Coming to Jesus

Rob and I had a moving night last night while tucking Avonlea in. I forget exactly why we got on the topic, but Avonlea started asking questions about heaven and so we explained to her that to get to heaven, you have to accept Jesus as Lord of your life and ask Him into your heart. She was asking questions about how we actually get to heaven (physically flying into the clouds was how she pictured it...not bad for a 3-year-old!) as well as what it looked like and what was there. Then Rob explained to her that she has to pray a special prayer, inviting Jesus into her heart and then she could join Daddy and I and her family/friends who have accepted Him. Rob lead her in a simple prayer and at the end (we'll never forget this!), he said, "...in your name" and Avonlea repeated, "A-V-O-N-L-E-A". She spelled out her name. It was too cute we chuckled a little and then finished the prayer. Of coarse, we know that she's 3 and may not understand the fullness of everything, but for a 3-year-old, she seemed to grasp the jest of it and was very excited that now she gets to join Daddy and I in heaven someday. The innocense of a child. It's priceless. Never-the-less, we were so touched and feel so fortunate to help lead our children in living lives of service for the Lord. We'll never forget last night.

Norah is 1 Week Old!

I can't believe how completely wonderful, happy, sad, stressful (at times), amazing, timeless and blessed this week has been. So many emotions and so many things to be thankful for. My health has been great. I've been healing very well and am off of my pain medications. Mostly because they have been effecting Norah. The pain medications have been transferred to Norah (as she nurses) and have made her very sleepy, thus not letting her eat properly or enough. It's more painful for me, but it's more important that she get the adequate food she needs to grow. I do have to say that today has been a great day as far as pain. The best so far. One week really makes a difference! I have my checkup with my OB this week to make sure I'm healing well and things are as they should be. I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of my doctor with the baby (I've kicked myself 3 times since she's delivered all 3!). She's such a wonderful listener, calm and collective and an incredible doctor. She really cares about her patients and the staff at the hospital have nothing but good things to say about her. All the nurses adore her and I can't wait to get all the kids' pictures with her on the next appointment. I also can't wait because she'll give me the okay to drive again!

Norah is doing well. Definately not on a schedule yet, but she's still working on figuring out what is day and what is night. Rob has been awesome to take shifts with me to allow me some sleep. I think it's more for his sanity since he knows I can be quite grouchy without my blessed sleep!=) I go to bed between 8:00-9:00 p.m. and then I take over around 1:00 a.m. and finish out through the morning. Last night, she gave Rob a run for his money and as the kiddos woke up at a lovely 7:30 this morning, we all climbed into bed and watched cartoons and played as we gave Daddy a little extra sleep time.

It can't wait to get started on Norah's scrapbook this week. I've ordered one through Creative Memories and need to get going on ordering her digital pictures. Avonlea's scrapbooks are pink, Lincon's are blue and Norah's will be purple. By color coordinating them, it just makes it easier. I have yet to figure out how to label them with their names and the years. Any ideas? Send them my way.

We went to a local gymnastics place today where they have open gym for an hour and the kids really enjoyed it. It's been nice having a trial week with Rob to see how I'll do handling three little ones when we're out and about. My only fear is that we'll be out somewhere and Norah will get hungry and then I have to stay put for a while, praying my kids don't run off. I'm sure we'll eventually get it down to a science. =) (I hope!)

Putting away the "boy pile" in the nursery.

Featuring Norah Claire...

Last pregnancy picture!

Stopped at Mom and Dad's on the way home. This is my dad.

First car ride...home.

Packing up to go home from the hospital

Napping

Celia and Ruby...our favorite nurses!

Tiny toes

Sweet gift from a friend...first pair of shoes.

Visitors =)

Avy and I...cheese!

Lincoln is the big brother

Norah weighed 8 lbs. and 13 ozs., our smallest baby

close-up

Proud Daddy

Proud Mama

Big sister Avonlea

Welcome to the world sweet Norah

It's a GIRL!!!

Rob and I welcomed Norah Claire Bates into the world yesterday at 5:24 p.m. She weighed 8lbs. and 13 ozs. and has LOTS of hair. I have tons of pictures, but no way of downloading them onto the laptop I'm using at the hospital. =( Hopefully, I can find some sort of adapter soon or you all will have to stand by until they discharge me to go home.


The c-section went very well and although I was very nervous, I felt all your prayers and support and what a difference! The Lord guided the doctors and nurses and recovery is going well. I haven't been outside today and if you know me, I live for the outdoors. However, I am very much enjoying spending some one on one time with my new daugher. She is very cute. She's nursing well and sleeping for 4 hours straight...yahoo!!! I'm crossing my fingers with this one, hoping for a good sleeper.


