Four days at home

I think it's a record. I can't remember the last time that we went so long without leaving the house. Between extremely cold temperatures, snow, and sickness, well - it's just been a very long week so far.

So, to back up...

My mom got here on Friday night and we had an enjoyable day sticking around home on Saturday. Ron had to work, so we hung out here with the girls. No big deal.

We missed church on Sunday morning - the girls slept in and I wasn't about to wake them up if I didn't have to. I had a lot to do before Becca's party in the afternoon anyway. I did actually leave the house alone to run and pick up her cake and a few grocery necessities.

Becca's party went well, even considering that only Kristi's family were able to make it. The kids all played together and had a good time, we all managed to finish off most of the cake just by ourselves, and Becca had fun even if she didn't necessarily understand what the fuss was all about.

She did like the presents though.

And the cake. Of course, that went over well with everyone. :) Daddy helped her to blow the candles out...

And then everyone dug in...

Monday was pretty uneventful as well, at least at first. Mom and I thought about trying to take the kids out somewhere, but it was just so darn cold out... Ron had to work but he was hoping to make it home in time for dinner - we were going out to eat, along with Ron's parents and his sister Terri and her daughter Dakota. We ended up meeting Ron at the restaurant. Everything went well until Hannah started complaining that her stomach hurt.

Now let me say that Hannah complains of stomach aches a lot. So this was nothing new. Which is why we didn't take her too seriously at first. I started realizing that something really was wrong about 30 seconds before she started throwing up. Thankfully it was before we'd gotten our food, and Abby was wearing 2 layers of shirts, so we were able to change Hannah into one of them after we got everything cleaned up. I missed the restaurant staff singing Happy Birthday to Becca, but she did enjoy the brownie that she got:

After we got home, Becca opened her presents from us. I think they were a hit.

As you can see, Hannah appeared to be feeling better. It was late, so we got the kids off to bed. I was planning on keeping Hannah home on Tuesday, and Mom offered to stay an extra day to help.

This turned out to be a very, very good thing.

Especially since we had a somewhat massive snowstorm on Monday night and schools ended up being canceled on Tuesday.

And then I threw up while taking my shower that morning.

I think that yesterday was probably the most miserable day that I've spent in a really long time. Hannah was feeling better, but not completely up to par. Abby and Becca felt fine and were going a bit stir crazy after being cooped up in the house, yet again.

And I couldn't move off of the couch. Literally. Like I told Ron when he got home late last night - the fact that I was home all day yet didn't even turn the computer on, much less post or read anything (not even to check e-mail!) should say something about how completely awful I felt.

I am so thankful that Mom was here, because I don't know how I could've managed otherwise. She played with the girls, fed them, and kept them from bothering me (too much). It was a good thing that they had new toys to play with - Becca thankfully didn't seem to mind sharing.

And oh yes, the television. Say what you will about limiting TV time - there are definitely occasions when it comes in handy. By the end of the day, Becca was bringing me the remote and putting it in my hand every time a program ended, demanding 'Dora!'... And Hannah threw a major fit last night before bed when I wouldn't turn on 'kid TV' one last time.

We're starting TV detox today. :)

Actually, today hasn't been half bad so far. The girls went off to school like usual, I took Mom to the bus station this morning and then dropped Becca off at daycare.

And then I came home. And slept the entire morning and part of the afternoon. And I ate something for the first time in over 24 hours and it's even stayed down. I think I'm on the road to recovery. Which is a good thing - I have to pick up the girls in 15 minutes from daycare, Ron's not home yet, and Mom isn't here anymore. I have a trashed house, over 600 items to read in my feed reader, and I've missed 2 days of work.

But tomorrow should be back to our regularly scheduled programming.

(Hmm, looks like I need to detox myself from the TV as well!)

Two years ago...

Becca turns two years old today. Right about now, actually. It's so amazing to me that two years have gone by - so much has happened during that time, both good and bad. But having this little girl in my life has made everything worth it.

Here is her birth story.

