Sweet Angel Baby!

I can't even begin to tell you what a joy Audrey has been to us. A couple weeks ago, she started sleeping longer and longer at night and now she almost always goes to at least 6:30, usually 7:00! The other 2 did not go 10-11 hours this early. She also sleeps great during the day (sometimes I actually find myself worrying that she sleeps too much - I know, crazy). And when she's awake, she's all smiles and coos... well, unless a certain 2-year-old drops something on her head. (When Carter is in play mode, he's pretty much oblivious to everything and everyone around him.)

Anyway, we almost used "Joy" instead of "Hope" for her middle name (Mark was pushing for Joy, but made the mistake of asking for the final decision moments after I delivered the almost 10 pounder with a non-working epidural, so Hope it was!) What she has really brought to us is PEACE! To sit and hold her in the midst of a crazy day brings peace. Ava and Carter quiet down and talk softly to her, kissing and hugging her (for a few moments until one starts pushing the other to get his/her turn to be close to her).

Back in September as I neared her due date, I was really wondering what we were doing in having a 3rd (although it was far too late to turn back!). I felt overwhelmed with 2, and expected the first few months of her life to be awful since the newborn stage as I'd experienced it twice was so challenging. She has been so easy, though! Now I understand when people say to treasure each moment because it goes by so fast. Frankly, with my first 2 newborns, I wondered when the time would start going by faster! Between the sleep deprivation and crying babies, I was challenged to find moments I wanted to remember. I loved them (and still do), but I found caring for a newborn to be downright hard. Who knew adding a 3rd child would actually bring me a sense of peace?

Or, maybe I'm just finally mellowing out as I get older.

(Carter's singing "Jesus Loves Me" - so sweet!)

Hopefully you can see past awful combination of colors and patterns with
the couch and the kids' pj's and instead notice their gorgeous faces.

P.S. We don't stay in our pajamas all the time... most days.

'Tis the Season!

A local outdoor shopping center had their annual Christmas tree lighting last Friday. I'd never been before, but heard it was fun. Mark met up with us after work just in time for the parade! The kids especially loved seeing the horses (with carriages) and Santa.

Next, we headed down to the square to watch the tree lighting.

After the tree lighting came fireworks - Ava was pretty excited!

And last, it started to snow!!

We all had a blast... well, if you call sleeping through the whole thing having a blast.

Ava is FOUR!

Ava turned four this week! She ended up getting to pick out her birthday present when one of Mark's managers called off sick and he had to cover her shift Monday night. I'd had it all planned out to go Monday night because I had $10 Kohl's cash plus a 30% off coupon and that was the first day they overlapped, which of course was the day before her birthday. I knew she wanted something Little Mermaid and also knew Kohl's had a few options, but instead of me picking it out, she got to! It was the first outing I've taken with all 3 kids, and other than spilling my drink all over me in the car, there were no mishaps. On Tuesday, we took the kids to Build-a-Bear for the first time. Ava picked a pink unicorn (I'd hoped for something a little more subtle, but she is a 4-year-old girl) and Carter picked a pony, which surprised me given his love of dogs.

Audrey continues to eat, sleep and poop like a champ! She's usually up once a night between 2-3 (sometimes not until 4!!) and then is back down until 6 or 7. She has started smiling a lot over the past couple weeks. Of course, I LOVE it! Even though she gives them often, they aren't always easy to catch on camera.

We've been enjoying some beautiful fall weather the past couple weeks and have been going for walks and spending some time outside. The kids ask to go outside all the time - even when it's raining and cold, so I'm thankful we've had some nice days!





For more fall pics, you can go to this Facebook album.

One month!

Audrey is one month old today! Hard to believe how quickly the time flies, but that might be due to the fuzziness that has taken residence in my brain.

I'm glad to say that we all seem to be adjusting well to being a family of five. Ava and Carter love their baby sister and quickly learned that the best time to try to get away with something is when I'm occupied with her. One of my biggest challenges these days is being consistent with discipline when I honestly would like to simply ignore the bad behavior rather than expend the energy necessary to deal with it. I am a little sad that this fall has been so rainy and cool forcing us to stay inside. I've only taken all three out on two occasions, and it is somewhat of a challenge (not to mention how much longer it takes to get ready). I foresee a lot of staying home this winter! Everyone always asks how the sleep is going. She still wakes up several times a night, but almost always goes right back to sleep after being fed. This was my biggest desire as I don't have the energy to pace or rock or otherwise put effort into getting her back to sleep in the middle of the night. One night this week, she gave us a 5-hour stretch, which was lovely! I'm hoping for more of those in the near future!

Here are some more pictures from the past few weeks:

With Nana & Pap before they left to go back home.

I love the fat rolls!

Finally, a nice day!

Neena & Poppy get to meet Audrey

Party of Five

(I started this days ago and am now finally finishing it. Life with a newborn is busy!)

