One month update on Adeline

The last month of my pregnancy seemed to drag on but this last month with Adeline has flown by! It's amazing how relative the passing of time feels depending on our situation. Technically, I'm a week late and Miss Adeline is already 5 weeks old!

Adeline is growing like a weed! She is 9 pounds 6.5 oz and 23 inches long. She is a great eater and is already chunking up! The first week of breast feeding was absolutely horrible. I'll tell you what, nursing with blistered, bleeding nipples was way more painful than child birth! Adeline was a chomper and just chewed me up. I met with the lactation specialist a few times and she told me I had perfect technique -thanks to 16 months of nursing twins I'm pretty much an expert :) - and she said there was nothing physically wrong with Adeline so we should be able to nurse succesfully. We couldn't figure out why she was chomping but we adjusted a few things and I said a lot of tear filled prayers that we would be able to make it work. Thankfully, one day it just clicked with her and breastfeeding has been great ever since. (Side note, the lactation specialist recommended coconut oil for helping my nipples heal, and it was a miracle worker for me. I highly recommend it to any breastfeeding Mommas.)

Everyone asks me if having one baby as opposed to twins is easier. And I always answer with a resounding YES! The biggest difference is I'm able to be so much more relaxed with her. With the twins, I constantly had to be worrying about our schedule. I needed both of them to eat at the same time, sleep at the same time, etc. and I always had to remember whose diaper I changed, who ate on what side, who slept 45 minutes, who slept an hour, who pooped, and so on. Our schedule was our lifesaver yet it also drove me crazy trying to keep two very different babies in sync with one another. Plus going out with them was a challenge since I tandem nursed them. I couldn't feed them while on the go. With Adeline, I just go with the flow with what she wants to do. I don't care when she eats or how long she sleeps. I don't have to panic when we're out in public and she gets hungry. I just feed her wherever we are. It is so much more less stress to just have one baby this time. That being said, my other two children haven't disappeared so the challenge is taking care of two toddlers in addition to a newborn this time around.

I guess you could say Adeline is a "needy" baby in the fact that she loves to be held all the time. But for now, I don't really view it as a problem. I'm enjoying all the snuggle time. I feel like I missed out on that somewhat with my twins because I couldn't hold them both and when I was holding one the other one wanted me too and there wasn't a lot of leisurely cuddle time. Eventually, Adeline will have to learn to be content on her own so I can actually get something done, but I'm happy to hold her and relish in her sweetness and I honestly don't believe you can spoil a newborn!

Sleep is hit and miss which I'm sure is typical of most newborns. Sometimes she only gets up once in the night. Sometimes she's up every two hours! On days that I'm lucky, all three of the girls will nap at the same time which means I can too. I also am able to sleep in just a little bit because Nate will get the girls up before he goes to work. He'll put an episode on for them buying me 30 more minutes of  glorious sleep!

Eden and Lydia have been so good with Adeline. I was really worried about jealousy, and they do act out a bit more seeking attention, but overall they've done really well. They like to be big helpers and pick out her pajamas, throw her diapers away, get her blankets, rub her lotion on, etc. They really love her and I love having these three beautiful, wonderful girls to call mine!

Adeline's Birth Story

When people hear I was in labor for 21 hours, their immediate response is something like, "Oh no! That is awful! That must have been so miserable." And if you would have told me ahead of time that is was going to be so long, I probably would have said, "Never mind, forget the VBAC! Let's just do a c-section again." However, I can honestly say my labor was really not bad at all. I felt each stage was very manageable and I was pleasantly surprised with how well it all went. Having never experienced a vaginal birth, I really didn't know what to expect. Hollywood depicts it as this big dramatic event and everyone likes to tell you their horror stories, but giving birth for me was nothing like that.

My due date was the 24th but I had decided a few weeks ago, that Friday the 19th would be a great day to go into labor. I did everything I could do mentally and physically to prepare myself for that day. I even went in to the doctor that morning and got my membranes swept. That night I started having contractions and thought, hey this power of the mind thing might actually work. I may actually be in labor! But alas, they stopped after a couple hours and I did not have the baby on the 19th. I did however, keep having contractions off and on all weekend long. I kept getting my hopes up, but the contractions would always gradually fade away.

