Winter wonderland!

Last week we had our first winter storm of the season.  Between Wednesday night and Friday morning we got about 18 inches of snow and had a full scale blizzard for awhile!

Thursday school was cancelled for Anna, but Matt still had to work, so it was my first full day with all three kiddos by myself.  And it worked!  I was very tired by the end of the day, but we had a good time.  We made some sugar cookies, made sticker snowmen, investigated outside for a bit (while Ethan was sleeping), built a real snowman, and listened to lots of Christmas music.

Matt was able to get take the girls outside on Friday morning while he cleared off the last of the driveway and cleaned off his car, and then again in the afternoon.  The the three of them went sledding on Saturday afternoon, too, while the four of us played again outside on Sunday afternoon (again, while Ethan was sleeping).

Matt and I have noticed how much more fun the girls are in the snow this year.

Kate just loves it, while last year she still needed lots of encouragement.  Even though the snow was very deep, she just laughed and giggled whenever she fell down, which was often :)  Neither girl complains about being cold until they've been out for a good hour or so.  Hooray!  We've waited a long time to enjoy the winter weather in this way.  Hopefully Ethan will like it, too, once he's old enough :)

In addition to the snow, we were also finally able to do a few of our Christmastime traditions.  Saturday morning we took all three kiddos to Olbrich Gardens to see the holiday train set-up.

And then last night we piled everyone into the truck after dinner to go look at Christmas lights.  Kate really enjoyed this activity since she hasn't been out after dark at all this December.  Anna had gotten to see some lights already on Wednesdays on the way home from music class, but also enjoyed doing this as a family.  Ethan was wide-eyed and a little stunned for the first 15 minutes, and then he fell asleep all snuggled up with me in his blanket :)

Finally, here's a few pictures showing how much Ethan has captured the hearts of his big sisters.  They are still in love and are continually amazed by our little boy.
 

 

Christmas festivities

First of all, Ethan is doing much better with his weight ... hooray!  Last Friday he was up 6 oz. and today he was up another 6 oz.  That means this big guy is averaging 2 oz. a day.  Not bad, huh?  After our weight check today we got the all clear from the doctor and don't have to go back for another weight check until his normal 2 month check-up.  It took a lot of work on our part to make this whole feeding thing work for Ethan, but we feel much better about that aspect of life now than we did last week :)

In addition to all of the weight gain drama, this past weekend was the big kid's Christmas weekend at church.  Saturday morning the girls had their dress rehearsal for the program on Sunday.

Ethan and I finished up some Christmas shopping while Matt and the girls were at church; then Ethan and I joined the family for the gingerbread decorating event.

 Sunday was the Christmas program at the end of the church service and then my parents came over to watch the Packers game in the afternoon.

 

Grandma finally got to have some more cuddle time with Ethan, too :)

And here's a shot of our silly girls who decided to wear underwear on their heads for breakfast one morning.  Notice that they also chose to wear "matching" star shirts that day.  I think Kate even picked out capris to wear ... in December.  Crazy kids.

Not all sunshine and roses ...

We've had our fair share of challenges lately, in addition to the overall blessings.

First, Kate started coming down with a cold the day before Ethan was one week old.  Blegh!  She seemed to get over it quickly, but then either relapsed over the weekend or got something new.

Second, Anna threw up at church on Sunday right after the service and just before the first of the kids' two practices for the Christmas pageant.  She didn't eat much on Sunday or Monday morning, stayed home from school on Monday, and by Monday night was pretty much back to normal.  We found out on Tuesday that 8 of the 20 kids in her class were out sick on Monday; I guess we know where she caught this bug.  So far no one else has gotten this bug.

Matt, on the other hand, picked up Kate's cold and really came down with it on Tuesday, his first day back at work (he's only working Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next couple of weeks, but that makes them BUSY days).  Poor guy.  He's getting over it okay, but always ends up with a nasty cough at the end of colds.

Also on Tuesday, Ethan had a weight check and we learned that he's not gaining weight.  Looking back, I think there are a lot of factors playing into this issue, but we have a plan in place (more frequent feedings, pumping, herbal supplement, more active work on my part to keep this sleepy snuggler awake while he's eating, etc.) and another weight check tomorrow to see how he's doing.  At least tomorrow our regular doctor will be in so we can have a real conversation about our options if our little guy is still not gaining weight.

