Four Month Millie

Hey Everyone,

Inside of my head when we were having a very difficult time with Millie I kept telling myself that once we hit four months things will look a little clearer. As I was walking her and rocking her from one side of the house to the other almost all the time it seemed like four months would NEVER come. But here we are. We have made it to four months and sure enough, Millie is so happy! I can put her on her play mat and she will smile and play to her hearts content. Millie's first three months were rough. They were rough on us all. God is good though and I think we are all stronger and closer because of it!

Millie:
   Millie has some of the best cheeks and thighs around. Gosh she is cute! She has brown eyes like her sisters and her daddy. She loves when Ruby plays with her. She is still a little leery about Stella. Stella is often times too rough for her own good and doesn't realize it. Millie wakes up once or twice a night, which isn't bad. She is taking about four naps a day. We have gotten to the point where I can usually lay her down as soon as she starts rubbing her eyes and she will fall asleep on her own. She will typically scream for less than 10 minutes and she is out. She only takes 30-45 minute naps though. I have started to take Millie to the gym with me and we go walking on the track. Sometimes I will park her next to my elliptical or bike as well. The older ladies love taking a peek at Millie. Millie also got to play baby Jesus at our church's living nativity. She fell asleep for the first bit of it and was pretty sweet for the rest. Ben and I had fun playing Mary and Joseph. We can't wait to find out what the next month brings! :)

Stella:
    Stella I think has entered her terrible two's even though she will be 3 in April. Holy smokes. She can be the sweetest girl. She goes with the flow. Gives some good hugs and kisses. However, if Ruby has a toy that she wants or Ruby does something she doesn't like, Stella will go after it. She has been known to pull Ruby's hair, hit, or draw on Ruby with marker. Ugh. We are definitely working on using our words, telling mommy and daddy right away, etc. Stella really wants to be in Pre-School just like Ruby. She loves going and dropping Ruby off, but can't wait for the day to go herself. I'm not sure if she will go next year or wait until the following year. We are going to potty train Stella right after Christmas. She is beyond ready. She sometimes will tell us when she is peeing and she always tells us when she is pooping. It's mostly been us being lazy. She is getting some new undies in her stockings this year though, so hopefully she will be excited! :)

Ruby:
   Ruby is growing so much this year. She continues to LOVE Pre-School. I feel so blessed that Ruby gets to go to a Faith based Pre-School. I love when the things we are trying to teach her at home are also being taught at school. She loves her teachers Ms. Emily and Ms. Jodi. She has started being more interested in coloring, writing, and artsy type things. She is entering one of my favorite ages! Ruby is very excited for Christmas and all that comes along with it. She loves doing our advent calendar at home. She loves going to Awana on Wednesday nights as well. I'm amazed at how much scripture she has memorized this year. It is also helping Ben and I memorize more as well! Ruby is such a sweet girl and has been such a big help with Millie this last month. If we could just work on her and Stella getting along a little better than that would be great! One minute they are playing SO well and the next minute one of them is crying. #sisters

I guess all my babies have those sweet kissable cheeks. Ruby top left. Stella bottom left. Millie on the right. 

Gosh I love him! 

Sweet Stella looking at the tree. 

I snuggle this one as much as I can! 

Ruby's Christmas program at Pre-School was SO cute! 

Millie chilling next to me as I ride the bike at the gym. 

2nd Annual Gingerbread at Grandmas. My mom rocks! 

I mean COME ON. So so sweet. 

Ruby and Stella LOVE playing grocery store! 

Three Months and Turning A Corner!

Hey Everyone,

First of all...Happy Thanksgiving! I'm writing this with three beautiful babies asleep upstairs and my hubby and I are watching a Hallmark movie! I hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving! We spent the day at Ben's parents house! It was a lot of fun. Kids running around like crazy, yummy food, and great company! So much to be thankful for this year!

Stella is also three months old today. It hasn't been easy getting here, but dare I say that we are turning a corner? I have officially been off of dairy and eggs for 2 ish months. I'm talking nothing! No chocolate, no butter, no ice cream, no nothing good in life basically.  After Millie's two month checkup, Millie's doctor told me to try introducing cheese into my diet to see if it would bother Millie. I was SO excited. I sooo miss cheese. Sure enough though, it made her little tummy so upset. Such a bummer, but it is what it is.

