Ahhh spring break. Jared took some days off work and we hit the road to Wisconsin Dells. Waterpark capital of the world!!!!

A quick stop for some fine eatin’. (McDonalds. Again. Blahhh)

When we got to our hotel the girls were so excited with their room. Jared went to get the rest of the stuff from the car, I sat down to feed the boy and the girls went immediately to their room and got their pajamas on. So much for hitting the waterpark that night. All they wanted to do was sleep in that amazing room. And how could you not with Zeus hanging over your bed. Of course after the novelty of their room wore off they were up at 3:30 in the morning watching TV rearing to go. For reals. I just said 3:30 am!

The lazy river

Lily and Jared flying out of a waterslide

And speaking of waterslides. I’m not a fan of enclosed slides. At all.

Girls with guns . . .

On our way home Lily was SO exhausted she couldn’t even finish her pretzel stick.

Bye Wisconsin Dells. We’ll be back soon!

Seriously? Aren’t we all freaking adorable?

Lil’ Dude had his pictures done at 1 week. In my opinion he wasn’t the easiest subject to photograph. And I wasn’t even the one taking the pictures. Somewhat of a long story, but we were set up with a friend of a friend to do his newborn pictures. She is building her portfolio and we had a baby, so wa-la! Here are a few, enjoy!

Is this making you all baby hungry??? AND he has slept 5-7 hours every night since the second night we had him home. Yes, I did just knock on wood that I didn’t jinx us.

And who ever said dressing a boy was boring? Oh yeah, that was me. Well outfitting a girl is stil way more fun, but this has some promise.

After sitting on this post for a good 3 weeks I’m going to hit publish.

Today Lily says, “I need a shampoo shake.” We got a shamrock shake-not because she demanded it, but because I was in the drive thru of McD’s with plans to get one anyway. In my opinion it tastes just as bad as shampoo.

As many are aware, we referred to baby Liam as Ferguson the entire pregnancy. Apparently to Lily, Ferguson is also synonymous with a big belly. While my parents were up her visiting last weekend Lily hopped on my dad’s lap, poked his stomach and said, “You have a Ferguson!” She was soooo excited. For the record, my dad does not have a Ferguson.

About a week ago Abby got recognized for her poem going to district level. Her kindergarten teacher came to support her, which was super fantastic of her. Lily clung to her like she was her own grandma. Insisting that she get to sit on her lap. That’s fine, everyone needs a Lily hug.

However, riding a relativly strange person like a horse is slightly unacceptable. Ms. Juza was sitting with her legs crossed. Lily jumped on the crossed leg and proceeded to ride it horsey style. Now Ms. Juza will be retiring after next year. She will have taught for 30 years, she is therefore no spring chicken. The last thing we need is for a kindergarten teacher to not be able to use her knees.

On Monday Lily and Liam had check ups. Usually Lily LOVES going to the doctor. Actually requests getting shots. This particular trip she was NOT interested. The nurses were trying to show her lots of love. One such nurse said, “Wow Lily you’re such a big girl” (Lily was putting on her socks and shoes). Lily was ticked! “I’m a big sister, NOT a big girl” Anyone want to take a stab at why she said what she did? No clue? Well, let me enlighten you. Big GIRLS use the toilet, big SISTERS not necessarily and according to Lily she doesn’t “do toilets”.

But really it’s taken us 3 weeks to wrap our heads around the fact that after 3 little princesses and we now have a prince!

For those of you who didn’t know we were pregnant here it is in a nutshell.  Scratch that. I was pregnant. Jared might have contributed something, but I did all the work

Anywaddle here’s the cliff notes version.

18 weeks                                   20 weeks

You might want to overlook the next few. Get’s a little nasty here for a sec.

37 weeks                                     38 weeks                                        30 weeks

Girls would run for the hills when they happened to catch a glance of that belly. A little horror picture show right here in our own home.

At our 30 week ultrasound the tech made sure to confirm we were indeed having a boy. I’d been pretty skeptical. She said even her blind grandma could tell. She also asked us if we were in the habit of having big babies. Umm, no. Girls were all small ( 6.13, 7.9, and 7.4). For the next 10 weeks every time I saw an OB or nurse I was told I was havin’ a big baby. Why must they feel like they need to share that information. 1) it’s only going to get bigger and 2) isn’t a single thing I can do about that fact, but fret over it being more like a cantaloupe or a watermelon. *sigh*

The short version of the birth story. Skip it. I don’t care. But don’t complain later that you didn’t want to know all the details. You chose to read it.

Lil’ man was due on February 8th. Although I mainted the entire time that he was due February 4th-and yes 4 days makes a big difference. Thank you very much.

My OB knew I didn’t want another induction, but by our 38 week appointment I had already been 3/4 cm and 70% effaced for 3 weeks. She said if I showed up to my 39 week appointment we would schedule an induction.

