Catch up

I think that should be my new motto . . . "catch up." I swear I am always trying to catch up on something since little Miss Ellie has joined the family. My "spare time" I used to have is now used taking care of the babe, doing laundry, and breaking up fights between Ryan and Lauren - talk about fun! Although, I will say things have gotten easier every day. The kids seem to be adjusting more every day to our "new" life as a family of five. Ryan, especially, has been a huge help when it comes to getting things for me, answering the phone/door, or just basically doing anything I ask of him (don't get me wrong though, he is still a four year old boy and does have his limits). Lauren has also stepped up her "big girl" ways. She has always been very independent, and the very things that used to drive me crazy about her (her need to put on her own shoes even though it takes twice as long as it would if I just did it), are now the things I really appreciate about her. She still has her issues (like hitting her big brother for no reason in particular), but has seemed to find her softer side when it comes to Ellie. She can now be trusted to hold Ellie on the boppy without fear that she will pinch, hurt, or squeeze her too hard. It may seem like a small thing, but having her there to hold Ellie has come in handy more than once in the past couple of days. As far as Trav and I are concerned, we are also still adjusting. I'm learning to manage my time better and Trav has really stepped up with the older kids. His extra time with them becomes obvious when one of them is having a meltdown and they ask for him instead of me. The first time I heard this, I was kind of shocked (and maybe a little hurt), but I quickly realized this was a good thing for everyone. The kids have become more open to both of us, and it also allows me a little more freedom to get other things done while he deals with the crying and screaming (can't say I'm too bummed about that).

Onto other things . . . Ryan continues his swimming lessons. He has three more sessions left and then we will break for the summer. Once summer comes, he'll stay busy with t-ball and soccer. He is pretty excited about both activities even though he really has no idea what soccer is all about - should be fun to see how he does. This Monday is his last day of preschool. It is going to be a day of fun and playing before the big graduation on Wednesday night. They are having a short ceremony followed by an open house for all the families and then he will be an official preschool graduate - yay! The girls and I basically live by Ryan's schedule right now (and probably will throughout the summer). Our lives revolve around driving him to his activities and later picking him up. Lauren did find time this past week though to have her very first "eat over" at her friend's house (her friend happens to be our little neighbor girl). Trav had the kids outside and when they came in for supper, it was only Trav and Ryan. When I asked where Lauren was, Trav said she was eating at Marley's (the friend) house. When she finally walked home about two hours later, she gave hugs and kisses to Marley and said goodbye - it was pretty cute. And finally, onto Ellie. Ellie started out as a pretty good little sleeper, but lately she is becoming a little more finicky about when and where she sleeps. As long as she is in her bouncy chair, car seat, or our bed, she'll sleep, but when we put her in her crib, she is up and crying in a matter of minutes. I'm hoping this is just a phase and that she is not going to take after Ryan. He used to sleep great in his car seat or swing, but never in his crib. He also didn't sleep through the night until he was 6 months old and we finally let him cry it out- I certainly don't want to have to go through that again.

Enough writing, here are some recent pictures - enjoy!

Goodbye Auntie

So we had a rather sad day last Thursday. Ash's moving date finally came and that meant it was time for her to leave for California. She had been staying with us pretty much since the day Ellie was born - talk about a HUGE help! It was like having a live in nanny, maid, chauffeur, you name it, she did it. During her stay, she even got to help out with a sick little boy. I believe it was a Monday night when Ash and Ryan were sound asleep in his bed. Shortly before midnight, Ash said Ryan woke her up and said he needed some water. Before Ash could fully wake up and grab his water, she was covered in Ryan's projectile vomit. And luckily, he didn't stop there. There was one more round of vomit before Ash could get him into the bathroom where he proceeded to throw up again. During all of this, I was sound asleep upstairs. It wasn't until about 20 minutes later that I woke up to a faint cry. I checked on both girls - they were sound asleep, so I headed downstairs to check on Ryan. When I got there, Trav had him wrapped up in a blanket in the rocking chair. He was crying and told me how he was sick. I went into his room and saw all the bedding had been taken off. After that I walk into the laundry room and see Ash rinsing and picking vomit off his sheets, comforter, and blanket. Now I knew Ash was a great aunt before, but when I saw her doing this, she raised herself to a whole new level of Super Auntie! I mean, how any people would do that, and on top of that, she told me to go back upstairs and stay away so I didn't get sick - like I said, Super Auntie! Besides that gross event, Ash did all sorts of other things for us. Anything from holding Ellie so we could spend time with the other kids (although this wasn't really a task because she actually enjoyed it), to helping out with meals, baths, and getting the kids up and dressed in the morning. There are too many more things to list so I'll just repeat myself and say she did it all. I can only hope when the time comes and she has a family of her own that I'll be able to help her as much as she has helped me.

Even though we are sad Ash had to leave, we are happy that she and Uncle Mike can finally be together again. So have fun in Cali and know that we miss you and love you lots and we'll be more than ready for your visit in 3 weeks. Ryan is going to hold you to that Twins game, Lauren looks forward to her fashionable outfits and hair-dos again, and Ellie is more than ready to have her second mom back to give her some loving! And let's not forget about Trav and I. Trav will look forward to "real" meals again (with the extra set of hands I'll have more time to prepare actual food) and I, as always, am looking forward to the good company (and maybe a beer or two)!

