Wow, the last five weeks have gone by very quickly. We took Rhoswyn in on Saturday for her one month pictures. She is in three different outfits – her blessing dressed made by her Nonnie (my mom), a green and flower dress given to her by her Grandma Cindy and a yellow outfit that both Aylish and Maeve wore in their one month pictures. We were lucky to get some great shots especially because she got really fussy right in the middle of her session. We had to take a break and nurse and then we were able to finish. So her she is in all her glory!
As I was getting the kids in their swimsuits so they could run through the sprinklers, I told Liam that we needed to put sunscreen on so he would not get sunburned. He raised his pointer finger and said ,”I have sunscreen in my finger.” Then he pointed his finger at his chest and made a spraying sound – “sssspppprrrr”. Then he says so proudly, “Now I have sunscreen. My finger has superpowers and magic.” Grady and I just started laughing and laughing. Other superpowers he has revealed lately in addition to his sunscreen finger are – blowing hugs (hugs himself and then flings his arms at you to “blow” you a hug), a flick of his finger makes his sister stop crying, flying to get a diaper for Rhoswyn, his magic remote that turns people off(he did this to Grady and I and we could not talk 
. The list changes daily and just helps me see the magic of a two-year old!
I just read this blog post that just hit home with me – http://www.soulemama.com/soulemama/2009/05/handwritten.html
As I was helping Aylish clear her room out (she is moving back in with Maeve and Liam for awhile), I must have found dozens of little notes and pictures authored by Aylish that she could not throw in the trash. At first I was just annoyed that we needed to find a place to store all these precious treasures that she had created but then I remembered this post. I paused and suggested that for now she just put them in her desk drawer. I opened one of the folded papers before she put them away to find a drawing she had done of the Salt Lake Temple. Yes, these are treasures indeed. One of these days I will actually miss those little notes cluttering up the house.
I neglected to give the offical stats for Rhoswyn in my last post, so here goes!
Name: Rhoswyn Dianna Kelly
Weight: 9lbs (biggest of my babies)
Height: 22.5 in (longest too!)
Hair: Black
Birthday: April 26, 2009
Place: Home
Time: 3:35 am
Most distinctive feature – long fingers and toes!
Looks most like – Maeve as a baby just darker hair.
Favorite activity: Sleeping and Nursing
First Visitors: Aunty Beks, Aunt Rachel, Aunty Jess, Aunt Dianna, Aunty Pam and Taryn.
You know the old saying that things happen in threes? Not sure where that started but it seems to be true. The latest three for my family – Grady’s last minute business trip(see previous post about how I missed him!), my youngest sister’s wedding and the birth of our fourth child.
Grady returned home the morning of Thursday, April 23rd after I had been praying all night that the baby would not come before he got home. Luckily the contractions I had been feeling the night before stopped when I went to bed. No excitement that night. In the morning I did notice that the baby was very low. After we picked Grady up from the airport, my midwife, Cathy came for our prenatal. I usually do not get checked to see if I am dilating before I actually go into labor. My opinion is that the baby will come when it comes and knowing if you are dilating or not can be misleading since it is no guarantee when labor will start (ie women have been know to walk around at 4cms for several weeks). But with my sister’s wedding just two days away, I decided to see if anything was happening yet (more to let my mom know than anything else.) So Cathy checked me and found I was 2+ cms, 50% effaced and that my cervix was still posterior but very soft plus the baby was engaged at a -3 station. Her advice – if you want to make it to the wedding, do not do anything for the next two days! Ha! Like that was very likely with three kids to take care of and everyone else busy with wedding stuff. In trying to take her advice, I tried to do as little as possible which meant the kids mostly played outside and watched tv. I made sure they were dressed and fed and that was about it and spent the rest of the time on the sofa trying to do nothing, scoffing at everyone who kept reminding me that I was to be doing nothing every time I stood up. By now that baby was so low that it felt like I had a bowling ball sitting on my pelvic floor! Despite what everyone else wanted, I would have been just fine if the baby came before the wedding, or even during the wedding (my midwife has a current temple recommend – what a great place to have a baby -the Salt Lake Temple! I even thought of having her come to the ceremony just in case!)
Thankfully, on Saturday morning the baby had moved up giving me some relief from the bowling ball. Contractions were still coming and going at random (day three of that now) but did not seem that strong. So we got everyone ready for the wedding and headed to the temple. It was funny to see everyone watching me to see if I was having contractions during the sealing. But the sealing was over and again no excitement (well maybe for the bride and groom, just not me). Then we headed over to the reception where most people were surprised to see me. I just told them that the baby could now come since the wedding was over.
