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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Meg Caroline Mollotte

We welcomed our sweet little Meg Caroline into our family at 1:28 AM on January 19, 2011. She weighed 7 pounds and was 18 3/4" long. She looks a lot like Launa, just a lot more mild and and not quite as blond and fair. I am in love. I am not one of those people who is dying to hold babies I don't know or anything along those lines, but I forgot how good it feels to snuggle a brand-new newborn baby with their soft skin and sweet little cooing noises. I had strep B so we had a long stay in the hospital. I was ready to leave but I loved having her hunkered down in bed with me as we got to snuggle for a coupe days straight.

The night before I went in, I couldn't sleep very well because #1, I was playing musical beds with Kate and #2 I thought I was having contractions but I didn't think they were the real thing. The next day, Mark told me he thought it was the taco soup because he was also having some pretty severe "contractions". :) I spent the day packing the kid's bags and getting everything that I wanted to get done done just in case. Mark came home that night and even though this is my third go-round, I was still trying to decide if it was the real thing. We left the house for the hospital around 10:30 PM and I think I had my iv and had been checked into the hospital around 12:00 AM. I was at a 5 when I arrived. Once my water broke, it was fast and furious. I went from a 5 to an 8 in like 10 minutes and once again, the Dr. almost missed delivery. She basically threw on her gloves and caught Meg. I got the epidural but went too fast to feel the full effects so that was really a bummer. I was glad it went fast.

We are now home and both doing great!! She is fairly sweet and mellow, but aggressive when she wants something (mostly food). The girls can't get enough of her. They both think she is a real-life baby doll. Launa called me at 1:30 in the morning when she found out I was in the hospital because she was up in arms that I had possibly not packed the correct outfits and headband for her that she had picked out. Welcome to the chaos, sweet Meg!!:)

Monday, January 16, 2012

What a Little Perspective Can Do...

Last night, we watched the movie "17 Miracles" about the Willie Handcard Co that walked across the plains as part of the Mormon pioneers. I cried multiple times. I can't imagine suffering like that, or more than anything else, having to watch my children suffer like that.

I just read a blog about a mother whose baby had "ED", a skin disease where everything that touches him at all causes excrutiating pain and sores all over his body. She can't even hold and comfort him because her touch hurts him. Suddenly, Kate dumping milk all over the island and coloring all over the walls and Launa yelling at me over her outfit and hair seemed like gifts. I lead a blessed life. Sometimes a little perspective is exactly what I need to remind me of that.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Christmas/Birthday Whirlwind






I did some poor planning (as, evidently, did my mother-in-law. Launa's BDay (and my Mother-in-laws and nieces) are on January 4th, my sister-in-laws is the 5th, Mark's is the 8th and my baby is due the 26th. So, seriously, the past few weeks really have been a whirlwind. I tried to get my Christmas cards all done early, only to learn that even though I had an email confirmation saying they were arriving, for some reason they never got printed. Sorry, it looks like you'll be getting a Valentine's Card/Birth Announcement instead.

We kicked off the Christmas holiday with the entire Jenks family (all 40 of us) in town. We ate lots of good food, did paintballing, saw a movie, had an adult date, and just had a good time seeing everyone. Launa and Kate played their little hearts out and are still asking for their cousins they don't see very often. We had Christmas Eve with the extended Jenks family at our house. I think there were around roughly 80 people here -- pretty sure it was maximum capacity, but shockingly the house pretty much made it out unscathed. We had Santa come and had a program and dinner. It was a nice night.

New Year's we did another party for Mark's family here and played card games, ate A LOT of food, and celebrated his 30th Birthday a little early (he claims that he always gets jipped and by the time his birthday rolls around, no one wants to get together for parties, much less eat cake).

Launa requested a Chuck E Cheese birthday party this year. It was a great winter birthday party. Simple. Fun. Launa even gave Chuck-E a hug and a high five. Kate was scared to death of him and mostly spent the day stealing cupcakes and hiding from me so she could eat them.

I can't believe my Launa is FIVE!! She has been up to her old tricks lately -- hiding the remote control and the garage door opener when she's mad at me, locking me out of my own bedroom, beating up the neighborhood boys -- today she even had the audacity to call Mark a "terd"... to his face. Seriously, the girl has some gumption, I'm going to give her that. She also has excelled in preschool and in Sunbeams at church where she evidently is an ideal student. She loves to learn and has already mastered most of her letters and is getting very excited for school. And, when in the mood, she still retains the title for my best snuggler. She also is already trying out cooking and wanting to do her own hair (and she is also surprisingly decent at that), and has gotten extremely FAST (she gets in her two-bits and then takes off running. It reminds me of my brother, Kameron). Miss Independent would be a good classification for our little Launa. She keeps me hopping and always guessing what she is going to do next.

The picture reel could use some organization, but at least there is something on here! :) My sister-in-law and I are due a week apart again. Gotta love us doing our belly bump! A few of Launa's BDay party and Mark and Launa on the dock after fishing. The front view of my pregnant belly, and yes, I feel as big as I look.