Back in the Saddle Again

It's been almost a year since I've posted anything here. This time period corresponds almost exactly with a part-time job I worked, and before too long I realized that I had bitten off a little more than I could chew.

I'm not sure what to write without making this entry incredibly long, so maybe I'll do a quick update followed by some snapshots of what has happened recently. I always admire the frequent, short posts of other bloggers, but never manage it myself. Age updates: Clark is 4.9-ish, Bruce is 3.5, Kate is 14 months.

We recently celebrated our 7 year anniversary. We've had a few "low key" anniversaries in the past few years (I wonder why. See children's ages above.), so we had a day-trip to Savannah, GA. It was beautiful! The architecture was amazing, we saw some fun shops, and ate some good food. These pics are from Paula Deen's restaurant "The Lady and Sons" which had some excellent Southern food: Fried Chicken, Fried Fish, Collard Greens, Grits, Black-eyed Peas, etc...

Caleb enjoying his meal. Just so you know, this is a posed shot. He took a similar picture of me, but I've spared you by not posting that one. (Don't worry... Permission was requested and granted.)

If we look a little sweaty/tired, we are. Sweaty but happy (see plate). It was H-O-T! I guess that's what you get for getting married in one of the hottest months of the year.

Me and Ms. Dean (in cut-out form)

This is Kate's first birthday party (in May).

Clark's wonderful Pre-School teacher Mrs. J. He had a really great year and now we're gearing up for "the big K" (a.k.a. Kindergarten).

The boys went to the "Father-Son Campout" again this year. We all enjoyed their night away. :) I think they set new records in dirtiness. (Look for this picture in the dictionary: Dirty, Happy)

Clark at a visit to the beach. We went with my brother Mike's family when they were in town last month and had a blast. Not the best picture, but I'm not the best photographer.

Bruce smiling. I think this was their expression for the whole day. They love the beach.

Kate running around at the beach. She is a water baby if I ever saw one. Lest you think I escaped all beach pictures, you can see my arm on the right of this picture. :)

Finally, a video of some baby giggles to brighten your day. Please excuse the mess in the background, but sometimes you gotta get these moments when they happen. It just happened to be a messy moment.

More to come soon... (fingers crossed) I will also be updating the profile pictures to something more recent in the near future.

Look-alikes

Baby Kate has this funny little baby fuzz mohawk on her head which is nearly impossible to capture in a picture. (I should say, with my camera and photography skills it is nearly impossible to capture.) Finally I got a decent shot. I hope you all can appreciate the hard work because it took about 14 pictures and this was nearly the only usable one and even this one is kinda blurry. One of my small accomplishments this week.

The other... potty training. I remember very clearly why I have been putting it off. We're not there yet, but its getting better everyday. We cannot seem to be able to get #2 in the potty and not in the pants. Any suggestions out there?

Floor Time

Brucie was playing with Kate on the floor the other day and I thought it was so cute, so I got the camera and was actually able to capture some of it. We watch the boys very closely around the baby so they don't "love her too much." This is an example of a good baby interaction day. I think Brucie does very well for a 2-year-old and this video shows a little of the baby talk they do with Kate.

Summer Days

So, I know it has been a really long time since I posted anything. I can always tell when its been too long because my dad always asks me when I'm going to post something new. So thanks to my dad for inspiring me to not be such a slacker. Some things never change. :)

This is a recent photo from Kate's baby blessing. (From left: Clark, Caleb (back), Bruce, Debbie(back), Kate)

Well, I can't remember when 3 months have gone by so quickly. Having 3 kids has definitely upped the ante. It's like hitting the fast-forward button for life. I can't believe it, but Clark just turned 4! He's going to pre-school in a month. Bruce is getting so big. Literally. He's a solid 2 year old at just about 32 pounds (3 pounds off from Clark). Kate is growing chubbier and cuter every day. She is such a happy baby, I can't even believe it. I tell people that I don't know if it's because I'm a better mom at child #3, or if there is more "action" to keep her entertained, or if she just has a sweet personality, but Kate is an easy-going and happy baby.

On the realistic side, it's 3 times as hard with 3 kids. There are 3 times as many tantrums, 3 times as much work, 3 times as many messes, and 3 times as much laundry. (Seriously, I can never "finish" the laundry these days since it just keeps coming.) There's also 3 times as many cute stories, 3 times the laughter, as well as 3 little people in our family that I love very much. So, those are some things keep me sane.

