5 months

How on earth is it possible that our sweet little baby is now a chubby, though not according to Aunt Laura's definition of chubby, baby?

We are so blessed to have Duchess L as a part of our family.  Her big sisters adore her and Michael and I enjoy seeing all four of them interact.  A few nights ago, Duchess L looked over at Lady A and just broke out in giggles.  I hope this keeps up!

New pictures to come soon!

Overheard

Miss E: My bones are pushing on my brains!

It took a bit for Lady A and I to figure out what she was saying.  Lady A had been telling me about how she scraped her knee on something and that the bandaid hurt when she bent her knee.  All of us got a laugh out of Miss E's bones pushing on her brains.  Because, you know, she has more than one brain!

All the girls (but mostly the Duchess)

She still fits... mostly

Practicing standing with lots of help from Daddy

Playing outside

Helping big sister with her homework

Lounging around

Naptime.  Homework is exhausting.

At the park. I love their expressions because they didn't pose for the camera.

Our sweet Baby Red as a friend likes to call her.  

Overheard

Miss E: "Mommy. I'm unhappy."

Me: "Why are you unhappy?"

Miss E: " Duchess L is crying that she wants to be in the kitchen."

It's Raining Squirrels: Part 2

I don't know if you remember the Great Squirrel Invasion of 2011.  To briefly recap, Princess N came running inside to inform us that a mouse fell out of the tree in our front yard.  She had been outside doing her homework when it nearly landed on her.  A couple of days later, I spotted an unfamiliar cat wandering our yard, stalking something.  I went outside and saw it dip its head into the grass and run off with something in its mouth.  I noticed a baby squirrel in the grass and assumed that the cat had run off with a second baby squirrel.  I chased the cat but it got away.  The two squirrels we did rescue took a trip to a wildlife rescue center on the other side of town.  (two separate trips) 

And that brings us to this afternoon.  Princess N was outside working on homework while Lady A and Miss E were next door playing with our neighbor.  Princess N stood up to keep an eye on the younger girls and saw something fall out of the tree.  You guessed it... another squirrel!  Princess N ran inside to tell me while the boy from down the street ran to tell the other girls.  Then the adults had to come take a peek as well.  I kept telling everyone to back off and leave it alone so the mama squirrel could come take her little one back to the nest.  She came down briefly, but the children were loud and close.  After about an hour, almost all of the children had left and the adults had returned to their respective homes.  The boy from down the street came and knocked on the door to let us know that his sister had picked up the squirrel when it began crying.  The mama squirrel quickly returned and with the crowds dispersed, she was able to return her little one to the nest.

I, of course, did what I do best in a situation like this...  I grabbed my camera and took a couple of quick snapshots.

Baby squirrel right after he landed on the ground

Mama squirrel on the left, baby on the right and slightly out of focus

Blending in

Beginning to move (almost 45 minutes later)

Catching his breath

Camouflage

Trying to climb the tree

Nifty little app and website

One early morning, while feeding Duchess L and looking up something else on my phone, I stumbled across this neat app called Instructables.  They also have a website which is just as fun.

On this app, people post (occasionally) complete "How To's."  They include things like "How to maintain your lawnmower" and "How to easily use key rings."  The app has several categories including food... which is quickly becoming my favorite for new desserts to try for our Bible study group.

I have tried the Independence Day Surprise Cake, known here as the "Captain America" cake.  I made a few slight decor changes to these Rainbow Cupcakes for Miss E's birthday.  I made Slider Cakes for our group last week and this week I am trying the Summertime Cheesecake.

Here are a few pictures for you to drool over enjoy!

Slider Cakes

Rainbow Cupcakes (ready to bake)

Rainbow Cupcakes (finished - on left) and "Captain America Cake" (on right)

Warrior Challenge

Princess N is involved in a class at her school called Leadership Development Corps.  On Saturday, she participated in what they call the Warrior Challenge.  It is consisted of a 1/4 mile run, a hill climb, hurdles, a rope crawl, a tire flip, box jumps, sit ups and pushups, carrying weights, and a final run to the finish.

Michael had agreed to participate with Princess N but Lady A really want to join in too.  We got them all signed in and in line to wait their turn to start.  They went in groups of four, starting with the run.

Michael gave them two rules.  Don't walk and don't give up.

