Florida Fun

Best friends even though they live so far apart.

April 5 began quite early.  Owen and I took Jessica and Addie to the
airport at 4:15.  We returned to Oakland about 6:45 am. We woke the
big babies and finished packing.  By 7:15 we were in the car again
heading to the airport.

By 9:00am we were on our way to Chicago.  We would then head to
Orlando.  The kids did well on the flights.  Audrey, Owen and I took
the Magic Express bus to our resort, Disney's Art of Animation.
Alexander and Adam got the rental car.  We met up at the resort at
4:30.  The kids were so excited.  We stayed in a Cars room.  We
explored our room and headed to dinner at Landscape of flavors.   We
had a meal plan and were able to eat freely in the food court.

Soon after dinner Adam and Alexander headed to Sanford to pick up
Mimi, Carolyn and Emmaline. Mimi was so excited to see the kids and
meet baby Owen.

After a late night and long day of traveling we got to bed to prepare
for our first full day.

 
Saturday was my birthday.  My favorite way to spend the day is by the
pool. The kids enjoyed the Cozy Cone pool and Owen enjoyed the shaded
cones.  It was perfect.  That evening Mimi, Alexander, Carolyn, and
Emmaline took a cab to the Orange County Convention Center to hear
Ricky Skaggs, Matthew West, Franklin Graham, and the African
Children's Choir.  Adam spent his first afternoon at his conference,
Gospel Coalition.  This was the real reason we went to Orlando.
Usually Gospel Coalition is in Chicago.  I insisted we all go since it
was in Orlando.  I miss living there, miss the warm weather, and hoped
to visit friends while there.  I knew it would be a challenging trip
with a 5 week old baby.  I knew it would also be difficult to stay
home alone with 3 kids.  This is why my mom joined us there.

Sunday, Alexander, Mimi, Emmaline and Carolyn went to Magic Kingdom.  Mommy enjoyed a walk and time at the pool with Owen and Audrey.  

Monday we spent the day at the pool.  That afternoon we went to Bahama Breeze for dinner and did some shopping at the outlet mall. 

 

Alexander and Audrey enjoyed the Nemo spray park.  

Tuesday, we went to Downtown Disney. We enjoyed visiting T-Rex Cafe, Rainforest Cafe, and having dinner at Captain Jack's. 

 Alexander enjoyed building with Legos at Lego Land.  He designed a car and raced it on the track.

Wednesday morning Alexander, Mimi, Carolyn, and Emmaline went to breakfast at The Grand Floridian at 1900 Park Fare.  Here they enjoyed visits from the Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins, Pooh Bear, and Alice in Wonderland. 

Wednesday afternoon we took Mimi, Carolyn, and Emmaline to Sanford to the airport.  We were sad to see them leave, but had a great visit with them. 

That evening we went to dinner at the Polynesian Resort at Chef Mickey's.  There we met Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto.  Audrey was thrilled to meet Minnie. 

Thursday morning we visited Disney's Beach Club Resort to dine at Cape May Cafe.  There we met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald.  Audrey enjoyed sharing her yogurt with Minnie. 

That afternoon we visited our friends Darin and Courtney.  Alexander and Audrey loved playing with Whitney and her toys.  After our visit we headed to Wilderness Lodge to have dinner with Trey and Madeline at Whispering Canyon.  The children were so excited to see them.  Madeline got to meet Owen for the first time.  

 Friday morning we headed to the parks, compliments of Trey.  We began at Universal Studios, where Alexander's wish would come true.  We dined at Hollywood and Vine where we met Jake the Pirate, Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, and June from Little Einsteins.  Audrey quickly joined in on the dancing and singing.  Alexander was so excited about meeting Jake he couldn't speak or move from his chair.  I had to hold him to introduce him.  The second time Jake came to visit, Alexander was not so shy.  It was a priceless experience. 
 

Audrey's final wish also came true on this day.  We got to meet Daisy Duck.  She is definitely Audrey's favorite character.  

 We then headed to Magic Kingdom where Audrey met Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel.  It was magical.  It was an amazing day. 

Friday evening we ate dinner at the Crystal Palace.  We enjoyed visits from Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, and Tigger.  

We couldn't have had a better vacation with our three babies.  I felt crazy taking a 5 week old baby to Florida, much less Disney World.  It was a success though, especially since Owen got to meet his Mimi and Aunt Madeline.  I think it would have been much more difficult to take a baby a little older than Owen.  He slept most of the time.  

A special thank you to Trey who made this trip possible.  It was a trip of a lifetime. 

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