Alright, a little update on my little ones.

Clark blowing out his candles. I know it looks like there are 8 candles, but the long ones don't count since I thought they were going to look like sparklers (they said they were sparkler candles). Oh well.

Clark playing with Baby Kate.

Clark just celebrated his 4th birthday. We had a fun time decorating for it and getting ready all week. He picked out his birthday cupcakes - confetti cake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles - but he never eats the cupcake only the frosting. I was standing in the grocery aisle trying to talk him into something chocolate when Caleb called me back to the present and reminded me it was HIS birthday after all. Good call Caleb. :) He wanted to leave the decorations up "all the time", but we agreed to leave them up for a week. Clark was very patient with Brucie, who thought it was his birthday too. After saying his bedtime prayer on his birthday he asked "Can I say another prayer? Heavenly Father, thank you that I could have a good birthday party and thank you for a Mommy who loves me..." Of course it makes me smile to hear my little boy say something so sweet. He is a very thoughtful boy and his wheels are always turning. He's getting good at building things with blocks and using his imagination. He's learning to play board games and starting to recognize his letters and their sounds. He's excited to start his half-day preschool class next month. You know, 4-year-old stuff. :)



Brucie with his helmet/grocery basket on. He's wearing an inflatable swimsuit in case you're wondering. We were about to go out to the pool when we took this picture.

Bruce is so sweet. He always wants to sit in your lap and cuddle, which is getting harder since he is such a big boy. Brucie growing so fast, in fact I think he is going through a growth spurt right now. I usually make the boys wait for dinner without snacks, but dinner still had a while and Bruce was sounding desperately hungry, so I fixed him a bowl of Cheerios. He sat down and ate 4 full man-size bowls of Cheerios. They weren't even Honey Nut or anything. I can't even eat that much. Bruce keeps track of everyone coming and going, he remembers everyone's name and will keep tabs on where they are in the house. He will mention people by name that he barely met days or weeks ago. He loves his brother and also clashes with him (like a 2 year old does) about every 5 minutes. Recently, he said to my mom (Grandma) when she was telling Uncle D they might have to go home, "You are NOT going home! Because I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!" It sounded more like a threat in the delivery, but very funny if you've heard him before with a full scowl on his face.



This is Kate in a good mood. This picture says it all and is pretty accurate as to how she is most of the time. If all babies were as sweet as Kate is, I'm convinced that more people would have children.



Kate in her Sunday outfit. It doesn't matter that the temperature is mid- to upper-90s. I couldn't help it, I love the bonnet!

Kate is growing fast, like little babies do. She's about 3 months old and smiles all the time. She's getting more interested in toys, but is still mostly interested in people's faces. She's trying to use her hands more and more. Its too soon to really know, but we think she might end up left handed since that is the hand that reaches for things first and usually the hand that ends up in her mouth. She is very patient with her brothers and I love to hear them talk baby talk to her. "Ooooooh. Who's the cute baby? Are you a teeny girl? Are you a little baby Kate? I love you baby." That kind of talk coming from such active 2- and 4-year-old boys is funny to me every time.

Mostly we've been hanging out at home since it is so hot outside and hard to get 3 little ones in and out of the car by myself. I have low motivation when I don't have a specific errand to run. Good thing we have so much family nearby to hang out with. We love it.

Here are some pictures I took today of the boys playing around. Clark found some swim goggles and they were just being silly together.

Thanks for reading our blog! I will try to be better about posting more often.

She had the baby in the car!

Here she is!

It's been difficult to find the time to post anything on my blog since the baby was born, but here I am (finally) blogging the story for all of you out there who haven't heard it yet. I also have to admit that I told it a lot the first few weeks, and I needed a little break before I told it again here. This story is definitely in the "Never thought it would happen to me" category as far as life experiences go, but (as everyone tells me) it is a pretty good story for Kate to tell when she gets older. Here we go. I'll start at the beginning.

Before you continue I'd like to add a little disclaimer that this is a birth story and may be long, boring, and a little too much information for some, so consider yourself warned.

