4 weeks!

It's amazing to me to think that Addison was born 4 weeks ago today. Life has been interesting these past 4 weeks. Addison has been a really sweet baby. She has been really good natured and very sweet. Every once in a while she'll smile at me and talk to me. I feel so blessed to have her as part of our family. The boys have been really sweet with her and very caring. They both care about her a great deal. I'll lay her on a blanket on the floor and the boys are right there next to her talking to her and playing right next to her.
The boys have been pretty good, all things considered. We've had some mishaps in the last month. Things like the trampoline being covered with sand from the sand box, birdseed all over the floor (on accident) and marker on the carpet in the boys room (once again an accident. Thankfully it's washable markers). Overall, it's been a pretty good month. As to the marker incident, the markers are now put in the top of the closet, only to be used with Mom's permission. Zach just told me he needs a marker. He was using crayons and I told him to use the crayons. He told me crayons make him crazy.
Though life has been crazy, I'm so glad Addison is now part of our family. She's been such an angel. So this really isn't the best photo, but I couldn't resist the smile! I think it's official that she's smiling at 4 weeks old

Photos

We learned, shortly after Addison was born, that Nikon's are not bouncy balls. Between issues with the camera and then the hard drive on our computer dying all at the same time, I don't have access to a lot of our pictures yet. We've still managed to take a bunch of photos, but I can't post them yet for various reasons. Anyhow, here is what I've got so far. I'll do more down the road.

New Arrival

It's official, we have a baby girl! Addison Janae was born on Monday, June 29th at 3:59 p.m.. The following is my remembrances of the day. I know it's long, but as mentioned before, I'm more consistent with this as a journal than anything else.
I had been running around like crazy the past few months trying to get things ready for our new arrival. Life has been insane for the last little bit. The weekend before she was born, I got most of the absolutely essential things that needed to be done. I still have lots to do, but the essential things were done.
For some quick background, Zach was born 10 days early. I had tried to get multiple things done with Zach. I was very uncomfortable at the end of my pregnancy and was sleeping on the couch because it was the only way I could sleep. It was about 2:00 a.m. when I woke up and was running through the list of things to do before Zach was born. I literally thought, it's ok if I don't everything done before the baby comes. Within about a minute, my water broke and we ended up going to the hospital shortly after.
With Addison, I started thinking I was about done with being pregnant on Sunday. I was tired and very uncomfortable and had even started thinking I was ready. I know it's silly, but I had tried very hard to avoid thinking I was "ready" after my experience with Zach. In addition, my doctor had been out of the country on a vacation for 12 days and didn't come back until Monday, June 29th. My main concern was waiting for him to get back, even though I had met with one of his partners just in case I did go into labor when he was gone. Anyhow, on Sunday I had started to think I was about ready, even though I was hoping to go until my due date on Wednesday.
On Monday morning, I woke up at about 2:30 a.m. (which was about the same time as with both of the boys) and realized that that would be the day. My water didn't necessarily break, but was leaking. With past experience, I knew we would have some time before anything really happened. I know I'm crazy, but I had one last thing that HAD to be done for work that I kept putting off, so I stayed awake and finished that last project. I had been putting it off for quite some time and had even told my employer that I would go into labor as soon as I finished it. Anyhow, I finished it and when Jeff woke up in the morning, I told him that today would be the day. And yes, I know I'm crazy.
We let the boys wake up on their own, got them ready and dropped them off at my parents house. My sweet brother had agreed to watch them, which was quite the feat for him since he is 19, the youngest, and not really the babysitting type. However, he did an absolutely fabulous job, though I'm pretty sure he's decided he's not ready for kids for a long time.
Anyhow, Jeff and I went to the hospital. I had been feeling some labor pains, but nothing really strong. At the hospital, they put my on pitocin (same with the boys) because I wasn't very dilated. I progressed very slowly in the beginning. By about 3:40 p.m., I had them check me and I was ready to go. She called the doctor (back in town, yeah!) and he rushed over. The labor went very quickly and took us by surprise.
She was born at 3:59 p.m.. The cord was wrapped around her neck twice, which was quite scary because she was really purple at first. They rushed her over to the newborn unit and worked on her for about a minute before we heard any kind of a cry. Thankfully, she did well after that and is really healthy.
She did well the first night, but wasn't eating very well the next day. I was hoping to go home Tuesday night, but her billirubin levels were too high and the doctor wanted us to stay in the hospital Tuesday night to do photo therapy. Thankfully her levels improved and we were able to go home Wednesday morning.
The boys were very cute with their baby sister and were very sweet. They came to see us Monday night and both wanted to hold her, which we were able to do with help. They were very sweet with her. We also had lots of family come over and were very supportive, which meant a lot to us. The boys also had fun sitting on the hospital bed with me and pushing the buttons that make the bed go up and down.
We ended up going back to the hospital on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to get her billirubin levels checked. Thankfully, on Saturday we were told that they had come down enough that we should be able to avoid photo therapy.
Zach had a rough time this week. The boys ended up with a cough and Zach's got really bad because of his past history with pneumonia. He had a hard time breathing and on Saturday morning, woke up really upset two separate times. In hind site, it was probably because he couldn't breathe. He had a really hard time Saturday morning and we ended up borrowing a nebulizer unit from a friend (we had everything but the compressor). He was miserable Saturday but he's doing better. I'll post more about that later.
We had some bad luck this week. The hard drive on our computer died (I'm using the laptop) and Jeff's camera got broken as well. Hence, I'm not posting pictures right now. Hopefully we'll get the computer working again soon and then I'll post them
Anyhow, Addison is doing great. She's a pretty happy baby and really sweet. the boys have been good helpers as well. Jeff thinks he saw her smile in the hospital (knowing it's probably not a real smile). Last night I had her laying against my chest while I was rubbing her back. Apparently she enjoyed it because she gave a contented sigh at one point. We think we saw some smiles, and I swear she laughed at one point. Maybe it's just wishful thinking. She's also tried hard to hold her head up. She's a sweetheart and we're thrilled to have her as part of our family

