One Month Update

I took this picture just for you this morning. (Well, not really. I also took it to show to my coworkers since they haven't seen a picture of her yet. But they didn't even ask for a picture. Do you hear me crying?) Rachel is exactly one month old today, and she is doing great. We can tell that she is growing nicely, and I am excited to see how much when we go for her two month appointment. Here are some other interesting facts about my sweet baby.

• She smiled at me yesterday. Yes, she did! She hasn't done it again yet, but I know those precious baby smiles are coming!
• She still needs (wants?) to eat twice during the night, and I have to admit that I'm ready for her to only need one feeding per night. Honestly, I'm ready for her to sleep through the night.
• She is awake for a while every morning and evening, but she naps really well in the afternoon. Why is that nice? Daniel is also napping, and Sarah Beth has playtime in her room.
• She loves her swing, but I'm not surprised about this because both Daniel and Sarah Beth loved it, too.
• She refuses to nap in her room. She immediately wakes up when I put her down in her bassinet and starts screaming.
• She naps in the swing.
• She does sleep in her bassinet at night.

A one-month old just doesn't do much, does she? Except look precious!

WIP Wednesday

Yes, even with a newborn I have found the time to do a little crocheting. Honestly, it's how I relax the best, with crochet hook in hand and a good television show to watch.

I finished this one for Sarah Beth, and she loves it. The finished measurements are about three feet square.

I started this one so that I would have something to work on while I was in the hospital, although I wasn't sure I would want to crochet there. However, since I was stuck there waiting to be released, er, discharged, I was glad I had it. All I had to do that day was watch television and crochet. Oh, and of course, I enjoyed my new baby! Now Rachel has two springy, lightweight blankets. (Here is the other one.)

I needed something to work on while I waited for the yarn for John's blanket to arrive, so I started this blanket. Here you see my budding crocheter "helping." She doesn't actually know how to crochet yet, but she had fun pretending. It's almost done, too; I just need to weave in the loose ends. Please ignore the mess around her. I would love to blame it on being in survival mode, but my couch usually looks like that.

John asked me to crochet him a blanket, and I got lucky that this pattern for a "Man'Ghan" arrived just a few days later. I think it will be perfect for him, although I do plan to change both the yarn and the colors. I hope to have get started later this week and have pictures for you next week. But we all know how babies love to disrupt plans, so don't hold your breath!

Our First Outing

Today I took all three children out for the very first time. Where did we go? We went to IHOP, of course, for their free pancakes! Rachel even got dressed for the first time; she has been wearing pajamas because they are good and warm (and easy!).

I met my good friend Laura and another friend at IHOP. All together, there were 10 children and three adults. We received quite a few stares and a couple of comments, too. One lady even thought we were a daycare field trip! Here are all of our children except for the youngest two because they were sitting at the "adult" table. Oh, there is another one missing, too; I guess he just didn't want to be in the picture.

Did you get your free pancakes today? Did you get any weird stares? What about funny comments?

Growing as a Homemaker

Have you heard the saying that if you're not growing, you're stagnating? Well, I think that applies to homemaking as well as many other things. When I find an article on how to be a better homemaker, wife, mother, etc., I read it to see if there is something else I can do. But I don't try to do it all at once. No way! That is a great way to set myself up to fail. Baby steps are what I do.

Anyway, I found this post about Seven Habits of Highly Successful Homemakers the other day at I'm an Organizing Junkie, and I thought I would pass it along. Of course, these days I'm in survival mode, but I'm making mental notes of things to try when we settle into some kind of routine (or, at least, Rachel sleeps through the night).

Don't Forget!

Tuesday is National Pancake Day, and you can get a free short stack at IHOP. They just ask for a donation to your local children's hospital. I certainly do not mind the donation since several of the children in my extended family have been cared for at our children's hospital. For more information, check this out.

Who doesn't love free food? That someone else cooks and cleans up?!

Daniel's Birthday Recap

I just realized this morning that I hadn't shared any pictures of Daniel's birthday party with you. It actually was not much of a party since only my parents came over to help celebrate. There are nineteen (oops, now it's twenty with Rachel!) people in my family, and I just wasn't ready to have everyone over. These pictures are fairly similar, but I think they're cute. It is my blog after all, and I can post whatever I want!

