more foffles pwease

We eat waffles more mornings than not.  Palmer wakes up asking for foffles.  Russell leverages all his tiny weight against the massive freezer door to haul it open.  Yep, they're frozen waffles!  More on that later.  I toast em up while Palmer sits on his froggy potty in the next room and asks repeatedly to watch car videos.  June fusses nervously in her bouncy seat that she is not loving for more than 15 second intervals lately.  Russell hangs on my leg and cries.  Cries because I wouldn't let him take the kitchen shears out of the drawer, or the old popcorn out of the trash, or the keyboard off the desk.  OMG this toaster takes forever.  Waffles have to be toasted twice- did you know that?

Palmer is finished going potty and I'm instructed to dump out his pee pee.  Like, now.  The food is close enough to ready that I able convince Russell to just go get in his seat and I'll bring it to him right away!  Do I buckle his booster? Only if the meal is messy enough to warrant the potential meltdown that "clicking" it for him may trigger.

The waffles are browned to a lovely crisp. Winning. I dread the day they decide to strike for syrup instead of the much more benign butter and cinnamon sugar combo I have 'em hooked on. Palmer needs underwear. Now we can eat.  They can eat.

I haven't blogged in 2 months and figure I can squeeze in a post while they have breakfast.  I sit down with my coffee and turn the key lock off the keyboard and find the mouse hidden on the shelf out of toddler reach.  Palmer needs water in a big boy cup with a straw.  Also, more foffles pwease.  How did he already finish those?  June is done with that torturous bouncy seat.  Turns out, I can nurse a baby while buttering a waffle and convincing a three year old that he doesn't have to have a straw because the cup already has a spout.  

One day I'll get out my shiny calphalon waffle iron that I used before June joined our circus.  Family.  Someday I'll make the whole grain batter from scratch the night before and they won't stick and kids won't care that they're "different".  For now, Eggo is where it's at. :)

OMG it's May

I guess my blog posts have a theme now.  It's the "holy cow life is flying by because I'm so dang busy raising all these kids" theme.  I've been trying to post regularly on Facebook so you've probably seen most of what's going on around here, but here are a few more pictures to enjoy!

 

 

June is now 3 1/2 months old and still so stinkin cute!  She is starting to get really curious about the world around her.  I love her coos and gaas and all the other sweet noises she makes.  Little miss is getting her hands in her mouth a lot lately and drooling enough that I wouldn't be surprised to see a little tooth pop up soon!  She usually sleeps for a 6 hour stretch in the night which is so nice for mommy.  I nurse her in bed and she'll go back to sleep with me until 7:00 most of the time!  Cosleeping is not so scary, I promise :)  I am treasuring these sweet snuggles with her while she's so tiny and needs me so much.

Happy!

Embracing the bows and frills of baby girlhood

Russell is at such a funny age right now!  He is becoming a bit of a goofball like his older brother and learning what makes people laugh. "No" is the word of choice lately, but he says it with such adorable attitude I don't even mind!  He tries new words every day and will soon be talking non-stop I'm sure! Russell loves Elmo, Nemo, reading books, and sitting in laps.  He's getting taller by the minute and can grab more off the counters and shelves- eek!  This guy hates riding in the carseat but loves being busy and going outside.  He keeps US busy, that's for sure.  Fighting for freedom is a 20 month old's main mission, but he still loves being held and worn by his mommy <3 div="">

It is just me or is he a handsome dude?

Daddy's boots

Palmer is three.  Is that enough said?  Do you have a three year old?  Haha.  He is at once so precious and up to no good.  He is marvelous and frustrating.  He fills up my heart and makes me want to scream.  Get the picture?  Three is emotional and magical and we are figuring it out one day at a time.  Palmer is working on sharing with brother and using the potty while mommy is working on being patient and loving him through it all.  He is a good boy and a good brother and I am going to cry thinking about how OLD he is now!!  Tomorrow wraps up his year at MDO and his sweet teachers always say how agreeable he is, always (usually ;)) up for anything. 

Three years ago.  My baby!!! 

Beach day at MDO!

Loves holding his sister

How is it April?

I can't believe summer is just around the corner and our sweet baby girl is two months old!  She is so precious and I just want to gobble her up daily.  It is also an insane workload caring for three 3 and under day in and day out.  Whenever I get a spare minute I try and snap some pictures of the kiddos because I just know this period in our lives will be such a blur!  The Gump house is crazy, loud, messy, and chaotic but I try my best to keep it full of love.