She's here! Audrey Hope joined us on Thursday, September 24! I'd hoped we would be able to update this while we were at the hospital, but the internet access at the hospital has blogspot on the unapproved list. Here's how the day went:

6:15 a.m. - arrived at hospital and got checked in

6:45 a.m. - all set for the induction to begin

8:15 a.m. - my doctor stopped in and broke my water, contractions intensify (about 4cm dilated)

8:50 a.m. - ready for some pain relief; bring on the epidural!

9:15 a.m.?? - epidural is administered, but unlike the other 2 times I've had one, there is no immediate relief (unsure of timing as we were all fairly distracted by my pain level); Anesthesiologist suggests waiting 30 minutes as sometimes it takes a little while for the medicine to become effective (5-6 cm dilated).

10:05 a.m. - Nurse calls anesthesiologist to come back as I still have no relief. I'm wondering why in the world women would go through the pain I'm experiencing if given the option not to!

10:20 a.m. - Almost 8 cm... if he doesn't come back soon, I've lost my opportunity for an epidural. Nurse tells me to let her know if I start feeling any pressure.

???? - With the very next contraction, I'm feeling a great deal of pressure (I think she jinxed me!). I can't remember if she's already called the doctor by this point as things are quite hazy. I think she must have because it seems like she called a second time to say he needed to head over quickly. I remember basically trying to hang on during the contractions and the next thing I knew they were changing out the end of the bed for the delivery, the doctor was there and telling me to push. Everything is really a blur because the pain was so intense, although I do remember the doctor saying at one point, "You have to push... I can't get her out if you don't push," and me thinking, "WHAT? I am pushing! And you have to GET HER OUT!"

10:43 a.m. - Audrey Hope arrives and I hear the doctor say, "I wasn't expecting her to be that big." Turns out she's one ounce shy of 10 pounds!!

10:50 a.m. - Anesthesiologist returns and quickly realizes he's no longer needed.

We spent the rest of the day in the delivery room as they didn't have any rooms available on the maternity floor. Around 4 p.m., we finally got a room and settled in.

Of course, here are some pics from her first day here! Because everything happened so quickly, I failed to remind Mark to have the camera ready to snap pics right after she arrived. Her poor little face was pretty bruised up from the delivery, but I'm glad to say that cleared up pretty quickly.



I'm very glad to have my mom here to take care of us. She's been a huge help in allowing me to recover and focus on caring for Audrey.

Ava and Carter seem to be adjusting fairly well to having a new baby sister. Carter was deathly afraid of her when they first met, but now he can't seem to get enough of her. Ava has never been that interested in baby dolls or babies, but she's been taking extra special care of her baby doll and loves on Audrey constantly... sometimes a little too much. She also let us know when they came to the hospital that her name was actually Cinderella, and the first few days we were home, she'd correct us any time we called her Audrey.

We are excited about our new little (?) blessing!

The end is in sight!

We're less than a week away from the due date, and baby will be here one way or the other by Friday! I saw the doctor this morning and am 3cm dilated and 50% effaced - if that means nothing to you, basically I'm starting to progress and could go any time. Because I am progressing, he is willing to schedule an induction, so we have one scheduled for Thursday morning. It seems like everything is going a little crazy with the timing of this baby's arrival. We've known for months that Mark's restaurant was moving locations. I mentioned that in my last blog that the opening is scheduled for September 28, the day after my due date. I'd known that was coming, so had myself prepared, but things got a little crazier when Carter got sick this past weekend. We are blessed in that our kids very rarely get sick, so for him to get croup right before I'm due seems nuts. In and of itself, him being sick wouldn't be a big deal (and I am so very thankful it isn't a throwing-up kind of sick), but I would feel awful about having to ask other people to watch a sickie who is waking up every 1-2 hours at night. In addition, I wouldn't be too excited to bring a new baby home with a sick toddler. I'm not sleeping great anyway with having to get up and go to the bathroom every few hours, but taking care of a sick little boy wore me out Saturday night. I took a 4-hour nap Sunday morning and dozed again while they napped in the afternoon. Of course, I had a horrible time trying to sleep last night, which is kind of sad since Mark tended to Carter and his multiple wakings. We're hoping tonight he sleeps better. And, as strange as it sounds, I'm hoping to actually make it to Thursday before having this baby. My parents will be coming out on Wednesday and knowing the kids are taken care of is one less thing I'll have to worry about! Amazing how having little people to care for makes me less anxious to get this pregnancy over with.

I do believe we'll have internet at the hospital, so we're hoping to be able to give real-time updates on this baby's arrival.

And, because no entry is complete without some pictures, here are a couple.

Carter's attempt at drinking the milk from his cereal bowl (note the cheerios left in the bowl and the milk that is very much NOT going into his mouth).

Lately, Ava doesn't nap most days, but she does stay in her room quietly (at least I think so... I'm usually napping myself). I went in to tell her she could get up and almost tripped over this on the floor:

Then, when I looked at her in bed, I noticed she was unusually still:
I debated on whether to take a picture since I didn't want to wake her up, but I just couldn't resist. Even if it had woken her up (so glad it didn't!), it would have been worth it.

