12*12*12

 

12*12*12

Happy Due Date to our sweet Libby!

 

While 12*12*12 would have been a great due date, we are happy you decided to come when you were healthy and ready...and we got 2 1/2 extra weeks with you!!!!

 

Updates on Libby:

 

*At her 2 week appointment, Libby was up to 7lbs 1oz (was 6lbs 11oz at birth). She is around 15% for weight...our first baby to make the weight chart!  Our pediatrician (who has been our pediatrician since Abigail was born) was laughing at how she's the first Wennerstrom who is on the chart).

*Obviously from her weight, she's eating well.  She eats ALL THE TIME!  She is exclusively b.f. until I go back to work in a month..it's a lot of work but worth it. 

*Speaking of eating all the time..she really eats all the time at night.  Right now she sleeps A LOT during the day (eats about every 3 hours) but from 4pm-7pm she eats like every 30 minutes.  And then from like 11pm-4am, she eats every hour.  It definitely doesn't leave a lot of room for sleep or time to get errands done when Rob gets home from work...but this time will go so fast, so I'm still enjoying it!

*Libby's height is 20.3 inches (up .3 inches from her birth height) and is at the 45%...the same as Caitlin always is.  So I think she'll be the same as Caitlin, tall but not too tall.  I think Abigail will definitely be the tallest, but things can definitely change!

*Libby is still a chill, go-with-the-flow type of baby!  She gets dragged with for preschool drop-off and pick-up, errands, Xmas shopping, etc!

*She rarely cries, but when she does, it's CRAZY loud!  Insanely loud.  She's got quite a set of pipes!

*She doesn't have a lot of nicknames yet.  I just call her Libs.  Rob calls her Lib-a-saurus.  Abigail calls her Libby Frances.  She's very formal!  Caitlin calls her "it"...."It's crying!"

*She has fit into our family perfectly!  Life seems quiet and like something's missing when she's upstairs sleeping...we all miss her!  We can't wait to celebrate her 1st Christmas!

 

Libby often sleeps with one eye open!

 

Libby at 1 week old

Libby posing!  She definitely got the Muskovich shoulders!  I can tell she's got my arms...which I'll take because she's really all Rob other than that!

 

Happy Due Date, Libby Frances!  The past 2 1/2 weeks have been fairly smooth and full of joy!  There is not a better fit for our family than Libby...she is definitely our Joy of this holiday season!

Christmas Time

Christmas Time is here...and so much fun!!!  We have been really enjoying having this time at home to celebrate the Christmas season!!!

 

We went a few weeks ago to get our tree.  We "sold out" a little and got our tree at Costco instead of our usual Christmas Tree guy "Beaver" (yep, real name)...but hey, it's still a real tree!!!

 

All decorated!

 

Both girls had a chance to put the star on top!

 

Last week we brought our letters to Santa's mailbox.  Santa luckily has a mailbox in our town's park district building.  Any day the girls should be getting their responses from santa!  Here are there letters (since they sent them)...

Caitlin told me the words and I wrote it..although she did her name all by herself!!!!

Abigail sounded her letter out all by herself!  She's really doing great at hearing the sounds!

 

"Dear Santa

I love you

I want a dream light and a"

 

"stuffie please.

Dear santa,

I just want 2

things.  Love, Abigail

Wennerstrom"

 

Also, we got our Xmas cards out this week.  They are trumping our Birth Announcements...but we haven't had Libby's pictures taken for her birth announcement yet...so those won't be going out until January.  We took some pictures one night after bath time when the girls had their new Xmas pajamas on.  (Abigail was with me when we picked out their Xmas pajamas.  I had "footie" pajamas in my hand, but she saw ones with tu-tus on them and really wanted them!  So, tu-tu Xmas pajamas it is!)

A cute picture that didn't make the card!!!!  I loved that they happend to have the book "The Xmas Baby"..such a happy coincidence!!!!  Libby has her first tutu on too!!!!

 

So, Christmas is in full effect...and we love it!!!! Last weekend after we got the girls in their pajamas, we surprised them with taking them to see Xmas lights.  We had hot chocolate ready to go in the car too!  We went to this cool place called Mooseheart...you drive through like 2 miles of Xmas lights and decorations.  It was the perfect activity to do with Libby because she was cozy and warm in the car!  We probably won't be able to do the Zoo Lights this winter...so this was perfect for us!

