I have so many things that I think, "I need to write that down before I forget," but I haven't written them down. I'm afraid I've already forgotten most of the cute sayings and events, but I'm going to try to do a "brain dump" here to remember as much as I can from the last year or so!
August 2012 Blake was a little over one and was really getting verbal. We'd been working emotions and reading lots of book about feelings. It was a Saturday morning and he hadn't seen his dad in a few days.I put him in bed with Heath and you could see the little wheels in his head turning and he said, "happy!"
Big, big surprise March 2011. I found out I was pregnant with Lenah the beginning of March. I was a little late, I really didn't think I could possibly be pregnant, but I took a test anyway. The test came up negative, which I'd expected. I had a slight feeling of sadness because all day before I took the test I was thinking about being pregnant, eating especially healthy, and letting my mind think "what if," but all the while thinking I couldn't really be pregnant. I was at a play date at Rachel's house a few days later and I asked my friends what could make me miss my period other than being pregnant. I thought maybe because I was still nursing or perhaps there was a medical condition I wasn't aware of. Of course they all said I was pregnant and told me how common it was to have a negative test the first time. I remember taking the test on a Friday morning before work. I felt absolute shock and fear, but of course excitement as well, but really mostly just shock! I went to the bed and just came out with it, "Heath, I'm pregnant." I didn't ease into the news. He rubbed his eyes and told me I wasn't. Then, in typical Heath fashion, said, "let me see that." I got him the pregnancy test and he looked at it and dismissively said, "there are two pink lines." Then I told him that meant I was pregnant. I think he just rolled back over that point, probably hoping it was just a dream! I went around that day in a haze. In my English PLC meeting that day one of our sixth grade teachers revealed to us that her brain cancer had returned and she was going to have another round of surgery. That news put my news into perspective.
I remember the fear I felt a few weeks in when I started having stomach cramps. I realized that even though I was nervous about the idea of having a third baby, especially so close to the second one, that I was already very attached to her and was so scared of miscarrying. The third pregnancy was no easier than the first two. I had a solid 6 weeks of morning (all day) sickness misery. I gained lots of weight, but actually less than with the other two (I gained 55 lbs with Farah, 45+ with Blake, and at least 40 with Lenah).
Lenah arrived Nov '12! Lenah was the only scheduled c-section of the three, and it was so much easier not being in labor! The worst part of the delivery was getting nauseous from the IV and then almost throwing up when I was being prepped for surgery. The first thing the doctor commented on when she was delivered was the amount of hair she had. She weighed 9lbs 2 oz, which was the exact amount I had guessed. At 9 lbs 2oz, she was the smallest of the three! But she was delivered one week early. When the nurses let me see her (you can't really hold a baby after a c-section), she looked at me for the longest time, and then peacefully drifted to sleep. I could just feel us breathing on each other, and I had the realization that I'm living in one of the most important moments in my life right now. I knew that I had to hold onto it and savor it. While Lenah has been the easiest, most peaceful baby (she's not quite 8 months as I write this, but so far she's been a breeze), she was the most difficult to handle in the hospital. She hated the nurses messing with her. She could be absolutely inconsolable, and she just wanted to nurse or suck, but not on a pacifier. The lactation consultant was worried about me, after she spent an hour trying to soothe her by letting her suck on her gloved finger, and was amazed by her strength and will! The doctor who firs checked her out described her as "vigorous." I took that to mean trouble.
While I'm at it, I want to write down what I remember about my first moments with my first two children. When Farah was born, I instantly felt relief after a very long, hard labor. I was almost giddy with the release of the pain. I didn't see her at all when she first came out. I was watching Heath's reaction. He teared up and said, "she's beautiful." He went with her while they cleaned her and measured her. I was so worried about her not being with someone and not being comforted right away; I was adamant that Heath was with her. When I first saw her, she had quite a bit of dark hair, light skin, and the cutest, pink, round, puffy cheeks. I thought, "of course, this is what our child would look like." I saw such a combination of our features. When Blake was born, I was also exhausted from a hard labor that resulted in a c-section.
When Blake came out, everyone commented on how big he was. He was over 10 lbs! He looked much more like a three month old than a newborn. Before I could see him, the nurse was across the operating room weighing him, and she laughed and said that he was trying to latch onto her finger. When he was given to me on the operating table, he was frantically trying to latch onto my nose. I noticed his lack of hair, his smooth skin, and of course, how big he was! The time in the hospital was so precious with him. I remember being scared to come home and take care of him and Farah on my own, knowing that I couldn't lift Farah or drive a car. I also remember thinking how different he looked from Farah. It was strange having the experience of a newborn for a second time and it being so different.
Okay, here are some of the cute things I can remember from the last year or so, in no particular order: When Lenah came home from the hospital, she cried the whole way home, and had calmed a bit, but then was fussing again when Heath arrived with Farah and Blake from daycare. I wanted their first time meeting her to be special, and I was disappointed that she was crying. Farah sat with her on the couch and sang to her, and Lenah was mesmerized! I also remember that Farah got the pollen from some flowers I received in the hospital and rubbed it all over her face, so she had a golden face in all of the pictures. A little later, Blake slapped Lenah out of nowhere. I watched her peaceful little face turn to shock and then sadness. I knew then I was going to have my hands full! I also remember that Lenah slept for six hours in a bouncy seat that first night!
Spring 2013 Farah and Blake were playing in the sandbox. Farah was fussing at Blake and angry with him. Heath and I asked her what was the matter, and she said: 1.He messed up my sand castle. 2. I don't even like him. 3. I love him. I thought that perfectly sums up siblings!
