The Birth of Liam

So I was scheduled for an induction on September 17th. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't make it to that date. I was already dilated to a 4 the week before he was born. I wanted to be able to make make it to the scheduled date but I was so ready to be done being pregnant. However, I actually made it to the 17th. It was such a blessing to have him on the 17th and here are a few reasons why.
-First my mom was able to be there for the birth of her 17th grandchild born on the 17th. He is the golden grand baby.
-My sweet, in-laws came at 7 and waited with me until the hospital said I could come in. Then they took the boys, and I knew they were well taken care of.
-I was already dilated to a 6 by the time I got there. (No wonder I was so irritable that week)
-Liam was born in just a few hours. I headed to the hospital at 9 and my water was broken around 11. Contraction were slow and steady and not painful the first couple of hours. I grew tired of breathing through the contraction and I started to feel like it was taking to long to get to the pushing part. I thought it would be over in an hour but the slow steady pace was probably more bearable.
-My mom and midwife and husband were all there and the conversations they were having felt very calming and in between contractions I would join in.
-I have my children naturally and I remembered the pain of Owen less than two years ago all to well. But knowing that pain and how to do it all again never left me it actually helped me.
-I was determined to not scream or loss control at the end. I don't know what it was, my mom's peaceful ora, the awesome midwife, my pre-determined thoughts, my husband actually not laughing at my pushing, or it being my third time, but I was able to make it through from start to finish the way I wanted to. It was amazing!
-I was so worried before Liam came into this family. I doubted if I could handle it all. So, I was so glad to have such a positive start on his entrance into this world.
-My mom had mentioned to me the night before Liam was born that she thought each labor she had said a little about our personalities. I feel with Liam's birth he was saying, "I am not here to burden you mom, I will make this as easy as possible on you." So far that seems to be true to his little character. He is easy going. Loves being here with all of us, goes with the flow of our fast paced, crazy, loud, family and any time he is held he adores you for doing so and makes you feel so important. I love when we make eye contact and he smiles so big, he is so sweet. He had my heart the moment they handed him and he held on to my thumb so tight.
-I am so lucky he came to me and I am beyond happy to be his mom. We all love him so much and can't wait to see life unfold with the addition of Liam.

Playing Catch Up

SO my posts are going to start were I left off before I had the baby to where we are now. One post at a time I will get back to the current stuff. I have been so busy just enjoying my baby. It's like have a brand new toy that you take everywhere and can't put down. I love him so much more than I ever thought possible. We all do.

My Little Man's 4!

After weeks of taking off a chain day by day the big day arrived and I don't know who was more excited, Me, Gavin or Owen.
Ok, well, it was Gavin but we all had a great day partying. Thanks to all of our neighborhood friends, Gavin had a blast a kangaroo zoo jumping and sliding for over two hours.
Through out the day he had many friends and family stop by and wish him a happy birthday. We are so lucky to live in a place where we have so many good friends just right across the street or down the road. Many of my friends have offered me so much help as I near the birth of this baby and seem to understand what I am going through. I really appreciate that, I feel so blessed and loved! Anyways back to Gavin.
For his Birthday Dinner he choose Carl's Junior. High class, I know, but the real purpose behind that was the play area. He really enjoys those now and he even helped his brother manuver his way through to the slides. He used to be deathly afraid of any resturant play area and now he is helping his brother down the slide, as he trys to convince him, "It's not scary come on Owen." Then we had to hustle home for the "cake" and icecram and present with all his family of course. He is not a big cake fan, but he loves doughnuts. So I ordered rainbow striped doughnut(he is obsessed with ROY G BIV, and the lady at the bakery got it just right) and I made it in to a cake tower. It was pretty sweet and who wouldn't love a doughnut. It was so yummy! He got everything he was hoping for and even more. We love this kid and hope he doesn't grow up to fast.

More Picture to come my computer won't let me upload all the cute photos tonight.

