Labor

It's about time I tell my crazy story while it is still a bit fresh in my mind. I do feel like the last bit of pregnancy can be the hardest, especially when you are waiting on the baby. While Hadleigh came a day before her due date, we had expected her to come earlier. I had a stress test done 2 weeks before she was due because there was some concern about how she would due during labor. At that point my doc told me to pack my bag, come to the hospital and expect to leave with a baby. Well, everything went fine with the stress test and HC decided not to come at that point, but every thing was ready, so it was really difficult to wait after that.

Annelise dropped at 35 weeks, and my midwife really thought that she would be coming early, so again every thing was ready...and then she did not show up until 10 days after her due date. It is really stressful to wait for a baby, especially when you have other little ones to worry about and family does not live in the area. I do understand why some folks opt for inducing, though I'm thankful I have not had to resort to that.

After those two experiences I was determined to stay tough mentally while I waited for True to make his appearance. I kept telling myself that the last weeks of prego (especially week 40 and 41) are like going through labor without an epidural...if you can't hang in their mentally you are through. When you are in labor you don't know how long it will be, and how much harder it may or may not get, so if you don't have a good mental game it is over.

All that said I was trying not to worry about when True was coming. I had prepared as best as I could for him to be late. I concentrated on being with my girls and spending as much time with them as possible, taking them to the pool and reading to them, etc. I knew once True came into the picture those things would be over for a time. All that mental talk really helped me get through the last 6 weeks of being prego, which let me tell you was misery in some ways.

I never thought being prego in the summer was an issue, and I figured that because I was due mid-July I would miss the most unbearable month of the summer which is generally August. That was not so this year. June busted onto the scene with triple digit temperatures, ridiculous humidity and heat warnings (too hot to be outside). And those temps lasted basically all summer long. This past week I went outside really for the first time since May. It was unbearable! And I was so swollen it was ridiculous. Dave's mom came down for a couple weeks while I was still prego to help out, and one night while we were sitting around Dave thought he should rub the pressure point in my foot that can start labor. Apparently it is just above the ankle, only problem was we could not find my ankle. We were all in hysterics.

On July 15, True's due date, I woke up at 4am with some contractions 20 minutes apart. They felt like the real thing, but you never know, so I just tried to sleep and rest and not think about it too much. By 6 the contractions were starting to come every 10 minutes, so we felt more confident that things were looking good for a birth that day, or the next. Dave's mom was still with us, so Dave went on to work while I waited to see how things were going to progress. I got the girls up and we started the day. After Dave called me at 9 to see how I was doing, and my contractions were 7 minutes apart he decided to come on home, and I thought I should tell Dave's mom that I was in labor and give a call to my friends Bif and Kris who were going to keep the girls while I was in the hospital (because Dave's mom was leaving that day).

Things continued on, my contractions were irregular, which is normal for me, but it makes it hard to know how things are progressing. My contractions were hard and would go from 7 minutes apart to 6 to 5 to 4, 4, 4, and then jump to 15, 7, 6, 5, 4, 4, 4. I didn't know what to do with it all except to stay calm and wait.

It was still this way around 1.30 and my plan was to give a call to my midwife around 4, if it was continuing as it was and see what she thought. But Dave finally convinced me to call, and I spoke to my midwife's nurse who told me to go on the hospital. Now, my labor with Annelise was 16+ hours and 10 of them were spent at the hospital, so I really did not want to do that again if possible. So when I told the nurse she just suggested that I come into the office to get checked and see what was going on.

Dave and I sped down to the office and I was anticipating a massive contraction in the lobby, but managed to wait until my nurse had taken me back. I was hooked up to be monitored and my first contraction was to the top of the machine...nice. I was glad to be in real hard labor, and to hear that I was 5 cm dilated. They sent me on to the hospital and we were at the check-in desk at 4.

My contractions were hard, but I was still able to handle them without too much problem, and I was laughing and smiling and joking. All the nurses thought I was crazy, but I don't know how else you should be while in labor. I got all hooked up and received my crazy anti-biotics for group beta strep, and was walking around the room again at 5. By this time things started getting harder, I was sitting on the birthing ball, but it was not helping because the baby felt really low. My midwife came in and gave me a couple more suggestions about positions that might help, so I tried those. In my brain I was expecting to labor until around midnight, so I was trying to stay mentally tough, but the contractions were coming quickly and were really hard. I finally decided that I wanted to lay down in bed on my left side (at the suggestion of the midwife), and labor. I was surprised because I do not like laboring in bed, but I was having so much pressure being in bed helped a lot. By then my contractions were right on top of another and I kept looking to Dave (who was holding my hand) asking with my eyes...can I do this? He kept telling me that I was doing great. At some point I knew I needed to push so I let the midwife know. At some point around here they broke my water and then I pushed through 3 contractions and True arrived! Dave was able to help deliver him, so now he must be a pro since this was his third time catching a baby. All I have to say is- ring of fire...dude...that is by far one of the worst parts about a natural birth. I would not be sad if I never have to experience that part again, but all in all I only pushed a short time, so I did not have to endure the fire for long. But come on all you ladies who have had a baby without an epidural should know exactly what I am talking about. Whoa!

True was 8 pounds, 9 ounces and 21 3/4 inches long. He looked great from the beginning. And let me tell you, recovering from his birth was by far the easiest because I did not need one single stitch. I don't know how I managed that since he was my biggest baby. And I'm certainly glad he came when he did, because I would not have wanted to try to get anything bigger out of me. All in all I was very pleased with how things went.

