A BIG week--sleeping, pooping, chopping!

So, the McKneelys have had an eventful week this week!!

Baby MATTHEW:Turned 4 weeks this week. Has dramatically changed his preferences for soothing--used to LOVE the pacifier and to be swaddled. He also would sleep best in his carseat all bundled up like in a cocoon. This week that all changed! He screams like a banshee when swaddled for sleeping or soothing, and will not let you put a pacifier in his mouth. This made for a couple stressful days and non-sleeping days at the onset of this week, but we've got him well figured out now and he slept last night for 5 hours straight! Woo-hoo!! too bad it was from 7-1AM and I didn't hit the sack until almost 10! Bummer!!

SAM:
Completed his poop chart by filling it with stickers every time he had a successful time on the toilet! To celebrate we went to McDonalds for lunch! (his last mini-milestone). At this point he'd been accident free for about 4 days and we were SO EXCITED!! We now have a calendar where we're tracking accident free days. 5 days on this calendar and we'll go get new underwear! But I am so convinced that we're through with this that I called the pre-school this week and got his registration packet! I can't believe we've made it! It only took a YEAR and seeing SPECIALISTS but he's doing FABULOUS!!

KAITLYN:
Late last year we had a family friend (an 8 year old boy) die of cancer. For months our family followed his illness and prayed for them--in fact hardly a day goes by that we don't pray for his family to be comforted. So fast foward that to January when Kaitlyn AGAIN was asking to cut her hair short like the cute "bobs" so many of her friends have. Her hair was so long and is so GORGEOUS that I started talking to her about donating her hair.

We talked about Peyton and that sometimes the medicine for cancer can make you so sick you lose your hair and that would be REALLY HARD and even embarrassing to lose your hair and we could donate it. She LOVED the idea and we committed to growing it out until spring when it would be long enough to donate.

This last FRIDAY was THE DAY!!
She was SUPER excited (I however was having a harder time with this than she was but I didn't let on--she's ALWAYS had long beautiful hair and I was trying to imagine it short, worried she wouldn't like it and be upset, and it was such a big change) We thought about how nice it will be to be short and low maintenance for the summer, and it is just hair and totally grows back......

Here she is after the big chop!! Her hair was so thick we did it in 2 ponytails--maybe 2 kids can benefit right?
And here is the AFTER shots! She looks so grown up--and so darn cute--and SHE LOVES IT!!

For those who are interested, the charity we chose was Children with Hairloss (www.childrenwithhairloss.com) who donate hair just to kids and only needed 8 inches in order to donate. Some require up to 12 inches!! And Kaitlyn REALLY wanted her hair to go to a child not an adult. This one fit our needs perfectly!!

My kids can be brilliant!

2 Stories to share:

1. We like to practice helping Kaitlyn and Sam learn their numbers by identifying the yellow school bus numbers on our way to and from school. Sam is learning numbers up to 20 and Kaitlyn up to 100. So imagine my surprise when on Monday Lindsey hollars out "18 mom!" and sure enough the bus in front of us was indeed number 18! I would think it was just a fluke but she saw the same bus the next morning and identified it again!!

2. Sam is quite the rhymer, (developmentally appropriate for his age) but he's taken it to a level I've never seen and rhymes ALL THE TIME sometimes to excess! Well on Sunday night Kaitlyn was emptying out the dishwasher and asks, "What rhymes with spatula?", Sam in an instant replies, "Red-footed Batula!" . I swear this kid is the next Dr. Seuss!

But who will make his birthday cake?

We're planning a trip to Utah this summer over the 4th of July to celebrate my Grandfather Lewis' 90th birthday.

We've been talking about it with the kids because we've never really road-tripped it with them nor been to the state of Utah with them. They know why we're going too and that they're going to meet my grandfather.

Being that we've been celebrating birthdays around here and making cakes, the other day Sam asks me, "Mom, is your grandpa's mom still alive?"
I respond, "No, she died a long time ago."
Sam says, "But mom, who will make your Grandpa's Birthday cake?"

Cute huh?

Our EASTER best

It took a few tries, but we got one with all 3 looking at the camera in a presentable fashion, enjoy their Easter Duds!

Sam turns 4

This little guy just turned 4!!

(the little one, the big one turns a bigger number in a few days)

We kept things really simple for his special day. He requested Spaghetti and Meatballs for his birthday dinner (sidenote--he's never actually HAD spaghetti and meatballs before, rare is a child who requests a new food on their birthday) and I roll up my sleeves and try out a new recipe making them from scratch!!For dessert he requested a confetti rainbow cake, blue frosting and strawberries on top. YUM!!

Grandma and Grandpa Lewis along with Uncle Ben, Aunt Summer and baby Ellie. We opened some great presents:

A big boy BIKE!And a great Cowboy outfit with Red boots, a black cowboy hat, a sherrif's badge and Aunt Summer made a great vest! Doesn't he look great?!?!

I love this little guy! He's excited to be 4!