This really starts a few days prior to her actual birth. On Wednesday, January 18^th, I started feeling not well during the afternoon at work. I was having a lot of pelvic pain that made it difficult to walk – I’d had similar pain off and on all along, but not nearly as bad or for as long of a stretch. I also just plain didn’t feel well in general, so I called my doctor. They decided I should be seen, so I made an appointment for that afternoon. Ron was all excited, thinking this might be it and they might send us to the hospital. We’d had a false alarm on January 9^th where I was having contractions so we went into the hospital but no cervical change, so were sent home. I’d been dilated 2-3 cm for the past 2 weeks. At the appointment, I was still dilated 2-3cm but my blood pressure when she first took it was higher than it had been, and there were a couple of other concerns, so the doctor sent me home and also put me off of work for the next day. But on Friday, January 20th, I went in to work since I was feeling somewhat better and had my regular OB appointment downtown that day anyway. At the appointment, I was now dilated 3-4, almost 4, so things were definitely starting to progress a bit. We were waiting for test results and she said she’d call that evening. I went back to work and worked until about 4pm on my final day.

We got the call that evening and the results from the 24-hour urine test showed elevated protein – as much as if I had preeclampsia even though the lab results ruled that out. If I were pre-term, they wouldn’t consider induction just for these results, but since I was at my due date pretty much, she didn’t want to take any chances. We were scheduled for induction the next day and to call the hospital at 6am to find out what time to go in. We were excited, nervous, anxious, all at once. It was nice to be able to schedule people to watch the girls though and I realized how unprepared I’d really been with packing for the hospital and such. We called several people to line up help and keep people apprised. I slept ok that night until about 4:45am when I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. At 6am I called the hospital and was told to come in at 8am. At about 6:30 we got up and started getting ready. My sister-in-law got here around 7am to watch Abby and Hannah and I called Kristi at 7:30 to let her know - she was going to be in the delivery room with us.

We got to the hospital at 8:15am on Saturday, January 21st, and were taken right to a labor and delivery room since we knew we’d be staying. It had snowed several inches the night before and the view from the room’s windows was absolutely beautiful with a fresh coat of white snow covering everything and the sun peeking through. Kristi got there at 9:15am and at 9:30 they started pitocin. I was still dilated 3-4cm at that point so no change from the day before.

The first few hours were pretty uneventful. I had regular contractions with the pitocin but they weren’t very uncomfortable. Ron did his suduko puzzle book and Kristi and I chatted. It was actually very nice to have a chance to talk to her with no distractions (kids) around and it kept my mind off the contractions pretty well too. Everyone kept wanting to know if I wanted an epidural. I’d wanted one with both girls, but wasn’t able to either time, so wasn’t sure if I wanted one this time or not.  I decided to wait since they hadn’t broken my water yet anyway and I still wasn’t too uncomfortable. They did come in at 12:45 and break my water. I was still dilated only to 4 at that point.  The contractions got more intense after that. Because the pain was definitely worse by this point. I was done conversing and closing my eyes during them helped. So did the beeping of the heartbeat on the monitor – I never realized how much something like that would help to focus through the pain.

I finally decided that I wanted the epidural around 1:45pm, but the woman next to me had asked for one about a minute before I did. Since we were dilated about the same, it came down to the fact that it was her first baby and my third. I ended up with priority, but the anesthesiologist was on another case, so they were calling in his backup. It took until almost 2:30 before he got there and the contractions were very intense and very painful. I sat up to lean over for the epidural and started to feel shaky. Once the epidural was in, I lay down on my side and waited for it to take effect. I was still feeling shaky and was holding on to the side rail with every contraction, squeezing it hard. They checked me and I was dilated to 8 cm. Only a few contractions later, I started feeling the overwhelming urge to push – they checked me again and I was complete. They began to rush around to get everything ready and get the doctor in the room.  I think I pushed through maybe one or two contractions before she was born. They pulled her out and put her on my chest. I’d had my eyes closed the whole time but opened them when they asked if Ron wanted to cut the cord, so I did get to see that. They gave the baby some oxygen for a few minutes – her apgars were 8 and 9.

