Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Long overdue update
I have waited too long to update, considering that I haven't updated in over 2 months. All is well here. We made it through Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and we are well into the new year. 2013 here we come. This is the year I turn 40. YIKES! 40 just sounds old. I remember when my parents were 40. I am still 39 until September so I will try to enjoy it.
The holidays went great. The only holiday I had to work was New Years Day which was no biggie to me. I only have to work 1 "major" holiday per year since I am part-time which isn't too bad. It's just the reality of being a nurse that you will have to work some holidays. Hospitals never close (thank goodness :) Well, obviously I returned to work. I ended up being off close to 14 weeks which seemed like a long time. I did enjoy my time off, but it was nice to get back to work for my 2 day a week "mommy break" :) We are still busy as ever. We have 28 babies. Remember we are only a 23 bed unit, but they did open up an 8 bed continuing care nursery upstairs, but that's just really a bandaid until they can build us a bigger unit. Not sure when that will be but hopefully soon.
The boys are doing great. Matthew seems to be doing well at school. He is doing great with learning his letter sounds. He is always singing the letter sound songs that he learns from school. Lukey is still cute as ever. He will be 2 next month. Yes, you heard right Lukey will be 2. Joshy is growing up fast. Already 4 months. He has his 4 month well visit this week. He is about 15-16 pounds know. Such a big boy.
Well I am going to quit writing because I have a TON of pictures to upload.
Blessings,
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Joshua Krueger (6 weeks)
My sweet Joshua at 6 weeks. Thanks to Catie Fenner for these beautiful pictures. I will treasure them for a lifetime.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Long overdue update
All is well here. Well, most days it is :) Being a Mom to 3 young ones definitely can be challenging. Some days seem to go smooth and other days I am counting the minutes until bedtime (the kids bedtime, not mine). There have been many nights that I have been putting Matthew and Luke to bed at 7:00 p.m. on the dot. Luckily it is darker in the evening now so it is easier to put them to bed that early. Being a Mom to 3 has made me realize that I need some order and control in the house. That means everyday I need to keep the kitchen and house picked up. That doesn't necessarily happen, but I am trying. I find that I become "mean mommy" when the house is a mess and I am not feeling a sense of control so I am trying to stay more organized and on top of things. It just makes everything run smoother. Of course I am cutting myself some slack since Joshua isn't even quite 2 months yet. My priority right now is him right now. I know it will get a lot easier as he gets older.
Speaking of Joshua "Joshy," he is doing great. Getting big and smiling lots. He is sleeping great at night. I am attempting to get him to bed by 8:00 p.m. and sometimes he goes right to sleep but other times he needs me to help him get to sleep which is fine. Once he is asleep he isn't waking up until 3 or 4 a.m. for a feeding then back to sleep until 7:00 ish. I expect that he won't be wanting that nightime feeding in a few weeks. I think a lot of people think that "breastfed babies" don't sleep through the night for a long time, but all of my boys have been exclusively breastfed and they were all sleeping conistently through the night by 3 months and when I say "through the night" I mean 12 hours with no wakings. My supply stayed steady and they all gained weight well. Joshua seems to be following the same pattern as his 2 older brothers, but if he wants a feeding at night that is fine with me too. I am just following his lead.
I am in the process of finding a sitter to come to the house to watch the boys after I go back to work. So far I have a couple of good leads. We decided with 3 kids it would be much easier to have someone come to the house and watch the kids. I will be changing my schedule up when I go back. I plan to work Saturday days and Sunday nights. So I will just need a sitter on Saturdays (all day) and Monday mornings only. I wanted to be around all week since Matthew is in school. I am actually looking forward to going back to work. As I have said many times before I have the best of both worlds. I feel like a "stay at home" Mom most of the time, but I get a break 2 days a week to go do something different. I really do like what I do and I feel so blessed that the Lord led me to my career in nursing.
Well Halloween is today. We plan to stay home this year and do some trick or treating in the neighborhood. We will just go to the houses right around us which will be plenty. I really don't want them getting too much candy. This past Saturday night we went to the in-laws church for their Fall Festival. It was a lot of fun and the boys had a great time.
Can't think of much else at the moment.
