Levi's Birth Story

It's time for a final birth story. Our little family is now complete. It's been four weeks today since the birth, so I want to try to get all the details down in print before they are fading memories! For a look back at the others, you can find Ethan's story here, Noah's here, and Amos's here. This will be pretty detailed, so read on at your own risk!! ;)

As I posted in my last bump update, at 36 weeks, things were getting crazy, as we discovered that I had extra amniotic fluid and would require weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests to monitor the baby. I was spending a lot of my time at the doctor's office! Then, just before 38 weeks, the ultrasound revealed that baby had turned and was now positioned frank breech, instead of head down. Ugh, not good. To avoid scheduling a C-section, we set up an appointment to go to the hospital the morning I was 38 weeks to try an external cephalic version, or ECV. They like to do those by 38 weeks at the latest, so that was going to be my one chance to get baby turned back around. Since baby was frank breech instead of completely breech, and given the extra fluid I had, it should have had a better likelihood of being successful. In we went at 6 am to wait for the doctor to arrive. We discussed everything, then he started the ultrasound to check baby's position that day. Wouldn't you know that stubborn little booger had turned again and was head down again?!? So yeah, that was quick - we got to go home without needing to do anything after all. Sigh of relief. At that point, I needed to try to do what I could to keep baby head down, which meant a lot of sitting on my big exercise ball, and trying to bind my belly with a maternity support binder. That was not fun.

At my next appointment the following Tuesday, at 38.5 weeks, we discussed induction. As much as I wanted baby to come on its own, I was absolutely miserable, in pain, and with the extra fluid, ok'd for an early delivery. So, we set up the induction for 39 weeks, on Friday the 13th. Yes, Friday the 13th. I wasn't thrilled about the date, but my midwife was on call that day. I had reached the point where I just wanted baby out, and I didn't care what day it was going to be anymore!! So there we were, one week later at the hospital, checking in again to head to labor & delivery.

I gowned up and we started the party. Pitocin was started at 7:30 am, at which time I was dilated only 3 cm. I was having fairly regular contractions, but they weren't really getting closer or more intense. My midwife broke my water at 11:45 am, at which time I was dilated just 4 cm. That was fun thanks to the extra fluid!! No, no it was not. I just kept leaking and leaking and leaking, which made things interesting for trying to get up and walk around when I was tired of sitting.

Things were still moving super slowly, so I got an epidural at 1:45 pm. I was hoping to relax my body and speed things along a bit! Like the epidural I had with Amos, it took pretty well, with no feeling on the left side, but enough feeling on the right side to experience some of the pain of the contractions. It also caused my blood pressure to drop super low, but we were able to get it evened back out within the hour. By 2:30 pm, I was dilated 6 cm and by 5 pm, I was still dilated just 7 cm. Sigh. I was starting to think this baby may not be born on the 13th after all!! And then things started moving really fast. My epidural was wearing off and I had called to get more medicine, but they were really busy on the floor by that point, and I never did get any, so by the time they came in to check me again, it was go time and I was feeling everything! Yikes! Fortunately, it only took about 5 minutes of pushing and baby had arrived...

Born at 6:12 pm was our FOURTH BOY!!! I kind of thought maybe Josh was joking when he told me it was another boy, haha! I was seriously convinced this one was a girl after how different everything was with this pregnancy, but alas, I was wrong. At 8 pounds, 4.1 ounces, 20 inches long, with a 14-inch head circumference, he was our second biggest baby. Born earlier than the rest though, he would've been the biggest had he cooked another 2.5 weeks like Ethan did! ;)

He was perfect!!

Sadly, Josh and I had actually agreed on a girl's name that day as we hung out all day at the hospital, but we were still struggling with a boy's name. It's hard when you're on number four! We had narrowed it down to two choices and decided to put it to a family vote once the boys arrived to meet their little brother. :) After a 3-2 decision, Levi Frank received his name. Frank is my maiden name, and had been the plan for the middle name all along, so that part was easy! We require many things when picking a name for our children though (must be a two syllable first name and a one syllable middle name, can't start with the same letter as a sibling, and must be biblical; I also love that they all have different ending sounds, so when I'm yelling their names, they can better hear which one I'm yelling - haha!), so it was rough finding one that fit the bill! Also, the name had to fit into our scrabble board (preferably in order of arrival), which was harder than I thought it'd be! Ha!

I got to snuggle the little guy for awhile and feed him before they took him away to get him all cleaned up. It was nice that at this hospital, I was able to stay in the same room from beginning to end, instead of needing to move rooms after delivering. That was a first!