I only tore a tiny bit – just one stitch. The epidural never had time to take effect to help with the actual birth, but it did help with the afterbirth and when he put the stitch in. My feet were tingly and numb-ish for the next few hours. They got the baby cleaned up and I nursed her a little bit before they took her to the nursery for tests and her first bath. They didn’t bring the baby back for quite a while – not until Ron brought the girls up to see her. They said that she’d been coughing up mucus so wanted to keep an eye on her. She was fine after that though. And beautiful.

Happy 2nd birthday, Becca. We love you very much!

Thursday Thirteen #24 - All about Becca!

On Monday, my littlest girl will turn two years old. I can hardly believe that the past two years have flown by so fast! In keeping with my T13 post about Hannah when her birthday came around last fall, I'm dedicating this week's list to my little Becca-boo. So here are 13 things that you may or may not know about her!

1. Becca's full name is Rebecca Eleanor. Her middle name is the same as my mom's, and her first name is the last 'girl' one that Ron and I both liked - it was pretty slim pickings after we'd already used our first and second choices... But I do love the name and it fits her very well.
   
   
2. Becca was born the day before her due date. I'll post her birth story on Monday, but she was induced because of a few concerns that my doctor had. I wasn't about to argue - I was very, very ready to meet my 3rd baby girl and even more ready to not be pregnant anymore, LOL.
   
   
3. Becca was the most difficult baby out of our three, not counting Hannah's bout with reflux. She wasn't colicky and didn't have reflux, but she just seemed to need attention much more than the other two had. Or maybe it's just that I was home longer with her than I was with Abby or Hannah, plus under a lot of stress.
   
   
4. She weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces at birth - almost right exactly in between Abby and Hannah's birth weights. She was a pretty skinny, long baby and has turned into a tall, um, robust toddler. She is definitely no lightweight anymore and if she keeps growing at this rate, I think she'll catch up to Hannah before too long. :)
   
   
5. Becca is the spitting image of Ron. And I'm not kidding - look and see for yourself. Everybody who sees her says the same thing. However, she does have my eyes. :)
   
   
6. She not only wants to do everything that her big sisters do - she thinks she can. She's way ahead of where they were developmentally at this age, because she doesn't seem to understand that she's just too little to do some things.
   
   
7. She's finally starting to maybe grow a bit of hair. Not long or thick enough to actually do anything with yet, but you can actually fluff it up at least a little bit. However, what she lacks in hair, she makes up for in teeth - she's got a full mouth of them, including all four of her 2-year-old molars which have come in completely already.
   
   
8. Becca is stubborn, with a capital 'S'. Oh my goodness, is this little girl stubborn. And pig-headed. And determined. She knows what she wants and she's not willing to take no for an answer. At least not without a fight. Or a tantrum. Oh yes, we're into the 'terrible' of the two's already...
   
   
9. She has a smile that can light up the room, and the cutest little dimple, just like her Daddy (what did I tell you!). When she is happy, she bounces. And giggles. And laughs right out loud.
   
   
10. She is very huggable. And kissable. I know this from much experience. :)
    
    
11. Becca is so proud of herself when she accomplishes something that the 'big girls' do. Like brushing her hair, putting on her boots, taking off her coat, putting her hat on, sleeping in a 'real' bed, and going potty.
    
    
12. Speaking of the potty... She insists on sitting on it and going every time we change her diaper. And she'll ask to use it at other times as well. We weren't going to push her or rush her into potty training, but she's pretty much made the decision for herself that she's ready. On the other hand, she won't go potty at daycare - she won't even set foot in the bathroom. Such a silly little boo.
    
