Three Weeks with Three

As many have said, When you have your 3rd kid you go from man to man to zone defense.

So thankful Audrey and Alexander love Owen.  They may "love" him a little too much.  They both want to constantly hold him.  They have both developed a new type of play since Owen's arrival.  They play "house" all day long.  As we have been reading through "The Big Picture Story Bible" they have been playing Adam and Eve.   In their version Adam an Eve don't disobey and don't listen to satan.  In both new play themes they have their own babies to care for.  I love seeing this new nurturing side of each of them.  They have quickly learned to imitate the high pitched voice we use when talking to babies.

Owen has many similar characteristics to Audrey as a baby.  He prefers to be held at all times, especially while sleeping.  He loves to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed.  He has been taking probiotics for 6 days now.  It seems to finally be kicking in. These were a life saver for Audrey.  Again like Auj, he doesn't tolerate dairy well. This makes it a bit difficult for Mommy to find much to eat.  Cutting out dairy and carbohydrates makes one hungry mama.  On another note, Mommy got in a 5k run yesterday.  It felt good for the most part.  I haven't lost as much endurance or speed with this pregnancy.  A good run always makes me feel better even after a long night with little sleep.  Some of my fastest runs were when Alexander was a baby struggling with asthma, not sleeping.

Alexander went to the doctor today. They did not hear any  wheezing and are willing to allow him to try to stop taking  his oral steroids.  After 9 allergy treatments we hope and pray that he will be able to discontinue his meds.

Owen also saw the doctor.  Doctors have detected a heart murmur.  We go to Children's hospital in Omaha to see a cardiologist on Thursday. We are praying for ultimate healing and miracles with our sweet boys.  God is in control and has the power to remove both of these issues.

Audrey has become quite the drama queen.  She refuses to eat, hates to go to bed, and insists on only wearing clothes she chooses.  She loves to wear her pink slipper pajamas.  She only wants to wear clothes that are pink or purple.  Not sure how I got her to wear red today. 

We are thankful for the long naps Owen sometimes provides so we can attend to Audrey and Alexander.  Alexander enjoys playing Chutes and Ladders or Candy Land with Mommy and Daddy.  We are excited forJessica and Addie Mae to arrive on Monday.  Jessica has been missed by us all with the birth of this sweet baby.  She was such an important part of our life after Audrey's birth.  

Life with 3=perfection.  We are so thankful for God's precious gifts. 

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Owen's Arrival

On Wednesday, February 20th, I began having contractions.  Contractions continued Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  Saturday evening around 1:30 am the contractions woke me up.  They continued to be 5 minutes apart until 3:00 am.  At this time we called in backup.  Adrienne came to stay with the kids and Amy met us at the hospital in West Point.  Unfortunately, the contractions slowed down and even stopped.  I went home around 7:00 am, very disappointed.  

Over the next few days I continued to teach Zumba, go to the gym, walk and do the elliptical machine.  Nothing seemed to change.  On Sunday, March 3rd, I felt a few changes in my body.  That afternoon I decided to walk outside.  40 degrees felt quite nice.  By this point I had chosen to be at peace with the fact that this baby would come when he was ready and may not be early like Audrey
and Alexander. 

Sunday evening Adam and I watched the first episode of The Bible.  After going to bed later than expected I continued to sing the worship songs in my head from church that morning.  At exactly 11:00pm, I felt a large gush.  I woke Adam, who had been asleep just a few minutes.  This was just how it was with Audrey and Alexander's arrival.  I texted a few people to see who we could get to keep the kids.  Lorie came to stay with the kids.  Bethany was working and unable to join us at the hospital.  We had Amy on stand by, ready to come to the hospital once we were certain we were staying this time. 

I continued to leak fluid, making me a little more confident labor was real this time.  I hadn't had any contractions yet, so I was still reluctant it was another false alarm. 

When we arrived at the hospital we picked up a few contractions on the monitor and tested to make sure my water had broken.  I was thankful to see these signs of progress.  I was 3-4 centimeters dilated at this time.  We called Amy and she headed on to the hospital.  Contractions picked up slowly and I continued to be fairly comfortable and able to move around and walk.  By 3:30 or 4:00 contractions had strengthened.  Being in bed was more uncomfortable, so I sat over the side of the bed with my head on Adam's chest.  Amy rubbed my back through each contraction.  As contractions strengthened I began to become concerned if my pain tolerance would continue through delivery.  Even though the pain was manageable, I chose to get a dose of stadol.  Stadol had been my source of pain relief with Alexander and Audrey.  It was much more effective with Alexander than Audrey.  

