Breakfast With Santa

This past Saturday morning we had the pleasure of enjoying "Breakfast with Santa."  This was the first year that we have had the children's Christmas party on a Saturday morning and I think it turned out great!  We had a yummy breakfast and all the kids wore their pajamas!  After breakfast the man in the red suit himself showed up for a little visit.  All the kids were so excited!

Waiting patiently for a turn to sit in Santa's lap

Erin told Santa she wants a Dora doll and a pink Leapster explorer for Christmas.  She proceeded to open her gift while sitting in Santa's lap!  She received a Strawberry Shortcake doll that she loves, however, she was didn't understand why Santa didn't give her what she asked for then. I have tried to explain to her that she has to wait until Christmas day to see what Santa will bring her!

Grant was equally excited to see Santa.  He asked Santa for a Criss Cross Crash (a matchbox car toy) and a Stinky Garbage Truck.  Santa told Grant to look at me and smile and this is what I got!  

Camryn slept through the party, but Santa did not forget her!  She received a musical highchair toy.  

Grant was thrilled with his little gift!

Camryn's Birth Announcement

I just finished Camryn's birth announcement!  I wanted to hurry up and get the announcements in the mail with our Christmas cards so I used Shutterfly since I was already using them for our Christmas cards!  They had several designs that I really like, but I settled on this one.  I think it is perfect!  Of course, the sweet little face on the front is my favorite part!

Vintage Volute Pink Birth Announcement

Customize your own baby announcement at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Baby Camryn: 1 Week Old Photos

I keep attempting to get pictures of her asleep, but she always wakes up on me!  Could it be that my two little assistants are waking her up?  These are still sweet!

Thanksgiving Recap

I figure I better blog about Thanksgiving before the week is over!  We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house as usual this year.  (Don't worry...I didn't do all the cooking!)  We had 27 family members present!  All of my dad's family was able to be here this year.  My cousin and family even made it down!  It was so nice to get to visit with her and her boys are so sweet!  Grant and Erin had a blast playing with them.  My Granny, Grandaddy and Aunt Vicki were also in attendance and Stephen's family joined us as well.  We missed having  Melissa and Chris and Brian and Liz here this year.  

Granny Field got to the house early and had a chance to hold baby Camryn before everyone else arrived!  My kids are so lucky!  They have so many grandparents/great grandparents to love on them!

The food was great and the fellowship was even better!  I look forward to Thanksgiving every year!

The kids listening to stories

I think she exceeds the weight limit by about 16 lbs!

First Attempt at Christmas Card Photos

Yesterday evening, before Stephen and the kids left for worship service, we attempted our Christmas card pictures.  These two group shots were the best.  I don't know how many times I told the kids to look at the camera. I don't think there was a single shot out of about 40 where both Grant and Erin were looking at the camera and don't even mention smiling!  Hunter gave up and left the photo shoot to sniff around the yard.  

I  like this staging better....we just needed someone to stand behind the camera and get the kids' attention!

I love this shot of Grant!  He has a hard time smiling on command for pictures.  He tenses up and ends up making the goofiest faces.  The more you tell him to "just smile"  the more awkward he looks.  He was smiling at his daddy making funny faces behind me.  Boy he is looking so big!

Camryn was oblivious to the photo shoot this year.

As you can see from the new header, I had these huge lollipops as a bribe to sit still during our family shots. They loved them....

...as you can see!

We might have to have a redo next weekend with a little assistance! 

Grant's Thanksgiving Feast

Grant had a "Thanksgiving Feast" last Friday at school.  The kids dressed as the "Indians" and the guests were the "Pilgrims."  Stephen and Granny were Grant's guests.  I was so sorry I missed it, but I couldn't help it this year.  He loves his school and his teacher and they had been preparing a set of songs to entertain the guests.

Grant's favorite song that he learned for the program for the Ten Little Indians.  We have heard this song over and over again for the past month.  It never gets old!  He was so proud if himself!

Not Your Regular Hospital Pictures

The evening after Camryn was born, just as they were bringing my dinner, the hospital's baby photographer came into our room.  I figured she would take the "normal" newborn baby shot--one picture of the baby laying in the hospital bassinet. (We never purchased Grant or Erin's hospital pictures because they just weren't that great!)  Instead, she took about 30 minutes worth of photographs.  We went ahead and purchased the (over priced) CD of the pictures (which included the copyright).  

