Week in Pictures

We went to the SciTech museum last Monday to get out of the house and stay out of the heat...plus we had free tickets! Lauren really enjoyed running around and playing with all the cool gadgets (as did her father). 

This was the kids area (6 and under) that we spent a good chunk of time in.

 Digging for bones with Dad

 Kyle thinks I have mad skills for capturing this photo! There was this big drum that you slapped with your open hand and a puff of air came out of the other side. We placed Lauren on the chair and tested it out, it works!

 pulling up the rope to get a bubble around her

 bubble girl

 On Wednesday, our doula came back to the house for a follow-up visit. It was fun to process through everything with her and chat about life as a family of 4. She was gracious enough to take our FIRST family photo...only a week late...opps!

 Miles wasn't too pleased about getting his picture taken. Sorry buddy, this is going to happen every week! I have been looking at Lauren's weekly pictures so much lately seeing how she changed over time and want to remember to do that again with Miles. 

 She wanted in on the action as well.

 Then she wanted one by herself. I told her to make a "One Week Old Big Sister" face and this is what she did.

 Oh...you want me to be happy?

 This is what he does most often...sleep! On Thursday, he weighed 8lbs. 13oz. and was 20.87 inches long. We have a big growing baby on our hands considering Lauren was one month old before she even weighed 8lbs. 

Miles is 1 week old already! The first week seems to always be a blur of realizing you have a baby and learning to adjust. We had family in town for a few days to keep Lauren entertained otherwise it would have probably been pretty disastrous. Even though we had a homebirth, I still had to stay put and recover which isn't as easy compared to being confined to a hospital bed. 

Miles is doing AWESOME! The midwife returned to our house 1 and 3 days after he was born. They check his vitals and make sure he is eating good. The biggest difference we discovered (and appreciated) was that he was not weighed. We were curious to see if nursing was going successfully but she mentioned that it is expected he will lose weight and there is no reason to confirm it or stress out mom which might impact supply. On Friday, we took him to his first pediatrician appointment. He weighed 8lbs. 3 oz. (back to birth weight already) and was 20.25 inches long. The pediatrician said most babies return to birth weight at 2 weeks...I guess nursing on demand really works! 

He has been sleeping with us in our bed. We tried the bassinet by our bed a few times and whenever I laid him down he cried. I figure as long as he is eating and sleeping, I am not going to mess with it. He will generally sleep 3-4 hours before waking up for a diaper change and feeding. He rarely cries just starts to rut around and suck on his hand. 

We've made it out of the house a few times which helps keep Lauren entertained and my mental state in check. I am not a "homebody" and it will be nice when I have the energy to hit up some play dates soon!

And just so she is not out-shined by her little brother, here is Lauren's latest outfit! Can you believe this was her last Halloween costume and the tag says 6-9 months...??

 Getting to hold him!

 First trip out of the house at 4 days to eat breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa at the hotel.

 First bath at 4 days old. He was not a fan! The pediatrician said his skin would probably start peeling soon and sure enough shortly after his first bath it has started. His cord stump fell off at 4 days old too.

 Meeting Grandpa Larry

 Before Grandma Cindy headed back to Iowa

 Sleeping his first week away!

Baby Rouse #2 is HERE!!

Midwife Christina

My support team: Doula Jessica, Midwife Christina, and Nurse Karen

First snooze with Dad

Meeting Big Sister

She was so excited

Miles Harvey Rouse

8lbs. 3oz. 20 inches long

Born at 8:57 am 7/16/07

in the comfort of his own home

Birth details later

Almost 40 weeks!

We are definitely in the home stretch now! Not much more waiting...at least that is what I remind myself everyday. We had another appointment tonight. The baby's head is about as low as it can get (believe me, I can feel it). The midwife was estimating about 7.5 lbs. right now and she said it might not come until closer to 8lbs. but that I more than likely would not have a large baby. They will not check me until I am in active labor just because dilation doesn't really mean anything in regards to time left and can interfere with a mother's mental state. After 41 weeks, I will go in twice per week to appointments. Heart rate was still in 140's and I have gained 26 lbs. total. When she first measured my stomach I was having a contraction so it said 37ish centimeters but when the contraction went away it was only around 33 again. Looks like my stomach doesn't want to stretch any further than 33 centimeters.

Circus in Town Square

We discovered yesterday that this week there was a free Vacation Bible School in our Town Square with clowns. I am so bummed we didn't discover it sooner because it was AMAZING! They packed in so many activities for the kids that are age-appropriate for all different ages and had them going between free play, sitting down, games, and story-telling. Lauren had an absolute blast and we will definitely be watching out for this next summer!

During free play she discovered a hula hoop!

 The clown taught her how to spin a plate on the stick, she was quite impressed!

 Look at this thing go!

 She sat wonderfully listening to the clowns being silly and doing fun "magic tricks"

 One of the games was to push this ball down through the hula hoop and then pick it up and run back. It sounds like a simple game that wouldn't be very fun but the kids all the way up to 3rd grade were enjoying themselves. I am going to have to do this with the neighbor kids!

 Another game involved picking up as many mini frisbees that they could find and working as a team. Lauren found 4 each time.

 The clowns even had a skit at the end showing how it is okay to feel angry but we should not sin. "In your anger, do not sin." Ephesians 4:26. Lauren enjoyed every second and talked about it the rest of the day. 