Lady A took that to heart.

She started out with the rest of them, but soon was in the lead.  

 She waved briefly for the camera, but quickly turned her attention back to the task at hand.

Princess N was a little more relaxed about the run.

She smiled and waved until I reminded her to pay attention to where she was going.

She put her head down and focused on her running.

 I'm not sure if you can see, but in the photo below, Lady A is exiting the photo while Princess N is just barely coming into the right-hand side. (You can click the photo to make it larger)

At this point, I would guess that Lady A had a 20-25 yard lead on Michael and about a 30-35 yard lead on Princess N.

Then came the hill climb.  Lady A just didn't stop!

I wanted to get a photo of Princess N as well but Miss E decided to walk away from the long jump pit with another child's toy.  Plus, I wanted her to move quickly so she decided to walk slower.

 Both of the girls thought tire flipping was fun.

Of course, Michael thought it was easy.

 I am glad our girls are enjoying being active.

It was so much fun to watch them.

Then came the box jumps, sit ups, and pushups.  Each of the girls was determined to complete the challenges.

Princess N actually had fairly good form for her pushups.  I believe they had to do 10 sit ups and 10 pushups.

Lady A struggled through hers, but she made it!

Princess N was getting tired, but she ran while carrying two 10 pound weights around a cone and back to the start.  I'd guess it was about 20 yards total distance.

Lady A was carrying 15 pounds.  She was NOT going to give up! I love the determined look on her face.

Finally finished!  Princess N was exhausted and it shows!

Lady A was ready to go through it again. She made all of us laugh with her loud proclamation that she "wanted to do that workout EVERYDAY!"

All three of my "Warriors" and the three of them with a little girl who wanted to be in every photo. (If you look closely, you can see the corner of the hat Miss E is wearing in the bottom left corner of the first photo here)

 

The girls

From the left (clockwise):
Lady A
Duchess L
Princess N
Miss E

Ewww!!!

I ate a bug!

Michael & I went for a bike ride last night and I was in the lead.  As I inhaled, I realized that I had just been hit by a bug.  Next thing I know, I felt the bug in the back of my throat.  All I could do was swallow... and try not to be completely grossed out.

BUT........


We rode for 29min and 53sec and went 4.32 miles!!

Mini-goals

I have a big goal.  I know when I want to make that goal, but along the way I have several mini-goals.

One of them was to ride my bicycle for 20 minutes.

I made it 10 minutes a month or so ago.

I made it 15 minutes a couple of weeks ago.

Today... I rode my bicycle for 30 minutes!!!

Guess I need a new mini-goal.  What do you think?

Mosquitos

One memory from my childhood is the mosquito truck.  We played all over our yard and into the neighbor's.  There was a fairly deep ditch that separated our neighbor's driveway from the neighborhood next door.  The mosquito truck would spray along the ditch in an effort to keep the mosquito population under control.  We knew it was time to head inside when we saw the truck since it came at twilight almost every day.

We have been dealing with a booming mosquito population over the past couple of weeks.  No one has been immune to their bites including poor Duchess L who is swelling in a few spots from the bites.  I took a picture of our beige colored front door area a couple of days ago.  It appeared to need quite a bit of cleaning, but it was just mosquitos that made it look dirty.  I sprayed not only mosquito repellant but wasp spray in the hopes of cutting down the number of mosquitos that had swarmed our front entrance.

On Thursday, I picked up Miss E from her preschool.  She walked up to the house while I got Duchess L out of the truck.  Miss E walked back toward me and said that there were a lot of mosquitos by the front door.  I sympathized with her and told her we would get into the house as fast as we could.  Miss E then told me that the mosquitos were talking to her.  I asked what they said. Miss E's response?

"Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.... Miss E!" (think Dora the Explorer)

We laughed for quite a while on that one!  I love the things my girls say.  I am so thankful for the joy they bring, even with the challenges we have faced with stubborn personalities.

She's how old?!?

Miss E was dancing around the living room this morning singing, "I'm four, I'm four!"

She ended with a very crisp, "Oh yeah!"

I think she's happy to be four.

Overheard

I have enjoyed the things my girls say.  I must admit though I think Miss E's comments are probably my favorite right now because she just lets us know what is on her mind.

A few days ago, Aunt Sarah was visiting.  Miss E picked up two empty water bottles and held them up to her face like binoculars.

Miss E: I see you Mommy!
Me: Go put them in the recycle, Miss E.
Miss E: Aye, aye Captain!

And with that, we decided to make water bottle binoculars with a bit of duct tape.  Miss E & Lady A have both enjoyed playing with their binoculars.

Then today...

Lady A was given a beautiful dress, along with some other clothes, by a friend at church.  Miss E wanted to wear a similarly colored dress.

Miss E walked out to the truck and stated, "We're alike, that's why we're doppelgängers."

Then she looked at me and said, "I got that from Phineas and Ferb."

She turns 4 tomorrow.  What am I going to do?

Back to School

Tomorrow school starts.

Princess N is a 7th grader, Lady A is a 2nd grader, and Miss E will be attending preschool again.  I think Miss E is the only girl excited about school.  

While I'm glad Miss E is excited, I tend to agree with the other girls that we still need 3 more months of summer.

We had grand plans.  The ideas of places to go and things to see were good ideas.  The problem was me.  I am just now feeling as though I am coming out of that foggy newborn state of sleep deprivation.  I am thankful that my girls have all slept through the night at a younger age.  When Miss E was about 2 months old, she started going for about 7-9 hours at a time.  When we came back to North Carolina after her first Christmas, she started waking up once or twice a night.  I am a cranky mama when I don't sleep well.  At almost three months old, Duchess L is now sleeping 7-9 hours a few times a week.

And so, our summer plans were sidetracked by the arrival of Duchess L and both her needs and my state of utter exhaustion.  

Michael and I also start school on Monday as well.  Michael is taking an Algebra class while I will be taking Federal Government, Business Computer, and PE.

So, if you think of us tomorrow, would you pray as we each adjust to the new school year?

Teenagers and Preschoolers

Strange.

I thought I'd be older.

But, I realize I am older.  I am actually old enough to have a teenager.  (Mom~ Is this how you felt?)

Princess N turned 13 on Friday.

Miss E turns 4 on Monday.

A teenager and a preschooler.

Wow!

Lots to share

I'm not completely sure where to begin.  Most people might start at the beginning...

This past year has been a year of reflection.  It has been a year of fighting fear.  It has been a year of learning to trust again. I use the word again simply because it seems as though over and over God is having to teach me to trust.

This past year we also added a beautiful little girl to our family.  Before you keel over in shock, let me explain why I haven't said anything until now.

I suspect that I have had several more miscarriages over the past couple of years.  I have had faintly positive pregnancy tests only to see my doctor and be told that I was not pregnant.  I did not anticipate anything different with the test I took last September.

Except it was different.  Just as I began to hope that this would be a take home baby, I woke up to discover that I was bleeding heavily.  After three agonizing hours in the ER, I was told I had a sub-chorionic hemorrhage.  Essentially, the placenta was separating from the wall of my uterus.  While baby looked okay, the risk of a late miscarriage overshadowed my growing hope our little one would make it our arms.  And so, just days before I was planning to share with the world our exciting news, my world was turned upside down again.

Art Show photos

Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went in a whirlwind.  I finished my photography class, with an A of course, and had a couple of my photos displayed in an art show on campus.  We enjoyed visiting with lots of family over both holidays.

Then came January...  We were told to prepare for another little girl.  Michael and I began the challenging task of naming her.  Princess N, Lady A, and Miss E, were not easily named and our new little girl was no different.  We were also told my OB would be moving in two weeks time.  We were understandably upset.  After all, I have never had the doctor that provided my prenatal care deliver any of the older three and it turned out this time was no different.

The days passed with little further concern other than increasing contractions.  I had essentially the same issue with Miss E so I wasn't overly concerned.  We made plans for family to visit and prepared the room for our yet unnamed little girl.  The original plan was for Lady A & Miss E to share with their new sister.  As plans tend to go, that one changed too.

May finally arrived.  With it came the anticipation of finally meeting our little girl.  I counted down the weeks.  Michael and I went walking whenever possible to try to help gravity encourage labor.  At my 37 week appointment, my new doctor told me he expected me to give birth soon.  I heard the same thing at my 38 and 39 week appointments.  By the time 40 weeks rolled around, Dr F said that he really didn't want me going too much past 40 weeks.   The way my clinic calculated the due date, they added two days after the 40 week mark.  So, while my due date was May 24th, I was actually 40 weeks on the 22nd.

