The Luckiest No Matter What!

One week ago, we said goodbye to our first house.  I know moving away from Lanier Dr., our quiet little dead-end cul-da-sac, will be sad; we'll miss our neighbors, our huge yard, the deck, the little updates Josh's dad helped us do, and our big basement, but throughout this process of slowly moving to our new house, I've not been too upset. In fact, I am overjoyed and grateful.  This was always the plan: to buy a smaller starter home that would get to be too full because of our growing family that we would want to move somewhere else.   I remember buying the house when Josh and I were 23, engaged, and so unsure of what our life would be like.  We had many plans, many hopes, and many dreams. For a few years there, when we were struggling with infertility and miscarriage, I thought the plans of our family being 'too big' for this house were gone. So when I've sat, during nap time, in my bedroom, having to be completely silent because one child is sleepin...

YAY! A family of five! Nolan and Judah turned TWO on May 7th.  If you haven't done the math yet, that's a short four days after Carter was born.  It was also our first full day home with Carter from the hospital.  The day of their actual birthday, we had a lovely time as a new family of five.  Nolan and Judah ate some cinnamon rolls for breakfast and we sang happy birthday, opened presents, played all day, and ended with their favorite meal- spaghetti and some dessert for dinner.  Now, it was a little insane, but we had a birthday party for Nolan and Judah on Saturday May 9th.  Carter was 6 days old. Waking up that Saturday morning, I wanted to smack myself for thinking of such a DUMB idea.  What were we THINKING?!? I could barely walk after my C-Section, we have a brand brand new baby, our house is a mess, and did I mention we have a brand brand new baby.  But I rallied remembering that just because these things were true did not mean m...

I'm sitting here watching little Carter Baby sleep and am in awe and in love.  Two months with this guy has been great! What We Learned About Carter Pavona He often seems so much older than he really is.  His head control is amazing, his smiling and iteracting are off the charts, and he is just.so.huge.  What a chubby little Michelin Man- as he is often called.  This month, we really got back into the groove of using reusable diapers, which Carter was peeing and pooping through day after day.  He pees and poops A LOT.  We adjusted how many snaps we were snapping and how many or how big the inserts were in his diapers and I think we've finally figured it out.  Carter continues to be pretty laid back.  Judah is more that way also.  Both are breaths of fresh air in our house since Josh, Nolan, and I (especially me probably) are NOT what someone would call 'laid back.'  If Carter is around people, he is usually pretty happy.  He ...

Baby Carter is one month old and what a whirlwind it has been... What We've Learned About Carter: Carter is a fairly laid-back kinda guy.  He can put up with a lot especially when it comes to noises or roughness from his two big brothers.  It takes quite a bit to get him upset.  I will tell you that when he does get upset, though, he escalates very quickly.  You'd better get to picking him up.  He has a pretty loud cry and also holds his breath when he gets upset.  It was very obvious to me that Carter stayed on the inside for three more weeks; this has made him very eager to breastfeed, which has been great.  His brother needed to be supplemented with formula and we had to work pretty hard at figuring out how to do everything and Carter was pretty natural.  He is also just a chunker.  I rushed out to buy neutral newborn sized clothes this time because I had like NONE when Nolan and Judah were born and he was barely able to wea...

Sunday May 3rd, 2015: 41 Weeks Pregnant Despite hoping to go into labor on my own and delivering vaginally, our Starfish Baby had other plans.  Throughout the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy, we visited the doctor several times and were given the pleasure of having several ultrasounds.  At each one, the baby was in a different place.  This helped me think that maybe I would end up needing a C-Section after all.  Also, each time we went to an appointment, I was checked over and was told, each time, that I had absolutely NO signs of labor... not a one.  Again since I cannot really be induced for fear that my scar may dilate instead of my cervix, I was given another piece of evidence that a C-Section might be in my future.  We had signed up for one, at a week overdue, just in case... On Sunday May 3rd, I found myself 41 weeks pregnant, a week overdue, and preparing to leave for the hospital for my C-section. Here is a timeline of sorts leading up to ou...