 

Still to do on our agenda:

Gingerbread House

Xmas Cookies (my favorite day)

Finish shopping (although we are almost done)

Xmas party at the Glures

Xmas Kiddie Festivus with our friends (gonna be a crazy night)

Xmas/Newborn pictures

Xmas concert at school

 

(PS...I really dislike when people use Xmas instead of Christmas...but I'm to tired to type that word that many times!.)

 

Updates coming tomorrow on Libby's 2 week and Caitlin's 3 year doctor appointment!

 

THANK YOUS!!!!!

We have so many people to thank...but wanted to take the time to thank 3 special people who helped us out tremendously while we were in the hospital! 

When we took the girls to their big sister class at the hospital  (1 week before Libby arrived), they asked us who would be watching the kids...and we told them it would be a "game-time decision".  It really depended on the day, time, etc...

We are so grateful for everyone who watched the girls while we were in the hospital!!!

Grandma and Grandpa came over and stayed the 1st night at our house and kept the girls all of Saturday.

Nana and Papa who had the girls Saturday night and all of Sunday.

Aunt Julie (and Lucy) who came all the way out to our house to stay with the girls Sunday night and most of Monday!


Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!! 

Plus a special thank you to Nana, Papa, Grandma, and Grandpa who watched the kids numerous, numerous times throughout my pregnancy for my ridiculous number of doctor appointments!!! 

We are so grateful to have family surrounding us!!!!  Thank you again everyone so much!!!!!

And of course, a picture because all posts need pictures!!!

Heading Home

I have so much to catch up on...and it has nothing to do with having a 3rd kid.  The transition from 2 to 3 has actually been fairly smooth (knock on wood).  The transition from 1 to 2 was much, much more difficult.  However, it's the Christmas season that is keeping us busy.  I was so sick and miserable the last few months that I felt like Abigial and Caitlin missed out on a lot, so I don't want them to miss out on anything for Christmas.  So we've been busy getting our tree, decorating our house, writing letters to Santa, getting gifts, etc.  Pictures to come, I promise!!!

 

But first...taking Libby home!

 

Actually, we'lll start with the name.  When she was about 12 hours old, we finally decided on her name.  She was down to 3:

Libby Frances

Frances Sylvia (would have called her Frannie or Francie)

Charlotte Frances  (would have called her Charley)

 

We ended up polling some family and friends through texts, and decided on Libby.  It was my favorite name too, so I was happy other people liked it!  

 

We really wanted to find a way to honor ourgrandmothers (we would have loved to honor all 4 grandmas, but Frances Sylvia Regina Matilda Wennerstrom would have been a rough name) but we decided to just use one name and it still honors ALL our grandmas who were very important to us....which is Frances, who we always felt had a little bit on "influence" on Libby coming to us.  It was one of the last things I told my grandma Frannie...and I think she sent us her!

 

We struggled because Libby is short for Elizabeth, and I LOVE full names and don't love nicknames...but we didn't want her to be Elizabeth because of confusion...so we just went with Libby, althought she sort of got her mommy's name, which is cool!  We already get "What's Libby short for"...but that's okay!  (Random funny story...the rumor going around my preschool is that Rob served in the military and we named her Liberty in honor of Rob's service...have no idea where that one came from).

 

(P.S. Abigail and Caitlin, if you are ever reading this and wonder what your names were almost:  Abigail, we were between Abigail and Lily for you..no middle name ever until you were born.  Caitlin, we were between Caitlin and Samantha, but always Elizabeth for your middle name...and we actually liked Libby for you but didn't want to use a nickname at that time, which we obvioulsy changed since then.)

 

Okay, a lot of nothing...but now, onto the last day of pictures.  Because Libby was born at 12:30 am, we were able to choose if we wanted to stay one more day or not, and I'm really glad we decided to stay because it gave me more time to recover, which was definitely more difficult with less platelets :)).  Here's our last night in the hospital...and taking Miss Libby home!!!

 

Libby with her giraffe from Nana and Papa.  I'm obsessed with giraffes for Libby!!!  You will see lots of them in pictures in the next year!

Our "board"

Libby's first football game..Notre Dame clinched the national championship!  I think it means she'll go to Notre Dame!!!

Libby's "crib"...nameless!  :)

She had a really rough 1st night...and slept like this on my bed the whole next day!  I slept like this too!

It's time to go home!!!!  So little in her carseat!

Ready for the ride home!!!

Pop the bubbly from Aunt Julie when we got home!  (And her giraffe sound machine from Auntie Mo Mo, Uncle B, and Patrick!

Even though she was only a few weeks early, we didn't get ANYTHING ready..we knew we'd have time once we got home.  It was great cause the girls helped Rob put it all together and felt like they were really part of the transition!