It was a normal Sunday and went by pretty much as the Sunday before. Get up, breakfast, church, lunch, naptime for the boys, etc... I was 5 days overdue and commented to Caleb that I was starting to believe that this baby would never be born and I would, in fact, be pregnant forever. He agreed with me. We were all feeling the "overdueness" and I'm sure his comment might have had something to do with how my feeling miserable was affecting our family dynamics. If mama ain't happy, you know... :) I had had Braxton-Hicks contractions for the whole last month of my pregnancy and even started timing them on 3 different evenings before they faded away and we went to bed a little disappointed.

We went for a walk with the boys to get some family time, but also to see if it would get labor started. I wasn't feeling very optimistic. Actually, I was kind of grumpy (sorry Caleb) since it was pretty warm outside. We came home, made dinner, put the boys to bed. Normal, normal, normal.

I had been having some contractions, but that was common in the evenings at this point, so I went to lay down and Caleb did the dishes (I know, he's awesome). Pretty soon after this I told Caleb I was having some contractions and maybe we should time them. This baby had to come out sooner or later (and this was on the later side), but I don't think either of us was very optimistic. So, I was resting, we were timing, and I even called my mother and said she could come over and hang out at our house with the disclaimer that we weren't sure if this was the real thing. She said she would eat dinner and come right over. Everyone was feeling pretty laid back.

Caleb and I had taken some "natural" childbirth classes because I wanted to go without an epidural this time (Funny, huh?), so I've read all these books and I'm planning on sticking this out for the hours and hours it takes most people to have a baby. It took me 5-6 hours for both of the boys, so I'm thinking this is the very beginning of a long-term process. I took a shower to relax and if (I was still thinking "if" at this point) this was really labor I might not get the chance to shower anytime soon. Well, after a few stronger contractions, Caleb called my mom and relayed the message that she should not wait to eat dinner and she should come over right away.

This is the point where things started to get painful, my memory starts to get a little blurry, and I started saying ridiculous things like "I don't want to have a baby anymore." I remember Caleb calling the doctor and saying we would be coming in sometime within the hour. By the time my mom arrived (she did not wait to eat dinner), contractions were coming pretty strong and I told Caleb we need to leave NOW. While my mom helped me down the stairs (we live on the 3rd floor of an apartment building), Caleb ran things up and down to the car. Literally ran. He told me later that he felt an impression like he should "run like the wind." So he did, or as nearly as you can while going up and down the stairs...

My mom and I stopped a lot on the way to the car. We took my mom's little Civic, since our van had the car seats and she would need them in the morning to take the boys back to her house. I sat in the front seat and was anxious to get to the hospital because I had pretty much decided I would take whatever drug they would give me when I got there. So much for natural childbirth, I thought. The hospital is close to our house (about 10-15 minutes), and we took the interstate to avoid traffic lights. The contractions were coming hard and Caleb was rubbing my back with one hand and driving with the other. He stayed pretty calm through the whole thing, but not so calm that he didn't feel the urgency to pass other cars and get there as quickly as possible. I don't know how fast he was going, but I remember thinking we couldn't get there fast enough.

About the time when the hospital came into view, my water broke all over my mom's front seat. I was worried about her being mad and kicked myself for not having a towel or something to sit on, but only briefly. With the next contraction I started feeling pressure and told Caleb so. He said "Don't push! We're almost there! We can see the hospital." I still thought we had enough time. I mean, we could already see the hospital, but that changed quickly.

With the next contraction I told him to pull over because the baby is coming NOW! I went into auto-pilot a little and told him something to the effect that I thought I should take my pants off. He said "Do what you need to do." I told him to pull over, but he couldn't at this point because of the guard-rail on the exit ramp. Then I had another contraction and out came the baby. In the car. On the seat. On the exit ramp. Caleb said he didn't believe me until he heard the baby cry. He said it was a weird feeling knowing that 2 people got in the car and here was a new person. I was kind of in shock, and then he told me to pick up the baby off the seat so she didn't fall on the floor. That snapped me out of it and I picked her up and held her against my chest.

