My parents left this morning. They got an early start, and I’m hoping their 14-hour drive back home goes smoothly.

So today starts a new normal – adjusting to three kids in the house instead of just two. Not only that, the boys get their flu shots this afternoon. That should prove interesting! I’m laughing a little bit that my first outing with all three kiddos will be for shots, but that’s ok.

Stephen did tell me that there’s nothing on his work calendar today, so there’s a small chance he’ll be able to stay home. If that’s true, I’ll have him come with me to the pediatrician’s office. :O) If not, that’s ok too. I’m not holding my breath though – his schedule changes pretty frequently.

So. The adjusting begins now, I guess. I’m curious how things will go.

Here are some pictures from the past couple days:

The Princess and the Paparazzi – the boys were playing with the baby monitors, pretending they were taking pictures of their sister

Anna in a kimono gown I made her last Saturday. Tutorial from Habitual, modified (lengthened and added extra set of ties).

Anna had her first pediatrician appointment today and she is doing wonderfully (not that I was worried; it was just nice to hear it!). We’re still adjusting to having five people in our family instead of four, but it’s a change that we all love!

My parents are down visiting from Michigan this week. It’s been wonderful to spend time with them again. I don’t have many pictures, but Dad and Mom have taken quite a few. It should be fun to look through them!

She’s here – Miss Anna made her appearance on Monday.

Monday started out with an OB visit, as they had been for weeks. I’d been feeling pretty miserable, but prayed on the way there that I just wouldn’t be disappointed with whatever I found out. When they checked me last week, I left the office really disappointed because I was only dilated 1 cm. I was hoping for better news this week.

The midwife measured me and made a face. Little Miss was measuring large enough that I could tell she was concerned. Then she did an internal check, and the first thing she asked me was if I’d been having contractions.

She told me I was dilated 4 cm, and left the room to talk to one of the doctors in the practice. It turns out that things were so favorable for a quick delivery that she was concerned that I wouldn’t make it back to the hospital in time if I waited to go into labor. She allowed me to go home and gather my things but told me pretty much to go straight to the hospital.

I really wasn’t thrilled at the thought of an induction, but given the circumstances (especially the distance we live from the hospital), I trusted her judgment.

I called Stephen and told him, “We’re having this baby today. I’m bringing the van home and we’re supposed to head right back to the hospital!” By the time I got home, one of the ladies from church was there and we were able to leave.

We arrived at the hospital and checked in. I kept telling Stephen how weird it was checking in without being in labor. They hooked me up to the monitors, and while we waited for the midwife to arrive, I kept wondering if the contractions I’d been having were even registering.

The midwife arrived soon after that and broke my water. It was interesting to listen to the details as she told the nurse what to chart after my exam. It turns out that I had already been in labor (not what I expected to hear!) – was dilated almost 6 cm, 80% effaced, and had been having contractions every 3 to 4 minutes. What a shock.

The contractions intensified almost immediately, but still were bearable. They felt just like the ones I’d been having for weeks, so it wasn’t hard to endure them.

Two hours later, they started me on Pitocin. I’d been hoping for a drug-free birth, but figured I’d just wait and see how things went with it. The nurse told me I’d feel the difference in contractions in about an hour, but they got stronger and closer a lot faster than that.

Finally, the pain got to the point where I asked for some meds. I didn’t want an epidural so they gave me Nubain instead. Two or three contractions later, I felt like I needed to push, so they brought the midwife back to check me.

I had just told the nurse earlier how I thought it would be hilarious if the first time they checked me I was ready to push. Imagine my surprise when that’s exactly what happened!

Things went so quickly from there – it seemed like only 2 or 3 contractions later they were moving things around, repositioning the bed, and telling me to push. 4 pushes later, and Miss Anna was here.

Wouldn’t you know it, the pain medicine kicked in right after the midwife finished all the after birth stuff. LOL! I told Stephen if I would have known I was that close I never would’ve bothered with the drugs. Oh well.

After a 29-hour labor with Caleb, it was a real shock to only knowingly be in labor this time for 4 hours.

Anna was 8 lb 5 oz, and 20 inches long. That’s so close in size to Caleb when he was born, but she seems so much smaller.

We are totally in love. She’s just so precious! She is a champion nurser (another thing I prayed about a lot!), and is pretty content for the most part. I’m still in awe that God sent us a little girl!

Meeting “Baby Sissy” for the first time

Blowing kisses at Sissy

We usually have pizza on Friday nights. Tonight’s pizza toppings: pepperoni, double mushroom, and sausage. I figured I’d take a picture before I added the cheese. This is going to be one filling pizza.

This little guy hung out between the screen and sliding doors for several days. We see lizards on the porch all the time, and they sure are fun to watch.

Susan has this quote on her blog today. It is too true.

No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.

Leonard Ravenhill

Using Swagbucks has proven to work a LOT better than I expected when I first signed up with them. WOW! I just redeemed more Swagbucks for another Amazon gift card. This makes $45 in Amazon gift cards that I’ve earned so far!

It took me a while to sign up with them. I’d seen several posts about it on various blogs, but wasn’t too impressed. Then I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try it. I was a pretty die-hard Google fan, and figured I could always switch back. To be honest, at first, I considered switching back to Google. Now though, I have no desire to. The Swagbucks add up fast enough that I’m able to redeem them for gift cards a lot faster than I thought I would. That works for me!

They also just released a new toolbar for your browser. I’m not usually a big fan of add-ons (I’m more of a minimalist in that regard, I guess), but I like this one. They’re giving out a new swag code (which, if entered on their site, gives you one more SwagBuck, sometimes two) every day this month through the toolbar. I don’t know if I’ll keep the tool bar installed after this month, but for now, I’m enjoying the extra Swag Bucks earned from it.

Take a look at SwagBucks. I personally think it’s worth signing up for.

Today my order from Mountain Rose Herbs arrived. It was so fun to look through the box at everything.

My original intent for the order was to get supplies to make Nursing Mother Tea. I had a good bit of supply issues when nursing Caleb, so this time, I’m going in armed and ready. Last time, I bought premade teabags by the case, and drank almost a gallon of the tea a day. It helped my supply – but I went through the tea SO quickly! When I found a recipe to make your own tea using bulk herbs, I was thrilled. It helps that I should be able to get roughly double the amount of tea for about the same amount of money.

Then while I was over at the Mountain Rose Herbs site, I ordered a few other things I’ve been wanting to try, like powdered stevia and soap nuts.

I haven’t mixed up the tea yet, and I really can’t wait to try the stevia and the soap nuts!

The other day, Mommyof8blessings asked if I’d share the recipe for my iced coffee. Unfortunately, I usually just dump things into the glass and eyeball it.

Here’s what I use though:

1-2 packets sweetener (I prefer Splenda)
generous splash of liquid French vanilla coffee creamer
equal parts coffee and milk to fill the glass
handful of ice cubes to chill it

Any flavored creamer would work, but I prefer the vanilla. Vanilla isn’t my favorite for hot coffee, but it is for iced. I’ve also used powdered milk for the milk portion of this, and it’s turned out fine that way as well.