 Millie has been so so happy lately and it is so wonderful. She has also been sleeping very well. She wakes up once, maybe twice a night. Sometimes, she will sleep all the way through. It is insane. She doesn't take bottles very well. Unless you KNOW she is hungry, she would rather cry and scream to go to sleep. At least that is what she has done for Ben the couple of times I have left her with him. She gives the best smiles and will talk your ear off. I wish I knew what was going on in her mind. She rolls over from her stomach to her back. I have gotten her to giggle a couple of times and it is the best. She LOVES laying on her play mat. Often times she will fall asleep there as long as the girls aren't too loud. When being held, she prefers to face outward just like Ruby did when she was a baby. She is the happiest right away in the morning. She loves Ruby, which is great because Ruby is a little obsessed with Millie...in a good way.

Ruby continues to love pre-school. You know what is really cool? When you feel like you have been drilling things in your kids heads and it never seems to click, and then one day it does? It's just really neat sometimes knowing that you taught them "that." The other day the girls were playing in the toy room and Ruby was having Stella say, "I have been fearfully and wonderfully made by God." It's little moments like that where I think maybe I'm not screwing them up completely. ha! I have also seen a much more kind side to Ruby. She has also been listening a little bit better. I think there was just a lot going on at the beginning of the year that jolted her and she didn't know how to deal. Either way, it is so fun to watch her learn and grow. She is kind of like a 32 year old trapped in a 3 year old's body. Speaking of, I can't believe she will be turning 4 in a couple of months! Wow!

Stella is such a sweet girl. She continues to be our easy going, go with the flow kind of gal. God knows we all need a Stella in our life. She is quirky, loves to do whatever Ruby is doing, and loves going to choo choo school. AKA ECFE. She will typically eat whatever is on her plate and LOVES yogurt. She is a total daddy's girl. The other day however she came up and cuddled with me while Ben was in the room and I just couldn't get enough! I have loved getting to spend some more one on one time with Stella while Ruby is at Pre-School. It's interesting to see what Stella does and play with when her bigger sister isn't around. She is just so much fun and I'm so thankful for Stella!

It's been a pretty quiet month, so I will just post some pictures of our most recent shenanigans.

He came home with the best beer and a homemade birthday card from his students on my birthday. 

Our little hippie girl! 

A glimpse into our daily life! ha! 

She is just so so sweet! 

Getting some meat on her bones. :) 

I've been getting back to the gym, which has been so so nice! 

Went on a little  date with Ruby. 

                                                               Also went on a date with Stella.

He is so incredible. Braiding Ruby's hair. 

Two Months and Holding On

Hey Friends,

I had to go back and read my last post about where we were one month after Millie was born! In some ways we have come a long way and in other ways I still sit here a little puzzled.

Millie is two months old and while it feels like she has been here forever and the days are very long, I'm trying really hard to treasure these early stages. The stages of hearing her sweet noises while nursing. The stages of seeing her smile at her big sisters. The stages of her discovering her voice. As I was looking at her today while nursing, I couldn't help but be so thankful for the gift she is. She has been by far the hardest baby of the three. She is typically only content if she is being held. We are having longer stretches of her being happy, but what I'm getting at is that it has been difficult. Yet, I look at her and see such a gift that God gave us.

Since last month, I took Millie back to the doctor because she was spitting up a lot and just looked to be in pain, and arching her back. My doc diagnosed her with silent reflux and we got her on baby zantac. The result was pretty amazing. The second day of her being on the medicine I had put her on the floor on a blanket while I made lunch. She fell asleep. I almost cried tears of joy because this would have never happened before. Like I said, usually when she is awake she would be crying. It would take walking and rocking back and forth from one side of the house to the other for her to fall asleep. Now, I believe Millie has colic because she has the same "witching hour" every night, but I also believe it is getting better. Praise God! She is definitely growing. She has amazing cheeks, some incredible thigh rolls, and a delightful smile. She loves silly sounds, and loves to have serious discussions as well. She sleeps really well. The other night she slept for nine hours straight! Usually she wakes up once or twice. Her temperament still reminds me of Ruby and while I thought she looked more like Ruby, I'm not so sure anymore. I think she the perfect little balance or Ruby and Stella. We will see. Their looks change so much, but one thing that I'm pretty sure of is that she will have brown eyes like her big sisters. Gosh they are so pretty and get them out of trouble so often. Sometimes when the girls are focused on a show or something else I will just look at their big brown eyes.

