A Little Uriah

I cannot believe my little boy is already 3 months.

Just wanted to share a few pics from today.

Love,

Erin

Cayenne, Frankincense, & Hormone Cream

My mother-in-law came in for the week of Eden's birthday... and let me say that God has blessed me with the most incredible mother in law ever. I love her with all my heart and feel as though I am one of her own. When she comes she stays in the basement and Eden knows every time where to find Juju's bag of goodies (toiletries.) 

Eden had vanished for a bit, but I wasn't too worried. Lately she has been the queen of hide and seek. She will hide all by herself in her dark closet sometimes for 30 minutes. When I need a break I just tell her I'll play hide and seek with her and that gets me some time to myself... JUST JOKING! I don't ever do that!! Anyways, she was MIA and all of a sudden I heard her choking downstairs. First of all I had NO clue she can now open the door to the basement all by herself. Is that possible? I ran down there and she was choking on one of Jules vitamins... good thing it was just a CAYENNE PEPPER pill! Poor girl... the closet liquid to wash it down with was a bottle of FRANKINCENSE OIL... but that's not all... when I turned her around to help her out she had her face and upper body covered in Dr. Kleitz HORMONE CREAM. Poor kid - she probably was having hot flashes during her nap - adverse effects!!

By this point she was crying 'cause her mouth was burning, she was sweating, and she smelled like she was in the barn with the three wisemen at Jesus' birth. After scraping her tongue with a wet wash cloth and getting some carrot juice into her to stop the burning she was down for her nap. Lets just say that when she woke up she no longer had that runny nose that has been haunting me for the past week. So for all you mom's out there looking how to cure these winter blues, just have your kid eat half of a cayenne pepper pill. 

Thank you Jesus it was nothing toxic!!

Love, 

Erin

Eden's 2nd Birthday

Yesterday was Eden's 2nd birthday... I cannot believe it. People always said, "Oh, enjoy it, it goes by fast.." Well, I can't believe how true that really is. Uriah will be 3 months tomorrow and I can't believe that either. I think I'm starting to feel the post pregnancy chub because by this time with Eden it was May already and I was able to get out and run... now it's February and minus 50 and I can't even walk outside to get the mail. Thank you Lord for sweats from Victoria Secret that make you feel semi cute! 

So, since funds were short this year we had no party for Miss Eden. Instead we had a buy-your-own lunch at Choo Choo Johnny's with some close friends and family. It's a hot dog/ hamburger place that brings your lunch out on a toy train. Eden's really into trains at the moment so it was perfect. She loved opening presents this year and was definitely all about the quantity and not quality! We got her the Goodnight Moon matching game and she loved it. I think she can recite Goodnight Moon by memory! 

She ended her day with a yummy birthday dinner of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and creamed corn and a cake from the local grocery store. She had a special phone call from Aunt Ambie and Uncle Bern and she got the coolest birthday cake for her kitchen from Aunt Dani, Uncle Dave, and little M. 

Thank you all so much for making this day special inspite of the dying economy!

Here are some pics from the day.

P.S. On her 2nd birthday she had pigtails for the first time. I have to admit I'm just not getting into doing her hair!! 

Eden & Mommy

Driving to her birthday lunch

Eden & Avery waiting for their lunch to come out on the choo-choo train

Her birthday present from JuJu & Grandpa Mar

Her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday Cake

Her first taste of Hansen's Root Beer from JuJu

Love, 

Erin

Mimi's

Just a little funny post about Eden...

After her nap the other day she came downstairs with Boo, Lucy, Baby, and Margaret... her babies and informed me that baby Lucy was hungry. She crawled up next to me, got a blankie, lifted up her shirt and began to nurse Lucy. It was hilarious. After Lucy was all done, she burped her and put her in the swing. Talk about being watched every second of every day!!

Love, 

Erin

A Beautiful Wedding - A Not So Beautiful Car Ride Home

Wow! Where do I start? As most of you know, we had been planning on leaving Thursday, Feb. 5th for St. Louis for Miciah's wedding. Well Monday, Eden started throwing up and had a fever. Great... how were we supposed to make a long drive with a puking child? Well, she stopped for a day then started again on Wednesday. Not good!! My mom was planning on going with us to help out with the kids since we were both in the wedding so we told her to be at our house at 7am Thurs. morning so we could leave. Well, Eden was up half the night sick so needless to say neither of us got much sleep. We woke up thinking it was early like usual, but when we looked at the clock and saw that is was 8:30 we felt like Mr. & Mrs. McCallister from Home Alone... We yelled downstairs and sure enough my mom has been sitting on the couch since 7am waiting for us to get up!!