Of course after having a breeze of a time with labor and delivery I was bound to have something go wrong. I had no idea it would be with nursing. He seemed to be latching like a pro from the beginning, so things were looking great, but then my milk came in and that is where things went downhill. Let's just say my boobs are huge...as in when I told my mom the size bra I had to get she laughed out loud in unbelief. It was only funny for a day because I became so engorged I was crying a lot. I could not move without being in pain. I could not lift my hands above my head, I could not move my arms, let alone nurse without being in extreme pain. And nursing was horrible. I did not have enough hands to do everything I needed to do while nursing. And now I know the truth is it is harder to nurse with big boobs. I was on the brink of quitting because I knew if things continued as they did I would not be able to nurse in public, and I have two other children, so I feel like I HAVE to be able to nurse while I'm out and about, coming home every 3 hours is just not an option for me.

I decided to give it another week and see how things were going. At week 2 things were beginning to look up, still a lot of pain, but I could see it was getting better, so I decided to give it another week. This is where things took a turn. All of a sudden the pain got really bad. I had to stop nursing on my right side completely and just pumped because it was so painful. I called the lactation consultant who told me it was a latch problem and to try a different nursing position. I assured her again and again that it wasn't a latch problem, but that was about as much help as I received. After reading a couple of books I decided I had a yeast infection and asked Dave to bring me home some nystatin, and I decided I was giving up. 24 hours after I decided to give up nursing I got a call from a friend. Thank the Lord I had met Laurie at church a couple months before True was born. She is a post-partum nurse and when I mentioned I was having trouble nursing she offered some help. She came over and after I explained everything that was happening and after she watch me nurse True she assured me it was not a latch problem (hello I have nursed 2 other babies I know what a good latch is), and agreed that it was a yeast infection. So I started on my second prescription. I was still unable to nurse out of my right side, and my milk had drastically dwindled, but Laurie thought if I could nip the infection (which takes about 2 weeks) I might be able to get my supply back up again. All this time I had been supplementing with formula when I could not nurse.

A few days later I had my post partum appt with my midwife, and she gave me a third prescription because I also had a cyst from pumping too much/too hard/probably with a wrong size pump (since as I mentioned before my boobs were/are HUGE). I was prett skeptical about how every thing was going to play out at this point. My mom was still around during all this, so I was able to spend lots of time feeding and pumping, but I knew once she left I could not continue. By week 4 I felt well enough to begin nursing from both sides. I had no idea what was going to happen, by about the 5th day of nursing I began to feel my milk let down on my right side and I stopped supplementing with formula.

I feel all of this has been an insane adventure that I NEVER want to live through again. I am still having some pain because of my cyst/bruise which is still healing up, but it nothing compared to the pain I was experiencing. I am so thankful to my wonderful friend Laurie who gave me such wonderful advice and really listened to me. I am thankful and fell it was very providential that I had help in the form of Dave, Dave's mom, and my mom during these first few weeks because if I had been on my own, I never would have been able to continue. And I am also thankful for my other wonderful friends who knew about what was happening and who were praying for me. The Lord was gracious to me during this time and helped me to persevere through it all. AND I will NEVER ever judge anyone who can't/doesn't want to nurse. I don't think I ever did to begin with (am not a real die hard nurser to begin with), but if I ever had the thought I won't do it now. It was very merciful of God to let my milk come back and a blessing I had not expected and was afraid to hope for.

For now things are mostly normal and without drama, and we are thankful to be together and in better spirits all around. And if you ever have a nursing issue, feel free to give me a call.

Life with Three

I am obviously a bit busier with three kiddos since I have not updated my blog in a while, although it seems that the blog has suffered quite a bit this year. Maybe I have less and less to say...or not. =) If I had the time I would post several things today, but I do not think that is going to happen because in 30 minutes I will need to feed True, and I abhor typing with one hand...it is so slow.

So, life with three, and life with True. True is a sweet and smiley baby. Believe it or not...and I have a video to prove it, so that probably means you need to believe it, True began smiling at us when he was one week old. I know, you think I am just a doting mother, but seriously this is my third baby and it was not a gassy smile. So it seems that the Lord blessed us with a sweet, sweet baby and we are forever grateful. He is very alert and loves talking to the girls, who absolutely ADORE him. He enjoys looking around, and sleeping in our arms, and also sleeping in his bed. He enjoys eating every 3 hours and now enjoys going right back to sleep after eating (during the night). He rarely cries, except for one night after I ate curry...woops! And usually he stops crying as soon as you pick him up. So sweet! He loves the swing...thank you to Christy for letting me borrow hers!

The major bump in the road with True's arrival has actually been on my end, a series of insane issues related to nursing. That might be a story that I write about when I blog my labor story...the update is, thanks to numerous prayers, a wonderful friend who is a post-partum nurse, and because we had a lot of family help from our moms, I am still nursing and it is going much better.

As I mentioned the girls ADORE True. Their initial reaction to him ran just as I should have expected given their personalities. Annelise came running in the house, right up to him, touched his head and said, "hello little one!" SO SWEET! Hadleigh quietly came in and observed him for a while. She wanted to be near him, but she did not want to touch him. After a couple days she was holding him and feeding him from the bottle, all anxieties gone.

Because I do not have a 20 month old this time around this transition has been a LOT easier. The girls easily entertain themselves for hours on end. They have not shown signs of jealousy, just signs of normal transitions. They are super helpful and will go and are happy to help in any way possible. They hate it when I change a diaper without them (have to check out his poop), and are eager to bring me things, throw away things, talk to True if he is fussy, give him his "chewy" (pacifier) or blanket, or animal, or anything that might make him feel better.

Today I was feeding True while reading to HC during her rest time. When I finished she sat and talked to True, and popped his chewy in his mouth a number of times until he fell asleep...and all the while I was taking a little snooze myself. Whenever he smiles at her, HC exclaims, "True loves me!" The other day I overheard HC talking to True, "I can't wait until you grow up so I can play with you. Then I will share all of my toys with you!" And honestly I believe she really will.

The first week home Dave's mom came to help which was wonderful, and then Dave stayed home for a week and finally my mom came for two weeks. I am now in the second full week of being on my own and we are all surviving. I have ventured out on my own for groceries, for haircuts (for the girls), and today we even went to the pool. We are still getting meals from all of our wonderful friends, so I don't have to worry about that, but we have even managed to keep our house fairly straightened. These are all blessings, I don't know if they will last, but for now it is good.

