Not the Expected Timeline, but We'll Take It!

The whole family has been jumping the guns on plans for the future. Such, I suppose, are the results of trying to plan--but since all are great things, we'll run with it!

Porter:
Because of his silent reflux, he spends most of his time in various vertical positions--in arm, in the carrier, propped up on the couch, and most often, in the car seat. We were both getting pretty bored with these options, so we broke out the Bumbo. Woot woot! 2 months old and he can totally do it. We weren't planning on it for another month, but we will take it for sure!

Allie:
She's shown interest in the potty since October, but I've been waiting for the best point in my life to train her. I think when that day does finally come, she may have trained herself (knock on serious wood). She comes and tells me when she's peed, and requests a fresh diaper every time. She often tries to go pee in the toilet right after the fact. She is really quite desperate to be trained. I try to tell her I'm really excited for our potty party coming up, but... I hope i don't miss this unexpected awesome window of time!


Jackson:
He decided to start trying to read. Amazingly, I thought it would be terribly frustrating (as I've sat with a lot of frustrated 1st graders trying to read), but he is LOVING it. He gets so excited every time he figures out a word. It is an incredible thrill. Also not expected yet, but we'll take it!

Mark:
He found us a house to buy. This was supposed to happen in June, but it's hard to pass up an opportunity when it presents itself--especially when it fits our needs so well. We are sad to leave our neighborhood and ward, but beyond thrilled to not be moving too far away. This has resulted in some re-shifting of plans (like Allie's Potty Party), and determining we can do without a double sink and jetted tub in the master suite (or even without a master suite).

All in all, the well laid plans of mice and men certainly get changed around, but sometimes for the better!

Bonus:
Back in January, Mark's sister Annalee and her family, decided to come down and purchase a car in the less salted-road community of DC (they live in snowy upstate NY). At the last minuet we decided to bless Porter that weekend also. So we did (Jan 18th)! We were sad to miss other family members, but thrilled to have Aanalee and her men, and we also had a sweet experience being grateful for the many great friends we will be parting with as we move to a new ward (congregation). We have been richly blessed by the positive influence of many wonderful people, and it was touching to have many participate in porter's blessing.

Frozen Happiness

We've been in the midst of Winter out here. Jackson has inquired multiple times why it's so much colder in the winter... he never seems satisfied by a distance change from the sun. Despite the cold, and numerous colds, we have found plenty of happiness sources.

First from the solidified water--

January brought a beautiful snow storm and the opportunity to use our Christmas present from Santa! Our little yard has the perfect bunny hill for preschoolers who don't require too much speed. I must say Santa's sled worked a lot better than last years make shift beauty.

I also got to teach Allie's little joy school class the past two weeks. I based the lesson plan off the book Snow, and wouldn't you know--both days it snowed! Amazing. These cutie pies loved playing in the real and fake snow they were provided with. And yes, that's my daughter who is going outside without a coat. (Even if it hadn't been in the car, I'm not sure she would have worn it...)

Secondly, from this little guy.

 We get so much joy from our solidly happy Porter, who can now smile. He first graced us around 5 weeks, and Mark caught it on his phone a few days later:

And lastly, we've come around to the Frozen craze a little late, but like all important trends, we get there at some point ;) Allie has taken on the very serious task of learning every nuance and word to each song from Frozen. This video captures some key components of her hourly ritual--like the ever important choreography, the attempts at getting the chorus timed right, and the loud, almost on pitch singing. Unfortunately, she peeters out by the end (very unusual) and we miss out on the blasted final note that is usually a quarter step off. But since we captured Jackson's sweet voice singing the words perfectly in the middle--I couldn't pass posting Allie's cover of "Let it Go:"

 

While we have thoroughly enjoyed all the happiness we find in winter, I have to join my shorts-wearing 4 year old and say, "when will it be summer?" Hopefully the warm weather will thaw our daily Frozen quota to only 2 complete daily listening, and bring on even more exciting things for cutie pie Porter.

Maestra Allie

Oh my goodness. This girl has honed her conducting skill to the point of 2 year old perfection, and it is a blast to sing in her choir!

