For all two of you not yet on Facebook...

Introducing William Brooks Durbin, born June 4, 2011. Will is now almost 8 weeks old and brings much joy to our family...as well as more "wild," as Jack says (in other words..."I have a brother!"). He is a tiny one...at least to us...was born at 7 lbs 5 oz, our smallest baby, and left the hospital at 6 lb 11 oz. At his six week check up he was up to 8 lb 11 oz, which was Jack's size at birth! Crazy. I certainly hadn't planned on having another baby...but this one is a keeper.

(No comment on how ridiculously long it's been since we've posted anything...I sure hope to get back to blogging one of these days.)

Wisdom of Mothers?

Got this in one of those email forwards today, and these were my favorite ones:

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
"If you're going to kill each other, do it outside…I just finished cleaning."

2. My mother taught me RELIGION.
"You better pray that will come out of the carpet."

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL.
"If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!"

4. My mother taught me LOGIC.
"Because I said so, that's why."

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC.
"If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me."

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT.
"Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident."

7. My mother taught me IRONY.
"Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about."

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS.
"Shut your mouth and eat your dinner."

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM.
"Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!"

10. My mother taught me about STAMINA.
"You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone."

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER.
"This room of yours looks like a tornado went through it."

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
"If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Stop exaggerating!"

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE.
"I brought you into this world, and I can take you out..."

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION.
"Stop acting like your father!"

15. My mother taught me about ENVY.
"There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do."

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
"Just wait until we get home..."

17. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
"If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."

18. My mother taught me ESP.
"Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?"

19. My mother taught me WISDOM.
"When you get to be my age, you'll understand."

20. My mother taught me about JUSTICE.
"One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you!"

Nursery...sort of.

This is one of the only new things I bought for Miss Abigail. All the other kids used the same ABC crib bedding, but it finally gave out. I LOVE this one...I wish they had it in twin-size bedding because I would decorate the girls' room around this.


Sweet little bird detailing.



Our "bedroom."


Abigail's "nursery."


Aaaaand, our "office." Can't wait to separate these three in the new house!


Little Missy herself, sleeping away.

Jack in his first school play

How cute is he as Joseph? He even had one speaking line; after the innkeeper offered them to stay at the inn, the narrator said, "Was this okay with Joseph?" (or something along those lines) and he stood up with a huge smile and said loudly, "Okay!" and then looked right at me, and sat down with this smug little grin. I love this kid.


"The stars in the sky looked down where he lay..."

Christmas Eve 2009

Before our Christmas Eve service


All these are four days before Abigail was born...I know. I'm huge.






I loved the wrapping paper we used this year...lots of fun colors and patterns. And a Whitaker family tradition...cutting out letters for people's names...time consuming but fun and festive!


Tea set from Papa Marc and Grandma Connie...you can put real tea in these. We just had a tea party this week (technically it was a hot cocoa party)!


Thank goodness for Ebay...got a steal on two Bitty Babies for the girls...



Another great Ebay buy...he is WAY into puzzles right now, and he's really good at them. Didn't get any pics but he got a scooter from Papa Marc...and he is thrilled that the snow is now gone so he can finally ride it outside.





Watching as Ellie helps put her dolly in the stroller.


The singing tea pot...she walks around the house carrying this, singing along, and pushing the buttons over and over again to get to her favorite songs...so sweet!

Catching Up

Hello, Blog Friends!! Life has been a blur for our family for the past two months...yes, Abigail Jane is two months old this week! She is doing really well, despite her current sinus infection. She is smiling now and just developing her coo, which has to be one of the sweetest sounds in the world. She smiles mainly for Eric and me, but this week she's started smiling at the kids and even smiled real big for Aunt Marika the other day.

Nights are getting better...she's sleeping seven hours pretty consistently. She usually wakes up around four or five and then we're good to go until the kids get up at seven. My only bone to pick with her right now is that she is very fussy in the evening; usually between the time the other kids go to bed and about ten o'clock she nurses off and on and just fusses. Which means I get nothing done with my only "free" time of the day. Which inevitably means that as soon as I DO get her to sleep around ten, I don't go straight to bed because I finally have time...and you get me here blogging at 11pm instead of snatching up every wink of sleep I can!

