Welcome, Sterling

What. a. surprise. I honestly thought we'd be a family of girls (and I was just fine with that), but this little guy surprised us. We didn't find out his gender beforehand and we were both floored when he came out a different flavor than the rest of our kids!

I thought I'd better record his birth story before all the sleepless nights makes my memories foggy. This guy arrived on Mar 14, 2015 -- "Pi Day", but not just a regular Pi Day, a special pie day (3.1415). I really should have eaten some pie by now to celebrate. 

His birthday was sort of planned though. I wasn't due until the 25th. Because I had been having such awful round ligament pain for so long and because I had started dilating, I wanted to see if he was ready to come out with a little push. I did the castor oil-scrambled egg trick that worked to bring Mimi into the world. I figured at the very least I'd have the runs and no baby. If my body (and he) wasn't ready, it wouldn't work.

So we picked a day. And I did it. And it worked. It didn't happen quite as fast as Mimi's birth though. 

8:30 AM - Ate the eggs.

10:30 AM - Mild contractions started.

10:31 AM - Kids ask when the baby is coming out.

10:32 AM - Kids ask when the baby is coming out.

10:33 AM - Kids ask when the baby is coming out.

(You get the picture.)

3:00 PM - Dropped the kids off at the Stephenson's house. Holly was already at work (L&D nurse and my BFF and had dibs on the delivery) and Traci met us there (amazing midwife).

4:00 PM - Got settled at the hospital and started walking around. We expected him to arrive around 6PM -- if it was anything like Mimi's birth. I fully expected him then, too, because... 4th baby.

7:00 PM - Progressing, but S.L.O.W.L.Y. He was taking his sweet time. We decided to break my water to see if that would get things going.

9:00ish PM - Yes. That helped. Harder labor beginning. 

9:ish-10:30 PM - Don't even ask me about these hours. I don't want to talk about it. I wanted to have another natural birth, like Mimi's, but I didn't anticipate it being drawn out for this long. I was on the verge of asking for something, but I was positive he was almost here. So I held out a little longer.

10:43 PM - Hello, little boy! What? A boy? Are you sure?

I'm surprised now, but honestly I wasn't into the whole gender reveal at the time. I was just relieved that the whole experience was over and I didn't care if it was a girl or a boy. (Thinking of Lorelai Gilmore when she said giving birth is like doing the splits over a crate of dynamite. Yep. Pretty much.)

He gave out one little yelp and then didn't make a peep for a long time. He weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and measured 20 in.

We usually take a day or so to decide on a name. This time it took us almost a week -- boys names are hard for us. The girls really liked Owen and started calling him that, but we decided on Sterling Richard (after Steve's dad) instead. When we told them we decided on Sterling they took it pretty well. Except Sophie had a short meltdown and was sobbing upstairs for a little while. My mom was here at the time and was a little concerned about her... until I told her she reacted the same way when we traded our van in for another one and had to say good-bye to "Toola". She's just sentimental, I guess.

Guys, Sterling is so sweet. He rarely cries and sleeps a lot. After a week he isn't doing too badly during the night either. I got four hours in a row last night and I don't feel like I'm in a fog. Breastfeeding is going beautifully, and I'm not nearly as sore this time. (Thank you, coconut oil!) He eats A LOT. I've heard that about baby boys, though.... wanting to eat constantly.

We think he looks the most like Sophie as a baby. He has Steve's olive skin and dark hair, Sophie's lips and nose, and maybe Ivy's eyes. He's going to be one good-looking kid.

That's about it. We're still walking on air and soaking in his little newborn self. I love this stage, despite having to deal with my body's recovery as well (which is going pretty well, by the way), and I wish it didn't go by so fast.

January

little one is just a teensy bit loved. Can you tell?

Cold days = art time! If you mix shaving cream and Elmer's glue you can use it as paint. It dries all puffy. We call it snow paint. The kids go nuts for it.

We also made some homemade play doh, and I FINALLY finished Mimi's mobile. It was lonely looking in the guest room where her crib is. I love the way it turned out!

Dad uses hot sauce for entertainment.

Both of the girls LOVE to go to Whole Foods. Mostly for the free snack they give out by the front door.

