Our Halloween

I'm going with the "Better late than Never" mentality.  Plus, with Thanksgiving coming up tomorrow, I figured I'd better hurry and get this up.  Here's our Halloween of 2011!!

Heidi and Jonah have really been into the Toy Story movies lately. We've watched 1, 2, and 3 many, many (many) times in the last four months or so.  Towards the end of my pregnancy, I was short on energy, patience and will power so after their naps, during the "bewitching" hour (its around that time of 5:00 for some reason) I would give in to their plaintive cries to watch a movie, or a 'da-broo' in Jonah-speak.  And it was almost always one of the Toy Story movies.  So imagine my surprise when Heidi wanted to be Jessie for Halloween!  Of course, then Jonah had to be Buzz, which he was very excited about until it came to wear the actual costume.  But he finally got into it after seeing Heidi as Jessie and I think they looked so cute!!  My mom and I made Heidi's costume (hat, shirt details, and chaps), but Jonah's was bought.  I saw a Jessie costume at Target but I didn't want to shell out $30 for one when I knew it couldn't possibly be that hard to put together myself!!  I was right.  It was so stinking easy and cheap!  I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

Jessie and Buzz

First we had a Trunk or Treat at our church and the kids had no hesitation going after the candy! Even our normally reserved Buzz was all for getting that candy!!

He had the candy gathering drill down pat!

Getting some help from Daddy

This is how Clara spent the night at Trunk or Treats. Nice and cozy!

We didn't make it to much of the Fall Festival that our church had but we did get to see the glow in the dark room  The kids thought that it was pretty cool!

Our happy little family.  Clara is in the white ghost hat.

Unfortunately, this is the only picture I could get of all three of them.  Heidi kept having a hat/hair malfunction and Clara kept having an attitude malfunction.  Oh well.  They're cute anyhow!

Then on the actual Halloween day, the kids and I headed to my parents' church to meet up with Laurie and her kids and Mamaw and O'Pa for another Trunk or Treat.

Grandma McCurdy and some great grandkids

 A man in a very scary mask walked by Jonah and absolutely terrified Jonah.  He was very upset and shaking like a leaf and didn't want anything to do with candy anymore.  My dad worked with him and coaxed him back into trick or treating.  I felt so bad for him and quite annoyed at the man. >:(

O'Pa showing Jonah that it's ok, Larry isn't as scary as he looks! Haha!

And Clara again.  Sweet little ghost!

Clara wore the same thing for her first Halloween that Heidi and Jonah both did.  Here's a flashback.  It's amazing to me that in some ways, Clara looks just like Heidi and in others she looks just like Jonah.  But I've never thought that Heidi and Jonah look anything alike!  But either way, I have three adorable babies!!

Heidi

Jonah

Clara

We met up with my sister and her kids and they were the cutest Ladybug and Tiger!!

Jonah, Clark, Alyssa, Clara, Heidi
(Clara having another attitude malfunction, poor baby!)

Hope you had a happy Halloween!!

Hard Work Does Pay Off!!

Nathan and I have been talking lately about how Heidi and Jonah are old enough to start helping around the house.  There are things they have to do now, like pick up their toys and books, but we really wanted to start them on chores and help them learn how to make and manage money.  Professional people have all kinds of opinions on how to go about this.  We've taken bits and pieces from here and there and came up with a system I think will work well for us.  At least right now.  I'm sure it'll be ever changing as they grow older. But for now, we came up with four chores for each of them to do last week.  Every time they did a chore they got to put a sticker on their chart.  At the end of the week, they presented their chart to daddy.  For each sticker they had, they earned 1 quarter.  

Heidi's responsibilities:

1. Feed/water the cat

2. Make her bed

3. Match together her, Jonah's and Clara's socks when I'm folding their laundry

4. Put up the adult silverware

Jonah's responsibilities:

1. Feed the dogs

2. Make his bed

3. Put up the socks in their right drawers after Heidi matches them

4. Put up the kids silverware

They both love to help so it was no problem at all to get them to do all this with barely a reminder.  As soon as Nathan would get home, Jonah would run to him saying, "Oof-oof?" because he knew when daddy got home they would go feed the dogs.  He LOVED feeding the dogs.  The only thing Jonah was not at all enthusiastic about was making his bed.  He had no desire whatsoever.  Not even for a sticker.  Great.  Not a good sign, I don't think.  Since his mommy is not a good bed-making example, I didn't push him to do it.  Heidi, however, is very eager to please and loved to make her bed first thing when she woke up and then would come wake me up and would want me to go right then and see her made bed.  Talk about two ends of the spectrum!  They both were happy to do their other chores so it ended up working out.  We're all still new at this, so we'll just have to tweak it as we go.

