Thursday, November 28, 2013

Hope Olde School Days


Vera's school went back in time for two days to the 1890s. Hope School Olde Days included writing on slates, learning how to use quills, participating in a spelling bee, making corn husk dolls, embroidery, and cross stitch. The kids were given new names, ages, and families. Vera was Anne Baker, a 15 year-old-girl who went to school with her two brothers and sister. 


All of the students looked amazing. 


Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Halloween Parade



The Principal - I love this costume and want to copy for next year. 


Keller's teacher!




V's Class Halloween Party


I am playing catch up with all of our Halloween pictures...giving birth can do that to you. ;) My friend and I are co-room parents and we had a blast making all of our snacks and treats Halloween-y.  







Hard to see, but the cheese sticks look like ghosts. Pinterest gets a lot of credit for the ideas that we used.


My co-room parent and good friend.


The last picture of Pearl in my belly.


Good big sister!

Crazy Hair


Hope School Fun Run - 1 Mile!


Excited kids with lots of energy, up early on a Sunday morning before Halloween to run a mile. The kids were encouraged to come in costume. 


Gus decided that Barbie was his favorite outfit, she did not run with the box. ;)


They are off!!


Vera has taken a liking to running. 


She was very excited to run a mile in under 10 minutes. 


Keller was excited to finish.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Face Painting





Real Life


The last picture of Nonni looked too peaceful. This photo represents better what her time with us was like.

Thank You!


Nonni and Nonno get a huge thank you from our crew. First, they have made it to all four of our kiddos' births. Each time, other than Vera's of course, they have watched kids while J and I were in the hospital. As you can imagine it has gotten harder with each new family member we have added. This time, they out did themselves by driving down on Halloween night, leaving their house at 4 to arrive at our place after 10. This allowed J to both trick-or-treat with our older kids and then make it to Pearl's birth.


Nonni gets an extra hug and thank you this time around. Nonno left her with us for a week and we would not have survived without her. She held Pearl at 5am when both J and I needed just a bit more sleep, drove big kids to school, played with Gus, treated J and I to lunch, and listened to me whine. Thank you Nonni for being here when we needed help and doing all of the above and more while you stayed with us.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Pearl's 1st Bath


Vera stepped in as a great big sister and held Pearl for her first bath. The funny party, she made me swear that Pearl wasn't going to pee or poop on her. Uh-mm...sure, there is no way that your baby sister would do that. Thankfully, this time I was correct.

Did the babe enjoy the experience, not so sure about that one. The poor thing shivered through most of it even as we tried to keep her warm. She smells better though.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

End of the Season Teal Dragon Soccer Party


Only in Santa Barbara in November...the end of the season soccer party is a pool party. Our gracious hosts heated their pool and the kiddos swam the afternoon away. It has been so exciting to see Keller play his first team sport, he loved to go practice and he loved game day. Basically, he is a content kid.  
 

The banner has been passed to the coach of Keller's team...because you know I don't want it sitting in my house for 20 years. 
 

 My soccer rice krispy treats were free-styled, but what the heck, they made the 5-year-olds happy. 

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Pearl

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Big Sister


A friend snapped this picture at Vera's soccer game. She is so happy to have a little sister and wants to hold her non-stop.

As You Can Imagine...


  ...Vera is taking every opportunity that I give her to pick out Pearl's clothes and accessories. Hello headband! Pearl is not so sure about the entire arrangement = old man grumpy face.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Pearl Jean

Pearl's birth didn't go quite as planned but it did go fast. Going into this pregnancy, the only thing I included on my birth plan was to skip being induced this time around. I had mommy guilt over inducing Gus (even though I had valid reasons) and was determined to go the distance with Pearl. That said, at my October 31st appointment, I had several markers that were signaling preeclampsia including high blood pressure. 
 
After attending Vera's Halloween Party at school, it was off to the hospital to have my blood pressure checked again, blood tests done, and the baby monitored. AND after that, the obgyn read all the markers and decided that it was time to get the baby out.

At 6:30 I started the medicine, which had fully taken effect by midnight when I was 5 cm dilated and asking quite adamantly for the epidural to be told the anesthesiologist would be there shortly. 12:30...you will have your epidural in 3 minutes. At this point, the contractions were coming fast and furious and I didn't feel like I was getting many breaks. Felt the need to push, laid down on the bed, screamed a few times, "I can't do this!", and out popped Pearl. Three pushes. The anesthesiologist walked in a minute later to be met with the sight of the baby delivered. Oh, did I mention that the doctor missed the delivery? Diane, my nurse, was honored with delivering our baby at 12:37am. 

The other interesting fact is that Pearl was born is in the caul, which means that the embryonic sac was intact at the time of delivery. Only 1 in 80,000 babies are born in the caul. Diane was excited and kept mentioning that it is a sign of greatness and good luck. That is our little girl!