Counting down...

I have a little over 3 weeks until baby Button #3 is due! Ack! My list of things to get done seems much longer than the amount of energy I possess these days. The past few weeks have held lots of nighttime trips to the bathroom when I would rather be sleeping and Ava hasn't helped matters by deciding she needs something almost every night anywhere from 1am to 5am (really, how can you not find your pillow when your head is on it??)! I think giving in and putting a nightlight in her room may be helping. Only time will tell. For a long time she seemed not to have the ability to stop playing or looking at books and fall asleep if there was any light in her room, but something had to give, and so far she's been sleeping through the night without calling for us. I don't think I can handle the nighttime demands of a newborn along with her needing us in the middle of the night every night.

I'm a little anxious about the timing of this baby's arrival as the restaurant Mark manages is moving and the official opening date is the day after my due date. He already works about 60 hours a week, and the two days leading up to the opening they have intense training scheduled (when he helped another restaurant open, these were 16-18 hour days). I selfishly hope the baby does come at the due date so he doesn't (okay, so I don't) have to endure those long days. However, I know Mark and know he would hate to miss out on this time of transition with his crew at the new place. So even though this pregnancy has left me more uncomfortable that the last 2, I almost hope I go a few days late so he gets the chance to open the store and see it running well and then can focus on us. Otherwise, I know he'll be itching to go in and check on things. As it is, I know he probably won't take more than a week off (if that) because of everything going on at work. I'm praying that all those moms who have told me the 3rd baby is generally easygoing are right about our 3rd! God's timing is perfect, though, so I'm doing my best to trust Him.

One project I've been working on is going through both kids' closets and organizing the outgrown girl things and trying to decide what of the boy things are worth trying to sell/give away/donate to Goodwill. While I was working on this last weekend, Ava discovered her dress-up clothes (because we have limited space for toys in the main living area, I often rotate toys out for a while) and Carter, ever the mimic, brought me a dress he wanted to wear. Since Ava had a crown, he also wanted one, but I wasn't sure where to find one at the moment. He spotted a very outgrown winter hat and handed it to me, exclaiming, "Crown!"

Thanks to a great sale coupled with coupons, I stocked up on Trix yogurt, which we'd never had before. I think Carter likes it!

We've been outside a lot these days enjoying the perfect weather. Since the rediscovery of dress-up last week, Ava has spent most of her days as a princess and while I did give in one day and let her wear her princess shoes in the car while I ran a quick errand, I haven't let her play outside in all her princess glory. Today for lunch, I did agree that she could wear her shoes, crown and purses outside (she also loves her princess shirt - you may notice she's wearing it in the picture from last week).
Mark and I couldn't stop laughing when she noticed her reflection in the back door and started posing.

Never a dull moment around here!

Jumpers

A few weeks ago we went to the Greene in celebration of National Cheesecake Day (half-priced cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory!) and to play in the fountains, also known as "the jumpers" as Ava calls them.

They took some time trying to talk each other into getting wet.
Finally, Mark ventured in and sure enough, they followed.
And, once they discovered the fun of running through the "jumpers..."... they didn't want to leave!

Around the house

Carter loves shoes... his, Ava's, mine, Mark's - he's not picky.

Silly/scary faces.

Ava has some obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Notice how her cheerios are lined up in a nice straight row.

Carter started copying Ava, lining his cheerios up as well, but then decided a random pattern was much more his style (and then very quickly decided eating them was even more fun).

Ava's latest compulsion is stacking books. She is very particular about the order and works at stacking and unstacking until she gets it just right. The good thing is this can occupy her for large chunks of time. The bad thing is when Carter decides he wants a book from the stack and she has a minor meltdown about messing up her stack. We have a lot of conversations about how books were meant to be read and not just stacked.

Sometimes after making a stack, she'll spend another chuck of time looking through every book in her stack.

And sometimes she'll take a break from stacking to line up some friends on the couch and get a book for each of them.

Birthday Pics

We had a great time celebrating Carter's birthday on the 3rd, in spite of Mark not feeling great and me dropping a full can of soda on my big toenail that morning causing it to immediately turn purple (I anticipate the toenail falling off sometime soon).Mark working his magic at the grill (our niece Sydney is quite attached to Uncle Mark... he thinks she's going to outgrow it and realize he's a dork - his words, not mine - but I don't see that happening!).

Carter left the kiddie table to see if other people had better food on their plates.

Apparently, Carter didn't want an audience while opening presents.

He got some great gifts - all his favorite things! Books...

trains...

... and trucks!

Cake made by my cousin Donna.

Ava got the hang of Carter's new t-ball set pretty quickly.

Carter, on the other hand, refused to hold the bat by the small end (even now, a week and a half later, he won't hold it correctly).

I just had to include this... he's already terrorizing girls... this is his cousin Abby.

Our big scary two-year old!

He really is a big boy - at his 2-year check-up, we found out he's 32 pounds and one inch shy of 3 feet tall!