Introducing Emmery Reese

She is 7 lbs. 5 oz.

20 inches long

(exact same stats as Mackenzie)

looks identical to Mackenzie

has deeper dimple in her chin than her sisters

she was very mellow after delivery

Labor stinks but so worth it!!!

Knowing you are going to have a baby in a few hours when you wake up sure makes it easy to get out of bed at 5:15! I had to have 1 last belly pic :(

My nurse was an agency nurse and had never delivered at Sky Ridge. Uh Oh!!!

She has been a L&D nurse for 25 years though!

Maybe all will be OK!

Here's the run down of the morning....

8:00 - 4cm and Pitocin started

8:40 - I think (I really don't want to progress to quickly & miss my epidural window)

8:45 - Tell my nurse I am about ready for my epidural

(she leaves the room b/c I have to have a 2nd bag of IV fluids before I can have it)

9:15 - she returns with IV fluids and says, "Wow you are serious business in here!"

once she sees my contractions are about 2 minutes apart

hangs fluid and leaves again

9:35 - comes back and says anesthesia is aware but I still need to get that bag of fluid in

9:55 - Anesthesia nurse comes to setup for Anesthesiologist

She asks how many cm I am and the nurse tells her 4cm

I tell her that was 2 hours ago between my contractions that are now 1 minute apart

10:00 - Anesthesia nurse asks my nurse, "You did let him know we were ready didn't you?"

My nurse, "No I thought you did". I blurt out, "Oh ****"

Anesthesia nurse runs out of the room. When she returns she says the Doc is RUNNING!

10:15 - Epidural is put in while having contraction since they are now about 30 seconds apart

Anesthesiologist puts fast acting med in. My new BFF!!

10:20 - my nurse checks me and I am 8cm! Awesome!

10:40 - water brakes by itself

10:45 - my nurse checks me and I am 10cm! Runs to page my OB. Awesome again!

10:50 - OB calls back to say she is 15 minutes away and can she make it?

My nurse tells her there is probably no way, turns off the Pitocin (best idea of the day), and leaves the room to find backup.

10:55 - I tell Kevin I think she is coming out please look.

11:00 - my nurse finally returns

11:05 - my OB arrives

11:13 - 1 contraction and out the baby comes!

All is Wonderful Again!!

Jellystone

Kevin was very brave and decided to take the girls to Jellystone the weekend before the baby came. There was no way I was going to be 3 hours away from the hospital, so I stayed home! We were both a bit nervous since there was no cell phone service where he was. There was WIFI but it went in and out. I was really looking forward to getting a lot of stuff done around the house! Since I was 3cm and my hubbie was away, I didn't overdue it.... or at least I sat down while working!

Kevin went with 2 friends from work and their kids. He stayed in a cabin and did not get the bed to himself! He had 2 little buddies to share with!

His hands were pretty full, so there are not very many pics. They enjoyed getting tattoos, playing at the playground, swimming, watching the parade, raising the flag with Yogi, & heading into Estes for ice-cream!

Presley was terrified of Yogi

The Belly

Well this will be one of the final belly pics of my life!

Pretty sad since I enjoy being pregnant! This has been my easiest pregnancy to date.

With Mackenzie I was nauseated from 5-14 weeks around the clock. I also had horrible headaches from about 12 weeks until the end. I was put on bedrest twice and went into premature labor at 31 weeks with her. They were able to stop it after an evening in the hospital!

With Presley I was nauseated from 6-14 weeks around the clock with a few vomiting spells! I also had the pregnancy stuffy nose the entire time. This caused me to not be able to breath through my nose at night. I could hardly sleep at night from the dry scratchy throat! I also was near narcoleptic during my 1st and 3rd trimesters. This made it extremely hard to care for poor Mackenzie! I also had 2 markers for Down Syndrome on my 21 week ultrasound. We had to wait to see a high risk OB for 2 weeks which was painfully long to find out little Pres would be just fine!