Lauren and the Blue Crayon

Have you ever read "Harold and the Purple Crayon"? It is one of our favorite classics in our house and can help facilitate creativity in the little ones!

With the nasty heat forcing us to stay indoors, we have been doing much more school projects to stay sane. Lauren could LITERALLY read all day long which is okay but after a while I start to get a sore throat! So lately, I have been letting her pick a book and then while reading it I think of an activity we can do afterwards that would help her understand more clearly and introduce some of those higher order questions about the book. 

With "Harold and the Purple Crayon", we decided to make our own story using the same basis as the book. Lauren chose a blue crayon and titled her book "Lauren and the Blue Crayon". This activity had some many facets of it that incorporated learning: storytelling, order of events, writing, drawing, creativity, etc...

Here she is creating her first page very carefully! She would draw the picture and I would ask her what she wanted me to write on the page. I did not tell her what to write but let her use her own imagination (which was quite the imagination). At times, I did have to guide her through the events of the book and reread her previous pages to help her figure out what she wanted to do next. 

 The front cover!

 We took it to Office Max to get it laminated and bond. She is very proud of the final project.

In case you are curious, here is her story...(can you tell we have been reading to many Grimm's Fairy Tales lately).

1. Lauren wanted to go for a walk.
2. Lauren wanted to draw a wall. Lauren wrote a wall with her blue crayon.
3. Lauren wrote a hand because she wanted to.
4. Lauren wrote her other hand because she wanted to.
5. Lauren drew a sea.
6. Lauren wrote a boat.
7. Lauren's boat took her to see the monsters.
8. The monsters ate Lauren up.
9. Lauren died on a bone table.
10. The monsters spit Lauren out.
11. Lauren sailed away on a boat away from the monsters.
12. Lauren went back to her home with a chimney and lots of windows.

Metamorphosis

I realized I never posted this picture and came across it while searching for another one! Lauren was so happy this year to have a butterfly garden of her own in the house and watch a caterpillar turn into a butterfly! We incorporated many different projects into the learning (the above photo being one). Her favorite had to be a game that Dad taught her where she starts as an egg, turns into a caterpillar, chrysalis, and then a butterfly. For a while, whenever we had guests over, she would go and get her life cycle and show it to them and say, "See the metamorphosis!" So fascinating what they can learn and grasp at a young age when we don't always think that they are capable.

4th of July

Waiting for the parade to start! Notice her "black front tooth"? About a month ago she fell on the slide and hit her mouth. We go to the dentist this week to see what they can do, her tooth is dead but still intact. 

Sitting with her besties!

It's hot out Mom!

They throw candy at us! You gotta be kidding me!

Patiently waiting

Going down the slide...not so much! She froze up there and I had to climb the massive ladder and go down with her.  The slide was unsuccessful in inducing labor :)

Dad, what are these sparkly things? I don't like them!

Get away with that thing!

I will just dance around with them instead!

38...almost 39 week appt

Had our almost 39 week appt this past Thursday. The nurse came to our house for this one which was a nice change of pace from driving 30-40 minutes to the clinic. It was refreshing to have her come. She helped change my mentality about a few things and even said that she would pray for me to have more patience and enjoy my time with Lauren while I wait (so awesome that my support team incorporates the Christian faith into my care). I can tell I have been a bit impatient with Lauren lately which is stemming from my lack of control over when the baby will come and Kyle working extra hours to complete his internship (not to mention the 100+ degree temperatures that are forcing us to stay inside our cave). I have been constantly reminding myself about patience since the nurse left and have been feeling better about carrying this pregnancy much longer than I did with Lauren. The heart rate was still in the 140-150s and baby is still head down right where we like it. It doesn't look like I gained any weight from the last appointment but my scale might be different. I am still measuring at 33 which means the baby is slowly descending more because when they feel for position they are noting the baby getting larger just not my stomach. 

And for those who would rather see pictures of Lauren...here are a few for your enjoyment!

Lauren's baby in her tummy. We had 3 friends have babies this week (2 girls, 1 boy). Lauren is now telling everyone that her baby is a girl named Nora (same as one of the mommas). People think she is talking about my baby when she says that. I will fill you in on a hint now...it is not Nora and it could very well not be a girl too!

 She really scared me this day. We had been struggling with naps for a bit and she would "play" in her bed for quite some time before settling down. Thankfully she is back on track and staying in her room after we get her all tucked in. I noticed her being really quiet so I went back to peek in on her and found her like this. I was actually scared at first that she had suffocated herself and did check before grabbing my camera. She was quite a sweaty mess when I unwrapped her.

Notice anything odd? When I was in the shower one morning I heard her "arguing" with Kyle about wanting to wear one of my bras. He relented and snapped a few pictures for me to enjoy later.

 Side view

 We have amazing neighbors! I absolutely love our town but our neighbors make it so much more enjoyable. Directly across the street is an elderly couple that treats Lauren like one of their own grandchildren. We love to sit in their garden and on the porch swing. They are full of so much history and I learn something new every time I chat with them. They planted a trumpet vine right behind the swing because she had so many memories growing up of picking them and placing them on her fingers and running around. Their yard is a massive impressive garden with fountains and ponds and they mentioned having a trumpet vine wasn't very impressive in the gardening community but she had to add one based on her memories growing up. So, she taught Lauren how to pick the flowers off and stick them on her fingers just like she did. I love seeing generations of memories being passed down and neighbors who let my child pick all the flowers she wants without telling her otherwise.