Pictures, pictures, and more pictures...

Not the best image, but fits Claire perfectly.  If you don't know already - Claire doesn't know how to be quiet :).  I am hoping this can develop into a useful skill for the future.

Pictures of our cute 7 week old:

A day in Corvallis:

The kids and I spent Saturday morning at Corvallis' WONDERFUL farmers market.  The day was gorgeous and in the mid 70's.  We bought some fresh produce and hot pretzels.  The market is along the river.  There is a park along this part of the river with wildflowers, green grass, and fountains for the kids to play in (get soaked in).  I couldn't get a picture of the kids playing in the fountain because I was nursing Olivia (yes - in public, with a cover, in Oregon, at the farmers market.  I was feeling so organic.)

We got so lucky to get this great picture!

Alright Kita and Tash - this is where we are headed to in Corvallis.   Gelato.

After the farmers market, we hit up Trader Joe's.  The kids had their own perfect sized shopping carts.  Claire managed to get some brie in her cart and I didn't notice until we got home (the clerks unload your cart).  

I shouldn't forget to add that Jacob cut Claire's "Rapunzel Hair" last Sunday….right next to Jonathan and I.  Luckily, he didn't go too deep and it wasn't too much.  You can only see it if you are looking for it.  And - CLAIRE IS DOING AWESOME WITH POTTY TRAINING!!!  We even took her to church in underwear and she didn't have any accidents!!!!

Have a good week!

Blueberries and Blisters

The highlight of our week was being visited by Grandma Jones.  It was great to visit with her, have her spoil the kids, and go to the store by myself.  Claire does better each day with potty training.  Jacob continues to improve his reading skills.  Olivia smiles and coos more than ever; but I think she is also going through a growing spurt.  Olivia wakes up to eat around 1AM, then 3 AM, then 5 AM, then 7 AM.  With a husband who comes home for about one half hour each day and a two year old that lives up to her age, I am not sure I could ever feel more exhausted.

Picking Blueberries.

They each ended up with about 5 blueberries in each of their buckets and 25 in their bellies.

Enjoying the fruits of Claire's labor.  They get popsicles when Claire does number 2 on the potty. 

The dangers of popping popcorn.  A hot kernel  flew out of the popper and when it hit Jacob's neck he scrunched it in pain and ended up holding the kernel in place - making things worse.  Lesson learned.  No more watching the popcorn pop.

Claire - in your face cuteness 24/7.

Potty Training

Potty Training Day 1:

• Claire started off the day excited.  Her favorite book has been a potty book for quite some time now.  
• Claire sat on the toilet and quoted her favorite book, "no more diapers!" Yeah!!!!!! 
• Nothing happened on the potty.  Bummer.
• Claire picks out Cinderella as her first pair of underwear for the day.  She is your typical girl who likes to change throughout the day….even underwear.  Rapunzel was next.
• I fix the kids a fancy lunch (read: cereal) and then sit down to nurse Olivia, while I eat my fancy lunch.  As soon as Olivia starts to eat, Claire drops her bowl and spills milk everywhere.  She is upset.  Olivia is eating.  Claire has milk all over her.  Olivia is eating.  Claire's beautiful hair is sticking to the snot coming out of her nose.  Olivia is eating. 
• Within seconds of the previous incident, Claire announces with a concerned voice that she passed gas (and peed on the floor).  
• We rush to the potty and I nurse Olivia on the edge of the tub as my lunch gets soggy.
• Nothing ends up in the potty.
• Claire is losing momentum.  She wants her diaper.
• No….if she has to go she will do it on the potty!
• I undress Olivia in preparation for her bath.
• On cue, Olivia pees on me as Claire is pooping on the carpet.
• Wow.
• This is going to be harder than I thought.
• Is it weird that I didn't change my clothes right away?
• Kids are in bed.
• Upstairs neighbor's dog goes out on the porch and pees.
• Where does his pee go?  All over our stuff down below.
• He has been doing this for quite some time.
• Finally get up the nerve to meet our noisy (yes, we hear the bedroom noises too) upstairs neighbors.
• Find out the neighbors are moving in the next couple of weeks.
• Day 1 ended perfectly :)

Potty Training Day 2:

• Accident
• Accident
• Accident
• Maybe Claire isn't as ready as I thought.
• Accident

No success with the potty on day two but we did figure out how to hide from the bad guys!