Mascara Mess

It's Sam's birthday.
He's requested Spaghetti and Meatballs from scratch for dinner,
and I'm making a cake.
It's crunch time to get the meatballs in the sauce to cook in time to eat.

I THINK all 3 of my walking children (Matt can't yet) are in the backyard playing on the swingset.

Kaitlyn and Sam come in for a drink and I ask them where Lindsey is. "She's not outside with us, Mom." says Kaitlyn. Uh-oh, the house has been SILENT--that scary kind of silent when you know that she's been up to no good. My hands are a raw meaty mess so I send Kaitlyn to try and locate said missing mischievious missy. She finds her alright, in my MASCARA.

When I walk in she's discovered that the wand fits perfectly into this cable outlet:and her face looks like this:(She wasn't too thrilled with posing for a photo)

and my makeup looked like this on my bathroom counter:
Her timing couldn't have been worse as she now needed a bath and because she does belly flops in the tub when unsupervised, I still needed to finish the meatballs AND ice a cake all before Matthew woke up needing to nurse.

Oh the joys of motherhood!

(At least I thought to take the photos so that someday I can shake my head and laugh at my life!)

I'm growing!!!

Just checking in!!

I'm now a little over 2 weeks old. Mom took me to the doc earlier this week and I am a hearty eater!! I now weigh 8 pounds 9 ounces, my head is still ginormous (15 inches) and I've grown 1/4 inches in length!! I am also a pretty good sleeper who takes a good 5 hour stretch on a regular basis from about 10:00 pm -3:00 am most nights! Mom and dad really LOVE that! I'm also surviving the love of my siblings pretty well! This is a loud house but I can sleep through most anything so far which is good!

Hoppy Easter!!

Bunny Run Breakfast: A McKneely Family Tradition is that our Easter Bunny leaves breakfast treats along with Easter Eggs in our yard so first think Easter morning, we gather our baskets and get our eggs and our grub! Then there was this crazy mishap in the bathroom trying to bathe the kids and the girls got a little carried away and created the largest "lake" a McKneely bathroom has ever seen on the floor (they claim they were trying to splash Sam who was on the toilet at the time) WHAT a MESS!!

Then to try and watch the Sunday morning session of General Conference on the computer (which wasn't as successful as it's been in the past, we're still adjusting to having Matthew and taking care of him while still managing our other 3....)

The afternoon session was spent napping for the most part but towards the end we arrived at the Lewis' and watched the last part.....then we had ANOTHER Easter Egg Hunt!

Lindsey in all her glory (the Easter Bunny brought sunglasses for the girls--cute huh?)

Sam with his eggs carefully lined up to count....15 to be egggg-zact!

And our cutie girls!

We then enjoyed a traditional Easter FEAST and enjoyed the company of family!!
HOPPY EASTER!!!

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!!

Guess who just turned 6??? My "BABY" Kaitlyn!!What an exciting day it was!! Daddy stayed home from work and per her request went and had lunch with her at school. It was the last day of school before a long Easter weekend and so there was a fun egg hunt with the Kindergartners. Mom also sent a plastic egg filled with M&M's for each child in her class! What a treat!While she was at school these two really pitched in to help Mom make Kaitlyn's requested Birthday treat: Chocolate cake with PINK frosting!

Later that evening we enjoyed a favorite meal of Poppy Seed Chicken (YUM!) and then we had Grandma and Grandpa Lewis come over with Uncle Ben, Aunt Summer and cousin Ellie for a present unwrapping and cake and ice cream!Kaitlyn loved her presents! She got a razor scooter and a new PINK helmet, some sponge curlers for her hair, a new outfit (pictured here without the leggings) from Grandma and Grandpa McKneely, a purse and jewlery from her cousins, a new purple church skirt that Aunt Summer made for her, and 3 outfits for her Corolle doll that she has just fallen in love with from Grandma and Grandpa Lewis.

Then it was time for the cake:******

Then the next day, since it was a school holiday we had her special birthday activity.

(sidenote: now that I have 4 children, and the proximity of their birthdays to each other--3 in a 3 week period--I am in no way able to do birthday parties with friends every year, we do the BIG birthdays like 5,8 & 12. So instead of a party we try and have a "special birthday activity" that sometimes is with one or two friends)

Now, Kaitlyn true to her girlish ways LOVES to have her toes painted and is very good about reminding me when they need to be done because the old polish has worn off. But I've been the one to always do her toes and I thought it fun to let her have a REAL LIVE PEDICURE so I found a simple little place that would paint some toes and she invited her best friend from school!

First we went to one of Kaitlyn's favorite places: Yogurtville! A local self serve frozen yogurt place. Kaitlyn got Cookies and Cream ice cream with Animal Cookies (the pink and white ones with colored balls on them)!And her friend loved her treat too!

Then it was off to Zenity Spa for the nail pampering! I was a bit surprised because Kaitlyn, my total pink girl, chose a dark PURPLE with glitter for her toes. And her friend who prefers purple chose PINK!?!? Go figure!Here she is getting pretty:

We had a great day!! And I was really super grateful to her little friend's mom who took care of Sam and Lindsey while I took the baby and was able to make this outing possible and successful!!

