Another Pictures/Captions Post Eliminating the Need for a Real Title

May has been a good month in many ways. It hasn't been nearly as hectic as April was, but probably more so than June will be. Kalleigh and Jonas are done with Little People's School for the year and Johnathan has six more days of first grade. It's had its ups and downs. Some days are like this:


Others like this:


And when we're lucky, they're like this:


We've grown food:


And made food:


We've driven places some:


And stayed home some:


We've read:


And slept:


And kissed:


And hugged:


And sung:


(That's Andy. CV is recording!)

And swung:


And best of all, we still love each other!

The past five weeks ...

... have been absolutely insane, but SO fun! I'll need to refer back to the calendar to remember it all. Sorry for the delay in posting.

Way back at the end of March, the kids and I took John to the DFW airport on a Friday so that he could represent Clearly Vocal at the VoCAL Nation A Cappella Festival in NYC. While we were in Dallas for the day, the kids and I decided to go to the Dallas Arboretum. Oh, it was beautiful! All of the tulips were out, my favorite. Kate was just four weeks, but she did great!








That night, my brother Kreg, his wife Keleigh, and their son Westin came all the way from Colorado Springs for a visit over a weekend. My mom and her husband Craig drove down from Searcy as well. It was nice to have some help! The cousins had so much fun playing together. So wish we could see each other more often!

Westin meets cousin Kate. That face!


Nana and Pops and the grands.


Silly Uncle Kreg!


Sweet Kalleigh.


While playing on the Brookshire's playground, Keleigh and I were watching the kids play on the monkey bars. I was saying that I was getting so much more confident in Johnathan's climbing abilities and that I just didn't get as worried about him falling as I used to when he was younger. At that moment, Johnathan came running over to us, screaming, with blood dripping from his mouth. He had bitten his tongue--badly! Thankfully, he was missing his two front teeth already, so he didn't bite all the way through. He bit a nice chunk out, though. Sheesh. I felt so bad for him!


We got one last picture in the Texas bluebonnets.


The next couple of weeks, we spent getting ready to host the third annual East Texas A Cappella Celebration. It was on April 9th. We had four other groups sing in addition to Clearly Vocal representing choral music, contemporary Christian, gospel and barbershop. It was a great evening!

John always does such a good job making the programs. :)


I tried jogging some when Kate was 6 weeks. I made it a mile, then walked a mile. Then just gave it up for a while. What was I thinking?

Then began the craziest week of all. After the concert on Saturday my friend Chelsea and I began getting ready for Rodeo Roundup at Little People's School where Kalleigh and Jonas attend. I was in charge of the kitchen again this year, which means feeding about 300 people over two days. Oh, and my friend Stefanie and I were in charge of the Glenwood ladies retreat that was the following weekend. No bigs.

Monday was probably the most hectic day. I dropped the kids off at their respective schools, helped Chelsea decorate the gym for RRU, sent information letters out to all of the ladies telling them what to bring and how to get there, went to Sam's and bought the food for the 300 people and unloaded it into the kitchen, picked up K2 and J3 from preschool, got them plus K3 down for naps, assigned roommates for the ladies retreat and called the camp coordinator with my final numbers, got J2 from school, helped him with homework, loaded all four kids (that's Js 2&3 and Ks2&3, because John and I are J1&K1, of course!) into the van, picked up some Bueno and then went to Clearly Vocal rehearsal. Well, I left out feeding Kate every three hours, but that's a given. Whew!

So, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings were spent in boots and bandanas serving hot dogs and chili to the preschoolers of Little People's School and their parents. That's always fun! I had a good crew of parents helping me out, too!

Thursday was spent doing last minute ladies retreat stuff: buying & stuffing folders, making copies, and most importantly, preparing for the entertainment! I decided that I would do a presentation Saturday night before the bonfire on how to roast the perfect marshmallow ... as Beth Moore! It was too fun. Our Ladies Bible class had done her study on Daniel, so I spent one of the video sessions writing down all of her funny phrases. I incorporated them into some flowery instructions on roasting marshmallows that I had found online, and it was done. Oh, and I made a fill-in-the-blank handout. :)

The ladies retreat was Friday - Sunday. The theme was "Talk Amongst Yourselves," focusing on our speech. We brought in a group of five ladies from Abilene called The Coffee Group to be our speakers. I really appreciated all of the preparation they put into their lessons, and we had some GREAT discussion time in our small groups.

