Christmas

The holiday season is such an amazing time.  Seeing the sparkle in my children makes it more special that I ever thought it could be.  Although the patience required to go a long with the building suspense of all Christmas has to offer, it makes for a great learning experience for our children.

This year did not disappoint with all the family and fun that was had.  We were able to head back to Great Bend/Claflin for just over a week.  It worked out so well getting to spend the first part of the week with the Keeleys and then the second half the week with the Becks.  Although having our parents close to one another is convenient, packing up and moving 3 children back and forth is not, so we appreciate being able to unpack and stay with both without a lot of back and forth traveling.

The kids loved getting to play with all of their cousins and were spoiled beyond belief.  As the boys are getting older, we get to focus more and more on the true meaning of Christmas and talk more about Jesus and his birthday.  Luke has some great questions and contributes what he has been learning at school this year to those conversations.  We are grateful for all the Lord has done for us and the life he has blessed us with.  We are so thankful for the family time we had and miss everyone already.  Returning to the "quiet" of just our family makes us miss the chaos of the past week.

Christmas at home before we left:

Laney seems a little unsure about this Christmas stuff.

Lawson picked out some new dinosaurs for Bubba, like we needed more dinos :)

  Keeley Christmas:

Aunt Beth got to officially meet Miss Laney.

Laney got my Cabbage Patch Doll for Christmas

Only kid I know that doesn't go crazy when its present time.  He preferred playing with the old toys by himself.

Beck Christmas:

Elsa and Emmy got a new strollers so we decided to test them out :)

Beck granchildren from oldest to youngest (10 - 2 weeks)

1st Christmas Program

Since Luke started preschool this year we have experienced a lot of firsts.  This was a big one for us as he had his first Christmas program.  I had been asking him a little about it at home, but he didn't have a whole lot to share.  I would catch him singing a couple of songs around the house.  I expected it to be pretty simple and sing 3-4 songs.  They actually ended up singing quite a few more.  They had bells to ring and actions as well.  It was adorable.  Luke did a great job!  He had the brightest smile and waved so big when he found us in the audience.  It was a proud parent moment for us and a great family evening.

Laney 1 Month

Her first month has come and gone and she is changing everyday.  Laney has been such a blessing to our family and has found her spot in our hearts.  I have loved watching the boys interact with her and they just adore her.

Pictures:

All 3 kids at 1 month

Update:

• I am not sure on her weight, but 2 weeks ago she had gotten up to 8lbs at her doctors appointment.
• Laney does a great job eating.  She is breastfeeding and eats every 3-4 hours.  
• Sleeping is going very well also.  She has had some rough nights, but overall I can't complain.  She usually goes on stretches that are 3-4 hours long at night and sleeping in her crib.  She grunts a lot in her sleep.  
• I have been trying to do a better job with the eat, awake, sleep cycle than I did with Lawson.
• Clothes wise her newborn things are getting a little snug, but as we try to transition into the 0-3 they are pretty big.  I am loving dressing her up though and the headbands.
• Diapers she is in newborn, but will probably go up to 1 when I run out of newborn diapers.
• Laney is very content and handles the commotion at our house very well thankfully.
• Luke and Lawson like to try and help her out.  Luke will sing to her when she gets upset and Lawson likes to try and put her pacifier in.  That is a little scary sometimes :)
• She enjoys her warm baths.
• Looking more like her brothers.  We think more Lawson than Luke.
• Dad and Laney love to take cat naps together when he gets home from work.  She cuddles right up on him.  I find it pretty cute!
• Not real sure of tummy time, but will try to hold her head up when laying on us or being held on the shoulder.

Pictures from the month:  (I got a little carried away)

Thanksgiving

First walk in the stroller

Grandma Keeley and Laney with a silly face

First time in the gym :)

Laney's Birth Story

**If you are not one that likes to hear details of childbirth, then I recommend you stop reading now**

Laney's birth story has taken me a little while to write.  I think back on the day and it seems very different to me than the boys.  I'm not real sure why I feel this way.  It went well, without any big surprises (other than her being a girl).  I think maybe because it was at a different hospital and different doctor than I had been used to is why it seems so different.  In any case the outcome was great and we have a beautiful daughter.

