when I put him in there, he settles down almost instantaneously once we begin to pull out of the driveway.  He rarely makes a peep while we are out and about, driving around.

At his one month doctor's appointment, Jack weighed 9 lbs. 1 oz (40th percentile) and measured 20 3/4" (40th percentile).  I am still questioning his length measurement because the method that the doctor's office uses is not very accurate and I am SURE that he has grown in length since he was born.  Regardless, I am highly encouraged because he gained 1 3/4 lbs in three weeks!  He is such a good eater!

Jack started smiling about a week ago.  At first, I noticed his smiles when he was dreaming or when he had gas, but now the smiles are more frequent and he does them upon recognition of a particular face or voice.  I love it!

We are still working on him sleeping at night.  I begin his nightly routine around 9 pm, beginning with a bath.  Then, he gets his pajamas on and eats before falling into a nice deep sleep.  He is usually in bed by 10 pm.  He will sleep for about 4 hours and then he will be up every 2 hours after that.  (It is that stretch of time from 2 am to 6 am that I am struggling with).  Hopefully, we can eliminate one of those feedings soon!

Jack is such an easy-going baby.  He really only cries when he is hungry and he goes from not being hungry to voracious in about 15 seconds!  We make sure that he gets a good nap in the morning and the afternoon and then try to keep him a little more awake in the evening (so that he will sleep better at night).  When he is napping during the day, we hang a STOP sign on the bedroom door to remind the girls (mostly Sophia) not to enter the room.  This is the same STOP sign that Sam and I made together when Sophia was a baby!

It has been a great month for us.  Admittedly, the transition from a family of four to a family of five has been easier than I imagined.  The girls are over-the-moon in love with their brother ...

... and are excellent helpers.  They fetch anything that I ask for (another blanket, a diaper, etc) and tell me immediately if they hear Jack crying.  They do not exhibit even the slightest bit of jealousy and have accepted the fact that I am able to still do the same things for them -- it just might take me a little bit longer if I am feeding Jack.

Here's to another great month of growing!

Jack's Birth Story

I knew from the very beginning that our third baby would be born via cesarean section.  I had a scheduled c-section with Sophia due to her size, and the recovery from that was better for me in comparison to the recovery from Samantha's birth.  I had no intentions of attempting a delivery on my own this time around, especially when we learned that our third baby was projected to be even larger than Sophia, if I were to carry the baby to term.

My original due date was May 30th and my scheduled c-section was set for Memorial Day, May 27th.  This wasn't our first choice for the date of delivery, but I had to work around my doctor's schedule and available surgery openings.  In the meantime, I had weekly doctor's appointments to gauge the baby's growth and my progress.  The baby was definitely getting bigger and I was starting to become quite uncomfortable.  I jokingly asked my doctor at what turned out to be my last appointment with him if I we could just put a catheter in right now?!

My 38 week check-up was on May 15th, late in the afternoon.  My doctor told me that the baby was "still floating," and assured me for what seemed like the millionth time that this baby was "never going to drop" and that I would "never dilate on my own."  The baby was just too large for my bone structure -- much like Sophia.  Everything was still set to deliver on Memorial Day.

This third time around, I was a lot more relaxed on a lot of things ... I knew that we had time to set-up the pack 'n play and car seat after the baby was born.  My mom helped me organize some outfits (keeping in mind that we still didn't know if we were having a boy or girl) and I had mentally planned my hospital bag, which I was going to pack that weekend.

The plans changed though. 

The next day after my doctor's appointment, in the middle of night, I woke up to use the bathroom.  This customarily happened every night around 2:30 am.  This time was no different.  As I rolled over to get out of bed (which was becoming increasingly harder), I felt my water break.  I woke Steve up to tell him, and his response was, "Are you kidding?"  Yeah, like I would kid about something like that.

