Alice Catherine :)

First sister picture <3

We welcomed Alice Catherine to our family on October 1st at 7:38am! I know, I'm just a little behind posting haha Adjusting to juggling 5 kids has been a process.

I actually made it to my scheduled c-section date! I couldn't believe it, that was the longest I've ever been pregnant (39 weeks)! It was so weird to walk into Labor & Delivery and not be in labor haha Felt a little like going to the salon, oh I'm just here to have a baby! Haha We checked in at 5:30am (which was ok since I hardly slept anyway), were done with all my admission stuff by 6am so we had over an hour to twiddle our thumbs. About 6:30am the nurse came in and asked if they ever mentioned a heart murmur for Alice. No one ever had, pretty sure my own heart rate doubled at that point. The nurse explained there's a common murmur that goes away after delivery and not to worry. Hahaha yeah right lady!! I spent the next 45mins worrying and texting with one of my good friends who just happens to be a NICU nurse. She made me feel about as good as a mom could about it. By 7:15am things started to move, Jason got dressed in his scrubs and they started to move me to the OR. This OR wasn't nearly as cold as the one with the twins thankfully! We had a lot of waiting around to do, there was only one anesthesiologist and she was doing another patient. My OB even came in ready to go before she got there haha Then the spinal took forever to completely numb me. My last spinal numbed me so much I never felt any of the tugging and pressure everyone is always talking about. Felt it this time! That I must say is an experience I could have skipped. Thank God for calming yoga breathing to keep myself from freaking. Alice wasn't even half out when she started SCREAMING away! :) She was quite unhappy with her rude eviction, she continued to scream the whole time they cleaned her up! It was a beautiful noise! Her Apgar was 8 and 9, my OB called foul on not giving her a 10 since she came out ready to tell us all off! LOL Jason and the nursery nurse finally brought our newest baby girl to see me! She was so cute, 8lbs 5oz 20in, reminded me exactly of her big sister Naty! After a few minutes Jason went back to our room with her to wait for me. After what felt like forever, they were finally done with me and I got to go be with my baby and husband.

Our hospital stay was uneventful, always good. The morphine made me itch like crazy but I was so happy I didn't get sick coming down off the spinal this time! Alice was a champ at nursing and we seemed to be settling in to a routine already. The on call pedi said she still heard the murmur but didnt think it needed an echo yet and to just have my pedi check it in a few days. When it came time to be discharged the nursery told me Alice had dropped 8% of her body weight which is a lot but since she had wet and dirty diapers, they weren't worried yet, told me to keep doing what I was doing.

So long stories short, we got home and were adjusting well but Alice was becoming more jaundice and sleeping more and more. Turns out she was also continuing to drop weight. There wasn't anything wrong with her nursing skills, so it was me. I went through this with the twins too. With them we stuck it out 6 weeks trying this, that, and supplementing. I know how this road ends, there's something wrong with me and I just can't get my milk to let down. It's fine, I dealt with the big bad emotions of all that with the twins. So we just switched to formula and within a few days she was gaining weight and you could tell the jaundice was getting out of her system. By one week old her pedi also didn't hear a murmur anymore! Yay! That was great news!

Alice has been so much fun to have around, all her sisters adore her and want to help all the time with everything! She's a mellow personality who isn't afraid to have her opinion known when she cares, like when she's hungry or objecting to hiccups or pooping LOL She isn't so thrilled with the whole car experience and would prefer if we walked in her Ergo everywhere hahaha She reminds me of Jason's personality a lot so it should be interesting as she grows. ;)

And now the many pictures, sorry a lot are sideways;

Last pregnant picture!

Jason all ready to go hehe

First look

Alice Catherine <3

Smiles :)

After her first bath, that was exhausting!

Ready to go home!

Wide awake

Big sisters watching over :)

Having my first photo shoot

Midnight is party time right?

Almost 3 weeks old, nap on the couch haha

Audrey and Alice

Naty and Alice

Kate and Alice

Lotty and Alice

Creeping closer to a family of 7

Oh that title still makes me queasy I'll admit! Never expected to have 5 children when I imagined our family hahaha But what do I know? Obviously God has bigger, better plans as always and I'm feeling much better about trusting that. I'm 36 weeks now and have definitely slowed way down in general! My c-section is scheduled for October 1st, so I have 3 weeks tops left! I've never made it to 39 weeks before so it'll be interesting to see if I do or not! As much as I'm feeling very done being pregnant, part of me would really like to make it to that date just to try something different with delivering a baby hahaha I've had an epidural, natural, and "emergency" c-section so far, so I wouldn't mind adding the whole walking not in labor into the hospital and having a baby to that list ;) Alice has already proven she's got quite a stubborn streak and will be doing things her way so we'll just have to see  how she wants to enter this world!

