Establishing a Routine

Ava Sophia achieves this beautiful stick-em-up hair do after her nighttime bath. Doesn't she look precious? Well, yes, I think she does!

Then it's over to see her brothers in their room for a little awake time before lights out.

Gotta get some time in with her daddy! How else is she gonna get him wrapped around her little finger?

Then it's night, night and lights out for us all!


I waited until her check-up to start initiating the routine I did with the boys as far as feedings go. I did 'Baby Wise' with both boys, and had then sleeping through the night by 7-8 weeks. So we started that officially yesterday. Essentially what 'Baby Wise' suggests is making sure your child is awake while they eat, then for some play time, then nap time, with the exception of night feedings. This system is supposed to help regulate their little bodies to our timetable (sleep at night and not during the day!). It's been tough to get her to stay awake... but she's been doing a bit better today.
I know it was probably a fluke, but last night her last feeding was at 10:30 and she didn't wake up until 3:30... and then not until 6:30. I'm just thankful for the rest!

Oooohhhh! She likes it!

Thank you, Mel!! We love this! I plan on hanging them over her changing table or crib one... whichever looks best. Ava loves it!! She's been oohing and ahing over it all day... or looking for her next meal, whichever! :)

Family Movie Night

Hank had to work late the other night, and when he came home, I had all the kids ready for bed and we were watching Star Wars in bed together.
Of course both boys wanted to lay beside Sophie. I had to keep her protected from Tres's elbows and Bryant's kisses! :)

Weird Wal-Mart Story

I went into Wal-Mart yesterday with Sophie and Tres after I had picked him up from school. When I take Sophie into a public place like Wal-mart, the grocery store, etc. I cover her carrier with a blanket so no one can breathe on her. After I picked up a few things, we made our way to one of the self checker things. The lady that was stationed in front of them, came around to the the front of the buggy, where Sophie was and PICKED UP THE BLANKET AND STUCK HER HEAD IN IT! I was amazed that someone would have the nerve to do that. She said, "Awe, what a cute little baby!" and then proceeded to REACH IN TO TOUCH HER! I politely said, "If you don't mind, please don't touch her. With her being so small, I'm just trying to keep germs away." While I said that, I was covertly pulling the bag towards me. The ladies face turned red and her friendly smile changed to an offended smile. Then she asked, "What did you name ner anyway?" So I told her. After all, I wasn't mad at her... I just didn't think it was appropriate for a PERFECT STRANGER to come up and try to touch a child that was #1 not hers... and #2 COVERED UP! She works in a public forum for goodness sakes! She touches a register that 10-15 other people touch every day and she is exposed to the unwashed masses! :) After I told her Ava's names, she looked kind of smug and said, "Isn't that a strange name." To which I promptly replied, "Isn't that an odd thing to say." She quickly turned and walked way, which is a good thing! Cause if she had persisted, there might have been a SERIOUS SMACK DOWN in Wal-mart on the news at 10! :)

Sophie News

Sophie had her first tub bath over the weekend. I absolutely LOVE how she smells after her bath and could just sit and sniff her all day and night! As you can tell... she did not enjoy this new experience one little bit! :) She is definitely fiesty, my little girl!

I took her in today for her 2 week check-up (even though she will be 3 weeks old tomorrow!). She weighed 6 lbs 2 oz. That is one full pound and one ounce over her birth weight! She has also grown an inch already. The doctor said she looks really good. The only thing I was concerned about was she has been spitting up a good bit over the past several days. He said she might be over-eating and spitting out the excess. It's not projectile and she doesn't scream when she does it, so that is hopefully a good sign that it isn't reflux.

School Days

Ready for his first official day of K-4... although he kept telling us it was his second day because he had come to school for orientation! :)
Waiting on the teachers to come and take the kids to their classrooms. Daddy went with us!
And this little man didn't even look back.

It was a weird feeling dropping him off at school for the first time. I didn't cry, but it did make me sad. I mean, it seems like he was Sophie's size just yesterday. And when I picked him up, he seemed to have grown up a few notches. I sure do love my little man!

First Hints of a Smile

I love this picture of my little angel! She's been doing pretty well at night. We've had a couple of nights where she's been getting up every 3 hours. Then last night, she went to every 4 hours. It made it feel a little more manageable to me! :)

Tres starts school (K-4)on Monday. My Mom watched Bryant and Soph so it could just be Tres and me. He got to meet his teacher and his class-mates while I went into orientation. He was thoroughly excited to hear about all the field trips he would be taking to places like Bud's Best Cookies, a pumpkin patch farm, a fire station, the zoo, and to the Children's Theatre. But most excited about the cookie one! :)

I am looking forward to a little one-on-one time with Bryant and Sophie when Tres is in school. That is the one thing I'm having a hard time with. Spending quality time with all my men and my little girl. Live and learn, I suppose!

