When you have Hamberger's you make Happy Meals!

At a mother daughter banquet this past weekend, a friend shared that you just have to choose to laugh rather than cry at some of the things our kids do. I constantly remind myself of the need to laugh.  Somehow, the phrase “there is no sense in crying over spilled milk” gets put into constant practice literally at our house. (Unless its breastmilk, then I really do cry.) Our house is always full of noise  excitement   tears  laughter   life.

Here are a few of the things that we have laughed at lately

Alex emptied the ENTIRE newly organized  toy/book shelf (Including actually pulling the shelves off). When I asked him what happened he said “the big giant tomatoes did it!”.  Hmmmm maybe I should reconsider veggie tales.

I set the kids up to do some water colors. I even had them take their shirts off, and still Kalea turned them into finger paints and made me wish I had taken her shorts off too.

Not to be outdone, Alex did the same

Alex (trying to save me from extra work) poured himself an extra bowl of Cheerios… all over the floor.

This was pretty classic of Kalea’s look and mood most of the week 😛

This little guy became mobile:

Which led to this guy getting upset

Because “MOM! Michael is playing with my STUFF!”

When I would ask Michael about it, he merely looked at me, grinned and showed me his new trick: Clapping =)

Welcome to life at the HamHouse! =) I <3 my life!

This little bundle of awesomeness is 4.5 mo old already! (I know typically you would do a 4 mo update and a 5 mo update, but since I tend to post in 4-5 mo spurts you get what you get! ;-))

Feb 22 he will be 5 mos old. He is truly the closest thing to a *perfect* (crosses fingers/knocks on wood) baby that we could hope for. He is almost constantly a bundle of smiles, and so laid back. If he cries I know something is really definitely wrong.  He is very laid back and loves to watch Alex and Kalea play. Big Bro/Big Sis LOVE him so much. They constantly ask to hold him or come up and give him kisses.

He is a super big boy. Well for me at least! At his 4 mo check he was 15.5 lb and 27″ long. He is in 6-9 mo clothes for a couple monthes now, today as I was dressing him I realized I’m about to have to go through his clothes and bring out the 12 mo stuff soon!

He loves to talk, and laugh. He started sitting on his own this week. Emphasis on starting he is definitely tripod sitting, but he likes to and likes to grab and play with Alex’s cars and trains.

On the food front its pretty boring yet. Still totally on mama’s milk  and no sign of being ready for solids anytime soon. He eats somewhere between every 2-4 hours. Except at night when he goes to bed at 8 and sleeps till 8 or 9 usually. Ahhhhh a good sleeper, how blessed I am with that. His brother STILL occasionally wakes up more often than him!

OK a couple pics of the little smiley pants, affectionately dubbed “Mica-Moo” by Kalea.

He is ready to be on the move!

So big!

Focusing all his attention on keeping his balance.

Love that smile!

Since my last post oh about 10 mos ago, there have been a few *minor* changes to this Ham Fam. And by minor I mean we bought a home (so there are fun renovations that have taken place) Let me tell you moving with two little ones is an adventure all itself! We are so thankful for all the help our family gave us! We made the decision for me to be a stay- at-home mom. I am sooooooo excited about being able to be home with my kiddos full time. So we are pinching our pennies even closer (Look for more money saving tips to come) =) But of course the biggest and best change has been the addition of a precious new member of the family.

In January we found out we were expecting number 3! Many may look at us like we are crazy, but we are so excited about and loving how close are kids are. My due date was September 19.  This was especially exciting because my sister-in-law was also due with their third in September, just a few days before me on September 10.  We decided (and by decided I mean I twisted Jason’s arm) to be surprised with the gender of this baby. Alex and Kalea are still young, and the seasons wouldn’t be that different so we really already had everything we needed already. No need to know =)

My pregnancy was really easy. because of that I had a feeling we were having another boy. Alex and a few others were pretty certain baby was a girl. But it went by really quickly. Until the end. Both of my other pregnancies I went early. So pretty much everyone (myself definitely included) figured I would go early again. We were thinking that my sister-in-law and I would end up going about the same time. We were ready by 35 weeks just in case. Then we waited… and waited… and waited…

37weeks came and went (I was happy about that) 38weeks comes and goes still trying to be patient…. Once I got well past 38w it was getting very mentally hard. I was showing very few signs of going into labor and 39 weeks passed by as well. Now I could have chosen to induce anytime after 39w. But, this time I was DETERMINED to have a natural labor. It is something I really really wanted with both of my others, but I gave in and ended up regretting it later.  I was definitely not ok with electively inducing unless there was a medical reason. I know that induction would decrease my chances of going through labor without pain relief and I have a few other reasons why I know that isn’t the right choice for me.