But...nonetheless, I am loving having a newborn and am trying to soak it in and savor the moments as they will (hopefully) be our last newborn experience until we have grandbabies. I love to lie on the couch with her head nuzzled under my chin, her little warm body sleeping on mine. What a gift!

The other kids are doing well, except for various illnesses we've been passing around (what is it with this time of year??). Jack is loving school and never seems to have a lack of enthusiasm for anything. He is learning about being a good big brother--learning to be respectful and honoring of his sisters, to put them and their needs first (he is SO self-centered right now!), to protect them, and to play with them...no easy feat. He often says things like "I love my girls!" And when I drop him off for school he says, "Good-bye, my girls! I'll see you tomorrow!" (I have no idea why he says tomorrow...) My favorite back-wards phrases he says these days are "Jesserfen" for his school, Jefferson, and then recently they had a Pajama Day at school and he jumped in the car and said, "Mommy, I had so much fun at my Japama Day!" I felt bad because I burst out laughing. I can't believe my sweet firstborn son will be in kindergarten next fall!

Ellie is still her spunky self, but is also growing into her big sister role fairly well. She loves loves LOVES Abby and wants to be near her and hold her anytime she can. She talks to her so sweetly, saying things like, "I know, I know. It's okay. Ellie's right here!" which just melts my heart. Ellie and Samantha play very well together these days; it is so wonderful to see them growing into sisterhood. Ellie continues to love music and singing and dancing...and is actually fairly musically inclined, it seems. She and I are seemingly doing better in our mother-daughter relationship compared to even six months ago; though the stubbornness and strong will are still there beneath the surface, I don't find that we are butting heads nearly as often, which I hope continues to get better (at least up until adolescence, right??). Ellie changes clothes about five times a day, usually based on whatever make-believe world she is in. She is still my snuggler, and often hugs me and says, "I love you, Mom" and just makes my day. She loves her siblings; when Jack gets in the car after school and shows her his stamp on his hand she remarks, "Oh, Wow, Jack-a-bee, that is so amazing! I love it!" When she gets up from her nap she usually says things to me like, "Mommy, I'm so happy to see you!" She is such an interesting blend of absolute sweetness and thoughtfulness (for a 3-year-old) that makes you smile and truly touches your heart, and then she can be one of the most willful children I've ever seen. I am so curious to see who she becomes!

Miss Samantha...is the monkiest of all my monkeys. I have to watch her nonstop, which can be a little exhausting at this point in life. She is at that age of constant testing...when the discipline begins hardcore, and in return come the challenges of authority. I feel like she needs the most correction and redirection and discipline these days, as I can feel her bucking me at every turn. It is especially hard when she is doing something she shouldn't and I'm stuck nursing and can't deal with it immediately. She is currently obsessed with the bathtub, and takes any opportunity she can to climb in--whether or not she is at our house! (If you ever lose her at your house, check your shower stall!) I'm not complaining...last month she wouldn't stop playing in the toilet and actually climbed IN one time. In general, though, she is a delight and brings us much joy. She has the sweetest laugh, one of those laughs that if I could only catch on video would surely be a YouTube sensation.

Eric and I are doing well...as most people know my mom has been declining in health and it has been hard for all of us. She is now in a nursing home here in town and so I've been able to see her a bit more often. I can't tell if she remembers who I am, or just that I am somehow important to her. I took Abigail with me to visit last week and she asked the nurse several times, "Who's baby is this?" even though I was sitting right next to her. I really miss my mom these days; some days it's been hard to function when my heart aches for her so deeply.

Eric is doing heavy career and degree research, so our evenings are pretty busy at this point. He works on job search stuff and I rock the baby and catch up on all the TV shows I don't really care about and probably shouldn't be watching. I plan to start up piano lessons again here in the next few weeks, too.

