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. 

Stella is Two!!!

     It has been forever since I have written a blog post and I was just telling Ben how excited I was to write one for Stella's  second birthday. This girl. I tell you what. I'm a bit obsessed with her and who she is becoming. Her personality is starting to show more and more each day. She is all sorts of quirky. She is our "family clown." She does certain things that make us all laugh so hard and it only encourages her to do more.
     In some ways I can't believe Stella is two now. In other ways I feel like she has been in our family forever. Well, let's be honest...I did pretty much have her when Ruby was an infant. Ok, ok, Ruby was 15 months old when Stella was born. Stella has been a dream. Seriously. I can say that now because Ruby was much more difficult as an infant and toddler and she still is. I'm hoping that Stella keeps being an "easy" child and that baby number three follows in her footsteps. Let me brag on Stella a little bit. She eats pretty much whatever I put in front of her. This includes one of Ben and I's favorite meal of spicy sirracha shrimp noodles. She loves them. She says spicy and then asks for more. She doesn't really care for sweets, which I guess is just strange to me. I thought about taking her to get donuts tomorrow and then I thought, oh wait, that is just me who wants them. ha! If you ask her what she wants for her birthday, she will promptly tell you that she wants treats. I think this is something that Ruby told her she wanted. Argh. Stella goes with the flow. She sleeps great. In the morning and after her nap she will lay there talking to herself until we go in and pick her up. Seriously, we could leave her there for 30 minutes and she would be perfectly content. Stella also LOVES babies. I hope this is still true in four months. Wherever we go, she must say hi to all the babies and she will let us know that there is a baby.

Now I will just upload a bunch of pictures of this sweet girl. She is so much fun and I can't wait to see what the future holds for her!

This is her first birthday. 

I LOVE how much Stella loves Ruby and how much Ruby loves Stella. I pray their relationship will continue to grow into the best friendship! 

Remember when I said she didn't care for sweets? She will eat ice cream! 

She loves reading right now and she alway loves Daddy! 

Dairy Queen for the win! 

We had a blast going to the Como Zoo with my mom the other day! 

Oh sweet Stella Louise. We love you so much! I'm so thankful that God chose me to be your mom. You were fearfully and wonderfully made!  I hope you have the best day and that you have the best year as a two year old! 

Logging Out

Hey Everyone,

I hope you all had a great Halloween. This year was pretty fun for us. Last year Ruby couldn't say trick or treat or thank you. She would just go along with what her cousins did. This year she had her game face on. She quickly learned that if she said Trick or treat, she would get candy. It was cold, but she wanted to go to all the houses. She is a tough one. Stella also did really well. I was surprised with how quickly she caught on. We went down to Ben's parents house. Ben's dad does something big every year and this year was no different. We had a lot of fun!

Now, for the title of this post. Logging out. For the month of November I'm going to stay off of Facebook and Instagram. I will still have my email and text, but that's it. I've just realized that I'm on my phone way too much during the day and when I am staring at my phone I easily get upset with my girls for doing stuff that could have easily been prevented had I paid attention to them. I also hate how "addicted" to it I've become. I don't know how to be bored anymore because I can just check into Facebook or Instagram and have instant gratification. I don't want to model that behavior for my girls. So, I'm going to give it up for November because it's the month of thankfulness...right? I'm SO thankful for my family and friends and I want them to have my full attention. Not just my online attention. I have never given up Facebook or Instagram before and I'm ashamed to say that I think I will be lost without it. I'm looking forward to this month. SO, after publishing this post, I will be logging off for a month. Please feel free to email me or call/text me! :)

I don't really have much else to report on us. We keep on doing our thing! :)

They love running across our alley to this barn that has been fixed up. They sit on the doorstep like this and giggle. It's pretty cute. 

Ben loves explaining things to these girls and they soak it all up. #teacherkids

We were SO excited about the first snow fall. 

Moose has been pretty clingy lately. He has come with us to the gym (he stays in the car) and to ECFE because he will jump in the car and not come out. Poor thing. We love our Moose! 

I love when I can catch naps with this one. 

Coffee in the morning, wine in the afternoon...I mean evening. ;) 

Mom life has it's perks. Drinking coffee with both girls on my lap. 

My father in law on Halloween.

Ruby was Lamb-Chops and Stella was a Flamingo. 

Cutest Flamingo I have ever seen! 

Today was one of those days where the girls were in tornado mode. I would pick something up in the living room, meanwhile they were destroying Ruby's room. Anyway, I was about to throw in the towel when I walked in on sweet Stella reading stories in Ruby's room. Thankful for moments like this in my day. 

JOY

Hey Everyone,

We live in a dark dark world, right? Or so it seems? I also see a lot of joy. I see a lot of beauty in the ashes. It is really hard for me to watch the news. In fact, I don't. I do read a little email called The Skimm every day that kind of gives me a recap of what is going on. I hate that I can't turn on the tv to anything besides PBS. We were in Wal-Mart today and Ruby was on this motorcycle ride thing just for fun and I noticed the character was a female who was only wearing a sports bra type thing and her boobs were huge. At that point I pulled Ruby off. The ride said that it was fit for all ages. I hate that this is the world my girls are growing up in. It makes Ben and I"s job just the more important of teaching them about the Lord and that HE is good all of the time. This world is not. But, we can cling onto the hope of Jesus. And that is praise worthy. I thank God that this is only our temporary home. Hey...that reminds me...Carrie Underwood sang a song called Temporary Home. It's a great one. Ok, end of my little rant. Please know that I love ALL people and am praying for this world on a daily basis. If there is ever a time you need a specific prayer. Please reach out. I love you.

