The Birth of Violette Londyn

On the morning of January 16^th I had an apt with my midwife Melissa. I was 41 weeks 2 days, and more than ready to have the baby. Melissa came in and I asked what we could do that might help nudge us towards labor, she suggested sweeping my membranes, and drinking some pregnancy tea, I immediately agreed. After having my membranes swept she said I was still 3cm dilated, and that the baby was probably facing up rather than down, she suggested I do some lunges, spending some time on my hands and knees, and to try sitting on an exercise ball all to see if she would rotate and engage more into my pelvis. I got dressed and she made me some pregnancy tea which I drank, and she suggested we do some walking so we went down to Lowes and walked for about an hour, then headed home. Paul took a nap since he had a meeting at 5, and I went to get the kids whom my mom was watching. I really wanted to stay active so she drove us all to the mall and we walked for a little bit. I was starting to have contractions here and there, they did now feel different than they had before, much stronger, but they were very few and far between.

 Later in the evening I called my friend Sheena and asked to borrow her exercise ball, so I headed out picked it up and came back, I alternated between sitting on the ball, crawling around on my hands and knees, and doing lunges. It got late, I took a bath, all while telling Paul I thought the next day we would have a baby with the contractions I started having that day.

I went to bed crampy at around 1am the 17^th. Paul stayed awake doing this n that. I shot awake at 3:30am to a pretty painful strong contraction, and got up right after it was over. I went to the bathroom and thought, wow that hurt, I wonder if it’s  time here soon. I started timing contractions around 3:30, the first 3 were around 9 min apart, I called Paul into the room and tried to get him to pay attention and understand that I was having painful contractions. He pretty much ignored me, and walked away saying “I’m trying to eat”. I had a few more contractions which had jumped to 3 to 5 min apart. They weren’t killer yet, so I got out the exercise ball and bounced on it through a few more contractions while jamming to a couple songs on my phone. Paul came back in and looked at me like I was crazy. I told him I had been timing contractions and they were coming about 5 min apart, and that I thought they were the real thing. He suggested I call someone, so I called my mom at 5:07 to have her come over to stay with the kids, then called Melissa at 5:10, I told her I didn’t know if I would make it because the contractions were getting pretty painful, she asked if I wanted to try and make it and I said yes.

Paul and I got ready to head out. I had a shirt on, I put my shoes on and my robe, and we headed out. He made the ride pretty quick seeing as we had a long 40 mile drive to the birth center. He was flying down the road with hazards on, all the while I was having painful contractions about every 4-5min apart. They really hurt, and I felt lots of pressure with each one, I really thought she was coming and didn’t know if we’d make it.

We arrived at the birth center shortly after 6:00am. I walked in and Melissa checked me I was 7cm. She had started to fill the tub before I got there so I quickly put my sports top on and got into the water. It felt so good to get into the warm water. It is a funny shaped tub, looks like a giant white cereal bowl, it had lots of room to move around, and that was nice. Paul came in and asked how many cm, and then started to bring in my things. He then sat down and we started chatting in between contractions, and he was texting my friends and family on my phone, and also taking pictures like I asked. The contractions were much easier to get through being in the tub, the water felt really good and it was easy to move around if changing positions helped lessen the pain.

Around 7:30-7:45  it seemed to get a little more intense and I asked Paul to come and put counter pressure on my lower back/buttocks during contractions. I had to get on all fours to raise my back to him, which was easy to do in the water. After each contraction I would sit back down and wait for the next one. Melissa noticed that I was changing and looked like it was more intense so she asked if I felt like pushing and I told her I didn’t know. I got on my hands and knees for another contraction, Paul started with the counter pressure. Melissa then checked me and said I was fully dilated with a small lip in the front which I would be able to easily push past. I then was realizing it was time, but also was nervous to push. 

At 8:04am, while I pushed just a little, Melissa reach in and broke my water, I then knew for sure that she would be born pretty much within minutes. The next contraction came and I started to push and I felt her move way down, and then the real pain ripped through my being, I felt every millimeter I pushed her out. Each little bit she moved out felt like it couldn’t possibly hurt anymore, but each little bit hurt more and more and more. I knew it had to all end soon, and knowing that end to all the pain was approaching the closer she got to being out, and I would finally get to meet my beautiful Violette. As soon as she was born the pain was immediate gone, and I heard her cry, but I couldn’t see her, as I was still on my hands and knees, and everyone was behind me. They told me to sit back and they handed me my little Violette, crying her first little newborn cry, I just stared in awe. It was amazing and very much worth every second, and every pain of the pregnancy and birth.

Zoo trip..

Our trip to the zoo :)

Baby Number 4 is a....

It's a girl!! Violette Londyn - here belly is at 24 weeks!

We have some BIG news!! 3 things

3 things to announce!! 2 of them are the 2 feet we will be adding to our house around the end of December/beginning of January!!

