Happenings

Warning: lots of pictures! But that's the easiest way to show what we've been up to the last few weeks...

On June 17th, Jayna turned 5! We originally were going to just have a small gathering with a few friends, but she REALLY wanted a party at Pump It Up. Since Travis had a party there last year and it was what she really wanted, we went for it. It actually turned out to be a great plan, considering Audrey was still very new and a party there requires very little work/planning on my part. She invited several friends from church and one from preschool and had a blast! She greatly increased her My Little Pony collection that day, and has played with them almost every day since. We sure do love this girl. I already miss her when I think of her going to kindergarten in the fall.

Jayna's actual birthday fell on Father's Day. It just so happened that a group of families from Travis' baseball team was going to a Mariners game that day, so Steve took Travis and Jayna. Travis sat next to his "bff" from school, and Jayna apparently took advantage of the fact that it was her birthday and asked Daddy for every treat imaginable :) When they got home we sang and had brownies.

Audrey around 5 weeks. This girl brings so much joy to my every day.

Travis and Jayna can really butt heads, but more and more often, I hear them playing and laughing  and pretending together. It does my heart good! I don't even remember what they were talking about at this particular moment, only that it made me smile.

One of our Friday family movie nights! The kids are so sweet with Audrey.  I really couldn't have asked for a smoother transition in bringing her in to our family. 

A new baseball bat from us!

Travis turned 7 (???!!!) on June 29th. We invited a few families from church, along with  lots of family, and it turned out to be quite the gathering. Travis wanted an obstacle course (which Steve made from various items in our garage) and ice cream sundaes, so that is what he got! Though I must say - planning and getting ready for this party was stressful for me. Steve and I have decided that future birthday parties are going to be much more laidback affairs. Not any less special or memorable for the kids, just....less. Actually, I think "less" will probably end up being MORE special and memorable....  Anyway, we sure do adore our Travis! 

Travis at one of his games, getting ready to field the ball. To say that Travis loves baseball would be the understatement of the year. Both playing it and watching it (go ahead....ask him anything you'd like about the Mariners!) It really is very cute.

Cousin love. My sister and her family came down for T's birthday, and we went to Northwest Trek the next day. We came to this spot and Travis said, "We have to take a picture here!" Okay, then. 

She had been giving us random and short smiles for a couple of weeks leading up to this, but at 7 weeks, she is most definitely smiling! 

For the 4th of July this year, Steve worked, so my original thought - considering we now have FOUR young kids including a newborn - was to stay home. We actually get quite a nice show from Jayna's bedroom. But one of my friends invited us over to another friends' house, and I am so glad she convinced me to come! There were many kids for my kids to play with, great food, and fireworks, of course. We all had a really great time. 

Audrey loooooves the front pack. And I love holding her close, so it all works out :)

Jayna helping me make gobs of raspberry jam.

Almost 8 weeks (taken yesterday)

We have some raspberry bushes in our backyard, and the kids are out there daily picking berries.  It's one of their favorite things to do, actually, though they seem to think that new raspberries magically ripen every hour :)

And taken just today - our three goofballs, playing baseball together.

Audrey Beth

Audrey Beth
May 14th, 2012, 7:05 pm
8 lb. 12 oz., 20 1/2 in.

Isn't she just beautiful? There are no words to describe the depth of my love for this little girl.

Audrey's birth story...

My due date of May 7th came and went. I didn't necessarily expect to deliver before my due date, but I will admit that every day afterward felt like an eternity. I had done some serious nesting in the weeks prior, had childcare for every possible scenario lined up, and had not made any extra commitments for the week after my due date, so all that was left to do was wait.

My doctor and I had decided that we would give this baby an extra week to come on his/her own before we would induce. If it weren't for the fact that I had had three very large babies (and consequently, very difficult recoveries), we would have taken even more time, but given my history, I was very much on board with my doctor's recommendation of induction at 41 weeks. However, I really didn't expect or want it to come to that.

My mom and Steve's mom arrived on Saturday, the 12th, but still no baby. On Mother's Day, the 13th, I had yet another (at least the third) episode of steady and increasingly uncomfortable contractions that led me to believe I was in labor. I really thought that was it, and that I would avoid induction by just hours. But no, after a couple of hours the contractions dwindled, and Steve and I headed to the hospital at 6am the following morning. I was disappointed it had come to an induction, but also very anxious to meet our baby!

I'll say here that this birth surprised me in several ways. First, I really thought that, given I was at 41 weeks with my fourth child (as opposed to my first), it wouldn't take much for my body to kick into labor. Wrong! I was started on the lowest level of pitocin (at "2) around 7am. I expected this level - or maybe just a level or two higher - to do the trick, but it didn't do a ton. I was having contractions, just not as intense as they needed to be. So, every half hour or so, they increased the pitocin - and I ended up having to go to the MAXIMUM ("20") level they use. I was at that level by 4:45 or so, and stayed at that level until my dr. checked me (again) at 5:45.

