Baby Small

Just to update on my little Ivy.
She is a cute, personable little tyke. I can't believe these are the only pictures I have to put on here. Hmmm, that needs to change.
I get exhausted pretty often as these two little girls both feel like babies. Hallee is my Big Baby, and I call Ivy, Baby Small.
Ivy loves taking baths and I'm excited to get in the pool with her. I waited too long with Hallee and she's really anxious in water. Hopefully we can get Ivy in the pool this winter.



As long as I'm on here...because I haven't updated in a little while. Life is busy with parties, preschool, church stuff and everything in between. Here's a sentence on each of us-
Jeremy placed something like 100th (out of 30,000) in the Army 10-miler in Washington DC, a worse showing than last year due to tendonitis in his leg.
Courtney is enjoying having a piano, though it is a bit of a battle with the kids sometimes, Christmas music can be heard often.
Lucy is sad when brother goes off to preschool, but she's definetly making progress in her own school work. She also wants to learn more piano, so far she only knows Hot Cross Buns. ;)
Hallee, ah Hallee. She has hit something of a terrible two. "No" being her favorite word- wow, these days couldn't be shorter...lol.
Ivy cute and talkative, she has many friends at church and is often found being "stolen away" by admiring sisters.

Olympians

Willie is now a toddler "olympian." It was a cute program where they met at the rec center for "practice" and then had the olympics at the end of the month. Willie had so much fun. Didn't make a single basket in the basketball free throws (how do they expect little kids to make that, even when the rim is lowered?). They gave medals out to all the kids which completely thrilled Willie! Even though they tried to call every child up on the stage, there were a couple kids that really did win most the events. They had long jump, sit ups, push ups, basketball free throw, weight run, and the obstacle course. It was Willie's turn to shine, as this was "his" class that the family supported him in, though Lucy got to participate in the practices. Lucy had her shining moment with dance last June. It's funny to compare the two- Willie didn't care about being in the spotlight, just as long as he got to do something, unlike Lucy who loves all eyes on her. And after the 'awards ceremony' where Willie got his two medals, what was the first thing he did? Give one to Lucy. Willie's a bit more sensitive and caring in that way than Lucy is naturally.

A House a Home

Since we purchased this home in February, we've made some big purchases that I guess you could say have made it feel like home...kinda. Actually, these purchases didn't tranform the house, they're just the kind of things that we've always said, "someday when we have our own home..." kind of things. :) We bought a big trampoline for the kids, a treadmill for Dad, and a piano for Mom.
The trampoline was definetly worth it's weight. We jump almost everyday. I'm trying to decide what we'll do with it in the winter. It will be sad to not see it out in the yard, but no reason to keep it out in the weather. I wonder if Jeremy will let me keep it in the garage...which would mean kicking out the car...? haha, probably not.
The treadmill was purchased as a "need," according to Jeremy. Which it really has been great for encouraging to get some workouts in. I was able to start running again (no excuses left for this SAHM), and Jeremy has used it in some of his fast interval workouts to push himself, and when he has to run at times that don't let him get out on the road. Jeremy is into some really hardcore training for the marathon. He's still figuring out if he'll run the Charlotte marathon in November or the Cal International Marathon in December. He wants to run in California, but everything still has to come together for that one. He runs close to 100 miles a week right now. The man is a machine. I have no idea how he keeps up with it all- work, lots of kids, volunteering at church (calling), and running that many miles. Most people don't realize the time committment it takes to get that many miles in. Which for Jeremy, bless his heart, he'll get up at like 4:30am and do a lot of running while everyone is asleep. We made the mistake of putting the treadmill upstairs in the rec room. I think it was a mistake, but then, there was really no where else to put it. Anyhow, the house is quite shook up when Dad is pounding the rubber upstairs at top speed.
The piano...well, it has it's story that doesn't have an ending yet. I've been searching for a cheap (free) piano ever since we moved in. I would always respond to all the giveaway pianos but none of them worked out for various reasons. All this work left me feeling a little impulsive, or maybe a little too impulsive, and on a first name basis with a local piano moving service. So, this creagslist ad goes up for a baby grand piano for $100obo. I jump on it, of course. So, my piano guy, Ken, also does restorations and will give a free estimate. I arrange to come look at the piano right away, and Ken can come too (did I mention we're tight like that? ;) so he said he'll take a look first and if it's "fixable" then he would suggest buying it because grand pianos tend to fix better, resell better, yahyah. I think, I'm just waiting there with $100, I'm definetly doing it. Also, Ken offers to move the piano for nothing (and he'll keep it) if I decide not to keep it. So I don't really have to make a decision right now anyway, right? Well, in a dimly lit cramped house of the cutest little family and all their cousins or neighbors or something, Ken makes the decision it's "fixable" and starts loading it up. I say 'see ya later' to the piano and he transports the piano to his garage. I get a call later that week to come look at the piano- oh, and this is all when I'm super pregnant, the week before I ended up having baby #4. :) We have mom-in-law watch the kids and go to Ken's garage where he gives us the run down of what the piano needs and the work to be done and an estimate of the cost. It's a lot of money, I won't say it gently. I know we could have easily said no and he would have just kept the piano, but it was like I needed that baby grand to be born as much as I needed baby small to be born, right then! We had already decided we wanted it, in other words, and jumped in it for the long haul. So, this was almost 3 months ago. The piano is almost done being refinished. There has been snags and long waiting, but we're excited to see the piano and hope it will be beautiful. Now, if it will fit in our house...we will yet see... lol, sigh, that's another bad thing about my impulsive purchases. I really probably should have stuck with a small upright piano. Well, I'm sure it will be beautiful, and fun for sure. I'm already scheming my Christmas tea party this year.
And that's how we're making this house a home...someday, we'll go through and take a picture or two to show you these and other projects in action. Living the home owners dream. (there's a little bit of nervous chuckling in that last part.)

