Author Archives: Abbie

Two Months

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Emmie turned two months this past weekend and we celebrated with a trip to the pool and a date night.  Then the next day we did this:

 She’s just playing possum.  Ya’ll don’t be fooled in to thinking she is actually asleep during the day.
 “Ha!  You really think I’m going to smile?!”
 “Alright, maybe a little teaser.”
“Ta da!  Satisfied now?!”
Our Emmie is growing and growing and getting smothered with love.  Seriously, I have to fight to get her to look at me because there are seven other little people who are trying to get her to smile.  I have never seen so much love poured out from siblings on to their little sibling.  It just melts this mama’s heart.  Of course, we all dearly love this little girl and I could not imagine our family without her.
She is obviously smiling now as seen by the evidence above.  She also sleeps anywhere from five or more hours a night.  Day time is usually short spurts on mama or in her crib.
Here’s her stats:
13 lbs 3.6 oz (95%)
24 inches tall (95%)
15 7/8 head (85%)
Dr. B noted that she is actually tracking on  the curve as opposed to above it.  Still.  If you are wondering where she falls compared to her brothers and sisters, she’s right in their with the rest.  She’s not the heaviest or tallest.
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May Randomness

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 I love my kids creativity.  This slide is from our old play fort.  They have also rigged a swing on the inside of the dome.  I know.  It looks dangerous but they have made sure it was sturdy and Mark checked it as well.

 A fort is fun around here.  That’s our friend, Laura, in front.
 Just because he’s adorable.  And he begs, “Take picture me, peas” when we pull out a camera.
 Zoe was so excited to find a frog on a tree on the hill and grabbed the camera for a shot.

 Liam’s hair was a bit sticky up one day after a pool trip.  Mark had him pose for this picture.
 Duck Dynasty, anyone?!  

Liam is getting really good at constructing things with legos.   Again, lots of creativity. 

 Malachi with his two favorite things:  Alabama hat and a truck.
 King of the Mountain.
Zoe’s swimsuit this year.  I love the fabric she picked out.  If you look closely, you can see Ceili Rain hiding behind her.  CeiRai’s swimsuit is the first one I made  Unfortunately, being stored for six years and worn by two people, it’s been worn down.  I am in the process of making new ones out of the scrap fabric from previous swimsuits.  Yay for cheap cute suits!
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What to do when you’re overdue

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Herein lies my photojournal of what we did to keep busy while waiting on Emmie.

Park Day

Watching “Da Builders” as Malachi calls them.  They have cleared land behind our section of the subdivision to build another section.   I knew Malachi just had to see them working.  He was so excited and didn’t want to leave.  Neither did his two partners in crime.

Note construction hat in hand.

 Our last appointment with Dr. J had a longer wait time due to babies being born.  Like a two plus hour wait time.  Once we realized that he had not one but two deliveries, Mark offered to make a mocha frappe run.  Only one other person in the waiting room went for it besides us.  It was truly yummy though.

Our homeschool care group end of year party was at the local Kroc Center which just so happens to have an indoor water park.  Yes, it was a bit o’ fun!

And two days before Emmie arrived we attended our annual Pops Under the Stars concert by the local symphony.  This is a family tradition now.  We were expecting rain.  And we got it.  It rained a bit before the concert and right before the fireworks were supposed to go at the 1812 Overture.  No fireworks and no overture but the rest of concert was a hit.

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Another Awana Year…Done

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We weren’t sure that we would be able to have Awana this year.  Our church property is being renovated to work for our church so we have been meeting on Sunday mornings in homes and just were not sure how it would work out.  Finally, by October, Mark and I couldn’t stand it and offered up our home as a solution to Awana meetings.  Our pastor agreed and Wednesday night activities have taken over our home every week.  We, again, are very grateful that we have a home large enough to accommodate meetings and neighbors who have yet to complain about the Wednesday night traffic.

Even though we had a late start and two “weather” days, the kids all worked super hard and so did the leaders.

Our kids were able to finish their books this year with a big push at the end!

One of our illustrious leaders brought her camera and got these awesome pictures.

 That’s not a boogie (just need to clarify).  He banged his lip on something or other.

 This was before he realized he was having his picture taken.

And this was after.  Still handsome!
 He was hamming it up.  Don’t let that expression fool you.
 Ace finished his second book for T&T.
 Zoe finished her third T&T book.
 Josiah, although shy as all get out, finished his second Sparks book.