We are all looking forward to fall, when hopefully it will not be 100 degrees and ridiculously humid. I can't wait to spend some time outside because I feel like I haven't been outside since May. And as we hit September we are getting into more of a routine and pattern of life. I love having a routine that I can count on and also deviate from when I feel like it. I hope to be able to blog a little more...maybe with a post about Labor and maybe with a post about School...we'll see what happens.

Welcome True Schaeffer

As a surprise to us all, this past Thursday, July 15, I woke up in labor. It was only a surprise because July 15 was my due date and I mean seriously, what baby arrives on their due date?

I'll have time later to chronicle my labor and delivery, which I think was my best to date, but until that time we wanted to officially welcome our newest addition to the fam, True Schaeffer. He was 8 lbs. 9 oz. (rather large for being on time in my opinion) and 21 3/4 inches long. True is a family name, Dave's great-grandfather (I think it was great-grandfather) was named True, and Dave's middle name is True. I have always loved it. Everytime I found out something cool about Dave (while we were dating), I would always exclaim, "and his middle name is True!" because it seemed he was way too good to be true. Dave really liked the name Schaeffer and the meaning, which is steward. Being a good steward of all that the Lord has entrusted to us from finances, to children has always been a topic of conversation, so it only seems appropriate that we would enjoy that name for one of our children. So there you go, can't say he is named for Frances Schaeffer because I haven't read enough of his books...but I have several on my list this year, so maybe soon I'll claim that one. =)

For now we are a tired, and happy family of 5. If you are interested in comparing pictures of True with our girls, click here for Hadleigh and here for Annelise.

Thinking Back, Looking Forward

As I type, the little man is moving around and boxing my tummy. It's sweet, although I could sometimes do without the blows to the bladder! In any case, my time is getting near, or nearer at least. I went over with Annelise, so I'm trying to prepare myself to be prego well past my due date of July 15 (well past as in as long as they will let me go past which I suppose will depend on a lot of things, but here's hoping he'll want to come at least somewhere near July 15).

We have had some road blocks to my wonderful summer plans. The first was that I began to have some bad contractions at the beginning of June. Not death contractions, but bad enough that I was monitored and checked a few times and ultimately told to chill out, put my feet up, and take some non-contraction meds until I hit 36 weeks. So glad that is over, but that jumped in on my ideas of hitting the zoo and other fun things with the girls. The second thing that has happened is we have had August in June. I don't know what is going on, but the temps have ben pushing 100 for the last 2 weeks and that spells misery for a prego. So, inside we will continue to stay until we start getting our 80 degree June weather. This has also caused (or I don't really know what has caused this, maybe just being prego in general) a lot of swelling in my feet and hands. Ugh! My bp is still great as always, 90/60, but I can no longer wear my rings and only my fli flops fit my feet (some of the time). Swelling actually hurts! My legs just ache with the pressure from the water. Oi!

But this isn't what I wanted to write about at all, so let's get more to some thoughts I've had lately. I'm excited and a bit scared to add this baby to our fam. I'm ultimately scared to be a mom. I hate the idea of possibly having 3 children meltdown in Target. YIKES! Tell me that is not terrifying. I feel nervous about what else I will not be able to get done. I've so enjoyed some freedom this last year with cooking and cleaning and I've enjoyed it and I hate for that to be put on the back burner, though of course it will because we can always eat pb for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I'm also nervous to see what kind of baby the little man is. Annelise was a very difficult baby, and of course these days she makes up for it with her sweet and sassy personality, but wow...you really cannot understand it unless you lived through it or watched us live through it. Both my mom and Dave's mom saw her in close action...and yea...their general comment is, yea...wow...that was hard.

One of the gals in my small group reminded me the other day about a time when she went to the grocery, overheard a baby screaming, and then overheard a couple workers talking about the baby screaming (speaking ill of my parenting, of course...if I would only just feed her, or put her to sleep...if only), and was sure they must be talking about me. So sure enough after wandering in the direction of the cries she found me and HC and Annelise trying to shop. I just cringed when I heard that story because it brought back so many memories. After so long of just staying at the house there comes a time when you must venture out with the kids...crying or not. So I would always say, here we are screaming through the grocery, screaming through the mall, screaming through the nieghborhood...and when people would make comments (which they ALWAYS did) I would correct them and say, actually she is just angry...ALL THE TIME.

So, obviously I'm nervous about this one.

At the same time, I feel really good about where we are as a fam. The girls are at such a great place. They will play together for hours on end, and it so fab...well worth having them so close together. I love hearing their little voices as they zoom their cars, or cook something in the kitchen, or play with their doll house. They are learning to share and take turns and give and take and lead and follow one another, and I LOVE that. It is SO fabulous. And they will sing while they play and it is the sweetest thing ever. I think that will be a great help to me while I deal with the baby.

They love to help me and at least at this point in time are super excited about the baby coming. They talk about reading to him and tickling his feet and singing him songs. And they also talk about him crying a LOT (because that is what babies do). SO when I think about these things I get excited about having another little one around.

It will all be an adjustment, but we'll all have to work out the transition together...just an adventure for our little fam to tackle together.

Ultimate Vaca

This winter we were trying to determine WHEN we would like to go on vacation, and WHERE we would like to go on vacation this year. It was a bit of a difficult situation. Do we go pre or post baby? And if we go pre-baby should we go big (as in fly somewhere and rent a car...while we still can fit in an economy size) or stick closer to home. And then of course there is the question, beach or mountains?

Come on who would not want to spend a week here?