Showing off their newly made chore charts
(forgive my artistry, or lack thereof)

Ready to cash them in!!

turning in their charts for daddy to inspect

Heidi getting paid for her hard work

Jonah getting paid for his hard work

So proud of themselves!!

They both got $3 for their efforts this week.  I'm very proud of them for having a good attitude and willingness to help around the house.  We'll be teaching them to divide their money between God, savings, and spending money.  Heidi has already decided that she wants to save up for a barbie doll she saw at Target.  She was all ready to take her three dollars and go get it!  Since the doll is $15, we'll be working on the "saving up" part of the idea. =)

I have to say, even though it was a bit more tedious showing them what to do and then waiting for them to do it at their pace instead of doing it faster myself, I really like the concept behind them doing the things that I normally have to do!!  I see a lot of potential for this!! Haha!!

Clara Louise at One Month Old

Why is it that the last four weeks of pregnancy seem to last so much longer than the previous 8 months but the first four weeks with a newborn seem to sprint by in a blur?

Birth

Our precious little Clara is already a month old!  Some days it still seems strange that I have a third child and other days it seems like she has always been with us.  But everyday I am filled with such love and thanksgiving for this little being that I'm still getting to know.  She seems to change almost everyday and I'm so enjoying watching her grow!  Both of her siblings are absolutely enamored with her and still love to sing to her, hold her and are so very gentle with her.

One Week

Jonah seems especially protective and if she starts crying and we're in a different room, he'll immediately run to whatever room she is in saying, "Wear-wah! Wear-wah!".  And if I don't respond fast enough for his taste he will come back and grab my hand to pull me to her, still saying the whole way, "Wear-wah!".  One day in particular, we were all in the nursery and about to leave for church.  Nathan was telling Heidi and Jonah to head downstairs to load up and I was walking out of the door too to go get something and then I was going to come back and get Clara out of her bouncer.  As we were all leaving the room together, Jonah suddenly gets this concerned look on his face, says Wear-wah! and runs back into the room, right to Clara and suddenly tries to pick her up out of her bouncer (she was strapped in, though).  He has never once tried to pick her up before so I really think he thought we were going to forget her and leave her behind!  Once I told him that I was going to come back in and get her and that she and I would meet him at the car, he finally calmed down and went with Nathan.  I'm so glad he already has it in his head to look out for his baby sister!

Two Weeks

So far, Clara has really been a good little baby.  As long as she is fed, she's happy.  She even sleeps pretty well at night and is considerate enough to give her mama about 5 hours of sleep in a stretch, wake up to eat for 15 minutes and then sleeps another 3-4 hours.  She tolerates her siblings' less than gentle loving and snoozes through all their noise during the day.  I've been on my own with all three of them for about 10 days and so far so good.  It seems like once I have dealt with the older two, throwing a baby into the mix doesn't seem like a big deal.  Of course, we are still all on Clara's schedule since she's nursing (and this little girl will not let me forget when its time to eat!) but that's been kind of nice because it forces me to sit down and relax. Admittedly, its not always at the most convenient times but we manage.  :~)

Three Weeks

Its been so fun seeing all the ways my kids are similar and the ways they are different.  Heidi and Jonah didn't look anything alike when they were born but Clara looks like both of them depending on what face she is making.  It's so neat!  She also seems easy going like they were.

Four Weeks

There are at least three things that are uniquely her own:
1. She has the HIGHEST shrieky cry I've ever heard!  Heidi and Jonah certainly didn't have it!  Even her nurse at her 1 month check up commented on how shrill it was.  Thankfully, she only reserves it for when she is REALLY mad.  It usually only happens when she is completely naked, getting her diaper changed, has been hurt, or if I'm taking way too long to feed her.  She usually gives me plenty of warning before it escalates that high. Its pretty impressive to hear, though!
2.  She is the noisiest sleeping baby!  She is always grunting, sighing, whimpering, gurgling, groaning, or cooing.  I think it's adorable.  She is asleep on my chest as I type this and is just cooing and whimpering away! Maybe I'm just not remembering correctly but I really don't think Heidi and Jonah were this vocal in their sleep.
3.  She is my best little eater and has the weight to prove it!  I love it!!  It's so nice to finally have a good eater, a little chunky monkey!  I think Jonah would have been a better eater if we had realized earlier how much his tongue being tied really affected his eating.  It didn't get clipped until he was 6 months old and after that he had an easier time of nursing.  And then my little bird, Heidi, was always so skinny.  Babies aren't meant to be skinny! They're meant to have rolls and tubby tummies!  Having Clara be more filled out is really nice because first of all, her clothes fit perfectly, and secondly, I'm not constantly worried about her health! Peace of mind is priceless!

