Safety Days

A wonderful lady in our ward told us that New Berlin was having "Safety Days" and that we should head over. She was absolutely right. My boys were in heaven. Every rescue vehicle imaginable was there to be explored, along with a miniature train giving rides, a climbing wall, and to blow up bounce houses. Heaven.

They were thrilled to be the caboose

Will tried a climbing wall at the 4th of July carnival last year, and found he was pretty good. A year later, and it's still the case.

The bounce house was the best part for the boys, but unfortunately, they proved too enticing for our sweet 4 year old, resulting in a mega meltdown when Safety Days was over. He literally refused to leave (hysterically so, I might add) until the bounce houses were deflated, rolled up, and loaded in the truck.

5 Weeks Old, and All is Well

Baby girls have such an unfair advantage over baby boys. How can you resist a little creature with an over-sized flower attached to their head?!

The Josinator

Josie Update: Josie had a well check appointment yesterday and she is doing great. She is now 8lb 4 oz and 21 1/2 in long. She started out at 6lb 6oz and 18 in, so she is doing well. She is still a very good baby. Josh would argue that she isn't as good as I think she is, but that's because she and I are super tight since she is at my side 24/7--it's expected that she is better for mommy than daddy, right? First thing in the morning, just after she has eaten and been changed, we can get a couple of really good smiles out of her. So cute. It helps a lot to have waited 4 years for this one, because I can appreciate all of the cute baby moments instead of being consumed with all of the chaos that exists with kids under the age of 2.

Mother's Day

Isaac and "Josie-Wosie" He is really big on rhyming everything right now.
Josh and I have decided that she can't help that little scowl. She is after all related to me.

My kids.

Perhaps a little out of blog character for me, this post will be more serious. It's not that I'm not a serious person, but when Who-knows-Who is reading this, I'm less inclined to make myself vulnerable with "seriousness", but I can't seem to help myself right now.

I have 3 kids.

3.

It feels strange still to say that. When referencing my little family before, I would always say "my boys". I have a daughter. So, now instead, I say my kids. 3 of them.

Mother's Day is this Sunday, and Josh has asked me a couple of times this week what I'd like. I've told him each time that I don't want anything. In the past, I may have said such a thing as a ploy to test his love and see if he still gets me something. I'm past silly games like that. I know he loves me. No test needed. I don't want anything, and here is why.

My kids are on loan. They are not solely mine. I was allowed to participate in the creation of their little bodies and have been entrusted with the sacred responsibility of reminding them of the things that they already know. We think that we are shaping them into who they will become, and although this can be true to a certain degree, it is critical for me to remember they are already somebody. It is my belief that if I mother them the way Heavenly Father would have me do, then I'm not really directing who they will become, but rather helping them remember what they already know, and quite frankly, am teaching them ways to subdue the natural man so that their incredible spirits can shine through.

With this in mind, I don't want anything for Mother's Day. My kids are beautiful. They are sent to me from a Father in Heaven who loves them more perfectly than I can begin to know how, and I get to spend my life getting to know them. No gift necessary. They are the gift. Trust me when I say that I am completely undeserving of such gifts. I've done nothing to earn this privilege, and quite frankly, have done plenty to show that maybe I shouldn't be entrusted with them, but a merciful and omniloving Father has given them to me, and I couldn't be more grateful. If that weren't enough, He has also given me the opportunity to have them for eternity. What a gift to dedicate my life to their journeys, and I couldn't be happier or more pleased than to have Josh by my side committed to doing the same.

Best Mother's Day ever.

Wicked Speed

Isaac, getting ready to go "wicked speed" on his two-wheeler. "Look, Mom! I'm doing it!!"
"I'm really good at my two-wheeler bike, Mom"

and he is really good at his two-wheeler. This morning Josh said that he was going to take the training wheels off of this little red bike, and maybe if Isaac wanted to try to ride a two-wheeler
he could, but I don't think either of us expected him to.

You need to understand something about Isaac. When it comes to natural athletic ability and prowess, our Gigs typically isn't the head of the pack, so when he asked Josh to help him ride this bike this morning, I think that both Josh and I expected one quick, failed attempt, and him deciding to stick to training wheels a little longer. As they walked out the back door for their first lesson, all I could think about was how awkward Isaac looks as he runs. It is best understood if you picture a poor child stricken with polio, and then think about what it would look like when he is able to walk and run without his braces for the first time. Limbs are flailing in every direction, but forward he goes, miraculously. Well, speaking of miracles, not even 10 minutes later Isaac came running into the house, saying, "Mommy, I did it!" I looked to Josh for confirmation, who assured me that this was indeed the case. It took only one time of Josh helping him before he was going "wicked speed" all over. He can even start all by himself. I will never underestimate this child again. Perhaps, I've been too quick to judge when I allow previous experiences with him to dictate how I view his potential. I will no longer view the time I found Isaac sitting on the couch in his underwear, asleep, with one hand stuffed into a giant bag of Cheetos, and the other down his pants as a clear indicator of what "type" of kid we are dealing with, but instead, warn you all that this kid could be president one day. You just never know.

