Hazel's 2nd Birthday

My Hazel Nut turned two this St. Patrick's Day! She is the cutest, most rotten little thing I ever did see. She's hilarious, loud, shy, hot-tempered, stubborn, silly, smart, destructive, talkative, cuddly, and oh-so-naughty, and we all love her like crazy.

We had a Peter Rabbit themed party for her (mostly because I had the supplies left over from another project), and it was super cute. All of her grandparents got to be there to celebrate!

Here are the stats:
Height: 2' 8.25" (19th percentile)
Weight: 22 lbs 3 oz (4th percentile)

Yep, another peanut. She is so teeny!

Hazel has long, gorgeous wavy hair (it's 3 or 4 inches longer than any other girl her age I know) and - wait for it- hazel eyes. They're kind of gray and brown... very unique. She has the very best cheeks.

What she's up to:

-Talking up a storm. She speaks in full short sentences, though it can be hard to understand her. She is very polite with pleases and thank yous ;) The thing that impresses me the most is her understanding of "mine" and "yours." Maybe it's just because she's small, but she seems so young to have that kind of grasp on language.
-She loves to harass the cat, who is, blessedly, quite patient with her most of the time.
-Tearing up the house... we have to keep the bathrooms doors shut and litter box blocked off, and if she's not in the room I'll always send one of the other kids to "make sure Hazel's not getting into trouble." She's exhausting!
-She's pretty attached to Mama. She's still shy about strangers and new experiences and situations. She can really cling to me when she wants to.
-Her "lovey" is her bed pillow. She carries it around the house with her even though it's bigger than she is! She grabs onto the fabric of the pillow case and sucks her thumb (a habit we'll soon have to tackle breaking).
-Sleeping in a big-girl bed! She was doing some dangerous acrobatics in her crib, so we did some bed shuffling and moved her to a twin bed. She did great making the transition, thank goodness! Hazel is an excellent sleeper and rarely wakes up in the night. There have been a few nights when she seemed to be having nightmares and I would lay down with her until she fell asleep, but that's not the norm. She also naps once daily for 1-3 hours ish.

What she's into:

-Hazel's favorite things to watch on TV are Boss Baby and The Incredibles 2 ("Jack Jack!"). She wasn't interested in TV until she got to watch through the series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, with Nathan and the other kids. She loved it and snuggled nicely with Daddy every evening they watched it.
-She's not terribly picky, though she's not a big eater (miss 4th percentile). She likes to graze and often helps herself to snacks from the pantry, much to my chagrin. Her favorite food is probably blueberries.
-She loves to play outside.
-Hazel loves babies. Real, on tv, baby dolls, whatever. She also likes animals.
-Milk. This girl should have some strong bones.
-Mostly destroying the house and raging when she doesn't get her way. Let's be honest. :P

My almost-birthday-buddy! Happy birthday to the cutest girl I know!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a great Christmas this year! We got our tree a couple days after Thanksgiving. We found a gorgeous one!

We ❤ Christmas trees!!

I had so much fun decorating our new house for Christmas! I splurged for some new tree decorations and got to hang up the stockings I made last year. Everything looked so pretty!

Some of the decorations in our family room.

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated with my family in Napoleon! We had a great (too short) visit. These kids are so lucky to celebrate Christmas so many times!

My dad, Cece, and I made molasses sugar cookies from my Grandma's recipe. The. Best.

My brother Andy and his fiancee were home from Texas! I wish we could have visited with them longer, but we had a good time.

The following week was Nathan's busiest week of the year at work, so he had to spend most of his time there. The kids and I were able to spend more time with his family and make cookies with friends.

Nathan's parents wanted to wait until Jonathan's family was in town to get their tree, so we ended up going two days before Christmas... but the tree farm Larry had scoped out was closed for the season! After a couple phone calls to the owner, we ended up slipping money under the door and getting our tree. Whew!

Our family Sunday Morning (Christmas Eve).

We decorated cookies on Christmas Eve, as well as opening one gift each in the evening.  Nathan and I usually open our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve after the kids are in bed so we can have a special time together. I planned a year of dates for Nathan, and he got me an Amazon Echo and a robot vacuum!

My beautiful children on Christmas morning :)  We had the kids open their gifts at home before we headed over to celebrate with Nathan's family.

One of the things we got the kids for Christmas was a hamster. Cece especially had been talking about wanting a pet a lot, and this one is SO cute. She's really sweet and the kids are doing well with her. We named her Dandelion (Dandy for short).

Allie brought a special Christmas book to read to all the kids.