We ultimately decided on the mountains (shocker...not really we will likely always choose mountains over beach), pre-baby, close to home. And then the search began. I knew exactly what I wanted, it just took me a while to find the right house, but I did! We rented a little house on a lake, in the mountains of North Carolina. Glorious! I wanted something with a big flat yard that was RIGHT ON the lake. Oh yea, and it couldn't cost a million bucks a week. =) But I'm so glad I snatched this gem up while I had the chance.

trip to the trout farm HC caught a 4 lb. trout and Annelise caught a 3.5 lb. trout

We learned while living in Europe that there is a HUGE difference between a trip, and a vacation. Like if you are living in the states and travel to Europe on "vacation", it is not a vacation, it is a trip. So while we were living over there we went on lots of trips, and a few real vacations (like our all-inclusive Turkish Resort...ahhh).

sweet hike up to the falls

Our time in NC was a real vacation. We were in the middle of NO WHERE. I mean, literally, no where. And it was gorgeous, the views of the mountains and the lake were awesome. We played outside with balls and horseshoes. We laid around in the hammock. We took rides in the canoe and pontoon boat. We did a huge 1,000 piece puzzle. I taught HC backgammon. Dave went fishing everyday, and yumm-o those fish tasted awesome! We hiked up to a waterfall one day, and one day we took the girls to a trout farm and let them catch some HUGE trout. It was so quiet and restful, and I loved just being with my family, we have a LOT of fun together. I could envision us going back again and again to this place, which was a fun feeling.

the girls ready to go out for an early morning canoe ride

We ended the trip by heading to Knoxvegas for Dave's nephew's high school graduation...yea Josh! And then back to the ATL.

A Day in the Life...

We are trying to figure out a normal schedule/routine for the summer, which has been difficult so far because we haven't had a normal week yet (the week following vaca is NOT normal), and then yesterday was a holiday, so this week is not normal either. And next week the AC dudes come, so...yea.

Anyway, we will still try to figure it out and probably get into a routine just about the time the little man appears, only to move us out of routine for the next year. Ah well. One day.

So, I thought I would write about my normal Monday, which this week is today. I actually like Mondays, in general, because I get a lot done and there is a sense of recovery from the weekend and accomplishment.

Get-up between 6 and 6.30 and get showered, eat breakfast, get the girls breakfast started, and have a chance to sit and be quiet.

7, get the girls up, dressed, sheets stripped and beds made up with clean sheets (both the girls and mine), they are great helpers with this (usually)

7.30 head downstairs to breakfast, yummy oatmeal with sweet potato raisins and milk, followed by a piece of pb toast.

8, clean up breakfast

8.30 circle time! we talked about the month of June and how we are getting close to the baby coming, because after June comes July. Today Annelise was able to answer her catechism questions and say her Bible verse and pick out the songs (The Lord Our God, and Father Long Before Creation) because HC was in a little bit of a mood and did not want to participate.

9, laundry begins in earnest, sometimes we will go outside and weed for a while, and water the countainer plants that need it. today we cleaned the playroom, vacuumed and mopped the kitchen and folded clothes as they emerged from the dryer. Read a couple books, had a snack time, broke up a couple squabbles between the girls, etc.

11.30 eat lunch. yummy pb sandwiches with blackberry jam (almost finished with it and we will get to start eating the strawberry jam that I made from scratch and canned last week), peach, and yogurt. I had leftover Ethiopian food from our dinner on Sunday, yummy tibs, LOVE it!

12, upstairs for naptime. Annelise is now sleeping in her room, and HC is sleeping/resting in my room, since the little man's room is being painted and rearranged. Now I clean up from lunch, and sit and catch-up on emails, watch last night's episode of the Bachelorette, and then get up and get things done. I would clean the bathrooms, but the downstairs ones are clean, and I need to wait until after naptime to clean upstairs.

3, HC will get up at 3, and we will have special Mama/HC time, reading a book, or drawing something cool. Actually today she has been asking to cut up pieces of paper, so we will likely do that.

4, Annelise will wake-up, or we will get her up. Normally we would go outside and play big wheels until Dada returns home, or go to the pool, except that Tuesday the pool closes at 4. So today we are going to run back over to the produce market because they were out of cherries yesterday and Dave is craving them. And then we will prep dinner (actually I'll prob do that in a minute once I get off the computer), which is either chicken fajitas...yumm-o, OR personal pizzas with a salad and some corn (which may I add is super yummy).

5, Dinner is served, and Dave will be home at some point during the 4-5 hour which I love. And then up for bath and jammies and ready for some good singing about God before turning off the light.

6.30, Dave and I will clean up from dinner and sit and relax for a moment. Then he will get to work on some project, like making a storage box for the patio furniture cushions, or we will play a game like yahtzee, or we will sit and talk about work/life/kids. And then we will watch, with great anticipation, WipeOut, which is our ultimate FAV show that only plays during the summer.

9, lights out for us, sometimes it is earlier, but because it is Wipe Out night, we will stay up a little later to catch it. Love it!

What Happened to May?

It is May 31 and I have no idea what happened to May. We finished up swim lessons for Hadleigh and Annelise. Both did marvelously well, and I look forward to seeing how they continue to develop as swimmers. Once Annelise turns 3 they can be in the same swim class, so I'm really looking forward to that development for next spring. We bought them both floaties to use in the pool this summer which is a new thing. I have been against using floaties because I think it gives a false sense of secuity and also messes with proper technique. However, these seem to give them a little more independence and confidence in the water, and since I'm large and in charge I could really do with a little break from having them climb all over me in the water. HC did very well in her swim lessons, but seems to lack confidence in the pool with me. I guess it is easier to be brave for someone else, than with your mama. But I hope by the end of the summer things will be a little better. And, of course, Annelise is all about her independence, so watch out for that one in the water!

We also finished up school this month. I am glad to see it end and get into a summer routine, which has yet to happen, but here's to this week! I'm looking forward to some trips to the zoo, and lots of time in the pool, and some extra fun play time with their friends. School in the fall is still up in the air, we will have to see how everything pans out this summer and then make a decision. I hate not knowing what we will be doing, but it is also nice to put off the decision.

