Cute Cousins and New Playgrounds

Spontaneous fun is sometimes the best kind of fun. My Mom was due to come back to visit yesterday and she decided to bring my cute four year old nephew Clayton with her. This was clayton's first sleepover away from his or his Nanny's house and he did awesome! He kept us laughing and my boys enjoyed their cousin for a sleepover and playdate. Clayton has a funny personality and literally says what he is thinking. Last night walking around my house he said "Aunt Laura I like your place!" He sounded like a 30 year old. Today he told me that they cannot have anymore babies at their house because his Mom is not a very good parent. (Just for the record, my SIL Annette is a great mother who thankfully appreciates her son's humor!)

Over the weekend Ashley's Dad installed our new playground! It will be a challenge for little David to master, but it will be so fun for both boys. Below are pictures of the boys playing on it:)

My dear Tennessee friend, Tracy dropped off the MOST GORGEOUS baby bracelet for little Hope. She has worn it today and when my camera gets charged again, I will post pictures! Tracy is a jewelry designer and I will post pics of the bracelet and link you to her website. You will not believe how dainty and beautiful this bracelet is!! I am devastated that we missed their visit today, but she left us some precious baby clothes and this AMAZING bracelet!

Clayton could not resist kissing Hope! He would run by for a kiss every so often and tell Hope how pretty she is!

3 Cuties in the moon bounce.

Clayton and Kyle really enjoyed the waterslide and they incorporated their army play into it with their guns.
Three sweet boys sitting around my kitchen table eating pancakes.

Clayton was really into Baby Hope and really wanted to hold her a lot! He would talk to her in the sweetest voice:) Just note, that the purple gloves were part of Clayton's game that he was playing and that I did not require him to wear them to hold Hope! I am not that bad of a germaphob!!!:)

Daddy and the boys trying out the new playground

Our new playground!

Strange Men, Lake Fun and More

There has been a strange man laying around in my kitchen floor this week-why you ask? Well, the story is not pretty but it must be told. When we came home from the hospital with little Hope, Mike and I both noticed that the tiles in our kitchen floor looked dirty, dark, and the actual tiles were cracking. After much investigation, Mike realized that our dishwasher has had a slow but steady leak that has leaked under the tiles in our kitchen floor to create this mess. We have insurance and floor people coming Monday to investigate the situation and figure out how to replace/fix this mess. I really do not want to deal with this now, but I also want to get this fixed right so we do not have mold issues down the road.

But, we have had a fun week despite sweet repairmen in our house. We even took Hope to Hungry Mother for the first time so the boys can swim. We had such fun and Hope hung out in the shade.

On another fun note, Miss Hope had a good doctor report on Friday. I took her a little early for her two week checkup since the boys were off at the Burkett's house having a fun playdate. Hope weighs 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and measured 20 3/4 inches. We are going to stay on the reflux meds for a while longer since she is having some reflux issues now. I am really worried to take her off of them, so maybe in a month or so we will start to decrease the dosage.

I cannot post without some pictures of my sweet three children:)

I am not clear why this picture is sideways, but she is so sweet even sideways.

Hope hanging in the shade at Hungry Mother Lake.

My sweet boys having fun in the lake.

The boys love for me to pump Hope a bottle so they can give it to her. David and Pops got to give Hope this one:)

This weekend Kyle and Mike are at a swim meet about 30 minutes away. It is killing me not to be there, but we decided that it was too hot and humid to take Hope to an outdoor swim meet today. Plus, on an exciting note, our new playground is going up TODAY!!! I will post pictures when it is all done. Ashley's handy Dad is doing the job for us thank goodness:)

Settling In

I finally am starting to feel human again and I feel that we are settling in to a new routine with Hope. She is the sweetest thing and we are all enjoying her. Kyle likes picking out her outfits and David and I have a nightly singing session with her. We sing everything from Jesus Loves Me to David's favorite of We Will Rock You! We have had a busy week and so far Hope has been to swim team practice, two baseball games, and speech for David.

I am not clear why this picture is upside down, but I love a picture of a sweet baby sleeping.

My brother and his family brought this little outfit to the hospital and it actually kind of fits her! This is one of the first pictures we have with her eyes this alert and open:) Kyle describes her eyes as navy to people!

