A play toy

We are know what a baby is good for. It's really just a play toy. And we just can't get enough of her around here. Fights over who gets to play with or "babysit" Fiona happen on an hourly basis. I thought Asher was done with his fascination of her when today during Cecily's "peach time" he threw a fit and started grabbing her out of Cecily's arms. (Did I mention Asher is going through his terrible two's hard core this week?)

{Asher's way of playing with Fiona}

{Jocelyn's way of playing with Fiona}

{Cecily's way of playing with Peach}

Fiona loves being with her sisters. Today while they played with her she was all smiles. It's only when big brother comes tromping over she gets a little nervous. The other day she was having tummy time and he put about 3 blankets and a big pillow on top of her. She was screaming and he thought she was screaming in enjoyment. Let the miscommunication between girls and boys begin!

Fie-Fie Fashion Show

 {Beth made this headband for her and I LOVE IT!}

Jocelyn had the GREAT idea to have a fashion show where we take pictures of Fiona in all of her pretty clothes. She was only a couple days old at this point so a lot of her clothes couldn't fit yet. She was in such a happy mood we decided to do it right then. By the time we got the clothes all picked out and set up she was letting us know it was nappy time but we just moved along anyway. Halfway through things started to get pretty chaotic with 3 kids dancing around me and Fiona putting up a fight. Cecily then started chanting "it's a Fei-Fei Fashion show!" and it was so darn cute we took a couple more pictures before we called it quitsies.

 {This photo was taken after Chris realized he didn't have a card in his camera. We missed the first outfit that she was wearing. Molly made this onsie for her, it's my favorite of the bunch she made. I planned to take pictures of her in each one but we didn't make it that far.}

 {Booties made by Katie, her little toes are already crammed in there cause she has big Richards/Rogers feet}

{Take two of favorite onesie made by Molly. We decided it was easier to have her lay down then stand up.}

{Matching dress to the skirts the girls were wearing with their Big Sister shirts, made by Molly}

{Super cute tutu made by my friend September. This is where things got pretty chaotic!}

And don't forget the photographer's photo!

Sweet help

So my mommy left on a Sunday afternoon. And Chris's mom came Tuesday morning. 

It was so nice to see her and spend time chatting and just hanging out. Chris went back to work on Wednesday and she would take care of the whole house till I got up somewhere between 10 and 11am every morning. It was heavenly not having to worry about anything. She brought a suitcase full of crafts to do with the kids, and we got a little pool from Wal-mart that the kids swam in (probably 60 degree water). Here are some of the completed crafts...

{Asher's monkey (middle jar) exploded in the water so that's why it looks so gross!}

Chris and I even got to go on a date Friday night and the kids stayed home and had a party with Nana. These girls were so spoiled by the time both nana's were gone. They got to stay up uber later, eat whatever they want and got toys left and right.

UPDATE ON ASHER: He's almost himself again. Not completely at 100% but that's ok cause I'm actually able to keep up with him. (Life is so nice now that I'm not giant anymore.) He's not throwing up but he still has the nastiest diarrhea. The doc said to give that a week before I should get too concerned. If he gets a super long bug like this again we're going to take him to a specialist and get his little insides checked out. But right now I'm going to enjoy his extra long cuddles before he's back to being too busy.

mommy and daughter

The other day Jocelyn set this photo-op up of Fiona. She loves to play with her and read to her as much as she can.

I immediately got excited when I saw that Jocelyn did this because I have this photo of myself as a baby. I don't know if my mom did it or who but it's always fun to see comparisons.

Chris was supposed to have returned to work Monday morning but Sunday night around 11:30pm we heard Asher in his room. We checked on him and he literally had thrown up all over his room. I was scrubbing the carpet in several spots. He's been stealing my blanket to sleep with and "nienie" took the brunt of it. Chris was up with him all night taking care of him as he puked and pooped every 30 minutes so I could take care of Fiona. I had Chris another day and Asher continued to be sick. He slept through the night last night, threw up a couple times today, continued with the diarrhea and 100+ temp. I had Chris today too. We're now at 48 hours, it's starting to feel a lot like when he was sick and hospitalized last year. Chris has to go back to work tomorrow so we're praying Asher will feel better tonight cause I don't know how we're going to work having a new born and a toddler in the hospital.

Curse you Richards' intestines!

Compare and decide

Chris and I already decided she's beautiful. And we've decided that she looks like Jocelyn. But just for fun you can decide for yourself.

Before Baby

Since my mom came May 20th just in case I went early (and I convinced myself I would have her on the 21st) we had a lot of time to hang out. My mom spent a lot of time thinking of things to do to keep me distracted and not think about STILL being pregnant. We re-did my kitchen chairs because they were SO nasty.

On a trip to Wal-mart to get more spray paint for the chairs my mom discovered her diamond was missing! It had fallen out somewhere on my porch, or Wal-mart parking lot. There have been a lot of search expeditions but we still haven't found it.