So we just got back from our second vacation in two weeks, and successfully have no pictures, again! boo.
We had a great time in DC doing nothing much related to DC, but fully enjoyed hanging at the hotel and seeing all our family!!! The wedding was great! The bride and groom stunning. The little cousins, the most adorable little people ever! And can I add we had some awesome mexican food- probably the best mexican I've ever had. And I guess it should have been because it was a little pricey. But we were so in the mood for good food, and we found it! I had Jeremy order for me, so I don't even know the name of these enchiladas or what was in it- I think something about chocolate- but man, they were heavenly delicious! Ok, I'll stop talking about our meal now; and get back to vacation aftermath clean up!

My Homebirth

Little Izzy Belita Van Tress {those are nicknames} is almost two weeks old now. We don't have her name all totally figured out. She has more than one nickname as you can see, so... it's complicated.
When asked about my "birth story," I find myself going on and on and it sounds really complicated too. However, if you look at just the birth record, what the midwives write down on paper- it was all very simple. It was my easiest and fastest labor for sure. But I guess because it was my first homebirth, the thoughts and feelings going along with everything that happened are complex and deeply involved. I asked Jeremy to write up a list of interview questions to help me log down all my feelings about my homebirth experience, but I won't bother you with that in depth of details. Overall-
Am I glad I did a homebirth instead of birth in a hospital? Yes.
Was I happy with my homebirth experience? Yes and No.
Would I homebirth again? Yes, definitely, with some changes of course.
There were two big things that worried me with homebirthing (after getting over the initial "sticker shock" because it can seem like a lot of money to dish out... it is a lot of money to dish out) but the two things that worried me were-
*it being messy and staining our [new!] home :)
*feeling at high-risk and scared that I'm not at a hospital, especially during pushing/delivery phase
The latter of these fears was dispelled, I felt very safe the entire time and wasn't nervous that I wasn't at a hospital. The first fear though, got to me a little. But it probably wasn't as bad as I made it out to be.

So, I'll expound...