Saturday night for the Beth Moore marshmallow thing, I wore a blondish wig, a bright green jacket with a sparkly yellow scarf, khaki pants, and huge heels. It was so fun, and the ladies were in stitches! Wish I had a picture or a video!

Sunday morning, we had to do a sunrise service with breakfast following. Stefanie and I had to get back to Tyler to church because Ronnie White, our interim preacher, had asked Clearly Vocal to sing a special song after his sermon. I think many of the ladies, especially the elders' wives, enjoyed being back at Glenwood for services anyway.

Now we're caught up to this week-Yea! Monday, Kate had a check-up. She's up to eleven pounds! Such a cutie.


Tuesday was my first Tuesday home since January. I guess I was a little bored, so I made Kalleigh and me matching dresses. It was SO easy. I don't even have a sewing machine any more! I bought this bolt of dress fabric for $1/yd with the intention of cutting off the top and making a Moby wrap for Kate.


When Kalleigh saw it she asked, "Mommy! Are you making a dress for me?!?" She was just too excited, and I realized how easy it would be. So I did. And then I made one for me, too. And I still have enough fabric for the wrap.


Tonight, Clearly Vocal is singing for a local retirement center's Passion In the Park celebration. Then we're heading to a Mercy Me concert tomorrow night with friends while the three big kids spend the night with the Deans. And then it's Easter weekend and Kate will be eight weeks old!


Happy Easter!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

3 weeks

How in the world has three weeks gone by! Everybody says the same thing, but it's so true. It's so hard to imagine that Kate was still inside of me three weeks ago today.

We've had a very good three weeks. Of course Mom was here when Kate was born that Sunday, but then had to leave on Monday afternoon. John took off work most of the rest of that week, and that was really nice! Then Dad came over that Saturday, spent the night (after grilling some fabulous venison-YUM!) and went to church with us the next morning. It was Kate's first Sunday morning!


Dad headed home after treating us to lunch and then John's mother came that evening. I was grateful to have her help since that was the beginning of spring break! She stayed through Wednesday before heading back to Searcy.


The weather was absolutely fabulous during that week, so we spent a lot of time outside.


On Friday, we went to Faulkner park for a picnic! PER. FECT. WEATHER. I love spring time in east Texas!


Saturday night, the Deans kept the older 3 kids while John and I (and Kate) went on a date, courtesy of our friends the Rambins! Chelsea coordinated people bringing us food 3x per week all through March, and Saturday was her night, so she sent us on a date! What a great idea!

This week has been all about getting back into a routine and figuring out our "new normal." It's been both challenging and refreshing, frustrating and encouraging. Going from 3-4 kids really isn't that big a deal. It's having a newborn that takes all of your time whether or not you have any other kids in the picture or not!


Johnathan, Kalleigh and Jonas love "loving" on their little sister. Johnathan, my talker, uses his talent and just talks to her while he holds her! She is so content to listen to him. Kalleigh talks about how they will play together when Kate gets bigger and showers her with kisses. Jonas keeps asking to "pet Baby Gate," and so we have the opportunity to teach gentleness. :)





Last night Kate went with Clearly Vocal to restaurant night. She rode in her sling and did great while we sang for a couple of hours!

Today my Aunt Karla and cousin Alissa came to meet Kate. They had been staying at a bed and breakfast nearby and made some time to swing by! It was great to spend time with them. The boys got out of the house, so we had some good girl time.


Tomorrow will be the first time that John and I will get all four kids ready and to church by ourselves. We'll see how that goes!


We're looking forward to next weekend when my brother, Kreg, and his family come to visit as well as my mom and her hubby!