Blessings,
Betsey
Speaking of Joshua "Joshy," he is doing great. Getting big and smiling lots. He is sleeping great at night. I am attempting to get him to bed by 8:00 p.m. and sometimes he goes right to sleep but other times he needs me to help him get to sleep which is fine. Once he is asleep he isn't waking up until 3 or 4 a.m. for a feeding then back to sleep until 7:00 ish. I expect that he won't be wanting that nightime feeding in a few weeks. I think a lot of people think that "breastfed babies" don't sleep through the night for a long time, but all of my boys have been exclusively breastfed and they were all sleeping conistently through the night by 3 months and when I say "through the night" I mean 12 hours with no wakings. My supply stayed steady and they all gained weight well. Joshua seems to be following the same pattern as his 2 older brothers, but if he wants a feeding at night that is fine with me too. I am just following his lead.
I am in the process of finding a sitter to come to the house to watch the boys after I go back to work. So far I have a couple of good leads. We decided with 3 kids it would be much easier to have someone come to the house and watch the kids. I will be changing my schedule up when I go back. I plan to work Saturday days and Sunday nights. So I will just need a sitter on Saturdays (all day) and Monday mornings only. I wanted to be around all week since Matthew is in school. I am actually looking forward to going back to work. As I have said many times before I have the best of both worlds. I feel like a "stay at home" Mom most of the time, but I get a break 2 days a week to go do something different. I really do like what I do and I feel so blessed that the Lord led me to my career in nursing.
Well Halloween is today. We plan to stay home this year and do some trick or treating in the neighborhood. We will just go to the houses right around us which will be plenty. I really don't want them getting too much candy. This past Saturday night we went to the in-laws church for their Fall Festival. It was a lot of fun and the boys had a great time.
Can't think of much else at the moment.
Blessings,
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| "Joshy" |
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| On a walk |
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| Matthew's school field trip to Country Critters |
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| Country Critters |
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| Cousin Jayce's 2nd birthday party. Isn't Luke such a cutie? |
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| Cousin Jayce's 2nd birthday party. Matthew's 1st cotton candy. |
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| Cousin Jayce |
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| Grandma Carroll was in town. Pumpkin patch time. |
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| Pumpkin patch |
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| Matthew's big pumpkin |
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| My 3 boys |
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| Who said the playmat is just for babies? |
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| Fall festival at Grandma and Grandpa's church. |
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| Fall Festival |
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| Pumpkin carving with Daddy |
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Welcoming Joshua Meyer
Joshua Meyer made is grand entrance on his due date at 9:41 a.m. @ 7 lbs 13 oz and 19.5 long.
I actually went into labor with him. I was induced with the other 2. With Matthew I was leaking amniotic fluid and was not in labor so that is an automatic induction and with Luke I went to 41 weeks so had to be induced. Most OB's don't like you to be pregnant past 41 weeks. So I have never really gone into labor on my own. Well this time I did.
I woke up around 3:00 a.m. with what I assumed were contractions. Not really painful yet, but noticeable. I decided to get up and have something to drink and eat and do some things around the house. I figured if the contractions stuck around then it was probably the real thing. I did have a feeling that it was the real thing so I went ahead and got ready and tied up some loose ends around the house. My brother, wife, and 2 kids had just left the night before They must of had some intuition as well. They were supposed to leave Thursday morning but decided to leave the night before. Good thing they did. By about 5:00 a.m. things were really picking up. Now they were painful, but still manageable and definitely timeable. By this time I had called my best friend in Indiana and texted my Dad to let him know that I "might" be in labor. My Dad and stepmom were still in town staying in a hotel. They had come into town to see my brother and his family. They were planning to leave that morning at 10:00 a.m. God was definitely at work. Contractions were really picking up and by this point I am in a lot of pain. I am really wanting to get to the hospital for my glorious epidural. I called my Dad and told them to come ASAP to stay with the boys so we could get to the hospital. He said he would be there as soon as he could get there. At this point I am having some really bad contractions and really just want to get to the hospital. We called our wonderful neighbor to come over until my Dad could get there. She arrived within 5 minutes and out the door we went, of course after Mark took the trash out :)
We are about 15 minutes from the hospital so not to far, but when you are in labor it seemed like an eternity. We arrived, pulled up, got a wheelchair and I was wheeled in quickly. I am in a lot of pain by this point. Overall I am handling it well. No screaming, cussing, etc... although I really wanted to :) I just kept focusing on when I would be getting my glorious epidural. Well, the nurse checked me and lo and behold I was already 8-9 cm. YIKES! I couldn't believe. Luckily I didn't have him on Cooper St. :) So of course I panicked thinking it was too late to get the epidural, but they said I could still have one. Thank goodness. I was wheeled upstairs rather quickly and things were happening very fast since I was so close to delivery. Remember that I work in the NICU at the hospital I am delivering at so I pretty much knew everyone in the room. That is actually a good thing. I was very well taken care of. I did get my epidural, but the bad news is it never really took. I think I was just too far along. It did take the edge off initially but after my water broke and I was close to pushing the contractions got really bad again. Things did get a little scary at the end, but all turned out well. Luckily I only had to push for about 10 minutes. Of course after seeing my sweet Joshua it was all worth it. He looked great.
