Kathryn's blessing

I am so lucky, my family was able to come into town for Kathryn's baby blessing in October.  This is actually not easy since my brother-in-law is a teacher and my Dad works in Australia, but miraculously it all came together (minus my brother who is on a mission).  It was so fun to have all the cousins together to play, they are getting to a great age where they really like playing and spending time together.  Wish we lived closer.

 I am so grateful that Stuart was able to bless our new baby.  She was quiet thru the whole thing which is always a huge gamble with such a small baby.  We were also very happy that Stuart's brother as able to make it with his daughter.  What a great family we have.

 This beautiful blessing dress was handmade by our sweet friend Cheryl Green.  It is so beautiful and kind of her to do this for my sweet girl.

Kathryn joins our family!

After waiting 38 weeks, we finally were blessed with another sweet baby girl! I wanted a girl pretty bad because I just kept remembering all the cute dresses Gracie had as a baby and wanted to get them out again. And I guess we haven't got our fix of princess yet. Both Stuart and I liked the name Kathryn, but it doesn't come from anywhere special, just felt right. We call her Katy too, which confuses the kids a little but I think it is growing on Gracie(mind you she wanted to name her Rapunzel Bubbles). Her middle name is Jean, which is my mother-in-laws middle name as well as my maternal grandfather's name, so didn't that work out great!

For some reason our girls want to keep us on our toes, Kathryn had to have a dramatic entrance into this world. (Here comes the birth story, so if not interested...might want to move on) After not feeling any movement almost all day Stuart and I decided to go to the hospital just to check her out. All I wanted to hear was a heart beat and oh what a beautiful sound it was. As they were monitoring me for a a little bit, the nurses saw I was having contractions but she was not reacting to them as babies are supposed to. So although her heart sounded good they wanted a more active baby, so the Dr. decided it was time for her to come out. So the dreaded pitocin was started (I wanted to go natural again like my other 2) and we were hoping that since this was my third baby this was all I would need to kick start things. After six hours of pitocin I was still at a 1cm and she still wasn't responding like they wanted so the Dr. decided to do a c-section. I was so amazed at how fast everything went from there. It was about 4 in the morning but those nurses are used to moving quick. It was scary and daunting to think that I was going to have my first surgery ever, but I just kept telling myself that I would be able to hold her in 10 minutes. And it was very fast, and the spinal block it pretty crazy and amazing how quickly it works and my sweet baby was born. She had pooped in utero and they think thatthat may be what caused her to slow down, and after they had her out we discovered she had inhaled some of the merconeum. So she got put in the nursery so they could observe her while I went to recovery, which is a very lonely place at 5 in the morning and I couldn't really rest because I was pretty loopy after the surgery and they kept checking on me. Weird feeling being numb and loopy and tired and worried all at once. The pediatrician decided he didn't like how she was breathing and so she got transported to another hospital to be in the NICU. I was very lucky in the fact that I healed quickly and was able to get out of the hospital by the next afternoon, usually you have to stay 2 days after a c-section but my Dr. was very sweet and said that it would be better for me and baby if I got to go be with her. I finally got to go and hold Kathryn on Friday night for just a few minutes for the first time, the nurse that night was not pleasant at all and we decided it was best to rest and come back the next morning. We had a heck of a time convincing the nurses and doctors that we could care for her at home, by this time she was breathing on her own and starting to eat very well from a bottle. We learned a lot about hospital time tables dealing with Gracie's illnesses and it is very frustrating. What a glorious Sunday evening when she finally came home and met the whole family. Gracie was lucky enough to see her and hold her while she was still in the NICU but Zach was too young and Max needed an intro as well. We are so blessed that nothing really serious or with long term effects happened to either me or Kathryn.

Some things I never want to forget from this experience...I had a very specific plan for this birth down to what I wanted to wear during labor and not one of those things came to pass. I have now experienced 3 very different kinds of child birth and I really hope that all my "stories" will be able to help someone someday. And just because I had everything go different then I wanted I would not advocate not having a plan, just be ready for diversion. It was a little heart breaking to me that I was not going to have a beautiful, natural birth like I had with Zach and I really considered paying for a home birth out of pocket so we could have that, but for some reason I always hesitated and now I know that the Lord was watching over us and making sure we were where we needed to be for our safety. Like I said before I think that I was able to stay calm and rational because I have had some practice with uncertainty at hospitals. But the biggest blessing of all thru this was our friends. We had a very sweet friend that spent the night with the kids that first night and then took the dog the rest of the weekend so we didn't have to worry about him. After that night some other friends stepped in to care for the kids and drive them places and care for them so I didn't have to worry and Stuart could stay with me as much as possible. I also had some special visitors at the hospital and lots of phone calls and texts to check up on us.  I very much appreciate each one of these thoughts and prayers.  While Gracie was at her friend's house she told her "Kathryn really needs to come home, she needs me". It is so easy during times like these to get angry and ask why this is happening, but just as you are getting down and feeling discouraged it is amazing how the Lord steps in and someone will call or come visit and you forget those thoughts. I am so blessed to be reminded of the Lord's tender mercies and to have this beautiful new baby in our lives.

A quick run down...

Wow time flies when you are busy. A quick run down of some fun stuff that we were able to squeeze in at the end of summer. I really wanted to go see my Mom one more time before Gracie started school, because there go the days of just taking off for weeks at a time to get away. Plus we love her house and visiting with her. The kids were so excited to see the kitties, but Zach was always tormenting them and therefore got bit. He still to this day says all kitties bite, but he deserved it. Good thing they are de-clawed or it would have been a whole other story. We also found out that not only is Max good with the cats, but he let Gus bully him around the house, it's kind of a sad day when a 170lb dog is being cornered by a cat, but I am glad he was being his usual gentle self.

