Fall pics of the kids

one year ago today

Right about now we were leaving for the hospital. J was dropping me off and then dropping the girls off with Marci. I was pissed!!! Not the way I wanted to be doing my last labor at all. I wanted the rush, the excitement of going into labor on my own. E had other ideas. He was happy where he was. I waited as long as I could for him to make his move. It was time. At 41 weeks I was evicting him. I checked myself in calmly and not in any pain. Not at all like I was with C. No one was rushing and I walked myself to my room instead of being wheeled there. I was very disappointed this was the way it was happening. I had prayed and willed myself to go into labor for weeks beforehand but it was not meant to be. I was admitted, checked, asked a million questions, had my water broke and then set up to pitocin. All that was done by 10 am. Then J and I sat back to wait. Wondering how long it would take. I did get my epidural too which I was not sure about but did anyway. I knew for sure I would get one but felt it was too early. Wanted to labor and feel my labor. I got it anyway though just to be on the safe side. About an hour later E's heart started dropping during contractions. It was determined that he was kind of bouncing around in there and squeezing on the cord durning a contraction and limiting air flow. It was scary for a few minutes but the nurse knew right what to do and too action right away. She explained later that he needed the cushion of the water so she set up like a fountain type thing to let water flow in the right places to stop the pressure on the cord. It was a scary few minutes worrying if he was ok and if we were headed for an emergency c. After that everything settled down for about an hour. And then I started feeling my contractions. BAD. Like I did with C. It was right around when I got to 6 again. My contractions just start going and the epidural can't keep up with them. They tried to give me more but I was progressing too fast for it to catch up. At that point it was more or just push through it. This had happened with both of the girls too. The epidural gave me some relief in the middle but when it was go time I was in major pain. Just time to push and get baby boy out. And that's just what I did. I had to work harder to get him out. He was tough. The girls were a few pushes and they were out. He was harder. As soon as we saw him we knew why. He was BIG. Right at 9lbs. Big boy that had had an extra week (at least) to cook. After delivery we sat and snuggled him forever. It was one of the best hours of my life. It was so peaceful and amazing. It didn't matter anymore how he came into this world. Just that he did and we were so in love. Still are!!! I would do it all again. Go back and do the year over and I would love it. As long as it had the same outcome. We are good. In a good place and a family of 5 is just right for us!!

baby boy is 1

Tomorrow is the day I have been dreading for months. E will be one. So bitter sweet. I HATE that he is growing so fast. My last baby is growing up. That was not supposed to happen. He is becoming such a sweet young man though. He just has a heart of gold and will give anyone a smile at any moment. He loves life, lives so hard all the time. This is him at the park yesterday. Again on the equipment that is meant for 5-7 year olds. No one is going to tell him he is not big enough. He's so happy ALL the time. He talks so much. Whoever said the third does not talk much bc he has older siblings to talk for him didn't know E. He talks so well too. He can pretty much repeat any word you say to him. He knows the meaning of everything we say to him too. Today he was running around with one sock and I asked him where his other sock was. He brought it to me 2 seconds later. He loves to bring/hand you things. His laugh is infectious. He loves his family and still puts up with C's crap. One of these days though he will give her a taste of her own medicine. He eats well, sleeps well, goes right along w whatever we are doing wo complaining but is happiest when he is down free to wander or climb something. He loves balls and is drawn to them anytime they are around. Today is my last day of pumping. I made it!!!!!!!! That's bittersweet too but so glad to be done. Everett John we love you so much. Thanks for bringing so much joy into our world.

Happy Birthday Camille

She's 3!!!!!!!!!
What a big girl she is!! 3 wow. Can't believe it. She is so cute and so sweet and can be so bad. She just has a heart of gold. She had a great bday. It started Friday with her party. We had 4 families over to party with her. She was so excited all day. The first words out of her mouth that am were "now I get cake." Friends arrived about 5:30 and they played for a bit and then we had dinner. C wanted pizza so that's what she got. Then we painted pumpkins. I bought glitter for them. That is huge for me. I don't do glitter. I was shaking as I bought it but I did it. The kids loved it, the parents not so much but oh well. They made a huge mess but they had so much fun. They all wore old tshirts so that was cute too. Then time for cake and presents. She wanted a cake with princesses on it and pink frosting. So that is what I told Kroger. We got the princesses but not pink frosting. I was disappointed but she didn't seem to care. She loved the princesses. On Saturday (actual bday) we woke up and took her to get donuts. She wanted a pink donut which they didn't have so she ended up with bday breakfast pink cookies. hehehe Good thing your bday is only one day a year. Then we took off to tailgate for a U of L game. It was super fun. The kids loved running around playing. Then off to the game. We didn't have high hopes about staying long but we made it. We stayed till the very end! The kids did great. Had so much fun. The game didn't end so good but it was still a great day. Camille had a great weekend!! Happy birthday sweet girl. Your mom and dad love you so much. We are so happy you are all ours. We are very lucky parents.

school

I had a surprise meeting with Av's teacher on Wed. So glad I am making the effort to be there every week. I kind of dread it but once I get there I love it. Anyway it was time to review her yearly speech goals and her SLP called her teacher in! It was great but I was scared as to what I was going to hear. Not prepared and didn't have the support of J. As far as speech goes she is improving. Still pretty delayed to where she should be but her test scores have improved so that is wonderful!! She went from a 43 to 59. Progress is progress and we could not be happier about that. Her teacher showed us some work Av has been doing it and was all pretty great. She had missed 2 on one of them but otherwise really good. Her teacher says speech is not an issue in the classroom right now. They are understanding her and her friends don't see an issue. She talks right up in class when asked and asked for help. So our fears of her being a wall flower are gone. She is delayed in speech though, she does not say sounds right so it will prob hinder reading a lot. Her teacher just stressed to us that the best thing we can be doing for her is reading, reading, reading. All types of books. Longer picture books but also baby type books. Those are great for sight reading. She said read the same books over and over again. As long as Av wants to hear the book read it. It helps them become successful with knowing the book so "reading" the book. Her writing is going to be our biggest problem though. She knows her letters but her fine motor control is just such an issue. She is doing so WELL though. The day after I had this meeting and had been worrying about her writing I took her to OT. The letters she wrote there on her work sheets were almost perfect. She can do it. We will get her there. Her teachers just told us to have her writing. Practice all the time. Av is wanting to as well. She has a notebook that she is writing in all the time including on the bus. It's great. While I'm in the kitchen she has been sitting at the island writing words for things that are going on. The other day we had her writing Happy Birthday Camille and October. We have been told not to spell for her and help her sound it out. So reading and writing words will be our focus. Those are the 2 things that will help her be successful more than anything. We will get there. We always do. It will just take some hard work but we are up for it.