A family of five please

We embracing the fact that we are a family of five now, and took the opportunity to have an outing yesterday. We went to the beach. And it was pretty good. We stayed for a few hours, got in before it was too busy, and left as the beach was filling up. We even stopped for some lunch and ice cream afterward. Wow, the times have changed, the stuff has multiplied, but we are jumping right in.

I got this baby carrier in the mail yesterday, and I think I am really going to like this. Noah likes the enclosure, and I almost forget he is even there. It is a little puzzle to figure out, but maybe this will be just what I need to get out of the house comfortably with three.
Here is the little guy with his eyes open...
As for jumping right in, we moved Rachel to a toddler bed, and she loves it. I think there is still enough room in there for her and all her stuffed toys.
It has been a good past few days, the nights aren't too bad, or at least I am not too removed from the lack of sleep. This week will be a little more difficult with Kevin going back to work, but I am lowering my expectations and going to take my time doing anything with the three of them. Let's see how this goes!

Noah

Here are the proud sister, brother, and cousin:

I was first considering naming this post from Noah Show-a to Noah Whoa! Noah is now here, and actually came on his due date. So he was born 7/7/2009, 8 lbs 1 oz, 20 1/2 inches long,and at 9:57 in the morning.
Without going into too much detail, I wanted to share the birth with you. I kept thinking he was going to come earlier, and as I mentioned before we were staying close to home and not doing much. On Tuesday morning around 7 I started feeling some contractions, but they were like 8-9 minutes apart, and although stronger I was debating calling it in, because all of the false labor I had been feeling. But I called it in, and we went in just to see if we were all set, and the contractions even stopped for like 10 minutes so I was doubting. We went in and got set up at the screening station, I gave them all my info and I was on a monitor, but nothing was really changing. As I sat there watching TV, all of a sudden my water broke!

I yelled for Kevin, and the contractions were right on top of each other. The labor and delivery ward was full, it was a full moon and July has been busy month, so they scrambled to get a room for me. I got into the room, and nurses were in the hall getting things together, but not too worried. Kevin had to go into the hall to tell them I was in full labor, ready to push the baby out. Within 15 minutes Noah was here. I didn't even get an IV and it happened so quick!! He has a little congestion because he came out so quickly, but he is so perfect. I am so thankful to God that we went to the hospital at that time, I probably wouldn't have made it there if my water broke at home, and that my sister was in town to help out with the other two.

So far recovery is going very well, and the only thing lacking is sleep, which will probably be a long time in coming. Noah nurses well, and is pretty content in his busy surroundings, but we are so happy to have him here!! Kevin has posted more pictures on his facebook account, and we will be sure to have picture updates coming soon. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!

Update

Hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend, we kept things low key, and kept things close to home. So no Noah yet, and though he is not officially due until the 7th, I sort of thought he would be here by now. I have been avoiding updating the blog waiting for him to come, but I assure you when he gets here, we will let everyone know. Until then, we are having fun with my sister and nephew, and enjoying the beautiful weather. Sorry I don't have any pictures to update, we have been keeping the camera in the hospital bag just in case, but the kids are doing well and we are having good family time. Check back soon for any updates!!

Waiting...

What do you do while you are waiting around? We are waiting for Noah to get here, so the pictures are just what we do while we are waiting. The kids are better at not watching TV than I seem to be, although I am often telling them just to go watch a show for a little, let me sit down. The weather turned from pretty rainy to hot and humid in one day, so that is still difficult for me. But Kevin has been around a lot, and the slower pace is nice in a lot of ways.

Why not play in the laundry basket, and sit there together in it? Makes sense to me.
It was a good birthday for Kevin yesterday, and we are looking forward to another quiet weekend. The kids are very funny and everyday they do something different to make me laugh. Daniel is letting me know when he is happy, and not so happy, and there are moments when he is really sweet to Rachel. Rachel wants to either run around without clothes, or just her princess outfit on. I need to write the moments down to not forget!

Here they are practicing their winking. Kevin is getting pretty good at the commentating.

I am getting a lot more braxton hicks contractions than I remember for the other two, and sleep has been a little more difficult, but we are almost there, and the Dr. yesterday said I was ready to go anytime. I have folks in the neighborhood on call and ready to help out, but we will keep you posted!

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Happy Birthday to Kevin!! Already we have had a great day, he had his three day of birthday presents, and we have some Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake ready to go for tonight. Thanks to friends and family for the cards, presents, and well wishes!! I was wondering if Noah would make his debut on his dad's birthday, but I think he wants a day for himself.

Rainy Daze

Ok, rain is good, but two weeks of it? We have had a few days here and there of nice weather, but it has been raining a lot. The good side for me is that it seems to help the kids sleep in the mornings, and it allows me to bum around the house a little more.

Here are a few updates from the week. I cut Rachel's bangs, I think she is going to be a bang girl for a little while. I get nervous about making the cut straight, but it is so nice to see her face, and she looks pretty cute with them.

Here is a picture from yesterday, and having the kids in their jackets is not something typical for JUNE! I love this picture though because Daniel looks pretty happy, and he has been pretty happy lately. Rachel is trying to smile, but sometimes it does come out as a slight snarl....
This week also was the last day of gymnastics for a little while. I would call Daniel the most improved, he was listening and following directions a lot better at the end of the 8 weeks. He got this trophy he calls the "Piston Cup". For all you Cars fans out there you can chuckle along with me. They had open gym for the last day and Rachel was able to get out there on some of the gym stuff, she seemed to enjoy herself as well, maybe next time around she can join in too! The quality of the picture is no so good, I had to run out and grab some disposable cameras because my digital camera was acting funny. I got a little sippy cup on it I think, but in a day it cleared up, and I believe God took care of the camera for us so we wouldn't have to scramble to get one before Noah gets here.

We don't have too many plans for this weekend, it will be a low key Father's day, but low key is good. Enjoy the weekend, and thank you to all the Father's out there, we wouldn't be here without you.

Posting Some Pictures

Here are some pictures of my little niece, and she is a beautiful little baby! I think she looks a lot like her mom, and everyone is doing well adjusting to the new one.

I needed to catch up on some pictures from last week. Here are the three amigos on our bed. I tried hard to get them all to smile at the same time, it was a little difficult. Our nickname for Michael was "Crash", Daniel is "Dash", and Rachel is yet to be defined by nickname.
Talking about Rachel, she is into the princess thing and dresses. Kevin took the kids to gymnastics this week while I had a Dr's appointment, and this is what she was dressed in. Daniel has done much better listening and following directions in his gymnastics class, and Rachel has picked up a few moves watching him as well.
Say Cheese!
Other than that, it was a rainy week, so the kids slept in most of the week, and it was quiet. We went on our hospital tour, and I think Kevin is happy now that he knows how long it will take to get there, and where to go when we are there. He mentioned we should have a hand signal thing going on so he knows how quickly he should move to get there, but my thought is if I can't really talk and tell him how I am feeling, things are moving quickly, and he should drive like the wind to get there. I still need to put the finishing touches on my hospital bag, have a few people to call to watch the kids if Noah comes a little early, and we have a few other things to wrap it up with, but every day I feel him kicking and moving and can't wait to see #3!!