Santa Baby

Home from the Hospital - AGAIN

First of all we are all doing wonderful - now!! Cali has been totally healthy from the beginning, but I had some issues. The anesthesiologist messed up my epidural the first time and I got a "wet tap." I had no idea what that meant at first, all I knew is that he was going to have to do the whole process over again. ( I was told a wet tap is when the needle penetrates the spinal sac and enters the spinal fluid. In itself, it is not dangerous. Because the epidural needle is larger than the spinal needle, the hole in the spinal sack may continue to leak and not seal itself off immediately. This causes a spinal fluid leak - or wet tap. This causes very severe headaches.)

That was an understatement. The last few days I have had the worst headache I have ever had in my life. It didn't just stay in the head either. It went all around my head, and felt like it was shooting down my neck and back. It hurt to move, to sit up, and basically it hurt to do anything besides breathe.

The doctor apologized several times and said that it had been over 3 years since that happened to him. I guess he was trying to make himself feel better. Anyway so this morning since it wasn't any better I went back to the hospital and they gave me what they call a "blood patch." (This procedure involves taking a small amount of blood from a vein in your arm and injecting it into your back in the epidural space. The blood clots and "patches" the hole.)

Now I feel so much better and I can enjoy my sweet bundle of joy!!! Here are just a few of the over 200 pictures we have already!!!

The picture above of my 3 angels was taken on Wed evening. The others were taken as we were leaving the hospital to come home.

In my first post about Cali we didn't mention much, but she is so strong and healthy. When they were trying to get her measurements she grabbed a hold of their measuring tape and she tore it in half. She is already a really good baby and doesn't cry too much. She only cries when she is hungry or when we change her diaper. She has really big hands and long feet.

We initially only planned to stay one night in the hospital, but due to the headaches we stayed the 2nd night. At about 7:30 our nurse was told to ask us if we would mind switching rooms. Apparently they were starting to become full and had a few that were going to come in the next few hours. They wanted to move me to a room a few doors down that was a regular room not a labor room. I didn't mind since the kids weren't planning on coming back up before we left. When the guy brought our last load of stuff over they gave up 2 huge boxes of diapers as a thanks for moving. I thought that was nice of them.

Our new PRINCESS CALI

Our new "not so little" princess came into the world this morning at 10:42 am. She weighed 9 lbs and was 21 1/4 inches long. Mommy and baby are doing GREAT!!!! We are at Lakeside Hospital and visitors are welcome, just please call first.

Here are a few pictures taken at less than 1 hour old! She is such a little chunk and already has a few leg rolls. She has a bunch of dark curly hair, but her eyebrows are really light so the nurses think she is going to be blonde. She is very healthy and was delivered very quickly with no complications in about 3 minutes.

BOWLING !!!!!

Caleb has been asking to go bowling for months but we kept having to put it off. Now that all the Christmas parties were over and Cali can come whenever she wants to, I thought this weekend would be perfect! We went tonight after church and had a great time. My mom came with us too, but she didn't bowl because she is still in her walking boot from her surgery. It was probably a good thing too because she is really good and she probably would have beat us. She is very competitive and said "if I can't do it well, I am not going to do it at all." Hmmm . . . sounds familiar.

Caleb has been bowling numerous times, but tonight was the first for Caden. They both did really well and had high scores of 99.

Here are my adorable kids before we started bowling.

Here is Chris and Caden.

Here is Caleb after his first strike. Chris was too far back and the lighting sucked, but you can tell he was very excited.

Here is Caden's first strike - ever!!!

Here is Caden after I TRIED to make her re-enact her VERY EXCITED response to her first strike that I didn't catch. Obviously I failed!

Here are a few other very excited reactions of Caden that I did manage to catch.

Here is Caden "lounging" while waiting for her 2nd ball. The first time she did this I thought it was so funny, I had to take a picture of it too!

Here is me asking if I am bigger than this bowling ball.

Here is a video of some of Caden's bowling.




