Flying Solo

Eric went back to work on Monday so my sister came down to help me. It was great. She met Natalie at the bus, got the kids a snack and then took them outside to jump on the tramp. Tuesday both my sisters offered to come and help with the kids, but Monday was pretty smooth so I told them not to worry. Famous last words.

Cameron has learned that when I am feeding Avery he can get away with more. During lunch he squeezed his juice box all over the kitchen floor. Outside he pulled the just about to bloom peonies off. On the tramp he would lean against the net like a WWF wrestler and the fling himself at the girls. When he was supposed to be having a nap I discovered he had gone to the bathroom in his pants, and not just potty. So I put him in the tub, started laundry, cleaned his floor and then picked up the mess in the bathroom. That was not fun and I didn't even attempt to salvage the underpants. Nope they went strait out to the garbage.

Ella fell down on the patio and cut her knee up pretty well. About 5:30 I am feeding Avery and every 30 seconds or so one of the three declares in a desperate voice, "I'm hungry!" Which is understandable because it has been maybe 2 hours since they had a snack. I assure them that Dad will be home soon or that I am almost done feeding Avery. Ella asks me when my stomach is going to be flat again because it has been along time since Avery was born. There is a boost to the old self-esteem right there.

Yes it was an adventurous day. Lets hope today is a little less eventful.

Avery May

I know it has taken me way too long to get this up. Here are a few quick shots of Avery. She was born Monday, May 3rd at 3:30pm. She was 9lbs 1oz (a big thanks to my doctor for inducing me!) and 21 1/2 inches long. She has some dark hair and seems to have a little of all of her siblings mixed in. We chose Avery because we like it and May was my Grandma's middle name.

Look at that cute double chin!

Her first bath. The nurse went a little crazy with the bubbles.

The kids all LOVE Avery and always want to hold her. Natalie is sure it isn't fair that she has to go to school for 7 hours and Cameron and Ella get to stay home and hold Avery all day!

No Room at the Inn

I went to be early so I could wake up before the sun to get ready for the big day. Eric comes in after I finish drying my hair to tell me that the hospital just called and they are full. I was disappointed but he said they would call back when the day charge nurse got in. So I went back to bed.

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Natalie came in a little after 6 and asked where Grandma was. She was really disappointed when I broke the news to her. Then Ella came in. More disappointment. We got Natalie off to school and waited. Waited. Waited some more. And still waited. Finally at 10:00 I called the hospital to check on things. They finally had some births, but wouldn't have a room for a few more hours. Around 1:00 my doctor's nurse calls and to deliver the news. My induction has been pushed to Monday morning. We are all a little disappointed, but what can you do. But really don't they know it isn't nice to do this to a lady who is 9 months pregnant!

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We are all keeping our fingers crossed for Monday.

Tomorrow is the day....

...so today I am getting all the last minute stuff done. Laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, organizing, prepping the kids and going to bed early! I check in tomorrow at 6am to start my induction.

After my appointment on Monday I am really hoping that this induction works and they don't have to end up doing a c-section. Even though I had just gone to the doctor on Thursday she wanted me to come in so she could see if I had made any progress. Well turns out she was stuck at the hospital so I had to see another doctor. Not really the way I like to meet someone for the first time. So I am sitting in the exam room with this little blue sheet crossing my fingers it won't be the good looking young doctor. Then there is a knock at the door. No such luck. In walks good looking young doctor. To his surprise I was showing no signs of having a baby soon. Seems that even with my baby being plenty big, my body seems to want to hold on to being pregnant. Which is the complete opposite of how I feel.

"This is your fourth?"

Yes I respond.

"And she is inducing you on Friday?"

Again a yes. And then I add, "We don't want a ten pound baby"

Lets just say I didn't feel a whole lot of confidence after my meeting with the good looking doctor.

Everyone is ready to meet this little girl and I am ready to be done being pregnant.

Keeping Each Other Safe

Natalie tends to have a lot of nightmares. Well, some nightmares and a LOT of nights being scared she is going to have nightmares. She has never told me what these are about. One way that we have helped to ease the anxiety of having a nightmare is to lay by her for a few minutes each night.

Ella hasn't really had too many nightmares and it used to be that when she did she didn't want you to comfort her. If she would wake up screaming in the middle of the night and I would go in to her room, she would just yell at me to go away. About a week ago she did come into our room and say she had a bad dream. I took her back to bed, rubbed her back from a few minutes and reassured her it was just a dream. After coming in two more times because she kept having the dream I had her climb into bed with us. Believe me this is not the easiest sleeping arrangement right now considering the size of my baby belly.

The next morning I asked Ella about her dream. She said, "Natalie got a green frog sickness. Then she touched your arms and they turned into frog arms. Then she touched Dad's feet and they turned into frog feet. Then she touched Bud's (Cameron) head and it turned into a frog head". She remembered the dream so clearly and was still upset about it. When I took her to school the next day I noticed that they were learning about frogs.

It seems that some nights the girls decided that they will be safe from bad dreams if they sleep in the same bed.

Baby Update

Today I had an ultrasound to check the baby's weight. Since I always go past my due date, and this time was proving to be no different, I wanted to have an idea of the size of this girl. I was induced with Cameron and didn't really love it, but Ella was 9 1/2 lbs and I didn't really love that either. So if it came down to my due date and she was looking to be good sized then I would look at inducing, but if she was average then I would just let nature run it course.

Well, turns out this girl likes to eat. She weighed in at 8lbs 10oz. With an expected gain of 1/2lb a week and a little more than 2 weeks until my due date, that would put her pushing 10lbs if she was on time. My doctor was not too happy with the size. If I was closer to my due date she would induce now, but before 39weeks it isn't done unless there is a medical reason. Just because the baby is big doesn't mean that she is ready. If we induce now there is a risk that her lungs won't be ready, so we are waiting. My induction is set for next Friday the 30th. I am a bit nervous for all that comes with that big of a baby, but I am ready to meet this girl. Natalie and Ella are beyond excited. We still haven't decided on a name. I guess it is time to get cracking.

Easter

Here are the kids all dressed up for Easter Sunday, but not on Easter Sunday since we spent the day mostly in our PJS watching conference. I wish I could have gotten some outside, but this is Oregon and it was raining. I thought about getting them dressed up another day when it was sunny and snapping a few, but it was hard enough the first time around. Ella didn't want to have her hair fixed or wear her sandals. Instead it would be her hair in her face and her brown boots. A ponytail was the best we could do. She does look cute though.

In keeping with Randall family tradition, the Easter Bunny came to our house Saturday morning. The kids were VERY excited and we were lucky to get one quick picture before they ran downstairs. (Yes Cameron is wearing Christmas jammies) Again with it being Oregon, the Easter Bunny hides eggs around the house. He is nice enough to hide them in groups of three so that everyone gets the same number of eggs. :) Ella did however declare the day terrible when Natalie had a High School Musical game in her basket and hers was a coloring one. Even after explaining that everyone would get a chance to play all the games, the crying continued and we wondered why we even try sometimes.