Reuel, age 3

Reuel is three and a half! He may not be in school yet, but life is still pretty exciting for this very spirited and energetic boy. When we made a kindergarten poster for Keziah, Reuel insisted on making one too.

Reuel is 3 but he thinks he is 30. He wants to do it all and do it all by himself! He is always taking something apart because he is confident he can put it back together. He is so eager to learn how to do so many things, most of which are years down the road, unfortunately. But he has taught us that he really can do so much if we just let him. He loves power tools and is eager to learn how to use them all. Recently Michael Paul taught him to use the drill press and he loves drilling holes in things. He is really good, and really responsible about it too. 

When this fork lift made a brief appearance in our driveway (a delivery of roofing supplies from Home Depot), he thought the fork lift was a present for him. And yes we totally let him press all the buttons and run the thing for a bit. And yes he was heartbroken when the fork lift was taken away. So he asked for one for Christmas. And he knew to specify, "a real one, not a toy one" because he honestly believes this would be an appropriate gift for himself.

When he's not into heavy machinery, he can be found swimming, running, and just playing hard. 

If he is sitting still for any length of time, it's usually because he is getting dirty, or riding on/in something. Here's a picture from a recent boat ride with daddy and papa:

(that's a genuine happy Reuel smile, very hard to capture because he usually gets goofy as soon as he sees the camera)

Our trip to our cousins' farm was seventh heaven for this boy. Tractors, and 4-wheelers, oh my!

Yes, we absolutely let him ride a 4-wheeler all by himself. He was very good. Fast, yes, but very careful.

And as for bike riding, well that balance bike was long ago boring and he was ready to move on to the real deal. He had mastered balancing and so getting on a real 2-wheeler was a piece of cake. And boy is he fast!

I recently asked Reuel what he wanted to be when he grew up. This was his answer: "a digger man, a tractor man, a train drivin' man, a worker, a man who works on a road and holds a stop sign, a driver for a truck, aaaannnnnd i guess dats all for now!" 

Lots of ambition, this one.

Keziah, Kindergartener

My baby started kindergarten today! I can't believe it, really. Keziah is the main reason I started this little blog here, to keep our friends and family up to date, and to force myself to record the milestones and my thoughts along the way. Well here we are five years later and my baby has started school! 

I asked her to tell me what the best part of kindergarten was going to be. She said learning a new language. (They do have a spanish enrichment once a week). And then she added that she was looking forward to the computer because it's a big one with lots of games we don't have on the iPad.

She graciously let me walk her in and take one picture of her in her classroom. Then she kissed me and said, "ok, bye, see you later." 

She had a great day. I asked her if she got to use the classroom computer. And she told me how when it was her turn, she clicked on something and it stopped working and no one could get it to work again. So, apparently she did inherit her parents' complete lack of technological ability. That is the first thing she told me. But she has since told me of new friends and coloring and the playground. She is real excited about her purple bag and folder with roses on it. And she was thrilled to find the "I love you" note in her lunch box. On the way home, I asked her if the day felt long and she stated she kept wondering when the day was going to be over because it felt so long. But I think she meant that in a good way, like an 'I'm so glad the day's not over yet' way. She crashed into bed half an hour before her usual bedtime. I'm sure there's going to be a bit of adjusting, but for the most part, she is off to a great start! 

And since I haven't really updated on her recently, here are some pictures of what she's been up to this summer:

We went camping in my parents' RV and played at a little lake beach. She has gotten much better at swimming and loves the pool, the lake, and any kind of sand.

On that camping trip, she lost her first tooth. And she just lost its pair last night. So now she has quite a hole in her mouth and $2 from the tooth fairy.

We got to hang out at a cousin's farm and Keziah fell in love with horses.

And did some 4-wheel riding as well.

She is definitely not my baby anymore. To quote Michael Paul, "she's a bonafide kid now!" The baby/toddler/pre-school days are gone. There is so much she can do now and so much she is learning so fast! I am so proud and in love, I could just burst.

Go get 'em baby girl!

Solomon, 7 months

Solomon is 7 months old! He weighs 19 pounds. He has big blue eyes and the longest eye lashes I've ever seen. His first two teeth finally came in this week.  He rolls, scoots, and army-crawls to get where he wants to go and he is so close to crawling. I have a feeling the baby gates will be going up pretty soon. He is quite the escape artist and can get himself out of the bumbo and the bouncy seat. The safest place to put him is the floor and he loves sitting up and playing with toys now.

