September: Welcome Zachary!

Disclaimer: While there are no gory details in this post, there is some childbirth information.  If you prefer to believe that children are brought in by a stork, it's fine with me if you skip to the pictures.  If you care to know more details, have questions, or really like gore, I'm happy to provide you with more details privately :)

We welcomed sweet Zachary James on Monday,  September 12.  This is the first time I have gone into labor on my own and I really wanted to avoid being induced (though for Isaac and Toby it was a drug-free induction).  I really wanted Zach to be born on Saturday Sept 10, both because I was tired of being pregnant (he was due the 15th) and because I thought it would be cool if his birthdate was 9/10/11 :) But that didn't happen.  On Sunday the 11th I felt pretty horrible so I had a feeling that things might get going, but I didn't want to get my hopes up.

I went to bed Sunday night feeling OK, but not great (who does feel great at nearly 40 weeks pregnant?!?!).  I woke up Monday morning feeling the same, nauseous grossness I'd felt the day before.  The big boys got off to school and Jimmy was about to take Toby to his Monday morning activity.  Around 8:30 I told Jimmy he probably shouldn't take Toby because I thought we might be heading to the hospital.  He decided to take Toby just around the corner to the grocery store.  By 9:00 I knew I was in labor, having pretty regular contractions.  They weren't that bad, though they were close together.  (Until this point, the only contractions I'd had in labor had happened after my water had been broken.  The difference in pain between water in-tact and water broken is ridiculous.  These were painful but very manageable since my water was still in-tact.)  I called Jimmy home from the grocery store, we got Toby to a friend's house, and we got to the hospital at 10:00.  I was already at 8 cm!

When I was in the waiting room there was someone in front of me being checked in.  When a contraction would come I would sway back and forth until it passed, but I waited patiently for the woman in front of me (she wasn't in labor).  A nurse saw me and said, "Are you in labor?" Me: "Yes." Nurse: "What number is this for you?" Me: "Fourth." Nurse: "She knows what she's talking about.  This is going to be fast.  Let's get her in a room."

I got into the room and go over all of the check-in stuff while stopping for a contraction every now and then.  Then the nurse says, "Ok, time for the hep lock."  (A hep lock is the IV line without the IV attached.)  I said that I was hoping to avoid it because getting the IV needle is horrible for me and makes me pass out, and that my doctor has said it's fine with him if I don't have one.  Nurse: "Have you had a natural childbirth before?" Me: "Yes, two." Nurse: "OK, we don't have to do it, but I'm going to kill you if you need a blood transfusion."  At this point you could have knocked me over with a feather.  It's incredibly hard to avoid getting a hep lock at a hospital and I wasn't going to be a jerk about it if they were really adamant.  But it's something we'd prayed about a lot because it's so, so horrible for me.  I love how God cared enough about the details to answer that small prayer!  

Anyway, I labored for about an hour at which point they checked me with no change :( The nurses questioned me about my previous births and decided that once my water broke, he would be here almost immediately.  They asked me if I wanted to keep laboring along or if I wanted to have my water broken and get it over with.  I opted for the latter because, let's face it, I was ready to hold the little chunker!

They called my doctor, he got there within a few minutes, broke my water (then the contractions REALLY REALLY HURT), and Zach was born at 11:57am!  9 lbs, 3 oz, 21 inches long, 14 inch head.  In case you're wondering, he was a BIG baby with a BIG head!

Mommy and Zachy in the delivery room.

Big brothers visited that afternoon after school.

Getting ready to go home!

I love a fat little baby!!!!!  (Good thing, since I've had four of them!)

August IV: Kelly's Wedding

The last wonderful thing we did in August was drive to Iowa to attend the wedding of our good friend, Kelly.  Kelly is one of our Iowans.  We became friends with them in California when we moved to Long Beach at the same time.  This is a post dedicated to our dear Iowans.  Nathan and Isaac were invited to be ring bearers in her wedding and we didn't even think twice before we said "YES!"  We were so happy to celebrate with her and see our other two Iowans, Andrea and Katie.  (Unfortunately this post contains no pictures of Kelly.  She was kind of busy, though she definitely had time for us.  Just not when I had my camera!)

Nathan was completely taken with this Monarch butterfly.

Andrea and Toby became fast friends.

She tried to teach him to walk.  He succeeded a couple of weeks later!

The ring bearers pulled the flower girl in on a wagon.

We stayed at Andrea's parents' house.  Andrea's brother is a baseball player.  The boys loved getting into his baseball stuff!

This is how Nathan required everyone stand for the picture.  Absolutely no closer together.  

I think they should wear tuxes more often.  So handsome!!!

August Part III: Cousins Visit!

