Followers

In case you missed it, I am blogging over here now. My new blog: Learning as We Grow...Growing as We Learn is about our family, and as the kids are getting older, that is including more post about our homeschooling journey. I blogged yesterday about Classical Conversations, and last week about our littlest blessing, Maggie, who is now 18 months old! I hope you'll join me over there and follow along. I love hearing from you! :)

Many Small Children, pt. 2

In my last post, I was focused on the overwhelming, all-consuming, demanding parts of being a mom of small kids. Every word of that post is true, and I would say that most days I would love to have someone help me in one of the ways I listed. However, since posting that I have been struck by the many incredible gifts of this time with little ones underfoot. I am praying that I will focus more and more on these gifts and less and less on the interruptions, inconveniences, and frustrations.

Here are a few of the gifts that I know won't last forever:

A little guy who wants to dress in costume for days to do everything:

The sheer joy of being able to climb onto a stool

 When they share their snacks:

  The being able to sleep ANYWHERE:

Or thinking it's funny to sleep on the snow:

The imagination:

Here he's saying, "Dino, please don't eat my sunglasses!" and then, "Thanks, Dino!"

and here he's "going to school" (obviously!)

The fun of "peek-a-boo!"

and of course, the snuggles

Obviously, I could go on...there's the silly voices, the mispronounced words, naptimes, etc...but I think you get the point. I'm truly thankful for each of my four kiddos and the various stages that they're in right now. Each stage, like each child, has it's challenges, but overall, there is much to enjoy about each one. I'm praying that God will give me the eyes to see the gifts in the moments that aren't what I would plan or that interrupt my schedule. That He would give me the grace for each moment, and the love that each kid needs, that they might be drawn to Him more and more each day. 

*Disclaimer, lest anyone think I'm too idealistic, I recognize that there will be moments of cleaning up poop, crying over spilled milk (literally and figuratively), frustation when shoes can't be found and we're late AGAIN. I'm just trying to remind myself that there are frustrations in every phase of life, and try to remember the truly special things that are surrounding me each day.

Our Maggie Girl, One Year Old

I have been reminiscing for a couple weeks about the events that led up to Maggie's birth and even started to write a blog to post today about my pregnancy and her birth, but I changed my mind. It was cathartic for me to write about it, but today isn't about my journey, it's about celebrating the little one that we got to meet for the first time one year ago! Our sweet Margaret Anne is one today! It's so hard to believe that a year has past already. Here are some tidbits about our sweet Maggie girl.

Maggie is very social.

She is happy about 88% of the time, the other 12% is when she is left alone in a room, or wants to be held because she is sleepy or hungry. 

Unlike her brothers, she isn't walking yet. She mostly does her army crawl, but occasionally crawls normally now. She also pulls up and cruises around holding onto furniture. Walking isn't too far away. In fact, Pete and I have a little wager going on. I think she'll take her first steps by Thanksgiving, Pete doesn't think so. 

Maggie recently fell in love with our piano. When she vanishes from a room, it's the first place I look for her now. This morning she was in there again. I like to think she was trying to figure out how to play the birthday song. :)

She is my only baby to like bottles. Admittedly, this has been a nice change of pace for the past few months. However, I am faced, for the first time, with having to get a baby to switch from bottles to sippy cups. We'll get there eventually. Maggie likes to do acrobatics while drinking her bottles, and she can often be found holding her feet.

This girl is well loved by her big brothers. I pity the boy that wants to date her. They protect her fiercely, smother her with kisses, and often proclaim how cute she is. It's very sweet. 

Here Jon and Sam are scooting with her! 

While Maggie does occasionally show her strong will in full force, like in the picture above. Most of the time, we get the cheery, joyful girl below. I can't wait to see more of her personality emerge and how God will use her in our family and in the world. Happy birthday, sweet Maggie girl!

Milestones

With kiddos as young as mine are, it seems we are constantly hitting milestones. Sometimes I don't even notice because of the melee that seems to be the norm around here, but I am trying to notice and celebrate the progress that our littles are making. Here are just a couple that occurred last week:

Maggie is eating some finger foods!

So far she has tried blueberries, strawberries, bananas, grapes, peas, squash, bread, ham and hotdog. She hasn't loved all of them, but she is trying lots of new things. I am so glad that we don't have to do the puréed foods all the time anymore. One more little step towards independence!