He laughs all the time, much more than my first two babies. I don't know if it's his personality or just that he has a lot more to laugh at. His siblings can be quite entertaining. He also loves the water and splashing and playing outside. We've had a fun summer of swimming at the pool and lake, camping with grandparents, and visiting cousins and family in Georgia.

This is how a mountain baby survives Georgia in August!

We learned he hates long trips in the car. The driving was pretty miserable. But other than that, he was pretty laid back about all the new places and people. All in all, he's a great baby. It's so much fun watching his little personality come alive. Time sure does fly by. 

how are we?

We are great! Life is crazy and busy and we are adjusting to life as a family of five! So here is a little glimpse of what we have been up to. Keziah learned to ride a bike this spring. No training wheels for this girl! And she will make sure you know that. And Reuel just loves his balance bike. He is pretty impressive as well. He has mastered balancing and loves a good long hill he can just coast down. Honestly, if we put him on a real bike now, he'd probably do just fine. So we have spent virtually every day at the park because we have a gravel driveway and all they want to do is ride bikes. Like everyday! It hasn't gotten old. The first thing they say every morning is, can we go to the park today?

Poor Solomon has taken more naps at the park than he has in a bed!

Speaking of Solomon, my baby is four months old now! He's smiling and laughing, talking and rolling over and is just all kinds of fun. We had about six weeks of colic but thankfully that is all gone now and we are starting to figure him out a bit. For the most part he is a pretty laid back baby. He spends a lot of time in the van as we are driving big siblings to activities and he's usually very content so long as he has his ducky to play with. But he is easily overstimulated. So if we have one of those days where we just go go go and he never really gets a good nap at home, then we are usually in for some extreme crankiness in the evening. 

He is big enough to have lots of fun at the park now too!

I had an amazing Mother's Day with my little blessings bringing me breakfast in bed. We headed to the park (of course!) and I was hoping to get some good pictures. But with three kids, that means there is always one who isn't in the mood to cooperate. This day it was Reuel. I did get this great picture:

And this is what Reuel was doing while we were snapping pictures

(I truly love this picture - it's just so Reuel!)

In his defense, he was riding his bike, and who wants to stop riding to take pictures? That's just crazy!

And speaking of crazy, he is! There is never a dull moment. Most days I fear I am just a broken record to him repeating, "get down, calm down, you're going to get hurt, clean your face off, wash your hands, that's not safe, get down, get down, get down!" He is starting gymnastics in the fall and I can't wait!

That's a glimpse! 

A Lego Star Wars Birthday Party

We had a big birthday celebration this past weekend! No, no one in our family has a February birthday, but this past holiday weekend was the best time to do a combined party for Keziah's 5th birthday and Reuel's 3rd birthday. It was kind of a half way point between her December 28 and his March 2 actual birthdays. Keziah's birthday was just a little too close to my due date for party planning and she was very understanding and patient about having to wait for her party. Plus, both kids requested a Lego Star Wars party this year and had no issues sharing the day.

The kids woke up to a big surprise. Waiting on the kitchen table for them was a slew of daddy's Star Wars Legos.

These are not Legos they are allowed to play with (yet!) so it was a super special treat for them to get to play with them just for the day.

Everybody helped color these Star Wars characters for decorations.

The kids dressed up for the occasion. Darth Vader and Princess Leia!

And even little Solomon played the part of Yoda.

We enjoyed pizza at Admiral Ackbar's Snack Bar.



















And blew out candles!

Many awesome gifts were exchanged. The highlight for Keziah was her very own Star Wars lego - her first- which she built with Papa.

And Reuel got his first bike - a balance bike which he loves and has been riding all around the house ever since! He's also thrilled with his new Lego movie bath robe which he hasn't taken off!

We had to cut the party a little short so the grandparents could get home before the winter storm hit. Then we had some down time with a movie. What did we watch? Star Wars of course!

Happy Birthday Keziah and Reuel!

Solomon - 2 weeks old

Solomon is two weeks old! I can't believe it. And despite some early breastfeeding challenges, he weighed in at 9 pounds 5 ounces at his two week check up. He's finally figured out this whole latching thing and nursing is going really well now. He sleeps all the time! I never could understand when people would say, oh newborns sleep all day and all night. My first two never slept that much. They were awake and alert for most of the day from day one! But Solomon does sleep a lot. I wonder if that is simply the difference between a 39 week baby and a 42 week baby. In any case, we have gotten a few good awake pictures in the last couple of weeks.

Ahhhhh sunshine!

