Finding Joy in Motherhood

I was sitting and holding Abby, while Bryan took Emily and Hannah on a walk. And my heart was at peace. No, not because my house was a little quieter, but because this week has been full of things that have made me so happy to be a mom. (no it hasn't been an easy week, but well worth it)

Here's the list of joys I've found in the last 9 days:

*Right after they pulled Abigail out of me, she cried and cried and cried. I got this "strange" thought that I should call out her name. (with a c-section, they don't give the baby to you right away...) I said "abigail" and the crying IMMEDIATELY stopped. Yes she started crying again, but she stopped, and each time I called her name she would stop crying.

* Today Abby was crying in her carseat. Hannah and Emily decided to rock her and whisper "shhhh." She stopped crying for them. The girls we ESTATIC! "We calmed Abigail down!!!"

*It's been hot here. We got each of us a spray bottle from the dollar store to help no one over heat. Everyday I catch the girls with Bryan getting into a water fight, and LOVING it.

*Yesterday we were at my parents house. Hannah wanted something to eat, but Daddy was holding Abby. Hannah goes up to Daddy.. "Daddy, put abby down." He gives her over to me and Hannah takes Daddy by the hand into the kitchen. It was sooo cute!

*We got coupons from the preschool we are hoping to get Emily into for McDonalds. We went there and got the girls their free kids meals. When we got home Hannah opens her toy, she decided it was Abby's. And still won't take it back. She's determinded to share it with her baby.

*The last few mornings we've put Abby in the Boppy, then Emily, Hannah, and I sing her songs. We love this time and love sharing music with Abby.

*Everytime Hannah enters the same room as Abby she needs to kiss her.

*Whenever we go somewhere both girls ask "can we take Abigail with us too?" They just want to make sure she gets to stay with our family forever :-D

*The morning we had the c-section, Emily woke up HYSTERICAL! She thought that I had left without snuggling her. Something that we do every morning, almost. I love how small and simple things are so important to her.

*Morning snuggle time. It kind of goes with the last one. But on most mornings we are able to snuggle in bed together, it's probably my favorite part of the day... Just laying in bed with my whole family.... It usually ends with laughter and tickles.


OKay... I seriously could go on. I know being a mom is hard.. I have quite a few bad days. But seriously.. I love my girls! And they make life so much better.. All their little lights of sunshine, even through the tantrums!

They say babies don't smile.

Abigail's Hospital Anoucement. I thought the picture was way to cute not to share!!





Melissa and Bryan have chosen the name Abigail Renae for their beautiful new daughter born July 21, 2009 at St. Joseph Hospital.
Birth Statistics
Weight: 8 pounds and 9 ouncesLength: 19 3/4 inchesTime: 9:25 amDate:Tuesday, July 21, 2009

EDIT: I noticed this on under the hospital picture, and thought it would be way cool if i had the information recorded also.


July 21, 2009 - a day to remember
The Weather:
The sun rose over Bellingham at 5:30 am and set at 9:02 pm Local high: 81° F Local low: 59° F The nation's weather extremes were 120° recorded at Death Valley, California and 34° at Burgess Junction and Old Faithful, Wyo.

In the financial world
the Dow Jones closed at 8848.15 Minimum Wage was $8.55
and the prices of some big and little ticket items were
Loaf of Bread: $2.49 Gallon of Milk: $3.85 Average New Home: $252,100.00 New Car: $21,750.00 Gallon of gasoline: $2.75

Populations:
Bellingham: 76,500 U.S. Population: 306,145,387In the world of entertainment this week

The top grossing movie was: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"

Abigail Renae shares her birthday with these other interesting people
1899 - Ernest Hemingway - One of America's most popular authors of classic novels The Old Man and the Sea, The Sun Also Rises and For Whom the Bell Tolls.1938 - Janet Reno - First woman to be America's highest law enforcement officer, U.S. Attorney General.1952 - Robin Williams - Award winning comic and actor known for the TV show "Mork and Mindy" and many movies, including "Good Morning Vietnam", "Popeye" and "Dead Poet's Society."

