Is it summer?

Our first day home together as a family, just the 5... I mean six of us. (wow do we really have 4 kids?) And it was a wonderful wonderful day. The morning was busy with Abby going to preschool and Christopher and I running around and doing a few errands. I picked up Abby from preschool and asked her what she learned in preschool. She responded. "Let's go get tacos mom and we can discuss it." (hahahaha)

For you see we were going to get tacos with my dad and she wasn't ready for school discussion yet. The three of us met my dad at the local Taco Bell and had a good time catching up. After tacos we went to the clinic I work at and introduced little Christopher to my friends and co-workers before we rushed off to his 1 week checkup. He is growing great! Already 7lb 6oz and over his birth weight.

Chris and I had picked up a kite, new chalk and a few other outdoor toys. The girls had a blast playing in the backyard with all of the new toys. It being unseasonably warm and 75 degrees helped too!

Can I just say I love love love being home with my kids and husband? (who is currently working tonight) Already I'm seeing the three girls revert back to their more 'usual' selves. We go the park, they follow me, they listen to me... and there are no massive throw down, world ending, volcanic explosions. I'm hoping this is a sign of how things will be... and hoping/wondering if this might need to be a more permanent change. Can I be a complete stay at home mom at this point? Not sure... but at least I would like to find something less perhaps.

Our car went from caked in dirt to streaky and smeared... but its an improvement. (look at how much fun they are having!)

Good Times

As you can imagine, life around here has been a bit busy. We are all adjusting to life at home with 4... under 4. We've had our bumps and temper tantrums, screaming fits and craziness. But the girls just LOVE their new baby brother and I'm confident they will adjust soon to this new arrangement.

(Kiley)

Kiley loves to come up and pet Christopher's head and say "Awww cute baby." She is also really really helpful and loves to take the dirty diapers and put them in the 'diaper bag'

Kara is constantly asking to hold "the baby" She just loves holding him and looking at his fingers, admiring his 'preeties'. She is very sweet with him and pets his long hair very carefully. She went and grabbed wipes for Chris when we asked.

Abby is all about being the big sister. She loves to talk about him to people and shared with her daycare that he was here. She will go and grab diapers, blankets or pacifiers when I need them. (How did I ever do this without little helpers last time?)

Christopher is still living up to the 'easy baby' title. He wakes up far less then his sisters did as babies and is content to just lay in his crib and check out the sights and sounds. Perhaps I'm just biased because taking care of one baby is far far easier then two! Everyone should do it that way ;) lol

I'm finally starting to feel a bit more recovered. Trying not to feel a little sad about not being pregnant anymore (I know... completely insane. I wish these hormones wouldn't do that to me) At least I can walk and get up to do things with the girls easier. Tom's mom has been around these last few days to help around the house, the help has been very appreciated and I'm sure Tom has thoroughly enjoyed his mother's cooking (as we all did). Tomorrow she leaves for home and we are back to our little family. I'm hoping we can get down to my parent's soon but right now they've had sick kids again... and just not ready to expose Christopher to that yet.

The weather looks wonderful this upcoming week. I can't wait to do walks with the family... Spring is wonderful. God has truly blessed our little family!

And then there were Four!

He's here! At last!

We came into the hospital at 6:45 yesterday morning. It was time for our little guy to come. I was a little sad at first that my doctor wasn't going to be in for the delivery, but my nurse was so awesome that it soon eased my fears and I was a lot more comfortable. Our little guy decided to be a stinker pretty soon after we got started. He kept dropping his heartrate and wasnt bringing it back up.

Now this is where being a nurse just ... sucks... sometimes. Because I knew what steps they needed to do. First, lay mom on her side... no change. Start fluids... no change. Put on oxygen... no change. Call in extra help... that's when I started to tear up and realized how scared I was. His heartrate was still low. Thankfully whatever had caused his distress relieved itself a little and he was able to pick it back up. But I stayed on Oxygen, fluids and my side for most of the morning because whenever we tried to stop he would drop it again.

