You fight and you die

Today is Memorial Day. I was trying to explain to Blythe that she didn't have school today because today is a holiday...Memorial Day. Apparently someone else had already explained this to her because she said, "yes, you fight and you die". Um....true....wonder where she got that explanation.

So to celebrate the holiday, we headed to the pool where it clouded up as soon as we got there and started to rain a bit and then we got a brief thunderstorm so we left. I think it is bad luck to take me to the pool. We went yesterday and the same thing happened. Day before that...same thing (except no thunder, just rain). Other than those few times at the pool, the weather has been quite nice this holiday weekend.

Brynn has been enjoying her experiences at the pool. She spends her time either eating or sleeping. I've decided it will be a very nice summer for me. Push the stroller to the pool (for a little workout), then hang out and read by the pool for a bit while Brynn hangs out in her car seat in the shade.

Blythe and Ethan are loving the pool as well. I think we will be spending LOTS of time there in the next few months.

The other big news for today is that my cousin Sarah had her baby today! Welcome to the world baby Grant!

Days 2 and 3 at home

The last 2 nights haven't been much better in the sleep department. The good news is that Ethan has stayed in his bed (except for once last night) and we haven't had to change Brynn's clothes in the middle of the night (except once early in the night last night when she peed on her jammies mid-changing).

Otherwise she is still wanting to eat every 2-2.5 hours, which doesn't leave a lot of time for me sleeping. I felt we made some progress last night as I was finally able to get her to burp after each feeding. And the feeding, changing, burping process only took 20-25 minutes (versus about 45 minutes the night before). So I guess we are making "baby" steps.

My milk came in a few days ago and I'm still trying to figure out why the mother's body always makes enough milk to feed at least quadruplets at the very beginning. It's so freaking uncomfortable and I'm motivated to feed her every 2 hours just to get a tiny ounce of relief. Doesn't make for a good combination in trying to extend those feedings to at least every 3 or 3.5 hours. Oh well. Maybe next week we'll work on that.

Blythe and Ethan are doing well with Brynn. Blythe likes to touch her face a lot and is very gentle. Otherwise she doesn't take a whole lot of interest yet. She does like to say her name..."Brynn ALittleBit Holloway". Ethan wants to help me change her diaper, bathe her, etc. He also always wants me to put her in the swing or the bouncer or the pack n play. After all, these things are out...they need to be used. And apparently he feels that if Brynn isn't using them, then he should. I'm hoping to make it through the baby stage without him breaking at least half of them. He also is ready for her to play toys with him. He's always giving her cars to "hold" and says things like "I want him play trains with me". I've tried explaining that she's a girl, but I'm sure he'll figure it out eventually.

I've taken only a couple of recent pictures and haven't downloaded them yet. So here's one from the other day.

The puffiness in her face is going down. Will get some more pictures taken and uploaded hopefully today.

The first night at home

So I'm sure you're all dying to know how the first night at home went. Sleep was definitely in short supply. I fed Brynn and put her down around 8:15pm. She did great for about an hour and was hungry again at 9:30. Fed her again and she did okay for about an hour again. Around 11 she was fussy, but I really didn't want to feed her every hour and a half, so Braden went in there and soothed her and gave her a pacifier, so maybe she would make it to midnight before eating again. Worked well until the pacifier came out so I had to fix it for her every 5-10 minutes until 11:50pm when I figured she was close enough to midnight. After I put her down after that feeding, she didn't go long before she woke up from an explosion in her diaper. Braden dealt with that one and the 5 that followed shortly after. She seemed relieved after all that so I went back in to feed her again at 1:45. So finally Braden got to go back to bed. Except then Ethan got up and then threw a little tantrum when Braden brought him back to his own bed.

Brynn fussed again at about 2:30 because her hat came over her eyes, so I fixed that and went back to bed. I didn't get up again until 5:00am when she wanted to eat. Guess I was so tired, I didn't realize Braden got up again at 3 something because Ethan was in the hall. So Braden took him back to his own room, but had to stay with him for about an hour.

After Brynn got up at 5 to eat, she went back to sleep and didn't get up until almost 8am.

Ethan came and woke me up at about 7:15 though to go potty.

So the second half of the night was really good for Brynn. Ethan was a little nightmare, so hopefully he doesn't repeat that again. As Braden said this morning, "I was prepared to be up for Brynn. Not for Ethan."

