Posts

Showing posts from April, 2012
Image
Dan Foster, Dwayne's oldest friend, came to visit with his wife Breeze and their kids yesterday. He and Dwayne posed with their newest babies in the picture above. This picture will mean alot to both our families. There is a celebrated photo of the two of these men laying next to each other as infants in a crib, so this picture (and all the others) are always compared to that one and that always makes everyone smile.
Image
We found some cool poop in our backyard. (Yes. I did just say that.)  And we were able to identify what animal it came from with the help of this book.  (It was a deer.)  Now that we have seen the deer poop (scat), we're going to look for signs and tracks of deer as well.  We'll keep you posted if we find any. 
Image
Norah went one more place on her list of 101 places.  See her blog post about it here .
Image
Grandma Karen and Adele
Image
Aunt Kathy, Aunt Martha, Karen, David and their kids came to visit while Dwayne's mom and dad are here. (The Foster family was Dwayne's second family growing up).  They brought a delicious cookie-cake for Adele, new toy blocks and Phillies t-shirts for the whole family... including one that will fit the baby! The big girls went ahead and put their new shirts on and posed for a picture.
Image
Dwayne and I celebrated 11 years of marriage with the purchase of a new knife for our collection. The hollow grounds on this one keep onions, potatoes, etc. from sticking to the side of the knife as you chop and for some reason, the shape of this one makes it easy to slice a tomato evenly and thinly over and over. We're lovin' this knife. It's amazing how having the right tool can change your attitude toward the work you have to do in the kitchen.
Image
Adele's first bath. This picture shows how small she really is. It's hard to accurately capture her tininess in photographs.
Image
Hard to believe, but these are not pictures of the same baby. All three of our girls are shown in the photos above. So which is Norah? Avril? and which is Adele?
Image
Image
Image
Image
Dwayne and I know that we can pray to God for knowledge and insight and ideas will come to our mind or we will be given the right advice from someone, etc. It's happened many times before. So lately, I've been seeking God to help us inspire Norah to become more selfless. Many of her impulses right now are purely selfish. Her dad and I model selfless behavior and discipline her for really abhorrent displays of selfishness, but it just didn't ever seem to be enough to make a difference in Norah's heart. She would still be seen snatching the larger piece of cake away from her little sister or taking a really long turn at the Xbox then only giving her friend a short turn, etc. And as normal as this behavior is for a seven year old, Norah was beginning to find it pretty uncomfortable to live with us and act that way since her dad and I aren't selfish and we don't just overlook behavior like that. I started praying to God for help since I felt real compassion for N
Image
Image
As her dad and I were walking Norah through her list of chores for the 100th time this morning, we noticed something. She will do things like wipe off parts of the bathroom counter but leave other parts of the counter really dirty. Or she'll pick up all the various toys and books off her floor and just pile them on the top of her dresser or shelf, not taking them back to where they each go. And as he and I were getting more and more frustrated because she was just going through the motions and as she was getting more and more exasperated because she didn't understand why we were frustrated since she was doing the tasks we asked her to do, something occurred to Dwayne. He pointed out that Norah was focusing on doing the tasks on her lists and not really even understanding the desired result of them. So then I had the idea of changing the wording of Norah's daily routine and replacing her list of tasks with the list of results or goals we want her to accomplish. So N
Image
Image
Image
My good friend and neighbor Kim Sokoloski brought us dinner on Friday and gave us a new rattle (new rattles make me so happy) and a Miracle Blanket for Adele. She says she knew I wanted one and the store she went to really wasn't supposed to have them in stock but she took a chance and went anyway. As she was going by the clearance section, she said she saw one left and it was pink , perfect for a little girl! It sounds like it had to be a God-thing. I am so thankful. This little blanket is amazing. Look at this video that shows just how solid of a swaddle this blanket provides. Houdini could not get out of this swaddle! The first time we used it Avril slept for 4 1/2 hours and woke up bright eyed and ready to nurse well. This blanket's a game changer! Thanks, Kim.
