January 9 = Funny Facebook Picture Day (again)

First- here's a baby in a shopping cart :)

And this made me laugh:

June 8 = Kayleigh's Birth Day!

This morning, we were not aware that today would be Kayleigh's birthday.  When I was pregnant with Malia, we took Liam to the Baltimore Aquarium as a treat, celebrating his last few days of being an only child.  So today, we took a trip to Kinder Farm Park to celebrate our last weekend as a family of four!

We took Rosie with us and as you can tell- she had fun!

When we got home, I laid down and took a nap- I had fun walking around but it took a little bit out of me.  I woke up and thought I had had dreams about having contractions.  I had a bowl of cereal and was contemplating how happy I'd be if I was actually having contractions and then it hit me, oh these are real.  So I started timing them... and regretting that I had had that bowl of cereal.

Between contractions, I took this picture of Rosie being tied to the door.  Malia walked her over to the door and put her leash on the door knob.  I thought it was so funny because Zachary does that quite often and now Malia's catching on.

Eventually, I called the OB office and read off the times between contractions and how long they were lasting and they told me to go to the hospital so we did!  We knocked on some neighbors doors but no one was answering so we took the kids with us- they did much better than we expected.

Eventually, Zachary called Miriam (a lady he knows through MAG) and she eagerly agreed to watch the kids for us so he took them home and she watched them until our respite care provider, Q, was able to relieve her.  Here they are saying bye to me and Kayleigh:

The next several hours... I don't have one word to summarize them.  The nurse had looked at my contractions on the machine and said I was in active labor.  She told me we'd probably do the c-section tonight.  I let her know that my parents were going to be coming in from North Carolina so I would really appreciate knowing for sure if we were doing it.  She paged the doctor several times and after a couple of hours we got word that the doctor agreed we would do it tonight.  Because I had had that bowl of cereal we had to wait for 8 hours if possible.  So eventually I got moved to a room and the doctor came in to check me.  I had had an OB appointment the day before and was 2 cm dilated.  When the doctor checked me, she said I was one cm dilated and that meant I wasn't in active labor and that they were going to send me home.  I looked at Zachary helplessly and he went into protective husband mode and took care of that- we were staying and the c-section was happening tonight.

Soon after this the contractions got really intense.  I was in a lot of pain and was howling like a dying animal.  They kept giving me shots to stop the contractions because we wanted to wait but the shots weren't working- as painful as they were.  The anesthesiologist  came in and asked me a lot of questions- I explained epidurals don't work on me- and we went through all the warnings and paperwork.  He told me as soon as the doctor was ready, we'd all be ready to go- he wasn't going anywhere.  An hour later, the doctor was ready and guess what!  The anesthesiologist was nowhere to be found.  So a new one came in and went over everything we had already gone through.  I was really impatient and out of it at this point but I survived... got rolled back to the OR, had the spinal tap, and from there- the doctors did their work and this was the result:

And here's more pictures of our newest (and last human) addition!

6 pounds, 15 ounces- my biggest baby!

Holding the Daddy's Citadel ring

December 18 = Peach Day

Look!  Baby girl is the size of a peach.  And that's all I've got for today :)