We left a little early since the little kids were tired and ready for bed. After getting them to bed, my sister, Bekah and her husband came over and visited with us for awhile. My parents and my Aunt also came over and we stayed up talking until about midnight. Grady remembers me saying before we turned the lights out that the baby can come now.
At 2:40 I awoke with a really strong contraction, followed quickly by two more. I woke Grady up just to let him know that things maybe starting and to let him know that I was going to the bathroom. Contractions continued to come. I decided to try and go back to sleep and see if things were going to continue or not. After two more contraction in bed and getting the shakes too, I went to the bathroom again and then decided that we should call our midwife. At 3:15 am Grady called Cathy while I was still having contractions one after another. I told Cathy that I felt like things were going to go quickly. She was on her way. Just a minute later, while leaning on my birth ball, I felt lots of pressure and needed to push. While trying to not push too much, my water broke. I had Grady call Cathy to let her know and tell her to hurry because it would not be long. She said she was getting close. Grady went and opened the front door for her and came back to the bedroom. Grady laid out the sheet under me and the pushing began. I kept telling Grady not to go anywhere because the baby was coming. I could not see him since I was on my hands and knees and he was behind me. We did not have time to call anyone or even wake up my mom or the kids (both Maeve and Aylish wanted to be at the birth). After just a few pushes that I was blowing through (that helps to slow the pushing down), the baby’s head was out and there was lots of dark hair. Just then Cathy arrived and ran downstairs. My mom heard her going down the stairs and came down to see what was going on. Boy was she surprise when she saw that the baby was being born right then. Cathy got there just in time to check and see if there was a cord around the baby’s neck (and there was – one in four babies have a cord around their neck). She got the cord unwound and then Grady caught the baby after Cathy helped with the shoulders (they were a tight fit). Grady was totally calm the whole time (except when I set the phone down and he had to look for it to call Cathy the second time). He announced that it was a girl and that Rhoswyn was here. She was born a 3:35 am on Sunday April 26th – just 55 minutes after I first woke up with contrations! I knew that it would be a quick labor but did not think it would be that fast.
We had just decided on names on Thursday and the funny thing was after we did, both Grady and I felt like it would be a girl. So her full name is Rhoswyn Dianna Kelly. Rhoswyn is pronounced rose-win and it means white rose, which is funny since she has dark hair. She is named after my older sister Dianna who is my best friend, mentor and inspiration. I hope that she will follow her Aunt in many ways and become a strong and spiritual woman.
For weeks before her birth, I had been telling everyone that the baby would be born the night or morning after my sister’s wedding. My midwife even wrote it in her planner! Therefore we have named her “Rhoswyn, the Obedient” -she came when she was told!
A couple of weeks ago, Grady found out that he could get a great deal on a conference for Interaction Designers. The catch – it is Newport Beach, CA for 5 days and it is when I am 38 weeks pregnant (also the week before my sister’s wedding). Since my parents live with us, we felt that he should take advantage of the opportunity and hope that the baby would wait til Daddy got home (my other three kids have all come between a week and two weeks early). He left last Saturday and comes home tomorrow morning (12 hours and counting – yes I am counting the hours). Any other time and I could count on lots of help from my parents. Not to say that they have not helped out but with my little sister’s wedding this Saturday, they are a bit preoccupied. My mom has her list of things to get done for the wedding and has it all planned out when it all needs to be done (good thing my mom is very organized since my sister is not very detail oriented.)
Instead of going on and on about how well the children have behaved(yeah right) or how two of the three kids have had head injuries( one needing 3 staples even) – I will just reflect on how much I love and appreciate (and miss) my dear husband. As the old saying goes, absent makes the heart grow fonder!
Here are all the things I love about my DH -especially that I have missed over the last five days!
1. He wrestles with the kids (especially Liam) even when he is exhausted after work.
2. He gets up with them when they wake up in the middle of the night.
3. He plays with them while I am getting dinner ready (or he makes dinner when I am too tired right now)
4. Our after dinner quite time together – the kids always finish dinner first and then are off to play so we have sometime for grown-up talk.
