Addison turned 6 on April 1st and we celebrated with a low key art party! This was the first party I out sourced; while I wanted to be the one making the decor and hosting, it was a good decision since Lincoln was due just a few days later (even though he did not make an arrival until two weeks later).
For her party we went to a pottery place where the kids get to pick a pottery to paint and then the store glazes it. The kids were either totally bored or enthralled because there was not a peep from the 8 kids decorating their pottery! What was nice about the party was we did not have to clean up and the party favor was the pottery they decorated!
Check out the pictures below and my annual birthday letter to Addison, enjoy.
Invitation I got a new photo editing program and I do not even know how to crop hence the double image above!
Birthday Breakfast
Birthday Breakfast
Birthday Breakfast She needed a little help with the candles :)
Family Gifts Caleb's birthday is out all alone in October, meanwhile---we have FOUR birthdays from April 1-May 1 so he got a little prize from his Mia
Family Gifts Trying to keep her occupied in the chaos
Family Gifts My Felicity American Girl Doll for her Birthday
Family Gifts
Family Gifts
Family Gifts From Mia and Papa...this is the first gift shes ever "asked" for
Family Gifts Probably her favorite gift
Family Gifts Even Blythe was excited
Family Gifts Trying on her swim suit...silly thing
Party Day
Party Day Where's the pause button?!
Party Day
Party Day
Party Day Not my best work but hey, I was 40 weeks pregnant
Party Day
Party Day Truly, her bestie
Party Day
Party Day
Party Day
Party Day The last Grant Gang trio picture
Party Day
Party Day Best picture of the birthday girl with Daddy
Party Day Busy creating!
Party Day Busy creating!
Party Day My aspiring artist!
Party Day Busy creating!
Party Day Busy creating!
Party Day No idea I had bought sparkler candles, whoops!
Party Day Happy Birthday!
Party Day And apparently sparkler candles are hard to blow out!
Party Day All the artists!
Party Day
Party Day The youngest party guest had trouble not touching all the pottery and paint--she just wanted to join in. A little cake and coveted iPad time helped!
To the girl that made me a mommy for the first time:
Do you know you are amazing? God made you so special and He made every part of you just the way He wanted, every single detail. He decided where every cute freckle would be, he made your hair a beautiful golden color, he gave you a heart for others, he gave you a passion for learning, he chose your brothers and sister to be yours, he knows everything about you, you are perfect just the way you are because HE made you---THAT'S amazing isn't it?
Since your last birthday a lot has changed. You started school, we had another baby, you started playing piano, you moved up to sparks at AWANAs...and more! Proud does not sum up how I feel about your accomplishments at school. You are a leader in class, always eager to help, love learning, a great example and just a JOY for others (teachers and students) to be around. I am not the only one who thinks that! You are learning so much right now and I admire how you take it all in!
Addison, you finished your sparks book TWICE this school year. TWICE! I loved watching you learn scripture, hide it in your heart and live it out! I also loved seeing how proud you were of yourself for finishing it twice; it is so important to be self motivated and find encouragement from within rather than looking outside for it.
You are a wonderful big sister; you love to help and nurture your siblings! We love your thoughtful and giving heart, Addison. Just last week we were at your school carnival and you never took your eyes off Caleb. You included him in everything. You held his hand to keep him close. You even kept him by your side when your school friends were playing with you. Thank you for loving your family.
I hope you know how proud we are of you. I hope you know that we love you with all our heart. I hope you understand one day why we have to render consequences. I hope you understand one day God called us to teach and train you. I hope you know we are not perfect either; we make mistakes as parents too! I hope you know that no matter what happens, no matter how old you are, no matter where you live, no matter what....our love for you will never change. We will always love you my darling. Always.
Your name is still so fitting...you are simply a JOY!
Every pregnancy and delivery has yielded a very different story---and the Caboose was no exception! Without further ado, here is Lincoln's arrival story:
It all begin about 1.5 weeks before Lincoln joined us...I cam down with a HORRIBLE sinus infection and URI...coughing, drainage, sinus pain.......even after all sorts of medications it was still raging when I went into labor. That made everything in labor even more interesting.
Wednesday (41 weeks), 4.13.16, 10:35 pm
Matthew and I lay down to go to bed expecting nothing to happen that night because I had no contractions yet. Matthew said something really funny so I started to laugh REALLY hard and I felt a little tiny gush, "oh no something just happened" I exclaimed. It was so tiny, I was uncertain if it was my water leaking or something else (insert embarrassing pregnancy woes). I went to the bathroom and little more trickled out. Still not convinced I stood up....more. Sat down again....a little more. Now I knew.....it was time. We called my midwife, Heather, to tell her my water was breaking but I had no contractions. She instructed us to wait 15 minutes for fetal movement and if none, to come to the hospital. If I had movement, I could labor at home longer. Either way, the clock was ticking, we had 24 hours before baby should be delivered because of my water breaking.
Wednesday (41 weeks), 4.13.16, 11:10 pm
No movement, so we head to the hospital for monitoring. My neighbor Holly came over until our friend Elissa, who would watch the kids until we had the baby, arrived.