Meeting the Family

Obviously the first phone call we made when the baby was born was to our kids. My mom had just returned from picking Kaitlyn up from school, Stephen asked my mom to put it on speaker phone and said, "Mom had the baby guys....and Sam, you have a brother!!" They were so excited!! Plans began immediately for my Dad to come over and all of them to come up to the hospital and meet little Matthew. We wanted to be together as a family as soon as we could!=)
They finally got me transferred to my postpartum room and they came in. There was the sweetest spirit that filled that room as Sam and Kaitlyn gently came over to see little Matthew. They spoke in reverent voices almost as they talked to him and introduced themselves and each took turns holding him, patting his head and stroking his cheeks. I was so grateful for their eagerness to be with him and to love him. And I hope I always remember this image!
Lindsey knew it was a baby but wasn't so sure what to do with him. She was more comfortable sitting with me!=) But one by one, each of my children took turns holding their new brother!

Matthew's Birth Story

So for those of you who want the details and play by play of Matthew's birth, READ ON. those that don't....don't.=)

Wednesday March 25th: Induction day.

We woke up at my mom came to our home early, kids still sleeping. We're at the hospital by their requested 6 AM time. We check in, get things going....Dr. Jacoby comes in about 7:15. He's on his way to do another procedure and hopes to be done before his regularly scheduled appointments with enough time to come and break my water. See, I go pretty quick once that happens (Lindz was a 3 1/2 hour labor total) and my ideal was to have this baby by lunch. But the best laid plans.....

Turns out Dr. Jacoby didn't have time to come and break my water and was worried he'd have a hard time getting back to the hospital to deliver if he had ruptured me so...he came back at lunch.

In the meantime while waiting for his return, my I.V. and Pitocin were going and I was feeling my contractions pretty good. I was in a very good rhythm with them and wasn't concerned with them stalling out, I knew I would want an epidural before my water broke and they got really uncomfortable so I got one around 9:00 I think. In hindsight, since he didn't return until lunch to break my water I could have held out, but then in even more hindsight I'm glad I DID get one when I did and had a few hours of "restful" labor before the pain began.
The epidural was great and was working well, I wasn't progressing very quickly (dilated or effacing) but knew that things would go quickly once I was ruptured. But then the epidural started working too well. I was numb in my forearms and more than 1/2 way up my chest and it was uncomfortable. I was concerned that I'd be too numb to be productive when it came time to push. So I did what is rarely done and I asked to adjust it down.

The Anesthesiologist was down in a surgery and so a colleague came to adjust it, I didn't know it until later that he cut me back by 50%!!! I did feel better shortly and rested for the remainder of the morning.

Lunchtime came (and yes, Baylor Frisco fed my husband, Turkey with wild rice and asparagus, a roll, fruit and chocolate cake!!--gotta love a hospital with a 4 star chef that feeds 2 people at every meal the entire stay at the hospital) and Dr. Jacoby ruptured me.

By about 1:30 I was starting to feel the contractions and I was hanging with it, but asked if we could pump up the epidural. It was then that the original anesthesiologist realized I'd been adjusted so far back. Then things kind of became a race to catch me up....a race that we didn't win.

I was still numb on my left side but my right was not very numb, I was feeling HIS head bear down every contraction and they were coming every 2 minutes and lasting almost a minute. They tried a couple things to catch me up with my epidural, it took a bit of the edge off the pain but it mostly numbed my left side more. I went from a 7 to a 10 in about 25 minutes. (glad at least that the pain wasn't just for pain's sake--it was progressive pain) Which was good because by about 2:30 or so I realized that the quickest way to relieve the pain was going to be to get the baby out.
Dr. Jacoby was in another delivery room with another mom but she was going to be pushing awhile and he knew I'd go quickly so he came in. I pushed through 3 contractions and at 3:02 pm out popped little Matthew Lewis! 8 pounds 3 ounces, 19 1/2 inches long and a 15 inch head. I actually heard the nurse say something like, "I must be measuring this wrong, there is no way this head is THAT big, but I've done it 3 times and sure enough it IS 15 inches!!" I told her "I'd believe it, I was feeling that head bear down in every contraction!!"
Dr. Jacoby is a super cool doc that has allowed Stephen to deliver Sam, Lindsey and now Matthew. He'll get the head out and then let Stephen get the rest of them out. He plopped him on my lap and announced, "It's a boy!!" (see he already knew, he'd known since the sonogram but had kept that secret to himself and didn't tell a soul!! Isn't that amazing?!?!)
I was so happy to have him out and to have the pain over with!! He was beautiful and I was able to watch most of his care right there at my bedside! Then they left us alone for about an hour and a half to let me nurse and stuff.

He was a great little eater from the start, I think his first feeding was like 45 minutes long and as he ate I did too--I was STARVING and had really expended a lot of energy in labor so I was grateful for the food.

So that's the story!!