So I probably should be taking a nap while all the girls are sleeping, but I thought I would post some pictures since I haven't been here in a while.
Here are a just a few pictures---I haven't downloaded the other cards yet---but most of them are from the firework show that we had at Dino's parents house. :)
Tammy taking pictures of Owen :)
Bel sitting on a chair and about to stand up.
Sweet little Owen.
Braelyn and Selah playing together.
Sweet little Kennedy with marshmallow on her face.
Little Miss Emma
And some fireworks. While I was inside feeding the little peanut, Dino got a lot of great shots of the fireworks! Dan and Kyle really put on an awesome show!!
and I will leave you with a picture of Lucia sitting in her swing. look at those cheeks. :)
have a great day everyone!! :)
Dino went back to work last Monday, so it has been just me with all of my girls during the week. Everything has been going pretty well I must say. I am finally feeling better from the c-section, and oh yeah, I had Mastitis also and that is finally feeling a lot better. Lucia is a wonderful baby!!!! She eats every 3-4 hrs, except for at lunch time where she cluster feeds. I don't mind that at all because she naps when the older girls nap. Also, you will not believe it, I barely can---but she has been sleeping through the night since---I think---our 3rd or fourth night home!!! Crazy!!! She has her last feeding around 11:30 or 12am and will sleep until 7am or 7:30am. That is as late I can handle, I'm sure she would sleep another half hour to an hour more, but I NEED her to eat--catch my drift?! Anyhow, who knows how long that will last. But I am enjoying sleeping thorough the night for now. :)
The girls absolutely ADORE her, and they can't get enough of her. My Eva and Isa are doing really well will the whole, new sister thing. Eva is a WONDERFUL helper. Isabel --she likes to help sometimes, but she is a stinker when I am feeding Lucia. I think she knows I really can't get up and put her in time out in the middle of feeding the baby so thats when she decides to be naughty. At least that's the way it feels!! :) She can be a real s tinker sometimes! The weirdest thing is, the girls play better together now, than they did before lucia was born. Now they will go downstairs together and play, not fight, for a while. Of course they are not perfect and they still take toys from each other, but they are doing a TON better. I am liking that!
Well, my peanut is starting to wake up and she will probably be hungry. But before I go here is a picture of her. I haven't taken many pictures yet, I plan to this week, but here is what she is looking like. :)
Have a great day!
Miss Lucia is doing better today. Thank you so much for all your prayers---we have definitely felt them. :) She is still in the special care nursery, but she is finally breathing better on her own and they took her off of the oxygen. That was our first celebration!!! Our other big celebration last night around midnight or 2:30am, I can't remember what time, but we FINALLY held her for the first time!! OH my, that was so nice to finally do that! I am still unable to nurse at this moment because her blood sugar is still not where they would like to see it. So she still has that IV, but she seems very content. The heart murmur seems to be gone now, so praise the Lord for that too!! So things are really starting to get better. If only that blood sugar stay in the range that the doc wants, we could take out the IV and I would finally be able to hold her whenever I want and I would be able to nurse her. Patience, I keep telling myself, patience! :)
Me. I am doing well. I think I am more sore today than I was yesterday, but that is expected. I have to stay on top of my medication though. Last night I waited too long before asking for more pain meds and I was in some terrible pain. ugh... SO I learned my lesson. lol :)
ANYHOW, Dino has been playing photographer and got some cute pics of Lucia. He hasn't downloaded the newest shots, but her are a couple from yesterday. :)
This one looks worse than what it was. :) This is during her EKG.
Well, hopefully we can post more pics later. Thanks again for your continued prayers!!!
Love,
Selena
This morning at 7:48 AM Lucia Harper was born!! :) She weighed 9lbs 12oz and was 20.5 inches long. I have only seen her once so far, but she has a lot of hair and looks alot like her sisters when they were born. :) I am VERY sore, but otherwise I am doing very well! Lucia, on the other hand, could be doing better. She came out with slightly low blood sugar, and after she was finished eating it still dropped. So she has an IV to help control that, and she is on oxygen right now 'cause her little heart hasn't adjusted to actual air yet. The docs heard a heart murmur, so they are keeping an eye on that. She really wanted out, and apparently she started breathing/crying before she was even completely out of my stomach--so she inhaled some of that fluid. HOPEFULLY, it will all clear itself up in the next few hours. So if you could keep her in your prayers, I would really appreciate it!!!! I will post some pics of her that Dino took, later on today.
