Thursday was the morning that Rob and I were in Sioux Falls to head to the Midwife's office quick in the morning before heading back to Orange City. I did however forget a couple of the details of Wed night that are oh so funny....before leaving the hospital my midwife said she wanted to give me something to sleep. Rob and I both kind of looked at each other and I knew we were thinking the same thing, "This girl needs nothing to help her sleep". however, she wouldn't let me leave the hospital and head home to bed without knowing that I would "Rest soundly". Therefore, I took an Ambien before I left. I don't know if any of you have ever taken Ambien, I did in the very last days of my pregnancy with Karys mainly for the fact that I was contracting like crazy and I was a ball of anxiety and needed sleep, but these are some pretty potent pills. By the time we got to my parents house I was still feeling fine and talked with my dad a little bit before heading up to the bathroom to pee and get ready for bed. From the kitchen my dad and Rob soon heard a crash, that would just be me running into the cupboard and tripping over their scale after getting up from the toilet. Whoops! Still felt ok though...or so I thought...I proceeded upstairs to find PJ's and thought I would stop on the way and just update my facebook status for those who would be wondering...can't remember what I typed, was actually shocked to find what I wrote the next day mainly b/c I had no recollection of typing it, and from there had to strategize a way to make it from the desk to the bed, not a far distance at all ;) Not sure how I made it there, Rob said I was like half on the bed half off and I was a bear to get up into the bed to sleep. Moral of the story....Erin doesn't need help sleeping ;) Even better part, the midwife wrote me a prescription for Ambien to take for the remainder of my pregnancy...needless to say that prescription is still in my purse, yet to even come near to a pharmacy!
Below are some of the pics that my mom took of Karys and Nathan while Gracie was at school. She was just over the other day and is still telling the stories of these two..."They just cracked me up!" she says.
Getting their groove on around the living room
Jump around and shake your body like this
Playing squirt guns in the bathroom...they did proceed to try and venture out into the house with them as well but luckily things stayed pretty under control ;)
"Come on, Maggie...follow me!"
"Hey! Let me have that bone!" A little tug-o-war action going on
"Oh Mags, don't tease me like that! Your tickling my face!"
My mom said Nathan all of a sudden got really serious when he found his sunglasses. He came in the kitchen and asked her for a newspaper and a pen. She had to really look around for a newspaper, but finally found the grocery ad from the weekly paper. He just sat up at the counter and "shopped" with his shades on and pen in hand!
My mom did a GREAT job of praising Gracie for the butterflies that she made at school and also helped her put a puzzle together while we were rounding up Nathan's things. "Gracie, do you think you do Play-doh better than PaPa?"
"I think I do!" Smiles from the ladies on that one
Don't tell him that though, it is so funny!!!!
Nathan cuddling with Maggie, found him in the corner by the couch saying by to her and singing her a rendition of Jesus loves the little children.
Later that night after they got back from dropping Nathan off, Karys had already gone to the bathroom and was insistent she had to go more....only she wanted to pee like Nathan did. Because he knew she already went, Rob let her try it. She was so perplexed when she first stood up there as was Gracie I think..."Karys, that is not going to work. You are going to pee everywhere!" I think Karys realized this a quickly starting laughing....It was at that point I think we all lost it in laughter! 
Hilarious to watch kids discover things for themselves and just this picture says it all...holding on the the toilet the same way Nathan does hoping for success but realizing the humor of the situation.....LOVE IT!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thankful Thursday (3/19)
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wonderful/Weary Wednesday (3/18)
Wednesday morning, all of the kiddos were awake at 6:30 am. When Rob went out into the hallway to corral them back to bed he found Nathan was already stripped down to his pull-up. Shay told us that this has been his routine, to wake up and dress himself and get ready for the day (Awesome! it is a battle to get the girls dressed most days, they just want 'different' jammies on). Rob did help him get his jammies back on and helped everyone back to bed. I think Nathan was the only one to really fall back asleep or deeply rest for the next 20-30 minutes. Needless to say my girls don't usually get up this early and I think Karys kept Nathan up the night before so we were feeling a little stressed trying to get out the door to Kindermusik. Everyone was just having a harder time, I think Nathan was starting to feel the effects of needing his mommy and daddy and own space, Gracie was just extremely tired and not handling things well w/o tears, but Karys....she was walking around following ppl from room to room just singing, "The B-I-B-L-E, yes that's the book for me!" Preach it, sister....you just keep right on singing ;)
So we finally made it out the door and met Rob at church for Kindermusik. He was going to run in the kids and start with them while I ran to drop the dog off for a "puppy trim"...remember that term, k?
