John Deere Green

Back in July when we were in North Carolina visiting my family, Sarah woke up one morning and started talking about the baby. It was a very common topic of conversation for her to bring up. She and I were laying in bed and she asked, "So what are we going to name our baby?" I said, "I don't know. What do you think we should name him?" She thought for a few minutes and then blurted out "How about John Deere?" After trying to stifle my laugh, I said, "Why don't we call Dad and see what he thinks?" I didn't want to be the mean mom who told her no, so I thought Aaron would do it for me. So we get him on the phone and she proudly tells him she has a name picked out for our baby and tells him what it is. I could hear him laughing, and then I heard him say, "I love it! I think it's perfect!" I was not happy that he had given her that answer, because she was very serious, and very proud of the name she had picked out, and for a while went around telling people that was going to be our baby's name. Luckily, over the next month or so, we were able to talk her our of 'John Deere' and into John David. So when we found out for sure that we were indeed having a baby boy, Aaron thought there was no other choice but to do the room in 'John Deere'. I wasn't crazy about the idea to begin with, mainly because of the time and money it would take, but I am very happy with how it turned out. We love it!



Since the top of the room was already yellow, Aaron just painted the bottom green. And we painted over the 'You Are My Sunshine'.



The girls even helped with the painting. They both love to paint.



Johnice, of course, was a huge help.



She really saved us, because I had run out of energy and time and still didn't have the roman shades done the week before John David was born. So she came over and made a cornice for the windows. I seriously don't know what we would do without her.



I think it turned out great!



Here is one of the crib sheets and the crib skirt that I made. The fleece blanket, which happened to match this sheet perfectly, was given to us. So cute!



This is the wall next to the crib. Aaron found all of the cute signs on ebay. We got lots of stuff from ebay actually. Who knew there was so much 'John Deere' stuff out there? The quilt also came from ebay. It is actually just a quilt top that we need to have finished. I just love the embroidered tractors on it. It really is so cute, and well made.



Another view. The pictures are of Aaron doing some tractor work--on a John Deere tractor, of course--on the Peterson's farm last spring.



Here is another crib sheet and a blanket that I made.



And here is the bumper that Sister Mears made and gave to us, which matched my crib sheet perfectly.



And so did this diaper holder, which was also given to us by my sweet friend Wendy...



...and this cute bag that Tammy had made for me--which I LOVE! I totally dig the little tractor buttons!



Michelle Smith made us this beautiful quilt. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!



And sweet Sister Beck made this quilt. I am amazed by her beautiful work. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it too!



Here is the John Deere ceiling fan that Aaron also found on ebay, fell in love with, and couldn't live without.



The changing table. Notice the John Deere clock, which makes a different tractor sound at the top of each hour. Hopefully, he'll grow up liking tractors!

More Proof That My Baby Is Growing Up

Last Tuesday on the way to the Mardi Gras Parade, Sarah realized that she had a loose tooth. When she got home, she burst in the door and quickly ran to tell me that she had discovered a loose tooth. So over the next few days, she wiggled and played with it. Aaron tried to get her to let him pull it, but she wouldn't let him. Friday night she was eating a nectarine and realized after she finished it that her tooth was missing. When we couldn't find it, we told her she must have swallowed it. She got upset when we told her that. So Aaron told her it must be in the nectarine somewhere. He got it out of the trash can and looked through it, but still no tooth. He told her it was okay though because the tooth fairy has some kind of tooth locating device, which set her little mind at ease. She was so excited and kept saying, "I can't believe I lost a tooth!" Me either.



She was so excited to find her five dollars--which the tooth fairy only brings for the first lost tooth--under her pillow the next morning. When I asked her what she was going to do with it, she quickly decided she was going to save it. Smart girl. Now the tooth next to it is loose too.