We'll see how tonight goes...

Expectnet Baby Poll results

So here are the results of my Expectnet.com Baby poll. Points are awarded for guessing of gender, date/time, weight, and length.



Actual results:

Girl

May 24, 2010 11:33am

8 pounds 13 oz

22 inches

You get big time deductions if you get the gender wrong and most of you did. So the overall winner is Super Sarah (my cousin). She deserves to win something since she was due with her baby on the 22nd and he has still not arrived. Although really all she wins is bragging rights.

Closest person to date/time is Laura (my sister). Her guess was only 5.5 hours off.

Closest person to weight was my next door neighbor, B'easy. Only off by 1 ounce.

There were 5 people who had the length correct. And only 6 out of 19 who guessed girl.

Thanks everyone for playing!

And although it wasn't part of the game, my personal goal was to stay under 40 pounds weight gain. And....I failed. I gained 42 pounds. The really disheartening thing is that I had an almost 9 pound baby, plus placenta, plus all that amniotic fluid....and I only lost 12 pounds total. So 30 more pounds to go. Yeesh.

Welcome Brynn Elizabeth!

Welcome to the world, Brynn Elizabeth Holloway! Mommy was pretty sure you were going to be a girl, but I didn't think you'd be quite as big as you are!

After we got to the hospital yesterday, I got all hooked up to the IV and after a little while my water broke on its own. Then things really started to speed up so I went ahead and got the epidural. For a short while things were relaxed and I figured I'd sit here for a good portion of the day waiting for baby to arrive. But then things really sped up. I told the nurse I thought I was making good progress and she said she'd get the table (of tools) ready and check me when she came back. But a couple minutes later I felt the need to push, so I had Braden go get the nurse. She came in, checked quickly and confirmed it was go time. A quick call to the doctor to get here NOW and Miss Brynn was a coming. I kept telling the nurses I wanted to push and they kept saying NO! just breathe. Not so easy to do. Fortunately the doctor got here quickly and about 4 pushes later she was out. All 8 pounds 13.2 ounces of her!

Here's me "breathing" and trying not to push.

The epidural was not very strong by the time I got to pushing, so it was quite painful, but the good news was that I was able to walk around much quicker than I had with my other 2. And it was nice that she was born at 11:33am so I was able to have lunch...woohoo!

Gommy, Poppa, and Laura came to see the new arrival and we passed Brynn around while she was enjoying her "alert" stage taking it all in. When she was born, she didn't scream. Didn't make a peep actually. Not when she came out, not when she was being cleaned off, not when she was being weighed or measured. Had me a little concerned at first actually, but we found out later she is capable of crying. She wasn't the biggest fan of her first sponge bath.

Later in the day, Gommy and Poppa picked up Blythe and Ethan from school and told them the good news. When Blythe saw Amy (Ashley's mom), she told her, "I have a new sister. It's a GIRL! Just what I wanted!"

They brought Blythe and Ethan to the hospital to see their new sister. They had minor interest in the baby. They cared more for the fish in the waiting room and the lollipops and new toys I had gotten for them. I'm sure they will take a much bigger interest in her when we get home.

Speaking of which, we'll be heading home tomorrow. She's been eating well, but very sleepy today so not wanting to wake up to eat. So I'm hoping she doesn't lose too much weight before tomorrow. Otherwise she is completely healthy and perfect.

An early intruder

At about 6:40 this morning Blythe came into our room crying. So I asked her what was wrong and she said "Ethan isn't in his bed". So I kind of assumed she went into his room looking for him and couldn't find him. Which worried me a little.

So anyway, then I asked her, "do you know where he is?"

She said, "He's in MY room in MY bed. I don't want him in my bed." So now that made sense. Blythe does not like to be woken up early in the morning. Especially by her brother who likely wants her to get up and play kitchen with him. So Braden went and got him and Blythe went back to bed. Crisis averted.

Okay, so everything is about ready

I got a haircut on Sunday. Bogie is getting a haircut today. House got cleaned today. And although work is still busy, I'm sick of it. So that means baby can come anytime now. Wait - need to pay some bills. THEN baby is allowed to come into this world.

