Lucia Hope Arrives!

Back into the blogging world I go. I suppose only time will tell if I can stick with it this time. Life has been especially crazy since I started the blog. We moved and shortly thereafter I was very sick for a few months with this pregnancy. Anyway, I will try it again.

We were so excited to find out that we were expecting another baby. We truly believe that every child is a blessing and absolutely love having a house full of children. It is a busy but joy-filled life. It is especially a blessing for me to watch their relationships with each other develop and observe all of the fun times that they have together. I had hoped and prayed that I would not feel as sick with this pregnancy; however, God answered that prayer with a "no." I was extremely sick for a few months. Fortunately, Sven is such a wonderful spouse & father that he really picked up the extra slack. I am thankful for him, my parents & our friends who helped during that time.

It seems that the kids asked every single day when the baby would arrive. In that sense, it was a VERY LONG nine months! We were happy to hear we would have another little girl. Andrew had originally hoped for a brother, but we explained that God knows what is best for us, even when we don't understand. He is such a wonderful big brother and was always so excited to meet her. Lily really seemed to understand the concept of having another sister while it was sort of a new concept to Caroline and Emma Grace. Lily and I did a school unit on babies and how they develop. She now has a pretty good understanding of what goes on during those nine months. They all loved to see her move in my belly!

Most people who know me know that I am not a fan of hospitals or needles. For this reason, I was so excited to discover Family Beginnings at Miami Valley Hospital. It is a natural birthing center that is actually part of the hospital. It was a little stretching for Sven, but after visiting it, he approved. =) After visiting the facility and speaking with some friends who had delivered there, I was really hoping for a water birth. In order to deliver at Family Beginnings you have to reach 37 weeks. I was a little nervous that this would be an issue since this would be my fifth delivery....this would not be a problem. ;o) 37, 38, 39, and 40 weeks came and went with no indication that she was coming anytime soon. Then I started getting concerned that I would have to be induced and wouldn't be able to deliver at Family Beginnings at all.

Sunday 5/22 I woke up at 2:30am with painful contractions that came consistently every 12 minutes. After a couple of hours I woke up Sven telling him that this was probably it. I called to ask the doctor when I should come to the hospital and asked my parents to come over to watch the kids. I anticipated that the contractions would get closer together pretty quickly...wrong again! I decided to lay down to get a little more rest before labor (a mistake?). They completely stopped by 7:00. I was so discouraged and felt awful for waking everyone. We decided to go ahead and go to church. I told Sven that I needed to stay distracted and couldn't just sit around the house. After church, we visited our friends, the Hendersons, in Cedarville. I continued to have contractions, but nothing regular. After dinner, I had a couple pretty strong ones that made me think I'd like to be a little closer to the hospital. We stayed at home for a couple of hours and the contractions finally started becoming more regular. When they were 6-7 minutes apart, we decided to go to the hospital. We picked up my mom on the way and my dad kept Caroline and Emma Grace.

We arrived at the hospital at about 10pm. At that point I was 4 cm and 90% effaced. I was discouraged and thought it was going to be a long night or that they may even send me home. The nurse suggested walking to see if that would help things pick up a bit. J.J. walked the hospital with me while Sven and Jim watched ESPN.

This certainly helped things move along and the contractions got pretty strong within a short period of time. At that point I was 5-6 cm and the nurse called the doctor to come in and break my water. When the doctor arrived, I was having constant contractions with only 10-20 second breaks - pretty intense! She broke the water and said I was at 6 cm. I immediately got into the water. They said to let them know when I felt like I needed to push. I had one strong contraction in the water. At the end of the next one I said I needed to push. They checked me and I was at 10 cm!! At this point, the strangest thing happened - everything STOPPED. I felt totally fine - no contractions, no urge to push, nothing! My body just gave me a little break. I was able to take a minute to catch my breath, look around the room at some of my favorite people, even laugh - so weird. After a few minutes, the urge to push returned and out came Lucia Hope Raymond.

Wow, what a miracle to be present when someone makes their entrance into the world! Words could never express the feelings that accompany this experience. To hear her cry and hold her in my arms after months of anticipating her arrival and some concern about her health - pure joy! I instantly said, "She's little!" She weighed 6 lbs 13 oz - our smallest baby.

Andrew and Lily were overjoyed. They were well prepared for this experience and were so amazed by it. They watched "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" while I was in labor and fell asleep. They were woken up just as I was getting in the tub. Lily had a hard time waking up. ;o)

I was thrilled to share this experience with my mother and some dear friends. These women had prayed for her throughout the pregnancy and listened to my concerns - it was a blessing to share her birth with them.