The first month that Millie was here I struggled BIG time with the big girls. Millie was so so needy and I just had the hardest time being consistent with loving the bigs well. I was listening to a podcast called Risen Motherhood. I don't know if y'all have listened, but it does a great job of going through different trials that a mother goes through and relating the gospel to that. I had really been struggling with anger and it was really hard seeing my sin come out in Ruby and Stella. The way they would raise their voice at one another, the way they would just be short with one another was the exact way I was treating them. I had kind of "given up" if you will because I was so focused on Millie. Not only Millie, but selfishly doing things that I wanted to do as well whether it was checking social media or trying to get the laundry done. It wasn't until I remembered that I've been called to be their mom. I need to be a mom that loves, corrects, has compassion, teaches, etc. Not a mom that treats them like a burden. Oofta. That almost brings tears to my eyes because that is what I was viewing them as. Since then and that moment of realization, I have prayed for my girls more, prayed for Ben and I more, and tried to really put my identity in Christ and know that He is the only one who can bring us joy. He is the only one who can provide the calm. He is the only one who can provide that agape love.

With all of that said, we are anxious to see what this next month brings. Ruby will continue to go to pre-school (which she loves.) Stella loves going to MOPS. In fact, when praying at night, Stella often wants to pray for her teachers. We also go to ECFE on Friday mornings and both the girls love going there as well. Ruby is a definite extrovert. Stella is more introverted, but goes with the flow. We all like getting out each day doing something. This week in particular looks like it is going to be nice, so we will be outside as much as possible! Please continue to pray for Millie. Pray that her colic would go away soon and that her silent reflux would get better. I think we have to up the dosage because we are seeing some of the same symptoms as before. Thank you for reading...if any of you are indeed reading! haha. I was telling someone the other day that it has been SO helpful for me to go back and read what I blogged about when Ruby and Stella were this age. Well, here is to another month everyone!

Sweet girl is 2 months old! 

Yummy thighs. 

Ruby LOVES pre-school! 

                                                 
                                   Just on our nightly stroll from one side of the house to the other.

The girls got to go on a ride in a firetruck. Pretty cool. I'm not sure who had more fun...them, or Ben. 

I took away Ruby's nap because she was wide awake at 9:30. This particular day she must have really needed the nap because she fell asleep on the couch. 

He is the best! He made them a home made kite! 

Seriously. How could you not love those silly faces! 

Sweet sweet girl. 

One (long) Month!

Hey Everyone,

Here we are. We have made it to one month. Millie is officially one month old and friends, let me tell you in all honesty. It has NOT been easy. Lets start at the beginning shall we?

When I was in the hospital after having Millie I kept having these headaches. They would not go away with ibuprofen or caffeine. I chalked it up to being sleep deprived from basically being up for the two days previous. I did think it was weird though that ibuprofen wasn't working since that almost always does the trick. Millie was born on Wednesday and by Thursday evening we were home. The next day whenever I would stand up my head just started pounding. I would lie down and it was like my headache was gone. It was so strange. It only got worse though. I would sit up to nurse Millie and all of a sudden my neck would be stiff and my head continued to pound. I would lie back down and the headache was completely gone. Hmm, this is so strange. I couldn't play with the bigger girls. Literally the only thing I did until Monday was sit up to nurse Millie. It's all I could do. I called my doctor on Monday and said this isn't right. Turns out I was having a spinal headache from my epidural. This happens in about 1 in every 100 women. I was that lucky 1%. My doctor said I could either take narcotics with high doses of caffeine OR come in for a blood patch procedure. I opted for the latter. It's basically where they do another epidural, but they insert blood that they take from your arm and inject that into the epidural space. It then creates a patch over the spot where the spinal fluid was leaking. Let me tell you, as soon as this was done my headache was GONE. It was a miracle!!