Just for the record I am not against a natural birth, but I just prefer to have a painless labor and delivery. I actually do think that natural birth is the way to go. Having babies in America is very medicalized and all these interventions do carry the risk of problems for Mom and baby, but I wasn't planning on a natural birth so this birth experience really caught me off guard. Of course now I am glad I got to experience labor. I will say that the recovery after was so much quicker and I do believe that was due to less time with an IV, epidural, no induction this time, etc... My body did what it was designed to do.
We came home 2 days later and so far so good. Recovery has been a breeze. It just gets easier and easier with each baby. Breastfeeding is going well. He is tongue-tied, like Luke was, so of course I am paranoid that I will have all the same issues I had with Luke. The 1st 8 weeks were very hard with Luke. So far it is going good so I think his tongue-tie isn't as significant as Luke's was. It is definitely painful at first but it goes away rather quickly and I can work with his latch easier. My milk was in before I left the hospital which was so quick which is great. Joshua is eating great and sleeping good too. Matthew and Luke seem to be adjusting just fine. The hubby goes back to work tomorrow so I am on my own but I think I will be just fine :)
Photo bomb coming up!
Blessings,
Betsey
I actually went into labor with him. I was induced with the other 2. With Matthew I was leaking amniotic fluid and was not in labor so that is an automatic induction and with Luke I went to 41 weeks so had to be induced. Most OB's don't like you to be pregnant past 41 weeks. So I have never really gone into labor on my own. Well this time I did.
I woke up around 3:00 a.m. with what I assumed were contractions. Not really painful yet, but noticeable. I decided to get up and have something to drink and eat and do some things around the house. I figured if the contractions stuck around then it was probably the real thing. I did have a feeling that it was the real thing so I went ahead and got ready and tied up some loose ends around the house. My brother, wife, and 2 kids had just left the night before They must of had some intuition as well. They were supposed to leave Thursday morning but decided to leave the night before. Good thing they did. By about 5:00 a.m. things were really picking up. Now they were painful, but still manageable and definitely timeable. By this time I had called my best friend in Indiana and texted my Dad to let him know that I "might" be in labor. My Dad and stepmom were still in town staying in a hotel. They had come into town to see my brother and his family. They were planning to leave that morning at 10:00 a.m. God was definitely at work. Contractions were really picking up and by this point I am in a lot of pain. I am really wanting to get to the hospital for my glorious epidural. I called my Dad and told them to come ASAP to stay with the boys so we could get to the hospital. He said he would be there as soon as he could get there. At this point I am having some really bad contractions and really just want to get to the hospital. We called our wonderful neighbor to come over until my Dad could get there. She arrived within 5 minutes and out the door we went, of course after Mark took the trash out :)
Just for the record I am not against a natural birth, but I just prefer to have a painless labor and delivery. I actually do think that natural birth is the way to go. Having babies in America is very medicalized and all these interventions do carry the risk of problems for Mom and baby, but I wasn't planning on a natural birth so this birth experience really caught me off guard. Of course now I am glad I got to experience labor. I will say that the recovery after was so much quicker and I do believe that was due to less time with an IV, epidural, no induction this time, etc... My body did what it was designed to do.
We came home 2 days later and so far so good. Recovery has been a breeze. It just gets easier and easier with each baby. Breastfeeding is going well. He is tongue-tied, like Luke was, so of course I am paranoid that I will have all the same issues I had with Luke. The 1st 8 weeks were very hard with Luke. So far it is going good so I think his tongue-tie isn't as significant as Luke's was. It is definitely painful at first but it goes away rather quickly and I can work with his latch easier. My milk was in before I left the hospital which was so quick which is great. Joshua is eating great and sleeping good too. Matthew and Luke seem to be adjusting just fine. The hubby goes back to work tomorrow so I am on my own but I think I will be just fine :)
Photo bomb coming up!