 Liam finished his third Sparks book and next year I will have THREE T&Ters (or Boom Bangers as Mark calls them).  I feel old.

 Malachi was pretty much just a Cubbie mascot this year.  We considered him a fourth of a cubbie.  But he did everything the Cubbies did and by the end of the year was able to quote verses with a bit of help.

 Bryant finished his first year in Cubbies.

 Miss J had some fun goody bags!
 Ceili Rain finished her second Cubbie year and is going to be a Sparkie next year.  She reminds us of this fact every week if not daily.
 Enjoying Miss J’s goodie bags!

So, this is our ninth year of Awana and our ninth year volunteering.  We have truly been blessed and have learned right along with our kids.  I love seeing our kids hide God’s Word in their hearts and we know that these words will be with them for the rest of their lives.  We’re looking forward to many more years of Awana to come.

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Emmie Update

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Miss Emmie is now pushing 4 weeks and growing very well.  Late last week I started getting breathing counts in the 40s to 50s.  I was super excited.  She has had a couple in the lower 60s but nothing in the 90s or 100s since Thursday.  I contacted Dr. B and she agreed that if her numbers were staying most consistently in normal range, then there was no need to do the modified barium swallow.  They are cancelling the test for us.  It’s been so nice to see her breathing long slow breaths.  Thank you to every one who has been praying for her.  We have all felt your prayers.

Now for some adorably cute baby pics:

 Our neighbor came over to gift Emmie with some fun things.  One was a spoon.  Not sure who’s little hand that is trying to feed her!

 Oh, you know, just chilling…waiting for some Bama football!  You can’t see it but her cutsie socks are Bama too.  This was one of three onesies given to Emmie by a die-hard Auburn fan.  The sacrifices we make for cute babies.

 We had another neighbor decorate our mailbox for us!  Too sweet and cute.

Josiah takes his big buddy role very seriously. 

I’m very grateful that I breast feed, otherwise Emmie would be held by seven siblings all.  the.  time.  This bunch loves their baby sister.  Malachi is usually requesting to see her or tries to show her things. He’s very gentle with her and is really looking forward to the day when she’ll actually look at his trucks (but I’m sure he’ll change his mind when she grabs them and shoves them in to her mouth).
 Our friend, L, getting some sweet Emmie cuddles.
 Adorableness…we had to get quick snapshots of some outfits because her neck and chest are outgrowing them rapidly.

 Twice this week, I have been told that Emmie looks like me.  One day soon I’ll put up a picture of me as a babe.  Either way, she does bare a striking resemblance to Granddaddy.  He was a high school football coach for over 40 years.  Some of his players may remember this face.

 Yes.  Another.  Because she is cute.  And is learning how to say, “Roll Tide” early.
The first crochet dress I’ve made.  It barely fit and the bow may be over the top but it helps to show she’s a girly girl.
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A New Addition

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Our new niece, A!  Isn’t she a cutie?! Every time Malachi looks at her picture he says, “Emmie?”  We’re working on learning to say her name and he’s almost there.

We are so excited the Lord has blessed Uncle B & Aunt B with a beautiful new gift.  We can’t wait to meet her in person!

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Emmie’s Birth Story, Part 3

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Part 1 is here
Part 2 is here

I know this is long but this was way different than Malachi’s birth and I wanted to share.  So, bear with me or just ignore.

We decided on a c-section again since Emmie was not coming down and I was not progressing.  Since I knew there was a possibility of this happening, I had decided ahead of time to write up a birth plan for a c-section.  There weren’t many requests and Dr. J thought I was tad insane that one of them included no strong narcotics.  Narcotics do not sit well with me.  I get nauseous, feel light headed and weak and just can’t focus in general.  I hate it.  And with Malachi,  I was unable to even hold him.  I was so weak, I just knew I would drop him.  This was just something I did not want.

Dr. J and the anesthesiologist agreed to my plan and the anesthesiologist even mentioned that morphine, which is commonly given, could make people throw up.  So, he agreed to give me something a little lighter and they all agreed to treat me with toradol for pain after.  The only thing that I was concerned about after talking to them was whether Emmie would be able to stay with me after she was born.  That all depended on the pediatric nurse.  I was so nervous when she came in to talk to us about it.  She sat down while getting suited up and said she had no problem with that as long as Emmie was doing fine.  Relief washed over me.  I knew I could endure the surgery and finishing up if I could just see my sweet baby.

