Where I've Been

In case you haven't heard already, Cailin's been in the hospital with RSV for the last week. All things considered, she's doing pretty well, we're just waiting for her to get off the last little bit of oxygen (they call it a "trace"), and to stop requiring her airways to be suctioned out, at least so often. Of course, we've been waiting for this for the last 4 days now, but every day things look a little better. We'll see when it actually happens, though. Maybe Weds?

Being at the hospital this long is a completely new experience for me--I've never had a chance to interact with other patients before during any of my stays. This time around, because I'm pumping every 3 hours in the "pump room" I've had a chance to talk with some of the moms of other patients, and hear their stories. I've also had the same nurses and respiratory therapists a couple of times in a row, so I've gotten to hear their stories, too. I've come to realize that this place (the pediatric floor), while definitely a wonderful place with many happy endings, is also a place of much heartbreak and difficulty. There's the girl whose baby is 3 days younger than Cailin, who's already been released once, and is back in the hospital. There's the baby who had RSV to start, then somehow ended up with a blood infection. There's the baby they think has meningitis. But then there were the 3 other patients my nurse had yesterday, who were all released with (all things considered) healthy babies. There's my nurse herself, who had a baby at 19, then found out a year later that she had endometriosis, and had a hysterectomy at the ripe old age of 24. She refused to work pediatrics for a long time, and finally just recently has found the strength to be here, and has really grown to love helping others babies, and is considering doing that full time instead of rotating. There's the respiratory therapist we saw on the first night, who has a 15 year old daughter, and just found out a few weeks ago that she is finally expecting a second child, after years of trying, which ended with going to the doctor to tell them she wanted a permanent solution, only to find out she was pregnant.

When I asked one of the nightly respiratory therapists why they chose to suck out baby snot for a living, he just told me that even though it didn't seem like a very ideal job (can you imagine choosing a job that makes babies scream and cry all night?), it was a way to make an immediate positive impact in a child's life, and that made it all worth it. All I know is that I am SO grateful that despite whatever reservations our nurses and techs and therapists and doctors may have had about their jobs, they chose to do it anyway. My baby is here and thriving this week because they've chosen to do a job that while not ideal, and often so difficult, can make a big difference. I am forever thankful.

Now if we could just get out of this place... we're tired of being here.


and we really miss these three:

Before and After

Remember this?:


Well, now it looks more like this:


I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we are blessed to be able to have children, but very grateful to be on to the next step. :)

New Sisters

"I want to hold her, I want to hold her!"

"Ooh, she's so cute!"

"Ok, dad, I'm done."

"What is this?"

The girls have actually been really great with their new sister--Breanne tells people how cute she is all the time, which cracks me up. She's also pretty willing to help me by getting diapers, wipes, or burp cloths, and she doesn't complain too much about Cailin's crying. Janey, on the other hand, wants to be the super-helper--she is constantly bringing me blankets, outfits, and pacifiers, insisting that we use them immediately, and she's convinced that the burp cloths are blankets, which she likes to (sometimes rather forcefully) pat down on and around the baby. She genuinely means well, but she just doesn't quite know how to be soft with the baby. We're working on it, though. I'm just glad the girls both love their sister, even if they don't quite know how to show it yet.

Meet Cailin

Sorry this is so late, but I've been a little... busy? tired? overwhelmed? distracted? Perhaps all of the above? Regardless, I am very excited to introduce you to our sweet little baby, Cailin Danielle. She was born last Sunday, January 31st, at 2:37 am. She has been a wonderful baby, sleeping a lot (though not as much at night, unfortunately... :)), and rarely getting very upset. She's also been a pretty great eater, which is nice. Since she came 2 1/2 weeks early, she's been fighting off some jaundice, but her bili levels are finally dropping enough that we don't have to go back for any more level tests, which is wonderful. All in all, we just love our sweet baby Cailin.






And if you're wondering, her hair is debatably red--somewhere in-between Breanne's color and Janey's, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it lighten up to be more like Breanne's (hence the super light eyebrows). We'll see.