That burger is from Burger Me -- the place we usually go after we attend the temple. It's called the Train Wreck: cheeseburger with chili, a fat onion rings, and a fried egg. (And lettuce and tomato, but duh. Every burger has that.) They give you a fork to help you eat it. Good thing, too, because it's usually too tall to fit in my mouth. Love that thing.

This girl is crawling and getting into everything now. She loves the bookshelves and the recycle paper box. And I was surprised to see Sophie licking the dishwasher, too.

We started doing some of our January traditions. Breaking out the borscht and getting ready for Valentine's Day. I must have some kind of illness because I find myself wanting to do more decorative crafty things. Usually it's not my thing. I love those wreaths, though!

I'm also not one to decorate for every holiday, but the girls are so excited and want to make things festive. So, we do it. And it's fun. :) 

I loved Sophie's how to draw a butterfly tutorial. She's so funny!

This girl never sits still. Not even in the tub.

And I have a feeling she's going to overtake Ivy in a few years. She's strong. And determined.

December Part 2

Some of our Christmas traditions are putting together a gingerbread house. (Yes, I buy the kits. I'm not ready to tackle one entirely from scratch yet. At least it's not already assembled!) We also frost sugar cookies and make at least one pineapple pie. We had Steve's parents, Kimi, and her boyfriend, Steve over this year so we made two.

Ivy's a pretty good little pie making helper.

I think these are the only pics we got of the girls in their Christmas dresses. We had 9AM church and had to be there really early to practice with the choir so we took them afterward when everyone's hair was a mess. Haha.

And this little rosebud wasn't in the mood for pics.

On Christmas Eve we read the Christmas story, played Don't Eat Pete, and set out carrots and cookies for Santa and his Reindeer.

Christmas morning!

All month long we had a list running of things we were grateful for. And there's the obligatory trip to Target for Christmas clearance.

For Christmas we redecorated the girls' bedroom, moved Ivy out of the toddler bed and Mimi into the crib. A lot of moving things around and last-minute painting. It was a ton of work. But they really love it!

I love the week between Christmas and New Year's. We went out on a date and had sushi, spend New Year's Eve with the Stephenson's (and had more sushi), had a lot of movie nights and tried to finish off the rest of the Christmas goodies lying around. When you want a piece of pumpkin bread and there's no knife around, you get pretty desperate. I'm not sure who did this, but it was probably one of my children.

Happy New Year!

December Part 1

December started of with a smashed finger (Mine. Luckily there were no breaks. It's nice to have easy, cheap access to an x-ray machine.), yummy candles, gathering addresses, and still a lot of sunshine. I'm not sure we'll ever have a real winter in Reno.

Also, I've had the same address book for 16 years -- it was a high school graduation gift. I haven't had the guts to type them all into a program in fear of having to type and retype them if something changes and I need to switch programs. It works. :)

This girl. I swear she gets cuter and more active every day.

A couple of years ago my mom sent the girls a Christmas book that has a recording mechanism in it that allowed her to record herself reading the Christmas story to the girls. It's one of their favorites. 

I had no idea getting out of a chimney simply required smelling cookies.

And I'm not above recruiting child labor for stuffing Christmas cards.

We found this nifty little wire set up from IKEA and finally hung it! Thanks, Dad!

Mimi pulled herself up to the box of pomegranates and latched right on. I laughed for days. I still laugh whenever I see this photo.

'Tis the season. :) I did a cookie swap with a bunch of other bloggers and sent out some extra-spicy gingersnaps dipped in chocolate. I also went through a ton of butter this month and made macarons like a madwoman.

I just love this pic. Even when he's trying to be intimidating he's not. Love him. :)

Happy 4th Birthday Ivy!

Miss Ivy had a joint birthday part with her little friend Maddy. Their birthdays are two days apart and since they'd be inviting the same group of kids we did the party together. Um, awesome idea. :)

It was easy to pick a theme since they're both princess obsessed girls. So, Rapunzel it was.

Pin the flower on Rapunzel's hair was a little harder than it looks.

... for Sophie. Silly girl :)

I made tower cupcakes with ice cream cones and topped them with colored stabilized whipped cream. I'm not sure what the deal was, but the cream started falling apart off the "tower" and seemed to break apart. Maybe it was squeezing it through a pastry bag. Or the food coloring. I have no idea, but it was bizarre. The girls loved them anyway, so that's what mattered most.

And Sophie was thrilled to wear her Cinderella wedding dress.