So... what a great way to start the trip! By the time we got up, got dressed,and got the rest of the car loaded it was 10 am. Our arrival time was quickly getting later and later!

Our first stop was at the local Panera in Springfield, IL. We were all so hungry so we sat down to eat and as soon as Eden was about to take a bite of her soup, she started throwing up in her Panera tray! That makes for some good eatin'! Praise God we made it to Panera though and it wasn't happening in the car. We got her all cleaned up and loaded back up and we were off again. We finally made it to Julie's (Uriah slept the whole way from Panera - 2 1/2 hours) and it didn't take Eden more than 10 minutes before she threw up again. Great!

Thursday night we had a nice relaxing dinner with the family and Friday morning we had a busy day decorating the reception hall and the church. The rehearsal dinner went smoothly and Saturday morning quickly arrived. The girls went to the salon to get our hair done and Eden and Jarrett went to the park. It was 65 degrees out so we couldn't pass up the opportunity.

It was now time for the wedding to start. I was a bridesmaid, Eden was a flower girl, and Jarrett was an usher. We kept telling her that when she got to the aisle she was going to throw her flowers out of her basket. So she had me to walk to and Jarrett behind her reminding her what to do. As the time drew near, Jarrett opened the doors for Eden to walk down the aisle. As she approached the aisle, she looked around and smiled. You could see the wheels turning in her head..." Is this where I start to throw my flowers?" She looked up with confidence and threw her whole entire flower basket down the aisle! It was hilarious! I think she was a little confused. She ran and got her basket and proceeded to throw the flowers down one by one!

Now for the car ride home... My mom and I both woke up feeling sick Sunday morning. The drive was going smoothly but as we approached Springfield, IL my mom started saying that she felt like she was going to throw up. She decided that she had to and asked Jarrett to pull over on the side of the road. We were now on the shoulder of I-55 and my mom opened the car door and started throwing up A LOT. I was sitting in the back between the two car seats and before I knew it I heard Jarrett yell, "CALL 911..." WHAT! He jumped out of the car and ran to my mom who was now laying in the embankment on the side of the road passed out. She blacked out and fell out of the car and down in the ditch on the highway. By this time Eden was crying, "Gigi fell... Where'd Gigi go??"... Uriah's screaming, ready to eat, and I'm climbing into the front seat to get outside to try and flag down some help. Im the mean time I was on the phone with 911 and they were sending some help. I wish I had my video camera to video how many people drove past after seeing a lady laying on the side of the road... We could have been on that show, "What Would You Do..." Anyway, a young Indian man ran up and informed us that he was a doctor... (a doctor at the same place where I had Uriah in the city... WEIRD)! He started taking my mom's vitals and him and Jarrett were talking to her trying to get her to come back. By this time the coolest woman truck driver pulled over and got down in the action with my mom... she was so sweet and 2 National Guardsmen pulled over in their massive Hummer.

The police and ambulance arrived and my mom refused to go to the hospital. She said she was fine... So we started on the road again with only 2 1/2 dreadful hours to go! So we made it home... NOT QUITE! We were 30 minutes from home and I started to get that feeling. Yeah... so the closet thing to me was a bucket of animal crackers from Trader Joe's so I quickly opened the lid and dumped the cookies out - mind you, Eden is now

 crying that mommy dumped out all her cookies on the floor - now, I start puking LOTS. Jarrett is losing it about to puke as well since he pukes at the sound of someone else puking... Eden is mocking me making puke noises, and uriah is definitely ready to be out of his car seat. I'm sorry to say this but the smell was so horrible that when I finished, I

put the lid back on and threw it out the window. Please forgive me Lord! I'm sure the car behind us wasn't too happy!

Well, we made it home and I'm not planning on going on any road trips in the near future!!

Love to you all!

Blessings, 

Erin

Mommy & Uriah

Eden in her dress

Beautiful Miciah

Mommy & Eden

Eden & Daddy

Catch up and the events of September

Well, here I am again... long time and no post. Bear with me as I'm still adjusting to life as a mother of two. It is wonderful though and I am loving every minute of it. My husband is definitely one of the reason's it has been an easy adjustment! So I want to catch you up on the things we did September - December and then catch you up on Eden and Uriah. 

Uriah just turned 2 months and Eden is going to be 2 years old on February 18th. I cannot believe it. Some new things about Eden is:

* She is potty trained (except at night time she still gets a diaper)

* She can count from 1 - 10

* She sings her ABC's

* She loves Mickey Mouse

* She loves make up

Some fun things about Uriah are:

* Since he's been home from the hospital he has slept for 6 hour spurts at night! Praise Jesus!!