Stay tuned for lots of pictures. I should be discharged tomorrow, Lord-willing. =)

Gonna Have a Baby Today!

Well, I bid you farewell for a few days as Rob and I head to the hospital this afternoon to have our baby #3! Rob's never used Blogger before so I'll have to train him before we leave on how to update photos/video. The kids and I are just hanging low this morning, getting last minute things packed, checking lists twice, taking baths, cleaning up the house and throwing all rules out the window for this morning. We've been snuggling together as we watch cartoons and dismissing chores, just enjoying playing, baking and hanging out. Rob will be home at lunch and then, we'll be hitting the road for Gram and Papa's house to drop off our kids and head to the hospital.


Didn't get too much sleep last night, although I tried to enjoy what I could seeing that last night was my last night of sleep for awhile! Woke up at 5:50 this morning and after laying in bed thinking I'd fall back asleep, I got up and spent some time in prayer and reading God's Word in preparation for the day. My nerves are a little ancy today as I know what to expect with a c-section. It's bitter-sweet as I don't have to do any work actually getting the baby out, yet the recovery pain isn't a walk in the park. I'm anticipating being in the hospital for a few days. It's kind-of nice actually because this will be my only one-on-one bonding time with the baby on my own and with our kids at my parents', Rob will get some bonding time as well.=)


Bags are packed and by the door. I'll try to upload one, last prego picture before we leave. My camera has been MIA for the past few days, but my sweet friend dropped it off just in time this morning. A camera is a good thing to have when you're going to have a baby, right?!


Hope all the daddys out there had a wonderful Father's Day. We made Rob some breakfast in bed, showered him with a few gifts and visited my dad in the evening. What would we do without our incredible dads out there?!!! I have been SO incredibly blessed not only to have a wonderful father growing up, but to have married a man that is just as wonderful a father to our own kids. Love you sweetie!

Last pregnancy pictures to come...

This One's For the Girls!!!

If you know our family, you know that music consumes our lives. We always have some sort of music playing in the background whether it be from my husband playing the piano, any of us singing, the radio blasting as we're cleaning up at the end of the day or making breakfast...like I said, we're a musical family! Well, there are so many songs out there that we adore, but this one has to be one of my favorites! I found the actual music video on YouTube, but it won't let me paste it, so this is just a picture.

I was making brownies tonight as the kids and Rob were out back in the pool swimming and enjoyed singing along to this. Avonlea and I like to dance to it and something about it just puts you in a giddy mood. =) Whether you're 1 or 101, if you're a girl, you can relate to this song.

So turn up your speakers and blast the song as you mop floors, cook lunch or just dance around your living room!

Our Space Unit

A few of the books we checked out on planets. We also had some on the moon and stars.

Avonlea painted a solar system made out of styrophoam balls and wire. We had it all ready to show at our homeschool group, but found out at the last minute that our new puppy had destroyed a few of our planets, so we never got to share. =(

The kids were all decorating film canisters to make rockets. We later took turns setting them off in the backyard. It was a BLAST!

A Day at the Beach

Here are a few shots of us at the beach this past weekend. It was gorgeous out and the temperature of the water was just perfect. Couldn't have asked for a better day. There's just something about the ocean that's so calming and relaxing. Can't beat a day at the beach!

A Visit to the Vet

Lincoln trying to weigh the puppies

The 9 of us off to the vet for shots, dewormings and checkups. Let me clarify, the puppies were getting the shots, dewormings and checkups, not us. =) I had to wake the kids up from naps early, so they were a little moody (as you can see with Avonlea!) and not happy about 6 puppies pulling on their hair during the trip there and back.

Smiling amongst the chaos!! Avy took this shot. She's becoming quite the photographer. Don't worry, we were at a red light here, not moving.

These are some of the pictures of the vet visit from last Friday. We had a little set back, but all was well for them to go home yesterday. Even though it was so much fun, we will miss the little guys.

Thanks everyone for the name ideas! They were great. Rob and I have narrowed it down to two names per gender that we like and you'll just have to wait and see after the baby is born what the names are. =) I will admit, the suspension is getting to us. We definately want to know who this baby is and see what he/she looks like. I honestly can't believe that we went the whole time without finding out. You know me...the planner. I think that already having one child of each gender helped out as well as having an extra room and keeping it unisex.


Rob has been awesome this past weekend in helping me get some things done around the house that needed attention. We finished the nursery, cleaned out the garage (like that needs to be done before a baby comes, but it was just urking me), got the rest of the windowsills that he made painted, bags are finished being packed and by the door and yes, the puppies are officially in their new homes. We were so blessed to have them all accounted for. Now we have a few days to get our own puppy "Rosebud", as Avonlea named her, used to our house and starting to potty train (eek!). She really is a sweetheart. Definately a diva and completely full of spunk. She's the leader of the pack and hopefully, Riley will be able to put her in her place and keep her in line.