Use The Force!

Here are the boys (or Luke Skywalker and Han Solo) with their homemade light sabers and space guns! These are the PVC creations that Hank did for the boys last week. Aren't they cute?

5 pounds, how many ounces?

This morning, Tres woke up a little under the weather, so I called the doctor and got him an appointment since he starts school (K-4) next week. It turned out he has a minor sinus infection, and is just fine. While we were there, I asked them to weigh Ava Sophia. She weighed 5 lb., 13 oz. with her diaper and sleeper on! So the nurse said she was probably 5, 11 or so. Can you believe that? That's 10-11 ounces in 6 days! Also, her umbilical cord came off! So it's just in that nasty phase right now before it's totally healed! Tres was pretty grossed out by it, which was funny.

Also, just a random thing... I have learned I can blog, balance my checkbook, help the boys get dressed, fold laundry (although not very well!), read, eat, and many more things while little bit nurses.

Belly Shot

The weekend before Ava Sophia made her debut, my friend Crystal came over to the house to help us out with a project. I had decided that since this was my final pregnancy (God willing), that I wanted to boys to have some fun with it too. So I went and bought some finger paints and let them paint my belly. I NEVER would have done this with my other two pregnancies, but thought that if they didn't turn out well, I just wouldn't post them. Well, before we had a chance to really go through the pictures or do any photoshop, little girl decided she needed to be here! So when I got home, Hank had this one done for me!

It was fun to let the boys paint on me. Tres even decided to thoroughly paint my belly button at one point! :) We had to wipe it all off and start over at one point, because it was just a huge mesh of all the paint colors!

In this particular shot, both of them had a hand on my belly, Tres is on the right and Bryant is on the left. Hank dropped out all the color except for the paint. I love it! Hank actually also got me a 5 x 7 print to frame, and we included one in her baby book. It's a good thing that paint covers stretch marks, huh?

Daddy!!!!! Don't wake the BABY!!!!!

Bryant and Tres were trying to keep me from waking Sophie, I guess I was being too loud.

Breastfeeding by Bryant

Bryant had been observing Jamie feeding Sophie, so he decided to let me (Hank) know how it was done. At first he didn't want to admit to knowing how.

Weight Update

We took Ava Sophia back in to get a weight check on Wednesday. She was 5 pounds even! She had put on 3 ounces in 2 days!!! I knew her appetite had increased, so I wasn't surprised at all! Wednesday night she decided to eat every 3 hours, which made the night a little longer for me. Thankfully, she was back to every 4 hours last night. I'm sure the time will flunctuate as she grows. I put in a call to her pediatrician today to see if I am allowed to let her sleep longer at night yet. I only called because I overslept for her 8 am feeding. I woke up at 9 and she was just a snoozin'! She's been having more awake time during the day, which is good. And I have already started her nightly routine. I bathe her, let her have awake time with her brothers, then feed her, and put her down. I've tried to incorporate a 'baby massage' after the bath... but she wants nothing to do with it right now! She is a fiesty little thing!

In other news: The boys are REALLY enjoying having Hank home. So am I for that matter. It's been a lot more laid back this time around. It's been nothing but a positive experience so far. They made double-sided light sabers the other day out of PVC pipe! They are so cute! Hank is so creative!

I'm beginning to get a bit stir-crazy. I've made a couple of trips out, but nothing too extravagant. Mostly, I get worried about people breathing germs on Ava! :) I will be released to drive next week, so that will be nice.

I guess that's it for now! If I haven't made it by to comment lately, please forgive me! Besides a lack of time, we also have a few internet issues.

Bryant Shows Sophie a Thing or Two

I'm back... at least for today! :)

The internet has been down once again here at my parent's house... plus, we've been busy adjusting to life with a baby again! Ava Sophia is doing great! She is nursing like a champ, and I am actually surviving thanks to a few helpful hints from the resident nursing guru, Mel. Thanks, Mel! We took her in to do a weight check this morning and she had only lost an ounce. It was also her feeding time, and our pediatrician said that if she had come in with a full belly, she wouldn't have lost a thing! That is with zero formula supplementation, so that makes this Momma happy! The only thing I'm having to deal with right now is an over-abundance of milk. I have to pump a couple times a day just to make it through. But we are freezing the excess for later use. Here are a few more pics for you guys:
This is one of my favorite ones so far! Father and daughter bonding. Hank is such an amazing father. He plays with and loves on his boys, but still finds time to love on his girl too! He says he wants to make sure that she and I have a close bond, but I think he's finding it hard to resist our little peanut. :)Ignore the tired mom in this picture and just focus on the beautiful babies! Hank and I make some PRETTY kids, people!My Dad's finger is the same size as Ava Sophia's arms and legs!! How funny is that! She is so tiny to me sometimes. A tiny little miracle!Here's our girl on her way home! Have I showed you guys her new carseat?? This is actually Bryant's carseat, recovered by Vickie! Isn't it the sweetest little thing? It's also reversible! She came home in her little dress, and I even got a bow to stay in her hair for a while.When she got home, she had two very excited brothers waiting to welcome her! We laid her in the co-sleeper, and they immediately started bringing her their toys. I started getting a little teary-eyed when Bryant brought her his silkie. I reminded him that she had one, and told him that he was a sweetheart and a good brother. I think he was a little relieved, but what a gesture, huh?I think she likes her crib. We've been laying her in there to nap some. And the little sweater has to be one of my favortie little things she has right now. We had to buy a few preemie clothes to get her by for now. All the newborn stuff swallows her whole!My niece Sierra is in total love with her littlest cousin! She wants to hold her constantly! :) I can't wait until ALL of her cousins get to hold her.