No, we are not remodeling!! We're expecting baby #4!!

here he/she is, so tiny at 6 weeks 3 day we even got to see a heartbeat!

The 3rd big change is that we are also are going to school at home! Valerie will be doing first grade curriculum and Veronica 2nd grade. I am still in the research phase and searching out the perfect curriculum. I have some great reference materials to read, and some great homeschooling friends who have shared their experiences and referrals to some great programs. It will be crazy at first getting used to all the changes, but with the loving support of family and friends we can accomplish anything. So excited to share all this news!

Love,
The Vadons

Spring Break and Fun Things With the Kids

The girls got Our Generation 18" Dolls for Christmas. They are similar to the $105 American Girl brand dolls, except a lot cheaper, lol.
The girls like them a lot, and I have made them a bunch of things for their dolls, and they have helped me too! The accessories at the AG store are very pricey and we have got away with making things ourselves, or buying them elsewhere for much cheaper. They are saving their money to get a real AG doll from the store they are building here in Houston, it is set to open late summer. It is a good goal for them and it is helping teach them about money.

We spent a lot of time on spring break making clothes for their dolls. Veronica even made a small quilt last week, she sewed the top by herself, pictured below, the red and zebra print one.
Follow my board on Pinterest which can be found HERE, there are more links and other doll related pics etc.

I walked into Veronica's room and this is how "Sally" looked. Messy hair, messy bed, pizza, marshmallow on a stick and cookie (made from hand shaped white polymer clay, baked then painted) in her lap, lol! - I made the shelf into a clothing rack via blog post found HERE, and twisted some unused wire we had laying around into doll hangers. There is a plan on Ana White for a doll clothing wardrobe closet HERE which I plan to make in the future, but this one will do for now.
This is after a little fixing from mom. Note the mailbox also made by me, only cost a $1 in the Dollar isle at Target during Valentines, and scrap left over from when I made the beds. I made their doll beds, it only cost $11 for each one I made. You can find the plans HERE and you can make a more narrow "twin" size bed by omitting one "slat" and shortening the boards that are horizontal on the head and foot board. We followed the plans for a more "full size" bed look.
Check out some close ups of the clothing we made during spring break, this is (Veronica's) "Sally's" clothes. Knee high socks into doll tights/leggings (and a pair of socks too), Veronica cut and tried to sew the red top, I had to fix it up a little, and I made the blue matching top and pant set, looks comfy for sleep, huh! I used this free pattern download HERE for the blue shirt, no pattern for the pants, and used this HERE for the doll tights

Here is ms Valerie's doll, just relaxing, and her doll hanging shelf

I only had to sit her doll up to "fix it up" lol
Clothes made for Valerie's doll. (I also made the dress the doll has on in the pic above using the free pattern HERE ) Pink drawstring dress using the free pattern and tutorial HERE, and the flower short and shirt set using the blog post and free patterns HERE
pictures from when I first made the beds, and you can see the quilt, pillows and throw pillows etc I made for the beds.

The girls posing with their dolls
would love to share pics of the sock bunnies we made, and sock monkey we will be making. Check back for more pics later!

My Disney '09 Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Pinterest - Mini Cinnamon Rolls - MY easy twist

I found this cute, and yummy looking picture (below) on Pinterest (along with many many other combination of cute, cool, neat, fun - foods, crafts, projects, designs, etc etc I could go on for days on that site, and I know some have, lol). It is from Picky-Palate.com I love recipes that are easy, simple, and that I can customize to what I have already.
I didn't use fancy name specific biscuits, I just used what I had, which was store brand, plain basic 10 ct can of biscuits (there are so many things you can make with a basic can of biscuits, I should make a whole post of thing you can make with them). (it states at the bottom of the blog post that "*Disclaimer: I am part of the McCormick Real Gourmet Blogger Program and am being compensated" so that is probably why she put name brands next to the ingredients listed)
got out the tub "butter" since I knew it would be easy to spread, and I wouldn't have to wait for it to get soft/room temp like the recipe calls for.
you will also need light brown sugar, cinnamon, and I added a tad bit of white sugar as well, no measuring.
I mashed, patted, rolled out the biscuits to a nice flat-ish circle, used a spoon to spread the tub "butter", and after a couple of times I ended up using my finger to spread it around, since it was easier to get an even layer.
next I sprinkled brown sugar evenly over the tops, next white sugar, and last cinnamon.
next roll up the circles, and cut evenly, place on greased cookie sheet and baked at 350 for about 15minutes.after I mixed up some powdered sugar with some milk, couple tablespoons of powdered sugar, to very little milk, adding milk very little at a time to get desired consistancy, and drizzled over plated mini cinnamon rolls.
I hope these last until the girls get home, they are yummy. Vincent likes them, lol.
here he is last night before bedtime :)