Rob's going to be busy wrapping things up at work this week and on the homefront, we still have a few more things to keep up with:


- finish up all laundry and put away

- last minute grocery shopping, although our church has been SUPER gracious in providing meals for the weeks after we're home and recovering

- finish up some homeschooling stuff, at least getting us to a point where we can take a break for a few weeks. Daddy will be home with the kids and I for two weeks (so great!), but we're definately going to take a school break and just have some fun getting to know our new little one.
We're learning about habitats this week (tundra, forrests, savannah, etc.) and we need to make a shadow box for our homeschool group this week. Gotta get a jump on that.

- start housetraining Rosebud

- take Riley to the vet and get her shots updated and new meds that we just ran out of

- dusting done!! I don't know why, but whenever I'm a few days shy of having a baby, I HAVE to dust! I guess it's part of nesting. Funny though, cause I can't reach certain areas (fans, lighting fixtures) and probably shouldn't be standing on chairs. We'll see if those areas get done huh?


Avonlea is getting very excited and always reminds me of how many days til her new brother/sister gets here. She has warmed up to the fact that she could accept another brother (praise the Lord). I have always made it a point to explain that God will give us the baby HE wants us to have and love and the past few days, she has been repeating this very phrase back to me, reassurring herself. =) Cute.


Well, it's on to our last doctor's appointment this morning. Just a heartbeat check and any last minute questions I have to ask the doctor. I LOVE my doctor by the way. She's amazing and I trust her completely.

WE NEED NAMES!!!!

Okay, so with just about a week left until our bundle of joy arrives, Rob and I need some names. We have a few that we like, but nothing we're completely 100% set on and we need your help. Please give us some suggestions and leave them in the comment area. I know there are those of you who check our blog and don't usually leave comments. Well, this is your time. =) You can sign in as a guest or Google user, but this is your chance to get in your suggestion. If we do wind up using your name suggestion, we'll be sure to post a little about YOU on our blog. So, let's hear the names!!!!

The Waiting Game...

I will say that this third pregnancy has definately flown by quicker than my other two, but now that we're in the home stretch, time is SLOWLY passing, even with keeping up with two children, six puppies and mama, normal household chores and homeschooling. Every day draws closer and closer to the time of delivery. Neither Avonlea or Lincoln were early, so I don't have high hopes with this one. Avonlea went full term. I was induced (they anticipated a big baby and she was 9 pounds), in labor for 12 hours, pushed for nearly 2 hours and wound up with an emergency c-section. Lincoln was estimated to be an even bigger baby and although my OB gave me the option of how I wanted to deliver, I chose the c-section (to be on the safe side...didn't want another baby to get stuck!). With this baby, we have no option. It will be a c-section also. To be honest, I don't mind them. It does take longer to recover, but as long as I'm healthy and our baby is healthy, that's what matters.

This week does put us at "full term" officially, so that puts my mind at ease knowing that if the baby comes early, he/she will be healthy enough not to endure days/weeks in a NICU. I've heard that this can be hard on the family as well as the baby. Praise the Lord for this healthy pregnancy! We have so much to be thankful for in not having any complications so far. Thank you Jesus. According to BabyCenter.com, our baby supposively weighs 6 and 1/3 pounds and measuring around 19 inches long right now, but I know better than to belive that! We're having a Bates baby and that means nothing under 9 pounds! =) I will say that my back has definately endured the bulk of this pregnancy. I've never experienced such back pain in either of my pregnancies, but this "little" one has put me through the ringer! Rob is always willing to give me back messages which has really helped, especially at the end of a long day. I have mentioned that I do have the world's greatest husband, right? He's been such and help and it'll be nice having him home for a few weeks after the baby is here.

The nursery if officially ready, car seat and suitcases by the door and hospital paperwork completed. It's so funny how ahead of the game I was with our first birth. I had things done and ready by 7 months or so (you know, just in case). Well, then with our second, it was around 8 months. Now, we're 1 3/4 weeks away and I'm still putting things together. I do have a list though (of coarse, you know me and my lists!!!). The list is on top of the hospital pile by the door and I've been slowly adding things here and there. It's also funny because the first and even second time around, I packed everything under the sun in this huge suitcase. This time around, I have a small shoulder bag, pillow and that's it. It's funny how a woman goes from being a first-time mom to having multiple children. Many things change. I do remember once buying a pacifier cleaner. Yep, a pacifier cleaner! What a waste. With Lincoln, I would just lick my fingers and wipe it off. Ahh, the little gadgets that first-timers think they need and I'm just as guilty as the next mom. =) Our third, sweet baby will be thrown into this loud, crazy household, but with even more love.

