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Life with Violet!

Here is a little preview of things that have been happening here lately. 

Caroline lost her first two teeth, just in time to turn 6 this Saturday.  She is growing up so fast and learning more and more everyday. We just recently had a break through with her math with the help from her piano lessons.  It's amazing how they learn so much when it is applied to real life.

 When I find pictures like this on my camera, I know who has been taking pictures.  Jack's new favorite movie is Finding Nemo.  He seems like he has grown so much since the baby has been born.  He has been such a good boy and he also like to clean his own room  and make his bed. 

 This is what Violet has been up to.  That and eating.  Her biggest accomplishment is gaining about two pounds already.  She is so sweet.  We love her.

 One great thing about having a cute new baby...everyone wants to come visit you!  Aunt Michelle and Uncle Joe with our kids. 

 Having baby Violet makes our family so happy!

 Mr. Dan Dan also came and had lots of fun with his cousins. 

 Mommy at her La Leche League conference.  What an appropriate place to take a new born!  This is us Killeen girls with Barbara Thompson, author of Attached at the Heart.  Got to meet so many inspiring women and I was also recognized as a new Leader and I got to announce one of the guest speakers, Kathleen Kendall Tackett, author of Breastfeeding made simple. Thanks to the Daddy for staying with the other little monkeys.  Though it was info overload, but mostly fun!

Three little angels. 