Pictures

First Sunday...she is a quick learner! Her brothers do the same thing when it is time for church.

Here are a few more pictures for the family wanting to see Josie a little less new. She is a wonderful baby! I didn't even know that Josh and I were capable of making babies that weren't always mad and screaming, but we seemed to have beat the odds with this one. She is beautiful. We love her, and how much she sleeps.

We Just Love Her

Josh and I were both commenting on how this baby feels different than it did with the boys.
Maybe it's because she is a girl--I don't think so. I think it probably has a lot more to do with having two wild men running around CONSTANTLY and then looking over at that little peaceful face. We just know to be more thankful for this stage than we ever have been before. I'm in no hurry for her to grow up. Stay small, sweet Josie.

Details, Details, Details

So cute!

Daddy is smitten

The boys think she is cute, but thankfully, aren't so impressed that they are constantly hovering over her. They have been good big brothers so far, and good helpers. It's nice they have each other with mom and dad so distracted.

Immediately after delivery. I'm not usually so scantily clad! This hospital was big on skin to skin contact, so...

I could not have been happier at this moment.

I purposely put the pictures first, so that anybody uninterested in the details could just see pictures and happily scoot on their way. For those not easily scared off, I invite you to continue.

I had my regular doctor's appointment on Wednesday morning at 10:00 (4/21). The doctor wasn't going to check me, again! but with a little whining the medical assistant convinced her to, and when I asked her to be "rough" about it so that we could get things moving, she offered to strip my membranes. I had never had this done before, and now recognize that this manuever could also double as incentive to launch oneself right off the exam table. After she was done, I was on my way with the understanding that if I were ready to go into labor anyway, this could help set things in motion.

I got home and started cleaning. Really cleaning. Scrub brushes, disinfectant, dusting, the whole bit. Thankfully, for my house the nesting instincts set in early, and remained until delivery. After Will got home from school, Josh had promised to take him on a bike ride to the dirt hills. We went and did that as a family, and as a result of being out, kind of missed dinner. We promised the boys a trip to McDonald's for dinner, and I was sitting on the couch waiting for Josh to get ready, and when I stood up to get ready myself at 7:30pm and noticed-WET! Huh?! My water didn't break with my boys, and I was pretty sure that I hadn't peed, but who knows, right? Thankfully, it wasn't a huge gush, and didn't cause much mess anywhere but on me. We called Darcy and Zach...thank you, thank you, thank you! who graciously watched our boys the whole time we were in the hospital, and called the doctor, who told me to head to the hospital.

Isaac was incredibly distraught as we moved around getting everything ready. My heart was breaking at seeing my little boy so upset by my having to go and disrupt everything by bringing a new person into our lives, until I listened more carefully to his cries which were less to the effect of you're ruining my life, and more like, "I want to go to McDonald's!" Oh, well, in that case. No problem. We took them to McDonald's, then to Darcy's, then got Josh some food at Jimmy John's. Now, with everyone fed (except me of course) and things conveniently taken care of, we could go and have a baby.

We got to the hospital at 9:30pm. My doctor offered to let me wander the halls of the hospital to get labor going strong, but with my current fluid situation this seemed less than appealing, and I'm pretty sure that housekeeping would not have appreciated the snail trail I would have left behind. Option 2: pitocin and an epidural--deal! My contractions did kick in on their own pretty quickly, and by the time the epidural was placed, even before the pit drip was started I was contracting every 2-3 minutes. With epidural in place at about 11:00pm, the nurse was trying to get me all settled in for a long night. I told her it wouldn't be that long, but she must have thought that was wishful thinking. I was a 3 at 11:00. Around midnight I told her that I was feeling pressure. She checked and I was a 5, but with baby's head "right there". By 12:15 I was complete. Ready to push.

Josie was born at 12:42am (4/22). I actually had to push a little for this one, although, many other mom's have said that 20 minutes of pushing isn't really pushing. It felt long after the boys, who were just a few pushes.

She is perfect. Beautiful. I knew I would be more emotional with her than I was with the boys following the miscarriage, and by virtue of having waited longer in between babies so I was less overwhelmed and just more excited, and I have been. I am so blessed. She is curled up peacefully sleeping on my lap as I type this. Daddy is taking a nap up in the bed, and the boys are downstairs playing cars. My house is still ultra clean ;) and all is right in our world. Blessed.