We had a little scare with our AC early in the month, but it ended up being a $50 fix (sigh of relief), but the scare led us to make some decisions about our air conditioning. We have been putting off the decision for 2 years, but it is finally time to take the plunge and get something that will better suit our house. Because we have a split level, it is hard to heat and cool the house (every level is at a different temp, so the downstairs might be 70, but the upstairs is 80, etc). After several bids we finally decided to put another ac/heat unit upstairs in our attic that will heat and cool the upstairs. I think this is a good decision, albeit an expensive one...blah! So, in light of that we needed to get an electrician to put in a sub-panel and do some rewiring (since the previous electrician wired the 4th bedroom and bathroom onto the same circuit as the kitchen...this was before our time). Now everything is in its rightful place and we are ready for the AC guys who will come in another week or so.

Now our home projects are severely limited, so this weekend we painted the little man's room, and we touched-up the hallway, and are finishing painting the doors. Past that Dave worked on the porch, knocking down a brick wall, and for Mother's Day he bought me a beautiful set of table and chairs that we are enjoying (now that they have been sealed). He also made a beautiful side gate to keep the kiddos in the backyard. It's so nice to have a handy husband!

The little man is doing well, and we are both growing at a good rate. I had been feeling well (ya know, big, but fine) until mid-week and then started having some pre-term labor. Joy! So, per the midwife, everything is still fine, but I need to keep my feet up a bit more, so that we keep this kid in the oven for a bit longer. My body is working over-time so I'm tired from all the contractions, but we will all make it. I need to make it to July because I don't need a baby younger than 38 weeks...of course all this probably insures that I will make it to 42 weeks...ah joy!

Our last big May happening was our vacation, which I will leave for another post, but let's say it was awesome, and maybe I wish I was still on it. =)

Climb, Climb UP Stone Mountain

Last Friday morning I rolled over in bed to face Dave, who smiled and said, "It's going to be a beautiful day, let's hike up Stone Mountain!" My response was something to the effect of, "when hell freezes over..." and then, "I'm not carrying anything or anyone!" For those of you non-Atlantans, Stone Mountain is a huge rock/mountain outside Atl. You can walk around it, you can take the vernicular up to the top, or you can hike the 1.3 mile trail over boulders, straight up the side of the darn thing. You can also camp there, or go fishing in the lake, in the summer you can watch a laser show where all the "locals" come out and holler about the South rising again (oh did I mention there is a LOT of history about the Confederate states and memorials about when each state seceded from the union, anyway! Now since it is all owned by Dolly Parton, there are also other amusement park-like attractions.

In any case, an hour or so later, we had the girls loaded up into the car (they were so excited) and headed to Waffle House for breakfast and then onto SMP. I was skeptical of making the climb with the girls, but I tried to trust Dave, and to my great surprise we all lived through the excursion. Hadleigh hiked the entire thing, which I found amazing because it is not easy, and Annelise hiked most of the way up and then Dave carried her on his shoulders back down. And I did not need anyone to carry me either! The nice thing is that since we were hiking with the girls, I had an excuse to go slow. And then it does make a difference when you make the hike at 8am in April, rather then at 5pm in July! I even received some cheers from fellow hikers (claps and everything), I'm sure they were secretly hoping to watch me roll down the mountain.

So I guess we can check that one off our list for the year, although I have a feeling Dave and Hadleigh will make that trip again this summer.

Pregnancy #3

The funny thing is when you are prego it seems you might as well walk around town with a sign around your neck saying, "please give me some advice, I really enjoy it when perfect strangers give me advice."

When folks see me walking around with 2 girls they are desperate to know the gender of my baby, which is fun because having a boy seems like a bit of a novelty since I have two girls already, and everyone seems to glory in that excitement with me. And then the questions/comments start...oh yea it is a boy because you are carrying low/high, wide/long (pick your flavor), etc. And then it is, oh you are gaining more weight because it is a boy, or oh your boobs are huge because it is a boy... And finally it moves to his would be personality...he is going to be mellow because he is the 3rd...he is going to be a terror because he is the 3rd.

This is all interesting to me and I just nod because they certainly don't know anything more than I know, and I don't know why folks feel a need to predict what my life will look like when he arrives, or why my boobs are huge for that matter.

One of my friends was recently shocked to hear that Annelise was late because everyone knows that ALL 2nd babies come early. My response was, "Lies! Lies! They are all lies!" Several of my friends had longer/harder labors with their 2nd child...why do we need to fill our heads with possibilities? I know I do the same thing, and I need to stop it.

Someone once told me that she willed her baby out 10 days early...well, I don't think there is a person on the planet that willed their baby out more than I willed Annelise out, and she was 2 weeks late (and I even tried castor oil).

Anyway, I attribute all my prego woes to the fact that this is my third baby, and most all the moms I've talked to have said that each prego gets a little harder (don't know how that chic with 19 kiddos does it)... I feel everything more, I definitely am bigger (not sure if I'm bigger in the belly, but I'm definitely bigger in the boobs...can't wear a lot of things that I wore last time around), and my sciatica is really giving me trouble this time around. Other than those little complaints it all seems to be going well. The little man is growing, his heart is strong, he is very active, and must have a head of hair because my heartburn is kicking it up a notch.

I'm not too anxious for him to arrive yet. I'll be happy to meet him, but I can definitely wait on it. I have big plans for the summer with the girls and I want to take full advantage of every minute I have with them before he comes. Summer will begin for us in 2 weeks and I have lots of fun things planned for us, family vacation, a nephew's high school graduation, trips to the zoo and the pool, VBS, hopefully a trip to visit a Germany friend, and then lots of fun time sitting around reading and singing and coloring and playing and building...and then my life will change forever again. Hopefully we will be able to agree on a name before he makes his debut. For now he could be named after a theologian, a hymn writer, a family member, a city...and many things in between.

