Our Little Valentine

Lyla was not scheduled to arrive until February 28th, but she apparently had other plans.

It all began on Wednesday, January 26th: I was having some contractions at work and decided that a trip to labor and delivery may be in order. I left school just before lunchtime, picked Gavin up at work, and headed to the hospital. My rationale, although I was not in a ton of pain, was that I wanted to get to the hospital soon enough for them to stop labor since it was way too early to have the baby. Once I got to the hospital they hooked me up to the monitors and I was indeed having contractions, but as I laid there resting they subsided on their own and I was discharged with instructions to rest for the rest of the evening.

I continued to have "braxton hicks" contractions for the next few weeks. Sometimes they were so strong I needed to lay down on the couch, other times they were very mild, but fairly consistent for the week after our first trip to the hospital. But the week after that I felt pretty good overall, although, still exhausted.

We had a doctor's appointment on Friday, February 11th, and while I was there I was pretty sure I was having some contractions, but when my doctor checked me she said that I was showing no signs that I was in labor. She advised me to take it easy over the weekend.

I went home that night and relaxed. The next day I was feeling good, so I went with Gavin and the boys to Sam's Club to do some grocery shopping. We were in the back of Sam's Club, when the contractions/cramping started again. It again, continued off and on for the rest of the day, while I washed up the 0-3 month clothing. On Sunday, I promised Owen that we would make Valentine's Day cookies for preschool. I made three batches of dough and baked enough cookies for his class, Max's class, and my class. The cramping continued throughout the day. While, I was doing this, Gavin set up the crib and packed a hospital bag. We had pretty much agreed we didn't think we were going to make it to our scheduled c-section date.

Around 6:00, I was really starting to be in some serious pain. I laid on the couch, and was visibly in enough pain that Max came up to me at one point and said, "What happened?" After Max went to bed that night, and I continued to feel uncomfortable, we decided to call our friends and have them come over to watch the boys and we headed into labor and delivery for the second time.

Once at the hospital, I got hooked up to the monitors and they watched me for a little while. I really wasn't having contractions, but she did say she could see the cramping I was describing on the monitor. She told me that my doctor said I could have an Ambien so I could sleep that night and that I needed to go home and rest. I questioned why I was in so much pain, but she didn't really seem to have any sympathy for me.

The Ambien they gave me before I left the hospital knocked me right out, but when I woke up at 5 am, the cramping was still there. I got ready and went to work as usual. At 8:00, I had to make a phone call to the insurance company to argue a bill they were refusing to pay. I was so frusturated when I got off the phone I started to cry. I decided then that I just could not function at work with this cramping, I called my doctor's office and asked the nurse if my doctor would send a note to my work so that I didn't have to come back for the remainder of my pregnancy. She asked if I could leave right then and go home and if they could just fax the note to the school. I told her I would stay so that I could wrap up my lesson plans and lay out materials, ect. I continued to teach that whole morning, but needless to say, I was did not do a very good job of teaching. At 10:15 my nurse called and left a message on my cell phone saying that my doctor wanted me to go to the hospital to get checked out. I waited until 11:15 to call the office and ask if anyone could take over my class sooner than the sub that was scheduled to come in at lunchtime. I got relieved and left, knowing that I was not coming back until after the baby was born.

I drove to Gavin's school and waiting in the parking lot for about 20 minutes for him to get plans in ordr for the rest of the day and wrap up what he needed to wrap up. Then we headed to the hospital. I figured they would check me again, see that there were no physical signs of labor, and send me home. I believed this so much that I almost told Gavin that he didn't need to come with me.

When I was checked, there was no physical sign of labor, however, this nurse, at least acknowledged that I was having small contractions that didn't have much time between them, so she understood why I said they were continuous. She left to call my doctor and see what she wanted us to do. The next thing we knew, she was wheeling in an IV cart. Gavin said, "What is that for?" and she replied, "You're having a baby today!"

I immediately burst into tears, I was not prepared for this. We were told this news around 1:30, and the c-section wasn't planned until 5:30, so we had time to plan. We called Shonna to pick up the boys, Gavin ran back to his school to make plans for the next few days, and then ran home to get our hospital bag.

I was given a shot to stop contractions and some magazines to pass the time.

An hour or so after I was given the shot to stop contractions, they started again. So, Lyla was definitely planning on coming whether we were ready or not.

And that is what happened that resulted in our baby girl making her grand entrance into the world exactly two weeks ahead of schedule.

Owen is Four!!!

I can't believe my baby is four-years-old! I can still vividly remember driving to the hospital at 4 o'clock in the morning for our planned induction, how scared I was when I was wheeled into the operating room to have an emergency c-section, and the amazement I felt when I looked at his face for the first time!

Now I continue to be amazed with him everyday! The things that come out of his mouth crack me up on a daily basis, the knowledge he already knows makes me proud, and watching him interact with his little brother makes my heart melt.

