Surviving these three hooligans

So, I haven't really had time to do much blogging, nor have I been in the mood, but I want to do a quick update of the last couple of weeks.

• Colton had his two week appointment last week, and I have to say, this was the most horrible Drs appointment I have ever been to.  The number one reason it was awful:  Colton was circumcised, and I got to watch the whole thing.  I was completely unprepared because I thought there was no way that the Dr would do it while I was in the room.  However, I got the resposiblilty of feeding Colton some sugar water to try and keep him happy the whole time.  I don't want to be dramatic, but it was a little tramitic to watch.  It was like a 20 minute procedure, and it was quick horrific.  The number two reason it was an awful appointment:  The Dr wanted me to take Colton to the hospital for another bilirubin check because he was still the tiniest bit yellow.  In my opinion, he was hardly yellow, and it was a waste of my time to drive to the hospital for another bilirubin check.  Of course the results were fine, and there was no need for any treatment or anything. The last reason it was a bad appointment:  Colton only weighed 8 lbs 5 oz, which is one ounce shy of his birth weight.  Since he wasn't at his birth weight, I had to come back a few days later for a weight check.  Again, I felt like this was a waste of my time.  Seriously, it was only one ounce away.  And of course, when I brought him back for his weight check, he was 8 lbs 6.5 oz and the Dr wanted him to be at 8 lbs 7.5 oz.  One ounce shy again.  So, of course the Dr ordered another weight check in a couple of days.  When I brought him back, he weighed 8 lbs 12 oz, which was well above what the Dr required, so finally Colton got the all clear.  I was so frustrated with all this nonsence.  I felt like it was all a waste of my time, and I still haven't quite gotten the hang of taking all three kids places.  So two extra trips to the Dr's office and a trip to the hospital tried my patience a little.
• We bought a new-to-us car.  Actually this was pretty easy, because we just bought my parents 2007 Honda Pilot from them.  When my Dad came over to pick up my Mom, he just brought the car over, and left it here with us.  The stressful part was trying to get out of our lease on the Camry.  Thankfully, my prayers were answered and we were able to sell the car.
• However, almost as soon as we got the new car, Cam's truck stopped working.  It took several days for Cam to get a chance to work it, but all it needed was a new battery and a jump start. 
• I survived my first 4 day stretch of being alone with the kids.  The first two days were a little rough because Cam had to take my car to work when the truck wasn't running, which left me trapped in the house for two days.  But I survived and so did the kids, so all in all, it was quite successful.
• We finally got some toys for the backyard, and we've finally gotten a break from all the rain and cold.  So, the girls have spent a lot of time out back playing. 

Covered in dirt and chalk

Oh good, rubbing the dirt and chalk in your hair

Which is great, except that we still have some landscaping to get done, so there is quite a bit of dirt and mud out back.  Needless to say, there's been a lot higher need for baths and laudry since they started playing out there everyday.

I thought this picture was hilarious.  Somehow he rinkled his face all up, and he looks like an old man.

• Colton is a pretty happy baby as long as he has a full tummy.  He eats pretty much every three hours now, which is welcomed change from needing a bottle every two hours, day and night.  And last night, he had one stretch of sleep that lasted four hours.  Hoorah!

It is darn near impossible to keep their room clean. 

• We moved Lexi into Abby's room.  I was hoping that Colton would sleep in my room for several months, and I wouldn't have to move the girls into the same room quite yet.  But it just isn't working to have Colton in our room, so we went ahead and made the move.  Luckily it's been a much easier transition than I thought it would be.  Now all that's left to do is paint over the pink in Lexi's old room and organize the girls closet so it will hold both of their massive amount of clothing and toys.

Mostly, though, these last couple of weeks has just been us trying to figure out how we are going to survive a three year old, a one year old, and a newborn.  Thankfully, there have been friends offering to watch the girls and bring us meals.  Thats definitaly made things a little easier on us.

Colton, 1 week old

The last couple of days at the hospital were kind of boring for me, but Colton had a lot going on.  After he finished up his antibiotics, and he was eating good, they moved him to the well baby nursery on Wednesday afternoon.  He was able to spend the afternoon and evening with us in my room, but I sent him to the nursery for the night, so we could get a little bit of sleep.  During the night, they took his blood to test his bilirubin levels, and they had gone up too high, so they put him under the lights.  I was having flashbacks from when Lexi was under the lights for nearly two weeks at home.  So, instead of going home on Thursday I decided to stay another day so Colton could stay in the hospital under the lights.  Thankfully, by Friday morning his levels had dropped a ton and we were able to go home with no need for more treatment.  I was really missing the girls by the last couple of days, but it was well worth the extra day in the hospital so we didn't have to do any lights at home.

