Family pictures

So I am backtracking a bit lol.  Last October when Nash was about seven months old, we took our first family pictures since our "wedding" pictures.  Why it took six years to get family pictures is beyond me. Actually, I think it large part it is due to the Navy and Jonathan's crazy schedule.  At the point when we took these photos, I was already about three months pregnant with Koa at this point, so now we need to try and get some done again haha. Here is the one of all of us <3

 

Nash is ONE!

Nash the day he was born

We celebrated his birthday late lol Over a month late. It was just a crazy time around his actual birthday and so we threw his party on April 30th. We threw his bash at a local park behind the girls' school and we were joined by Belle, Sara, Lyric, Auntie Kimmy, Evan, David, Becca, Rene and Z. We had a few people with sick little ones who couldn't make it (but we made up for that later) and he had a blast with the kids and his presents. It is crazy to think that my little man is already a year old. Time flies TOO fast!

 Nash when we got to the park

His cake and "smash" cakes

 

Starting the blog anew

I can't believe it has been over a year since I have been on here. So much has happened in a year. Kenna had a birthday and is rounding up on another, Michi is now SIX! Nash had his first birthday and we added another new addition to the family <3 Nakoa Vincent. (I will blog about his arrival later) Jonathan has had ups and downs with his body medically and was facing a possible discharge (which he has avoided for now) I have begun a weight loss journey and we are facing our last year on shore duty before heading back to another four years of sea duty :( I am thinking that this will be a good outlet for a lot of my thoughts and feelings now that I am mommy to four and it should get interesting when Jonathan heads back out to sea lol Going to sit here and organize my thoughts and make a few updated posts <3

Belly Laughs and Blood Curdling Screams

(on the floor for tummy time... found himself on his back again)

Nash is certainly a vocal lil guy. He will be three months old on the 12th... Three months. Man where did the time go? Seems like three months lasted so much longer when I was pregnant. He is growing and learning and doing really well. Most of the time he sleeps through the night. Last night was NOT one of those nights :( The one night I was exceptionally exhausted, the one night I really would have benefited from him sleeping all the way til 7:30 and he is up nearly every hour. *yikes!* Last night he was only happy being nuzzled into my chest and if I moved him, he would sleep for about fifteen minutes before he would wake up wailing like someone just smashed his lil toe with a hammer :/ the boy has got some lungs and man is he dramatic lol. Finally, I gave in and just propped pillows under various parts of my body so I could be somewhat comfortable as he lay on my chest. On the flip side of being such a fusser butt, he has also been just a ball of joy during his waking hours. He started laughing this past Saturday and his fave game seems to be his daddy sticking his feet in his face lol Nash just thinks this is absolutely hilarious! I so love watching Jonathan playing with Nash. It makes me sad for all the moments he missed with Michi, but it makes me grateful that he has the opportunity to enjoy it this time around. He has also been rolling from his tummy to his back and can nearly get back to his tummy. Soon he will be up on all fours and crawling away from me. We can have full on conversations (him cooing and gooing and thinkin he is telling us all of his deepest thoughts) and those can continue for an hour or more. I just love listening to him discover his lil voice, watching his mouth move and his expressions change as he talks back at us. According to his doc at his two month well baby, he is perfect and right on spot for his growth progression.

(play time with daddy)

There are a couple things I am concerned about, but I try not to stress about them. The doc says they are minor things and should correct themselves or will be easily corrected surgically if need be :/ The first is a lump near his left temple, it has been there since birth. You can see it in some of his pictures. To me it seems to be getting bigger, Jonathan says I am imagining it. Had I been thinking I would have mentioned it to the pediatrician when he was born, or I would have at least measured it so I would have some starting reference, but I didn't. It measured at 1cm at his two month check and they will be checking it again at his four month check. At that point the doc said they will most likely do an ultrasound on it, that it appears to be some sort of cyst. I guess if it has grown they will talk about a referral to a cosmetic surgeon to have it removed, which terrifies me. The second issue is that Nash was born with an umbilical hernia. I didn't really notice it until his umbilical cord fell off, but once that cord was gone, his lil belly button really started to protrude. According to the doctor this is quite common (though neither of the girls had it, coincidentally enough my friends daughter does and she was born two days before Nash... we joke that she is his girlfriend lol) Anyhow, they said that, too, should heal on it's own. Most kids close up on their own by the time they are three or four, but if not then it will require a simple surgical procedure. So I guess we will just have to cross those bridges when we get to them.