Yesterday (his actual birthday), we of course, had to work, then we had an OB appointment, so we didn't get to pick him up until 5:00. Owen did have a birthday party at preschool, though! We did, however, celebrate by going out to dinner at Chili's (as requested by the birthday boy), then opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles, and had a little cake before bed!

Today, was the day of his party! I had such a great day with him. Gavin needed Owen to be out of the house so that he could get his presents out of hiding and wrapped, so I took Owen on a lunch date. First, we had to stop at the library and trade the old DVD's for new ones. Next, we took a quick trip to Kohl's in search of a new shirt for his birthday party, of course their was an awesome sale and as I wandered around the boys section looking for possible items to buy, Owen followed me around and was such a good listener. We have come a long way since the days where he would run away from us in department stores! I picked out about seven shirts and then asked Owen to choose which ones he liked. He narrowed it down to three. I happily purchased all three for a less than $10. Finally, we headed to MacDonald's for our lunch date.

I took him to the MacDonald's that had the play equiptment in it. While I waited for our food order, I decided to let Owen venture into the play area ahead of me. (I could see him through the window). He took his shoes off, placed them neatly in on the shelf, and then climbed into the tunnel, at every window he looked out at me and waved!

After I got the food, I settled down at a table and ate, while Owen played and came to get bites and then back to playing. At one point when Owen was actually sitting down and eating I asked him if he thought we should bring Max there. First, we discussed whether or not Max would be able to climb up the tunnel by himself, Owen assured me he could. After our little converstation I asked Owen, "so, should we bring Max here or should this be our special spot?" He decided it should just be our special spot!

When we got home from our date, I decorated his birthday cake (Thomas the train), and then it was time for his party! He told me he had a great birthday party, and out of the blue after everyone left, he said, "I love you, Mommy!" Ahhh, music to my ears!!

I look forward to another fun-filled year with our little man complete with the sweet little moments and all of his shinanigans, too!

It Happens...

Tonight, Owen was jumping on the back of the couch (something he is not supposed to be doing). During one of his jump he missed the back of the couch and landed on the couch on his back, he laughed, looked at us and said, "It happens sometimes!"

Daddy has not Learned....

Tonight, Owen was sitting on the toliet lid brushing his teeth, Gavin was standing in the doorway. Owen says, "Hey daddy come here and turn around." Gavin walked over to the toliet turned around and Owen says, "I see a dupa to spank," and hit his dupa! Apparently Daddy has not learned to not trust this sneaky guy!

Seriously, where is this attitude coming from?

Owen just walked down the stairs to the landing, where he spotted me standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him (he does not walk down the stairs very quietly). When he saw me he said with his arms folded across his chest, "Max and me are serious?"

I said, "Really, about what?"

He replied, "About not going to bed."

Needless to say, he is now upstairs in his room, because Daddy and I are serious about them going to bed!

The funny part is Max had been asleep for an hour and a half already!

A Special Request

Last night, (New Year's Eve), Owen was sitting on the couch, reading a book, and eating a sucker, Gavin was in the kitchen making us (Gavin and I) dinner, and I was sitting at the table patiently waiting for dinner. Owen calls from the couch, "Hey Daddy, can you come here for a second?"

Gavin walked to the middle of the family room and said, "Yeah, bud?"

Owen reached out his hand to reveal the sucker stick with the sucker gone and said, "Could you throw this away for me?"

Seriously?? Where does he get this stuff from?

Christmas Season Tradition

Last year, Gavin and I decided to start a tradition of driving around neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights. A couple weeks ago we took our first drive of the season. Owen was much more verbal than he was last year about what he was seeing. He was so excited at times that he could hardly get the words out of his mouth that he wanted to say! He was pointing out all the "Frosty the Snowmans" and Santa Clauses. The ultimate favotire however, is the "spinny thing" aka carousel blow up decoration that actually spins around with Frosty, a Penguin, Santa, and an elf. (Fortunately, for Owen, and unfortunately for us, this spinny thing just so happens to be three streets away from our new house, so we see this almost on a nightly basis when the request is made to go see it.)

At numerous houses along our ride, I pointed out my favorite decorations, the candycane lights that run along the edge of driveways. At one house, when I pointed out the candycanes Owen said, "I don't like to look at candycanes, I like to eat them!" :)

Tonight, we went for another ride. This year we heard about the "Gift of Lights," drive through at the Speedway Racetrack and decided to check it out. We had to pay for the car full of people, but it was totally worth it. It was two miles of lights on both sides of our car. Owen enjoyed this display as well, and at one point struck up a converstation with Max. He said, "look Max, see the lights, do you like them? Look out my window Max, see the stars?"

I just love those moments of true brotherly love, of course, followed by Owen stealing Max's puppy on the way home and making him cry, but oh those precious moments!