Bring on the Eggs!

With all the excitement of Elyse's arrival, I forgot to mention that we had the kids tested for allergies a few days before Elyse was born. Henry tested negative for almonds and hazelnuts, but was still positive for peanuts, pecans, walnuts, cashews, and flax. We still have to avoid all nuts in order to avoid cross-contamination. However, Miss Ava tested negative for EVERYTHING! So we have a family diet that now includes eggs which opens many doors for us at home but is even more helpful when we eat out. She has enjoyed ice cream, pancakes, cookies--all made with eggs without any problem! We are so, so grateful and pray that Henry continues to outgrow his allergies as well.

Merry Christmas to You!

Is it Cindy Lou Who who was only 2????

We wish you a Merry Christmas as we welcome the birth of our Savior, Jesus!

Iced over

This morning we woke up to ice everywhere. Truly, you cannot step out our front door without sliding because you're standing on two inches of solid ice. I'm pretty much over the joy of ice and snow...


View from our front door this morning--the sun is just overwhelming isn't it?


The tail end of our Camry


Our nearest street light

The week in review...

Our children like to arrive at our near extreme weather conditions. Henry was born just following a SEVERE ice storm in 2004, Ava was born on a day in July when it was 104 degrees, and Elyse was born just prior to the worst winter storm here in 30 years. As I type we've had snow on the ground for a week and currently everything is covered in a sheet of ice. It's made for a lot of good family time! Carl and Henry decorated a gingerbread house and the kids and I made Christmas cookies.

Elyse is a WONDERFUL baby. She is very sweet, sleeps a ton, and so far is a good eater too. Both Henry and Ava have adjusted very well (so far) and we have loved having Carl home this week.

Here are some photos to sum it all up!


The view down our street



Carl took the kids for a 'sled around the block'



Sweet, sleeping girl



I LOVE this one of Ava--it captures her spirit so well!



Not really loving her sponge bath, but what a cute little body that is!





Carl and Henry building a 'snow volcano'


Elyse snuggled by her Aunt Holly

Birth Day Photos

Let the fun begin!


The absurd number of bracelets I had to wear. The 'fall risk' was my personal favorite.


Our first peek at our beautiful, vernix covered girl!



Look at those wondorously long toes! We can thank the Sanders side of the family for those!


Our sweet girl all cleaned up under the warmer. You can begin to see the little bruises she sustained on her quick exit out.




Sweet kisses from big brother Henry



Talking with Nana


Snuggles from Gigi and Papa



Our little gift so dearly loved...

Elyse's arrival story

After much anticipation the last several weeks, Carl and I had resolved that it would probably be early January before Elyse joined us. On Saturday, Carl took Henry swimming while Ava napped and I rested. About 4 o'clock I thought I noticed a bit of a trickle indicating my water had broken but I was so determined not to go to the hospital again for a false alarm (we had gone the Sunday before) that I was sure I was mistaken. Needless to say I puttered in preparation just in case. By the time Ava woke up at 5:30 (she had a really LONG nap) I was quite sure that my water had, in fact, broken. I called Carl about 5:45 and we started the preparation. We called Carl's mom who was all set to watch the kids, called my parents who were at dinner and our siblings. We took the kids through the McDonald's drive-thru for dinner and stopped at the store for a few essentials as a huge winter storm was about to hit. We headed to the hospital shortly after 7 and it was quickly determined that not only had my water broken (at this point it was gushing) but I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. I thought this would be my first birth without pitosin!

Both Ava and Henry were born on Sundays and I was hopeful that Elyse would be too but unfortunately since my contractions were so close at 8:30 pm, I thought it would be much faster than that. Elyse's timing was perfect. My mom and sister had just returned from a trip to Hawaii late Friday night and my OB, Dr. Frank was headed to Syria and Lebanon with his family for two weeks leaving Tuesday morning. Dr. Frank joined us at the hospital about 9:30. He came in to deliver Elyse even though he was not the doctor on call. Soon after, my contractions waned and were only about every 7-8 minutes apart and not as intense. They had given me a course of Penicillin because I had not yet been tested for Strep B and they wanted to be safe. We had to wait until 1:30 am to be sure that Elyse would not have to have a blood culture after she was born so we just waited. At 11:30 I told Dr. Frank that we would need some pitosin and we did. They started me on it about 12:30 at 2, then moved it to 4 and then to 6. That did it. Within 40 minutes I went from 5 cm dilated (which I had been at for hours) to having a baby. I refer to her as my 'one push wonder' as her entire head delivered by itself during a contraction (when the doctor had stepped out to go to the bathroom) and I had to wait to do the one push for her shoulders. She was born at 2:13 am--a Sunday--just like I had hoped. It was amazingly fast and so far my recovery has been a breeze. I really feel almost like my normal self.

Elyse cried for about the first 10 minutes after she was born and we were astonished that she was 6 lbs. 4 oz. (we thought she'd be under 6 lbs.) and 18 inches (the exact same stats as her brother who was also born at 36 weeks). Since then she is very content and doesn't even complain when she has a dirty diaper. She has been eating well so far and we'll pray she continues to as preemies are notorious for being too tired to feed well. She is beautiful, has a full head of hair and long beautiful fingers and toes! We are all smitten--even Henry and Ava. Pictures coming later today!

We're on our way!

We are leaving for the hospital and hope to have some news and photos soon after Elyse's arrival!

Lest we not forget...

There are some memorable moments from this fall that I never got around to posting. However, I know if they don't get written down, I'll forget. So...

1. After starting with Henry's pet praying mantis, Prancis, we ended up with a total of 4 praying mantis pets: Prancis, Lucky Prancis, Gimpy Prancis (he only had one of his two front legs when we found him), and Mean Prancis (the only green one with a very bad temper). They stayed with us for several weeks until Gimpy and Prancis passed away (they generally die in early fall even in the wild) and Lucky Prancis laid an egg sac. Let me be clear that the egg sac pushed me over the edge and I demanded the release of Mean Prancis and insisted that Lucky and her egg sac be permanently moved outside. There are 700-1000 praying mantises in each egg sac. Too many for this mama. We await their hatching outside this Spring.

2. Some wonderful Ava words and phrases: bunt (for button), Old MacDonalds (her name for McDonalds), Oh! Sure I can (in response to most any request) unless she doesn't want to and then she says 'No, I'm too big...", I wanna see the big one (when we are changing a dirty diaper--Daddy's personal favorite).

3. Henry told me the other night as I was tucking him into bed that he wished he could be 4 forever, and I could be 33, Daddy could be 29, and Ava could be 2. Sometimes I wish that too buddy--and then you throw a massive tantrum and I can see the benefit of growing older too...

The biggest bump

Here are some photos my sister took today. The bump is ever larger and we are expecting Elyse's arrival any day. I went to the doctor today and am 3 cm dialated, 75% effaced, and her head is at 0 station (basically ready to come out!). I have been quite crampy the past two days though it is possible that it could still be a few weeks. We are ready and waiting...