Welcome Mackinsey Rae O'Brien!

We welcomed our third daughter into the world on Monday December 29th at 9:57pm. She weighs in at 7lbs. 3oz. and is 19 inches long. She didn't get to come home with us today, she's taken a small vacation in the NKCH NICU to sunbathe her cares away. She has a bit of jaundice, so it is light therapy all the way for her. For those of you that are curious...here's our birth story.

I'd been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for several weeks. It was no different when we took Bill & Lynn (aka Papa & Granny) to the airport on Saturday night (Dec. 27th). However, that night I wasn't able to get a good night's sleep because I was up every 13 minutes with a contraction. Sunday morning I was EXHAUSTED but still couldn't rest because the contractions started coming 8 minutes apart. At that point in time I called the doctor's office and they advised me to come to the hospital to get it checked out. They watched me for a couple of hours and told me that I was having contractions 3 to 5 minutes apart, however there was no change in my cervix. They told me that I likely had a urinary tract infection and sent me home with an antibiotic and a prescription for vicodin to help me get some rest.

That night I took my antibiotic and vicodin and was able to get 2 hours of sleep before I was up having contractions for the next 2 hours before I could take any more vicodin. We did this for two rounds before I became nauseous and bowed my head to the porcelain throne. I called Labor & Delivery to let them know that I was having a new issue and they assured me that it was because I'd taken the vicodin on an empty stomach. I ate half of a bagel and tried again. I was still sick. I decided I would just lay around and "get over it".

Jay went to work and the kids and I had a pajama day on Monday Dec. 29th. I was very nauseated all day long and couldn't eat or drink. I called Jay for help at 3:00 because I was so tired and so sick. He came home at 4:00 and I told him that I was going to go lay down upstairs to try to get some rest. When I stood up I felt a trickle. I thought "that might be my water breaking" and I told Jay that I thought my water had broken. I went to the bathroom to tinkle to make sure I hadn't just had some bladder leakage. I was still conflicted...until I stood up and the fluid began to flow down my legs.

We began the protocol that had been designed weeks before. We couldn't get in touch with Jeanne to watch the kids so we took them to Kim-Marie. I called Kelli Craft (a dear sweet friend that agreed to help me scream my way through contractions) to meet us at the hospital. We finally got in touch with Jeanne and she picked up the kids from Kim-Marie and brought them home so that they could get a good night's rest. We were all set.

I went into the hospital at 4:30pm. I had dialated from 1.5cm & 50% effaced to 2cm. and 70% effaced. While we were waiting for pitocin I began to have contractions and I dialated from 2cm to 4cm. Once the pitocin kicked in I lost it and started yelling at the nurse to "please get me my friggin' epidural". They finally agreed to give it to me when I was so hysterical that it took everything in Jay and Kelli to get me to breathe. I got my epidural at 9:05pm (none too soon in my opinion) and was immediately checked and had advanced to 6cm. In the 15 minutes it takes for the epidural to be effective I went from 6cm to 9cm. They decided to get me up in the stirrups by then. After they'd gotten me situated I told them that I felt a ton of pressure and they checked again and I was already a 10 and was totally ready to push.

I pushed 4 times (10 seconds each) during 1 contraction for Kinsey to make her grand entrance. She was BEAUTIFUL! She had a little trouble with breathing smoothly and had to be observed for 2 hours in the nursery befor we were able to love her up.

We got to spend a day with her before she developed jaundice and had to be moved to the NICU. Her bilirubin count dropped from 9 to 8.5 over a 8 hour period so we are hopeful that we'll get to bring her home tomorrow.

WE ARE BLESSED!

Getting ready for Christmas!

Wow...time flies when you're having fun! We are preparing for Christmas and I think that we are almost done. Jay decorated the outside on the last pretty day that we had and I must say that he did a FABULOUS job. The outside looks like each light was intentionally and perfectly placed. He also put icicle lights around the living room, dining room, & kitchen. The kids love all of the lights!

The Missaoui family came to visit for Thanksgiving and helped us put up our two Christmas trees. The small tree in the foyer has our "family ornaments" on it. Each family member going back out our grandparents has an ornament on that tree. We need to make a new one for Kinsey this year! The tree in the living room has all of our fun ornaments and an ornament for every year of Jay and I's relationship.

Jay also hung up the stockings (the mantle is getting very full) and our various other knick knack decorations. Marian, Stephen, Angie, Tatum, Christine, & Connor went together and bought us a gorgeous painting of Santa Claus that is hanging in our living room.