One Month

Clara at 1 month:

• Wears size 1 diapers - she only wore newborns for 3 weeks. Heidi wore newborns for almost four months!!
• Clothes size: some newborns, some 3 months but mostly 0-3 months.  And the best part is THEY FIT!
• She still naps most of the day. She has a few periods of wakefullness of 15-30 minutes and then is ready to go back to sleep.
• Most of the time she nurses to sleep but sometimes she will go to sleep on her own. And if the kids accidentally wake her up she will put herself back to sleep.  Really hope to cultivate this!!
• She loves to be swaddled.  I don't usually swaddle her during the day but at night I do and I think this is why she sleeps so well.  I'll be doing this as long as I can! There's nothing wrong with swaddling a 2 year old, is there? :o)
• I get so many comments on her hair!  She has quite a bit, like Jonah did.  And for a few days after she's had a bath, it sticks up all over.  So cute!  And it is SO SOFT!!  Tonight in bible class, the girl next to me just kept stroking it.  I don't blame her!  It's very hard to resist!
• Clara is so snugglely!! I know that's her age but I've almost forgotten what its like to cuddle a child without them being squirmy and saying they've had enough after about 5 minutes.  And same with the kisses!!  I love to just smooch on Clara's sweet cheeks and neck and ears and nose and eyelids and mouth and she can't get away from me or tell me to stop so she can go play! Mwahaha!
• She seems to be a very smiley baby.  I know they don't smile on purpose just yet, but while she is sleeping, and even sometimes when she is awake, she will smile the biggest sweetest smiles!  And she'll do this over and over!  I've already gotten some good pictures of her awake and smiling.  I choose to believe that that indicates Clara is going to be a very joyful child!  Ever since Heidi was born and she would smile while looking off into the corner or some random part of the room, my mom would always say that she is smiling at the angels that only she can see.  I love to think this!  We talk about Clara's angels often and Heidi will say that she thinks Clara had fun with the angels before she came to us and that they must miss her.  Love it!

Clara at 1 Month

Sweet Clara Louise, 

You are such a perfect and adorable addition to our family! I thank God everyday that He chose me to be your mommy and I pray that He will help me teach you all about being a child of God! We love all your little sounds and we think you are the cutest little baby ever!  I'm sure it won't be long until you are smiling and laughing at all your siblings' silly antics.  They are ready to teach you how to play with them and Heidi (and I!) are looking forward to including you in our mommy-daughter days!  You are a precious little one month old and already fill us with such joy!  Don't grow up too fast!!

First Thoughts on the First Bit of My First Last Born

...because I'm cheesy like that ;o)...

I'm sure anybody who is still reading this already knows but:

Lovebug is here!! And Lovebug ended up being a sweet little girl whom we named Clara Louise!!

This isn't her official birth story post yet but just a few beginning thoughts as we venture into our new lives as a family of five.  Of course, I've been pretty spoiled this first week and a half with having my mom here to help! She's been taking care of the older two while I get to just solely focus on sweet Clara.  Clara has been doing great since we've been home and only cries if she's naked. :)  She has been sleeping pretty well and right now we're in a bit of a rhythm.  She has been wanting to cluster feed (nurses over and over with about 15 min breaks in between) from about 11pm-2am and if I'm patient and let her feed as much as she wants then she will suddenly pass out around 2am and then sleep until around 7am.  Getting five hours of sleep these days is pretty fantastic!!  Plus, between those hours, it is quiet and peaceful, everyone else is asleep but she is wide awake so we have some wonderful one-on-one time together.  Then during the day she pretty much sleeps all day only just barely waking up to eat a little then going right back to sleep.  So for now, having three children 4yrs and under has been pretty easy!!  We'll see how it is when my mom goes home for good and when Clara outgrows the newborn "sleeping all the time" routine.  ;o)

I have been so very pleased with how well Heidi and Jonah have taken to their baby sister.  They adore her!  They love to kiss on her and hold her and whenever she starts crying one (usually Jonah) or both will come running over to sing to her or try to give her a toy or talk to her to get her to calm down.  And I've been amazed with how Clara responds to her siblings!  Once when I was getting ready to feed Clara, she was getting fussy but Heidi wanted to hold her.  I warned Heidi that she could hold her really quick but that she was probably going to start crying because she was hungry and already getting really fussy.  Not more than 10 seconds after I placed Clara in Heidi's arms and Heidi started talking to her, she calmed right down and was just watching her big sister.  Adorable! Absolutely adorable!  So excited to watch these sisters grow up together!  I love having a sister and am so thankful these girls have each other.   