Wednesday April 8th, 2015: 37.5 Weeks It was spring break... I had lots of plans on how productive I might be to get ready for the Starfish Baby while I was able to be home for extra time.  One thing on our agenda was to go to my 37 week doctor's appointment.  I had finally made it to a point where I was going to the doctor every week and it felt great.  It's funny, I've had my doctors say to me more than once how great it must feel not to have to come as often as when I had twins and how wonderful it must be not to have to get all these ultrasounds as often to which my response is always something like, "Um yes, that's been quite an adjustment" or "I'd come here every day if you wanted me to."  Or "Ultrasounds were actually very nice."  "My Crazy" wants to roar much more loudly than that, but I am able to quiet her :)  Anyway, the appointment was going as normal: drop a urine sample, get asked quest...

As this pregnancy comes to an end (sometime in the near future), I am reflecting on what a different journey it has been with the Starfish Baby VS. when I was pregnant with Nolan and Judah, here are some of the biggest and some of the most surprising differences I have experienced... 1.)  Physical Exhaustion : When I was pregnant with Nolan and Judah, I was carrying around TWO babies.  I was certainly tired, certainly sore, and certainly physically tired.  However, chasing those same two angels around, picking them up, bending over to pick up their toys, and not being able to rest very much because they always need me has actually made me MORE physically exhausted while being pregnant with the Starfish Baby.  I essentially put myself on bed rest towards the end of my pregnancy with the twins; totally CANNOT do that this time :) While pregnant with Nolan and Judah, I rested when I wanted to, napped when I wanted to, took it easy when I wanted to, and ...

Back in August/September/October 2014 This baby is so special since we were able to conceive of him/her on our own.  This gave us some freedom we didn't have before because people didn't really know we were trying.  This also gave us the gift of being able to tell people how/when we wanted since people weren't asking and checking in with us.  Here's the low-down of what we did... PAVONAS How we told my mom: -On the phone --> not special necessarily,  but I couldn't keep that secret in long; someone has to be around to listen to me worry incessantly besides Josh :)  I told her reasons why I decided not to go running and the pregnancy was the last thing I mentioned, which totally caught her off guard! How we told my dad: -I wrote it on the memo line of a check I was writing to him at the end of August.  He didn't have his glasses so he made me read it out loud to him. How we told my sisters: -I found out I was pregnant right around the whol...

Each baby I've been given the honor to carry, has always received a nickname.  It's a nice way to personalize each baby when you don't know the gender and I think it's been a great way for Josh and myself to bond with each baby too.  Our first baby, which we lost after I had only known I was pregnant for about a week and a half, was nicknamed Baby Champ .  This was because throughout the short pregnancy, I was bleeding a lot and had also lost my brother.  We thought that if this baby could pull through all that, he/she was certainly a champion. Our second baby, which we miscarried at 10.5 weeks, was given the name Baby Poggie.   POG stands for Pot of Gold.  I had been driving home from work one day, feeling extra nervous and scared and frightened about the pregnancy and had seen a beautiful rainbow.  Rainbows have always had a big significance in my family.  We've always talked about them and thought they were a way for our angels to...

The very shot number of blogs I've published lately have been all about the new pregnancy, which is totally NOT fair to my precious, growing, smart boys :)  In case you were wondering, I wanted to give you an update on what's been going on with them... First of all, both of them love to say prayers, get into things they shouldn't, and generally 'destroy' our house on a daily basis.  They are also very sweet with my belly and touch it and kiss it and say hi to the 'baby.'  JUDAH MATTHEW: As I write this, Nolan and Judah should be napping.  However, I am hearing Judah make noise in his monitor after he's only been asleep for about an hour and fifteen minutes, which is NOT an acceptable nap.  This is kinda perfect in a way, because Judah's sleeping has been very special over these last few months.  We may just need to accept that he's an early riser... sometimes even in the 5s (Ugh).  He will go through stretches of waking up early, not taking ...