Image
When Avril says Adele's name, it comes out "My Del." 
Image
There's been so much joy in this house since Adele came home. I find myself surprised by how much Dwayne and I are laughing. He's doing his antics. (He took a wide stance and drank out of two soda cans at once the other night. I almost peed my pajama pants. Literally. You ladies know how it is only a few days after a baby is born. At this point, the ol' bladder is not what it once was or what it will be again.) It's not just Dwayne. I am throwing out zingers right and left, remembering how funny I can be. (Or, at least Dwayne thinks I'm funny because I keep making him laugh so hard his head goes back, his eyes close and his belly shakes.) And the big kids are just being themselves and that only adds to our fun. (Most of the time.) I keep asking myself, "Isn't this time in our lives supposed to be crazy-hard and stressful? Aren't we supposed to yelling at each other more than we laugh?" But as soon as I think that way, I hear a still, small voice
Just a quick note to say the last 11 years have been amazing. I love you so much. Happy anniversary!
Image
Dwayne surprised the big girls with PEZ dispensers the other day. He went out to get something for the baby, but I guess he must have noticed these as he was checking out or something. The girls' eyes lit up when he pulled these out of the bag after he got home from the store. We're discovering how fun it is to give good gifts to our kids for no reason. Norah's is Obi-Wan. She was thrilled because she loves Star Wars. She has no idea it's "for boys" which makes me feel really good about the way we are raising her. Avril's is Lightning McQueen from one of her favorite movies that she calls "Beeps." Dwayne made the perfect choices for the girls individually. But it's a totally new thing for me to just let my kids walk around the house with candy like it's a toy. But PEZ is a toy, too, because Norah spent ten minutes arranging her PEZ in alternating flavors this morning before she ate them all in two minutes. A friend told me about
Image
Image
Pump parts drying on the kitchen counter For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. -Ecclesiastes 3:1 As I have sat alone nursing or pumping in the baby's room the past two days, this verse has come to mind and it comforts me. I draw upon my previous experience of building up a milk supply for my older two children and I am not so discouraged when I look over at the clock to see how much longer I have to pump and the minutes are ticking by too slowly. The Holy Spirit brings this verse to mind and I am strengthened for the work required of me right now. I remember that I won't be pumping forever. It will only go on long enough to build up my milk supply so Adele has an abundance. Eventually, I will get to just nurse her. Then I recall that this whole stage of Adele's life will pass by too quickly as it is. It did with my other two children. So then I am encouraged to savor this season, all of it, even the more difficult parts.
Image
One of the nurses at the hospital swaddled Avril like this with part of the blanket actually going over her head and with her knees up which she seems to really like. I thought it was adorable. I can make my swaddles pretty near unbreakable now that I've practiced on two kids and they tend to remain unbreakable for at least the first several weeks of our babies' lives. Note: If a kid breaks a swaddle, they wake up... so it was in my best interest to learn to make my swaddles strong. I think I'll see if there's an online tutorial on how to do this kind of swaddle and try it for myself.
Image
I woke up in active labor at 11:42pm on Easter and Adele was born less than an hour and a half later at 1:09am on April 9, 2012. We were praying out loud in between contractions that God would slow things down enough for us to just get in to the hospital room and that He'd help me control the desire to push and not give in to fear and panic since I was obviously already very close or all the way to 10cm. He answered our prayers in perfect time. As soon as they checked me, I was given permission to push. They say it took three long pushes and she was out. That part is fuzzy to me. They laid her on my chest and after several minutes, I gave her up so they could weigh, clean her up, etc. She was 8 lbs. 6 ounces and 19.75 inches. Our good friend and neighbor Kim Sokoloski came as soon as we called her (the cell phone says it was 12:01pm) and she stayed the night in a spare bed at our house with the older girls who were already in bed so we could get to the hospital more quickly