The Third Time

Today is the third time I have been alone with all three kids. A combination of family, holidays and an aquaintance of a friend who is training to be a post-partum doula means that even though Audrey is just over a month old, I have had tons of help. More than I want sometimes!

Today has gone a little better than the previous two times I had all three. I managed to put away a load of laundry (and there is one sitting in the washer and one in the dryer that I'm going to pretend don't exist...), I unloaded the dishwasher, made grilled cheese for lunch, paid a few bills, and planned dinner (I haven't actually started cooking it yet, and may not end up cooking it, but still, it's planned).

However, I haven't showered. Or brushed my teeth. Or my hair. And we won't even talk about the mascara that I didn't remove before bed last night.

And homeschool? What is that again? I don't think I can remember.

Still, I'm pretty encouraged by the progress we're making. By the time she's three months old I may be showered. The laundry may still be sitting in the washer and dryer, but hey, at least I won't stink!

Christmas Traditions

Since our kids are just getting to the stage where they can really understand Christmas, there was a lot of talk in our house this year about what kind of traditions we want to establish. You know, those really important details, like:

Where should we put the stockings?

Do we open the stockings before or after presents?

When should we open the presents?

On Christmas Eve he brought up all the presents and got the room ready for the kids while I sat with a baby attached to my chest for FIVE HOURS STRAIGHT...but that is another post entirely...

When said baby finally fell asleep and I got a look at the room, I was surprised to see that each person had their own pile of gifts neatly organized by size. I had just assumed that all the presents would be in one big pile under the tree, and Chloe would pass them out one at a time, most likely while wearing a darling and very photogenic santa hat. Doesn't everyone do it that way?

One thing we had agreed upon was that we wanted the kids to appreciate each gift and not just tear through them as fast as possible. To me, this means you ooh and aah over each one and take a good look at it...then you set it aside for later and move on to the next present.

To my engineer husband this meant that you open every box of Geotrax (of which there were FIVE thanks to Grandma), open up all the packaging in all five boxes of Geotrax, and then set up all of the pieces in all five of the boxes of Geotrax.

Did I mention there were FIVE boxes? And that this had to happen in the middle of the present opening? Do you know how long Chloe and I had to wait to finish opening our presents because Luke and the engineeer were building FIVE boxes of Geotrax?

Let me tell you, there wasn't a whole lot of goodwill to men going on in my heart. Maybe next year we'll get all those important details straight. Because you just don't interrupt the present opening!

Snorty McBoogerson

Baby Audrey has caught the cold that everyone seems to have.

And I just have to say...

Breastfeeding a really snotty newborn?

Not one of those moments where you marvel at the beauty of God's creation.

More of a yuck moment.

With some ick factor thrown in.

Just so you know.

The girl has a big heart

Our church is participating in Operation Christmas Child, where you fill a shoebox with items for a needy child. I thought this would be a great way to introduce Chloe to serving others, so we decided to make a box for a little girl and headed out to Target.

I explained to her that some kids don't have any mommies or daddies to buy them Christmas presents, so we were going to buy the presents for the little girl. Chloe picked out so many things that I knew she loved for herself, but never once asked to have them. (She doesn't know it, but she's getting a lot of them in her Christmas stocking, since she was so good and didn't ask for anything!)

When we were all done, Chloe said how she was going to give the little girl all the presents and that she had lots of extra pillows so the little girl could share Chloe's room with her.

And then she said that since the little girl doesn't have any brothers or sisters, Chloe and Luke and Audrey could be hers.

And then she said that Isaac and I could be her mommy and daddy.

And then she asked when we were going to get her.

I tell you, it actually hurt my heart to explain to Chloe that we couldn't get her, we could only mail the shoebox. She kept asking, "But what if she never has a mommy or daddy? Can't we be her family?"

Isaac and I have always thought that we would adopt a child someday, and it looks like God may be preparing the hearts of our children for that!

Introducing Audrey

 

Audrey Nicole arrived 11-24 at 6:32 pm.  She weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces and was 19.5 inches long.  This is her at one week old.  She is just the sweetest, most mellow baby, which is good since she has her big brother and sister loving on her all the time, and two-year-old boys aren't the gentlest of huggers :)

 

My labor this time was sooo different from the other two.  Chloe was induced 7 days late, and the entire process took about 6 hours.  I think the actual labor was about 4.5 hours.  Luke came 9 days late and only took 4 hours.  I went from 3cm to pushing so fast that the doctor didn't make it and Isaac thought he'd have to catch the baby!

 

This time I woke up on Thanksgiving (a week and a half before my due date) having irregular but strong contractions and some light bleeding, so I knew I'd go into labor soon, and we expected it to be fast when it happened.  I cooked all day and didn't nap or anything, expecting to go into labor any minute.  But my contractions didn't get regular until midnight!  And then they were still 10 minutes apart.  At 5am on Black Friday I called a friend to drop the kids off because the contractions were 5 minutes apart.  At 8am they were still 5 minutes apart, and I was dilated to 3cm!  I had expected to be almost done by then.  At 10am they had lengthened to 8 minutes and I was still only about 3cm, and I took a shot of Stadol to help me get some sleep (a mild narcotic and the only alternative to epidurals at thsi hospital.  It wears off in about an hour, and makes you feel kind of light-headed).  I had been up and contracting irregularly for over 24 hours at that point.  Finally at about 2 the doctor broke my water.  I was up to 5cm.  At 4 I was dilated 6 cm.  I had one contraction that hurt my lower back so badly that I considered asking for an epidural, but I felt pressure at the next contraction, and when the doctor checked, it was time to push!  Just 3 pushes and she was out.  I love the feeling of the shoulders coming out, it is such a relief and rush.

 

Even though it was the complete opposite of what we expected, this was the labor I enjoyed the most, since I felt the most in control and also the most like a team with Isaac.  I actually really enjoyed the time with him.  He read jokes to me, rubbed my back and feet, and put pressure on some pressure points during the more painful contractions.  I felt so loved by him as he served me all day.