Well, week six is more than half over and I am just now posting week five. Ah, well, we are busy around here

January 29- Yeah, laundry, not all that exciting, but I do a lot of it around here. It seems like I can rarely catch up. By the time i get laundry put away there is another load to wash.

January 30- My grandparents got the girls a fish awhile back. His name is Nemo, pretty much every fish is named Nemo if you ask J and L. They LOVE this fish, it is crazy. They get so excited to see Nemo every time! They haven’t been over to Gran and Gramp’s house as much since I am home right now, so they have gone through withdrawal. This was an exciting visit for them.

January 31- The weather was wonderful today! We played outside after Ally came to pick up Aiden. These two are (usually) such good buddies!

February 1- Another beautiful day and we took advantage of it! Jillian drew herself on the driveway. How adorable is that?! Her first self portrait. I love it!

February 2- L had her 18 month check up, we were a little late since she is 19 months. We were a little busy is December Of course we had to check out the fish at the doctor’s office. One thing I don’t understand is why they decided to put the fish tank on the sick child side of the waiting area. Did they not think all the healthy children would want to see the fish?

February 3- I absolutely love these three girls!!! And I love this photo. Two smiling faces and one rather contemplative one. Big sisters adore their little sister. Don’t they look so proud to be sitting next to her?

February 4- My best friend Kristine came home for the weekend and we had the opportunity to get together. I always enjoy my time with her! She is such a sweet person. We went to Target, shopped around a bit and then sat and chatted in the cafe. It was a wonderful start to my Saturday!

January 22- Sweet M wore this super cute sweater dress to church. All three girls wore dresses today. It is fun to dress up a bit

January 23- New wall decor for the kitchen! The wall had been bare for a few weeks. Now it feels much better and warmer in the kitchen. I spent part of the morning making the prints on either side of the photo collage. The printing out was easy, securely attaching the ribbon to the frame, not as easy as I thought it would be. Not to mention there were three lovely girlies to care for while attempting some craftiness.

January 24- J didn’t take a nap today. She was pleasant, so no nap was needed. While sisters slept, we had some fun with play-doh, coloring and cutting.

January 25- We were playing before bedtime and I was able to snap a few pics of all the girls on the iPhone.

January 26- Rough morning at the Clarke house! J spent the morning with Nana, and I was very grateful that was already set up when L woke up sick. Multiple throwing up, changing clothes (both hers and mine) and a bath was needed. By afternoon she was feeling better and more herself.

January 27- Dinosaur lunch! Mr. Aiden was over to play this morning and for lunch we decided to have PBandJ dinosaurs. They are always a hit!

January 28- Finally decorated our little mail boxes. I have high hopes that we will use these. There is one for each family member and the hope is to leave notes for one another and the girls can make things for each other and mommy and daddy

Ta-da! Here is week three:

January 15: Storytime with Daddy. We had a meeting at church in the evening, girls were still up when we got home. Joe and I had dinner, girls had a snack, and then bedtime routine was in full swing.

January 16: J and L watching the change swirl around the coin drop at Dairy Queen. We were able to meet my mom, brother and grandparents for lunch.

January 17: Photo shoot time! I dressed the girls up and attempted to take some photos. I had a beautiful amount of sun coming through the windows and the girls were cooperating, and then BAM! camera battery dies But I did capture this gem. The next time the sun in shining beautifully into our living room, you better believe there will be another dress up, photo shoot time!

January 18: L LOVES her counting bears! Much time is spent dumping out, putting them in and pouring into different containers.

January 19: J so sweetly “read” to M after bath time. M was looking at the book, making J very proud of herself. J is such a wonderful big sister.

January 20: Busy day! Aiden was over in the morning. Then, we had some other friends come to visit. They are friends from the church I attended growing up, so I’ve known them quite awhile. My friend Sarah has a daughter the same age as J. It was fun to catch up. L was rolling around in the floor and the end result, some CRAZY hair!

