More pictures of our cute baby.

I don't have a lot of time to type, but we LOVED this picture of Simone. Her whole face just lights up when she smiles. She loves to coo, and is such an easy going baby.

Happy Birthday Monet!

My little Monet is five today. She's been counting down the days for at least 3 months now. A few weeks ago she made a paper chain. I think she's had a great day! Her little cousins slept over, and they helped me make a "How to Eat Fried Worms Cake." Monet has had this planned for awhile now. Gummy worms and buying the "How to Eat Fried Worms" dvd was a very important part of her plan. Five is such a funny age. I listen to her with her little friends banter about who is sitting by each other, and what they are bringing for show and tell. Birthdays, and getting to wear a crown on their special day. So we bought a really neat little "birthday girl" tiara that came with earrings and one of those beauty pageant banners. She loved it! She got a puzzle that she has done over and over again today. She loves puzzles!

Simone Smiles!

She is such a little sweetie! She smiles at me all the time! Which is just a little bit of heaven with my life as hectic as its been.

Miles learns to cook and other fun kid stories

I must say that I am doing a great job of raising independent kids. The other day I made the kids some quesadillas for lunch then made a phone call while they were eating. I guess Miles decided that he wanted some more. I heard the microwave open and came back in the kitchen. He was just taking his quesadilla out. I'd left the cheese and tortillas on the counter, so he put them together, put it on a plate, stuck it in the microwave, and made himself some more lunch! He also enjoys helping himself to applesauce.

We had a fun St. Patricks Day. The kids were SO excited for the tricky leprechaun to visit. Elise is almost 8 and asked me in all seriousness if leprechauns were real. I told her they were not real, but a fun tradition. Then I glanced over about thirty seconds later to see her gulping and holding back tears. She was clearly upset about the leprechauns not being real, so I said, "Just Kidding!" and she got happy again and set out to make a leprechaun trap. So sad that I lied, but you know, sometimes they just aren't ready to give up the fun of it all, and someday I'll just have to explain it to her. She asked me about the Easter bunny today, and I just asked her what she thought. She tried to nail down an answer, but I stayed vague this time. It was just too much fun to hear their excitement on the morning of St. Patricks Day when they saw that the tricky leprechaun had turned over the furniture and left them some gold foil wrapped chocolates.

Simone's Birth Story

Simone's Birth Story

Today started off pretty normal. I had my last appointment on Tuesday, and was dilated to 3 cm then. Not too much to get excited about. My due date is still ten days away. I told my midwife on Tuesday that Thursday was the day this baby was going to be born, and to make sure her schedule was cleared. I was joking, but all along I was hoping the baby would be born this week and didn’t want Simone and Jared to have the same birthday. Thursday was perfect because Elise had school off on Friday. So I spent the day running errands, getting the oil changed, going to Target, Down East, and basically just killing time while the kids were in preschool. I came home and took a little nap and talked to Bekah on the phone for awhile. Both of us were really getting excited for our babies to come.

At about 3 pm, my mom and I picked up Elise from school, and headed up to the house to look at some of the framing. We were there for quite awhile. I had called my mom this morning to tell her that I felt “different” but that I wasn’t having contractions. She offered to come sleep over, I was thrilled, but told her that I didn’t know if anything would be happening, because I wasn’t having contractions or anything. I called Jared this morning as well. I was feeling lots of pressure, but thinking that probably nothing was really happening.

So at about 6:00 pm on our way home from the house, I was talking to Jared on the phone, and felt a contraction that was different than my Braxton-hicks. So I started paying attention. We stopped by Kelli’s house, and mentioned that I had another one, but didn’t feel “in labor.”

From Kelli’s, we went to the Legacy Center to pick up Elise from a birthday party. I got a really strong one at about 6:45 pm as we came into the parking lot. As we were driving home I didn't want to call the midwife yet because what if it was just a false alarm, etc. She convinced me to call the midwife and Jared to let them know. We got home a few minutes later. I was very excited to call everyone and have the moms and Kelli to come over!