Next up is Will. He has started randomly telling us that he needs to go potty. He doesn't tell us too often-probably once every couple days. We are driving to Alabama next month, so I am not planning to get serious about potty training until we get back, but I am encouraged by his interest. Last week, I caught him going #2 in his diaper and asked if he wanted to go on the potty. He said yes and actually successfully went! We celebrated with a jelly bean and he has done that two more times since. I think he's ready. I despise potty training, but when the kid is actually ready it is so much better, so I am encouraged! Here's hoping we can be down to one in diapers soon!

Tomorrow Jon turns eight and then in a couple weeks Sam turns six. I'm sure I will blog about their big days soon. :)

Maggie: 6 Months (and a couple weeks!)

My sweet little girl is six months old! Well, technically, she's six months and 15 days, but as number 4, we're just lucky she's getting blogged about at all!

Maggie is such a sweet girl. She's very laid back and most of the time goes with the flow--which around here is a crazy, loud, and often hectic flow! When we're home, she is such a great sleeper--usually a couple hour nap in the morning and again in the afternoon. She's even still taking a short snooze, about 45 minutes, in the evening. We try to eat dinner while she takes that little nap.

At her six month check up she weighed in at just over 18 pounds and 27 inches long- the 90th percentile for each. She is a big girl. Our little chunky monkey!

She's eating some baby food at breakfast and at lunchtime each day now and we'll start dinner time foods in the next week or so. She has been the quickest of our kiddos to figure out the whole eating thing. She is the least messy and while I had been dreading the baby food stage, it hasn't been as painfully messy and slow as I had anticipated. I'm still looking forward to the days when I can just give her a sandwich and she'll be able to eat it without help, but since she's my last, I'm trying especially hard to enjoy these little milestones.

Maggie's brothers have been sweet with her. They mostly just do their thing and occasionally stop to give her a smooch or try to make her smile or laugh. 

However, we can always count on Will to come see her while I am nursing her. He will try to climb to be "up here with Maggie" because "I want to see her!" And he often says, "hi, sweet girl!" :)

I love how he loves her.

Maggie has been such a great addition to our family and I can't wait to see more of her personality emerge! 

Preemie? Where?

Miss Margaret Anne is now 4 months old! Where has the time gone? She has already been with us for a third of a year. Crazy! She is growing and changing so much these days. She is still a tiny bit delayed in some of her milestones, but other than that, you would NEVER know that she was a preemie. She smiled a bit later than the other boys, cooed a bit later, and slept consistently later than they did, too. She's still not rolling over, but they didn't at 4 months either. We kept thinking by the way her clothes fit, and the rolls on her legs, that she was catching up just fine, and after taking her to the pediatrician yesterday for her 4 month check-up that was confirmed. Maggie weighed in at 15 lbs, 4 oz, which is the 73rd percentile and is 25 1/4 inches long, which is the 90th percentile. We're so thankful for our little girl and so glad that she is healthy.

Maggie is a pretty mellow little girl so far. She mostly sticks to her schedule of eating every 3-3 1/2 hours during the day, beginning typically around 7:30am. She hangs out with us, either on her blanket or in her swing or being held by one of her loving admirers for about an hour after she eats and then she's ready to nap again. She loves being swaddled and her pacifier--this is a new one for me on both accounts. The boys liked to be swaddled initially, but none liked it this long. And none of our kiddos has liked the pacifier. It's kind of funny that even the fourth time around I'm still learning and figuring things out! Since she had to be bottle-fed at the beginning, we never dropped her 8pm bottle. Pete feeds her that one while I pump for the next night. It's been nice to have a baby that takes bottles! We've even left her with one of our moms a couple different times--such a treat! Occasionally, she'll have a gassy time--usually in the evening when Pete's home to enjoy it! ;)--and she really lets us know that she's not happy, but thankfully these times are not the norm. She has been a super sweet baby so far. Which has been a blessing because her big brother Will keeps us on our toes almost every second that he's awake!

Yesterday I tried to get my typical monthly photo shoot and Maggie was having none of it. She would smile away, but whenever the camera came out she got all serious on me. I tried off and on all day long. Here are a few of my attempts:

I tried a change of scenery:

Finally, I gave up and decided to try a bit more today. This morning, I caught her new favorite thing, chewing on her hand:

And then, this afternoon,I actually caught a smile or two:

Then the expression changed to this, and I decided to call it quits:

