We Love Daddy Yes Sirree

Happy Father's Day

The Twos Are Over

Mr. Poort turned 3 yesterday.

When he woke up, I grabbed him and hugged him and said, "Happy Birthday, Beck!"

He said, "Mom, is it really my birthday today?"

(he has been anticipating it for the past couple of months and wanted to ensure that this time it was really the day...)

I told him that it was.

His eyes lit up and he said,

"The twos are over!"

He is so excited to be 3...

My favorites about him right now...

He L.O.V.E.S superheros...ANY and ALL of them. He even likes to wear his underwear backwards because all of the characters are on the "bum" of the underwear and he can't see them back there!

Whenever he asks a question, it is ALWAYS followed by "right?" i.e. "We are going to the store, right?" or "It is time for lunch, right?"

He loves to race up the stairs. He used to thrive on winning at the top of the stairs but now he prefers holding hands with his opponent so that they both win.

He is a really nice sharer (most of the time). If he has something that Chloe wants, he usually gives it to her, even if he really wants it.

He gives the best hugs...seriously. He has to have a running start to hug someone. He will back up and run, full-force, into your arms and squeeze.

He is probably the funniest person I know. And what is funniest, is that he knows that he is being funny. I imagine that is what Jon was like at Beckham's age. He loves to make people laugh and smile.

When people ask him how old he is, he holds up 3 fingers and tells them in one breath, "I am 3 and now I can go to preschool and Fun Friday just like Chloe!"

Anytime he is hungry or thirsty, he will approach me and act like he is on the brink of death and as soon as he eats or drinks something, he turns into Popeye and his muscles miraculously enlarge and he is "as strong as Daddy."

He is THE CUTEST little guy that I know and I love him to pieces!

Laughter

Today at church, one of the speakers said that on average, children laugh 400 times a day and adults laugh only 15 times a day.

Here's to not being average.

This is something that I found that made me laugh ALOT today.

Laugh it up.

(Oh, and Beckham fell asleep on my Mom's lap today at church and peed ALL over her!...Let the laughing begin...)

Sisters

Chloe was going through a huge pile of old pictures I have laying around the floor in my office and found a picture of my sister, Amber, and me. It wasn't just any old picture. It was cut into the shape of a heart. My Mom used to be a big time scrapbooker and would cut EVERY PICTURE into some sort of shape.

Chloe thought it was "dorable"...

AND

she thought that she and Ava should have one just like it.

So yesterday she laid out a blanket in the backyard, got herself dressed and picked up her little sister...

AND

SMILED!

I love sisters.

Hanging Out

It has taken me FOREVER to update on the past few months. We are doing great. Just trying to get our lives into a good rhythm. I don't know that we will ever get into one, but we are doing our best. 3 kids has thrown me a little bit. I really didn't think there would be a huge adjustment, but for some reason there has been a big shift. Getting ready in the morning usually leaves out 1 kid or 1 me. I just can't get 4 people ready...yet.

But change is good. Different but good. If we aren't all dressed we are at least all happy. That's what is important, right?

I have made some very long posts updating our family over the past couple of months. I love when people stop by to read our blog, but I really just update it for us. If you want to read it, you may want to grab a sandwich and get comfortable. It's been a busy couple of months (and a little bit of picture overload!)...

Thank you to all of our family and friends who have helped and offered good wishes to us as we have grown our family. We feel so blessed.

Ava's Story

On Friday, January 22 I spent the afternoon at a newborn shoot. It was the perfect shoot. Very low key. Not much moving around.

When I got home, however, I felt awful. I was contracting like crazy. Jon called his sister to come pick up the kids so that I could relax. I spent the whole night on the couch in the living room. I slept for maybe 20 minutes that whole night and by 4:30 a.m., I woke Jon up and asked him to take me to the hospital. I thought, if anything, they would give me a shot of something to stop the contractions.

When we arrived at the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitors and a nurse came in to check me. I was 4 cm and completely effaced. I overheard the nurse calling my doctor and she starting asking about the epidural.

What?

When the nurse returned, she told me that she was going to transfer me from triage to a delivery room.

Huh?

