Good Morning World!

Isaac Archer LaRock 3.23.13 6lb 4oz

"Give me plenty of warning, and please work out the timing, Father"  Those had been my specific prayers for this baby, and what a truly awesome thing to see Him answer in such beautiful ways.

This birth was different in many ways.  We were planning a "home birth" with my midwives, but due to our pending move and the state of our house, we were planning to have the baby at my in-laws house.  I tend to be a worry wart, and was worried about the logistics of getting there with my other two little ones.  Marcus' birth was so fast and furious that I worried I'd be in hard labor trying to drive us to the birth location.  God took care of this for me.  I had what I thought was false labor all day Friday and through the night Friday night.  The contractions hurt, but they were sporadic, and not close together, 20 minutes or more.  I did wake up each time during the night, but they never got worse, so I just figured it was my body getting ready for birth a few more weeks down the road.  Saturday morning it became apparent to me that this baby would be coming sooner rather than later.  The contractions eased and almost stopped, but there were other indications that things would be picking back up.  I called my midwife, and she said that yes, we may have a baby later that day.  We did some Saturday, (thank you Lord it was Saturday - Peter was around!) activities.  We took the trash to the dump, and then ran by Lowes so Peter could finish installing a new deadbolt and door knob on our door, (the one he'd bought the night before was missing a screw, so we needed to get that finished so as not to leave the back door with no lock or door knob.)

My contractions started up again around 11am, but were still sporadic and not regular.  We decided to go ahead and pack up and head to Peter's folk's house.  Once there we just hung out and enjoyed the sunny day.  The kids played outside, and I just kept waiting for everything to kick in.  Finally at 5pm my contractions became regular and about 5 minutes apart.  I let my midwives know, and we started with the little tasks like filling the tub etc.  I can honestly say that this stage of my labor is the most gentle I've had yet. The contractions were never more than about a minute I'd say, and I got nice breaks in between.  When they let me know that I was 9 to 10 centimeters and completely effaced, I really was surprised.

The last part of my labor was the not as gentle part.  This little booger had decided to turn posterior, (he'd been in a good position at my 36 week check up) which made for a very different delivery.  With Sammy and Marcus, my body delivered the baby, and I just hung on for the ride.  With little Issac, I had to do a lot more of it myself.  Thankfully, I had wonderful support, and Issac came into the world at 9:08pm.  So, really only about 4 hours of active labor!  He is a little tiny one, but is strong and healthy.  I had asked God to work out the timing of the birth because my husband had informed me that our closing date for the house had been moved to April 9th, (which was two days before my original due date on April 11th).  I am thankful that God saw fit to orchestrate everything the way that He did.  This new little one is such a miracle, and I know that I am very blessed to be able to call him my son.

He has a big head of very dark hair.  His brothers seem to really get a kick out of him, and it's going to be fun to see his little personality develop in the coming weeks.

Another snow day!

March brought us a random, heavy snow day, and the kiddos loved it.  Peter took them out and they make a fort and a huge snowman.  Good thing we took this photo, because Mr Snow Man fell over a few minutes later.  The snow was VERY wet and heavy.  Pretty good though, eh?

At one point I couldn't see Marcus, (who was behind the fort) but I could see his snowballs flying toward daddy as he made a manly "ah" sound.  

Baby boy 3 is growing fast.  He's nearly 36 weeks in this picture, and into month 9.  Marcus came at 37.5 weeks, so I'm starting to wonder about this one.  Will he come early, on time, or late?  Only time will tell.  I have been in much less pain this time around then I was with Marcus.  My back and hip are holding up much better.  That being said though, I'd be happy to have this little one sooner rather than later.

These last two photos are just some of my cuties.  We've been painting some of the rooms in our house because it does look like we're going to close on our new one!  So, we're trying to get this one renter ready.  We went for soft yellow in the living room rather than the dark red and brown that was there.  I think it really lightened up the room.

I've started Sammy on the program Sing, Spell, Read and Write,and he's really liking it.  It's the program that the LaRock kiddos used to learn to read.  Sammy is really starting to LOVE reading books from the library and he is showing an interest in learning to put the letters together himself.  We shall see  Marcus isn't liking the focused attention on Sammy, but you know, I'm a middle child, I get that little selfish, insecurity.  It'll just take time :-)

Happy March everyone!

Snow!

Snow!!  Snow!  Come out in the snow! 

Do you like it in your face?

Yes, I like it anyplace!

We had some snow last week, and the little men of the house loved it.  Sammy and daddy played a lot of snowball fight, and always had to say, "You have left your detention" (see Veggie Tales, Lord of the Beans) before throwing their snowballs.  Marcus LOVED the snow, and was pretty put out when it was time to head to the store.  We're hoping for some more; we shall see.  While I love warm weather, I have been happy to get some very cold days.  It makes me look forward to warmer days, and it kills off buggies.  

Gluten Free Biscuits

I've been trying to perfect gluten free biscuits for Sammy for awhile, and haven't had any luck using Pamela's Baking Mix.  When I was home for Christmas, my mom gave me a GF mix that she was unable to use because of the soy in it.  I tried our biscuit recipe, (increased the baking powder as suggested) and I am really happy with the results.  They are a bit more dry than the regular biscuits, but the flavor is yummy, and they hold together when I cut them in half to put gravy or honey, etc on them.  In the following pictures the GF version is on the right next to a regular biscuit.  They are so much better than what I've had before, yay!  Sammy seems pretty happy with them, too.

The mix is made by a family in Illinois, and I may have to order more.  Their products can be found here: http://www.meistersgf.com/store.html  It's also dairy free, which would work well for those with dairy allergies.

My biscuit recipe is as follows:  (I do highly recommend a biscuit cutter: http://www.kwik-kut.com/products.php  They work like a charm to cut in the butter, and then you just cut your biscuits out using the same tool.)

1 3/4 c flour, (substituted GF flour)
1/2 tsp salt
4.5 tsp baking powder, (I increased it by half from the original recipe's 3 tsp)
6 TBSP butter
3/4 cup milk

Cut butter into flour/salt/baking powder thoroughly.  Mix in milk, roll out, cut out and bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

And, the last two pictures are of my cutie pies who insisted on having their pictures taken when they saw mommy photographing the biscuits.  Love my little ones so much!

Heading into month 7!

Sammy likes to talk to his little brother; awww!

Baby looks a lot like a basketball these days.  Getting closer!

Our Little Family Christmas

We had breakfast for our little champs, first.

Then Marcus wanted to "smile" (take a picture with mommy) and show off the "dudu tree!" (Christmas Tree)

Next, the boys goofed off, then we opened some gifts, and Marcus seemed pretty confused about the whole process.  Sammy was a pro this year.  Marcus like the little boxes for the harmonicas best.  Although, the candy was also pretty exciting.

"Nummy dee, dee!" (Candy)

Puzzle and Harmonica!

I love my little family so much.  It's such a joy to watch my little ones growing and changing.  Speaking of growing.  Little man #3 is really growing.  My belly is so big, and I have three months to go!  I should be used to this by now, but it always amazes me just how big my babies make my belly.  I felt his little hiccups for the first time this week. 

We also put in an offer on a house today, (well, Peter did most of the work.)  If we get it, it'll be awesome, if not, I'm going to take that as God letting us know that this is not the house He has for us.  It'll need some fixing up, but overall, it's cute, and has a lot more space than we do now.  Update will follow.  Trust me, if we get it, I'll have to post lots of before and after photos.  It think it has potential to be really cute once fixed up.

Happy January!