April 17, 2013

(3 days old)

Welcome to the world, Zoe Faith Dishman! You came into the world 4 days past your due date, on April 17th, 2013 at 4:43am. You weighed 8lbs. 10oz and were 20 3/4 inches. I went into labor at 1am, dreaming of contractions. Your dad was up watching a movie because he couldn't sleep. When he came to bed at 1am, I awoke and realized the contractions weren't a dream, they were real! I timed them for an hour at 9-13 minutes apart. I was scared to move because the past few days when I had contractions and moved, they went away. I was ready for you to come and did not want these contractions to go away before you made your big appearance! After an hour, I got out of bed and the contractions not only stuck around, but they got a bit closer together and stronger! A little bit before 3am, I told Ty that this was the real deal and he should get out of bed. We called our friend, Angie Merriman, who was going to come watch your siblings, and asked her to make her way to our house. As we finished packing the last few items we needed, my contractions became even stronger and faster. We were warned that you could arrive very quickly, so we phoned our next door neighbor to come over until Angie arrived. We hopped in the truck and were on our way! 

(4 days old)

Here is the paragraph you may want to skip if you don't want any details... Our midwife, Vicki, was already at the Austin Area Birthing Center (south location) with a first time mom who had been there laboring for quite a while.  Vicki, the same midwife who had delivered Tatum, had set us up in the music room, the same room where Tatum was born and my favorite room at the center. Vicky checked me and I was at 9cm!! Yay! It wouldn't be long. (I had been dilated to 3-4 cm for 2 weeks already). As I was laboring, Ty was trying to hunt down some coffee. This was super annoying to me because I wanted him to help me by counterpressuring the pain I had in my back. (Not the same intensity as the back labor I'd had for Colt and Levi who were posterior facing, but still an annoying, sharp pain).  I had about 8 more contractions and then felt ready to push. Vicky rushed in and I tried to push on my hands and knees which is how I had been for my previous contractions, so Ty could push on my back to relieve the back pain. Anyway, that didn't feel good anymore, so I flipped over to a traditional position. I had forgotten how to effectively push through the first 2 or 3, so gladly welcomed some suggestions from Vicki. After that, you started descending quickly! It was neat because I could feel you coming, more so than the other kids, because it was happening so quickly. I had visualized my least favorite part of the birth process (the crowning of the head) many times in preparation and felt that really helped me to not stress out about it and took away most of the pain I had experienced with previous labors. Anyway, after 30 minutes or so of pushing, you came out! 

(4 days old)

As they (the midwife and her assistant) pulled you out, they put you immediately on my chest. When I was pushing we had said that Ty would get to announce to me if you were a boy or girl. As it turned out, he was up by my head holding one of my knees and he couldn't see your parts :(  When they lifted you up, I could see you were a girl and immediately squealed, "It's a girl!!" The whole pregnancy I had wanted another girl, but began to worry that if we had a boy, he would be able to feel my disappointment when he arrived. I had been praying that God would change my heart and feelings, which he did. In fact, I was expecting a boy and had told Ty that I thought you'd be a boy on our drive to the birthing center that morning. I was beyond thrilled that God chose to make you a girl and gave us the honor of raising YOU! 

I have had low blood platelets during this pregnancy that they were monitoring. I had blood drawn at my appointment that Monday, so when we arrived at the center that morning to deliver you, Vicki informed me my levels were in the 120s which was lower than previous tests. She said they would keep a very close eye on me after the delivery as the risk of low blood platelets is that I could lose more blood than is safe. As the placenta delivered, they were very diligent in watching for this, but all was fine. In fact, with Tatum, they had to give me pitocin to slow the bleeding and didn't have to give me anything this time around. Anyway, Ty got to cut the umbilical cord which was a healthy looking cord. Before we discharged, they brought the whole placenta over to the bed and showed me the whole thing which was totally fascinating. I'd never been showed this in any of the previous births and really learned alot from seeing this before they disposed of it. For those of you who think I am a total hippie... there are many people who eat their placenta after birth or plant it with a tree or make a soup broth with it. We chose to dispose ours with the medical waste. At least we didn't eat it - we do have our limits!! :) 

