Welcome Finley Claire!!

Here is our beautiful daughter, Finley Claire!! She was born August 29, 2009 at 12:07 a.m. She weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. and is 21 inches long. As you can see, she has a head full of hair!

Here is her birthday story:
Friday morning (8/28) at around 4 am I woke up to some pretty good contractions. I decided that this would not be the real thing, so I would not allow myself wake up. I kept my eyes closed and was able to fall asleep. That morning I started getting more contractions that were 10 min. apart and figured that it was the beginning, but not the "real deal". So I packed the kids up and we went shopping!!! We went to IKEA to get them a new little table and some chairs. I was still having contractions, but we enjoyed our shopping trip - they love this store! We came home (my Dad was not too happy with me for leaving the house, so he was waiting at the house when we got back! - I guess I made him a little nervous) and ate lunch. Then we all took naps - I took an hour long nap, which I usually don't do, so I guess my body knew I needed rest. When I woke up, I was having contractions like 15 minutes apart. Matt came home from work and I wanted to go out to eat. So we went to Firehouse Subs and enjoyed our dinner (I did have several contractions so I was breathing during dinner - I bet that was a sight). We came home, gave kids baths, and put them to bed. (The whole time I was timing my contractions and we were definitely doing well in the labor process.) Matt and I were hanging out and getting stuff packed - I told him that it would happen in the night for sure!! I played on the computer a little bit and then decided I would go to bed around 10:00. I laid in bed and was having some really good contractions every 15 minutes. So I waited it out and rested between each one. Then they kicked up to 8 min, 6 min, 4 min apart. So, we called in the sitters!!!! TJ and Deanna were on their way! This was about 11:00 pm. When they got here, I was ready to go!! We got to the hospital around 11:30 ish and had to go in through the ER entrance. Well, they wouldn't let me go to labor and delivery until I was in a wheel chair. So they sat me in a chair and parked me in front of the doors (which kept opening and closing and no one came and got me!) I was just laughing looking around at those waiting in the waiting room because I wasn't going anywhere! So finally (I say finally - it was probably just a few minutes) some lady took me up to labor and delivery. I proceeded to tell her that this baby was ready to come out while we were in the elevator - she pushed me a lot faster when the doors opened up!! They took me to my room, I got changed and I said where is the Dr. because he needed to get to work here!! It was 11:40 pm when I walked into my room - Finley was born at 12:07!! She would have been born earlier if it didn't take them 15 minutes to get an IV in my arm!! But that was fine. I wanted her born on the 29th - Harper was born on the 29th (of June). So, it was definitely a very short time in labor at the hospital and it wasn't bad at all!! Another baby delivered epidural free!

This is me before leaving for the hospital!

Proud Mommy and Daddy with the most precious gift ever!!

One of her first pics! She sure is beautiful.

This was her after her bath around 3:30 am! Look at that gorgeous and full head of hair.

Carly and Chloe couldn't contain their excitement!! They woke up to TJ and Deanna in our bed and they weren't upset at all! They knew where we were and were so excited. Matt went and picked them up around 10 ish and brought them up to see us. TJ and Deanna did a great job with 3 children and a mini van- sorry TJ that you didn't get to drive it! I know you were really looking forward to it!

Harper loves his new sister!! Another girl he has to protect. He did so well with her.

Carly is so mothering! You can tell she is the oldest child - she has some special way with all three of her siblings. I love how she takes such good care of everyone. My heart was melting the whole time my kids came and saw Finley. They did so good and just want to love her. She is definitely loved and accepted. When Carly and Chloe were leaving they told me that if she cried I needed to hold her hand - she likes that.

I love to see them with her!

Chloe trying to wrap her up. She liked to keep her all wrapped up. Carly liked to uncover her and check her out.

This Dad has his hands full now with his 3rd baby girl!

Carly just couldn't contain her excitement!

I love her!!

First family picture! Can you believe all these little people were given to us!

Dear Lord:

Thank you for entrusting Matt and I with four precious children. Please help guide us in raising them to be wonderful people that love you and praise you in all that they do. Please keep us strong and our relationship rock solid and planted with you. Help our children always know that we love them and will protect them. You have blessed us in so many ways and we thank you and love you!