Innocene

So, the boys have been doing a library class and, as part of it they each got a coupon for a free sundae at Arctic Circle. We went today to get them ice cream and let them play on the playground for a little bit. Nathan made sure to tell me while we were in line with a bunch of people that I was too fat (I AM due on Wednesday) to go down the slide because it would hurt the baby. He later changed it and said I couldn't go on my belly on the slide, and would have to sit down on the slide to go down. In case you were wondering, I just opted out of the slide.
I'm getting dinner ready right now and Zach pulled out a farm animal puzzle and was doing it on his own. He was just having the farm animal puzzle pieces play duck duck goose with each other.
Zach was so upset today because Nate went to play at a friend's house and he wanted to play with that friend. I told him he needed to stay with me and he said, But mom, I'm big". Poor guy, he just wants to be with the big boys. He keeps reminding me that he's a big boy. He got dressed by himself today and when I told him that he did a good job, he told me that he used his muscles.
I"m so glad my boys are still innocent and I hope it stays that way for long. For the moment, I enjoy their sweet thoughts on life. Nathan is a talker and comes up with all sorts of ideas and plans. He also has a killer memory. When Zach was born, Nate was 2 1/2 years old. We got a couple of "Bob the Builder" toys at the time that we wrapped and gave to him when he came to the hospital to see Zach. We told them they were from Zach because he was excited to have Nate as a big brother. Over the last couple of weeks, Nate has asked me a number of times if I remember about the toys Zach gave him when he was first born. I think it's all innocent and hoping that maybe he'll get something this time as well. They are cute kids and make me smile.

My monkey boy

Ok, another quick post before I forget. We were at t-ball last night watching Nate play. He was having a great time and Zach did pretty well sitting on the sidelines. He's gets frustrated because he wants to play too. We'll usually play catch on the sidelines while Nate is playing t-ball, but I just wasn't up to it last night. Zach still had fun eating some crackers, climbing all over us, and cheering for Nate. Towards the end, he kept running over to the fence that was about 20 feet away and then running back. Zach hadn't come back as quickly has he had before. I looked over at this 6 foot high (or whatever the normal height of a chain link fence at a school is) and saw that my TWO YEAR OLD had pretty much climbed to the top of the fence with a big grin on his face. AAAHHH!!! He was totally fine and Jeff ran over to get him. Next thing I know, he's going to try to climb onto the roof like his uncle did when he was that age. He's been big into climbing lately. We were at the library yesterday and, while we were checking out books, he grabbed a hold of the counter and pulled himself up so he could see the librarian. I hope I'm able to keep my sanity as he gets older!

Another quick thought. I've called Zach "my baby" ever since he was born. Nate has been my buddy and Zach has been my baby. I knew I would have to change that soon and I've tried to not say it as much. I slipped and called him "my baby" the other day. He looked at me and told me that he's not a baby, he's a big boy. He's made sure to tell both Jeff and I multiple times that he's not a baby, he's a big boy. I was helping him get dressed yesterday and, out of the blue, he told me "I'm big Mom". He sure is cute though.