Wednesday afternoon at the hospital

The nurses that took care of Colton in the Level 2 nursery were AMAZING.  I'm so grateful that he was being taken care of by such awesome people.  They made tons of little cards and gave us all the little tiny stuff they used while taking care of him.

These are the leads that he had on him to monitor all his stats

Blood pressure cuff

We got this card in the mail yesterday

Such sweet people!

Once we got home, it was the first time the girls were able to really see Colton.  Lexi wasn't allowed in the nursery to see Colton, and Abby only saw him twice for a few minutes.  Lexi kept pointing at him, and poking him.  I don't think she new what to think of this little baby.  Abby absolutely loves Colton and wants to help and share everything with him.

Abby could just sit and watch him for hours

My mom has been here since we went to the hospital.  She came to watch the girls while we would be away, and she is staying till Memorial Day.  Thank goodness she's been here, because I get overwhelmed just thinking about how it's going to be once "real life" starts. 

My days have been spent trying to spend time with each of the kids.  I feel like I have tons of love for all three kids, but not enough time to show them my love. 

It's been a crazy, long, sleep deprived week, but I'm so incredibly happy to have my handsome little man here with us.

Abby's princess dance

Saturday Abby had her dance recital.  It was kind of bad timing, because we had only been home from the hospital one day, and I really wasn't ready to take Colton out, but I didn't want to miss Abby's dance recital.  She loves dancing, and I know how important the recital is to her, so I just sucked it up and went.  It was totally worth the trip, she did such a good job, and I'm so proud of my little princess.

Colton Christopher

Our handsome little man was born Monday morning at 6:55am.  He was 8 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches long.

Hooked up to the CPAP machine

They were able to bring him to my room for a brief visit when they were moving him from one nursery to the other.  This was the first time I got to hold him.

He had fluid in his lungs (very common with c-sectioned babies), but after several hours on a CPAP machine and a round of some medication, he is now breathing on his own.  He is still in a level 2 nursery waiting to finish off 48 hours of antibiotics, but once he finishes that, and is feeding well, he can be moved back to the regular nursery and not hooked up to a ton of machines.

He is undoubtably our son, as he resembles the girls.  He's got the same blond hair (although he is mostly bald), same nose, same mouth.  We just don't have much variety in our family in the looks department.

My girls

I wanted to do an update on the girls before the blog becomes over taken by the baby.

Abby:

We had a rough month of April.  When the sun started coming up earlier in the morning, so did Abby.  Which made for a tired girl, who wasn't getting enough sleep.  We also were incredibly busy all month long, so I think the combo made for a bit of disaster.  She was ornery, short tempered and just a little difficult in general.  Eventually, I gave up hope that she would adjust to the early sunrise, and started putting her to bed earlier, and thankfully, we have our sweet little Abby back.

She is getting ready for her dance recital which is less than two weeks away.  Everyday, she loves to show us her new moves (most of them are dance moves that she comes up with on her own, and are a little spazzy, but whatever she does is always super cute).

Even with the fluctuating temperatures that we have had all spring, Abby wants to go outside to play, rain or shine.  She loves her little scooter, riding her bike, coloring with chalk, and finding little ants to play with.

Dress up has become one of her favorite activities.  Sadly, all we have is a tu-tu from her Halloween costume, but her little imagination can come up with tons of stuff to use that tu-tu for.

Dark pink, fairies, mermaids, and princesses are her absolute favorite right now.

The most difficult part of any day is the getting dressed and combing the hair.  She always has a definite vision for what her outfit should be everyday and anything else is just not an option.  The other day, Cam's sister invited her to spend the night, and as I was packing her clothes for the next day we butted heads a little.  Her exact words were "the outfit that mommy picked out is ridiculous, and I can not be happy in it."  I eventually won the battle, and she wore the clothes that I picked out :)


Lexi:

She's learned several words.  Daddy, ba ba (for her sippy cup), night night, shoes, and of course NO.  But she rarely uses them to communicate, except for "no", which we hear all day long.  Most of her communication consists of grunts and pointing.  I'm not sure what to do with her, I can't make her talk, but I sure wish she would so it would become a little easier to figure out what she wants.  Thankfully, she understands a lot of what we are saying, so that does make things easier.