Our other exciting news is that we're building a house! It is a long story, but the short version is that we had originally planned to build a house with my parents so that I could be of more help to them, and specifically help my mom. But then when she declined so fast, we decided to go ahead with the plans anyway. So this past week, my childhood home was torn down (which I plan to write a whole other post about) and they just laid the foundation of our new home today! There will be an apartment for my dad, and then we'll have the rest of the house. I am so thrilled to be able to live on the same property where I grew up, to raise my kids there and walk them down the same streets that I walked down to the same schools where I attended as a child...what a blessing and a very special opportunity. It is bittersweet, missing my mom in all of it, but I look forward to this new chapter in our lives and to being around my dad on a regular basis!

Here are a few pics from the last month...for some reason I couldn't find very many of Ellie (the one set I found was of her singing to Abigail, which is super-sweet, except she's in her underwear and I don't feel comfortable putting those online!)...I'll have to snap a few of her soon. Enjoy!


The first picture and this one here is from an early shoot I did of Abby when she was just a few weeks old.


Mikaila (my niece) is so sweet with Abby and loves on her as much as she can!


Abby at two months old...not so sure about those fish...



I stayed home from church with Samantha and Abigail last week since they were sick, and at one point I found Samantha like this, decked out head to toe in sister Ellie's things. When the cat's away...



Samantha's hair is finally long enough for a pony tail!


Jack loves to hold his "new sister" Abigail as often as I'll let him.


Night-night!

Abigail's first day

We welcome with much joy...

Abigail Jane Durbin, born today at 5:21 pm, weighing 8 pounds and 21 inches long. I am so very thankful for a wonderful labor experience; in my opinion (does anyone else's count?) it was the best one so far. A very quick labor story (because let's face it, I don't think I'm going to get this down for the record once I get home!)...

We got to the hospital around 8 am this morning and discovered that I was already having contractions on my own! We started pitocin around 9am; at that point they said I was dilated about 2 cm. I was so nervous because I've heard horrible things about inductions and pitocin and how painful it can be. My labor nurse was so great and encouraging, as well as keeping me informed about what she was doing throughout the day, which was so helpful. I found out later that she was supposed to be off duty at 3 but she stayed until well after 7 to see me through...what a gift! (She also asked for my photography info before she left...nothing like labor to bring in clients!)

My water broke on its own around 11, but I was still only about 3cm dilated. I got an epidural around 1pm, not making much progress with dilation, but feeling much better. My last two epidural experiences with Ellie and Samantha were not good; both times I got them fairly late in the game and started pushing almost immediately afterward. This time I was able to get totally relaxed and say good-bye to the pain!

Eric and I spent the day dozing, updating Facebook, and watching the latest Harry Potter movie. After I got the epidural I got the chills a few times...gotta love those heated blankets. Once I was nice and warm I finally got a good long nap in...funny that it took labor and an epidural for me to get some good rest!

I progressed fairly slowly throughout the afternoon, inching my way up to a 4, then a 5, then a 5 1/2...a little discouraging. Abigail was also moving around a lot, and the nurse said that because her head wasn't engaged enough she wasn't putting as much pressure on my cervix, thus my slow dilation. They sat me up just a bit, and it must have helped, because I started to dilate quite fast after that.

The nurse noticed the baby's heart rate changing on the monitor, along with very strong contractions (which, praise the Lord--I didn't feel at all!) and she came in to check and we were at a 9. She brilliantly had everyone get prepared "just in case" and got the doctor paged...and sure enough, moments later I suddenly felt the urge to push...and we were ready!

Another sign of a perfect epidural: no pain at all, but I could still feel the pressure and the strong contractions signaling me to push...perfect levels all around. I began pushing, and then in between pushing we were laughing with the doctor...such a strange experience, but one I wouldn't trade. I did four sets of three strong pushes, and she was out...the fastest I've ever pushed a baby out! It took about 15 minutes or less! My other pushing times were 4 hours, 45 min, and over an hour...so this felt miraculous to me.

Abigail is doing well now; she has a small issue with her white blood cell count, because apparently her blood and mine mixed through the placenta, and we have incompatible types, so her levels are a little off. They're keeping a close eye on her and testing her periodically and also pushing her fluids (i.e. formula, which I'm not crazy about...but my milk isn't in yet). I'm hoping to get some good sleep tonight...we'll see what Miss Abigail thinks about that!

Thank you for praying for us and checking in on us. Hopefully we can get some pictures uploaded soon. For now...SLEEP. Goodnight!