Austen Loses a Tooth!

On a Wednesday night before church, I finally talked Austen into letting me pull his tooth. It had been "ready" to pull for a while but Aus was not ready. In fact, it had been extremely loose since we went for our dental cleanings back at the end of January. After lots of reassurance, he got brave enough to let Momma try. After it was over, he decided it didn't hurt at all!

Austen loses his 1st Tooth!

 

I gave him one night off, and on Friday we pulled the second tooth. He told me he wanted to eat just one more meal with it, before he didn't have any teeth left! HA! That boy is hilarious!

You can already see his new teeth coming in, that really shows how badly he needed to let go of them!

Dinosaur Drama

Aiden is becoming quite the photographer. Occasionally I will ask him to take a picture of Jake and I, or he may ask to use the camera to get a photo of one of the kids. Most of the time I let him and he does a pretty good job. A few weeks ago, I got all of the girls down for a nap and asked the boys to play quietly in their room, so I could nap. I vaguely remember Aiden waking me up to ask if he could borrow the camera. I had forgot about the question until a few days later, I uploaded my pictures and found these!

My favorite- I'm sure he was following Aiden's instructions, but he just couldn't stay behind the door!

 

I know all kids have an imagination, but it amazes me what these boys come up with! Only a few thousand more shots and they could have had a 1 minute stop-motion movie!

Arynn @ 3 Weeks

Arynn Lizabeth, you are 3 weeks old!

Photo taken by Aiden

Austen and Arynn

On Tuesday you helped us get our new van!

 

Wednesday we went to church and you let me sit through the whole service!

 

We started school back this week, so you are officially, "homeschooled." :-)

 

You are sleeping very well at night, you are usually awake from 10:00-11:00ish and then sleep until 4:30 or 5:00.

Sleeping Beauty

We took you on your first road trip. We traveled to Hope with Mimi, Nana, Daddy and the crew to the Jonquil Festival at Old Washington. It was not exactly what we had expected, but we made the best of it and got a few good pictures. You enjoyed the day in your wrap and everyone would stop me to ask, "Is that a baby in there?" One lady even told me she thought I was pregnant at first glance, then decided I was carrying a little high! ;-)

Our 5 Blessings

You are still wearing mainly newborn clothes but some 0-3 months. You wore size 1 sandals to church, which were adorable. You can still fit in a newborn diaper, (we have a few left) but I prefer to put you in a size 1 at night so it doesn't leak. You are so sweet and easy going. You made the trip out of town like a traveling pro, which is a good thing because there are many more trips in your immediate future!

Arynn @ 2 Weeks

Arynn Lizabeth, you are 2 weeks old!

Arynn and proud sister Addy

You went with Momma for her 1 week check-up to see Dr. S, he checked my platelets which had doubled since delivery. They were 132 and I was released from the hematologist. Thank God for answered prayers!

 

I took you back for a weight check on Wednesday, hoping I could skip Friday's weigh in. But you still weighed 8 pounds 15 ounces. You attended your first Wednesday night church service, which we spent in the nursery because you decided to eat every hour that night!

 

We stayed in our PJ's all day on Thursday!

On Friday, you got to meet the Witchers! Mrs. Stacy brought us lunch (beef and broccoli, my new favorite crock-pot dish) and I sat in the recliner and rocked you all day. Mrs. Stacy didn't let me lift a finger and prepared the food for all the kids. She also brought cookies and muffins for the next day which were quickly devoured! I was so lazy during their visit I didn't even get out the camera! So to see the photographic evidence of their visit click here.

After the Witcher's visit, Gary, Ann, Emily, and Lane came over to see you. It was Emily and Lane's first visit with you and you were on your best behavior.

Aiden, Lane, Emily holding Arynn and Ava

On Saturday we stayed home and Daddy shopped for vans. More on that in a later post.

 

Sunday we went to church and once again I missed most of it because you really wanted to eat non-stop during the day.

 

Monday I took you back in for a weight check to find out the non-stop feeds were really accomplishing something. You had gained 5 ounces in 5 days. You weighed 9 pounds 4 ounces which is only 3 ounces shy of your birth weight. Dr. Mark said you didn't have to come back until 2 months. So now if you want to sleep a longer stretch a night, I will not bother you!

 

You have changed so much and the days are flying by, I wish I could hit the pause button because I know I will blink and you will be just as big as your siblings. I have tried to hold you and just enjoy every moment this week, so much so that I only have two pictures! I hope I can make up for it next week. We love you and are so blessed to be your parents!

 

Arynn @ 1 Week

Arynn Lizabeth, you are 1 week old!


Daddy holding his new baby girl.

You are such a good baby! We got home from the hospital on Wednesday around 3:00 pm. Daddy took the big kids to church and we stayed home to rest. Poppa Kenneth came to visit while they were at church and said you looked like Aiden. After Daddy and the big kids got home, Mimi and Poppa Gary came and he got to meet you for the first time. He worked really hard to get some pictures on his phone so he could take them to work and show you off!



The Whobody was the first one up to get in line to hold Arynn our first morning home from the hospital.

