AN END TO SNORING?!?!?

So Isaac is a month old (and almost 10 lbs already!!!) and we're all on the losing end of the sleep battle. Except Malo. After more than 5 years of begging, begging, BEGGING him to go get tested for sleep apnea, he finally did last month...2 days before Isaac was born. They found he has SEVERE sleep apnea, which I could have told them, and he now has a CPAP machine and for the first time in many many years, is really getting rest. And not snoring. In his sleep study they also found that he never once (at least during that study) went into REM sleep. No wonder he's always so tired. But anyway, its good for all of us that he's getting some sleep...cuz when I am up half the night with Isaac, its so nice to not have to try to listen to his incessant snoring while I'm trying to go back to sleep...now I can just go back to sleep. YAY! Did I mention the CPAP machine stops his snoring?!?!?!?

What else is new? I mentioned Isaac is a month old. I adore that little boy. He is a sweet, chubby little munchkin. I know I need to get some pictures up of him and I will...soon..but for now, I am just taking a few minutes to update. But really so far he's pretty mellow and just a sweetie. The girls are adjusting fairly well with him. They both are a little more whiny and needy than usual, but that was to be expected. But overall, they're doing well.

Three kids is a little more of an adjustment than I had anticipated, and I'm not sure if its really the number 3 or the fact that my oldest is only 2. ;-) But we're chugging along figuring things out as we go. We are very blessed to have the sweet kids we have.

Oh yeah...the Friday after Isaac was born, I woke up and half my face didn't work. I thought I'd had a stroke or something and was totally freaked out. Malo took me to the emergency room and turns out I just have Bell's Palsy. Half my face was completely paralyzed. They said it could take anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months to go away. Its getting a little better everyday but its been so awful. I couldn't even smile at my new baby or laugh with my girls because my face didn't work. I'm feeling better about life now because its so much better...not all the way, but enough I can leave the house without feeling like a freak show.

What else? Aspen and Mia just continue to be awesome little girls. Aspen's imagination is really starting to blossom and she says the funniest things. She is super into princesses and dresses right now. Everyday she wants to put a dress on and then she'll twirl around and say "its a wonderful dream come true." She loves twirling in her dresses and dancing. She's awesome.

Mia's language is exploding! She is using 4 word sentences on a regular basis and she copies everything Aspen says and does. She's a fun little girl. Fearless. She climbs and jumps and is afraid of nothing.

Well, I can't think of much else. So i'm off! :)

Baby Isaac

Isaac Malo was born Sunday, March 7 at 11:49am. He was 7 lbs, 9 oz and 20.5 inches long. He has SO much hair and the cutest fat chipmunk cheeks. i'll put some pics up later, but wanted to at least get it out there that he's finally here!!! ;-) He spent the first 9 hours or so of life in the NICU but then was able to come snuggle with mommy and daddy after that. I was discharged on Tuesday but he was a bit too jaundiced at that point for us to bring him home so they admitted him to the pediatric unit to be under the lights and such. But he's such a trooper he got to come home yesterday night (Wednesday). He's a tough little guy. He is a good eater and sleeper and pooper...so that helped get his bili levels to where he could come home sooner than they expected.

He's our sweet little snuggle bugs and the girls think he's pretty neat, although I'm fairly certain they don't quite understand that he's here to stay. :)

Anyway, i'll put up some pictures another day. :)

My ever expanding belly

Sorry if these gross you out. Its just not natural looking! ;-) The first two were from 35 weeks and the 3rd is from 36 weeks. I can't take anymore now because as of today, none of my shirts will cover my belly. And I mean NONE. I finally found a big 'ol t-shirt of Malo's that is too big for him that will cover this belly. I tell you, Mr Isaac better be cute!!! Hee hee.

silly thing to be excited about....

....but who cares?!?! i am excited. the other day i was finally able to get some pig tails into miss mia's hair!!! considering she's almost 20 months old, and just now has enough for the antennaes that most kids can do at just a few months old...we feel its quite the milestone! hee hee! oh and p.s. she has major ringlet curls in the back of her hair! I LOVE it! :)

Amazing....