Taylor's highlight is moving the mouse along our countdown calendar. I've had this calendar since I was a kid and looked forward to moving the mouse. She gets confused and REALLY wants to move the mouse after naptime too. So we move the mouse in the morning and in the evening we read our "Jesus cards". Ms. Jeanne at church gave us the gospel account of Jesus' birth divided up among 25 cards and you read a new card each day so that by the end the kids almost have the story memorized. They LOVE it!

All of the gifts have been bought/shipped and we lack only one gift per child. We're arranging for a "shopping date" so that the two of us can go out and agree on what we'd like to get each one.

Taylor asked Santa for:
1) A pink robot that talks and walks.
2) A big dinosaur that must be pink or green.
3) A teddy bear that she wishes to name "Faluka".

When I asked her what she wanted Mommy & Daddy to get her she said "I don't know." I guess we get the creative freedom that Santa only wishes he had!

Bella looked at Santa like he was from Mars and didn't say a single word.

When I asked her what she wanted for Christmas she just said "Winnie the Pooh". Simple kid.

So that is how Christmas is shaping up in our house. We've done A LOT of internet shopping since I'm about as big around and I am tall and walking is sort of difficult for a weeble. However, I think that things have shaped up nicely. After Christmas we'll be in the final preparations for Kinsey's arrival!

Kinsey's 3D ultrasound

We had a 3D ultrasound done today of Kinsey and I think she looks alot like Bella, but she has Jay's smile. His cheeks fold a certain way when he smiles and we saw hers do the same thing.Jay wanted to make EXTRA sure she was a girl since that is what we are totally prepared for and sure enough...there's no mistaking that she's a girl!

She likes to keep her feet up by her face. Here's a good shot of her cute little feet.

Apparently she was on a mission to see if she could explore her mouth with her toes.

She gave up on this mission and covered her eye with her hand. It looked like she was a little bothered that we had intruded upon her sacred time in the womb.
We got to see her cute, tiny little ears in the ultrasound and the lady said it looks like she has a little bit of hair on her head. (They said this about Bella too and she's STILL having trouble growing hair at any length!)
Right before we were done with the session she folded her hands like Taylor & now Bella will do from time to time.
I think we wore her out because she started to yawn right before the session ended. Good night Kinsey, sleep tight!

Taylor plans dinner

On the way home from school today Taylor asks me "Mama...what are we having for dinner?" I tell her that I don't really know and I ask her what she wants. She says "we will have mashed potatoes, corn, and NO GREEN BEANS!" She also tells me that "we will need macaroni and cheese too". So, just for kicks and giggles...that is what I'm fixing for dinner tonight. She said "I don't want chicken and I don't want steak, I JUST WANT MASHED POTATOES, CORN, AND MACARONI AND CHEESE." So that is what we are having for dinner tonight.

Bundled up

Bella and I accompanied Jay and Taylor to gymnastics this week. Winter has fallen on Liberty so we had to bundle up. Bella looked so cute in her winter dress that we had to take a picture.

Jay wanted to take this picture so he can show her one day that she was small enough for him to lift with one hand.

Of course Taylor had to get in on the picture session so she got on Jay's shoulders and I thought that this picture was funny because Jay's head looks huge compared to Taylor's.

Taylor's favorite thing to do right now is to make the "Granny face" so this is a picture of both Jay & Taylor making the "Granny face".

I had to get a good picture of Taylor's face for MOPPETS so here's how she posed.

Trick or Treat 2008

Taylor and Bella have been so excited about trick or treating this year. Taylor dressed up as a pirate and Bella was a bumble bee. We started trick or treating on our street and after walking door to door on Maple Woods Drive Bella got tired. Jay pulled out the wagon and Bella rode in style from door to door from then on out. Taylor had a great time being a pirate, unfortunately her sword could not handler her zeal and broke about 3/4 of the way through the night. Taylor taught Bella how to say something close to trick or treat. They were so cute!!!

Taylor told us that she was tired so we headed back home to sit on our porch and hand out candy. It was such a GORGEOUS evening and we just couldn't talk ourselves into going inside. I think that the kids had just as much fun handing out candy as they did going from door to door.

Aunt Jackie Takes a Peek at Kinsey

We visited Jackie at work so that she could try to get a picture of Kinsey's face. The first attempt was unsuccessful. She was VERY happy to show us that she is indeed a girl, but was a little more camera shy when it came to her face. Eventually Jackie got a pretty good shot of her face. I've labeled the picture to the best of my ability so that it will hopefully make sense to you. I'm a little partial, but I think she's pretty darn cute!

Mama goes to the hospital

Kinsey has managed to squish a ureter. This required a short trip to the hospital. It only took a day or so to get things running smoothly again. I should be able to go home tomorrow. Kinsey is doing great, however she likes to give the heart rate monitor a run for it's money. She will let them acquire her heart rate and then she's off to the races. The poor nurse gave up and decided to let Kinsey run off her energy before she'd try again. After I ate lunch Kinsey was in her food bliss sleep and we were able to keep her on the monitor for over 20 minutes. I think that she is going to have just as much spunk as the other two girls!

