Welcome Avery Lynn Clark (a month ago!)

This post is definitely long in coming. But I am taking time out from the kids to write. It may be all over the place as I parent the 3 at the same time (they are all over the living room getting into EVERYTHING), so please excuse me!
My pregnancy with Avery went very well, no issues what-so-ever aside from going 10 days overdue. She was quite happy in there and did not want to come out. The two women in my mom's group that were due the same month as me carried their babies about a month less than me! I was only 10 weeks shy of 1 year, I tried to make it but I can't do everything!
Anyway, on to the birth story for those that want to read it.
The morning of September 10th, I woke up with cramping around 5 a.m. coming at about 5-7 minute intervals. I called my mom at 6:30 to ask her what she thought of it. She was at work and told me to call her back once I heard back from the midwife. At my 41 week appointment, I was already 4cm dilated so I had a feeling it wasn't going to take much to throw me into labor. I spoke with the midwife and she told me to go ahead and come on in and if I didn't progress they would break my water. I called my mom and she had already decided she was coming to get the kids. I proceeded to get a shower and then I made breakfast. The cramping wasn't bad and I could work through it all. Every now and then I would have to stop and let the contraction run its course, but they weren't bad at all. I could walk and talk through them and I was even laughing through some of them.
Mom left with the kids around 9 and we started getting ready to go to the hospital. I decided I wanted to take a walk (at this point the contractions were  a little stronger and coming 3-5 minutes apart). We made it about 1/4 mile from the house and I told Chad we needed to go to the hospital.
We got to the hospital around 10:30 and went to triage. When they checked me I was only at a 5. The midwife came in about an hour later and said that we could stay if wanted or we could walk around and see if it picked up. I decided I wasn't leaving, after all, we had been waiting quite a while for this little lady.
We got admitted and up to labor room around noon.
They set up a birthing tub b/c I wanted to try and labor in the water and possibly deliver. I told them not to fill it yet b/c I wanted to try to cope with the contractions with other methods until nothing else worked since the midwife told me that the water acts like an epidural and could relax me so much that it would slow down the labor. I sat on the birthing ball for a while and then once they got a strip on me and the baby we started walking and walking and walking. I was put on a mobile monitor since I had to be monitored the entire time b/c of it being a VBAC.  We continued to walk until about 3 when the midwife came in to see how we were doing. The contractions hadn't changed in intensity at all so I had her check me to see if anything was happening. She checked me and I was a 6. I thought we were in it for the long haul-only 1 cm change in 4-5 hours. At this point it was 3:30. I decided to go for a walk again. As soon as I got up, I had a contraction that was quite different and more painful. We went out in the hallway and I had 2 really bad contractions. I told Chad that we needed to go back to the room. We got back to the room and I was standing at the head of the bed when I started to have another really bad one. I looked down and saw blood dripping. At this point, I thought I had better change out of my street clothes (a skirt and t-shirt) into the gown. I started walking to the bathroom and another horrible contraction hit. I called chad over and immediately my water busted and my body started pushing. Chad started yelling for the nurse. I told him not to leave me there and he took my hands and place them on the wall and ran over to the bed to call the nurse in. I had lost complete control of my body and couldn't move.
3 or so nurses came running in and they all (including Chad) started dragging me over to the bed. They got me in bed and after getting me in basically in the right position had me start pushing with my body. I pushed through 2 contractions and through one of the breaks and Miss Avery Lynn Clark was born at 3:56 p.m. (i think). I joked after she was born that I guess I couldn't get the water birth I wanted...they didn't even get it filled! There was no time for any pain meds either. I sustained a 2nd degree tear, but I will take that over a c-section any day! For the first time, I got to hold one of my babies immediately after birth and for a few hours after.
Avery weighed 7lbs 11 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. The smallest of my 3, yet I carried her the longest!(Weston born at 41 weeks 8 lbs. 3 oz., Audrey born at 39 weeks 7 lbs. 15.2 oz.) She was very wrinkly from soaking too long ;) None-the-less she was beautiful!

There you have it...the easiest labor (quite painful at the end though!) I have ever had! If we have another one, I hope my labor is like this one.

