Aubrey Ann Sexson

For those of you who haven't already heard, the newest edition to our family came a little bit earlier than expected. Aubrey Ann Sexson was born on Friday, August 7 at 11:54 p.m. She weighed in at a whopping 3 lbs. 10 oz. and was 17 1/2 inches long.

As I had mentioned in my previous post, my blood pressure had been creeping up but not too high. Well, two weekends ago it started getting really high so I put myself on complete bedrest at home and said that I was going to call the doctor on Monday. Monday comes and I call and then of course it goes down. But by Tuesday night, it had gone back up and I was feeling terrible so Micah drove me to the hospial just a little before midnight. When the nurse at the hospital checked it, it was 222 over 114. She said that earned me a stay in the hospital. I was hoping to just continue to be on bedrest in the hospital, but they could not get my blood pressure to stay down so they decided Friday to induce me. I was magnesium, some other blood pressure iv, and something to kinda sedate me because they were afraid that labor would make it go even higher. Needless to say, it was a rough few days.

However, it was all worth it because now we have a healthy baby girl. A tiny baby girl, but a healthy one. Aubrey is in the NICU but she is doing really well. She hasn't had to be on oxygen at all. She does have a feeding tube, but I'm also getting to try to nurse her at times. She just has to put weight before being sent home.

All of the kids are excited about the baby sister. They have asked tons of questions ranging from "How are babies born?" to "Is that Sprite in your iv?" and of course, "What's that bag hanging from your bed with yellow stuff in it?" Although we've gotten to hold Aubrey, I haven't trusted the kids to yet. Not with how small she is and all of the wires that are hooked up to her. They do get to stick their hands in her bed and "pet" her with two fingers just like they got to pet the lizard at the library.

I want to say thank you to everyone who has been praying for us. I know that there are a lot of you out there. Please continue to keep Aubrey in your prayers. The next few months may be long ones.

Pregnancy Update

Yes, I know that it has been forever since I've posted. My computer at home has been down so I haven't been able to check email, blogs, etc. for a while now.

I am 32 weeks along and had a doctor's appointment this morning. I was put on "restricted" activity about two weeks ago and also put on blood pressure medication. The doctor never used the term "bed rest" but he did say to sit on the couch with my feet up as much as possible. The medicine has helped to stablize my blood pressure and while he's not happy with it, he's not worried about it right now. They did an ultrasound this morning to check growth and fluid and everthing looked good. The baby is measuring about 3 and a half pounds. We still don't have a name for sure. Micah suggested calling her Miss Take. I said that was just mean!

The kids have been going back and forth between my parents' house and Micah's parents' house the past few weeks. Luckily there have been plenty of VBS's and other activities to keep them busy.

I go back to the doctor in two weeks and then I'll start weekly visits after that until "what's her name" gets here.

I hope everyone has had a great summer!! It's hard to believe, but school starts in about 3 weeks. Daphne and Kaylee are more than ready for it to begin. I think we're all ready to get back into to some kind of routine.

I will try not to wait so long this time between posts, but I can't promise anything. At least I've posted more often than some of my friends (you know who you are D!)

Kaylee's Dance Recital

Kaylee and her dance class had their end-of-the-year recital this past Sunday afternoon. They did a tap dance to "I Wanna Walk Like You" from the Jungle Book. They also got to participate in the opening number to "Fabulous" from High School Musical. The kids got to walk across the stage and pose while some people acted like paparazzi and took their pictures. Kaylee was really excited about the whole thing. She loved getting her hair curled and getting to wear mommy's make-up. She also seems really comfortable on stage. I hope that continues because I have never been comfortable standing in front of an audience. Although, they did a good job considering that they're 4-6 year olds, it left me wondering if it was really worth all the money. It also made me realize that Kaylee will probably not be able to do dance for long because of the costumes and dances some of these girls do. There was one group that looked like they were wearing lingerie. Why does the focus have to be on jazz and interpretive dance? Why not focus on classical ballet? Just a few thoughts from the mind of Courtney.

Daphne graduated from kindergarten this morning. We got to watch her and her fellow kindergartners sing a few songs. Daphne has loved kindergarten and she is really looking forward to being in 1st grade next year. We found out last week that she got into the gifted and talented program for next year. This is a huge honor! She was the only kindergartner selected this year.

I mentioned in a previous post that we were going to Riverfest last weekend. We went on Friday which was a good idea because the crowd was smaller and the weather was perfect. While we were standing down by the river, Noah said, "There's the river. Where's the fest?" Micah and I thought that was hilarious!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday morning. Baby looks good. My blood pressure was a little high so I will go back in two weeks to get it checked again. They may become the norm until the end of this pregnancy. The doctor told me to sit or lay down as much as I possibly could so I'm trying. However, this can be difficult with three kids to take care of! I'm just trying to not get put on complete bedrest or get put in the hospital. My doctor said last time, "I don't want to have to put you in the hospital at 28-30 weeks." And all I could think was, "Well, I don't want you to have to do that either!" I don't know of anyone who would want that to happen!