All in all we had a great time, except for the fact that I am STILL PREGNANT and bowling did NOT put me into labor. I am still having inconsistent contractions and as the day progresses my walking is getting even more weird. I am sure my body is going to pay me back for bowling 2 games tonight since I haven't bowled in over a year.

I have an appointment tomorrow morning so hopefully something is going on in there!!!

I STILL GOT IT - ALMOST BUT NOT REALLY!!!

I thought I would see if I could still get my leg up there. Sorta kinda, but not really!!! I was a little more flexible and had a lot more balance when I did it 13 weeks ago. The kids tried to get in on it too, however they wouldn't attempt to do it standing up. Those big sissies!!!

Well I changed my mind, we are not going to Tulsa today after all. Even though I don't think I am going into labor today it probably would not be wise to be almost 2 hours from my doctor - just in case. We have a few other obligations today here in Edmond anyway so this way we wont feel like we are rushing all day.

We made it!!!

Our last Christmas party of the season was tonight. We had Chris's work party downtown at the Petroleum Club. The food was SO GOOD!! Several of Chris's co-workers were impressed that I made it out for the party with only 4 days left. They don't know me at all, so they didn't realize that I DON'T miss parties.

Here is a picture of Chris and I before we left. Finally a picture of Chris on the blog!!! It doesn't happen to often.

As my mom was taking pictures of us Caden decided she wanted to twirl with me and dance with Daddy. She of course already had her princess dress (since she wears it for a little while almost EVERY DAY!!!)

I have been having contractions all week and about 5 during the party and 3 on the way home. Now that this party is out of the way she needs to come now. We are going to Tulsa tomorrow to visit one of my moms friends for lunch. I plan on walking a lot tomorrow to get her to come out!

CALI is COMING SOONER!!!

My doctor's daughter is having surgery on the same day as I was scheduled to be induced (19th) so she is cancelling all appointments for that day. I will now be induced on the 18th instead. I still hope I go on my own. That is only 2 days before my actual due date. I was induced with the other 2 at 39 weeks and I really want to go on my own and have the excitement.

Chris's work Christmas party is on Friday so as soon as that is over she can come whenever. I am planning on doing lots of walking on Saturday and we have plans to go bowling this weekend so maybe that will help her along.

As of this morning I am now at a 4, but still 50% effaced. Bring on the exercise and spicy foods!!!

ONE in a MILLION

Ok, that is a little extreme. Actually we were 1 in half a million Oklahomans without power yesterday. We are/were in the worst power outage in Oklahoma history - every county was in a state of emergency. We lost power at our house about noon yesterday and Chris's work lost theirs soon after so he was able to come home too. We actually had a nice day of playing games inside and the kids LOVED playing out in the backyard stomping on the ice on the ground and knocking ice of toys etc with plastic bats.

Here are a few pictures I took yesterday of the ice in the backyard.

By about 5;00 pm it was getting too dark to see anything in the house. We decided to go to Chili's for dinner. As we were leaving the neighborhood I got my first glimpse of some of the house where their trees were split and huge amount of branches in their yard or driveway. It is always a little sad to me when I see that. It was so weird driving around and one mile block would be dark and then the next would have lights. It was really weird. I think most of Edmond was out for most of the day. When we got home last night we found several huge branches down in the front yard - SO SAD!!! I don't think they did any damage to the house though. We also still didn't have power. My sister in law was still in Texas visiting a friend but we found out she still had power at her apartment so we packed up some stuff by flashlight and candles and headed over there. We found out this morning that our power actually came back on at 9:00 pm last night so we could have stayed at the house. The thought of staying in a cold house was actually exciting to me, since I have been HOT all the time. But the rest of the family - those big sissies - wanted to sleep with a heater.

Here are a few pictures of the branches down in the front yard.

