Leo is 10 weeks old

And he is sleeping 6 hour stretches. Yes, 6 hours and it is marvelous! Tonight has been quite a few firsts for him too. Brad's mom gave him his first bottle, which he took like a champ (Brad and I need a date night soon)! I was impressed, we used the new, funky looking Lansinoh bottle.

 He is also sleeping in his crib right now for the first time. Brad is sick with a stomach bug, and I didn't want to risk Leo catching anything. Leo and I have coslept each night so far. I'm sure I will sneak in there with him and hold him a bit at some point, I just can't stay away :) And I'm also pretty sure he will be back in bed with me once Brad is better.

So time goes by fast, we all know that by now. But it's just going really fast. I mean, my little baby is 10 weeks old now and weighing in at more than 12 pounds! He still hasn't gone to the pediatrician yet, but I have a scale that is pretty accurate and I will remember to measure his length one of these days.

It's 2014 now - Happy New Year right!? So far so good. We've managed to stay sane during the massive snow-in and dreadfully cold polar vortex (what does that even mean?) temperatures. Me and the kiddos have been staying well. This is Brad's second round of something that's got him feeling pretty bad --- knock on wood, but he's also the only one who has been vaccinated for the flu and such. My dad claims that I am a paranoid, conspiracy theorist. All I'm saying if Brad ends up being the only one super sick this season I'm not so sure I should be blamed as crazy for some of my vaccine ideas!
I am becoming quite a stickler lately about our nutrition. We have been having too many GMO indulgences since well before the holidays. So I've got all of us on probiotics, Vitamin D3, Omega-3 and at least a few servings of fresh, organic veggies a day. I'm hoping that keeps us well - we just have to cut down the sugars a lot more. Leo has been going to chiropractic care (for wellness visits) and he is doing great. I took him around 6 or 7 weeks because he was just spitting up CONSTANTLY. Not even spit up really, waterfalls is more like it. He is gaining weight just fine and also not crying when it happens, so I'm sure it's just a laundry problem as people say, and not a reflux issue. At 10 weeks now, he is much better. I credit being older, probiotics and his adjustments helping to control his spewing problem.

The older kiddos will be heading back to preschool this week. Practically everyone on my facebook feed was desperate to have their kids go back. Not me. I love they have extra time to play with Christmas gifts, have fun with each other and visit with Papou (who arrived just before Christmas!) Plus I've been struggling with missing them a lot lately. I want to be more active with them, take them on dates, play and get goofy together - but right now it is just so hard since Leo is still so small and needy. Although I do see a predictable napping schedule in my future with him, so I will get to play and snuggle Elijah and Athena more. It's gotta be soon, because my mind has started wandering to the reality of Elijah being in kindergarden next year ::gulp:: -- I can't think about that now, not without having taken my placenta pill today.
We've also bunked them up! And can you believe my sweet, delicate little Athena is on the top bunk (delicate, ya right!)? She insisted, and it is the best fit since she actually will sleep through the night like a rock 99% of the time. Elijah still gets up with excuses, like he needs water or he needs a 8th hug and kiss (I'm not complaining about those though!).

Here are a few pics of my older babies. It's amazing how grown up they'e become. Especially when I glance back through my blog -- it's definitely incentive to be faithful and blog more often!

 He loves his daddy!! Check out that smile!

New Years day we went to the Science Center - which I think we've done in the past before. Maybe it will be a tradition from now on.

In the next few weeks we're off to Florida! Yay! We will be in the Clearwater/Tampa area for a week. My dad and Brad's parents will also be with us. After the frigid cold I am ready for some 70's temperatures! I am also anxious to see if it could be called "home" one day - at least see if I could actually see a life for us there. (We've been on a "we are going to move to Florida soon" kick the last few years)

I can't believe everyone is asleep and I am blogging again. I've missed my little corner of the internet. I guess I better get some sleep before Leo wakes up, or worse, Brad wakes up and realizes I put half an onion next to him on his bedside table. Here's what I mean: Onion Remedy -- Hey, it may be a myth, but you do anything for the people you love.

I leave you with an awesome video with my kiddos.

