Cousins Galore

Jenny being here the first week of Maggie's birth really was heaven because my kids have been nothing but elated to play with the cousins. It also has been a gift to me, because they have had instant entertainment and I have been able to focus on Maggie. This trip, Frances and Kate become best buddies. It is seriously one of the cutest things to watch ever. At the zoo, Francie was trying to keep up with all of the cousins who were running up the hill and fell behind. Katie stopped, walked back, and held Francie's hand. Mark said it was an instant heart melter. The Peck girls may be overpopulating the earth, but I gotta tell you, there are few things as precious as seeing the cousins get together.

Ladybug Girl!!!!

Francie seriously cracks my sister Jenny up. The fact that Francie won't wear dresses particularly makes Jenny laugh. Francie LOVES the Ladybug Girl books. In fact, when we go hiking, that is how I get her to keep going. I tell her to be Ladybug Girl!!! and then she gets this renewed energy and runs with force. Jenny's daughter Kate has a Ladybug Girl dress that she wears everywhere. I was telling Jenny about Francie and hiking and a lightbulb went off -- maybe Francie would wear the Ladybug Girl dress. Jenny got her one -- ADORABLE. When she gave it to Francie, Francie nervously looked excited. We asked if she wanted to put it on. No. Strike one. Tonight though, Grandpa Gordon came over for dinner and all of a sudden Francie asked to be.......LADYBUG GIRL!!!!!!!!!

Not gonna lie -- we lost it.

She didn't keep it on for long, but it was sheer joy to see her run around the front yard.

Maggie Meets the Cousins and Gertie

Jenny and the kids came down to visit for a week. I was SO excited for Mary to meet Maggie has she had sent me a list of the reasons why I should have a girl, instead of a boy. Mary was very aware that given this child was the ninth grandchild and there are already four boys and four girls, that this child would be the tie-breaker and she wanted to make sure I was well-informed of the implications. She sent the list when I was four months pregnant and she was honestly one of the first people I thought of when I found out the baby was a girl.

Gertie has been anxiously awaiting this baby's arrival -- teasingly saying it was helping her to "hang on". Mind you, Gertie is 93. She was pretty enamored with her upon arrival and Maggie caused quite a stir in the Active Living Center that Gertie lives in -- I basically had to spend 20 minutes in the lobby while basically the entire place came down and took a peek at the four day old baby. When people asked Francie the name of her big sister, her reply - "Henry". One track mind.

Getting to Know Each Other

These first few days of the kids getting to know Maggie and our family readjusting have some pretty magical moments. Thankfully these moments help to "win out" the not so fun ones, that involve a lot of whining. Holy moly.

Maggie's Homecoming

They let us come home on Sunday, which was great because there is nothing like your own bed. My parents had taken the kids to the ZOO, so the house was eerily quiet. Mark and I noted how weird (quiet) it was to have just one child in the house...the irony of which was that when we had Henry we felt like the house felt so much more FULL with our only child.

It was hilarious when the kids did come home as they wanted to take Maggie on a tour of the house. Hearing them describe the rooms was serious comedy. Oh the world she will be shown through their eyes!

Meeting her Portland-Based Grandparents

Margaret is VERY lucky to have three of her grandparents in town. It is always awe-inspiring to watch your parents hold your child...like the world is coming full circle.

My dad is a baby LOVER - so he took the opportunity to hold Maggie as soon as he could. My mom is not necessarily a huge fan of newborns, but since this is her last grandchild, she is all of a sudden very nostalgic and wants to hold the baby. Maybe the strategy of naming Maggie after her was a good one...hee hee.

Gordon came over in the afternoon and gave us another wonderful gift -- sleep! He held Miss Maggie for almost two hours and watched the US OPEN, while Mark and I took a nap.

One side note about the silly flower head band. As you know - Miss Francie REFUSES to wear dresses, headbands, hair clips...basically anything that screams girl. So, my strategy is to get my "fix" in to dress a child like a girly girl NOW...in case Maggie decides to follow in her sister's footsteps. The funny part is that Francie LOVES to see all the girly stuff.....on Maggie.

Magical First Moments

The anticipation of having Henry and Frances meet Margaret was seriously one of those great moments in your life where you can barely stand to stay in your skin because you are so excited. We told my parents to NOT tell the kids if it was a boy or girl or her name. The hospital puts these signs on the room door that say "It is a Girl".....so unfortunately ....with a child that can read - Henry knew before I could tell them. Henry was happy and excited and Frances was a bit overwhelmed. They were most excited about the big sister and big brother presents that Maggie brought them. Frances had requested (via yelling to my belly daily) a baby with a bottle. She got one and instantly wanted to hold that and play with "that baby" rather her sister, who she also called "that baby". Pretty funny. Henry was incredibly precious holding Maggie - she is SO lucky to have a kind, thoughtful big brother like Henry. Thankfully, the kids thought the whole experience of mom having a baby was pretty awesome mainly because they got to have a sleepover at Grandma and Papa's house and go on adventures to the zoo, bowling and watch cartoons. Pure bliss....for them......and for Mark and me in that we got to spend some precious moments getting to know our little girl.