Our due date was Tuesday, November 11th.  I started having some contractions the week before on Thursday night and through the weekend.  I was just sure that labor was starting.  I would go to sleep and night just sure I would go into labor by morning.  I would wake up multiple times a night with contractions and would try going back to sleep just to see if they would keep coming and get a a little more consistent.  I would usually fall back asleep for a couple hours only to be disappointed that labor wasn't happening.  By Sunday night these contractions were still coming.  I remember laying in bed that night and trying to figure out what to do about work the next morning.  I had a huge fear of going into labor at work.  I know normally that isn't a big deal, but this was the first time for me to be a bit of a distance from our hospital.  It bothered me to think about being 20 minutes from the hospital and that is not accounting for the time of meeting up with Erin some how.  I decided Monday to stay home from work and see if I could get the contractions more consistent.  I dropped the boys at daycare and since it was an unusually gorgeous day in November, I took advantage and started to walk, and walk, and walk our neighborhood.  Long story short, baby didn't come.

We had a doctor appointment on Tuesday.  Erin and I went and found that I was dialated to a 3 and over 50% effaced.  Our doctor said from the history of my other children.  It wouldn't take much to nudge things a bit and get things started.  He left the decision up to us and supported whatever we wanted to do.  I know people have their opinions about inducing labor.  I have actually had inductions for all of my children.  Both boys were because of blood pressure issues at the end of my pregnancies.  I was just sure that I was going to let this one come on its own.  However, after expecting things to get stated for about a week I was starting to get quite irritable and ready to have this baby.  We decided to go ahead and get things started on Wednesday.

Erin's parents came up that night to help with the boys.  We were on our way to the hospital at 5:30 am Wednesday morning to have this baby and finally find out if we were going to have another son or a daughter.  They got me all checked in and hooked up by about 6:30.  They started me on pitocin.  The nurse told me to let her know if I wanted the epidural.  Lawson came so fast that I was unsure of if I wanted it or not.  I held off, for now anyway.  Our doctor came and broke my water.  I am really unclear on times of everything, but I think that was probably around 8:30.  I was 4cm dialated at this point.  After an hour and contractions getting stronger, my nurse decided to check me again and I had increased to 5cm.  At this point I started to be a little more unsure of handling the pain on my own.  Lawson came 40 minutes after they broke my water.  That was obviously not happening this time.  I was having a lot of pain and burning feelings.  I tried a lot of different positions to get as comfortable as possible.  I eventually decided to go forward with the epidural.  That went well and I was relieved to start numbing the pain.  I did have one spot on my stomach though that I continued to feel.  It was odd how it was one specific place.  My nurse kept telling me to breath through the contractions.  I was having a lot of "the burning" feeling they talk about.  She said that is a sign of dilating.  I remember after just a couple contractions telling her I had to almost be there and to check me.  I was quickly at 8cm.  The nurse notified our doctor and told him we were close.  It seemed like 2 contractions later and we were fully dilated.  I'm sure it took longer than that, but again I felt oblivious to the time.  Things seemed to come so quickly and next thing I know we were ready to push.  

I was very lucky to have such great support through all of this.  Erin was constantly by my side and doing everything he could.  Christy also came to the hospital that morning.  She was so helpful at keeping me comfortable and of course keeping the room entertained with Erin.  She actually was there with us as the baby was born.  It wasn't planned, but as things started happening so quickly she just took action with Erin and did whatever they could to keep me calm and breathing through the pain.  It also worked well that we got pictures of everything right after, which I didn't expect. :)

The doctor came in, and we started pushing.  Erin and the nurse kept counting and telling me the baby was coming.  We got to a point where the head was out and the doctor told me not to push.  I had never understood the feeling when people said you want to push and your body hurts and the doctor says to wait.  It was awful and I just wanted to get the baby out.  I later found out that the cord was actually wrapped around her neck.  Erin saw it and was quite worried, but didn't let me know at he time.  The doctor kept telling me they were just trying to keep me from tearing.  He actually had to cut the cord from around her neck because it was too tight to untangle.  He told me to finally push again and she was born.  Erin said, "Its a girl!" and I literally could not believe it.  They placed here on my chest and I got to cuddle with our DAUGHTER.  I was in shock and just sure it was a boy.  

We had a wonderful experience with Laney's birth.  Although it didn't go as I had originally pictured, we left with a beautiful, healthy baby girl, and that is all that matters!