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.

Author Celebration

This last week of school is an eventful one! We had a "authors celebration" where the kids read selections of their work. Amazingly, 90% of Henry's stories had a number in them and about 80% were about basketball. He was VERY proud to his read his work and practiced his "reading voice" the three nights before. The parents also gave his teacher, Mrs Ford, a pear tree to show our appreciate in honor of the pear art the class had done for the school auction. Joanie came too and Henry was very proud. On the way home he said "I think I am the only one with THREE people there!".

D-Day

Just got back from a three hour appointment with my OB. She has set the induction for Baby #3 on 6/17....as in one week from now. Yee haw!

I called Mark and not gonna lie...he stuttered a bit. Once the shock wears off, I know he will thank me for buying him a day in the hospital to watch the US Open, sans kiddos.