Hallie is 1 month old!!!!!

I can't believe Hallie is already 1 month old!!! She is such a sweet baby girl, we are so lucky to have her in our family!

She eats well, sleeps well, and has lots of blowouts :) My laundry has definitely doubled, but that's okay, she is worth it :)

She is starting to smile at us, which melts my heart. Abby and Bailey still can't get enough of her and are so sweet with her. Every time she opens her eyes, they run over to play with her and tell me that she is awake!

Bailey gives her the binky every five seconds and gives her lots of kisses and hugs. Abby is also very attentive to her and will sit right next to her "to make sure she doesn't get hurt". Bailey calls her "baby hawee", it is so cute.

I'm lucky to have three beautiful girls and a great hubby too. I always tell Gavin I have four babies now (he is my #1 baby :)

One side note, a few days ago, Abby said "Grandpa called you Jill, but your name is Mommy, not Jill". She makes me laugh.

When it rains, it pours!!

Things have been pretty crazy around here. First off, we're still adjusting to Hallie's sleep schedule, or lack of sleep for us :) We have also had so many sicknesses coming through our house! I was sick with a bad cold when I went into labor, then I came home with Hallie and Abby had the stomach flu. Bailey has also had stomach sickness. Well, now I have completely LOST my voice because of this sore throat and cough I have had for the past few days. I seriously have NO voice, which is hard as a Mom, I need my voice as a Mom :) And unfortunately, I was told it is a virus, so I can't take meds to get better either. I am just worried about little Hallie getting sick, when will the sicknesses end? And honestly, I don't get out much these days, so I don't know where we keep getting sick from?

Then, last night, Gavin was trying to fix the side of our rocking chair. He was trying to unscrew a bolt and he said his hands slipped from pushing so hard on the bolt and he pushed the screw driver RIGHT INTO HIS PALM!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh, it makes me hurt just thinking about it. I was cleaning bottles in the kitchen when I heard him yell out, I could tell something really bad had happened by the tone in his voice. He actually pulled out the screw driver himself, he is tough! His hand was shaking from the shock and he jumped into the car and headed to the ER alone because I am sick and the girls were already asleep. A few hours later, he came back with a wrap around it and he was started on antibiotics and pain meds. They are worried that he will get infected, so he has to take a heavy course of antibiotics this week.

The screw driver went into the top of his palm and in between his index and middle finger on his left hand. There was a bulge on the top of his knuckle and the screw driver had almost gone completely through his hand. They did x-rays, and luckily he barely missed hitting bone and tendons. He told me they made him wait in the ER while some Cop was having stitches removed. They had him sit there in tremendous pain for about an hour! Gavin tried calling me a few times to update me, but I have no voice, so I was trying to be supportive, but I couldn't even communicate. Poor Gavin, I feel so bad! He was just trying to be mister fix-it and ended up with this injury!

This is going to be an interesting week with him having to go to school/work. Luckily, it was his left hand, not right.

Another fun thing, our "check engine light" has been on for the last week. We have just kept driving on it, haha. Our car has had SO many problems and we are just about to send it off a cliff! And seeing how we never have excess money (because we are college students), this is another fun thing :)

I thought my biggest challenge would be adjusting to having another newborn, but I guess with a family of five, there are just going to be a lot of challenges all at the same time, haha.

It just always seems like things like this happen at the same time :)

Okay, just wanted to share our crazy stories.

Halloweeen 2010

We headed up to my Parent's house this year for Halloween! Gavin had to go on a field trip for one of his classes during the day on Saturday, so I thought it would be fun to hang out at Grandma and Grandpa's instead of staying home alone :) My Mom was so nice and sewed Abby that adorable witch costume. I don't have a lot of free time on my hands lately, so she was so nice to do that for me! Thanks Mom!

When Gavin was finished, we took the girls trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. They only lasted for about 20 minutes because it was raining and freezing cold! Well, truthfully, Gavin and I wanted to stop as well, it was not good weather :) They definitely filled up those bags with candy though!