Amen

Little loverboy is so proud he is holding "binley claire"

Finley waiting for them to cut her security tag off her ankle before her ride home. Matt came and picked me up around 7. My mom and dad were in charge of getting the kids in bed. The girls were still awake in their room when we got home, so they were out as soon as they heard her squeak. We let them kiss her and see her and then we went and tucked them in bed.

Carly and her new sister! She has been wanting her to lay with her for so long - the day finally came.

Chloe was so excited to see her sister at home finally.

The main objective for the girls today was to get Finley in every apparatus in the house. Here she is in her swing - she looks so sweet!

Imagine Mary

Ok, today is my due date and still no baby!! I figured this would happen since I like to keep these kids in. So now the waiting game is here. As I was driving today, I thought about how Mary was probably feeling when she was near the end of her pregnancy. I mean, I know that God has entrusted me with another life to raise, and I hope and pray that she grows up to be a wonderful woman who loves the Lord and makes good choices with her life. Now think of what Mary had on her plate!!! She was given the King of Kings - God's one and only Son!!!! Man, what pressure!! Not only do you have to physically do a good job raising a child, she had an important job to do with raising JESUS!! What on earth could have been going through her head?!! I bet her nerves were shot! I know it was nothing that she couldn't handle - God wouldn't have chosen this wonderful woman for such a job if He thought she couldn't, but thoughts of doubt had to go through her head. I just can't imagine what it would have been like to be Mary!!!!

Baby Shower

Last Sunday, Deanna and Sarah threw me a baby shower! It was so nice to celebrate our newest addition coming (hopefully this week)!! Carly, Chloe, and Harper came with me to the shower and were so excited!!! They opened all the presents for me and then sat and rewrapped stuff with tissue paper. It is great to know that my family has such great supportive friends!!

Here are the ladies that came to the fiesta!

Here is Deanna and myself - Sarah had already left so I couldn't get a picture with her!!

Here are my little birdies eating on the floor. They are so cute and this baby is so lucky to have such a big support system already!!

4 generations of women!! I love this picture!

I love my kids!!

Thanks Everyone for a wonderful party!

Yard Sale

This is after the yard sale (sorry this post is backwards - it wouldn't let me move this picture to the bottom, so this was tonight). They were all eating cupcakes and making a giant mess!! That is why we are on the back porch - so I don't have to clean it up!!

Today we had a yard sale to start cleaning some of Harper's things out of the house. We did pretty good on sales. Sold the crib and glider chair - terrific!!! Once it was over and everything was packed back up, I headed off to get a pedicure. Man- I could have stayed in that chair all night!!! I almost passed out it felt so good. May need to go tomorrow too just to sit in the chair!

The kids were very good about staying in the garage with all their toys. They are making a train in this picture!! So cute!

Dance Class

The girls had dance class tonight (the first time at this studio). They were such big girls! I couldn't believe how brave they were - just look at their faces in this picture!! They walked right in, no thumbs, no crying, nothing!!! They just walked right in and looked back at me and smiled! This is very big for Carly and Chloe. They are so shy and they showed me how big they are getting. I won't lie, yes, I cried when I got home. This is just so wierd to see them be so big and not even think twice about me and be excited where they are going. They are so ready for school and they want to be big and brave - I can't take it!!! I am so happy they are like this, but so sad they are growing up. They seemed to enjoy the class. I didn't get warm fuzzies from their teacher, so I may look into something else, but they liked it. When we went in to get them, one of the little girls said, "Now do we get our lollipops?" The teacher said yes. Carly and Chloe just looked at me and were smiling. I told the teacher we would pass on the lollipops, they don't eat candy. The girls changed shoes and we left. As soon as we walked out, Chloe says, "Mom, when we are 16 we are going to get lollipops!!" I couldn't believe it. I guess they are catching onto the whole candy thing - they don't know what it tastes like, but they know they don't get it. And I think it is funny about the 16 thing. We were talking about driving and I told them they can drive when they are 16. Then at the pool, during adult swim, I told them they had to be 16 to stay in. So I guess they have figured out that 16 is the golden age! Ok, I need to go to bed, I am being a crazy emotional pregnant woman and I need to stop - they are 4 they aren't leaving to go to college!