Happy Mardi Gras

I know this post is late, but better late than never, right? The girls had been wanting a king cake for a while, but we hadn't bought one so far this year. To be quite honest, I'm not a big fan of king cakes. Yeah, it's a fun concept, but to me, they just always taste like a stale cinnamon roll. So, this year for Mardi Gras we splurged a little and bought a king cake from The Donut Shop and wow, what a difference. It was twice the price, but so much better than the cheap grocery store king cakes. And prettier too, I think.



The girls were pretty excited when Aaron brought it home early Tuesday morning.



Since John David seems to have his days and nights mixed up, I opted to stay home and rest while Aaron took the girls to the parade, which was quite a sacrifice for him. He doesn't like the parades. In fact, the first one he ever took me too was just a few years ago and that was only because my mom and sister happened to be in town during Mardi Gras. They are lots of fun and the girls love going, of course. And this year my neighbor showed us a cool craft to do with Mardi Gras beads. Can't wait to try it out with the girls.

It's Official!

My baby is going to kindergarten. Johnice took her to get registered last week and she was so excited. I can't believe she is five already. Where have the last five years gone?

John David's Birthday

Okay, so I finally have longer than five minutes where I have time and feel like blogging, so I thought I'd write about the day that John David decided it was time to join our family. First of all, I want to apologize for all of the phone calls that we haven't returned over the last week. We do appreciate every one's concern, but as soon as we got home from the hospital, I got sick with the same thing that the girls had--and a few other things too that I won't mention--which made the hospital seem like a piece of cake. Okay, not really, but all of the sickness piled on top of the hospital recovery made for a pretty miserable first week at home. Thank goodness Aaron didn't get sick and was able to take care of all of us. We are all on the mend now, and praying that Aaron and John David don't get sick too.

I woke up Sunday morning (the 8th) thinking that my water was leaking, so I called the doctor. I was very disappointed to find out that my doctor was not on call. The doctor on call, Dr. Miller, told me the only way to know for sure if it was my water or not was for me to go on into the hospital and get checked out. So I called Aaron, who had already left for his Sunday morning meetings, and told him that we needed to head to the hospital. While he was on his way home, I was quickly trying to pack a bag for me and the baby, because that was on my 'to do' list for the next week. When Aaron got home, he wanted me to eat breakfast, so I reluctantly sat down and ate a pancake and a few bites of sausage, but I was too nervous to eat very much. He then gave me and the girls a blessing and we headed out the door. When we got to the hospital, they admitted us and the nurse did a test and told us it was negative for amniotic fluid, and that we would probably be going home, which I was fine with since my doctor wasn't on call. So we sat there for the next three hours wondering why it was taking so long for them to tell us we could go home. Then the nurse came in and said that Dr. Miller was coming in to do a test. She looked at the fluid under a microscope and found out that my water was leaking and told me that she and my doctor, Dr. Guidry, would be taking the baby at 3PM. (Because I had eaten breakfast they had to wait six hours before they could start the surgery.) At that moment, I was excited and scared at the same time--excited because my doctor was going to be there and because it the baby was actually coming, and scared because the baby was actually coming! But then I remembered what Aaron had said in my blessing about being at peace and I was able to get my emotions under control. We quickly made a few phone calls to tell our families that John David would be here in a couple of hours and they immediately began prepping me for surgery. Everything went well, except for a couple of times when my blood pressure dropped and I got extremely sick (which is pretty normal, it had just not happened to me before during my c-sections). But thank goodness for my wonderful anesthesiologists, (aka my new best friend), who was there for me and gave me some more drugs to make it all better. And before we even really had a chance to realize what was happening, our sweet little baby boy was crying and everything in the world was right. It was such a relief for the pregnancy to be over and to be able to see and hold our sweet baby. What a wonderful day!



Making phone calls to family to let them know he's on his way.



Here he is.......all 9 pounds and 14.7 ounces of him! He was just a few more bites of my pancake breakfast from being a 10 pounder. Yikes!