Leo

So a lot has happened since May - since I last blogged. Wow - I hate that I haven't kept up with everything. Nonetheless, I have to blog and document about our new family of 5!

Meet Leo.

Yep! He is our newest addition to our family. He was a surprise baby, as we didn't find out his sex. Everyone was convinced he was going to be our "Lillian". I had a feeling he may be the boy I wanted, but I was starting to be convinced in the end along with everyone else he was a girl. Either way, he is an amazingly beautiful and healthy little human we've been blessed to raise him as our son. 

His birth (one month ago) still has me in awe of God's marvelous creation. What I mean is, God created the female body to do miraculous things. I loved my birth experiences with Elijah and Athena in the hospital, but choosing to have Leo at home was so amazing. It's funny because a lot of home birth mommas would tell me "It will be the best thing you experience", "You'll love it", etc... All I could really think is that, ok - I've given birth intervention-free twice before, how can it be any different. 

I wish I could put into words how different it is. I've always been comfortable with home birth in general, but now I am an advocate for it.

So here is my birth story with Leo - I already have the stinging in my eyes from tears of gratitude, love and admiration just beginning to reminisce how he was born to me 31 days ago.

On Halloween morning I woke up to find that I had a little bit of brown, bloody show. It wasn't quite a show in reality, just a little bit to get me exicted that labor was coming my way soon. For the whole week before Halloween, I was just feeling "off", almost flu-like. I could tell my body was changing, but I was 100% convinced it was preparation for labor. Really, in my mind I thought with this being my third labor and Elijah's labor being more than 36 hours, and Athena's being around 16 hours, I'd have this baby in no time :)

So I was pretty excited to actually see changes of impending labor on Halloween instead of trying to decipher flu versus latent labor symptoms like I was doing earlier in the week. I told Brad to be on standby that day, but he was good to go to work. I also called my mom to tell her so she'd have a heads up if labor did go quickly. The older kiddos were at school (Thursdays have been my days for the past few months). So I decided to do last minute shopping, and relax with a manicure and pedicure :)

I was feeling very minor contractions all day. They were getting me excited in anticiaption that I would get to experience labor again. (Labor has never been something I dreaded or feared for the most part, I wish most women could embrace it in this way, but that's another blog post). After I finished up my "me" time I went to pick up my kiddos. I was excited and a little tearful that our time of being "the three of us" was coming to an end soon. I am so blessed that Brad works so hard to allow me to stay home and be a full-time mom to our kids.

My mom decided to take the afternoon off, and Friday off to spend the weekend with us as we waited for labor to start! She decided to meet up with me and the kiddos at Target to get last minute things (I always end up at Target before going into active labor). I'm glad she was with us, because I would have completely forgotten simple things like, wipes, bath soaps, wash cloths, (I did have diapers), sleepers, etc - I guess I figured I'd feel like going out the next day to pick that sort of stuff up? pregnancy brain for sure...

In addition to all those things, she gifted the baby so many sweet blankets, sleepers, onesies and new stuff that we never got around to buying. It's nice to have the hand-me-downs from our older kids, but I always wanted to get new things for the new baby.

After Target we decided to just hand out candy for the evening, since it was Halloween. Since it was such a cold and rainy night, we decided to go to dinner instead. So with the kids dressed up in costume we went to the new Tucano's Brazillian restaurant here in St. Charles. It was nice because it reminded me, my mom and Brad of the restaurants at the Mexico resort we went together to last January.

Anyhow, my contractions were still off and on, but slowly becoming more intense. Certainly not painful yet, but definitely there. They were probably anywhere from 15-35 minutes apart. Not active labor kind.