We spent the next couple days spending time with Nathan's family and had a wonderful time. It really was such a nice Christmas.

In the evening of Christmas day when we got home, I noticed that the fireplace grate was askew and open. I mentioned it to the kids and they found a shiny wrapped present in the fireplace! Nathan had sneekily bought them a Nintendo Switch (through some crazy combination of gift cards and monetary gifts he only spent like $30 out of pocket!?!). It was SO exciting and special for them.

To finish out our holiday craziness, we stopped off at my parents' house for a couple days before heading up to Michigan to celebrate New Year's with our college friends. We are so blessed to have these beautiful people as our lifelong friends.

What a great blessing we have in our family, friends, and special celebrations!

LegoLand Michigan mini vacation

Ever since they saw the ad for LegoLand resorts on the DVD for the Lego Movie, my boys have been begging to go there. They are located in Florida and California, so that's a no. We tried to appease them by going to the Lego store in the Mall of America when we went there three years ago, but it didn't work. Since then, a new LegoLand Discovery Center was built in Michigan! It's not a full resort, but we knew the kids would be thrilled to go, so we took a mini vacation to Michigan a couple week ago!

We got to spend two nights at Nana and Papa's house, which is conveniently on the way! Hazel was happy to be there.

We were there on Desy's birthday, so we got to have a party with cake, ice cream, and presents!

Hazel slept straight through the night in her fancy bed... ha!! I didn't want to bring her co-sleeper because we loaded up the van with a bunch of camping stuff, so we got creative ;)

Saturday morning we left bright and early for LegoLand! We drove through Hazel Park (a Detroit suburb) on the way! I had originally wanted to stop and take pictures of signs with all of our names (Desmond Road, Cecelia Street...), but it was such a quick, full trip that we didn't have time!

We met my roommate, becca at LegoLand! She is one of my very best friends, so it's always so good to see her. She lives so close to where we were going that it would have been a shame to not see her! She was a big help keeping an eye on Cecelia too.

Meeting Hazel for the first time! "A hazelnut she's not allergic to." :P

Of course the kids had a blast. I think we took them at exactly the right age. It was definitely geared toward young kids.

They spent the most time building and racing cars! There was a cool track that started all the cars together at the push of a button.

I've always thought "girl Legos" were dumb, but Cece was enamored with them. This is a girly girl if I've ever met one.

There were some really amazing Lego creations depicting Detroit landmarks in miniature. The buildings at the top of this post are Lego models. There were even some moving parts in some of them.

There were two rides and a 4-D movie (with rain and wind effects) as well as all the building stations and playgrounds. It was a fun morning for sure.

When we left LegoLand, we had lunch at the Detroit Burger Bar down the road. We all ate massive burgers... I don't think any of the adults ate dinner that night.

Just 15 minutes down the road was the lake and little town of Lake Orion!! I was soooo excited when I discovered it on the map. Orion was pretty excited to see his name plastered all over the place!

becca explored the cute little town with us and then we parted ways. I love my roommate!!

We stopped at the local Super K Mart so I could nurse Hazel and so we could look for Lake Orion t-shirts (found them!), then we were on the road again.

So. Part of the goal of this trip was to go camping. We have a big, awesome tent and the kids are always asking to go. I'd been watching the weather forecast like a hawk all week and it just looked worse and worse. The night before we were supposed to camp there was something like a 60% chance of evening thunderstorms. So we had to change our plans (because who wants to camp with four kids in a thunderstorm?!). Nathan booked us a room at Splash Universe in Dundee!

...of course, when the evening rolled around the night was calm and beautiful and perfect for camping. Sigh.

...but the kids had a GREAT time playing at the indoor water park for hours on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Even Hazel seemed to like it. All of the kids even went down the really big slides! So much fun.

From there we were only half an hour away from Nathan's grandparents, so of course we stopped in! Grandma was so excited to meet Hazel and got some nice snuggles.

It was a really quick visit, but it was nice to see them! :)

For our last stop, we headed back north a bit to see some of our closest friends, Geoff and Amy, and their family! They got to meet Hazel too, and we had such a nice visit. Again, way too short, but I love how we always pick up right where we left off. We are so blessed with great lifelong friendships.

It was a super fast but super nice little trip! We wished we would have had another day or two so we wouldn't have had to rush around so much, but we squeezed a lot into one weekend. I'm so glad we have such great little travelers! Even Hazel was perfect in the car. 

Here's to many more adventures!

Hazel's birth story

As promised, this post comes with baby pictures! It has been a long time coming, but I'll do my best to recount everything surrounding Hazel's birth!