Mom

Harper is so funny when he talks to me. Everything he says has to end in "Mom." For example, I eat lunch, Mom. I have blue car, Mom. Dad at work, Mom? I have Pooh Bear, Mom. Motorcycle on my side, Mom. It is just so cute. I guess he does that so that I will acknowledge his comments, but I love to hear his little Mom at the end of everything. I know that all too soon he won't need my affirmation to everything he says, so I will make sure I comment to my sweet boy every time he says, "Mom."

Learned my Lesson!

I learned my lesson big time yesterday - NEVER GO TO WALMART ON SATURDAY!!!! UGH!!! I had some errands to do, so we ventured out on a Saturday - I usually will wait until the week, but I wanted to get all this done - and I don't know how much time I have left!! So, our last stop was Walmart. All I had to do was return some shoes and get some light bulbs. We got there at 11:30 and we didn't leave until 12:30!!! Once we got inside, I noticed how long the line was, so I went and got my bulbs so I could do my purchase at the return desk. Got the bulbs and proceeded to wait, and wait, and wait!! I could not believe how slow they were and how many people needed to return stuff. Luckily my kids weren't that hungry so there wasn't any starvation going on since this was right at lunch time. As I finally got my turn at the register, I hear this lady next to me explaining to the other cashier the reason for her return. She tells the lady that she was at another Walmart and they never charged her for these shorts that were in her bag. She said she brought her receipt, but they aren't on there, so she wanted the shorts to be returned to the other Walmart!!! I couldn't believe my ears!! I turned and the first thing that came out of my mouth was, "Wow! You are such an honest person! That was really awesome of you to do that!" I don't know too many people that would have stood in that line (she was behind me) for at least 40 minutes to just hand over a pair of shorts because the cashier made a mistake and didn't scan the item!! That lady was so sweet and I was so happy that she did that. There just aren't that many nice people left in this world!!

Pledge - Harper style

Tonight we were doing circle time and Harper chimed in with the pledge. It was just so cute I had to video it.

Random Kid Things

Couple random things today:

The girls have decided that they need to watch home videos of when they were little. They will sit for hours watching these videos!! They love it and I love seeing how cute they were. Now we have realized that we haven't been taking as much video as we used to, so we are now filming like crazy. They have changed so much and they just aren't little any more!! I love hearing the things they say and how they sound. Definitely priceless moments!!!

Sisters are great:
Chloe has a blister on her foot. Well tonight in the bath tub, I went to wash her up and she was having a hard time keeping her foot balanced on the edge of the tub (she didn't want it in the water). So, Carly decided that she needs to help her out. She takes her foot and sits it on her leg and when she had to stand, then she held it up in the air for her. Isn't that just so sweet!! They take such good care of each other!

Putting Harper to Bed:
It is going to be weird once I am not pregnant anymore putting Harper to bed! Right now I have to sit my belly on the edge of the bed and then flop him in. I can't really bend over, but he doesn't seem to mind it. Pretty soon we will be turning his bed into a toddler bed!!! Right now the baby's crib is in pieced behind our head board of our bed, so when we put her bed in the girls room (which we are going to have to bunk their beds), then we can put the front piece of Harper's bed behind ours! Did I mention we need a bigger house!!! We are just full to the brim over here. The girls are excited to have the baby in their room though. Carly has claimed the top bunk - Chloe does not want to sleep up there, so that worked out perfectly!!! It is funny how these two tick, but it always works out well, they make up for each other's differences.