Monday morning I had a doctor's appointment and I hoped that with all those contractions I would have at least dilated and progressed further that when I was last there on Friday. I was so disappointed that I was still only dilated to 2.5 cm which is exactly where I was on Friday. But my doctor did a membrane sweep again and said she felt confident the baby would come soon because I was very soft and stretchy. Once again, I had a bunch of contractions that night but nothing came of it.

Last belly shot the day before Adeline was born

On Tuesday, my girls were at their cousins' house all day, so I decided to do all the last minute things before the baby came. I mopped, vacuumed, did laundry, got a pedicure, went grocery shopping all while having contractions off and on throughout the day. I started to notice a change in pain and intensity and began to have an inkling that this time it was the real deal. My mom flew into town that night around 7:00 PM. While we were waiting for her at the airport, things transitioned and I knew I was in labor. I had some pretty intense contractions and I'm sure the airport employees started getting nervous I was going to give birth right there as I swayed and breathed my way through each of them. After a less than enjoyable car ride home, I decided to start timing my contractions. They were about 5 minutes apart. I was relieved when we got the girls to bed so I could focus and try to relax. We pretty much spent the rest of the evening binge watching Project Runway while I paced around the living room. I found the best way to relieve the pain during contractions was to lean over the back of the couch, sway my hips, and focus on my breathing. They were definitely painful but I told myself it would only last a minute or so and I could do anything for a minute. Gradually they started lasting longer and coming about every 3 minutes. Around midnight I finished my season of the show and decided to hop in the tub for a bit to see if it would help me relax. It did feel really good actually especially with a jet pointed at my lower back. After I got out and got dressed I decided it was time to head to the hospital. This was just before 2:00 AM. Thank goodness we only live 5 minutes from the hospital so I only had to have a couple contractions in the car because that was miserable! I feel sorry for anyone that lives further than that from a hospital. Car contractions are the worst!

I felt pretty pleased with myself for how I handled laboring at home and hoped I didn't have too much longer before the baby was born. I was devastated when the nurse checked me and I was only dilated to a 3. Are you kidding me!?!?!?! I began to really worry that I would be one of those people who couldn't dilate on their own and I was going to end up having a c-section again. Of course once I was hooked up to the monitor and lying in the hospital bed, my contractions slowed way down. I'm sure the staff thought I was being dramatic and wasn't really in labor since I was hardly dilated and my contractions were pretty spaced out. They said they would monitor me for an hour. If I progressed they would admit me and if not they would send me home. I just prayed that I would dilate because going home was not an option! Thankfully, when the nurse came back I was at a 4! Hooray, we could stay. I was so relieved that my body was doing what it was supposed to do. They called my doctor and by the time she got there I was at a 5. Finally, things were moving along. This was sometime between 5:00-6:00 AM. My doctor said my bag of waters was bulging and she could go ahead and break my water if I wanted. She said that would really speed things up and I would probably deliver soon after. I was all for speeding up my labor but wanted to make sure I had time to get an epidural first. They hadn't gotten my labwork back yet nor had they given me a bag of iv fluids so it was still a ways off before I could get the epidural so we decided to hold off breaking the water. Also, at this point I wasn't in very much pain as my contractions were really spaced out, so I wasn't that concerned about getting the epidural ASAP. When I say spaced out, I'm talking like 10 minutes apart and not very intense. Honestly, I thought it was a miracle I was progressing because nothing seemed to be going on. Around 8:00 AM the nurse came in and told me there was a scheduled c-section at 9:00 AM so if I wanted an epidural it was somewhat of a now or never situation. I felt almost silly getting an epidural when I wasn't even in pain at this point, but I knew that I wanted one and didn't want to miss my chance so we went ahead and decided to do it then. With my c-section I had a pretty strong reaction to the spinal block with uncontrollable shakes and vomiting so I was worried the epidural would have a similar effect, but it was uneventful. Once the epidural was in place, my doctor came in to break my water around 9:15. I was already at a 7 so we figured it wouldn't be long before the baby came. The contractions came back with a vengeance after my water broke. They were only a minute or two apart and quite painful. How would I know they were painful, you ask? Because my epidural was only working on one side! It was a bizarre feeling. The nurse had me turn to my side to see if it would help the medicine flow to that side. Thankfully, that did the trick and I really didn't feel much after that point.