Welcome to the World Margaret Joan Reuland

Lovely and amazing Margaret Joan Reuland arrived at 12:36 am on 6/18/2011.

6lbs, 14 ounces

20.5 inches long

13.5 (head)

Mark and I feel so incredibly blessed. She has more hair than Henry or Frances had when they were born and she is long and skinny -- longer than Francie, but a whole pound smaller. Her middle name is after my mom - I only hope that she and I can someday be as close as I am to my mom and that she inherits some of my mom's incredible strengths.

Our family of five now feels so complete.

Labor

Good old induction......start out simple and relatively easy.....and then it sucks.

Friday basically involved me having contractions every 3 minutes......for the entire day. For the most part, early AM was doable....so doable, that Mark took at 2 hour nap. No joke. Thus the picture above of me taking a self-portrait, while Mark caught up on lovely z's. Hilarious. This time I got to walk around as they had a portable monitor. Hello freedom. I must have circled L & D about 20 times and totally got into the "stories" of the other rooms. There was teenager in one room and I mentioned to the nurse that with all the teenage visitors I felt like it was prom...she replied "No, this is the sequel to what happen on prom".

Things picked up at night and then seriously sucked. The first epidural failed. But then...........

Morning Before.....

Baby #3's induction didn't start until 9:30, which was a gift from my OB to be able to get the morning with the kids and so that I could go and get pancakes...my pre-game ritual...I mean, my pre-birth ritual.

Kind of crazy when you are going on your third...you can actually say "it is tradition" ....I kind of felt like a Dugger.

Frances turns Three!

Tuesday was a big day in the Reuland Casa. Francie turned three and Henry has his last day of kindergarten. Big doings.

The week beforehand, Francie was VERY excited to tell everyone that she was a "big girl". On Friday we went to a doctors appointment fand they asked her how old she was going to be and she answered "46". When I said, "Francie...tell them how old". She lowered her shoulders and disappointingly said "6".

Mark and I have a family tradition that one birthday present is unwrapped and waiting in the kitchen for the special birthday child. This year Francie REALLY wanted a big girl bike and that is what she got! Within ten minutes she was proficiently riding it around the house. Watch out world.

Francie is just a phenomenal little girl. At three years old she amazes me every day and has a spunk and enthusiasm for life that strangers notice. The grocery store clerk that we have grown close to said it best last week - "I can't wait to see Francie is going to do with herself, whatever it is going to be, it is going to great and she is going to do it BIG".

Welcome to three years old my big girl.

Last Saturday as a Family of Four

Now that we know that I am being induced next Friday, we realized that today was our last Saturday at as family of four. We had a great one, where I had alone time with Henry at the Mother and Son Timbers (MLS league in town) event at our club and Mark had a date with Francie. Then, later Mark took Henry to the Timbers game and I got to take Francie to the park and for ice cream dessert. A lovely way to spend alone time with each kiddo before the big changes ahead.

Helvetia Half

Mark ran the Helvetia Half Marathon today. He did great. The bummer course is that you can't go out on it to cheer him on. The finish was in the Hillsboro stadium and we got to watch from the astroturf..which Henry loved. After waiting 30 minutes, we had a staff person tap me on the shoulder to let me know food was not allowed on the field. As I frantically turned around to clean up our snacks....Mark ran by and I missed him. Seriously?

Savoring the Moments

I know I am seriously emotional right now (in a good way) given the fact that six days from now we are slated to have another addition to the family. That said...who couldn't get teary eyes looking at this. I was doing some stuff around the house and heard them say "let's make a boat" and I came downstairs to this. They had made a boat from the puzzle pieces, brought their stuffed animals, and Henry was reading Francie the Giving Tree.

School Carnival

Henry's school had their carnival to celebrate the end of the year. We found out in the morning that Martell Webster, a former Blazer who now plays for Minnesota but still has a house near us, was going to be in the dunk tank. To say that Henry was excited is a minor understatement. We waited in line to throw a ball to dunk Martell, and then Henry got too nervous. All he wanted to do was just watch him.....the carnival was going on all around Henry and he just stared in awe. It was pretty cute. Finally, we actually went to the other attractions. My favorite was the petting zoo. Francie and Henry went in together, and then Francie was petrified. The only thing she touched....Henry. She clung to his back the whole time. It was kind of hysterical.