By 5:00am I was ready to push.  I didn't feel I had the strength to push.  I couldn't get my body in position and didn't feel confident it was going to be a quick process like Audrey.   Owen arrived at 5:14am after about 15 minutes of pushing.  After delivery we were informed that Owen had experienced shoulder dystocia.  His shoulder had gotten stuck under my pelvic bone.  This caused tremendous pain with pushing and could have been very serious for Owen.  Thankfully, the doctor was able to turn his shoulder and get him out without a great deal of struggle.  He didn't experience any negative effects of the shoulder dystocia other than a few bruises and delay in cord clamping.  The delay did cause him to have some jaundice.  

Owen was perfect.  We were thrilled.  He weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and was 21 1/2 inches long.  I couldn't believe he was the biggest baby of the three.  I thought he was going to be the smallest.  

Alexander and Audrey came to see Owen a little later that morning.  They were both thrilled with him.  They spoke so sweetly to him.  Our family was complete. 

I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

                                                1 Samuel 1:27

Audrey's Birthday Party

 The kids and I made a last minute trip to Kentucky before baby brother arrived.  We got a chance to celebrate Audrey's birthday with special friends and family.  Alexander and Audrey loved the time they spent with Jessica and Addie Mae. 

 They especially loved playing with Caroline and Carter.  Audrey was even willing to go to Kiki's house without Mommy to play. 

Hard to believe our little princess is turning two. 

 

Audrey enjoys watching Mickey Mouse so we decided a Minnie Mouse birthday was appropriate.  

Thanks to Kelley for making the beautiful cake.  It was even organic. Audrey insisted on eating the fondant bow.  She has quite the sweet tooth. 

 We had a few special guests at the party.  My youth minister and his wife had a baby last December.  We had shared a few of Audrey's things with sweet Bethany.  Kristi returned a few of the things I might need for our new baby.  The birthday party was the perfect time to return them.  It was a great reunion.  The girls had a great time playing together.  
Another special friend, Allison, was at the party as well.  She had never met Audrey girl.  Allison and I met in college.   It was great to see Allison and Nick.  Audrey especially loved the Minnie Mouse gift they brought.  

 

Audrey enjoyed opening her gifts, but insisted on reading each book before going to the next gift. 

 We love our little Minnie Mouse princess.  She loves to read books, work puzzles, and color.  She has become much more social and even enjoyed spending time with her Mimi and visiting many other friends.  She is quite the talker and can say just about anything.  Auj loves everything girly.  She insists on wearing jewelry and loves choosing clothes, shoes, and hair bows.  She loves to sing Jingle Bells, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Happy Birthday.  Auji will always be the princess with two brothers.  We are so thankful for our precious blessing from the Lord. 

Christmas 2012

 Christmas was especially exciting for the kids this year.  Tami and Madeline were here.  We went to church on Christmas Eve and had Tami's usual spaghetti dinner that evening.  Alexander opened his special Christmas book. 

 On Christmas morning, Audrey was the first to wake.  She and I got up and started breakfast.  We had french toast bake, scrambled eggs, and bacon.  The kids played with their "Santa" gifts, those that are too big to be wrapped.  After breakfast, we opened the rest of the gifts.  Alexander got a robot, scooter, basketball goal, Flip car, and much more.  Audrey got a kitchen, a Middleton baby, barbies, Barbie clothes, and lots of play food for the kitchen.  They were both thrilled with their gifts. 

Audrey playing with the nativity at church

Audrey and her new Middleton baby

Audrey's gifts

Alexander's gifts

Barbie's from my childhood- much needed makeover

Barbies with their new clothes

Our New Baby Tradition

Before Alexander was born, Adam and I made him a special bear at Build a Bear Workshop.  Buddy Bear had two hearts, one from Mommy and one from Daddy.  Buddy also wore a UK t-shirt.  

The night before Audrey was born, Adam, Alexander, and I made her a bear from Build a Bear.  Candice has a sweater with pink hearts.  She has three hearts.

So last week we went to Build a Bear workshop to make new baby his bear.  Alexander received a gift card to Build a Bear, so he and Audrey also got new bears.  Alexander chose a blue bear named Ears.  Audrey got a bunny with a tutu and slippers. We named her Bunny Bun.  We made baby boy a white bear named Doodle.  He doesn't have any clothes yet, but he does have 4 hearts.  We hope to find him a UK shirt when we go to Kentucky next week.