Several people have made the comment that we have not missed a beat with this baby and that we seem to have it together. This picture will tell the real truth. We are adjusting well to little Hope, but I believe today I forgot to feed David lunch and these Doritos that we was chowing down on might have been his lunch. I went at lunch to have my haircut, and Mike came home to watch the kids. In the shuffle, I think I forgot to tell Mike to feed him, so while we were outside later playing and he desperately begged for food, I handed him the bag of Doritos:)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day! Never did we think that Mike would be a father to three this Father's Day! My induction date is technically tomorrow, so the fact that Hope is already with us is a gift:) We gave Mike a crank radio and a Boston Red Sox shirt. He coveted our neighbors emergency radio during the last storm. The boys always get so excited to pick out stuff for Daddy! I am realizing from looking at the picture above that getting three children to cooperate at picture time will be a new challenge:)

We celebrated with a small family cookout here at our house with my parents and grandparents. Mike was the grill master and cooked some good food on the grill. I am feeling so much better and I am actually starting to feel human again:) David was in show off mode and I just had to include this hilarious picture of him in his police getup.



Tomorrow is going to be my first outing with all three children. Thankfully we are just going a few miles to a friend's house to play, but I have never had all three children in the car before so it might be a challenge! I thought a playdate at a friend's house would be a good first outing to see how everything goes. Hope will only be a week old, but we are getting a tad stir crazy!!!

Looking Up

What a huge difference a day makes! I am feeling so much better and frankly I realized today that I am getting way more sleep with a newborn in the house than when I was 9 months pregnant!! We are enjoying a relaxing weekend and just enjoying all five of us in the house together with no agenda.

It has been five years since we have had a newborn in the house and things are slowly coming back to us again. You know you have a newborn in the house again when:

Even when you are standing still without a baby in your arms you find yourself rocking side to side.

You measure time in 2-3 hour increments based on feeding schedules.

The washer and dryer go nonstop due to all the baby laundry. Hope is on her third outfit just today and I promise I am not changing her just to model new outfits!

Household duties get neglected. We have had a ton of rain lately and my flower beds are more weeds than flowers and frankly it does not bother me one bit.

You are pleased with yourself when everyone in the house is dressed and have had breakfast before noon.

TV privileges are way looser than usual with the big boys! Mike and I were so pleased today when we realized that we have FREE movie channels all weekend long on Directv. Bingo!

Here are some cute pictures that we have taken this weekend.

This picture of David cracks me up. He is adamant sometimes to hold Hope and then when he gets her in his arms he is so proud of himself! Last night I was nursing Hope and David insisted to hold her. I told him that after I nursed and burped Hope then he could hold her. In his sweet but very strong-willed voice, David then said No, Me Feed Hope now and began pulling his shirt up!! Oh dear....

One of my preschool parents, Kim gave Hope this adorable onesie that says, Daddy I want a pony! I think it is so cute and she was wearing it when we tried out the swing. She did not like it a lot-we will try again in a few days)

One of our neighbors, Merrill, gave the boys this digital camera and scrapbook to make an album of their sister. David is WAY into this project and wanted to take Hope's picture in the swing. He looks like a little tourist with that camera strapped around his neck!

Kyle really gets into taking care of Hope and loves to give her a bottle when she needs it. Kyle gets so frustrated with David because he takes his job seriously when he has Hope, and gets mad at David for acting silly around her. Kyle has really been a great big brother and helper to me.

Update

OUCH! I have developed a bad case of mastitis on both sides which has required a trip to the OB and pediatrician this morning. The good news is that I can continue nursing, but the bad news is that I have flu-like symptoms and feel like I have been hit by a HUGE mack truck. I have fever and chills and I ache like I have the flu.

The pediatrician gave Hope a wonderful report even though she looks a little like a pumpkin:) She has jaundice still, but her level is still okay. She has put on one ounce since leaving the hospital and overall is doing great.

We are excited about a quiet weekend here at home. Mike was up last night taking care of me and Hope so I know we are all needing some sleep.

On a fun note, Kyle found out this week that he made All-Stars for his age in our local Little League. I am excited for him:) He now starts practicing for these games with this whole new team. He is one of the youngest kids on the team, so he is a little nervous.