As I mentioned before Gracie started school this year. It is a pre-kindergarten class every morning for 3 hours a day. She loves it! She got into the same class as some of her friends from her dance class, so what more could a girl ask for. I am so happy with all the stuff she is learning, so that is a plus. I don't need to have the smartest kids, but I am so happy she is picking up on all the letters, numbers, shapes and rhyming. I really hope that her enthusiasm for school stays strong for years to come.

Gracie and I were able to go on a Mommy and Gracie date to the princesses on ice. It was so fun, and I was so impressed by the whole thing. I let Gracie wear one of her princess costumes of course and she was so excited to see Rapunzel in the show. It was the perfect night. I have been so blessed with such good kids and I love them so much!

Tiny dancer

I loved ballet as a little girl and still have hopes of getting my husband to take me to a real ballet someday. Well now it is time for me to live through my little girl, which I am proudly doing. She has been taking dance lessons for the past year and not only learning ballet but also tap. And she loves it, so maybe I can take her with me to the ballet in a couple of years...did you hear the big sigh coming all the way from Florida from Stuart? She had her end of the year show in June and it was very fun to see her perform with her little friends. A 3 hour show for a 2 minute song was not the best but watching two little 3 year old fight on stage over their spot on stage was worth it, it wasn't Gracie but it was hilarious. She is just too cute for words!

Trip to Virginia!!

I know there was other stuff I wanted to blog about since the last time, but I have these pictures out so I better take advantage of that. We had the opportunity to go up to Virginia all together and visit with my family. My oldest niece was getting baptized so what a great excuse to go on a vacation. Stuart had never been to Washington D.C. and we have some friends up there too, so if you haven't already guessed we did a lot while we were there.

We decided to drive so we would have our own car and enjoy the ride up, and let's be honest who can really afford plane tickets these days. We were half way thru South Carolina when our battery died and burned up the alternator. We pulled over in a very small town and as Stuart tried to find an auto repair parts or mechanic and very nice man came to help us. He let the kids and I sit in his air conditioned car while he called the owner of the auto parts store who came and opened up after closing just for us and we were able to get back on the road within an hour. I couldn't believe how nice these strangers were. The Lord was really watching over us that day.

We had so much fun with all my family. We definitely kept busy all week and the cousins took full advantage of all the time they had together. I wish we lived closer so they could play more often.

D.C. is so much fun, with too much to see. Luckily we had good weather for the 2 days we spent walking around and enjoying all the free attractions. The monuments are amazing and it is always fun to learn more about our countries history, especially around the 4Th of July. We decided to opt out of the fireworks on the capitol because of the crowds and the kids (which is kind of funny since we go to Disney so often), but found some neighborhood fireworks that were just as fun! It was a sad day when we left for all, but happy days are around the corner because we may all get together again before the end of the year!

Spring camping

For Spring break we decided to go camping with Stuart's brother and his family at Alexander springs, just about an hour from where we live. Stuart and my versions of camping are very different, he wants to just throw some stuff in the car and go and rough it if necessary...I want to plan and make sure we have everything we need, like breakfast stuff. But luckily we had a campsite right next to the in laws and they were much more prepared. The cousins play so well together, they had so much fun. I don't really know why I didn't get pictures of them together.

Zach was excited to help set up the tent. We had a separate tent just for the kids to play in to cut down on bugs coming in and out, brilliant idea and they loved it. The springs were nice and clear but still a little too cold for swimming. I was not thrilled to see "beware of alligator" signs around the water, but Stuart said they generally stay away from the populated areas. He is just used to them.

Sitting around the campfire with s'mores was so fun and relaxing. It was very nice weather in the evening, hardly any humidity which is important when you are away from air conditioning. Once the sun went down, poor Zach was tripping over every twig and root in the forest, but he was a trooper. Again, our very prepared family brought little colored lights for all the kids, they loved them.

We knew Zach was getting a little tired when he tried to make a bed out of the cooler, poor guy. They were nonstop for a couple of hours. Getting everyone comfortable and settled in the tent was not an easy task but we finally got the kids to sleep. And that is where the pictures stop because I got a stomach bug and was sick the rest of the night and the whole next day. Yuck, it was awful. And then the next morning it started raining, so the trip was over. Stuart packed up camp all by himself and got us home in one piece for some nice hot showers, everyone was filthy. It was a fun trip and hopefully this fall we will be able to go again, I know the kids will love it.

Bring on the big 2's

Look how cute this 2 year old is! This is a little late, but Meemaw sent pics from her visit, so we got some good shots of Zach's birthday. Zach was so excited to blow out his candle, he kept wanting to relight the candle so he could blow it out again (we should have gotten one of those ones you can't blow out). He wasn't that interested in the cupcake...although that can not be said at Gracie's party where his hand was in the cupcakes the whole night. I am so lucky to have a such a sweet little boy in my life. Zach loves to play and hug his sister, which usually turns into a wrestling match. He has discovered trains, cars and dinosaurs, so he is a boy in every way. He loves to growl and chase Gracie and her friends and never tires of playing outside. Bring on the terrible 2's, if I get to see this smiling face at least once a day then it will all be worth it.

Meemaw gave the kids pillow cases for their birthday's, so this is them loving their new pillows.

What is better then trucks and cake??