Girl Stuff

Hi all~

Not much new around here. It's been super hot here the last few days so we've spent a lot of time at Ryan's parent's house (they have air!).

Aubrey is doing great, still has a little cold, but I think it's finally clearing up. She's a great baby and the cutest little girl I have ever seen! I read Babywise before she was born and have been using those principles, along with tons of advice from my good friend Kelsey, and so far things are going great. One of the things the book emphasizes is that you're supposed to get the baby to take a full feeding at every feeding time as opposed to letting them snack a little and fall asleep every hour or so, and the baby will naturally transition to a 2 1/2 to 3 hour feeding schedule. That is exactly what happened for us. Aubrey is eating every 3 hours on the button. She stays awake for a little while after a feeding and then takes a nap. The consistency sure makes routine much more possible, which is absolutely essential with the boys. I highly recommend the book.

Many of you probably know that Ryan and I, when we found out #3 was on the way, wanted another boy. We thought it would just be easier since we already had everything for a boy. I have to tell you though, I'm loving all the girl stuff! Maybe someday I'll get tired of the pepto-bismol pink, but for now I love it all! The dresses, hair bows, socks, accessories and blankets are all so cute. Aubrey's quilt that my mom made is just perfect, and of course the pink camo Boppy cover is very fun. So suffice it to say that we're so very thankful the Lord blessed us with a daughter.

Hope you all are enjoying your summer!

Wakie Baby

I tried to get some shots of Aubrey awake, it's not that easy yet, she's still so sleepy.

Summer Fun

After being at Grammy & Papa's house (Ryan's parents) yesterday swimming in their pool, we decided we needed one (read: really wanted one) because it absolutely wore the boys out and they ate like horses for dinner. So we trekked on over to the Wal-Mart Supercenter and found the same one. Summer is shaping up to be one of lots of good night-time sleep!

Little Rewards

Oh how I love those little sleep grins! Such fun rewards for taking care of a wee person who can't say "thanks" yet.

Now What?

Quick, all 3 of my children are sleeping at the exact same time...what should I do?

The Big "1 Week"

The Little Miss is now a week old and hasn't changed much since she was born (of course). She's a pretty easy going baby, getting fussy when it's close to eating time or when she's getting a bath! The boys continue to be very gentle and loving with her, we'll just have to wait and see how long that lasts. I suspect all that will end right around the time she can start grabbing their toys, but who really knows?

Anyway, tonight I put Aubrey on her quilt to start taking pictures once a week to watch how big she gets in weekly intervals. The boys thought that was a good idea too, and climbed on.

I Slept on my Belly Last Night

It was bliss.

Let Them Eat Cake

And what a mess it was!

Some Pictures

Those boys sure love their baby sister! Aubrey is doing great. I'm actually having to wake her up at night to feed her, which is quite a treat if you know anything about our boys' sleeping habits. Her eyes were wide open today taking everything in, including her brothers' craziness! My mom has been here since Aubrey was born, cooking for us and entertaining the little rascals, and I'm sure I don't have to tell you all what a blessing that has been. I don't know what we would have done without her.

Thanks for all the calls, emails and prayers, we so appreciate all of it!

A Whole New World

Even after being home for over a day now, I can't tell you how thankful I am to be here and not at the hospital! I strongly prefer my own bed and privacy. I still can't believe Aubrey came this early and that we're already home! It's been a fun time getting used to 3 little ones around here. Crazy, but fun. My mom is here helping us out...cooking, cleaning up, playing with the boys, holding the girl. Anyway, here are a couple more pictures to show you. It is so different having pink clothes and blankets and pillows, a whole new world.

She's Here!

Aubrey Rachel Trzeciak was born June 4, 2008 at 6:27 a.m. weighing 6 lb 7 oz and 19 in long. I haven't slept since Tuesday night so I will write more later, just wanted to get some pictures up for you all to see.

You'd Think I Would Know

As the title declares, you would think I'd know after having 2 babies what real labor is. We had a major false alarm this morning. I woke up when Ryan got up this morning at 4:30 and was having real (or so I thought!) contractions laying in bed for a little over an hour. I finally got up at 5:45 and informed hubby that he probably doesn't want to take a subbing job today because this was IT. Well, after a little while of being up and about things kind of cooled off. All you people who I would have called to say that I was in labor are probably glad I didn't at that hour! But I'm not discounting that I may be close because I have not felt "right" all day. Though this could be my body punishing me for the extremely long and active day we had yesterday. Our kids were certainly punishing us this morning for the extremely long and active day without proper rest we had yesterday, so why not my own body?

Anyway, onward...

Or rather backward...On Saturday we went out and did a couple of the things that were on my list to prepare for baby girl. We got some pacifiers, a Boppy cover (pink camouflage!), and an Icee to hold the boys over. The boys were thrilled with the pacis:

Warren couldn't figure out how to keep it in his mouth while saying "cheese!"

My sister-in-law Christi also gave us the baby clothes she had from her 2 girls, so I spent part of the morning today sorting and putting clothes away. Thanks Christi!

Let's go Baby Girl, I'm ready! (Well except for Shilo's baby shower on Saturday, I'd really really like to make it to that, since I'm in on the planning and executing of said shower! Hope I see you Saturday Shi.)

Another Week Gone

Thanks for all the name suggestions, they were extremely "helpful." We still haven't narrowed down a middle name, but are probably going to settle on Rachel for the first name. Hey, we still have 2 weeks, no pressure.

2 weeks-yikes. I made a list of the things I need to do, currently there are 7, but I took care of the dresser situation and washed all the new clothes, so 6 items remain. Ryan will be home in T minus 2 1/2 hours, so we'll take care of some of the rest today. It doesn't seem real that we will have a new baby here very soon.

We were at our landlord's house yesterday for a bit and they had a baby at the end of December. I forgot how wiggly little babies are!

So my plan for the summer when the boys are needing to be somewhere away from the house (because they have too much energy for this small space) is to just send them downstairs in our nice big yard to play, but as of right now the gate surrounding the house and yard is broken and we live one house down from a pretty busy street. Bummer. I guess we'll have to invest in some shock collars to keep them in the perimeter. Maybe we can borrow Billy's (my parent's dog).

That's all for now. We'll keep you all updated on the wee one!

Counting Down

As slowly as the time creeps by when you're anticipating a big event, looking backwards is a completely different story. I can't believe I only have 3 weeks until my due date (which means 4 weeks left until the actual delivery, based on my averages). I should probably start thinking about packing for the hospital soon, but the funny thing about this time around is that I don't feel any real sense of urgency. I should probably do lots of things, like wash all the cute pink clothes we've gotten and put them in the baby's drawers, although an important step before that is to get the drawers upstairs and in the closet! Maybe the most pressing thing is that we need to get cracking on a name. We rarely even talk about it, which is funny because it's such a huge decision. Ryan is in a summer school class which ends next Friday, so maybe after that we'll get serious about this baby and what needs to be done in anticipation of her arrival. (Let's hope it's really a 'her.') For now, I'm taking it super easy and enjoying the remaining time with just the boys.

ps-any name suggestions are welcome!

Me and my "baby"

It's Too Bad Warren's Not Photogenic

Amazingly, it was Jake who would not sit still long enough for me to snap any non-blurry pictures of him. So Warren gets all the attention this time.