Amberly had her 3-month-old well-being Dr checkup this week.  She is growing very well.  She currently weighs 11.78 lbs and is 24 inches (61 cm) tall.  She's been smiling a lot now and chuckles quite a bit.  She also loves to talk and babble.  Sometimes, she would wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning and would just babble away for a few minutes before she falls back to sleep.  It is so cool listening to her coos and babbles.  I can also tell that I'll probably need to start her into some rice cereal soon.  She is constantly eating, and seems not to get enough from just nursing (unless this is just a growth spurt thing and she would settle back to her normal appetite).  At night, before she goes to bed, I would nurse her, both sides and she she would still fuss and want some more food.  I would then prepare a 2-oz bottle for her and she would drink it all up, and then I would nurse her again some more.  She is definitely a growing little thing!  Our little peaches (that's Jebby's affectionate name for her -- from a peach flower and because she was fuzzy like a peach when she was born, and had a peachy colored skin) is also staying awake and alert more and more.  She naps really good still and is pretty easy to get back to sleep.  Oh, I can hardly believe that she's with us for more than 3 months now... she's growing way too fast!

our three-month old peaches, Amberly

For almost a month now, I have started to shift to cloth diapers and have been cloth-diapering Amberly.  She seems to like it and I absolutely am sold into cloth diapering.  It is addicting!  I have tried prefolds, fitteds, AIO (All In Ones), and One-Size diapers, and they all work great!  I use my prefolds and SmartiPants for everyday and daytime wear, and my Kissaluvs fitted diaper and BG (BumGenius) for night time use.  I find myself searching for cloth diaper deals more and more.  Who would have ever thought that cloth diapering is so much fun, easy, convenient, cute and addicting! :)  It definitely has gone a long way from the time our mom's cloth diapered us.

Today, Amberly is one week old.  I can't believe it has been that long already.  I just had her.  It definitely was a busy week, that the days just flew by with the wedding and all.  Time already is flying by so fast with me just having her.  Anyway, everything's been well so far in regards with Amberly and myself.  I have been recovering pretty well and quickly.  There are days when I feel so well that I have to remember (or Jeb reminds me) to still keep it easy or else I might over-exert myself.  Amberly has been growing well and seems like she has gotten bigger already in a weeks' time.  She's still sleeping a lot right now and wakes up to nurse and then sleeps some more.  In between feedings, she does have a little alert moment where she looks around and we can "converse" with her.  I still have to schedule her one-week follow up appointment with her doctor.  I forgot all about it, with the busy week we've just had.  I'd like to know how her progress has been.

Amberly is such a joy to our growing family.  We love her so much.  She is a wonderful blessing from God.  It is wonderful having another little one in the family and Jeb is loving being a daddy again to another little girl. The kids love being by her too and "helping" out in any way they can (although sometimes, they can be so much in the way too).  Jordan and Aubrey have been a very good brother and sister to her.  They love giving her hugs and kisses and lets me know when she is crying.  Every morning when they wake up they head straight for our bedroom and look or ask for Amberly right away.  It is so sweet.  Sometimes, when Amberly cries or is a bit fussy, Jordan and Aubrey would sing a song to her and surprisingly she'd stop crying, as if she's listening to them singing and then when the song ends, she'd cry again. :)

Here is a picture of Amberly Dawn... one week old.  Also, I have uploaded pictures of Amberly's birth and her being days' old in our Photo Gallery, under Amberly Dawn.  I also have pictures uploaded from Sabrina and Matt's wedding.  I have a few videos as well that I will upload sometime tomorrow (or this week yet).  I'll keep you posted when it is up.

Today is a very special day.  Today Laurie gave birth to Amberly Dawn.  She was 7lbs 6oz, 19", and has a full head of hair.  She was also born in 5 minutes, from start to finish, talk about a new record for Laurie.  She is a very beautiful little girl and I look forward to being her Daddy :)  Laurie is spending the night at the hospital and I am watching the kids so Laurie can recuperate.  This is a short post to let everyone know that Laurie and Amberly are doing well.  Laurie will post more when she returns from the hospital.

