Siblings

K and C have been in love with their new baby brother from first sight. They got to come to the hospital the first night he was born, K held him first and you could tell he was in heaven. Even today he is constantly in his face and commenting on his every move and holding him as much as he can.

C loves him too and will, once a day, thank me for her new little brother. She will hold him too, but not as often and not as long, and only if he is clean smelling and not crying. At the hospital she held him for a few minutes but was more interested in a lollipop she had acquired at the gift shop.

The kids came by the first three days for short visits, but the fourth day they closed the hospital to kids under 12 due to flu season. That was hard for all of us. I desperately wanted my family together, and at that point didn't know when i was going to get to go home, and the kids didn't understand why they couldn't visit anymore. 

Thankfully it only ended up being a day and a half before we got to go home. The kids were very excited to see us, but even more excited for the lollipops that L brought home. Silly kids.

They have been amazing big siblings. I can't get them to change a diaper, but they will bring me the diapers and wipes, but that is it. C is struggling with sharing attention, and exerting her opinions, but we are all enjoying the new addition.

I love my THREE kiddos!!

Welcome Baby!!

Logan Matthew

January 8, 2013

8lbs 15.4oz, 20in

The birth story:

With a scheduled c-section, the birth story is not supposed to be very exciting, however Logan's birth story was pretty exciting for me. Logan's due date was January 25th and his c-section was scheduled for January 17th at 39 weeks. The first week of January I started having mild contractions. I had a full night of contractions that were 8 minutes apart, however they never got stronger or closer so I didn't go into the hospital for it. Also at this time I started feeling less movement from the little guy, which concerned me enough to go into the hospital to be monitored, which turned out fine. I also lost my plug that week, and when that happened I had a feeling that we weren't going to make it to the 17th.

During my appointment on the 4th, even after several nights of contractions, I was only dilated to a 1. The doctor had no intention of moving up my c-section date, but she agreed that I would probably not make it to the 17th. After this appointment I called my folks and let them know the details, and we all decided that it might be in everyone's best interest for them to come earlier than they had planned, and they moved up their arrival date by 5 days.

Tuesday the 8th I woke up about 1 am with contractions that were a lot more intense than I had had previously. They were about 5 minutes apart, but I still didn't believe that I was in labor. I ignored them for about 45 minutes then decided to take a shower and shave my legs just in case. These contractions were way intense, and they were constantly 5 minutes (or less) apart, so I decided that it was time to call the doc and head towards the hospital.

At 3am, I called my friend who was "on call" for this possibility and couldn't get a hold of her, so ended up calling my neighbor who was not at all expecting my call, and she wonderfully came over. 

I got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the monitors to see what was going on. After about 1/2 a hour of sitting around being monitored they finally decided to check my progress and realized that I was 4cm dilated with "bulging waters." This got everybody moving quickly and within 30 min I was in the OR.

Here I am in labor. I was smiling, but really not happy. I was not supposed to be feeling labor, and really it is no fun! I kept saying, "this is not fair."

Logan was born at 5:01am. During the c-section, when they got to the pulling out part, I remember them saying "look at all that hair!" As they were stitching me up they got the call that he was a half an ounce short of 9 lbs. No wonder I was so uncomfortable!!!

We hung out for the required amount of days, and on Thursday I was ready to go home and be with my family. I had been having high blood pressure for awhile and so they decided to do some blood work before sending me home. The tests showed that I had high liver enzymes, so they wanted to keep me another night for observation. Friday morning I had higher liver enzymes, still had high blood pressure and they let me know that my red blood cell count was dangerously low, so they wanted to keep me another night for observation. My parents were here so Matt got to finally spend an evening with me. We had our Friday-night-date night in the hospital.

 Saturday morning my liver enzymes were lower, so that was good, but my RBC was still low so they gave me the option of a blood transfusion or going home and being on bed-rest. I chose the bed-rest.

Thankfully my parents had made it into town on Thursday night, so I was able to commit to bed rest. So Logan and I went home to start our "new life" ...

The Bathroom

Matt worked really hard, from Thanksgiving to Christmas, on what he called my"pregnancy project." We didn't love the color of our master bathroom, the paint was peeling and no matter how many times we cleaned it there was mold growing on the walls.

Here it is before:

And after:

He did an amazing job! The painting was easy, but the wainscoting was a lot of work and hassle. The "new" bathroom is so bright and clean and not stinky and I love it. Great work babe!

CC's 3 year pictures

What do I say about my 3 year old?!? She is such a joy and such a challenge all at the same time. She can make me belly-laugh and tear my hair out all within a few minutes. She is learning to exert her own opinion, and does so whenever she feels it necessary. She doesn't like to be told 'no.' She loves to dance! She loves princesses, and dress up. She is a daddy's girl. She is MY princess. 

Love you Cbug!

 

All About CC

2012 Facebook Funnies

This is a collection of funny things that I posted on Facebook this year. It's long, so it is mostly for posterity, but I know that some of my family and friends don't have Facebook yet and have not heard some of these. I might have Matt put together his collection too. Kinda fun to look back at.

