Fall is Coming!!!!!!

Started this a few days ago, but never got around to posting it.  Going to add a few more things and post today.  ;)

For those of you who don't know, Fall is my absolute FAVORITE season!!  It has all the best things.  My favorite time of the year is Oct. 1-Jan. 1.  I know this includes some winter too, but it also incompasses all the great holidays and just enough winter to enjoy, but not so much that I get sick of it, lol.  Fall is the best because it's when football season starts and the majority of it is played, it's when I break out the crock pot a lot and make good hearty meals (and in turn put on some winter weight, lol), it's hoodie weather when the crisp autumn days arrive and the sky turns gloomy, you'll also need your hoodies for those friday night football games (which I'm going to try to attend at least one or two this season, at one high school or another, lol, makes no difference to me), it's leaves turning red, brown, and gold and falling off the trees, it's coffee out on the deck in the morning in your pj's, it's leaving the windows open at night and wanting to stay snuggled warm in bed as opposed to getting up, all the most wonderful things are in the fall.  :)

Michael has totally been kicking my butt in blogging lately.  :P  I'm glad he's putting stories on here again, and when we look back, it won't be just my memories and point of view.

Feeling very happy and thankful this morning as each morning feels distinctly more fall.  :)  I'm so glad we have this big, beautiful home to live in and raise our kids in.  We've been blessed to live here for 2.5 years nows.  I'm thankful for my sweet daughter who wakes up so happy.  And although she's got a little terrible two streak she's going through right now, she still remembers her pleases and thank yous.  I'm thankful for my handsome baby boy.  I didn't know what I was missing until he came into our lives, but I'm so incredibly happy that we chose to have another baby.  He gives me happiness when the rest of world can seem very chaotic.  I'm so blessed by my husband and best friend, Michael.  He goes to work each day and provides for our family so I can stay home with our kiddos.  Then, he comes home and watches Avery so I can have a short break.  He's truly my partner in life.  I love him so dearly.  Finally, I'm thankful, once again, for fall coming.  I love these cool mornings, sitting on my couch drinking coffee.  Looking forward to a wonderful new season of life.  :)  So blessed.

Favorite Words

Avery is very close to full on talking. She expresses complete thoughts, and most of her words are relatively clear. Not that long ago though, she wasn't speaking quite clear and I have two favorite words from her.

I would pick Avery up, and while doing so, I'd say "Scoop!" and she'll repeat "Spoot!" which is just absolutely adorable.

My other favorite is whenever we do her hair, we use the little rubber band things that we call "ponytails or ponies" because it's easier than saying "little rubber band things". Well if she sees those rubber bands lying around, she'll call them by name, but instead of ponies, it's "po-tees". Again, just absolutely adorable.

Brown-Eyed Babies

I decided I post too much on facebook.  So instead of posting a facebook status every ten minutes, when I think of something I want to say, I'm going to try to post on here more frequently.  :)

Both of my babies' eyes are turning brown.  :\  I'm kinda sad about this.  Avery's eyes didn't start turning brown until she was about a year old.  Connor's only 3 months, and his are already turning!  Where did my blue-eyed babies go?!?!

Garage Sale!!

Well, I felt like I needed to blog again, because Michael has been blogging and I've been slacking, lol.  Michael doesn't blog much, and I made a comment about it one day, and since then he's tried harder and has post twice recently.  :)  Maybe he can help me keep up and be more regular on the blog front and the goings-on in the family.  ;)

I'm on here today to talk about the garage sale that Mama, Sis, and I are having this weekend!  We had one last year and it went pretty well (with the exception of it being tremendously hot).  So we decided to purge our homes again and give it another try.  :)  So we're having a garage sale this Thursday-Saturday.  We'll also have another one the weekend of September 11-13th where we'll sell anything we have left and get rid of the rest to the Goodwill.  The weekend in September is the weekend of our community garage sale, so we'll figure we'll have more traffic that weekend.  Sis has been scouring pinterest for ideas on how to have a successful garage sale.  :P  We'll see how it goes!  Wish us luck!  Last year Michael and I took the money we earned with us to Vegas.  This year our money is going towards our 6 year anniversary vacation (that we'll hopefully be able to afford despite plenty of medical bills).  So if you have any tips, feel free to pass them on!  And if you have any stuff you want to get rid of, bring it on over!  :D

Excellent Food makes a Comeback

One of the things that Jen was not excited about while she was pregnant was cooking. She kept up with the house, chased the kids, kept track of the laundry, but by the time dinner rolled around, she was exhausted. That often meant that dinner was up to me, and I am (admittedly) not a great cook. That means that we had pasta, grilled cheese, more pasta, fast food, freezer meals, and hamburgers. 