Check out that dark hair! We'll see if it stays that way, or falls out and comes back blond like the other three. Another strong Seeley boy to join the bunch though! Like big brothers, he was holding his head up on his own a mere hour after being born! Our boys seriously have freakishly strong neck muscles. Levi is all-around strong though. He sucks so "ferociously" (words of the lactation consultant that first week) that he can hold up a bottle without his hands, just by sucking. It's quite impressive. Hopefully it will help him hold his own in a couple years when he has to defend himself from his big brothers! ;)

Once we were all settled back in, my mom brought the boys to the hospital to meet their new sibling! Unfortunately, their reaction to the gender reveal (I had them open packets with blue confetti) wasn't as exciting as I had anticipated. Ha! They were happy, though, to meet their new little brother. I was unsure how Amos would react to having a little brother. He's been the baby for 4 years! I couldn't have been more happy about how excited he was to have a new little brother though. He absolutely adored him from day one!

That evening, and then again the next day, on Saturday morning, Levi was checked out by the on-call pediatrician from our peds office. He looked great and was given the go ahead to head home after his bloodwork was checked at 24 hours. We had to wait around until nearly 7 pm for that, but then we were finally able to pack up and head home around 8 pm that evening. It's always nice to be back at home and the boys were super excited to have us all back there.

The Monday after coming home, we were scheduled to visit our pediatrician's office to be sure that he still looked good, with no signs of jaundice. He looked great, but they wanted to see him again in a couple days to be sure he was gaining enough weight. He was discharged from the hospital at 7 lbs, 12 oz, and had dropped again to 7 lbs, 7 oz at the Monday appointment. My milk hadn't come in yet, so he had lost almost a pound since delivery. So, we supplemented with some formula that day while I pumped, and my milk came in by the end of the day. That Wednesday, he was up to 7 lbs, 15 oz, so we were headed in the right direction. By his 2-week appointment, he was up to a whopping 9 lbs 4 oz! They like to see them gain an ounce a day, so putting on 21 ounces in just 12 days was amazing! The boy likes to eat!

We're now adjusting to life as a family of six. It is definitely an adjustment! I think the hardest part is having two of them in school now. When Amos was born, Ethan and Noah were still just in preschool. When you roll into the parking lot late there, it's no big deal. Getting the big two on the bus daily, on time, and keeping up with homework and activities makes things a lot harder now! We'll manage, and I'm sure it will get easier, but it's definitely a team effort. Super thankful for the school cafeteria and their "grab 'n go" options, which my boys will eat daily if they need to! Ha! Fortunately, the boys have been great with helping out and mostly understanding when I need to tend to Levi first.

Welcome to the family, Levi! You complete us.

Me and my very own "five guys!" ;)

Like the "four seasons," I have my four "See(ley) sons." ;)

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May the Fourth be With Us

I originally wanted to wait until today to make the big announcement...I mean, what would have been more perfect than announcing on May the Fourth, aka Star Wars day?!?

But, I couldn't wait another month, so I had to announce last month to family and friends! Haha!

I'm due October 21st, so I will be 16 weeks tomorrow...time for a bump update! :)

Week of Pregnancy: 16 weeks

Baby size: Baby is the size of an avocado this week!

Baby is 4 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and weighs ~3 1/2 ounces. 

A fun website, babysizer.com, also states that the baby is the size of a can of pop, or a can of SPAM, or a duct tape cardboard roll. Haha.

Seriously?!? I'm 35...

Symptoms: Nausea hit me hard just after week 6. Ugh. What's more fun than a Caribbean cruise while you feel sick to your stomach 24/7?? Pretty much anything. So, not the vacation I had in mind, but we still managed to have a good time. I never actually get sick when I'm pregnant, but sometimes I think that would be easier than feeling sick all day if it would make that nausea go away! So I tried both Phenergan and Zofran, but neither provided much relief. Jolly ranchers helped some, but continually popping those all day got old. Ginger beer wasn't bad, but not something I wanted all the time either. Finally, Ethan's teacher gave me the idea of chewing gum (she's also preggo - due today!!)! I don't know why I had never heard of that one in my 3 previous pregnancies, or tried it, but I'm so glad she clued me in. I've been chewing gum pretty much non-stop since then and that has been the biggest help! I am finally getting to the point now where I don't feel like I need it all the time, but I'm still chewing my fair share. Hopefully, complete relief will come soon as I progress farther into this 2nd trimester. The 1st trimester left me exhausted as well. I don't remember being so tired with the others, but this time I was going to bed by 9 pm and still needed an afternoon nap daily! I guess given my "elderly" status this time around, I shouldn't be surprised. Hahahaha. Fortunately, I have more energy now and I'm not requiring as much sleep. I even started my maternity workouts again today! Go me! With most of the nausea and exhaustion behind me, I'd like to start eating better again and working out more regularly. I still have my Beachbody on Demand membership, and Autumn has a great Active Maternity workout. I'd love to go into this delivery in better shape than I usually do. Here's hoping I can keep it up.

Food cravings: Cereal. Cereal. Cereal. This seems to be a trend for me while preggo, but even more so this time around. With Amos, I craved eggs, over easy in the mornings, but this time, I just want a big ol' bowl of cereal. Preferably LIFE right now. I normally crave the sugary kids stuff (i.e., Captain Crunch, Apple Jacks, Sugar Crisp, etc), but this time, adult cereal does the trick. Haha. Add to the list fruit, especially grapes, and all things lemon (I craved lemon with Noah and Amos, too!). I've had to start avoiding the bakery section at Kroger. Their soft top cranberry-orange cookies are my weakness. I'm trying to do better now. I love a glass of ice cold milk with dinner (it literally needs ice cubes in it) and a glass of grape-orange juice at night before bed. A glass of lemonade during the day is awesome, too. Need to work on that sugar intake before gestational diabetes testing time...

Food aversions: Coffee!! :'( So, so sad. I went from drinking my fair share every day to none at week 6. I can't even stand smelling Josh's coffee brew in the morning. Ten weeks later and I'm still not interested. I guess that's good for baby, and I seem to have adjusted to the lack of daily caffeine. With the others, I was still good with my favorite, iced caramel macchiatos, but this time even those don't sound great. I also despised water at the beginning. Not good. Finally a couple weeks ago, I was able to start drinking it again without issues. It just has to be very cold. :)

What I'm excited about: Meeting this little guy/gal! Despite my sister's lack of faith in my ability to go this entire pregnancy without finding out the sex, I am determined. We found out for all 3 of the boys, and with this definitely being our last, it's my final chance to be surprised in the delivery room, so I want to do it. It will probably drive the OCD planner in me insane, but hopefully I'll manage. :)

What I've done to prepare for baby: I've purchased a few gender neutral clothing items. Given the fact that I donated all of the newborn and 0-3 month baby clothes I had (when I thought I didn't want any more babies, sigh), we will need to get some things. Oops! Fortunately, my sister still had all the bigger items that Amos had outgrown, so I'm holding on to those now. ;) I guess it won't matter if it's a girl, but I have a gut feeling this is boy #4!

Funny moment: Amos's preschool teacher let me know that Amos has been talking about being a big brother and that he was going to get the baby out of my belly for me. He's been pretending to get babies out of bellies at school, too. I guess I don't need that midwife. Amos will be a pro after practicing for another ~5 months! LOL.

To Everything There is a Season

It's been three years. Three years since Josh started working for Eastman and we (Josh, Ethan, Noah and I) made the move north, from our beautiful Georgia home, to an apartment in Tennessee. Three years prior to that, we took the plunge and moved south, from our cozy home in Kentucky to an apartment in Alabama, and eventually that house in Georgia. At that time we had no kids, but Ethan was born a mere 4 weeks after we moved into our house there. Noah was also born while we lived in Georgia, but just six months before making the move to Tennessee. While here, we've added one more child to the mix and surprise...it's time to move again now!

No babies born this year, so it wouldn't be much of a Christmas newsletter without a move! ;) Haha!

Josh is scheduled to start his new position as Manager, Speciality Films Development (still with Eastman - not a new company this time!), early next month in Virginia, but we're not planning to join him there until after Christmas. We'd like for Ethan to be able to finish out the calendar year at his school that he loves so much, and figured January would be a good starting point for a new school. We hope that it won't be too hard on him, but fortunately, he's still young. The move will be a good one for our family and Josh's career. So, here we go again!

In other news, we weren't planning on expanding our family quite so soon, but we have nonetheless. We'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Lego.

One of Josh's co-workers approached him about a month ago, wondering if we'd be interested in adopting her boxer. She knew we had recently lost our beloved Daisy, but knew what a wonderful life we had given her, and wanted the same for her girl. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, she was no longer able to keep her. So, after taking a "test run" if you will, with her for a week, we decided it was meant to be. We will be her forever family. Her official name was Stella Lego, but they called her Lego (yep, she has a 6-year-old son who suggested that one!), so we decided to stick with Lego, but give her a new middle name to represent our time here in TN. Lego Gray. :) Perfect!