*This post contains all the nitty gritty birth details, so if that stuff grosses you out, enjoy the pictures and move along ;) *

At 41 weeks 1 day, a Sunday, my friend Amanda offered to take me walking in the evening. I gladly accepted, and we power-walked around Wal-Mart for an hour or two. The next day I started getting bloody show, which I experienced two days before all of my other babies were born. Finally, progress! That day at my midwife appointment I was still only 1 cm, but thinning. She swept my membranes which, remarkably, didn't hurt at all. As the week went on, I continued to have bloody show, felt lots of low pressure, had sporadic contractions, and generally felt really crummy (I think malaise is the fancy word)!! On Wednesday night I completely flipped out because I thought that Hazel had changed positions again, but blessedly it turned out that her position was still fine. Thursday I went for another midwife appointment and NST and had progressed to 3 cm! However, I was facing a deadline at that point... I really wanted to deliver Hazel at the Family Beginnings Birth Center where Cece was born, but I could not do so after Friday (I would be 42 weeks on Saturday, and technically high risk). We chose to schedule an induction via foley bulb + breaking my water if necessary at 9 am on Friday.

However, I started experiencing strong timeable contractions on Thursday night around 8. They were about 5 minutes apart and pretty strong. They petered out after a couple hours and we went to bed. Around 3 am I woke up with lots of strong contractions, and after a couple hours they were 2.5 minutes apart so I called the birth center and we headed out. Unfortunately, the contractions again faded.

When we got to the hospital (around 5 or 6 am) we were sent to triage because the birth center had only one nurse on duty at the time. My cervix was dilated to 4 cm. The midwife swept my membranes again. I had an NST and only had mild contractions. During that time, Hazel's heart rate dropped during a couple of the contractions. This, combined with my being almost 42 weeks, concerned the midwife that the placenta could be deteriorating and decided that we should have continuous monitoring... which they cannot do at the birth center. I would have to deliver in the regular maternity ward.

I was crushed. I SO wanted to deliver Hazel at the birth center because I loved it so much when I delivered Cecelia. I was extremely upset, not to mention worried that Hazel could be in distress. The midwife (Neva, the same midwife who was there for Cece's delivery) assured me that they would do everything they could to give me an experience as close to the birth center as possible except for the fact that I would have to have the continuous monitoring (in the birth center they do intermittent heart rate checks with a Doppler instead of using the monitors that are strapped on to the belly). There wasn't anything I could do to change the situation so I just had to come to terms with it, but it was hard. The last couple months of this pregnancy had been such an emotional roller coaster and things were just not going the way I thought they should be. Thankfully, the midwife allowed me to decline an IV (they wanted to insert one just in case)... this seriously made me feel better, and I'm so thankful to her that she let me have that little bit of control over the situation.

We got into the room and they outfitted me with a portable monitor box that I could carry with me while we walked the halls. I was assigned a nurse who usually works in the birth center, so I felt confident that I would be supported in the natural (unmedicated) birth that I wanted. Nathan and I walked a lot and I also spent some time on the birth ball. It was a struggle to get the monitor to consistently pick up Hazel's heart rate... those things are designed for a person who's laying in a bed, not constantly changing positions. My contractions were still pretty mild and sporadic.

Around 9 or so that morning I took a half hour nap, and when I got up Hazel's heart no longer dipped with contractions and my contractions got much stronger and closer together! The midwife came in a bit later and offered to break my water, but we felt like things were speeding up and getting stronger on their own so we decided to wait. I really worked through labor for several more hours and felt like things were really moving forward.

Around 3:30 the midwife checked my cervix, and to my dismay I was still only at 4 cm. I couldn't believe it! I had been laboring pretty hard for a long time. We decided to go ahead and break the bag of waters (I wasn't sure about it because I'd never had that done before, and nervous because I knew labor would get a lot more intense). It felt so weird! They worked at it for a while because they weren't sure whether the bag had ruptured, but I felt some fluid come out so I figured it had (Hazel actually had a couple little scratches on her head when she was born from this procedure!). They outfitted me with basically a diaper, and sure enough, when I got up and started having contractions, aaaall the fluid came out. TMI warning: during the strong contractions over the next half hour or so, I couldn't tell whether I was losing more amniotic fluid or if I was peeing! At that point, I guess it didn't matter. ;) They asked if I would like a birthing pool set up (I did), and started getting it set up and filling with water. It took quite a while and they didn't check back until it was too full and Nathan had turned it off to keep it from overflowing! So they had to drain some back out. I was happy to finally get in when it was done filling. I did miss the awesome tubs in the birth center... this one wasn't quite deep enough or warm enough. But better this than none!!

