Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Penelope is THREE

Three years old, how can that be? I remember the day she was born and the excitement of the unknown on whether she was a boy or girl. She came out with thick brown hair and I was completely surprised! What a great surprise she was. Here are few things about Penelope.

-She became Super Nella right before Halloween this year. Super Nella to the rescue! I have no idea where she got this from.
-She calls herself Super Nella, Nella or Pea Nelly.
-She likes to eat "lunch" for breakfast. PBJ, leftovers or pizza.
-Loves to play legos
-She has a Bitty Baby named Kelly that is with her most of the day.
-Her favorite color is orange
-She loves berries
-She thinks cantaloupes are called pen-o-lopes
-Chocolate is her favorite food









Merry Christmas from Our Family to yours!





Saturday, December 21, 2013

Happy {early} Birthday Super Nella

Happy early Birthday to our Christmas baby! We decided to celebrate with Nella before Christmas this year so she would have a whole day just about her.  
Super Nella  

I love her expression in this photo. She talked about her orange fishing poll for months! If you can't tell orange is her favorite color! The poll also lights up when you reel.


I took her to get a cake made and She told the lady how she wanted it. She ordered chocolate and white cake (marble) with orange, pink, yellow and green. I asked her what name we should have put on it and she said "Super Nella".

Singing Happy Birthday!
blowing out candles!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

ONE month Jack








 

Bowling, FIRST time EVER!

We went bowling as a family for the first time ever. The girls were very excited. They thought the shoes were funny looking, but thought it was neat that they needed special shoes to bowl. We used bumpers and I think Daddy needed them more than the girls in the first game!! It was a close first game and Daphanie always seems to have this first timer luck! Penelope loved to use the ramp.  Just set it up and push it down and she would run back and give high fives!

After bowling we stopped to get some supper for our hungry bunch. We were having a little too much fun. This is our family in real life. Crazy, funny and natural. This is our beautiful mess of a family!
 

Friday, November 8, 2013

Fun Run

In September we participated in a 5K and Kids Fun Runs at the John Deere Headquarters. We had a great time walking as a family. Walking around the John Deere HQ was fun since the building and the scenery are beautiful. The hills were not so fun when pushing up a stroller with 2 or 3 kids riding! After walking the 5K as a family, Daphanie ran a 50y dash with the 4 and under crowd. Lilly and Daphanie both ran in the 400yd fun run and they both were very proud of themselves for trying their best. There was also face painting and balloon animals after the running events.  



Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Snow in October

We had a snow fall in October. The kids were excited to be able to go outside and play in it. It melted the next day but it was fun while it was here.




Saturday, November 2, 2013

Howdy!

Lilly (6yo) Jack (8m) Daphanie (4yo) Pea (2yo)

    Here are our buckets of sunshine. This is starting on year three in our Bettendorf home. It is fun to look back on the photos that I take every year in front of the front door. These kids keep growing and changing.. and we added another one!
 
to see the previous year photo click here
 

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Baby Jack

Jack was born January 19th, 2013. He made the streak continue, all our babies have been born on an odd numbered day and they have all been born on a Saturday.
 With having two previous preterm labors I was anxious and excited for
labor to start. I was 36 weeks and 3 days along and walking upstairs
with a full basket of laundry when I felt something trickle down my
leg, I went to the bathroom to make sure I didn't just pee myself. It
was indeed my water as it kept trickling. I called Corey and asked if
he knew what time it was and what kind of call this was. He was saying
how he didn't think we would have a baby this weekend. We had plans to
attened a hockey game with the girls since they had been asking about
going for weeks. He soon asked of I called my mom who lives two hours
away so she could come and look after the girls. So I called my mom
next and asked if she had her bags packed. She thought I was joking and
she told me I had to keep that baby in there longer. She was on her
way and then Corey made it home and I told him how I would like to stay
home and get contractions going before I went into the hospital. So I
thought I would just wait for my mom to get here before I went in.
Corey wanted me to go in to get the paper work done and make sure
everything was going okay. I made it up to the labor and delivery room,
I got the corner room which was larger and had windows on both sides
which made the room seem very open. I was hooked up to monitors and
baby was doing great and I was having contractions very spread out and
sporadic. I was checked and still only a 2 to 3 which I was at my last
check up. I was standing and squating to help move baby down and open
up, at this time they did not want me walking around as they wanted to
have monitors on me. I was there nearly two hours before they said I
would stay since my water had stopped trickling, my water broke up high
and was now sealed off by babys' head. At this time I progressed to a 4
and was still very comfortable and having sporadic contractions, at
this time I turned down the Dr as she wanted to start pit right away.
An hour later I felt like the contractions werent strong enough and I
gave into the Dr and got the pit going. {wish I would of just listened to my body and let my body do its thing) I was on pit for four hours
while I squatted bounced on a ball and was having strong steady
contractions which varied from 2 minutes apart to 5 mintutes apart. Dr
checked me again and I was at a 5, I told her how with Penelopes' birth
they had to break the lower part of my water and she was born soon
after. Dr then broke the lower bag of water and I knew it was now go
time. I asked if I could use the wonderfully large tub to relax in and they said since I was on pit I could not get into the tub. I was upset as I was told in my check ups that I would be able to use the tub. I didn't want to get to upset as I wanted to stay on top of the contractions and have my body be in control. The nurse and Dr told me to push the call button when I felt
pressure. I got down from the check on the bed to bounce on the birth
ball and found it very uncomfortable as baby had moved lower. I started
to squat with each contraction and humming as it got me through each
one. All the sudden I said ohh I feel pressure and hit the call
button. I got up on the bed and waited for the nurse to come check. As
she walked in the door I had another contraction and got off the bed to
squat since it felt best. I got back in the bed and the nurse checked
me and said I was an 8, but would like another nurse the check. As the
other nurse was walking in I said I needed to push. The other nurse
went to check me and said baby is coming. I then said again that I
needed to push and began to push. They told me to stop and that Dr went
home and they just called her. I told them I am pushing they continued
to tell me not to and Corey also told me not to, that is when I told him
to shut up and I am pushing. Baby was delivered (45 minutes after having the lower bag of water broke by the nurse and it was her first delivery catch.  I brought baby to my chest and noticed the room filled with nurses getting all the delivery supplies ready, better late then never I guess. Dr arrived about 5 minutes after birth and she gave the scissors to Corey to cut the cord. I gave baby to the nurses to weigh and measures he was 6lbs 2oz and 18inches long. He was then bought right back to me and he nursed for 40 minutes. It isn't the birth I envisioned but I was happy with a great ending of a healthy baby boy.




Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Penelope is TWO

Our sweet litte Pea turned TWO!
Penelope:
-loves to sing "Happy Birthday To You"
-loves candy
-loves babies and puppies
-hates diapers and is almost potty trained
-likes snow, but hates how it is cold
-likes "mic mouse" which is both Mikey and Minnie
-talks in short sentences and is very funny!
-has many nick names: Pea, Pea-Nelly, Nelly, Nella
-loves to build with legos
 

Santa

Santa and the Mrs. stopped by early to hand out a few gifts! The girls were very excited to see them!