Ahh the thumb

I stopped feeding Callia today b/c she had fallen asleep and Christian wanted a snack. I wondered why she didn't start to cry and when I came back a minute or two later I found her sucking like crazy on her thumb. I'm soooo glad that she is enjoying her digits since once the boys found their fingers or thumbs they started to sleep longer thru the night. I know you must be thinking "ya, but then you have to break them of that habit" but so far my kids have given up their thumb/finger sucking at six months. Hopefully she follows her brothers lead too and will give it up at 6 months - right now I'm not going to worry about it - I'm going to enjoy the extra sleep that'll come with her soothing herself. (eventually)

All Girl??

Nothing like a little girl and her guns! I'm not sure if I have much luck having Callia turn out to be a "girly girl".

A Little Nutty

I think I'm a little nutty. You see Callia is now 6 1/2 weeks old and she's turning the corner from being a newborn to being a baby. One of my goals with each of our babies has been to get them to sleep on their own without having to be fed, rocked or soothered to sleep and to get them on a schedule. I do this so they sleep thru the night earlier. I was worried that Callia wouldn't get on a schedule b/c we're always out and about but she has - in fact she has done it herself - it's not 100% gauranteed but it's going pretty good so far. And now for the last couple of days Callia has been going down for her naps in her bed and right now she is having a really good long one - which is where the nutty part comes in. On one hand I'm soooo happy that she is going down with less and less crying (it wasn't much to begin with) but on the other hand I know that once she gets used to sleeping in her bed the days of us being able to hold her while she falls asleep are nearly gone!

What a dad!

Today we had our first family day as six, and what fun we had. Today Rich proved what it means to be a great dad. Rich and I were relaxing when we heard Christian crying - his boat got loose and was floating down the little river. Well, Rich got up and started trucking down the river after it, and it was going fast. He went after it, went out of sight and then we saw him return. He had the boat but he was missing something, his shoes. Only a great dad would go chasing after a two dollar boat, in freezing cold water (good thing we don't want a fifth) over very slippery rocks in order to make sure his little boy has his boat, even if his shoes are floating somewhere down stream.

It was so awesome to be out as family, to do something "normal" that didn't involve people googling over Callia. Don't get me wrong we love the googling but normal is good too. The boys had a great time trying to catch the little fish, floating the boats in the stream, digging holes, blowing dandelions and enjoying the sunshine in general. It's so much fun to watch them play together and to see them enjoying nature. I'm looking forward to the summer and having many more days like today.

So Blessed!

This month has been a month of blessings! So many times Rich and I have been astonished at people's generosity to us - from gifts to meals. The blessings actually began when I first was pregnant and four friends lent me mat. clothes. It was a blessing that I didn't have to go out and buy all new stuff (I was prego. at a different time with the other three). Then the blessings have continued since she was born. We've had so many people bless us with meals - I've made maybe four meals in the past month - what a treat to be able to focus on my baby, my three other kids and now house stuff instead of worrying about cooking. Not to mention I haven't had to worry about juggling nursing and making dinner! We also have two showers coming up - wow! I didn't expect that at all -since she is the fourth but how awesome it is since we have nothing for a girl! We've already received so many gifts and cards that it's been amazing. We are so thankful and feel so loved - what fantastic feelings when one is feeling tired and sometimes a little overwhelmed. I can't wait until a friend has a baby again so we can return some blessings!

One Month!

I can do it!! I can't believe that Callia is a month old - that I've been sleep deprived for a whole month now and now I know I can do - I can live without enough sleep. When she was first born I didn't think I'ld make it but I am. Let's see - what's changed in a month?

-Callia enjoys her baths now

-just b/f four weeks she began to nap without being held

-she nurses every three hours (sometimes two) unlike the boys who were every 1-2hours

-Callia loves to nap in her carseat (good thing since some days that's her life)

-Ethan can't wait to hold her everyday

-When we're not watching Aiden will rock her carseat gently and sing to her

-Christian is always ready to put the soother into her mouth - even when she's

happy and/or sleeping peacefully, he also calls her Baby Callia gives her the gentlest

kisses

-had her first all day outing at Williams park

-takes 1-2 hours to put back to bed in the middle of the night, hard to feed at 10:30pm

-night she turned one month Callia went from 11 -5:15am!! Yahoo!

-takes the soother well - life savor with her being the fourth and me not being able to hold her 24/7

This entry is more so I remember what went on so I can add it to her journal once I buy it. Each of the kids has a journal and I try to write in it once a month - I include achievements, stuff we've done as a family and things that have been hard to - hopefully they'll enjoy looking back when they're bigger.

Our Girl!

Callia Marie Shimmin

April 16, 2008

7lbs 3oz 20"

Wow! I can't believe we really have a little girl. Once I knew the sex of our baby I told Rich that "Now, I'm excited". Not only that but the surgery was almost over and I and the baby made it thru so it was time to start celebrating! The morning went so smoothly - I couldn't have asked for a better day. I didn't die of starvation or thirst, I wasn't bumped - in fact according to Rich (and he would know since he was facebooking everything) I went into the operating room 10:50 (early) and Callia was born at 11:05. That's pretty great for being on time. God answered every one of our prayers to the letter that morning - I basically worried the last few days for nothing!! I know we had so many people praying for us that day and we felt it! The doc., anaesthesiologist and nurses made it quite clear that this was a riskier surgery b/c of it being my fourth but I was fine - not nervous, peaceful. The anaesthesiologist even put in an extra line for an IV in case anything a happened during surgery but nothing did - except for our beautiful girl. Anyways, I have someone calling my name who needs to be fed so I gotta run. Just wanted to say thanks for praying - we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.