Swaddled in her new blanket from Aunt Julie, Uncle Joe, and Lucy (which is awesome).

Swinging Away! Thank goodness for Libby's Aunts (Lia, Nay, Katie)..not sure which one of the girls this swing came from, but we are so grateful!  Our carseat is Auntie Lia's too!!!!  And our bouncer!!!  We had gotten rid of everything, so we are so lucky for great friends and family to help us out! 

Our little angel

Checking out the new swing!  It's fancy!!!

Getting ready to go home from the hospital..it was the first time we saw her in real clothes and we couldn't get over how darn cute she was!!!!

Swaddled in her blanket from Aunt Katie and Vern...it's so adorable!!!!! 

 

So now we are up to her coming home!  Her first week at home was awesome.  Rob was off so we were able to tag team between Libby and the older girls!  Abigail and Caitlin seem to be doing great so far with the new transition.  Our schedules are off a little...but they like that I'm feeling better and able to be up and about again...so they are happy!

 

I will blog about Christmas soon!  This year we are really focusing on the meaning of Christmas!  I'm trying my best to take the "commericial" out of Christmas...and focus on the giving of Christmas and spending time with loved ones!  They each asked Santa for only 1 or 2 things and when they tried to ask for more, we talked about giving to others.  So they each picked a name off the local Christmas tree and are getting presents for others in need.  Our girls are by no way "spoiled" so I want Christmas to be super special to them and full of presents, but they also don't "want" for anything, so we want to teach them the meaning of quality, not quantity!  We'll see how that goes for us!  :)

Meeting Libby!

When Libby was about 10 hours old, she got to meet her family!!!!

 

We were so excited for all our family to get here and meet Libby, especially her big sisters. 

 

My parents had been at our house with the girls and brought them first.  Of course, it was an emotional moment for "some" of us!  :) 

 

The girls weren't too sure what was going on at first, but I think they were more scared to see me in the bed.  I was still on an IV because of my platelet issues so I couldn't get up, and Caitlin kept saying, "Mommy, get out of bed."  I think she was a little scared.  But as soon as they got to hold Libby, they were old pros at this big sister thing!

 

This first moment of our 3 daugthers together is definitely a highlight of my life!!!

 

Our perfect family of 5!

 

Libby was also very excited to meet all her grandparents!!!!

Libby meets Grandma and Grandpa.

This picture is just so sweet!!!!

 

Libby meets Nana and Papa!

Libby found a great place to snuggle!  I think Grandpa was telling her all about the Notre Dame game (Notre Dame went undefeated and into the national championship game), which was her first football game she got to watch..followed by a Bears win the following night!

 

After all the grandparents and sisters left, it was time for Libby to meet her aunts and uncles!  We really wanted her to get to meet her cousin Lucy too, but the hospital has strict policies on siblings only, which we can appreciate!!!!  Lucy did get to meet her when we brought her home from the hospital, but those pictures are on Aunt Julie's camera and they are a little busy right now in wonderful place called Disney World!  So we will post those later!  I also did a terrible job taking pictures, but given that Libby is only 12 hours old, I'll give myself a pass. Luckily, Aunt Julie was there!

 

Aunt Katie meeting her 4th niece.  Vern was there too, but he's on the camera phone pictures, which haven't been downloaded yet....so he'll make the phone photo collage!

Aunt Julie meeting her 3rd niece.  Uncle Joe was also there, but they had to go in shifts because Lucy was sleeping in the car...but we know there will be plenty of pics of Uncle Joe and Libby in the future.

 

Rob and I really don't have many pictures of us with Libby, but Jules took a few...Thank you Jules!!!!

Proud daddy

Mommy and her tiny snuggle bug!!!!

We love our daughter so much!!!

 

Libby 12 hours old

Libby 12 hour sold

Libby 24 hours old

 

Uncle B and Auntie Mo Mo also came to meet Libby...but Mommy forgot to take pictures.  We were so excited to have visitors, we forgot to get the camera out.  But Libby was so thankful that they came to meet her..and so were we!  We know that Libby and Patrick are gonna grow up buds! 

