Little Bit's Dunking
Squeak's Dunking
Bean's Dunking
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Little Bit Meets River
All of the girls received official foot dunkings in the San Marcos River. Here are all 3!
Little Bit's Dunking
Squeak's Dunking
Bean's Dunking
Little Bit's Dunking
Squeak's Dunking
Bean's Dunking
Friday, June 11, 2010
Camp Opa & Nana - Week 1
The girls and I are visiting Opa & Nana's new house on the San Marcos River. We'll be here for 3 weeks while I'm on maternity leave. I'm exercising my stay-at-home-Mom muscle, and the girls are enjoying summertime on the farm. Here are a few snippets from our first week.
Wireless headsets in the Swagger Wagon = less kid movie audio for Mom & Dad on the drive to Texas
Books with Opa & Nana on the screen porch
Everyone takes a turn entertaining Little Bit
A walk around the river bottom picking wildflowers. Squeaks fell asleep with a flower in each fist
After the walk, I unsettled a wasps' nest. They retaliated by stinging me and Little Bit. Her head swelled up some, but we were all fine in the end. It made for an exciting, but rough, first day at home with all 3 kids for me.
Squeaks and I enjoyed a little one-on-one time eating cookies on the deck
We had huge thunderstorms one night--what seemed like constant lightning and thunder from 2-10 AM. That afternoon, we played in the mud puddles.
We bought new galoshes for the girls to "protect" their feet. We needed full body galoshes.
Squeaks loves being naked. Here she's taking a break from swimming in the baby pool.
Opa was home with us for 2 days. He and Little Bit napped together a few times. I just missed getting a photo of him slumped over just like her.
Bean and Squeaker enjoy holding and talking to Little Bit. Squeaks makes funny nonsense noises at her, and Kate talks to her like a Mom would.
If you look closely, you can see Little Bit smiling at her sisters. She smiled at Nana, Mom, & Dad in the couple of days before this.
We visited a restored mill in Luling with Opa. Kate's sitting on their amphitheater looking at the rain swollen river.
Opa and I would like to try and visit all the nearby BBQ joints that we've never tried (because we're hopelessly loyal to Black's in Lockhart). We started with City Market in Luling. Squeaks liked it!
Wireless headsets in the Swagger Wagon = less kid movie audio for Mom & Dad on the drive to Texas
Books with Opa & Nana on the screen porch
Everyone takes a turn entertaining Little Bit
A walk around the river bottom picking wildflowers. Squeaks fell asleep with a flower in each fist
After the walk, I unsettled a wasps' nest. They retaliated by stinging me and Little Bit. Her head swelled up some, but we were all fine in the end. It made for an exciting, but rough, first day at home with all 3 kids for me.
Squeaks and I enjoyed a little one-on-one time eating cookies on the deck
We had huge thunderstorms one night--what seemed like constant lightning and thunder from 2-10 AM. That afternoon, we played in the mud puddles.
We bought new galoshes for the girls to "protect" their feet. We needed full body galoshes.
Squeaks loves being naked. Here she's taking a break from swimming in the baby pool.
Opa was home with us for 2 days. He and Little Bit napped together a few times. I just missed getting a photo of him slumped over just like her.
Bean and Squeaker enjoy holding and talking to Little Bit. Squeaks makes funny nonsense noises at her, and Kate talks to her like a Mom would.
If you look closely, you can see Little Bit smiling at her sisters. She smiled at Nana, Mom, & Dad in the couple of days before this.
We visited a restored mill in Luling with Opa. Kate's sitting on their amphitheater looking at the rain swollen river.
Opa and I would like to try and visit all the nearby BBQ joints that we've never tried (because we're hopelessly loyal to Black's in Lockhart). We started with City Market in Luling. Squeaks liked it!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Little Bit aka Charlee Belle
Charlee Belle
Born May 12, 2010 10:03 AM
7 lbs 7 oz, 20.5 inches
Really cute!
It felt like we waited FOREVER for Charlee to be born. Her sisters were both born 2-1/2 weeks early, so we predicted she would arrive at the end of April. My due date was May 15, and she made us wait almost until then.
This is Charlee's birth story. Fair warning: this post is more for me to chronicle her arrival than for great reading. Skip to the pictures!
The weekend before she was born, I thought I was in labor. We initiated our backup childcare plan: our neighbor, Julie, came down late Saturday night and spent the night, and my Mom got on a plane Sunday morning, arriving early afternoon. False alarm. Mom left on Tuesday after trying to bring on labor by taking me to the mall for long walks. She figured that if she left, I'd definitely go into labor. She was right!
On Tuesday evening, our good friend Mary came over for dinner. We got takeout from P'Sghettis, and I drug Mary to Custard Station with me for a final chocolate, banana, and peanut butter cup concrete. Yum. While watching "Lost," I fell asleep on the sofa around 9:30. [As an aside, all of our girls are named after "Lost" characters. We're not fanatics--it was a coincidence!]
On Wednesday morning, Chad and I were startled out of bed around 3 AM by a HUGE clap of thunder followed by a rainstorm. Bean came into our bed soon after for about an hour. I had several strong contractions, and my water broke around 4:45 with a small "pop."
We hopped out of bed and started getting ready. It was great to have my water break. It did with the other girls, too, and it's such a clear sign of what's about to happen. No question. Charlee would arrive that day!