Kaylee's Graduation

Last night we got to celebrate Kaylee's preschool graduation. We went out to eat at Red Lobster (Noah says Red Monster's). We then went over to her school and got to listen to some songs, watch an aweome slide show of the kids throughout the year, and eat some yummy graduation cake. Daphne got to help by passing out the programs as people came in. I don't think that I've ever said where Kaylee goes to school because I didn't want it to be public information, but her and Daphne both went to Levy Christian Kindergarten. It is a wonderful school! Tammy Beck and Carolyn Burt (our preacher's wife) are the two main teachers. It is a Montessori school so the kids do a lot of independant work and do it at their own pace. Kaylee has learned to read, add, subtract, some German, and many other things this year. The school also teaches practical life lessons such as using tweezers, matching lids, matching socks, using a screwdriver, etc. I have been very impressed with the school both last year and this year and I plan on sending Noah there in the next few years. Kaylee was really sad about having to say goodbye to some good friends, but she's also really excited to get to go to kindergarten in the fall. One good thing is that at least four kids from her preschool will go to the same elementary school.

Tonight we're going to Riverfest to see Trout Fishing in America and the B-52's. Then tomorrow we head up to Bradford to spend the day at Micah's parents' house.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Baby News

Just wanted to show off pictures of our baby....girl! That's right. No baby brother for Noah. Someone said that he's either going to be a great husband or never want to get married! The kids and I have a name picked out, but Micah's not on board with it yet. However, he has yet to offer any suggestions of his own.

Everything's going good with the pregnancy. I'm still really, really tired and still sick most days, but hopefully that will be gone soon. The house is a wreck, but I just can't seem to pull myself off the couch to do anything about it.

Well, enough with the whining. We've still been busy, busy, busy. Two weekends ago we went to Camp Wyldewood for a retreat with some other people from our church. We had so much fun that we really didn't want to come home. The weather was perfect. We got a little bit of rain, but it kept it from getting too hot. We had devos throughout the weekend, played basketball and four-square, rode 4-wheelers and scooters, played games until 2 in the morning and did a lot of fishing.

We also had a Ladies' Sock Hop last Friday night at our church. My friend Angela and I were in charge of it. It was a lot of work, but everything came together and everyone had a lot of fun! We had about 40 ladies come. Many of them were dressed up in 50's attire. We made hula-hoops, had a hula-hoop contest, ate hamburgers, had a waitress relay, played "Guess that Song" and finished the night off with Coke floats and a really good devotional.

I am without kids or a husband this weekend so that probably explains why I have time to sit down and write this post. It's been nice. I've watched a ton of TV today and also gotten a few things done around the house. I will have to admit that I miss them though. The house just seems empty without them. However, the quiet is nice. I guess this is my Mother's Day gift. And I must say that it's a nice one!

I hope that all you mother's have a wonderful day tomorrow. Maybe you'll get to relax with or without your kids like I'm doing!

Does this look like a drug dealer to you?

I just wanted to let everyone see what I have to live with and be seen in public with!

We're all doing good. I'll try to post more later. We've been on the go go go constantly and I'm too tired to do anything once we get home.

Happy Birthday Noah!

We celebrated Noah's 3rd birthday this past Saturday. We were going to have it at the park, but after it started raining and got colder, we decided to move it to our house. His birthday theme this year was Dinosaurs! Micah and I took Noah to Party City to pick out what kind of birthday he wanted. Noah finally narrowed it down to Pirates, Army, Dinosaurs, Cars, Batman, Spiderman, or Monster Trucks. Micah and I decided that we would just have to pick one. Noah got a lot of great things for his birthday like a train table, a motorcycle, a helicopter, a scooter, a bubble gun, some Batman toys, some monster trucks, Spiderman sunglasses, and much, much more.

Here are some interesting things about Noah:

Noah is all boy (except when he's playing Barbies with the girls)

He's into trains, dinosaurs, guns, sports, Legos, cars, trucks, etc.

He is a very good little brother most of the time. He likes to scribble on whatever the girls have been coloring and then run away. He knows exactly what he's doing!

Noah is almost completely potty-trained. We're both working on it.

He sleeps in his bed for most of the night, but he likes to come crawl in our bed early morning and say, "I had a dream." It always reminds me of the Martin Luther King, Jr. speech.

Noah still likes to play with my hair our Micah's hair (Yes, Micah's hair is that long) when he's sleepy. Sometimes, it doesn't bother me, but there are times when it drives me crazy!

Noah has an incredible imagination. He likes to tell stories. His voice will change, his facial expression will change, and he'll get very animated. It's a lot of fun to watch.

His favorite song right now is "The Boys are Back" from High School Musical 3.

His favorite movies are "Peter Pan", "The Fox and the Hound", "Robin Hood", and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang".

Noah's favorite TV shows are Word World and Super Why.

Noah asked us the other day if he could get his ears pierced. (this is because Micah keeps talking about getting his done)

Although Noah certainly has his red-head moments, he is a very sweet little boy. He keeps finding baby clothes and toys and ask, "Can we save this for your baby, mommy?"

I just had to tell Noah that he's putting on too much lip stick. I may have to erase the one about him being all boy! Poor thing, he's around me and his sisters all the time. He really needs a baby brother to play with!


On a different note, I have a prayer request for a friend of mine. She is just over 15 weeks pregnant and has a 3 inch tear in her amniotic sac. She's on a bedrest, but it's just wait and see for now. Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you.