Emery starts Kindergarten!

I really cannot believe that Emery has officially started school.  It seems like just yesterday, she was my shy little 2 yr old.  Now, she's my little girl who is outgoing, wants to make friends with anyone and everyone and independent.  She started kindergarten on August 26, 2013.  She really wanted to ride the bus the first day, but I wasn't ready for it.  We've agreed that she can ride the bus on the 6th day of school.  She asks me daily how many days until the 6th day of school - she's really excited about the bus ride!

 When we got to school, it was a little crazy with all of the kids and parents. Emery and I were both learning the ropes, so we learned that the kids line up outside the school and they all go in together once the final bell rings at 8:40a.  When they started going in to the school, most kids went on their own, but Emery asked me to keep going with her (melted my heart by the way!).  We got into her class room and found her name and hook for her backpack.  I hung out for a few minutes and then joined the rest of the parents in the little lobby area.  The school was awesome and had a Boo Hoo Brunch for kindergarten parents to just get to know each other.  I went to that for a little while and then went to run errands.

 I picked Emery up at 11:20a.  When the kids got out of school, they either went to the front of the school to meet their parents or went to the line to ride the bus.  Emery was in the bus line.  When she saw me, she seriously ignored me and acted like I wasn't there to pick her up.  She was determined to ride the bus!  I had to tell her that she couldn't ride the bus because I didn't know where it dropped her off and after sucking up her tears, she finally came with me.  This kid of mine!  Anyway, I wanted to make the day special for Emery so we met Ivan for lunch.  I gave Emery the choice of picking up Paisley and Haven from Grandma's or having it just be the three of us, she chose to leave the little girls at Grandma's.  As we were driving to lunch, she was talking about imagining what her life would be like without sisters - silly girl!

Emery had a great day and is enjoying kindergarten so far.  We are still adjusting to the early morning school - not that an 8:40a start time is early for most people, but we are night owls and it's taking some adjusting.  Paisley misses Emery like crazy and I think it will be a harder adjustment for Paisley.

Haven's Newborn Pictures

Beautiful newborn pictures of Haven at 6 days old .. 

Just Some Pictures ...

Just wanted to add some pictures that we've taken over the last week ... 

Haven is too cute! 

 Carter is protecting the baby ...

 I love this one because it shows Emery's girly personality ..

 Oh, such a big yawn ..

 This is a daily event in our house right now.  I've never really let the girls sleep in our bed, especially as newborns.  With Haven, it's been a completely different story.  We borrowed a little bassinet to put in our room and she hates it, so she won't sleep there.  I moved the swing into our room, and Haven will usually sleep in it for one 3-4 hour stretch, but in the early morning, she wants to eat and just be with me.  So, into the bed with me she goes - it's what I had to do to get some sleep.  So, when Paisley gets up, usually between 7-8a, she gets into bed with me and watches some cartoons until the rest of us are ready to get up for the day.

 Paisley seriously loves her little sister soooo much!

 Love my adorable girls!

 Figured I would throw one in of me to show that I really am around ... and I realized I need some more pictures of Ivan - he hates pictures, but I need some ..

Week One with Haven

It's been a week since Haven and I came home from the hospital.  We have had a good week and everyone is adjusting well to the new family member and the changes to our routine with having a newborn.  

Haven's first bath in the hospital.  Just like the other girls, she wasn't a fan of getting her body washed ...

 But she sure loved getting her hair washed and having her head under the warm water..

The girls came to meet their new little sister in the hospital.  They were both so excited to finally meet her and couldn't get enough!  (They still can't get enough of her - it's too cute!)

 I love this one so much!

 Me and my 3 girls ..

They did a bilirubin test on Haven the morning we were leaving the hospital to check her Jaundice levels.  She was at a 15, which is one point into the high range. They had her sit under the photo therapy lights the morning before we discharged - she hated it, which meant I hated it.  Luckily, by the next day, her levels were decreasing and no more lights or tests were needed.

 Paisley is finding the baby in her and taking advantage of all of the new pillows, bouncy chairs and baby gear ..

 So precious!  When Haven cries, Paisley will go up to her and say, "shh, it's ok, I gotch ya, I gotch ya".  It's too cute and even more so because I think Paisley came up with it herself, that's not something that Ivan or I ever say.

With Emery and Paisley, I formula fed them.  I tried to nurse Emery for 6 weeks - nursing, supplementing and pumping and I never had a good enough milk supply, so I went to straight formula.  With Paisley, I nursed the two days in the hospital and went to formula the day we got home.  I decided to try nursing once again with Haven and so far we have been successful.  I did supplement with formula the first 5 days or so (which I believe had a good impact on decreasing her jaundice levels) but for the last week, I haven't supplemented and Haven is doing great.  I'm not sure if it's because of nursing, or just Haven's personality, or a combination of the two, but she wants to be held by ME all of the time.  Everyone says the first two weeks of nursing are the hardest and most time consuming, so I'm hoping it gets a little easier.  Obviously, I have to get things done other than just holding and nursing Haven all day and night, so I took a shot at baby wearing.  I've only done it a couple of times, but Haven seems to like it - she's close to me and I am hands free so I can get other things done.  I've even been successful at nursing while baby wearing - yay!

 Poor Carter - when we came home with Haven, I swear he gave me a look like, "really, you brought home another one of those things!"  Haha!  This was at 4:30a one morning on my side of the bed.  Carter nudged the bassinet a little further from my side of the bed and squeezed himself right in there ...

Welcome Haven Grace to the Family!

Haven Grace was born on July 13th at 2:11a after a quick four hour labor.  My due date was July 20th and I had an induction scheduled for July 17th if I didn't go into labor before then.  I had the bright idea to paint our kitchen cabinets two weeks before my due date, so for the week leading up to the 13th, the house was a mess and we were spending all of our time trying to get the kitchen finished.  On Friday, July 12th, I spent the entire day deep cleaning the house.  I will be the first to admit that I have OCD, but on this day, I was really overboard.  I even texted Ivan telling him that I will admit I had gone overboard.  I cleaned until about 5:30p and then took the girls for a quick trip to the library.  Then we went out to dinner and came home just to relax.  It was 10:15p and I was getting the girls ready for bed when my water broke.  Ivan was on the computer so I had to have Emery go get him.  He walked in, saw that my water had broke and we both had to get into action.  I hadn't packed a hospital bag for myself or the baby.  The girls didn't have bags packed.  Ivan called his mom and packed for the girls as I packed for myself and the baby.  We dropped the girls off and were on our way to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 11p - I was having contractions that were painful, but tolerable.  When I got checked, I was 4-5 centimeters.  They called for the anesthesiologist for the epidural and I got the epidural around midnight.  The anesthesiologist and nurse explained the first 2 hours of the epidural were the strongest but that they figured I would deliver within the next 2 hours - that was crazy to me!  As soon as the epidural kicked in, I was relaxed and tried to take a nap.  Did I mention that I had taken a Benadryl around 9p before my water broke at home to help me sleep - oops!  About an hour later, I was feeling the contractions again, so I called the nurse.  She had me lay on a different side to try to make the epidural kick in again.  By that time, around 1p, I was dilated to an 8.  The epidural never did take 100% but it definitely took the edge off.  By 2a, I was complete and feeling pressure.  The nurse paged the OB on call and it was a waiting game.  He finally got there and after 5 pushes, Haven was born.  It was an easy and quick delivery and both of us were doing well.

Haven Grace Gallegos

7 lbs 2 oz

19 1/2 inches

July 13, 2013

2:11a