After my 40 week appointment, Michael and I decided to wait out the weekend.  Dr F had said he would be on call at the hospital on that Saturday and Monday.  Michael and I wanted to give my body enough time to start labor on its own before we agreed to induce.  I was getting very discouraged and I was convinced I would be the first woman in history to be pregnant for the rest of her life.

Saturday came and went.  Sunday evening, I began preparing for our trip to the hospital on Monday morning.  I packed the girls things so they could go swimming at my aunt's house while they waited to hear their baby sister had been born.  My mom had come in on the 21st of May and planned to leave on the 4th of June. I was very glad my mom was here to help take care of them, but selfishly, I had wanted her to have so much more time with our little one too.  As I was preparing for Monday, I had a few contractions that didn't seem to be doing much.  It seemed as though labor had been starting and stopping for the past couple of weeks so I went to bed.

A little while later, after an especially painful contraction, I told Michael that if I had another contraction like that, I wanted to head to the hospital.  About 20 minutes later, we were on our way to the truck.  All I could think about was Miss E's birth on the side of the road.  I definitely did NOT want a repeat experience.  What ordinarily would have been a half hour trip in the evening time took us closer to fifteen minutes at one o'clock in the morning.

Once at the hospital, I was hooked up to the monitors and we began the arduous process of signing all the consent forms and hooking up IVs, etc.  Just over an hour later, the doctor stopped in to introduce himself.  He was planning to talk with us for a few minutes and then change into his scrubs for the delivery.  I had two contractions with him in the room.  On the second contraction, I said one word,  "Push."  The room became a flurry of activity and our little girl was born just a few minutes later.  Instead of having time to change, the doctor attended the delivery in his cowboy boots, jeans, and a polo shirt.  Only in Texas. :)

Duchess L was born 5 days overdue on May 27, 2013 at 3:05 in the morning after 4 hours and one minute of labor.  She was also born about 5 hours before we had planned to head to the hospital to be induced.  She is a precious addition to our family.

Just born

Miss E loves her baby!

Sleepy girl

I can not begin to tell you how blessed we are to have Duchess L as a part of our family.  But I think even more than the joy she has brought us, I am thankful for the things God has shown me about myself and my family and mostly about His unchanging nature.  Even through the midst of my fear and trepidation, God remained ever faithful and ever gracious.  He faithfully reminded me that He cares for our every need.  Time and time again God provided in tangible ways that just moved me to tears.  Having Duchess L is an amazing thing.  Having the gift of Christ and a Father whose love is beyond compare is even more amazing.  

I am so blessed. 

Hopefully more to come in the next few days.

Has it really been over a month?

I just realized the last post was made over a month ago!

Let's see... lots of things are happening around here. 

• The girls got their first report cards of the year.  Both had As, Bs, and Cs.  Lady A is struggling with reading, but she is showing great improvement.  Princess N is also working hard but Language Arts seems to be our girl's nemesis.
• Miss E is growing up too quickly as are her sisters.  Her speech and ability to express her emotions accurately is alternatingly frustrating and hilarious.  Just this afternoon she told me, "Mama... these girls are cracking me up!"  and "I was angry when Baby Z (a friend) took the red scissors." 
• Lady A turned 8.  She fits in the seat belt in the back of our truck quite well so she has been doing a happy dance over no longer being required to use a booster seat.
• Princess N is trying her hardest to grow taller than me this year.  Almost every night before bed, she will hug me and then stand up as high on her toes as she can, stretching her body to see just how much longer she needs to grow.
• My school is going well.  I have been busy with photography assignments and history papers.  My instructor requires her students to enter the art show the college does each semester so I will be entering 4 photographs, possibly 5.  It is not guaranteed any of my photos will be chosen for the show, but it has definitely been a learning experience.  In addition, I am learning more about mounting photos for presentation. 
• Michael is back from traveling all over the place.  It is quite a blessing to have him home for a while.

That is the short list.  We also have lots of church activities in addition to everything else.  I hope you and yours are well.

First Day of School

Princess N took the motorcycle to school!

Miss E wanted desperately to attend school with Lady A.

Finally!  Miss E was able to go to her school the following week!

So excited!