Harper is 4 Weeks...

{4 Weeks}

lifts head and turns side to side when on her belly

sleeps 3 to 4 hour stretches at night

wakes 2 to 3 times to eat at night

eats every 2 to 3 hours during the day and sleeps between most feedings

not on a schedule yet

still has bright blue eyes

straight dark hair although it appears curly when it's wet

takes a pacifier sometimes but doesn't really prefer it

loves to be swaddled up and held against your chest

always wears a bow :) 

8 lbs and 14 oz

21 inches

growing quickly and dearly loved by all

 I wanted to share this picture of Sawyer at about 8 weeks. 

I can't believe how much they look alike! 

Harper {LEFT} and Sawyer {RIGHT}

8 Day Old Harper's Newborn Photos

Introducing Harper Gracyn...

View from the Hospital Room

 Admitted and Feeling So Relieved... We're having a baby! Yay!

At 3:30 am I woke up in the middle of the night having contractions about 15 or 20 minutes apart. They weren't close but were extremely strong. I called a friend to watch the boys and went to the hospital with Jonathan around 8. When we arrived they weren't going to admit me because I wasn't having regular contractions and they were too busy to just induce me then. Instead they offered me a scheduled induction the next day at 3 pm. I didn't know it at the time but Jonathan was a little bummed about the timing since the Cowboys were playing for the play-offs the next day. Just before we were about to go the midwife said she wanted to check to see if I had changed at all (as in dilation, baby position, etc.). She checked and surprise, surprise, I was almost 5 cm. So praise the Lord, they let me stay! This was around noon. The next few hours were pretty uneventful. Contractions every 15 minutes or so. We decided I would get a little bit of help getting them closer, so the midwife ordered a little Pitocin and I got an epidural. The nurse I had was amazing! I was able to go to sleep for a while during this time. Around 8 pm I woke up and started feeling strange all over. I can't describe the feeling. It was just an intense feeling over my entire body. No sooner did I start feeling this way and the midwife (who had gone home) and the nurse walked in and started turning things on and getting things ready. I said, "What's going on?" They said they thought I was ready. I was really confused because they hadn't even been in the room. I guess they were watching the monitor and whatever was going on with the baby indicated that I was probably fully dilated and ready to push. Well they were right. The midwife checked and I was fully dilated. She had me push once and then realized that it wasn't going to take much more so she told me not to push any more. They had me lay on my side through a few more contractions because Harper was facing my back and they wanted to see if they could get her to change positions. With each contractions her heart rate was slowing down quite a bit so they decided it would be best to just go ahead and get her out. I pushed for just under 10 minutes and delivered a beautiful, bright eyed baby girl. She came out with her eyes wide open staring at the ceiling. The midwife called her a star-gazer :)

12/29/12 at 8:53 pm

7 1bs 4 oz 

19 inches

After delivering Harper on Saturday evening, Jonathan stayed with me and a wonderful friend of our's stayed with the boys at our house. In the morning Jonathan went home and picked up the boys so they could come and meet Harper. They were all so excited and instantly loved her :) 

We are so thankful for our friends!

Heading Home with our Family of SIX!

Christmas 2012

We have had a wonderful Christmas this year. As I finish this blog post we have ham, corn casserole and rolls cooking for dinner, homemade ice cream churning in my new ice cream maker from Jonathan, and jello pie waiting in the refrigerator for our second dessert :) 

The boys were extremely excited about Santa this year, clearly marked by their 615 wake up time! We feel so blessed be able to give gifts to them and to see the excitement on their faces as they opened each one. 

Payton received an ant farm (he is frequently found out on the lanai searching for ants and watching their little habits so we thought he would love this), a super hero puzzle from Sawyer, a remote control car from Santa, a few new books and workbooks, a Hermie movie, legos, legos, legos, a great drawstring bag to store them, and quite a few more great gifts!  According to him, his favorite was his puppy dog dream light.

Sawyer received a create-your-own volcano, which he had really wanted, Darth Maul from Payton, an electric drum set from Santa (he is quite our little musician so Santa was right on in bringing Sawyer drums), a few new books and workbooks, a Hermie book, legos, legos, legos, another drawstring bag to store them, and once again, according to him, his favorite... His pink-haired, rainbow, unicorn dream light. He complains of being afraid of the dark almost every night and we usually just pray with him and send him back to bed but he has been insisting on "needing" this unicorn dream light because the commercial said it keeps kids from being afraid of the dark. Marketing... Ugh! 

Hudson had a wonderful Christmas as well and really cleaned up! He received quite a few books (some of his favorite including lift-a-flap books, Elmo books and even one with a bunch of verses to The Itsy Bitsy Spider), a Little Tikes Little Fliers Ramp (he's very into hecos or helicopters for us talking folk), some magnetic building blocks and balls, a string-a-farm activity set, a Melissa and Doug "latches" puzzle, all to increase his little fine motor skills, and of course, a dream light :) He received the turtle, or "honu" light. He loves to take his singing Christmas tree to bed with him at night so we're hopeful that he'll trade it in for the quiet dream light tonight! 

Cash even received a new ball and some raw hide candy canes from Santa :) He was very excited! 

We hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas and we can't wait to introduce you to our baby girl (hopefully sooner than later)! 

Remote Control Car from Santa

Electric Drums from Santa

Hudson loves his Little Tikes Little Fliers Ramp! He has spent most of the day putting anything he can find down it including sippy cups, balls, cars, toy donuts, and so on. Way to go, Santa! 

Bible Action Figures from Santa - Goliath, Joshua, Sampson and David

Payton and Sawyer were showing off their new USNA hats from Nana! So cute! 

Jonathan gave me some speakers to play the ipad and ipods on in the house!

I gave Jonathan some new Redwing boots! 

Here we are, enjoying our traditional breakfast casserole and fruit smoothies for Christmas breakfast! 

Christmas Morning under the Tree

Heading out for Christmas Eve Candle Light Service

Ready for Bed in their Christmas Jammies

This Year's Tree - I love to see how it looks a little different ever year!