Once the epidural was fully working, we basically just waited. After being up all night, it was nice to relax and take a little nap! I had the initial surge of contractions for about an hour after my water broke, but then they faded away again. I stayed at 8 cm for hours. Here is where I have to give a shout out to my doctor. She knew I really wanted to have a VBAC and she was totally on board with that. With my progress being so slow, some doctors would have suggested (or threatened) a c-section, but it never even came up. She said my body was doing what it was supposed to and there was no reason to not let things happen in their own time. I actually switched doctors at 32 weeks pregnant and am so grateful that I did. She was awesome!

I continued to labor throughout the day. Although my contractions were few and far between, they were apparently effective because I  was finally dilated to 10 cm and ready to push by 3:00 PM. I feel like I could have managed the whole labor experience without the epidural but I am so grateful to have had it for the pushing part! Maybe it wouldn't have been as bad as I imagine it would be, but I was OK not feeling a baby emerge from my body. I did feel a bit ridiculous "pushing" when I couldn't feel a thing and had no idea if I was even doing it right. In between contractions we just chatted with the doctor and the nurses. It was all very relaxed and very not what I pictured. No screaming or gasping for breath, no nurse yelling in my face, no swearing at Nathan for impregnating me. Just taking deep breaths and pushing whenever the nurse told me to and then pleasantly laughing and conversing while waiting until she told me to do it again. I tell you what, modern medicine is amazing! There was a light above me that was turned off that I could see my reflection in so I was actually able to watch and see the baby's head coming out. So weird! After 21 hours of labor, little Adeline Jane was born on her due date at 3:43 PM! She weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Practically perfect in every way!

Afterwards, the doctor immediately laid Adeline on my chest and we had some good bonding while I was stitched up from some minor tearing. That was a new experience for me as my twins had been whisked away, and I hadn't held them for a couple hours after they were born.

Eden and Lydia meet their baby sister!

Very curious about her.....

But not so sure about keeping her...

Mimi and her girls

First family photo

After the epidural finally wore off, the nurses had me try to get up and walk to the bathroom. That didn't go so well......I passed out! Luckily, I felt it coming on and the nurses were able to help me sit on the floor right before I blacked out! I think it happened because I had lost a lot of blood. When they tested my hemoglobin level it was 5.9 and it's supposed to be above 12! Needless to say, I was very weak and tired. I ended up getting a blood transfusion the next day. The rest of the hospital stay was uneventful and we were discharged Friday morning. I've been amazed at how quickly my body has recovered in the last week. Obviously I'm nowhere near 100% but it's definitely been an easier recovery than my c-section. Overall, I'm very pleased with how my labor, delivery, and recovery played out.

Adeline is so long and loves to stretch out! 

Since coming home, my parents have been in town. They were such a big help especially with the twins. I'm so grateful they could be here. They just left last night so today is our first day on our own. I'm a little nervous! I can't believe Adeline is one week old today. We feel so incredibly blessed to have her as a part of our family now. Eden and Lydia have done really well with her and absolutely love her. We are excited, anxious, scared, and eager for this next chapter in our family to begin!

Waking up is hard to do!

Potty Training Twins!

We finally did it. We took the plunge and started potty training the twins! They've been showing signs up "readiness" for some time now that I've been trying to ignore because I didn't want to undertake potty training. It just seemed so overwhelming and time consuming. With baby number 3's imminent arrival, I decided to quit dragging my feet and just do it! We're now 2 weeks into the process and things are actually going really well! I won't claim to be an expert but I do feel a bit like a super woman for potty training 2 kids at once.

I didn't read a book or subscribe to a certain method, but everyone and their dog seemed to offer me advice (solicited and unsolicited) so I wasn't short on ideas to try. I just picked what sounded doable to me and went with it. In preparation for P-Day, I cleared my schedule for several days, bought stickers and treats, sewed some little trainers lined with an old towel, and talked with the girls about not wearing diapers anymore. We already owned a little potty as well as a potty ring to go on the toilet.