Potty Training Day 3:

• Accident
• Accident
• Alright, she is not ready.
• "I gotta go pee"
• Tinkle, tinkle….
• I think I actually teared up.

Claire continued to have success on and off for the next few days.  She is still having some accidents, but I think we are on the right path!

Jonathan has a difficult test today.  We didn't get to see him much last week and are excited to spend some extra time with him today (after his test is over).

Jacob has started again on daily chores…I am loving it. :)

I survived the week although we all got sick with colds.  You know you are a young mom when you are covered in snot, spit up and maybe even some pee and poop - by 8 in the morning.  There is a reason why I don't own anything that is "dry clean only".  On the bright side, we are all doing better, and I am getting more self discipline when it comes to getting to bed early.

Love you all!

Stacee

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!  We had a wonderful week in Lebanon.  Jonathan did not have school on the Fourth of July and, after going to school from about 8 to 3 (to study), we got to spend the rest of the day with him!  Yes, he did study for quite some time on a holiday, but this is not new to me.  Jonathan has always had a great work ethic.  While doing his undergraduate work, we had 3 Valentines days together and he went to study at the library after dinner.  I should add that it was a romantic candlelight dinner - Jonathan still made it a special day :). On one of those Valentines days, I was still a student, and we went to study together.  Romantic, I know.

For this 4th of July, we enjoyed a barbecue at a park with some friends at a church activity and later enjoyed dinner and backyard fireworks with some friends from the Rogue Valley.  The highlight of the day, BY FAR, was when Claire discovered a snake.  Jacob went right over and picked up the harmless snake as Claire screamed, "NO JACOB! NO!!!!!!!!"  I love how fearless Jacob was and how concerned Claire was.

Jonathan is really enjoying medical school.   He just took his first test and is relieved to have a better feel for some of the tests he will be taking while in school.

I am still recovering bit by bit.  I want to again thank everyone who was so helpful with the move/new baby.  As far as my recovery goes, unfortunately I may not be able to run for some time.  I have found that I have some really weakened pelvic muscles, which is often found in runners that have vaginal births.  I won't give too many details about how I know this, lets just say I have a misplaced (prolapsed) organ. Running can worsen the problem until I strengthen them.  Luckily I have always loved spin class!

Olivia is now a month old!  She is smiling and cooing.  There haven't been many milestones that I have enjoyed more than having my newborn child become responsive to me.  Jacob and Claire are excited to realize that Olivia will be able to do more than eat and sleep.  

Tomorrow we will start potty training with Claire.  We will see if the princess underwear will be enough to convince her to say her goodbyes to diapers.  Enjoy the pictures!

Jonathan got Jacob a baseball glove for his birthday.  He is obviously still learning.

I love this.  Notice the ball by his right foot.

Yeah!

Enjoying some backyard fireworks.

I found Claire like this one night.  She loves the "Cars" books.  Notice the shoes.  She loves to put her "princess shoes" on.

There are multiple times throughout the day that I find Claire "reading" with a pile of books around her.

Our beautiful Olivia.

The Unforgettable June of 2012

*WARNING:  Incredibly long post.  If you feel like skipping the text and just looking at the pictures, I will not take offense.*