Alldredge Apple Orchard

Jay and I took the kids to Alldredge Apple Orchard this morning on a MOPS outing. Jay kindly took the morning off to help me with the kids. It was a really good thing too because it would have been very difficult to keep up with them with my lame ankle and my big ole pregnant belly! We started the tour by the biggest pumpkin I've ever seen in real life!
The tour went to the chicken coup for the next stop and that REALLY freaked me out. I HATE CHICKENS! They are mean little horrific creatures that take off chasing you for no good reason. Taylor and Bella both loved the chickens. Taylor fed the chickens out of her hands and Bella learned how to say "chicken".
Next the kids were allowed to pick apples. Most of the apples on the lower limbs had already been picked, so Jay and Taylor came up with a good way to pick the good apples at the top of the tree.
We went on a hayride next. Jay and I sat on the floor in the hay with the kids so that Bella would be able to see over the edge of the trailer. They had so much fun. Bella learned the word "apple" on the hayride.

After the hayride we went in to see the bees. The kids heard a story about apple trees and about how the beekeepers let their bees out in the spring to pollinate the trees. Then she got to dress up like a beekeeper!
After Taylor decided that she was done being a beekeeper we sat in a circle where the children were allowed to hold the orchards' kittens. Naturally both of my kids, being the animal lovers that they are, had to participate in this event. Jay and I would've loved to have passed up this event since we are both terribly allergic to cats...but such is the sacrifice of parents.
Next we were off to feed the goats. Taylor LOVES feeding animals.
After feeding the goats we went to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins. Now this was something that Bella could really get into. Bella had help from Taylor and her friend Emma. She found her perfect pumpkin and Emma helped her carry it back to the stroller. Actually, Emma helped Bella up every time she fell and handed her the pumpkin that she'd dropped so that Bella could feel like she'd done it herself. Emma was very patient with Bella.
After the pumpkin patch Taylor, Emma, and Jay posed with the "cool bus" before lunch.
The kids were EXHAUSTED after the outing today. But they had so much fun. I'm sure Taylor will be telling stories for a long time to come from today...especially since she capped the day off with one of her new favorite things to do...climbing trees.

Bella FINALLY gets hair

Bella FINALLY has enough hair to pull into a very small pony tail and put a bow in. I guess now it'll be a little easier to distinguish her as a girl!

"The New Path"

While the title of this entry sounds very deep and spiritual it really isn't. Jay and Savannah worked very hard on this walkway during Savannah's visit to Missouri. Sadly, we didn't get it finished while she was here. Jay finished it up after completely and totally wearing out his leg muscles. However he's very proud of his hard work!

Penguin Park

Taylor had a very good day of behavior, potty, and napping...so when daddy got home we took the children to Penguin Park to celebrate. We didn't even need to introduce Bella to the park. As soon as I got her out of the car she took off. She made a bee-line for this whale that you sit on and rock. The picture is blurry because she never stopped rocking long enough for me to get a good picture.

She also enjoyed the swings...but I think what she liked the best was going around to all of the very LARGE animals and saying "whizzit" which means "what is it?". I would tell her the names of all of the animals and she was so thrilled that I understood her that she ran around the park several times to point and say "whizzit" to me.

Taylor has turned into a regular monkey. She's climbing all of the playground equipment up to the top and swinging off of the bars and going down all of the slides. I just can't fathom where the time has gone that my cute little ball of chunk that I gave birth to is now climbing playground equipment!

Bella plays dress up

Bella is a little more creative when playing dress up than Taylor is...although Taylor loves to help embellish her look. She will fuss at me if I try to actually use the bowl that she likes to wear on her head.

The necklace she started wearing on her head just a few days ago. She refuses to actually wear it as a necklace. She won't wear the headbands that have pretty hair bows, but she'll wear this necklace...
Personally, I think she's just as cute as she can be in just normal clothes. I think she looks like a walking cabbage patch doll. I especially love her in these jeans and in her tennis shoes. It accentuates her cabbage patch doll look.

Backyardigans Lives

We took the children to see Backyardigans Live. It was on a Sunday and I had the girls dressed in pretty little dresses just for the fun of it. Daddy dropped Bella and I off at the Midland Theatre so that we could pick up our tickets at will call. He and Taylor met us and we found our awesome seats. Of course we had to take a picture in front of the stage.
We arrived early so Bella had to try out her seat to see how it would feel.