I showered, ate a little something, and packed the final things. My contractions were stronger and closer together (about 5 min apart) than with previous labors. I knew we needed to make out way to the hospital pretty quickly. We woke up the girls and put them in the car around 6. We dropped them off in their PJs with Laura, our wonderful friend and the girls' sitter.
Around 7, we checked in at the pregnancy assessment center and met our Doula, Sarah. It was shift change for the nurses, so it took a while for me to be checked. Around 8, I was 4 cm dilated, 90% effaced, and at a 2 station. Husband, Sarah, and I all knew that my contractions were strengthening, and things would progress quickly. We told the staff that several times, but they didn't seem to be in a hurry to get us in a room. It wasn't until I puked in a trash can in front of a couple of residents and nurses that they seemed to take us seriously. [Vomiting usually means you're nearing the final stages of labor.]
We were admitted around 8:30. I was checked a couple more times: 6cm and 8cm. The contractions were strong enough that I wasn't interested in walking around much. I stood next to the bed and leaned on Sarah or Chad through the contractions. Several times I had long and strong ones, and I felt like Charlee was clawing her way down. It really seemed like she was participating in getting out.
Dr. Stephens arrived around 9:30 and added her good sense of humor to the room. A little before 10, I told her that I was feeling close to being able to push and probably only needed to take a few more contractions standing up. She encouraged me to hop up on the bed and start pushing. I pushed through 3 contractions (Chad says no more than a few pushes total; I say 8-9). Pushing was harder than in past labors. The other girls seemed like they were shot out of a cannon. During the last push, Dr. Stephens said I needed to get her out because her heart rate was dropping while she was in the birth canal. A few carnal screams later, Charlee slid out.
I remember more about this birth than the last 2. Probably because labor was shorter. Overall, I felt more present for the whole thing.
Charlee was healthy and beautiful! Like her sisters, Charlee will have a blog nickname. Going forward, she'll be known as Little Bit.
Born May 12, 2010 10:03 AM
7 lbs 7 oz, 20.5 inches
Really cute!
It felt like we waited FOREVER for Charlee to be born. Her sisters were both born 2-1/2 weeks early, so we predicted she would arrive at the end of April. My due date was May 15, and she made us wait almost until then.
This is Charlee's birth story. Fair warning: this post is more for me to chronicle her arrival than for great reading. Skip to the pictures!
The weekend before she was born, I thought I was in labor. We initiated our backup childcare plan: our neighbor, Julie, came down late Saturday night and spent the night, and my Mom got on a plane Sunday morning, arriving early afternoon. False alarm. Mom left on Tuesday after trying to bring on labor by taking me to the mall for long walks. She figured that if she left, I'd definitely go into labor. She was right!
On Tuesday evening, our good friend Mary came over for dinner. We got takeout from P'Sghettis, and I drug Mary to Custard Station with me for a final chocolate, banana, and peanut butter cup concrete. Yum. While watching "Lost," I fell asleep on the sofa around 9:30. [As an aside, all of our girls are named after "Lost" characters. We're not fanatics--it was a coincidence!]
On Wednesday morning, Chad and I were startled out of bed around 3 AM by a HUGE clap of thunder followed by a rainstorm. Bean came into our bed soon after for about an hour. I had several strong contractions, and my water broke around 4:45 with a small "pop."
We hopped out of bed and started getting ready. It was great to have my water break. It did with the other girls, too, and it's such a clear sign of what's about to happen. No question. Charlee would arrive that day!
I showered, ate a little something, and packed the final things. My contractions were stronger and closer together (about 5 min apart) than with previous labors. I knew we needed to make out way to the hospital pretty quickly. We woke up the girls and put them in the car around 6. We dropped them off in their PJs with Laura, our wonderful friend and the girls' sitter.
Around 7, we checked in at the pregnancy assessment center and met our Doula, Sarah. It was shift change for the nurses, so it took a while for me to be checked. Around 8, I was 4 cm dilated, 90% effaced, and at a 2 station. Husband, Sarah, and I all knew that my contractions were strengthening, and things would progress quickly. We told the staff that several times, but they didn't seem to be in a hurry to get us in a room. It wasn't until I puked in a trash can in front of a couple of residents and nurses that they seemed to take us seriously. [Vomiting usually means you're nearing the final stages of labor.]
We were admitted around 8:30. I was checked a couple more times: 6cm and 8cm. The contractions were strong enough that I wasn't interested in walking around much. I stood next to the bed and leaned on Sarah or Chad through the contractions. Several times I had long and strong ones, and I felt like Charlee was clawing her way down. It really seemed like she was participating in getting out.
Dr. Stephens arrived around 9:30 and added her good sense of humor to the room. A little before 10, I told her that I was feeling close to being able to push and probably only needed to take a few more contractions standing up. She encouraged me to hop up on the bed and start pushing. I pushed through 3 contractions (Chad says no more than a few pushes total; I say 8-9). Pushing was harder than in past labors. The other girls seemed like they were shot out of a cannon. During the last push, Dr. Stephens said I needed to get her out because her heart rate was dropping while she was in the birth canal. A few carnal screams later, Charlee slid out.
I remember more about this birth than the last 2. Probably because labor was shorter. Overall, I felt more present for the whole thing.
Charlee was healthy and beautiful! Like her sisters, Charlee will have a blog nickname. Going forward, she'll be known as Little Bit.
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