Christmas outfits

We had our third "First Christmas" in a row this year! It was Caroline's turn and she was SO excited about it she pooped her pants (haha!). Really, though, she WAS excited about some very cute Christmas outfits she received, so I had to oblige and take the week to try them all on. She sure was festive! Thanks to everyone who supplied such great gear! And if you see her wearing them a few weeks after Christmas, don't mind me, they're just too cute to put away after wearing once, AND the 12 days of Christmas actually come AFTER Christmas, so I figure I've got until early January anyway.

Bustin' a move to "Jingle Bells"

Caroline throwing up some of her own moves

Her pirate eye in her Christmas onsie, the least cute of all - probably because I bought it. Typical.

Not a Christmas outfit, but it's rare that she showcases BOTH eyes, so I had to include it

Mom actually got dressed and ready! A Christmas miracle!

...and here we all are

It's a little tricky to get the entire family in one photo, and FORGET getting everyone to smile at the camera, so this is what we've got so far. Hope you like it! If not, well, YOU take the picture next time, eh? Actually, my sister Elsha DID take a picture (seen here), and it turned out about the same. Soon we'll hit up an actualy photo studio, I swear :)

Sometimes

Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose.

The Story

Here's the story of Caroline's delivery - a short story about a very short delivery! I went into labor at 11:30 p.m. when my water broke. We rushed to the hospital while a friend came to the house to stay with the boys. We arrived around 12:15 a.m. and when the nurse checked me I was already at 9 cm. Only a few minutes later I had the overwhelming urge to push and about four great pushes later, at 12:39 a.m., Caroline was born! Thank goodness we got there so quickly!

For more invested folks, like my sisters (oh, wait, they've already heard it!), here are the little details. I'd been dilated to 3 cm for a week, so all week I'd been physically preparing for labor. You know, the important things like getting my bags packed, picking out an outfit for me and the baby, and giving myself a nice pedicure and shaving my legs (easier said than done!). I went to my OB for a regular checkup Tuesday morning, and having my cervix checked immediately started up some contractions - nothing strong or regular, but definitely crampy and uncomfortable. I remained crampy and uncomfortable for about 4 hours before deciding this was stupid; I knew just a little nudge would gets things moving from unproductive to full-blown labor, so the boys and I hit up Walgreens for some castor oil. Worked last time, worked this time (if you couldn't guess the end of this story)! I took some about 4:00 and remained crampy and uncomfortable the rest of the evening before going to bed at 8:00, figuring things would get kicked off in the morning, much like Eli's delivery. I caught a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, but at 11:30 woke up to some strong, regular contractions. During about the 4th contraction I heard/felt a "POP!" and it immediately turned into the most intense contraction ever - like night and day! From that moment on contractions were SUPER hard, right on top of each other. Judging from my very wet lap, I rolled to the slide, smacked Joe and said "my water broke! call Kathy!" and then ran to the bathroom where the fun began (or is being in labor NOT fun? I forget...) Luckily my friend Kathy must have played sports because she put in some serious hustle and got here faster than I knew it was possible from her house, a solid 10+ minute drive; she stayed the night with the boys while Joe and I threw ourselves into the car (OK, I may have had help getting thrown) for the 15 minute drive to the hospital. Joe was a controlled speeder (15 over isn't bad, right? The 3 cops he saw on the way didn't think so, or didn't want to mess with the lady screaming in the front seat [yes, I get very loud during labor]) and the lights were all flashing yellow (except the red turn light he blew, which I thanked him for during labor, it's THAT BAD of a turn to wait for) so we got there in record time.

Admission was pretty quick, considering, but I had registered at the hospital that morning (procrastinator that I am!) and the person entering my records put down January 22nd as my due date, saying if I went over my due date I would get kicked out of the system and then have to fill out all the info again, only during labor. Whatever, I didn't care if she changed the date so long as I was registered, but the NURSES cared because they thought I was delivering a baby 6 weeks prematurely! So they were scampering for a preemie tent and all kinds of high-tech gear before I caught on to the error and assured them I would be delivering a healthy full-term baby. All in all, I'm kind of impressed I caught on EVER because as soon as I got into the delivery room I the nurse checked me and I was already at 9 cm and within 4 or 5 contractions I was feeling the urge to push, so by golly I was PUSHING! The doctor hadn't even arrived! I guess the doctor played sports, too, because she hustled and was scrubbed up by the time the baby was crowning, about 2 pushes later, and she delivered the shoulders, about 1 push later. Also, it must have been a contact sport because Joe said she was punching me in the leg and throwing elbows trying to get my attention to tell me to STOP SCREAMING and PUSH. I was unaware of her agressiveness, being preoccupied with pushing, and she was unaware of my auditory intensity; that is, the more intense things get, the louder I get. I'm not screaming in lieu of pushing, I'm actually AIDING my push because there is more energy in me than I can simply push out my hoo-ha at one time. Anyway, 4 great pushes and I'd had a baby within 20 minutes of arriving at the hospital! Ahhhhh, it was SO GREAT to be done! My recovery has been amazingly quick, even quicker than recovering from Eli (assuming I don't act retarded and try to conquer the world and end up hurting myself), and right now the most sore part of my is my TAILBONE from SITTING and doing NOTHING in the hospital for 2 days - ahhhh, sweet relaxation!