School:
Carly and Chloe are so excited for school next year!! They were in the car today and the radio was talking about back to school shopping. Oh boy, did they love that. They kept talking about when they go to school they are going to go back to school shopping. I told them some of the things you have to buy when you go to school. When I told them they needed a back pack, Carly told me that it had to have their names on it so their teacher would know who they are!! Pretty smart girl foreseeing that she won't be able to tell them apart and how to combat that problem! So today, they are playing school. All their stuffed animals are the kids and they are the teachers. I am very glad they are excited about going to school, but I am hating the fact that I only have 1 year left with my girls!!! I am so glad I decided to not send them to preschool!!! I am going to be selfish one more year and love on them every minute I can. They are going to do just fine in school, so they don't need to go to preschool. They may be shy, but they will do what they are supposed to. They love structure and rules and that is what they will get.

Twins Again?

Ok, just because I had twins once, doesn't give people the right to assume I am having them again!!! I mean, am I that huge??? Everyone said the same thing when I was pregnant with Harper - "Is it twins again?" Come on people - think!!! How many people do you know with lots of twins?? So, word to the wise - next time you see a pregnant woman, who has twins, DO NOT ASK IF IT IS TWINS AGAIN!!!! We don't need to know that we are huge - we know this!!! Ok - I'm off my soap box!!

Stud Muffin

Here is Harper sun bathing at the pool today with my sun glasses! He is so cute!



Harper got his first tux for Sarah's wedding next month - he was practicing his looks - the first one with the sunglasses is his reception look!! He had to wear those when he tried it on - he must think he is men in black!

Look - A nut

Tonight we went for a walk. All the sudden, Chloe darted to a yard very excited about something she found. Prior to bending down and picking up her treasure, she shouts, "Look a nut!!" As I look down to see what she is picking up, I gasp and yell, "drop it!!" Chloe immediately drops her treasured nut and I have to be the bearer of bad news and tell her that it was doggy shewie!! We don't have pets and have never encountered an incident where I have had to tell them what dog shewie is, so she had no clue!! She was mortified! I felt so bad for scaring her. She did the rest of the walk with her head down. She was so upset! We had to tell her not to suck her thumb or touch anything with her dirty hand. It was breaking my heart seeing her so sad that she touched that nasty shewie. Matt kept trying to get her to talk, but she just couldn't handle it and broke down crying hysterically!! Remember now that this was her left hand she picked it up with and she couldn't suck her thumb!!! OH MY! It took me a long time to get her calmed down. It was pitiful! So I guess it is safe to say she won't go near dog shewie ever again!!!!!!

Nothing like a 3am stroll

Yes, I was out walking about this morning at 3 am!! I wish I could say I was having some great contractions and walking was helping me out, but no, not so lucky. We have some new neighbors and (according to my other neighbor) one works at a night club. There are 3 younger guys that rent the house. Well one of them came flying into his driveway at about 3:15 and as soon as he walked in the door, their party began. It sounded like club music because it was the same tune over and over. Their music was blaring so loud!! Then they proceeded to go to the screened in porch (which is right next to Harper's room) and talk really loud. Well, I haven't been sleeping the greatest anyways lately and getting up frequently doesn't bother me anymore, but I knew that this would bother me when the baby gets here and I NEED my sleep!!! So, I got all dressed, marched my big fat pregnant self over there, and asked them to turn their music down!! They were very apologetic and quickly ran in to turn it down. I guess they didn't realize how loud it was and they did not know that all of our bedrooms are right next to their house. It makes me miss our old neighbors Cindy and Nathan. Harper used to love getting up every morning and looking out his window to see if Miss Cindy was on the back porch. He loved seeing her!! Now it is 4:30 am and I still can't sleep! I decided to come to the recliner, because this is the most comfortable place for me anyways. That way Matt can get the whole bed to himself and sleep (he is really enjoying that I know). I ordered Harper some new flip flops online (his were getting tight and he wears them everyday) - got them tax free and free shipping!! So now I am left here with my blog - the only way I can communicate at this hour! I guess I am going to lay here for a while and close my eyes.

Lover Boy

Harper has renamed himself - check it out. And I also tried to get a little conversation out of the boy - he is so robotic when he talks.

Goodbye Smith!!