"I won't go into Labor"

So,
On Labor Day we/I decided that we should go to Seven Peaks. It was the last day that it was open. Turns out that it was only going to get up into the 70's but I had all these memories planned out in my head already. Well it was so cold in the water and especially out. Gavin tried to be a good sport and got in more than the rest of us. We finally got up the courage to go ride a tube ride. Gavin cried the whole time we were in line and Owen was oblivious to what would happen. Jason finally got Gavin to ride down with him.(Which he told me was so fun, and I asked if he wanted to go again and he said, "No!") And the lifeguard then turns to me and asks me if I am pregnant. I was like, "well yes I am." Then he tells me I can't take Owen and go. I had to beg him to let me. I got everyone in line to help convince him to let me go. I told him I was due any day and if it sent me into labor it wouldn't be a big deal. I even tried to backtrack and say that I was really just fat. I assured him that a little tube run was not going to send me into labor. He finally caved and let me go. Owen gripped onto me so tight but he seemed to like it. It was all worth it to get my way and have a crowd cheer for the big preggo. I felt like a rock star. Turns out I didn't go into labor on labor day after all.

Saturday!

I adore the weekends. I love being home with my three men. This Saturday Gavin started soccer. When he was going to bed on Friday we told to go to sleep quickly so he would have enough energy to play soccer in the morning.
Well bright and early at seven, even though he didn't get to bed so early, he was ready to go. He was at my bedside in his soccer shorts and t-shirt wanting me to put on his new tennis shoes.

He was so excited. So after much anticipation at nine we showed up to practice. It was so cute! And there are two boys from our neighborhood on his team. I haven't seen him smile so big before. His first game is the 18th and he has one more practice before he is ready for the big game.


So the rest of the day we hung out, cleaned up the garage, swam and got ready to take the boys to their grandma's while we went out!
I have so been looking forward to some one on one time with my husband. I feel like I haven't been able to do that in a while. We went to the Pizza Factory and saw Inception. And my mother-in-law had us take her car, a VW convertible beetle, my favorite car! The cherry on top of an already awesome day! Jason didn't even get a chance to drive it.





The only drawback was a rude dude saying, "get in my belly." After I waddled past him and his girl to the bathroom. I know I am big but that was so rude, I wanted to stop and tell him off, but I really had to pee. Then when I came back out he wouldn't look my direction at all so I could give him a dirty look. Oh well I can hardly blame him because I ate so much at the Pizza Factory I was even bigger than normal.

A month from today!

So it's official September 17th is the day. (Unless I go into labor on my own before that). It's kinda of weird for me to have a planned date like this. I waited anxiously for that day to just arrive on its on with the boys. It's tourture but I kinda of like that nature gets to decide when the baby comes.
But, Because I have Group B strep, I have to have antibiotics through an IV. Last time I had Owen so quickly that I didn't get all of the antibiotics before he came. Thus making the stay at the hospital really, really long. So to avoid that I get to go in early, start the antibiotics and then have the doctor break my water. Plus my mom is going to be coming in the day before. I am excited to have here be here to excperience this with.
After the appointment I asked Jason if he was ready to have a new little one in 4 weeks. He said "No!" At first I was shocked and now I am thinking, well neither am I. I haven't done anything to get ready for him to be here. I still have to pull out and wash all the clothes, buy diapers, finish his room, talk to the boys more about it, make a nursing and car seat cover, start hypnobirthing prep etc... How did this creep up on me I am not ready!!! But all of those things are just the small details right? Once he is here I am sure all of that will be taken care of and he will be melting all of our hearts. I just hope we can decide on a name for him before he is home from the hospital. Cause I can't keep calling him little Chit, that's just cruel.

I am huge, I know. This is the one and only picture I am going to take/show.

