the time we were in Kohls, walking past the bra section when Karol piped up “That’s where the baby eats from”. Joshua and I both thought it was too funny.

So, Caecilia is a week old now. She is doing well. She is almost back to her birth weight and doing just fine. She is a good eater and likes to snuggle. She seldom fusses, unless she is hungry or getting a diaper change. She likes to explore the room with her eyes and look at the lamp. We have lots of fun together at 4 in the morning, when she needs a supplemented feeding, so I need to be awake awake to give it to her. We sit up on the couch and she eats while I talk to her or surf the internet. Then we go back to sleep until Joshua has to leave for work.

Karol and Margaret are doing a great job of adjusting. Margaret is a big help. She likes to help change diapers and makes sure the baby has lots of blankets to keep her warm.  Karol has been making sure he behaves and only has major meltdowns when Joshua is home. They have both been very very good about naps too. M goes down at about 1230 and K at about 1. M will play for a while by herself, so she doesn’t actually go to sleep until probably 115 or so. Karol will lay in our bed and read books for a while.

I have to come up with a lunch idea for today. I think mac and cheese would be good. What for a veggie? We have lettuce and the kids love lettuce, so perhaps that.

Margaret is now trying to sit on my lap, so I have to end this post now! I don’t want to leave without wishing everyone a Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Yesterday, the 7th, Caecilia was baptised. It was a small ceremony here in Marion. We like to have the babies baptised as soon as possible after birth, so quite a bit of the time, people aren’t able to make it. That isn’t a big deal for us, though we would like to have our families with us, we know that baptising the baby is more important.

Back to the baptism. Father Schalk came up from his parish down the road to baptise Caecilia for us. He is a good friend of ours and we were happy and thankful that he was available! Caecilia’s Godparents, Mary and Jeremy Sheiko live in Lafayette so they weren’t able to be there, but the wonderful Logue Couple stood in for them. Father Mike, our Pastor, was there also. So that was it. A small group. It was awesome. I will post pictures soon. I have never gotten weepy during a baptism before but I was yesterday. Caecilia quickly made my weepys go away when she tooted while Father said “I baptise you in the….” with each pour of water, Caecilia tooted.

After the baptism, we came back to our house and had carrot cake and drinks. Father Schalk joined us for a little bit before he had to head back. The Logues stayed for a while then Father Wagner joined us. There is a man who can keep a person laughing all night.

After the kids went to bed, we talked so more with Father then Joshua went to go pick up an easy chair that Father was looking to get rid of. It is nice stuff. Comfy. Comfy. Comfy. Thanks Father!!

Today we went to Mass at Noon for the Holy Day. Karol had to be taken out mid way through the Liturgy of the Word because he was being a not good kid. Then M started acting up. I was trying to keep C from crying. It was fun times. I nursed her in the back when Joshua returned from Karol Duty and she was fine for the rest of Mass. And, the best part, after Mass, people kept coming up to us and telling us how wonderful our family is. Okay….sure.

After Mass, we hit the Post Office then Chinese Buffet. The kids were surprisingly good during lunch. It was a surprisingly good buffet too! Then we headed to Meijer to pick up a few sleepers for C. I don’t think we clothed M when she was a baby as we can’t seem to put our hands on any newborn things for her!

One more thing that J and I have commented on with regard to Caecilia and how things are different with her. When the other kids were newborns, we lived a block from St. Boniface, we never drove to Mass so we never had the carseat. Now we drive to Mass and have the car seat. I don’t feel comfortable leaving the carseat in the car during Mass, as it will get cold, but I don’t want to take it in to a pew so that it will take up so much space. We leave it in the back of the church (where one of us almost always is, with one of our kids.) However, it is just so funny how things have changed!!

Finally, some of you may know or remember that I have nursing issues. I haaave low milk supply and have to supplement breast milk with formula. I was hoping things might be different with this baby and it looked hopeful, but today we supplemented one of her feedings. She was crying for food and I didn’t have anything else to give her. I have to say, as hard as it is to have to supplement, I know when I see her full and looking around the room, exploring with her eyes, that it is okay that I have to supplement.

That is all for now. Joshua is working on getting the pictures from the baptism on the computer, so look out for them!

We have a little girl, Caecilia Rosa! She was born yesterday, December 4th at 3:08 pm. Labor started on Tuesday around 5 or 6 pm. The midwife came over, a “backup” one because my midwife was attending another birth. Andrea came over to watch the kids and things got underway. Uh, for a while. My contractions were strong and six minutes apart for a few hours and I was dialating, but things weren’t progressing quickly. So, needless to say, it was a long night.

The midwives left around six, when I hadn’t contracted for about 45 minutes. Karol and Margaret were picked up by Andrea’s husband Brian. They were so helpful with the kids! So off the kids went and J and I tried to sleep. I started contracting again, but they were 20 minutes apart and while they HURT like nothing else, I didn’t think it was “real”. So we spent the day with me sleeping between contractions and watching MacGyver and Star Trek: Enterprise episodes.

Around 130, we made arrangements for Brian to bring the kids back and to have a cowoker of J’s take the kids for a while, thinking that they would spend the night with her. Brian dropped the kids off at 215 and Mary picked them up around 220. My contractions were getting a bit stronger at that point and probably 15 minutes apart. J came back in the house after he helped Mary with the carseats.

At this point I was so tired, I was thinking hospital. They could give me drugs to take the edge off, right? Well, that little thought was the beginning of transition. However, I was clueless. Long story short, I had another contraction and felt the urge to push. We called the midwife at that point and I got back in the pool.

I had two more contractions and told Joshua I was going to die and yelled at him for daring to tell me how to breathe. I was in pain and doing my best darn it! At about 3 I felt the urge to push. The midwife was on her way but not here yet. Joshua was trying to support me but check to see what was going on with the baby too.

Well, sparing more details, we will just say that Caecilia Rosa made debut at 308, about 3 minutes before the midwife came in. Joshua and I were amazed and awed by her. We sat there for a few seconds trying to figure out what we were supposed to do next. We made sure she was breathing and then covered her up with a towel and I held her against my chest. The midwife arrived to the sound of a crying baby! She helped us with the post delivery incidentals. Joshua went to call Mary and have her bring the kids back. Jaime, sweet wonderful Jaime arrived about a 20 minutes later.

So there you go. She is wonderful and beautiful and darling. She looks just like a little Karol!