Imagination

Over the past week the hallway between the playroom and our guest bedroom has become packed out with toys, blankets, animals and pillows. The girls are hard at work playing. On Monday alone they spent 1.5 hours straight in the hallway without any need for me to help them, or even break-up an argument...it has been heaven. HC told me that it is their house, and they sleep, and talk and eat there. I love it!

I occasionally enjoy doing a project with them, like dyeing Easter eggs, but more often I enjoy giving them loads of unstructured play time in the hopes that their imagination will really come alive, and it looks like it is paying off. It is so fun to watch them in their little world, cooking up something in their little kitchen, sailing on the "boat" in the backyard, and playing race cars on their big wheels.

I think this is one of the reasons I'm not enthusiastic about preschool 4 days/week for HC. I just hate the thought of her having to sit in a classroom, I imagine they will do fun projects, but wow, she will have to sit in a class for the next 12 years (at least) of her life, why start now? And I also get nervous and wonder if the reason some kids get "bored" so easily is because they are told what to do 6 hours a day and so they can't think of what to do for themselves. I don't know, I'm sure it all depends on many factors and that is why everyone has to make decisions that are best for their family and their children, and I have to make decisions that are best for us.

A couple weeks ago I was talking to some of my neighbors and the issue of preschool with HC came up. One of the ladies was a bit pushy, like well, she IS 4, she is certainly capable of going to school 4 days a week. I tried to explain that wasn't exactly the issue. She then asked is HC liked school...I tried to explain that that wasn't exactly the issue either (and HELLO, she is 4, what she likes/doesn't like is a factor, but not the most important thing, she also likes picking her nose and eating her boogers...so...).

Another argument I have heard is that I need to get HC ready for kindergarten...well, having talked to some kindergarten teachers that teach in the GA public school system, I have zero worries about HC being ready, she will be just fine if we decide to send her to public school. The same is true if we were to send her to private school, she will be just fine.

So, for now, I have both girls registered for preschool this fall, but I only plan on sending HC two days a week. And Dave and I continue to talk seriously about not sending them at all, but that decision will have to wait until the little man makes an appearance. Until then we are enjoying lots of fun playtime and lots of imagination time which is super fun.

Almost a Big Day

Sunday was a big day, not only was it Easter, but we celebrated 2 years of living in our home. This is a huge milestone to me. For the most part I have enjoyed being a home owner...besides the fact that sometimes you have to spend money on things that aren't "fun". I love our home, and our neighborhood and am continually thankful that we live here, despite our best efforts to live somewhere else.

I love that our house is a little older and has projects that need to get done. I love that we can live in it as it is and do not need to do any projects if we do not want. I love that we have lots of space to play, and have people over, and that we will never have to move because of a lack of space. I love our flat, green, backyard which is perfect for gardening and for playing. I love our neighborhood. I love going outside in the afternoon for a stroll and stopping to pet dogs and cats, and to smell flowers, and to have an impromptu playdate with neighborhood children. This home has been such a blessing to us.

I was also thinking that 2 years is the longest I have lived anywhere in my adult life, but I was slightly off. The longest I have lived anywhere is 2 years and 1 month, so on May 4 I will be able to celebrate a new milestone. It is interesting to go from being a wanderer...moving 11 times in 10 years, 2 of those across the country and 2 of those across the ocean...to being a mostly rooted person. You can almost write my address in pen theses days. But I'm certainly thankful to have ended up here, and I hope to be here for a long time.

We Belong in the Zoo!

That is an Atlanta Zoo bumper sticker you see all around town, and the zoo is one of the many reasons I like being a semi-urbanite (that seems like a decent descriptor for our current location). There are so many fun things to do in this city and many of them are within 20 minutes of our house.

This morning we loaded up the girls for a much needed Family Fun Day. We have been lacking in this department recently. Most of our Fridays have been taken up with painting, or yard work, or shopping for paint or plants. It was really nice to go to the zoo, although it was far from quiet. I thought most schools were out for Good Friday...not the case...all the schools that are not on Spring Break yet were at the Zoo...just in case you wondered.

In any case, we love just wandering around, seeing the favs...giraffes, lions, elephants, and meerkats. We don't need a map, because we know the zoo from our many excursions there, and we are not in any rush to see as much as possible, because we can always go back tomorrow if we wanted. I think we spent a good 45 minutes just feeding the parakeets, which is one of my fav things to do.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to many more trips to the zoo this summer before "Walter" arrives...it's too hot to be outside in August anyway, right?

Egg Hunt

This past Sunday was our neighborhood egg hunt, which was followed by our playgroup egg hunt, which was followed by Hadleigh's school egg hunt. I think we are good on the egg hunt front.

In preparation for our 3rd neighborhood egg hunt (the egg hunt was the first neighborhood activity we attended 2 years ago, we had just gone into contract on the house), I bought some plastic eggs at the store last week. HC was with me and super excited. When she saw them she exclaimed, "Mama, there are teddy grahams inside those eggs!" (Last year we removed all the candy and put in teddy grahams, which obviously was a big success, I cannot believe she remembered). When she realized that in actuality there is candy in the eggs, she was overjoyed. Fortunately she has forgotten about her basket of eggs and candy which is allowing Dave and I to make the swap.

We managed to squeeze the egg hunt in between two sets of rain on Sunday, one in the morning and one in the evening, but we were happy that the sun came out to greet us for 30 minutes while we chased around some eggs.

Two Projects Down...

...a million more to go, right? This weekend we finished our second big house project. The first was the front yard, the second was painting the entryway/hallway/stairway. This also included painting all the wood varnished trim, even the running boards on the stairs.

I mostly helped tape and plastic everything off because we rented a machine...sweet deal! Dave worked the machine and we had everything primed and painted the first day. The second day we worked on the trim...this actually was one of our biggest projects (in theory), but it went fairly smoothly and fairly quickly. Yea! And it looks awesome. It is a grayish-green color, so sometimes it looks a little more green than gray, but whatev, I like it.