You are able to sleep through all the noise in our house! Even when your siblings want to hold you ALL DAY LONG! Daddy has to wait in line to get a chance to hold his newest daughter.


Austen was next.

Aiden graciously allowed Austen to hold Arynn before his turn.

Addy always wants to "hold her". In the hospital there was a baby in the nursery while the kids were in the waiting room. Addy could see the baby and asked to "hold that baby!?!" multiple times througout the day!



On Thursday afternoon, you and Momma went to visit Nanny and Papa. We had a good visit while Daddy took everyone else to town to run a few errands.

Papa Bill meeting Arynn for the first time. He also has a February birthday, 13th, I have had two babies in February and haven't been able to hit his day yet!



Nanny Lee getting some cuddling time with Arynn.

On Friday, we went for a check-up at 3 days to Dr. Mark. He said you looked great. You do have a hip click, but he is not concerned and we will just watch it for now.



Arynn's first bath at home.

 Saturday we stayed home, and had two sets of visitors, both delievered meals.

On Sunday morning you attended your first church service. One gentleman stated that the church house was going tip to the left as the whole congregation got up to come and see you!

You are wearing newborn clothes and newborn diapers (even though the hospital gave you size 1, I guess they thought you were a big baby!) and you now weigh 8 pounds 15 ounces. You want to sleep a 5-6 hour stretch at night which I am thankful, but since you are gaining slowly, I have been waking you up after 4 hours.




1 week old- Playing Dress Up!

Daddy went back to work on Monday which made all of us sad, but Nana has been helping us out. We have had lots of visitors and lots more are waiting to meet you. You are sweet and precious and we love you so much!


Arynn's Birth Story

On February 26th around 4:30 am, I woke up with light contractions. We were 40 weeks and 6 days. Around 5:30, I woke Jake and told him today might be the day. I still wasn't convinced because contractions were 8 minutes apart, and nothing like the fast and furious labor we experienced with Addy. Jake went ahead and called into work to tell them he wasn't going to be there and then he called Nana. She arrived around 6:15 and we got to the hospital by 7:15. Jake wanted to make sure we could beat rush hour traffic. We were a little gun shy after our experience with Addy.

9 pounds 7 ounces
21 inches long

Once we got to the hospital we found out we were going to have a baby soon. I was dilated to 5 and contractions were coming regular but still around 8 minutes apart and very manageable.  Our OB was not on call, but Dr B was very nice and reassuring. He made sure the staff was on top of my platelet issue and to our surprise they had came up since the previous week. He offered to break my water around 8:00 to help speed things up, but I declined. I was okay with a slow labor this time.  

Meeting family for the first time.
 

Sometime later Dr B came back and offered to break my water, Jake and I still weren't ready to have any interventions so he left and then came back to tell us my Dr was going to check on us around lunch time. Dr. S came in around noon we were dilated to 9 almost 10 and he offered again to break my water, I still didn't want to just because I remembered how much more intense the labor was after that happened with Addy. I really wanted to just let things happen naturally. He told us he would eat lunch and come back in 30 minutes. 



Nanny Lee holding her 5th great-grandchild. Arynn is named after her mother, Mary Lizabeth, who would have been 113 years old on March 4th.

At 12:40 Dr. S came back, this time I was complete, but no urge to push. Arynn was still -3 station and posterior. He said if I would let him break my water she could rotate and come down like she was supposed to. I wasn't convinced but Jake knew if we sent him away again he might not make it back in time. So we agreed.



Mimi holding her 5th grandbaby.

Everything happened just like he said, I guess 50 years of delivering babies counts for something. : ) Arynn was born at 1:00 pm, no complications for either of us and Dr. S didn't even have to reschedule his afternoon patients!

Nana checking out her 3rd granddaughter's chubby cheeks.

Arynn made her appearance during the day so we had visitors come and welcome her. We actually were able to take pictures! (This didn't happen with Addy because she came in the wee hours of the morning and then went to the NICU) Bro. Ben came and stayed for a while but had to leave before he got to see her, so we don't have any pictures of him. 

Gary and Ann meeting baby Arynn.

We were so blessed with a wonderful labor and delievery. God knew the exact timing that was needed. We are thankful for all of the prayers about mine and Arynn's health. Not only did God answer those prayers but He blessed us even more with an easy labor, delivery and a speedy recovery. This has been the best postpartum experience compared to all of our other babies!

First photo as a family of seven!

We have been completely overwhelmed by the kindness and love shown to us with our 5th baby. We jokingly said it has been more like a first baby! We have had many meals prepared, gifts for Arynn and myself, prayers on our behalf, calls and visitors. We feel loved and blessed to have so many friends and family showing their love. We are thankful to everyone and love each of you! We are happy to have a new blessing in our lives! Welcome Baby Arynn, we love you!!!

Back on Track

It has taken 2 weeks, but I am finally caught up! Birthdays and Milestones have gotten me behind, but now we are back on track. If you are just now checking in, make sure you go all the way back to the end of April to see all that has been updated.