January 21: FONDUE! What a nice evening with awesome friends! The kids had their moments and it was a bit stressful at times, but all in all, it was a good time. Another get together is in order before too long.

Alas, I have put together the photos of week two. I didn’t take as many photos last week, which feels weird, this week will be better.

January 8- I spent part of the day making art display boards to display the wonderful masterpieces from our girlies.

January 9- Snuggles with sweet M.

January 10- Playing ‘Ants in the Pants’ with Daddy (or as J calls it ‘Pants in the Pants’)

January 11- J all dressed up for dinner. She is really into being a princess lately.

January 12- We spent our morning with our friend Aiden. It was a joy to have him over and watch them play together. What a silly, fun little guy he is!

January 13- Lazy Saturday, the girls didn’t change out of their pjs. I had a little fun with the multi lens app on my phone. I am disappointed that that was the only photo from that day.

January 14- I spend time editing photos- here is a view of the computer screen and all the folders of photos we have! It is such fun capturing our moments. I am so glad we have as many photos as we do to look back and cherish our memories.

Recently I have ventured out with all three girls. It is a bit of a process to get everyone in the van and then once we arrive at our destination, to get everyone out and situated (most of the time in a shopping cart). We have tried a few different methods to shopping cart seating and will soon find the one the works best-often it depends on the store and their carts. Anyway, I have been surprised at how many people have offered to help me! I don’t think I appear as if I am struggling a ton, I think I have run into some genuinely nice folks. I am encouraged by this.

I haven’t always needed the help, but a couple times I was very grateful for an extra hand out to the van. Especially the other day as I left the check out lane with two carts-one with kids and one with the things we bought, because I was NOT leaving the store without dog food and having to make another trip at a later time. So picture this-a cart full of kids, one in the carseat in the front and two in the back, and another cart with a few bags and a 48 pound bag a dog food, yes, it’s ok to think I am a little nuts I was pushing the kids and pulling the other cart, maybe I am a little nuts, no, I’d like to think more adventurous. Anyway, a nice lady pushed the cart with our stuff to the van, and for that I am grateful. I hope to be able to offer assistance to others when they are in need. This simple act has left an impression-pay it forward-spread joy, care, compassion.

Happy 2012! We had a good 2011, especially since we ended it with the birth of our third daughter. 2011 was filled with much joy, some challenges and struggles, but also a lot of growth. I can fondly look back on 2011 and also look forward to 2012.

I was tired of our old blog look, so I am trying to freshen it up. We’ll see what happens. Here it is, new color scheme and since it is 2am, this is how it will stay for now. What the blog really needs is some catchy title-I’ll work on that, or better yet, I’ll have Joe work on that, he is better at that than I am. 

I hope to post more this year. We got in a rut last year, posting here and there, perhaps on average once a month. It is a matter of finding time, and with three kiddos that time is hard to find unless it is 2 in the morning. However, like I mentioned in a previous post, no need to stress over the blog. I don’t really know who reads it anyway and or if anyone really cares all that much about reading it. 

One thing I will be posting is Project 365 (this year 366 since it is a leap year). I will choose a picture a day and by the end of 2012 we will have a picture to represent each day of the year. It has already been tough on some days to decide which picture to choose, but I am up for this fun challenge and think it will be fun to look back on. Check back for that post tomorrow, as it is my plan to post a weeks worth of the project at a time so that I don’t have to post daily. 

Again, HAPPY 2012! Enjoy it!

It wasn’t long before family began to arrive and we followed the tradition of having family meet family first. We had Jillian and Lynnsey come back first to meet the newest member of the family. Jillian was so happy to see the baby! Lynnsey was kind of out of it because it was so late, but she did eventually say baby a few times. I suppose I should stop talking and let the pictures start.

Nephew Jacob came too and we exchanged the following remarks on the way back to the room:

Jacob: “Uncle Joe, isn’t it a girl?”