Daniel was not too sure what was going on.

Then he got his hand in the icing of the cake.

Now for a taste.

Eew! What's on my hand? It tastes good, but....

get it off!

Oh, there's a flame on the candle.

We were all ready to help Daniel blow out the candle, but he did not need any help.

We had a great time. Before my parents arrived, it started to snow. They actually had to leave early before Daniel opened his presents because the streets were getting bad. What a great birthday present: SNOW!!

More Pictures!

Due to popular demand, here is another picture of Rachel. After I posted yesterday, she woke up happy. I don't care what anybody says, her expression is not due to gas. I know she's not really smiling yet, but she's close!

While I had my camera out, I took some pictures of my older two children. Isn't that a handsome fella?

Sarah Beth has started putting on a fake smile when we pull out the camera. This one was the most natural from the almost ten pictures I took of her. Silly girl!

Are you happy now?

Update on Rachel

I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to post an update on Rachel and how our family is adjusting. Having three children under four years of age, however, keeps me busy, and blogging is low on my priority list right now. Also, I'm not exactly sure what you would like to know. For that reason, I will answer the questions I would ask you if you had a newborn baby.

1. How old is she? Today Rachel is three weeks old (and one hour, if you want to get technical).
2. How is she eating? Rachel is a good eater, that is, when I can keep her awake. When I took her to the doctor last week for her two week check up, she had already gained a pound and grown an inch. The doctor was impressed.
3. How is she sleeping? I'm exhausted. She had been doing fairly well. With my feeding her about 9:00 p.m., she was going until 2:00 a.m. before wanting to eat again, and then she would go until 5:00 a.m.. The last couple of nights, she has not done so well. Combine that with Sarah Beth's stomach flu the night before last, and I haven't gotten much sleep the past two nights.
4. Where is a current picture? Rachel sleeps so much during the day that it is hard to get a good picture. (Who wants a picture of her slouched over, asleep in the swing?)
5. How do I feel? I feel great! (Other than the exhaustion.) My labor and delivery went so well that it didn't take long to recover. And it is so much easier to do things now that I'm not pregnant anymore; things like climbing the stairs, picking things up off the floor, carrying Daniel, putting on socks. I do miss the pregnancy hormones because I did not realize how warm they were keeping me.
6. How are Daniel and Sarah Beth adjusting? They are doing great. Sarah Beth loves to help, and Daniel is awfully sweet. They both love to give "Baby Sister" kisses. Often, we will find a toy on her while she is sleeping that one of them has given her. (I think it's usually Daniel.)
7. How is John adjusting? You know how men tend to be a little afraid of newborns? John has gotten over it by now, and he does a great job with Rachel. He even volunteered to keep her while I went to the grocery store one night (a chance for me to get out of the house), but I was too tired to take him up on it. We were both a little worried about how much more work would be generated by a third child because it felt like it quadrupled when Daniel was born. Nope, we both agree that having three children is no harder than having two.

Is there anything else you would like to know? I will continue to try to take pictures of here because I know you want to see them!

Snow!

Down here in the Deep South, we don't get snow very often. As a matter of fact, I think the last time we got actual snow that stuck was eight years ago, but I may be wrong. Usually, we just get sleet or freezing rain. However, Friday night, it snowed!! And stuck!! We had about six inches in our yard which is an awful lot for us down here. John took Sarah Beth and Daniel out to play in it a couple of times, and they loved it. Sarah Beth couldn't get enough of it, and Daniel enjoyed being outside. Since the snow came up to his knees, he didn't much care for playing in it. I was stuck inside with Rachel. Being only two weeks old, she did not need to leave the nice, warm house. John was busy playing, and I was inside, so we don't have many pictures which makes me sad.

Here are Daniel and Sarah Beth playing in our front yard on Saturday morning. We lost power Friday night, so we left shortly after taking this picture for my parents' house because they still had electricity.

Here is a picture of our neighborhood. Isn't it pretty?!

During our stay at my parents' house, Daniel amused himself by playing in Sparky's crate. Do you see her? My parents have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and the name of the breed is bigger than the dog!