That night we just watched a little tv and decided to call it a night. Around 11:30 that evening things started to pick up a little bit more and I had definitely lost my mucus plug at that time. I tried to take a bath to relax and it helped a bit. What was so different this time was the amount of nausea I kept having. I never experienced it with my first two, so I was surprised to have this symptom. By midnight I was in bed typing notes into my iphone to remember each detail. Brad decided to blow up the birth tub just incase. Funny enough, my mom thought he was pumping up my birthing peanut and came upstairs thinking he was going to pop it by running the air pump so long. :)

Around 4:00 I had a few more contractions that woke me up, and they were steadily 10 minutes apart. I was able to relax through most of them, but I was starting to wonder if baby would come today! (It was November 1st, and I thought it was going to be the perfect birthday:11/1)

Brad decided to stay home from work that Friday. So me, my mom, Brad and the kiddos decided we were going to be active and walk this baby out. So no surprise we decided to go Goodwill shopping :) We stopped for lunch at HuHot to eat something spicy (super yummy - I have been on an Asian food kick for months now). 

By later the afternoon I started feeling overwhelmed and pressured that I had not made more progress. I was worried my mom and Brad took time off of work to have a baby and all we were doing was shopping and goofing off (although it was such a fun day with them and the kids). So I started nipple stimulation around 4 in the afternoon and each time it would give me a pretty intense contraction, but it still wasn't enough to kickstart labor into gear. 

Once we got home from all the shopping and running around, my mom wanted to get the older kids a dresser for their room so I could better organize their chaos. It was probably around 6 or 7 that evening that we decided to continue shopping. The contractions were getting more intense, but still they were maybe 7-15 minutes apart. They were completely irregular (just like I had with Elijah - but he was my first! How could this be happening with my third?!) 
As we were in Weekends Only checking out I had a contraction that I had to really focus on. We were at the check out counter and I had to lay my head down and sway my hips to get through it. There was a couple there that night that thought I was completely crazy for being at a furniture store instead of planning to go to a hospital. (Looking back I guess it was kind of crazy, and funny)

On our way home around 8:30 the contractions in the car really started to be painful. I just assumed that it was just my position and they would feel better once we got home. By 9:00 we decided to watch a movie so I could relax through the contractions. I had my rice sock heated up and kept it on my lower abdomen during each contraction, which was pretty regularly 10 minutes apart by now. 

Around 10:00 I helped Brad get the kids to stay in bed for the night, and that's when I knew that things were getting more serious. I was laying next to Athena saying our prayers and the contractions were very intense.

I decided to take a bath to relax, but by 11:00 I wanted out of the tub. There wasn't really any relief. Brad called Allison, our midwife, and I told her that the contractions were around 5 minutes apart, but I was managing through them ok. After I got out of the tub, I had my music playing and I was relaxing on our bed. I was doing so great - I couldn't stop thining about how I'd make my students proud if they could have seen me relax through those contractions. My mom was wonderful timing the contractions with my app, as her and Brad took turns doing the double hip squeeze. By 11:30 however I lost control a little bit. I had a contraction that took me off guard because I felt the baby do some wierd move inside. Little did I know at that moment that my water had broken. That was a first time experiencing that. But sure enough as I got up to go to the bathroom, my water had ruptured for sure (I thought I had peed myself) :)

From there on things were painful. Not gonna lie, it hurt. Brad started filling the tub and called Allison to come on over, and he called Sarah to come over too (she so graciously offered her time to come and take photos of our birth). I think by midnight, Barb (the assistant midwife) had arrived along with Sarah. Barb and my mom were prepping all the things I should have had ready! (pregnancy brain again!?)

When Allison arrived she checked baby with the doppler while I was laboring over my bed. I think around 12:30 I decided to get into the tub. There I was in the middle of our house laboring for our third baby. It was so awesome be home, in a familiar surrounding not worrying about random nurses barging in to check this or that. No heplocks, no mandatory vaginal exams, most importantly NO pressure!

With Elijah and Athena I had a lip of cervix that I needed to push past. So to ease my mind I had Allison check to make sure that I wouldn't push and swell any cervix that could potentially be there. Sure enough there was none and I was complete around 12:45 or so (?) I can't really recall the timing at this point in labor

I remember gradually feeling that urge to push, but it wasn't overwheliming like I felt with Athena. Something just felt uneasy about pushing Leo. I was on my knees and my torso was draped over the edge of the tub and I slowly pushing against the contractions. Alison sugested I try a lunge position (or Captain Morgan style). I still felt a little hesitant for some reason.