This is so sad to me, but yet I know we are not alone. This is what a lot of people are facing right now. However I am very happy and relieved that our power is back on. Last night the news said that they were bringing in 1000 "helpers" from about 4 different states to help out but that it could still take 7-10 days for all power to be restored. The thought of having a baby within 8 days and not being able to come to my own house with the baby was making me really upset. But all is well now, at least for us anyway. I am suppose to have a doctors appointment in about 2 hours. Lets hope the office will be open!

ICE ICE and more ICE

Well for those of you who don't live here in Oklahoma we are in an ice storm. It started Sunday morning. On our way to church it didn't seem too slick, but by the end of service they annoucned that it was getting worse. They said we would still be having bible class, but if you wanted to go home you would be forgiven. It was really funny! Since we were already there we stayed.

All the schools are CLOSED!! I hate that! I was suppose to have a doctors appointment today but they called this morning and asked if I wanted to cancel. I said "I am almost 39 weeks pregnant, I think I need to be seen." They still weren't sure what they were going to do but said they would call me back. My doctor called me personally later to apologize since they were going to be closing the office for the day. She is going to work me in tomorrow. Lets hope the weather is better tomorrow. I get anxious and want to know what is going on in there.

Only 9 days to go!!!

SANTA and the Prego Mom Meltdown

Last night we went to get the kids picture taken with Santa. It is not the cutest picture, but here it is anyway. I had been debating for the past week or two what I was going to do. I didn't know if I should get just the 2 of them or hold out for Cali in the hopes that I would feel up to taking all 3 of them again. Obviously I decided to just get the 2 of them and then depending on when she makes her arrival maybe I will feel up to doing it all again before the 24th.

Now on to the meltdown. Yesterday morning I was telling Caden that we were going to see Santa and get their picture taken. She said she didn't want to see Santa so I decided to show her all of her past Santa pictures so she would remember not being scared. Well I have every Santa picture except for last year. I don't have a clue where it went. I decided to look on the computer in the Christmas folder from last year since I figured I probably scanned it in to email to family. The entire folder was GONE!!!! This is when the big freak out happened. I was crying on the phone to Chris about the missing folder and Santa picture. Chris's family came here in January for a late Christmas, so I have all those, but the actual Christmas was GONE.

I am not for sure if I would have gotten so upset if I wasn't pregnant but I don't think being this pregnant helped any. I ended up finding a few pics in my sent folder on my email and my sister emailed me a bunch that she had, so I was feeling much better that I had all the Christmas pictures again. Still Santa was still missing! My sister saves all her emails and she still had the Santa picture I emailed her from 2005 so I am now guessing that I must not have liked the Santa pic from last year so I never shared it with anyone. I am trying to take comfort in that. However it is still really sad that I have every year starting from when Caleb was 7 months old until now except last year. Oh well, hopefully it will turn up eventually.

Complaining

I am here to gripe. First of all our computer is having issues AGAIN!!! I hate when things don't work as they should. We have not been able to get on the internet since Monday. So at this moment I am at my friends house doing all my stuff (ebay crap) and catching up with emails and other fun stuff. Hopefully we (I mean Chris) can get it working soon.

Now on to my second gripe. Yesterday I am leaving Hobby Lobby with my HANDS FULL and this lady outside the store says to me "are you a registered voter?" I said yes and keep walking and she said "good I need your help." I reply with "I am very pregnant with my hands full, I can't help you." My tone probably could have been nicer. She said, "oh my thoughts and prayers are with you." I was thinking nice gesture lady, but a little too late, you should have been thinking about me before you asked for my help.

December is FINALLY here!!!

I just LOVE this time of year. Chris and Caleb put our tree up on Thursday. The kids and I decorated the tree on Friday AND I got ALL the presents wrapped. We only have our kids left to finish and WE ARE DONE!!!!!! Are you jealous?? You should be! I am pretty proud of myself. Actually I am only done with my side of the the family. I have only bought a few things for Chris's side of the family. They are coming here around the middle of January to have a late Christmas with us and of course to see the new baby. So I have some extra time to finish them.

Here are the kids with their new ornaments for 2007.