And of course Taylor had to amuse herself by squeezing Bella's cheeks.
This was so much fun that she ended up hysterically laughing. I think she thought that squeezing Bella's cheeks was more fun than the show.
Bella got really restless during the show so we had to break out the snacks. The kids knocked off a bag of teddy grahams, goldfish, 2 fruit snack bags, and a box of juice. However, the snack bag got us through the show relatively quietly. Bella danced and Taylor participated every time the characters asked the audience to say or do something. They had a ball!

We were ready for dinner after the show so Daddy walked hand in hand with his little ladies as we headed down to the Power & Light district to get some food.
We decided to eat at Lucky Strike. However, since it is a bowling alley Daddy and Taylor went in to check it out before Bella and I followed them. Bella got tired of waiting and found a seat that was just her size to watch the traffic go by.

Dinner was good at the bowling alley and by the time we were ready to go home both kids were completely exhausted!

Liberty Fall Festival Parade

We took Bella to the Liberty Fall Festival Parade to see Taylor ride the float with her dance studio (Studio 10). Bella had never been to a parade so she didn't know what to expect. We put her on her leash so that she could sit on the curb by our feet without us being afraid of her running out into the parade. She did very well...however the parade started with a fire engine and an ambulance that were blowing their horns. It scared the hooey out of her.







Taylor rode the float with Kaylee and Kaylee's mom Kristin. It ended up being pretty hot in the sun though...so she wasn't in the best of moods when the parade actually got on the road. She asked Kristin "what's that running down my back?" and when Kristin looked she told her "honey, that's called sweat."

When we picked Taylor up after the parade we asked her if she had fun and she told us "no, and I don't want to do it again."

Air Bella

Bella is an adrenaline junky. She LOVES to rough house with her daddy. To be more specific...she likes for him to throw her around. I think she's going to be our roller coaster buddy when she gets older. She giggled so wonderfully loud when he was throwing her in the air and kept doing the baby sign for more. She adores her daddy!

Taylor's Sharing Day

Taylor goes to preschool at Small Saints Learning Center. In her class each student has a day that she has the "share bag" that includes a teddy bear named "Ted" and the child is to bring her favorite toy from home to share with the class. Taylor forgot "Ted" at school (she's my daughter) so the teacher called me at home to let me know that Taylor needed to bring her favorite toy. Naturally she chose to take Kiki to school.

When Taylor came home she was telling me about her day at school. She told us that she passed Kiki to all of the kids at school and they all "squished" her. She showed us and apparently all of the kids hugged Kiki.

She was also the "line leader". She said she did a good job, but when I asked her where she lead her friends and she told me that she didn't know. I tried to suppress my laugh...but I was unsuccessful. It's funny to watch her leading the line of kids and not know where she's going!

Bella & the Merry-Go-Round

We had a family outing to Worlds of Fun this weekend. Bella is now big enough to ride the rides at Camp Snoopy. After having the fun visiting the first aid booth (I sprained my ankle) we waddled back to the merry-go-round. I rode with Bella on the stationary bench for her first ride. She LOVED it. She liked it so much that she wanted to try a horse next. She kept pointing to them. So Jay took Taylor and Bella on for their next ride. Bella was so funny, she didn't like that the horse went up and down. She clinged to her daddy and was practically climbing up his chest. We didn't get to try anything else because of my ankle's swelling...but I'm sure she'll enjoy trying some other rides when we go back.

Kinsey says "hi" to Daddy!

Jay FINALLY got to feel Kinsey kicking around. We were watching Heroes last night and he laid there with his hands on my tummy and she decided it was finally time to say hello. She's been strong enough to feel from the outside for a few weeks but he just hasn't been able to catch her poking around until just now. It was pretty neat for him to be able to connect with her like I've been doing for weeks now.

And the name of O'Brien #3 is...

Mackinsey "Kinsey" Rae O'Brien

21 weeks, 19 to go...

You asked for a belly picture, so here it is! Jay and I went out on a date to the Ameristar casino on Friday night when our outdoor drama got rained (or better yet tornadoed) out. So Kaitlin, our babysitter, came over and watched the kids while we went and gorged ourselves at the buffet. We also went into the casino because we'd just watched the movie "21" and we really wanted to see if a deal actually says "winner, winner, chicken dinner" when a blackjack is dealt. They don't. I only saw one while we were watching but the lady surely did not say it. What a bummer.

"Aladdin" by Taylor

This may not seem like a big deal to most people...but for a 3 1/2 year old this is REALLY good artwork. They are supposed to be attempting lines and geometric shapes. At this age they are supposed to be able to tell you what they are drawing, but you aren't supposed to recognize it. Truthfully, I'm proud as a peach that she's got her Daddy's artistic gene!!!