Along Came Number Four
Along Came Number Four
Sam found a tutorial online to make the most cost and supply-efficient swarm boxes, which meant that we had to make 8 of them at a time.
It took a bit of time to get started but from there, it was pretty quick work (for Sam. I was 9 months pregnant at the time).
The windy and rainy weather meant that Sam ended up painting the boxes inside (with some threats from me to not get paint on my couch).
We ended up having to order more of the swarm entrances but otherwise, they turned out great!
I think we ended up putting 7 total out and one of them caught a swarm either right before or right after Mena Grace was born.
Since I was so large (or at least felt that way) before the baby got here, the kids and I did everything we could to take my mind off of her getting here. I swear the last month of pregnancy is always the hardest!
We celebrated Pap Pap's birthday by making St. Patrick puppets, watching a short video on Saint Patrick and making hand print clovers to represent the Holy Trinity!
Knowing that we would more than likely be co-sleeping when the baby got here, we did our best to prepare the kids to start sleeping in their own beds at night. One of the ways we found to get them into their beds without arguments and tears was reading the Psalms of Praise: A Movement Primer by Catechesis Books. This fun book has psalms related to different movements, and the kids have a fun time doing what the kids in the book are doing! (The last one ends with them laying down...hence the reason we chose that book!).
Then came the day we had been waiting 9 months for......Philomena Grace was born on March 27 at 6:28am. She was 19 inches long and 7 lbs 5 oz.
It was definitely a weird birth for us (all of them have been different for sure). My water broke this time which hasn't happened before. I just laid down and felt this pop that was so dramatic I sat straight up in bed thinking the baby had broken her neck or something inside of me. That was at 11:00pm on the 26th. We were at the hospital within the hour, and I got an epidural + spinal (which only worked on one leg but numbed all the important parts) at 3:00am or so. She was here by 6:30am!
There was one scary minute right before we had her when her heart rate dropped into the 60s and then the 40s (for perspective, baby heart-rates are typically 140-180). They flopped me from side to side to get the pressure off of her and put me on oxygen for a few minutes until the midwife came in and her heart-rate stabilized. Then we had a baby! And she came out wonderfully perfect!
Of course, she came the only day Pippa told us she couldn't come (she was having surgery to remove a cancerous spot on her face)...sorry, Pippa!
Luckily, the older kids didn't have to be shuffled around tooo much between my siblings, haha.
We also had SO many people comment on the amount of hair that Mena Grace came out with, that we had to make this little graphic to show all the nurses. They would come in and say, "so, we heard you and your husband have been running out of ink. Can we see?" and we would laugh and show them this.
From the oldest on the right to the youngest on the left, our kid's hair has definitely gotten lighter and lighter. Also, Mena Grace may look a LOT like Will Will right now (shout out to Uncle Bear and Aunt Rachel for nicknaming her Willamena), but she looks most like Luke as a baby.
We have certainly enjoyed looking at her hair from day-to-day. It is a mixture of brown, blond, and red hair! So different!
Aunty Tay was convinced she was making a throw-back to the 90s boy-band frosted tip hair style.
We went home Friday, got settled in, and then had a whirl-wind of a weekend with Easter and her baptism.
Aunty Tay and Fr. Edwin Netlas are her godparents! And she had the cutest little onesie sweater on that used to be mine when I was little. I've tried to make sure all my babies had different baptism outfits so I can pass it on to them when they have their own babies.
Godmommy picture!
We went to CC's that evening for the annual Easter Egg hunt and dinner. Rylee wanted a picture with Uncle Matt in her Easter dress after the hunt!
CC gifted Mena Grace with some hairbows, which she was able to wear at three days old! So precious!
Easter Monday outfit (the shirt used to be mine)! Sometimes she has Rylee's baby doll qualities!
The very next Thursday, I took her into work at 8 days old. I only teach 9 students once a week, and the second half of the semester is me teaching for the first hour and the students spending the second hour working on their group projects. So I was able to spend most of the time sitting down and was able to feed her when I needed to. I was super appreciative of my students for being so understanding and actually liking to get to see her!
And we put Mena to work, too, helping me start to get back into doing some of the more easy farm chores like collecting eggs. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I was definitely WAY more tired after this birth. I felt like it took longer for me to bounce back to normal. Which part of that is the lack of her sleeping (we think she has a milk allergy/sensitivity like WW).
Luke regressed a little, wanting the paci much more than normal (we had gotten him down to only using it at night...not anymore!), but we later discovered he was teething. The canines are always some of the hardest.
Rylee and William have been big helpers getting me things and ESPECIALLY talking to, singing to, and bouncing her when she's fussing and I'm trying to get something done. Again, probably due to the milk sensitivity, but she has been constantly fussy. Most days she cries the instant someone puts her down. We will luck out with a 2-4 hour nap every few days but otherwise, she is usually awake within 2-15 minutes if she's not being bounced, carried, or held.
When things settled back down, we tried doing some fun things with the kiddos at home.
We picked a TON of dandelions with Mela, Leia, Maira, and Pippa.
But the jelly turned out beautiful and delicious! The yellow color is so cheery. (You'll have to take my word for it since they are brown in this picture, haha).
The warm weather meant the kids got to break out their ATV again, and they are SO excited.
And of course, we celebrated early April with the solar eclipse!
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