Three + Back to School

Rockin' her new shoes and skirt from Queenie, plus her Supergirl shirt from Aunt Hannah

My precocious little darling is now three!  She is out of the "terrible twos" and sure to exhibit a complacent, shining pleasantness on the regular now...right?  Esmé really is such a joy and so stinking funny these days.  She's a little mama and loves to call the boys in for dinner or tell them to "try again" when they slam a door shut.  

On Saturday, we all went to the Greenville Zoo with Queenie and Man-Man, who then took Esmé out to lunch and a toy store.  She blew all her allocated funds and picked out great presents for her siblings.  She was spoiled rotten, thanks Q&M!

Zach and I decided to get her a fish for her birthday, plus Zach blew up a lot of balloons and I sewed her a pink cape.  She had decided she would be able to fly on her birthday, since she would be bigger.  Of course, the balloons were the biggest hit.

Meeting and naming "Fishy"

Balloon Games

We had oatmeal with blueberries for breakfast which drove the boys crazy: "Esmé, we have oatmeal like everyday, pick something special.  You can have ANYTHING!!"  It was the first day of school (see below), so  the morning was spent doing reading, writing, 'rithmeticing and playing.  We met Daddy for lunch at Firehouse and then went to Barnes and Noble where Esmé picked out a box of little Disney books because she is very into Princess Sophia right now.  She had a nap and then we went swimming at a friend's pool.  Back home, she played Play-Doh and then ate her requested dinner meal, which featured "tutumbers," of course.

Owen and Caelum had both made scavenger hunts for her, which was adorable and freeing as I did not feel the need to make one for her.   It's nice to see the boys facilitating our family traditions.  We then had chocolate cupcakes with pink Bobbi frosting and opened presents.  The boys know her so well and she enjoyed all the many toys she got.

Owen reading her clue

Her nice pile of presents

Blowing out her candles

We are so thankful for Essie and enjoy her ways!  She is growing up so quickly.  It seems not so long ago that she was scooting around on her bottom.   Now she is three!

Our first week of school was great fun.  It was nice to get back into routine and to see where the boys are starting off as we get into the year.  Owen's handwriting improved over the summer and Caelum is doing a great job with sounding out words.  We started off the year with a nice chat and prayer time with Principal Zach and then got down to Bible, hymn learning, math, reading, grammar, and history.  Next week we'll add in science and our Classical Conversations memory work (Latin, geography, timeline, etc.).  I also had the kids fill in a first-day survey and got their stats:

Owen: 51 inches, 51 pounds

Caelum: 44 inches, 44 pounds

Esmé: 37 inches, 33 pounds

Eager to learn!

Mr. Cool

We homeschool, ok?  She can wear her "pajamas" to school.

The boys most enjoy history.  We are using Story of the World Volume 3 and the accompanying activity guide.  We have learned about the fall of Rome, the Celts, and the Anglo-Saxons so far and I love having corresponding literature to read with them.  Owen enjoys the map work and Caelum and Esmé get into the crafts and coloring pages, so I think everyone benefits.

Blue-painted Cae and his double-headed battle ax

Ready to battle like the Celts

Learning about illuminated manuscripts and trying our hand at calligraphy

Having learned about monks and monasteries, we made crosses and took a vow of poverty (or went out to lunch...)

We read all these books in the first three days of school!

Tea time break...Caelum loves it

Owen has been reading up a storm.  I kept trying to make him wait to read the next book in the Wingfeather Saga, as we were doing them as read-alouds, but he wore me down and I'm letting him zoom ahead.  For the first day of school, I gave Caelum his own monogrammed ESV Bible and Owen got The Monster in the Hollows.  It's over 300 pages and he read it in three days.  That's my boy.  I had him read aloud to me for a page or two, and he can totally handle the advanced level.  This makes me feel more confident as I begin teaching the next one to read!

Bookworm (with Lion!)

The first week really flew by.  I like to start right at 8 in the morning, so that we can get everything done and play in the afternoons.  On Tuesday morning we quickly did school and then went to Montreat Park with a big group of friends, including our new pastor's family (yay!).  Then we scurried off to Owen's piano lesson, and played tennis with Daddy after dinner.  Wednesday after school we went creeking with another family as I desperately clung to the last vestige of summer.  Thursday's studies were followed by our weekly "reading time" with a woman from our church.  This week she brought her daughter who is visiting from Korea and she spent an hour reading aloud to the kids.  That afternoon we went swimming at our friend's apartment complex and then once again met Zach at the tennis court.  