Thankfully we got through that obstacle. Millie started off nursing great and still does for that matter. However about one or two weeks in it seemed and still does that if she isn't eating or sleeping (mostly on me) she is crying and looking like she is in pain. I'm thinking it is gas, so I have given up dairy. I'm only on day 3, but it isn't so bad. The hardest part is when Millie is upset and my other two girls are fighting, which has been happening A LOT lately. Any tips are definitely welcome. I'm talking if they are in the same room, they are most likely fighting, hitting each other, or running to me to tell me that so and so hit them. It is exhausting friends. I've been praying like crazy that God would meet me in this really hard spot right now. I want to enjoy my kids, but sometimes it isn't that simple. Sometimes parenting isn't always fun, but I'm thankful for the good moments that God has shown me. There have been plenty of those too!

Millie:
So, Millie is one month. She is a pretty good sleeper. She wakes up 2-3 times a night and sometimes just depends on how gassy she is. She has started smiling socially and it is the sweetest thing. She has also started cooing and it's the most peaceful sound around. I can't get enough of it. She is great at eating and is growing like a weed. She reminds me SO much of Ruby as a baby. She makes the same sounds that Ruby would make while nursing. She has the same temperament as Ruby had. If you could, please pray with us though that giving up dairy (for me) and whatever else that she would start feeling better! Oh yeah, she also caught her first cold from Stella. Poor girl. Thankfully we have been on top of it with suctioning out her nose.

Stella:
Stella is my easy baby. Especially when it is just her. She will sit and play with toys quietly, read books, and just be content. She loves singing, dancing, and doing ANYTHING that Ruby is doing. She unfortunately has a hard time sharing with Ruby and will often fight over something that I don't even think she truly wants, it's just because Ruby has it. Ruby has been going to pre-school and I have so enjoyed my time with just Stella. She loves Millie and loves to sing to her and pet her head. :)

Ruby:
Ruby has had a lot of changes since Millie being born. About a week after Millie was born, Ruby started Pre-School. She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11:30. I'm not going to lie, it has been a Godsend. She LOVES pre-school and I love hearing all that they do. It is a Christian based pre-school and so far we have had a great experience! She also has started going to Awana at our church on Wednesday nights. She is memorizing scripture and it is just so fun. We are really struggling as parents right now though on how to  parent Ruby. She is pretty high strung and has been pretty defiant lately. Please pray with us that we would be able to love her well and discipline her in love.

Ben:
Ben has been enjoying teaching this year. This quarter he is teaching Physical Education, Physics, and Auto. He is SUCH an incredible daddy. He often comes home to chaos and sometimes all of his ladies in tears. Yes, ALL of his ladies. He is so great about taking the older two and doing fun things with them while I walk with Millie or while I'm feeding her. Ben is a pretty quiet guy, but he is one of the biggest blessings in my life and in my girls life. I'm so thankful that he chooses to be present with us. He could be doing MANY other things, but he chooses us. Thank you, Ben!

Me:
I'm hanging in there. I don't want to sound so Debbie downer, because there has been so many blessings this past month, but I would be lying if I told you it was easy. Having three babies who are three and under is not easy. I would not change what I'm doing for a second. I love being a mom. I love staying at home with them and seeing them grow. I love getting to pray with them and for them on a daily basis. I can tell you though friends that without the Lord, I have NO clue what I would be doing right now. God always shows up in the good times and the hard times. He is my refuge and strength! I also just want to say how thankful I am for my mom as well. She has spent countless hours at my house helping out. Thanks, mom! We are all praying that the next month goes smoothly! Thanks for reading!

Ruby on the left and Millie on the right. 

Such a good daddy! 

Catching smiles! 

Ruby on her first field trip. Thankful that my mom was able to go along with her! 

How I get anything done. 

Cookies! 

Real life. 