What a Day

This day has been a roller coaster ride with little Hope. The day started out frustrating for both of us. My milk was starting to come in (praise Jesus) but she was really not happy this morning. We slept very little last night and she was super fussy this morning. All she wanted was for me to hold her (which I indulged of course)! But, this afternoon after a long talk with the pediatrician on the phone and lots of reassurances from her, we had a much better afternoon.

I am having a hard time remembering that Hope is different from my boys just like my boys are different. She is so sweet and precious and is finally settling into a good nursing pattern.

The boys had a busy day with a swimming outing and pizza lunch with Ashley and then David took a marathon nap which he desperately needed. Mike had to work today unfortunately, but I talked to him a bazillion times on the phone today. We have been so blessed with sweet emails, good food (how am I going to lose this baby weight with all this awesome stuff around), calls, and an influx of precious pink clothes. I really think Hope fusses less with a big hairbow in!! Ha!:)




This evening the weather FINALLY straightened out and we were able to take the kids outside for a few minutes. I tried Hope in her new sling and she was happy as a little clam:)

Coming Home

Well, we are all home under one roof and frankly it has been a wonderful afternoon. David and I snuggled and took a big nap and my Mom and Kyle watched Hope sleep:) Thankfully she has had no episodes but they watched her like a hawk while I got some much needed sleep.

We have had a relaxing evening with good home cooked food. David has been in show off mode and has really cracked me up. Kyle is definitely a baby hog but has been wonderful about being my helper since I am moving a little slower today. I am still recovering from the delivery and my milk is coming in which means that I feel a tad yucky. Hopefully tomorrow I will start mending! I had such easy deliveries the first two times that this one took me by surprise!

The boys swarmed her when Mike carried her in the house. They were so excited for us to get home and thankfully the discharge process was quick and easy:)

While in the hospital to ward off jaundice and to help Hope move all that gunk out of her, we supplemented with a few ounces of infant formula. We all fought over giving her this one little two ounce bottle, but you see who got to do it!)

Hope really did not mind her car seat. It took us forever to adjust the straps to fit her little shoulders. We both felt nervous buckling her in this new car seat.

Daddy getting Hope dressed for the trip home. It worked out well that we could pick Kyle up from swim practice on the way home so he could be apart of the big ride-you know all two or three miles of the drive! HA!

Having a little snooze in the hospital while we awaited discharge papers.

Hope News

Now that we are getting more information about little Hope's "episodes" I thought I would share some more information and ask for prayer that we are in the clear with this. On the day Hope was born she scared us twice. Basically when you lay her down on her back to change her diaper or clothes she gets really mad and basically turns blue. Today she has also had several episodes. We have a great doctor that has been ultra conservative and has done several tests to make sure Hope is okay. Her chest Xray, blood work, etc.. have all turned out fine, but she is continuing to have these episodes.

Dr. R has started her on some reflux medicine and basically feels that she is "juicy" from birth and is having trouble moving mucus and other junk out of her system. Laying her on her back aggravates her and then she turns blue. We have to rush her into the nursery for the nurses to help us "pink her up." Dr. R has stayed in constant contact with us and the nursery staff and we may get to take her home tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some pictures


How many men does it take to change one little girl's diaper? This picture totally was not posed and it cracks me up that all the boys helped Mike changed Hope's diaper. I hope all this help continues when we go home!!

My sweet boys loving on their little sister:)

Introducing

Introducing....

Hope Madeline Robinson

7 pounds, 11 ounces, 20 inches born on June 15th at 9:20 a.m.

I cannot believe we are finally getting to introduce you to our newest and last addition to our family!! I went into labor Sunday afternoon and went to the hospital Sunday evening around 7:15 and little Hope did not arrive until Monday morning at 9:20 a.m. Yes, it was a long, slow night of labor-very unlike the births of my boys.

We picked her name as a family but I cannot help but think of my favorite bible verse from Jeremiah 29:11,

For I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you to give you hope and a future.

Glamour shot of Hope. Her little face is bruised from our long and tough delivery:)

Our friend and pediatrician Rachel came and helped coach me through labor and check out Hope after birth. She also came and checked on her when she scared us to death by turning blue on us.