 

Well, the post never went out...so today Libby is actually 8 days old..and I can honestly say these have really been 8 of the best days of our lives.  Having our 3 daughters together has brought us more joy than we ever imagined!  I also have to say that Rob is really the best dad!  Not only did he wait on me and Libby hand and foot for the past week, but he was super dad.  He drove the girls to school..and even stayed and was the Parent Helper in each of the girls classroom one day!  They thought it was the best day of their lives!  He took them to see Santa.  He cooked our meals.  He cleaned the house.  We have no idea what we are going to do tomorrow when he's back at work, but we will definitely miss him...a lot!  Thanks Rob for being the best Dad to your 3 daughters, and the best husband to me!  We never take for granted how lucky we are!!!

Libby Frances is here!

(Favorite Picture...ever!)

 

We are so happy to announce that Libby Frances Wennerstrom arrived on Saturday, November 24th at 12:29am.  She was 6 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long!  She is absolutely perfect in every way!!!  We are beyond in love with her!!!!!

 

Libby's early arrival wasn't a huge surprise, but nevertheless, I wasn't completely prepared.  I had been having contractions for weeks and was already dialated to 3 so we knew she'd be coming soon.  On Wednesday night,  I was sent to labor and delivery for concerns with high blood pressure.   "The baby" was doing great, but they had some concerns with my blood work.  We spent Wednesday night in Labor and Delivery for follow-up bloodwork and were released on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.  Before we were released, we were informed that I had low platelet counts.  They were at 99,000 (most people are between 150000 and 400000) and the cutoff for an epidural is between 80000 and 100000 depending on the doctor.  If I was further along, they said they would have induced that day, but because I was still 3 weeks away from my due date, they decided to hold off and let her grow.

 

We went to Thanksgiving at my parents...and it was wonderful, but I was not feeling great and sort of missed the whole Thanksgiving (I really need a redo, I LOVE Thanksgiving).  The next day, Friday, I woke up with contractions.  They continued all day, but were about 15 minutes apart.  Around noon I told Rob that I they weren't stopping, and while I knew they could go on for days, I thought he may want to work from home just in case.  Around 4:00, they picked up to about every 10 minutes.  Around 6:00, they picked up to every 6 minutes.  I realized this could be the real deal, so I went into major nesting phase.  Doing laundry, packing bags, cleaning the floors, taking out the garbage, etc.  At 7:00, they were between 4 and 5 minutes apart, so I knew it was time to make "the call".  First we called my parents and asked them to come on over.  We weren't sure if they would send me to labor and delivery yet, but we wanted them to be around.  Then we called the doctor.  He said he wanted us to come in because of my platelet counts...they wouldn't be able to do the epidural until I had more bloodwork done so he wanted us to come in sooner than later.  We also decided to let Nana and Papa (who were in Indiana) know that we were headed to the hospital.  I put the girls to bed knowing they might be waking up to a new sister.  We just told them that if they wake up and grandma and grandpa are here, that we went to the hospital to get their new sister and they would come and see us.

 

Once at labor and delivery, they hooked me up and I was dialated to 4 and contracting every 5ish minutes, so they said it was Go Time!  We were very excited.  They did the blook work and hooked me up to an IV..and we waited for the platelet count.

 

About an hour later, the pain was starting to increase so they called for the epidural.  This was when it got fun!!!  The dr came in..and I noticed he didn't have his epidural cart.  He said my numbers had dropped to 92,000...and he could not do the epidural.  WHAT???  I was at increased risk for bleeding which could lead to being paralyzed...so I knew I didn't want it anyways.  But still...wasn't really prepared.  Asked about other pain-controlling options....NOPE.  We were headed into an all-natural delivery.  I think I started to freak out here...more just because of the unexpected.

 

This was about 10pm.  The next 2 hours are a little bit of a blur, and a little bit of my mind probably not letting me remember...but I'll keep those details between Rob, Me, and our amazing nurse Colby. She NEVER left my side from the moment I found out I was doing it naturally till the moment Libby arrived.  She helped me change positions to move labor along faster...and talked me through each contraction.  This was the point I wished I would have taken some sort of lamazee class so I was a little more prepared.  Around 12:10am, I very quietly and politely ;) informed them it was time...and 15ish minutes later, Libby arrived (Baby Girl Wennerstrom at this point, no name yet).  It was a surreal moment that she was here and I did it naturally, but I was also exhausted and just wanted to sleep.

 

When they announced she was 6lbs, 11 oz...we laughed because of course she would be our biggest..and she was still almost 3 weeks away from her due date!  They were saying "you are probably glad she's so small"...little did they know she had a pound on Caitlin...and almost 4 on Abigail!  :)   She's so little...it's such a miracle to me how this little thing will grow into a walking, talking, little girl like Abigail and Caitlin one day!