14 days old

I held you for a while, then Daddy held you while the midwives worked with me a bit. One thing we've LOVED about the birthing center is that they are in no hurry to weigh or bathe the baby. They are definitely inspecting and monitoring the baby while we are holding them, but there is no separation from mom/baby as there is in the hospital when they take them across the room to bathe them and weigh them before you get to snuggle with your newborn. We called your siblings to tell them of your arrival. They were dancing and shouting when they found out they had a new sister! After I showered and Ty ran out to grab us some breakfast (and we took a nap!), Nana and Bang Bang arrived to meet their granddaughter. We were discharged around 11am and went home (another thing we love about the birthing center - no overnight stay!!). Aunt Chez, Uncle Cody, Eliza and Hazel came over to meet you, then Colt, Levi and Tatum returned home to meet you! Later that day, Granny Rae arrived from Arkansas. It was a great day of celebration!!

Levi loves to hold you. He asks numerous times each day and loves to smother you with kisses. He will come up to you throughout the day and speak soft, sweet words to you. "You are so beautiful. I love you so much. You are a cute baby. You are so adorable!" It melts my heart to watch this!! 

Big Brothers!! 

I guess I should say something about Colt :) He has never been a "baby person." He definitely loves his sister but spends about 10 seconds a day actually interacting with her. While he really doesn't care to hold her much, he is my #1 helper and is eager to do things for Zoe. He shows his love through actions and we love that about him! 

Tatum also loves to hold her sister. From the moment she wakes up till the moment she goes to bed, she wants to know where her sister is and wants to hold her. The first week and a half, while family was here, Tatum seemed to be adjusting fine. But, once everyone went home, she started acting out. She's wetting her pants again even though she's been potty trained and has asked me several times to put Zoe down so I can hold her instead. She's reentered the terrible twos :( Hopefully all the fit throwing and disobedience will end quickly!! Ty took the boys camping this past weekend and we had some quality girl's time together, so hopefully that'll help her feel valued and fill up her love tank! 

Trying to spend time with 3 kids as they are adjusting to a new baby definitely has its challenges. Our friends have been bringing meals which helps free up some extra time to give extra loving to the bigger 3. Thanks, friends!

The girls. 

Levi enjoys counting the number of girls and boys in our family. He's glad there are equal numbers, unless you count Molly the dog, then the girls dominate :) 

Sweet sisters! 

My Dad saying hi after giving Zoe a bath. 

Tatum is trying to fill my Dad's (running) shoes. Those are some big shoes to fill!!

Aunt Ashley came to meet Zoe and rent an apartment for when she moves to Austin this summer! We are excited she'll be here for 2 years as she goes to grad school at UT! 

Tatum is reading a book to Zoe. 

She asks us to put Zoe in her bed every night/nap. It's too cute!! 

On our girl's night when the boys went camping, we painted fingernails and baked chocolate chip cookies! The next day we went to the farmer's market and her friend Abbie's house! 

Well, this is what we've been up to the last 2 and a half weeks. Zoe seems like a laid back baby at this point and is sleeping well for a 2 week old. She's only had 3 nights early on were she was awake in the middle of the night, so we'll take that! Otherwise she just wakes to eat and goes back to sleep. Getting out of the house is definitely taking us MUCH longer, even if both Ty and I are home and helping. I guess we'll get a new routine down eventually :) Guess that's about it for now... or at least as much as this sleep-deprived brain can rummage up today. 

more of March and April

Over Spring Break we went to an Tabernacle that was set up at a local church. We each got an iPod shuffle with headphones to listen to the storyteller (kid version) and walked to the different stations. Here are Tatum and Colt with their friend Abe at the laver where the priests washed their hands. The kids got to throw wood onto the alter, light the candles inside the tabernacle, take communion and carry the incense into the Holy of Holies. The kids enjoyed it and came away learning a few things. I've just finished reading the Old Testament and enjoyed seeing this to-scale tabernacle, which made the story come so much more alive to me. Also, I'm appreciative that we don't have to go through the whole rigamarole anymore, but instead, Jesus is our High Priest, and we are allowed in the Holy of Holies any time we approach him in prayer! 