    
13. Her language is exploding. She uses new words every day and is putting them together in sentences like crazy. From "I need help!" to "night, night, Mommy - tank ewe" when I tuck her into bed, to "I snuggle" when she wants to crawl up into our laps, to calling all 5 of her Backyardigan 'friends' by their names, and repeating numbers and letters when we ask her to. The other day, she was doing her little plastic puzzle then when it was put together, she'd hold it up sideways, go 'one', 'two', and then on 'three' she'd turn it the rest of the way upside down so all the pieces fell out. She did this over and over, very pleased with herself. What a goofball.

So, there it is, (yes, Kristi - another 'ode' to Becca, LOL), my Becca 'Punkin' in 13 things. I have her birthday off from work and the girls have it off from school (thank you, MLK Jr. Day!), so we can have a fun family day at home.

Happy birthday, Becca-boo!

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Thursday Thirteen #17 - All about Hannah

Thirteen Things about Hannah! Today is Hannah's 5th birthday. I can't believe it's been 5 whole years since the day I went into the hospital to be induced. Her birth was so very different from my first labor and delivery - I blogged about it a few weeks ago here. Since today is all about Hannah - here are 13 things you may or may not know about her! Hannah was the smallest of my girls, weighing in at only 7 pounds 6 ounces at birth. This may be because she was induced early - the doctors thought she might actually be larger than Abby was at 9 pounds 2 ounces. Oops... Hannah was a very easy baby, except for her bout with reflux when she was about 2 months old. After about a week of an inconsolable baby, we took her in and she was prescribed an acid reflux medication that helped immensely. She has always been a Mommy's girl. She loved to nurse and would fall asleep at the breast often and snuggle. Neither of my other two, even when breastfeeding, have loved to snuggle as much as Hannah. And she still loves to snuggle with us even now. Hannah is a drama queen with a capital 'D'. The bigger the audience, the bigger the drama. She loves to act silly and goofy for attention and is already becoming a teacher's pet at school. Hannah was born just 2 days before the school cutoff date in Michigan. While we had the option to send her to kindergarten this year (and her evaluation recommended it), we chose to hold her back and put her in Young 5's (developmental or pre-kindergarten) instead so she'll be an older child in her grade instead of the absolute youngest. I think it was the right decision. Hannah loves animals. At not even 2 years old, she could do all of the animal noises. Her favorites by far are dogs and horses though. Her collection of stuffed dogs is slowly taking over the house. And she's getting another one for her birthday today - I just can't help it because she loves and plays with them so much! She is very stubborn and doesn't do anything before she is good and ready. Like walking - at a year old she would stand in the middle of the room, then crouch down and play, then stand back up, etc. But she wouldn't take a step - even though she was perfectly capable of it. Nope, she waited until she was ready to do it, a month later. Same thing with potty training - like everything else, it happened in her own time, on her terms. Physically she couldn't be more different from Abby. She is slight where Abby is solid, blonde and blue-eyed to Abby's dark brown hair and greenish eyes. She is very social - not at all shy, and often will show Abby the way around someplace new when Abby is scared or unsure of herself. Hannah has my middle name, Lynne. I never liked my middle name very much, but wanted her to have a family name and couldn't come up with anything else that went well with 'Hannah' and our last name. Her favorite thing to do at school is music class. She loves to sing and when she tries, without being goofy, she has a sweet voice, even if she isn't quite all in tune yet. I foresee the stage in her future in some fashion or another. She and Abby are only 20 months apart and in a lot of ways interact with each other more like twins since Hannah is a bit mature for her age and Abby is a bit immature. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out as they get older. She is the difficult one to get out of bed in the mornings. Abby pops right up and out of bed with no problem, but Hannah only leaves her bed grudgingly, protesting all the way. Which is exactly like me. :) Her favorite color this year has been orange. Before her birthday last year, it was green. According to Hannah, you choose a new favorite color every year on your birthday, so as of today, I believe it's going to be red, unless she changes her mind to something else at the last minute. Happy Birthday, Hannah-bear! Links to other Thursday Thirteeners:

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Throwback Thursday #18 - The Day After Thanksgiving

It was five years ago, on November 29th, the day after Thanksgiving, that you were born. My little peanut, my Hannah Banana, Hannah-Bear, an after Turkey-Day sweetheart. My Black Friday baby.