The AMAZING Race

This past weekend we had our annual family amazing race. This was the sixth year it has been up and running. This year we planned it, cause it's best to be the planner when I have to opt out of a lot of things because I am pregnant. Jason actually took charge of a majority of the planning. It was kinda fun to seem him get all into to it. So this year consisted of a Golfing tournement, and IKEA scavenger hunt, a race up Ensign peak. All of this happened friday morning while I was home with my boys and my sweet 6 month old nephew, Luke. Which was such a good chance for me to get a feel of what life with three little boys will be like. It was a really easy going morning, so I am a little more at ease about things. Then around lunchtime my good friend Rachael, watched my boys so I could go out to eat with the whole family at Firehouse Pizzaria, and to the park for a name that movie game and a water balloon games. After that I headed back home with Luke while the rest of the gang went paintballing. Which sounded like a lot of fun but the welts and bruising looked painful. Ouch!
After that everyone came back to our pad for a pool party and barbaque. We all ate swam and wrapped up the night, so we could rest up for the next day of fun.
The next day we had rented Jetskis and made a comfy spot on the beach at Deer Creek Resevoir. The kids played in sand, muddy water and played all day. I think all of the kids tryed the jetskis. Owen loved it and wanted to go out a couples of times. I convienced Gavin to go out once and he enjoyed it as long as I stayed under 7 mph, but I went a tad faster a few times and he was ok but hesitant. When we got back he said, "I'm going to tell Butch(papo) that was scary-ish fun. It was a good day everyone had a blast. Now we all want to find a way to own a Jetski. Then we ended the day by finding our campsite, eating some yummy meatball subs, starring into the campfire, songs, marshmallows and quality family fun. I truly love the family I have married into. It doesn't matter what we do, it's always fun!

Picture to come later, my father in law Butch took tons of pictures and I didn't even snap a single photo amidst all the fun.

Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite

So,
My two little guys have decided to be bed buddies. I went all out a few months ago thinking that I should get them bunk beds, with the arrival of the new little one coming in September. Gavin has loved his bed, which he picked out green stripped bedding for. He has kinda grown up and has been going to bed so much easier for us. Then about a month ago, Owen wanted to try out his bunk on the bottom. I was a little worried about him making the transition so early since he still really has a few months of enjoying his crib, his own space. But once he slept in his bed in Gavin's room there was no going back. He didn't want his crib anymore. In the beggining he didn't want the new bed either. He was way out of sorts. But after a few weeks of working on a routine that worked for both of them them they are so happy to climb into bed and laugh and tickle and yes sometimes bite each other and go to sleep. It's so sweet that they love to be there for each other. I love to check on them before I go to bed and see them both sleeping in the same bed. Gavin has always been a cuddle bug and prefers to sleep next to someone. While Owen has always been a good sleeper and wants to be just like his big brother. So it works, and now I don't have to stress about where to put the baby after he is out of the bassinett, or how to make it all work. Ahh...I love when little life details seem to work themselves out in such a delightful way. What a blessing and huge stress relief.

Notes from Gavin

So,
I frequently get sweet little notes from Gavin. He likes to write to me at night sometimes. I usually collect the note after he has gone to bed. He is a genius in the language department as everyone is probably aware. Sometimes this gets him into trouble. I thought that this was the case with this note.




I thought the note said that I was smart on one side. And then I thought the other side said, I call you won't come, you're dumb. I thought that he wrote me something sweet and then got mad at me and changed his mind and wrote me something me in his frustration.

However the next day, I told him I got his note and I was sad because he called me dumb. He looked shocked and explained what he wrote. Turns out he wrote the words out of order. I had not put them in order. I guess he wrote Mom, you are smart, you are the bom(bomb)...I won't call you dumb. So then I felt much better, I don't even remember him calling me dumb but all is forgiven. I love that sweet smartie pants. As I type this he is reading books to his brother for me. I love it!