Thursday, January 28th we went to L&D because I’d had contractions for 4 hours and they were 3-7 minutes apart. Didn’t hurt, but OB said to be on the safe side we should go in. You know being the 4th and all, he could just slide right out all over my beautiful hardwood floors. Better to be safe than sorry, ya know.

Anywaddle after being there for 2 hours, still having contractions but not dilating any more we went home. $1300 for some apple juice and a few laps in the L&D. Most expensive date night Jared and I have ever had. Thank you Blue Cross Blue Shield for picking up that tab.

Brings us to Friday, January 29th.  Here’s where we get real brief.

Jared, watching Eight Men Out. Me, trying to watch said movie, but grouchy and frustrated. Lost my “plug”. Good times. Went to bed.

Saturday, January 30th. Woke up feeling crampy. 4am, tried to sleep on couch. Couldn’t sleep. Timed my “cramps”. They were 3-10 minutes apart, not hurting like contractions do. Obviously nothing. 6:00am, woke Jared up and told him maybe we should call the doctor. If I was dialted anymore than I was on Thursday they would keep me. 6:30am, cramps kind of starting to hurt. Grab a quick shower. Jared calls neighbor to come over then decides he should take a quick shower.  Cramps pretty painful. At this time I remember thinking, “Ummm we have got to GO! Who said you get a shower?” I have never shared this with Jared. He’s reading it here for the first time. Smooches, hon!

7:00am, step outside to wait in the car. Cramps stop. Drive to hospital. No cramps. Walk upstairs to L&D. No cramps. Get admitted. Still no cramps. 7:30am nurse comes in. Tell her losing my plug better have made me be 4/5 cm cause I don’t want to go home. Checks me out. 8/9cm and 100% effaced. Nurse tells me “hon you’re not going anywhere and you should NOT have walked up here”. Who knew that labor could just be cramps. WAY different than my 3 inductions. Pitocin is the devil’s juice.

8:00am OB arrives. 8:30am room ready, OB dressed, start pushing. 8:52am baby born. 8 lbs 15 oz and 22 inches. Absolutely perfect baby.

Child looks way beefier in pictures than he really is. Kind of like his mother.

Wait, she looks beefy in pictures and in real life. *sigh* Pass another Samoa.

This is where the story really gets good and gory, but I’ll spare ya’ll the gruesome details. All’s well that ends well.

3 weeks old and still being a good baby. He cries when he wants to eat and that’s pretty much it. Not 100% loving his carseat, but we can deal with that. The girls are being, so far, really good with him. Lily tells people where ever we go that she’s “the big sister now”. Also every day she’ll tell Liam, “good morning, it’s so nice to meet you”.

The regional level consisted of all the school districts in Cook County outside of the city of Chicago. So a lot of schools.

Abby’s poem won at the regional level and has advanced to state. She is the first kindergartner at her school to enter the literature category and have it go all the way to state.

Emma had a hard time with this -her’s not going on any further. I explained to her that when one of us in the family wins we ALL win and we get to celebrate together. Seemed to make sense to her so she made Abby a cake.

See what I mean about all of us winning

Abby’s poem:

Beauty

Beauty is nature-trees, evergreens

Beauty is your heart inside.

Beauty is playing with my family.

Beauty is love.

Beauty is a pretty dress and makeup.

Beauty is my sister smiling.

Beauty is laughing with my friends.

So cute, eh?

And now for the miss.

The other day we were all driving along in the mini just carrying on like a normal Saturday afternoon.

From the back we hear “You know that guy Luther? He discovered black people”

Oh dear Abby! I about peed my pants-which let’s face it isn’t that novel of an occurance and Jared nearly ran off the road.

Good times. Good times.

A lesson in Wii-ing

A  little decoration for NYE!

Emma decorated her door for the New Year. I particularly like the fireworks-that look strangely enough like bloodshot eyeballs.

We have tried sooooooooooooo hard to keep Lily in her bed (and fully clothed but that’s a whole other conversation).  She doesn’t put up a fuss, but the minute you leave her she’s back in Emma’s or Abby’s bed.

For some reason I feel like I’ve written this before. I probably have. Let’s just humor the almost senile poster, k?

At least she has the snuggling part down. Emma is SUCH a trooper for putting up with this on a nightly basis.

Incidentally, Lily will take naps in her bed, but not sleep there at nightime. Go figure.

And finally, because I know you’ve been waiting patiently for this picture-

All we have accomplished for “he-who-shall-not-be-named” ‘s room. Over achiever??

Oh and by the way, I don’t frequently-or ever-take random pictures of furniture. Pretty sure Abby is the one who took the above photo and filled the camera with various pictures in and around the house.

Like this one:

(yes this is Little House on the Prairie)

or this one-

And of course the other two had to follow suit.