Hand, Foot and Mouth

My poor children have been sick all week with a terrible virus-Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Little Miss Sue started running a very high fever Sunday night and continued to run it all day Monday and most of Tuesday. Even with motrin and tylenol on board, her fever was skyrocketing to 104 and 105. Luckily she had her well-child appointment at the dr's office Tuesday morning. She had a slight rash on her mouth on Sunday which had worsened by Tuesday. The dr took one look at her face and then checked her hands, feet and bottom. He saw all these tiny bumps and blisters and said she probably had HFM. 

Little lady has completely erupted with blisters all over her body except for her trunk. The blisters are rather large, but they don't appear to affect her everyday play-unless you try to wipe her hands or face and then she lets you know about it! She is finally starting to clear up slightly, but I think she has a ways to go. 

Weston started his fever suddenly Wednesday morning around 9:30. He woke up around 7 and was acting normal. After breakfast was over, I started getting the kiddo's ready to go to the grocery since we had NOTHING in the house to eat, Audrey was no longer contagious according to the doc so it was safe to go, and he came over to me and laid his head in my lap and was whining. I felt his back and he was on fire. Took his temp-103. awesome. Off come the shoes, to bed Audrey goes and on the couch Weston falls. 

Both kids slept almost all day. Weston just felt awful and wouldn't let me leave his side. After he would fall asleep, I would try and get up and he would wake within minutes and cry for me. We had a great time hanging on the couch watching t.v. on the laptop until that evening. Luckily, he only has a few red dots on his hands and elbows and nothing more. I'm hoping that it stays that way-especially since I have my half marathon on Sunday in Cincinnati. No sick kids for a while please! I am DONE.

Mud Puddle Fun

This evening we had some fun in the mud puddles left by a quick moving storm.

Time Flies...

April? Hello? Where are you? What it's almost May?!?! That has basically summed up the entirety of the month of April. I honestly cannot even tell you where this month has gone. We have been very busy here. 

I spent the first 2 weeks at my parents house while my sister was in town. During that 2 weeks, we celebrated my sisters birthday as well as Hailey's (her daughter) and Weston's birthdays, traveled to Indiana to see relatives, had the whole Parker clan get sick minus Elijah, and had a lot of fun in between.

   While I was gone, Chad got a lot done on the house. The dining room now has flooring installed and all that is left for the wood floor is the staircase, which should be done real quick-ha. He also had a surprise for me when I got home. He tore down all the wall paper in the dining room! He knew how much I loved that job but went ahead and did it for me. I was so relieved to see it done! 

   Since I've been home, I've been able to help with a few more house projects. I got the baseboards (which Chad finished during my absence) put up in Audrey's old room which has now been converted to the guest bedroom. I had to make some adjustments to make them work properly including using the circular saw which I am trying to overcome my fear of.

   I have included a few pictures of our adorable children, including #3 at 22 weeks in utero. I had a dr's appointment yesterday and everything looks great with the little one and I am still cleared to run (HA) or rather walk the Flying Pig half marathon next weekend. I haven't been doing too well with the running and whenever I go out, if I try to run, I become very uncomfortable and end up walking a majority of the time. I'm just hoping to finish in a reasonable amount of time AND in enough time to watch my friends who are running the full finish. Now that is ridiculous.  

 Number 3 at 22 weeks 1 day

 Sweet little Audrey with her apple and big girl hair.

 Just like her brother she loves being thrown in the air.

 At the zoo for Weston's 3rd birthday. I bought a zoo pass with the kids birthday and Christmas money.

 After seeing Daddy throw Audrey, Weston wanted his turn. It was a bit more difficult!

Our future soccer player.

What a Stinker

Last night we had another scare with little Miss Audrey. For the last few days, both kids have had runny noses. Yesterday, Audrey developed a fever that rose quickly. Around 1:30, her fever was 102.5, so I gave her some motrin. She took a very short nap and then was up and playing until 4 when she got real cranky again. I put her down for a nap and proceeded putting together Weston's new bunk beds. I decided it was best to wake her around 5:15. When

I got close to her door, I could hear her making noises. I opened the door thinking she was awake and found her lying on her side groaning with each breath, eyes shut, and her head lying in a pool of spit. I picked her up and she was shivering and starting whining/crying. She was completely limp in my arms. I rushed her downstairs to take her temp and it was around 103.