Well with Jen's new surge of post-pregnancy energy, great food has come back to the Voss Household! We have enjoyed Ratatouille, Monster Muffins, Filipino Chicken, Homemade popcorn, Pho, 12 layered Jello, and Creme Brulee! And those are just some of the things that I've had in the last few weeks! 

Jen loves to cook, and it is exciting to try her new recipes and to see her enjoying herself. I can't wait to see what tasty food lie in my future!

Harry Potter Marathon

Jen and I have been going though a Harry Potter marathon lately. We have made it through the first 4 movies and are on the Triwizard Tournament (Goblet of Fire for you non book people :P ). I haven't watched the first two movies in quite a while because Jen watched them with her cousins a bunch when she was a kid, so we always skip to the third movie. It was good getting to see those again. At any rate, We were watching part of the Goblet of fire last night after a long car ride from Iowa and Voldemort says "Do you really want to know what happened all of those years ago? Well I will tell you!" And then Jen turns off the movie! I will have to wait to see what actually happened! 

Baby Voss is Almost Here! 2.0

I typed and saved the first half of the story, but my app is glitchy at the moment, so I'm finishing the story here.  ;)

We'd just barely got on the road when we got the text from Nick that Maggie was up to 8cm!  Woohoo!!  Now that's some progress!  It was 5pm when we heard that new/got on the road.  I worried that we wouldn't make it in time and hoped the baby wouldn't arrive while we were on the road.  We still had 2.5 hrs to go.  Our ETA was 7:30.

The drive went by quietly and the kids did great.  At 7:15 I texted Nick to make sure everything was still going ok (and because Maggie had told me she was going to rest, so I wasn't going to disturb her).  He told me she was up to 8-9cm.  We were only 15 minutes away at this point and I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that we'd be there in time.  :)

It's now 7:22 and we're still on the road.  We have one more stop to make.  We're going to get Nick some food, because I'm not sure that he's eaten all day.  I asked him about food and got a text that I read to mean that he would like something to eat.  Poor guy, no one ever thinks about the husband.  :(  So food for Nick, and then to the hospital!  Baby Voss will be making his or her arrival very soon!  I'll keep you informed!  :)

Avery Anecdotes

My daughter is so silly!

*Holds up one finger*
A: Minute!
J: Just a minute!
A: Second!
J: Just a second!

*Climbs up one side of the couch, gets down, runs to the other side*
A: Other side!

*Running back and forth between her room and our room*
A: Running!  Faster, faster, faster!

*Brings me two mismatched socks and a pair of socks*
A: Toes
J: Do you want me to help you with your socks?
A: Socks, help
J: What do you say?
A: Please, Mommy
J: Ok, I'll help you.
*Avery insists the mismatched socks go on her feet and the matching pair goes on her hands.  I assist her in getting them all on*
A: Thank you!
*Runs off.  Comes back with her toy computer in her sock hands.  Takes socks off of her hands and feet.  Puts mismatched socks on her hands, continues to play with her computer*

*Dayton runs back and forth through the house.  Avery stands aside, watching*
A: Yay, Dayton!
*Begins clapping*
(I see a cheerleader in the making)
;)

Just a few of the silly things Avery's done today.  She is so smart!  I just love her!  She learns so much every day!  I am amazed!!  :D

16 Days To Tugfest!!

Hello all!

