Family Time

The Thursday before Thanksgiving my Dad and his wife Les came to see us from Evergreen, Colorado. They hadn't met Ariel yet so they were thrilled to finally meet her. Les (Gamma Boo as Caleb calls her) painted Ariel 's toenails hot pink...her toes were the talk of the weekend. Even Caleb had to get a look!

Here is my dad with both kiddos!On Saturday my Grandma, Aunt Debbie and my cousin Allison came in town from Dallas. Everyone stayed here in our house. It was a ton of fun. We ate a lot of good food and played domino's every night before going to bed.

Les, Caleb, Grandma, Allison and my dad

My Grandma and Ariel

Allison and ArielMe, Allison, Caleb and Ariel
The night before my dad and Les had to go home Dan decided to light all the Christmas lights on the house and have a "revealing" for the family. We all went outside (including Ariel) and sang Christmas Carols while looking at the lights.

Footprints in the Snow

Yesterday it sleeted and snowed all day long and snowed all through the night. Caleb kept on going up to the window and saying "Christmas is coming Mommy". This morning while Ariel was still sleeping I got Caleb all bundled up and he and I went and played in the snow. He found this stick that is his playing with in the picture above and insisted that I write his name in the snow and then he went behind me and scribbled it out with the stick. I guess he didn't like the way I wrote his name!

He also kept on saying that he wanted to build a snowman so here he is trying to make a snowman. The snow is too dry for the snow to stick together but he is persistent.

He wiped the chair on the front porch off for me so I could sit down and watch him play.

Here's the snow monster!!

One Month Smiles

Ariel absolutley loves to smile and interact with us. She is such a happy baby! Here are a few pictures of her last night.

Funny Sleeping Positions

These are a few pictures that I have taken of Ariel in some funny sleeping positions. She is such a good sleeper and she will sleep anywhere I put her and in any position.

Jesus Clouds

Yesterday I went to my Thudrsday morning bible study and when I was driving back toward the house I heard Caleb in the back seat say, "Jesus Clouds." I agreed with him and said "Yes Honey, Jesus does make the clouds." He said, "No, Jesus Clouds Mommy," and I looked up and there in the sky was a cross made by the condensation of airplanes. It's amazing how much your kids learn!
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29

Our Mom's Group Playdate

Once a week I try to get together with a group of mom's who's kids are within similar ages of Caleb and Ariel. The weather today was absolutley gorgeous so we all decided to meet at the park and let all the kids play. We know that our days are limited to be outside so we all took advanage of the day. Here are all the kids in our group.

ANDIE

ZOE

MILLIE

ELLA

HOLDEN

KALYN

LILLY

MADALYN
(SHERRI THIS IS ALL SHE WOULD GIVE ME)

JUSTICE
ROMAN AND QUAD

EVA

AVERY

CORBIN

RILEY

All these kids are very dear to Caleb, Ariel and I (and so are the mom's!). I look forward to meeting with them each week to talk about mom issues and such. Girls, thank you for always being there for me when I need it the most!

Chasing Shadows

Last night after I had put Caleb to bed I went and changed Ariel on the changing table. After I had changed her I needed to get some things done before I could go to bed so I left her on the changing table because she was very content on it. I would check in on her periodically and see that she was looking at the shadow of her arm on the wall. She literally laid there on the changing table for 20 minutes looking at her shadow. It was a priceless moment.

Happy One Month Ariel!

Wow how time has passed. I can't even believe that Ariel has been in our lives for a month already. I had so many friends tell me that time would go much quicker with your second child than it did for your first...man were they right! Here is to our little princess, may God bless you my sweet girl!

Never a Dull Moment

On Saturday night I gave Caleb and Ariel their first bath together. Caleb loved helping me wash her with the washcloth and helped me with the soap.

After their bath, I fed Ariel and she ended up throwing up everything that I gave her. I was really concerned because Caleb had never done that before when he was little. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to feed her again right after she had gotten sick but I didn't want her to get dehydrated. So I fed her again then went to bed. That night when I put her in her bassinet right next to the bed I heard her gasp for air and get chocked up a few times in the night. It scared me to death, so I ended up putting her in bed with me just so I could hear her breathe all night.

On Sunday morning she was really congested but we all still went to church. It was her first time to go to our church. This is her in her church outfit that Leigh Fox and Christie Huggins got her. Bless her heart, I think I caught her in the middle of a sneeze in this picture but I was literally running out the door with both kids in tow when I took it.

She did really well at church. It was our last Sunday in our temporary building that we had been in for 5 years. We had a luncheon at the new building after church service was over. The building is beautiful! We all got to walk around and take a tour of the new facilities and Pastor led us in praise and worship songs in the new Worship Center.

