Happy Birthday Renee

Renee is turning 4 in just a few minutes so I thought I would post a special blog about her arrival. My due date with her was Aug. 28 but she was a VERY active baby and when I saw the doctor in the afternoon on Aug. 24 I was already 4 cm dilated. He told me he would break my water the next morning, to call the hospital at 6:30 to make sure they had a bed. I stayed up watching the Olympics until 11:30 and then went to bed, having no contractions. My bag was ready to go for the morning.

I woke up at 12:40 with terrible back pain. I got up and started walking around the bedroom, timing the contractions. I finally woke Dirk at 1:10 and told him the contractions were pretty close together and that I was calling the doctor. The on-call doc (not mine. Mine went on call at 6:30 am.) told me to come on in. I called Bev because she was my labor coach and she told me to let her know when things were moving along, that she would come in then. Amy was also going to come in to see her first birth since she would be a junior nursing student.

We left our house at 1:30. In the car my contractions were only a few minutes apart. I remember looking at the big clock in the lobby at Strong at 1:45. Once I got upstairs I was in triage for a little bit. They checked me and I was 8cm. I requested my epidural and a few minutes later told them I needed to push. They checked me again and I was 9.5. They quickly rolled my bed to the delivery room, Dirk called Bev and said to hurry and I started to panic. "What do you mean I don't have time for the epidural?" I crawled up onto the new bed, the doctor broke my water and said I could push. 2 pushes later they announced we had a baby girl. I still can't believe how quickly she came!! Her official arrival time was 2:35am, weighing in at 8 pounds 8 oz. Bev and Amy got to the hospital about 15 minutes later and couldn't believe I was holding her. When I called my mom, who was staying with Kaitlyn, she couldn't believe I had already given birth. "But you just left the house at 1:30!"

Renee is my little snuggle-bug. She is such a Mommy's girl and can be the sweetest little thing. She is very easily entertained by herself; she loves playing Polly Pockets and Barbies and I often hear her talking in different voices as she is playing. She is very imaginative too. But as you know, she can also be very trying. She is determined! I keep praying that this will be to her advantage later in her life!

I can't imagine my life without my little Sweet Renee LouAnn. She has brought so much joy into our family, she makes me smile just thinking about her and keeps me on my knees.

Summer of 2005, 10 months old.

Family Camp 2005

She did NOT like Santa that year!!

But she sure did LOVE John!! This was on her 2nd. birthday (when we got into digital pictures.)













I love you Baby Girl!!!

Pictures

Here are some of our pictures from African Lion Safari.

All ready for the adventure to begin. Notice that my girls have their "binoculars" so they can see better.

On the Safari train.

We watched the elephants go swimming.

Is this the guy from "Planet of the Apes"?

You can tell who this is!


We also watched an elephant show. The trainer was laying under the elephant......that is trust! Probably stinky too.



There was a baby elephant born on July 18, weighing in at 235 pounds.


Now for the monkeys.

I Survived

I thought I would give an update on my single-parent experience. I am a totally spoiled-rotten mom who is so used to parenting with my husband. Dirk is so good at playing with the girls, entertaining them for hours, giving them their baths, snuggling with them at bedtime......the list could go on and on. I thought I was going to die without him for 11 days!!! He had a nice time in Idaho with his brothers but was glad to be home with his girls. And I was more than excited to have him home!! I knew I was in trouble when the girls started missing him the morning he left. "When is Daddy coming home? We like him more than you. ETC"

I tried to have something to do each day to help pass the days. One day we went to the museum but it was crazy busy with daycare groups and tons of kids. So that wasn't too fun. The girls got their hair trimmed and loved that. They played at their friends' one day and another day we had friends over for several hours. We also went to a birthday party (and froze because I forgot to take sweatshirts).

The highlight of our time without Daddy was going to Canada to see the Arcega's. All 4 kids had such a good time together, although Gabe didn't enjoy being around the 3 girls when they were playing house. Dana and I had some girl-time of our own at Ikea while Anthony took the kids to a park. They barely noticed we were gone. We also went to African Lion Safari and spent the day there. We saw an elephant show that was really good. The kids loved driving through the game reserve area and experiencing the monkeys climbing all over the van. We came out of there with our wipers intact. I'll post some pictures later.

Who Are These Children??

Sometimes Kaitlyn and Renee are best of friends and play beautifully for hours. Other times they are enemies and torture each other. (Pinching, scratching.....preschooler forms of torture.) Right now the torture chamber is open for business!

Last week one day they played "camping".

They even packed some groceries, their pillows, blankets and jewelry for Sunday.

All ready for dance class.

During Getaway Camp Kaitlyn perfected her 2 wheeler riding skills. She had more freedom than she has ever had. One day I was up at the gazebos on the computer (that's the best place to pick up the wireless signals) putting some Tastefully Simple orders in. She had been playing at the playground and was supposed to be under her father's supervision. So, she rode over to me and asked if she could play PBS Kids. I told her no and she started throwing a fit. "You mean I rode all this way for nothing? That's not fair. You're so mean......." She got back on her bike and started riding away. I asked her where she was going and her response, with glaring eyes: "I don't have to tell you!" As you can imagine, that didn't go over well. We'll have to see how long it takes her to cop that attitude again.

Another morning Renee was so tired. She was crying at breakfast and I asked her if she bit her tongue.
R: "No. My teeth."
B: "You bit your teeth?"
R: "No, my waffle bit my teeth."

This morning when I woke Kaitlyn up, she rolled over and told me she thinks we should start growing peas. I later questioned her about that and she denied it. Must have caught her in the middle of a farming dream.

Last night you would have swore I was pulling out her toenails. We were in the driveway riding bikes. There was a bandaid on the driveway and I thought I picked it up before she saw it. Nope. (Let me back up a bit. A few weeks ago she felt the need to start a collection. Her choice: her used Barbie bandaids. GROSS!! I tried to explain to her how disgusting that is but she wouldn't listen.) Back to the present story....she saw the bandaid and started screaming bloody murder when I threw it in the garbage can. That was her favorite, she doesn't have any others like it, etc. It took her quite a long time to stop obsessing on that bandaid!!!!

Right now I have locked myself in the guest room with the computer while Renee is screaming. I won't help her pick up her room and it is a mess. Why is it that they can make the mess all by themselves but can't seem to pick it up without my help?? Did I mention that Dirk has been gone since Friday morning and isn't home yet?? He leaves Tuesday morning for a week in Idaho, to spend some time with his older brother who is turning 50 next week. Guess who will be praying for patience, A LOT???