Millie's Birth Story

Hey Everyone,

I haven't blogged since Stella turned 2. Life gets busy with littles and I'm coming to find that adding a baby to the mix will make it even busier. I can't tell you how much I love reading or hearing other people's birth stories. I always tell people that pregnancy and childbirths are one of the coolest miracles that God orchestrates! I also love that I blogged about Ruby and Stella's stories as well. I can't tell you how many times I have gone back to read those. I should maybe print those out in case the internet ever gets blown up. ha! Anyway, on with the star of the show.

Millie Kennedy Harvey. Ben and I had a really hard time coming up with a name. Until we came up with her name! :) Ruby and Stella were both named after family members. Ruby was Ben's grandmas name and Stella was Ben's Great Grandma's name. We kind of liked the idea of keeping the name in the family. As you all know my dad passed away three years ago. His mom's name whom I never met was Helen Mildred Kennedy. At first we had thought Helen would be a great name. Then a couple weeks later, Ben wasn't as sure. So, I was talking to my mom about it and she said well, they never called her Helen they called her Millie. We instantly loved it. My maiden name was Anne Louise Kennedy. Tell me if you see a pattern in our girls. Ruby Ann (no e as it was after my mom and grandma's middle name) Stella Louise, and now Millie Kennedy. Get it? Our girls middle names was my maiden name. Cool, eh? Now, onto the birth story.

As some of you may know, I was growing quite impatient waiting for Millie to come. This pregnancy was particularly hard towards the end. I was bigger, my hips and pelvis hurt almost all of the time, and I had little energy. I think one of the hardest parts was feeling kind of helpless when it came to taking care of Ruby and Stella. Ben will get a huge shout out later in the story. Anyway, I hated that I wasn't able to get down on the floor comfortably with them and play or I couldn't tolerate the heat as much when is all they wanted to do was be outside. It was painful both mentally and physically. I thought since I was so big that maybe Millie would come early. Or maybe that she was my third baby that she would come early. Or maybe, since I told her she would be my favorite kid if she came early that she would come early. Well, none of those things happened. In fact at my 40 week appointment I was not dilated at all. That shouldn't have surprised me because Ruby and Stella were the exact same way. Girls stick together I guess. I really wanted to avoid an induction, but we scheduled one anyway. Ben starts inservice days on the 27th, so we wanted to have as much time as we could with him home. So, the induction was set for Thursday the 23rd at 7:00 AM. I was trying to do all the things to bring this girl naturally. I'm talking eating spicy food, pineapple, going for long walks, bouncing on a ball at the gym, swimming, traveling out of town, dancing in the living room with the girls. You name it and I was trying it. On Saturday night I started having some super mild contractions. They were so mild I was unsure if that is what they really were. They were also very spread apart. As in hours apart. I still remained hopeful that it would turn into something. The next day came and I had nothing. Sunday was the same story. Every once in awhile I would have a contraction. Monday came and nothing was happening, so we went down to Ben's parents for the day. I started getting a little more frequent contractions and they were a little bit stronger. I though, holy smokes this would be awesome! I called my mom when we got home and just said just in case be ready to come here if they get closer together. Well, at around midnight they were coming about every 7 minutes. They still weren't super intense, but they were  frequent enough that I called my mom. She came out and as soon as she got here it seemed like things slowed down again. Ugh! Woke up the next morning and I had a 9:00 appointment with my OB. She checked my cervix and I was dilated to a 3. Yahoo!!! I Thought for sure she would just send me upstairs after stripping my membranes. Nope, she stripped my membranes and sent me home. I did ask if I could get induced one day early instead. She agreed. Remember how I wanted to avoid induction? Well, I was too impatient and sick of not getting sleep at that point. That following night (Tuesday) I had extremely painful contractions, but they were coming every 15 minutes. These contractions were way more painful than any I had with Ruby or Stella. I was honestly afraid that I was going to have Millie in our house because of how painful they were. When I'm in pain I don't want anyone talking to me or touching me. Lucky for Ben, he was able to sleep. The next morning came and we had to be at the hospital by 6:45. I could not wait. I basically wanted to walk in there, demand an epidural with some sort of cocktail to follow. I was so so tired after 48 hours of contractions and virtually no sleep. We arrived at the hospital. We had made it. The end was in site.