Audrey was just lying in my arms and couldn't keep her eyes open. I would try to get her aroused and she would just look at me briefly and then her eyes would roll in the back of her head or just start moving side to side. I figured she had just had a seizure. After calling Chad, my mom and the doctor (once I figured out they had extended hours) we all decided it was best for her to go to the hospital since she wasn't recovering quickly from the seizure. The doctor even thought she was still seizing because they could hear her rhythmic moaning in the background and they recommended that I call the squad. I however, knew by the looks of her that she was just in post seizure activity and from previous experience knew the squad wouldn't be able to do anything since it was over.

I called Chad and told him I would pick him up at Kroger since he was there picking up more tylenol since all we had was motrin. Before leaving, I took her temp again and it had spiked to 106.5. At that point, I started to panic a little because the medicine was not working.

Off to the hospital we went. They watched her for a few hours and ran some tests-all of which came back negative. We were there until a little after 10 pm last night. She started feeling better while we were there because she had both motrin and tylenol on board. Her fever only went down 101. They just told me what I already knew-keep dosing her and watch for more seizures. They also advised that if she has another seizure that we should have her seen by a neurologist just to evaluate her since she has a "history" of seizure activity now.

It was a long night, but we are glad the little lady is doing better. She is still holding onto her fever, so hopefully that goes away soon.

This is going to be an expensive year medically...oh boy. Hopefully we won't be at the er anytime soon.

A few weeks ago, we took the kids to the Germantown Metropark for a hike one Sunday afternoon. Audrey didn't last the entire hike...Weston was a trooper though and actually walked a little bit at the end. He absolutely loves being outside.

Update on baby! I will be 19 weeks tomorrow. This pregnancy has flown by. I am a bit more uncomfortable this time around and have more pressure and cramping already-which has really "cramped" my running style. I actually have taken a short break from running, but still plan on doing the half in early May. I will finish it, even if I have to walk the whole thing.

We have our ultrasound next Friday, April 13. We will not be finding out the gender though unless #3 shows us on accident.

This picture of me is at 18 weeks 1 day.

Our house is coming along slowly. I have started working on the landscaping outside. It was, actually still is, absolutely horrendous! With the help of some friends and hard working children, a lot of the weeding is under control. Now I am just hoping to get the weed barrier down and plant some color. Spring came so quickly this year that it is just getting away from me.

Speaking of getting away from me, this precious boy

will be turning 3 April 8th, Easter Day. By the way, this picture was taken a few weeks ago at a an early birthday party thrown by Grammy and Papaw Clark. I cannot believe how fast time has gone. I can't believe he was every this tiny!

Happy birthday to my little boy. I love you more than you'll ever be able to know!

Walking Pretzel

Audrey is finally walking! She only crawls maybe 5% of the time now, but prefers walking. It's about time! Actually, I didn't mind that it took her a little longer to walk than Weston. It was nice to corral her for a little bit longer. I tried to upload a video of her walking on here, but it didn't like it...so no video for now. When it finally allows me to, I will.

This pregnancy, I have been craving soft pretzels like crazy. I had coupon for some, so I bought them for $1. Well, no more coupons and no more sales...so I don't want to break the bank on my craving so I decided to make my own. They turned out pretty good. I'll make them a little thinner and bake them longer next time, but I still liked them.

They were rather simple to make and they didn't take long at all. The dough:

And the finished product:
I ate mine with mustard and gave the kids theirs with honey. yum

14 weeks

On Thursday, I will officially be in my second trimester. I am somewhat relieved to finally make it out of the "scary phase" of this pregnancy. I had my appointment today and the baby's heart rate was holding steady at 156 and it sounded good. I am still hungry beyond belief, but i have only gained 8 lbs. Hurray!

I have the go ahead to keep training/running as long as my body says it's okay. I'm going to try and keep running, but I am already noticing the uncomfortableness of the tendons and muscles stretching as this baby is growing and my belly is expanding.