This pregnancy I had no nausea at all!! I also had no headaches!! I also had no stuffy nose!! I also had no bedrest!! I was tired during my 1st trimester, and the 3rd trimester tiredness finally hit me at 38 weeks.

My labor with Mackenzie was 9 hours. By the time I made it to the hospital I was already 7cm dilated! I remember the anesthesiologist telling me it was shift change and he wasn't sure if it would be him or his partner putting in my epidural. I told him, "if you walk out of this room, my husband is putting the epidural in"! 10 minutes later I was feeling much relief!

With Presley I decided to be induced a week early. That way my mom could be in town, and I didn't have to worry about what to do with Mackenzie if I went into labor in the middle of the night! I was dilated to 3cm for 2 weeks and 4cm 3 days before my induction date. The doctors all had bets going whether I would make it to my induction date or not! Well I did, and my labor with her was 3 1/2 hours.

I have decided to be induced again at 39 weeks. So the official date is August 29th. I am dilated again to 4cm and doubt I will make it through the weekend. I would like to since I am not a fan of the doc on call this weekend! My mom is in town which relieved a ton of stress! She has gotten a glimpse into our hectic schedule and knows where and when the girls have to be somewhere. I was able to squeeze in assisting in surgery yesterday and today. I was sad to find out they have 2 surgeries scheduled Monday morning at 6:30. I was actually trying to figure out how I could get a later induction time so I could swing by work on the way to help with them!

Am I nuts?

I need this baby out... before she falls out! Which seems very possible this time!

As much as I want to meet this sweet baby who still has no name or should I say 9 names, I am sad that I will no longer get to be pregnant! I mean the clothes are so comfortable!

The result

As a result of my previous post about bedtime battles...

This is what happens when Presley parties it up in her room or Mackenzie's room late at night. I walk around the corner at lunch and I come back to find this!

Presley's First Day

Presley started her 2nd year at our church preschool! She will be going 2 days this year! I totally expected her to cry and grasp onto me like she does every time a babysitter comes over. I was pleasantly surprised! She barged right in, went straight to the book section, & started looking at books. No tears! She has a great first day!

big sis had to make sure she would be OK before we left

Presley and her BFF Lila

Arghh Matey!

I bought a groupon to Pirates Cove water park to use this summer. As summer is winding down, and I am getting bigger by the minute we decided to try it out with the McDoniels!

The kids loved it and we loved it too! It was small, clean, & so much fun!

I see a season pass coming in a few years!!

Mack & Jack chillin

Probably our final picture as a family of 4!!

The McDoniels

Charlie's Angels

We got invited to Mackenzie's friend Macy's neighborhood party (Bash in the Sack)!

The theme was 70s sitcom/movie, which I was not in love with, but I figured we would try.

The only thing I could come up with that was simple and didn't require a lot of money was Charlie's Angels. However, we had no idea what Kevin should wear since you never see Charlie??? So we just put a name tag on him that said "Hi My Name is Charlie" and dressed him pretty normal with a Panama hat, cop sunglasses, & we forgot his speaker to carry around. Oh well!

The party was a blast! They had a dunk tank, huge bouncy castle, and a DJ. The girls were hilarious dancing after dark under the strobe lights!

The Vatter family or Danny & Sandy grown up with 3 girls

Presley entertained herself for hours doing absolutely nothing
Kenzie taking her turn at the dunk tank. She was not a fan!!

Mackenzie's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Mackenzie was so excited for the 1st day! We met daddy for lunch at her favorite place, Tokyo Joe's! Then we were off to school. For my friends in Texas, we only have half day kindergarten here. We go from 1-4... Big Day!!!

She had no problem heading in without me! Big difference since last year.

Presley on the other hand cried for her sissy for about 20 minutes after she walked through the doors. After school she ran out so exited to tell me all about her big day! I was nervous since she didn't know anyone in her class, but she made a friend! She couldn't remember her name, but she will get it!

So proud of my brave little girl!

