.:One Month:.

Big brother love!

Two cuties!

I know, Lyvia...I can't believe you're a month old already either!

Isn't she a beauty?

At one month old Lyvia...

::eats about every 3-4 hours.

::sleeps great in between feedings and is beginning to have more and more content, alert time.

::doesn't cry unless she's hungry.

::goes to bed around 11pm and doesn't wake up until sometime between 4-5am to eat. I can't ask for much more than that! :)

::doesn't seem to mind tummy time. She has been known to lay her head down and fall asleep when she gets tired of holding it up. She doesn't really even fuss to be flipped over.

::has rolled over twice from her belly to her back during tummy time. The first time was at two weeks old.

::doesn't love her pacifier like her big brother and sister did. It helps keep her content while waiting on a bottle, but if she's not hungry she doesn't really care to have it.

::sleeps in the bassinet in mommy and daddy's room, and probably will until I go back to work.

::loves to swing.

::has definitely gained weight, but I'm not sure how much. We go to the doctor next Monday.

::is well loved by Leyton and Jada. I think Leyton proves that in the above pictures. They both love to hold her every chance they get.

Happy one month birthday Lyvia Jane! We love you!

Prayer

I love the things that Leyton says. He says some of the funniest things and I wish I would have been better at writing them down. [Note to self: do better with Jada and Lyvia!] Tonight as I was putting Leyton and Jada to bed, I asked them if they had prayed yet. They hadn't so Leyton said he knew a good prayer. This is how it went:

Leyton: "Tick, tick, tick tock. Now it's time to pray. Thank you Lord for this great day. Please help me to find my DS pens. Please help me to not have any bad dreams. Amen."

Me: "That was a great prayer, Leyton!"

L: "Well, I forgot something. I forgot to pray for everyone we know!"

M: "You can pray again."

L: "Tick, tock, tick tock. Now it's time to pray. Thank you Lord for this special day. Please help me to find my DS pens. Please help me to not have bad dreams. Please help my Grandma and Poppa to get home to Michigan safely. Help my great grandpa..." He looks at me and says, "How many great grandpa's do I have?

M: "Three. Poppa's dad in Michigan, Pa's dad in Greensburg, and Mamaw's dad, Gpa."

L: "Right, three. Please help my great grandpa in Michigan....what's his name, Mom? Who is he again?"
M: "Ray. He's Poppa's dad."

L: "Right, Ray. He's Grandma's dad too!"

M: "No, just Poppa's dad."

L: "Well, how come every time we go there Grandma says 'Hi, Dad!'"

M: "She calls him dad but he's just Poppa's dad."
L: "Oh...Please help my great grandpa in Michigan and my other great grandpa, but not Gpa, to be healthy and strong. Please help my great grandma, that's GG, to walk better because she doesn't walk very good, ya know. Amen."

M: "Great job. Why didn't you pray for Gpa to be healthy and strong?"
L: "Because he's not sick."

Love it.

Lyvia Jane

Meet Lyvia Jane!

Born Friday, March 2nd at 1239pm.

9lbs 3oz 21.5 inches

I went in to the hospital at 6am Friday morning to begin the induction process. By 7am, my IV was in, pitocin started and the dr broke my water. It wasn't long after that that the contractions started getting stronger. By 1030, I was given an epidural and not much more than 2 hours later, Lyvia was born! It was quite a fast process! The delivery wasn't as difficult as Leyton's, but definitely not as easy as Jada's. My epidural seemed to work really well on the left side of my body, but didn't really work much at all on the right side. It was better than nothing, but still rather painful during pushing and delivery. Luckily, Lyvia wasn't too stubborn and was delivered after 2 1/2 pushes in a total of 7 minutes! Record time for me!! :)

It's hard to believe that she'll be 4 weeks old tomorrow! She's a pretty laid back little girl so far. She reminds me a lot of how Leyton was as a newborn. As long as her tummy is full, she's pretty content. If her tummy isn't full, she's not afraid to let me know. Although she seems to have the demeanor of her big brother, she looks a lot like her big sister. I've caught myself calling her Jada more than once...oops!