June is pretty happy as babies go, and as cute as they come of course ;)  She is 10 lb 13 oz today at 2 months 3 days (36%), 71% in height, and 80% in head size.  Gotta keep up with her brothers' reputation in that department I guess ;)  Plus, lots of brains in that noggin.  June loves being held upright on your chest and shoulder, nursing, cooing on her changing table, and doling out smiles to eager relatives.  She hates the pacifier, riding in the carseat, and having her eyes poked by her brothers.  I haven't even tried putting her on her tummy, woops!  Third child falls by the wayside yet again ;)

June's labor and delivery continued!

We arrived at the birthing center around 11:30pm. Surprisingly I didn't have any contractions in the car! That's a good thing considering how miserable I was on Russell's car ride to the center, but I was a little worried that it meant my labor was going to slow or stop. I didn't want to have woken up my midwife and photographer for nothing!

When we got there my contractions were about 5 minutes apart and I was 3-4 cm dilated. Contractions required some concentration, but I could talk during them if I had to. I chatted with everybody in between and made some trips up and down the stairs to encourage labor to proceed.

I stood and swayed through most contractions, holding onto a stair banister, bedpost, or countertop. After an hour or so, things weren't much different than when I arrived, so my midwife Leslie suggested trying to rest on my side on the bed and see if my body backs off (like maybe I would be going home still pregnant- noooo!). We turned out the lights and laid down. I was jealous of everybody else who would actually get a real nap without painful contractions nagging them every few minutes!

Fortunately the "rest" allowed my body to recharge a little a throw a little more weight behind those contractions. I had a hard time coping with the contraction pain while laying down so I got up to move around more. I held onto Tyler's shoulders and neck a lot while I stood and swayed. All of a sudden I felt a little desperate to get in the water and had Tyler go ask the midwife if she thought I was dilated enough to get in the tub without it slowing down my labor.  She said yes!

The warm water felt GREAT. Oh my goodness, finally.  My contractions were intense, but I held Tyler's arms and hands over the edge of the tub while my midwife Leslie or birth assistant Debbie (recently arrived) poured warm water down my lower back. This was about 2:00 am and the point I entered a crazy exhausted time warp. I labored through challenging contractions in that tub for 2 more hours. That's til 4:00 am if you're counting. I was beyond tired. Beyond. Shouldn't I be done by now?

We had listened to some music from an iTunes playlist of mine off and on throughout the night.  Sometimes it bothered me and sometimes I wanted it on.  (Women in labor can be moody ;))  I did a lot of deep humming and moaning through contractions and always felt better if I could hold Tyler's hands.  In between contractions he would hold out a glass of water for me with a straw so I could take a sip without having to hold it.  

My midwife asked if I would like to be checked for dilation and I declined. I did not want to hear it if I had only made a little bit of progress after all that hard work.  I figured if I HAD dilated a lot more, then we'd be meeting baby soon, so no need for a painful cervical check.  I stood and labored some more.  I don't know if it was this time or before the tub (time warp) but at one point my whole body was shaking out of control.  I think it was a mix of exhaustion, adrenaline, and labor hormones.  I would get my legs to stop shaking and then my arms and torso would start.  I'd get them still and them my teeth would start chattering and then my legs again!  

Everyone was soooo sleepy having been up all night and Leslie encouraged me to try and rest on my side again because I was getting incredibly worn out.  My contractions were tough at this point since I was in transition (past 7 cm) and I did some serious moaning through them.  Sometime between 6 and 7am, after a couple more hours of laboring, I was so done.  I didn't have a big meltdown, but was definitely feeling emotionally taxed!  Leslie suggested checking my dilation and possibly breaking my water based on that.  She checked me at 9 cm and warned me that breaking my water might make the contractions more intense.  That was fine with me though as long as I could get in the tub again!    I gave her the OK to break my water at 7:00 am in the hopes it would speed along delivery.  

Boy was that right!  I waddled to the other room where the smaller clawfoot tub was since the big birthing tub had cooled by this point.  I just kept hoping that there wasn't much longer and that good progress was happening!  One neat thing about unmedicated childbirth is you can be so much more in tune to what your body is doing.  The urge to push is unmistakable, so you don't need anybody telling you it's time or counting out tens for you.  Baby June arrived at 7:25 am and man was I sooooo happy to have her out!  Haha, and to meet her of course.  Ladies who are expecting big babies- don't spend too much time worrying about L&D- the little babies are sometimes just as difficult!  7 lb 11 oz compared to Russell's 9 lb 9 oz seems like it would have been a piece of cake, right?  My first girl just had to be a tough cookie ;)

Check out the link if you haven't seen the other pics!  I was so happy with how they turned out!

http://www.elizabethannephoto.com/june-allen-tx-allen-birthing-center-photographer

the end of pregnancy and the beginning of labor!

This little lady kept me on my toes for the last two weeks of pregnancy. Every few nights I would have a couple hours of consistent Braxton Hicks contractions that would get me excited and hopeful that this could be it! WRONG. After I would be up half the night, contractions would fade and I would go to bed exhausted and disappointed. This made caring for the boys the next day really tough!!