Back to School Time

Mackenzie had many days of practice before school actually started! Friday was meet the teacher day where we spent an hour in her classroom checking it out. Monday was 1 1/2 hour day where mom & dad got to go with her. We went on a tour of the school, learned what to expect, and the kids got to play on the playground! Tuesday she had a 30 minute conference with the teacher by herself. She showed the teacher what she knew!

So excited for the real 1st day on Thursday!!

Fancy

Our New Routine

The Jack-n-Jill bath is not all it is cracked up to be! The girls play musical beds every night! We decided to just buy Presley a big girl bed since she was crawling out of pack-n-plays and cribs during all of our hotel stays. It has been a mess!!

The 10:00 & 11:00 nights were getting to be a problem!

No sleep = grouchy kiddos

Now Presley has a gate on her door and a lock on the jack-n-jill bath door!

Fortunately she is staying in her room!

Unfortunately she is still staying up till 10:00 at night!

Bellview Park

You can't go through the summer without visiting Bellview park! We met some friends from church one morning for some fun on the train, petting animals, & playing in the river!

Our Journey isn't over yet...

We closed on our house on a Monday and took possession on Tuesday morning at 8:00AM. Their realtor called our realtor at noon on Monday and said that he had missed the revision on the contract that they had signed weeks before saying that we would take possession at 8:00! He basically said it wasn't possible! I was furious since we had a cleaning crew and refrigerator coming at 9:00! By the time our realtor called them back to play hard ball, they had a moving truck there and were making it happen.

After we took possession, we had about 7 hours in the house before we had to hop in the car and drive to Texas. Kevin was heading to Panama the next day and his flight was out of Lubbock.

So on the road again. At this point I was at a total of sleeping in 5 different beds!

After I spent a few nights in Lubbock with the kids we headed to Amarillo for my cousins daughter's wedding! The girls had a blast!

the beautiful bride

Scott & Mandi

Tori & Kenz

The next day my mom, the girls, & I headed to Denver. The movers were coming the next day! Why not add 1 last bed to the list for a grand total of 8!!

Our Life as Gypsies

DENVER

We spent our 1st 8 days of being homeless in the Homestead Suites. It was close to Kevin's work and a good price for having a kitchen and bedroom. It was definitely not the nicest place I have ever stayed. In fact, it was a dump! There were some strange things going on there! For example, a man who rode around on an electric scooter with blinking lights??

Our third day there, I pulled up with the girls, and when I got Presley out of the car she cried out, "No mama, no!" as she pointed at the hotel. All I could do was agree with her!

After 8 days we headed off to Grand Junction for the next part of our journey...

GRAND JUNCTION

The next 3 nights were in a MUCH nicer hotel! Our friends Kyle & Kathy live in Grand Junction, so I was looking forward to hanging out with them. I had breakfast every morning with the girls in the lobby. Kevin went to work everyday. Kathy and I would take the kids somewhere fun in the mornings, and we would get together again in the evening! Mackenzie loves their son Josh, and Presley loves their daughter Abby. Good times!
One day we went to the dinosaur museum in Fruita. My girls absolutely loved it! Poor Josh did not! The dinos are loud, huge, & animated!

stomping dinosaur tracks in the sand

uncovering fossils

Kevin took us on a drive of the Colorado National Monument. It was a really long drive with beautiful scenery!

Time to head over to Kyle & Kathy's house for one more night in Grand Junction!

DENVER

Back to Denver for 3 more nights in a hotel!

The pack n play was a rough thing for Presley. She was such a good sleeper before we moved to the hotel. She watched Mackenzie climb out once and learned quickly. She would not stay in that thing for anything! Mackenzie attempted to help a few nights, and this was the result....

2 girls sleeping in a pack n play sideways

We met the Lynch girls along with Christine & Cathryn at the fountains one morning.

Another day we spent the day at the zoo with the Lynch girls!

BFFs and cutie pies

This was our last night in the hotel at 11:30 PM!! It was the worst night for Presley.

and Mackenzie :(

Once we turned off the lights to go to sleep, she scooted up in the bed and nailed her eye on the corner of the nightstand! It swelled so quickly! I knew it would not be pretty the next day.