On her name--we were fairly certain when we went into the hospital that we'd name the baby Natalie Paige, but then when we met her, and I started trying to call her that, it just didn't fit her. We'd talked about the name Cailin for each of our other girls, but it never was at the top of our list for either of them. When this baby started crying, though, it was all I could do to stop myself from calling her Cailin. After discussing it for two days, about 1/2 hour before we left the hospital, we decided to make it official, and turned in her birth certificate paperwork with Cailin Danielle on it. And no regrets there--it fits her perfectly. If you're wondering about where we got the name--the first time I'd ever heard it was from this song, though Cory knew a few Cailins growing up. I'm not usually a proponent of naming a child after a song, but in this case, I'm ok with it.

Another Project...

...and perhaps my last before the baby is born? I suppose we shall see.

Anyway, I've been wanting to make a nursing cover for a while now, and a couple weeks ago I bought the for it fabric on sale (at JoAnn's, as usual). I finally had the time and energy to make it today (maybe Janey is going back to her usual napping self... I can only hope!), so here it is:



I pretty much love it, but I wish I'd used a little shorter piece of boning--the original pattern calls for 16", but I think mine ended up being closer to 18, because I forgot to cut it down after I originally bought it. It's probably just not discreet enough. If it ends up being a problem, I'll fix it and cut it down to probably 14" or so--I just don't want the opening quite so big. I do love the fabric, though, and that I did the straps and everything all on my own, and it was so easy. If you want to make one too, there's another great tutorial over at Sew Much Ado. I love that blog, can you tell?

And for those of you that are wondering how I'm doing, I'm still pregnant, and for the most part doing really well, though I'm very tired, and my body is giving me more grief, pain-wise. The baby may or may not have dropped some, I feel like I'm breathing a little easier these days, but moving is more painful. I'm definitely looking forward to having a normal body again, but am still nervous at the thought of having three kids. I had my 37 week appointment this morning, and I seem to be progressing (dilated 2 cm, 70% effaced, for those who care), so she's certainly on her way. I'm (mostly) excited, and very grateful everything has gone so well so far. Only a few more days until I get to meet this little girl. :)

And here is a picture that accurately portrays how I feel like I look:


nice and large and squashed.

Latest Projects

I've always admired women who were able to get things done during their pregnancies--with both Breanne and Janey, it seemed like all I could do was live from day to day, nothing new or extra. For whatever reason, this pregnancy I've had a little more desire to craft, and many more things I want to make, and even some energy to do them, so I've been trying to get them done. I realized the other day when I was getting things out for the new baby that Janey has taken over most of the baby blankets and uses them for her baby dolls. I don't want her to be taking blankets from the baby, so I picked up some fabric a few days ago, and came up with these blankets today:



A few things of note: I love the purple fabrics, and the edges are purposely left unfinished and cut so they'll fray over time, as you can see in this tutorial, which is also where I got the idea for the blanket. One more thing on this blanket--it was my first time using a zigzag stitch on my machine... go me!



And then there's this beauty, which I LOVE the fabrics on:



Using a tutorial from the same site, for this blanket, I learned how to sew on rick rack, which I know seems obvious, but was actually different from how I saw it working in my head. Don't you love this happy fabric? And I think the rick rack makes it just slightly more girly, so maybe people will still realize the baby is a girl when she's wrapped in it... maybe?



And last but not least, I picked up 2 yards of this fabric, which I love and reminds me of my childhood. I intended on just using it front and back for one more blanket... but I'm not certain I love that idea. What would you do with it?



Next up: a nursing cover. I have the materials and everything, just need to get it done. Hopefully in the next few hours, if Janey will EVER take a nap... all of a sudden she has no desire to nap in her bed. So frustrating. I'm pretty sure I'm going to NEED her to take a nap when the baby gets here. If you have any great suggestions on getting her to stay in her bed for naptime, just let me know.

Cheap Baby Stuff

Just thought I'd let you all know that Sears is having a HUGE clearance sale right now on a ton of their baby/toddler/children's stuff--you can shop online here, or go into the store, where they're taking an additional 40% off the clearance price. There is a lot to choose from, even in store. One thing that really caught my eye, even though I don't have boys, were all the little boy church clothes--all my mom-of-boys-friends complain regularly about not being able to find clothes for their boys--now's your chance to stock up. I think the extra 40% off is only good through tonight, though, so you should probably act fast.