I am also convinced that having all the white on the trim and running boards makes the upstairs hallway a lot brighter. Dave just thinks it is brighter because we replaced a burned-out light bulb. We'll see.

I was also able to go through all my bins of girls clothes and sort. I sorted out all the clothes that a boy could wear...all those green and yellow jammies and onesies, and I sorted out the girls' current clothes. This is such a pain, but glad it is done. Now if it can just stay warm for a while, I will put up all their winter clothes. This week I hope to plant some flowers on our porch...thinking about a lot of coneflowers...hopefully Mom will help me pick something cool out. And finally Dave and I need to decide if we are going to move HC and Annelise into Annelise's old room (which is pink) or if we are going to paint Annelise's old room...quick decide!

The Elf Goes Swimming

I love my girls, but it is hard to imagine having two children who are more different from one another. Annelise made a big splash when she came into this world, and I continue to be surprised by her little personality. I could say the same thing about Hadleigh, it is so interesting to see how she continues to develop in temperment and personality.

This year Hadleigh has been in preschool 2 days a week, and Annelise has been in preschool 1 day a week. Since September I have been attending a women's Bible study on the day that Hadleigh was in school, and Annelise as with me. That has been great, but a couple weeks ago I decided that it might be fun to spend some quality time with Annelise. So, I enrolled her in a swim class...and since she is 2 I am getting in the pool with her (large prego in bathing suit...ugh...all in the name of bonding). She LOVES it. We have only had 2 classes, and yet talks about swimming at least once a day. We are going to a real swim club, which I love because the teachers are very knowledgeable and teach the kids correct technique. They do lots of little activities with the kids which really helps them adapt to the water. Already Annelise has shown great progress and this last week our instructor gave her harder activities because she is definitely ready.

Of course I was a swimmer, so I love that she is so anxious to get in the pool, and take instruction and swim. I'm hopeful that Annelise will really be swimming by the time our pool opens up, and I'm also hopeful that will motivate Hadleigh to step up her game. HC will be taking swim lessons later this spring. She did really well last year, but she is just more timid...it's good to have a little fear of the water, but I really want her to have the skills she needs for the summer.

One of these days I'll get a picture of the munch in her swimsuit...she is SO cute!

Enjoying the Sun

Yesterday we ran outside because it was absolutely gorgeous. We have had a lot of drab, dreary, rainy days recently, so any hint of the sun is worth the run outside. It is gone again today, but hoping it will be back for the weekend.

Big wheels in the front driveway are the activity of choice these days. I also try to be a bit persuasive here, because I can sit down for this activity (doesn't involve me pushing on the swings, or spotting the girls as they climb up to the slide...hoping I will get over that soon).

One nice thing about dreary days is that it is easy to just stay inside and get things done. Things like spring cleaning! I'm checking things off my master list and feeling majorly accomplished. I'll likely be doing summer cleaning again in July before the baby comes...gotta love nesting! But anyway, a lot of areas of my house have been cleaned and rearranged, so I'm feeling cleansed of dust...although we still have some strong holds...read MAN ROOM...and CLOSETS! But I did clean the laundry room this morning so dust mites BE GONE! Annelise is walking around the house with her vacuum, which is very helpful.

My parents make it to NJ tonight which means in 6 days they will be here for a month. We have a couple lists of things that we hope to get done while they are here...including getting away for a much anticipated "babymoon"...it's all a surprise, which is much easier on me, thanks Dave!

One Long Post

I could make this post into four different topics, but think I will just leave it in one long post format...unless pictures become irritating. Somehow loading them up with blogger has become a bit of a bear. Actually loading is fine, it is arranging them that is mostly painful! I'll write about our events in chronological order.

Landscape

In January Dave and I made our to-do list for the house for this year, and at the top of the list was the front yard. We thought this would be a fairly fun, fairly inexpensive (as opposed to a new kitchen) project. Coupled with the fact that I had begun to feel better and Dave really wanted to rent an excavator, we decided that would be our first project of the year. One of our friends had used a local master gardener and so we gave her a call and began working with her to come up with a design that would fit our style, as well as the style of our house.

So we set aside one weekend, which happened to be the only weekend in February when it wasn't snowing, raining or just overall cold and nasty, and we set to work. Dave used the excavator to pull out three HUGE laurels (just the rootball of one weighed about 200 pounds), we ammended soil, transplanted some jasmine and camelias and pulled up grass, which is a serious job. And then we planted, and mulched, and laid sand with flagstone edging around each bed. Wow. It is actually finished now (it took a little longer than one weekend, and then we ran into a bit of rainy/snowy weather), and looks fabulous. I would have a final picture, but it is raining today, so I cannot run outside to get a full view shot. We planted some italian cypresses, and arborvitae, crape myrtles, knock-out roses, maiden grass, rosemary and lots and lots of dwarf boxwoods. All in all it really looks fabulous and gives our home more of a mediterannean feel, which is good, because it is sort of a med house.

Baby

I am now somewhere around 22/23 weeks prego, which is insane. I finally was able to wean myself off the meds I was taking, and have been meds free for about 3 weeks, which is fab. We also founf out that we will be having a little boy in July. We are excited (although as long as it was really a baby and not a lemur we would have been excited anyway it went), and are now trying to come together on a name, of course that will be for us to know and the world to find out in July...we still like to have some surprises, besides once the baby has been named you can only tell your neighbor how horrible the name is, I do not need commentary while trying to decide.

Now that we know we are having a boy, I am starting to think about the baby's room, which is fun and bizarre. I obviously was not thinking about a 3rd child when we moved into this house because we painted Hadleigh's room blue (which Hadleigh and Annelise now share) and Annelise's room pink, with a red wall. I love the girls' blue room, and since Dave made the girls' beds it is nearly impossible to move them into the pink room...so we need to paint the pink room. I have picked out some bedding that I like for when he moves into a big boy bed, so I'm going to use that to help me decorate his room. I don't think I will get new crib bedding, I mean, do I really need to? I have red and green sheets, and these days you aren' suppose to use a bumper because of SIDS, so...I'll keep that money in my pocket.

