It's about that time....

Tomorrow my sweet girl will be 12 weeks old and that means it's time for me to head back to work. My lovely hiatus is over. I go back to work this weekend. I'm sad but at the same time looking forward to it. I'm ready for some adult conversation and some stimulation to my brain! I went in today for a little while just to get reacquainted with our computer system and workflow. I also needed to have my passwords reset so that I could log on to the computer so I could work. I felt like a fish out of water. I think I'll be okay though. It all started coming back to me after a few minutes. I just hope I don't have anything weird happen because then I'll definitely be up the creek. This mommy brain just doesn't work as well as it use too. It was good to see all of my coworkers today. I think they have missed me;).

Please keep me in your prayers and Mark as well. He is going to have to tackle all 3 girls on his own this weekend and he hasn't had to do that yet. I know that he'll be fine.

Also, my precious girl turned 7 today. Lauren has had the best birthday this time around, or at least that is what she has been telling me. She got her ears pierced last week, had two parties on Saturday (a friend party and then the family party), went to Wet-n-Wild water park, went swimming with a good friend, then slumbered in the most beautiful place in the world with her sister and Aunt Allie. She definitely has had a good 7th birthday. Happy Birthday, Lauren!!!!!

It's Been A While....

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. We've been busy here at the Magic McCain's. We just got back from the beach this past Sunday. We went to Kill Devil Hills/Kitty Hawk for a week. We had a great time!! A real vacation. We went to bed late, slept late, stayed in our jammies most of the day, went to the beach late and ate, ate, ate!! It was awesome! I had some extra hands as well to help me with my girls. We brought our niece, Cambridge, this year with us to help with Brooke (and with the big girls.) She was awesome! Anything I asked her to do, she did!! I want her to come live with us!!

Brooke did really well in her new surroundings. We put her in a pack n play for bedtime with her snuggle nest and she slept just like she does at home. At the beginning of the week, she looked so small in the pack n play but by the end of the week we were questioning was she still going to fit in the bassinet. She had a growth spurt while we were gone!

Summer is definitely flying by way too fast and in just a few weeks I'll be done with maternity leave. I'll be back to working every other weekend night shift. Hopefully by that time, Brooke will be sleeping through the night. Mark doesn't do well without sleep (neither do I but that's neither here nor there.)

Brooke is 2 months old today and I just can't believe it. She is smiling and cooing and trying to make a laughing sound. It sounds more like she is sucking in air. She definitely has a mind of her own, she lets you know when she isn't happy. She has a high pitched squeal that comes out when we don't move fast enough for her, meaning feeding her, picking her up. She is wearing size 3-6 months, still a few 0-3 if they are two pieces. She wears a size 1 huggies diaper but not in the pampers baby dry (those are way too little) so she is in between a size 1 and size 2 diaper. She still has blue eyes but they haven't gotten any lighter and she hasn't lost any of her hair!! We had the baby acne that started at 4 weeks but it only last about two weeks. For the most part she is sleeping through the night. I started putting her on her tummy (I know, I know, bad mama) and she slept through the night both times. She'll nurse on occasion if I'm feeling up to the challenge but she still takes her bottles like a champ. She's up to about 5 ounces each feeding and I still feel like a dairy farm! I need to sell some of my milk, or so my husband says.

Claire is doing great, just being Claire. She's been going to a preschool program sponsered by Quaker Lake and having a great time. She's enjoyed being at home this summer and slumbering with her sister (meaning staying the night in Lauren's room. She needs to get used to that, she'll probably be moving in there before too long.) She likes to carry around a pad and pencil so she can write her "lists." She is so precious.

Lauren is definitely enjoying her summer. Staying up way late and sleeping way late. She is her mother's daughter. We had great news today! She had her yearly eye doctor's appointment and our optometrist says she is ready for contacts!! What good news! She has been begging for contacts for 6 months. She looks adorable in her glasses but I understand the want to not wear them anymore. So her trial pair will be here in about a week and then she'll go for a fitting and be taught how to put them in. I'm so excited for her!!

Our next adventure will be to plan for Lauren's 7th birthday. She wants a friend pool party, a family party, and then a visit to the local water park. I'm gung ho about the first two, not so much about the latter. I worked at said water park while I was in college and I personally am not a fan. But, being that is the only thing she has asked for for her birthday, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and take her. She also is going to be getting her ears pierced this birthday. This 7th birthday is going to be monumental!!!

Here's to a busy end of July and crazy busy August!!

Our Benny

(This was a picture I had taken when we first brought Benny home. He had grown quite a bit before he died.)