January 16^th - Do all 2 year olds know how to fake cry, or is it just my overly dramatic daughter?

Jan 22^nd - Sang a solo in church today and at the end I hear from my sweet C "yay Mommy!"

January 29^th - This evening K was running around with some swim goggles on. C sees and says that she wants some goggles. Matthew Porter comments that maybe if she had some princess goggles she might actually go in the pool. C says "I want my princess goggles!" I said "you don't have any princess goggles." C says "Lets go shopping!" Oh dear. No credit cards for my little girl!

February 5^th - K: "C you're a style ninja!"

February 14^th - There is no passive listening in my house. EVERY sentence starts with "hey Mom?, hey Mom?" until I acknowledge the new sentence.

March 17^th - So, K was very spoiled at the ER. He got a stuffed animal, and stickers and lollipops. As he was skipping out the ER doors he says "that was fun!" Silly boy. He really was amazingly brave, he didn't cry once and he was actually telling knock knock jokes to the surgeon and nurses.

April 3^rd - C is laying on the floor...
Me: K, did you push her?
K: No.
Me: Did you push her?
K: No.
Me: Did you knock her over?
K: Uh huh.
I guess the right question is always important.

May 4^th - My sweet daughter told me "I can't look, I'm working." I guess I know where she learned that one!

May 17^th - Kids are playing hide and seek by laying down in the grass. Guess its time to mow!

May 18^th - You can tell you are a mother when you pick your nail polish color based on what you think your daughter might like.

June 7^th - C: Mom, can we sit on the couch and cuddle? (Well gee, twist my arm!)

June 11^th - I'm learning that the intrinsic need of a 4 year old to spray his little sister with the hose outweighs the punishments Mom can dish out.

June 22^nd - My son requested pizza, hot wings and root beer for dinner. Which we had. Such a boy!

July 3^rd - C is in the other room singing "I'm peeing in my pants, I'm peeing in my pants!" I'm grateful that we have already put on the nighttime pull-up.

July 5^th - Been in our house for 10 months and I am STILL cleaning dog hair out of the fridge. Do you think that's where the previous owners kept their dogs?

July 5^th - Just called the plastic surgeons office that stitched up K's head back in March because I had not yet received a bill; they told me that he was satisfied with what the insurance paid and was not going to bill us for the rest. She said his intention is never to make somebody pay out of pocket for an ER visit. Seriously the BEST news all month!!! There still is humanity out there!!!

July 8^th - Me: I'm dying!
Matt: You're not dying, you're multiplying!!
I guess he has a point.

July 20^th - The cost of medical care in NY had cured me of my slight hypochondriasis.

August 12^th – From Tess Huber: Today I asked my cousin's adorable 4 year old what his favorite color was. He told me green, blue, red, white, sliver, black, not pink since that’s his sisters favorite color, orange, purple, the color of me, and the color of my eyes. :D what a cutie ;)

August 15^th - My newest pregnancy craving is potato chips. Bring on the LBS!!!

August 31^st - In C speak woodpecker = knocking bird. Makes sense to me!

September 16^th - Took a kid to church without shoes today. It was bound to happen sometime!

September 19^th - A year ago today I thought my life was over as I left my beautiful CO to move across the country. Turns out the East coast is a great place to live and we are very happy here!!

October 26^th - Weirdest pregnancy craving so far... Pumpkin shaped cookies. Not pumpkin flavored, just pumpkin SHAPED frosted sugar cookies. I know, I'm weird. FYI, Panera has the best pumpkin shaped cookies. 

November 12^th - I guess a kid flooded bathroom is a good way to get the floor really clean! :-)

November 15^th - Hurray for C she is officially potty trained! Hurray for Mom, 9 weeks without diapers before we start all over again! :-)

November 21^st - C: (talking gibberish)... Okay Mom?
Me: I have no idea what you just said.
C: I don't know either.

December 7^th - We drove by the local mansion to check out the Christmas lights. The kids were wowed at how big the house was and I asked K what he would do if he lived in a house that big. He said "jump on the beds!" Well, why not?

December 24^th - Every day this week I have been one ingredient short of the recipe I am attempting to make. I think it says something about my state of mind: a few nuts short of a pecan pie (or something like that).

December 29^th - C is slowly figuring out that when we let her play Xbox with her brother, we don't turn the controller on.

 

A Princess Party

Today we celebrated my little princess' 3rd birthday! 

No princess party is complete without:

Pink and purple decorations, tiaras and wands ...

... pink cupcakes

... and heart-shaped sandwiches.

Aunt Jodi got her two princess dresses, so we let her open that gift before her party. She chose to be Belle.

Our friends were invited to dress up too, so we had several more princesses, a couple fairies, a unicorn ...

 ... and a knight and a pirate!

The kids made a princess picture frame.

Fabulous Ashley started an impromptu game of "princess, princess, frog" (like "duck, duck, goose") while I cleaned up after our craft.

We had lunch and cupcakes.

And finally opened presents.

 
I think a good time was had by all! We are so grateful for the wonderful friends we have made here, and for there generosity with their time and gifts.