This year I got them at the craft fair in Hot Springs the day after Thanksgiving. It is a tradition on that side of the family for the women to go to that every year. I fell in love with Caden's and I JUST HAD TO HAVE IT!!! It is so HER! If you can't tell in the photo, it is a princess carriage with some shoes dangling and a little furry thing on top. I think it is adorable. I got Caleb a motorcycle one which he loves. He said, "I really like it, I just wish there was a guy or a kid on it and not a teddy bear."

As for the pregnancy, everything is going well. I had another appointment this morning. I willl be 38 weeks on Wednesday. I am now to about 3.5 but still 50% effaced, so I am slowly progressing. I think I will be able to make all my Christmas parties!!!! I still want her to come between the 15th and the 18th, so we will see. I feel SO MUCH better this week than last week. Maybe this is the calm before the storm.

Better Late Than Never

I FINALLY remembered to put the kids school and sports photos on here. I am only a few months late. I will blame it on the pregnancy. Actually I am just too lazy. It is so easy to just click on pictures that are already on the computer instead of having to scan these. Oh well!

Here is Caden's soccer picture. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! I think she looks so sweet and innocent like a little porcelain doll.

Caden's Sonshine School picture. I know she is not wearing "fall attire." However, in my defense I did have something picked out but the day of the photo was SO HOT I decided against making my child suffer just so her outfit would match the background.

Caleb's baseball picture. Ever since Caleb lost some teeth (which has ONLY been 4) he has forgotten how to smile on command. I think this is actually one of his better forced smile pictures.

Old Swollen Man Stuck in the Recliner

Seriously that is EXACTLY how I feel!!! After our 5+ hour drive back from Hot Springs on Saturday my feet were really swollen so I just propped them up and they were fine in the morning. So on Sunday I decided to wear these boots (as pictured). I actually changed into a less pointy pair with a thicker heel before I left the house. I don't think it would have mattered either way. I took those boots off when I got home from lunch and it was SO GROSS!! I had never seen my feet and legs look like that! We had planned on going shopping for a leather rocking recliner that afternoon. For some reason I decided I would wear my tennis shoes instead of a pair of flip flops like I wear every other day. We were gone all day and went straight to church that evening. When I got to church I pulled up my pant legs and saw this really nasty site. I had just thought they looked swollen that morning. OH MY GOSH!!! They looked like swollen old man legs. They were swollen up to my calves. So I propped my feet up all night and they were almost back to normal on Monday morning.

I had my (almost) 37 week doctors appt on Monday. I am still 50% effaced, but I am now at a 3. This is EXACTLY where I was with the other 2 kids. I was at a 2 at 36, 3 at 37, 4 at 38, and then STILL a 4 at 39, which is why I was induced with both of them. If you read previous post you will know I am NOT getting induced this time (unless she doesn't come by her due date).

I asked my doctor about all the swelling since I never had it this bad with Caleb and barely any with Caden. My blood pressure is still very low so she thinks I am just on my feet too much and need to relax more. So last night I tried to relax in the new recliner. After the kids went to bed we starting watching the shows that recorded earlier. The first time I tried to get out of the chair I was STUCK!! I physically could not get out by myself. I guess I was so sore and tired I could not even sit up. My belly is getting way big to move in that direction. My really cool flexibility was no help either. After Chris got done laughing at me he finally helped me out.

Oh and here is a funny picture. This is what you get when your 4 year old insists on taking a picture.

Is this really how I look to her at this angle??? Oh my poor child!!!

Pregnancy Update 36 weeks

I had my doctors appointment this morning. Today was the first day I was checked. I will be 36 weeks in 2 days, but I am measuring 38 weeks. I am at a 2 and 50% effaced. Since I started to dilate early with Caleb and Caden and still had to be induced at 39 weeks my doctor wasn't real concerned. She said I could still go to Hot Springs for Thanksgiving, but told me to take it REALLY EASY while I was there.



However sometime in the next few weeks I still have to finish (START and finish) all my x-mas shopping. What a crazy few weeks this is going to be.