Siblings!

 

Big Sister

Big Brother

"help me!"

 Brother Love

The Birth of Solomon River

Tuesday, January 13th started as any normal Tuesday. We got up early to take Keziah to preschool. On the way I was thinking of the chores I wanted to get done that day. I had spent the day before vacuuming the van and getting car seats rearranged and installed. And I had gotten the birth tub and all my birth supplies organized and ready to go. That night I had sent a text to my mom that I was officially ready for baby. We joked that I still likely had a couple of weeks. And that was fine with me because there were still so many things I wanted to do. The past month was a whirlwind of activity and "survival mode" kind of living. Besides all the holiday hustle, the kids had battled a long bout with hand, foot, and mouth disease, and Michael Paul had battled the flu for a long week. Everyone was finally on the mend and I was hoping for a couple of calm, uneventful weeks to emotionally and spiritually prepare for the new little one. Most days I had been so busy, I forgot I was pregnant, and I didn't feel as bonded to the baby as I wanted to be. As I drove home from dropping Keziah off, Reuel asked if we could play "Giddys" (horses) when we got home. I suddenly had this gut instinct that baby was going to come that night. Of course I quickly dismissed the thought: Yeah right! me? Go early? Ha! I will at least go to my due date, I said to myself. Still, I suddenly felt as if I should blow off chores and spend the day giving the kids lots of one-on-one time.

I spent the morning playing with Reuel and then picked up Keziah from school. She wanted to play paper dolls and I continued to resist the urge to mop my floors and instead played with the kids. I noticed some Braxton Hicks contractions and lower back pain on and off throughout the day, but didn't think much of it. I had been having the toning contractions for months anyway. The back pain was new but I attributed it to vacuuming the van and fighting car seats the day before. In retrospect, I believe I was probably having some early back labor.

At 2:45 the kids asked me to put their swinging bar up. As I pulled down on the bar to lock it in place, pain shot through my back. I looked at Michael Paul and said, maybe the pregnant lady shouldn't do this. As he got up to fix the bar for the kids, I walked into the kitchen and my water broke. Uh oh! I waddled into the bathroom and called my midwife, Sara. She was shocked I was calling her. She really wasn't expecting me to go for another couple of weeks. I told her how I strained myself on the kids' bar and I was afraid I caused my water to break and it was too early. She assured me my baby was healthy and would be perfectly fine to be born now, even if 39 weeks felt "early" to me. As we talked I started having some mild contractions. They were pretty close together, but very very mild and short, certainly not active labor. We made a plan for her to come over around 6:30 to check on me and the baby. In the mean time, I just needed to monitor my temperature and the color of my water for signs of infection, and to call her if I did start having stronger contractions.

Immediately my controlling nature started forming a plan. First I called my family and told them to get on the road. I decided to go ahead and spend the afternoon making ice cream with the kids, then having family movie night as we had originally planned. I didn't want them to suspect anything was going on. I figured I'd continue to have mild contractions and then after kids were tucked away in bed and sleeping soundly, I'd go into active labor and have the baby in the night before they woke up. It was a perfect plan. Ha! Well, Baby had a plan of his own.

From 3:00-5:00 things continued as planned. We made ice cream. I started dinner. Michael Paul got out his special 1860's pocket watch from his grandfather that he has used to time contractions for all three kids. They were consistently three minutes apart. But they were very short and mild, more like menstrual cramps. I knew from Keziah's birth that things could go on like that for hours and not really cause any progress. At 4 I became hyper sensitive to the noise and constant requests of the kids. The usual chaos of life with a 2 and 5 year old was somehow amplified far beyond my usual tolerance levels. I decided to start family movie night early and put the Lego Movie in for the kids.

As I sat down to snuggle them, I realized I was in a pretty negative state of mind. I didn't feel ready for this baby. I had had no time to spiritually and emotionally prepare for this baby. Suddenly I began to have some major anxiety. What if the baby was too early? I thought of all the sickness that had surrounded me for a month. What if I had an infection? I began taking my temperature every 10 minutes out of paranoia. I knew I had to clear my head so I grabbed my stress away oil and rubbed some on my neck and head. The kids were quiet and happy that I was watching the movie with them, so I leaned back and closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. Suddenly all my positive affirmations began to come back to me and eventually my peace returned. Dinner was done at 4:30 so we fed the kids and I was able to eat as well.