My due date of February 1 came and went.  I knew that she would come when she was truly ready, (and it is not actually abnormal to go two weeks past), but that still doesn't make the waiting easy!  I was dying to say goodbye to heartburn and pelvic pain and hello to my baby girl.

February 4th I had a post due date appointment at the birthing center. I was a little disheartened to hear that I was barely 2 cm dilated and my cervix was high, very posterior, and thick. Gah! What about all those contractions over the past month? Sigh. My midwife Carol stripped my membranes (OWIE), but I was willing to try it for a hopeful jumpstart on labor if my body would cooperate.

Wednesday, February 5th I was at my wits end- emotional and tired to say the least. I was so done being pregnant and not being able to be the mommy I wanted to be for Palmer and Russell. Tyler's mom took the day off work to keep the boys so I could get some rest and get a few things done around the house. It was a glorious and much needed break!

After a day of organizing, resting, and errands, I started having contractions around 3:30 pm. Kay was about to bring the boys home, so I told her to hold onto them a while longer, just in case. My mom went to her house to get Palmer for his weekly sleepover in Lewisville and Russell waited at Kay's.

And waited. . . And waited. Around 6:30 I was still having regular contractions, but it wasn't clearly labor. I was going to be so annoyed if this turned out to he nothing AGAIN! It was decided Russell would just spend the night in Plano and I would go pick him up early if June didn't come.

I'm so glad I ate a good dinner of chicken and dumplings even though I had no appetite because I would need the energy throughout the night. My contractions were sometimes ten minutes apart, sometimes more like 7, and I was keeping track on my iPhone notes. At 8:54 I wrote "ouch" next to the contraction time. I folded some kids laundry and watched Top Chef on the DVR. At 10:05 I wrote "super ouch" on my notes. Haha. I woke Tyler up and called the midwife! She said she would get ready to come in, but thought I should wait til they become more intense and I have to concentrate to get through them.

I was nervous that my labor would progress quickly like with Russell so I was antsy to get to the birthing center to feel more settled and in control! Tyler warmed up the car, loaded my stuff, and dozed in the recliner while I paced around the house. Finally a little after 11:00 pm I felt confident my labor was well established and I had trouble talking through contractions. I texted my midwife and photographer friend Beth and headed out the door!  


Part II to come. . .

Christmas joy

This Christmas day was lovely.  It was simple, cozy, and happy with lots of food.  The boys woke up around their normal time (7ish) and had a small breakfast with daddy while I worked on the homemade cinnamon rolls.  We brewed some yummy coffee from beans Tyler gave me in my stocking the night before and went to see if Santa had eaten his cookies!  The morning was slow paced and after opening stockings and one gift each we took some time to play with the new stuff until the cinnamon rolls were ready!  Then it was REALLY breakfast time :).

Santa ate his cookies and left some crumbs behind!

He even left a note

Palmer got his very own measuring tape in his stocking

Russell got cloth wipes- yay!!

After breakfast the boys opened their other two presents and we played for a while longer til it was time for Russell to nap.  Family started arriving around 11 and I put the sausage breakfast casserole for brunch in the oven.  I had made the dough for the cinnamon rolls and the entire casserole the night before so I really didn't have much cooking to do the day of.  Grandparents, aunts, and uncles arrived and Palmer got to open all his gifts while Russell napped!  It worked out nicely that we didn't have to referee that process.  This is also when Tyler brought in the train table he built for the boys from the garage.  Palmer had a ball.  I made a big pot of chili for lunch and frito pies were our Christmas meal.  Sophisticated, yes? ;)  There was also pie for dessert, of course, courtesy of my mom and sister.  We finally woke up the baby because he was missing all the fun!  Russell opened his presents and everybody started to get sleepy for an afternoon nap.

Tegu blocks rock

working together

He loved baby Stella

here's your paci

Reading his new book

stealing a kiss from a squirmy boy

Palmer got a new book too!

brother's new blanket!

such a cool toy

no one's screaming!

The evening is a blur since it's been a few weeks, but we watched some Christmas movies and vegged out (as much as a 2 & 1 year old will allow) as far as I remember.

cuddles with daddy

making a deposit in piggy

holly jolly Christmas

We had such a fun, busy, and tiring holiday season here!  I got some good pictures of the boys along the way and this year we weren't even THAT sick ;)  These are from Christmas Eve before we headed out the door to the children's service at CUMC in Plano.  The boys did pretty well at church!  Palmer even walked up to the tree all by himself to hang his special ornament.  Nachos followed at Kay Kay's house and then it was home to bed to wait for Santa.