Three years ago, a daughter was born! Bethany was due four days before Michael's first birthday, but she came eight days late! I went into labor all of a sudden around midnight, and she was born at 4:20 am! That holds the record for being my fastest labor so far (from start to finish). We could tell she was going to have curly hair just a few hours after she was born, and we were so pleased. However, later that day she started running a slight fever, and we discovered she had a GBS infection. She was admitted to the NICU that day. We watched as the nurses took her over to one of the little “beds” (this one looked more like a cookie sheet with glass walls!), and began hooking her up to all the monitors, and trying to hook up an IV. There were several people working on her at the same time. I cried and cried—it was so hard to see my baby in this condition. When we drove home with an empty car seat in the backseat, I felt like I was leaving part of myself behind. The next days I spent a lot of time at the hospital with Bethany. Tom would drop me off there in the morning before work, and come and pick me up again at night. They were very long days, but I was able to hold and care for Bethany most of that time. It always frustrated me how she would always sleep when I held her, and as soon as I put her back in her bed to leave, she would open her eyes and be wide awake. I was afraid she would bond more with the nurses than with me! I like to think, though, that she slept when I was holding her because she liked being held. I think I held and rocked her more than any of my other newborns, because that is what I did for most of the day! It was weird trying to hold her and rock her with all the cords and wires that were attached to her! I especially hated it when she had the IV attached to her head! After the first few rough days, it got a little easier. I started to know my way around the NICU, and got familiar with everything. The beeping monitors sounded familiar to me—I could hear them in my head for awhile after we left! The hospital was excellent, and bent over backwards to make things as easy and comfortable as possible for the mothers. For the last half of her time there, she "shared a nurse" with a little baby born at 27 weeks gestation. At almost 11 lbs, Bethany looked like a giant compared to her, and they were born on almost the same day! I started noticing all the other little babies there, and developed a whole new compassion and understanding for mothers who have babies in the NICU—sometimes for months! After 12 days (which seemed like 12 weeks to me), Bethany was finally able to come home! It was so weird when the nurse unhooked her from everything and I could carry her farther than four feet from her bed. It almost felt unreal to put her in her carrier, and walk out the double doors. We were beaming from ear to ear! Our little girl was coming home! After driving her home, we carried her up the three flights of stairs, and into our one bedroom apartment—we were home. :) What a happy day!
Big brother Michael did not seem at all jealous of the new addition. He loved her right from the start! They seem so much like twins to us, and are best buddies! They want to do everything together. On Michael's birthday this year, I found myself wishing that their birthdays fell on the same day, because Bethany doesn't seem to understand why she has to wait four days for hers. :)
What a joy Bethany is to us, and how glad we are that she is in our family! She is a great big sister, and is starting to be "Mommy's helper," too! She loves to help more than any of the others, whether it is sweeping, washing the table, helping wash dishes, fold towels, load things in and out of the washing machine and dryer, and even picking up toys (sometimes :) ). Of course, when she helps me with my jobs, it often takes about twice as long, but it is fun to spend quality time with her, and I know that she is learning how to do them better everyday. Sometimes she will "clean the living room" for us, which consists of putting some things away, and putting most of the others on the couch, or throwing them in the next room (even the bathroom! :))! She especially loves Ruthie, and it is cute to see how much it upsets her when her little sister starts to cry! She definitely has a mothering nature.
We love you, our curly-haired, bouncy, giggly Bethy! :) Happy birthday!
Four years ago was a day of much physical pain, and tremendous joy. Michael Timothy was born, and our lives were changed forever! It was such an amazing feeling to hold my first child in my arms. Tom and I looked down on him, and cried tears of joy. It was like we couldn't believe that this cute little man was ours! Almost immediately "Daddy's dimples" were noticed on his cute, chubby face. I can't believe he is four now!
Michael is such a joy to us. He is a good big brother to his little sisters. He is so good at making Ruthie happy. He will show her toys, and sometimes "read" stories to her, holding up the book so she can see the pictures. It is so cute to see him trying to pull Bethany and Julie in the wagon, or giving them a ride in the swing. His boyishness is so fun to watch--especially since he really stands out among all his sisters!
Today we had a simple party for Michael with just our family. For right now, it is our family tradition to cover a large muffin with flavored yogurt and put candles in the top, and that is their "birthday cake". The kids were SO excited about this--it doesn't take much to make them happy! It is too much for me to do anything else at this point, but they honestly couldn't care less! After the kids very eagerly devoured their dessert, we went into the livingroom, and Michael got to open some presents from us and from relatives. His present from us was a sleeping bag. I didn't know what he would think of it, because I didn't think he would know what it was. When we explained to him that it was for sleeping outside, he was so excited! He played "turtle" by hiding in it, and played "snake" by slithering around on the floor in it. The children are very much looking forward to our tent camping trip this year. We are probably going to do it in May. This camping spot is at a unique location, and I doubt anyone has ever camped there before! Check back again soon for more details! :)
Tonight we let Michael sleep in his sleeping bag on top of his bed, because it is his birthday. He was actually eager to go to bed tonight! :)
Happy birthday, Michael! We love you so much!