July 15 = Malia Eve

We have had a busy day today.  After breakfast, Liam and I headed to the grocery store to get the ingredients needed to make chicken casserole and sloppy joes- my mom will be making those Thursday and Friday night.  I'm hoping she saves the chicken casserole for Friday just in case I get to come home by then.  We came home and I ran the perishable food in and we headed out again to go to target- Liam ran out of his bubble bath last night and that had to be replaced stat.  I had also ordered a boppy cover online and chose to pick it up in the store but it was actually a different brand name so I cancelled the order.  Poor Malia will have to use big brother's blue boppy covers for a while.  We do have one gender neutral one- three peas in a pod- from Liam & Malia's great granny Jean so that's on the pillow now and in the car ready to hopefully assist me in nursing.  Then we went to Barnes & Noble to get Zachary a book called Why a Daughter Needs a Dad.  I opened up to a random page and read three of the 50 or 100 reasons and teared up.  I know personally there is nothing like the relationship between a little girl and her daddy.  I also picked up a cute little book- From Mother to Daughter.  I got the From Father to Son for Zachary for his first Father's Day so I thought it'd be neat to have a guide for myself.  Then Liam and I shared one of our traditions that we probably won't be able to do for a while- our Chickfila date.  He ate all of his chicken and enjoyed his ice.  We came home, Liam took a nap and the educator from the Infants & Toddlers Program came to the house for her first session with him.  She came an hour early on accident so when she left, Liam finished his nap.  Zachary got home and eventually we went to dinner at Outback.  I don't get to eat for a while so I wanted dinner to be really good.  Then we came home and packed... we just put Liam to bed about 30 minutes ago.  I wanted to say all the right things to him like he could understand what's going on.  I wanted to tell him that things are going to be really different starting tomorrow but the depth of my love for him will never change.  I wanted to tell him he will always be our first baby.  The first one we learned to feed and bathe.  The first one for whom we had to decide crib bumpers or no crib bumpers, when to let him cry longer than we felt comfortable with.  He was the first one we had to see hurting and not able to help and he was the first one whose tickle spots we found that made the most beautiful sounds we've ever heard come out.  He taught us a lot and we'll let Malia know she should be grateful to him for that.  But Malia will teach us a lot too.  We'll have to learn a lot about the sibling dynamic through her.  My brother and I are 7 years apart- there wasn't a lot of rivalry there- we didn't get compared that much because we have always been at different stages of our lives.  Zachary and his brother are a little closer in age and went through more of those experiences but Liam and Malia are probably going to be one grade apart.  They're probably going to be mistaken for twins.  They're going to like the same toys and doing the same things which will be convenient in some ways and nightmarish in others.  My prayer for them is that they'll always be close.  I know they're going to drive each other crazy sometimes but at the end of the day I hope they close their eyes knowing that they love and are loved by each other.  Now that Liam has gone to bed my focus is turning to Malia.  The main thing I'm wondering: is she going to look like Liam did when he was born?  How long is she, how much does she weigh?  Then my thoughts go to the delivery.  I pray we have a routine, boring delivery.  I can't wait to see the look in Zachary's eyes when he holds his baby girl for the first time.  I'm also very curious- and a little anxious- to see how Liam reacts.  Is he going to poke her?  Blow her kisses?  I wonder if she, unlike her brother, will love being held and snuggled.  I hope so.  For now, I'm going to go enjoy a bath.  I won't be home for a few days and then I don't know how long it'll be before I can sit in water with my incision so I'm going to make this one count- candles, bubble bath, Joshua Radin music, the whole 9 yards.  Zachary's currently engaged in his relaxing activity- watching the MLB All Star game.  And I've got to remember to eat around 11:30 since I'm not allowed to eat after midnight.  Man oh man, not looking forward to that.  Also my parents and brother will be here in about an hour!  I'm so excited they will be able to be here to meet Malia as soon as they can and take good care of the little man.  Malia's been safe and content for the last nine months- I assume this because I haven't had any rib shots like I did with Liam and she's stuck around this long instead of surprising us and coming early- but she's about to come into a family- immediate and extended- who love her and whose love for her will only grow with time.

Maybe instead of Joshua Radin, I will listen to MercyMe's Beautiful.  I hope I can help Malia keep these words and truly know this in her heart:

You're beautiful.
You are treasured.
You are sacred.
You are His.
You're beautiful.

July 4 = Independence Day!!

Woo-hoo!  Another real holiday!  We love the 4th of July and celebrated all day long.  We started with toast topped with red (strawberry jelly), white (bananas in the shape of stars), and blue (blueberries).

Then we had leftover spaghetti for lunch- not so exciting- but topped that off with some homemade blueberry lemonade slushies!

We then worked on Malia's room, which has nothing to do with independence day but here's a picture anyway :)

Then we had your classic hotdogs and hamburgers for dinner of course and finally, headed out to watch some fireworks over at the Naval Academy.  The car traffic wasn't bad at all on the way over there and we were thinking we probably should have driven to prevent this almost 38 weeks pregnant lady from walking all the way over there but when said 38 weeks pregnant lady had to go to the bathroom so badly on the way home, we were thankful we were walking and not in the very, very long line to get off campus.

Zachary caught a lightening bug for Liam to look at.  Liam did a little bit more than look :(

On the way home

Oh!  How could I forget!  When we got home, we had delicious strawberry cupcakes with vanilla icing and sprinkles waiting for us.  Yummmmmm!