Me: “Yes, it is.”

Jacob: “Awww mannn, are you ever gonna have a boy?”

Me: “I’ve been trying dude!”

This time around it felt much more comfortable once Dr. Ross got in the room. We were all laughing and joking together and having a really good time. After 5 quick pushes it was 7:01 PM and our little baby girl entered the world! We were so happy and proud to meet her. It’s one of those things where no matter how many times you experience it, it’s new each time. There was nothing old hat about baby Meghan’s birth or our experience at all, being rushed was definitely not something we planned for. We didn’t exactly have a name picked out, which was part of the reason we delayed posting or calling anyone. We had a list but wanted to see what she looked like. Meghan Elizabeth was what we decided and started telling the world! It was a successful migration from cord to lungs! .

So now came the part where I could relax, right? I’m gonna go get some food, stop by the house and grab SB’s pillow and we should be all good. Keep in mind, that because SB was group B strep positive, they didn’t necessarily want baby girl delivered for at least 4 hours. So I’m thinking perhaps 11PM we’ll have baby girl. So I drive away to find some food and swing by the house. I go to Chipotle where I see Chris and Megan having some foods. So I get in line at Chipotle and at 6:15 I get a text from Sarabeth that says that she is 7cm. Uhh, so I get out of line, hop back in the car, run through the drive through at Wendy’s and continue. I then get the text that I shouldn’t stop by home, that I should just get back ASAP. Hokay, so just when I thought that hustling in the car was done for the day, I was hurrying back to the hospital. I told SB, I will be back in 5 minutes, you can hold out that long right? She then says yes that’s fine. Then she says 8cm. So yet again, I was surprised by the speed and rapid progression of the events that took place. I got back, parked, got in and came into the room ready to help deliver our baby girl. There was all kinds of carts and medical goodies ready to help, so I thought I might be just in time. And I was.

I arrived home to find Sarabeth had already packed everything we needed, so I merely threw things into the trunk and off we went. What a champion. We took a picture or two, and hung out while I paced. Then Hannah came to the rescue and came over until family could get to our house and then off we went. The contractions were now about 3 minutes apart on the drive over, so I sort of had an inkling that this was going to go fast. We arrived and got into the elevator where an interesting happening took place. There were 3 ladies who were trying to find the cafeteria, who got off, then got back on but held the elevator while asking a nurse questions about where the cafeteria was, what kind of food they were serving, if there was anywhere else they could go to get food, blah blah, and I bit my tongue really hard. I was ready to say, “Look ladies, respect the contractions over here let’s go” but by the grace of God alone held my tongue. SB said a few words after they got off on the 1^st floor, which shall remain redacted from this post.

So we got into triage and SB was definitely ready for an epidural. Here’s a pic that I may have to retract later, so we’ll see if it passes wife approval. For reader reference, I generally get talkative when exciting things happen, and my wife was not so much in the mood to hear talking during this particular set of painful contractions. Immediately before this picture was snapped, SB said, “Joe if I tell you to shut up I need you to shut up”. So instead of talking I played with my phone which included taking this picture which she may or may not know about. Well, yeah, taking a look at the trace shows that perhaps I deserved it. Or she was in a lot of pain. Food for thought, perhaps I should be quiet more often in general. Anywho, Karen our nurse immediately recognized that we were here to stay and got us into a room.

The nurse got her IV started and got antibiotics started because SB was group B strep positive, so the docs wanted antibiotics flowing through both baby and momma before delivery so the chance of infection at delivery was minimal. So SB was definitely in a lot of pain and my hand was definitely getting squeezed a lot. Until the next chapter, when the doctor (NOT CRNA) did a kickbutt job with the epidural. He was definitely Indian and I had to try really hard not to think about episode 3 of www.thewebsiteisdown.com. Sidebar, if you ever watch these, you will immediately be in on about 50 more inside jokes from work. Right, next up, epidural man.