Here's a quick update on the Voss family:
-Michael is working hard, as always
-The yard looks great!
-We've had lots of tomatoes and a few peppers out of our garden!  Much better than last year!
-I quit my job at the jewelry store and am now a full-time wife and mommy.  Best.  Job.  Ever!!!
-Since I'm no longer pregnant it's been WONDERFUL to get back in the kitchen.  I missed cooking.
-Avery is getting tall, about ready to pass Dayton!
-Avery is learning colors and animal sounds
-She loves playing outdoors and in her pool and water table
-She loves her brother!
-Connor is sleeping through the night (10+ hrs the last 4 nights)
-Connor is smiling and cooing more, way cute!

Ok, now that the update is done, on to excitement about Tugfest!!  It's that time of year again!  Tugfest is a little over 2 weeks away!  I am sooo excited!  I'm going to start packing soon!  I have lots of to-do lists to work through before our trip.  It should be interesting taking 2 babies this year!

Wrote this a few days ago, forgot to post...

Two Months

Can't believe it's been so long since I blogged!  Connor is 2 months old now and doing great!  He weighs 13 pounds, 12 ounces.  He's also 24.25 inches long.  This is close to Avery's size at 4-5 months.  He's in the 87th-96th percentiles in his height, weight, and head circumference.  He's definitely growing!!  This doesn't surprise me, because he eats constantly, lol!  Avery loves him!  We're all doing quite well.

I don't think I've mentioned on here that I quit my job at Belden's.  There were a number of reasons for me coming to this decision, but the biggest one was that I wanted to spend more time at home with Michael and the babies.  I know I get plenty of time with the babies as it is, but this way I get time with Michael too.  Nights and weekends are the only time he's home, so by quitting my job, I get to see him a lot more.  The job was also getting a little more stressful than it was enjoyable, so it was the right time for me to go.

In other news, we're going to Tugfest in less than a month!!  Woooohooo!!  One of my favorite times of the year is almost here!  And this year we get to share it with Avery and Connor!  :D  It should be LOTS of fun!!  I can't wait!  I've already begun making lists of things to do around the house, things to pack, and things to buy at the store to prepare for our trip!  I'm pumped!!  :)

Finally, in less than a month, Michael and I will have a new niece or nephew!  Nick and Maggie's baby is due July 27th, but if he or she doesn't arrive on time, Maggie will be induced no later than August 5th.  Can't wait to see the baby and find out if it's a boy or a girl!  I'm far to impatient to not find out.  Maggie and Nick have incredible will power!  Can't wait to meet the newest member of the Voss clan!  :)

Well, I'd write more, but Avery is up from her nap and is probably hungry, so I better go.  Thanks for reading!

Strong Boy!

I know I've blogged before about how strong Connor is, but I need to say it again.  Last night he managed to wiggle himself out of his swaddle, he also wiggled himself down to the other end of the end, having rotated 180 degrees in the process.  Good thing I've already dealt with Avery having moved out of my field of vision on the monitor, no little heart attacks this time around thinking he's missing.  ;)  However, I don't think it was this early that Avery was doing all of this!  Connor is just getting so big and strong so fast!  Can't believe all he's able to do already!  Holding his head up, rolling tummy to back, bearing weight on his legs, exceptionally strong arms and legs, and now moving around his crib!  He is one impressive baby!  :)  Can't wait to see how he continues to grow!!  :D

Nursing

The thing with nursing is that you never really know how much your baby is eating.  I know Connor eats well and often.  I know he's gaining weight and growing, so I'm not worried about him or his health.  But I am curious.  ;)  Well, tonight Connor slept from 9:30pm to 5:30am!  That's right!  My 4 week old baby boy slept 8 hours!!!  :D  This is AWESOME because I got some much needed sleep.  Actually, he may have slept longer, but when Michael asked me if I wanted him to get Connor up, I was really full and uncomfortable, so I said yes.  Since I remember what it was like with Avery to nurse while being this full, I knew that if Connor ate on one side, I'd leak on the other, so I decided to pump on that side.  After it was all said and done I had managed to pump 5 ounces as well as give Connor a very full belly!  :D  I feel very accomplished!  Back to sleep now with the victory of lots of milk, being "deflated" again, and lots of sleep to keep me happy!  :D  Night!