Love at first sight.



Wow, he's finally here.



My first time holding him.



It doesn't get any better than this.



The girls were so excited to come up on Sunday night to meet their new brother, but they had to wear masks to make sure they didn't get him sick. At their doctor visit on Monday, the doctor advised that they not go back up to the hospital. Aaron and I were very sad that they missed out on the bonding time at the hospital, but thank goodness, they took it much better than we did.



They both looked kinda pitiful with their masks on.



Maybe part of the reason they were not so upset about not being able to come to the hospital was because they were so excited to make this 'Welcome home' sign for John David. It turned out so cute! And they were so proud of it.



Kent and Johnice cancelled their trip with friends to Nauvoo at the last minute. We were sad that they missed their trip, but we were so glad they were here for John's birthday, not only because they helped us out with the girls, but also because it just wouldn't have been the same without them here to help us welcome him into our family.



Proud Papa and Paw Paw.

Bonding

Tonight while I was playing a game with the girls, Aaron was holding John David, who was a little fussy. After a few minutes, I looked over and saw Aaron rubbing his little feet, and John David just sitting back enjoying some Daddy time. He must have sat there for at least fifteen minutes. I think he likes foot massages.



I love baby feet!



I know, I'm a more than a little obsessed.



But, really.............can you blame me? He's just so dang cute!

Our Sweet Valentine

Tonight Katie came and sat in my lap and said, "Mom, I didn't really need any valentines today. I already got my valentine. And he's the best valentine ever!" We all agree with her 100% and absolutely adore this little guy.



"Mommy's Love Monster"



Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

He's Here!

Sunday our lives were changed forever when John David decided to make his grand entrance even earlier than we had planned. Here are his stats:

Time: 3:42PM
Weight: 9lbs. 15 ozs.
Length: 21 3/4 inches

Not only is he absolutely captivating to look at, but a complete joy to be around. He seems (so far at least--we're hoping it's not the percocet) to be very mild mannered and just content most of the time. He doesn't cry a lot, but when he does, he usually calms right down whenever he hears my voice. He's a mama's boy already! I love it!



*Stay tuned--more pictures and details coming soon. And pictures of the nursery too!

Ohh-la-la! Being Five is Fabulous Darling!

Today Sarah had a 'Fancy Nancy' birthday party with her friends. She wanted to dress like Nancy, so she wore her purple leotard and I made her a tutu out of magenta (that's a fancy word for pink) and fuchsia (that's a fancy word for purple) tulle, which also happens to be Nancy's favorite colors. And for accessories (that's a fancy word for extra fancy stuff) she wore her favorite high heels and a tiara.



Although it was a very girlie theme, she wanted to invite her ami, (that's a fancy word for friend) Ethan. We called him "the boy from Paris." He was the only boy there, but wasn't bothered by the girlie theme at all. He's very secure in his manhood, and wanted his picture taken with his "Princess" necklace that he made.



We painted fingernails, made necklaces, and played pin the tiara on the princess. Sarah did spectacular (that's a fancy word for great), but I think she may have peeked just a little.



After all of the fun and games, we came inside to open gifts.



Then all of Sarah's posh (that's a fancy word for fancy) party guests were ready for some food.



So they sat down and had chocolate covered strawberries, cupcakes with sprinkles (because Nancy says that sprinkles are fancy) ................



..........some cake, and sandwiches with frilly toothpicks (because frilly toothpicks make sandwiches taste better, according to Nancy). We were supposed to make parfaits (that's a fancy word for ice cream sundaes), but I completely forgot all about making them.



All of the guests seemed to have a stupendous time...................



...........(that's a fancy word for great)!



These two beautiful princesses enjoyed private dining.



Here's the birthday girl getting ready to blow out the candles on her purse cake.



She loved drinking out of these fancy 'glasses'.



Merci (that's a fancy word for thank you) to all who came to celebrate Sarah's special day with her!