We finished our last few things to get ready for her this weekend. Jason put together my new rocking chair and stroller. He also got the new car seat all installed in the van, Kate is extremely excited and proud to be the big sister who gets to sit right by her! Now I've moved past my "getting ready" worries and moved on to the "after baby" worries. I haven't been an overly successful breastfeeder ever, Kate and Naty were both quite small until they started solids and with the twins I wasn't ever able to get my supply up enough and when I quit at 8 weeks I was able to stop cold turkey and never even got engorged if that tells you something. My mom was a LaLeche League leader for years and years and through her and other help, pretty sure I have something anatomical going on because I was doing everything "right" so we'll just see how it goes. Maybe having all the other girls in school will help by giving me more calm, alone time with the baby. I still feel that mother's guilt over the thought of having to use formula, even though I've done it before and I know in my heart there's nothing wrong at all with it.

The girls are all so excited to meet their new little sister soon! They come home every day from school and are a little disappointed I haven't had her yet hahaha They all discuss how much they are going to hug and kiss her, help me with diapers and rocking her. They even talk about what songs and stories they sing/read to her and all the games they want to teach her! I think it's so sweet and I think I'll have the problem of too many chefs in the kitchen on help with Alice hahaha Good problem to have I suppose!

Godwilling, this will be our very last baby. I'm really trying to enjoy these last few weeks but after so many babies so close together, my muscles and tendons have so had it and I go through a lot of daily pain. I do my best in those times to think of all the women who would love nothing more then to endure any of the pain I go through if they could be blessed with a child of their own and not feel so sorry for myself, but let's face it, I'm only human and I have my fair share of pity parties and wishing it was just over already.

I'm now taking bets on how much longer it will be til Alice is here!! ;) hahaha

36 weeks!

First Day of school!

Monday was the girls first day of school! All my big girls were going this year and it's so hard to believe already! Sunday my anxiety over Audrey and Lotty starting PreK showed up, I hadn't been too worry before. Jason was able to take the morning off work for the first time ever, he missed both Kate and Naty's first day of PreK so he was very happy to be able to come this year!

Our big 1st grader, Kate, is on the other side of the school from her little sisters so she got Daddy all the herself for drop off that first day. He helped her get all her supplies in her desk and she begrudgingly gave him a picture, apparently we've already reached the age of "Gah my parents are embarrassing!" haha

Naty, Audrey and Charlotte all share a pod which is really nice! The twins and I took Naty to her class room first. She's such a little pro already, while I was busy putting her supplies where they needed to go, she walked straight to her cubby to put her back pack and lunch away. We helped her pick a seat and then she was ready for us to leave hahaha

Audrey and Lotty are just across the pod hall from Naty so off to their class we went. They were super excited to find their cubbies and hang up their back packs, it's so cute the pleasure they take in such a little thing just because it's new :) We went and found their seats, their teacher had moved them next to each other for the moment, and got them to sit and color on their papers. Jason showed up about then and so I asked if they were ready for us to leave, Lotty said yes but Audrey told me no with her saddest face. Oh boy, wasn't expecting my boldest child to have a hard time with us leaving. We stood next to them for a few minutes and I asked again, still no, so I told her were going to stand at the back of the class room. We weren't back there more then maybe two minutes before Audrey had come back to us. I picked her up and asked why she was so sad and she told me she just didn't want me to leave. :/ I was standing right by the door so I showed her she can see Naty's class room from the door, Lotty is sitting right next to her and Miss Steinhoff will tell her what she needs to do and when. We cuddled for a minute but then I sent her back to her seat. Lotty came over next, but just to ask if she could play blocks because she was done coloring haha I told her to wait til Miss Steinhoff told she could, just go keep coloring til class starts.

I felt bad for the teacher, she was Kate's PreK teacher, every year their is always at least one child having a melt down but this year I think she had three going at the same time plus some snifflers. We stuck around longer then I probably would have normally just because I wanted to make sure Audrey wasn't going to start crying. I had to go reassure Audrey again when one little boy next to her started having a complete melt down. Just reminded her that he is just missing his mommy and all the mommies will be back at the end of the day. The second bell rang about then so we finally went over and have final hugs and kisses and told them we are leaving. The look on Audrey's face about killed me but I made myself leave. Almost started bawling the minute I closed the door behind us. Pregnant women should not have to drop their kids off for the first day of school hahaha

Jason and I went for coffee after that which was a nice way to push off the silent house for a bit plus it was awful nice to go get coffee with my husband without having to arrange for someone to watch any combo of the kids!