Leyton and Jada have adjusted well up to this point. I was a little scared of how Jada was going to respond to not being the baby anymore, but she has done great. She is perfectly fine with not being the baby...in fact, she's the first person to tell me that she's not a baby! Like most little girls her age, she is a little mother. She loves to help with Lyvia, whether it's putting the pacifier in her mouth or trying to calm her when she's crying. The other day, I was getting ready for the day and Lyvia was starting to get fussy on the living room floor. I overheard Jada trying to calm her by saying, "it o-tay Wyvia...momma comin!" It's so cute to hear her being a little mother hen.

Leyton is a great big brother as well. He tries his hardest to keep Lyvia happy too. He came to me the other day and said that he kept trying to give Lyvia her pacifier but she kept spitting it out and crying. He said, "I keep rubbing her face but that's not working either!" How cute.

Lyvia is a great sleeper! As much as I love cuddling and snuggling her every chance I get, I also love the fact that I can put her in her bed awake after a middle of the night feeding and she'll fall asleep without having to be rocked or held. I remember having to rock Leyton to sleep and wait a good 30 minutes before I could put him in his bed. Then, I'd have to put him down as gently and quietly as possible, trying not to make a sound walking away or he'd wake up extremely unhappy and we'd have to start the process all over. I was rather sleep deprived for quite a long time after he was born, but I've felt pretty good this time around. What a blessing! I need my sleep to function with three little ones around now!!

Lyvia is a great addition to our family and we are very blessed.

My new favorite cookie!

I'm pretty certain I have just discovered my new favorite cookie. Prior to today, I probably would have said that my mom's peanut butter temptations were my favorite [peanut butter cookie with a reese cup in the middle..yum], but I think I might have a different answer if ever asked what my favorite is. Now, the chocolate turtle cookie has taken over the top spot in my book! [Don't worry, the peanut butter temptations are a very, very close second. I don't like ties or I might say it's a tie.] Here's a play by play of how to make them, with my cute little helpers, of course!

Chocolate Turtle Cookies

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1/4 cup butter [1/2 stick]

1 [14oz] can sweetened condensed milk

2 [7.4oz] packages chocolate chip muffin mix

2/3 cup pecans

48 chocolate covered caramel candies [I used caramel hershey kisses.]

STEP ONE: Place chocolate and butter in microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 2 minutes or until butter is completely melted.

STEP TWO: Mix chocolate and butter until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth.

STEP THREE: Add can of sweetened condensed milk and stir until well blended.

STEP FOUR: Add both packages of chocolate chip muffin mix.

STEP FIVE: Stir until well blended.

STEP SIX: Put pecans in blender and finely chop.

[Somehow, I lost my picture of this step. I'm sure you can imagine what it looks like. :)]

STEP SEVEN: Spoon about 1 tablespoon of dough and roll into balls. [Leyton wanted me to prove I knew my letters. :)]

STEP EIGHT: Dip the bottom of each ball into the pecans.

STEP NINE: Place pecan side up on greased cookie sheet [or wax paper if you choose to dip them all at once.]

STEP TEN: Bake in 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until centers are gooey and cookies are crackly looking.

STEP ELEVEN: While still warm, place caramel kiss in center of cookie. [After trial and error, I learned it's better to allow the cookies to cool a few minutes on the cookie sheet before placing them on a cooling rack. Otherwise, you'll have pieces of cookie rather than a whole cookie.]

STEP TWELVE: Eat and be merry! [Be prepared for a yummy mess if you eat them warm. ]

You'll love them, I promise. I plan to share mine with my co-workers in a cookie exchange. I'm tempted to make a second batch all to myself. This whole being 29 weeks pregnant thing would go great with an entire batch of these cookies!! I'll refrain.

What a weekend!

We had a great weekend, packed full of fun! It all started on Friday with our ultrasound for baby #3. Guess what?! It's a girl!! :) I'm hoping this baby is a laid back, calm little girl, but will be happy with just a healthy little girl. One thing we did learn about baby #3 is that she has bilateral choroid plexus cysts. The choroid plexus is a gland in the brand and since it's a gland it is capable of producing cysts. In #3's case, hers have produced cysts. Alone, these don't mean much. In combination with other problems, these could indicate chromosomal issues. Thank goodness, she does not have any other problems. Her heart is perfectly healthy, as well as her kidneys and every other vital organ for that matter. The dr says that 5% of babies are born with these cysts and live with them for the remainder of their lives and have no side effects from them. The majority of the cysts go away on their own by 32 weeks gestation. We have a second ultrasound scheduled at 32 weeks to check to see if the cysts are gone or remain. I'm praying they'll be gone, just for the sake of my sanity. :) Feel free to pray along with me.