Sure enough my pushes were making progress, but it definitely was taking a lot longer (the story of this whole labor story) than I thought! I could tell that he was moving down because while I was pushing in the tub on my knees I could reach inside to touch and feel his head descending. That was so cool - also a suggestion from Allison (something I’m sure a doctor would never suggest a mom to try).

At some point my pushes started feeling much more powerful and I could feel him start to descend and exit. I recall the “ring of fire” with my older kiddos. And no joke, it feels like an indian rug burn on your sensitive bits. The good part is, is that it’s typically short lived as you push past it and you get immediate relief with the whole head going past the stretched perinium. However, with Leo I had to wait during the ring of fire for another contraction to push. It was terrible. It was so hard to have the self control to not push through it, but it was best I didn’t. Allison asked me to stand up from the tub and sure enough she needed to help unravel the cord from around his neck - twice! It was such a fast moment, but God bless Allison, because she jumped into the pool to help rotate Leo out of his cord. My mom immediately unlooped the first loop of cord from his neck while Allison was chest deep in the pool with me preparing to unloop the rest of him.

Hinds sight, I feel that my hesitancy to push was because of the cord around his neck. God had his hand on Leo and me the whole time. I never felt uneasy at those moments.

Brad was supporting my body the whole time - it was hard to stand steadily in the pool because the bottom was inflated and made an unstable surface. Once Leo was completely born I sat back and could see how incredibly purple he was. I still didn’t feel worried. Allison was right next to us and monitoring every move he was making. Apparently he made all the right moves because he started to gasp for air and began breathing. He even let out a little cry  moments after he was born. I could see the look and tears of worry on Brad’s face. Maybe then I had a moment of fear, but in all honesty, I felt confident in God’s presence that early, early morning. 

Leo was born November 2nd at 1:11 am. I feel like this is just a rough draft of his birth story. I can’t capture all of my emoitions that go along with the words you see on the screen. I will probably continue to reflect on this amazing, miraculous experience and edit this story as it comes to me.

All I can say is that it was completely different having an unmedicated, non-intervention birth at home verus a unmeidcated, non-intervention birth at a hospital. He was born where he was created and grew in my womb. Our home was already full of love ready to receive him into our family. It was such a blessing to be able to fall asleep in my own bed, use my own bathroom and stare into the beauty of God’s blessing without annoying interruptions or unimportant requests from nursing staff.

So I know it’s a long story, but I want to remember each detail as much as I can. I am forever grateful for this experience and those who supported me.

Enjoy the pictures that Sarah took (thank you SO much for waking up and taking these in the middle of the night). Please check out her other photography work at her company’s website: Fresh Blend Media.

I put some of the photos together to one of the sweetest songs. Perfect for my Little Leo.
Just a disclaimer...there maybe some photos that may seem graphic to some people (however, I see them as miraculous).

Chicago weekend!

It has been crazy around here for us. It started at the end of April when Brad takes his weekly trips down to Springfield for work. After a short weekend home, he had to fly to Atlanta for the week. Friday when he landed from Atlanta, he had to work until 11:00 umpiring softball (which he does Friday and Sunday evenings).
Yep, we needed some quality family time, and I had an itch to travel so a Chicago weekend it was!
We have actually been planning this trip for some time. My dad shipped some olive oil from Greece, and it arrives in Chicago - that however was in January. Our estimated pick up was March. We were cleared to pick it up in May, but when I called just before leaving they said the FDA had a hold on it. AH...frustrating to say the least....my dad jokes that the FDA hasn't seen such pure, unadulterated oil before, so it had to undergo further inspection. - probably true...

We drove up Saturday morning. Brad and the kids slept for quite a bit of the trip, so that was nice. Once we got there we headed to Shedd Aquarium right away.

It was such nice relief to get out of the van and run around and see some fish! 

Hello Mr. Turtle!

HUGE fish! 

The jelly fish were my favorite. Elijah liked them too.

It devastated me that when our 3:00 show time for this movie came around she was passed out. Ice Age is her all time favorite show to watch.

I have no clue what was in those pools...but any opportunity to play with water, they're on it.

