Welcome, Spring?!

So why is it that the worst part of the storm always seems to hit just as you have to go out and pick your child up from school? Seriously, my alarm rings to tell me it's time to pick up Haylie, then a flash of lightning and a downpour of hail suddenly falls from the sky (and as soon as I pulled the car into the garage, it stopped). The hail was so loud hitting the roof of my car that I had to yell for Anna to hear me - and she was sitting right behind me! And the wind was blowing so hard that when I got out of the car to get Haylie, my pants got totally soaked. Anyway, I snapped some pictures with my phone as I was driving away from the school.


Hail piling up...




Anna has been asking me to make it snow for the last couple of days (cuz, you know, I'm all-powerful like that) - so I told her this was snow - it sure looks like it!

Yesterday was the first day of Spring and we had record rainfall. It rained steadily all. day. long. Our backyard looks like a pond and there is still hail on our lawn about 45 minutes after the downpour. Brrr. Welcome Spring?!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I've been growing my hair out for about 3 years now. It's never been this long before, and I love it. Well, I love the way it looks, but not the upkeep! I almost always have it up in a ponytail to keep it away from baby-grabby-hands, and when I have it in a ponytail, it gives me a headache cuz it is so heavy! So anyway, several months ago, I decided I was going to grow it long enough to donate to Locks of Love. It has to be 10 inches in a ponytail. Well, I reached my goal and finally booked my appointment. I've never been attached to my hair, but I gotta admit it was a little painful this time around after spending so long growing it out! But, it had to be done. So, here's the before shot:




And after:


It feels soo unbelievably good to have all that hair gone! I hope some sweet child enjoys my hair. ;-)

Bittersweet

I suppose that this day is more sweet than bitter, but I just feel like this little dude is growing up way too fast! Here is a picture of Ian in his bassinet at 10 weeks.

He's too big! Granted, he usually sleeps with his legs curled up so technically he still fits, but as soon as he stretches out, he hits his head. Sooo, I figured it was time to put up the crib. We decided to put him in the girls' room and it is a little scrunched in there, but the girls are very happy to have him as a roommate.

He's happy in his new bed

My handsome little man

Finally, the boy actually looks tiny. ;-)

Isn't that bedding adorable? It's from Ikea and I love it. And he did great for his first night in the crib - he only got up once at about 3 a.m. I love this little guy so much, and it is soo nice to have my bedroom back to normal, but I gotta admit I'm gonna miss having him close to me at night...

PS...don't worry, I did not leave the pillow in his bed. I know that is a no-no. I just put it there for the pictures.

Ian's Blessing Day

We drove down to Fallbrook last Friday to bless Ian. Usually a baby blessing is done in the church meeting, but we have always done ours at Eric's parents' house. It is so much more intimate and special to us. My brother and his family were able to come and the kids got to play with their cousins. Ian is such a good baby, and we are so blessed to have him in our lives.

Here are some pictures from the event.

My brother Jeff, Eric's brother Neal, Eric's Dad, Eric, Ian, my Dad, and the Bishop

Little Man folding his arms reverently

Big smiles...That's Eric's head in the corner...gonna need to photoshop that out...but Eric can always get this boy to smile.

The whole group. Notice my girls are the only ones not smiling?

Life With Three

If the frequency with which I have been blogging is any indication as to how I am doing with three children, well, you'll notice I haven't blogged since BEFORE the baby was born...things are much busier now. For example, it is about 1:00pm and this is how my day has gone: Haylie came in at 5:00am complaining that her ear hurt. Eric gave her Tylenol and she went back to bed. She came back in at 7am crying - her ear still hurt. I called the nurse line and begged for a phone appointment since I had my own doctors appointment at 9:45am that I could not miss. Then I called my neighbor to see if she could come sit with the girls during my appointment. At about 8:00am I was sorting through the kids medications looking for the kids' Tylenol. Something had spilled in the basket and all the medicines were sticky. As I was washing the sticky bottles, Anna grabbed the basket and took a bite out of an adult Tylenol tablet that had fallen to the bottom of the basket and had been soaked in whatever medication had spilled. I panicked and took her straight to the bathroom and stuck my finger down her throat to get her to throw it up - she wouldn't throw up but then I remembered the poison control number on my refirgerator. Called poison control, was assured that she was going to be just fine. (For the record, a 25 lb child can tolerate 2000mg (!) of adult Tylenol before you have to worry) Why didn't I call the poison control line before sticking my finger down her throat??? Well, she didn't seem to mind, she was actually laughing as I did it. Nice. Moving on...Doctor called at 9 am and thankfully agreed to give Haylie a prescription over the phone. Neighbor arrived at 9:15, I went to my appointment, then waited at the pharmacy for 2 prescriptions - fed Ian in the pharmacy while I waited. Returned home to find two happy girls hanging out with our sweet neighbor. THEN, Anna was playing with her Zhu Zhu Pet (a small hampster toy that rolls around on the hard floor and makes noises) - decided to lay down next to her Zhu Zhu Pet and got her hair caught in the wheels. I had to cut her hair to get it out.

Then, just as I was beginning to write this post, Ian spit up all over me - I had to change my shirt AND my pants, AND scrub the couch. And somehow he only managed to get one little drop on himself. Needless to say, I am staying busy, but loving it. Oh, and I should mention that the little dude is just getting over RSV (Respiratory Syncitial Virus) as well. For a couple of days he was so congested that he could barely eat and couldn't sleep on his back, so I ended up sleeping sitting up with him on my chest. He came out of it pretty quickly and without incident, so I can't complain too much.

My Zoloft is working great - I've had no signs of post-partum so far, thankfully. I'm tired and exhausted, but wouldn't trade it for anything. I am so blessed.

38 Weeks

It was not my intention to post this picture on my blog. But when I saw Anna in the shot, I just had to share. Originally, I had Eric take the picture to send to my sister-in-law - who was teeny tiny with both her pregnancies and just can't believe how huge my belly is. So anyway, after Eric took the picture I noticed that Anna had jumped in the shot and was sticking her little belly out as far as she could.

So there you have it, my huge belly at 38 weeks - and my little Anna Banana trying to be just like her mommy. :-)

One week from today our little dude will be here!!! :-D

Waiting...

...not so patiently. So, this baby is not due until Dec. 15. My c-section is scheduled for Dec. 10. It has become obvious that neither of those dates bear any relevance anymore. On Monday, I was having regular contractions all day - not strong ones, but regular. I had an appointment yesterday and I am already dilated 2 cm (this after being on bedrest for 2 weeks!) and the baby is still engaged at zero station. This morning, I lost my mucous plug. This little dude is ready. However, it is not in the "standard of care" to schedule a c-section before 39 weeks at Kaiser. In order for them to take the baby, I have to be contracting every 4-5 mins and dilated to at least 3 cm. So I basically have to go into labor before they will do anything. Not cool. The best part about scheduling a c-section is that there is no labor, there is no waiting and wondering. You just know. I've been spoiled, I know. So, I guess the good news is, the last two weeks of bedrest worked as far as getting us to 36 weeks safely. But now that we are safely here, I just wanna get it over with! I have no doubt that this baby is STRONG...I have the bruised ribs to prove it. Of course, I want him to be ready and healthy, etc. But the "unknown" is making me crazy! Not to mention that my doctor is going out of town this weekend, so if I do end up going into real labor then, she won't be able to be the one to do the surgery! Grrr. Anyway, this is just me being whiney. Keep is in your prayers, bless me with patience and bless this baby with strength - and let's do this already! ;-)