XO,
Selena
update: 1:55pm
Lucia is going gonna have chest x-rays taken and is gonna be hooked up to an EKG to rule out things.
I am miserable!! Completely miserable!! For one, I'm pretty sure I am carrying a toddler size child inside my body and she is trying to ninja kick her way out. I have to go potty every time I stand up, I can't sleep, and I can't bend over to pick anything up because it feels like my stomach is going to tear open. On top of that, I have a seriously sore throat, I'm losing my voice, and I have had a continues headache. The headache isn't so bad, because the pain from my throat hurts worse. But if I think about it, I can feel the throbbing. ugh, but only 11 more days!!! I see the doctor today so hopefully he can help me out with the sore throat thing, AND tell me if he wants me to have the baby sooner or not. I kind of have mixed feelings, well not really but kinda. LOL :) I am ready, really ready to meet this baby and start the recovery process. BUT, I don't want to move Eva's party. Oh well, I guess it's really not up to me. We'll just have to wait and see....
So, in other news I will not be booking any photo shoots until July. I Thought I was gonna be able to work all the way up to the c-section date, but unfortunately I can't. But after I have the baby and time to recover, I will start taking appointments again. :)
Well, I better get going. Lots of things to get done!! :)
IF there is news of an earlier date, I will be sure to post. :)
Have a great day!!
Can you believe it?!?! 16 more days...I am so ready!! This girl is HEAVY, and I am aching everywhere. MY back is killing me and my stomach feels like it has stretched as far as it possibly can go! But only 16 more days!! I am secretly hoping the doc wants to take her earlier--but I doubt that will happen. :) Everything has been going well with the pregnancy though...thank the LORD!!
Eva has her birthday party coming up soon, so I'm trying to get all that stuff ready. Her birthday is on June 15, but we plan on having it on June 6 so I can enjoy her birthday with her. I can't believe she is going to be three and starting 3's school next year. The years have already flown by. Everyone says time flies, but unless you have kids of your own you really don't realize how fast time really does go! Off track there...so Eva decided she wanted a Fancy Nancy Party, so that is what we are having. All the kiddos are going to dress up in their fancy dress up clothes for the party and I have a couple crafts planned too for the kiddos. It should be a lot of fun, I think I' more excited than she is at this point. lol :)
In other news, my brother Doug is coming home for a little while. He lived in Chicago for a while and now he and his friends are coming back to Holland for awhile to save up money because they are moving to New York to pursue their dream of working in the film industry. Doug is an AWESOME storyboard artist with lots of talent, and he is still young, so there is no better time for him to try to get some work doing what he loves. But Eva and Isabel are very excited to see him again!! Eva already drew a picture of him and she is going to give it to him for his birthday (May 29). :) So cute!! Speaking of pictures she has drawn--I am gonna have to scan some or take some pictures of them. They are tooooooo cute!! I'll try to post some of those soon! I think I got a little teary when she showed me the picture she drew of Dino. :)
So, I think thats it for now. Later I will show you some pictures of my broken lenses...ugh. But the good news is I finally got them replaced. :)
Edited to show pictures of my broken lenses. Yikes right?!!?
But for now, here are some pics from our Memorial Day! :) have a great day!
Crazy how we were just talking about the song "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman, and then I see this....
How awful!!! My heart goes out to their family!