Another super fun thing that happened in August was that Jimmy's brother and family visited us for a couple of days.  It was a tight fit in this apartment (only one bathroom!) but I'm SO glad they came here and stayed with us.  We had the best time.  And it was great to spend time with the adults while all of the kiddos were asleep.

The kiddie table.  Much fun was had, not much eating occurred.

Building an arch out of blocks at the St. Louis Science Museum.  The daddies held it up.

This is too cute.

So fun to have a cousin old enough to read to you!

Dewey's Pizza.  A St. Louis must-do.

Going robber hunting, a fun past-time here (well, at least for our boys!).

Amos was nice.  That was really thoughtful of him.  (Amos is the cat, by the way.  The little boy is always nice!)

I included this so you could see a pic of Zach in-utero.  I felt pretty ginormous, as you might imagine.

Legos.  We own all of Jimmy's old Legos they get played with All. The. Time.  It was a great cousin pasttime!

Thank you for visiting us!  We hope you can come back wherever we are next.

August part II: Sculpture Park and First Day of School

Back in August the boys and some friends and I went to the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis.  It was really neat!  There were all kinds of giant sculptures.  The huge eye was a little strange, I'll have to admit.  The other weird thing was that there were signs all around saying not to stand on them or to touch them.  I found that very odd.  Rain, snow, hail, wind--no problem.  Little fingers--BIG PROBLEM.  It's not like these things are delicate.  They're made of metal (usually).  And they're big.  You can't really get a good picture of how big that red one is, but Nathan is hiding down in one little corner of the sculpture.  It was probably several stories high.  Anyway, even with its oddities it's a really fun place to run around.  It's a really big park with lots of sculptures everywhere so it's a good place for busy bodies to get out some energy.  (I will say, though, that at 37 or 38 weeks pregnant, it  was  kind of a haul to get all around the park!  I did not go to the gym that day!)

Sweet friends who went with us to the sculpture park.

Later in August was Nathan and Isaac's first day of school.  Nathan is in Kindergarten this year and Isaac is in Pre-K 3.  Nathan is full-time and Isaac goes three days a week.  They both love their teachers.  Jimmy and I love them, too!  I got the privilege to work at their school for three semesters so I  already knew their teachers.  One of the things we will miss the most about St. Louis is the boys' school.  There is not a teacher there I wouldn't be very excited for them to have.  So, if you're in St. Louis and looking for a good school, let me know!  I've got a great recommendation!

Botanical Gardens in August

In August, Jimmy and I went on a morning date.  A morning date is especially wonderful because we are actually coherent enough to talk and understand one another. :)

We went to the Missouri Botanical Garden.  I've gone many times and am always amazed at its beauty.

I will admit; I was hoping all of the walking would put me into labor.  It didn't.  But we enjoyed our morning all the same :)  (And Zach was eventually born, never fear!)

Babymoon/Anniversary Trip

Before the birth of each of our children we have tried to go away for about 24 hours. It's been a really nice break before we launch back into the work of a newborn. This time it coincided with our 6th anniversary, which was July 23. We got away thanks to wonderful grandparents!

We went to The Jefferson, a fancy schmancy hotel in Richmond, VA where we spent the first two nights of our honeymoon. On Sunday morning we went to their champagne brunch. Oh. My. Goodness. I cannot even begin to put into words the gluttony that is The Jefferson's champagne brunch. It was a completely full breakfast + a completely full lunch (complete with carving stations) + a completely full line of amazing desserts + unlimited champagne. And ice sculptures. Until that day I had never eaten so much that I was literally uncomfortable and in pain. And that was only from breakfast food! (Ok, I admit it....I also had dessert.) It probably didn't help that I was about 34 weeks pregnant.

Anyway, here's a picture of the outside of the hotel and then a picture of the happy couple.
Funny story about this picture of us. When we were taking it I felt like we were really close together. I was thinking, "Oh, this will be cute, we're finally close for a picture." But no, our heads are not close at all. I just think I felt like that because my belly was so utterly gigantic (this picture does not do the huge belly justice). It made everything feel close!

July Part III: Visiting Papa and Grandma

On this trip, Nathan got his first real experience with a Lego set. He received a Lego set for his birthday and Daddy and cousin Samuel were excited to help him build it. (By the way, we have all of Jimmy's old Legos in our basement and those have provided hours of fun, but this is the first one Nathan did with actual instructions.)



Those are some seriously blue eyes. Nathan and I are the only ones in the green eye club around here.

Reading with Papa is always a highly-anticipated activity. We discovered that while in the past many boys could fit on Papa's lap in his chair, it's now down to two or three since they're getting so big!

And crafts with Grandma. Grandma has great crafts!


We went to cousin Samuel's birthday party while we were visiting. It was a Star Wars birthday party and Aunt Jane made all of the guests his or her very own Jedi costume! She is very clever!

She also made this R2-D2 cake. Amazing!