Kate Evelyn: A Birth Story

She's here! Finally, thankfully, she's here. Kate was born on Sunday, February 27, at 11:46 a.m. weighing 9 lbs., 12 oz., and measuring 21 in. long. My biggest baby! We're doing just great, and in my own biased opinion, she's perfect. :)

The rest of the story ... for those who want ALL the details:

Mom had driven in the previous Tuesday and had planned on staying until Kate arrived. This was going to be just perfect since she had never been able to make it to one of my births before because of how quickly my labors have been! And since I was sure I was going early, Tuesday seemed like the best time.

Saturday night I had pretty much given up on Kate arriving while Mom was here. We had spend Wednesday shopping, Thursday housekeeping, Friday walking and working on Ladies Bible Class and her pharmacy admissions work, and Saturday we all went to the zoo. I had eaten strawberries every day that week, since I had eaten strawberries the day before I went into labor with all three other kids. I had done everything I knew to do to get labor going, and it just wasn't happening. She wasn't dropping. I was going to be pregnant forever.

I began making my list of clever remarks back to people who would see me at church the next day. "You're still here?" "I can't believe you haven't had that baby yet!" "Are you sure there's only one in there?" "Every time I look at you, it just makes me miserable!" "I thought you would've had that baby a long time ago." "Oh, your face is really swollen. You've got 'the look.'" "Any day now!" "Are you sure you're pregnant? I'm starting to think you made this all up as an excuse to get fat!" Aren't they funny?

When I saw my cousin Deborah when she saw pregnant for the first time, back before I had ever been pregnant, I felt at liberty to say, "You're huge!" Deborah, I'm so sorry. That was awful!

Thankfully I didn't have to use any of the comebacks I knew I would've regretted saying. About 5:00 Sunday morning, I had a distinct cervical change, to put it tactfully. At first I thought my water had broken, and I dashed to the bathtub expecting "the gush" I had when my water had broken with Jonas. But there was just almost nothing! Not even enough for a steady leak.

But it was enough to get labor going. Sure enough, some little contractions began about 30 minutes later. I called my midwife, who agreed that I was headed that way, and then I took a shower. Because everyone knows you should take a shower when labor begins. (?) Then I woke Mom up to give her some time to get ready before we left. The bags were packed, and had been for about 3 weeks now, Kate's car seat was in, even my snack bag was ready. So I got dressed and put my makeup on, which is what I was most concerned about. There would be pictures, of course. We got the kids up and dressed for church and headed out the door! It was baby day!

On our way we texted friends and family, including Jerry Frazier, who was on call to lead worship for John! We dropped the kids of at the Dean's house around 7:00. What would we do without church family? They were ready and would take them on to church. And of course we kept Facebook updated!

When we arrived at the birth center, I was already dilated to a 6! But sure enough my water had not broken. Contractions were coming consistently, but I had good breaks in between during which I could rest and even joke around a little. :) We used one of the breaks to take a "last pregnant picture ever."


My "labor team," as I call them, arrived one at a time. The line up was as follows, in the order of arrival: My midwives, Vicky and Sarah, John and Mom, Chelsea (friend and photographer!), Terry Dean (my Tyler mom), and Kaulie Keele (the kids' favorite babysitter who is on the health track at REL HS and plans to be a neonatal nurse). I was so thankful for this team who each contributed in their own way! What a blessing!

I labored in one of the L&D rooms for a while, moving around as I pleased from the bed to the birthing ball to just walking around. I kept my water bottle close and took small sips between contractions to stay hydrated, since I wasn't hooked up to any IVs.

After a while I moved into the birthing pool and enjoyed the relaxing warm water. As suspected, I think it did slow my labor down somewhat, but it was worth it! I was so relaxed between contractions that I was actually dozing off! It was nice and warm, and sometimes a little too warm. I called for a cool rag for my face and neck and proceeded to wash off the afore mentioned makeup. Pictures shmictures.

Not long after I was an 8, finally, finally, my water broke with a noticeable "POP!" causing everyone to jump up and see what was going on! It was the last comical moment for a while!

Warning: Birthing a child is not for the weak or the faint of heart or stomach.

Contractions picked up. Boy howdy, did they. I felt like I needed to change positions, so I moved from being reclined in the tub to over on my hands and knees. Then had a huge contraction, almost to the point of pushing. Vicky checked me and said that my cervix was starting to swell and that I needed to get back to my back. Having heard horror stories about that happening, I quickly obeyed!