Yay, tonight I will be a single mother no longer. :) Dino returns home tonight!!! I just talked to him and he just made it to Chicago, so we are only a couple hours from seeing him!!! I don't know who will be more excited to see him---me or the girls. Yesterday, I was losing my patients with both of the girls. They were fighting over every little thing, and at one point Isabel tried to bite Eva on the head. Ugh, so they both were in time out more than a few times last night. What made me even more frustrated is that my back, and my sides were killing me!! I could barely lift Isabel into her crib last night I was in so much pain. But no more complaining, Dino returns tonight, and I will have help!! :)
So, did you see the ticker on the side?? 28 more days!!!! I can not wait!!!!! I am more than ready to have this baby girl! 1.) because this kid is getting huge, and 2.) because I miss sugar!! I told Dino after I have the baby I want a large REGULAR (not decaf) coffee, a chocolate shake, and a donut. Not all at once of course, but through out the hospital stay! lol I have been doing fine this whole time, but, this week I was craving stuff that I am not suppose to have. For instance, juice and a chocolate or bran muffin. I could probably eat a couple bites of the muffin, but why if I can't have the whole thing. LOL I do miss orange juice! Yum! I also want milk. I'm not a milk drinker, but all I want is a large glass of milk or 2. If I had that now, that would count as my whole dinner allowance for carbs. Crazy! So yep, I am ready!!!
Off the subject, but I wish you all could have seen the looks I recieved this week. I made a point of keeping the girls and I busy this week, so we were out almost everyday. I don't know if it was because it looks like I am carrying twins, or if it was because I have a 2 year old, 1 year old, and again, because I am huge and I had both girls were with me---but is was so funny to see people stare and do double takes. LOL Some people even offered to help get things for me (that were pretty much at eye level) at the Gap, and at the grocery store.Very nice of them to want to help, but I was more than fine getting things myself. :) I found it very funny!
Anyhow, Eva wants to make a cake for Daddy, so I'm gonna go help her. It's not any cake, it's a cake that she is going to make in HER princess oven (which uses Ice.) LOL Should be YUMMY....LOL :)
Edited to show this. Cracks me up!!!
Now Have a great weekend everyone!
First, I want to thank EVERYONE who has called, e-mailed, and commented!! I greatly appreciate the prayers and so does Dino. :) They ( Kenton and his co-workers) are in Tiapei right know, and they will be there for another day or so and they probably will not make the trip to Chengdu since airports and businesses are closed. So if that's the case, they will probably fly back to Hong Kong, and stay there until their normal flight home. I asked if he was returning home early, and he said probably not since it will be hard to get a flight out of the country. But they are doing well! He calls a couple times a day to talk to me and the girls, so we look forward to that everyday!! Thanks again for your continued prayers. :)
Now, I have pictures of some adorable nieces of mine. Here are just a few from the shoot we had this weekend!
I love these series of photos of "my" Kylie.....
Here's Miss Kennedy... :)
And sweet little Emma...
I love this little face she is making here...
SO, we really didn't have anyone to watch the girls on Saturday Morning, and I had scheduled to take photos of the Howers.So we took the girls to the studio with us and hoped and prayed they would be good while I took pictures. They did alrght I guess. :) Anyhow, since they were at the studio we decided to take a couple pics of the girls while we were there. They really weren't dressed or "groomed" for a session but, Oh well. :) So here they are.....
First, Eva (of course) she loves to be in front of the camera and really, she decides what SHE wants to do in her photos. She has her own Ideas of what she wants her photos to look like, and she will ask to see them after I'm done taking the photos. LOL So, I will try to remember what she named each pose....
Ok, I don't think she named this one. Either that, or I don't remember. LOL :)
This one was named "The Sleeping Beauty."
This one is called "I'm sad."
And I made a little storyboard of what she calls "ballerina dancing" and I added Lyrics for Dino. :) The lyrics are from this song. We LOVE this song, and if you have daughters big or small it will hit you. I cry everytime I hear it. I have even seen Dino tear up a little when listening to the song. :)
OK, so my Isabel is NOTHING like Eva. She only wants pictures taken on her own time, and if you miss that window.....sorry! lol...But here is what she gave me....
And a couple of them together....
And I love this one... They look THRILLED!!!! :)
ok, I better get to bed at some point. Thanks again everyone!!!
Have a great day!!!
So, did you hear about the 7.8 earthquake in China???
Kenton is actually in China as I type and wiill be traveling to Chengdu Wednesday. If you could keep Kenton and his fellow co-workers in your prayers, I would greatly appreciate it! :)
I just talked to him and they are doing fine, they were in the air when the earthquake happened..PRAISE THE LORD!, but the news is talking about after shocks tonight, so I'm still a little nervous. Who knows how far you'll be able to feel those. Oh yeah, this news was actually new news to him. Weird right! They had no idea there was an earthquake, and it's plastered all over the TV here!