I tried to get out of bed as quickly as I could so that the gush that I was experiencing wouldn't ruin the mattress and carpeting.  In my attempt to get to the bathroom as fast as possible, I slipped on the linoleum.  Luckily, I was ok, but it took me a minute to recover from everything that was happening.  And all that I could think about was that I didn't have my hospital bag packed.

Steve called my soon-to-be sister-in-law and asked if she could come over and stay with the girls (who were sleeping soundly, oblivious to everything that was happening).  She said that she could be there in 40 minutes.  I got in the shower, assuring Steve that we had plenty of time.  And I was mentally planning what I was going to put in my hospital bag once I got out of the shower.

Well, the contractions started right away -- and they were coming FAST (3-4 minutes apart).  As soon as I got out of the shower, I told Steve that we needed to go to the hospital NOW.  Forget about the hospital bag; he could pack some things for me later.  And we couldn't wait for Alyssa to get to our house.  We called a neighbor across the street and she came over right away to wait until Alyssa got there.

We grabbed the bare necessities (cameras, phones, my purse) and left.  We arrived at the hospital at 3:45 am and went directly to triage.  I had called them on the way to let them know how fast these contractions were coming and that I was planning to have a c-section.  Once the nurse checked me, we were all stunned to learn that I was dilated to an 8!  Yes, me -- the one that was "never going to dilate" was almost ready to push!  And all of this within an hour of my water breaking.

The nurse asked me if I was sure that I wanted to have a c-section.  She was convinced that I was so close to delivering that I could probably have this baby on my own.  I told her no.  We knew from past-experience that I have a small hook on my tailbone, as well.  And that hook presents additional problems when trying to deliver a baby.

From there, the staff moved very quickly.  I was prepped for the operating room and the doctor on call (not my doctor) was paged.

Within one hour of arriving at the hospital, Jack Stanley was born via cesarean section at 4:48 am on May 17th.  He was 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 20 3/4 inches in length.  And he was absolutely perfect.

While he was smaller than we anticipated (smaller than Sophia), he was also born two weeks early.  Had I carried him to term, he probably would have been closer to 9 lbs., like the doctor was estimating.

To me, one of the best parts in all of this was the surprise of not knowing the gender of the baby.  It's ME that likes to be surprised, and Steve went along with the idea for our first two children.  This third time around, he admitted that he wanted to find out early and know the sex of the baby ahead of time.  I was SO disappointed because I was sure that he would slip up by accident and it would ruin it for me. 

At our 20 week ultrasound, Steve asked the sonographer to write down the gender on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope.  He wasn't sure when he was going to open it, and he promised that he would tell me when he did; he wouldn't tell me the gender, he would just tell me that he now knew.  He also promised that he would never tell anyone else and would try his very best not to give me any indication one way or another.

After all that time, Steve never opened the envelope. 

I was sure that this baby was a boy (just my gut intuition) and Steve was sure that it was a girl.  And so, like with our previous two children's births, Steve was standing there as the baby was pulled out and he got to be the one to tell me what the baby was.  It is such a special moment.

 

 

 

The only thing that I was disappointed about was the fact that that day was Samantha's last day of preschool.  While there was nothing special planned that day at her school to conclude the school year, I had wanted to take the girls out for lunch and ice cream to celebrate.  As it turned out, I wasn't able to do that, of course.

 

When Sam woke up that morning (and Alyssa was at our house), Sam asked immediately where we were.  Since Jack was already born, Alyssa was able to tell her that we were at the hospital and that she had a new baby brother!  She was SO excited.

 

Later that morning, Steve left the hospital and headed home to grab a few things for me.  Then, Sophia and him picked Sam up from school (showing all of Samantha's friends the pictures of Jack on his phone), before coming up to hospital.

 

Meeting Jack for the first time:

 



Holding Jack all by herself:

Sophia fell in love with him instantly:

My one request at the end of the pregnancy was that Steve would try to bring the girls up to see me at the hospital every day.  I missed the girls terribly and wanted to be able to go home as soon as possible.  Steve kept is promise; in fact, he brought the girls up to see me TWICE each day. 

One of my favorite pictures:

Jack and I were both doing very well and were able to be discharged in the afternoon on May 19th.  I was SO happy to be able to come home and settle into our new "normal."  The girls were even more excited (I think) to have their new brother home and to have their momma back!

The Playground

In order to keep the girls busy this summer (and to not feel as if SO much of my attention is devoted to Jack right now), I have been trying to do something every day with them that might be considered special in their eyes.  These things might be little craft projects, baking, trips outside of the house, walks to the beach, etc.  Last week was filled to the max and eventually, we had to spend one day just simply at home catching up on regular mundane activities.

One of our events last week was meeting up with our friends Anna and Isabella and their mom at the park downtown.  We met at 10:00 am and packed a picnic lunch for all of the girls to share.  It was perfect -- the girls got along great, Jack was pretty content, the weather cooperated and everyone took excellent naps in the afternoon.  It was such a wonderful experience that we have decided to do this every week!

 Sophia must have gone down the slide about 100 times that day!

The girls both love the swings, but this momma sure gets tired out in a hurry from pushing them!  I am currently working with Sam on the fine art of "pumping" so that she can swing all by herself ...  (Note the look of concentration on her face).

It was a full-time job keeping all four swings going before another kid yelled out that they needed to be pushed again!

And while the girls yelled and screamed and ran off excess energy, Jack just rested all comfortable and content in his stroller.  He may have even been snoring in this picture:

Lunchtime -- I'm not sure where Isabella was, but everyone else was digging in to all of the goodies that we brought.

A simple plan, yet so much fun!

Jack's First Official Bath

Jack's umbilical cord fell off on Sunday which signified that we could now start doing "real" baths in his tub; we weren't limited to just sponge baths anymore.  I was excited about this because baths have always been a part of our bedtime routine with our kids, and I strongly believe that this has helped us to develop good sleeping habits with them.

After the girls were in bed on Sunday night, I got out all of the supplies and prepared Jack's bath for him.  As he gets older, I will slowly start to move his bath-time up, and eventually he will be going to bed BEFORE the girls.  For now, I am giving him a bath around 9 pm (the girls are in bed by 8 pm), then putting him in his pajamas, nursing him, rocking him and getting him to bed between 10:30 and 11:00 pm.  This affords me (usually) about 3-4 hours of sleep before he is ready for another feeding.

Getting undressed before his bath:

Getting used to the water:

I am a HUGE fan of the lavender-scented bath wash and lotion for babies.  My girls continue to use it on a daily basis, and I really think that the smell is soothing and calming ... especially right before bedtime.

Yes, he was definitely pretty relaxed in the tub.

All fresh and clean:

Playtime at the Beach

The weather has been unseasonably cool here for the last month or so.  As a result, the lake water is still very chilly and doesn't make for some quality trips down to the beach quite yet.  Regardless, we decided to take the kids down there one night last week and let them play in the sand and on the playground. 

Very serious about lugging the water back to their play area:

 So proud of her strength:

Hard at work:

While Steve and I simply enjoyed just sitting on the bench, we did get up and test the temperature of the water with our feet -- it was COLD!  Somehow though, the girls didn't seem to mind; they went in the water with their clothes on and had an absolute blast!

Samantha is getting so good at splashing around in the water!

Sophia is still getting the hang of it, but she is catching on pretty quickly already.

And this little man?  Well, it was his first official trip to the beach and as you can see, he was thrilled. 

Actually, I'm kind of excited about what this summer holds for us and our regular trips to the beach.  Last summer, Sophia began taking her first steps in July.  Therefore, it made for a very busy time for me down at the beach -- keeping a close eye on her with her unsteady steps and the water's edge.  This summer, she is clearly more independent and the girls can interact better together while Jack and I just sit back and watch.  If I time things correctly, Jack may choose to just nap in the stroller and enjoy the fresh air ...