Day 1: When P-Day rolled around, I got the girls out of their cribs and immediately took their diapers off. I made a big deal about today being the day to start using the potty. I planned for them to be naked from the waist down, but both girls immediately freaked out about not wearing pants so I went back on my plans and put them in underwear and pants. I set them on the potty and..................nothing happened. Big shocker! Oh well, we'll try again soon. However, within 2 minutes of refusing to use the potty, they both peed on the floor. Oh boy, it could be a long day. After that first accident, I decided to go back to my original plan and have them be naked. They were just happy to have their wet pants off so they didn't fight me on it this time. So with naked bums, they sat down and had their breakfast. Normally they drink milk or water, so for a special treat I made sure to give them a ton of chocolate milk and juice throughout the day so they would have lots of opportunities to use the potty. I took them to the potty every 20-30 minutes to let them try. They each had another accident on the floor before having success in the potty. I really think it helped that they were naked for the second accident because then they knew immediately what was happening. When they had success, they got a big cheer from Mommy and sister, a little treat (m&m or smartie), and a sticker.  We spent the morning watching cartoons about potty training and reading books about it too. I kept them downstairs on the hardwood and tile so I would have to worry about the new carpet upstairs. I quickly discovered they couldn't make it to the bathroom on time so we brought their little potty out and set it in front of the t.v. I was delighted when right in the middle of watching Daniel Tiger use the potty, Eden ran over to her potty and sat down and pooped! My biggest fear of potty training was cleaning poop off the floor so I was beyond happy! By nap time we were all exhausted from the morning of training. I had already decided I was not tackling training for naps and nights yet so I put them back in their diapers and put them to bed. Then I put myself to bed to rejuvenate for the afternoon of training.

When the girls woke up from their naps. I took their diapers off right away and Eden immediately started crying, "No, I wear diaper!" Lydia tried to console her by saying "Eden, diapers are for babies." The afternoon went surprisingly well! I think they both only had one accident and made it to the potty a few times. They started getting really excited and cheering for themselves. "Yay me!" And they immediately ran to the kitchen for their treat and sticker afterwards. They both had one more accident when Nate got home from work, but I think that was because we were all distracted. It was a soggy first day but at least I didn't have a load of laundry since they had been naked!

Lessons learned the first day: we needed two little potties, stay patient, and keep them naked. I went to the store and bought a second potty that night and mentally prepared myself for the next day.

These little leg warmers were handy to have. The girls could be naked but not freezing! 

Day 2: Eden once again cried that she wanted to wear a diaper but got over it when I gave her a cup of chocolate milk. I followed my same plan that day; kept them naked from the waist down, gave them lots to drink, gave rewards, and stayed downstairs off the carpet! Lydia had zero accidents all morning! I caught Eden mid- accident and set her on the potty so at least I only had half the amount of urine to clean up :) I felt like we were really on a roll! That afternoon I let them wear undewear and pants so they could play outside. I think they got confused not being naked and both had accidents but I didn't care since we were outside and I didn't have to clean it up! Plus we were all a little stir crazy from hanging out in the living room for two days straight so we needed some outside time. The rest of the afternoon was accident free but just before dinner Lydia started throwing up. Ugh! I was prepared to clean up potty accidents but I hadn't mentally prepared myself to clean up vomit. Yuck! She threw up a few more times that night. I thought maybe her system was just a little messed up because she'd been drinking a ton and eating lots of candy. But after she went to bed and I started feeling sick, I knew it must be a virus. That night I was SO miserable. I lost track of how many times I was up throughout the night throwing up. I can not remember the last time I was that sick. The stomach bug is always miserable, but when you're 34 weeks pregnant it is sooooooooo much worse!