Oh! and this picture was so great, it was worth the overpriced $20 we paid for it. Look at their faces!!

After our visit at the aquarium, we relaxed at our hotel for a bit and went to the lake. We were only a few blocks away! I guess we have Brad's travels to thank for the free hotel room in the great location.

Our family needs to live by the water one day... 

I wish I was a better photographer, I really like this picture, but it looks dark.

My goose.

I had to stop myself from thinking about how many germs were on their hands after playing. eek.

It was a challenge to find rocks big enough to throw!!

We walked down to Navy Pier afterwards, which to most people it would have been pretty boring, but the kids loved the boats, seagulls and water - so it was great seeing their reactions.

It was a little chilly, but still very nice.

She is becoming such a little girl. My baby has grown so fast.

What are we missing? Yep...the gnome...

We decided to take a cab to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. It was only a mile away, but we were getting pretty chilly as the sun went down. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures at dinner -  the kids were in awe. Elijah especially loved the thunderstorms that would happen every 30 minutes or so. It was such a neat experience.
We were back at the hotel around 9. Kids were passed out by 9:20, and I was passed out at 9:25. It was a great day. They handled the drive there really well, they didn't complain, and the enthusiasm and excitement in their eyes was enough to do this all over again.

Of course, we still had to drive home (and by back by 5:30 so Brad could umpire -- can you imagine how tired he must have been?)
So we woke up Mother's Day to head home. NOT before stopping at IKEA first!
We had breakfast at the hotel and got to IKEA when they opened at 10. We had an hour and a half to check it out before we had to go - an hour and a half is not nearly long enough to check out the store if you're a newbie like I was. It was so neat, and we left with some pretty unique, fun things for the kids. (I was however pretty disappointed in how many "made in china" stickers I saw on their products)
Here are some pictures of our final day.

After my shower I found this. I love them.

Yeaaaa, this chick is out of control. I turned my head to finish loading the van from IKEA and she's made our van a public restroom. We did intend for them to use it this way, but when the doors were closed and when gas station bathrooms were disgusting. Oh my Athena, just one more reason I have that I love you so, so much!

We got home safe and sound, and with minutes to spare before Brad had to leave for work. Maybe next time we'll plan with an extra night in there.

14 weeks!

Wow, that means 2nd trimester! I'm glad to welcome it too. I can't say I've really been throwing up sick but since week 9 up until the end of week 12 I have felt so weak, naseous and just not myself. It was hard to get going, and you know I had to choice with a 3 and 2 year old :)

13 weeks things got better! - maybe because we also had a few 80 degree, sunny days. I'm sure that helped. But the best part by far was Wednesday night (May 1st) - as I was teaching class, ironically - I felt #3 moving! Unmistakably moving. And it was the most unusual movement it was very fast, vigorus and lasted for quite sometime! I loved it, and I love him/her too. I've only been feeling slight flutters since then.

At 12 weeks I saw Allison, our midwife, for a routine prenatal appointment. It was only the second one, but I got to hear the heartbeat. It was between 150-160. Made my heart melt hearing it. I'm so honored to be creating life. I've always loved the process and have been in awe of it, but maybe it's because I am so much more informed or because I teach about pregnancy and childbirth - I don't know, but this little 3 1/2 inch baby of mine has captivated my heart and soul.

Since the weather has been rainy/sunny every few days it's been sporadic when we get to play outside. We've been taking some walks when it's nice. I love watching Elijah and Athena explore. A favorite activity so far this spring is walking to New Town and throwing rocks into the fountain. So funny that the simplest activity can bring such excitement and joy to them. I've been trying to remind myself to enjoy them to the fullest - even when they get whiny, demanding or irritating. I find myself stopping more often and intentionally loving rather than waiting for them to hurry, or listen faster.  You know what I mean, it's frustrating to try and get things done in a timely manner when all the kids want to do is move at their toddler pace. Well, that's what I'm trying to be more thoughtful and patient about. And when I take the time, I notice more how they view everything around them. And it's amazing. Anyway, there is a little bit of my heart opened up for you. But if you seriously think about it, it wasn't that long ago they they were 14 weeks in my belly. Oh it goes so fast, doesn't it?

