Pushing Present

I wanted to give my awesome hubby BIG props for my Pushing Present this time around! (Even though there is no pushing involved with a c-section---I feel I still worked hard making this baby for the past 10 months!)

I came home from the hospital and was met by my parents and Mia, Chloe and Quinnlan. The big girls were saying for me to hurry upstairs to see our closet. I assumed that Kevin had moved our dresser to our closet, which was something I had wanted done as a part of my "Nesting List." So, we go upstairs and my jaw dropped as I walked into our bedroom. This is what I saw:

I had wanted to paint our bedroom since we moved to this house 4 years ago. I would have painted it myself, but I am a horrible painter, and not only did the walls need painting, the ceiling also needed painting---I was not up for tackling that task! Our walls were a dark brown (which I know is very "in" right now, but because of where our room is in the house, it doesn't get a lot of light and not only were the walls brown, the ceiling was also brown, so it literally felt like a cave.) when I went into the hospital. Kevin had painted them a soft Latte color while I was gone. What a difference it made! We had bought a new bed frame and mattress this summer, so we were on our way to making our room a place that I enjoyed being in.

Isn't it funny how we can create the cutest rooms for our children and completely neglect our own personal space in the home??? That is how things had worked in our house.

So, not only did he paint the walls and ceiling, he also bought new nightstands, lamps and curtains. It looked amazing.

Then he said to turn and look on the wall opposite our bed (where the dresser used to be) and this is what I saw:

Holy Moly...he had installed the shelf, TV and DVD player all without any help! I was in shock.

Then the girls said to look in the closet and I saw that not only did he put the dresser in there, he had completely made it like a mini-kitchen for me! There was a mini-fridge stocked with waters and Vitamin Waters, a single cup Keurig coffee maker, and a basket of snacks!

looking into the closet

The Keurig and basket of K-Cups (even mugs!)

Snacks for the nursing Momma

Now, unfortunately, I never want to leave my new room!

I know we still have some more to add (pictures, rugs, etc), but it really is like my little haven within my chaotic house right now and I am so thankful for the Extreme Makeover!

He thought of everything...I love this man.

It's a...

GIRL!!!!

Yes, we are officially a family of 6!

On August 10, we headed to Piedmont Hospital for my scheduled c-section...honestly, I never thought I'd make it to this day. I was SURE I was having this baby early. That was not in the cards...so, off we went, bags packed and ready to meet our new son or daughter!

Everything was moving along smoothly as the nurses and doctors prepped me for surgery. They called for Kevin to come in the OR once they were ready to begin. I was very anxious to finally hear Kevin announce the sex of our baby. Well, the doctors said, "Stand up, Dad, to see your baby being born!" and he stood and we waited...and they tugged and pulled...and we waited some more...more tugging...where is the baby??? At one point, I wondered if the doctor was on top of me trying to get our baby out. They said the baby kept "floating" away from the incision, so they had to use forceps to grab hold of her sweet head! Then Kevin said, "It's a baby GIRL!" I started bawling...out of relief for a healthy delivery and I was thrilled to complete our family with 4 daughters. How precious. And, she has beautiful red hair! I couldn't believe it! I think I always secretly wanted a red-headed baby...who knew?!?

check out the red hair!

Mary Britton Dierkes: 7lb. 3oz., 19 3/4in. born at 1:31pm on August 10, 2010

Proud Parents

First Kiss

I'm in LOVE

As I've told Kevin many times, he was meant to be a father to daughters---what an enormous responsibility to teach our girls what a strong man/husband/father looks like. And after reading the amazing book, "Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters", I am so glad that Kevin is the father to our girls. He is so great with them and they seriously ADORE him.

Proud Papa

Here are some pics of our sweet Mary Britton and her very own Birthday Week :)

Grandaddy

Nana

Grammie

Mia and Chloe finally meeting Mary Britton

Mary Britton's favorite cuddle position

Mary Britton wearing the same Coming Home outfit as her older sisters wore home from the hospital

Going Home

Quinnie FINALLY meeting her baby sister---so proud

The end of Summer brings lots of new things!

~Last day of summer---playing in the hot tub that Kevin filled with cool water~

Monday, August 9 began a jam-packed week for our family.

My girls' 1st day of kindergarten was that day. I have had mixed feelings about this. I know they are both over-prepared for starting "big kid school" (they just completed 2 years of Pre-K because of their late summer birthday).

But, still...these are MY BABIES!

My FIRSTBORN children!

Well, our best laid plans don't always work the way we want them to...Sunday night, Chloe begins to run a 102 fever. This is so typical for our academic history. She is what I (lovingly) call my Nervous Nellie when it comes to new experiences. So, we go to bed and pray that it is a self-induced "stress fever"---is that even a medical diagnosis?

No such luck. She woke up in the middle of the night after the Motrin had worn off with a 102.7 fever.

No 1st day of school for Miss Chloe.

I was especially bummed about this being that I did not want her to miss all of the introductions to kindergarten and her new classroom and teacher and the rules, etc. But, what can you do? Nothing.

So, Mia, Kevin and I headed off to Laurel Ridge Elementary School the next morning hand in hand. Mia was very excited. She received a new bookbag from the Birthday Fairy (we were in the middle of Birthday Week) and new super sparkly school shoes from her Uncle Ryan and his fiance, Monica for her birthday (check out the difference in my twins' styles just by taking a look at the choice in shoes. Chloe actually wanted all white, but couldn't find any, so she went with the ones that had the smallest amount of lavender on them. I just had to laugh.)

