All Hadlee

Hadlee started preschool today at Westview Church Preschool, the same school Maddox went to.  Hadlee has been so excited to start school.  I think she'll be bummed today when she doesn't get to go back until Tuesday.  And then bummed next week when she realizes she only goes 2 days a week for 2 hours.  I sort of wish she went more too since she'll enjoy it so much.  She had absolutely no problem going into the room, talking to her teachers, and playing with toys.  She didn't care about me at all.

 And the next pictures portray Hadlee's personality perfectly.  Put about 3 seconds in between each picture...

 "Look, Mama, a grasshopper!"  and she runs away.

 "No, that's a tiny cricket, touch it." I say.

 Of course it hopped away and she laughed.  She's so stinkin' cute!

Piper 2 month

Piper had her 2 month check up yesterday.  She's a perfectly healthy and normal baby.  She had to get 3 shots and an oral vaccine so she wasn't very happy about thing, poor thing.  She weighed in at 10 lb 9 oz (25%) and 22.5 inches long (50%).  She's the smallest of her sisters at this same age.  They were almost 1.5 nearing 2 pounds heavier and about an inch longer at 2 months.  And here we were thinking Piper looks so big and long!  I think it's more Piper is growing too fast and I want to enjoy her tininess as long as possible.

Zoo Fun

We had a family zoo day before school started.  Had to use up all those free zoo passes we got from the library this summer!

 Maddox loving the world...   Actually she pointed out where Grammy and Papa lived and wanted to give them a hug.

 Yes, this is the way I have babies.  Like Mork.  (When my children read this someday they will wonder who the heck Mork is and have to google it. Heck, they'll probably then wonder what google is.)

First Day of Kindergarten

My big girl went to kindergarten today.  I cannot believe it's been 5 years since I had her and she was just a tiny baby.  I know everyone says it, but time really does fly.  I remember thinking when she was born that it would be forever before we got into all this school stuff but looking forward to the fun of it.  Now not quit as fun and I wish time would slow down.

 On the first two days Kindergarteners go an hour late and get out an hour early so they can get used to the new schedule without all the big kids around.  I headed to the back door to take the girls out to the corner and there was the bus already, 10 to 15 minutes early!  I yelled at Maddox "Grab your stuff and let's go!  The bus is here!" and I ran out holding Piper in my arms to hold the bus.  Maddox, Hadlee, and Jessi (and both cats as it turns out) followed me out.  They're jacking up the street at that corner so it was really loud.  The bus driver knew he was early and was very comforting about taking care of my little girl and said he would wait for her.  Of course then he said he was only driving for these first 3 days and he was from Waterloo, IA.  He let us have a moment to take a couple pictures.  She hopped on happily and I went back to the opposite corner to find Hadlee crying because all the noise was scary.  We then went to the front of the house to load up and head to the school to take her picture there and see her go in the doors but the bus driver came back to the front of my house because he was lost.  So I sent him in the right direction and headed off.

 Maddox's bus was the last to arrive and it was late so who knows where he went.  But she and a few other kids made it.  Some of the Moms ended up driving their kids to school because they missed the bus due to the bad timing.

Luckily I still have two at home to care for and don't know what I'll do when Piper goes to Kindergarten.  I'll be so sad without any of my girls!  I'm going to fill my day with bathroom cleaning today and constant nursing.  Piper and Hadlee will keep me busy I'm sure!  But I sure do look forward to 2:50 today!

Adventureland!

After a week of Bible school, Maddox for 3 hours in the am and Hadlee for 2 in the pm, and a fun outdoor day at Taste of Hope from a morning race to fireworks on Saturday, we finished off the weekend with a day at Adventureland with the Lowes.  We wanted to go with the Lowes so maybe they could help us ride more pukey rides with my girls.  Piper rode her very first ride, the ferris wheel.

 I don't know what Matthew's doing...

 Jeremy's thrill ride?  The ferris wheel?

 Almost everyone got in this picture on the bumper cars.  Katherine and Maddox on the left, Jeremy in the middle, Mike and Emily behind Jeremy's head, and Matthew on the right.  And some stranger behind K.  Suzy and Hadlee rode another ride since Hadlee was too short for this one and Piper and I watched.

 I took the little girls off to ride some rides while the "big kids" rode a roller coaster.   This is how they walk around the park and wait in line, always hand in hand.  So cute!  They're such good friends!

 Everyone but Hadlee, Piper, and I rode the Raging river.  The boys' boat was better at posing for me than the girls.

Hadlee and I played around with my camera to waste time.  Cuteness!