Blessings,
Betsey
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| Joshua Meyer |
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| Eyes open |
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| Luke meeting Joshua for the 1st time |
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| He was fascinated with his feet |
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| 1st family photo. This was the best we could do :) |
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| Joshua with Mommy and Daddy |
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| After we got home Matthew asked if he could "pet" Joshua. Silly boy. |
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| Looking around |
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| Grandpa and Grandma Carroll. Love them so much. |
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| Proud big brother! |
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Matthew starts school
Well Matthew started school yesterday and so far so good. He started at Fellowship Academy in the PreK-4 program which will be 5 days a week from 8:15-2:45. So this is the real deal. He wasn't quite ready for Kindergarten but since he is already 5 I wanted him in a full time program so it will be similar to Kindergarten but without all the expectations of Kindergarten. Kindergarten is so different today. I wanted him to have another year to mature and grasp some basic concepts and continue to improve his speech and language. This school goes all the way to 12th grade so I am hoping this is his "one and only" school. I found out that they have a program for learning differences. How great is that. I'm not saying that Matthew will need it but it is a definite possibility in the future.
Baby Joshua is still cozy in the oven. I must have a good oven because my boys like to stay in until the last minute possible. Who can blame them. It's a tough world. I will be 39 weeks on Thursday and for the most part I feel pretty good. I have had some pretty bad indegestion at night keeping me up at night and of course as always the peeing is just out of control, but that's to be expected. I'm moving a little slower these days, but I am managing. I am looking forward to being a family of 5. Of course I always start getting a little anxious as the big day approaches. Having a newborn stresses me out. The 1st few weeks are always a little rough for me. We did move Lukey into Matthew's room finally and so far no problems. It's only been 1 night but I think he will adjust just fine. For the most part we seem to be ready for Baby Joshua. I have accepted that the house will not be perfect and tidy. Well it may be before I leave for the hospital, but likely it will be a disaster zone again when I return, but who cares. Some things you just have to let go.
I will be sure to keep you updated on any new developments :)
Baby Joshua is still cozy in the oven. I must have a good oven because my boys like to stay in until the last minute possible. Who can blame them. It's a tough world. I will be 39 weeks on Thursday and for the most part I feel pretty good. I have had some pretty bad indegestion at night keeping me up at night and of course as always the peeing is just out of control, but that's to be expected. I'm moving a little slower these days, but I am managing. I am looking forward to being a family of 5. Of course I always start getting a little anxious as the big day approaches. Having a newborn stresses me out. The 1st few weeks are always a little rough for me. We did move Lukey into Matthew's room finally and so far no problems. It's only been 1 night but I think he will adjust just fine. For the most part we seem to be ready for Baby Joshua. I have accepted that the house will not be perfect and tidy. Well it may be before I leave for the hospital, but likely it will be a disaster zone again when I return, but who cares. Some things you just have to let go.
I will be sure to keep you updated on any new developments :)
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| Matthew's new school |
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| 1st day of Pre-K4 |
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| Shirts I made for the boys. Aren't they cute? |
Monday, August 13, 2012
Family pics
Got some great pics done by a girl from church. She loves taking pictures and I have to say she did a pretty darn good job. We definitely had her challenged. She had never done maternity pics and of course taking pics of young children can be quite the challenge. Luke did great, but Matthew was another story. He just wouldn't cooperate. I don't blame him though because it was VERY HOT as usual. We did it in the evening, but it was still probably at least 100 degrees outside. She did manage to get 1 great pic of Matthew which I love. We only need 1 and we got it. I really wanted to get some pics before Joshua arrives. I do want to add that I know when I look at other people's family pics I always think they seem so happy and perfect. Please don't look at our pics and think what a perfect family we are. I don't mean that in a bad way because I think my family is perfect, but in reality we are far from perfect. We have our daily challenges just like all of you.
Enjoy the pics!
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| Luke (17 months) |
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| Matthew (age 5) |
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| The family (this is the best we could do) |
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| Me and the hubby |
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| Baby Joshua |
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| My handsome Lukey |
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| Brothers (Matthew has always has a "thing" for Luke's head) |
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