Catherine joins the Gang

Our first 48 hours with Catherine have been wonderful.  I'm not sure if I'm running on adrenaline or hormones or what, but I'm just giddy as can be and am loving every second of life with our newest little addition.

There's a bunch of little things that happened the last few days that I want to make sure I remember.  So, I thought I'd post a somewhat random list on here:

-When we called home to let Andrew and Matthew know about their new baby sister, Andrew asked what her first name and middle name were.  Then, he asked what her last name was going to be.  When we told him, he said that couldn't be right because our last name is a boy's name.

-During labor, I got a text from one of the moms at Andrew's school.  I guess Andrew ran into his classroom so excited and told everyone that his mom and dad were at the hospital and having a baby!  He told our sitter, Allison, that it was a special day, so it must be a holiday!

-When we got in the car to head to the hospital at 3:45AM, B was busy choosing music on his phone for this occasion.  I'm thinking something tranquil and mellow, but nope--his choice was TECHNO!  Ha!  Also--our conversation on the way included our excitement that for the 3rd time, we'd have a baby born on a prime date!  Yes, we are that dorky and totally meant for each other. :)

-We got asked several times at the hospital if Catherine every cries.  She didn't cry at delivery and we were worried something was wrong.  The team ran in to check her out and the conclusion was, "she's just not a cryer."  Nice.

-The boys are in love with their new baby sister and have funny ways of showing it.  Andrew really wants her to have enough toys and books to keep her entertained.  He keeps setting up play areas for her in different areas of the house and brings me books for her enjoyment while nursing.  Matthew really is concerned about her diet and likes to leave the table during meals to deliver noodles and share his milk with her.  

-While Catherine was a non-cryer at the hospital, she found her voice our first night home.  She apparently has her nights and days mixed up, so when I tried to get her to settle down around 10, she very much let me know she wasn't a fan.  She cried and nursed off and on for the next 2 hours, so then I decide to walk downstairs with her to say hello to B, who was doing work in his office.  And, she turns into this little sleepy angel as soon as we got near him!  Same thing happened in the womb--she'd be kicking like crazy and I'd tell B to feel and as soon as he touched my belly, Catherine would get still as can be!  Guess she's a little Daddy's girl!  She did eventually fall asleep a little after 2AM and gave me a good 4 hours, which I was very happy about.

-B is at work today and I had our sitter come help for a few hours this morning so I could catch up a little on sleep while she managed the boys. After she left, I had the genius idea of letting the boys help/watch me give Catherine a sponge bath.  Well...Catherine decided to poop during our fun and got it all over my pants, sweatshirt, the bathroom rug, and bathroom floor.  Then, while I'm trying to manage and get her cleaned up, my 2 little helpers decide to help me clean the floor with the WHITE guest washcloths.  I was just laughing through the whole thing.  Good first adventure on being home alone with 3 kids.

And, some pictures:

First morning on the outside

So sweet

View from our hospital room

The boys just love her

Matthew's not seeming so little anymore!

First morning at home snuggles

Andrew took this picture!

Lil' Peanut snoozing the day away

Welcome Catherine!

Our 3rd beautiful baby arrived 4 days ahead of her due date on February 19th.  We are all so in love.

Catherine Ann

6lbs 4oz, 19.25" long

Feb 19, 2014 at 9:23AM

Her Birth Story:

-2:45AM, I wake up to a trickle and realize my water broke--the exact way I was hoping labor would start!  I wake B, call Allison (our sitter), and start getting everything together and showering.

-4AM, arrive at the hospital and B gets some coffee

-4:30AM, confirmed water has broken and admitted for delivery--checked and I'm at 2.5 cm 60% effaced, same as I was at my 38 week appointment.  Contractions weak, but coming every 5 minutes.

-5:15AM, in our delivery room and went ahead and got the epidural before in pain at all.  Got 1 painful contraction while getting it, but that's it.  I felt so guilty getting the epidural before I even had pain, but I've had 2 glorious epidurals during my previous deliveries and just don't have the drive or desire to learn about that "ring of fire" people have talked about.  

-8:15AM, checked and at 5cm 90% effaced

-8:55AM, baby showing some decels, so checked again and at 10cm, 100% effaced, and ready to push!  Waited while my OB was paged and got there.  I could not believe my body progressed that quickly without any pitocin or anything. 

-9:23AM after pushing/laughing through 2 contractions, Catherine was born.  There was a minute of suspense while I'm asking for someone to tell me if it's a girl or boy and the delivery team all looks at B to tell me--it's a GIRL!!!  Totally in shock!

-Catherine didn't cry at birth, so they had the peds team come and check her out.  She was breathing fine and the conclusion was, "she's just not a cryer."  Nice!

-After delivery, we did skin-to-skin for a long time.  Catherine had some trouble keeping her temperature up, so she had to go to the nursery and spend some time under the heat lamps while we were finishing up in the delivery room and being transferred to the recovery room.

Thankfully, instead of a horrible 3rd/nearly 4th degree tear when Matthew was born (which took them an hour to sew up), I had only a barely 2nd degree tear this time and only about 5 minutes of stitching.  The recovery so far has been so much easier and I'm barely sore at all anymore.  Hopefully this will continue and we won't have any setbacks like last time.

In total shock and completely excited that IT'S A GIRL!!

