What you've missed...

I can't believe I skipped September...I miss blogging so much, but if I have to pick between sleep and family time vs. blogging, sleep/family will win every time. :)

This is the kids' "first day of school 2010" picture. One of the best pictures they have ever taken together. Zachary is in preschool again--he misses the Kindergarten cutoff by a few months due to his November birthday. He goes 3 days a week (half days) and just loves it. Kenna is in 2 yr old "preschool," which is really more like a "parents day out" program. She goes once a week, on Tuesdays. They go to the same preschool--we feel really blessed to have found this school and it's super close to our house, which is always a plus!

My last pregnancy picture, taken at 35 weeks. I always forget to take that "last picture" before delivery. Must be the contractions... :)

And...here she is! This was taken at 1 week old. It's a little blurry but oh-so-cute and I just had to post it. Emily Jayne...she was 7 lb 4 oz and 19 inches long. Born on Friday, Sept 17th (2 1/2 wks early).

I had another c-section (my 3rd and last) after going into labor all on our own at 37 weeks 4 days. Guess my babies just like to be early! It was quite the crazy day in the hospital--there was a massive thunderstorm the night before and the nurses said whenever the air pressure changes like that so drastically, they get a lot of women in labor all at once. They originally told me that morning that if I indeed continued to labor and deliver that day, I would end up recovering in the triage room because they did not have any available beds for me. Crazy!! This is not a small hospital, either...

I started having regular contractions about 5 pm on Thursday night which continued throughout the night, getting stronger when I moved around. I went to the hospital about 9:30 Friday morning and had more contractions :) until they decided to go ahead with my c-section about 4:30 pm. A few emergencies and 4 hours later, she was born. It was a long 4 hours, I'll tell you that!

I had the best hospital stay and the best recovery of all 3 surgeries--I feel really thankful and blessed. Just look at these cuties!

We went home 40 hours after surgery, and are having a great, sleepless few weeks together. :) In all seriousness, Emily is a pretty calm baby and sleeps as decently as you can expect a newborn to sleep. I am home from work on maternity leave until Nov 1st, and Marc is a stay at home dad, so we are all together as a new family of five. It's pretty great since we can take shifts with the kids, and my recovery is going SO well. I haven't had any pain meds at all (even advil) in several days and am finding the whole experience a little hard to believe compared to my other 2 c-sections. Nothing like the power of prayer--thanks to all who have prayed.

Emily had her 2 week checkup today and is doing great. She weighs 7 lb 7 oz today and her dr said she's gaining weight wonderfully. Zachary absolutely adores her; Kenna "mostly" does. :) The day we brought her home from the hospital she said loudly, "I don't like that...I don't want that!" No shyness there...but now she loves her "baby Emmy" as long as Mommy isn't nursing her. We're getting there!

Mostly we love having 3 kids--the transition has not been anywhere near what going from 1 to 2 kids was. We had Nana (Marc's mom) here for the first week to help us, and oh, what a help she was!! I don't think we could have done this well without her. We've had a few days this past week with some whiny older kids and fussy babies when we think, "where are the grandparents?" LOL But overall we're loving this new experience.

Maybe I'll be able to post more while I'm off work. I get pretty fast at typing with one hand while feeding Emily. :) Excited about this fall and all the great things ahead!