You came into a world of hustle and busy-ness, with the holiday spirit aglow. To a loving big sister (sometimes almost too much, LOL!), family and friends.

You took our comfy little world by storm and you made it sparkle and shine in true drama queen fashion.

For you, life is better with an audience after all.

I've watched you learn and grow into the beautiful 5-year-old girl that you are today and can't remember when you weren't in my life.

Happy Birthday, Hannah. Mommy loves you very much.

Check out more Throwback Thursday over at Pinks and Blues Girls!

You say it's your birthday?

In two days, my middle child will be able to use one full hand to show how old she is. Yep, Hannah will  be turning 5!  We had her party this past Sunday, which is why our weekend was on the crazy side with house guests. Thanksgiving was actually on the relaxing side for us this year, LOL. My friend Mary came up on Saturday with her 2 kids and my mom and brother also drove over from Detroit and Ann Arbor that day, thinking the party was on Saturday instead of Sunday.  Oops...  So we had a very full house Saturday night!  :)

The 3 guys (Ron, my brother Donnie and Mary's son Matthew) spent the evening playing a new card game that Donnie had brought - called 'Set'. I won't go through the mechanics of how to play, but let's just say I am not good at this game. Even the 10-year-old (Matthew) was beating me. I think Ron has a new addiction though - I foresee this game showing up in his stocking on Christmas morning...  :)

With all 3 of our girls having cold-weather birthdays (the closest we get to spring is Abby's on April 3rd and that one's a hit or miss, and pretty much impossible to predict for any particular year...) we are unfortunately restricted to indoor birthday parties. We've done many of them in our house, but I had decided for Abby's 5th birthday party a couple of years ago to take the whole shebang on the road. I liked several things about that - no having to clean my house beforehand and afterwards... No coming up with boring annoying fun games and other ways to keep the kids from tearing the house apart... The down side is, of course, the cost - so it's not an option for every party. But since we'd done Abby's first off-site party for her 5th birthday, we told Hannah she could do hers at the same place as well.

All of that's a very long-winded (sorry!) way of explaining why Hannah's party was done at a local place that has inflatable stuff for bouncing, ball pits, climbing structures, play houses, games and lots of room for kids to run and make noise. Perfect for birthday parties!

One thing I learned after Abby's party, where we'd invited friends, family and all of the girls in her preschool class (9 plus Abby), was that a large party is really, really hard to manage in a place like that. So I limited Hannah's invitations to a total of 10, figuring that some of those kids wouldn't be able to come anyway, especially on a holiday weekend.

The fact that I never actually got invitations mailed or sent out?  My fault...  I did e-mail or tell people in person, but there were a few kids from school that Hannah wanted to invite and since I didn't know  their last names or how to get a hold of them (and didn't want to send invitations to school since not every kid in the class was being invited), I just let it go.

So in total we had 6 kids, plus our 3 girls. A couple of the ones we'd invited couldn't make it. It really turned out great though since it was a small enough number that all the kids could really play with each other.

And play they did. They ran, they bounced, they swung on rings over the  ball pits, they slid down slides, they drove plastic riding car toys... We fed them cake, opened the 3 gifts (we had 3 sets of siblings who came), and then ran and played some more.

By the end of the 2 hours, we had a group of very exhausted, tired, worn-out but happy kids. And one toddler who hadn't napped and was pretty much wandering around in a sugar-induced haze by the end of the party.  :)

All in all, it was a really  good time. And I enjoyed talking to my friends Mary and Kristi (we don't all get together in the same place very often anymore), playing air hockey, not chasing Becca around (it was nice to have Ron there!), and (of course) taking pictures!

Here's the photos we took of all 7 of our kids - it's  been about a year since the last time we were all together...  Not the best pictures, but considering that there were 7 tired out kids at the time, not too bad either!

(Front from L to R = Abby, Emma, Hannah. Back from L  to R = Noah, Aaron, Becca, Matthew)