On Monday the 24th we were hanging out in the kitchen when I realized I hadn't seen Asher for awhile. He had recently learned how to unlock the front door and I was pretty sure that's where he had escaped. I began yelling at everyone to start looking and I ran out the front door, pregnant and barefoot AGAIN. Once I got about 4 houses down I realized he wasn't close by and I needed to go get my shoes. My mom had gone the other direction on the street and since I didn't know how long he had been gone I decided I better get the van and drive down to the main road to make sure he wasn't there or in the ditch. Once I checked there and I was driving slowly back to the house I realized that I needed to call Chris and tell him to come home and then call the cops. Once I realized this I lost all composure. It's probably been 15 minutes since I realized he was gone, I couldn't find my cell phone and Jocelyn was asking me for gummies! I flipped out on her and yelled at them to pray for Asher as I headed back outside to look for Asher. As I reached the van my little sister Jenny was yelling that my mom had found him. I couldn't see my mom yet and I just buried my head on the van and wept and prayed in gratitude. Right at that moment Chris pulled up (he never answered his phone so he had no clue what was going on) and my mom was walking up holding Asher. She had found him, several houses down playing in someone's backyard. I never want to go through something like this again, it is the most terrifying feeling knowing you may have lost one of your kids.

Plus BOYS ARE HARD WORK!

We went on a lot of hikes trying to put me in labor. Friday the 21st we took my mom downtown to get some big yummy cookies and play in the little water park area. It was probably one of our favorite days ever here in FO CO.

On Saturday we went on a hike at a beautiful prairie not far from our house. We walked far and hard but it ended up just making me really uncomfortable.

While walking back to the car I noticed something on the ground and yelped at my mom to watch out. It was a snake. I called to Chris that I think it was a baby rattlesnake and he came and inspected and sure enough it was. Here's a video of Chris proving there's still little boy inside him. When I first watched it I thought he was still wearing his shoe, but thankfully he's at least holding it and not wearing it!

On Sunday we went on a walk to Lee Martinez park. It's a beautiful, lush hike/bike park.

It was an exciting week while we waited for little Fiona to come. I'm so glad my mom and sister were able to come and help me those last couple days.

Fiona's Story

Friday, May 21
I went in to the doc and got my membranes stripped. He was kind of a punk about doing it, the whole "I can do it but it probably won't work speech". He also changed everything the doctor told me the week before. "80% effaced? I'd say more like 75%. 3 cm? Probably closer to 2.5 cm." It took everything not to cry in the office but I still had hope I would go into labor that night.

Saturday, May 22
I woke up to the pure disappointment that it didn't work. And that's basically how everyday went. Each night hoping that that was the one.

Monday I really started to get worried that my mom wasn't going to be here, her flight was scheduled for Friday night and my next doc appointment was Friday late afternoon. Tuesday I called the office and rescheduled my appointment to Wednesday first thing in the morning. I wanted to get my membranes stripped again and schedule an induction. Tuesday night I was having some kind of contractions and I didn't even think I would make it to my appointment. I woke up at 4am to go to the bathroom and I knew it wasn't going to happen. (insert bitter disappointment) I had a hard time going back to sleep and then had to be up at 8am to get ready for my appointment. At my appointment the doc said nothing had changed and stripped my membranes (after getting the lecture again) we talked about induction for Saturday morning. I had a couple contractions on the way home from the appointment but nothing the rest of the day. I had my nightly shower and had my first strong contraction at 8:35pm. Finally it was happening!!

 {taken a couple hours before we left to the hospital}

We went on a long walk, my contractions went from 16 minutes apart to 10ish, all very strong. Then we relaxed and watched TV till 12am the contractions were still 8 - 9 minutes apart but really strong and I kept saying "I just want to go now."

**BACK STORY** With Jocelyn and Asher we went to the hospital when contractions were 5 minutes apart but still had to walk around forever before the nurses would admit me to make sure I was progressing. Ok, back to Fiona.

We moved upstairs so I could lay in bed and rest but the contractions were so strong and I was really feeling pressure in my back that I told Chris again that I just wanted to go to the hospital but he said "let's wait a couple more contractions" 12:30am we decide to go, contractions were pretty much 5 minutes apart. In the car I told Chris that if I had to breathe through the urge to push (not being allowed to push when the urge is so strong is the most intense pain I have ever experienced and any woman who's had to do it will back me up)I was going to be really mad at him. On the way I had several more contractions that were really strong. I could barely walk up to the hospital and an ambulance worker saw me and got a wheel chair for me. We got up to my labor room and Chris told the nurse I wanted an epidural right away and she said "ok, if we have time." She checked me and I was at a 7.5 cm and going fast. As soon as she told that I knew I wasn't going to get an epidural and I cried. I then started thinking of all the steps I had to go through without the epidural; pushing, delivering, placenta, stitches... and all I could do was cry. I know I've done it twice before but that was nearly 5 years ago, I didn't mentally prepare, OR practice breathing the pain was so intense I couldn't remember anything from lamaze class. When I couldn't keep up with the breathing I would just yell, scream and cry. I always had visions of myself being graceful during labor but I must confess that this labor I was like a scene out of a bad made for tv movie. Chris knew I was mad at him for not taking me sooner and he just kept apologizing and never let go of my hand. At one point I had a bad contraction and I didn't know what to do with my right hand and Chris was holding my left so I grabbed onto his chest. He later told me that I pulled several chest hair but he never complained. About this time Chris realized he didn't have a camera on him. He thought he would have time to go out to the car once I was settled in to get our stuff. He told the nurse and she got the car keys and sent two other nurses out to get our stuff.