 

Here's Levi in front of a banner that had his name on it. 

Tatum has been really into painting her toenails lately. She even found my stash of polishes and painted herself one day. After that, we moved my nail polishes far out of her reach. So now, she takes markers to her toes on a regular basis to "paint" them! She's such a girl :) She also asked the other day to get her ears pierced. Slow your roll, girl! 

Also over Spring Break, Nana and Bang Bang invited us to an exotic game ranch near Johnson City. We went on a trailer ride where we got to see and feed zebras, buffalo, ostrich, camels, llamas, etc! 

Eliza and Tatum really enjoyed the petting zoo. 

More nail painting! 

35 weeks pregnant.

Here I am at 37 weeks pregnant. 

Uncle Dusty came to Austin to play the Longhorns. We enjoyed getting to see his team in action!! 

 The kids had a good time at the games (we went to 2 in 3 days) and especially enjoyed playing with Bevo, who is an awesome mascot and gave them so much attention and played chase with them around the concourse. 

After Sunday's game, the kids got to run around the bases. Colt went around 3 times! 

Here I am at 39 weeks pregnant. 

I busted out the treadmill to walk Zoe out of me the week before she was due. The kids really enjoyed seeing it out and asked to try it. Colt ended up running a whole mile (in his Crocs) in 15 minutes. Pretty good for his first timed mile at age 5! 

Levi also got in on the action! 

The boys also tested for their yellow belt in karate. This was their first belt test. Colt was really nervous and Levi was excited. They both passed with flying colors. Here they are with their instructor, Mrs. Hodgekiss. 

The newest yellow belts!! 

The kids have really been enjoying a good game of hide and go seek. Here is Tatum's favorite "hiding" spot! Can you see her?

And, more nail painting. I'm telling you, this kid loves it! We went to our friend's house for a playdate and Abbie was brave enough to let Tatum paint her nails. 

February and March

Here are more iPhone pics. I feel like I rarely even use my nice camera anymore b/c it's so convenient to have the phone out!! There was a Dinosaur show downtown that we went to. It was really cool and the kids loved it. An Australian company came in and had realistic dinosaur puppets from the handheld one pictured below that Colt is petting, to a lifesize teenage t-rex one. I have awesome video of it all, but don't feel like posting it here right now (yes, I am a bit sleep deprived from having a 2 week old baby!! But, since I want to go chronologically on this blog, you will just have to wait patiently until I catch up!)

The kid's new cousin, Hazel, arrived in February as well!!! She was 11 days past her due date, so we all were trying to wait patiently for her arrival. She was a big girl and weighed in at 10lbs 4oz!! She's a beautiful girl with a head full of dark brown hair. The kids are so excited to have another cousin and we can't wait to get to love on her some more! Tatum was eager to hold Hazel, which has led to her new passion... baby holding. 

Ty and I attended a church leader's conference called Verge in downtown Austin one weekend. It was a great time of learning for a potential church plant we hope to be involved in. Anyway, as I was driving to a break out session one evening, I saw the Capital all lit up in the sunset and snapped away. 

 We always celebrate birthdays on the actual day and then have a party for the kids too. Here is Levi with his birthday pancakes he requested - blueberry! 

Levi's actual birthday was on the same day as the Kite Festival, so we headed downtown for that. We celebrated with birthday ice cream and Levi got to pick out his own kite from a vendor. 

