Updates coming....

OMG!  So much to do.... 

Yes... we do have a daughter and there are pictures.... I just haven't gotten around to uploading them yet.  How lame am I?  

Our daughter, Olivia Hope was welcomed to this world on July 4th 2009.  She is beautiful, with a large amount of hair.... god, the hair..... love it :-)  She weighed in at 8lbs, 12 ounces and 20 inches long.  By her 4 week check up she weighed 11 lbs and grew to 23 inches.  She's currently in the 98th percentile for her height and 93rd percentile for her weight.  Got myself a big girl!  :-)

Labor was pretty exhausting even though I caved in and got the epidural.  This delivery was a VBAC and turned out to be a good one until they noticed that Olivia was a little bigger then expected.  On her way out she managed to get her shoulder stuck and after a couple extreme-looking maneuvers- they were able to get her out.  At first glance they thought they may have broken her clavicle or shoulder... but after a few xrays it was determined that the lack of movement in her arm was due to nerve damage.... I couldn't get an actual name for it until we visited the pediatrician: Erb's Palsey. She has movement in her hand and fingers but not in her arms.  I was pretty pleased to notice that she was starting to move her arm back but after a few more weeks, I haven't noticed any major new movements.....  

It's basically a sit and wait game at the moment-as a team of doctors in LA assesses her nerve development, she will be treated accordingly with a possible (last resort) surgery by 6 months.  I'm believing in and hoping for a miracle.  It's easy to get discouraged when you see progress at a stand still and when so many others around are experiencing some pretty hard life changing events... I sometimes wonder what God will or will not answer with a yes.  In all honesty I wished she had broken a bone- it wouldn't involve feelings of helplessness in waiting for the complete healing... this wait game is killer for impatience.  Please, if it ever happens to cross your mind, pray for healing.

As of now we are adjusting to life as a party of five.  

I convinced Nick we were getting too crowded for our cook SUV.  The conversation went something like:

We need to trade our cool SUV for a lame mini van and save money because the real estate market is too good to not try to get into.  Somehow we gladly went to the dealer with the thought that we could be home owners soon.  lol.  not that it couldn't happen, but one thing at a time natalie.  pay off that debt.  well.... the lower car payment and lower insurance payment should help us do just that.

We gave up the nice FJ Cruiser for a mini-van. Yep.  The van is actually growing on us.... coming from the one who never wanted to own one.  

The other day we went out for a dinner at a local restaurant...  I spent half of the time in our mini van feeding the newborn while Nick was battling his dinner and dealing with two adorable screaming boys.   Before I could eat a few bites, it was evident that Nick needed to take the screeching toddlers outside while I grabbed my untouched dinner to go. 

A wise one named John once warned us that dinner out will never be the same when you have kids.  It's nice to get up and leave a mess that isn't your responsibility, but embarrassing enough to leave a better tip for the server.  He also warned us that the bathroom will become our only sanctuary, the one place we could efficiently get away.  He's absolutely right, I cherish the few minutes of "alone time" behind a locked door and running faucet water :-)

The boys are doing well.  Nathaniel is exercising his toddlerhood as being a tough kid and pushing and hitting.  We are introducing time outs- this makes him cry.  Today we happen to do a time out every 5 minutes or so for various random things he decided he wanted to do.  It can be comical watching us I think.... parenting is so to us and we're figuring it out through trial and error. Dominic is doing better then Nathaniel when it comes to getting in trouble, but he's the one being bullied that I try to make sure he gets more praises and hugs for his good behavior.  He seems to thrive in musical outlets between banging out on rock band drums and playing a piano we have in our rec room, Dominic is proving to have an interest in the arts.  

We make an effort to give them as many experiences as possible from daily outdoor activities to outings at Sea World and other local attractions... its beautiful to see the boys ooh and ahh and point and laugh and experience things for the first time.  Pretty exciting, I think, to see who they are growing up to be unfold at such an early age.  It can be a magical time if we take the time to nurture their talents.

Well- that's about it for now.  We're both working and doing what we can to survive.  For nick its games, for me its working out.  Beyond that I apologize to friends and fam for not getting back and going MIA every few months.... I'm trying to get a grasp on a regular routine.  The whole, three children under 2 doesn't help much with that... but we're starting to get the hang of doing normal things.

This blog is my official attempt to start the regular updates.... subscribe by email to make things easier and I'll let you know when pics and updates are available.