I was able to get a little sleep last night, so I figured I'd update this posting:

Yesterday Laurie started feeling contractions around 6:30am.  At 7am she woke me up and told me she was having them 4 minutes apart, but that she wanted to wait an hour to make sure they were the real deal.  Having been there for Jordan and Aubrey's births, I knew this was the real deal so I gave my mom a call and got the kids dressed.  I got everyone in the truck, and headed out.  Kelley watched the kids for us, as Kelley and Jason live 2 blocks away, and are on the way to the hospital.  That worked out perfectly.

We got to the hospital and they processed Laurie for admittance.  Once that was done they brought her up to the room where they had her get into her gown and hooked up the monitors.  They checked to see how far she is in dilation and she was already at 8cm.  At this point the contractions were much closer and as soon as the doctor came in, about 5 minutes later, she said Laurie was 10cm and ready to go.  She broke Laurie's water and 5 minutes later, Amberly Dawn was born.  Laurie did so good, and I'm so proud of her.  She was able to have Amberly out in 2 or 3 sets of pushing.  So, when I say she had the baby in 5 minutes, that was from the breaking of the water straight to Amberly Dawn taking her first breath in the doctors arms.  It was that fast.

Amberly Dawn came out, and when they handed her to me, I welled up in tears of joy.  This was my daugther, my little girl that I have been waiting to meet for 9 months.  I was so proud to be a daddy again, and so grateful to God that he protected my wife and daughter through this process.  Laurie had come out of this with only a minor abrasion, and Amberly was a beautiful little girl with all her fingers and toes, a beautiful healthy cry.  Within 10 minutes of having the baby, Laurie was laying in bed ordering food and looking like she was only a little tired.

Just as we have done for each of our children, before the doctor came in, we prayed.  We prayed for His protection and blessing on this birth, and after the birth was over, we prayed again to thank God for all of His help and blessings.  We thanked God for Amberly as well as for Laurie and Amberly's birth.  This was such a wonderful blessing.

On a side note, we were also blessed to have the same doctor and nurse team deliver each of our children.  We had been hoping that God would allow us to have the same doctor, and sure enough, that was the case.  Laurie has been seeing the same doctor for each of our children, and she is a wonderful and caring doctor.  It's been a blessing to have found her and to have her deliver our children.

After Laurie was transfered to her new room, I picked up the children and they got to meet their little sister.  They wanted to hold her and kiss her.  Each of our children have a little nickname.  Jordan is my monkey.  When he was born, his coos immediately after he was born sounded like a little monkey.  In fact, when I called my dad and he heard Jordan over the phone, he said Jordan sounded like a monkey.  So, that nickname has stuck with him ever since.  With Aubrey, she is our little butterfly, though I call her stinker as well for various reasons.  When we were at the hospital, Jordan was holding Amberly and he said that Amberly is a beautiful flower.  So, it would appear that we now have a Monkey, a Butterfly, and a Flower. :)

This is all for now, but I'm sure Laurie will post a ton as soon as she has a moment.

24 more days to go!!!  I wonder what sounds shorter, 24 days or 3 1/2 weeks.  Nevertheless, Amberly's birth is getting really, really close.

I had my Doctor's checkup yesterday and everything went well.  Baby's heartrate was good, 139bpm.  My weight pretty much stayed the same from last week's checkup.  Also, my doctor said that the baby has dropped.  No wonder the uncomfortable pressure between my legs when I sit or stand (feels like I have a bowling ball between my legs), not to mention the zillion times I have to use the bathroom because of the baby's head putting pressure on my bladder.  Also, I am now at 3cm dilation and still 50% effaced.

This morning, I did start to lose some of my MP (Mucus Plug).  I have been having on and off contractions all day yesterday and today.  Nothing really bothersome though, just tightening and leaving you out of breath sometimes.  There are times too though that I feel lots of pressure below with the contractions and the baby moving.  So, all in all... things are going and progressing well.

I started feeling panicky yesterday.  I had this strong urge to go shopping and get the baby's necessities done.  And, no, I haven't packed my or the baby's bags yet... but that is on my high list of things to do today.  The nurse and my doctor, when I told them I haven't packed my bags yet, they said, "Oh, you better get those packed now, honey."

At least I have the house somewhat in decent shape.  I can never get the house in immaculate shape for no longer than 5 mins when the kids tear it up again.  The kitchen is clean (and there is food... at least to last us a while) and have the laundry all caught up.  Oh, I do need to get the last batch of sheets in yet, though.

So, I am off to pack my bags now and finishing up some more work and house work... and get the baby "nursery" set up.