Only 3 more weeks!! I thought I would take this time to say goodbye to Smith. Smith is the name of my right leg. (You know from the movie Marry Poppins and they say "I once knew a man with a wooden leg named Smith.") I know I had Smith with Harper and Smith is back full force with this baby. For some reason these children lay on some type of nerve on my right side. This causes me to have little mobility with my right leg. It is the weirdest thing in the world. I can't lift my right leg to put my pants on. I kind of have to swing it to get it in the pants. My left leg is fine. I can lift it and move it normally. But Smith just has a mind of its own. I felt it necessary to name my leg Smith, so that Matt would know what I was talking about when I say, "GET SMITH!" Meaning - help me, I'm stuck and I can't move my leg. It is funny to watch me get into bed. I get in with left leg first and then I have to grab my pants on the right leg to lift and swing it into the bed. I love many things about pregnancy, but Smith, I'm sorry to say, I do not love you!!!

Mac and Cheese

Harper has been getting his 2 yr. molars for the past couple months and he is finally in the heat of the last one! I am so glad!! What a little whinny man he has been. One day he was eating Mac and Cheese and I told him to open his mouth so I could see the status of the molars. Now everytime they hurt, he tells me he has Mac and Cheese in his mouth! It is rather funny.

Preparations!

We have been preparing for the baby all weekend. Man it is alot of work!! (on top of the 8 loads of laundry I did as well) I wanted to get everything out so the kids can get all their playing in before she comes. We got everything out of the attic Saturday night and Sunday morning it sounded like Christmas in our living room. We were still in bed and Carly flipped out when she saw all the loot. She came running in for Chloe to come and check out all the great stuff. They helped lysol wipe the swing, bouncers, and the carrier. They were so excited to help out and even more excited that this means she is coming soon!! I had to give them classes on how to turn everything on and off (only for when the baby is in the apparatus) - this way they got to mess with them, but they know they can't touch them until she is in them. I do let them put their babies in them, as you can see below. They are so excited it is going to be very interesting to see them when she is here. They will probably do some strange stuff because they are so pumped and I can already foresee them crashing hard after a few days because of all their hype, probably the day I come home from the hospital!! Oh well, it is fun to see them so happy about their sister.

A day with Connor

My mom had Connor to visit for the week this past week, so on Saturday I took him to Discovery Place. It was nice to go with just him, something I don't get to do that often. My mom kept my kids and we went to have some fun. First we went to see the movie, Under the Sea, an IMAX film. We walked into the theater and Connor and I immediately became dizzy!! I told him to just look at the floor and walk. We finally made it to our seats, very light headed, but we were sitting. We closed our eyes and tried to adjust. The movie started and we ended up being alright, well - for time being at least. It was really pretty. Connor liked feeling like he was under water. The narrator was telling all about the camouflage fish. And then it started!! They started eating things!! Connor is infatuated with death, so I thought he wouldn't mind it, but they were so quick with the eating that it scared the living day lights out of us. The fish looked like they were coming at us!! Connor plugged his ears and buried his face in my arm. He was terrified. He kept saying, "I'm just done with all this eating!" It scared me too, but then I couldn't control my laughter because the poor boy was so scared. They finally moved on to something else, and he was enjoying the movie then. Just no more eating!! Then we went to see the newest display - Shipwreck, Pirates and Treasure. Connor liked all the stuff that was from ship wrecks. In the pirate section, there was a cage with a skeleton in it. Well, Connor didn't want to know what happened to him, he didn't care that it was a skeleton, he was just very concerned about what his name was!! He kept asking me and I told him I didn't know. He then stops a man to ask him his urgent question. He said he didn't know either. I quickly realized that I wasn't leaving until that skeleton had a name, so I said it is Bob. That was sufficient and he went on! It was so funny. So needless to say Connor was very entertaining on our trip to Discovery Place. He talked my ears off on the way to and from. That night I dreamt of storm troopers!!! The kid only talked to me for a few hours and he brain washed his Star Wars stuff into me!! He is too much.

Argh!! Pirate Connor!
Here is an iguana he got to pet - forgot his name

Connor hoisting flags

We started building this sky scraper. I had to quick take a picture because he was trying to blow it down like the 3 little pigs. We ended getting it up pretty high - taller than me!