This pic is 12 weeks, 2 weeks behind, but there really isn't much of a difference. I am going to try and keep on top of this pregnancy as far as tracking it and documenting. Hopefully I'll hold true to my word! As for right now, a little girl has been talking and whining in her room for the past 20 or so minutes, guess I better go get her!

Wake-up Photoshoot

Most mornings and after nap times Audrey is very happy to see us walk into her room. She demonstrates her giddiness by jumping up and down, wrinkling her nose, laughing and breathing fast. It is hilarious to see her to excited. Of course, prior to all this excitement, sh

e cries and cries until we come up to her room. We decided on Sunday to get a little photoshoot of our princess in her natural environment...

She likes to play peek-a-boo between the railings during this time...

Now look up! I love when she pears over at me like this.

After the fun and games, she is ready to get out and starts getting serious and bit cranky.

Weston on the other hand, doesn't wake up so jolly. He normally is whining and yelling for us to come get him or if we have to wake him up, he doesn't smile for quite some time.

However, when he saw Daddy with the camera, he cheesed it up.

Pink sunglasses you might ask...why yes. When all his are broken, he has to wear his sisters. He's not afraid to wear pink...but I don't think Daddy quite approves! lol

Happy Valentines Day!

My kids are giving me a Valentines to remember, full of crying, screaming, snot and tears! I really hope this is not a precursor to the rest of the day ;)

Our life never seems to slow down, we always have something going on. At this time in our lives, we have a few big things happening. Chad is getting the floor done in the downstairs. The living room has one more row to go in and then it is onto the dining room! I cannot wait for it to be completed. I don't know why I think that will make a difference, because then it will be onto laying tile in the kitchen and foyer. Never ending.

Also on the news front, our 3rd, which I am sure you've already heard about through various modes of communication is due on August 30th. I am about 12 weeks along and feel terrible. I don't think I've felt like this with either of the babes in the household. I have been eating non-stop and am still hungry most of the time. We are very excited but very nervous for this one to come. And by we, I mean, ME. Chad just flows with it, nothing really seems to effect him.

I am nervous because I don't know how I will be able to handle 3 children. I was very confident about this fact a few months ago until I got pregnant and the reality set it. Audrey and Weston immediately started having rough nights and I was exhausted. I almost lost it a few times feeling that if I couldn't handle the sleep deprivation with 2, how can I handle it with 3? Was I crazy to upset our neat little life? Why would I intentionally add more chaos to our world? God has a plan I suppose and I know that he will give me the strength to deal with it all-at

least that's what I am telling myself!

To top it off, I am continuing the insanity by running in a half marathon on May 5th or 6th. I intentionally signed myself up thinking that this would give me the motivation to keep running through most of my pregnancy. I'm embarrassed to say that I have not kept up on my training and that I have only been out a few times in the last couple weeks. I am hoping to get out more once the weather starts cooperating.

One thing that I am trying to get a handle on in all of this chaos is our eating habits. Chad and I have seen some documentaries and I have been to a few talks basically on the "eating revolution" as some are calling it. I am trying to add in more fruits and vegetables to our diet while minimizing animal and processed products. We are by no means vegetarian or dare I say vegan, but I want us to have healthier bodies and that come

s through whole foods and less processed junk that is full of stuff I can't even pronounce. To show you I am not completely crazy and that the kids will eat it, last night I made walnut wonton ravioli with a side salad topped with a little bit of chicken. Then this morning for breakfast, I made buckwheat blueberry muffins and the kids devoured them! We liked them too ;)

We are also trying to buy organic or local when we can. I have heard some disturbing facts about the chemical residue buildup in our children's bodies from eating traditionally grown foods. We aren't completely organic (VERY expensive on some things) but I am trying to buy the most critical components when possible, fruits, veggies and dairy. If we have money left over, I will consider meat, but that is very pricey. Thank God for Chad's hunting! The good thing with our diet though is that we aren't consuming nearly as much meat. If you look in our fridge, it is stockpiled with veggies and fruits and it makes me feel good!

One more thing-Audrey turned 1 on Feb. 1st. How could I forget that piece of news. My little baby is growing up!

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day!

Sleep, Take my Children!