4 Weeks (tomorrow)

Well, tomorrow Connor will be 4 weeks old!!  On Saturday he'll be a month old!  Time has gone by soooo fast!  We are LOVING having Connor in our lives and family!  He's a wonderful baby and an absolute joy!!  Here's how the first month has gone...

Sleep
While he's not sleeping through the night yet, he is sleeping well, and I think he's on his way.  In the first week he'd sleep for 2-3 hrs at a time (at night) before waking up to feed.  In the second week he was up to 3-4 hrs at a time.  By week 3 he was up to 3-6 hrs during each stretch (mostly sleeping through Michael's 9pm-2am shift).  In week 4 we've regressed a little, maybe he's going through a growth spurt, he's back down to 3-5 hrs, more often 3-4 hrs.  I'm ready for him to be sleeping through the night, but I'd settle fpr only getting up once between 9pm and 7am.  I'm sure we'll be there soon.  ;)

Eating
Connor is a rockstar eater!!  After he was born and did over an hour of skin-to-skin, I nursed him.  He nursed for over an hour, close to an hour and a half, right off the bat!!  He was born weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces.  Two days after his birth we met with our family physician and he was down to 7 pounds.  She explained that she wanted to see him once a week until he gained back up to his birth weight.  I expected this to take a couple of weeks like it did with Avery.  But no, my constantly eating, growing, baby boy gained 13 ounces that next week.  By the following appointment he was at 7 pounds 13 ounces.  ;)  He still eats almost constantly.  Most of the time if he's awake, he wants to be nursing.  ;)  He's a very hungry little guy!!  Even though he weighed more than Avery at birth, he was MUCH skinnier!  He was all skin, bones, and MUSCLE, no fat on him.  I think that if my platelets hadn't been falling and we hadn't induced labor, that he would have stayed in another week or so, put on some more weight, and fattened himself up some more (remember, I calculated my due date at May 16th, based on my ovulation kit).  He has done well and gained weight since then.  I'll take him to get him weighed on Friday and we'll see him much he's put on in a month.  :)  Connor has only been nursed or had pumped bottles.  He's had no formula yet.  In fact, he's only had 3 pumped bottles so far.  He doesn't like them, but in a pinch he'll take them.  He doesn't like pacifiers either.  :P  Only mom will do.  ;)

Strength
As I said before, Connor was born all skin, bone, and muscle.  With no fat in his arms or legs it was EASY to see all the muscles there.  His head and neck control has been really impressive from the beginning.  Now he holds his head up pretty well, most of the time.  At 2 weeks old he rolled himself over from his tummy to his back.  I thought it was a fluke, Avery did the same thing (only once) when she was really young.  Well, I put him back on his belly, and wouldn't you know it, he did it again!!  :D  Then, this weekend, at 3.5 weeks old, he did it again at Glenn and Linda's once, and twice when we got home!!  After 5 times, it's looking less like a fluke.  Two different days, three different places, and five rolls, it's looking a little more deliberate.  He is an incredibly strong baby!  This skill is usually seen in 3-4 month olds!!  Now you see why I'm so impressed and proud of my little guy for doing this so early!!  :D  I think it's his impecable leg strength that's giving him this great edge on his fellow baby competition.  ;)  He's already bearing his own weight on his legs for a few seconds at a time, sometimes as long as ten seconds!  :D  I expect some decent athletic abilities out of this kiddo!  He will have gotten all of these from his Daddy, as I KNOW he didn't get them from me!!  ;)

Personality
We haven't seen a lot of Connor's personality yet, as he's sleeping more often than not.  What we have seen and noticed has been very special.  :)  Connor will smile in his sleep and has started giving us a few smiles while he's awake too.  :)  We are loving his little grins and hope to see many more.  Connor is a very calm and easy going baby.  He's very accepting and/or forgiving of Avery's (sometimes) rough love.  He loves looking around and really seems to be taking things in when he's awake.  Like many babies, he loves staring at fans and lights.  Like his sister, he doesn't make a lot of eye contact because he tends to be looking everywhere else but at you.  Connor DOES NOT like the carseat!  But after crying for a couple minutes, he falls asleep and rides peacefully for quite a while (2.5 hrs to Topeka).  He's getting used to bath time more and more and no longer cries when he'a put in his seat.  Although he still cries when being washed.