We finally got power back Saturday afternoon, and it was so nice to get home. The snow was mostly gone by then, and it's raining today, so that will take care of the little that is left. How sad!

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

My little boy is growing up. Doesn't he look like a big boy in that picture? He is such a sweet boy, and I have a couple of stories to demonstrate that. He loves to give Rachel kisses. What he does is give her a kiss, then offer his face up for me to kiss. Back and forth, it's very cute!

Last night, Sarah Beth got in trouble for trying to take her headbands away from Daniel. John sent her to sit in the chair in the front room. When Daniel realized it, he ran to give her back her headbands. John initially said that Daniel would enjoy tormenting his sister by playing with her stuff. After he saw this, he changed his mind and said that no, Daniel would not enjoy it because he's too tender-hearted.

Happy birthday, to my sweet, sweet boy!

In Case You Were Wondering...

everything here is fine. We are adjusting well to having three children instead of two. I would like to write a post about how things specifically are going, but I'm just too busy with my three little ones. Hopefully, later this week I'll be able to find the time. Until that time comes, I wanted you to know that we are doing well.

Just Another PIcture

I just had to show you another picture of my sweet, beautiful baby. This time she has her eyes open!

Rachel's Birth Story

As you know, I was scheduled for an induction with Rachel. We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. which was tough, but I figured we would have an early baby. I was hooked up to the monitors with the Pitocin running in by 6:00 a.m.. At least, we didn't sit around for an hour waiting for things to get started. My doctor came in around 7:30 and broke my water. I was two centimeters the week prior at my last appointment, and I was still two centimeters. The contractions started getting fairly painful about 8:00 or 8:30, so I received my epidural. Getting my last two epidurals was a wonderful experience; I didn't have any problems, and they relieved the pain beautifully. This time, however, the anesthesiologist hit a nerve, and I almost jumped off the bed. I cannot believe how badly it hurt...all the way to my knee. Then it relieved the pain only on one side. After about five minutes, the pain went away, and I was able to get pain relief on both sides by lying on one side to distribute the medication more evenly. For a few minutes, though, I almost regretted getting this thing!

My parents arrived and sat with us. At 9:00, I was still only two centimeters. At 10:00, I was still only two centimeters and starting to get discouraged. With both Sarah Beth and Daniel, I was induced, and they were born at noon. It didn't look like I was getting anywhere. John said that I had jinxed myself, and I figured he was right.

At 11:00, I was four centimeters and 50% effaced. Finally, I thought, I'm getting somewhere. My nurse checked me again at 12:05 and said, "It's time; don't move!" When she checked, she felt Rachel's head. I was ready to go. (My doctor had warned me that morning that with subsequent births, things can progress very rapidly.) My nurse called the doctor, and said, "We need you." My doctor arrived shortly and out of breath. (We figured that if the nurse had waited a few more minutes to check me, I would have had Rachel without the doctor, just like with Daniel.) She had me push a couple of times to get things started, and then she worked with my body's contractions to deliver Rachel. It went very easily and smoothly.

This labor was a little longer than my previous two, but not by much. And I cannot complain. Rachel is also my smallest baby; at 6 pounds 15 ounces and 19 1/2 inches, she is over a pound and an inch smaller than Daniel and Sarah Beth who were both 8 pounds and 20 1/2 inches. Sarah Beth was born at 12:01, Daniel at 12:18, and Rachel at 12:16. Aren't those times interesting!

Since my labor and delivery had gone so well, I was ready to go home on Wednesday. I got up, got my shower, and got ready to go. When my doctor arrived, she said I could leave whenever. However, the pediatrician would not let Rachel leave until 8:00 p.m. at the earliest. (She would have preferred for us to wait until the next morning.) So I settled in for a long day, holding and taking care of my baby. It was so nice, though, to sleep in my own bed that night. And it was nice to be home with my other two children. I hadn't seen them at all on Wednesday, although my mother had brought them in Tuesday afternoon to see "Baby Sister."

My recovery has also gone really well since things went so smoothly. I'm trying to take it easy, but there are things that need to be done around the house. I'm so independent that I hate to ask John to do things for me, but I'm trying. And he's doing a great job. I'm enjoying my new baby and my two older children, but I think I'll be ready to get into some kind of routine next week when John goes back to work.