As I expected from my experience with Cecelia, things really picked up once I got in the water. I had been having super intense contractions for a while before that, but they continued to build. The nurse continued to adjust the belly monitors while I had these contractions... it was torture!! Those monitors were definitely the major negative of this birth... they were a painful, annoying thorn in my side.

When my vocal tones changed from a low hum/sigh to an "ohhh" sound, I thought I was getting really close (again, remembering my last birth), but when the nurse offered to check my progress I declined because I didn't think I could handle the disappointment if I wasn't as far along as I expected!! Not five minutes later my body started pushing and Nathan paged the nurse. The nurses and midwife came and and I focused on relaxing and letting my body do the work. The midwife coached me and reminded me to stay in control when I started bearing down too hard. This stage was harder, longer, and more painful than my previous one, but I was still able to mostly stay in control and keep my body relaxed, though I did actually push a good amount. I think it probably took ten minutes from start to finish. After Hazel's head came out they told me to stop pushing for a moment so they could check for a cord around her neck, but it was clear. Then I pushed her out the rest of the way, and I actually got to feel her body slide out, which I had never experienced before. The midwife caught her and quickly helped me turn around and step over the umbilical cord (which they said was short), and then I got to hold my Hazel Hope. She was born at 4:49 pm on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2017.

I kept saying, "I did it!" and "I'm done!" I was so relieved to be finished. It was a hard delivery, a hard labor, and a hard pregnancy! I had worked HARD and was so glad to be done. Actually, I was still having some very intense contractions because the placenta was ready to be delivered too. Nathan cut the cord. The nurse told Nathan "She needs skin to skin. Take off your shirt." and had him hold Hazel while I finished delivery. It was pretty funny in hindsight. I pushed a couple times to deliver her placenta... it was HUGE! I think that thing was almost as big as Hazel! And definitely not deteriorated or unhealthy.

They cleaned me up and I was thrilled to hear that I had no lacerations. I was incredibly surprised and lucky that I had virtually no discomfort in that area either immediately after the birth or in the following days (nothing short of miraculous, if you ask me). I did have very very strong afterbirth contractions that day and some milder ones the next two days.

Hazel weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz, and was 20 inches long. The nurse who did her newborn assessment that day confirmed that Hazel was really only 41 weeks! Aha! Told you so!

From the get-go Hazel has been a very quiet, sleepy baby. She didn't cry right away when she was born, and only would when the nurse rubbed and agitated her. I could barely get her to wake up to nurse the first night! I didn't get much sleep that night because I was too wound up, but I was so thankful to have a sleepy baby.

She nursed well, but I had a lot of familiar pain that (along with just looking at her) told me she had a tongue tie. No surprise there (been there, done that). Unfortunately, the pediatraitian on call would not diagnose or treat her. The nurses and lactation consultant agreed with me, but there was nothing they could do about it. I ended up taking her to the specialist that released Cece's ties when Hazel was five days old and had her tongue tie released, so at least it's taken care of now.

Robin, Larry, Allie, and Josiah visited the night Hazel was born, and then Robin and Larry brought our other kids the next day (my birthday!). They brought me killer brownies and we enjoyed introducing the kids to their new sister. They were all in love, especially Desy.

Our friends Andy and Cassandra also visited right after our family left. It was nice to spend some time with family and friends on my birthday, and to show off our sweet baby. The hospital kitchen even sent up a little birthday cake with my lunch! Nathan got me dinner from Panera Bread so I would't just have to eat hospital food on my birthday :)

My parents visited the next day, and then we got to take Hazel home. Because of the crazy unexpected late delivery, Nathan had used up the week he was going to take off of work the previous week, so I was on my own the day after we got home! It's absolutely incredible how good I felt right away... I mean, I felt like I had run a marathon... my body was sore and weak. But I had no pain, my mind was clear, I had energy, and I wasn't taking any medications. I could even drive right away! I definitely let the TV babysit that week, but we made it through and that's all we could hope for!

I added this picture because LOOK AT THAT HAIR!

We have definitely had some rough times, but Hazel has really been such an easy baby and such a joy. I think she has her own unique look and I can't wait to see her unique personality come out. I'm so thankful that God has given us another healthy baby and that, despite the bumpy road, a healthy delivery, and even the natural water birth I was hoping for. I'm also incredibly grateful for and proud of my husband for being an AMAZING support during my labor. He was with me every moment during the intense hours of labor, and I can't imagine how I could have made it through without him. I am one lucky mama.

Look at this... I couldn't ask for more.