Augustine Happenings

"I wish I had three hands: one to hold his binki, one to hold his hand, and one to rub his head. "

{We got a new-to-us pretend grill}

"When we first got home, mom, I didn't understand what you were talking about. I thought in my brain 'why would Lewis be playing with the real grill?' and then I realized it was a toy one."

Having a lovely tea party with Julia. He's becoming quite experienced with tea parties. 

And some fun playing afterwards. 

He graduated from St. T's preschool! It's officially his last time graduating from preschool. On to Kindergarten!

We made his teacher our very favorite scones. Augustine also made her a very creative card (dang...no photo) and he said it was his teacher's house floating on a raft. 

The boys decided they would like our traditional start to the summer to be getting ice cream on the last day of school. Yum!

He's been very happy rebuilding the fire station lots of different ways. I usually build it and they play for a day or two before we reconfigure. 

Fire Fighter Fun Run

We tried out the Fire Fighter Fun Run at the zoo this year! I didn't know about this event until this year, and it was definitely $5 worth of fun. They got a t-shirt too. 

Ready at the starting line!

Lewis was a little freaked out when the whole crowd took off running so he rode on the stroller with Elias and I. Augustine LOVED it and took off! Logan caught up to him and they ran the entire mile (1/2 mile?) together!

Elias was a really good baby and did this the whole time. 

There was Gatorade and water at the finish line. 

Another prize was a train ticket! Elias got his first zoo train ticket but we saved it for later because 2 & under don't need a ticket. 

All the emergency responders had booths and their vehicles on display. 

LES also had a safety demonstration. They showed the kids just how hot and dangerous electrical wires are. My favorite part was when they touched a hot dog to one of the wires and it blew up. 

This was a mini house the fire men educated the kids with, and it was really interesting. They taught the kids what to do if they are in a house and there is a fire. They talked about how to escape a fire and then let the kids try...they all came out the window and used the chain ladder to escape. 

Of course, we had to check out the fire truck. The fire men had quite a few calls during this event. Three engines were called away and a replacement came each time. Augustine was excited when station 7 showed up. 

Over all it was a fun event and we plan to go again!

Lately

Lewis is suddenly very good at these 12 piece puzzles. I showed him how to find the corners first and then build from there. 

Lewis' very good friend on her third birthday! We had a play date and lunch from JJ's. Mostly because the moms needed some solidarity. 

I bought this fire station set months ago and hid it for after Elias was born. We needed something new to do last week so I pulled it out. Win. 

Elais is loving Aden & Anias swaddle blankets so we walked to Circle Me and bought two more. Then we got adjustments (because our Chiro is attached to the store) and headed to the park. 

Elias was happy in the Maclaren for a while but it doesn't recline all the way so he can't ride in it yet. 

We picked up our t-shirts for the Firefighter Fun Run at Station 1, and Lewis could have watched the Bobcat scoop gravel for hours. 

Logan hosted an evening for some of his mission partners in town last week and the Kleins came! They were my Godteen sponsors in high school. It was so good to catch up with them and let them cuddle my baby. 

Said swaddler. Win again. 

We had a terrible morning one day and I finally packed everyone up and went to G&G's. They make everything better. 

I had to get blood drawn that day so my mom kept everyone and I ran to the lab. This is what I came home to. Completely under control, of course!

Friends

Some special visitors came by last week!

Brother Frantisek met Elias Frantisek! Elias is named after him and receives lots of prayers from Br. Frantisek.

Fr. Ben came too and he is always super fun and makes us all laugh. 

I love this photo. We have this photo from almost every year since our wedding day, and we slowly doubled the number of boys in the photo. Plus, there's a good number of Vocations represented!

Preschool: check!

The school year is coming to a close...and so is Augustine's favorite preschool program. Out of the three he attended, this one was by far his favorite. 

Silly stringing the teachers! They are so fun. 

I rallied the parents and we gave each teacher a group gift, including notes from the kiddos. 

We had an indoor picnic and a bouncy house. What more could kids want?!

Cheers to Lindsay, Sam, and Shauna. You are some fabulous teachers with one heck of a preschool program. You'll be missed!

7 Years

I can't believe we've been married for seven years. Here's to many more. 

Since our day was full of Elias' baptism, we celebrated after the boys were in bed with this:

'Twas lovely. 

Thanks for loving me, Logan! I'm so lucky you chose me. 

Elias' Birth Story

My wonderful ob Doctor who took good care of us with the first two boys retired, so when Elias was on his way we had to search for a new ob. I went on the recommendation of our old ob and a few others, and decided on Dr. Fear (that's what we will call her for this story). As you can tell from her fake name, all decisions in her office were based on fear. It was emotionally exhausting to say the least. There wasn't an appointment that I didn't leave in tears. It was a really bad fit for me. 

I decided to switch to one of her midwives to get some distance between myself and Dr. Fear. At least that way there would be a buffer. 

Then I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and the midwife basically no longer had any say in my care. She was under the thumb of Dr. Fear, so I was back to square one. 

I told Logan he had to come to the rest of my appointments with me from 30 weeks on because I just couldn't do it alone anymore. He agreed because he is a wonderful husband. 

At 30 weeks we went in for my regular appointment and, as always, Dr. Fear  made me cry. Except this time I didn't make it out of the office before the tears came. Logan couldn't believe the way Dr. Fear spoke to me and made decisions. 

We fired her the next day. 

I started asking around for recommendations of who to interview so we could find a new ob fast, and long story short we found Dr. Placek. 

And we fell instantly in love. 

Dr. Placek agreed to take us on at 30 weeks pregnant and was incredibly calm, respectful, positive, and attentive to my scars from Dr. Fear, and my GD. And she is Catholic. I don't need a Catholic ob, but boy is it comforting to know we share the same faith. 

Dr. Placek completely turned the pregnancy around for me. I am forever grateful. 

I was on day five past my due date (April 16) and I woke up about 5am like I did every morning to check my blood sugar and eat accordingly. I ate a small bowl of Cheerios in almond milk and went back to the bed room. I sat down on the bed and my contractions started instantly. 

I labored at home for about one hour and 50 minutes. We then headed to the hospital. 

We labored another hour and 11 minutes at the hospital. This was the first labor that I begged for an epidural. My husband and doula kept telling me I didn't want one and I kept arguing. Finally I gave up because I knew Elias was coming. 

Turns out he was posterior and 10 pounds! I'm SO grateful I didn't know either of those facts because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to get past those facts mentally. 

Dr. Placek wasn't in town so the on call doctor from her practice came to help us deliver. But he didn't make it to the birth either...the nurses couldn't find him. The nurses didn't tell me to wait. They just started coaching me in the final stages and Billie the nurse of 46 years caught Elias!

He was a great nurser right from the start, but did have his tongue clipped just like both of his brothers. 

In an effort to help him regulate his blood sugars (since I had gestational diabetes) Logan and I did 9 straight hours of skin-to-skin contact with Elias. 

Everything went great for the next two days in the hospital for both of us, and then we went home!