So, we pull up to the emergency room seriously, like a minute later. I'm feeling a lot better now. Caleb jumps out of the car and pulls the pillowcase off his pillow in the back seat to cover the baby (still attached) so she won't get too cold. He runs into the hospital and says, "She had the baby in the car!" The nurses came out with a gurney and I remember them helping me get my shoes and pants all the way off and holding up some sheets (for privacy) as I got out of the car. I remember eyeing the woman staring at me as she walked by into the hospital, and then climbing up on the gurney (baby still attached). People were watching me as they wheeled me through the emergency room and saying "congratulations" and things like that. I was feeling pretty embarrassed. They took me upstairs to Labor and Delivery to deliver the placenta and wait for the doctor to arrive. I guess the rest is history and I am now the lady who had a baby in the car.

Katherine (or Baby Kate as we like to call her) was born at 9:21pm. We starting timing contractions at about 7pm, so it was a little over 2 hours from start to finish with about 30 minutes of hard labor. Obviously a little faster than we had expected. With the boys my labor took about 5-6 hours, but apparently things can move a lot faster with the more children you have. I don't feel like we dawdled this time, but next time (if there is a next time) we will probably have a lot of false alarms instead of risking something like that happening again. Don't want to do that twice. We were really lucky because Kate is healthy and I am healthy and we are very thankful for that. (Also, since people have asked and you may be wondering too, yes the doctor still charged us. Another fun fact, on her birth certificate her birth place is listed as "vehicle". Didn't know they did that.)

But that is our story. A fun one to tell, since most people I run into have heard it (or some version) before we even had a chance to tell it. Maybe I included a little too much information, but I tried to edit the more graphic details. If you really are curious to know more, you'll have to call or email me.

Kate and I about an hour after delivery. Sorry it's blurry, but it's almost the only one I could find with me in it.

Proud Papa in the hospital.

Baby Kate on the way home from the hospital.

This is the first time the boys met Kate. They were very, very, very excited.

"The" Car. Caleb did a good job of cleaning the seat. Not a spot.

Sleeping baby girl.

Sweet, sweet Baby Kate! She's a very alert baby (when she's awake). :)

In the swing while I'm making dinner. She has some "offerings" from Brucie in case she gets bored. :) Sorry its sideways, but I'm too lazy to reload it...

Baby Kate w/ Daddy at about a month old.

Some Memorial Day fun at Grandma's house with Bruce and Cowboy Clark wearing Grandpa's hat.

Still Hanging in There...

New baby, where are you???

No baby yet. That seems to be how all my conversations are starting these days. So, if you were wondering, my blog silence has NOT been due to our new addition. I have to admit that I was surprised to pass my due date, since both my boys delivered early (Clark 3 days, Bruce 10 days). I guess girls just need a little longer to get ready. :) Mostly I'm trying to stay busy and not plan too far in advance, just in case. Luckily, I have some great friends and family who have been helping me keep my mind off things. Including H & M, who drove all the way to see me! :) The good news is that we've narrowed down our baby name list and seem to be closer to a decision.

Fabric that is part of my baby bedding that I'm making with my mom. (M. - didn't get to show you when you were here.)

Backpacks for the boys from M. Yay! She makes all sorts of cool stuff. You can check it out here: www.etsy.com/shop/mermadegoods. She just started her etsy site, so I'm sure we'll be seeing more stuff up there soon... :)

Baby monitor from H. Yay!

Here are some recent pics from my mom & dad's camera that they were nice enough to let us borrow.

A picture from Easter of all the cousins (minus baby N. & our Colorado cousins) at my parent's house for the Easter Egg Hunt. (From left to right: Bruce, Cousin T., Uncle D. (in back), Clark, Cousin C. holding baby C.)

Decorations from my baby shower.

A fun game we played at the shower. It involved blowing up a balloon and popping it (giving birth). It was a relay and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Obviously, we're posing with the balloons here except for me and S. who is also pregnant.

My little rascal, Bruce. This picture was actually to document his red face, but he made such a cute smile that I couldn't resist. His skin doesn't seem to agree with salad dressing... Here are some Bruce things that he's been saying/doing lately.