On another note. I have truly been enjoying my girls. There was a time a few months ago where I was just stressed out. It seemed like Ruby was just crabby a lot and that Stella was starting to climb all the things and they weren't getting along the best. I was trying to run a business and nobody was getting the best me. I stopped my business because I knew I needed to focus on my family more. Oh yeah, we also listed our house on the market! Nothing has happened yet, and I'm pretty sure I found the house I want in Buffalo. Unfortunately we can't do anything until our house sells. So, if you know of anyone who is looking...let me know! Anyway, things have kind of slowed down, and I'm truly enjoying my girls. Do we still have hard days...absolutely. I have been much more relaxed though and I feel like God has helped me with peaceful parenting. I joined the gym in Buffalo. I was just telling Ben today that it is the best thing that has happened. I'm able to take the girls to the childcare area at the gym and go do my workout. I even am able to shower afterwards. It is AMAZING! I get a little break from the girls. They get some social interaction without me there. It really is a win win. It has been an absolute Godsend.

Ruby is talking up a storm, singing songs, and making us laugh constantly. She loves her sister, but can be pretty rough with her at times. We are working on that. She was introduced to the movie Frozen and LOVES it. I think there is some kind of drug that comes from that movie. I think she watched it every.single.day. for a week. I taught Kindergarten when this movie came out, so you can see why I waited 2.5 years to introduce it to Ruby. :) Ruby is fully potty trained...thanks to her. We tried over Christmas last year and she was not having it. I let it be completely up to her and it made it SO easy. She sleeps in a toddler bed. To be honest, she has been needing one of us to lay down with her at night and during naps until she fell asleep. Tonight we put the ka bosh to that. She got out of her bed three times. Once to go potty and then on the third time I just told her as she was whimpering that I would be just outside and she said ok and stuck that little thumb in her mouth. She is such a sweet girl! I told her tonight that I pray for her to always be kind and compassionate. 

Stella is seriously so sweet! She is chill, she goes with the flow and hardly fusses. She can hold her ground when it comes to Ruby and she is getting into all the things just like Ruby did. Maybe even more so. Stella is just about 18 months. Holy smokes. It's crazy how fast that has gone. She has hair that starts in the back of her head and comes straight forward. I don't want to cut her hair, so the only solutions right now is a pony on the top of her head. It is pretty cute actually. She is a peanut and is still mostly in 12-18 month clothes. She loves following Ruby around and doing what she is doing, but also loves just reading books. She will eat pretty much anything. Except roasted broccoli. That is not her jam. She sleeps really well at night. She takes a paci. I usually put about 4 in her crib so she can always find one. haha. She only really has a paci at night time and nap time. She is taking one nap, which is REALLY nice because both her and Ruby take naps at the same time! Stella is SO much fun. Her personality shows more and more each day and we love it!

Ben has been enjoying school for the most part. He of course has hard days. He works with a different group of kids who have really hard home lives and just deal with a lot on a day to day basis. Ben LOVES those kids and I can see his heart and passion for them as individuals, but trying to teach them can be difficult. He was telling me today that there are a couple of students that he doesn't get along with and that the only thing they connect with on is G2 Pens. People who know G2 Pens will get this. haha. He said we might not always like each other, but when we get to talking about our love of G2 pens...all is well. Ha, I love that he tries to find little things like pens to connect with his students. He is also the most amazing Dad. The girls adore him. Everything at home is just better when he is here. Ruby asked to go work on one of the cars with Ben and his eyes just lit up and I asked him if he was in heaven and he had the biggest smile on his face. Ben has been going to a mens small group on Thursday nights and they have been talking about the importance of a father figure in the home. He is doing such a great job at being present, loving the girls and me, and just being AWESOME! I don't know what I would do without him.

I have started MOPS again. We had our kickoff last Tuesday. It's so nice having a place for other moms to come. We drop our kids off with amazing childcare volunteers. We eat a (hot) breakfast and we just get to be in community with other moms. It's such a blessing. I also am involved in a new ministry called Propel at our church. I'm super excited for that. It is one Thursday a month. I've been going to the gym like I mentioned before and have just been finding my groove as Ben is back at school and navigating motherhood. The funny thing about motherhood is that it always changes. It is never the same and no kid is ever the same. Anyway, that is all for us. If you think of it, please pray for our house to sell! There is a house that I would love in Buffalo! :) With that said, I do know that God's timing is the best timing, so just being patient! :)

Thanks for reading!

Love her! Yes, those are Ruby's undies on her head! (Clean of course) 

I'm jealous of my daughters hair! 

Listening to the crickets. (Way past their bed time) 

Our trees have been dropping leaves, but not changing colors. So strange. 

Did I mention he is the best?