Jon was fast asleep in one of those super comfortable hospital chairs and he was sitting too far from me to hit him to wake him up. I starting yelling, "Jon! Jon! We are having the baby today!"

We called a few family members to let them know. My Mom dropped everything and rushed over to make it for the delivery.

As soon as I was settled into my new room, the nurse came in and said that I could have the epidural at any time. I was so tired and I just wanted rest my body a little bit. An epidural was a welcomed solution. The doctor gave me the epidural but all that it numbed was my feet and legs. I could still feel every contraction. The doctor came back in and tried to readjust the epidural's position in my back. He gave me more medicine. My feet and legs just kept getting more heavy, but I could still feel everything else. He gave me more medicine. Still nothing. I was starting to get nauseated. The nurse offered me some nausea medicine, which she informed me may make me a little bit sleepy. Sleepy??? I will take it!

Within minutes of the medicine going into my IV, I was out.

The next thing I really remember was the nurse telling Jon to wake me up because I was measuring 9 3/4 cm and it was almost time to push.

It was now almost 4 in the afternoon.

I woke up just in time to push. My doctor came in and 4 short pushes later, Miss Ava was here! I can't really put my feelings into words, but it was pure joy.

I love those moments that directly follow the birth of your child.

Relief, love, happiness.

Ava's lungs struggled. My Mom who is a NICU nurse at the hospital at which I delivered, whisked her away. I knew she was in the best hands and so any worry I had dissipated.

They took me into a recovery room and as soon as Ava had become stable and I had had a little bit of sleep, I went to see her. She was so little and the size of the incubator made her size even more dramatic. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and pink skin. Jon was confused as to how this could be his baby (he still comes home everyday from work and asks if I think her hair and skin are getting darker...I don't think so). She was beautiful, of course, but she looked very frail. I was kind of afraid to touch her at first.

The doctors gave me a run dodwn of her condition and that she would need to stay in the hospital for a week so that she could receive a 7 day course of antibiotics. I was disappointed. I was sad that she came so early and that I would have to leave the hospital with empty arms.

I spent the next 2 nights at the hospital while Jon stayed with Chloe and Beckham at home. It was nice that over the course of the next 7 days, my Mom worked 5 of those nights. I would go into the NICU and hang out with my baby and my Mom. Ava got the VIP treatment. Her incubator was always decorated. She was always dressed in cute outfits and she always had a little bow in her hair. Money couldn't have paid for the treatment that she received. The other nurses and staff were amazing and made leaving her a little bit easier.

I spent the next week coming to the hospital to feed Ava every 3 hours. I felt like I had 2 families. The one at the hospital and the one at home. It was a rough week. I am glad that it was only a week.

During the week, we decided to take Chloe and Beckham to the hospital to meet their new sister. We had a waiting room to ourselves and my Mom brought her in to us. Beckham was pretty much not interested. Chloe took about 2 seconds to warm up to her. We spent the hour together as a family of 5. It felt good.

We brought her home January 30th and she has thrived. She has brought such a sweet spirit into our home.

We are so happy to have her in our family!

In My Next 30 Years

I turned 30 in March. I was actually looking forward to this birthday. I thought of it as a milestone. Jon, who turned 30 in December, wasn't very excited to turn 30. I don't know why (He has a hot wife and the cutest kids ever!)...

I have spent birthdays past with friends and family. I always over-think birthdays and have really high expectations as to how the day is going to unfold.

It never happens.

THEN...

I get mad. Depressed. Sad. (I know...I am lame)

SO...

to avoid all of these unbirthday-like feelings, I decided to leave Jon at home with the kids and I spent the day at the WPPI photography convention with my little old self.

I love my kids and husband, but it was so nice to just spend the day with myself doing what I love. There was nothing monumental that happened. It was simple and good.

I came home from the convention and went to dinner with Jon. No kids. I thought that I would miss them because I had been away from them all day long. I didn't. It was so nice to enjoy dinner with just the two of us.

After dinner, we drove to my sister's house and had bundt cake with my family.

It was perfect.

I spent the day getting a reboot.

A few days after my actual birthday, some of my girlfriends took me out for dessert.

Good family and good friends.

My greatest gifts.