Wednesday (41 weeks), 4.13.16, 11:30 pm
Arrive at hospital. Get checked into triage. We confirm my water DID break *at least some* and they monitored the baby for a while. Everything was ok with the baby but since he still was not moving much, Heather wanted me to stay for monitoring and try to sleep in preparation for delivery. I tried to sleep that night, but the baby had dropped and I was having a lot of back and hip pain. Apparently labor after your water breaks is more painful...who knew?
Thursday (41 weeks, 1 day), 4.14.16, 7:00-10:30am
My midwife arrives, checks me and I am STILL 3 cm (which is what I was at my appointment the previous Tuesday. UGH! Typical of my body to hold those babies in! She explained at the 12 hour mark if I had not progressed much we needed to start pitocin. We spent the remaining 12 hours walking the hospital and bouncing on the yoga ball. I had a lot of painful contractions...a lot of back labor...and was feeling optimistic about progress!
Thursday (41 weeks, 1 day), 4.14.16, 10:30am
I get checked....NO PROGRESS. I was very disappointed to have no *safe* choice other than starting pitocin. Alas, I was stuck to a pole and monitor. After getting my vein blownand difficulties getting any blood from my IV line;had to draw labs from elsewhere, we labored with Pitocin. It was ALL back labor. VERY different than my others. I have done labor with pitocin and no pain meds and I have done labor with NO meds of any kind. Natural 100% med free labor is amazing and incomparable. I was also having a hard time breathing well during contractions because my nose was completely stopped up and I was choking on drainage and coughing. Sometimes I could not even catch my breath and it got a little scary. After about an hour like that I decided I wanted to rest *and breath*. I asked for the epidural.
Thursday (41 weeks, 1 day), 4.14.16, 12:45 pm Anesthesiologist arrives. They forgot to check my progress. He spends 45 minutes trying to get the epidural in; after five attempts it is finally in. During that 45 minutes, I had to sit totally still through contractions on top of one another and slumped forward squashing the baby. As soon as I lay down I tell the nurse I feel like I need to push and that the epidural is not working on my right side *which is the side the baby had been laying on the entire last trimester*. She halfway checks me and says I am at least 7 cm. She updates my midwife over the phone who decides she is coming to the hospital because Blythe came so fast. I have two contractions on the epidural and the midwife checks me----yep, I was right....time to push. So---the epidural was in a whopping 5-10 minutes. I *THINK* slumping over for so long just put a lot of pressure on him to GET OUT.
Thursday (41 weeks, 1 day), 4.14.16, 1:45-1:58
Pushing begins. His shoulders get stuck and his hand is by his face making it difficult for him to come out...even for a fourth baby with very large babies paving the way before him. Heather was glad his hand ended up being there even though it was hard for me because she could help pull him out :)
Thursday (41 weeks, 1 day), 4.14.16, 1:58 pm
With my eyes still closed tight from concentrating on delivery I hear "Kelly....Kelly....It's a boy" from Matthew and "Yeah that is no small baby, where do you hide these things" from my midwife. I was in complete shock that it was a boy. I just could not believe it.
I cannot begin to describe the rush of emotions when he was born.....the relief, the finality of knowing he is the last pregnancy and delivery and baby, the shock of a boy, the idea of a BIG family and just knowing a new chapter begins. I also could not wait to tell the other kids it was a BOY!
No picture today, just didn't happen. But. We did have what was hopefully our last doctor appointment!
I had a NST (non stress test) and it showed great heart rate accelerations and decelerations.....no contractions though :) Along with an NST for post dates you generally have an ultrasound to make sure the fluid levels are good to continue with pregnancy, as with the last three pregnancy I have an abundance of fluid. Yay! She checked my progress: 3 cm, 50% effaced and -2 station. They were able to strip me. Now. I have had that done THREE times now and for whatever reason, this one hurt the most! Whew!
The midwife sounded pretty certain the baby was coming tomorrow. So now we just.....wait :) hopefully my next post will be a picture of a squishy baby and three older siblings, hopefully smiling :)
We have seen another due date come and go....and I was SURE this time the baby would be early!! And by looking at these pictures it does not even looked like the baby has dropped because it seems to be spread versus sticking out like the others!!!!! I also think this little thing likes to be stretched out and not crumpled up. If I were a betting woman I would bet this ends up the smallest babe yet, by a long shot and here I was hoping I would finally break into the 10 pounds...we have been so close :)
HB: 140s WeightGain: Gained a pound, YAY! Fundal: Still 38, hmmmm BP: 107/70 Illness: I would be do everything I could to get labor moving but I am SO sick with a sinus infection or URI. This is by far the worst one I have ever had in my life too. We are praying I have some relief before the baby comes; a labor where I can barely breathe, not stop coughing and this run down sounds HARD! Plan:
Tuesday 4/12-Check progress, NST and Strip if I am at least 3 cm
Friday 4/15-Check progress, repeat NST and strip if unable to Tuesday
Monday 4/18 7 am induce
I have been induced twice and while that is clearly not my first choice, I am familiar with it...we just want a healthy caboose here.
In other news, while our house may not seem ready for a baby...we cannot wait to live this miracle one last time. One last delivery. One last gender surprise. One last sibling reaction. One last adventures in newborns. One last.......and it will be beautiful. We are thankful for this precious gift, because that is what it truly is, a gift.