Winter 2012-13 Blake was adorable listing the things that scared him. He would say, "I scared dark, I scared dinosaurs-big teeth, I scared spoooooky lights." Spring/Summer 2013-Everything that Blake hears is followed with a "HUH?" But he hates if you do it back to him. He'll say, "no, HUH, daddy!" If you laugh, he shoots back very quickly with, "it's not funny! No laugh at Blakey." He also always refers to himself as Blakey. Some of Blake's funny mistaken words. Whenever Heath buys a watermelon, the kids yell for him to cut it. Blake now calls watermelon, "cut-a-melons." He also calls oatmeal "eatmeal."
At Trisha's winter 2012 Farah won the award for the most grown up and Blake won for the best dancer.
Recently spring/summer 2013 Blake has started doing a funny dance/song when he's happy. We can't make out the first bit, but it's something like "sassa, sassa" with his hands going up and down like measuring scales, and then it ends with him pumping his arms up and down saying, "edge, edge" with a crazy look and his lower teeth protruding. No idea where he got that one!!
Farah thought
we should name Lenah "Shampoo" so she could say "poo" without getting in trouble.
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Blake and I went to Sky Meadows State Park today. He was so excited to go into the woods, but lost steam halfway through. I tried to tell him that hiking would make him big and strong. He started shrieking, "no, it's making me little." We did have a really nice time though, seeing a snake skin, butterflies, a deer, and spending time in a beautiful spot by a creek. When we got home I asked him if he liked his "alone day." He said, "Yes, but I don't want to be alone. I want my sisters." So sweet.
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(I'm trying to insert paragraph breaks, but they don't seem to be working for some reason, so I'll just stick a bunch of photos between the paragraphs.) When we got to the beach we were wowed by our hotel suite. It was at the top of the hotel and had a great kitchenette with a full refrigerator and table, two couches, and three balconies. We just knew that this was going to be a fabulous few days after getting a look at our hotel room. Heath even suggested booking another night...little did he know he'd be begging to go back to work in a few short days.
We had a great first trip to the beach, ate dinner in, and had an early night. All in all, a good first day at the beach. The second day started early and ended late. We realized vacationing with three children means you are essentially a pack mule and a slave to snacks, meal and nap times. We were constantly looking for sunscreen, pacifiers, Blake's missing Croc, the one and only bathing suit Farah would wear, the dress to the miniature doll she got on the boardwalk. You name it, we searched for it and then hauled it around, and then searched for it again. I think things came to a peak when we rented surreys for a ride on the boardwalk. This was my most favorite part of our previous VA Beach vacations-driving on the boardwalk, getting ice cream, watching concerts, and letting the kids play in the sand playground. Well, this surrey was defective (or at least Heath thought so). The pedals were a little stiff, but Heath was getting angrier and angrier the more he tried to pedal. When we got passed by another family going twice as fast as us, I think that was when he had it. He abandoned the surrey by the Neptune statue and we had to hoof it back. I tried to salvage the moment by stopping with the kids to hear a dramatic retelling of a sunken ship off of Virginia's coast hundreds of years ago. The kids were actually riveted by the story.
The next night proved to be better. We saw a circus performance and were pleasantly surprised by fireworks over the beach. At one point Blake was strutting around with his shirt up entertaining half of the audience! The kids, all in all, were complete troopers. Don't get me wrong, they did have their moments, but I think the cumulative effect of three kids having bad moments, plus the heat, plus all of our gear, had a corrosive effect on our nerves. We also managed to find the most boring museum on the entire east coast, some aviation museum run by very grouchy, very old men. For some reason there were massive dinosaur statues out front that had a redeeming effect for the kids, and probably taught them that dinosaurs roamed the earth the same time as WWI airplanes.
Nothing could top our drive home though. I had a really great morning with just the big kids, splashing in the ocean while Lenah napped. We took them to the aquarium, which is always a good time. We got on the road at 3:30, and Heath just knew that we were doomed to spend hours in traffic. In one of his less rational moments, he suggested we just pull over for two hours, because that's what the roads were going to be like. I never said I told you so, but we never hit any major traffic on the way home. What we did hit might have upset Heath more than traffic ever could...strange car noises. Heath tied wagons and things to the top of the car and they made a noise similar to that of a motorcycle following too closely behind us. It drove him crazy, but Farah and Blake were relaxing with a movie on and Lenah was fast asleep, so I threatened him within an inch of his life not to pull over and disrupt this rare peace. It did prove to be more than he could bear, so he pulled over and rearranged things. As we pulled away, the kids were still relatively peaceful, and I admit that it was nice not feeling like a Harley Davison was in our trunk. But as soon as we hit 60 mph, a far worse, loud, high pitched whining noise began. In the midst of this new development, Heath missed the fork to stay on 64 and ended up on an inner loop taking us through Hampton Roads and Newport News, over bridges, through tunnels, and in general slowing down our trip. We still had the fact that all three kids were quiet going for us, but the noise was now driving us both to madness. We found that if we stayed under 60 mph that the noise was gone, so we creeped down the wrong route as slowly as possible, again trying to maintain the fragile quiet that we had been blessed with. Finally, not being able to stand one more eighteen wheeler passing him, Heath pulled over for gas and took everything off the top of the car. As he was unstrapping our excessive baggage, Lenah stirred, then Blake, and finally Farah. At one point they were all three completely hysterical from being awaken from their precious naps. The good news is that they did calm back down, but only Lenah continued to sleep (and she did so almost the entire way home). The bad news is when we returned home, very late at night, we found Heath hadn't factored in the massive heat wave that had come through while we were gone and turned the air conditioner off. We were all tired and grouchy and our house was a warm 95 degrees at 10:30 at night. Home sweet home.
