Farewell To May

May has been one busy, crazy, wonderful, tiring, and great month. Lots of memories, times with friends, times of feeling so tired I couldn't function, moments when Jonah and Reuben cracked me up, falling more in love with our little Matthias, and lots of spring weather! Can't wait for summer, but May has been so, so good.

The hard part of May ... Jonah's best friend from two years of preschool moved away last weekend to Minneapolis. Jonah spent part of the morning Tuesday crying on the couch - missing Aaron. Hard for my Mommy-heart to see him grasp saying goodbye to a friend. Here they are together at the preschool party.

 Argh, Matey! Daddy got a pretty cute picture of our littlest pirate!

My sister in the middle, myself on the left, and a wonderful friend, Amy, on the right! At a friend's house for a fish fry and "hangout" last weekend! It was soooooo fun!

Matthias HAS started smiling - but one day thwarted all Eli's attempts to get a picture of his little grin. Rather, he kept crossing his eyes trying to focus! Ah well! Silly faces  = )

At the photo booth at the preschool party ...

And my little munchkin - getting stronger every day!

Of course, May had sooooo many other good memories. And we can't wait for June and all the great times we will have this summer. Next week we are heading to some friends' house in Branson for a couple days away ... much needed!

Warm Weekend

It was an AMAZING weekend! Just what I needed after Thursday and Friday - which were long days! Eli was home a lot, the boys got to get energy out, we got to spend time with family, Matthias was not nearly so fussy as the previous days. Ahhhhhh, a breath of fresh air, so to speak. And Eli and I even got to watch Thor together (although we watched half one evening after the boys were down, and half another night - I can't go to bed so late anymore!). And with the weather being pretty, okay, REALLY hot Saturday and Sunday, we put out the little splash pool and sprinkler and let the boys have fun outside! Too hot to be out there without water ...

 So, just a few pictures that capture that moment = ) and the pure joy of little boys having fun, no worries of what people think, how to act for a camera, just full of happiness!

Thursdays

I often dislike Thursdays. Something about getting all the way to Thursday, and I am worn out. Wednesdays are hump day, we're gearing up for youth group, but then the boys are up later than usual, and I'm always working hard to now get all three to bed myself with minimal crying, and Thursday morning comes too early! Waaaaayyyy to early this morning, when Matthias thought that our day should start at 5:30 a.m. Sigh.

The wonderful thing about my day was that I then handed off Matthias to Eli at 6:30, and headed to the gym to lift weights with Natalie - which has been a HUGE booster to my sanity the past week as I have gotten back into the gym! We are pushing each other right now ... my buns are still sore from a lower body workout we did on Monday! Talk about effective ...

Today is no exception from the challenges, though ... and this isn't necessarily a complaint, just a muse that there must be someway I can enter into the day of Thursday not soo tired, with a better attitude, something to make it better! Matthias has been fussy today - see below - and the boys were worn out from an extremely busy day yesterday! And I volunteered (maybe foolishly) to bring dinner to an older couple from church as the wife is having multiple medical and health issues right now. So, holding a fussy baby most of the day, attempting to cook something nice for another family, and keep my bigger boys busy with things has been a challenge!

My and my little guy ... a moment of peace on the couch today

And Friday, at least, is Friday! You can look forward to the weekend and hopefully a bit more time with Eli at home, and time to relax - theoretically!

So, as I bounce my baby today, I'm working on getting that all done. At least while nursing, I have found some wonderful devotionals to read on my iTouch, to keep my mind in the best place possible. Now - if I could just get Shutterly to cooperate with me as I'm trying to get some photos ordered that we need by Saturday morning ... = )

Backyard

About a week ago - no, maybe it was two weeks ... time is running together for me, Eli took the boys "camping" in our backyard. Hey, I wasn't up for actually going camping out somewhere yet with a few week old baby, but he wanted to do something fun and special with the boys. So, why not pop up the tent in the backyard, light up the fire pit, and create it on our own?

