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Here's Naomi all pretty in pink. The first few days home have been wonderful. I wanted to document a few things the kids have been saying.

Neighbor: "Does your baby cry?"

Olivia: "yes"

Neighbor: "what do you do when she cries?"

Olivia: "um mommy just lifts up her shirt"

*

Olivia: "Mommy, your baby is my Girl. She has 2 mommies. Me and you."

We've had quite a few anatomy lessons lately too from belly buttons to bellys to boobies.

After 9 months the question never arose but finally on Friday night

Kolby asked, "But wait, how does the baby get in your belly anyway?"

Daniel and I just smiled and said "Sometimes that's what happens after you get married":)

*

The first night was long but I felt myself almost giddy about getting up with a baby...crazy i know. The next morning Daniel took the kids to a T-ball game and i awoke to these gorgeous flowers the kids bought me.

That afternoon my neighbor took them to lunch and shopping. They came home with little gifts for everyone and cards for me.

Olivia's card said, "Thank you for my baby sister! I hope you feel better."

Kolby handed me a card that read,

"Keep going! You can do it! I know you have what it takes to do this!"

Then he looked at me and said "I love you Mommy!"

of course I balled:)

Kolby got me a tissue too.

That's motherhood.

The Baby Story

Naomi Kathy Lawton

joined our family Wed April 21, 2010 @ 9:26am

7 lbs 4 oz

20 in.

Now for the story...still debating how to handle this one. Its kinda long and dramatic so i will try to just stick to the good stuff and post a billion pictures.

The delivery:

um if its possible to describe delivering a baby in such a way i'd say awesome.

True i wasn't pleased to be on pitocin bc i was still toying with the idea of no epidural but with the bump in the due date and the aggressive contractions i chose one in the end. Which proved to be a blessing in the end.

Basically i checked in at 5:15am

Went from a 3 to a 6.

Layed on my side to get the baby in position and waited there for a few minutes so the Dr. could come catch the baby.

One push- the head came out

Second push- the rest.

Ta da!

I cried when i heard naomi's first cry and was filled with amazement even the 3rd time around!

Post Partum-

Rosie brought the kiddos up a couple hours later. We were still in the labor and delivery room bc the hospital was so full. This turned out to be a huge blessing too. Naomi was in the nursery so we were just waiting for her to come back and meet the kids. I had had a few saltines and downed 2 of those hospital mugs of ice water.

Um then I don't how to put this but in my mind, all Hell broke loose.

Out of no where i felt like i was going to faint and i started coughing. I tried laying my bed down but ended up vomitting all over the place. I asked Daniel to take the kids out of the room. Poor Rosie helped the nurse try to clean me up. Then everyone but the nurse left the room and she noticed i was bleeding a lot. She was about to give me magnesium bc of my high blood pressure but the i passed out a couple times. I woke up with some ammonia and an oxygen mask and a bunch of other nurses cleaning up blood.

My Dr. came to see me and told me that my uterus wasn't closing and they couldn't stop the bleeding. I would need to go to the O.R. for surgery. Luckily my epidural was still hooked up to me so they could use that for surgery instead of putting me under.

My Dr. left and i started balling. I kept thinking, this isn't right. What happened? Everything was great. Daniel kissed my head goodbye and i was off to the O.R.

Surgery-

i hated this part. I started thinking about all those dumb medical shows that i watch and how they actually could care less about the patient. I was just staring at bright lights and strangers faces trying to remember the words to "I am a Child of God". Then my Dr. came in and held my hand. He spoke to me so gently and let me know everything was going to be alright. I think i love my Dr.

They cleaned out my uterus to make sure there were no clots. I kinda don't remember any of it.

I woke up in recovery thinking, my kids are here and they're meeting each other for the first time and I'm missing the whole thing! I started shaking. Then the bleeding happened all over again. Finally once they got things under control i went back to my room. The kids had gone home. Daniel took all these pics for me. I still ball knowing that i missed the real thing.

They Meet-

Kolby and Olivia were so excited to meet their new baby sister. They even brought her a present.

Recovery- I was pretty sad but trying to be strong about the day's events. I asked to see Naomi and it's amazing how the little person who essentially started all this was the only person who could make me feel better. I absolutely love her!!!

That night my nurse informed me that I'd lost too much blood and would need a blood transfusion. Normal levels are 12 and i was at a 6. I received 4 units of good ol' A negative blood. So thanks to all who donate:)

The next morning i felt sooooo much better despite all the horrible hospital service drama which i am choosing to omit. Suffice it to say that my hubby makes me giggle when he gets all fired up:)

That evening the kiddos came again and I was able to have all my babies together. I was filled with such gratitude and an overwhelming since of pride. Look what i made!