I told the kids we were having a “baby party.” We started getting things together for the birth. Everyone was excited, snapping pictures, and getting things cleaned up, even applying makeup. It was a really fun time, and not painful. The midwives arrived and checked me. I was dilated to a seven, and still feeling good. The contractions were getting a little painful, so I started the tub. At about 8:00pm things started getting more intense. I got into the tub, and had some strong contractions.

I got hot and went into my bedroom and had a couple that felt pushy. I asked someone to bring Elise up so she could see the birth since we’d been talking about it and I know she had wanted to be there. My midwife checked me again after a couple of back to back contractions, and I was almost a ten. So with my next contraction, I started pushing. I could feel Simone descending, and knew I could push harder, but wanted to ease her out. After two minutes of pushing, Simone was born at 8:18 pm! My midwife slid her under my body so I could look at her. She was perfect! Great color, screaming her head off, and very healthy and looks nothing like my other kids yet. She is so soft, and her hair is thick, dark and long. She has little lips, long fingers and toes.

The other kids came upstairs to see their new baby sister. Miles immediately went to get his blanket to share with the new baby, and even brought her a banana to eat, and some wipes and started wiping her hair. Monet was very excited to cut the cord. When Jared asked her if she wanted to cut the cord, she said, “Yeah, I know where some scissors are.” Her little craft scissors. So funny. Yeah right. She was very cute as she cut the cord, but a little nervous though that she was somehow hurting the baby. Elise has been holding Simone constantly, and is very excited to “babysit” her while I am in the shower.

We showed the kids the placenta and talked to them about what it was. They all just watched in awe of their new little sister and waited for their turn to hold the baby. We weighed Simone, she is tiny at 7 lbs 8 oz! We took a ton of pictures, and did her blood typing, Vitamin K shot, etc. Miles kept saying, “baby come out.”

I went into Simone's room to get her some clothes and a diaper, and my midwives were laughing at me and said they'd never seen a mom jump up right after giving a birth to get some clothes for the baby. They told me that between my mom, Jared's mom, Kelli, the two midwives, Jared, etc--I just needed to ask someone to get the things I need. I honestly didn't even think of it!

Then after everyone left, I filled the tub and gave her a bath with me. She was very peaceful in the bath, but wasn’t happy getting out! Grandma Nancy got her all wrapped up and swaddled while Elise and Monet watched. Miles had put himself to sleep a little earlier. He was so tired! It was almost 11pm when the girls finally went to bed. They were very excited and happy to be a part of everything.

Finally it was time for us to go to sleep. Simone is just sleeping soundly in her daddy’s arms on the couch in the living room, with the fire going to keep them both warm.

We are so thrilled with how everything went. It was like a dream! I feel great, and the baby is absolutely perfect. She looks very content and is nursing great. We loved being in our own home, and having everything we need right here. I especially love having the kids be a part of everything. We were amazed at Simone’s perfect timing! She made it so convenient for everyone. It was an exciting and busy night, and I can hardly believe I am no longer pregnant, and I have my sweet little baby to hold.

**Thank you to my talented sister-in-law Steph for the great pictures. You can find her at http://www.picsbysteph.com/.

Let's get this going!

Angela inspired me! I figure it is kinda like a journal. But more fun.

So today was Elise's first full day of kindergarten. She got to ride the bus with Hailey, Kassi, McKay, Alissa, and Briella. Very exciting. I got to go shopping with just Monet and Miles. It was heaven! No fighting at all. Monet starts preschool on Tuesday, so that will be even better. Now that Elise is back home, the wars have begun. I am sending them both outside right now.

Miles ate his first cracker today. I've decided that shopping with a fussy baby is much better than shopping with two older fighting kids.

Monet watched Annie this morning, and loves to sing along with the movie. It is pretty sweet. I have a list of kids music they would just love. Annie is the top on the list.