I am amazed at the things you can see on ultrasound these days. I guess the only benefit of having high risk pregnancies is I have lots of opportunities (twice a week in fact with this little guy!) to peek in at my babies. Today we got such a clear view of his face...lips, nose, you can tell he's a little person with big cheeks. Just look at this picture....its amazing to me. Absolutely amazing the miracle that is growing inside of me. :)

Oh and one of these days I'll get caught up on the last couple months. :)

All in God's time

My Aspen and Mia are so sweet. I love them so much. This morning I was watching the two of them play and laugh together and I can't think of a better sound on this planet. And so as I'm watching them I just started reflecting on just how blessed Malo and I are to have them in our lives. And how prayers are answered...and usually not according to MY personal timeline.

As you all know, Malo and I tried for 5 years to have babies. And then finally FINALLY finally we were blessed to come into contact with an amazing young woman who was pregnant and chose us, plain old normal boring me and Malo, to be the parents of her special little girl. And from the moment Aspen was born we knew she was meant to be our baby, our special daughter. It just had to be in God's time.

And then 4 months later, I found out I was pregnant with Mia. Heavenly Father listens to our prayers. He answers them. Just in his time, not mine. Mia came along and is such a sweet, sweet girl. Her and Aspen are perfect sisters. I can't imaging one without the other. Heavenly Father knows what He is doing. He knows these two little spirits were supposed to be sisters and the timing just needed to be right for it to happen. Again, all in God's time.

And now I am less than 11 weeks from having our 3rd child. A boy. My oldest child will still be 2 when he is born. All those years of praying for children and now we are going to have 3!!! Never in all those years of crying and heartache and longing for children would I ever have imagined I would be the mommy of 3 very small children very very close in age. But Heavenly Father knows all. I just needed to trust Him. And know that He has a plan. And know that if we put our trust in Him things will always work out how they are supposed to.

Of course, I am slightly (!!!) overwhelmed at the responsibility of having three very small children and only two arms and two hands, but I am so so so so so incredibly blessed and SO grateful for being entrusted with these little ones to raise and to love and to cherish. I am grateful for a husband who loves me and loves our children. He is such a wonderful daddy and the girls love him so much and I know our little baby balooga haysuess will love him. I am so so grateful that I am able to stay home and be the one to raise my babies. I get to see everything, their first steps, their daily struggles and triumphs, the way they just absorb information and the way they grow from day to day. In all those years of praying for babies, I am not disappointed. I am actually really grateful (now I can say this...) for that time we had to wait...because now I think I appreciate my kids more than I would have if they had just come easily for us. And I think I am able to relate to people who struggle with infertility and hopefully offer some love and support to them.

Anyway, this is becoming long winded. I just want to say that I know our prayers are heard and answered. and even if it seems like its taking forever or that we are being ignored, we absolutely are not. And there are blessings just waiting to be poured out on us all....its just all in God's time. :)

Dentist time!

I took the girls to the dentist today (Mia's first time!) and I was a little nervous about how Mia would do. She has a tendency to be....strong willed....but they both did awesome! I wished I would've brought my camera, or even my phone, in so I could take a picture of them. The hygienist at the new dentist we went to was AWESOME! She let both the girls sit in the big chair together and showed them how it moved up and down and back and up. She showed them all the tools they'd use and blew air on their arms and let them do fish-kisses on the little thing that sucks spit and water from your mouth. The girls were fascinated! And then she cleaned their teeth and did full exams and then the dentist came in and examined their teeth and put flouride on their teeth. I was so shocked that Mia actually let them do all of that, but she did. I knew Aspen would be fine. :) I was very very proud of them and they both picked a treasure from the treasure box (both my GIRLS picked CARS!!!) and each got a voucher for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza hut for being cavity free! Good job kids! :) Mia has 6 teeth - 2 front teeth on top and two on bottom, plus her two top molars. Weird kid. And Aspen has 20 healthy beautiful teeth. :)

And here are some random pictures not at all related to their dental visit.