For the past year, Levi had been requesting a piñata, so we headed to a party store in East Austin to pick up an authentic one... or maybe they were just cheaper than the ones at Party City. Anyway, Levi chose this yellow monstrosity!! 

He requested that everyone dress in costume for his party. Levi wore his new Batman costume (thanks Nana and Bang Bang!!) and tore into each present as his friends showed up (mostly because this mom wasn't paying close attention to him until he had already opened up several of them!). 

We had planned a kite party at the park across the street, but due to rain had to move the party to our house. No worries though, it was still a fun shin dig and everyone got to make kites to fly when they got home! 

Levi with his Nana and Bang Bang!

Easter pictures

Easter is quickly becoming my most favorite holiday of the year. And not because of candy, eggs or a bunny (even though Cadbury eggs are still among my all time favorite candy), but because of the awesome opportunity to teach my kids about Jesus and his amazing love for us shown through his death on the cross and God's power in raising Jesus from the dead! 

Thanks to Pinterest and a number of Christian blogs I follow, we've found some great activities that really show our kids the power of Jesus grace and forgiveness. 

• We start by observing Lent to prepare our hearts. Levi surprised us by joining in as well - he gave up CHOOSING a tv show for 40 days and really stuck by it. He was still allowed to watch the shows his brother and sister chose, but we figured this was great for a 4 year old. Colt also decided to give up sugar for 40 days... and this last all of about 1 day : ) 
• This year, we kicked off the Lenten season by attending an Ash Wednesday service. The church gave us a kid friendly calendar with activities to do each of the 40 days. We didn't do all of the days, but it was a good guide for those days when I was uninspired. 
• I bought the Benjamin's Box book that corresponds with the Resurrection Eggs. We read a page a day for 12 days and the kids LOVED this. 
• As far as the Easter Bunny, we decided that we would do our egg hunt on the first day of spring (March 20th), so we could focus only on the resurrection the closer we got to Easter Sunday. We celebrated the newness and creation of the Lord and praised him that he continues to create new things in our day and age while munching on jellybeans and chocolate. *Note to self for next year - Whole Foods sells natural fruit jellybeans that are to die for... SO much better tasting than regular jellybeans. I almost ate the whole bag myself without putting any in the kids eggs, and I usually don't even like jellybeans!
• The night before Easter we did an exercise where the kids wrote their sins on a piece of paper which we crinkled up and put in their Easter baskets. We talked about how to get rid of our sins and how they keep us from a relationship with God. The next morning, their Easter baskets were supposed to be covered with red cloth to symbolize the blood of Christ covering them (but I forgot to buy the cloth), and all of their sins were in Jesus' Easter basket. In their baskets were some good gifts from the Lord (and Mom and Dad). Thank you God for your gift of Grace! 
• We also made Resurrection Rolls on Easter morning. It's so fun (and the most unhealthy breakfast I make all year long!! Ha!) to put Jesus' body (marshmallow) in the burial spices (butter, cinnamon and sugar), then wrap them in the tomb (crescent roll). After they bake, Jesus has disappeared from the tomb! He has conquered Death!

This is probably my favorite picture of the day... captures their personalities perfectly! 

Anyway, I just write these things as a reminder of what we taught at their current ages and to remember for next year. There are so many ideas out there that I'm sure we'll change it up as they grow, but it's fun to see the lightbulb go off and to use some of these fun activities to communicate some difficult concepts. Next year I would definitely like to do better at not just sharing these things with my own kids, but with others as well. 

Funny picture of Colt - he loves to have his hair spiked all over like this. And, the boys love to open all of the packages that are delivered to the door. I ordered this shirt and one to match it in a baby onesie, incase baby #4 is a boy, for a possible future photoshoot. Anyway, Colt really liked the shirt and wanted to wear it - so here he is! 