The kids with their teacher before heading to CC

Friday was the first day of Classical Conversations!  The kids were so excited to start up again and Esmé was glad to sit in Caelum's class with Eva and me.  I thought she might miss her "class" (the nursery), but she just joined in with the four and five year olds like a champ.  One of Owen's good friends is in his class and he is an experienced hand now.  I only got to see his presentation during which he introduced himself, but it was precious and delivered well.   A friend sent me a clip of it, but Owen says our address in it, so I can't post it (OPSEC).  Everyone stays to picnic for lunch after classes are over, and Zach joined us for a bit.  After the kids played, everybody was so exhausted and we headed home.  We did what may be the last jaunt in the inflatable pool from my mom and invited one of Eva's friends and her mom to play.   Then we celebrated with pizza and Shaun the Sheep!  If that's not a full, fun, busy week, I don't know what is.  

Oh, my heart.  That belly!

Babyface(s)

 Look at all the babies!  Can you tell who is who?  It's amazing to me how different they all look. I know the hats might throw things off a bit, but each child is between 7-9 months in these pictures. 

Please note that Owen (bottom picture) still has blue eyes at this point which is why I'm not banking on Eva keeping her baby blues yet. How quickly the time passes!  Right now, one of these babies is pulling up on a rocking chair, one is pretending to be a dog while eating apple slices, and two are playing a board game with friends in the garage.  I love all the varied stages!

Photographs

Hannah and her sweet boys came up to meet Eva and do a little early Christmas celebration last week.  It was so fun to see the cousins playing together and show off Eva Claire.  Hannah, patient woman that she is, indulged me by taking some pictures of Eva while she's still so very tiny. Hannah got some great pictures, that capture how precious Eva is.  I can't even pick my favorite!

 Then we tried the arduous task of getting a good picture of all four kids.  They are very sweet with Eva and with each other.

Esmé was not cooperative when we were doing family pictures. Don't be deceived by her sometimes adorable, angelic face; she turns it on and off at will.

Everybody cry!

Hannah, thanks for your patience and for sharing your talents.  And thank you for making the drive to Asheville and for bringing the lovely Christmas presents.   Happy New Year, everybody!

You're Here

 

The last time I posted I announced that we were having our fourth child.  A little bit has happened since that post.   I actually had started a post about my trip to New York with Zach, but now I am so very much in baby mode, I have to get right to that.  Sure, I thought about just linking to Hannah's blog, since she is much better about posting and has a great one regarding baby, but I thought I might get some grief for that. So, let's get down to it.

One of my dear friends -Hannah Broecker - offered to take some maternity pictures for me.  She is very humble about "not actually being a photographer," but she did an awesome job. She also has two-year old and three-month old daughters, so many thanks to her and her husband for giving up her Saturday morning and for being patient with my awkwardness.

When I was exactly 39 weeks pregnant, we met up at Biltmore on a beautiful, sunny, surprisingly warm day.  My children don't always love to be in pictures, but Hannah managed to get some good ones of all of us, plus some awesome individual ones of the kids.  Thank you, Hannah!

This is my favorite family picture.

I just can't make the heart shape.  Let's call it a pie slice.  Pie makes my belly big.

Pained by the picture with Mom

Zach is so photogenic.  How did this gene skip my children?

So that was our lovely Saturday, on December 5th.  Along comes Sunday, and my Braxton Hicks are kicking up. Monday, same thing.  When Zach came home from work, I told him, "My guess is Baby is coming today or tomorrow." But, as we may recall, I've been wrong before (I'm looking at you, Caelum). Zach very wisely advised me to go to bed early, just in case the baby was heading (literally) on out.  Zach put the kids to bed, but I was asleep before them.

I woke up around 1 AM with contractions.  Real ones. But they were very spread out, so I stayed in bed, trying to sleep between them.  At 10 to 3, I texted my Mom to let her know what was going on.  She texted right back, saying they were getting in the car.  At 4, I finally got out of bed to take a bath.  At that point, Zach woke up and was apprised of the exciting situation.  