We headed back to my Parent's after and had fun seeing more trick-or-treaters come to their house. At the end of the night, there were quite a few teenagers that came by, it made me laugh. I remember going trick-or-treating with friends when I was way too old to be going still, what can I say, I LOVED candy and still do :)

It was a fun holiday! Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us come!!!

Bailey was a little kitty if you can't tell, and Abby was a witch. And yes, as you can see in the pictures, Gavin was a good sport and dressed up in his whoopee cushion costume! It is going to be his tradition he told me :) Hallie and I were mother and baby this year, no costumes necessary :)

Bailey is 2!!!!!!

Our Bailey turned 2 today!!!!!!
When I look back these pictures of Bailey as a baby, I cannot believe she has grown up so fast! I started to tear up when I was looking through her baby pictures, it goes too fast! She has been such a sweet little girl since the day she was born and makes us so happy.
Bailey (a few months old)
Bailey at her 1 year party

We bought Bailey a Zhu Zhu hamster toy, and she LOVES it as you can see. She love animals and loves to cuddle and squeeze them. I knew she would love it!
My parents got here those adorable pink boots and the new Tinkerbell movie, the girls love it and already watched it twice! Thanks Grama and Crappa! Grandpa also took the girls to play at the park today, which they loved, thank you!!!

Bailey opening presents!
the little cheeser..........

Bailey is very good about giving kisses to everyone, she is such a sweetie :)
opening presents.......
We got lucky and got to visit with Grandma Plewe! It was so fun to have her here today!
playin' with balloons
Gavin's parents gave Bailey this cute motorcycle and a cute new outfit, thank you!!!

We ordered a pizza for Bailey for dinner (her favorite food), and then finished off with her cake!

Happy Birthday Bailey Jane! We love you!!!!

Almost 2 weeks old!!

It is hard to believe Hallie is almost 2 weeks old already! The above picture was from the first night we came home from the hospital. I was lucky once again that she came early like Abby and Bailey did (she came 1 week early).

I'll post her labor story at the bottom of this post so you don't have to read it if it is too long :) It is mostly for me to remember her birth story.

Anyway, we are so thankful for all the visitors and helpers over the past week and a half! Thank you especially to our Moms :)

Here are some pictures over the last week:


Abby couldn't be happier, she is SO happy to be a big sister again to a little baby sister! She asks to hold her all the time and does a great job. Side note, Abby is pretty much completely potty trained, only took a few days! She was completely ready and surprised us at how fast she caught on to it!


This picture says it all, we are TIRED, but couldn't love our girls more

Grandma Collier and Hallie at the hospital! Thanks for also coming to help us out for a few days!!


Grandma Ryan and the girlies at home, thanks Mom for all your help!



Okay, here is Hallie's story:

I had been having strong contractions off and on for about a week prior to her delivery. Two days before she was born, they were getting closer (about 2-3 minutes apart), and she we packed up our family and went to the hospital for a few hours. The girls were patient while we waited to see my progression. The contractions were close, and then died off after a few hours, so we were sent home. Did I mention I hate being sent home, it makes you feel depressed!!! Anyway, we headed home that night around 2:00 a.m., our poor girls!