• Will eat almost anything you feed him if you make it talk to him first. In a high voice: "Bruce, will you please take a bite of your peas?" Well, okay then...
• "I need to poop in the potty." = You're too late. I've already pooped.
• At Easter he was eyeing the palmetto in my parent's backyard after the egg hunt and said, "There's something frightening in Mr. McGregor's garden." With a very serious look on his face. (Grandma has been reading him Peter Rabbit stories.)
• LOVES Veggie Tales, but is scared of the "cheese curls" in one of the movies. Actually has bad dreams about them.
• Bruce was playing cars yesterday. He had woken up from his nap first, so I went into the other room to do something. A while later I heard him saying, "Quit peeking at me!" I thought Clark had gotten up and told Clark not to bother his brother. Again, Bruce was hollering loudly. I went to check on them and see what the problem was, but Clark was still asleep and Bruce was playing alone with his cars. Just practicing getting his brother in trouble I guess. Typical little brother... :)

Clark, the train engineer. He has found a new obsession in creating the most complicated train tracks his 3-year-old mind (and our limited track supply) can come up with. If I make it another day without having the baby, we will be able to spend the day at Aunt A.'s house and play with all her boys' awesome trains and tracks with C. and T. Here are some other things that Clark has been saying/doing.

• When he wants to do something loud in the apartment, "Probably the neighbors aren't home Mommy."
• Whenever Bruce is taking too long to come play with him, he will call from the other room, "I need my brother!"
• He is getting very independent and will put on his own seatbelt, help carry bags up to our apartment, and is very proud that he is tall enough to pee standing up.
• One morning when he saw his messy hair in the mirror, "My hair looks like yours, Mommy!" Yeah, yeah, I know...
• Torments Bruce with "the claw." Where did that come from? He's a big teaser.

He's not impressed, Clark. :)

Well, I guess that's all for now. I think that the boys are trying to tell me my blogging time is up. :)

The End is Near!

There are about 3 weeks left until my due date (April 27th). I try to distract myself as much as possible (which means I think about how close I am to the end of this pregnancy a lot). So... uncomfortable... I know, I know, I shouldn't be surprised. It was like this the last 2 times, but they tell you that you will forget. And you do. The weather is also getting warmer. We crossed the 80 degree mark, possibly not to return for the next 8 months or so. Ugh. (Gripe, complain, moan.... Moving on.)

We've been doing as much fun stuff as I can think of during the day. Partly out of guilt that the boys will be sharing the spotlight soon and it won't be just the 3 of us hanging out together. I know it will take some time to start juggling those extra responsibilities in my routine, but I've never had 3 kids before so its hard to know exactly how things will change until they do. At least the boys can walk themselves up to our 3rd floor apartment by themselves. When they want to. I'm excited to see this little one who has made sleeping through the night nearly impossible.

Easter was a lot of fun this year. Uplifting Conference talks, good food, fun with family. We really had a good weekend. Probably too good, because the boys were beat by the end of the day for Saturday and Sunday. (Easter candy + extra excitement = lousy naps and cranky boys)

Clark opening his easter basket. I tried to be minimal in the amount of Easter candy I gave them, but somehow (after the second grandparent's house) it didn't seem to matter what my original intentions were. They knew there was candy and they were determined to find and eat it! Apparently I'm more lax than I thought I was. Well, me and the leftover candy seem to be getting along just fine.

Shake it, Bruce! (Please excuse the varying quality of our pictures. They come from different sources.)

Ooooooh! Bubbles!

Our family tradition includes hiding the Easter baskets, so these pictures are after the hunt. They boys thought it was a lot of fun. Bruce needed some help understanding what exactly he was looking for, but caught on after a while. We also hid some plastic eggs.

And here are some random pictures of our recent adventures:

Playing at the zoo: Clark, Bruce, & Cousin A. hanging on the elephant trunk statue.

Clark digging (for dinosaur bones) and Cousin A. wandering.

Bruce playing in the sand at the zoo. We seem to do this everywhere we go.

Clark brushing the goats. (Very stinky!)

Bruce brushing... himself. I know, so gross!

Clark and Bruce harrassing that same goat.

Playing at the park with Uncle D.

This is our favorite activity lately. Uncle D. played very patiently with the boys. He looks a little bored here, but he never complained. (What a good sport!)

I'm sure you noticed all the nice playground equipment in the background. The closest we got to it was filling a bucket with mulch to bring back to the sandbox/bare-spot-in-the-grass. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Well, considering my once-a-month blogging pattern, this may be my last post before the baby is born. Maybe not. Blog readers consider yourselves warned. Both of you. :)