All of these things combined to make this particular momma very emotional on Tuesday and Wednesday, but we're all surviving and doing our best.  What a blessing it is that we're still getting meals from friends at church for awhile and that we have such a good support network around McFarland and Madison!

Ethan and his sisters

Our kids adore one another.  We love our family.

Ethan, like his sisters before him, has the Mischnick baby cheeks :)

Anna loves having special time with Ethan after Kate goes to bed.

Anna set up a tea party/birthday party for Kate one evening after dinner.  Both girls are really into dress-up and pretending to be princesses these days.

When this boy is awake and alert, he's REALLY awake and alert.  He's working so hard on smiling :)  We think we've gotten a few little ones and can't wait for the first "real" one.

St. Nicolas' visit

Last Thursday St. Nicolas visited our house.

This year he brought us all some chocolate gold coins, personalized ornaments, and, our personal favorite, an exercise trampoline :)  Ask us sometime where St. Nicolas found this particular gift.  It is definitely good timing for our family to have a nice energy expending indoor activity.

We think Anna's figured out "who" St. Nicolas really is, but we're not completely sure.  A few weeks ago she told me that she thought I was St. Nicolas.  We try hard not to directly lie to our kids, so I usually respond to those statements with "Oh?  Why do you think so?"  Anyway, we were fairly certain that she wasn't going to be fooled this year, especially since she kept telling Kate that St. Nicolas is "only a legend", but then she was sucked right back in to believing on Thursday morning.


Either way, the candy is good, the ornaments are fun, and the trampoline is awesome :)

Kate

Have we mentioned that Kate likes to sing and dance?

Life at home

Matt was initiated into his role as Mom/Dad on Wednesday morning when he was responsible for all of the normal morning routines (clothes, breakfast, packing lunch, helping with hair, etc.) on less than 4 hours of sleep.  It's been a transition, but we're all settling into our new roles pretty well.  Each day I've been feeling better and better and have been able to function as Mom more and more, but Matt is just plain wonderful.  He's been doing all of the meals, dishes, laundry, surprise cleaning, etc. for a week now.  Actually, he was helping with most of that before Ethan was born; now he's just doing it all.

Anyway, life as a family of five is good, and it's only going to get better.  Anna and Kate are completely smitten with their little brother.  I don't know that any other little boy has received as much love and kisses as Ethan has.  That's not true.  I'm sure other babies get spoiled by their big sisters, too, but it doesn't change the fact that the girls are in love.  They like to hold him, sing songs to him, tickle his toes, or just watch him.

Both Kate and Anna have started taking care of their baby dolls in a much more directed manner in the past week, too.  The babies, Claire (Anna's) and Ella (Kate's), get rocked, swaddled, carried around, "milked", played with, and taken on walks.  In fact, yesterday afternoon we took a family walk around the block since it was a balmy 60 degrees here in Wisconsin.

 

They're both showing their transition anxiety in their own way.  Kate, my snuggler, missed me while I was gone.  On Thursday afternoon and then again on Friday she just wanted to cuddle with me in bed for long periods of time.  I'm okay with that :)  She's also had a bit of potty regression and is a bit feistier at mealtimes, but I'm sure we'll work through that.

Anna told us on Friday that she didn't want to go to school.  I can understand that.  She just wanted to hang out at home with her family.  She feels most loved and special when she's with us, so it was hard for her to say good-bye for the day.  But we had a good weekend with lots of special things and today I think she was looking forward to being back at school.  Mostly, Anna has truly risen to the occasion of being the double big sister :)

We were able to make it to church yesterday morning, with a bit of adjustments to the normal routine.  The kids and I all piled in the van while Matt drove his car, so that Ethan and I could leave before Sunday School was over while the girls could still have their normal Sunday activities.  We had simply hoped to make it to church as a family and I'd completely forgotten how much babies are loved at our church!  It took Ethan and I at least 15 minutes to make it from the front door into the sanctuary.  And it's not like people at church haven't seen little babies in awhile; Ethan was the third boy born in November and the sixth baby born since the beginning of August!  Everyone jokes that there must be something in the water at our church :)

Backing up another day, Ethan had his check-up with our doctor on Saturday morning.  I brought Anna along with us so that she and I could have a special date (she'd been asking for one since I was in the hospital).  Ethan weighed 8 lbs. 13 oz. at the time - about the same as he'd weighed on Thursday when we left the hospital - all normal.  I can already tell that he's put on weight since Saturday; the little guy's thighs are filling out again :)  Overall, Ethan is perfectly normal.  We are so blessed!