5. Before bed massage – that is that only way I have been sleeping the last little while.
6. Tag teaming to get the kids to bed
7. He watches the kids so I can go to the store in peace and quiet (and actually get the shopping done)
8. He brings home treats for me so when I get snacky before bed, I have a sweet treat waiting for me.
9. He comes and helps when he sees that I need it, even if he is working or playing Star Wars on the Wii
10. He gives me the emotional support I need – Just knowing that I am not in this alone.
I am so grateful for spouse who is so amazing and I can’t wait for him to be home tomorrow. Now if this baby will just wait another 10 hours (I have been having mild contractions tonight).
As a mom, you have to pick your battles with your kids. Like does it really matter if their socks match or if they wear the same outfit for days in a row? Probably not. You need to save your energy for more important battles, like eating healthy foods, getting chores and school work done, and proper grooming and bathing. But there are even days when a mom gets worn down and even the more important battles get pushed aside and as long as no one it getting hurt, then pretty much anything goes.
Today was one of those days at the Kelly house. With only getting 2-3 hours of good sleep a night this week, i had just run out of energy. To add to the fun, all of the kids were up in the middle of the night last night. Liam was up twice and ended up in our bed around 3am. At 4am both the girls were wide awake and wanting to get up and this was after Aylish went to bed super late, like 11pm. Then they were all up by 7:30am. So combine a mom with no sleep and kids with not enough sleep and you get a very, bad, no good, horrible day! It was clear very early that if anything was to get done today, I would have to turn into an Ogre Mom. Not wanting to be an Ogre, I decide to just give up the day as a loss without the yelling and stress. So the kids played outside most of the day, watched too much and ate way too many snacks. It was amazing that both the little ones napped – Liam always naps, but Maeve usually refuses to nap. Today though, she just curled up on her bed and fell asleep for an hour and a half. It surprised me how much energy it took just to let everything go and that was irritating since my whole objective was to not have to use energy today since I had a negative amount of it.
So this day is finally over and I have yet another sleepless night to look forward to – at least tomorrow Grady will be home to keep some order around here. I will say this to my kids – enjoy this while it is last, Mommy will be back after this pregnancy finally ends and then – look out!
If it were winter all year long, being a homeschool mom, I would go completely insane. There just reaches a point where kids need hours fresh air, running, jumping, climbing trees, smelling flowers, sunshine, collecting bugs and leaves, & bare feet in the grass(I have kids who hate shoes and only wear them when forced). While playing in the snow can be fun – snow angels, snow forts, snow balls – there is a pattern here – snow which = cold! So it takes at least a half hour to bundle them up only for them to be outside for 15 minutes (the little ones) or an hour (the older ones). Then they come in with snow melting everywhere demanding hot chocolate to warm up their frozen little bodies. BUT with spring – they get their chores done quickly (have to be done before they can go outside), they eat breakfast in a flash and then poof they are out the door and in heaven. The wooden playset we got last year (thanks to Costco again and Uncle Paul, Grandpa Kirk and Grady for building it) was the best money ever spent. They come in when they are hungry and grab a snack or eat lunch and then poof, they are right back outside living in their imaginary world and mom has some time to blog during the day! Who would have thought! Even better, at night they eat dinner, have a bath (my kids love mud, sand and dirt) and then they are off to dreamland with another poof! Yes, spring = sanity to me!
So the nesting has begun. Last week we bought a second hand Mini-cosleeper (got a great deal on KSL) and I think that was the official start of nesting. I started a new incentive to have the kids keep their things picked up and put away (see my post on A lesson in Economics) and I have been working at getting my room organized since it seems to be the last place I always get organize). The kids spring clothes have been brought out of the boxes and outgrown items have been put away in their correct size box (normally they are just tossed on top of the boxes for months until I get to actually putting them away). The baby clothes box is sitting in my room waiting to be gone through. Clutter is driving me absolutely crazy right now – even my clutter which is usually well organized clutter and piles-just can’t stand to look at it right now. Got to put them away or at least on a shelf out of sight for awhile. Paper plates, bowls, and cups have been bought (thank you Costco) to keep the kitchen from piling up with dirty dishes (my mom who is normally on top of the dishes is distracted right now with wedding stuff – two weeks and 5 days until that is over). I even bought newborn diapers to have on hand – just one pack to start. The end must be nearing!
are the great boxes that become my kids favorite toys! Saturday we made our trip to Costco and today the Costco boxes were boats and trains and hideouts for my kids and that was only this morning. Who knows what they will become this afternoon – space ships, turtle shells, cars, baby beds – the list can go on and on if your kids have great imaginations. So who needs Toys-R-Us when you have Costco!