I was especially concerned with how Jonah would respond to Clara once she came home.  Just with him being so young and not fully understanding what exactly was going on.  But I needn't have worried!  He's been great.  He loves to kiss her hands and her head and will sing songs to her.  He is so gentle when he holds her and he especially will try to comfort her when she cries.  Such a good big brother!

Our sweet baby Clara completes our family in such a perfect way!  I feel so full and incredibly blessed when I see my three babies and their wonderful daddy.  God has truly been generous with this precious family that Nathan and I are growing and I'm so very thankful that He has entrusted us with these beautiful children.  I couldn't be happier and couldn't have asked for better blessings than the ones He has so graciously loaned to us!!

Last Thoughts on the Last Bit of My Last Pregnancy

Today is my due date for little Lovebug.  That seems

Completely. Surreal.  

You would think with being my third pregnancy, this wouldn't be that big of a deal.  Been there, done that, x3.  But it still seems 

Completely. Surreal.  

I really feel like I should have about a month left.  Sometimes it doesn't seem like I'm having a baby at all.  I wonder/think it might be because a) we don't know the gender this time and b) we don't have a name picked out yet.  With the other two, we had both and I was already envisioning what this Heidi person and Jonah person was going to be like.  What their little personalities were going to be like.  I was ready to meet the essence of who Heidi and Jonah were.  This little guy or gal is still too unknown.  A very loved and wanted unknown, but still such a mystery!  I'm just SOOO ready for this little sweet child to be put into my arms so that I can start bonding and loving and kissing and getting to know him/her!!!

Thankfully, the unknowing part is almost over!  I had a doctor appointment last Wednesday where I found out that my doctor is going to be gone from this Wednesday night till Sunday sometime.  He would only let me go one week overdue so the options he gave me were to wait till Monday the 17th, when he would be back in the office (and just PRAY that the baby doesn't come while he's gone) or he said I could go in this coming Tuesday, the 11th, and try to get things started that morning.  I'm in the same situation this time that I was in with Jonah: since Heidi was a c-section, I no longer have the option of being officially "induced" but there are some things that the doctor can do to try to get my body to go into labor.  So it came down to, would I be okay if it was another doctor there and not mine?  Would that other doctor be willing to follow our plan of trying for a VBAC?   Or would I be upset if I rushed things by going in on Tuesday, but then risk that my body wouldn't be ready and end up with a c-section?  What to do, what to do???

Thankfully, the decision was made very clear for me (thanks, God!!).  When I called up to see who would be on call while my doctor was gone, I found out that it was going to be the ONE doctor on the team who does NOT allow VBACs.  He goes straight for the c-section if you've already had one.  So then it became, if I go on Tues, I'll at least have a chance to try for a vag delivery and if I did have a c-section, then at least I'll have my own doctor there doing it.  Otherwise, I could only fervently pray that I would make it to the next Monday but by then I'll be very overdue. More than likely, I wouldn't make it and would end up with the other doctor.

So Tuesday it is!!  Nathan and I go up to labor and delivery at 8:30am and my doctor will break my water to try to get my body to go in to labor.  Not sure how long he'll wait until he decides it isn't working but at my appt, he was very optimistic about my body cooperating since it had previously worked with Jonah.  And since he is on-call Tues night, he'll be with me all night so hopefully that means he won't be in any rush.  

I'm anxious, nervous, super excited, scared, and more, all rolled into one.  It just seems so sudden!  While this pregnancy has definitely been the hardest on my body, these last few weeks I've been feeling really good and really not so pregnant.  I think it's because the weather has dropped and that helps so much!  Either way, I've suddenly realized that this is the last bit of my last pregnancy and I really need to try to savor everything I love about being pregnant.  There's plenty that I don't love so much about being pregnant, especially how it has impacted my time and energy and abilities to play and take care of Heidi and Jonah, but oh so much more that I love!  First of all, the fact that I AM growing another child!  I also love feeling the baby move all over, I love that special feeling of knowing that God is using my body to perform a miracle, I love knowing that I'm about to be a mommy again, I love the secret bond I get to have from the very beginning with this child, I love that our family is growing, I love that Heidi and Jonah will be getting another sibling, I'll even admit to loving the attention that I get from other people about being pregnant mostly because I'm so proud of my new little baby.  I also realize and am so incredibly grateful that getting and staying pregnant has never been an issue.  I try so very hard not to take that for granted.  