(what is belly button looks like when he isn't upset lol)

In the meantime, we are just trying to enjoy the joys of having a baby in the house again. Adjusting to all diaper changes and deciphering the cries and having to and wanting to spend a lot of time carrying around a lil bitty again :)

My Big Girl

Well, we did it... today we signed our baby girl up for kindergarten. YIKES! We woke up and had breakfast with daddy (he had today off since he worked so late last night) and headed over to the kinder/1st grade campus. We get there and parking is nil, so I send Jonathan in with Nash and Michi to get signed in and head to the overflow parking lot. I get a fairly good spot and head back to the school, walk in and find a madhouse lol it was loud in that cafetorium for sure. Michi has a little orange paper butterfly pinned to her shirt with her name on it and Jonathan has already grabbed a packet of paperwork to fill out. We find a spot and sit, and the opening presentation begins. After a few speakers, they start grouping kids up to go on a bus ride around the neighborhood, a tour of the school, some sit down time in a classroom to get a feel for the routine and then back to the cafetorium for snacks. At first Michi looked at us like we were crazy when we told her she was going to have to go off with a strange adult and a group of kids she didn't know lol. But she finally reluctantly followed her group and group leader (as I stared after her anxiously... Jonathan laughed at me and said "don't worry, babe, she's fine" and I knew this. But that was my baby I was watching leave with a group of people we have never met, and i saw flashes of the first day of school haha) Jonathan and I began filling out our stack of papers and it all seemed very redundant, many of them asking for the same information over and over again. Finally, we got through it and then I stood in line to turn it all in along with her documents. At long last, I get to the front and turn it all in and I get back to my seat where I start getting anxious for Michi to return... not because I was anxious to leave or anything, but because I was worried about how she was doing. Soon I see her group come through the door and she is absolutely beautiful. My little garden nymph (as every one likes to call her) is frolicking along with her group- happy and excited and absolutely glowing. She has really blossomed out of her shy little shell. She picks a seat at the table so she can sit down and have her snack, and I catch her looking over her shoulder at me with the hugest grin on her face. I wish I could bottle that feeling I get when she gives me that smile. And all at once I feel a flood of so many emotions that it takes every ounce of willpower I possess not to tear up and start bawling right there in the middle of all of those people I don't know. My little Michi Peach is a big girl now, and it seems to have happened over night :( I still can't believe my baby will be starting school in fall. All I can hope is that Jonathan will be able to go with us on the first day of school, as he missed that with kenna *sigh* Here is to one more huge step into the future. My kids are growin faster than I can keep up, it seems.

Got swept away

I really need to get better at this blogging deal lol. I guess I sort of just get swept up in daily life and the easier things like getting lost in facebook and my beloved MSSN (for those of you who don't know what MSSN is, it is a military spouse support site that I have been a member of for nearly three years now... it has been my saving grace thru a lot of deployments and other trials I have dealt with since being wife to a Navy man) anyhow, a lot has happened since I last posted. A lot of friends have had babies, a lot of friends have found out they were pregnant, a few friends have lost babies (which just shreds my heart to pieces), Makenna has continues to do amazingly in school, Michi continues to floor me with her intelligence despite not having any experience with formal schooling, and my little man arrived.

I am not entirely sure when I last wrote, or what I wrote about, but I know it was something that may have seemed important to me at the time lol (i sure hope it was something important) But in the past month or so I have really had time to reflect on how truly blessed I am. I have a wonderful husband who loves and supports me, he is there for me through all of my emotional ups and downs, he is there for me when I need him to be the strong one. He is my best friend and I am truly thankful to have him in my life. I have two beautiful little girls who I am so proud of... I am still amazed that I am their mother haha. and now I have been graced with this beautiful little boy who has just stolen my heart... Just when I thought I couldn't possibly have any more love to give, another lil one comes into my life and just proves that love grows and grows and grows.

I truly realized what an amazing man I had married when I gave birth to our son. The entire pregnancy should have brought that to my attention... heck the last six years we have been together should have haha... but it all came to a head when I was in labor this time. This entire pregnancy, I had it in my head that I wanted to go the all natural route. I didn't want to have to sit there and wait for feeling to return to my body before I could get up and clean myself up. I didn't want to HAVE to rely on someone to help me to the toilet or the shower or to get the baby out of the bassinet. I am very independent by nature so getting "waited" on makes me uncomfortable lol