Of course, the boys had a fantastic time. We left the tent up for two more days, and it got lots of use as they "camped" out together every time I let them out the back door! But, then we needed to mow the lawn and save the tent from little boy destruction. So, down it went, to their dismay. And then we remember the little shark tent we have. It actually goes together like a real tent, and zips shut, but small and easy to take down, put up, and was one of those deals back years ago when Eli worked for Target that he found and was too good to resist! We haven't actually used it that much over the past few years, but now the boys are really into it, so it might get put up quite a bit more often now!

So, they have begged many a time each day to be let outside to play in the shark tent. Although, rather than camping, it seems to be more like an adventure of saving each other from being eaten by a shark, and so we hear shrieking resounding through the open door and the windows as they use their imaginations!

And I am soooooo happy for them to do so. Much more than sitting inside asking for tv or video games - they need to be outside, using those God-given imaginations and playing together. I'm so grateful that although our house isn't that large, we have such a great backyard for them to explore and make their own! I'm sure it will seem a short amount of time before Matthias is already wanting to join in on their fun ...

Four Weeks Old

Need I say more? I am not sure how my little boy is already four weeks old! His face is filling out, and although he still has chicken legs - he is starting to get bigger! He has gained at least 2 lbs. already (music to a nursing mother's ears!) and is starting to try so hard to focus on faces with his eyes! When he is awake and happy, he loves to be sang to, and likes to be laid on a blanket so he can kick his legs and wave his little arms around!

Of COURSE I am biased, but I believe my little guy is one beautifully handsome little baby. He may be the third baby I have had, but I still feel like I could sit for hours and stare at his face, watching his little expressions ... what a miracle babies are!

He continues to fit into our family. We're still working on getting any kind of schedule, but who needs a strict one in the summer, anyway? Right? = ) We love him to pieces.

Skittle

Eli's mom taught the boys to search for yellow cars, and specifically yellow slugbugs while driving along the road. They see one and yell "Skittle"! To them, it's very exciting! And they play that they can both claim each vehicle, so therefore no one ever seems to lose (I like that), and they're always on the lookout!

And on these beautiful spring days, they now like to sit in the frame of the front door and watch for yellow cars to drive. I suppose I can count that as one perk for living on a busy street! Much to see as they sit there .. I caught this picture the other day when they didn't realize I had come up behind them.

Brotherly Love ...

I am so blessed that both Jonah and Reuben L.O.V.E. Matthias with all their little hearts. Sure, I can tell that they are experiencing an adjustment period as our collective family life changes to adjust to another person, but, they are constantly giving him kisses, wanting to hold him, and "checking" to make sure they know exactly where he is! What a blessing from the Lord that they instantly took him in ...

Fishing the evening away



Daddy working with Reuben to reel in S.L.O.W.L.Y.

We actually went fishing before Matthias was born ... probably about two weeks beforehand! But, I never got these pictures posted. It was a beautiful spring evening, and we headed to a quiet and small pond on a friend's land. The boys both now have kid-sized fishing poles - and it was Reuben's first time to use his.

Opa keeping on eye on Jonah at the edge of the dock

The boys had a great time! We went with my parents and my sister, and the boys fished away. At that time, it was nice to be outside, Eli needed a break from studying, and nature time was a perfect way to spend the evening! Both boys caught several small fish, and were pretty expert casters by the time we left.

 We plan on many more fishing times before the weather gets too hot!



I got one!

Not my plan ...

But, then again, many births never are, are they? They suggest to write a birth plan ... but be flexible because things usually don't quite go the way we want them to! I, for one, have never really written up a birth plan, but both my doctor and Eli were well informed in terms of what we "wanted" to see happen. Well, two out of three births didn't quite go as I would have liked! Ah, well, that is the way that it ges. But, in spite of that, Matthias is here. And that is what matters most! So, here is the birth day story, longer than I normally post, and maybe full of details no one wants to hear! But, for my own personal memory's sake ... I write it.