Speaking of how nice the staff is let me tell you how beautiful my birthing room was. All the cabinets were beautiful oak. In the bathroom was a huge jetted laboring tub some stuff came out of the ceiling when it was time to have the baby, it was crazy nice!

When the doctor came and checked me I was at a 9. When I started really feeling the urge to push he checked me I was at 9.5 and he told me I couldn't push yet. Epidural man came at this point and they told me I could get a spinal shot that would numb me for an hour and would take effect within minutes. DO IT! They got me in the epidural position, he was cleaning my back and BAM! Contraction came and I was screaming "I CAN FEEL HER COMING!" Epidural guy freaked cause his area was sterile but in my freak out I moved to lay back, my water broke and there was nothing stopping me from pushing at this point. Chris said as I rotating to lay down he could see her head. Two contractions and A LOT of screaming later she was born. It happened so quick, I think I was in shock when they laid her immediately on my belly and took me by surprise but I was so weak I couldn't even hold her. After a few minutes the shock of it all wore off and I was able to enjoy seeing my baby for the first time and look her over. I made sure she didn't have any crazy birthmarks and inspected the hair color. She was perfect.

2:46 AM

7 pounds 13 ounces

19 inches

I didn't end up needing stitches which shocked me because I really thought I didn't have anything left. I told Chris I'm for sure done having kids after this. Because I was group b strep positive and everything went so fast I didn't get all of the antibiotics and we had to stay in the hospital 48 hours. So I had her 2:46 Thursday morning and we came home Saturday late morning. My nurses were all so nice and helpful, I actually ate every meal the hospital made (which is shocking cause the food was never good with the other ones) and they had better "recovering" stuff.

The kids are LOVING Fiona. Especially Asher. I was so worried he would hate her and try to hurt her but he actually loves her so much we have to watch him very carefully so he doesn't squeeze her to death. Jocelyn was a little... unsure about her at first but since we've been home she's wanted to hold her nonstop and has been reading and playing with her. I think Cecily loves her the most. It's easy for Cecily to love anything but she's so thoughtful and sweet with Fiona we just laugh. So we're one big happy family! Everyone is healthy and strong and I couldn't be more grateful.

My mom took such great care of the kids. She planned a "party" every night and let them pick out all the food they wanted at Walmart. They had such a fun time with us away I'm sure they didn't have time to miss us. My mom just left and the house feels empty, she's been here 10 days and it was so nice to see her everyday.

Traditionally, Chris gets the new baby a teddy bear like his dad did when he was born. This time around Chris let the girls help him pick one out at the store. We ended up with a 3 eyed monster doll.

WHAT'S IN THE NAME?

Fiona Joy Peach Richards

When pregnant with Jocelyn Chris and I thought it would be a neat idea to use virtues as our girls middle names. We went with Grace, Faith and now Joy. Joy is actually the middle name of Chris's 3rd sister, Chelsea. (She's also the 4th child)

A couple weeks ago Chris presented me with the idea of letting the kids pick the final name. As fun as I think it could have been I didn't want to end up with a "3-eyed monster" name plus I put in most of the work I wanted to have the final say in my kids name. The girls had thought of Peaches already so I countered Chris's idea with the idea of adding a 4th name and putting Peaches on the birth certificate. He agreed. When it came time to writing it down Fiona Joy Peaches Richards didn't sound right so we decided it should just be Peach.

Fiona was always somewhere on the list with the girls names. Chris loved it from the movie Secret of Roanish and I thought it was pretty. I really wanted a boy named Finn though. My only hang up with the name was Shrek, especially since the 4th one just came out last week. Out of all our names we thought Fiona had the cutest nick names. FiFi, Finny, Finn... After she was born I told Chris that I get to name her Laura since I didn't get the epidural. The name Fiona was confirmed when two things happened first I didn't feel right about naming our baby a name that Chris hated because I was mad at him. Plus he was just trying to keep me the most comfortable so being mad at him for having the best for me in his intentions would be silly. Second, while we were debating the name I called to order breakfast and the hospital worker answered "Nutrition. This is Finn. What can I get you?" I knew it was a sign she be named Fiona and I told Chris that when I hung up.