Looks
I'm sure you've all seen pictures of him, but I'll include a couple new ones in this post.  :)  Connor's hair has lightened since he was born.  It's now a light to medium brown.  It curls when it's wet and has some waves when dry.  His eyes are still a dark, cobalt blue.  He's got his Daddy's long eyelashes, but they are light and blonde in color instead of dark like Michael's and Avery's.  Finally, he has exceptionally long fingers!  We've been saying that they're cello fingers, but they'd also be well suited for piano.  Hopefully he's got some musical talents.  ;)

Well, I'd write more, but I think I'm going to call it quits for now.  Connor just spat up the entire content of his stomach on himself and me.  Luckily, the floor and couches seem relatively unaffected.  ;)  The joys of motherhood.  :P  Enjoy the pics, and thanks for reading!  :D

Big Sister

We've had Connor for almost 4 weeks now.  And I must say, Avery is rising to her roll as Big Sister beautifully!!  I am so impressed with her and how much she loves her little brother!  Being a little girl, you can already see the maternal instincts coming out in her.  She wants to hold Connor, she gets concerned when he's crying, she pats and gently shushes him to try to calm him down, she knows when he wakes up and starts fussing and goes to his bedroom door to get him, she helps him during bath time, she stays quiet, and reminds others to while he's sleeping, she rocks him in his swing, and she loves to touch, hug, and kiss him.  :)  She is an incredible big sister!!  All of that from a girl who's almost 20 months old!  She has gone above and beyond what we expected from her!  I am extremely pleased that she loves him so much!!  We have been blessed with WONDERFUL children!!!  :D

Conflict Resolution

This is what conflict resolution looks like at the 1-2 year old level.  ;)

D: *Head butts cousin*
A: *Cries, grabs own head*
D: *Also cries*
A: *Climbs onto the couch next to mom*
D: *Stops crying, grabs dog toy to play with*
A: *Stops crying, decides she wants the same toy, holds hand out to request/demand toy, fusses when not given to her*
J: What do you say, Avery?
A: Please!  *Signs "please"*
J: Dayton, Avery said please, will you give her the toy?
D: *Hands toy to cousin*
J: Avery, will you tell Dayton thank you?
A: Thank you!  *Puts dog toy in mouth and walks away*
D: *Puts on sour face that he no longer has the dog toy*
J: Dayton, do you want to get on the couch and bounce and jump?
D: *Gets on couch, starts jumping and bouncing and having a great time*

All is forgiven and forgotten.  Sometimes babies can be pretty easy.  ;)  I love my job!  :D

On my own again...

Today is my first day back with all three babies and no help.  As many of you know, Mama watched Avery and Dayton for me for the passed three weeks.  The first week was the week before Connor arrived.  I had time to rest, relax, and clean and organized the house.  The second week was our first week with Connor and Michael's week off.  We had time to rest and relax, get to know Connor, and get back into the swing of having a newborn.  The third week was my first week alone with Connor when Michael went back to work.  I got a chance to rest, relax, and spend lots of time cuddling with Connor.  :)  On Thursday and Friday last week Avery and Dayton were back over here at our house, but Mama came too to make sure I wasn't overwhelmed and had plenty of help with the three babies.  But, my vacation had to end eventually.  ;)  Today is my first day with all three babies and no extra help.  I'm back to my normal new life and routine.  I must say, a lot of what zapped my energy the last several months was pregnancy.  Because now that I'm not pregnant, even though I do have a newborn (as well as my 19 month old), I have a lot more energy to get stuff done.  Just this morning (before 8am) I have cleaned the counters of more of the party stuff left over from Saturday, put away the clean dishes, hand washed more dishes (the dishwasher is broken), got Avery up, changed, a cup of milk, and some cereal for breakfast, put away Dayton's food, and picked up the living room.  I still have LOTS to do, but I think I've done a decent amount before 8am.  Hopefully the rest of the day is as productive as this morning.  :)  I think things are going to go well with all three babies.  :)  It helps that Connor sleeps a lot.  ;)