Two contractions later, and not wanting to risk pushing on a swollen cervix, I "calmly asked" if I could push. Yes! was the answer, and with the next big contraction I pushed Kate's head right out! I was hoping to wait for another contraction to push the rest of her out, but her head starting retracting, causing her circulation to be cut off. She started turning blue. Bad blue. At this point, Vicky charged into the water, shoes and all, got me to my feet and yelled, "Call 911!" as she drained the tub. I was now standing/squatting, bent over with my hands on the side of the tub. Everyone was "calmly encouraging" me to continue to push. I was SO tired by that point, and wasn't having another contraction to help! I was pushing as hard as I could, but she was stuck!

Then Vicky just did what she needed to do. She reached up "in there" and pulled Kate on out! I think Papaw Curtis would've been proud! How many times had he had to reach up in a cow and pull out that big calf?! Ha!

Now she's behind me, having just pulled the purple, non-responsive child out, and she plopped her up on my back. All of this was very surreal, as I was still bending over the tub with my child on my back. No sounds other than the chorus of "Breathe, Kate!" being sung behind me.

Then John said he saw her eyes flicker open, at which point, he stopped calling 911. Obviously all of this happened within a matter of seconds, since the call had not even gone through yet! And then we heard that precious gurgly cry. Praise God! They suctioned out her mouth and nose and the crying became stronger. Yea!

Now my crying child is still on my back and still attached to "my innards," so Vicky hands her to me through my legs and I sit back down in the now-drained tub to examine my new daughter. She was just perfect! We had a nice long cuddle time while we waited for another contraction for the placenta to make its adorable entry into the world. It took its sweet time, but that was okay. I love that they don't rush that at the birth center. I knew that Kate was getting every last bit of goodness from the cord! Having completed it's job, it decided to come on out, and John did his traditional daddy duty of cutting the cord.

Over the next couple of hours, we cuddled and took pictures and all of those fun things. Kate and I had an herbal tea bath, soothing and healing. Amazingly, I did not tear. Sarah and Vicky were both amazed. Sarah even said, "You have, like, I super-perineum!" I was like, "Yeah, that's going on Facebook!" jk ;) Looking back, I'm so grateful for being at the birth center for that somewhat chaotic delivery. If I had been in an hospital and she had gotten stuck like that, they would have given me an episiotomy before I could've blinked. I would still be in a world of hurt today instead of playing outside with my other kids! I'm so thankful to Vicky and her midwifery skills! And for my super-perineum. ;)











We went home a couple of hours after Kate was born. It was nice to recover in my own bed. Mom was Super Nana that afternoon and evening taking care of the other three kids, fixing supper, and keeping the laundry going.

We did it! And I never want to do it again! I will do whatever I can to keep our family of 6 a family of 6 and no more!

I know, famous last words, right?

Please, no.

Maternity Photoshoot

I had the opportunity to have a free photo shoot this past Saturday! Here's the story of how that came about.

I finally sold my cowboy crib bedding that I had used for Jonas. Yea for Craigslist! So, I was on Craigslist deleting my post when I noticed another post that said, "Free Maternity Photo shoot: Email me and I will choose 2-3 people from the responses." Uh-huh. What was the catch?

Very hesitantly I responded with an, "I'm interested, but I need more details. People don't just give away free photos without wanting something in return." My guard was up big time! She responded saying that she knew it sounded strange, but she really was just building her portfolio. She had plenty of wedding, engagement, senior, family and kid pictures, but no maternity, and she needed some for her website. She then said she'd add me on Facebook and we could go from there.

I got her friend request and looked up her information before accepting! Turns out that she is married to the son of the preacher of the Lindale church of Christ just 10 miles north of Tyler, which is where they also attend! Immediately my guard dropped. We were sisters!

We scheduled the shoot for Saturday morning when the weather was supposed to be mid-fifties. However, as so often happens, the forecast quickly changed to snow for Friday and highs in the low 40's for Saturday! Of course we were supposed to shoot early in the morning, so it ended up being 25 degrees! Brrr! At first, I was tempted to reschedule, but then I thought about how special it would be to have the memory of the snow in East Texas as I approached Kate's due date. I'm so glad we went ahead and took the pictures!