Baby Shower

Here is the adorable cake from my baby shower about a week ago. Isn't it cute! Sarah McBride made it. So if you ever need a cute one you should call her!


Several of my friends have been asking me since the summer what I wanted to do for my shower. At first I immediately said I didn't want one since it was my 3rd baby, but later I gave in since I really didn't have anything. I am glad I did. It was such a nice shower and I think everyone had a great time. It was hosted by my friends Lynda, Melanie and Christy.

Here is a picture of us.

We had it at Old Chicago. Several of my friends told me how much fun they had and that we should have showers at restaurants more often. In my honor, Lynda even had some games for us to play.

Here is the picture of everyone together.

I got some really nice gifts and had a great time with my friends. I got about 5 packages of diapers (YEA!!!) several personalized items (love those), and so much more!! For those of you that don't live here and wont get to see us using all this great stuff, here are a few pics.

To make the day even better, the afternoon of my shower I got a big box on the porch from Target. It was my car seat stroller combo that my mom and grandma got me. AWE - thanks I LOVE IT and can't wait to see her in it!

Thanks again to Lynda, Melanie and Christy for hosting my shower and for my friends that were able to come to my shower. You all made me feel so special and I can't wait to show off my little angel Cali.

Playing Catch Up

It seems as if we are always so busy. Even now that baseball and soccer are over it just seems so crazy. I guess I am just trying to make sure that everything is ready for the baby. I think I FINALLY have everything I need for her so she can come anytime. (more on that in the next post.) Anytime after Dec 14th that is!! There are several activities and parties in Dec that I need to be a part of and I would rather go to them looking like crap because I am about to have a baby and not because I just had one. I have planned a girls only Christmas party on the 4th, our bible class is having a Christmas party on the 8th, Caleb's school program on the 13th and then Chris's work party on the 14th. I think Chris's party is going to be formal or at least very dressy! HA. Lets see what I look like all dressed up at 39 weeks!

The kids are always saying interesting things that sometimes I wish I can record every conversation so I wont forget them. The other day Caleb said "mom, when I get older and start driving I will take Caden places that she needs to go if you and dad are busy." I told him "Can I get that in writing?" I explained that he will want to do that at the beginning and then after a while he is going to hate having to drive his sisters around. He doesn't think so!

Everyone knows how much Caden loves to dress up like a princess, well apparently she has gotten some mixed messages. The other day she wanted to wear her princess dress and we wouldn't let her. I don't remember why, maybe it was about time for bed or church. Anyway she got really upset and said that she wanted to be a princess so she could be pretty. She went on to explain that she is not ever pretty UNLESS she is a princess. Chris said "mommy is pretty and she is not a princess." Caden replied with "no, she's not."

Caden has had a runny nose the past few days as well as most kids I am sure. This morning we were in the car and she said "mommy I need a Kleenex my nose is running out of boogers."

Pregnancy Update 34 weeks

Here is a picture of me from yesterday. I look mad in this picture, but I wasn't. We tried to take another one but then the battery died and never took another one - oh well!

I had another doctors appointment this morning. Everything is still going great. I will be 34 weeks on Wednesday. (All this time I thought my due date was the 20th, my doc said they actually have me on the 19th - everyday helps right!)

I am measuring almost 35 weeks. I will be checked (to see if I am dilated) at my next appointment on Mon Nov 19th. Today they asked me if I have been feeling any contractions yet - not that I am aware of. Of course I got to a 4 with Caleb before I felt a thing, so who knows. With Caden I was already almost a 2 at 35 weeks and was still stuck at a 4 at 39 weeks so they induced me. With this one I don't want to be induced. I want to have the excitement of going on my own. However, for several reasons I don't want to go past my due date. For one thing I don't want to have a harder time getting a bigger baby out. Secondly I don't want to be in the hospital that close to Christmas. However the main reason is that my niece Trinity was born on the 21st. For everyone who knows the situation will understand why I can't have mine on that day. It will be too hard for everyone in my family and of course that outweighs my desire to go on my own.