Girls' Weekend

The last weekend in February I was able to fly up to Indiana to visit with my college girl friends. The major bummer was that one of the gals did not make it because of the blizzards in the northeast. We were super sad because we are all prego two of us with our third child and one of us with our fourth, but alas we are looking forward to a July 2011 get-together once we have all weaned our little ones. In any case it was relaxing and fun to be away for a weekend.

ER Visit

Last Wednesday was an eventful day in our household. I was hosting playgroup to celebrate HC's birthday and we had 7 mamas and 14 children over for the morning. After lunch and cake the kids decided to go outside to play on our new swingset. There were a couple moms outside, and I was inside rounding up a couple more kids to go out, when I heard several moms call for me, and Annelise, who was crying and bleeding was thrust into my arms, by another mama who had seen her fall off the second step of our swingset and cut her head on a paver in the ground. Unfortunately we did not have a nurse among us, but we did the best we could. I started ordering people around, grabbing wet paper towels to clean off her head so I could see what exactly was going on. As I did (sorry) blood started squirting everywhere, so I held those towels to her little head and one friend called 911 and another called Dave and we waited for the paramedics to arrive. Annelise finally calmed down and the firemen (thank God for firemen) looked at her head, by that time a lot of the bleeding had clamed down and they said she should be fine to be driven to Childrens' Hospital for stitches.

You cannot see her stitches, but her hair is greasy from the neosporin we have been putting over the stitches.

One mama volunteered to drive me and Annelise (so that I could keep pressure on her head), and another mama voluteered to stay at the house with her kids and Hadleigh, so we were off to the ER. After about an hour of waiting, Annelise was running around the waiting room, totally happy and content. Fortunately Dave made it in time for the stitches, although Annelise was a total trooper, I do not do that well with that kind of thing. He held her hands down and she and I sang songs while the doc stitched her up. The Doc was quite amused by the situation, I mean what 2 year old sings "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Praise Ye the Lord" while getting 4 stitches? She is fine and on the mend now, although I have had several nasty dreams about the whole situation. I was fairly calm and put together when it happened, but the next day I basically cried the day away. Dave is going to take her stitches out later this week, so we'll see how that goes. Now we are officially broken into the ER, since this was our first visit...I think I would have rather had an ear infection or something, but I suppose after 4 years with nothing we needed to go out with a bang. And of course, I am ever so thankful and indebted to my wonderful mama friends who took care of us that day. It was chaotic, but in retrospect I am glad that everyone was there with me.

Hadleigh Claire's 4th Birthday

Hadleigh's birthday was on Sunday, she is 4. Four seems old to me, and she continues to seem old. Dave's parents were able to come down for the weekend to celebrate with us, which was fun. It's always nice to open presents with Grandpa and Grandma in person.

And then on Sunday afternoon we had 3 little friends come over to play. The kids played outside and then we had burritos and guacamole for dinner. Dave made a leaf cake for her, because she requested to have a "fall party with yellow, red and orange." Apparently the fall party at school made quite an impression on her, so that seemed easy enough to do for her. She had a great time and topped it all off with sleeping in panties that night. So far, so good. After all the potty issues we have had with Hadleigh it is nice to have a smooth transition, we will see if it lasts.

Other House Projects

Now that the landscape is done we have moved onto a few other house projects. One of our neighbors has a friend who works as a house stager and home decorator, and we had called her last fall to get some opinions on what color we should paint our house (the outside, which we never did, but we did like her suggestions). We had a couple other projects that we wanted to work on inside and I have felt nervous about color selection recently and just want to get the right paint color the first time. So, we hired Kelly to come back and help us make some decisions. The main project is our entryway/stairway/hallway. She came last week and was able to give us some great ideas for entryway tables and rugs with just enough info in my head that I felt confidant to make all the other decisions. We found an awesome table at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, so that saved a bundle, and then got a new frame and mat for a painting Dave had given me after our first fight, 7 years ago. It was fun to visit Home Goods and Hobby Lobby and get some great deals, so besides paint, that is done (we did however settle on a color, but will wait to paint until my parents get here at the end of March). We also decided to have her come back and Redesign/Stage our family room. We have rearranged that room a dozen times and just have had a hard time coming up with the right configuration. She came over yesterday while I was out, took all the pictures down, everything off the bookcase, and all the furniture out and then decided on how to arrange it as she brought it back in. I love it! She had picked up a couple things that we knew we needed, like a couple of throw pillows and two lamps, but that was all I had to purchase in order to make my room look great. Well, we also decided that I need to get a large mirror for over the couch, but that is it. I'm so happy, it is so open and feels large. There is lots of room for the girls to play and it feel clean and simple. The perfect place to sit and read and entertain. Love it!

That is about it, enjoy the pictures.

Snow Days

Last Friday it snowed in Atlanta. I mean, it really snowed. About a month ago it "fake" snowed, it was a light dusting that was more ice than snow, and the "snow" was not good for anything, useless for making a snowball or snowman, etc. We did not even go outside and play in it, we just drove around in the ice and did donuts. =)

In any case, it really snowed on Friday, which was so much fun! I love the snow. After naptime we bundled up the girls in all their crazy mismatched snow gear (thank gooness for a recent bag of hand-me-downs that contained a snow-bib outfit for Annelise) and went outside. The girls had a great time helping Dave make an 8 foot tall snowman, swinging on the swings and going down the slide, eating the snow, and throwing snowballs at one another.

Saturday was super fun too because the snow stuck around in the morning, and we made another snowman, snow angels, and just enjoyed walking around in it.

It is always a fun change of pace around here to get some snow. It does make me miss our days in Germany, though our last winter we got enough snow to last me a long time. But then again, it is winter, I figure it should snow! It makes spring more enjoyable when we have had a good winter. And now that we have had our god snow, I'm hopnig that spring is right around the corner!