When we all got home, Caleb and Ariel both went down for a nap and I had to get my house cleaned up for our Connection Group that meets in our house every Sunday night. This a very bad picture of the kids that are in the connection group with Caleb. Olivia is in the black and Allison is in the blue...they were all munching on some apples!

Since we have an upstairs in our house that we use for Caleb's play room, we try to have a babysitter come each week when we meet so that we won't have to drive all the way to church to drop off the kids. It is so nice having all the kids here...that is, as long as we have a babysitter!

Ariel was still not feeling well last night so I ended up calling the pediatrician on call to see if there was anything else I could do for her except aspirate her nose and give her saline drops. She recommended using the humidifier over night and also getting in a hot steamy bathroom with her for 10 minutes. We tried those things and she still woke up congested this morning.

I ended up calling Dr. Hill and we went in to see if there was anything else that was underlying that we were missing. Right before we walked out the door, Ariel threw up again all over me and her. Dr. Hill checked her ears twice to make sure that there wasn't an infection in them and they were all clear. She ended up telling me that it was just a viral infection and she may have a touch of the stomach bug that is going around. I just hope that the small bought of diarrhea that Caleb had last week is all the will accumulate with him...I don't want both my kids sick. So, we are just praying that Ariel's virus will go away as we continue to treat her with the aspirator, steamy bathroom and the humidifier. Oh the joys of parenting!

Pure Satisfaction!

Both Ariel and Caleb are down for a nap so I thought I would take a moment to share some pictures from the past few days rather than doing the necessary things like um....clean my house! I can't help that I have missed the Internet and now that I am doing this blog thing, I think I may become addicted!!

Dan took these pictures of Ariel and I this morning. It was about time to get some of her and I together. All the ones that I had were of us right after labor...can you say labor hair?

These were taken last night.

Sometimes the only way that I can get anything done on the computer or around the house is to wear Ariel on my chest. She loves to be close to me! This is here in her new jeep carrier.

I took this great picture of Dan and Caleb the other day. They are so photogenic!

Ariel's Birth Story

I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday Oct.3. Dr. Martinelli checked me and I was dilated to a 2 and was 70% effaced. We had set an induction date for the 12th but we both kinda thought that I wouldn't make it until then. On Wednesday (the 4th) Dan and I went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday and I had ordered the eggplant parmasan because I had heard that it was supposed to ripen your cervix and get you prepared for labor. Well I guess it worked because right after dinner Dan and I went shopping and as we were walking around, I felt Ariel drop. I had labor pains until 3:00 in the morning on Thursday and was just VERY uncomfortable. On Thursday during the day I decided that I would take Caleb to the new mall that they had just built in Rogers and just try to walk Ariel out of me...fortunatley my labor progressed more!

On Friday the 6th I ended up going to see Dr. Martinelli again to see that I had indeed progressed more. They hooked me up to a Non-Stress Test and I was in early stages of labor and was dilated to a 3. She gave me the option to either go to the hospital and be induced right away, go home and come to the hospital later that evening or just wait it out until it came on its own. Well I chose to go home and then be induced that night.

Dan and I got to the hospital at 8:30 Friday night. We had to go through the emergency doors because it was after hours and get checked in. At 9:30 they had me all hooked up and then they broke my water. At that time I was a 4 centimeter. At 12:30 a.m. I got my epidural and they started pitocin. At 2:30 they came in and checked me and I was at a 6. They had me turn to my right side and when they did that Ariel's heart rate dropped. So, they had me get on my back and then they turned down the epidural and the pitocin...and never turned it back up!!

Thirty minutes later I was starting to feel nausous and was feeling a lot of pressure so the nurse came in and checked me and in thirty minutes I had gone from a 6 to a 10!! I started pushing and about 45 minutes later she was born. I felt pretty much everything but the worst part was really the feeling like I was going to puke while I was pushing. The experience was incredible and I wouldn't have changed it for anything. My labor only lasted 6 hours compared to 17 with Caleb.

Ariel was born on October 7th at 3:39 am. She was 7 lbs 10 oz and was 20 and a half inches long. This was taken right after they broke my water. I was meaning to get a picture of me in the beautiful hospital gown before they sat me in bed but it didn't happen. Just minutes after she was born...she was just wailing poor thing!

This is when Dan brought her to me after they had gotten her all cleaned up.

Ariel was born on the night of a full moon and there were 14 babies born that night. If you look in the background you can see all the babies that were in the nursery. Ariel is the one in the front.