Day 3: I had heard that the third day of potty training is really crucial so I didn't want to back track, but I was so sick and miserable that day, I knew I had no energy to deal with it. So back in diapers they went for the day. Luckily, Lydia seemed to be fine and Eden never caught whatever bug it was. I spent most of the day in bed. Not sure what the girls did since I was sleeping :) Somehow we all survived the day,

Day 4: With everyone healthy and well, we jumped right back in. I was afraid we would be starting over at square one again, but they both did great! We spent the morning naked again, but I let them wear pants and their little trainers that afternoon. We even had our first outing and went to the park that day and they stayed dry!

Day 5 and beyond: The girls are pretty much accident free at home. Lydia will go to the potty by herself without prompting most of the time if she needs to and Eden has started to do that as well. But I still remind them and take them every so often if its been a while. We've slowly started venturing out on errands and to friend's houses as well. We've only had one public accident at a restaurant. Eden kept telling us she needed to go potty so we took her probably 3 times but she freaked out about sitting on the actual toilet and wouldn't go so she eventually went in the booth. I've decided I need to be one of "those moms" who packs a potty for her kids to use in the van. What have I come to? I drive a van and it has a potty in it. Sigh! Oh motherhood.

Like I said, I'm no expert. This is just potty training according to Laurel. I've been really pleased with how the girls have done. My only fear now is they will totally regress when the baby comes. Oh well, we will deal with that if it happens and there is no reason to worry about it now.

New Year's Letter

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family! I wanted to send out a Christmas letter this year but didn't get around to it on time. Oh well! This will have to suffice. What a year it has been! As I reflect back on everything that has happened this year, I am filled with gratitude and amazement.

Nathan left Wal-Mart and got a new job at America's Car-Mart home office this spring. This has been a huge change for our family, and a really great change! We do miss our 10% discount and gym membership; otherwise, the move has been really great for us. Being at a smaller company, Nate gets more exposure and opportunities to experience different types of technology. He is learning a ton and enjoying being challenged. I enjoy that he comes home less stressed and depressed!

The girls and I took a three week vacation to Utah this summer to visit our family. We loved spending time with everyone and had so many adventures while we were there. It was the longest Nate and I have ever been apart but somehow we survived.

Ah, the joys of summer!

Lydia holding cousin Carter

While in Utah, I found out some surprising news and was able to relay that to Nate through video chat; we're having another baby!!!! I say surprising not because I don't know where babies come from, but because we were so blessed not to have to go through fertility treatments this time around. We didn't know if we'd even be able to have another baby, so we're thrilled that we will be welcoming a baby girl into our family this February!

Wearing one of my own creations and showing off the belly at 34 weeks and 2 days. 

We'd been considering buying another house because my sewing business/the girls' toy room had taken over our living room. When we found out about the baby, that sent us over the edge. We found a beautiful home in Rogers (the next town over) for a great price that we just couldn't pass up. Fortunately, we were able to sell our old home within a week of being on the market. We have been extremely busy this fall doing some updates to our new home including new carpet, hardwood, granite and butcher block counter tops, backsplash, and appliances. Nate has done a lot of the work himself. It has been stressful, but he is pretty proud of his work! The house is still very much a work in progress but we love it! It's a great location close to Nathan's work, and we love having a bit more space.

Our beautiful, new home

We experienced two enjoyable trips to Seattle to see Nate's family this year. Once was for a camping trip on Moses Lake and the other for Christmas! On both trips we were privileged to see "the mountain" multiple days out of each week we were there.  It has become a running joke as Nate's whole family always points out to me when Mt. Rainier is visible since we always seem to have good weather when we visit.  On cloudy days, the mountain is not in sight.

Loving on their Anna and Elsa dolls from Grandma

My Etsy shop has kept me busy this year. It's been really fun to learn new skills and see my creations come to life. I plan to close the shop for a nice long maternity break. I hope to be able to open it again, but I'm sure it will take some time to adjust to caring for three small children. Did I mention we're going to have 3 kids under the age of 2 1/2?!?!?!?!

I absolutely LOVE my new sewing space!

The girls are growing up so fast that I can hardly keep up. They amaze me with the new things they learn every day. It's so fun to be able to actually have a conversation with them now. I'll admit, being a stay at home mom can be lonely and you end up talking to yourself a lot, so it's been nice to be able to talk to the girls now! They are sweet, funny, smart, crazy girls!