My chick loves Minnie Mouse

Her second Cardinal baseball game of her life.

This might be his 3rd game - maybe 4th? 

They truly love each other and get a long so well. 

SO proud of Elijah. He received his award for completing his first year of Cubbies at AWANA. 

He is so sweet, isn't he? 

I don't know why I love this picture so much, but I do. 

THEY chose to hug the tree -  Aaahhhh, my little tree huggers :)

I love that she is still being modest. She is such a goofy chick.

Cheeeeeese!!! I got them to stop throwing rocks for just a moment.

They're getting so big - can you imagine another one standing next to them in a few years? It's hard for me, but it's getting easier and easier to envision our complete family. 

It's almost been a year!

I can't believe how time flies. I never intended to stop blogging. Actually I'm pretty sad about it - so many wonderful things have happened in the past year and now I will have to rely on photos and videos to recall those memories. I am determined to do a 2012/2013 "recap" so look for that in the next few days.

So why am I back all of sudden? It's not like I'm less busy - I am actually busier than I have probably ever been, but I do intend to lighten up on some of my obligations. The main reason I'm back is to be fair...to #3 of course! -- YEP! I'm pregnant!

I blogged throughout my pregnancy with Elijah and Athena, so I want #3 to have an opportunity to read back on it if he/she wants.

I am 11 weeks today, and due around November 4th. It's been pretty surreal. We have been talking about having a baby for a while, and made it official when I stopped birth control in October (this can be another blog post, but don't ever consider the paragard birth control). I consider this baby as God's way of reminding me that He is in control. I was pretty much ready to be pregnant in October, so my control-freak nature took over and I charted, took notes, planned sex, etc. In February when I was certain that my ovulation time had expired (Brad had been traveling a lot, so it was getting hard to plan), I gave up. I gave up. Can you believe that I ended up pregnant that month? Not because of any notes I took or what little flowers on a calendar said - but because God's timing is always perfect. That little sperm must have lived 5-6 days --- anyway, this subject fascinates me, but the real point is I gave up control and I allowed God to do what He knew would be best.

Oh it feels so good to be blogging again. I feel a release of some sort when I able to "talk" things through in my head and type them onto a screen.

Here is my sweetest family as of lately...

I feeling pretty blessed today.... 

The Love of Birth

 

I’m so proud of this in so many ways.

First of all it says everything I want it to. I love childbirth. I want ALL moms to love their childbirth experience – even if everything doesn’t go exactly as they planned.

The Love of Birth is my passion of educating and empowering parents to know that childbirth is not to be feared. It’s something natural, beautiful and it’s an irreplaceable time in the lives of expanding families.  I’m so excited to start this new chapter in my life!

So much for 10 years of school for environmental science and chemistry…. :)

Can I also brag that I made the logo and I’m super proud of it. I could hardly figure out how to open Photoshop. So for me to create something that seems so simple is really exciting for me :)

If you follow me on this blog, I hope you will follow me in my pursuit of my dream at The Love of Birth.

It started like this

OK, as I started this blog Elijah just looked at this picture as I was uploading it and said “Mommy, you’re so pretty! But you’re not pretty any more.” Oh my goodness…I can’t stop smiling at the thought of his comment. It actually goes perfect with what I’m trying to say.

As I was saying before I got insulted …It started out like this. May 25, 2008. It’s so beautiful to see how much we’ve done and accomplished together. So naive and stupid back then –really, stupid is the best word I can think of.

So as you might know we take our photo at the Jewel Box every year on our anniversary since that is where we were married. We were a little late this year, but definitely better late than never. I love looking at the progression of our photos and see how each year gets better than the last. This year is by far my favorite.
May 2009

May 2010

May 2011

June 2012 (We we’re late this year)

Next year will be the big 5 year anniversary. Hopefully I will be late getting the picture next year too because we’ll be on the beach instead :)

I love seeing how our family has grown. I love seeing how I'VE grown. I was a clueless bride before, and now a fulfilled wife and mother.

I’m so thankful for my family – and especially thankful for innocent insults that I would have never dreamed of hearing 4 years ago.