Beach Baby

Annie, Week 1

As your reward for putting up with the previous wordy post, here's one with photos from Annie's first week with us.

Just so you know, she was in perfect health at her check-up yesterday. In fact, the doctor made a point of telling me what a beautiful baby she was - not too skinny and not really chubby; clear and even skin; good color; just the right amount of hair; strong and responsive. What choice did I have except to agree?

March Madness

No, I'm not going to blog about how my bracket is leading the pool right now (though it is, truth be told).

Annie came on March 15th, the first day of the men's NCAA basketball tournament and the Ides of March. They are not kidding when they tell you to beware.

I was counting on a laid back day because Rachelle was under the weather and only wanted to snuggle. Me and her and a few good movies were going to hunker down for the day. Then my water broke. Well, I thought my water broke. Since I wasn't sure, I dropped Stellan of at school anyway. By the time I had walked from the car to the classroom and back to the car, I was very sure my water had broken.

I called the doctor's office, who told me to go straight to the hospital. Well, that didn't exactly happen. You see, neither Rachelle nor Stellan came on time, so I was counting on being induced with v 3.0 on the night of my due date. We didn't have the cradle assembled, the bags packed or a childcare plan in place. Oops. Further complicating that was sick RaRa.

I put in a call to a friend to see if she would be willing to watch Rachelle just until school got out at noon, at which point I was hoping a better plan would be in place. Nikki literally turned her car around and raced over. She was good enough to not only keep Rachelle all day and into the evening, but even took her to the doctor's office when her breathing became labored, did a tutorial on Rachelle's shiny new nebulizer, picked up Rachelle's meds from the pharmacy and then passed this all on to Kevin that night. All on Nikki's own birthday, and the day before her family of 7 was going to leave on a roadtrip to Ohio.

Other awesome people like Emily, Tracy and Heather juggled each other's kids while they ran to the hospital to get our signature allowing Nikki to seek treatment for RaRa and watched Stellan for us. I do not know what we would have done without our super amazing friends.

Oh, and did I forget to mention I was in labor during the whole thing? Well, I was. Everything went very smoothly and Annie was here by 5:01 PM. Kevin spent the next couple of days singlehandedly taking care of older two (his parents were coming to help out, but they were counting on our original plan of inducing on my due date and wouldn't arrive until then), getting the house ready and popping in to keep me and the baby company. It's tough to say who is more tired by now, me or him.

The moral of the story is, beware the Ides of March. Seriously. You might end up with a baby you weren't expecting (yet). Or at the least, someone else's super sick toddler.

Welcome, Baby Annie

She's here! Sweet baby Anne Elizabeth arrived on March 15th, earlier than her due date and smaller than either her brother or sister. At only 8 lbs. 12 oz. and 22 inches, she is absolutely perfect. We all love our Annie so much already.

T-Ball

Stellan is officially a t-baller. He loves it. He joined the Shalimar Little League and plays for the Gold Buyers team, which also goes by the common name "Pirates". Perfect for him, considering his pirate heritage.

He is pretty good at hitting and fielding, but not so great at paying attention. Which is par for the course. If you've ever watched 4-year-old t-ball, you know how hilarious it is; someone hits the ball and then may or may not realize he is supposed to run to a base (specifically 1st base, but let's not get to picky, right?), then about 7 players will rush from all corners of the field to catch the ball, the ball will be thrown to 1st base and the first baseman may or may not realize this has happened until the coach tell him. Watching Stellan's games has been very entertaining for us all. And he's just so darn cute in the uniform!

Catching Up

In an effort to pretend I haven't totally slacked on the blog for the last 3 months, I've just added some posts from Christmas time and will attempt to catch you all up to now in this post. In a nutshell, we're doing great.

• Stellan loves school and has lots of fun there. I got to help out there on Space Day for all the classes, and now enjoy semi-celebrity status when I roam the halls. The kids call me the Space Lady and tell their parents lots of fun facts they learned. I wish it were Space Day every day. Stellan is also getting to be quite the helper around the house and takes pride in that. And finally, I must confess that he is getting really good at playing video games, which he would play all day if I let him. I don't. But he's gotten some extra game time in as I get closer to the end of this pregnancy.
• Rachelle is talking up a storm and is hilarious as always. She does her level best to keep up with Stellan and has formed a strong attachment to friends, in the general sense as well as specific people. If I need her to stop squirming in her carseat, I just tell her we're on our way to see friends. Oh, and she loves to dance. She dances just about every time she hears music.
• Kevin is also doing well. His intramural volleyball team just made the playoffs and is currently ranked second. (Not for long, though.) He loves that he gets off work by 4 every day and can spend time playing with the kids. He has also been doing some work on (and in) his Man Cave, the back section of our garage which has been retrofitted to embrace all things Kevin. Oh, and he's been busy sprucing up our patio, which now houses a fire pit, a table and 4 chairs, in addition to the kids' chairs, the garden plot, the bubble blowing station, and the dirt pit. (The hammock stand is still there, empty, because I'm too much of a chicken to risk getting a new hammock after the broken butt incident.)
• And I'm still here. Pushing 39 weeks pregnant as I type this. This baby girl of ours will not be coming any time soon, at least not on her own, so don't get all excited yet. She is very big and very healthy, and I am assured that she will leave my body eventually.

Please enjoy these slideshows featuring some of our recent activities and, of course, plenty of cuteness on the part of my children.