As far as Heidi and Jonah go, they are super excited about the baby coming!  I've told Heidi and showed her on the calendar about Tuesday and when it is but she still thinks its going to be forever until little Lovebug is born.  I know she is going to be such a big help when the baby gets here.  I think I've said before how surprised I was with Jonah's reaction to his baby cousin, Clark.  I couldn't believe how gentle and loving he was and that he was wanting to hold him a lot.  Hopefully, he'll be like that with his own sibling!

I am feeling a little anxious about how this new little one is going to fit in with Heidi and Jonah.  We've got a nice little routine going right now and they play together so well.  I remember when I was just about to have Jonah, I was commenting on how peaceful things were with just me, Nathan and Heidi and how adding another child to the mix would change that.  At least at that time, I did acknowledge that when it was time to add child #3, I would probably be saying the same thing about how peaceful it is with just the four of us!  I kinda am saying that!  So that gives me great hope and comfort that things will work out just fine! ;o)  Plus, I keep telling myself that going from 2 kids to 3 will be SO much easier than 1 to 2.  I think Heidi kind of went into shock when she went from having lots of playmates at daycare to only me and not even all of me since I was focused on a baby Jonah. This time around, Heidi and Jonah are great playmates and keep each occupied wonderfully.  They have really been pretty easy on me these last couple of months.   And when Jonah was born, I was new at being a stay-at-home mommy and Heidi and I didn't yet have a routine established so when we added Jonah to the mix, things really got kinda crazy there for a while.  This time I have two years of working a routine under my belt. :o)

Ready or not, Tuesday will be here in 3 days.  But I think I'm ready.  Ready to hold and love and get to know this little Lovebug.  Ready to introduce Heidi and Jonah to their newest sibling and Lovebug to his/her fantastic big sister and big brother. Ready to watch Nathan beam and melt when he holds his youngest child for the first time.  Ready to start our new adventure of being a family of 5!

We would greatly appreciate prayers for this newest transition and that at the end of it all, whether VBAC or c-section, the outcome is a healthy baby, a healthy mama, and a new happy family!! :o)

A Chuck E. Cheese Party

This year we decided to have Heidi and Jonah's birthday party early so that we could have it at Chuck E. Cheese and not fuss with any mess!  I wanted to go somewhere that would be fun, easy and when we were done making a big birthday mess, we got to leave and somebody else cleaned it all up! ;o)  Even though it was rather chaotic, I'm pleased with how it all went and I think my birthday babies and their friends all had a good time!

Yummy Pizza!!

Finished with his first slice!

This year's cakes!  Last year we just did one cake for both of them, but this year with them being older and her very girly and him very much a boy, I really wanted to personalize them but I was afraid that it would be too much trouble so I was just going to do a dual cake.  But, my wonderful mother took on the task of making their cakes and each one got a cake made just for them!!  I loved how they turned out and I think the kids did, too!  Thanks, Mamaw!!!

Her Ballerina Cake

His Buzz Lightyear cake.  Mamaw did a good job on their cakes!!!

 Both of my kids were TERRIFIED of the real Chuck E Cheese.  This is Jonah actually shrieking and trying to push the crown and the giant mouse away from him!  He would angrily scream, MO!!! (his version of no) over and over until I could get to him and calm him down.  It took him a while before he would have anything to do with the crown.  I had told our hostess that Chuck could skip our birthday kids but I guess the mouse didn't get the message!

MO! MO! MO! MO!

Singing Happy Birthday

Blowing out his candles, with only a teeny bit of spit ;)

Blowing out her FOUR candles! I can't believe she is that old already!!

Alyssa was the only kid under four who was brave enough to have anything to do with the giant mouse.

Digging in to his yummy cake!!

She liked hers, too

 Some birthday friends!

Time to open presents!! Last year we tried doing one kid at a time but that took forever  so this year we did it at the same time.  Faster, but definitely more chaotic!  The hardest part for Jonah was that he would open a really cool toy and then get SO upset when I would take it away so he could open another!

Happy Birthdays, my sweet children!! I hope you had a wonderful time!  

And thanks to all the family and friends that came to help us celebrate!!