I was a week past my due date when I was in for an appointment my midwife asked if I wanted to strip membranes and I agreed. That was mid-afternoon and it was enough to start contractions. Contractions came about 2-3/an hour for the next 5 hours. They were not strong and I wondered if they would stop eventually. Jeremy had gone back into work actually, and so I went about with dinner and getting the kids to bed. Right after I had put Hallee down, the contractions started getting strong, enough that I had to sit down for them. Luckily Jeremy was already on his way home. He got home and put the older two kids to bed. And then we started timing contractions which were anywhere from 5-10 minutes apart. These kind of contractions went on for the next 2 hours. Even though I was consistently having contractions for 2 hours, they seemed to vary in intensity so I really wasn't convinced that I was progressing in labor very fast at all.
Around 10pm the intensity jumped up again and I had Jeremy call for the midwife to come. That next half hour was really the most intense. I was dilated to 9 when the midwives arrived. I had planned to use a birth stool, but they didn't bring it, and I ended up just delivering from my bed. Unfortunately, because they didn't know how far along I really was, and I was already on my bed going through transition, we didn't have time to prep the bed. At this point, in my head I remember thinking, Oh man, this is it and it's totally not what I had pictured my birth to be!!" I was frustrated and upset thinking about ruining my bed and not being in the position I wanted to be in. It probably wasn't as bad as I made it out to be. Quickly these thoughts were replaced with just pushing baby, so I guess I really can't say just how messy it was. I can say that no part of the house was damaged or defaced during any part of our homebirth experience. ;)
To hurry the story along... since I was ready to deliver, everyone got ready, I started pushing and less than 3 minutes later, there was Isabella! The midwives were only there about 20 minutes before baby was born. There was a lot more emotions and thoughts wrapped around this that I'm leaving out. The biggest disappointment about it afterall was just that Jeremy took more of back seat than he wanted to. He wanted to 'catch the baby' and be really involved, but because of the position I ended up being in, I needed him giving support to my back. Anyways, he was bummed that didn't work out. Well, the rest of the details...you'll have to ask me about that on your own. :)
Weighing in... 8lbs 2 oz...my biggest baby I still don't know how she got so clean even though she wasn't "whisked" away like in the hospital.
Baby's first bath: a tradition for Daddy to do it

Baby is super cute, easy to love! The kids all adore her!
The big 4, we're a family of 6!!! holy cow!
Just the girls. We thought Hallee would not like the baby, but quite the contrary. Hallee had to hold the baby. And when I tried to take her back, she had the biggest fit ever. I ended up letting her hold the baby 3 times, she threw a fit everytime. Guess it's love at first sight.

End of the Road

Although this blog post really had it's meaning a couple weeks ago, I'll go ahead and post it late anyway.

I've come to the end of my pregnancy. Waiting for the big moment now. Funny thing is, there are some other things coming to the end of their road as well.
The biggest one is Hallee become a full-time walker! She has really blossomed with this new freedom too. I'm glad to see the end of the crawling phase come before baby is born. That was my secret wish, and what a nice girl for giving her mother her wish! With a couple of road trips coming up though, I think we'll be investing in the those backpack leashes for her. I swore I would never put one of those on my child, but I'm feeling an inkling of being overwhelmed when I think about tackling tasks with 4 kids by myself. scarey!
There was another end of the road last week- one that was more on the sad side. Jeremy's mom came to visit and help with the baby, but- sorry to spoil the ending- she ended up having to leave with no baby born yet. She arrived on Tuesday, 2 days before due date, and I even had a couple contractions that night. Then nothing really. I had a midwife appointment on that Thursday and I was dilated to a 2 and not really effaced much, but definetly "soft." :) I always laugh when they use that word. The midwife said she would be really surprised if she saw me again in a week for a regular apointment, in other words, she thought I would deliver soon. She told Jeremy, "no more riding your bike to work."
Well, everyone became very anxious for the baby to come; minus me I'd say, someone's got to keep a calm head. Each day was spent waiting for contractions, every conversation seemed to be about how I was feeling, Jeremy giving me orders to do certain labor-inducing activities. It was actually quite torturous. ;) With Jeremy taking the car everyday, Grandma and us were left at home to do nothing too exciting. It added to the torture. I crazily thought of things to do- one of which was making a big card- more about that later.
Luckily, we at least at Lucy's ballet recital that weekend. Another "end of the road." It was very fun to be a part of the dance recital. Lucy was very excited. I'm not sure how many dancers there were, but it was a long recital! I hadn't anticipated part of the mom's job to keep the kids entertained yet quiet as they waited for their turn to perform. I hadn't brought anything to do nor any snacks. Thankfully, some of the other moms were more prepared than I was. I was able to think of one game for the girls to do, "Ballerina, Ballerina, where's your flower?" (a twist on the Doggie doggie, where's your bone game.) It was quite the hit with girls and moms because it kept them sitting down, quiet, and entertained for a good 40 minutes or so. Lucy did a great job on her dances. I was surprised because she had missed a couple of the last practices and I wasn't sure she would remember anything. They have a leader to follow of course, but she still did a great job. You can see in the video how she was one of the 'those' kids that runs off stage as soon as she's done dancing, an excited exit to daddy, not to script, but it did make the audience laugh.