I was super excited to pick everyone up at the end of the day! Everyone had a great day! Audrey calmed down pretty fast and they both were really excited to go back :)

Second day went super smooth! Kate and Naty walked themselves to their class rooms and the twins had no problem meeting their class in the cafeteria and having me give kisses and saying good bye right away :)

Audrey came down sick today, third day of school, I felt so bad for her! She seems to be feeling better by this evening so fingers crossed, I expect her to be able to go to school tomorrow. Lotty did a great job by herself at school which made me so happy! That's the longest they've ever been apart!

Here's hoping for a great school year!

1st grade!

Kindergarten!

All ready to go to school!

Naty outside her class

Lotty ready for PreK!

Coloring while we wait for class to start!

Audrey outside class

Audrey and Charlotte turn 4!

Our little twinkles are 4!! Audrey and Charlotte turned 4 on July 19th, we had a fun little family party them that night with pizza and cake. That weekend we had a bigger family party with everyone in tow. My little girls love dress up and being princesses so we had a princess party for them :) Kate and Naty had great fun picking out gifts for them this year which was fun to see too.

Audrey is turning into such a people person! She has never met a stranger and assumes everyone wants to know her and what she's thinking hahaha She always wakes up with the biggest smile and I swear she wakes thinking what crazy thing can I do today? Hahaha She's most definitely the more outgoing of the two. She's my little shadow and has been one of my biggest helpers during this pregnancy. She loves helping me with the laundry and dishes! She's definitely a little spot of spunky sunshine! :)

Charlotte is still my little sweet pea! She's got such a kind, sweet nature to her. Much more quiet then her twin sister, but always right behind her ready for whatever adventure Audrey thinks of (after Audrey has given it a test run and made sure it's safe haha) Lotty loves her accessories! She's always wearing necklaces, bracelets, and something on her head. She also loves her purses, bags, and wagon. Always full to the brim with her favorite toys of the moment!

I can still remember the shock of finding out we were having twins and I can say 4 years later that I can see what a blessing God gave us and them with our little BOGO pregnancy ;) They melt my heart when I see them hold hands or snuggle together. It helps my mother anxiety that they will have each other in PreK next month since I still think of them as my babies. I hope and pray they will always love and cherish each other so much and take so much joy in their special bond! :)

Birthday morning

Birthday swim

So shy when everyone clapped for them

Opening gifts

Sweet 4 year olds!

Making necklaces

Tea time!

Even Gigi got in on it!

Cousin Simon thought the plate was tasty too

Hehehehe such a good Daddy to play along

Birthday Princesses

Daddy made an awesome princess cake!

Blog, what blog?

Ok can we all just admit up front I've done a TERRIBLE job keeping up with this blog thing? Hahaha Well I'm going to try to do better for my own forget-everything-mommy-brain self! Hhhmm, where to start.. well last school year went great, Kate and Naty had a fabulous year and learned so much! They seemed so much more mature to me at the end. Next month school starts up again! Kate will be in 1st grade, Naty will be in Kindergarten, and Audrey and Charlotte will be in PreK!! Hard to believe all four will be in school! Audrey and Charlotte will be the youngest starting PreK so far, as they will only turn 4 tomorrow, versus Kate who was almost 5 and Naty who was 4.5. 6 months can make a HUGE difference at this age. I think they are completely socially ready for school but academically they want nothing to do with any workbooks or even just learning play that I've tried to do. Hopefully the school environment will help spark that eagerness.

With all four about to be in school, I found myself wondering what I would do with all my free time I'd suddenly had. I had been making plans to train for a 10k, get more involved in the PTA at school, maybe even take some photography classes and brush up on my skills. God apparently had very different plans for me! The biggest thing that's about to change in our family is we're adding a new member! It came as quite the surprise!! Little Miss Alice will be joining our family in October! I'm going to be totally honest, I wasn't thrilled at first and stupid people comments only added to the anxiety I was having. It took me much longer then it has in the past to be excited about having another baby. There are still some days I'm not quite sure what the Big Guy was thinking either, but I do my best to let go and Trust those days. The idea that I'll be the mother of 5 children still freaks me out a bit too hahahaha The girls have been huge helps so far, they've been helping me more and more around the house as my belly gets bigger and chores are hard. They are all VERY excited about their new sister arriving and tell me daily about all the plans they have to help me take care of her :)

The summer has been flying by! We try to play with friends as often as we can, the girls go swimming almost daily and we've been having lots of tea parties and movie afternoons to beat the heat!