Our family doctor checked my blood pressure since it had still been high on Thursday morning at the hospital and it was on it's way back down.  Still, I'm supposed to go to my ob tomorrow morning for another blood pressure check.  I can tell that it's probably close to normal again; my overall puffiness of the last few weeks is almost completely gone, I'm actually wearing long pants and long sleeves again (instead of capris and short sleeves), and I enjoy being covered up at night when I'm sleeping!

As for Ethan, so far he is a laid back baby.  When he is awake, he is very, very alert.  He loves to listen to everyone around him and watch whatever he can actually see.  His body is also often still and calm when he's awake, which I would not have guessed based on how active he was during pregnancy :)

He's also a pretty good eater and sleeper so far.  The last two nights he's only woken up twice between about 8:30 and 6:30, a big improvement over the first few nights.  Now if only I could go back to sleep as easily as he does!

Matt has taken Kate to run some errands this morning; Ethan is sleeping; and I'm hoping to get a little nap in soon.  Enjoy the pictures!  Hopefully we'll get some more up soon, too.

Welcome, Baby Ethan!

Ethan James Mischnick joined our family at 10:01 p.m. on Tuesday, November 27!

 

Tuesday morning, Kate and I ran a couple of errands and then headed over to my doctor's appointment.  My blood pressure was a bit higher, but still not over the threshold which would necessitate induction.  The doctor was going to send me home for some bed rest until the nurse came back to check it one more time and this time it was higher yet.  So, surprisingly to our family, the doctor told me I needed to go to the hospital.  Off all the possible outcomes of that doctor's appointment, this was one was that Matt and I hadn't considered!

On the way home to gather our supplies, I called Matt, my mom, and a friend who would watch Kate for the afternoon and pick up Anna from school.  We got all of the childcare stuff settled, dropped Kate off at 1:30 and got to the hospital and checked in by about 2.  Thus began our times of "hurry up and wait".  I was hooked up to all of the monitors and had my blood pressure checked every 15 minutes for an hour or so.  We settled in, found a good movie on TV, and rested for awhile.  Whenever I was lying down, my blood pressure was down, but if I was sitting up, then it went up.  Again, Matt and I were preparing ourselves to be sent home, when the doctor on call from my clinic (who happened to be Karla from our church, who also went to Valpo and had delivered Anna) said it was up enough that we would go ahead with the induction.

We hurried up to get out things together to move to a labor/delivery room, got switched over, and then had to wait again for the paperwork to catch up with us.  Then the nurses had to try four times to get an IV started (ouch!) before the pitocin drip was finally started around 6.  Not much was happening so at about 7:30 they broke my water and that really got things moving.  Baby Ethan was born at 10:01 p.m. weighing 9 lbs. 8 oz. and measuring 20.5 inches.  My normal doctor was working nights this week so she got to do the actual delivery.  Some of my favorite quotes of hers were "I figured this baby would be a good size for being 2 1/2 weeks early, but not this big!" and "I'm glad things worked out the way they did so that he didn't have a chance to get much bigger."  It's hard to believe that Ethan and Anna were about the same gestational age, but Ethan was more than 3 lbs. bigger.

After a bit of recovery time for mom, we were moved to our room around 1 a.m. at which point I told Matt to go home, that the nurses would take good care of us, since he would be needed to help get the girls up and ready in the morning.

Matt, Anna, Kate, and my mom came to visit on Wednesday morning before Matt took Anna to school and my mom took Kate to her music class.  Matt took a nap at home while I took a nice nap at the hospital and was able to rest and relax all day :)  My parents came by for a bit in the afternoon and then Matt and my mom brought the girls by after school before splitting up for dinner and taking Anna to music class.  Thursday my mom took Kate to Bible Study at church to Matt could stay with Ethan and I at the hospital for all of the final checks and discharge process.

Ethan and I got home on Thursday afternoon and we all began our life as a family of five :)