The delivery portion was great. I was quite anxious to find out what the contractions all night had done to my cervix. I was so anxious that my heart rate was up. The nurse asked if I was nervous. haha. I said yes. It seemed to take her forever to check me, but once she did she said that I was at a 3. THREE? Are you kidding me? The hardest contractions of my life got me nowhere? So, they started me on piton and my contractions were coming every 3 minutes. I asked for the epidural and thankfully Mr. Anesthesiologist man was quick to come. I don't want to mention any names, but the anesthesiologist reminded me of someone off of Grey's Anatomy who got into trouble for being drunk. Thankfully, this guy was not drunk and he did a great job of giving me relief. I kind of wanted to give him a hug when he left, but thought that was inappropriate. My Doctor came in a little later...she is amazing by the way. If any of you are reading this and are from around Buffalo....I will hook you up. She is incredible. She came in and checked me and said I was at a 5. Yes! We are getting closer to meeting this sweet girl! She left to go get changed. This was her day off mind you. My nurse gave me a birthing peanut ball. It's literally a ball that looks like a peanut. It is what did the trick for me and Stella and it ended up doing the trick to bring Millie. During this time however I got extremely sweaty and nauseous. I thought I was going to throw up. Is all i needed was a wet rag, ice chips, and to have my bed put up a little bit. It didn't last long. My doctor came back and I was at a 9. YESSS! So stinking close. She came back a couple minutes later she checked and it was go time! I was so excited and so relieved. During my contractions, they would tell me to push and that is what I did. In between contractions it felt like we were casually having coffee talking about tattoos. That is really what we were talking about....tattoos and if they hurt or not. ha! Anyway, it only took two pushes and how came Millie. She had her hand up by her face and she came out crying away. She cried a lot more than my other girls. She also peed on me first thing. Ah well! The amount of relief that I had was incredible. To finally hold her on my chest and get glimpses of her dark hair. There is no better feeling on this earth! She weighed 7 lbs. 11 ounces. She was my biggest baby yet!

We are now at home and so enjoying this peanut. Ruby absolutely adores Millie. She wants to hold her all the time. She sings Jesus Loves Me to her in the sweetest little voice. She will do anything for me as long as it involves Millie in some way. ha! Stella on the other hand isn't as into Millie just yet. She loves holding her, but she also would rather just play with her toys. She doesn't understand either I don't think that Millie is real and that you can't just shake her rock-n-play as hard as you want. haha, either way Stella is still super sweet. She just needs to be watched around Millie. Now onto one of my favorite humans of all time...Ben. He is going to get his own paragraph.

Ben is incredible. He never once complained about having to do pretty much everything in the last few weeks. I'm talking laundry, cleaning, dishes, cooking, and everything in between. Not to mention being the most fun dad and taking the girls places when I just needed a break. He encouraged me daily by asking me what I needed. He never made me feel guilty for not being able to do much. He continued to check in with me to find out how I was doing each night. Each night we talk about our high's and low's from the day and how we can be praying for one another. I just felt so loved throughout these last few weeks. Then, comes baby and he continues to be so wonderful. He asked if it would be helpful to take the girls and I said, well, that might be my new love language. Ha! I love the girls, but right now it was been so nice to get some alone time with Millie...and catch up on some rest. She likes to sleep during the day and then cluster feed until about 1:00 in the morning. Sleeping during the day with a 2 and 3 year old just doesn't happen. Anyway, Ben has been amazing!

Another special shout out to my mom who came and spent the night two nights in a row and occupied the girls while I was having contractions. She made the best meatloaf and it was just so nice having her here. Another shout out to Ben's parents who also took the girls to their house for two nights. It allowed Ben and I to come home from the hospital and have one more night without the girls. We were able to rest and enjoy a little calm before the storm. So, thank you parents! We love you!

I will try and keep y'all update on how things are going. Ben goes back to school on Monday. Ruby starts pre-school on the 4th and hopefully we will find a routine once again! Thanks for reading!

Ruby meets Stella

Proud Daddy. I asked him who Millie looked like. His response was, "a baby." haha

Ruby. Stella. Millie 

Grandma meeting Millie

Not moving. 

Ben continues to be fun. He made them ghost costumes.