Thankfully a little after 1 they broke the water and things started evening out. I labored with no drugs, no epidural for the next 2 1/2 hours. My Mom came in soon after 1 and it was great to have my little 'team' of Tom, her and the nurse help me through those. About the time I had decided to give up on doing this 'naturally' it was time for baby to come... literally. None of team was ready despite my saying that he was coming! lol

They did one check, thought he was getting close... so they started getting things. 6 minutes later he was on the bed and soon after in my arms. He is the most handsome little guy with beautiful long hair! (Go figure... my boys would have hair) haha- SO FAR he is the calmest baby I have ever had, and very content. He squeaks when he is hungry or wants to be changed... and only after feeling ignored for awhile will he start to cry. In fact he came out holding his breath! They had to convince him to open up those lungs.

 (Kiley)

Abby, Kiley and Kara came up with Grandma and Grandpa last night. Their reactions were so sweet. Abby asked me if we could take this baby home with us. They went with Tom and bought a present for the baby from them... and he had presents for them. Kiley and Kara loved petting his hair and seeing the baby. It is wonderful seeing them all together! Kiley was very sad when she had to leave me in the hospital and I gave her a bunch of hugs and told her I would be home soon. Abby told me she would take care of Kiley and Kara and help Grandma at home.

But oh yes, I'm sure you were wondering:

Christopher Edwin Dose
Born at 3:48pm
7lb 2oz and 20" long

Early Rising

The night before the birth of my son... and amazingly I was able to sleep until 4am. I'm not sure how anyone expects you to sleep the night before. The hundreds and thousands of things that run through your mind, not including the doubts, fears... excitement.

40 weeks 1 day. He is going to be a stubborn little guy. For the hundreds of times these last few weeks that I was SURE I would be going into labor soon... and he's still hanging out, happy as a clam.

I've gone over it over and over again... should I have picked a date? To be 100% honest I picked this Tuesday because like walking, washing my floors, cleaning my house, stair walking... I thought FOR SURE this... this of all things would make him come on his own.

Wrong again mom.

So here I am, a few hours before we start everything and I think I've come to peace with this thing after much prayer, thought and constantly texting people... that this is ok. That things happen for a reason, he is coming today (hopefully not tomorrow) for a reason and that in the end, a healthy baby... healthy mom are what is most important in the end.

Grandma and Grandpa (Tom's parents) are staying with the girls while we are gone. I'm struggling with that too! I know it's just 2 days but this first part is so scary right now for me. I love my girls so very much and wish that it weren't 5am so that I could sneak in and give them all a last hug. I've done my best to prepare them that we are going to be at the hospital, that their baby brother is coming (gosh that still seems unreal to me). I hope things go well and I can see them again soon.

Well I think that is it for me right now... stay tuned... I'll hopefully post updates soon!

(I love you three girls so very much! Mommy will miss you, come see me soon!)

Mini Bit

Courtesy of Abby:

Abby: "Mom, would you like to hear my story about the Hawkeye house, the pink house and the Princess house?"
Me: "Ok Abby, tell me your story."
Abby: "We can make a pink house for you! And And it will be pink, and have a pink couch, and pink lamps, and a pink tv... and you can watch commercials!"

Lol... commercials?

Last night she discussed the Hawkeye house for daddy, it was quite similar only there was no discussion of commercials and a rather lengthy description of all the Hawkeye things this house would have.

I bet you have a good idea what the Princess house has....

And again...

Tick tick tick... ticking away... let's face it, two blog entries in one day means I have nothing better to do...

Had a wonderful afternoon, husband and I went out to Hu Hot and enjoyed a delicious but crowded lunch there. My sister came up and babysat for a few hours. It was really nice to get out a bit with just the two of us. I think we both hadn't realized how much we missed that.

