Random Pictures

These pictures were all taken in the last week. Our friend, Debbie, from Seattle was out for Memorial Day Weekend (her family lives here), so we met up with her on Monday for a picnic.

Advancement

We were excited last week to find out Chad advanced in rank to E6. He's now a Petty Officer First Class. He has worked so hard for this achievement. 1490 people Navy wide took the Operation Specialist First Class exam and only 53 people advanced. That is the lowest percentage in at least 10 years!

After one year, he can submit a package (full of letters of recommendations, and his military record) for Chief and also Officer. God is so good and we are so thankful--this opens many doors for his career.

Yesterday we went to his advancement ceremony and I was able to get a few pictures.

Liberty's 3 Week Pics

Time sure flies! I can't believe that Liberty is 3 weeks old already. We are enjoying every minute with her as we know this newborn stage will be over before we know it. She's a great baby and only cries when she's hungry, needs a new diaper, or is super tired and wants to be held. Her hair still has a mind of its own, although when wet its curly. She likes to smile, too (I know doctors say they can't smile this young, but we think they're wrong..that or Liberty has alot of gas!). The kids are having alot of fun with her and love to hold her but get upset whenever she's crying. Jackson has resorted to fake crying along with her. Speaking of crying, somebody's tired so I better go and let you enjoy the pictures.

Mom's Visit & Liberty at 2 Weeks

Dole Plantation

Liberty is 2 weeks old!

Grandma treating the kids to Dairy Queen

The kids and Grandma at the Dole Plantation

Liberty's First Bath

Liberty had her first bath yesterday and liked it for about 90 seconds! She has a good set of lungs on her, but as soon as she was dressed, the screaming stopped. And, no, her hair didn't stay down! When her hair dried, it stood back up. :)

Liberty Zayne

Our precious little girl, Liberty Zayne, was born Friday April 24th at 5:20pm. She weighs 7lbs 13.1oz and measures 20 1/4" long. We are not sure who she looks like yet, but she has a head full of dark hair just like Savannah and Jackson did.

The hospital stay was a great experience. She and I stayed 2 nights and came home early this afternoon(Sunday). They have a nursery, so Liberty spent most of her time in there so I could sleep. It was WONDERFUL to have blocks of un-interrupted sleep. I feel refreshed and as caught up on sleep as you can be after childbirth, but compared to the other 2, I feel I can be a much better mom at home right from the start instead of trying to catch up on sleep.

The kids are so excited to have a baby sister, and love holding, hugging, and kissing her. They've also witnessed a diaper change and her funny faces and are enjoying taking it all in. So far Liberty sleeps and eats. Chad's anxious for her to be awake more so he can interact with her. I'm enjoying this time because before I know it she'll be more active and vocal and these infant days will be over.

39 Weeks & Counting Down to April 14th

Today marks 39 weeks! Time has flown by and I can't believe that in the next 2 weeks, we'll be meeting our little girl. The kids are super excited! I'm still feeling great and sleeping well, so I am content going another 14 days because when it ends, we'll have sleepless nights for awhile!

You will be happy to know we have FINALLY settled on a name (yes, first and middle) about 3 days ago, although as Chad says it is "top secret", so you'll just have to keep guessing, but if you ask him the name's Iris (IRS--tax day baby) or Janis Joplin (JJ for short)!

Our household goods arrived on Friday, so we spent the whole weekend unpacking. We got ALOT accomplished. The whole main floor of the house is unpacked and put away with the exception of the china/glassware that goes in the china hutch. I have pulled baby clothes out of bins and am almost finished organizing the baby's room. The kids rooms only need books put away and a couple of misc. boxes to go through. That leaves our bedroom, which we'd like to knock out in the next couple of days.

A few of you might be wondering what we're doing with the kids when I go into labor. Good question! For some reason I haven't been stressed at all about it thanks to my mom and friends stressing for me and thinking I'm a little bit crazy for procrastinating, but seeing that I am coming down to the single digit countdown, I've done some calling around and spoke with the director of a 24hr childcare facility that the Navy runs. Normally we wouldn't be allowed to drop our kids off since I stay at home and Chad's home relatively early at night, but Ann took pity on me and is more than accomodating given our situation. She's finishing up her schedule now for the next 2 weeks and will let me know what days she'll have slots available for Savannah and Jackson. What an answer to prayer! I do have a backup for the middle of the night if they are full, but we're praying the baby comes on one of the days she has an opening.



We took about 15 pictures, and when Chad informed me that he could take 100 pics and I still wouldn't be satisfied with the way I look or the angle of the picture, I decided this will have to do. Plus, he was tired and started taking some up close and random pictures which we laughed about.

Spiderman, Spiderman

Well, we've been in Hawaii for 24 days, and our lives definitely aren't dull! Last night, we made another trip to the emergency room--this time Jackson was the one needing attention......

After dinner, we were relaxing in our lovely Aloha furniture, courtesy of the Super 8 Motel next to the airport (just kidding! I'll have to post pics of our not so Pottery Barn style furnishings!haha), and Chad showed us his leatherman he was given at work. Afterwards, he put it in the case and set it down.

Chad and I were in the middle of conversation and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jackson pull the leatherman out of its case. With all the other leathermans I've come in contact with, they are difficult to open, and the tools/blades are even harder to pull out, so I didn't think anything of it. I also didn't know it had a knife in it.

All the sudden Jackson cried out in pain and I saw the blade of the knife. I grabbed it, shouted at Chad and then the blood started gushing out from his finger. I know from seeing my brothers get hurt and need stitches that you bleed alot. My main concern was if his finger was the only place he was cut and how deep it was.

I hauled him over to the sink and ran it under cold water which made him scream. Then Chad and I tag-teamed to stop the bleeding, but every time I went to clean the blood and try to apply the band-aid, Chad would let go of the finger. After a few tries of communicating, I was able to put 2 bandaids on it (oh, yes, Jackson HATES bandaids), and we headed to the ER. It probably would have healed on its own, but we wanted to make sure it didn't hit the bone (he sliced his finger at a downward angle).In the midst of all of this commotion, Savannah was borderline hysterical. She was crying and crying and with seeing all the blood she thought he was going to die. I had to explain to her this is probably the first of many trips to the ER for stitches. Boys will be boys. I'm just happy we made it almost 4 years without incident.

The staff was real nice and the kids got popsicles while waiting. The worst parts were trying to take the bandaids off and when they numbed his finger up. I haven't heard him scream like that since he was a baby. When they gave him lidocaine, I had Savannah turn around (didn't know how she'd react to seeing that and all of us holding Jackson down). He was a trooper, though, and watched as they sutured him up. Then we talked about how cool they looked and how he was now like Spiderman with two spiders on his finger. He even tried tugging on them out of curiosity. Ouch! He was really tired afterwards, though, and fell asleep on Chad's lap.When we got home, Jackson got set up with a movie, and I told Savannah how proud I was of her when we were at the Dr. I asked what she thought when she heard Jackson screaming and she wasn't looking, and she said she thought they were cutting off Jackson's finger or hand....Note to self: explain what they are about to do instead of letting her imagination run wild...At 10:30, he got his second wind and I gave him some medicine to help him sleep comfortably. Well, this time Motrin had the opposite effect and Jackson was bouncing off the walls, calling me a "poopy monster" and serenading me with a made up song "You are a poopy monster" and then erupting in giggles. I was so tired I started laughing too.......

Needless to say, I'm pretty tired today....Maybe now life here will start to be less exciting....and then comes baby! 3 weeks from today and our lives will forever be changed (as Chad pointed out--I say this every time before we have a baby)!