We chose the name Lucia Hope for a few reasons. Lucia (loo-see-uh) means "light." Jesus said that He is the light of the world. He then said that his followers were the light as well. Light is the only thing that can pierce the darkness. His light has seen me through many times of darkness. My prayer for Lucy is that she will place her faith in Jesus and that his light will shine in her. I pray that she will help show others the hope and peace that only He can give. Sven and I read "The Chronicles of Narnia" to the children during this pregnancy. Oh how we love these stories!! It's hard not to fall in love with Lucy. Her faith and searching for Aslan easily endear her to the reader.

Emma Grace and Caroline were so excited to meet their new sister. They love to hold her. Emma Grace is so cute when she holds Lucy! She always says, "She has a nose like me. She has two eyes like me. She has lips like me." I love it!

Lucy is so blessed to have one of the best fathers I've ever known! It was so nice to hear his encouraging words in my ear as I delivered her. He loves the Lord and loves his family so well. I am so thankful that she has a father who will love and protect her!

This little girl is so deeply loved. I'm not sure that she has been put down for more than five minutes since she's been born! She is a blessing straight from the hands of our great God and we are so very thankful for her precious life.

This is why they call me "Trouble"

Let me start by saying how very much I love this little ray of sunshine! She brings so much laughter into our house. Though we lovingly call her "Trouble," we wouldn't have it any other way! She keeps us on our toes & requires almost constant supervision. If it's quiet for a few minutes while she's awake, someone usually says, "Where is Caroline & what is she doing?" So without further delay, here is her most recent adventure:

This morning I gave the kids purple grape juice with their breakfast. Andrew put his cup on the counter, out of Caroline's reach. I went upstairs to change Emma Grace's diaper. While I was up there, Andrew starts screaming, "Mommy, Caroline got into the grape juice and it's EVERYWHERE!!" "Great," I think to myself. I run downstairs to find this:

"That is NOT grape juice," I replied. Our little lady, who has quite the affinity for eating strange things, had eaten a black Crayola marker!!! Her clothes are ruined, but we've got most of it off of her body (thanks to Grandma!). As you can tell by the pictures, she was pretty proud of herself.

My Cookie Girls!

Lily, Caroline & I made chocolate chip cookies this afternoon while the boys were golfing. They both love sampling the chocolate chips & the dough. Lily usually takes a good 5 minutes to get every last bit off of the beater. After getting a batch out of the oven & placing them on the cooling rack, I went upstairs to put Lily down for her nap. I was literally upstairs all of about two minutes. When I came back down, Caroline was sitting at their little table with a big cookie placed neatly on a napkin. I imagine that she must have taken her little chair over to the cookies the moment I went upstairs, grabbed a napkin off of the dining room table & was just sitting down to enjoy her cookie when I caught her! Now you know why we affectionately call her "Trouble."

Love this little face!!

Andrew's First Day of School

I never imagined that I would be so excited to start homeschooling! As I've looked over Andrew's curriculum for the year, I find myself eagerly anticipating all that we will do together. Since I look for every opportunity to celebrate the special "little things" of life, I wanted to be sure that he knew how significant this day was to our family. The day began, as it usually does, with all of the kids snuggling in my bed. I was thankful for the opportunity to take it easy in the morning, so I said to Andrew, "Do you know one of the best things about homeschooling? (jokingly referring to not getting up quite as early) and he replied, "spending time with my mom." He melts my heart & his answer was much better than mine. Still hoping to get my little joke in, I asked, "Do you know another great thing about homeschooling?" to which he replied, "learning about God." At this point, I gave up on the joke & realized that maybe he should be teaching me. :o)

I gave him a pirate backpack with his name on it; he was SO excited. Then I took his picture next to an antique school desk that we have. I plan to do this with all of the kids at the beginning of each school year. My parents agreed to keep the girls while he & I went out for breakfast. He chose Bob Evans & it just happened to be their grand opening. We had some fun pictures taken in a photo booth, met Biscuit & Gravy and received some neat prizes. After breakfast, we went to Walmart to buy school supplies. He was especially excited about his Spiderman notebook, Transformers folder & blue clipboard. Our first full day of school went extremely well. I look forward to seeing his knowledge increase over the coming years. He said, "This is the best day of my whole life!" This little guy is a greater joy than I could have ever anticipated. We love you, Andrew!!

My First Blog

I've fought against blogging for awhile now. It's never been something that interested me; however, now that they can be printed, I think this may be a great thing for our family. My goal is to record all of the "everyday" events that I fear I will forget in time. Our days are filled with funny quips by the children, beautiful moments of poignancy, and lots of silliness! I want to record many of these for my children and hope that they will add a little joy or laughter to the lives of anyone else who reads it. So, here we go....