This one is my favorite!!!

I really wish I would have known she was coming around.  I would have put on some make up!  She was making me pretend I was asleep....I was trying hard not to laugh!

Camryn's Birth Story

When I went in to my appointment last Tuesday morning my doctor informed me that he scheduled me for an induction the next morning.  I was on the fence about even going through with the induction, but I was already having regular contractions, and he and I both felt like I would be in active labor by the time I showed up Wednesday morning.  I went ahead and agreed to the induction praying that it would be easier than Grant's.  

We were up bright and early Wednesday morning and went on in to start my induction.  They started the pitocin drip about 9 am and slowly dialed it up every 30 minutes.  Stephen and I spent the morning watching TV and relaxing waiting for active labor to start.  My contractions were very regular, but very manageable.  After lunch time, the contractions had kicked it up a notch and I was up walking around my room as far as  my IV and monitors would allow.  I like to stand up during labor.  I have found that I can manage the contractions much better that way, and gravity also helps speed things along.  Hours of this went by...dialing up the pitocin...slowly progressing.  By the time my night nurse came into check my progress I was only 3 cm.    It was 9:30 pm and I was pretty exhausted, ...I had been on my feet all day.  She suggested I come off the pitocin for the night, get something to eat, and sleep for a little while.  This was the best idea ever!  I was able to rest and regroup.  They started my induction back about 5 am.  It took a while to get going again because they had to increase the pitocin drip every thirty minutes.  By 9 am things were moving along and I was finally 5 cm.  From this point on things were really intense, but I knew from my other pregnancies that it wouldn't last much longer.  By 10:30 am I was sure I was in transition.  I called my nurse to come in and check me.  She said she'd give me fifteen more minutes before she called my doctor.  She'd only been gone a few minutes when I started to feel the urge to push.  She quickly called the doctor and got the room ready for the baby's arrival.  Dr. Powers got there just in time to deliver Camryn!  She was born at 10:57 am!

Camryn had a knot in her cord just like Grant and Erin!  Dr. Powers was amazed that all three of my babies had knots in their cords.  He called them miracle babies because a knot in the cord is very dangerous and can cause a stillborn birth.  I am thankful that the Lord kept them safe while in my womb.  Camryn never showed any signs of distress during my labor.  Childbirth is nothing short of a miracle itself!

Grant and Erin couldn't wait to meet their little sister!  They were so sweet when they brought Camryn back to the room for the first time!  Erin had picked out the Minnie Mouse lovey the day before at Walmart for her baby!

Grant and Erin love on her all day long!  She is showered with kisses!

I love this picture of Stephen with his little girl.  He is such an amazing father and husband!  I couldn't have made it through this labor and delivery without him!  He was there every step of the way through each contraction.  I used him as my support to lean on (both physically and emotionally)  He was so encouraging to me!  I am so thankful for him!

Some Pics of Baby Camryn

I know I promised to tell you about Camryn's birth on Sunday, but I haven't had the time to sit down and write it out yet.  I promise to get that and the Grant's school pictures uploaded soon.  Our first week home has been great.  Everyone is right!  Going from two kids to three kids really isn't that hard.  It helps that Camryn is such an easy going baby!  She is such a sweet heart!!!  We are back to business as usual around here.  Stephen went back to work yesterday (can't keep him away too long, but he has Thursday and Friday off!)  So until I get my act together here are a few pics from the last couple days!

The girls

Camryn LOVES to be swaddled!  I never really swaddled my other babies because they would get out of it immediately, but this girl...loves a good swaddle!

Camryn and Erin's Bitty Baby

I happened to catch one of those sweet sleep smiles!

This is what I found earlier today!

I'm glad she is easy going because she sure has to put up with a lot of loving from her sister and brother!

She's Here!!!

Camryn Grace

 November 18, 2010  6lbs 8 oz 19.5 inches

We are home and doing well!  She is such a sweet baby and I can't wait to share more from this week.  Stay tuned!!!

(Thanks Kelly for the picture!  I need to get some more photos with her eyes open!)