We have been blessed beyond measure! We are grateful for everyone who has been a part of our lives this year. We look forward with joy (and terror!) to Baby A joining our family in just a few short weeks.

The Twins are 2!

I hate that I can't seem to find the time to stay caught up on my blog! I love going back and reading my updates, especially on the girls because I've found I've forgotten so many things. It's nice to have things written down so those memories aren't lost! Anyway, I'm a couple months late on this update but I didn't want to miss it.

Eden and Lydia turned two on September 21st. Am I the only one that finds this crazy?????? I still find myself calling them babies on occasion, but they really aren't anymore. The "terrible" twos are definitely in full swing but also the terrific twos! Some days are so incredibly hard and I wonder what happened to my sweet girls that turned them into little terrors. But other days they are absolute angels that want to snuggle and kiss me and tell me they love me all day. Those days are the best!

EDEN: Eden has definitely taken on the role of older sister. She bosses Lydia around all day and luckily Lydia is super mellow and likes to follow along with what her sister says most of the time. For instance, for Halloween Eden was supposed to be Bo Peep and Lydia was going to be her sheep (very fitting for their personalities) but when it came time to put costumes on, Eden was insistent that she be the sheep and Sissy be "Peep." Lydia promptly handed the sheep costume to Eden and picked up the Bo Peep dress instead. At least they were both happy in the end. When we go for walks, Eden gets really upset if she is not leading the pack. She prefers to run ahead and call back, "Come on, guys!" Eden loves to draw pictures. I know I'll probably regret it one day, but the crayons are always sitting out at their play table so she can color multiple times throughout the day. Fortunately, she knows that coloring is only for paper and we've only had one incident of crayon on the fireplace. Both girls are pretty good with recognizing different colors so we're starting to talk about shapes now. I don't think they really get it at all but they love to say "circo" (circle) over and over as they draw their pictures and proudly show me their cirlces (aka scribbles). I also introduced finger paints recently and those were a huge hit!

LYDIA: Both girls talk really well, but Lydia definitely talks a bit more and a bit more clearly. She is such an imitator and copies whatever we say. When we read books or say prayers, she always repeats the words. She is quite the singer as well. She can carry a tune and she knows a lot of the words to the songs we sing. She also likes to make up her own songs. She usually sings herself to sleep at nap time. It's pretty cute. She made up a song about Eden and we think it's so funny when she sings it. The only problem is, Eden hates it! Whenever Lydia sings it, Eden screams, "No Lydi! No Song!" Lydia has always been more cautious than Eden but she's started to get over some of her inhibitions. She used to hate being pushed in the swing at the park but recently she's decided she loves its and will even tell me to give her a big push. Both girls still love the park and we've had great weather this fall so we go at least a few times a week.

SLEEP: Oh, sleep. I thought sleep issues were only things you deal with with babies. Hahahaha. How naive I was. They went through a really long stretch of good sleep but recently that has all changed. The girls went through several weeks of nap strikes where they just flat out refused to nap. In the beginning, it was fine because they would just talk to each other and read their books in bed but as the weeks wore on, they just started getting more and more overtired and nap time turned into scream time. It was devastating. Perhaps, you think I exaggerate and devastating is too strong a word, but if you've never dealt with two overtired, cranky two year olds day after day, you have no idea how horrible it is. I tried everything to get them to take their naps from crying it out (2 hours of screaming!) to sitting in their room with them to help them be calm to different naptime schedules to totally losing it and yelling at them to go to sleep. Nothing worked. It's so hard to accept that the are independent little people and if they don't want to take a nap, I can't force them to. I finally tried separating them and moved Eden to another room for naps but that did not go over well. Eden wasn't having any of that, but when she said Lydia should sleep in the other room, I decided to try it. Thankfully, we've seen some improvement. They still skip naps a couple times a week but at least they are taking some naps and we're able to avoid all three of us in tears every afternoon. Bedtime is also a challenge. They just don't want to go to sleep! I can't just ignore them, because Eden has started to strip down out of her clothes and diaper and I find her naked as a jaybird when I go check on her. One night, I didn't check, and about midnight she started whimpering and crying because she was cold and wet. We've found that the earlier we put them to bed, the better.  So recently we've been trying to get back to 7:00 PM bedtime. It just seems like it's so hard to have them ready for bed by 7:00. They are still in their cribs and Nate thinks we should just go ahead and move them to beds now while things are bad. He says it can't get worse. But it can!!!! So I'm sticking to my guns and we're keeping them in cribs for as long as possible! The good news is we finally got rid of their binkies. They obviously weren't helping them sleep anymore so we told them binkies were for babies and just stopped using them. The first few nights they would bring it up and say "binkies for babies" but they seem to have forgotten all about them now.  Let's be honest, the binkies were probably more for our sanity than to fulfill the needs of the girls.