We're Heading Home!

My baby is doing so good! She was assessed this morning for discharge, and she has still only lost 2 ounces from birth. She is showing absolutly zero signs of jaundice (in fact, her pediatrician said she is as far away from it as can be). She's nursing like a champ!! Yeah!! She passed her hearing screen. And she's already had her first official (non-tar like) dirty diaper! :) Hank is on his way with her carseat and then we get discharged to leave. The quiet has been nice the last couple of nights, but I'm ready for the comforts of home! Also, I had a very talkative nurse last night who wouldn't leave me alone... so I'm ready for no more monitoring like that! :) Gotta get baby Sophie ready to leave!

Ava's Birthday Story

Tuesday, after I had my doctor appointment, I started having random contractions. Not unusual, except that they seemed harder. By 2:30, they were coming in regularly every 5-8 minutes, so Hank came home, we called the hospital and headed to the doctor's office. When we got there, nothing had changed, EXCEPT the fact that my blood pressure had skyrocketted! They made me lay down for a few minutes, then took it again... and again. It didn't go down, so they sent me down to labor and delivery to be monitored for a few hours and to do some bloodwork on me. In the meantime, they were taking my blood pressure every 30 minutes and it was getting higher and higher.

By 8 o'clock, the doctor had confirmed that they were going to induce me. Since I had had zero problems with blood pressure up until that point, they determined that in order to keep both myself and Sophie out of danger, they needed to get her delivered.

At midnight, I was started on a Pitocin Drip to make my contractions regulate enough to start progressing toward delivery. After a very LLLLOOOONNNNGGGG night of contractions and being constantly monitored (while Hank snored peacefully on the couch), the doctor came in at 6:30 to break my water. She thought she didn't get it, until I turned on my side and the flood came!! :)

At this point, I was dialated to a 3 and about 30% effaced. By 9 am, all of our family and friends were here for our little girl's impending arrival, and I had my epidural and was comfortable and able to spend some time with the boys before their sister came. Around 9:30, I all of a sudden felt sick and threw up. When I called to tell the nurse, I told her there was also a LOT of pressure. When they checked me, I was a 9 and 100% effaced. So everyone cleared out of the room to get it set up for delivery.

I have to say, this epidural was so good. There was absolutly no pain, but I could tell when I needed to push, and I could even held get my legs in position and stuff. So once, the room was set, the nurse told me to give a practice push to see how quick it would go since the doctor wasn't here yet. I gave a quick push and her head was in view!! Hank took a look and told me she had a lot of hair! It was tough not to push once she was there, because I could feel that I needed to. But the doctor got there. He got his gloves on and I pushed 3 times and she was here!!

After that, she had to have her first bath cause she was covered in white stuff (because she was early) and then it was straight under the warmer. They moved it over by me so I could check her out. She has such long toes! And she has a birth mark on her chest. Everyone who came got a chance to see her, then they headed out to lunch while we spent some family time together with the boys.


At first, Bryant wasn't so sure about her. But we have since determined that he must have been overwhelmed at the amount of people and the machinery in the room, because he wants to hold her and help with her all the time now. Tres loves his sister and keeps telling her so! It makes me smile and a little emotional every time he says it. He seems to have accepted this all in stride and with a smile on his face!

I am doing really well. I've been up and around and on zero pain killers since her birth! She is breastfeeding surprisingly well given her size! She was only down 2 ounces today, and if she doesn't drop more than 7 total ounces, she won't have to supplement!

Okay, I've been working on this all day, so that's it for now!

Meaning of Ava Sophia

Ava means "full of praise"
Sophia means "excellent virtue"

We just wanted everyone to know what the names meant.