Bags packed and ready...my bag, baby's diaper bag, overnight bags for Avy and Lincoln for Gram and Pa-pa's, camera bag, pillow, baby's carseat and "Big Brother"/"Big Sister" present for the kids when they come to the hospital (just some fun trinkets to keep them busy as they visit).

Baby toys...all from when Avonlea and Lincoln were babies. Brings back memories!


The curtains in the nursery.

Love this print on them. We got the set at IKEA (of coarse).

On the changing table, we have a boys' shelf and a girls' shelf of clothing. We have a spare bed in the room, so there isn't room for a dresser, but when the baby is older and moves into sharing a room with Avy or Lincoln, we'll get him/her a dresser. Not really a need for one now. The changing table is also stocked with diapers, wipes and all that jazz. We received so many diapers from family and friends that we actually have too many! (What a blessing.) We'll be giving what we don't use to a mission team headed to the Dominican Republic this summer. They will be giving out the diapers to orphaned children with special needs.

So that's the nursery. Now we just need the baby to go in it. All in God's timing is what I keep telling myself. All in God's timing.

Oh Lincoln!!!!!!

This was breakfast the other day. He was trying to do it by himself. It's all about doing things by himself these days. Gotta give him a little credit. =)

Take a Peek at This Blog

Preschool Playbook

It's a must that you all take a peek at this blog sometime today. What creativity! I just live for this stuff!!! =)

"Happy To You" Lincoln!

The birthday cake that turned out quite well. Surprisingly, I didn't spend hours upon hours making it.

Opening presents with Pa-pa.

Our pinata that only made it through about three swings! It plopped on the ground and Rob had to shake it out. Oh well. =)

Waiting in anticipation for the candy to fall. Skyping Grandma in China. It was VERY early in the morning for her, but she did get to watch some of the birthday party.

This is such a cute book! It's called Happy To You by Caron Lee Cohen. We found it at the library two weeks ago and Lincoln loves reading it. It's about a young boy named Daniel who loves to say "Happy To You" to all his favorite things throughout the day. Lincoln has been saying this exact phrase lately and we thought this book was so fitting to read this week. Apparently, this phrase is quite popular amongst toddlers.

Lincon's birthday party was definately a success. We only invited immediate family and a few close friends. We enjoyed some yummy food, cake/icecream, a (lousy) pinata, presents and playtime in the backyard with friends. As I was planning his truck party this year, I found so many cute games, crafts and activities to do, but being 9 months pregnant, decided that just getting the house picked up and preparing the food was enough for this expecting Mommy. Rob helped out tremendously and the kids were so good during the morning to let us get things done.

I must say that I can't believe my baby is 2! We're done with pacis (success...yes!), he's talking up a storm these days and tells me when he needs to have a diaper change (could potty training be right around the corner?). It seems like just yesterday that he was born. Now that we have another one on the way (2 weeks and counting), he doesn't seem like such a baby anymore. Every day is just so precious!

Happy Birthday Lincoln!

The Fourth is Coming

A little craft we did last week. Fill a vase with sand and shells and then add in y0ur flags. You could do this on a larger scale if you wanted. It looks better that way. Avonlea just chose this smaller vase.

An American flag quilt I bought about awhile ago at a craft show with my mom. I love putting it out. It's my favorite throw blanket for when snuggling on the couch.

Our holiday tree decked out for the Fourth. I need to get some more small ornaments for the branches. Thinking about tracing and cutting out the kids' handprints and decorating them as flags (stripes and stars), laminating them and hanging them on.

Our homeschool group focused on Flag Day this past week. We made red, white and blue wind socks.

We also used our handprints to create an American flag. We'll be making our own this week (just my kids) and I want to get it laminated to keep. When I taught preschool years ago, we made a giant one like this for our 3s class and even used glitter. It was so much fun.

I just LOVE the fourth of July. We've always been big on holidays in our house from decorating, to baking to making fun crafts, we love it all. This next week, we'll be celebrating Flag Day which is the birthday of when our flag was made. Then, it'll be the Fourth of July, our nation's birthday. We've been busy putting flags around the house, whipping our the red,white and blue decor, etc. and we're planning on going to a parade when time draws closer. We're even planning on being part of a small parade at a local park with our Mom's group, complete with decorated wagons, bikes, roller skates, anything that goes. We'll be dressed in our proud colors and walk around the park with friends. Should be a blast and a great way to teach our children how proud we are to be Americans.

What fun traditions do you do for the Fourth?