OUR DAYS: Our typical day looks something like this
7:15 Girls wake up. Nate gets them out of bed and starts getting ready for work. I catch a few more minutes of sleep if I can
8:00 Breakfast
8:30 I clean up the kitchen while the girls color at their activity table
9:00 We head upstairs. I get the girls dressed for the day and then start my sewing for my Etsy business. The girls toy room is right outside my sewing room so they play with their toys while I sew. I break up the occasional scrabble but honestly, they play together really well. (Especially in the mornings when they are happy.)
10:30 We'll either have a playdate with friends, run our errands, or go to the park if we have nothing else planned.
12:00 Lunch time. Nate gets to come home often so we enjoy spending some time with Daddy during the day!
1:00-3:00 Nap time or "rest" time if they choose not to sleep. I use this time to work some more on my sewing
3:00 Girls wake up, have a snack, and watch a show. Their favorite thing to watch right now is a cute short film called "Room on the Broom." They ask to watch the witch nearly every day! Other favorites include Mickey Mouse, Dora, Curious George, Daniel Tiger, and Sofia the First.
4:00 We either play outside, go for a walk, go to the park if we didn't go in the morning, video chat with one of their Grandma's, or run any errands we didn't get to earlier.
5:00 Realize its almost dinner time and I haven't prepared anything. (Why does this happen every day?) Figure something out. The girls will either play upstairs or if they're cranky and I don't want to deal with it while I'm cooking I'll put another show on.
5:30 Nate comes home
6:00 Dinner. Playtime with Daddy while I clean up the kitchen.
7:00- Bathtime, stories, songs, prayer
7:30 Bedtime. Spend the next hour or so trying to get them to go to sleep! (Or more on a bad night. Less on a good night. Like I said, we're working on this!)
The rest of the night, Nate spends working on our renovation projects on our house and I spend working on my business.

GOALS: There are a few things I'm hoping to do better as a mother this year. I don't yell at them often but enough that I'd like to do better. It doesn't help and just makes me feel guilty. Potty training. The girls are definitely showing signs of readiness but I'm not ready. I'm pretty busy with holiday sales with my business and I just don't want to deal with it! My plan is to try in January. The baby is due in February so we'll see if we can knock it out before baby comes. I'd also like to do more at teaching them things. They are like sponges and I feel like I should be introducing them to more new things. Stupid Pinterest makes me feel like I'm a bad mother because I don't do any of those activities with my kids. I don't need to go crazy but I'd like to dedicate some time to my children's learning.

We love these girls so much and feel blessed to have them!

Baby Girl #3

For those of you who don't follow me on Facebook, you may not have heard the good news. I'll let the girls tell you.

We are so excited to be bringing another little girl into our family! Our house already feels like a circus so why not add another baby? Seriously though, I'm often overwhelmed taking care of our twins and I wonder if we are absolutely nuts for having another baby. I've determined that yes, we are nuts, but we are already so in love with this little girl and know that she is going to change our family for the better!

Speaking of circus, taking decent pictures of my girls is next to impossible and I'm sure my neighbors enjoyed the comedy of watching me try to do so. At one point both girls were pushing their pumpkins down the hill and chasing them into the street! Here are a few of the pictures that didn't make the cut for the announcement photo.