Anyway, Thanks You all!!!
Dino-WE Love you Bucket!!!!! Stay safe and I will talk to you soon and post some pictures for you!!
~Selena
I am so excited for this weekend. Not only is it Tulip Time here in Holland, MI---but it's national scrapbook day!!! SO many great things are gonna be out, and great sales on kits!! Be sure to keep a look out for Shabby Miss Jenn. She has something brewing I'm sure. :)
Also, the May Issue of Digital Artist Magazine is out!! There are SO many great Lo's in there to get inspiration from!! It doesn't disappoint!!
SO back to Tulip Time. The Fireworks are Tonight--hopefully it doesn't rain (but it looks like its gonna) so we can enjoy those. Also, one of my favorites, the Art and Craft Fair is tomorrow Morning, so I will be there for sure. Also, Kinderplaats, we are heading to tomorrow with the kiddos. Lots of fun stuff to do, but we gotta get it in the next few days. We are leaving to the Detroit area on Monday for a few days. Dino has a small business trip there, so the girls and I are tagging along to spend time with him before he goes on another business trip to China.
So, maybe we'll see some of you locals this weekend! Also, enjoy NSD!! :)
This is kind just for me to remember, but you may find some of it to be neat. I have to write it down before I don't remember these things anymore.
Funny things Eva Says at 2 years old:
-Ugh, The rest of my life-----What makes it more funny is that Dino thought she was saying "you messed up my life." lol
-I'm gonna get an ant tattoo---from the bee movie
-Oh shucks
-The land of milk and honey...and ketchup
-Hope she's bee-ish-----again from the bee movie :)
-I tooted-----she says that ALL the tme!!!
-You're a genius
-Hokey toots---thanks to Grampy :)
-Don't mess with my toot toot-----Guess where she got this old country song lyric from?? Yep, grampy. :)
and really anything that has the wor "toot" in it.
Her Nicknames:
-E.G
-E.G baby
-E to the G
-Honey
-Mommas
-Gracie
-Big sister
-Aya---thats what Bel calls her :)
-Peanut Butter
-E-V-A ,eva (pronounced Ava)---That is usually what she calls herself. But now she is starting to think that's how you spell EVERYING. LOL The other day she was spelling duck...E-V-A duck. LOL
I'll have to do Isabel another time. :)
so I hope everyone had a great weekend! We were pretty busy, but so much fun!
Friday, it was just a family night for us. We went out for dinner and then went clothes shopping for all of us. I got a couple shirts ( I REFUSE to waste my money on maternity clothes that I will only wear for 30 something more days) but I did need a couple of shirts to go with my 3 pairs of maternity pants. LOL Dino needed a new tie, dress shirts, and pants for his upcoming business trip and DJing. THe girls needed some capris and shorts, so they each got a few things too.
Saturday, I had a photo shoot out on the south side, and that was super fun, although it was VERY windy out by the lake! :) Also, Dino had to DJ a wedding reception that night. So while we were working, my brothers girlfriend Sarah, came over to watch the girls. The girls LOVE her, she is so sweet!! Anyhow, on my way home, I called Dino to see how it was going, and if he had all of his equipment set up. Well, long story short, the bride was REALLY sick and they moved it to 6pm that evening. 6pm rolled around, and she was still throwing up, so they cancelled it, and moved it to Sunday. Poor girl, that would be awful!! So Saturday became another little family night too. :)
Sunday, we had church and then we ate at home for lunch. So, I was a little bummed that Dino had to DJ on Sunday. We had plans to go with the VB's, Howers, and Huizenga's to The Wonders of the world of Parenting, put on by Winning at Home. But what was Dino gonna do, say no to the bride and groom, and have them look for another DJ in less than 24hours?? I think not. I was so excited to go, and I have been pumped about it since I hear about it. So, I went alone. My dad came over to watch the girls, and I rode with the VB's and Huizenga's. :)
It was an excellent!! I cried from beginning to end---Mostly because of my hormones, but a lot of it was because It was about kids. All of it was stuff I have learned in the past, but the examples and the way Dan spoke about it was very funny, encouraging, and just plain great! He was a great speaker! Oh, and Mark Harris sang some songs, and Oh man, I was out right sobbing. LOL It was great, and I came out of the Church with great reminders of things I MUST do for my kids. If it comes out on DVD, I will buying it.