The Grolls are in town for an Ironman so they were able to stop by for cousin time with mark and rosie and the girls. If this was my 1st i probably would have been freaking out with all the visitors. But after the previous day i was thrilled to be surrounded by so much love.

My labor and delivery nurse came and found me. She said she'd been praying all night that i'd be alright and "praise Jesus" that i was better. I think i'll always love her too. Thanks for all the prayers and messages and acts of service! I feel truly blessed.

I love you baby Naomi! You truly are such a blessing in my life already! Thanks for helping me through all this. I promise now to help you through this thing called life.

-mama

UNexpected

Went to the DR. yesterday. My blood pressure was high. The Dr. decided i needed to be induced today at 5am so that my brain wouldn't swell and cause seizures and so my liver wouldn't swell and make me bleed to death. yes he had to tell me this because i was against being induced. That's in about an hour and a half. What am i doing up you ask? First off, I've never had a planned birth so the anticipation is killing me. Second i feel really sick. Third baby decided an hour ago to practice her ninja skills on my ribs...oh well I'll forgive her for the last time:) We celebrated with the kiddos by going out to eat. They were so excited! On the way home from the DR i told them they'd meet their sister soon. Kolby said, "DOn't tell dad! I want it to be a suprise!" of course i had to tell him though:) I dropped them off at Rosie's to spend the night. I told them that when they came to see me in the hospital I'd have some owies so I'd be laying in a bed. They were confused why I would have owies. I told them that having a baby come out can hurt your body. Kolby replied, "Oh is that because she has sharp toenails like you mom?". yes that must be it. Daniel and I stayed up way too late scrubbing and disinfecting the house. I hope i appreciate my clean home when i'm exhausted tomorrow. So here's to my last pregnancy post! Catch ya on the flip side!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

Olivia is turning 3!

Olivia's been talking about her rainbow birthday party for over a month now.

She loves this rainbow t-shirt her cousin gave her and everytime she sees a rainbow she squeels with delight. Her actual birthday isn't until May 2nd but with family members being out of town and with baby # 3 just around the corner we had the party early this year.

Saturday the kids helped me make this amazing rainbow cake. I got the idea from the mama's at playgroup. It was fun to make and turned out so cute!

Sunday it poured buckets all day so the idea of an outdoor party was thrown out the door. I walked in the door from church, quickly picked up my house and made the most of decorating with rainbow colors at least.

The food...pretty much the main part of the party. Fruit kabobs, chicken cashew salad, skittles, rainbow cake, rainbow goldfish, rolls, and rainbow jell-o.

The kiddos. Seriously love that we get to live by so many cousins! Also adore Olivia's face in this pic. I was feeling bad for not having a friend party for her with it being sunday and all but seeing her face helped me to realize she loves her cousins even more than friends!

We painted with water colors for the activity.

Happy Birthday baby girl!!

Forgot to take pics of the gifts. Kolby gave her a box of Lucky Charms (her fav cereal) and Daniel and I bought her a pink and purple bike...she's only been talking about it for 2 months.

Last night i was exhausted but then Daniel said in his prayers, "thank you for helping us to be able to make Olivia feel special". I of course got all emotional. I can't help but worry about my soon-to-be middle child so i was so pleased to see her get all the attention and love she deserved. Glad things are still simple enough that some yummy food and cousins are the highlight of her week:)

Party time

Saturday we celebrated by mother-in-law's 60th birthday and my niece's 4th birthday. We ate pizza and cake at the park and the kiddos (including mark and daniel and my father-in-law) played kickball. I prefered to just watch:)

and i realized i have hardly any pics of my adorable nephew so here's a few to enjoy.

Mommy makes lots of bad choices

Ya that's what my 4 year old told my hubby over dinner last night.

I almost choked. I had no idea what he was talking about. I couldn't think of anything horrible i'd done that day.

I asked him what he was talking about.

He said, "We had to clean the playroom FOREVER and mommy kept yelling at us".

nice.

my first reaction...

denial- "I didn't yell at you",

followed by...

resentment- "I didn't make the bad choice, you and olivia made a bad choice by not listening to me and by fighting and hitting each other"

and then at about 11pm.

heartbreak- i suck. + tears.

Truth-

i'm running on very little sleep and feel completely miserable. I don't really have the energy or patience to properly discipline my kids or even give them enough attention. What was I thinking adding another child into this family? I felt these same feelings just before i had Olivia too. Is it all part of the experience? Once there's no possible way to make a mom feel physically worse she needs to feel mentally and emotionally drained too? peachy.