I haven't posted in a while, been a wee bit preoccupied:) We are doing okay here at the Magic McCain's. We lost our sweet puppy this past weekend. We were at a friend's birthday party and he was hit by a car. We found him on our way home. A good Samaritan called and left us a message about sweet Benny. I called him back, it was a young man and he told me he had moved Benny from the road. I cried and told him thanks for caring for our dog. I have really taken this hard. I don't know if its a little postpartum kicking in (I developed PPD when Claire was 6 weeks old, and Brooke will be 7 weeks old on Friday.) I cried all weekend and felt forlorn all day yesterday. The girls took it okay, I'm not sure they realize the finality of his death. Claire really wasn't upset, in fact she just said we could get a new dog (she had a love/hate relationship with Benny, he liked to bite her dress tails). Lauren cried and had a little drama fit but other than that she has seemed okay. She may understand death, she knows about Heaven and maybe she does realize the finality of it all. Sometimes, I think, that I don't realize her comprehension and understanding of events in life. She probably understands just fine and is okay know thing Benny is in Heaven and is okay and one day we'll get to see him again. I, for one, miss looking out my kitchen window and seeing him playing with the torn up bouncy balls or throwing his rope around. I really loved him:( Mark reminds me, "Val, he was just a dog," but he was more than that. I guess this time around, since we picked him out and brought him home to us, I just knew that he would grow up with our girls and become a loving dog. I could look years down the road and see him being the protector of our girls, watching them play, I could see him doing the rounds with Mark. Just being our dog. I will definitely miss him, even him tearing down my clothes off the clothesline:)

What Do You Think?

That is the question, what do you think? I constantly ask this question to my husband, my mom, my sisters, my friends, what do you think about this, what do you think about that? So, I'll ask you guys, what do you think? What do you think about me leaving my 5 week old baby with my sister for a full 24 hours so that my husband and I can enjoy some time together?

Lauren was about 6 months old before I even left her for a long period of time with anyone. I think she was almost a year before I let her stay the night with anyone. I cried when I left her the first time. I kept thinking I was a bad mom leaving her so soon, would she be okay, would my mom or my sister be able to care for her like I do (please note that they both had WAY more experience, typical first parent syndrome.)

Claire was about 3 months old when she stayed the night with someone. I don't think I cried at all. I think I was ready to be child free for a short while by that time.

Brooke is 5 weeks old and she and her sisters stayed the night with their Aunt Sonja and her family on Sunday night. I had absolutely no problem leaving her, I didn't cry. I was fine. Does that make me a bad mommy? I kind of felt bad for leaving her but she isn't attached to the "girls." She takes breastmilk from a bottle and my sister and niece are more than capable of feeding her. It was just for one night and believe me, she had enough milk for at least a week:)

We needed this. We needed this time to reconnect from the chaos of having a newborn in the house, a almost 7 year old trying to adjust and a 4 year old just along for the ride. We needed time to be with each other and enjoy something without constantly having someone calling our names to get them something or break up a silly argument or change a diaper. It was a chance for us to do something fun and spend quality time with one another and catch up on some sleep.

So, what do you think? Do you think I'm a bad mom for trying to get back some sanity and have more patience with my girls? I hope not because I feel like I'm being a better mom by taking care of my needs so that I can take better care of my kids needs, and it was only 24 hours:)

Getting the hang of things....

Yesterday, my oldest daughter did something I have never done, she went to camp. She is old enough to go to camp. Where has the time gone? Anyways, she went to a Christian camp not far from where we live. We dropped her off yesterday morning and then I went and picked her up this morning. A full 24 hours. I don't think she missed us at all. Her bestie, Hannah, was there with her and some other friends from church so she wasn't alone. I asked Lauren about her activities and the most I got out of her was the fact they sang some songs and went swimming. As I type this, she is zonked out.....camp took a lot out of her.

Now, Claire cried the entire way home yesterday after dropping Lauren off. She wanted to stay at camp but she gets to go to the preschool program that starts next week. I know she is ready for that. It is nature based and she loves anything that has to do with going outside. She finally calmed down when I promised her I would take her swimming which we did and then she didn't even get in the water that much. She missed her big sister.

Brooke is doing so well and growing like a weed. I think we are going through a growth spurt. The newborn diapers aren't fitting that well anymore and we are slowly getting out of the newborn outfits (not that I had that many to begin with.) She is having more periods of wakefulness and the other night when she decided to stay awake from 2am to 4am, she was trying to talk and looking at her hand. I even got a smile or two from her. AND, she has started holding her head up on her own, she looks like a turtle:). She is too little to be doing that already. We are mainly bottle feeding her now. I still try to nurse but she just doesn't stay latched on long enough for the goods to start flowing and then she gets frustrated. I feel like a dairy cow, pumping at regular intervals. At least I know that she is still getting my milk. She just wakes up once a night, usually between 2 and 3 am and then wakes up at around 6-6:30am. For the past two mornings, Mark has fed her and let me go back to sleep (after I pump) and then she goes back to down. I can't complain one bit about this baby. She is so sweet and only cries when she is hungry. We are definitely blessed this third time around.