So it was a long day, but I had Steve and my friend (and doula) Julie to help distract me. I rotated mainly between standing/rocking, the exercise ball, and the rocking chair, and I didn't really start getting uncomfortable until 2:00 or 3:00. Even then, the contractions were manageable.

Going into the hospital that morning, I was hoping to be able to make it through without an epidural. (I've had epidurals with all three of the others, though with Evan, I didn't get it until I was already nearly fully dilated, so I knew I could do it). However, once I realized how high the pitocin was, I decided to go ahead with the epidural. I knew from past experience that once the doctor broke my water, my pain level would skyrocket, and since pitocin increases the pain/intensity of contractions (and I was on the maximum level, which I've never experienced before), I knew it would be wise to go ahead with it. My only regret now is that I didn't insist on getting it BEFORE she broke my water!

At 5:45, my doctor checked me and I was at 5cm, and baby was FINALLY low enough that she felt comfortable breaking my water. Here's where everything went kind of crazy. After she broke my water, I went immediately from 5cm to 7cm. And as expected, my pain went from about a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 to about a 20. It was instantaneous and awful. But I think Steve and Julie would confirm that I handled it well. I just kept breathing and focusing on the fact that every contraction was bringing my baby down. But wow, it was hard. Meanwhile, the nurses were prepping me for the epidural and the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the run-down on risks, etc.....it was an exruciating 45 minutes before the epidural was done. From about 6:30-6:45, the epidural starting kicking in, and when my doctor checked me at 6:50, I was fully dilated! She told me the baby was right there and it was time to start pushing. And here was another surprise....with the first three babies, I never pushed for less than and hour and a half. Even with Jayna and Evan, it took way more pushing than it does for most people. This time - just 15 minutes! Even through the epidural, I could feel a ton of pressure and where the baby was, and I was just shocked that the baby was moving down so quickly! Everyone in the room was so encouraging, and at 7:05, I gave one final push, and out came....a GIRL!! I can't describe my joy in that moment of meeting her, just as with meeting each of our other kids. They laid her on my stomach right away, and I just cried and couldn't take my eyes off her. I was vaguely aware of things going on around me, but all I could do was take her in and hold on tight. I wish I could live those first minutes over again.

The final (and very welcome) surprise was that my tearing had been minimal...much less than with my other kids. My recovery with my other kids was really, really hard, so I had been anxious about how it would be this time around. I was so thankful when my dr. told me I only needed a few stitches. This may have been due to the fact that Audrey was "only" 8lb. 12 oz. - our smallest baby.

Overall, I am so happy with how the birth went. Steve was an amazing support, Julie was fabulous as always, I loved my doctor (that day and throughout my whole care), and the nurses were great, too. I am thankful for each of them.

I know it is partly post-partum hormones, but just looking at this girl makes me cry. I am just so thankful for four healthy babies, four beautiful births. God has been so good to us. I will admit that I am having a very hard time with the fact that this is our last....but more on that later.

Audrey, you will read this one day. Know this: you are loved. From the very moment you came into this world, your daddy and I loved you deeply and intensely. It is my joy and honor to be your mother, and I will always, always be here for you.

Easter

Our annual Easter/rocking chair family picture

Giving the grass a "haircut"

Friday: Jesus is buried

Sunday: He is alive!

Easter was a joy this year. The kids are finally getting old enough to where they really understand what Easter is all about. Even though we do have fun with the idea of "Santa Claus" at Christmas, and we may or may not go with the notion of a Tooth Fairy, we've never introduced them to the "Easter Bunny". I suppose this is partly because my parents didn't do it with me/my siblings when we were kids, and I always thought it was strange that other kids would get Easter baskets filled with treasures every year. But really, we just want the focus of Easter to be completely on celebrating Christ's resurrection - the center of our faith and reason for our salvation. They still get their fair share of candy from Easter egg hunts, but hopefully that will just be one thing about Easter that they love.

Anyway, not doing Easter baskets doesn't mean we don't have fun! This year, I found a project on Pinterest that I just loved and wanted to with the kids (despite several "pins", this is the only project I've done thus far and probably the only one I'll do for awhile:). A week or so before Easter, we collected rocks, dirt, a small flower pot, sticks for the crosses and some grass seed and created a crucifixion scene. The grass grew more quickly than I had thought it would, and we had to give it a couple of haircuts in order to see the crosses - the kids loved that part. On Friday, we covered up the tomb, and on Sunday, we got to take the stone away and see the empty tomb! I think it is hard - even for adults - to really comprehend the details and intensity and importance of this crucial event, but hopefully this visual gave the kids a little bit of a greater understanding of it all.