A Sisters/ Cousins Week

My sister and I had planned on getting together while here two older boys and husband were away at Boy Scout Camp here at my house. But after she twisted my arm(j/k), I decided to go to Colorado and have some sister and cousin time. Gavin adores Graham, I adore my sister and Colorado and lets face it her pimped out home. I love spending time In Colorado. It's cozy, it's home, it's where I grew up. I got to hit all my favorite places...well two main places that were a must in this preggers body. Fargo's pizzarea, and BJ velet freeze two nights in a row. Yum, so good. I wish Tamzen could ship me some food. But it's probably good she can't. I weighed myself at here house...not a good idea. I still have eight more weeks of gaining weight. I am in trouble.
Enough about me though. The boys had a blast hanging out, jumping on the trampoline, playing at parks, getting spolied by Auntie, swimming, and going to the Children's museum. I haven't been the best/most patient/fun of a mom latley so it was nice to have my sister have my back. Plus, each night I got to spend some time just relaxing, watching a movie/show and talking with my sister.
Jason on the other hand didn't much like living the bachelor life. By day two of us being gone he decided to get some out of town business done. He likes us, he really does. So now this week he doesn't have to go on a business trip! I love that man! It was a fun week tons of memories and good times!

Summertime Fun!

So we have had to be creative around here with what to do when it's so hot. One of our favorite things to do is get out some glow sticks. This particular day we decided to dance to Hey Soul Sister, Owen new favorite song. It's pretty fun!



We also decided to let our kids try out the water fountian that sprays water and anyone can cool down in it. The boys had a blast in the hundred degree weather. I sat there in the tiny bit of shade sweating thinking that if it wasn't creepy to be the big pregnant lady in a swimsuit running around with a bunch of kids I would have been out there myself.

Gavin's Preschool Graduation

Gavin completed his first year of preschool. It was fun to teach and have him be a part of preschool. We held a small preschool graduation ceremony and party. Gavin opened his diploma and read it all by himself. I am so glad that he has such a love of learning and that it comes to him with such ease. I know that he also loves to be social and be with his friends at school. So we miss preschool alresdy. And we can't wait for another year of letters, friends and fun.

Simply the Best!

Just returned from the best vacation! On Christmas my parents suprised all of their children with a mystery trip. We ended up going out their way to Dekalb, IL. To tour some of the sights in chigago and enjoy thier farmhouse. It was the most relaxing and enjoyable trip.

Day 1, Friday, May 29th,
Jason and I headed out leaving our two boys in care of his parents. Who the boy love to be with and I felt very comforted in knowing they were with them. I couldn't have gone without them. Our flight was delayed a bit so we played games in the airport and on the plane. Well, on the plane when I didn't feel sick. I forgot how being pregnant and flying is a bad combo for me. Then when we got there we had Chigago style pizza. Yum, they do it sorta backwards with the sauce on the top. Then even though it was late, we started off with a dip in the pool, a midnight swim. The best pool in america, I am sure of it. It is my new happy place.

Day 2, Saturday, May 30th,
Walked to Egg Haven, the best breakfast resturaunt in DeKalb. It was so worth the walk there and I think I burned off the calories that were consumed there. We did some more swimming that afternoon. Then we headed to China town. We ate at the best chinese resturaunt on the block. Then we rode the famous L train on our way to see a play, Million Dollor Quartet. It was the most fun and enteraining play I have ever seen. Apprently the 90 year old lady in the gold sequene shirt clapping and shaking it though so too. I wish I had a picture of that.

Day 3,
Day of rest! After all that walking I needed the rest. We slept in, went to church, all three hours against my will. But it was worth it cause the rest of the day was spent in the pool. It was the best just chatting stopping to eat and swimming some more. My parents have the best pool. I would be there everyday if I lived out there.

Day 4, Memorial Day
We went to Chicgago, did a driving tour of the area, went to the top of Sears/Willis Tour. Saw the Chicago temple and ate the Best Seafood place. I don't like crab...or so I didn't until this place, it was so yummy. We also had the nicest waitress I have ever had ate any resturaunt ever. So I gave her a hug and made her take a picture with me. I think I embarressed her just a tad. Then we headed out to the movies. Robinhood was the best movie my dad has ever seen apprently. I was skeptikal but it was a good movie.

Day 5,
Enjoyed a stroll along a quaint street in Dekalb. Full of boutique like shops, and other cool shops. Then all to quickly it was time to load up the car and head to the airport. My dad made sure to get us one last taste of chicago at Donald's real Chicago Dog type place before heading home. I am sure that I enough to last me the rest of this pregnancy. Good company, eats and times will be remembered!