After the recital, the focus was back on having the baby. :( Grandma's flight was scheduled to leave Tuesday night. Sunday and Monday were tense and sad realizing that nothing much was happening. Monday was spent talking about how and if she could take another flight and stay a few more days. Unforunteately, there were just no signs I would go into labor and it didn't seem worth the money to change the ticket. We finished a huge card for the residents at the elderly community where she manages. I had started making ice cream cone cards for all the residents, then Grandma suggested making just one big card. We came up with the phrase, "I scream, You scream, We all scream" and the inside of the card said, "Is the baby here yet?" There were 37 ice cream cones, each with one of the resident's name on it, on the inside of the card.
The baby was eventually born. :) She ended up coming the day after Grandma left. That Sunday was Father's day and we were having ice cream cones for dessert. I had to take a picture of all of us with our cones. It fit in too well with our card for the elderly residents and I had to send the update: "Here's the latest scoop...Isabella Van Tress." We're very happy with this new little sister. I'm sure you want to hear every last detail (not really) so I'll be sure to write my birth post next.

Oh, and the last 'end of the road' was... the end of my 30th year. Happy 31st birthday with homemade apple pie.

Wait...Rewind!

Wait, holy cow- I'm due in just a week and I'm not ready to move on! I've had lots of mixed emotions these last few months as so much has been happening and I'm just barely beginning to see it and already another big new thing is on the way! I hope every baby in the army will not be so crazy. (Well, no, I'm not sure I endorse the ramifications of that statement.)

I almost cried the other day thinking how much of a baby Hallee still is while about to have another baby any day. I've done this before! How did I do this before??
I've been spending a lot of time with her lately just wanting to be with her to celebrate everything she's learning and discovering, knowing that with another baby those moments might be fewer. The girl has been cracking us up with her silly personality. She's super curious yet a cuddly homebody at the same time. Just yesterday she started to stand up! And today, she took her first steps. This feels so much bigger than the other two I guess because of how long it's taken her. Even though I know there's nothing wrong with her AT ALL (emphasis added for the dude who asked if she was slow, because she wasn't walking at 18months- boo to you Mister!), but I'm so happy she decided to take that risk and felt joy in doing it. It was a moment all 4 of us shared together watching her decide to stand up. We were doing songs during some circle time (it's so cute that Hallee will come sit with us for our little circle time) and the kids were standing up dancing while doing a song. She didn't want to miss the action, I guess, and just stands up on her own and starts doing a little bounce dance. It was so funny/awesome!! We were all together again when she was taking some steps today. Even Lucy and Willie were so excited for her seeming to understand this grandeur of what she's been through to be able to get to this accomplishment. So cute. Awww, families.

So, even though this is supposed to be a rewind in pictures...blogger, of course, can't load them up. So if I could share some pictures with you, here's what they would be about:
*Cute pictures of Lucy and Willie enjoying park time at Lake rim, and also at the grand opening of the Botanical Gardens.
*Day at the Horse Derby- most excellent 4 for 1 ticket I've ever bought. Picture was of the 3 kids eating our picnic lunch. Hallee stuck under layers of blankets protecting her cast from getting dirty or wet. This event was just 3 days after her fall. I was going to just not go, but decided late the night before, it just couldn't be missed. I'm so glad our first outing with cast went well.
*Huge Python at the nature center corraling the kids- talk about scary!
*Lucy's big 5th birthday- not anything what we tried to plan, but it was fun. We also happened to find a trampoline just a week before, so extra fun there!
*The Easter bunny photo, taken the day a tornado ran through town. So glad we were blessed to have escaped ANY kind of devastation from that ordeal.
*Placing flags on graves of the Veterans in preparation for Memorial Day.
*Baby shower for Jamie. So fun! How the heck did she start labor before me?! Unfortunetly, this wasn't a good thing and I hope it all goes well for her!
*A nice big belly shot for you. One last shot before baby comes. I'm so bummed that I never lined up a photographer for this pregnancy & newborn photos. sigh. I never can get on that it seems.
I guess the rest of the picture are just preschool stuff. I've been able to meet some super nice homeschooling moms and hope that we will be able to start a good support group for each other. I'm not sure what school will be like next year, I still have so much to do there! :(

Oh yeah- I got a few pictures on here-
Our celebration night out after Hallee got her cast off. Such a cute munchkin!

Belly Belly Belleeee (when you coming off btw?)

Lucy creating Barbie's "Baptism dress" from a paper napkin (we're talking HOURS of fun here!)

Easter egg hunt, Hallee still in a cast.

Cute brother and sister! Botanical Gardens with great face painters!