The photographer's name is Shanna-Kaye Fancher, and she did a really nice job. As Shanna-Kaye and I were talking, I learned that she is the oldest of 10 children, had been married a few years and is expecting her first. She asked where I was delivering. I told her I would be delivering at the Labor of Love Birth Center, and she said, "No way! Me, too!" I've never known anyone else personally who had delivered there! What a neat connection we had. To see some of her other work, you can visit her website.

Here are a few of my favorites:















Sunday marked 37 weeks. Won't be long now!

Location:Tyler Railroad Yard

Ready!

I'm 36 weeks along with Miss Kate Evelyn and am entering the "Miserable Phase." It's all normal stuff, so I don't really have much room to complain, but each time I have gotten to this point in my pregnancies, I have remembered why I have no fear of delivery. I will do anything to be done being pregnant!

This pregnancy, more than any others, I have been humbly reminded how blessed I have been to have four healthy pregnancies with only one early miscarriage. During the past year I have had three friends from church with ectopic pregnancies, and two who have had to be on bed rest for a huge chunck of their pregnancies! Several other friends and even family members have miscarried as well. It seemed like a healthy pregnancy was the exception. I don't know why God allowed it to happen this way, but like I said, I have been so thankful for that.

I have an appointment with my midwife tomorrow morning. It's hard to believe that we're already "checking" to see if I'm making any progress! This pregnancy has absolutely flown. In some ways it's hard to believe that February is just a couple days away. But then it also seems like it couldn't have gotten here quickly enough!

So I did the whole pink girl room thing with Kalleigh. It was adorable and I loved it, but I was ready for a change with Kate. Her nursery is zebra stripe and red! There are tons of cute baby girl zebra and pink things, but not many zebra and red, so I have improvised. My favorite nursery bedding set I found online was a mere $400, so that was a no-go. It did give me a place to start in my thinking and planning, though. Here are a few pictures of the finished nursery:

Crib, using red sheet from Jonas's cowboy nursery, white dust ruffle from Johnathan's Peter Rabbit nursery and zebra pillow I bought at Sears. :) The bear on top is the one we got at Kate's first sonogram that when you squeeze its tummy, a recording of her heartbeat plays! Also, you'll notice the diaper bag stuck in the crib for now, safe from the other children and dogs, and packed for the birth center.



Rocking chair with side table and Kate's name. The rocking chair is navy and pink ... yeah, that wasn't going to do, so Mom got me this incredibly soft throw to go over it! The table was a $5 clearance find at Bed, Bath & Beyond. It's just particle board, and it's amazing what a little spray paint can do! I got the little lamp at Canton as well as the wooden block letters that I, again, spray painted and tied bows onto.



Close-up of Kate's name.


Wall art that I made with raw wooden pieces, again from Canton.



Curtain that my friend, Stefanie, made.



More wall art, made by Jonas (left) and Kalleigh (right) at Little People's School. I love what these add to the room!



And art on the left from an artist I have admired for three years at the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival. They remind me of my boys! And then the picture frame on the right that John's sister, Laurie, gave us. I'll put a picture of the girls in it when Kate gets here. The obligatory monitors sets safely up on this shelf. The ribbon is to hold that blanket that Terry and Cara Dean are making for me! Uh, for Kate, that is. :)



Oh, I forgot to take a picture of all her little clothes hanging in her closet! Even that's all ready to go. Speaking of closets, I moved Jonas's clothes from the nursery into the kids' room and moved Kalleigh's clothes from the kids' room into the nursery. That way when Kate is consistently sleeping through the night, I can move Kalleigh in with her and we will have a "girls' room" and a "boys' room"! I feel like I may be a little too giddy about this new organization, but I know some of you understand. ;)

Now all I need are the disposable things that you can't keep from child to child: diapers, bottle nipples and liners, pacifiers, etc. and we really will be completely ready! Hard to believe.

Please pray for a smooth and easy delivery and that Kate and I will continue to be healthy through it all!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad