An Evening At the Park

Took the middle two to the playground at the nearby elementary school. Iris met a little boy where they hit it off right away.

Logan: Do you know what 300 plus 300 equals?
Iris: 600!
Logan: Yeah!
*continue to discuss numbers and math*
Logan: Hey, do you want to be my friend?
Iris: SURE! *runs off to talk to Logan's mom* Hey, guess what? Your son and I are now friends because we are both math geniuses.

Both his mom and I laughed and rejoiced at this. She was so happy to meet a kid who loved numbers as much as hers, something she had not encountered before today. Logan's older brother then started discussing superheroes, and we all got into a conversation about Marvel characters and Star Wars.

I take my kids to the park and they start a math and book club. :)

How Time Flies..

Can you believe it? Within the course of one week Rose turned a year old and Dorian turned 6 months old. Time really sure does fly when they're little.

Dorian is getting bigger by the minute. He's over 20 pounds now, super long, and wearing 9-12 month clothing because he so enormous. His eyes stayed light, making him the only one out of us to have hazel eyes. He's going to be one heck of a heartbreaker with those looks. J is having a field day dressing up his little boy just like daddy. Fedora's and plaid everywhere!

Rose, while still having her gibberish moments, is talking up a storm. She's one heck of a smart-alec, and a bit bossy, now, too. (HONEY, be NICE!) She's so cute, you can't stay mad at her long. She's catching up to her sisters, and fast. She'll be starting pre-K in just a few short weeks and is almost as big as Iris now.

Poor Iris. She inherited her mama's short gene, and is the shortest and roundest (minus Dorian of course) of the bunch. She's still totally random. The stuff that comes out of her mouth...all you can do is smile and nod. She's an incredibly weird little kid and starting 1st grade soon.

As for Lily, not muched has changed with her. She'll be starting 3rd grade, and is one smart cookie. Unfortunately, she uses her cleverness and manipulation skills for evil. She's usually in trouble for doing something she knows she wasn't supposed to do, but managed to do so anyway, under the radar, until someone noticed something was amiss.

The kiddos are fine, healthy, and incredibly brilliant. We have a lot going on, but we're handling it. The only thing I'm having a hard time with is how fast they are all growing. We send everyone our love. <3 p="p">

Two Months Old and Other Things

Dorian: Today was my little man's 2 months well-baby visit. He is 22.5 inches long and weighs 12lbs 8oz. As of Saturday, his two-month birthday, I am no longer breastfeeding. His lactose intolerance is confirmed and he has now been switched to Soy formula. I'm still bummed, but I hope this stops his constant painful gas, and keeps his stools from being frothy or watery. He seems to be content with the new formula, even though I'm not. I just have to remind myself that as long as he is healthy and happy, that is all that matters.

Rose: Justin started work almost two weeks ago and Rosie is having a hard time not having him home. There have been plenty of tantrums, fights, and just outright craziness from this little girl, I don't know how to handle her sometimes. I have a headache and I'm quite sure I cracked a tooth from clenching my teeth when she yells, but she tries to be a good kid. She just really misses her daddy.

Iris: What can I say about Iris? She's been lying a lot, so most of the time she speaks, she's usually ignored. She refuses to do any of her bookwork, and has been breaking every rule she can think of withing minutes of each other. I assume it's to get attention because she feels like she has nothing else to do. I'd say it was middle child syndrome, but technically, she's not the middle child anymore.

Lily: My eldest has been a handful sometimes, but I do love this kid. Without her, I think I would have lost my sanity somewhere. She has been a tremendous help with her little brother and youngest sister that I've mentioned to her what a blessing she is. I have my hands full with so many kids so close in ager and if it weren't for Lily, I think I would have broken down a lot. She's no longer in therapy. Her last session was two weeks ago and I've taken what her therapist has said and put it into action. A lot of her behavior has changed due to this, which is much progress indeed. Her nightmares have subsided, and she seems a lot more content. We've had our ups and downs, but through it all, this kid has done an amazing job with how she handles herself. It's amazing that she is only 6.

In general, the kids are adjusting to their father being gone and us hopping from one place to another. Within the next three months we should have a place of our own. I hope by then, things will get back to normal. Their healthy, and for the most part, happy little pains in my butt. :) Truthfully, what kid shouldn't be a pain in the butt? Without their nuances, life would be pretty boring.

One Month and Other Things

Wednesday, Dorian celebrated (read: slept-through) his first month birthday. He is currently 8lbs 12 oz and jumped to 21.25 inches long. We've had a really tough month, the two of us. His first two weeks, he wasn't gaining weight well, he had frothy stools, suffered dehydration, his allrgies were all over the place... Finally, we found that he is allergic to cedar and that he is lactose intolerant. He wasn't digesting the breastmilk well, so we have been supplementing with lactose-free formula for him and have put him on probiotics. So far so good.

While I was still at the hospital after having the baby, Lily had her second appointment with the psychologist. It didn't go well since her father went with her. Lily's going to therapy to deal with her nightmares. Her nightmares have one reoccuring theme: her grandmother, her father's mother, causing harm to the family. So while her dad sat next to her in the room, she refused to say anything that could possibly help deal with her dreams for fear of insulting her father. She was afraid of saying anything negative about her grandmother since J was sitting in the room, so the entire session was a complete waste of time for everyone. We've been dealing with her issues by ourselves since, but plan to return  if what we are doing doesn't help. It's been frustrating to say the least.

Iris and Rose are doing well. Iris more than Rose. Rose has been waking up in the middle of the night crying; she's still trying to adjust to all of the changes. I wish I could do more for the kids, but we work with what we have.

All in all the kids are generally happy and very healthy. They are growing like weeds both physically and intellectually; Rose's vocabulary has exploded in this past month. Dorian is hungry...always. As a matter of fact, I need to go feed him again.

Baby Delivery

It's been almost two weeks and I have yet to write anything about my hospital stay or the fmaily. Sorry about that. I've been recovering these past two weeks, and have gotten much needed rest. (As much as is possible when you have a newborn, anyway.)
First off, the delivery went, for the most part, smoothly. J and I arrived at the hospital at around 5:16 to sign in and let them know we were ready. I was prepped, getting hooked up to IVs, poked and prodded, and had to answer a bajillion questions for paperwork that was filled out for me while I'm in the process of being poked and prodded. J was easily distracted by his Nook. :) Annoyingly enough, this actually took a good hour or so to do.

At around 6:30, everyone who was supposed to be in the OR comes in, gives me the run down, which I shamelessly nod off through due to barely sleeping, and having done this three times already, and am wheeled out to the OR. We make it in at exactly 7am and I am poked and prodded some more. Apparently, I was retaining too much water, or was just too fat, that the anesthesiologists were having a hard time finding a spot between my vertabrae to insert the needle. This sucked. Majorly. The female was using her fingernail to make an indention. I had to be poked about 4 or 5 different times just to numb the area they needed, and even then, we were all having a hard time. Finally, the nurse who was holding me, gave me a stool to rest my feet so that I could lean over and curl properly. Once that happened, everything seemed to fall perfectly into place and the doctors were able to finally insert the needle in spine without any issues.

After that, the scene went according to plan. Screen up, arms tied down, OB and surgical tech hovering over my abdomen with scapels, nurses on standby, anesthetic team hovering overhead, med students watching along the walls...

Dorian arrived at 7:40 am on the 7th, much to the delight of the entire medical staff in the room. You hear my doctor and his tech, who is also male, being as serious as possible as they make their incisions, when suddenly, you hear the tech say "Oh, look at his tiny little ears!" and both men are just melting at the adorableness that is my son. According to Justin, the nurses throughout the room were also squealing and pointing at my gorgeous baby. :)

What can I say? I make pretty babies.

Please Welcome...

Our newest bundle of joy, Dorian Vaughn Ames; born 7 February, 2012 at 07:40 am in Metroplex Adventist; height: 19.5 inches; weight: 8lbs.

More to come...

Today's the Day

So, we head out to the hospital in a matter of a few hours. I have to be checked in no later than 530am. My hospital bags are packed (have been for the past two weeks now), I'm showered, the girls are cleaned and have clothes set for the day... and I can't sleep. I *want* to sleep, but I am so anxious for this that I keep waking up every hour.

Soon.

I'll be posting a picture with all the stats as soon as I can. :)