A Mini Vacation in Branson

Back in May, Nathan put in his two weeks notice at Wal-Mart and we are now one of the very few families in Bentonville who don't work for Wal-Mart or a vendor for Wal-Mart! Nate now works at America's Car-Mart home office which is also located in Bentonville. He is doing similar work as a Database Administrator, but he has more freedoms, responsibilities, and opportunities with his new job. During Nate's job search period and the transition out of Wal-Mart, life was pretty stressful for us. We didn't know if we'd be able to find a good position or if it would mean leaving Bentonville. After living here for five years, we've really come to consider it home and felt very blessed to be able to find a new job and be able to stay here.

To celebrate the new position and to relieve some stress we decided to take a mini vacation to Branson, Missouri! Branson is a pretty quirky town, but we love going and finding new things to do. This year we bought season passes to the amusement park Silver Dollar City. We started our vacation off with a bang by meeting our friends Cat and Shaun and their little girl Brizelle at Silver Dollar City. We've found it's definitely easier and more fun to go with friends. The kids can all play together and do things in the kiddie area, and we can also take turns trading off and going on the roller coasters! It was a gorgeous day so we all decided to go on the "wettest ride in the park." It was a raft ride where you can shoot water at other boats or spectators on the side. In return, the people watching the rafts go by can shoot water at you as well. We were literally soaked from head to toe when we got done and all had a great time on the ride including the kids! Cat and Shaun must have loved the day as well, because they ended up buying season passes that day as well so we can all go back together again!

Soaking wet and having a blast!

After a day at the park we were all starving and went to a delicious Italian restaurant. Nate and I have actually been there a couple other times while in town and are never disappointed with the food. We were however, disappointed with the service this time as they forgot to make our ticket and we had to wait a long time for our food! The nice thing was once they realized their mistake, they quickly got our food out to us and comped 50%  of our meal! Our friends headed back home that night and we headed to our hotel.

We bought a pretty sweet deal on Groupon and stayed at the Grand Country Inn. Included in our package was a two night stay, show tickets, large pizza, popcorn, drinks, and admission to their indoor/outdoor waterpark! The next day we didn't even leave our hotel because we had so many fun things to do right there. The girls absolutely loved the water park and we stayed there for hours! I was pretty impressed with it as well. It was great for little kids but Nate and I had a lot of fun playing in the water as well. By the time we all got back to the room we were exhausted and took a nice long nap. 

Lydia braving the slide

Eden blowing kisses

Having fun with Daddy

That night we went to one of the shows. It wasn't really our style of show. (Most people in the audience were at least 65 years old.) But it gave us something fun to do and the girls actually did really well. They each got their own bucket of popcorn, which they loved, and munched away for the first half. We did end up leaving at intermission and walking back to our room where we finished out the night watching one of the Harry Potter movies on T.V. If you know me at all, you know I'm a stickler for early bedtimes for my kids but with us all staying in one hotel room and it being a vacation, I made an exception. The girls were thrilled that they got to stay up with Mommy and Daddy until 10:30 and snuggle in bed while watching T.V. So often, we feel restricted in what we can do because we have such young children, so this trip was a good stretch for us and helped us be more confident in being more adventurous with our girls.

Yummy popcorn!

They devoured their buckets of popcorn! Notice the age of the rest of the audience :)

The next morning, we headed to Silver Dollar City again. This time to meet our Shepherd and Pendleton cousins! They bought season passes as well so we had all been trying to coordinate a trip together so it was fun that it worked out. Even though we had just been to the park two days before, we still found new fun things to do. We rode all our favorite roller coasters and I even convinced Alyssa to go on Outlaw Run with me. I may or may not have been completely honest about what all the ride entailed. (second fastest and second steepest wooden roller coaster in the world at 68 mph and 81 degree angle drop!) but I think she enjoyed it!

Exploring the rope tree house with Daddy

Playing in the sand with the cousins and Auntie Alyssa

Eden really liked riding the "doggies!" with Daddy. Lydia hates all rides so she just watched and waved. 

Staying hydrated on a hot day

Don't you just love a baby in overalls!?!?

We had such a fun weekend. It was a much needed break for us and definitely helped us rejuvenate!