Lauren and Claire are still doing okay with her. Lauren is getting better and Claire just goes about her business as usual. I find that I can't always get things done when I want too but hey, it's okay, things will eventually get done. I was hanging out clothes this afternoon (and praying that the dog doesn't tear them down again :/) and thinking to myself, I have 3 daughters. It is still hard to believe sometimes that we have 3 kids. The only thing that has really changed, other than the fact that I'm constantly changing diapers and pumping, is it takes just a little longer to get out the door to go somewhere. I haven't figured that part out just yet. It's a good thing it's summer:). We are getting the hang of things........

LIfe Goes On...

We had an extremely busy weekend here at the Magic McCain's. On Saturday morning, we decided on the fly to head to Raleigh to watch our local baseball team play in the state championship. Remember, Brooke was just born:). It took us about a hour and a half to get ready but nonetheless, we headed out the door. Many people looked at us like we were crazy, bringing a week old baby to a ballgame. Then we proceeded to head to our cousin's house for her birthday. We all had a good time but we were tired. And wouldn't you know Saturday night was the first night since she was born, Brooke woke me up in the middle of the night, not vice versa.

She only did once, she's sleeping in 4 hour increments at night and for that, I'm not complaining.

The girls and I went to church yesterday without Daddy. He had a service call. Again, people couldn't believe that I was at church and that I came with all 3 girls by myself. No big deal, life goes on.

Speaking of Brooke, she is now off the bili lights. We went to the pediatrician on Friday. She gained back up to 8lbs., 3ozs., and her total bili had gone down a few points. He felt that she was doing great and didn't need to be on the lights anymore. He also told us to never wake a sleeping baby. I took those words to heart:). Brooke is still having trouble latching on but we are still practicing. She is taking a bottle like a champ and pumping is going fine. Although, I'm starting to feel like a dairy farm around here. At least I have a service man that lives with me....hehehehe!!

We are getting used to being a family of five. Sometimes it gets a little crazy. Once school is over with, things will be even better!! Take for example this morning, Brooke woke up at 6:30am. I got up to pump for her, Mark turned on the TV for Lauren to get up. I get Brooke out of the bassinet, change her diaper, make sure Lauren is awake, find out what she wants to eat, fix it, fix her lunch and snack, Claire wakes up and she wants breakfast. I fix that, then finally I'm able to feed Brooke. Then, I make sure that Lauren is dressed and fix her hair. While all of this is going on, Mark is in the bathroom doing his thing. By the time they left for school, I was already exhausted and then we had to proceed to get ready for Brooke's pictures to be made! They are absolutely precious and I can't wait to see them!!

Life goes on. Now, here's a little peek at Brooke and I on the day of her birth! Precious!

This post may seem a little scattered, it's 3pm in the afternoon and I'm struggling to keep my eyes open. Hopefully in a few days I'll have a more coherent post:).

She's Here!!!!

Hello to everyone, I have an announcement to make....Brooke Averie McCain is here!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, after a canceled surgery and multiple dates for induction, she made her debut (I was induced) Friday night, May 27, after about 10 hours of labor and 10 minutes of pushing (and for that I am definitely thankful for:). She weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces and 21 inches long. Right smack dab in the middle of her sisters. Lauren was 8lbs., 7 ozs. and Claire 9 lbs even. Brooke is the same length as Lauren was when she was born. What can I say, I grow them big!!

We are doing okay. The first 24 hours were a little rough. Brooke swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid during her "flight" into the world and didn't want to eat. We had a few episodes of her choking and spitting up stuff. The nurses eventually had to suction out her tummy and got rid of all that excess goop.

She has dark hair:) and most likely will have dark eyes:). I'm so excited about that!! Finally a child with my coloring. She is the sweetest thing and I could eat her up!

We came home on Sunday and she has the jaundice. Right this moment she is comfortably tanning in her bassinet, my little glow worm. Hopefully, a few more days of this and we'll be home free.

We are having some issues nursing but I'm going to persevere. She is lazy, she can latch on but doesn't stay that way and then gets mad when my milk doesn't come and then she throws a little fit and then goes to sleep. I've had to start pumping and giving her a bottle but as long as she is getting my milk, I'm fine with that. She can nurse, she just doesn't want to put forth the effort:).

We are adjusting to the new one. Lauren and Claire love their baby sister and I'm so thankful for that. We have been blessed with a beautiful baby and we couldn't be more happy. Our family of four is now a family of five with 3 beautiful, precious girls and the magic has just begun!!!!!