Kyle is truly the best big brother. He is totally into the medical aspect of this birth and wants to hang out at the hospital with us. He is a baby hog and uses the boppy pillow to hold her:)

David loves his little sister:)

Big Week

Whew-it has been a fun, culminating, and exhausting week! I think the last week of school is wonderful when you can celebrate accomplishments with your children, but man is it exhausting! Both boys have had special parties, special programs, and we even managed to work in several ball games, and even a trip to the doctor with David for pink eye and that just sums up the last 72 hours!

Kyle having fun at his first grade farm party:)

David's PreK class had a beach party to celebrate the end of the year. I watched David go down the slide and then realized his eyes were almost shut because they were swollen. I made him leave the party and go to the doctor where we got our pink eye diagnosis.

David sliding into home with Daddy cheering him on! He was so proud of himself and the whole crowd cheered him on!

The boys had a Tball game on Monday night and David not only made it on first base, but made it around all the bases and was able to slide into home plate!!! We all screamed and cheered like wild people! I love this picture of David on first base with Daddy coaching in a suit:) Mike was late to the game due to a school board meeting, but he was able to see David run those bases and slide into home!!

Kyle was a narrator in the first grade musical called Stone Soup. He was excited to have a speaking part and the musical was wonderful!

David on stage performing with his class:) He sang every word and did every motion-we were so proud!

Monday Update

I cannot believe it is Monday again! On one hand time is flying by so fast as the kids wind up the school year, but then again time also stands still when you are waiting for a baby. I went to the doctor this morning and lo and behold I am starting to dilate some!! Whoo-hoo! This gives me reassurance that I will not be pregnant FOREVER! You just get to that stage where you desperately want to hold your baby in your arms versus your womb:) Kyle is so excited and truly wants her here quickly so she can watch him swim in a meet at the end of the month:) My appointment went well this morning thankfully and it seems that despite my fatigue, my body is handling this pregnancy well in terms of blood pressure etc. With the boys, my blood pressure starting creeping up towards the end which so far has not happened this time:)

Today both boys have school programs, and do not worry I will post pictures later:) It will be hard to say goodbye to both teachers this year-Kyle is especially attached to his 1st grade teacher:)

I thought I would share some pictures of Baby Girl's nursery now that it is finally starting to come together. When we had Kyle the nursery was TOTALLY put together months before his arrival. Now with the third baby, we are racing around last minute to put it all together. (Baby Girl, we love you dearly, but it is hard to put together a nursery from the ball field:)

I must tell the story of how we came upon this bedding. I am not a pepto pink kind of gal, but I wanted her room to be sweet and feminine. My friend, Samantha offered to let us use her barely used bedding from her first baby. When I saw it, Mike and I both LOVED it and decided we would love to use it. Her room is painted off white with wood trim, so this bedding goes perfectly with our house.

Mother's Day weekend, when we were refugees from the storm at my parents' house, I made a trip to a fabric store and found gorgeous fabric to make valances, pillows, and even recover our blue rocking chair to match the nursery. Do you know how amazing it is to find fabric that perfectly matches nursery bedding that is 5 years old?! Can we just say meant to be?

Then I brought all this beautiful fabric back home and asked my friend DeeDee's Mom to work her sewing magic. She runs a local and FABULOUS alterations place here. She is my new hero and frankly she is rock star status around here for what she was able to accomplish for Baby Girl's nursery.

It hit me this morning that it still blows my mind that this room is full of newborn diapers and pink everywhere when just this time last year we were planning to redo the whole room to make a big boy room for David. Last summer I scoured every store and even online to find a bedding theme/set for little David. I never could quite find what I was looking for and now to see it all pink and baby looking it just blows my mind and reminds me of my favorite favorite bible verse.

For I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you to give you a hope and future.
Jeremiah 29:11.



Here is the top of her bookcase/changing table that has some cute pink baskets on it with a bear from Kyle's old nursery. That flower arrangement was given to me just this week by my Mom. She found a flower container from a flower arrangement that she was given when I was born (umm lets just say 30 odds years ago) and had a local florist do an arrangement to match the colors in Baby Girl's nursery. I am totally impressed she still had that flower container, but obviously it is being recycled for Baby Girl which totally thrills my tree hugger husband.

Here is the rocking chair that DeeDee's Mom redid. This picture truly does not do it justice, BUT she took all four pieces of the rocking chair and recovered them in this pretty sage green and made that pillow from the floral fabric that I bought. That blanket over the back of the chair came with the bedding set, but of course babies cannot have thick blankets on them so I am using it for the rocking chair.