I have about one month left of maternity leave.  I have LOVED having all my nights and weekends available to spend with Michael, Avery, and Connor.  In fact, I've enjoyed it so much, that I'm not sure I want to go back.  When Avery was born I wanted to go back.  I got bored at home, wanted to get awsy from the house, and wanted some adult interaction time.  That was also well into the fall and heading quickly to winter.  Now I have a family of four.  I have a newborn, but also have a VERY active, fun, and entertaining 19 month old.  The evenings and weekends are the only times we get to spend together as a whole family.  I'm not anxious to give that up.  It's also summer now, and I'm excited to go out and have family outtings together and enjoy the warm weather.  I don't know what triggered the change in my brain, but suddenly Beldens doesn't seem so important, and neither does the extra income I get from being there.  The time with my family seems like it's worth so much more.  Before I left for maternity leave we got a new district manager at work.  His management philosophy is "everyone's replacable".  This fear tactic has caused a lot of stress in the store between upper management and store management and between store management and employees.  I was ready to go on maternity leave partially to get away from that stressful, toxic environment.  Now thinking about going back is not so fun.  :\  So I'm going to try to pinch pennies the next month and see how we do without that income, because it's one thing to go back to a job I enjoy.  It's another thing ntirely to go back to a job that stresses me out and that I don't NEED, especially if I'm also sacrificing time with my family.  We'll see...  3 years may be enough for me.  My heart is with my family, and it's with them that I truly want to be.

Two Weeks In

Good Morning, Friends and Family!

I know, it's been a while since I blogged.  Sorry about that.  Things have been busy and we've all been trying to rest in the meantime.  ;)  But I've got some coffee in me this morning and my day has begun really well, so I decided now would be a good time to update you all on how things have been going.  :)

First off, let me make a correction to my last blog.  Mama informed me that I accidently put that Connor weighed 9 pounds 12 ounces at birth.  This is wrong!  ;)  He only weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces.  Sorry for the mistake.  Must not have been quite as awake as I thought when I was recalling his birth story.  ;)  Now, onto the last 2 weeks...

When we left the hospital Connor weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces.  It's normal for babies to lose weight right off the bat because they aren't collecting fat in the womb anymore.  We had a follow-up appointment with our family doctor on Friday after he was born.  When they weighed him that day he was down to 7 pounds.  The weight loss had slowed and probably stopped, now we needed to get him back up to birth weight.  Our doctor wanted to see us once a week until we got him there.  This took 2-3 weeks with Avery.  Connor eats constantly, so it wasn't as tough for him to gain the weight back.  By the next Friday he was up to 7 pounds, 13 ounces!  He gained 13 ounces in a week!!  That's similar to a 175 pound adult gaining roughingly 25 pounds in a week!  :P  Guess the constant feeding is working!  ;)  He's also up to 20.75 inches long!  This puts him in the 39th percentile for weight and 76th percentile for height.  Very similar to where Avery began, tall and thin.  But when she started eating solid foods she evened out.  ;)

The first two weeks have gone really well.  The first week Connor slept 2-3 hours at a time through the night.  The second week he was up to 3-4 hours at a time.  He's working on sleeping through Michael's shift (9pm-2am) and has managed to miss Daddy's shift the last 2 nights.  (Although Michael was groggy last night and forgot when he was supposed to be done with his shift, so he got up even though it was 2:45am)  ;)  He also sleeps a good chunk of the day.  The first week it seemed that he barely opened his eyes.  This week he's had longer stretches of awake time.  :)

His eyes are still a deep, dark cobalt blue, very similar to the way Avery's were when she was born (Hers are now a gray-blue on the outside with a hazel center, beautiful!).  His hair is already starting to lighten up.  When it's been freshly washed and dried it's a light to medium brown, not the dark brown he was born with (which could be because it was wet to start with, making it look darker).  We're working on fattening up his skinny arms and legs.  Everyone seems to notice his long fingers and eyelashes.  We've heard lots of comments on them.