When Tom and I were first married, we lived in an apartment on the top floor. Whenever Tom would leave for work, I would stand on the balcony or at least by the big sliding glass door, and wait for him to drive by so I could wave to him. That was a little tradition of ours until we moved out of there, after we had been married for 2 1/2 years. The children must have inherited that desire to wave to him as he drives away, because now they do it! They faithfully wave to him every single time he goes to work, and if for some reason they miss it, you wouldn't believe the heartbreaking mourning that ensues! Tom leaves for work twice in the day--directly after breakfast, and then again right after lunch. The timing is often quite inconvenient, because the kids are often still finishing their food when he has to go. When he comes to tell me goodbye and announces that he is leaving, the shout, "wave to daddy!" rings throughout the house, and the children dash to the window, panicking lest they not get there in time. If they are still at the table, they beg to be let down, cram food in their mouths (or suddenly decide they are finished), yank off their bibs, or grab whatever is left on their plate and take it with them! Whatever is being done is dropped immediately. There is a mad scramble of children (sometimes only half dressed!), and somehow, they usually all make it before his car disappears. This morning, Michael was attending to some "business" (and I was helping him), and he was late to the window. He was really panicking, because the seconds were ticking by, and he didn't want to miss waving. Daddy had already walked out the door, and I was afraid Michael was going to miss "the event of the day", which would be "tragic" for him. I ran to the window with Michael, where Bethany was already standing, and I yanked up the blinds. There was Daddy in his car, stopped in the middle of the street, waiting for his little son. When Daddy saw that Michael had arrived, he backed up a few feet so that Michael would be fully satisfied. Whew, we made it! We love you, Daddy!!
Wow, I've gotten behind here! It would take me way too long to completely catch up on the fun events that have taken place recently, so if you want to know what we've been up to recently, check out the winter and spring photo galleries. The pictures there cover a few of our "recent happenings".
Spring is almost here, and the weather has been beautiful! Due to being busy on the weekends recently, our yards have suffered rather terribly. One morning while I was outside playing with the kids, I decided to surprise Tom by mowing and trimming the back lawn (which he normally does). It was a lot of fun, and I hoped that he would notice. When he came home for lunch, I kept on trying to draw his attention to the backyard by making comments about how Julie ate some birdseed that morning, how dirty the kids' boots were on the patio, and what a pretty day it was! :) He probably was thinking I was extra chatty! I started to hug him next to the big living room window, which kept him standing there, looking at the lawn. He finally said something like, "Wow, it almost looks like I just mowed out there". After a pause he exclaimed, "Did YOU mow it?!" :) I guess it is pretty obvious that I don't do that too often!
Today we worked out in the front yard, and tried to make it look a bit better out there. Tom mowed, and I weeded flowerbeds. I'm still not done, but at least it looks like someone lives here now! I love gardening, but I had really neglected it out there since Ruthie's birth. I'm looking forward to planting some more flowers. I was planning what we would plant part of the time while I was weeding. I have been discovering that there is no such thing as the "perfect" flower or bush. We have tried quite a few different plants, and it seems like nothing is bug-tolerant, drought tolerant, needs no trimming or dead-heading, happy in either shade or sun, and produces flowers all year round (And why am I surprised? Wouldn't everyone like flowers like that?). :) Whenever we think we have found a type of plant that fulfills a lot of those things, it disappoints us by being high-maintenance in some way, or dying from lack of water, bugs, lack of sun, or something. Let's just say I'm not the world's best gardener! :)
Yesterday I was trying to help Michael learn to hit a ball with a bat. I tried pitching it for him, but between the two of us, we managed to miss way more than we hit, even with me standing just a few feet away. Finally, I decided to try to hold the ball and let him hit it out of my fingers (we don't have any of those things that you can put the ball on to practice hitting it--what are those called again?). I quickly learned that plastic bats hurt! The things mothers will do for their little boys...:) After probably about 10 times, my fingers had had enough, and I balanced the ball on the top of a sandcastle mold, and held that for him instead. This worked much better, though my arm did get one blow. Why didn't I think of this before? :)
Our Bethany is such a little "mother". She has had a recent interest in helping Mommy with the diaper changes around here, which can sometimes be a problem! The other day, she got out the changing pad and wipes for me to change Julie (all on her own accord--I guess she thought her sister was smelly or something!), and then informed me that she was going to go get the ice cream. I contemplated that one, and thought that maybe I heard wrong. Was she going to get their plastic play ice cream cone? She came back with the diaper cream! Yep, she calls that ice cream! Well, I guess it is white and moist, but after that, the similarity ends! :)
I sure love this time of year! I've been feeling so good recently, too. After I mowed the back lawn, Tom commented that I have way too much energy! Even though Ruthie is still not sleeping through the night, my energy is back! That is a good thing, because this extremely busy household needs an extremely energetic mommy! :)
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