Now I have had three VERY different birth stories so I feel like I can throw in my 2 cents on things. Actually, it's my blog so I can throw my 2 cents around wherever and whenever I want to, but experience maybe buys me FOUR cents of authority... so for naysayers who have only had short labors and assume that long labors must be less painful and intense, you are mistaken! Even long labors end up painful and intense, only by the end you have SUFFERED through hours of extremely painful contractions and you are physically and mentally exhausted. At least with this labor I was well-rested and just kinda skipped first, second, and third base and headed straight for home! Even without the epidural I was hoping for (I've already earned me medal of honor with one drug-free labor, I was hoping for some medical relief this time) I would say it is hands-down WAY better to just get it done. There. 2 cents.

For my 2 days in the hospital the boys visited 3 times and are IN LOVE with their baby sister. Patrick takes great pride in his ability to be gentle and to help out. Here he is helping keep her quiet by patting her while he watched a little TV :) And here he is helping give her pats while she was freaking out wanting to nurse - she's already a hungry little monster! He kept apologizing, "I sorry," possibly thinking it was his pats that were making her cry. Or apologizing that mom wasn't feeding her, I'm not really sure.

The nurse helped out by taking a quick photo of the whole family. I am still in shock that we have three kids - Heaven help us, and pass the advice!

Caroline Noel Jacobs

So, Kirsta and Caroline are still at the hospital but Patrick really wants to share pictures of his new little sister with the world so I guess posting this is up to me.


Here she is, Caroline Noel Jacobs......... 7 pounds 2 ounces, 21 inches long and making her appearance to the world at 12:39 am this morning.

Kirsta and Caroline together after the quick delivery.

And some photos with proud big brothers and a happy mom. (Poor Kirsta. Patrick and Eli didn't give her any rest from being a human jungle gym in her awesome moving hospital bed)

Patrick couldn't wait to hold Caroline when we got into the room. I think the look on his face says it all.... he is pretty happy to be a big brother to a little sister. He already told me that he loves Caroline the most (sorry Eli).

I guess I will have to ask him again in about 14 years when he is having to share a bathroom with her in the mornings. I bet his opinion will change and Eli will be back in the running as his favorite.

Trains

We visiting Grand Junction for Thanksgiving (I know, been a while!) and though Joe had the whole week off work we weren't sure I would be able to avoid working, with Black Friday in retail and all that jazz. We wouldn't know my schedule until very close to time, too close to buy tickets for a decent price, but we wanted to have an adventure and have the boys ride the train, so we settled for a nice compromise and Joe took the train with Patrick down the Junction while Eli and I drove; that way we had a car in case we needed to be back early for me to work, with the added bonus that the train ride is 7 hours and Eli was probably going to be a terror by the end of it. Joe said they had a good time, though after about 4 or 5 hours Patrick was just ready for it to be over, and after 40+ tunnels he was a little freaked out by tunnels... but maybe we'll do it as a family in a few years! Excellent viewing car views! I love the drive to Junction because of the scenery, so I can imagine I would love it even more from a train. Patrick had lots of leg room! He really wanted to touch the train wheels, but dad said no. As we guessed, the best part about trains is being outside the train looking at it - once you're stuck inside, the luster wears off.

Why fight it?

It's been too long to try to catch up, so I'll just start back on random posts about random things and you can fill in the large gap that yes, we are doing well.

We were given a bird feeder during the summer but never actually filled it with birdseed until this past week, when Joe bought birdseed for an acticity with his sunday school kids at church. We were very excited to see the birds flock the the feeder, and the boys loved to watch, since it's right outside our patio doors. A few days later I set out our pumpkins, which we never carved, since it was time to get rid of fall decorations and put up Christmas stuff. I suppose I could have painted Santa faces on them instead of jack-o-lanters, but I decided to feed the birds/squirrels with them. I cut them in half and sure enough, birds and squirrels alike were attracked to such yummy fare. Now this probably would have happened eventually, but my pumpkin enticements may have expedited the process, and the squirrels found the birdfeeder and have turned themselves from "cute li'l backyard critters" into "annoying backyard pests that scare off the birds and climb all over our porch and DO NOT scare away when you go outside - CREEPY!" So Joe took matters into his own hands, literally, and brought out his air rifle. I thought FOR SURE we were going to get the cops called on us by our neighbors, guns ARE loud, ya know! But it turns out that air rifles are not quite guns and are NOT loud so Joe had ots of fun popping off a few rounds at the bold squirrels. He claims his rifle needs to be sighted in, since he never got a kill shot, but I think maybe he just didn't want to kill them in front of Patrick (I do NOT think he's a bad shot, he's shown me up plenty of times before!). It probably wouldn't have mattered, Patrick was loving the action - when one squirrel darted away before Joe had a shot Patrick ran outside and yelled "come back, squirrel! My daddy wants to shoot you!" Ahhhhh, CLASSIC.

Now just le me know if you want to stop being friends because we are too hillbilly, I'll totally understand :)