Stroller

So since I know several of my readers are pregnant, I just thought I'd throw this out here before I pass the word around my ward-- We have an extra stroller that I'm looking to give away. It is a nice stroller, made by Graco, that works with our carseat (I'm keeping the carseat, sorry). The only reason I'm giving it away is because we don't need it--we have two umbrella strollers, and a nice new double stroller. I don't really plan on needing any more than that. :) It's probably around 8 years old, but still works great--we never used it much, and Cory's aunt, who owned it before us, probably didn't use it a whole lot, either. It is black, white and gray, so very gender neutral. I'm just tired of having it take up space (it is a bigger stroller, so a little bulky). I'd imagine, even if you got a nice new Graco carseat, that it'd still work to buckle the seat into, though you'd have to check that to make sure. Either way, it can definitely still be used. Let me know if you're interested--leave a comment, or shoot me an email. First to ask and make arrangements to come get it can have it. If you really want, I can take a picture of it, but it's currently in the basement, and I don't feel like bringing it up until I have to. :) Let me know.

Not a Drop in Sight

So I've got about 5 1/2 weeks left until my due date, and this baby is definitely still riding high. I took this picture a few minutes ago, but don't be deceived--I definitely it makes me look smaller than I am (think it's the dark shirt or something).



Don't mind the pants--these are so comfortable that they're my pants of choice these days, so if you drop by, you can pretty much expect to see me in them.

To answer your questions about how I'm doing--I'm tired, and sore, and tired of being sore. I've still got a bunch of stuff I want to do before the baby comes, though, so she'll have to stay in there a few weeks more. At least long enough to be born healthy-- about 2 1/2 weeks. That's just crazy. I'm still having a hard time believing I'm that close to having 3 kids. And as for names, we think we have a winner, but we're just not totally sold on it yet, so you'll have to wait to hear it... unless you already have. Feel free to keep suggestions coming, but try not to choose any off of this list. I don't want my kids to have the same name as 5 other kids in their class. I mean, I did, and it wasn't that big of a deal, but still... I like something just slightly more original. And now I need to go get some stuff put away, so I can start pulling out all the baby stuff in the next week or two... babies take up so much room!

Cookies

So all through the holiday season, I'd intended on making sugar cookies and decorating them with the girls... but never got around to it. Well, today, we finally did. First of all, for my mom--here is your recipe (we couldn't find it when we tried to make them a couple weeks back at her house):

Room Mother's Cookies

2 C Sugar
6 Eggs
2 t Vanilla
1 C Margarine
1 C Shortening

Mix, then add:

7 C Flour
6 t Baking Powder
1/2 t Salt

Roll out and cut them, then bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375* for 8-10 minutes.

I halved this recipe, and it still made more than enough for us. For the record, though, Mom, your homemade recipe tastes better. These ones aren't quite sweet enough, and I had to add a lot more flour.

I'm a little bit sad that I didn't get any pictures of Breanne and Janey cutting out cookies, but things were too chaotic at that point, and my hands were covered in flour and cookie dough, so I couldn't touch my camera. Suffice it to say that two girls cut out cookies very quickly, and often grow impatient waiting for their turn for me to roll out their dough again... but they generally enjoy making cookies. :)

When it came time to decorate the cookies, instead of doing our usual frosting and sprinkle extravaganza, like we tend to do around here, I decided to follow Katherine's inspiration and let Breanne and her friend Spencer "paint" the cookies with a glaze-like frosting while Janey was napping. This went over really well with the kids, and was significantly less money and work for me. I'm definitely a fan... though I need to invest in some cooking paint brushes, as you can see from the pics.

Oh, and sorry Amanda--I only thought to take pictures while you guys were in the bathroom... I don't know how that happened. :)

The artist at work, concentrating very hard:





And because I have a silly girl--

what happens when I request a funny face:



and what happens when I request pretty smiles: