More of Johnye Rose

Ruby is 2!

Today we celebrated Ruby's 2nd birthday, and what a joy she is to our lives! She is the perfect combination of sugar and spice, with an extra pinch of spunk thrown in just for kicks. I keep going back and forth between, "I can't believe she's already two," and "I can't believe she's ONLY two!"

We started the morning by opening her gift. It was a princess jewelry set, full of crowns, rings, earrings, bracelets, etc. Rae picked it out for her. What's even sweeter is that Rae had picked out a toy for herself at the store with JP, and when they both remembered Ruby's birthday, Rae put back her toy to pick something out for Ruby. She was so excited to do it, too.


After breakfast we went to story time at the Library, then came home to make cupcakes. Let me tell you...there is no easy way to let a 2-year-old do sprinkles all by herself.



And finally, after dinner, we did the whole singing / blowing out the candles thing. Oh, I'm sorry, did I say candles? I meant matches. Improvisation is the key.


Thank you, Jesus, for our precious Ruby. Wouldn't want to face a day without her smile!

The Pictures I Promised

Rosie had her 1-week checkup today. She is doing wonderfully and growing quickly. She was 8 lbs, 7 oz at birth...7 lbs, 13 oz when we left the hospital...and at nine days old she is already up to 9 lbs!

We took her to a new doctor right here in Princeton. It was getting to be too much of a drive to travel down to Maple Grove for every appointment. I was really pleased with this new doctor. He reminded me a lot of our old doctor I used to tout so much, Dr. Spencer. I think we are going to be happy with this new family doctor so close to home.

Ok, enough chatting -- on to the pictures!

Rae gives Rosie her first bath at home
Sleepy Smiles
And my other cute girls...
This is the "best" picture I've gotten of the 3 of them so far. *Sigh*
(Rae is trying to help Rosie smile by holding up her cheeks.)

Family of Five

Rosie's homecoming was so perfect, it was almost like something out of a sappy movie. We got home, spent the evening together, then put Ruby down a little early because she was worn out and crabby from the long, busy weekend of being away from Mom.

After that we built a bonfire in the back yard, and JP, Rae, Rosie and I sat together looking at the stars. Rae wanted to hold Rosie every 5 minutes, and kept on showing her things around the yard. "See that Rosie? That's a lawn mower. And that over there is the slide." Then she started singing songs to her, like Twinkle, Twinkle and Jesus Loves You. It was so sweet.

It's taken a little bit of an adjustment to get into the groove of life with a newborn again. Right now I feed Rosie every three hours during the day, and each feeding takes about 45 minutes. Rae does great, but Ruby still gets a little jealous and whiny whenever I sit down with the baby for long chunks of time like that. I've had to make a very stated effort to give her extra affection and attention when I'm not with the baby.

I was also starting to get overwhelmed with all of the housework I was falling behind on. Yesterday (Sunday) I left the house all day with piles of laundry, dirty dishes, clutter everywhere, and an already sour attitude about how much work I was going to have to do today (Monday) just to get the house back to manageable again. When I got home that night from dinner at my parents' house, I burst into tears at what I found: JP had cleaned the entire house, done all of the laundry & put it all away, done all the dishes and put them all away, de-cluttered & organized as best as he could in the time allotted. It was such an immense weight off of my shoulders, I couldn't help my post-pregnancy self from bawling like a baby!

Rosie continues to eat and sleep very, very well. She sleeps as quietly as a church mouse at night, and I have to wake her up to give her the middle-of-the-night feeding. I'm getting between 6-7 hours of sleep each night, which is plenty.

I'm so happy with my little family of five. What could be sweeter?


P.S. More pictures to come soon. I was going to do it now, but the baby's feeding time has arrived once again!

Johnye Lynn meets Johnye Rose

Johnye Rose, 9/12/10

We are so happy to announce the arrival of our third precious daughter, Johnye Rose Charlebois!


She is absolutely perfect. She was 8 pounds, 7 ounces at birth, and 20 1/2 inches long.


The labor experience was intense, crazy, and completely unlike anything I've been through in the past! I started having contractions around 11:00 pm on Saturday night (9/11). At 11:30 we went to bed, but the contractions were too painful to lay down through. I got up to walk them off and start timing them, since I had already had a couple of labor "fake outs" and wanted to make sure this was the real thing.


Around 1:45 am, JP got up to use the restroom and asked what I was doing. I told him I thought this might be it and I was going to call someone to come stay with the girls.

Our sweet neighbor came over to sit at our house until JP's step-mom could get there to relieve her. We left the house around 2:40 am. My contractions were about 3 minutes apart and quite painful. We made it to the hospital in record time and were immediately brought to a room. When the nurse checked me, I was 7 cm dilated and 80% effaced.


I asked for my epidural right away and was informed that I had to receive a full bag of fluids before they could give it to me. We got that started, but it was taking FOREVER! I was in so much pain, and the contractions were coming stronger and more frequently.

Finally the bag was empty and the anesthesiologist was on his way. The nurse told me to sit up on the side of the bed so I would be ready when he arrived. As soon as I sat up, WHAM! Rosie was coming. There was no stopping it. No time for the epidural. No time for anything. This baby was coming NOW!

I laid back down.
One push: her head was out.
Two pushes: her shoulder.
Three pushes: welcome to the world, Rosie!


We had arrived at the hospital at 3:30 am, and Rosie was born at 4:38 am. Now that's quick!

I had been diagnosed with Strep B before labor and was supposed to have received 4 hours of antibiotics before giving birth. Since that didn't happen, Rosie and I are having an extended stay at the brand new (really nice) North Memorial hospital in Maple Grove. We will be discharged tomorrow (Tuesday).


Rae and Ruby have come to visit their sister twice and are so sweet with her. They both kiss her and comment on how cute and tiny she is, and Rae can't wait to help mommy at home. I'm pretty sure Ruby doesn't really "get" all that's happening, but we're just believing for a smooth transition for the whole family as Rosie integrates into our home, lives, and hearts.


We really appreciate all of the love, support, calls, texts, messages and visits we've received from you all. We're so thankful for all of the help we've received from friends & family, and most of all we are thankful for a healthy, sweet girl. We are so blessed.

There are a ton more photos to view if you click here.

Ready

-Finish packing my hospital bag
-Pack overnight bags for the girls
-Go to Target for diapers, new mom products, etc.
-Get a haircut before she comes so I don't chop it all off AFTER she's born
-Ask JP to get the baby car seat out of the garage rafters & wash it
-Have JP put the back seat back in my van so I can fit three car seats in it
-Charge the batteries in my camera
-Find the bouncy chair

I guess that's everything!

JP finished the project he has been working on today, and now we're ready for Rosie at just about any time. We're still kind of hoping that it won't be in the middle of the night again, but at this point, I just want this baby OUT! I was 3 days late with Rae and 5 days late with Ruby. I know they're worth the wait and God's timing is perfect, but tomorrow or Saturday would be great, know what I mean? . :)

Last night I was having long, painful contractions until about 2:30 am. But unlike the night before, they had absolutely no consistency to them whatsoever. I tried timing them, but they were all over the place.

I even called the hospital at one point. I didn't know what to think because the contractions were so strong, but I know true labor is consistent and progressive. The nurse's cheerful response was, "Oh, this is your third baby! You know what you're doing!" Umm...I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have called if I had this whole thing figured out!

Needless to say, the contractions did eventually go away, and they stayed away all day.

Thanks for all of your prayers as we continue to wait, sometimes more patiently than others.

_________________________________________


In other news, my brother Joseph had to go into surgery to have his appendix out today. We're thankful that everything went well, they caught it early before any rupturing, and he may even get to go home tomorrow. He also has insurance just since June, praise God!

Checklist

-Finish packing my hospital bag
-Pack overnight bags for the girls
-Go to Target for diapers, new mom products, etc.
-Get a haircut before she comes so I don't chop it all off AFTER she's born
-Ask JP to get the baby car seat out of the garage rafters & wash it
-Have JP put the back seat back in my van so I can fit three car seats in it
-Charge the batteries in my camera
-Find the bouncy chair

Car seat, shmar seat, right? :) This WILL get done tonight.

False Alarm :(

Last night around 11 pm, JP and I were sitting on the couches watching American Pickers (love that show) when I started having contractions. After a while I pulled out a stopwatch and started timing them. They were between 6-8 minutes apart and lasting about 1-1 1/2 minutes each.

I really thought we were getting started! JP got up and packed his overnight bag, and I sent texts out to the grandmas (I didn't want to call and wake them up unless I was sure).

We decided to lay down and try to get a little bit of sleep because if this WAS the start of labor, we didn't want to head into it on empty tanks. We both fell asleep, and eventually the contraction went away. False alarm.

JP has a big work project that he cannot finish until tomorrow (Thursday). We are praying that labor can wait until he finishes that project, and that when it DOES happen, it will be some time other than 3 am, like the last two times. :)

Please be praying with us. We know God has the timing all figured out -- sure would be nice to be in on His little secret!

Countdown to Rosie -- UPDATED

We are officially less than one week away from Rosie's due date (9/10/10)!

This morning I started having contractions around 7:00 am. They eventually went away, but it was enough to motivate me to...

-Finish packing my hospital bag
-Pack overnight bags for the girls
-Go to Target for diapers, new mom products, etc.
-Get a haircut before she comes so I don't chop it all off AFTER she's born
-Ask JP to get the baby car seat out of the garage rafters & wash it
-Have JP put the back seat back in my van so I can fit three car seats in it
-Charge the batteries in my camera
-Find the bouncy chair
-Anything else?

I guess I left more than I thought to the last minute! :)

I can't wait to meet this sweet face!