There have been some other notable events on this day in history
1861 - The American Civil War got underway in earnest as 60,000 troops fought the first major action of war, the first Battle of Bull Run, at Manassas Junction, Virginia.1925 - A Tennessee jury convicted John T. Scopes of illegally teaching the theory of evolution in public school in what was one of the most interesting and publicized trials of the first half of the 20th Century.

Happy Birthday Abigailfrom your friends at St. Joseph Hospital

Sleep, where art thou?

So, Abby-cakes has been a pretty easy baby. Seriously. But last night. Man, hopefully she doesn't repeat it. For some reason she just wouldn't sleep. She woke up every hour with gas, and needing to be feed......... and then at 3 she decided it was play time. And finally at 6 we snuggled her back to sleep, yep she slept a WHOLE hour and 1/2, the most she slept in a row all night. Then she feed and needed to be snuggled back to sleep until Emily woke up.. Then she finally fell asleep enough to put into her bassinet........ and then Emily started watching Dora, and got excited and held on to her bassinet and was bouncing and woke her up... (which is what just happened as i'm writing this).... Hopefully she'll just sleep.

I might have to call in my babysitting favors...... We'll see how grumpy Bryan is.... Maybe we'll just take turns sleeping.

OKay.. maybe i'll post later with fun pictures... But right now, i'm just sitting here making sure Emily doesn't wake Abby up..

DDH

Yes, baby Abby decided she wanted to look EXACTLY like Hannah did at this age... So in order to do so, we had to put her in a hip brace too! :-D

On a more serious note... Yesterday when the pediatrian came to check on Abby he noticed her right hip out of place. So right into the hip brace she went.
I've been kind of discouraged, at least I was all day yesterday. And I don't think that the whole Abby being awake from 2:30am-7am helped me deal with the problem. But now that I've had a decent (as good as you can with a newborn) nights sleep, i'm thinking a lot clearer and not even crying!!

DDH is Developmental Dysplacia of the Hips. It's just a tech. term for her hip out of the socket. It's something we've dealt with before.. so i am not to scared, and know it will only last a few months.

The thing I'm really not looking forward to is the constant asking of "what's wrong with her?" It's something I dread. I'm more then willing to answer EVERY other question about her DDH. But I guess "what's wrong with her?" isn't a real question, only a way to state that she isn't "Perfect." .. SO if you want to ask more questions if something comes up. Feel free. Honestly, as you don't ask the above state question. I'm more then willing to help educate and share all the knowledge I have on this subject.
oh, and no, it isn't any harder to hold her. It actually is a little easier.. Since she's all buddled up more...

WELCOME TO THE WORLD ABIGAIL RENAE!!!!!!!
(and no, this picture wasn't posed, she did it all on her own)

Abby was born Yesterday at around 9:15. She weights 8 lbs 6 oz. and is absolutely PERFECT...

We had an amazing surgery. Abby came out with no problems, she's nursing and everything with no problems. We honestly can't belief how smooth things are going. But are very grateful to Heavenly Father for it.

We'll probably be at the Hospital until Friday. Recovery for me and abby have been great. I've already been up and walking around.

Okay.. time to attend to my beautiful baby.

Scratch the last list.

So, after thinking about it, stressing about it.. and then REALIZING...... We'll be okay if we don't get everything done. My list has been completely shortened to only the important things..

1. Spend some special time with Emily and Hannah
2. Pack everyone up
3. Get the schedule printed out.

The other stuff is just not as important (especially since bryan already got the dishes done :-D)

So, we're going to watch some t.v. while we eat our lunch. Then we are going to do a load of laundry together (they love helping) and then they are going to help me pack their clothes. And inbetween that we are going to tickle, read, play, and maybe even take a bath!!

Late Night Awakeness.

So, tonight Bryan and I were just talking about how excited we are that Abigail is almost here.......... stupid thing to do right before we are suppose to fall asleep..... .