SO, that brings us to Monday. I brought the girls to Barnes & Noble for story time and a little craft, and then we went home. Dino had a ceremony to go to at work, where he received a plaque for a patent he has, so it was just me and the girls at home for lunch.When Dino came home, the girls were all over him, and Eva couldn't wait to show him what she made at the story time and that she cut paper with scissors. LOL it was so cute! Isabel refused to make a little "friend" but she did color, and she showed him that. :)
Today we have nothing up. I have to get are refill of my prenatal vitamin, but that is it.
oh, and guess what I saw downtown already>> Junk Food!!! You know what that means....Tulip Time is here!!! I'm so excited. Hopefully the weather will be nice for fireworks and stuff.
Anyhow, this was suppose to be short, and it became a novel.
So, have a great day everyone!
SO Dino came home with a bunch of dry ice and we had some fun with it!! Here are some photos of the girls enjoying their science lesson. :)
and then Dino added dish soap.....
They loved this!! They picked up the bubbles in their hands and clapped....then poof they were gone in "smoke" like Eva said. :)
Daddy saved some for after the girls bath time, and put the rest of it in the tub. This is what it looked like...
It was a lot of fun!!!
::Scrapbook related::
Shabby Miss Jenn has a couple new kits out, and I have to say I think they are some of my favorites. She always makes great stuff, but the colors and design I just love!! So go check those out. :) She also has a bracket albums that I can't wait to do too.
Here are a couple LO's using those kits. :)
So I better get ready to see the dietitian. Nope, I didn't see her the other day. lol Long story, But Thank you Julie and Erica for scheduling me a REAL appointment. :)
Have a great day everyone!
I am loving this Spring! This is the perfect weather for me! Anything above 80 is nasty to me. I hate sweating. Well, I don't mind if I'm actually working out or whatever, but just sitting outside and sweating just doesn't seem right. lol :) Anyhow, it's been perfect for me so far!
Monday I had a photo session at the studio, which was great!! The girls were too cute!!!! Tuesday I had a dr appt. and that went super! I lost three pounds, and apparently I am doing pretty darn good keeping my sugar levels low without any guidance really.OH and, I don't need insulin--which I great to hear!! Today I FINALLY meet with the dietitian to go over meal planning, so I am kinda excited about that.Weird right?!?! Also, I will start doing to the doc office every week now, so it's starting to get busy with that. Also, the photography is starting to pick up, which I LOVE!!! It seems like this winter lasted for ever, and I am so ready to get out and take some pictures!!! I have another shoot this weekend with my Favorite Docs again, so that should be fun. They are such great people!
If you would like pictures taken before I have the baby in June, please e-mail me soon. My calendar is starting to fill up pretty quick!
So Isabel is feeling better. I'm not sure I even posted when she was sick, but she was and it was HORRIBLE!!! She had a high fever around 103 for 2 days. She didn't have any cold symptoms or anything so I called the doc, and he told us to go to prime care. We did, and it ended up being pretty much a sore throat virus and her tonsils looked nasty. Anyway, that night and the next couple night were AWFUL!! Her fever finally broke but she was in so much pain from the sore throat and from the sores in her tongue. ugh, it was horrible! When we gave her the meds she would SCREAM because 1.) she couldn't swallow, and 2.) because she had sores in her tongue and it would burn if the meds touched the sores. Ugh...the 20 minutes or so after giving her the meds were horrible horrible horrible!! She would scream and kick and hit and throw herself on the floor and cry and scream and drool all over the place!! It was awful to see her in so much pain. I have NEVER EVER seen her like that!!! One night I was just crying because she looked like she was in so much pain. BUT, now she is doing better. She's eating and drinking again, and has been off the motrin since Monday night. It's nice to see her play and smile again, oh and of course sleep through the night again---so nice!!!
So, that is pretty much it!! That is what we have been up to the last couple of days!! :) I will leave you with a couple of photos. :)