I did get nauseous during surgery but every time I did the good doctor with the drugs gave me something and it took it away instantly.  That made the poking and prodding go a lot smoother.  It was a bit more uncomfortable but I attribute that to Emmie’s size and how high up she was.  I could tell that the attending doctor was having to push pretty hard to get her out.  When Dr. J was delivering her he kept saying, “Oh yeah, there was no way she was coming out the other way.”  She was just too high up and too big.

Once he got her out, he held her up and everyone laughed.  “That’s their baby alright!”  He exclaimed.  “Big and pink!”

She had to be suctioned out a bit but only once and she just screamed to get the rest out.  After the nurse watched her for a bit Mark brought her around to meet me.  That was the cutest set of cheeks attached to one of the cutest babies I’ve ever seen.  Mark got her hand lose so I could hold it and we were able to enjoy a bit of time while waiting on them to finish.  Every one was very curious how much she weighed.  The anesthesiologist kept saying she had to be taken to the loading docks because she was so big.

Obviously, she was super thrilled to be out.

Once in the room, the pediatric nurse weighed her and squeezed her in to a newborn diaper (apparently, we all forgot to communicate to the nurse that she was going to be big).  And asked if I wanted to do skin to skin to breast feed.  I have never held any of our babies skin to skin.   It just was never offered and I never thought about it.  So, I agreed and the nurse handed Emmie to me and she latched right on.  That was the coolest thing of the whole labor.  Snuggling up to my sweet baby skin to skin and getting to know her one on one.  It was a very special time.  Our nurse pretty much just left us alone.  Because I wasn’t loaded up on drugs, I felt like I could really enjoy this time.  I was tired, of course, but this was just the sweetest time for us.

After a couple of hours, the nurse came in and finished up getting her vitals and vitamin k shot and then Mark got to give her a bath.  Since, I was stuck in bed trying to feel my legs, the nurse grabbed my camera and took a ton of pictures for me.

I have to say this nurse was the best pediatric nurse we have ever had.  She was so mom and baby friendly and so willing to make sure we had a good time bonding with each other.

Unfortunately, it was several hours before we got to go to our postpartum room.  With the more babies you have there is more concern for postpartum hemorrhage, so the nurses had to make sure I was stable before letting us go to a room.  Emmie had a very hard time settling down and by 2 am I had enough.  Being awake for virtually 24 hours did not bode well for my emotional status but eventually they were able to finally clear us to move to a room to try and rest.  Shortly thereafter, Emmie settled down and we got what little sleep we could.

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Emmie’s Birth Story, Part 2

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If you missed it, check out part one here.

I settled in as the pitocin was slowly cranked up.  I’m guessing it wasn’t done too quickly because I was vbacing.  I kept waiting for contractions to come closer, and they did.  I also began to throw up.  Twice.  I hate throwing up and doing so while in labor is not fun at all.  We all took that to be good signs things were progressing.
Around 6 or so, contractions were coming very strong and but I was not feeling any pressure.  I asked to be checked and the nurse said I was still at 4 cm.  She was still high.  At that point, I decided I needed an epidural.  I had to relax and Kristina, Mark and I thought it would help get things moving.  Before the epidural came, Kristina noted that Emmie’s heart rate would decel with contractions so we all thought that surely she was moving down lower.  After getting a very aggressive epidural (the anesthesiologist was a big guy and pretty strong), I settled in  to get relaxed.  Despite the pain of it going in, it actually worked really well and I could feel the tightening of contractions but not the utter pain. 
Around 8, Dr. J came in.  He checked me and had a frustrated look on his face.  Still 4 cm.  Still high.  He talked to us and recommended that a c-section would probably be best and said he would give us a few minutes to talk about it to make the decision.  We had talked previously about waiting until the morning to give me more time to labor.  But by this time, and after getting sick and feeling nauseous again, I was exhausted.  Talking with Kristina and Mark we all three realized that getting baby here healthy was the most important.  I knew that if we waited and something happened to Emmie that that would result in an emergency c-section.  And realistically, knowing my history of childbirth, Mark and I both felt there was a reason she wasn’t coming down and we didn’t want to put her at risk with the stress of contractions.  Kristina agreed too.  It was a blessing, yet again, to have a doctor give us the facts and then let us make the decision.
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