5:00 rolled around and I started cleaning up the kitchen. At some point a contraction hit and for the first time I had to stop what I was doing and breathe through it. A few minutes later another one hit. Michael Paul walked in and said something. I didn't respond. He said, "that looks like a real contraction." When it passed I said, "I think we better call Sara back. I don't know if I want to wait until 6:30." The next contraction hit and a sing-songy moan escaped my mouth. Alright, it's for real now. I heard Michael Paul on the phone with Sara, "Jennifer says to come now." Then to me, "She's already on the road - she had a feeling she should just go ahead and come." I headed upstairs. According to his phone, that was 5:27.

Michael Paul and the kids followed me. I leaned against the bed as Michael Paul rushed around trying to get the birth tub set up. In between contractions I was barking orders to him. I'm sure I was not at all polite. But I knew things were happening fast and I was desperate to get in the water. The kids were incredibly calm. They were stroking my arm and rubbing my back. Occasionally Reuel would say, "it ok mommy." I actually found their presence comforting and was glad this was happening before bedtime. Another contraction hit and I suddenly felt nauseated and the thoughts of "I can't do this, I can't do this" flooded my brain. And I knew those were tell-tale signs of transition. Holy Cow! Am I in transition?! I got to the tub. My best guess is this was around 5:35.

Thank goodness for good water pressure! The tub was filling up fast. But we were struggling to get the temperature right. I kept telling Michael Paul, too hot, too cold. He was in the bathroom trying to adjust the water but we had 50 feet of hose for water to travel before I could tell if it was a good temperature. So that was frustrating. But still, contractions in the water were so much more tolerable. Water birth is definitely as awesome as everyone says it is! Finally I realized the water temperature was good enough and didn't matter because I had the urge to push.

I pushed once and reached down to feel the crown of baby's head. But I did not want to tear so I forced myself to stop pushing and breathe through this contraction and allow myself to stretch. I held my baby's head in place and massaged the 'ring of fire'. I knew I had to get Michael Paul's attention but I just could not speak in that moment. He was still in the bathroom trying to adjust the water and his back was to me. I'm sure he had no idea how close we were. When that contraction ended, I could only catch my breath and with the very next contraction I pushed the baby all the way out into my arms.

"Michael Paul!" "Michael Paul!" He turned around to see me sitting in the tub with baby in my arms. Somehow I had the presence of mind to look at the clock and note the time, 5:48. Almost immediately baby started crying and he was pinky-red from head to toe, so I knew he was perfectly fine. Michael Paul started frantically going through the birth supplies asking where the suction bulb was. "We don't have it," I said, "Sara brings that and we don't need it anyway. Look at him! He's breathing and crying just fine." I announced it was a boy (we hadn't found out the sex ahead of time). And Reuel immediately noticed, "he have penis like me!" The kids were standing by the tub just smiling and in awe.

I wasn't bleeding at all and so we all just sat tight and enjoyed the moment. Michael Paul called Sara and his first words were, "it's a boy!" She laughed and said she knew she wasn't going to make it. A couple minutes later Sara arrived. They helped me out of the tub and into bed. At 6:14 I delivered my placenta. All the postpartum stuff was real easy this time. No tearing meant no stitches. Yay! And I only lost about 350 cc's of blood (I lost 800 with the first two). It was so weird because I didn't feel like anything had happened. I didn't even feel exhausted or hungry. After all, I had just eaten dinner an hour before. Sara made the comment that she didn't think my body had figured out that I had given birth. Everything pretty much went back to normal almost immediately.

Michael Paul cut the cord with the special knife he bought for the occasion. Then we all celebrated with the ice cream we had made that afternoon. We made some phone calls, which of course were very amusing. Mom: "hi, we're on the road. how are things going?" Me: "Oh fine, the baby's here." Mom: "WHAT!"

We finally got the camera out and got some pictures. And Solomon got his newborn exam. 8 pounds, 12 ounces. 19.5 inches long. And absolutely perfect!

Cutting the cord

8 lbs 12 oz

So in summary:
2:45 pm: water breaks.
5:00 pm: active labor starts.
5:48 pm: two pushes and baby is born into my arms.

As we cuddled in bed that night, Michael Paul made the observation, "Well, we've had three wonderful home births. The first, our midwife caught the baby. Our second, I caught the baby. And our third, you did it all on your own! That's pretty cool!"

While I certainly would never plan on having an unassisted birth, I have to admit, catching my own baby was an experience that is simply beyond words. And for our little family of four to become a family of five, just the five of us in that room - in that moment - there are no words for such a treasure  - just a treasure to store up in my heart for all time.