After my bath, the contractions were closer.  Zach made me some tea and toast and I labored, labored, labored.  My parents arrived before 7, and the boys were up and so excited.  They had breakfast and I would pop into our bedroom to breathe through a contraction.  The boys were so sweet, unphased, and supportive.  They would rub my back and check on me, but otherwise they were content to make paper airplanes with Grandpa.   I mean, look at these sweet faces:

 

Esmé shrieked with delight and ran all over the house, when she finally woke up around 8.  She was excited by our visitors and all the activity. My favorite memory of her on that morning was when the contractions were getting crazy.  I was in my room on my hands and knees and she crawled under me and said, "Doggy.  Woof!"  

Zach was great throughout that long morning and saw that it was time to go to the hospital.   My goal had been to stay home as long as possible, but the siren call of the birth tub at the hospital was very alluring.  We decided to head to the hospital around 8:30.  Thanks to Grandpa, who took the day off, Gramma was able to come with us to the hospital. 

Mission is an awesome hospital, but no matter where you are, the check-in process stinks.  No one likes to sit on a hard hospital bed while being monitored for 20 minutes.  At least I don't.  I was checked and told I was around five or six centimeters.  I was also told that my doctor wasn't going to be able to do the delivery, as she was the only one at our little family practice that day.  Fortunately, the resident doctor was great and I liked her from the start.

Finally, all checked in and settled in the "Waterworld" room around 9:45,  I hopped in the tub.  Two contractions later I was out of it.  I needed to push!  Everyone came running in and they checked me again...ten centimeters.  I pushed a little and then told them to break my waters (that's previous experience serving me).  When they did, they saw some meconium, so of course three more people needed to be in the room in case the baby didn't cry right away and they had to suction.  A few pushes later, and the baby was born, crying before the body was out.

I took a look at her, and saw we had another girl.  She was handed to me and I told Zach, "It's a girl!" We knew she would be named Eva, but the middle name, Claire, would come later.  It was a great delivery: definitely the fastest active labor phase I've ever had.  And we were so happy that she was perfectly healthy and fiesty, right from her first cry.

So happy!

Daddy finally gets to hold his daughter, two hours later. I'm selfish.

Looking rosy and beautiful

My second littlest baby, but still over a pound heavier than Owen.

Gramma (aka my doula) holds Eva

After a good nursing session, a delicious lunch from BiscuitHead (thanks, Mom!), and calling the kiddos to tell them they had a baby sister, we were moved to the recovery room.  It was beautiful.  It had a ridiculous view of the mountains and was so clean and spacious.  Later that afternoon, my FAVORITE thing: big brothers and sister get to meet new baby.  Right away, Owen washed his hands and asked to hold her.  He's such a pro. 

Caelum has also figured out the big brother thing.  He was so sweet and gentle with the baby.

Esmé handled everything surprisingly well.  She held the baby for about two seconds and then said, "All done."  But she has grown to love little Eva and has since named all her babies Eva.  She changes their diapers, nurses them, and pushes them in her stroller.  I have got to record how she says, "Eva."  It is pretty sweet.

Grandpa, probably tired out of his mind after a middle of the night road trip and watching my three big ones all day, enjoys his 17th grandchild.

We spent that night in the hospital and all of the nurses were great.  I don't love being in the hospital, but it was one of our best experiences.  The beautiful sunrise over the mountains helped, though the picture doesn't do it justice.

The next day, Gramma brought the kids for another visit and they settled on the bed to watch "Dinosaur Train." The hospital staff brought extra food for so we could all eat lunch together, and Zach and I had our special "celebration lunch," which was actually a delicious steak.  

 

After our sweet family left, the nurses really expedited our discharge process because they knew we were ready to get home.  Eva passed all her various tests, and pooped like a champ all day.  By 3 o'clock, we were on our way out.  

All set to go, in her new cozy carseat

Caelum helping Daddy carry in Eva

Esmé holding her baby, while Daddy holds his

Gramma with a very Caelum-looking Eva

A very realistic peek into the days following her birth: tired mama in a robe, four kids crowded on the bed, one brushing his teeth

 

I am so grateful for anther child.  She is such a blessing and a lovely part of our family. I'm also thankful for a great hospital, wonderfully helpful grandparents, and sweet kiddos who love and adapt easily.  And of course, extra thankful for Zach, who was so kind and encouraging and continues to take care of everything in such a selfless way.  Merry Christmas to me!  And you, of course.  Look forward to my next post, which will feature pictures of Eva by another talented Hannah...

A sweet sleep smile