Violet Louise Durr

The baby finally came!  It has been a long road.  But we are so excited to have her here!  I will attempt to write the birth story, though anyone who reads my blog knows I am a terrible writer, unlike my doula with Jack who wrote a wonderful story about his birth.  Plus my memory of the birth is blurred and distorted, but I have the report that the midwife wrote to help me out.  So here we go.  We had been anticipating babies birth for so long, not knowing the gender or when he/she may come.  We had about a 40 minute to hour drive to the birth center so I was on edge wanting to leave at the first sign of labor. Caroline was born right at her due date and Jack was two weeks early and with how big I was getting each day and with Jack coming early we thought that I probably wouldn't go to 40 weeks. We had two episodes of false labor at 37 weeks and 39.  You would think by baby number three I would know what labor felt like?  Mid May my family was coming into town.   I thought I would have had the baby before they came, but the days passed and my parents came and then my sister the next day, but no baby.  My sister was leaving that Sunday so we were hoping to have the baby before she left.  She kept saying you need to have the "mystery baby" so I can buy it something.  Well no baby so she bought us some yellow stuff and left Sunday afternoon that I was 39 weeks.  I thought baby would come that week for sure that coming week and then my parents would have lots of time with us before they left the following week. Well that week came and went too.  I was getting bigger and bigger everyday.  I was never this big before.  I even got stretch marks.  I didn't get any with my other two. Everyday the stretch marks were spreading up my stomach, it was a sad sight.  Every apt the midwife would say "you are having a big baby, but it's ok you'll be able to give birth to a big baby.  So that Saturday the 26th the baby was due.  But no baby.  I couldn't believe it.  I had never gone past my due date.  I'm pretty sure I cried about it.  That night I was awoken several times by what I thought may have been contractions and pretty intense ones, but I was in so much discomfort at this point that I didn't think it was anything.  In the morning there was a few more surges like that, but once I got up and going it was all gone, so I decided to go to church.  I thought it would help to get out and not think about how I wasn't having the baby.  I got through all of church without anything until the third hour.  I had some what may or may not have been contractions maybe 2.  After church Ryan had a meeting we all had to wait for that was about hour long.  I had a few more supposed contractions a little more intense that others around noticed.  By the time we were in the car on the way home around 5:30pm I was pretty sure that maybe labor was starting so I decided to call the midwives when I got home.  Ryan and my Dad went to visit someone and then we would see if it was for real after that and head down if it was time.  Well by the end of the convo with my first midwife I was like this is for real and the contractions were every 2-3 minutes.  I called the other midwife and let her know what was going on too.  Then I called my doula and at this point it was getting hard to have a conversation or do anything so I was like it's time to head down there, but that Ryan wasn't home yet but should be soon.  I called Ryan, but he didn't answer and I left a message that when he got home we would probably need to leave right away.  I then called my midwife again and told her that she should probably head to the birth center.  Then I tried Ryan again but no answer again.  I was starting to get worried cause things were getting intense at this point.  Finally I remembered that my Dad was with Ryan and to call him.  He answered and at this point all I could get out was "you need to come home now."  I was like ok no time for anything lets go.  But of course Ryan wanted to change out of church cloths and had to get everything together.  I just took my purse and head phones and went to the car.  I was not looking forward to the upcoming drive, as things had gotten pretty intense, but not unmanageable.  The drive was awful until we were able to get on the highway and then it was better.  We left about 6:30pm and arrived at the birth center around 7:20pm.  I announced in the car that when we got there that I was going to the bathroom changing and then getting in the birthing tub.  So I go to get out of the car and I am looking around for my shoes.  Apparently I was in such a hurry I didn't put shoes on.  It was also wonderful to arrive to all the smiling faces excited for me to give birth.  It was comforting to know that all of these people supported me and my birth and trusted me and my body.  My doula gave me some lavender to help me relax and Ryan let me lean on him as the midwife got my vitals and monitored the baby.  Then I could finally get in the water.  It was awesome in water.  I just laid there and relaxed for a while then as things progressed   I would change positions and before I knew it I couldn't get through the contractions without a low moan and soon there was a small push at the end of each contraction.  Of course I have no sense of time so I have no idea how much time has gone by, but I felt like my body had been trying to push for a while, I thought maybe an hour, but I wasn't for sure so I asked the midwife to check me to see if I was pushing on an incomplete cervix.  She checked me during my next contraction so she could see what my body was doing during the contraction.  She said I was not quite complete, but that I would have to go to the bathroom before the baby would come out.  So we decided to hang out in the bathroom for a while.  I thought maybe we were in there 10 minutes.  Then I got back to the tub and there was no push at the end of my contractions and they were easier.  They had the jets going to warm up the water.  They felt great on my back.  I was glad for the rest for what was about to come. Because it didn't last long before my body started having intense pushing contractions and before I knew it my water broke and not long after that a contraction pushed the babies head out to crowning and of course I screamed and apparently cursed.  I am pretty sure I yelled "get it out, get it out."  I don't know what I was thinking they could do.  They all just reminded me to relax and wait for the next contraction and her head would be out and I was like oh yeah.  So I just relaxed and the pain went away until the next contraction came and her head came out.  Then I waited for the next one which came almost right after, but her body didn't come out.  The midwives helped move me into a squatting position right away and they noticed that the babies cord was over her shoulder and that was what was keeping her from coming out.  They moved it and she came out with the next contraction. She was given to me right away and brought to my chest.  When I saw her face, I declared that she looked just like Caroline, still not knowing whether she was a boy or a girl.  So I thought I should look and she was of course a girl.  I couldn't have been happier.  She was born at 9:39pm.  It was the first time a birth of my child brought tears to my eyes.  All of the pain of pushing her out was gone and I felt great.  We relaxed in the water for what felt like forever.  She was looking around for the breast right away and making those adorable new born sounds.  The midwife asked how much I thought she weighed and I said maybe 8lbs.  She laughed and said I think a little more than that. We let the cord pulsate for awhile maybe 15 minutes until I was ready to get out and give birth to the placenta. .Ryan cut the cord.  The minute I got out, I had a horrible pain in my back and I screamed and the other midwife asked if there was any chance I could be having twins.  I was like no way I am not pushing another baby out.  Of course with the size of this one baby it was unlikely there was another in there.     I guess I was just being a baby about having the placenta.  Ryan held the baby while  I delivered the placenta about 20 minutes after she was born.  following that she was given back to me and Ryan and I were given time to be alone with the baby except for the occasional check by the midwife.  My mom had taken the kids to get something to eat and got lost.  It seemed like forever before they came back and the kids came in to see the baby.  They were so excited it was a girl.  They loved her right away.  Me and baby were perfectly healthy.  Everything went so smoothly.  With Caroline and Jacks birth I had some degrees of hemorrhaging and passing very large clots.  There was none of that this time.  I didn't feel weak or light headed.  It was such a comfortable atmosphere.  After a while my midwife asked if she could weigh and measure her and do her foot prints and all that.  I was way off with my guess of maybe 8lbs.  She was a whopping 9lbs 4oz and 22inchs long.  I love fat babies would I would never wish giving birth to a baby that big on anyone.  It was a lot of work for my body.  I was amazing to be in complete control of my babies birth, though at times, I wanted to give it away to someone else, because it seemed to hard, but there was no one to take it so I had to dig deep and keep going.  We left to go home 6 hours after giving birth.  It was nice to be in our own space and get used to having everyone home.  She is such a blessing to our lives and we love her so much.  

The midwives put the babies foot prints on the wall of the birthing center.  Violet was not the biggest baby born in this room.

Happy big brother and sister.

Violet not even a day old.

Siblings bonding with their new sister.

Pop pop bonding time.

The new big brother loves the baby.  He all the sudden seems so grown up.  He is just so lovable.

Caroline asks to hold the baby literally every 10 minutes.

Daddy's new girl

Sorry there are no pics from the birth.  There was too much nakedness for the internet.

Texas Bluebonnets 2012!

 It's so hard getting good pictures of the kids, but here they are playing in the field of bluebonnets by Stillhouse Hallow.  The pictures don't do justice to how beautiful it was there.

Baby boy turned 3! What???