Who's who

As Trav so nicely pointed out to me when I purchased these shirts for the kids, "I'm pretty sure everyone will know who is who", but I still couldn't resist and bought them anyway. So here are all the kids wearing their brother and sister shirts. Kind of corny, but fun non-the-less.And here are a couple of random pictures. The first is of Lauren and Ellie "napping" together and the second is Ellie with her crazy hair right after a bath.

Funny kids

Some random funny things from the kids . . . It all started last night when Lauren wanted Ashley to hold her baby. Lauren took her doll and shoved her right into Ash's boob. When Ash tried to move the baby from her boob, Lauren grabbed her and put her right back saying, "no, boob" (apparently she is picking up on the whole breastfeeding thing). Then this morning while I was getting ready to nurse Ellie, Lauren walks over to me and pulls up her shirt, points to her boob and says, "baby, me boob." Ash and I laughed and then talked about how funny it would be to let Lauren "nurse" Ellie, so that is exactly what I did, I let Lauren "nurse" her baby sister. I held Ellie up to Lauren's boob and she of course tried to suck anything she could (luckily, she didn't get any skin). About three seconds later, Lauren was done "nursing" and was very pleased with herself - I wish it was that easy to satisfy the little lady, it usually takes me about 45 minutes to get the job done. After getting her chance at nursing, Lauren doesn't seem as eager to do it again. She thought about it for a second time, but when I offered Ellie up to her, she said, "no, you" - guess that means she won't be taking over anytime soon - bummer. With Ellie feed, we packed up the kids and headed out for a little adventure outside the house. We took them to the local pet store so they could play with some puppies and check out the other animals. While we were there, Ash and the kids got a little wiener dog out to play with. When Ash asked Ryan what the puppy should be named, he replied ever so casually, "Lisa." I have no idea where he has heard that name (at least not recently), but that is what he wanted. So after that, we referred to the puppy as "Lisa" and when it was time to put her away, he asked if we could come back and take "Lisa" home tomorrow - pretty sure that is not going to happen!

The kids continue to do well with Ellie at home. I feel bad that I'm sometimes not able to do everything they want right away, but they seem to be adjusting just fine. It also helps that Trav and Ashley are picking up the slack when I'm coming up short - thank god for that. The true test will come next week when Ash moves and I'm home alone with all three of them - not looking forward to that day! Here are a couple of recent pictures of the crew.

A week in pictures

Here are some pictures from Ellie's first week of life - she is such a happy baby!

Changes in two months . . .

Cousins Everett and Ellie (they obviously weren't too excited about the photo op). Everett was born about two and a half months before Ellie. He weighed 7lbs 7 oz, she weighed 7 lbs 6 oz - they were roughly the same length. Look at what happened to him in the last two months - crazy how fast they grow up and change!

Ellie Marie Quast

Our little girl is finally here! Ellie Marie Quast was born April 28th at 11:04 am weighing in at 7lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long. Our "thirty" minute c-section turned into about an hour and a half ordeal due to some issues with my blood pressure and Ellie's unwillingness to enter the world without being pulled out (who can blame her though - it was probably all warm and cozy in my stomach and she didn't want to leave). I knew things weren't going great when shortly after Travis arrived in the OR, I started to feel light headed and warm all over. Apparently these were signs that my blood pressure was dropping too low. After a few scary moments, the doctors were able to give me some drugs to help get everything back on track. With that behind us, all that was left was to get the baby out. Well, the doctor ran into some issues there as well. There was a little more scar tissue than she anticipated (which made getting in a little harder), and once they did get in, Ellie was no where to be found. She was apparently trying to hide from the doctor's hands. Because of that and her position way up in my stomach, there was a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of pushing, pulling, and tugging on my stomach - NOT FUN. I tried to suck it up during the first few pushes and pulls, but before long I couldn't take it anymore - the pain was just too much and the tears started rolling (after the surgery, Trav told me the table I was laying on was shaking back and forth pretty bad from all the force they were using to get her out). I imagine if I could have moved my body, I would have wiggled right off that table just trying to get away - yeah, not good. Unfortunately there is nothing the doctor's can do for "that kind of pain", you just have to wait it out. Usually this "waiting period" only takes about a minute before the doctor gets the baby out, well not in our case. It took the doctor a good three minutes or so before little Ellie finally emerged. I of course didn't realize how long it took because I was in so much pain, but when we got back to our room, the nurse told us and she let us know that everyone in the OR was more than a little concerned at how long things were taking. Like I said to her that day, thank god no one let on that something was worrying them or I'm sure I would have lost it - guess that is why they are the professionals. When it was all said and done, it wasn't the picture perfect delivery I had imagined, but we had a healthy little girl and a healthy mom and that is all that matters. No matter how painful it was, I would do it all over again to get our little Ellie - she is that special! Check out some picture of the little lady - you might be surprised by what you see, I sure was the first time I saw her - think little, lots of hair, and dark skin (basically Lauren's identical twin - kidding).