Mom and baby are doing just fine and she has become a lot more "vocal" since yesterday The boys have decided that we are going to call her Sophie or as Bryant calls her "Soapie"

Ava Sophia Boemer

Surprise!! She's here! Born this morning at 10:34, Ava Sophia "Sophie" Boemer weighs in at 5 pounds 1 ounce and 18 inches long! She is a 'petite,' as her nurses call her, little thing! She has long fingers and toes and looks like a combination of both of her brothers! She has a head full of stick-em-up hair, and I just love her to pieces already! She hasn't made very much noise... in fact the only time she's made much noise was when she spit up some of the junk from her lungs! But she calmed right down for Momma! The nurses have been doing heel sticks to monitor her sugar levels to make sure sheis getting enough from me, and she doesn't even cry for that! We'll see how long that lasts, huh? :) I will post the birth story in a while, but for now, here are a few pics of our little Sophie girl! I'm not much of a writer so I will end it here and just post some pictures

Elmo Bidet

Can I brag for a minute? I believe that I have the world's best husband! Lately, I have not felt up to taking the boys outside to play in the 100-something degree weather due to my enormous proportions :)! So he has been so great about coming home, and taking them outside to ride big wheels, dig in the dirt, or swim. The other night, he came and got me because the boys were doing this:
They found the Elmo sprinkler and hooked it up, and stripped down to undies to run through it!Then, Tres discovered that the water felt good in other places too! And what one does... the other does too! My kids make me laugh!

Baby Doctor Appointment

I went to the doctor today. I am officially 2 cm dialated, 50% effaced and she is low and ready to go. They tested me for Group B Strep today. I was negative with Tres and positive with Bryant, so no telling what it will be this time! :) He told me to make my appointment for next week, but that he didn't expect me to make it. All good news!

Practice Makes Perfect

We had another playdate with my friend Becca, and her son Caleb. Becca also has a baby girl, Madeliene, who's about 8 months old now. Bryant was very fixated on her this visit! He wanted to touch her and rock her in her pumpkin seat.He was so distracted by Madeliene that he just flat out gave up on swimming! I think he is getting himself ready to be the best big brother he can be! :)

My First Trophy!

The boys finished out their tee-ball season this past week with a seriously hot and long double header! :) It was a fun season for both boys. I'm not sure if they will get to play on the same team again for a while. I'm glad they got to at this stage in the game. Here are a few pics from their final game. Hank had double duty out in the field trying to keep both boys on task and into the game!Bryant has really enjoyed making friends more than anything. He is playing with Bryce. We were constantly having to tell them to pay attention!Tres has turned out to be an excellent little ball player! In fact, they keep saying he is a 'switch hitter' where he can hit both left and right handed. He loves it when he gets a homerun (or is allowed to run out the bases!). Bryant sort of gave up on the second game! We did talk him into hitting, by telling him he had to do it to earn his trophy! :)And here they are, our two tee-ball stars, with their very first trophies!

Quiet Moments

We have very few quiet moments around here with two active boys running around! And when it is quiet, it makes me nervous! So the other day, when I heard nothing, I went looking for trouble, and this is what I found:
They actually fell asleep watching a movie together! They are such good brothers and friends to each other the majority of the time. I feel blessed.

My boys

Tres has been letting me spike his hair lately. And he looks so cute! All the ladies and girls at church kept telling him that he looked so cute! And Bryant always looks super cute so we had to get his picture too!Hank taught the boys the fine art of water balloon warfare last weekend! They waited patiently until Grandma got home and ATTACKED!! Tres has stamp marks on his face from a stamp he got at church or something!

We've tried to post the video all week, and seem to have a technical difficulty.

More Baby Shower Pics

My husband is so smart! He figured out what was up with the computer and now we are all back online! Here are some of my pictures I took at the baby shower.Jennifer Snyder and I took our own picture!Three of my favorite old ladies! :) Faith, Vickie, and my Mom. I loved how when everyone was going around and telling how they knew me, Faith said she knew me when I wasn't even a twinkle in my Daddy's eye! They should have put my Mom in the middle to have a reverse oreo thing going on! Crystal made a new friend! This is Heather. She goes to my church. Her husband plays the drums on the praise & worship band.Lori, Ashley, and Kelly enjoying the food! It actually took me three pics to get this, they were all eating, laughing, or blinking in the others! Here's Tonnie cutting up the cake. I didn't do so good at getting a picture of the table, which was super cute, or all the food. And this is the only picture I got of my sister! She stayed pretty busy the whole time, though! Life-long friends are the best kind, huh? This is Larissa, one of the few high school friend I still stay in contact with! She MADE me the CUTEST little dress. It's a white eyelet dress with ribbon spaghetti straps! So cute! And this is Becca. She and I have known each other since our youth group days! Now we live down the road from each other and our kids throw bricks at each other! :)

So that's it for the shower! I had such an awesome time! I really want to thank my Mom and Tonnie for going through all the hassle to put it together and to all you wonderful ladies who brought food!!