 Maddox talked Katherine into another spinny ride and then Katherine had to go again with Emily.  I think that was enough for her.  We're a good team at this spinning ride thing.  Suzy had to ride Lady Luck twice, once with Maddox and again with Hadlee because I couldn't stomach the thought after eating freshly fried and sugared donuts.  But later in the evening I rode the Teacups twice in a row with the 3 little girls before dinner and then rode the spinning rockets with them after dinner.  I was done spinning after that!  Of course the kids loved all the spinning rides.  Anyone want to volunteer for next year?

Clive Festival

Last weekend we spent Saturday at the Clive Festival.  It's a bunch of free family activities with music, inflatables, kid's crafts, and games.  After we did our indoor crafts the girls went out to jump on the dance floor, all alone.  Always the life of the party!

 Maddox wanted to try the rock climbing wall.  (So did Hadlee but she was too little.)  Maddox got up on the wall and then couldn't reach any of the next grips so she just stayed put for a picture.  Maybe next year she'll be a little taller and longer and she'll be able to reach.  But she thought it was fun to hang on the rope when she let go!

 Daddy took the big girls miniature golfing while I showed off 3 week old Piper to every passer-by.  If you ever want attention just lay a newborn on a blanket in the grass of a large event.  Hadlee is practicing her left-hand putting stroke.  Yep, pretty sure she's a lefty.

Blue Light Special

Beginning on Tuesday, July 2nd Piper spend the next 24 hours under the photo-therapy light for jaundice.  She hated it because she had to be naked and chilly and had to wear that annoying eye mask.  She could only come out long enough to nurse then head back under the light.  None of us liked it either since we couldn't hold her.  She was really only pacified if you stood next to her and let her hold a finger which I did for a few hours while Jeremy went to play 2 softball games.  I even let her sleep in the nursery Tuesday night so they could deal with the unhappy baby while I got some sleep.  The nurse brought her to me every 3 hours to feed.  But by Wednesday morning her bilirubin levels were much better and she was done!

Baby Day!

I guess it's time to get on to blogging about the newest member of our family.  We made it to July 1st!  It makes me wonder how much longer I would have been pregnant had I not had a scheduled c-section.  All the pre-op was done in your own room which was nice to settle into beforehand.  Once I was all hooked up to monitors the Lowe's came in to visit while I waited for Dr. Lehman to be done with her other surgeries.  Having a baby this way is quite a change from Suzy's deliveries!

 From about the time they cut me open to having the baby out was about 5 minutes, at 11:02am.  The doctor wanted Jeremy to tell me it's gender but it took him a little bit because he was teary eyed and couldn't get the words out.  Finally he told me it was a girl!  We're an all girl family, just like I grew up with.  Her name is Piper Erin Schultz, she weighed 7 lbs 5.6 oz, and was 19.5 inches long.  She screamed and screamed the whole time she was in the operating room, even after bundled and held by Jeremy, until he brought her to me and I nuzzled her forehead with my lips and talked to her.

 Yes, that was a bunch of gunky gooey pictures but she's still adorable!  After I was all stitched up they rolled me back to my room, where I continued to shake and shiver for quite a while.  Jeremy finally headed out to the waiting room and sprayed pink silly string on the family and told them the news.  After that small groups of family started heading to my room to see Piper.  Maddox was a little disappointed at first that she wasn't a boy, but fine with it now.  She is one proud big sister!

The name... we love her name... Piper was just a name I came across while searching for ideas and it seemed to fit our family and personality.  Erin is in remembrance of my nephew, baby Aaron (Lowe).  He will always be remembered and talked about for years to come, for many reasons, but not forgotten by my family because of Piper's name.  I love that all three of my girls have middle names that mean a lot to Jeremy and I...

Preschool Closing Ceremony

Maddox had her Westview Preschool Closing Ceremony on Wednesday night.  She's going to be headed to kindergarten next year!  She's very excited about it, especially about riding the bus.  We'll see how long that lasts.  They sang a few songs at the program so we got some action shots.

"HI!! I'm A Wide Mouthed Bullfrog...!"

 Singin' In the Rain  ---- Thumbs up, elbows back, knees bent, knees together, bottoms out, head up, tongue out..    They do one of the list then sing the chorus to singing in the rain, then add another action and sing again.  By the end they're doing all of the actions and they look kinda silly!

31 weeks along

31 week evidence.... and still growing!

This picture is when I was about 35-36 weeks along with Hadlee.  Getting close to that size!

Hadlee fun

Last week we went to Nashville, TN and Mill Shoals, IL for Memo's funeral.  They were both great funerals as far as funerals go.  Very humorous and touching.  After the Mill Shoals funeral we spent the night in Fairfield and went to see all the things we did as kids visiting there in the summer.  Here's a couple of park pictures of Hadlee's happy smile!

Easter photos

I finally stole the memory card from Suzy's camera so I could post some of our Easter pictures.  I apparently do  not have my children trained like the Lowe kids for pictures.  Mine don't smile on command very well.