We have been having some issues the past few days (weeks) regarding certain children in this household who shall remain nameless. The almost 1 year old has been waking up numerous times during the night and has been refusing to nap for more than 15-30 minutes during the day-definitely not enough sleep. Last night was the worst by far. ,

I had to get up to go to the bathroom and I had a gut feeling I was writing my death sentence as I walked to the bathroom. You see, we can't use our master bath yet, b/c it is currently being used as construction storage. Hopefully that will be remedied this week. Anyway, my lovely child definitely heard me. I knew she did but I still tried to sneak back into our room and to bed. No luck. Crying commenced-11:30 p.m. I let her cry for about 15 minutes and go in to check her diaper, clean. I took her to our room to rock her and she just gets mad, so I tried to let her know that was unacceptable, she sobs. We get up, go back to her room and I walk her then lay her down, she screams-12 a.m. She continues screaming. I go back in around 12:10 lay her down repeatedly as she sits up and screams horribly. I finally pick her up and try to lay with her in the guest bed after throwing off all the 18 month clothes I had neatly organized to put away (they are now in a big pile, not organized). She continues screaming. 12:45 rolls around and I finally figure out she is thirsty.

Why didn't I pick up on this immediately. The entire time her eyes would be heavy but she would be making these snapping sounds with her mouth and lips and get upset. I got her bottle, filled it up, she downs it. Fill it up again, lay her in her crib and she drinks happily. I finally went to bed around 1 a.m. She didn't wake up until 7:15. I think I've figured out why she's not sleeping well...she's a thirsty girl! I'll just have to make sure she's drinking enough during the day b/c I don't want her downing water at night and wetting through her diapers all the time.

Now the other little one in the household we have yet to figure out his deal. 2 times this week he has woken up and says, " I want you!" Now we don't have our kids in our bed often...I don't sleep well and neither do they, but we have let him in our bed both times-bad move. Today we laid him down for nap, and it took almost 2 hours of screaming and 2 spankings before he fell asleep.

I am exhausted. These kids are ganging up on us. Hopefully we've got the little girl figured out, as far as the boy goes...no idea. We'll have to figure that out soon.

Chad and I are doing well aside from being tired. We are still working on the house-obviously from the master bath issue. But we are getting there. I am deciding if I want to run 2 half marathons this spring. No fulls for me this year ;) Now I just need to get out and run/exercise!

Snyder Christmas and Beyond

This pic above was taken in November during the only substantial snow fall we have had this year-and it really wasn't that much. In fact, the very next morning the snow was gone and the snow man had fallen over. we are hoping for at least one more good snow so the kids can play in it. Chad wants to play in it too-he can't help the kid inside him!

Over New Years, we headed to my parents to spend Christmas with the family. It was a great time and I loved seeing everybody. Unfortunately I ended up coming down with strep the night before we left. Mom was able to get me a prescription the day we left, which was Wednesday. After 24 hours of being on the antibiotics, I was no longer contagious, but unfortunately Weston had developed a very high fever. It was peaking at 106-which was very scary and yes, it was accurate and it is possible despite what the pediatric nurse might tell you over the phone. We were dosing weston with motrin and tylenol (sound familiar...almost the same story with Audrey!). We could only get his fever to come down to about 101 with drugs on board. Of course the ped's office wasn't open so we waited it out. On Monday morning I had it and we headed to urgent care and they diagnosed him with an ear infection. I don't think the ear infection caused the fever to get that high though. I imagine the congestion that he had with the fever ended up causing the infection. In any case, he got on some antibiotics and as of this Thursday morning, he has been fever free. Both kids are still snotty, but I'll take that over what we dealt with over the holidays.

As far as everybody else goes, other members did get sick, but what else did you expect with a Snyder family gathering! Every year this happens. Hopefully next year will be slightly less exciting in this area.

We did do other things aside from getting sick. On New Years Eve, Chad, Erica, Tony, Dad and Myself all ran the Resolution Run 5k at Beavercreek High School. We had a great time and for not very much prep work we all did really well! I did not hit a PR with this race. In fact I was over 30 seconds slower. I think we are going to make this an annual tradition.

Until next time ;)