She is a beautiful, smart boxer, just like our Daisy was. Still a pup, she's excitable, playful, and a little bit crazy, but extremely loving with an incredibly sweet demeanor. She already loves cuddling and taking walks with us. We think she'll fit right in here.

So, as usual, we like to make lots of big life changes all at once. New job, move, and new member of the family. The seasons of our lives just keep turn, turn, turning...happy fall y'all!

Rest in Peace, Sweet Daisy Duke

Daisy Duke Seeley
February 2, 2006 - June 7, 2014

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."  - Dr. Seuss

She'd been with us since she was just 6 weeks and 6 pounds.

As I sit here at the beach, during our annual Florida vacation, I have to keep repeating these words to myself. Our sweet baby girl is gone. As you know, she was diagnosed with lymphoma just about a month ago. We made the decision at that time to try chemotherapy, to see if we could rid her little body of this vicious disease and hopefully give us a little more time with her. Though she spent her lifetime with us, 8 years was much too short, but it was plenty of time for her to get us to fall head over heels in love with her. If you would've asked me 8 years ago if I could ever love a dog as much (or more!!) than most humans, I would've laughed at the mere idea. But Daisy quickly stole our hearts and became our "first" baby. She truly was the perfect pet and our best-behaved child. Her almost humanistic expressions never ceased to amaze us, and made us love her even more. Boxers are a special breed.

Sidewalk dining at Brasserie Jo in Chicago

Anyone who knows us knows how big a part of our family Daisy was. She went nearly everywhere with us (including a trip to Chicago, where she was able to dine with us) and we've tried to include her in as much as we could. So, our annual vacations have been trips to pet-friendly beaches for the last several years. Daisy loved the beach, which was kind of funny seeing as how much she normally hated water. Even as a puppy, she quickly learned that if the concrete outside the back door looked wet, she did not want to go outside to potty. She was a princess from the beginning! But when it came to the beach, she couldn't get enough of it. She loved chasing the birds and the waves here on the gulf coast of Florida. So, a few months ago, we planned another trip back to the beach. Then we found out that Daisy was sick and we didn't know what would happen. We hoped to still be able to take her one last time, so she could enjoy the week at the beach with her favorite people.

Our sweet princess

We took her to the vet on Wednesday last week, to get her checked out, as she seemed to be having a rough time again after her 2nd chemo treatment. The vet wanted to see if it was just from the chemo, or if the mass was still enlarged, so she did another ultrasound to check. Unfortunately, it looked like the chemo wasn't working, and though that may have been part of the reason she wasn't feeling great, it was probably because the mass wasn't shrinking, and may actually have been getting bigger. :( So, at that point we knew that she probably wouldn't be undergoing any more chemo treatments, but we would continue to give her the prednisone as palliative care, to keep her comfortable. The vet thought she would have a good week with us at the beach, and didn't see any reason that we couldn't take her with us. By starting the prednisone, a steroid, again, her appetite returned and she was eating well and had her familiar pep back in her step. So, Saturday morning rolled around and we were up early to start our long road trip to Florida.

Tucked in the backseat. Comfy on her favorite pillow.

After nearly 12 long hours in the van, we finally made it to the ocean and Daisy watched the birds from the backseat as we made our way across the big bridge over to the island we're staying on. As we pulled through the gates to the subdivision, Josh asked if Daisy was ok. She didn't respond and we started to worry. We pulled over and realized that her body was limp. She had taken her last breath. We were literally 5 minutes from the house that we would be spending the week in, and she was gone. As it was happening, it was traumatic. We'd been driving all day, we were tired, and the unthinkable had just happened. We were devastated. We arrived at the house and got her out and tried to see if we could revive her, but it was too late.

Now that we've had a couple days to process it all, we're coming to terms with her death, or at least the way it all happened. We would've loved to have been able to spend the week with Daisy at the beach, but it wasn't meant to be. We're glad that she went peacefully, on her own terms. She was laying on her favorite pillow, able to see all of her people from the back of the van (where she spent so many hours over the years), surrounded by love. We didn't have to make the difficult decision to put her down. I still don't know if I could've done that, even though I know that is sometimes the best option. Even though we didn't know it was happening, I'm glad that we were all there with her. She knew we loved her and that's what mattered. Now she's up in heaven, watching over us. As Ethan says, she's an "angel dog," keeping us safe and sound. Though it's been a difficult week so far, we're trying to remember that Daisy would want us to have a good time and enjoy our beach vacation, just like she would've if she had been here. We love you and miss you, sweet girl.

The Wednesday One: Week 17 and a Daisy Update

I got the call this morning, shortly after dropping Ethan off at preschool. I knew we were going to hear the news today about Daisy's aspiration results, yet I somehow still felt unprepared for the bomb that was to be dropped on us. It was confirmed. Daisy has lymphoma. Cancer. A vicious, deadly disease has invaded her poor little, never-hurt-a-fly body and it's making her so sick and miserable. Until today, she would still readily gobble up the boiled chicken we prepare for her, but this morning she must've felt too sick even for that, as it still sits there in her bowl, untouched, as my heart breaks more than I imagined possible. We now have to come to terms with the fact that her time here is limited. It's been devastating watching her in so much visible pain. It's even harder knowing that we can't help her understand what is going on.

Our vet recommended that we get her started on a steroid, prednisone. While it can't cure the cancer, obviously, it will shrink the enlarged lymph nodes for now and allow her to feel better. Her appetite and thirst should return quickly and she'll be more like her sweet, happy self again. Unfortunately, the effects of the prednisone are short-lived. When used alone, the average survival time is just 1-2 months. Given the fact that she's been feeling bad for several weeks now, we will need to act quickly. She has a rare form of lymphoma - the gastrointestinal kind. From what I've read, it accounts for only about 5% of lymphomas in dogs. It does appear that we've caught it fairly early, as it's in Stage 2 (the lymph nodes in just one area of the body are affected), but she is in substage b, though, which means that she is experiencing symptoms (vs no visible symptoms).

The next step is to decide which course of treatment to proceed with for her, if that is the route we want to take. Our vet has personal experience with lymphoma, as she also had a dog that suffered from it. She actually doesn't recommend the full-blown, intensive chemotherapy, but instead to use a single drug therapy. This is what she did for her dog. Full chemotherapy would involve an intense 12 weeks of drugs and has a high percentage of remission, for about 6-8 months. Second remissions are possible, but shorter and harder to achieve. Treatment with this route usually results in an average survival time of 9-12 months, but at a very high price tag. The single drug therapy would involve 5 shorter treatments, and would hopefully result in a survival time of anywhere from 3-8 months. At this time, we have decided to go with the latter. With Josh out of the country for most of May, we want to buy some more time (literally, I guess) with her. We want to ease her pain and give her a few more months to enjoy with us, including one last trip to the beach in June. I'm sure there may be more difficult decisions to make in the near future, but for the time being, we hope that this is the right path to take, especially for her. We thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers during this very difficult time.

Menu Monday #51 and Daisy Update

Whew. It was a tough weekend for us. We've been trying to come to terms with the news we received at the vet's office on Wednesday. Daisy has not been feeling well lately. She's suffered a loss of appetite, lots of vomiting and diarrhea. So, it was time for a visit to the doctor. After performing x-rays, the doctor was concerned with a mass she saw in Daisy's belly, where she should've been visualizing her kidneys. She suspected an enlarged lymph node and a probable lymphoma diagnosis (due to the high incidence - 1 in 4 - of this disease in boxers). Because she couldn't see it well enough on x-ray, she referred us to a specialist in Asheville who has extensive ultrasound training for these sorts of things. Despite nearly reaching the average life span for a boxer, and the fact that we should be prepared for this, of course we're not. Daisy has been our baby girl for the past 8 years. She has been as much a part of our family as our children. We've taken her everywhere we can with us - she's probably more traveled than our children! She's eaten dinner with us at at a restaurant in downtown Chicago, enjoyed a plush personal doggy bed at the downtown Westin in Cincinnati, and has commanded quite the presence in our king-sized bed (as in, took up over 1/2 the bed) the past 7+ years (though we swore we'd never have a dog that slept in our bed! Haha!). We've made several dog-friendly beach vacations just so that she could join us and enjoy herself, too. Though she's more of a people-person than a dog-person, she loved her friendship in Kentucky with a miniature Australian shepherd, Penny, and currently with her cousin, Pickle. We've made countless beautiful memories with her and we'll soon most likely face some difficult decisions. She hasn't been feeling well for weeks now, not interested in eating her food or playing. She has been very sick and you can tell that she doesn't feel well. It's heartbreaking. We just want her to not be in pain anymore.