Catherine's first picture with her Mom and Dad:

Hello World!

December!

We're now at 5 days 'til due date.  Baby 3 has been given the official eviction notice, but is deciding to stay right where he/she is for now.  Patience is a virtue, huh?  Ugh.

Alright, so here's what we were up to in December...

Decorating the house for Christmas!  Remember, this is the only time of year I actually feel like I know what I'm doing in the decorating department...

Enjoying lots and lots of fresh snow!  So beautiful!

I try to keep toys out of our living room, but brought Matthew's wooden tracks up for a few weeks.  The boys were content for quite a long time and working together--just one of those moments to remember.

More snow and sunny skies!

 Got Andrew on skis for the first time!

I finally finished Andrew's stocking by his 5th Christmas...pathetic, but it's done.  Now, gotta get going on Matthew's...

Hosted some moms from school for coffee and bagels.  I always end up taking pictures of my table to send to my mom.

Matthew turned 2 and became quite the dare-devil/trouble maker.  This is how I found him when B and I thought the other one was in charge of him.  Ugh...

Got a text from the little sib on a Friday morning saying she and David, her fiance, are thinking about visiting to ski.  She checked flights and rates were great for that night, so we got a really fun last-minute visit from them!  We spent a lot of time up at Alta during December.  Look at the blue of that sky!  Incredible!

B has spent quite a few hours looking like this during this winter.  He's definitely hooked...

Sadly, Matthew and I had to watch from the sidelines this year.

Andrew on his first day of ski lessons!  His only complaint was that we signed him up for the half-day instead of full.

Faith and David enjoying some of the other culture SLC has to offer.  :)

Last hike before heading to the airport.

Still amazed that we live somewhere so beautiful....ahhh

Just a few days after Faith and David's visit, Nana and Papa arrived to celebrate their first Christmas ever away from home!  Sadly, we had to throw out our live tree that morning and buy an artificial tree because our live tree was so dry and pretty much petrified.  We aren't sure what went wrong and were both really bummed to get a fake tree, but were too nervous to keep the fire hazard in our house any longer.  

On Christmas Eve, we took a Polar Express train ride in the mountains.  Matthew was pretty excited to see the train.

My birthday dinner this year--live lobsters from Maine! :)

Sorry lobsters, but you were really tasty!

My very sweet and thoughtful husband talked to a bakery to find a cake I could actually eat this year while dealing with gestational diabetes.  It was so good and kept my levels great!  Thanks, hon!

So--apparently I took no pictures on actual Christmas Day.  Really?  That's ridiculous.  We had a very nice Christmas and I finally used our China for the first time.  We've moved it in it's original packaging a million times since receiving it as gifts for our wedding.  I've always kinda regretted registering for it at all, but now that we actually used it, I'm so glad we have it!  Besides our meal, we had a nice visit from Santa, who delivered tools for Andrew and some train fun for Matthew.   We also attended a beautiful mass at the Cathedral and heard a wonderful homily from the Bishop of SLC.

To wrap up this post--our last day of December, New Year's Eve.  I'm not at all a New Year's fan, but ran to the grocery store down the street and picked up a little party bag after dinner.  We threw a little post-pj's party for the boys to celebrate the New Year.  I think we counted down to 8:18 or something like that.  It's funny how fun they thought this was and how excited they were to celebrate!

Well, folks--I've finished 2013!  Maybe baby will arrive before I have time to post January?  One can dream...

November Catch-Up

Alright, got October up, so now let's see what we were up to back in November.
B had a conference in Atlanta in November, so I decided to take a road trip with the boys to visit our friends who recently moved to Vegas.  It's a 6 hour drive, but went really fast and the kids were fantastic on the drive.  It was my first trip to Vegas and I can't wait to get back!

Andrew made a furnace room with the etch-a-sketch

Got synced naps on the drive down. Yes!

Near St. George, 4 hrs into our drive. Love that there's palm trees!

Andrew and his buddy, Jonah, being goofy at the Mandalay Aquarium

The boys in a casino. :)

Synced naps on the way home too!  Andrew had a little bit of a stomach bug on the drive home, so we had a bit more adventure than wanted/expected.

I spent lots of hours in November scrambling to get Andrew's Christmas stocking finished (he's 4--I'm so behind) and enjoying our fireplace.

 On a mild day, we went for a walk in the neighborhood while B did a summit hike to that peak in the picture (Grandeur Peak).  He was up there when I took this picture.

We did a big combo trip to see family for Thanksgiving at the end of the month--flew into Pittsburgh for 6 days and then flew to Illinois for 3 days.  It was great to see both sides of the family in 1 trip!

Matthew's reached the age of easy travel! Yes!!  

Got together with James, his best buddy from Pittsburgh 

Learning about magnets with Grandma

Train-obsessed Matthew got some new tracks and switcher from his Grandpa--he was in heaven!

Bowling with some help from Uncle Mick

Christmas Juice (egg nog) on Thanksgiving morning tradition!

Um, Matthew chugged about 3 cups worth.  This boy LOVED his Christmas Juice!

Now in Illinois for Tortellini Making Day (M.I.T) with 2nd cousin, Molly

My cousin Paul letting us know he was proposing to his girlfriend the next day--she said YES!!

Lots of hard work making the dough!

This year's M.I.T. group.  Matthew was at Nana & Papa's house napping with Papa