I think she should keep this next one for her future portfolio:

Though, her choir is pretty pathetic. Who was that soprano who changed keys in the middle of the song?! Such talent wasted! Perhaps we'll mention her skills to the bishop to have her called as the ward choir director, or better yet, a Sacrament meeting chorister. I think she could liven things up just a bit :)

Welcome Porter

Um... he's a solid 4 weeks now. 3rd child is definitely not our only focus, but he is completely loved by many 24-7.

Porter entered the world on Friday December 5th, at 10:05 pm. Weighing 8 lb 5 oz, and 21" 1/4 long.

 This little guy was due on the 30th of November. Since Jackson came 8 days early, and Allie was induced a week late, I was mentally prepared for either case. I don't think my parents were as willing to admit that he could come late (my Mom was convinced we'd need help by 12/2), but since 3 of her 4 grand-kids have now been induced post birth, I think she's ready to adjust her expectations for any more that might come.

Our insurance doesn't like babies to go beyond 41 weeks, so after we passed his due date, I had an inkling that we might be choosing his birthday. Friday was the chosen day (which by the way is super weird to choose and to anticipate). Allie's induction lasted all of 6 hours, so I figured if we had an 8 am induction we'd have a baby by noon or so ;)...

The benefit of the planned induction is being able to tell aunt Mitzi when to come and take over the house. We were so grateful that she was willing to drive 3 hours and wade through the fun of 2 year old tantrums so we could go bring life into the world.  Thank you aunt Mitzi!

 As we were preparing the night before his birth, I felt that the baby would come sometime in the next week if we didn't force an appearance--mostly because I felt my body changing and preparing for birth that last week (where as most of November felt very much the same as October). This is significant because I would much rather go into labor than be induced--but sometime we don't get that choice.

We entered the hospital at 3 cm, but Porter hadn't dropped completely, so we couldn't break his water. On came the pitocin, and what felt like 4000 new accessories. The belly monitors, the Oxygen monitor, the blood pressure cuff (that went off every 30 min and made my arm numb), 4 pokes in the arm to find a vein willing to accept gallons of water and the potocin that would enter my blood stream. I am really not an accessory girl, and was SO annoyed by all of these until we finally took the last thing off 8 hours after Porter came out. Seriously loathed.

This finger oxygen monitor was my least favorite, because I don't remember having to wear it with either other birth. I started out with the clip on, asked for a different kind, and then asked to switch hands. I felt SO handicapped by it. Kind of like having a paper cut during a large operation. I know this was all about expectations, and apparently I did not expect to have so many chords attached to me! Disclaimer: I know how lucky I am to be giving birth in a Hospital in America, where my baby is very likely to come out healthy because of all these monitors--but was so ready to tear all of them off after one hour of wearing them!

We started the Pitocin at 10:45 am. At noon, when I still hadn't had any labor-like contractions of pain, Mark had to help me remember that he was expecting this to be a marathon--many many hours, and I might want to make some major adjustments to my own expectations.

This was good advice, and I tried hard to get a new perspective, but at 5pm, the tears came out of shear frustration. I was completely swollen with pumped water--it was getting hard to move--totally exhausted from not eating, and I knew I still had to go through labor! I felt like I had been stuck in a rubber room with very little communication, and still no painful contractions. I was fairly sure we were still 3 cm. I was ready to go home and try again tomorrow (I just didn't really want to get poked again--my one motivation to stay). I really wanted to talk to my personal doctor, and just be communicated with.

Incredibly, my personal OB doctor walked in my room (verses the one who was on call that day). I started crying and gave her a huge hug and asked for her professional opinion on everything. She calmed me down in seconds, dispelled my fears, gave me options (one of which was going home).

Mark and my personal Dr left, and I sat and prayed. Oh how grateful I am for that quiet moment. I had the distinct impression to stay at the hospital, and trust the medical professionals I was working with. Oh what a shift in my attitude.