She had a really rough day Friday, so we stayed in that night to be with her. On Saturday, she seemed to be feeling better, gobbling up some boiled chicken, so we wanted to do something fun with her, especially since it was such a beautiful day. We decided to take her to Warrior's Path park for a walk and some pictures with the boys, followed by a cool ice cream treat. We got some great shots of them that I know we'll treasure forever.

Her appointment with the specialist went well. She was a real trooper and didn't require any sedation for the procedures. The vet even commented that he needed to employ her in the office to show the other doggies how to behave. We wouldn't expect anything less of her. We've always joked that she's our best-behaved child, but really we're only half joking because she is so perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better doggy all of these years. We used to joke about cloning her back in the day, too, because we wanted more dogs just like her. Oh how I wish we could now. So, they shaved her little side, and did the ultrasound. They found 2 masses. One was near the liver, so they stayed away from that one, but aspirated the other one. We'll receive the results of the aspiration in 24-48 hours and at that time we'll know what we're dealing with for sure. We're preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. I think it'll be easier that way. Until then, we need to try to get her to eat some canned food, as she is only interested in boiled chicken. :/

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Sunday: Blackened salmon, brown rice, roasted asparagus

We had our favorite fish meal and Daisy got to enjoy some salmon skin - her favorite treat!

Monday: Flour tortilla tacos

With Josh off work for the day, it'll be easier to get these made. The boys gobble them up!

Tuesday: Spiced chipotle honey chicken with sweet potatoes

I wanted to try some new meals this week and this one looked easy and delicious. Sweet and spicy is always a great combo, so I'm sure this will be delicious!

Wednesday: Skillet lasagna
Another new recipe, it sounds fairly quick and easy, too! Annie's Eats is one of my favorite food blogs and her recipes never disappoint. The boys love pasta and cheese, so I don't think we can go wrong with this one.

Thursday: Parmesan ranch chicken with pasta and roasted cauliflower

Yet another new one to try, I don't think this one could be bad when you combine ranch and panko crumbs to coat the chicken! Pasta is always a hit and we've been loving the cauliflower.

Friday: Out to eat

We'll probably go out, or order something in.

Saturday: TBD

We'll see how things are doing. Ethan will be attending a birthday party at a park for another preschool friend that afternoon, so we may make it another picnic dinner if the weather is nice!

What's on your menu this week?

Menu Monday #46

On Friday night, we decided to visit our favorite local seafood restaurant, Riverfront Seafood Company. We've never had anything bad to eat there, and this time was no exception. Josh and I both decided we wanted to try one of their newer dishes, pasta jambalaya. It had great flavor and we both really enjoyed it! I also really love their Caesar salad, too. The plate was huge, so we were both able to save leftovers for the next day. Had we known, we could have just split an order! For dessert, we indulged in their blackberry cake with cream cheese icing. It's delicious, and inspired me to make my blackberry cupcakes a couple years ago! :)



On Saturday morning, I made whole wheat pumpkin pancakes with cream cheese icing, per the boys' request. I escaped took off after that to get my hair done. ;) After much internal debate, I decided to go for it and get some bangs cut again. I've spent the last couple years without them, so I guess I decided it was time for a change again. I'm so glad I did, because I'm loving them!! :) For dinner, we went to one of our favorite pizza restaurants, Scratch. It had been ages since we'd been there and Josh had been bugging me for weeks to go. I love their pizza, just not their wait times, so with three little ones now, I was afraid it might be rough. The boys did really well though! We ordered the pesto cheesesticks for them (they can tear them up!), and a "full trust" pizza for us. This just means that we let them decide what they want to put on our pizza! :) This time I know we had red sauce, spinach, jalapeño peppers, mandarin oranges, tomatoes, peperone, another homemade meat, and feta cheese on it. I may have missed something? It tasted great, as it always does! After dinner, we finished up a beautiful night at Menchie's with some frozen yogurt, and actually enjoyed eating it outside!

To finish up a fantastic day, we finally got some movement on the potty training with Noah! Woo hoo! Unfortunately, he's only gone once since then, but we're hopeful, now that we've actually been able to get him to consider the idea! I'm doing his potty chart a bit differently than I did Ethan's. For Ethan, he put a star on the calendar every time he went, and also got a Hot Wheels or Matchbox car with each star. Yes, that quickly became expensive, but it worked! Haha! So, we quickly changed it to a car for every 5 stars, then 10, etc. He was trained in a very short time, so we were spoiled with him. For Noah, we're going to do bigger prizes, but he has to fill up an entire line on the chart before he gets it. Hopefully it will work well, too. Time will tell. If you are interested in downloading a copy of this chart to use for your training toddler, see the bottom of this post!

On Sunday morning, Josh made our usual egg sandwiches for breakfast. After church, we checked out the buffet at our local Indian restaurant, Sahib. We love their food, but they also make for a very long meal when we order from the menu. So, we thought that'd make for a win-win to enjoy some Indian food without the wait! It was also a great way to sample a lot of other dishes that we don't normally order. Everything was really good, but did lack a bit of the heat that we typically enjoy.

Sunday: Grilled chicken salad

After a heavy lunch, we needed something lighter for dinner, so we had spinach salads topped with grilled chicken strips. I also put cilantro lime ranch dressing, sunflower seeds, basil pesto croutons, and a little shredded mozzarella cheese on mine. Yum!

Monday: Blackened cajun salmon, brown rice, oven roasted asparagus

We'll season our salmon filets with Josh's homemade cajun seasoning, grill them, and serve them over the rice. On the side, the asparagus. It's one of my favorite meals!

Tuesday: Melt in your mouth baked chicken, tricolor rotini, oven roasted brussels sprouts

We haven't had this one in awhile, so it will be good. I'm trying brussels sprouts for the first time, too! I'll let you know how that goes! ;) The recipe I linked to coats them in a mixture of EVOO and balsamic vinegar, then roasts them just like any other veggie. I've also found a few other recipes I'd like to try if we like how these taste. :)

Wednesday: Cajun pork chops, roasted sweet potatoes, vegetable quinoa
We'll either grill or sear the pork chops on the stovetop, depending on what the weather is doing. I'm changing up the sides a bit this time. We'll do sweet potatoes (so I can introduce them to Amos!!), and some quinoa on the side.

Thursday: Stuffed chicken meatballs with linguine and spaghetti sauce

I'm trying another new recipe this week. I saw it on one of the blogs I read and thought it sounded good! The boys love meatballs, and cheese, so I'm hoping this will be a hit! :)

Friday: Girls night out!

I'll be attending my first GNO since before I had Amos!! Can you tell I'm excited? Haha! I love going out with all of my guys, but sometimes it's nice to be able to chat with some ladies, too. ;)

Saturday: TBD

We'll probably go out, unless I decide to make some pizza at home. We purchased the movie Frozen (since I've heard nothing but good things about it!!) this past weekend, so we need to find sometime to watch it! So maybe we'll make it a movie night at home?

What's on your menu this week?

And here is a downloadable potty chart:

This should be printed as an 8.5" x 11" sheet. We're using the toilet graphic for #1 and the toilet paper graphic for #2. ;) I have little star stickers that he gets to put on the chart when he's successful! :) Once an entire row is filled, then a sticker is placed on the star and he'll get a big prize!

Welcome, Baby Amos!

Introducing our newest addition...

We had Amos's newborn pictures done at 8 days old with our photographer, Kristy Vest. I used those photos to put together the front and back of his birth announcement, pictured above. Below are some of my favorites from the session. :)

Welcome, baby Amos!

Amos's Birth Story

It's time for another birth story! :) It's been four weeks now since his birth (say what?!?), so I want to get all the details down in print before I forget them! For a look back at the others, you can find Ethan's story here, and Noah's here. This will be pretty detailed, so read on at your own risk!! ;)

As I posted in my last bump update, at my 37-week appointment, I was still at 2-3 cm. At my 38-week appointment, I was dilated a solid 3 cm, and at my 39-week appointment, on the 4th, I was dilated 3-4 cm, and starting to thin out some. I was also measuring at 40 weeks. They offered to induce me anytime I wanted to, but I was still hoping to go into labor on my own. That night, I started having more contractions and they stuck around through the night, instead of going away like they normally did when I laid down. When I woke up that morning to get ready to take the boys to preschool, the contractions still weren't stopping, and I had a feeling that these were different, though they still weren't painful. I had Josh stay home from work and my mom took the boys to school (fortunately, I had her come back down a couple days before that day). I went ahead and finished packing my hospital bag while Josh tied up loose ends with work. The contractions were getting closer and more uncomfortable. We finally loaded up the 4-Runner and made our way towards the hospital. Not long after we were on the road, the contractions started getting really painful, and were lasting around a minute, mostly under 5 minutes apart. At this point, I knew I was in labor, no doubts about it!

One last pic with the boys before heading to the hospital!

We arrived at the hospital and Josh dropped me off at the front while he parked. A nice employee must have noticed my pain and offered me a wheelchair to get me upstairs to Labor & Delivery. We made our way up, checked in, and were in an L&D suite in minutes. They started through the usual checklist of questions while I got ready to be checked. At that point, the nurse found that I was already dilated 6 cm, 70% effaced, and baby was at station 0!

I continued to contract regularly, with increasing pain. I hadn't decided whether or not I wanted to get an epidural, but as time went on, with little progression, I decided to go ahead and get one. The epidural was done by 11:30 am. It took pretty well, with no feeling on the left side, but enough feeling on the right side to experience a little bit of the pain of the contractions. By 12:30 pm, I was dilated 8 cm. My doctor came and broke my water around 1:30 pm, to help speed things up. By 3:15 pm, I was finally dilated to 9 cm. Things started to get a little scary for a bit, as baby's heart rate started dropping every time I had a contraction. My doctor was worried about the position of his cord. They tried to have me keep changing positions so that his heart rate would stabilize. As I neared full dilation, I think the epidural prevented me from knowing when I felt like I needed to start pushing. By the time I told the nurse that I thought I was ready, I was really ready, but my doctor had not arrived yet. When she finally came in the room and started gowning up, she took a look and had to tell me to hold on! Apparently, the little guy wasn't waiting, as he was crowning already! She quickly got some gloves on and had me start trying to push. I pushed once and he continued to make his way out. By the 2nd push, his head was out and she was able to guide the rest of him on out! Craziness! It's amazing the difference between birthing the 1st and the 3rd! I pushed with Ethan for four very long hours. With Noah, it was much, much shorter, around 10 minutes, but I was quite surprised when this baby came out after just 2 pushes! Yahoo!

Amos James made his arrival at 4:51 pm on September 5th, weighing in at 7 pounds, 7.3 ounces...

Our smallest baby, weighing in at 7 lbs, 7.3 oz!

...and measuring 20.5 inches long. His head was 13.5 inches...much smaller than his big brothers, who had 14+ inch heads!

Tied for longest baby, with Noah, at 20.5 inches!

He was perfect!!

Opening his eyes to meet Mommy for the first time! :)

We decided to name him after two of his Great Grandfathers. Amos was Josh's father's father and James was my mother's father. Amos is a family name that has been in the Seeley family for a very long time. The name has been used as a first or middle name in nearly every generation dating back to the early 19th century. So, we thought it might be neat to carry on the tradition! :) Here's a look at the history of the name...

After the delivery, we were able to stay in the L&D suite for a bit, as it was time for a shift change.

Happy he had finally arrived! His first feeding, in the L&D suite.

They brought dinner in and once the night staff was on, they took me to my room. My mom brought the boys up to the hospital so they could meet the little guy!

The boys meeting their little brother for the first time!

I was unsure how Noah would react to having a little brother. Ethan wasn't super excited when Noah was born, and didn't want to hold him for weeks. Noah, however, is in love! He couldn't stop touching, or patting him, and pointing out/naming all of his tiny body parts. It was absolutely adorable. He is still really fascinated by him and loves giving him hugs and kisses. :)

Noah was absolutely smitten with Amos! :)

After their visit, the boys headed home and we settled in for the night. We had the nursery keep him that night, so I would be able to rest up a bit easier. They brought him in several times to eat that night. He caught on very quickly to that, and is still a super eater now! Haha!

The next day, he was checked out by the on-call pediatrician, as our regular pediatrician doesn't make rounds at the hospital we had to deliver at. He looked great and was given the go ahead to head home after his bloodwork was checked at 24 hours. We ended up having to wait around awhile to get those results, and were finally able to head home around 9 pm that night.

One day old and ready to leave the hospital! :)

The boys wanted to wait up to see the little guy again. They were so excited!

I love all my guys! :)

The morning after coming home, we were scheduled to visit our regular pediatrician's office to be sure that he still looked good, with no signs of jaundice. He looked great (his levels were excellent, so no threat of him becoming jaundiced), but they wanted to see him again in a couple days to be sure he was gaining enough weight. At that 2nd visit, at just 4 days old, he was back up to his birth weight, so they were happy with that.

We're now adjusting to life as a family of six (yep, Daisy still counts!). It is definitely an adjustment! Now that they outnumber us, it's a bit harder at times, but Ethan and Noah have been great helpers so far.

Ethan is ready to help take care of littlest brother!

Welcome to the family, Amos!