Alive and Blogging

Just wanted to say that I am alive. I have missed blogging. It's such a fun outlet for me, but to be honest I haven't had the time or energy to even put two thoughts together lately! This life with four kiddos is kicking my butt. (I would never say that phrase in front of my children, but I'm assuming that no children are reading this!) That's the truth. This is hard. Four living beings are completely dependent on me day in and day out. And because we have chosen to homeschool, I am not only responsible for keeping them alive--feeding them, clothing them, cleaning them, trimming their toenails--but also for educating them. Continuing to lay myself bare here, I'll admit that there have been days where I feel like I am drowning and I can't even see the surface to get a quick gasp of air. Thankfully, I think those days are starting to be fewer and farther between. Even the days where I feel overwhelmed and a lack of success, I can still see the light at the end of the tunnel. In spite of the fact that in the 11 weeks since Maggie was born I can count on one hand the number of times I have showered, taught the kids, and made dinner all in the same day. (Confession: the showering has been what has gotten bypassed the most often) Thankfully, my wonderful husband is great at reminding me of the things that are most important--teaching our kids character more so than grammar or multiplying, showing them love is more important that showing them that I can keep the toilets clean. He's also very good at helping with those things that I haven't been able to keep up with and at getting the older kids involved in doing more around the house, too. (I think I'll keep him) Between his help and support and chanting scripture to myself: The joy of the Lord is my strength and I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, I am making it. It has been crazy around here, but it's getting slightly less crazy. I am beginning to think that we might just find a new rhythm. That most likely it will look much different that the one we had before, but I have a feeling it will be even better because it includes this little cutie pie:

and her sweet big brothers, too:

Hope that you're keeping your head above water!

Maggie's Birth Story

Margaret Anne

Before it gets all fuzzy in my memory and I get all wrapped up in Christmas fun, I want to take a few minutes to jot down Maggie's story. I love to journal and I always like to read other people's stories, so I'll share here, but be warned: this post will include things like vomit, urine, needles, surgery, catheters, dilation, amniotic fluid, breastfeeding, pumping, etc. If you don't want to read about those things, no problem! Just click that little x in the top corner and have a nice day! :) For the rest of you, this is not a short story and I am known to be a detailed story teller, so...settle in! ;)

It all started almost 3 weeks ago. It was Thursday afternoon and I was feeling queasy. For those who don't know, I was sick throughout most of my pregnancy. I ended up in the hospital dehydrated from vomiting at 10 weeks and was put on zofran, an anti-nausea medicine. I kind of hated some of the side effects and tried to decrease my dosage as often as possible, but wasn't able to quit taking it completely until 28 weeks. Even after that, about once every week or so I would have a day that would leave me feeling disgusting and lead me to take a zofran in order to be functional. All that said, that Thursday afternoon didn't seem too extraordinary. I took a zofran in the hopes of feeling well enough to attend book club that evening. I went, felt pretty lousy, but enjoyed the distraction of friends and conversation for a couple hours.

Upon returning home I just kept feeling worse. I went to bed thinking, "I would probably feel better if I could just throw up." I woke up several times thinking that I was going to be sick and finally just after midnight, I began throwing up. I went back to bed and hoped to finally get some sleep. However, sleep was not to be had for me for several more days. I woke up about 30 minutes later to get sick some more and during that time the hard contractions began. I was in shock. I was only 34 weeks pregnant. I should not be having contractions like this. They were coming fast--3-4 minutes apart. So, I tried to wake Pete, which took at least 5 minutes, every one of which felt like an eternity! He came in and immediately decided we were going to the hospital. By this point the contractions were only 2-3 minutes apart. He called the doctor, our parents, and a sweet friend who came to stay with the boys. I kept throwing up and trying to breath between contractions.

At the hospital, they checked me in and hooked me up to monitors. I was only 1 cm dilated and she was still up pretty high. Her heart rate looked great, but my contractions were very intense and 2 minutes apart. They gave me a shot of something to slow the contractions and tried to find a vein to start an IV. After several attempts they ended up putting a very thin needle into the inside of my forearm for lack of any better options. I was put on an IV of fluid because I was dehydrated and another bag of magnesium sulfate was added to weaken my muscles and stop the contractions. I just need to say that stuff is weird. It makes all of your muscles weak, including your heart, which as a result has to work harder to pump the needed blood for your body. As a result, my body felt achy and weak, but my heart was racing. My resting heart rate, laying in the hospital bed, was 115. It was bizarre.