Although I started having regular contractions on Friday the 13th of April, Matthias didn't arrive until Wednesday the 18th. My previous post explains how we went to the hospital the wee hours of the 14th, but were sent home. All throughout Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday ... I would have times of contractions about five minutes apart, but they would kind of die off. I kept hoping! I wanted to go into labor completely naturally, but knew that if Matthias wasn't born by Wednesday, they would induce. My fluid levels were low, and they said I had intra-uterine growth restriction again - as I did with Jonah. When I went in for a check-up that Tuesday the 17th, the doctor measured my belly at 33 weeks! It just wasn't growing any bigger for him to expand much. So, the induction was scheduled for Wednesday morning.

I was already dilated to two, so got the agreement from the doctor to break my water first, and see if labor would progress on its own. We went to the hospital at 7:30 a.m., got all hooked up to everything. I was contracting already about every 8 minutes at that point. The doctor on call ended up being in surgery, so the nurse had me walk quite a bit, and the doctor didn't end up coming to break my water until about 10:30 a.m. Eli and his mom walked with me, and kept me company! Dr. Mercado was wonderfully, but had a lot of trouble breaking my water. Apparently, my cervix was REALLY posterior, which means the baby's head had dropped low, but was in front of the cervix. Finally (and painfully!), she got it. From there, contractions started increasing to about five minutes apart, and we walked a lot again to try and move things along. My parents and my sister came to the hospital as well, they would be there for the long haul now!

We agreed that the nurse would check me again at 1:00 p.m. If I wasn't dilating fast enough, they would go ahead and start pitocin ... argh. She checked me, and I was just a three. Big, huge, fat, S.I.G.H.  I know what pitocin means: crazy hard contractions, really close together, and pretty much a sure eipdural to survive. But, they started it, increasing dosage each half hour or so. I wanted to hold out as long as I could in terms of getting an epidural because I didn't want to slow the labor down. But, by about 2:45 p.m., I was contracting every 2-3 minutes; hard contractions, and I was starting to get "the shakes" from them. So, had the nurse check me to see how much I had progressed ... yup. A four. Wow. So, we called for an epidural. My parents, sister, and Eli's mom pretty much stayed with us, distracting me, ,or Eli, and just being supportive throughout.

The epidural itself went okay. But somehow, I still really haven't figured this one out, at the end, the anasteaiologist said; "I gave you a little pain medication with the epidural because of how rough things were." Now, earlier in the day, the nurse had asked if I would want any other pain meds, and I had said no. My mom reacted really badly to them, and so I had always stayed completely away! So, I'm not sure how they ended up giving me some without asking, because typically that doesn't happen and I've never had an issue with that before. And then about half an hour later, I started getting really nauseous. It was horrible. I was thankful for the epidural, but throwing up the last two hours of labor, and about an hour after Matthias was born was NOT FUN. It was really rough. If it hadn't been for that, things would have seemed so rough, but that was a very low moment. My mom and Eli stayed with me, and just held my hand, and held bags. I knew we would get through it, but it was hard.

About 5:00 p.m., the nurse checked me again, and I was at an 8! Woo hoo! Time was coming close. She paged Dr. Mercado to get ready to come in, and then realized that Dr. Mercado had run out to drop off her little boy somewhere. Fortunately, Dr. Minderman (who is wonderful!) happened to still be on the floor. She ended up flying in, doing one quick check and saying "We're ready to push!". Eli sent one fast text to his mom, my dad, and my sister to run in, and I literally pushed through about two contractions, and Matthias was out!

About then, Dr. Mercado flew in the room and exclaimed "I missed it!" It was kind of a funny moment. Although it was a bummer that Dr. Durland couldn't deliver because she was on vacation, those other two were absolutely wonderful to me!

I got to spend the next moments being amazed and in awe over my sweet little boy, announcing his name with Eli to our family, and snuggling him to my chest. He was completely perfect and wonderful. And although the birth was not what I had hoped for, God brought him to us at the right time, and brought him safely. And that it was matters the most, right?