On Saturday, I had my first of many 29th birthdays. [I plan to be 29 for quite a few years now. Not sure how I'm going to like turning 30.] We headed off to the pumpkin patch with my parents and sister. The kiddos had fun seeing the animals and picking out pumpkins for themselves.

Leyton riding the pony at the pumpkin patch.

Josh and I waiting for the trolley to the pumpkins.

A windy trolley ride.

Afterwards, we had some great pizza from LaRosa's in Batesville. It was quite possibly some of the best pizza I've had in awhile.

Me and sister waiting on yummy pizza.

We ended the night with pumpkin carving and a bonfire at my parent's house. It was a great birthday!

The weekend was topped off with Jada's 2nd birthday party. We decided to host a costume party and what a great decision that was. I originally just expected the kiddos to come decked out in their halloween costumes, but my family went above and beyond. My parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and even my grandpa joined in the festive fun and dressed up! They've now decided this needs to be an annual event. :) Jada had a great time as did the rest of the family. Needless to say, it was a hit!

Birthday Girl

We celebrated a birthday this week! Jada turned 2 on Monday. We had quite a day of celebrating and are looking forward to celebrating with a costume party with the whole family on Sunday. We had lunch at Fazoli's complete with strawberry cupcakes. After lunch we headed to the park to play and then we just had to try out the newest frozen yogurt shop in Marion, JuJu Berry. I've been looking for a good reason to go since it opened and I found one! [It was pretty tasty, by the way!] After all the afternoon fun, we headed back home for nap time. Jada is notorious for climbing out of her crib. [I know, I need to get her moved to her big girl bed.] After a couple hours of sleeping, I went to check on her and this is how I found her:

asleep in the rocking chair in her room. Apparently that looked like a more comfy place to sleep than her bed. :) Or, maybe she was just a bit too worn out to play one minute longer. Gotta love that girl!

Happy birthday, Jada! We love you!!

Leap Day

Well hello long lost friends! (If there are even any of you out there!) It's only been half a year since I last posted. That's not too bad, is it?! :) I'm sure much has changed since then. Let's see if I can remember the main things.

1. I think the biggest news is that baby #3 is currently baking. He or she will be making an entrance around February 29th...leap day. I'm praying this child listens and obeys when it comes to the date of his/her birth and chooses not to come on leap day. I have a feeling my wishes will not be granted though. Leyton arrived four days early, on Josh's graduation day. Jada arrived three days late, on the one day my mom had said she couldn't be born because she would be busy catering a wedding all day. See? It's gonna happen, just wait and see. (Feel free to hope with me that it doesn't, though!)

2. Leyton has started his 2nd year of preschool. He loves it, all except the cleaning up time. He's gotten in trouble twice that I know of for not being a good cleaner upper. Once he missed out on playing outside and the other time he had to sit in time out for two minutes. He's not very good at helping with clean up time at home either. We have a daily battle getting him to pick up his toys. His favorite line during that time is, "It's hard work, Mom!" Any suggestions on making this any easier would be greatly helpful!

3. Jada is going to be 2 years old in just a few short weeks. It's hard to believe, but at the same time, it seems like she's been around forever! She's quite the pistol. Definitely fits in with the boys better than the girls. Meaning, she's rather rough and tumble. She loves to climb, jump, run, play in the dirt and be mischievious. She's especially good at the last. Speaking of climbing, she decided it'd be a great idea to attempt to climb up Leyton's dresser a few weeks ago. You can probably guess what happened. The dresser toppled right over on top of her! Thank goodness she didn't get hurt, besides the rather large bruise over her eye. It definitely could have been much worse. Needless to say, it scared me to death!

I think that hits on the news for now. I'm going to attempt to be better at updating. Maybe I'll even try to update once a week. I won't make any promises, but I will do what I can. Have a great week!