In the past 6 years, 2 months, and 2 days of our marriage, we have never had a month quite like this one.  It started off pretty normal.  We were waiting for our second daughter to be born.  Went to a rodeo with Grandma and Grandpa Wright.  Waited some more.  Went to soccer practice.  Waited some more…..and then…FINALLY THE DAY ARRIVED!  I went into labor in the middle of the night.  I let Jonathan sleep until 5 AM before I woke him to let him know that June 4th would be the day our third child was to be born.
Since this was the third of our children to be born, I expected the labor to be so short that I would be having her on the side of I-5 with Monday morning commuters as our witnesses.  I unwisely thought that this would be a great time to experience the joys of labor without any medication.  The labor was longer than expected.  It wasn't too bad until I was dilated about 8 or 9 cm.  By then, I was really missing my completely safe and comforting epidural that I had had with my previous 2 children.  WOW, the pain!  What we women endure to have children!!
Olivia Ann Wright is a perfect addition to our family.  The first feature that I noticed in our new little girl was the first feature most people notice - her beautiful thick and dark hair.  She is perfect and wonderful.  She really is a great baby and we love her like crazy.  The kids are crazy about her, though they don't know quite what to do with her.  There are a lot of awkward pats on the head.  I keep reminding them that she is not a dog.
Unfortunately, my first labor experience without medication, turned into more than just a painful experience.  First, my labor was prolonged with a placenta that didn't want to be delivered.  After finally delivering it, my wonderful doctor - Dr. Alan Binette, proceeded to stick his entire hand up and into my Uterus - TWICE - to make sure that every piece of placenta was out.  Did I mention there were no drugs involved?
It got much worse after that.  About an hour and a half after delivery my uterus relaxed.  This is called Uterine Atony.  Because my uterus relaxed, the blood vessels that were pumping blood into my placenta had opened back up again and began to pump blood into my uterus.  Blood was pooling in my uterus as my happy family visited with me to celebrate in the birth of Olivia.  I suddenly started to feel extremely light headed and nauseous.  I told the nurse how I was feeling and then passed out in my bed.  Everything after that was a little surreal.  The nurse had Jonathan push a red button behind my bed, and within a couple of minutes a cavalry of hospital staff arrived (maybe 10 or so) and began to work on me.  Binette was there shortly after.  I woke up to bright lights, an oxygen mask on, and a team of people all attending to me.  There was a feeling of urgency as I focused on what they were saying.  I had 2 people focused on my breathing, 3 nurses massaging my uterus, a couple of nurses poking me with needles full of medication, another nurse putting an emergency IV in my hand, and I am not too sure what everyone else was doing.  I was impressed.  Everyone worked so well together.  I never felt a sense of chaos.  They knew what to do to stabililze me and they did.  It was perhaps one of the most terrifying moments of my life.  My children were just outside the door.  How would Jonathan tell them if something happened to me?  How would they understand?  My husband is about to start medical school and he is here in the room holding our new baby in his arms.  I understood in a very personal sense how fragile life is.  How grateful I am to continue in this role as their mother and wife.  Perhaps this is a good jumping off point for medical school, to have more appreciation for motherhood, when it gets challenging.
I ended up losing a third of my blood and continued doses of Cytotec after I was discharged.  To say that recovery has been hard is an understatement.  The next week, we had Jacob's 5th birthday party with some buddies, we moved the next day to Lebanon, Oregon, and a few days later, Jonathan started medical school.  In the meantime, Jonathan's parents left to Santiago, Chile, where his dad will serve as mission president for the next three years.  On the 19th, I was off to Redding with my 3 kids to attend my brother's wedding.  THANK YOU FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP!!!!!!!!!!!  It has been one whirlwind of a month but full of miracles and great joy.  If I could do it all over again, I would - minus the labor without medication…oh, and I would have held onto those 2 units of blood too.

Jacob the soccer player

Olivia (Emma was her name at the time).  One hour old. 

Olivia at 2 1/2 weeks old

Claire thinks she is part of Jacob's soccer team

Jacob's favorite part of soccer practice was when practice was over and Jonathan and Jacob had some one on one time

Jacob riding a pony before the rodeo

Claire riding a pony before the rodeo

Olivia meets are Uncle Todd and Aunt Olivia.  They drove up from Redding after work to meet her and drove back that night

Jacob is such a good big brother

Jacob enjoys an early birthday party with some friends in Central Point the day before we move

Classic

Just before the wedding

Jacob is one handsome ring bearer

Our beautiful flower girl played the part well

Yeah!!!! We are so happy to have Ericka a part of our family now

Jacob has added so much to our family these past 5 years.  We love him so much and can't imagine our world without him.  Yes, a blueberry chocolate cake.  That is what the birthday boy requested.