We came home and played outside with the girls. If you have noticed my lack of pictures lately it is because we are all packed and ready to go to the hospital with the camera and charger in tow... of course that means it's hidden away down in my suitcase. It was chilly but the girls had a good time running around.

I FINALLY made the butterfly footprints I had been meaning to make. Of course I had no idea their feet were growing so big... K&K barely got theirs to fit. I also put a piece of cardboard down and had them paint on that for awhile.

Caramel rolls have been made, the house picked up (several times), supper made, girls bathed and now we are watching a Barbie movie (thank goodness for peace and quiet!) I'm not feeling the best, hope I'm not coming down with something.

I found these dresses at Target and am completely in love...

For Kiley & Kara

For Abby:

And I have white Easter hats for all three.... can't wait to see them all dressed up!

Still Waiting!

39 weeks... 5 days... I swear I've reached the point where i'm not sure he is ever coming. Two of my friends had their babies yesterday which really gave me a little 'pity party' as I'll call it. Actually 99% of that was probably more related to the fact I had slept 4 hours or less for the last two nights, I have a wild herd of hormones raging around in this over puffy body and well I'm just ready to have this baby.

It was just strange because I've never actually been at the point where I've cried because I wanted the baby to come so bad. Weird feeling.

The girls are starting to get a little anxious too. We visited my mom last night and when Kara saw the baby there she asked "Can I have the baby?" She tried to take the little girl out of my brother's arms because she wanted to hold her. They love looking at photos of babies, videos of babies, baby things... another reason I decided to smash them all into a room together. Much safer when he does get here.

BUT I'm done with work. I took Monday off and we are scheduled for induction at 6:45am on Tuesday morning. So at least there is an end in sight. My sister is going to babysit this afternoon for an hour or two so Tom and I can have at least a mini-date. (Something we rarely do these days) He works both tonight and tomorrow tonight... so in a way I'd rather baby not come in the next two days so that he doesn't need to miss work.

Guess we'll see!

UPDATE!

No... no baby yet...

My little Klepto

My OB is on call this weekend... so obviously I'm doing everything I know of to help things along. And of course I'm still here at home with little guy chilling out. Of course it was a ground blizzard after work last night so we decided to do a little walking around in the mall.

And what else could be looking for but beautiful (white) Easter Dresses. Or so Abby thought. Prying the white, silky Easter dress from her fingers was like ripping away her most prized possession. She found one in Children's Place that was 'destined' to be hers. No amount of bribing, explaining or discussion could convince her that we weren't going home with that dress tonight. So she decided the next best thing would be to sneak out amongst the crowds of people and clothes with it. Yep... my little Klepto.

First I had to chase her down before she got out of the store, then came the conversation about how when we take things that don't belong to us it is stealing. And how stealing makes others feel bad... etc etc. She cried most of the way through the mall after that.

I'm not as excited to go Easter Dress shopping with her again.... at least she likes them I guess.


This afternoon we went with my sister and my brother's fiancee to have pedicures done. Abby was a little in shock and wasn't interested in doing anything even after the kind lady offered to paint flowers on her fingernails for free. So Abby watched while I had a pedicure done. It was fun to have a little time to relax even though it was hard for me to justify spending the money. But I guess it is good to get a little pampered once in awhile too. It was a fun girls afternoon.

I picked up a few more cloth diapers (I'm excited to try them) at a local place and we had a little lunch before we came home. Now Abby is crashed out on the chair after she threw up a little in the bathroom. I knew she wasn't feeling good so I rocked her to sleep while watching Curious George. She had been telling me her tummy hurt. I suppose she has whatever bug Kara had. At least it seems to be short lived. If you know Abby... she doesn't cuddle long so she must not have been feeling very good to rock to sleep with me.

Yuck

Please Lord don't let me catch the stomach flu... I really don't want to be sick while having this baby....

Kara just puked everywhere... hope it's the only time this night