Kindermusik was the best thing for all of us!!! The kids love singing the songs, they have instruments to play with, and there is this AWESOME parachute that they get to play with. Wish I would have brought the camera, but you will just have to try to picture it!
After we were finished we loaded up the van and headed off to get Maggie. I didn't even recognize her when I picked her up. I thought they were just going to trim the hair around her face, etc. And yeah....they shaved her. Actually it would have been better to shave her, it was like they just grabbed chunks of her hair and cut it. I was so upset and I think just with the other events of the morning I did not handle it well :(
My mom's comment to the first picture is, "She is pretty cute still"....Comment for this picture, "OK, this angle...not so cute"
Even Maggie looks sad and went and pouted in the corner
Kept the kiddos busy til lunchtime (Rob was coming home) with some good ole games @ Sesame Street.org...can't believe how quickly kids pick up on the whole computer thing. It was so cute to watch the three of them work on the games together.
Taking a consensus on what the answer would be...look at their faces, definitely concentrating and trying to rationalize the best answer ;) 
After lunch they all three crashed while watching Ice Age...Rob had just finished taking them outside after lunch to burn off any extra energy they may have had. During this time I was really starting to not feel well. Feeling some pretty strong contractions and with them pain that I haven't had with my contractions in the other pregnancies. So I called my midwife to seek advice. She told me to take some ibuprofen and jump in a nice hot tub and see if it would help. Well the pain went away but I was still having way too much pressure for comfort. So she then told me I needed to come in. Looking at the picture above this is still the position all the kiddos were in...we had ourselves a little bit of a dilemma. After doing some calling though we decided it would be best to leave the kiddos home. We were hoping for the best case scenario of just needing a shot of Terbutaline and then being able to head back home...and that almost ended up being the case. However, after the contractions slowed down with the shot (they were coming every 3-4 minutes pretty strongly) we had to head over to my parents in Lennox and be back into the clinic at 830 the next morning. My mom really saved us/helped us out by driving over to OC to stay with the kiddos. We had a babysitter already set up for Wed night so she stayed just a little later and then my mom came! What a trooper to take the three kiddos and even get Gracie out the door to school on time ;) We were back in town by 11:30 and were able to meet them at Hardee's for lunch.
The decision was also made to start me on a progesterone shot for the next 6-7 weeks. Just to see if we could try to get me a little further along and make things a little more comfortable. Rob is going to be giving me these shots I think so that will bring our marriage relationship ;)
Rob and the girls then took off at about 1:30 to head down to Missouri Valley to meet Shay and Heather who were picking up Nathan! I was so bummed to miss out on his last night and morning, but sounds like he still had a GREAT time with Grandma Sally! Thanks for coming buddy!
Terrific Tuesday (3/17)
Tuesday was a really good day for all of us! Gracie got up and had to get ready for school; therefore, we all had to get ready for school and it just went so well. We were all out the door and in the van on time and Gracie and Karys were so excited to show Nathan where Gracie went to school at...more than that though I think Nathan was excited to see it too! So we brought her over, watched her wash her hands, write her name on the board, and gave hugs ;) After that, Nathan, Karys and I headed to the library to play. It was only 9:15 and Toddler Story hour wasn't until 10, but they were excited to play and jump around a little first so we headed straight there.
The Orange City library just does such a good job with their programming and also utilizing their facilities. They have a room with tables, toys, and "cushion" type things that the kids love to jump on, so we hung out in there til Miss Becky said it was time to start. The kids did great! Sat so well and listened to stories and participated in rhymes that all related to birds.
They loved this little rhyme Miss Becky did with little blackbird puppets on her fingers..."Two little blackbirds sitting on a wall. One named Peter, one named Paul...."
When it was finished they got to color pictures of little birdies and they tape a Popsicle stick to the back so they would be able to bounce and fly them around.
Karys waiting patiently for her stick...Nathan was already done and "flying" his so she wanted to join him ASAP ;)
Nathan jumping up and down with his little birdie while Karys finished up
They headed over to be able to jump out of "trees" with them and fly them all around the room
Nathan was also totally into wearing this helmet! He walked all over with it on his head...
...and even recruited this little girl, Summer, to find a hat and come fly in his airplane with him!