This picture is a little silly, but I wanted to show you a picture of her closet. Yes, it goes all the way back and mostly these clothes are all newborn clothes. This is what happens when you have a friend that gives you tons of barely worn beautiful baby clothes and then you have two very generous baby showers.

This picture makes me totally laugh because this is her shoe collection already. My mother has a very hard to fit foot, so she has gone a little crazy buying cute shoes for Baby Girl because she herself cannot find any to fit. I have to admit I have bought some of these as well, as well as some passed on from Samantha.

Here is the actual crib. I did not take pictures of the walls, because frankly there is nothing on them at all. It has been hard enough to get the nursery together and I am banking on the fact that newborn vision is blurry for a while to buy me some more time to find what I want for the walls!! I hope you have enjoyed this nursery tour, but truly the pictures do not do justice to what Donna was able to do in that nursery with her magic sewing hands. I am envious of her talent! Now all we need to make this room complete is a baby!! I am really not clear why my cervix is choosing to stand its ground on this baby, but I did have lots of pressure and contractions last night, so HOPEFULLY I will not be this pregnant much longer. Those that live with me feel that I am a tad grumpy these days:)

Checking In

Well, some days just do not go as planned. Today is one of those days. Mike and I are stumbling around today with very little sleep. No, Baby Girl did not keep us up last night, but David. David went to bed at his regular time, but was up at 11:00 throwing up. Bless his heart, I will spare the details, but Mike and I spent many hours last night holding his head over the trash can. He is somewhat better this morning, but still has a fever. One of the many wonderful things about David is that he is so brave and truly does not let much get him down. Except for asking for Daddy all morning (who had to go to work) he is very happy even with a fever:)

Last night was one of those frustrating nights where as a family we had to divide and conquer to make all of our games. Kyle had a pitching machine game at 5:30 and David had Tball at 6:00. Mike and David went to Tball and I stayed with Kyle. Kyle's pitching machine team played well and won, but I could tell his heart was not in it, since Daddy was not there.

I called Mike to check in on their field and our Tball team won as well. David hit the ball three times and got out at first all three times. Once again, Mike said he could have cared less-he was just thrilled he got to hit and run! But Mike then told me that when David came up to bat the first time, our team started chanting "Dav-id, Dav-id" which was so sweet, but then by the second time he came up to bat, BOTH benches were chanting his name. You can imagine in my overactive hormonal shape how many tears I shed over that one. We were so worried that this league would be too much pressure for him, but so far, David's teammates are thrilled he is on the team and of course, David is having the time of his life:)

I will continue to post pictures of his games as I get them. The next few games are at a field that is more picture taking friendly due to the fence, so I will keep David's fans updated via pictures:)

Not Me! Monday!

Well, I have made it to another Not Me Monday where Baby Girl is still in my womb versus my arms. I have to admit that I am publishing a tamer version of Not Me Monday because frankly due to my overactive hormones, this could get ugly:)

1) I did NOT buy David a huge pack of M&M's at the ballpark just so I could watch the game in peace. I would never put my own selfish desire to watch a game above my sweet child's nutrition. NEVER:)

2) I did NOT in a bout of exhaustion ignore midnight pleas for a trip to the potty from my four year-old.

3) I did NOT shamelessly beg my OB for an earlier induction date this morning due to my total frustration that I was not a bit dialated this morning and then did not laugh at his attempt to joke about me having a stubborn little girl on my hands. (Really, I totally love my OB and he is really funny!)

4) I did NOT consider for a split second to change my blog name so a nosy person could not find it!!!

5) I did not leave the OB office this morning and head to McDonald's for a large Sweet Tea! As you all know, my OB is a sweet health nut and discourages any caffeine use during pregnancy and of course I totally follow that at all times!

Well, that is all that I am willing to admit to this week-how about you? I did just return from a trip to see my OB and frankly I had a great checkup. My blood pressure was lower than it has ever been, my Group B strep test came back negative, my weight was down 3 pounds, BUT I was not the least big dilated at all. Nope, my cervix is choosing to stand its ground despite the fact that this is my third baby. Have a great Monday!:)