38 Weeks and Counting

I haven't documented too much about this pregnancy.  I am already thirty eight weeks along and we are anticipating the arrival of our little girl any day now.  The truth is the pregnancy has flown by!  I can already tell we are going to be so much more laid back about baby number three.  I'm a third child.  I have always given my parents a hard time about how there were hardly any pictures of me in the photo album.  I promised that I would never do that to my third child.  However, if you were to scan through my files on my laptop, I am sure there are at least 1,000 (thanks to the digital age) more pictures of Grant than Erin already.  Also, I spent so much time planning and decorating Grant and Erin's nursery, this baby will have to share a room with Erin.  She gets hand me down bedding from Erin (although it is in perfect condition and I still love it!) and to be honest we haven't even set the crib up yet!  I have placed the cradle that my grandfather made me in our bedroom.  Experience tells me that it will be a few months before we even start using the crib.   The important things have been taken care of I have washed all the tiny clothes and blankets, and I have even had a chance to sew a few new items for the baby.  We have even installed the car seat in the car.  Grant thinks it's so cool because he gets to sit in the very back now!

I went in for my appointment today and Dr. Powers went ahead and scheduled an induction for next Friday.  I am not of fan of inductions.  I really don't want to be induced!  I think he felt my hesitance because he told me to come back Tuesday morning for another check and we will make the final decision.  He wants to induce because Erin came so quickly, and he is going to be out of town the week of Thanksgiving.  Grant was an induction.  I have to be honest, when I was expecting Grant I really didn't do much research about childbirth.  I read whatever was written in the book "What to Expect When Your Expecting" and went to the hospital's child birth class, but that was the extent of my preparation.  I had already made up my mind that I would get an epidural and all would be fine.  People do this everyday...right?  Well the induction was long and hard.  Pitocin is terrible!  After fourteen hours of labor I was finally dilated enough (4cm) that they would give me an epidural.  After my epidural, I could rest, but I was finally in active labor and I dilated quickly, before I knew it it was time to push.  There was just one problem.  That epidural that I wanted to badly made it impossible for me to push Grant out.  I tried and tried for an hour and a half!  At that point my doctor took matters into his own hands and with some "help" from him and a vacuum delivery Grant made his entrance into this world.

When we found out we were expecting Erin, I knew there had to be a better way.  (I had a hard time recovering from Grant's birth.)  I started reading all I could about childbirth.  I came across "The Birth Book" by Dr. Sears.  I read it cover to cover!  I made up my mind that this time around I was going to have this baby natural...no drugs!  (People still look at me like I am crazy when I tell them that is how I plan on delivering this baby.)  Erin's birth was textbook! (Easy in the scheme of things...but it was still labor and childbirth.)  I think I was able to handle it better because I had prepared myself mentally this time and I wasn't hooked up to a drip of pitocin!  I tell people it's like running a marathon it's not all physical preparation it takes mental discipline too!  (Right Liz?  You are the only one I know that has completed a marathon!)  The recovery process was so much better this time around.

So were does all this rambling and reminiscing lead too?  I fear the induction, because I don't want to go through what I went through with Grant!  On the other hand, I understand Dr. Powers' concern that A:  I won't make it to the hospital this time,  (we live thirty minutes from the hospital) and B: that they need to give me antibiotics because I am positive for group B strep.  (I was positive with Erin, but they didn't have time to start my IV.  They all acted like it was no big deal with her.)  I also think he prefers the convenience of scheduling me because he would like to be here for the birth.  It really doesn't bother me.  He was out of town when Erin was born, and for that matter the nurse delivered her anyway!

So, I am hoping that I go into labor before Friday or that I can convince him to hold off on the induction.  Whatever happens, I pray for the safest delivery for our baby and myself.  I know sometimes things don't go according to plan.

(Sorry for the long post!  I promise to include cute pictures in the next one!  I have some great ones of Grant on a "horse")

Trunk or Treat

We had our annual "Trunk or Treat" last night after evening worship service. It is always fun to get together with all our friends.  We brought home a ton of candy.....enough to fill 5 gallon ziploc bags and then some!  Here are some photos of our evening. 

Quick pose before heading out into the parking lot.  Can you tell that having their picture taken was the last thing they wanted to be doing?

Grant playing a game for some candy!

Stopping at Mimi and Papa's trunk for lots of treats!

Erin and baby Becca (I just love this little girl! She was the cowardly Lion, but had already come out of her costume.  It was a little warm.)  Rylie and Haylie.

Hanging out at the car with the smoke machine.