Once story hour was over, we needed to head out to pick up Gracie and get home and eat some lunch. I think Karys converted Nathan over to loving PBJ daily for the week he was with us b/c today it was his idea to eat that instead of Karys'...and no mom, I didn't eat that everyday ;) But I did ask for it! After lunch we headed out to play more since that had worked so well to run off some energy before nap the day before. It was even warmer out today so all the kiddos wanted to wear flip flops...well since I only have girls, the only color flip flops I had were pink and Nathan was actually totally excited and eager to wear them. Had to have a pic to show his dad...the boy who wakes up in the morning and wants nothing more than to wear his Hawkeye football uniform for the day, also this afternoon wanted nothing more than to wear these shoes ;) Love it!
Karys standing next to the Dora bike all ready to go...Gracie ran in to get her "bike riding" shoes b/c flip-flops were not safe!
The helmet was again a hot commodity b/t the three of them. Might have to have one come with him next one so we have enough they can each have one...had a hard time sharing these.
Nathan was working on his track running by running laps around our side walk...don't worry if he falls down his head is safe!
Later that night we went to Pizza Ranch for supper...when we got home Nathan really wanted to run again only this time he wanted to "chase". He and Karys took turns chasing each other all around the sidewalk...
"I think he's gonna tag me..."
"Oh no, I lost my shoe!"
"Here, let me hold your hair back while you get it on again..."
Gracie was ready to join the fun...
After scrutinizing an "owie" on her finger and finally getting a Dora band-aid to cover it!
"Uncle Rob, I chase you! Let's go, run fast!"
"You are too fast for me Nephew Nathan, I need a rest!"
All the kiddos running in a line....baths for everyone tonight!
LOVE THIS PICTURE!
Uncle Rob leading the way while the girls try to keep up...
Nathan at this point had been running for a LONG time! He was starting to tell me how hot and tired he was getting, but then would just take off running again ;)
We then headed in and got jammies on...Rob wanted to get a picture for Chad of Nathan in his princess pull-up. No we did not put this on him just to take the picture;) But realized he didn't have any with him and needed to borrow one of the girls...poor kid though, we never made it over to Sioux Center Wal-Mart to buy him his own so he did wear them all week! 
Fun times brushing teeth....Nathan is really good at brushing on his own and I think that wore off well on my girls b/c they actually like to do it now!
All business and no messing around, we need to get to bed ;) Gotta love the matching PJs too..."I want my Christmas jammies like Nathan."Monday, March 23, 2009
The Sun is Shining!
It was also so fun to have Nathan with us! He was so eager to have the girls show him the different areas of the park and to explore it. While they were on the merry-go-round her would yell to Gracie, "Faster, Faster!" But in the next breath, he would say, "Auntie Erin, the floor is falling!" We talked about if he was dizzy and he informed me he had never been dizzy before and it was no fun ;) It must have been a little bit fun though b/c he was back on there a couple more times....each time saying the same thing. Gracie loves being the older cousin who pushes the little ones and tells them to hold on tight.
Karys especially looked big to me...she would climb and jump in many of the same ways Gracie did and has in the past, didn't ask for help as often, and had that look of fear or hesitation missing from her eyes.
Gracie could climb the rock wall on her own...the first couple times she got to the top and would just look at me with a surprised look like, "Wow, I just did that without help? Better try that again..." 
The monkey hang and swing is still a favorite for the ladies :)
Nathan also liked to swing, poor guy fell in a puddle going down the slide a little bit before this picture was taken...didn't take long for him to bounce back and be running again but I felt so bad for him ;)
Everyone loved the swings! Nathan wanted to go higher, higher....gracie wasn't so sure about the underdog yet this year....and Karys just liked to pump her feet back and forth and back and forth!
Pink cheeks and big smiles!
Nathan was the only one who wanted to ride in the stroller...the girls just had to walk! Think we are going be doing a lot of walking and baby carrying this summer :) Gotta love the wand Nathan was carrying around all morning....this all boy, boy was definitely introduced to the world of pink!
After we were chilled at the park, we headed across the street to the bakery to pick up a cookie. Rob was working on some school stuff at the local coffee shop so cookies in hand we headed over a block to eat our cookies with him and give him a brief study break. Everyone had to check out what he was doing before we headed on our way home!
The afternoon just continued to get warmer, so we headed out one more time after lunch and before our nap time. Gracie really wanted to play sidewalk chalk...or should I say she wanted to instruct me in what I should draw with sidewalk chalk while she watched ;) 
Nathan was busy taking care of the "man stuff" that needed to get done outside...apparently really dangerous stuff b/c he insisted on having the bike helmet on to do it ;)
Karys was busy running around from bike to bike as well...definitely not slowing down to play chalk ;)
Gracie eventually needed to move around a little more too and wanted her turn with a helmet, so she headed off to batting practice while Karys and Nathan fielded for her!
