Blog hiatus

I haven't written anything lately because we've been in stress mode for the past month.  Jarom is looking for another job and it's possible that we may be moving.  Yes, after 8 1/2 years here in the Northwest we may be packing our bags and starting over.  Which is exciting yet makes me very sad that I may have to leave such amazing friends behind.  We still don't know where we'll be going, (which is a whole other stress) but the places we've considered so far are Colorado (our first choice), Texas, Ohio, Utah, Spokane, and wherever else we can find a job.  The timing on all of this has been crazy, we never would've have chosen to do this after just having a baby, buying a new car, repairing water damage to our attic, etc, etc...  Everything has happened all at once and we are exhausted.  So while we wait to see where our new adventure begins I'll start posting some pics of little man.  He definitely is a crowd stopper....must be the hair ;)

Life with 3

We're now on our own.  My parents were here for a week a couple days after Owen was born and then Jarom's mom came out to help.  Meals were cooked, laundry was done, floors were vacuumed, and girls were entertained.  If it weren't for all the wonderful dinners brought to us from friends, I think we would've eaten mac & cheese for quite some time ;)  We've been blessed with such a sweet baby, Owen really is an easy baby, (I don't want to jinx myself), but he really is.  He eats every 3-4 hrs, sleeps 4-5 hours at night, and falls asleep in my arms without really having to rock him.  The girls were just the opposite as babies.  At his 2 week appt he grew an inch from birth and was almost 8lbs.  He also got circumcised that day, I was teary eyed as I gave him over to the Dr.  He didn't cry during it all and when the Dr. brought him back he was just staring at him with red eyes...probably noting in his little mind who did this to him!   Yesterday my friend Jamie came over and gave Owen his first photo session.  I can't wait to see how they turned out, it was quite the feat trying to get him to fall asleep without clothes on!
 As the weeks go by I'm slowly learning how to juggle everything at once.  It's not easy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

New big sister

Owen, sharing his birthday with Grandpa Schenk

My dad finally has a boy in the family!

They just look innocent

Proud big sister of 2!

Having fun at Discovery Village

Make room for baby

Owen Gregory Eberhard joined our family February 25th, 2011 at 11:05am.  What we thought would be a normal birth turned out to be anything but.  So here is his birth story:
Thursday morning, 2 days postdue, I noticed my Braxton-Hicks were very frequent and getting stronger.  By mid- morning they were starting to hurt.  I had already made an appt. with an acupuncturist to start labor so I decided to go anyway.  I headed home after the appt. and waited to see what would happen. The contractions started getting closer together around 6pm so I started timing them.  They were anywhere from 2-5 minutes apart.  But since they were never consistent I just waited longer.  Around 10:30pm I called my midwife and she wanted me at the hospital right away.  We left Erin with the girls and headed out into the freezing night with lots of ice covered streets.  When we got to the hospital I was met by the midwife who had already set up my room and ordered the epidural (my dream come true!).  Around 6 that morning the baby's heartrate suddenly dropped and within seconds the room was filled with nurses trying to get it back up.  Luckily it did.  The contractions were coming along stronger and closer. Around 10:55 the nurse moved me into a side position and his heart rate dropped again, this time it wasn't coming back up.  The room was filled with nurses, assistants, and now a Dr.  He said the safest option at this point is a C-section. I was crying with fear, trying to wipe the tears through my fogged up oxygen mask.  I was on my hands and knees just completely blown away with what was about to happen.  They rushed me into the operating room still in that position.  Jarom wasn't able to come with me.  I was terrified.  The anesthesiologist was yelling orders to everyone and trying to inject some fast heavy drugs to get me completely numbed up.  I could still feel the surgeons pinch test when next thing I knew he was cutting.  I could feel every tug, push, pull, major pressure, every movement they made.  I thought for sure what was behind that curtain in front of me was not a pretty picture.  I continued crying thoughout without anyone there to hold my hand.  Then I heard someone yell out "It's still a boy!" and that's when Jarom showed up behind me.  I couldn't see him when they pulled him out and couldn't see him when they were taking care of him. I had no idea if everything was ok.  Jarom reassured me and said he was.  It seemed like forever as they stitched me back up, Owen was born within just 3 minutes!  Going back to our room I was just in shock and got the body shakes all over.  I was finally able to hold him and that's all the mattered.
So he's here, he's perfect, and I love having him in our lives.

7 lbs., 13 oz/ 20.5 inches

Waiting

Yes, the pregnancy countdown now says 40 weeks, 1 day.  I wish it wasn't true, but it is.  This is the biggest I've been with any pregnancy and now the most uncomfortable.  I really wish he would move it along, I've been constantly cleaning, rearranging, and decorating and I'm so done.   My sister is here and I have her to help, but now she may not even get to meet him.  So in the meantime while we sit here, Riley lost her first tooth, Ella's been to the Dr. twice with an ear and eye infection, Jarom has been home from work sick with Ella's cold, and the girls have been playing with their cousin Lydia.

Can you feel the love?

For Valentine's day Riley had her normal ballet class with a little performance at the end.  She loves ballet and poor Ella only wants to join her.  Daddy came with little tulip vases for both the girls and and big bouquet of tulips for me at home.  He loves his girls so much!  We are definitely spoiled, just look at all the cards.

Family/Maternity pictures

The other week my friend, Jamie was gracious enough to take some maternity/family pictures.  I figured since this is probably the last time I'll be pregnant I might as well have it documented ;)  It was a beautiful Saturday morning, the sun was shining, but it was also only 33 degrees!  The girls lasted about the first 10 minutes then had to go warm up in the car.  We did get some good shots in though.  These are just a sample of the great work Jamie did.  Can't wait to have baby boy pictures taken when he gets here.

Christmas 2010

Ok, so we "lost" our camera with the Christmas pics, but just found it under the couch cushions yesterday. That seems to be the place where all lost things go. Anyway, Jarom's parents came out for a week at Christmas. We had a great time going to Zoolights, the Nutcracker, and just hanging out at home making Christmas cookies. Christmas morning was lots of fun watching both girls and their reactions to all the presents. The hit of the presents was probably the big chairs my mom got, they played with those all week figuring out all kinds of ways to make forts or slide off of them. It was nice to have family in town for the holidays, we'll have to require that from now on.

At the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle

Really excited about their chairs