I've switched her to one nap a day, and she seems to have adjusted nicely to her new sleep schedule.  Actually, some days I think the time she spends in her crib is her favorite because it means she gets her blanky.  She absolutely LOVES her pink or purple soft blanky.  She will cuddle it, and squeeze it every time she gets it.  It is, hands down, her most favorite thing in the whole world.  Her sippy cup comes in with a close second.  I try to limit the blanky to just the crib, but some days, she will sneak into her room and pull it from her crib, so she can drag it around with her where ever she goes.

She got her first black eye, at Church, of all places. 



Not a very good picture.  I took it with my phone, and you don't really get the whole effect of the black eye.

Minutes before Sacrament Meeting was to start, she took a dive off the bench, and caught the hymn book holder on her way to the floor.  After Cam had picked her up off the floor, and rushed her out of the chapel, Abby informed me that "that was embarrassing".  I'm not sure if she was embarrassed, or was just assuming that Lexi was embarrassed.

Lexi's starting to become possessive.  Up until now, if a toy was taken from her, she would just move on to some other toy, not really caring.  But she is now starting to scream and throw a fit when "her" toy is taken or being played with by some one else but her.  So there has been quite a bit more fighting in the house between the girls.  The words "Please share the toys, girls" is uttered multiple times every day.

She's also started throwing fits.  Literally throwing herself to the ground in order to get what she wants.  I think she's had a great teacher on mastering the art of throwing a fit from her older sister.
I love this age, when you can really see their personality come out.  Lexi is quite the character, and loves to hug and snuggle.  She makes me laugh all the time. 

I'm a little worried about what her reaction to the little baby is going to be.  She can be quite possessive of her mommy and daddy, and hates seeing us snuggle with anybody else, even Abby.  This is going to be quite a shock to her system.


I just love and adore these girls so much!

The final count down. 38 weeks.

Boom.  Look at that belly.

I almost didn't post this picture.  It was a little scary reviewing the photos of my tummy. Yikes!

Needless to say, I am so beyond ready to get this little baby out of me.  I had my final check up yesterday.  Everything still looks good.  So good, in fact, that I didn't even see the Dr.  He left to go deliver a baby, and the nurse saw no reason for me to stick around to see him.  I'm still measuring small, which continues to baffle me.  I KNOW that my tummy is bigger than it was with either of the girls.  For one, my belly button is officially an "outtie" now, which has never happened before.  And secondly, I have new stretch marks on my tummy.  I didn't get any new stretch marks when I was pregnant with Lexi, but I have some now.  So yes, my tummy is large.

I got the stomach flu a week or so ago, and spent a couple of days quite miserable.  And for whatever reason, the entire time I was sick, I was having contractions 7 or 8 minutes apart.  Thats the first time EVER that I've had regular contractions (other than when I was enduced with Abby).  My stomach has been quite sensitive since then, so I've had to be careful about the foods that I eat.

I have 5 days till my C-section, and I am finally starting the "nesting" process.  I've washed and folded the clothes, purchased a few newborn diapers (man, those are SO tiny), and have gotten the car seat out to clean.  It's actually been really good to finally start getting ready for the baby because it's forced me to actually think about the arrival of the baby, and not just focusing on the end of the misery that has been this pregnancy.

For Mothers Day, I told Cam that all I wanted was a pedicure.  It's been awhile since I could reach my toes, so I thought it was time to bring in the professionals, and really get pampered :)  I stopped after my Dr's appointment, and got the full, deluxe treatment.  Ahhhh.  It was just what I needed.

Cam has been so amazing these last couple of weeks.  I've been pretty miserable/tired/grumpy and he has really stepped in and helped around the house.  I'm so grateful for him!  I'm also so grateful for the many people in my life who have offered their help or service.  Cam's family has helped do a deep spring clean, and so many sisters in the ward have done so much for me.  I feel so blessed, and am not really sure what I have done to deserve such great friends and family.

Now all we have to do is hurry up and wait.  Cam gave me a blessing on Sunday, and I'm just hoping this little guy comes out happy and healthy.

I'll try to put up a picture and some stats while we are in the hospital.

I did it!

I finally figured out how to french braid.  I've kind of known the general concept of french braiding, but could never get the technique quite right.  It took watching a youtube.com video, but I finally got it.  So I braided Abby's hair yesterday, and was so proud of myself :)