We have been looking forward to our girls starting school at Laurel Ridge for awhile now. It is a small little neighborhood school (reminds me so much of the school I attended for elementary school) that is practically across the street from our house. Over the years I have loved seeing familiar neighbor faces walking their children to and from school each day and waving to the wonderful crossing guard---this woman is seriously enthusiastic about her job.

SO, this was our, I mean, Mia's big day. When we get inside, we walk her to her classroom and it is empty except for her teacher. We didn't realize that if it is before 7:45am, the kids go to the cafeteria and wait for their teacher to come and get them to walk to class. Leaving her in an empty room made me feel sick. Mia, on the other hand, hugged and kissed us and waved goodbye and went to the seat with her name on it and had a seat with a smile on her face---Kevin said she probably loved being the only one in there---more attention for just her!

I thought I was doing well until we walked away from the class and I LOST IT in the hallway. Here I am, 10 months pregnant, a little hormonal, planning for the birth of our child THE NEXT DAY and I have just left my precious daughter in the hands of virtual strangers for 6 1/2 hours. I boo-hooed the whole way home. I guess this happens to us kindergarten newbies.

But once I got home, I went into final nesting mode to prepare for our next adventure---having this baby. It was surreal to answer people's question, "So, when are you due?" with "we're having the c-section tomorrow". For so long, August 10th has seemed like an eternity away (as all moms can probably relate to that waiting game) and now it was almost here.

Well, Mia had a wonderful first day. Kevin happened to be home between appointments to go with me to pick her up and she was bubbling over the whole walk home telling us every detail. I was so happy to hear all about it.

Unfortunately, Chloe did not get to join her sister until Thursday because of the fever, but it was a good day for her too, even if she had a hard time admitting it. (Kevin brought them up to the hospital to see me and the baby since she was now fever-free for 24 hours.) She says she doesn't like school, but I think it is mainly that she doesn't like being away from Mommy and "home". But, like we've told her, school is your job for the next few years and you can choose to be positive about it or not...but staying home is not an option. Sorry, kiddo :)

In celebration of Birthday Week, here are a few pics from the triple birthday party we had for all of our August birthdays (yes, all 4 kids have August birthdays!):

Quinnie loved all of the jumpies!

She also loves her cousin, Mae (they could be twins!)

Waiting for the birthday cupcakes---my 3 birthday girls!

Sisters---being silly

The fam---Quinnlan was NOT happy that we interrupted her jumping time for this pic

Tick Tock...

Does it ever feel like time is literally creeping by???

Maybe it's because we didn't find out the sex of our baby that is adding to the anticipation, or maybe it's just this heat, but I feel like these last couple of weeks being pregnant have gone so slowly! God just has to be sitting back and watching and laughing and shaking His head looking down at me as I clean and re-clean my house each time I walk out the door "just in case" I go into labor while I'm out and about. He's probably thinking...maybe now she'll learn some patience??? I promise, I'm working on it, but it is not easy!

I've had a couple of nights where I was sure that I was going to have the baby (one night being this past Sunday) because I was awakened so many times in the night with the super-tightness in my belly. I called the nurse advice line at my OB's office Monday morning to ask about any "sure-fire" symptoms to look for to know when to call the doctor (I've never gone into true labor at home---with Mia and Chloe, my water broke---definitely a sign of labor, and with Quinn, I went into labor at the hospital when they were doing a non-stress test on the baby because she hadn't been active that day). They asked me to come in to do the same non-stress test to see if anything was going on. So, Kevin goes with me, we ask our future sister-in-law to come and stay with our girls and we head to the doctor's office. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor and we watched and waited. Nothing...except for the baby rolling around in there. What a disappointment.

I was pretty bummed.

And the funny thing is that I am only 38 weeks!

I have friends (Jennifer) that didn't have their baby until 41 weeks! I don't think I'd make it that long and still be sane...but I guess people do it all the time.

I think that in my mind---and let me remind you of my lack of a medical degree, I feel like my gestation time is shorter than everyone else's (haha) because I had my twins early (obviously) and because Quinnie came along almost 2 weeks early. Sounds scientific, right?

I was able to move my c-section date up a few days to August 10th, so that is good news. The 14th seemed like an eternity away and now I feel like I have a light at the end of the tunnel...Tuesday cannot come quick enough for this Large Marge.

To further explain my placenta-derived craziness, I have even tried to opposite jinx myself into having the baby. I kept feeling like because I was so ready to have the baby (having a clean house, infant car seat loaded in the car, nesting all done, etc) the baby was not coming. So, since I am helping to host a couples shower for my brother-in-law and his fiance this weekend, which I honestly thought I'd never make it to because I'd be giving birth, I even bought a new maternity top to wear (not that I feel like EVER looking at maternity clothes again!). That made sense in my head yesterday when I thought of it, but now that I'm writing it out...it is complete nonsense.

Oh well...

So, basically we are in the waiting game and I am ready for this game to be OVER and to hold my new baby boy or baby girl!

You know who wins the Patience Award??? My sweet hubby. He has been such a champ dealing with me and my neuroses, so thanks Kev. Love you!