The Dr on call came in (who was a very good Dr--just very busy that day), I was 4 cm, dropped enough to break my water. We broke it at 6pm, I had instant insanely painful contractions, got the epidural after an hour, and with a little help in positions and petocin, Porter was born a 4 hours later--a little after 10pm. 4 contractions of pushing, and he came out!



He was our first kid to not poop in the womb (woot woot!), so I got to hold his sweet body right after it slid out. But then he forgot to breathe. SO, off he was whisked, and soon the emergency button was pushed because he still wasn't breathing. 10 nurses rushed in, and at the moment he screamed out. Oh what a relief for a parent to hear! That beautiful baby cry just brought happy happy tears to my eyes. We decided he just wanted a little attention.

The kiddos came to visit the next day. We knew it had the potential to be hard on Allie, but we thought it would have more to do with jealousy of being slid off my lap. We didn't quite anticipate how scared she would be at the hospital would be. She hates doctors offices, "Allie no like doctor" she'll say shaking her head very convincingly, and apparently she feels the same way about hospitals.

Jackson was adorably mature, and reacted well. Allie came around for a second, but definitely no in-hospital family picture!

We were so glad to have Aunt Mitzi! She enjoyed holding Porter :)


We left the hospital on Sunday, and having experienced discharging from the hospital 2x now, we knew it could take hours longer than expected, so we pushed hard to get out of there, and we got out of there before the expected time! Incredible. We picked up the kids from a friends house on the way home, and had the sweetest experience being all together in the car. They were both just SO excited to have Porter. Allie talked the entire way home about it, and I think her verbal skills jumped at least by 200 words over that weekend. It was so cute.

Allie by far is the most parent-like of the two siblings, she can hold Porter while he's crying for at least 20 min. It's hilarious. She'll just look down on his face and smile knowingly. Jackson adores holding him, but I have to stay next to him because he'll be done after 1 minuet, and he'll just pick him up or push him off his lap, saying "I'm done Mom" as he's doing it--it's a bit nerve racking!

Postpartum has been amazing. 3rd baby definitely slides out, and doesn't require my body to heal like that 1st baby`q. I feel like I only have to focus on tallying up how much sleep I've gotten each night, so I can determine how much I need to get during the day. The biggest healing I had to do was in my wrists where I got poked so many times! Check out the bruise!! I'm telling you. Worst part of the experience.

The house was extremely chaotic the first couple of weeks especially when everyone was awake, but as long as one person is asleep and the kids have something to do, we're in super good shape. I've had amazing help from Mark and my Dad who have taken care of the kids and cooked and cleaned, and made me feel like a queen. Love it.

Best part by far, is cuddling with this adorable little feller. Going back to real life has very little pull (and obviously writing a blog post)--when I could just look at him all day. Oh yum.

Welcome welcome welcome loved little boy!

The Waiting Game

  We're a few days out from baby boy's due date, and we've been filling our time with various distractions. I've been nesting (I really had no idea the power of pine sol), Mark's been readying his desk at work, Jackson has been jumping off walls (or at least anything with a pushback force), and Allie has been much more creative.
 

When we venture outside, she rotates between her tricycle, pushing a large dumptruck, or pulling this firetruck. All of which go about 1/4 the speed of Jackson on his little 2 wheeler. She helps us remember we're in no rush to get anywhere.

 

She's really been developing her artistic talents, with lots of coloring and singing all day long. I LOVE love her little songs she sings, at least until they reach the fortissimo level. She really does have a nice crescendo.

 

She's exploring some new areas of power--climbing in and out of her crib, throwing royal tantrums, refusing to do things when asked--but I think we just need to get her a drum like this. She returned to it at least 10 times, each time confidently pulsing a really nice beat. I think it could help her with her two-year-old power needs.

By far, her funniest new favorite past time is her little obsession with cleaning her toes (at least once a day). Socks come off, toe jam comes out.

I can't wait to show her all of baby boy's fuzzy toe jam that comes with those itty bitty new born socks! She's going to be one skilled big sister.