Think that's it for now, like I said Audrey and Charlotte's birthday is tomorrow! Can't believe they'll be 4 already!

Here's some recent pictures of everyone too! :)

Princess Twinks

All my beautiful daughters

Naty after going down a giant slip n slide

Kate enjoying water fun

Audrey, always the ham!

Back at 25 weeks!

Jason and all his princesses on Father's Day <3

New School Year

Well school started yesterday (Aug 22nd) Kate is in Kindergarten and Naty is in PreK! Time is really speeding up again! Natalie had been hoping to be with Kate's PreK teacher but I didn't request her so she got one of the other teachers. She was ok with that and so was I. Having 4 kids go through grades back to back like we will, I think giving the teachers a break from the Ziegenbein Hurricanes will be nice LOL I also think it will give them each a slightly different experience so that none of them can say "Oh I did that too" which I know they'll do some stuff the same but no teacher does the same activity the same.

So the night before school started everyone was very excited and nervous! I was very happy when the girls were asleep by 9pm! I managed to get the nervous stomaches to eat breakfast, we took some pictures (below) and walked to school. I decided to drop Kate off at her class first since I figured she wouldn't feel the need for me to stay. We walked into her classroom and found she had a substitute already. Her teacher had been sick on Meet the Teacher night too. So I helped Kate get settled, didn't talk to the sub much but I overheard him saying to other parents who were bombarding him with questions, "I'm not quite sure of the policy" I just figured, they'll survive, just don't loose my kid. Guess what? He lost my kid! I was a little late for pick-up (it's almost an hour earlier then how ended last year) so I was caught in the mix of first day parents, all ten thousand of them ;). I got Naty from her class, was waiting to get Kate's sub's attention or the teacher with the megaphone calling for the kids, all of sudden I realize the TA from Kate's PreK class is standing in front of me with a sobbing Kate! She explained that somehow Kate had ended up with the Extended Day kids and then tried to go to the cafeteria where the car riders/walker usually come out from, she was just standing in a corner sobbing trying to tell a teacher she didn't know that she isn't supposed to be there. Thank God Mrs. Meyers came up then and was able to scoop her up and come find me! Poor Kate, took all evening to calm her down. I assured her I would come talk to either her teacher or sub, whoever was there the next day. Turns out, someone in the office let everyone go at the same time, they usually call for bus riders, then Extended Day kids, then everyone else leaves. They apparently had kids trying to get on buses who were car riders too, it was a cluster.

The rest of the week has gone smoothly. Kate's teacher has only been there for 2.5 days, not sure what she has but I feel bad for her! Naty is in love with her teacher and the whole school experience! I think Kate is finally settling in too, she's excited to have a "real" art class this year! Today is her first Art class, so I can't wait to hear how it went! Praying for a good school year! :)

Audrey and Charlotte are now enjoying some alone time with Mom and I'm enjoying it too! The first few days were a little rough for them in the morning because they are so used to going with their big sisters everywhere that they had a hard time understanding they can't go to school this year. We are waiting for the weather to cool off so we can enjoy doing things like the park and zoo with just the three of us! They have been potty training all month and are doing such a good job! They are having some issues with making it to the potty for #2 but are solid on #1, even sleeping dry all night! I actually threw out the diaper pail today! Big moment for us, we've had one for almost 6 years straight now! Hahaha I know they'll be done with the training soon and then we'll be tackling sleeping without binky ;) That'll be fun :p hahaha

All my girls on the first day of school!

Big Kindergartner!

PreK!!

Charlotte had to have a picture too haha

And of course Audrey too!

Big school girls :)

Hard to believe they'll be in school next year!

Kate in her classroom

Naty in her classroom!

Uncle Dan joins the Navy!

My little brother, Daniel, joined the United States Navy Reserve a little over a month ago! He left for boot camp then A school training this morning, we probably won't see him for 5 months now, including Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are so incredibly proud of him! In A school, he is going into Construction Mechanics, also known as SeaBees. If you don't know anything about the SeaBees you can go here, USN SeaBees They are pretty bad ass ;) The SeaBees go in right behind the Marines and set up everything from camp to roads and can fix about anything that need fixing. When he comes back though, he intends to finish school and become a Pharmacist and then go active duty for the USN for at least the remainder of his enlistment time but as been seriously considering going career ultimately. We are very proud of our Sailor, praying he stays safe and has a good time, and we can't wait to have him home!

Uncle Dan with his nieces 

My parents and brother

One of my favorites, my brother is such a goob

Chillaxin' last summer