So 39 weeks passed, 40 weeks passed. *Sigh* God was definitely teaching me patience!  At 40w +3 days I went to my regular OB appointment and also a routine Non Stress Test for being passed due. Something wasn’t quite right. My doctor was very calm and reassuring and made it sound totally normal that he wanted me to head over to the hospital for a bio physical. Maybe it is normal, but we hadn’t talked about that test before so I assumed it was something that showed up on the NST. He asked if I wanted to be induced, and I told him unless there was something wrong with me or the baby  I wanted to let the baby come on his/her own. (this was about 10) After the bio-physical the nurse came and said that everything “looked great” but they heard an irregular heartbeat. It was probably nothing to worry about but that my doctor was on the phone with a specialist to make sure.

Jason and I started talking seriously about the idea of inducing. Long story short after we talked to the doctor we decided that today would be the birthday. Baby had developed a heart arrhythmia since 39w. It usually corrects after baby is born, so it didn’t really make sense to prolong the pregnancy. Baby looked great otherwise.

Now, I did NOT want to be induced. I knew that it was the right decision, I didn’t regret the decision, but it is still not what I wanted. Not how I had envisioned my perfect natural labor going. As I was getting ready in the room I sat back and cried. Man what a control freak I am. I felt like my dreams of a natural delivery were flying out the window. They started the pitocin at 12 noon. The contractions were practically laughable. I figured they would start hurting almost right away, but um… yeah totally not. I sent Jason home to grab our bags (we hadn’t been prepared for that day) and to get some lunch. The Doctor gave the go ahead for me to have a little bite to eat before labor got going. I was SOOOOOO thankful for that because I was STARVING!

After 2 hours of pit, I hadn’t progressed at all. I wasn’t surprised b/c the contractions still didnt hurt. We decided to break my water. I was hesitant at first because I didn’t want that to not work and then have to have a c-section. But the doctor was confident that that wouldn’t be a problem for me. Well, yeah the contractions waaaaaay picked up after that. It wasn’t too long before I got my iPod out and started listening to my  HypnoBirthing visualizations. it was so calming for me. Between the contractions it really helped to calm and focus me. My nurse was AWESOME. She let me get out of bed. I needed to stay on the monitors, but I could sit next to the bed, after that didn’t help anymore I leaned on the bed standing, when that stopped working she helped me get on the bed  and find positions that helped to relieve some of the pain. I was NOT flat on my back until pushing after the contractions picked up! Jason was soooo awesome and encouraging. He knew how much I wanted a med free labor/delivery and he was wonderful. I had back labor, so he rubbed my back during the contractions and gave me ice chips between, I definitely could not have done it without him! The rest of labor went really quick! only 3 hours of painful labor!

When it was time to push I couldn’t stop. the problem, my doctor was in a c-section and couldn’t leave! They started calling for him, then any doctor on the floor, then any OB in the area, Jason said they were about to call for anyone who had seen an episode of Scrubs 😛 My Nurse finally looked at me and said “OK This won’t be my first delivery, if I tell you to stop you HAVE to stop because that means that the cord is wrapped.” She was so serious! Just as I was ready to really push my doctor comes FLYING into the room, he literally made it JUST in time. I am so so glad too.

Our precious baby was born with the cord wrapped around his (yes HIS I was right! and so excited!!!) neck 4 times. Yes 4!  Jason said he was very blue when born, I was glad I didn’t see that. They had to give him oxygen at first. It was scary but otherwise he was PERFECT and HUGE (for me) 9 lb 2oz and 20″ long! I had some fairly serious bleeding from delivering such big baby so quickly, but otherwise everything was great!

And so here is the newest addition to our famliy:

Michael Zachary Hamsher (Gift of God, God has Remembered) His names meaning really fit him! Looking back so much could have gone wrong, but God was in total control and gave us this sweet gift!

Sorry this was so long I promise they wont all be so long! =)