Speaking of the baby... today I am 3 days past the due date. I thought all along that the baby would be early since it's the 4th kid and my body would know how to get it out quickly. However, Baby is proving me wrong. We've tried what seems to be a million of the "tricks" to get a baby to come out and nothing has worked up to this point, but we know that the Lord's timing is perfect, so we wait on him (more patiently some days than others). We just look forward to meeting our Little One soon, looking into their eyes, holding their sweet fingers, smelling that newborn smell, and finally being able to stop referring to it as "it, them, Baby #4"! 

Levi is 4!

What is your name? Levi 
How old are you? 4
Who is your best friend? Jake and Abbie and Will
What is your favorite thing to do? Play with toys
What is your favorite color? Orange and blue
What is your favorite food? Macaroni and cheese and broccoli and hot dogs
What do you like to do with your family? Go camping and going to church
What is your favorite toy? Power Rangers
What do you want to be when you grow up? Train driver
What makes you happy? When I get toys
What makes you sad? Satan
What is your favorite show to watch? Mickey Mouse Why? Because I like all the characters.
What is your favorite book? Spiderman and Superhero books
What do you love to learn about? school and how to count 
What was the best part about your birthday? Everyone to come to my house and hit the piñata
Where do you like to go? To the bowling place (Main Event)
Who was your favorite teacher? Mrs. Hodgkiss and Mrs. Harris (karate instructors)
What is your favorite treat (we call them sugar)? chocolate candy bars 
What do you think about before you fall asleep at night? Believing in Jesus
If you could be someone famous, who would it be? The Berenstein Bears
What was your favorite birthday present? ALL my toys. 

Levi is such a joy. We are blessed to be his parents! 

He enjoys karate and playing baseball. He is really into Power Rangers and Spiderman at the moment. He wears costumes EVERY day. He decided (completely on his own) to give up choosing tv shows for Lent and has been sticking with his decision. Levi is helpful to his sister and plays really sweetly with her. He's trying really hard to color within the lines. He enjoys wearing a watch and is a numbers guy - he always wants to add things, know the time, or count to 100. He's been listening as we teach Colt to read and is also picking up several key concepts to begin reading pretty soon. 

Levi still loves to cuddle (and in fact NEEDS physical contact or will definitely melt down at the end of the day). I love to snuggle with him and look forward to his sweet kisses each day. 

Posing like Spiderman

Levi is definitely a rule follower and people pleaser. This is nice in so many ways, but we are also having to work with him to learn not to strive to please people, but to please God with his heart, words and actions. 

That being said, Levi has also started to display a bit of defiance at times. When he doesn't want to do something we ask of him, he will say "NO!" and stand by his decision. He is great with words and will try to argue his case. I totally want him to learn to state his case clearly and feel like he is being listened to by us... but only after he learns to obey, even if he doesn't like/want to. Anyway, this is our current challenge with this little boy and we pray God's wisdom on us as parents as we train his little heart! 

Levi is our little dare devil. He loves climbing and jumping off of things. He has plenty of scabs to show for it, but is a pretty tough cookie. His current chores include helping unload the dishwasher, handing me clothes out of the dryer (and he likes to fold the small towels), feeding Molly her dinner and filling up her water, and watering the vegetable garden.

I love this sweet face! 

Levi likes to wear his Peru shirt (and has started matching it with his red Crocs). He also prefers to have his hair styled in a faux-hawk. We talk alot about healthy eating in our home, and Levi is the best at trying new foods and trying to incorporate vegetables into each of his meals. 

Levi, we love you more than words can express. You bring energy, curiosity and laughter to our home daily. You are a big helper to me and (usually) a generous/selfless playmate to your siblings. Your sweet spirit of love for others is from God and we pray that you continue to choose to let God work in your life and mold you into a servant for His Kingdom. You already display several leadership qualities and have a way with words that makes your dad and I excited to see what God has in store for you in the future. We pray you will use your days to show God's love to others, especially those who are oppressed and lonely, and that you will feel the call on your life to bring the Kingdom of God to earth in the here and now.