I very briefly told my doctor the situation with my niece and she immediately said how sorry she was for me and my family, but also said, ok I am calling the hospital right now. She said there will be lots of people wanting to have their baby before Christmas. So I am scheduled for Dec 19th at 5:30 am if I don't go on my own. This way if they get really full and inductions have to be delayed I will have a little cushion. I love my doctor! She is so sweet. I go to Margaret Hall. Her office is over by Lakeside Renaissance. If anyone is looking for one she is awesome!

Those of you who may not have known me very well a few years ago probably don't know about my niece Trinity. Here is the website that my older niece Alyssa created for her little sister.

http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=trinityrd

This website chronicles the short, buy very precious 5 weeks of her life.

Changing Table

Here is an odd thing for a blog post, but I am in need of a changing table. I am borrowing a crib from a friend and was suppose to borrow the changing table as well, but she decided she needs it for shelving for toys/storage etc. So if anyone (who lives here) has one in good condition or knows of someone who has one that I can buy or borrow please let me know. I just found out tonight and of course am running out of garage sale time to find me a good deal! Thanks!!!!!

The REAL HALLOWEEN

Caden decided yesterday afternoon that since she had already been Tinkerbell 4 times she wanted to wear her Sleeping Beauty dress. It had actually only been 3 times (in the last 4 days), but of course I let her. She got this Sleeping Beauty dress for her birthday back in August and she wears is ALL THE TIME!!! She wears it at least 3-5 days a week. She only has it on for an hour or so but she obviously loves it! I am surprised she is not tired of it yet.


So last night we went with our friends The Richardson's (Zach and Ethan's parents) over to some of their friends house The Oaks. We had such a good time. We had tortilla soup, chili, corn bread, hot apple cider and hot chocolate. YUM YUM!! After dinner all the kids and the dads went out trick or treating. The moms got to stay behind and give out candy. I hadn't done that since Caden was 2 months old. It was kind of nice!

Here are some pictures from last night.

These next few pictures I just think are too cute and funny not to put in here. Caden kept trying to chase Chris around when he was trying to take a picture of her. So this is what he got. They are really funny!

Overall this Halloween has been great. Last night they got probably double the candy they already had from the past 5 days. Seriously, that can't be good for me! What a crazy week it has been! Very fun, but very busy! I need to relax!!

Storybook Forest

Last night we took the kids to the Storybook Forest at Lake Arcadia. For those of you who don't live around here, Storybook Forest includes a tree-lined trail for children to walk where they collect treats and visit scenes from classic stories and rhymes, including the Three Little Pigs, Sleeping Beauty, the Itsy Bitsy Spider and other stories. Other activities include listening to the reading of classic stories and nursery rhymes, a hayride and a few carnival type games. There are also campfires for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.

I have wanted to go in years past but never worked it into our schedule. Unlike most other Halloween activities this one is only open from the 25th - 31st. We had plans every other night and last night was our only night we could go.

Here are a few pictures from last night.

First we walked through the trail, then did the hayride, followed by the cheesy carnival games and then we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows by the fire. We had a great time, but I had to wash my hair 2 times to try and get the smell of the fire out.

Here we are on the hayride. I think it is a very unflattering photo of me, but I guess no one really cares but me.

When we got back home Chris decided that he needed to sort through all the candy the kids have accumulated in all the Halloween festivities so far. He made different piles on the coffee table.

He then decided that we needed to weed through what we didn't like or had to much of and that is what will be sitting on our porch tonight (shh don't tell anyone!) The candy and stuff in the purple bowl is what Chris thinks we can choose to part with. The big container is what we are keeping.

This is kind of insane. They haven't even done the real trick or treating yet and we have all this candy. When I was little Halloween was a one night activity with maybe one party before. Now there is so much going on for kids to do. I decided not to have the kids wear their costumes last night. I think they needed a break from them. They had each worn theirs 3 times already and I didn't want them to get tired of them before tonight.