After a great morning at church, we had a small Easter egg hunt at home....Travis decided he wanted to help Steve hide the eggs, leaving Evan and Jayna to find them. After naps/rest time, we went over to our friends' house for a fabulous dinner, fellowship, and another Easter egg hunt with TONS of eggs. The weather was gorgeous, adding to our truly great afternoon and evening (especially since it is pretty much ALWAYS raining on Easter around here). Oh, and Steve, who had thought he was going to be working all afternoon at Best Buy doing some overtime work, ended up going there only to find out that BB closed for Easter Sunday! Not many stores do that anymore. So Steve got to join us at our friends' house - an unexpected but very welcome surprise :)

Still thankful for such a great day!

Great Wolf Lodge!

Several weeks ago, Melanie asked me if we'd want to join them for a night at the Great Wolf Lodge. We had never been, mainly because it is not exactly cheap, but I had heard that it was tons of fun and worth the money. So, we decided that even though I would be big and pregnant, it would be much easier to go now than with a newborn in tow, and we went for a night during spring break. And we had a blast!!!

Steve and I decided not to tell the kids ahead of time. They knew we had a "surprise" for them, but they didn't know what. They did finally figure out (through asking us countless questions) that we were going to a hotel of some sort....here's us pulling up to the place.

They were much more exuberant when they actually saw the inside of the place :)

In case anyone is considering a visit here in the future, my advice is that you don't get a fancy room, unless you're staying more than one night and will actually be spending time in the room. You can start swimming early on the day of arrival, and stay until closing time of the day of departure, and there are lots of other things to do around the hotel (arcade, food, scavenger hunt...), so you just don't end up spending a lot of time there.

The great thing about the water park is that it really is suitable for all ages. There's a great baby/toddler pool, waterslides for both younger and older kids, a wave pool that all the kids loved, and a few slides that any adult would love, too. Travis was barely big enough to be able to go on everything, even the "Tornado", so that was fun. Jayna was a bit timid at first, but before we knew it, she was headed off to certain waterslides alone without even telling us where she was going (yes, she got scolded for that:) I think the part that was most fun for me was the waterslides where I got to ride on an innertube with the kids. Such fun to see their faces and hear them scream! Although you should have seen me trying to get out of the innertubes at the end of the ride...

And that was really the only downside for me. Almost 8 months pregnant at the time, you would have thought I was the main attraction of the place. Seriously, will someone tell me what is so fascinating about a pregnant lady?! Young, old, and every age in between - people wouldn't stop staring at me! I was mostly able to ignore it, but it did make me a bit self-conscious. Particularly when it came to this one creepy dude staring at me the entire time we stood in a longish  line for a waterslide. Ew. (and p.s., it's not like I was wearing a revealing swimsuit - it was very modest!)

 Playin' in the arcade. Or just pretending to play, in this case.

 Jayna wanted to try the game with the "claw" - we thought she'd want to try several times and waste a bunch of tokens before giving up - but she got one (by herself!) on the first try! "Sniffer" now sleeps with her.

 Hud and Ev.

 Gearing up for a second day of swimming fun.

 Getting ready to jump a wave!

 Cousins! I love this picture.

 The best picture I could get of Travis Jayna, Ethan, Aunt Mel and Uncle Eric coming down the big slide together.

Conked out. Evan was not nearly as energetic the last half of the second day, and it turned out that he was coming down with a bug of some sort. He rarely falls asleep anywhere there's anything going on, so we knew he either played really hard or wasn't feeling well.

Anyway, the kids really had a great time. You don't always know how these kinds of outings with young kids are going to go, but it was really a great time for everyone! Steve and I didn't feel stressed about anything (except maybe when Jayna took off), and we felt like 2 days of swimming was the perfect amount. It was also really nice to have Melanie and Eric there - that way, adults could go do the big rides and there was still someone to watch the rest of the kids. And I'm betting it will be even more fun when we go in a few years when the kids are all older and don't need as much supervision. In the meantime, we get to hear "When do we get to go back to Great Wolf Lodge?" every time we pass it on the freeway :)

Bonnie's wedding

On Feb. 25th, the last of my sisters got married! It was a beautiful evening and a blessed weekend with family. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend...

 All 5 Schwartz siblings!! It is a rare occurrence for all of us to be together at the same time and same place!

 Hudson and Evan. They're finally old enough to be able to play together and really enjoy each other....so fun to watch!

 Pre-wedding afternoon nap.

 The beautiful flower girl!

 ....and handsome ring bearer. 

 This picture cracks me up. The two moms and aunt all motioning the ring bearers to where the were supposed to go....somehow between the rehearsal the night before and the wedding, they forgot. Silly boys.

 The bride and groom.

Tired kids at the end of a long evening. 

We are so happy for Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Sungsoo! Even if they did have to move themselves to Korea. Thank you for letting us be part of your special day!