The morning my water broke was insane. I was two days from my due date and we had been at the hospital til nearly 2 am that nite because Jonathan finally listened to me and went in to get his foot checked out. He was in such pain, he was complaining constantly, and if you know my husband, you know he is not a complainer. So indeed, he is injured and ultimately ends up on crutches and in an air cast. But back to the story at hand. We finally get to bed around 3 am only to turn around and wake up at 4:45 when his alarm went off to wake him for work. I got up to help him and to make sure he had everything he needed to take with him (paperwork from the hospital, lunch, etc) and I send him off with the usual "love you, drive safe" and a kiss. Shortly after he left, I hit the bathroom to tinkle and then I stand in the doorway to the bathroom contemplating... food... or more sleep... sleep won. lol I waddle back to bed and just as I am adjusting my nest of pillows, I felt lil man give a big kick and then a gush.... holy wow, that was strange! I have never had my water break like that... with Kenna it broke while she was crowing... with Michi, they broke my water for me. So I laid there for a split second thinking "what the heck am I supposed to do???" I nearly panicked. I called Jonathan, by this time he was just pullin up to base and I told him since he was already there to go ahead and turn in his papers for his foot and let his chief know what was going on at home, then I called the neighbor. She freaked. lmao she insisted she had to get me to the hospital asap so I called Jon back and told him to just meet us there. I get to the hospital, my friend sees me to l&d and then heads back to the house to take care of the girls for me (yet another amazing person I am blessed to have in my life) I am sitting in l&d triage, the nurse comes in, hooks me up, the doc comes in, checks me... indeed, water is ruptured. and then I hear crutches in the hall. My hubs comes hobbling in, still in his bdu's and looking exhausted. He asks if I ate anything and I tell him I haven't so he proceeds to sneak me bits of his pop tarts (lol at this point I am no longer allowed to eat which I think is just ridiculous, but whatever) They move me to my room and by then I had already dilated to 6cm and things were moving right along. I made my requests for an unmedicated birth and made sure they knew I wanted to avoid pitocin if at all possible. I sign all the papers I need to sign and I had an awesome nurse who advised us that it would be wise for jon to go home asap and get whatever we needed since we obviously left the house in a hurry lol and off went Jon to grab the camera, a change of clothes for himself, the car seat and some snacks for himself.

He gets back (ultimately forgetting the camera rofl) and I am talking and laughing thru contractions. (this labor was extremely easy compared to the girls) shortly thereafter they check me again and I am 8 and it had only been 10 hrs since my water broke, but the doctor in charge (wherever he was cause he never once came into my room) didn't like the look of my contractions and wanted them to be more "regular" **rolls eyes** so he insists on starting pitocin and i just roll with it. They start me on a very low dose and immediately it kicks things up more than just a notch. I was still able to grit my teeth and breathe through the pain, though and Jonathan was there holding my hand and getting me wet washcloths for my head and neck. At some point of of the nurses or doctors that came in and out upped my pitocin again and holy wow the contractions were coming back to back. I seriously didn't even have time to catch my breath in between anymore. At this point I am in tears, whimpering to Jonathan that they were trying to break me, that they were trying to KILL me and that I changed my mind, I wanted the epidural lol he just looked at me and said, "baby, you can do this... you CAN... you have come this far, don't let them break you" so for the next half an hour or so he sits there grinding his fist into my back with every contraction as I cry for him to just punch me in the back to help relieve the pain. The nurse comes in to check on me and I tell her I am feeling an immense amount of pressure but I wasn't sure if it was from all my muscles tensing up with the constant contractions or if it was the actual pressure of the baby coming down, so she checks me and I am ready to go. Baby was doing fantastic... Mommy, not so much... I was breaking down. The pain was enormous. Thank heavens it only took three sets of three pushes... fifteen minutes and he was out. It was intense, but my wonderful hubby, love of my life, was there urging me, pushing me through, telling me I could do it. He stayed strong and pushed me, when I couldn't be strong anymore. He got me through an unmedicated labor with a 9lb 13oz baby. He is truly my strength when I don't have any more will. I only had a few small labial tears that got stitched up as I was suckin up oxygen from the oxygen mask. Jonathan was crying tears of I don't know... love, joy, pride. He seemed to be glued to my side even though I kept urging him to stay with the baby because I was fine <3 I love that man with all my being.

So after that, things were pretty mellow, we were kept in the hospital for 48 hours just to make sure everything was ok with me and the boy. He had a bit of a heart murmur in the beginning but it cleared up on it's own. They didn't want to make us come all the way back to the hospital for his two day old check up, so that is another reason they kept us. When we finally went to left, I ended up pushing jonathan in a wheelchair as he held the baby, poor guy was still on a bum foot after all and I was feeling great lol.

We get home and the girls are absolutely smitten. I was afraid of how they would be, especially Michi since she was the baby... but they are both wonderful with him. Makenna totes him around the house when he freaks out and doesn't want to chill in his swing (if mommy holds him he tends to think it is feeding time even when its not lol) and michi helps with diaper and wardrobe changes <3 and then amidst my awe for this beautiful little miracle, I am in awe of my girls.... how grown up they suddenly seem. Makenna has been turning to quite the lil lady for a while now... but it seems like Michi went from baby to big girl overnite. My heart just wants to explode with the overflowing love I have for my family... I just can't believe how much God has blessed me with... what have I done to deserve this wonderful life of mine???

oh the joys of pregnancy and motherhood

Between the girls and this pregnancy, sleep is a word in my distant past... a faint whispy memory of something I used to enjoy. I sit here every nite and listen to the silence... the the slow steady breathing of my hubby, the soft baby breathing of Michi... and listen to the sounds of Makenna shifting in her bed upstairs. And here I sit at 2 am, unable to get comfortable, exhausted and wishing sleep would just take me, and somehow knowing it won't... until shortly before the lil ones come in to wake me for the day. blah. I guess it's a good thing... let's call it preparation for a newborn lol