The goal at this point in the game was to stop the contractions, or at least slow them drastically. Then I could switch to an oral medicine that keep the contractions away and they would send me home to be on bed rest for 2-3 weeks. They gave me a steroid shot for Maggie's lung development just in case they couldn't stop things. It took until late Friday night to get the contractions further than 5 minutes apart. Then throughout the night as they continued to pump me full of fluids, and the magnesium made me extremely thirsty, I was up to go to the bathroom every hour and a half to two hours--and I am not exaggerating! Between the potty breaks and the nurses checking my vitals, I don't think I slept for more than 45 minutes at a time that night. The next day, the contractions were 9-10 minutes apart at dawn. They gave me a second steroid shot, just in case. By 10am, I was only contracting once every hour or two. They switched me to the oral medication at 11 am and around 12:30, I had only had one contraction in the past two hours. I called Pete to tell him that they were working on my discharge papers. He took the boys to get a Christmas tree, while my mom stayed at the house with Will.

This is where the plan changes. I got up to go to the restroom--which I had been doing SO often. On the way back to my bed I felt a trickle down my leg. My water had never broken with any of the boys. I tried to excuse it away--maybe I just have so much fluid in my system? Then I sat down in the bed, Maggie gave a kick and more liquid came out. I called for the nurse. She got the nurse practitioner from my OB office, who happened to be on the floor, to come in right away. She took a sample to see if it was amniotic fluid, and explained that if it was I would be having this baby in the next 12-24 hours. Let me tell you, I have never hoped that I had peed myself before, but I did that afternoon. I called Pete to update him. He brought the boys and came straight from the tree farm. (Let me interrupt this program to give a shout out to Big Tree Plantation, the owners of which are a part of our homeschool co-op and had been praying for us, upon realizing who Pete was gave us our tree for free! Crazy-sweet people! We already loved going there after a great experience last year, but now we will never go anywhere else! And now, back to the story;) The sample was indeed amniotic fluid and my doctor was called in since I was only 34 weeks. She explained that they would obviously discontinue the meds that were stopping the contractions and then later that night we would start pitocin to get labor going again and that since it was my fourth baby, things would likely progress quickly and we'd have a baby before midnight.

I wish it had been that simple.

We started the pitocin around 9 pm. They increased it pretty quickly and when the contractions got more intense and more frequent, Maggie's heart rate would dip. It was scary. After monitoring things for a bit, we discussed options. A c-section was an option, but the doctor was trying to avoid that. At that point, we decided to back off the pitocin and see what happened when my body labored on it's own. Maggie handled that better, but I wasn't progressing. So, they gradually increased the pitocin and she was handling that better, but every few contractions her heart rate would drop. By 5 am, the doctor checked me and I had only progressed to 3 cm and Maggie was still pretty high. At that point, after watching her heart rate all night, when the doctor recommended a c-section, it was easy to agree. In came the anesthesiologist and he got me hooked up with some amazing drugs that made me pretty much numb from my chest down. By a little before 6am, they were wheeling me into the OR and by 6:25 am, I heard my little girl cry out and the tears flowed. I got a quick glimpse of her and then they took her to the special care nursery. Pete went with her, while they stitched me up.

Honestly, the rest of the day was a blur. I remember being so thirsty and more tired than I have ever been in my entire life. At that point, I hadn't slept for more than an hour at a time since Wednesday night. That night, before I went to bed, they let me get in a wheelchair and go up and hold my sweet baby. All praise to God, she was doing remarkably well
for a 34 week old baby. Her breathing was a little rough at first, but within a few hours she was sounding great. She was maintaining her body temperature on her own. They began telling us what we could expect and at that point I don't think I really caught all they were saying, but they were very patient and told me again later. :)

The doctor thinks that all of this happened because I was fighting some sort of infection and that my body wanted to get the baby out so that she could be safe. Amazing to think that God made our bodies so well!

I could go on and on about my recovery and about the following two weeks, but I need to feed a little one and get some sleep, so I'll just wrap things up. In the 12 days that followed, Maggie would have an NG tube put in to supplement her bottles because eating wore her out. By 7 days, she was eating more than half of her feedings by the bottle. And by day 10, she pulled out the tube and proceeded to eat the rest of the time from bottles, plus one feeding a day she was able to nurse. She's been home with us for 5 days now. She's gained over 8 ounces since she came home and is doing wonderfully. She is very sleepy, but nurses 3 times a day now and eats over 60 ml when she takes her bottles. She is adored by her brothers and her dad and I. We are eternally grateful for the wonderful nurses and staff at Bethesda North who took such good care of her. And even more thankful for the God who sustained her and continues to do so. He is so kind to us and we pray that she will never know a day that she doesn't hear about His love for her and that she will grow to serve Him.