I am doing GREAT!  I thought Avery's delivery went well, but it was rocky compared to Connor's!  Things went very smoothly during delivery, which has led to an easier recovery for me.  I would say my total recovery time has been about a third, or maybe even a quarter of the time it took to recover with Avery.  I'm so pleased it has gone so well!  :)

Knowing what I'm doing this time around has helped considerably.  I'm not as worn out from caring for Connor as I was with Avery.  She's way more work at 19 months that he is at 2 weeks, lol.  Nursing is going well.  Like I said earlier, Connor loves to eat!  It's still painful getting started, but I think we're almost through the worst of it, so things will be even easier here soon.

I've LOVED having time with Connor to myself.  I can't thank my mom enough for watching the babies for me these passed 3 weeks.  It's been wonderful to relax and enjoy Connor.  However, I'm looking forward to having Dayton and Avery again.  I've missed them.  :)

Well, that's about all I've got for now.  I'll try to post more later.  :)  Thanks for reading!  Love you all!

Connor's Labor and Delivery

Sorry I haven't been on here to blog in several days.  As you may have guessed, Connor arrived!  :)  So we have been busy with snuggles and getting used to life with two babies under 2 years old.  :)  But I finally feel like I have a rested moment, Connor is fed, and here I am to update you on how he got here.  :)

If you read the last few posts that I made, you know a lot of the story already, but I'll start at the beginning.  ;)  We got to the Birthcare Center at 6:30am.  We got checked in and into a room.  I was at 4cm when they checked me.  They took my blood to check my platelets and I explained that I wanted to start by having my water broke before we started pitocin.  We got approval from my doctor for the water break.  We didn't know my platelet count yet, so no epidural was in.  After they broke my water (at 7:30am) we walked around the hallway a lot trying to get contractions started.  I had a few, but things were moving pretty slowly.  At 11:30am they checked my dilation again and I was at 5cm.  I expected to have progressed more than just a centimeter in 3 hours, so I asked to start the pitocin.
We got the results back from my blood work, my platelets were at 96,000.  The anesthesiologist's assistant came in and told me I was allowed to have my epidural!  :D  Hooooray!!!!  I was stolked!  After the pitocin was started we got my epidural in as well.  Then I was bed bound.  After that we just had to wait.  The next time anything happened I was feeling contractions again and asked for more medicine.  They checked my dilation and I was at 8cm.  They gave me some more medication and the pain of the contractions died down.  Then, we waited some more.  ;)  When I started feeling the contractions again I was at 10cm!  We got everyone into position and got ready for the delivery.  Despite receiving more medicine, my epidural only did so much to numb the pain.  It was about half an hour before everyone was ready.  I kept waiting for the extra meds to kick in, but they didn't do much.  Finally, we were ready for the delivery.  My doctor went to check how far down Connor was and was surprised that he was right there and ready to go.  I had one more contraction and they had me push for 8 seconds, breathe, push for 8 more seconds, breathe, one more small push and he was here!!  5:21pm, our son, Connor Michael Voss arrived in this world.  :)  Weighing 9 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 19 inches long, he is absolutely perfect!  :)  We could not be happier!

That's all I've got for now.  :)  I'll report more soon!  :)

2:10pm

Good news!  We're up to 8cm!!  Wooooohoooooo!!!!!  The pitocin seems to be working!  :)  My body also seems to remember what it's doing and is moving things along.  :)  We've still got a ways to go, but we're moving!  :D  Dr. Kauffman thinks that Connor will be here around 4pm...  We'll see.  :)  Other than feeling more contractions I'm doing pretty good.  Might have them adjust my epidural a little.  Thanks for your prayers!

12:50pm

Well, I'm back to give you all an update on our progress!  :)  From 8am to 11am my water was broke and I was walking around trying to get labor started and progressing.  When the resident finally came in and checked me, she said I was at 5cm, 70% effaced, and -2 station.  Not a whole lot of change since I got here this morning.  So I told them I was ready to start the pitocin and that they could get the epidural ready as well.  Hooking up the pitocin iv took no time at all.  It took a little longer to get the epidural ready, but I still never felt any contractions as bad as what I had when I went in with Avery.  ;)  I now have the epidural in place and working.  Things are going very well.  I feel comfortable (and hungry) and am thinking I might take a nap here soon.  :)  Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, today could not be going any better!  :D