I know I am late, but last month Jack turned 3!  We celebrated his b-day that sat before.  We took the kids to the safari drive through.  We never went before now cause we know more than one person who has gotten bit by one of the animals there, but we figured it would be a fun thing to do.  And it was awesome.  

Jack feeding the animals.  They were so funny they would all crowd around your car and Ryan would honk and they just look at you and don't move.  Jack would just drop a piece of feed out as we drove a a little goat followed our car for a good 15 minutes.

 Ryan let Jack drive.  He was a super happy boy!

The zebra. 

This bird was cracking me up.  Ryan kept throwing a piece of feed out the window and this bird would eat it and then pop its head back up in the window.  He was making me laugh.

This camel was crazy.  He would make a mean noise at the other animals and then take their food.  He followed us forever, but he was really slow cause he was so fat.  Ryan said he didn't see any camels as big as him in Kuwait. 

The ostrich who was pecking at our car.  I can't believe how big they are.

Baby bison nursing on his mommy.  So cute.

                                         Peacock in the middle of the road.

 After the safari fun, we went to the mall and gave Jack a bunch of quarters and let him go crazy on all the mechanical toy things.  They had lots of fun. 

They also rode the train and there was a bunger cord trampoline thing they got to jump on too.  They were so over stimulated by the end of the day and Caroline lost her balloon animal.  So traumatic.  On his real b-day we celebrated with a few friends and I made all Jack's favorite food.  Corn dogs and Mac and Cheese.  And I made him a monkey cake and cup cakes.  But sadly those pictures are still on the camera which I cannot locate at the moment.  I was so proud of my cake too.

Merry Christmas from the Durrs!

We probably won't be sending out Christmas cards this year so this will have to do for our Christmas card. This has been the hardest year for our family ever. Ryan was deployed last Dec right before Christmas to Kuwait for a year. It was one of the most challenging things I have ever had to go through. It wasn't all bad though. We got to talk to Daddy a lot on skype on the phone. He sent the kids books with DVD's of him reading the story. We had some fun too while Daddy was away. We took two big roads trips, one west, one east. And we traveled all over Texas. (Pictures will follow) We had lots of visitors too! Thanks to my sister Heidi, my mom and Dad, my in-laws and my good friend Maggie for coming to keep us company. There were so many wonderful people around here that were always there for us whether it be holidays or babysitting or just keeping me company. I have to say we were taken care of. I actually didn't have to take either of my kids to the ER once during the deployment. Deployment does seem to be the time that everything goes wrong. I did have to call poison control for Jack twice though. Crazy stuff did happen. While Daddy was away Jack weaned and potty trained. He's such a big boy now. Caroline started kindergarten and started reading! It is always adventurous with two little ones around. But I know I we only made it through this because of the strength we received from the Lord. I am so grateful for the blessings bestowed upon us this year. While all this craziness was going on at home, it seemed Ryan was relaxing in the desert. He was promoted to SGT while he was in Kuwait. I was sad I missed it but still happy for him. But I really do think it was harder for him, because he was away from us and had less to do. R&R was in Sept. and it was so wonderful. I did have to pick up Ryan from DFW airport which is always an adventure and I was lost and so anxious, I just knew something was going to go wrong. I had no idea where I was even going. All I was given was a time, no flight number or where to meet him. Luckily the ladies in the parking toll booth knew. I arrived maybe 5 minutes before Ryan walked off the plane. It was one of the most wonderful moments in my life. We spent the next 4 days in fort worth and we had so much fun just the two of us. The kids were so happy to see him. Jack had been wondering what happened to Daddy and was so excited to finally find him. We had a great time. It was hard to see him leave but I was still happy and excited because we found out right before he left that we were expecting!! We will have a new member of the family in May of next year. Of course the last three months of deployment were filled with morning sickness and tiredness and not as much fun as the first 9 months of the deployment. But I had awesome visiting teachers and home teachers who helped me out so much. And a great neighbor who would take Caroline to school for me if I needed. Anyway it is finally over and we are looking forward to what this year brings. We will have a new baby and will be getting out of the army and leaving the hood. But we are excited for all the changes to come our way! Merry Christmas and I hope everyone has a wonderful year to come!

 Ryan doin ghis job in Kuwait

 This is what they spent their time doing.

 Ryan at his promotion

 First speech as Sgt. Durr.

 Ryan and his weapon.  He was given the biggest one for some reason.

Just another day in the desert.

 Ryan's homecoming.  Happy Wife!

 The Kids were happy to see Daddy too!

No one cared about Mommy anymore now that Daddy was home!!!

More of our house.

 Here are a few more pics of our house that I could find.  I can't wait to decorate everything for Christmas and take pictures!

This room is suppose to be a dinning room but it isn't even by the kitchen and we only have table so we stuck some other stuff in there.