I might just have a panic attack. I realize there is sooooo much stuff i need to get done in the next three days. Seriously! It's all the little stuff. but it's adding up...

My list so far?!

*finish sorting all the clothing
*wash the kitchen counters (they've become gross since i've been unable to tackle the kitchen)
*finish the dishes (if we're going to be gone four days.. that could get HORRIBLY gross)
*wash the carpets.. at least the girls' and ours, and the front room... well might as well get the last room left also
*get shampoo and conditioner. Perfect timing to be running out, right?!
*Get the rest of the laundry washed, folded, and put away
*Get the girls' stuff packed, Bryan's stuff packed, Abby's stuff packed, and my stuff packed for the hospital time.
*Get everyone a schedule and make sure it works for them
*clean the back room
*find the rest of the stuff for the bassinet, and wash it.
*wash the baby tub
*take the garbage out
*clean out any food that might go bad in the fridge
*wash and sanitize all the "abby" toys
*get the baby bag all washed out and ready for use
*make a grocery list for when we get out of the hospital so Bryan will know what to buy
*get airfresheners
*get more laundry detergent
*take the girls on one last (for a while) special mommy, hannah, and emily adventure.. (hopefully doing it sometime monday)

..seriously that's just the stuff on the top of my head.......at 12:30 at night.
But at least we have diapers and a carseat, right??!!?!??!?!?!

My list update.

Okay, so 11 days from now I will be holding my little Abigail. I'm excited, but need to stay focused. Here is my updated list.. The ones in red are done.. the ones in black aren't.

*Organize all the girls' toys into containers
*Finish organizing all the baby clothing into sizes
*Buy a new carseat. (after two baby's in one... and lots of blowouts.. our current one is looking a little worn.
*Wash off the MILLION crayon marks on the girls' wall
*Wash all the carpets in the apartment.
*Find the rest of the pieces to the bassinet and set up in our room
*Get the girls' schedule ready for where they are going to stay while we are in the hospital
*Pack hospital bags and girls sleepover bags
*Fold and put away all the clothing on the couch. (we got a lot)
*Wash out bathtub
added on today
*Clean out car
*make grocery list for when we come home from hospital


Okay.. so it might not look like we've done much in the last two weeks.. But there was a TON i didn't include in this list. Luckily we've gotten all the HUGE stuff done, we just need to do a few more things.
Currently bryan is working on the car, and i'm about to do some laundry (keeping up on things)... then we're going to move around the carseats so the girls get use to their new spots in the car.

Doctor's appointment Today.

So.. I've been having contractions pretty much one an hour for the last two days. So I went to the Doctor's office with a little bit of high hopes.

Stats: I'm 75% Effaced (way up from last week.. i was only BA RELY 30%)
I am dialated to a.. (insert drum roll)...... not even a one. I'm dialated to a fingertip. That's all.. Yep all this pain for nothing (though I was COMPLETELY not dialated last week). Yeah, I'm kind of disappointed.

We're going to do an ultrasound again next week to see how big she looks. But Dr. Cook says he still feels a c-section would be best, if she doesn't come sometime this week-ish.

SO i have my pre-op appointment next week along with the ultrasound at the same appointment, and then the week after is my c-section.. it's coming up soon..... but not soon enough.

Hannah Explaining what we're going to do tonight.

The Home Depot Adventure Part II

Todays Craft was "Picnic Boxes".... they look a lot like Toolboxes... But I think we'll use them for picnicing at least once!

Here's Emily hard at work:


Here's Hannah and Auntie Lynda. Hannah actually really liked hammering with Auntie Lynda, I just happen to get a picture when she was distracted.

The girls with their final product. The handles weren't dry so they had to hold them like this. But tonight they might be able to use them at the BBQ at Oma's.

Auntie Lynda and the girls showing off their hard work!

Again I recommend this. It's harder for younger kids.. BUT still really fun. I just recommend one adult per young child.