 

Rob was amazing through it all.  He talked me through each contraction and kept telling me I could do it.  He was the perfect amount of support without being too much in my business.  I definitely could NEVER had done it without him at my side! 

 

He was instantly in love the minute Libby arrived!  Watching him hold Libby made every moment worth it.  It was amazing how instantly our family felt perfect and complete...and we wouldn't have done anything different in any way!  Having our 3 daughters here safe felt like we hit the jackpot!

 

The next few hours continued to be a little rough because of my low platelet counts...but about 2 hours or so later, things were under control and we were able to move to our new "home" upstairs with Libby in hand!  We don't take that moment for granted one minute.  I was also grateful I didn't have to have any blood transfusions, which I really didn't want!

 

About 4am, we were settled in our new room.  They took Libby to do some tests, 1st bath, etc..and we tried to get a few hours of sleep.  However, at this point, I couldn't sleep because we didn't have a name yet.  We had gone into it with a few names, and we couldn't decide.  I felt so bad that she didn't have a name, it was driving me crazy!!!!

 

The next morning, we were very excited to see all our family, and especially to see the girls!  I will post later about how we choose her name and about all the great visitors during Libby's 1st day of life!!!! 

 

I will leave you with some pictures from Libby's birth.  Every one of these pictures makes my heart melt....I had the normal typical fear of "how could I love another baby as much as the other 2"...but seeing Libby instantly took that away and I am beyond in love!  I need to redo thanksgiving because we have so much to be thankful for...our health and our 3 gifts from God!!!!

 

 

 

We are in the process of collecting pictures from all our sources...so lots more pics to come.  We had 2 still cameras, 1 video camera, and 2 camera phones!

 

 

 

 

36 Weeks *updated*

We are 36 weeks today!!!!   Baby Tres is doing great!  She appears to be comfy and cozy.  For the past few weeks I've had weekly Non-Stress Tests and her heart rate looks great!  Her water levels are great too.  As of last week, she has continued to stay head down the whole time, which makes life easier.  I really think she's going to be an easy-going, go-with-the-flow kind of girl! 

As for this mama, I'm not much of a complainer, but I'm sort of ready to meet this little girl!  I've been able to keep going to work everyday, but when you imagine what type of jobs it would be hard to do when pregnant, preschool teacher has to be at the top of the list.  Constantly sitting on the floor, having kids climb in your lap, having to squat down to help kids, tie their shoes, dance around, etc....I can't imagine what a better teacher I will be when I'm not pregnant anymore!  Not to mention I have this really fun side effect of pregnancy called Pregnancy Carpal Tunnel.  It's so odd...when I wake up, my hands are completely numb.  Some days the feeling comes back in my hands, but more days than not, my hands stay numb the whole day.  And using scissors, crayons, etc (hello, I teach preschool) make it worse.  Not complaining, just informing....But I'm happy that this little girl has let me keep on working without complications.  I am thinking hoping this is my last week of work.  Next week we have parent teacher conferences and then the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving.  I am really really hoping to meet her sometime next week!!!!

Abigail and Caitlin are ready (we think) to meet their baby sister.  This weekend was our big "get ready" weekend.  We washed all her clothes and filled her drawers.  We got the bottles ready (just in case), blankets ready, diapers ready, etc.  We packed bags for everyone just in case (hospital bag for mom and dad and baby, stay over bags for girls, hospital bags for girls to keep busy).  The crib is up (and apparently it's SO FUN to be in the crib when it's not your crib...so we are constantly finding the girls in there).  I've turned in all my plans, work, etc through January at work.

All we need is one little girl!!!!  We can not wait to meet her and have our whole family together for the holiday season!!!!! I know I could potentially have another month, but I don't think so....I'm really hoping any day now!   We have another dr appt today so we'll see what he says.....

We are very grateful we made it to 36 weeks with very little intervention needed (just weekly shots)...and can't wait to meet the final piece of our family puzzle!!!!! 

Tay posted!

* update:  we had our 36 week appt last night. Looks like we will most likely meet her sooner than later. sTay posted!

 We had our 36 week appt today.

Oh, and just for fun, Rob through a name "kink" in our plan.  We had our name set...shirts made, hats made, Xmas presents made, Xmas cards designed...and then this weekend Rob switched the name he likes...and I also like them both too.  We've decided to meet her and then decide.  So when she's born, if we just call her Baby Girl Wennerstrom for a day or two, don't be too surprised.  We want to meet this little girl and then decide what name fits her best!

We are ready whenever you are, Baby Tres!!!!!!!