* He loves to eat

* At his 2 week appointment he had already gained 2 lbs. weighing in at 9 lbs. 10 oz

* He has a cute little birthmark on his right wrist

The list could go on but I'm sure some the pictures will speak for themselves!

I'll now begin the September update!

Really the only exciting events of September were my cousin Kari's wedding and Eden eating butter!

That's it for now!!

Love, 

Erin

Snow And A Baby

Thursday, 11/20/08 

8:00 a.m.

We were sitting at breakfast and Eden came up to me and said, "Pray mommy - Baby and Snow!" Eden was asking me to pray for a baby and snow! Amen to that!! It was a clear and cold Chicago day with no predictions of snow, but we prayed and asked for snow and most definitely a baby. By 9:00 a.m. it was snowing - just one more answer to prayer to go!

10:00 a.m.

It had been 41 hours since my water broke and things were still moving in the same direction - contractions, but nothing strong enough to kick labor into high gear. My midwives were still with me and had been for the past 2 days - God Bless them! Jarrett and I spent some time together alone with our midwives and decided that if nothing was "stronger" by 3:00 p.m. we would pack it up and head to the midwife wing at University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago to be induced. By this point we were definitely ready to have a healthy baby despite our homebirth wishes. So since we were planning on going to the hospital if nothing was happening, Sarah checked me and I was definitely still dilated 7 cm.

I tried everything that day! We went for a brisk walk, acupressure, herbs - and sure enough I would get some strong contractions, but nothing was sticking around. By 2:30 we were packing a small bag and hoping for a quick delivery at the hospital.

Sarah went ahead of us to let the midwives at the hospital know what was going. She set me up with a great room and the most wonderful staff. My room even had a tub for pain management! Megan, the other midwife was on her way to stay with me during the labor.

We arrived at the hospital at 5:00 p.m. and by 6:15 we were settled in the room and ready to go. It took the nurses 4 tries to get the IV in my hand which was SOOO frustrating! I have never ever had a problem with my veins, but for some reason they were having trouble. Praise Him they were able to get it on the 4th try!

By 6:30 the pitocin was administered and things were on their way. Around 7:00 I was REALLY starting to feel my contractions.  (And this is where things were getting painful so Jarrett's going to type about the next part)!

Hello, All:  okay, let me just say that when it comes time to deliver her baby Erin does not fool around.  The intensity of the contractions progressed quickly.  Equally intense though was Erin's determination.  She was so focused.

After being there for Eden's birth and watching my sweet wife chase off nurse after nurse, I was scared to touch her. So I was in charge of administering water and lending a hand to squeeze.  It was not long before the before the intense contractions turned into involuntary pushing.  

During the second episode of involuntary pushing Erin calmly announces that she is feeling burning.  With that the midwives thought it a good idea to lift up the gown (Erin was on all fours in the hospital bed) and take a peek to see where things were at.  And it was a good thing they checked because the next thing I know the midwives were rushing to put on their gloves. She put on her second glove, literally, just in time to catch Uriah as he slipped out of the birth canal.  

Since I was up by Erin's head, I leaned over to see a little weanie.  All the manliness inside of me wanted to yell, "IT'S A BOY!!!"  However, I contained my joy for the moment because I figured if Erin waited this long to find out, she might as well see it for herself. Looking back, I wish I would have said it...It would have been better for the video :) Erin and Uriah did so awesome!  I was so proud of them.      

Erin again...

After 1 stitch, PRAISE HIM, we had a quick recovery in the room and Eden was on her way in to meet her baby brother. She was SO adorable. She snuck in and then got a BIG grin on her face! She loves baby "Ry!" She was a little unsure about sharing the "mimi's" but has gotten used to the fact!

By 9:00 p.m. we were on our way to our private room where my sweet husband had Big Bowl waiting for me! I was so hungry. We had a great 1st night. Uriah slept pretty well snuggled up in my arms and the nurses didn't come in once to check on us. 

We wanted to go home asap since we were all feeling well and anxious to get home so we were discharged less than 24 hours after the birth.

It has been so wonderful since we got home. Uriah had a bit of a rough night last night, but everyone is adjusting well. Eden is doing amazing and loves her baby bro SO much! She kisses him constantly. 

Considering all the facts, a homebirth turned hospital birth was wonderful. Praise Him for His perfect plan!

What a blessing to have a boy and a girl. Thank you so much for all your prayers and well wishes. We love you all SO much and are so thankful to share this gift with you. 

Lots of Love, 

Erin, Jarrett, Eden, & Uriah

P.S. Pictures are on the way!!