On a lighter note... kolby left with his uncle for a father-son campout. I told him how much i'd miss him and he smiled so huge and said, "ya! I'll miss you!" as if all he needed was to hear that from me and all was forgiven.

Olivia and I got to spend some quality one on one time eating at chic-fil-a and watching The Princess and the Frog. She said, "That was fun. I like that movie! I miss Kolby. I'm tired now. I love you."

I suppose all is not lost afterall. Just needed to chill for a second to realize that everything's gonna work out. Its true, my house will never be clean and my kids will always fight. But I will always love my crazy kids and I hope they will always love me. Somewhere between all my bad mommy choices lately I must have made some good ones too.

So long Wednesday

How does that saying go? each day is a gift that's why its called the present....blah blah. Is there a return policy? Seriously i'm so freakn glad to day is over. Nothin' too extreme just tired of getting after my kids and cleaning messes. wah wah i know. better luck tomorrow.

Growing...

We're doing a lot of growing 'round these parts...

Garden- here comes our first strawberry. Its amazing how exciting one piece of fruit can be. Reminds me of one of my fav books, The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the BIG HUNGRY BEAR. You should read it then you'd want to come eat my strawberry. FOr FHE we may have to slice this baby in 4ths:)

The fact that we haven't killed our veggies or flowers yet...pretty amazing! Ah yes, and I'm still growing that baby. 36 weeks. The fact that i still own a couple shirts to cover the belly, really amazing!

Oh and a pic of my feet last june to compare with a pic this morning. Yes the swollen feet are growing at a rapid rate. The only shoes that fit are the huge crocs and even then its a tight squeeze. I feel slightly like the ugly step sister trying to squeeze into Cinderella's glass slippers. At any moment my shoes will pop off and shatter.

amazing? nope. just disgusting.

Diaper Dinner

Friday night Rosie through me a Diaper Dinner. What's a diaper dinner? Basically you get to stuff your face with delicious food (fajitas in my case) with all your friends and they give you ginormous boxes of diapers. Brillant really. This night was just what i needed. Thanks to all who came and made me feel extra special!

My amazingly talented friend Xiomara made this cake! That's right, the booties are edible. Of course they haven't been eaten yet:)

booties to go? i think she should sell them packaged just like this.

And here's part of the group. I had the settings all wrong on my camera so i guess by the time the 3rd shot was taken the waiter and the guests were sick of it. oops sorry:)

Dear Mr. Sandman,

we used to be such great friends you and I. I taught my children to love you almost as much as I do. We spent hours and hours together. Where have you gone? I do not appreciate the dark puffy circles under my eyes you have left for me instead. Nor do i appreciate your obvious absence every 2 hours to be exact, throughout the night. I suppose i should be thanking you for weaning me before the newborn comes but I can't help it I miss you! Come back soon! -your #1 fan sleepy mama

Easter Weekend

I took the kids to the playgroup egg hunt on Friday. Luckily my super amazing friend Abby totally bailed me out of being the lame-0 mom who didn't plan ahead and bring candy-filled eggs the day before...oops. And she made the adorable bunny cupcakes too! The kids had a blast and olivia somehow managed to eat all her candy before we got home and kolby managed to get all the eggs with stickers in them:)

I came home from playgroup to find that my hubby had folded and put away 3 loads of laundry! Happy Easter to me!! That night he took the kids to a track meet in Austin and i stayed at home to brave the crowds at Target and Walmart for last minute Easter shopping. My kids are old enough now that i can't sneak things in the cart and i seriously have been with them all the time!

Saturday morning we watched conference then picked up Daniel's grandpa at the airport and headed off for gma and gpa Lawton's.

We had fun dying eggs, eating yummy food, watching conference, and walking around the historic neighborhood.

Of course after all that sitting all weekend, on the 2 hour ride home i suddenly started feeling some strong contractions. I never felt contractions with kolby and i only felt strong ones with Olivia on the way to the hospital to deliver so i was slightly perplexed. I figured it was way too early to be going into labor but i was in some serious pain. I asked Daniel to talk to me to distract me and to pull over the next place he could so i could walk around. Daniel just started breathing like me. He said he needed to catch his breath. I burst out laughing. I didn't realize i was stressing him out. We stopped at McDonalds, i walked around and went pee. Daniel was scared i was gonna have the baby in the toilet so he made me bring my cell:) The contractions stopped. whew!

The next day i bought all my post pardum junk and packed my bag just to be on the safe side.