Snap

Jackson has learned how to snap. The eureka moments have lasted for at least 2 weeks, and it's adorable. He has now moved on almost completely to working on whistling. He tells me about all his friends his age and if they can whistle, and is even spreading rumors about some of the parents and their abilities. I have a calm assurance he won't have problems acquiring the skill, since Mark's family can do 4 part harmony as a whistling choir (as long as they can keep from laughing).
 
Allie has snapped into better pronunciation and more complex explaining skills (finally!!). Starting last week, we can understand 50% more of what she says, and often in the car, she'll use other devices to explain herself (she was trying to tell me about a bird, and finally said "tweet tweet"). This has given me great hope in our ability to communicate once "brother baby coming out belly mommy" (Allie has inquired numerous times if that time is here--so cute).

And speaking of baby brother, we are 2 1/2 weeks till the official due date. Time has snapped itself away from me so quickly. We are trying to attack everything that still needs to be done (like figuring out where kids are going (!), and deciding when to buy a van). But having 2 other kiddos screaming, running and jumping all day long sure places them in priority, and we're still having a snapping good time everyday--despite baby brother's painful side effects on my muscles.

We've been...

Going to parks (even barefooted today!) before winter snaps in

Enjoying baths where all the kids fit in the same tub

 Carving our pumpkins 

 (From left, Jackson's scary face, Allie's doodles, Mark's Jackolantern, and my 5 little pumpkins)

Feeding the squirrels 

Seriously, these squirrels on the east coast.... 

EVERY SINGLE PUMPKIN (and there were 8 originally)

Deciding on Halloween costumes at the very last min

(FYI, it is a giraffe costume--not sure where we got it, but I'm sure that it looks more like 

Mr. Tumnus from Narnia than a giraffe. Thankfully she wore so we could at least stick with a theme. Important details you know!)

And of course eating the bounty collected by these cute animals

(Side note: apparently Allie doesn't like chocolate, unless it's chocolate ice cream. We're all a bit confused, since I distinctly remember her eating chocolate before she was 2. Poor thing gets a bit frustrated when all the candy she anticipates with great excitement turns out to be stuff "I no like.")

We're hoping baby brother's arrival is snappy, but not too snappy and happens to occur at the perfect moment for all parties involved. Whatever ends up happening, he's got a big brother who is excited to teach him all about snapping, and a sister who can talk. Whew!

Black Fish

It took a while to decide what we're doing for halloween costumes this year. Jackson was pretty set on being Spiderman with a Batman cape and a fireman hat. As excited as I was to make his dreams come true, I thought I'd try and direct those dreams a bit. We brainstormed some ideas of what he and Allie could be together, and we finally determined we'd go for an animal theme. He came up with the idea of an orca. Brilliant! He loves killer whales. We've read every book at the library 10 times... at least.

SO, how to find a costume. Um... the only one I liked was sold through an Indian company, that had no online shipping option. The other ones that were fine (but not amazing) were 40$-50$, and I didn't like that much. So, we/I decided to make it. The question was, should we go with an orca he was riding, or make him into an orca. Riding the orca was a nice idea but I couldn't find foam that was affordable enough to create one, or the right size pool toy. I did find a bunch of black fabric in my sewing box, and we had an XXL white T-shirt.

Some sketches later (after much online perusing),




 And way too many late nights,

AND swearing I won't ever sew another costume from scratch (without a pattern)

We got ourself a little killer whale!

 This is pre-last stitching of the tail, and I'm totally critiquing it like crazy thinking how to help the tail out.

But since it's a Halloween costume (and will likely only be seen in the dark)--and not a costume for a broadway play, we're glad it's done, and it was as cheap as a spool of black thread. And if any poor mother (or Father) out there finds this post and wants to know how we put it together, just comment and I will tell you all of our joys and woes.


To celebrate the last stitch tonight, Mark and I watched Black Fish. I'm so glad our little captive fish is only 40 lbs ;)

Allie? What is she going to be? She has 4 options, and we'll find out if she is willing to be any of them. (As of yet, she hasn't tried a single costume on.) "I don't like it" is all we hear. Ah, good thing dreeing up for Halloween is not part of our eternal salvation.

Happy Halloween!!