Time for Catch-Up

Not only has a baby arrived, but he's over seven weeks old now! Mother's Day has passed, and I’ve turned 29 years old. We had a gorgeous April, and are having a cold May so far. I did start a blog post a few times, but didn't manage to finish at all. That means we're left to a bullet-pointed version, unfortunately.

To start, Levi Robert was born on March 27, the Saturday that was starting the kids' spring break. Very convenient. :) I had an OB appointment the day before, the doctor tried to get things started, and apparently did a great job! I had tingly legs all day, and contractions that afternoon and evening. I cleaned the kitchen floors that evening, hoping to ignore the discomfort, and slept most of the night. I woke up at 3:40 Saturday morning with much more painful contractions, but still wasn't convinced that this was "it". After hanging out for awhile, being checked on by Jason, a bath (where I was visited by a very confused Ethan who needed to go potty and couldn't figure out why I was in the tub in the middle of the night), and some eyebrow maintenance, I finally went back to bed and slept on and off until the kids got up at 7. By this time, I knew the probability was high that I was going into labor, but we got up with the intention of our usual pancake breakfast and we'd see what happened after that. Once I was up and moving around, though, the contractions came much faster and harder, and I quickly decided there was no time for pancakes. I made a quick call to the nurse, then to our friends who would be taking the kids. We had a quick breakfast, and out the door we went. Levi was born around ten o'clock that morning. Whew! Childbirth sure is exhausting and painful! I seem to forget every time, then once again I'm cursing the curse that made it this way to begin with!

We were blessed with visitors and friends helping out with the kids, and enjoyed beginning to get to know this new little guy in our family. Here's a few pictures from the hospital... just kidding, I’m STILL the worst at figuring out how to do this. I WILL get this figured out, I WILL I WILL I WILL…

Thank goodness for spring break, and my mom! She was here by dinner on Monday, and stayed for close to two weeks. I don't know what I would have done without her. Between her doing the dishes, helping get the kids ready for the day, taking them to the Children's Museum, and McDonald's, and the zoo, playing games with them, and even cleaning my bathrooms, I am SO blessed to have such a servant-minded mom. I hope I can be such a blessing to her and others as they need help. My dad came out for a few days too over Easter, and they seemed to enjoy our Easter dinner and egg hunt. Dad's car wasn't running that Sunday, and he almost had to stay longer than expected. We wouldn't have minded, but those working men always feel like they need to get back at it. :) Thankfully that was fixed Monday morning, and he was off to Michigan again Monday afternoon.

Oh, I almost forgot about Levi's jaundice! That gave us a bit of a scare! Of course, if our pediatrician had given us more info it wouldn't have been so bad. When we took Levi in for his 3-day check on Tuesday, they decided to check his bilirubin levels again. They were high, so we went in again Wednesday for another heel-poke. The level was higher, and we got a phone call that afternoon from the nurse telling us that we would need a bili-bed for him and it would arrive that afternoon to get set up. Unfortunately, no one told me that this was a day-by-day thing, and there was a possibility of him being off of it the next day! So, I'm bawling, thinking he'd be on it for at least a week (which I know does happen for some poor babies and their families!), and we wouldn't hardly get to hold him or leave the house or anything! The bed was small compared to what I had pictured, and what Jason remembered. It fit in the pack-n-play in the living room, and we could even move it to the cradle for the night. But the poor guy couldn't be swaddled in it. He could just be in his diaper, in this gown thing that velcroed to the four corners of the bed to keep him in the right position. That was the hardest part for Levi, because he'd been swaddled the last three days and now just flailed around and screamed while we cried and looked on helplessly. I probably sound so pathetic right now, but it really was very hard that first day. By the next day, he had adjusted better, and could sleep a little more consistently on it. Thankfully I called that first evening with some questions. I found out that yes, I was supposed to come in the next day to check his levels again, and we'd see if he still needed to be on the bed. WHAT A RELIEF! I was left mostly with annoyance at our doctor and her nurse for not informing us what to expect. Well, now we know. Sure enough, the levels had started to go down, so Levi got a break Thursday afternoon, and we made it to the zoo on Friday morning before he got his final heel-poke to make sure we were in the clear. Those heel-pokes were torture for all of us, too. Jason - he loves us you know - came to every one of those appointments, even meeting us there during his work day to help hold Levi and give moral support. Wow. What a first week.

Since then we've been SO blessed by friends who have provided meals and gifts and babysitting while life has charged ahead with bible study and preschool and all the other stuff that keeps us so busy.

Levi has been so fun to get to know, despite his louder than normal cry. I often refer to it as sounding like an eagle closing in on its prey. It can be very sudden, too! Thank goodness he seems to be getting happier this last week, and smiles aren't so hard to come by. He's getting the hang of naps and nights, although for some reason seems to think he must remind us all of his presence at 5:30 every morning. We're working on that. He's a spitter, too! Just like his sister, what goes in must come back up within 5 minutes. I feel like I should be nursing him wearing a rain coat and sitting on a tarp! The boy has dimples, though, and that makes up for a lot. :)

We have spring veggies coming up in the garden, our tulips have just finished blooming, and baby cherries are growing on the tree. Jason did a number on our apple trees, and used several of the branches for a little fort in the back for the kids. He also made Ethan a nice bow and arrow - his new prized possession. I finally used our rhubarb for the first time, and made a strawberry-rhubarb crisp. Yum! I just bought more strawberries, and will hopefully be making a similar recipe soon.

Ethan is in his last month of preschool, and has a lot of fun things to look forward to! He had backwards day (which he wasn't too excited about - didn't seem to like the idea of wearing his clothes backwards), he had safety day with a police officer and police car, and is looking forward to a park day with ice cream, a karate demonstration, and some other fun stuff.

Caty is also finishing up preschool this month, with an "Under-The-Sea" theme. It's been fun, and a little emotional for me as I taught her, Peter, and Kaylynne for the last time this month. It is cool to think that I had a small part in her education, even if it was preschool. :) (And yes, I know that as a parent I am always teaching her...I just meant actual school stuff.)

Well, more has happened recently, but my time is limited and I need to end this for now. I'll be back soon. Thanks for reading. :)