Two days later (Saturday morning), I woke up around 3:00 a.m. with some painful contractions and again they were regular and close, so Gavin and I headed back to the hospital. I was only dilated to a 1+ still and didn't progress as much as they wanted, so again we were sent home. We walked around the halls for an hour and were going crazy! I was given a morphine shot to go home with because the contractions were pretty strong. We got home and I literally slept for 4 or 5 hours, haha!!!!! I could NOT wake up, Gavin tried to wake me up a few times, but I kept falling asleep. That morphine shot was so strong! I woke up around 5:00 or so that evening and the contractions were getting really strong and painful and close, so we went back to the hospital. By this point, I was to a 4 and they still wanted to see if I changed any within another hour (I was going to kill somebody). So, they had me walk around for an hour, but I could only stand to walk around for about 20 minutes because the pain was terrible. I had bad lower back pain and I was contracting every few minutes, we would walk and then I would have to stop to breathe and I just started crying because it hurt SO bad! So we headed back to the delivery room and the nurse came back to check. I was at a 5 by this point (20 minutes after coming to the hospital), and so they finally agreed to keep me! I was so happy to be able to stay and I asked for the epidural right away because I was dying. The nurses we had were so sweet and helped me through the pain before the epidural was injected. The epidural was so hard to hold still for because I was having such painful contractions, but it got in just in time. I was finally able to relax and I think I fell asleep for a little while ( I don't remember). Around 10:30 or so, a nurse came in to check me, and before she did I felt my water break! She checked me right after and I was a 10 already! The doctor was delivering a baby right next door, so I had to wait about 10-15 minutes to start pushing. Hallie had had a bowel movement, so that was all over the bed with the fluid, and they were all saying it looked like pea soup, not funny :) I felt so much better once my water broke though. The doctor finally came in to deliver Hallie and it all went so smoothly. She was out in a few pushes and he actually had to tell me stop pushing on the last one. A few NICU nurses came in to clean her out because of the concern over her passing stool inside me, but she was breathing fine and was such a sweetie! She was so good during the stay at the hospital and has been since. I hope she stays this way :)

My stay was not restful at all because they come in to check on you so frequently, but it was nice to just spend time with Hallie. Gavin had to leave for school, so I was alone for part of the time, but I was able to rest some. I had a bad cold when I had her, so I was feeling pretty congested and tired from that as well. The nurses were great though and I always love the hospital meals (even though they feed you way too much!!!)

Coming home was very interesting because Abby got the stomach flu the night we came home. Bailey had had it a few days earlier, but Abby didn't start throwing up until that night. I was so lucky that my Mom was there to help Abby get better while I tried to keep Hallie away and get some rest. Abby got over it within 24 hours, but that made me so nervous! I didn't want a sick newborn. The girls were so excited to see her when she came home and have been really good to be soft with her. They can't get enough of her!

I'm still exhausted due to the lack of sleep, but I am so thankful to have Hallie in our little family! She has been such a sweet baby so far and I am lucky to have three healthy girls. Gavin has been a good support and loves all his girlies. He has been busy with school this semester, but has tried to help out here and there as he has time.

We love our Hallie!!!

Hallie is here!!

Hallie Claire Collier was born on October 16th at 11:11 p.m.!!! She was 7 lbs 15 oz and 19.5 in. long. She is such a sweet baby so far and looks a lot like her sisters :)

Once again, I went early with her delivery, which was awesome! She was born about 8 days early and was obviously healthy and ready to come. We love her so much already! Abby is SO excited to have her home and can't stop talking to her and laying by her, it is so cute. Bailey thinks she is cute, but keeps her distance a little more, I think it will take her more time to get used to her. We love having three girlies, they make us so happy :) I'll post more on my delivery soon, but here are some pictures of the hospital stay. The first two pictures were of our first visit to the hospital, I had strong contractions for two days before I delivered, so we went in this night with the girls just to check. Abby was SOOO excited and thought Hallie was coming, but we had to wait two more days for her.

My Magazine Feature!!!!

Here it is! I made it into the Winter 2010 issue of DIY Magazine! It was a fun surpise!

Cornbellys

We love this time of year and all the fun activities going on! We took the girls to Cornbellys this past weekend and they had so much fun! We were laughing because the last time I was pregnant, we went on a hay ride and I was totally contracting bad during it. We did a hay ride again at Cornbellys and again I was contracting, I should have learned my lesson!

I have two week left in the pregnancy (hopefully :), but I have been contracting A LOT, so I hope I go early with this baby too like I did with our girls.

My second Etsy Shop for Kids!

Etsy jmarket I decided to open a second shop just to separate my kids items from my jillybeanthings items. We'll see how it goes :)