We’re HOME!  Martha is doing wonderfully, and Mama and Daddy are VERY tired! We were thrilled to be released this morning from the hospital, and it feels SO good to be HOME. 

I have updated our family website – www.trueloveways.us – with a few more pictures of Baby Martha and family.  PLEASE NOTE: From now on, I will be using the TrueLoveWays.us site to post family updates, kid updates, pictures, etc.  Please feel free to continue reading this journal/blog, but remember to update your links to check out www.trueloveways.us since I plan to transition all my family journaling to that site!  Thanks much!

She’s here! Our Baby Girl is named Martha Maysielen, after our four grandmothers (Martha Huskins, Vera May Wasser, Essie Whitehead, and Lenna White). She arrived at 8:27 on Thursday evening, weighing in at 7 lbs, 13 oz and measuring 18 1/4 inches long. Sorry for the quick update, but we have limited time online. Here are a few pictures from the last 24 hours.

Picture One

Picture Two

Picture Three

Well, the c-section was re-scheduled, AGAIN!  If you’ve come here looking for baby girl pictures, I’m sorry I haven’t updated with the latest news.  The surgery is now scheduled for Friday night again, only a little earlier at 6 p.m.  It took me a day or so to get over my frustration about the re-scheduing (I was SO ready for Tuesday!), and I’ve been having lots of contractions and back pain, so I didn’t think to update here like I should have done. 

Anyway, please keep us in your prayers – that all will go smoothly on Friday, that my blood pressure will stay low (I really, really don’t want the BP meds I had to endure with lil Allan’s delivery), and that Baby Girl will arrive healthy and happy on Friday night.  Either Allan or I will update on Saturday with pictures and info and her NAME!

God bless you and yours!

Baby Girl is coming SOONER!  It turns out that the doctor assisting MY doctor with the c-section was not interested in doing an 8 p.m. c-section on a Friday night, so he requested that it be changed.  Since he is the “boss”, his request was accomodated!  We’ll be going in at 5:15 a.m. on Tuesday, the 20th, for a 7:30 c-section!  That’s FOUR days from now… wow!  I think we’re almost ready, except Daddy still needs to get the bassinet out of storage, and Mommy needs to finish packing her bag for the hospital! 

We had a dr. appt on Wednesday, and our c-section is scheduled!  Baby Girl is due to arrive around 8 p.m. on Friday, March 23rd (unless she decides to come early on her own before that!)  We’re so excited to see her, and after this weekend, we hope to have everything ready for her arrival.  (I’m still working on her nursery area, but it’s almost done).

Baby Girl measured in at 6 lbs, 1 oz – which is basically the same size that lil Allan was when he came early.  She is going to be a big girl, it looks like.  My blood pressure is great, and there are still no signs of pre-eclampsia like last time, so we are thrilled about that.

The ultrasound tech took a 3-D picture of her face at the end of our regular ultrasound.  We were in awe of the 3-D effect – watching her appear on the TV screen looking like a BABY, and not a shadow of one.  Of course I cried… it was just too amazing.  She is all smooshed in there so tight, I can’t imagine how she can be comfortable.  No WONDER she is always moving and kicking – I would be too!  Here is the picture we got… remember she is all curled up, and the side of her face on the right side of the picture is against the “wall”, so it’s a little blurry and extra smooshed.  We think she will look like big brother Allan!

 

Have a super weekend, folks!

 

Today is March 1st, and that means my oldest baby boy is FIVE years old!  He is SO excited and has been having a super day. 

He woke up sad though, because he had been convinced that he would look and feel different.  All day yesterday he kept telling me that he was going to be SO big, and he would need a new bed and new clothes.  He was going to be as big as the Iron Giant, according to him.  So, this morning at 7 a.m., he was in tears when he woke me up.  He was looking at his hands and arms and showing me, “Mommy, I didn’t turn five!!!”  I reassured him that yes, in fact, he did turn five, but it’s sometimes hard to see the changes. 

Once he got past the fact that he wasn’t the size of the Iron Giant, he went on to have a happy day.  We went outside and played a little bit with his bike, which he loves to do, and we frosted his cupcakes and put sprinkles on them.  He really loved doing that, especially when he realized the sprinkles were edible!  He enjoyed a good lunch and then took a NICE LONG nap (since he was up at 7 a.m., he was TIRED by naptime). 

Now we’re waiting for dinner time to get here.  We’re having macaroni and cheese and fish sticks, per his request.  And vanilla cupcapes with vanilla frosting and sprinkles AND strawberry and chocolate ice cream.  Granma and Grandpa, Aunt Michelle, and Ricky will be coming over to join us, and we’ll open a few presents.  He hasn’t asked ONE time today for presents, so I guess he’s just figuring they’re coming after dinner.  It would have made for a long day if he had asked all day long for presents!  Oh my, no sooner did I type that sentence then he asked, “Are granma and grandpa going to bring presents for me?  Did they get me stuff?”  Is he telepathic now that he’s five??

He’s certainly a sharp five year old, and he has been changing a lot lately.  Growing, maturing, turning into a beautiful young man.  He has been exploring humor and learning what makes a good joke and what doesn’t.  He is quite fond of “knock knock” jokes, and we learned a few off the Internet, so he repeats them frequently.  “Knock knock”  “Who’s there?”  “Champ”  “Champ who?”  “Champoo your hair, it’s dirty!”  HAHAHAHAHAHA. (that’s his rowdy laughter that follows the joke EVERY time).  He has also become quite sarcastic and occasionally has a “smart mouth” and follows a lot of comments with “just kidding!!”  We’re working on learning what is appropriate and what is NOT. 

He is still enamored of Super Heroes, most especially the Power Rangers.  He did ask for Spiderman and Doc Oc for his birthday, along with Power Ranger stuff, so they “old” heroes are still good heroes.  He has begun playing games on my computer on a regular basis, and the child has the best eye-hand coordination ever.  He can do things I can’t even attempt, and he gets better every day.  We signed up for Preschooltime.com, but will be cancelling it, because he’s shown himself to no longer be a preschooler!  His interests have grown beyond the simple games found at the “baby” websites. 

Samuel has a huge heart and is happy to be a big helper to mommy.  He is very excited about his baby sister who is coming in just three short weeks.  (More news on that in another post!)  He is almost always kind and loving to his little brother, and he actually enjoys sharing (usually) and playing games with lil Allan.  He is a happy kiddo most of the time, and is very outgoing when we’re in public.  He likes to shake hands with the men at church, and has even done that in other settings when introduced to new people.  It’s pretty amazing to see him stick his hand out to someone and say, “HI! How are you, sir?”  He’s been interested more and more in the Bible stories in his kids Bible, and he loves to listen to Mommy’s music and sing “church songs”. 

The transition from four to five has been pretty huge.  I’m so proud of who he is becoming, and can’t wait to see what this year brings us.  He is going to become a big brother for the second time.  On May 13th, we’ll celebrate his adoption “Gotcha Day”, which is the day he became my son, and will make it an official 5 years that I’ve been his Mama.  We will be starting kindergarten this fall – either homeschool or public school, depending on our housing circumstances come August.  It’s going to be a BIG year!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAMUEL!!