A month or so ago I said I was enjoying my time being a mom of just 2 kids. But recently I've become practically immobile as it feels like sometimes like the skin on my stomach is going to tear open. Or it feels like the baby can't possibly be sitting any lower or it might just fall out. Thank goodness for my wonderful husband who has been doing EVERYTHING! Taking the kids to school and picking them up, going grocery shopping, cooking dinner, bathing the kids (okay, so he always does that), you name it. He has been a HUGE help!

So anyway, we've been hanging around the house a lot lately. Blythe still has her t-ball practice and games, so those are our big outings of the week. She's getting better at t-ball and actually fielding sometimes and hitting better. Maybe she'll actually decide to do it next year too.

But I think both of my kids are looking forward to the outdoor pool opening for the season. Though not sure it even made it to 60 degrees yesterday, so we're not exactly dying of heat exhaustion over here. Hopefully it'll warm up before the pool opens Memorial Day weekend.

Think they are ready?

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day yesterday! Every year they get better as the kids get older and start to actually understand what Mother's Day is. I got to sleep in until 7:45 and the kids woke me up by coming into my room and yelling "Happy Mother's Day". Then they gave me a card that they both made together. Blythe's favorite thing to draw right now is flowers. Ethan likes squiggles.

They had thought of doing breakfast in bed, but my huge belly makes that a little difficult, so I hung out and watched while they cooked breakfast. They decided to tackle bacon, eggs, and french toast, which basically meant Braden had to do them all at the same time. He was unhappy with his performance and gave himself an "F", but I disagreed since most of it was edible. But actually, seeing things not go as smoothly as he hoped made me feel more appreciated. After he fed me and the kids (and Ethan's bottomless pit of a stomach), there was not enough left for Braden. Which happens to me sometimes, so again it's nice to watch someone be in your shoes for a few minutes. It really does make you feel more appreciated than just being told so.

Later in the day I took Blythe to Christiansburg High School where they were putting on the musical "Beauty and the Beast". It was packed and was actually really good, for a high school production. The gal who played Belle was amazing. The show was long though - we were there for about 3 hours. Blythe did well and made it through the whole thing. At intermission she saw some people who had M&M's and said she wanted some. After she mentioned it, I really wanted some too. So we stood in a long line for concessions. The woman 2 people in front of us bought 4 packs of M&M's, then the guy in front of us bought 2 packs. All we wanted was 1 pack to share, but that guy bought the LAST ones! Ugh! What a terrible thing for a pregnant lady and her 4 year old daughter. We had to settle for crackers.

Anyway, after the play we met Braden and Ethan at Red Robin for dinner and then Braden took the kids home while I went to Walmart for groceries. Blythe was exhausted so she went straight to bed after they got home. I was a little bummed because I realized I hadn't spent much time with Ethan on this Mother's Day. But when I got home, he had just gone to bed so I snuck into his room to give him a kiss and hug goodnight. As soon as I walked into his dark room, he lifted his head up and said, "Happy Mother's Day". Awww...such a nice ending to my day!

37 weeks..."full term"

I'm officially considered "full-term" now, even though my due date is 20 days away. And I guess I'm at the point where I look like I could pop at any moment. Blythe says to me almost daily, "Mom, look how big your tummy is!". And random neighbors who I rarely see (and therefore don't even know my due date) say "wow looks like you could go at any time". Even about 3 weeks ago at Blythe's first t-ball game someone asked when I was due and I said 6 weeks and they said, "huh....I would have guessed like 1 or 2 weeks". Yep, okay, I get it. I'm ginormous. However - I just might come in under my 40 pound wait gain goal. To think I weighed almost 10 pounds more when I was pregnant with Blythe. No wonder I had such a hard time sleeping then.

And I think I was heavier then, not necessarily because I had 2 donuts and a french vanilla cappicino every day, but because I was allowed to sit on my butt and do nothing. No running after 2 kids. Getting 2 kids dressed and fed for school. No brushing kids teeth at night. No carrying kids around on my hip up or down stairs. Such was the life! But I've also never liked being pregnant. And I remember being pregnant that first time, knowing I probably wanted 3 kids and thinking "I have to go through this 2 more times". And now I'm almost at the end. And I'm not sad about it one bit.

And the answer is....

So if anyone guessed it was Blythe or Ethan without the ball...you're wrong.

Guess which one?

One of us DOESN'T have a ball under our shirt.