More Matthew

put your left foot in...
This is what we think of your "photo shoot" mom
Papa wanna be
(that is papa's new office chair Matthew is sleeping in)

Everyone meeting Matthew

papa

uncle ben

grandpa

Zach and Kelsey

Grandma

He is laughing at Matthews funny faces

CONSTRUCTION CREW MEMBER!

my finger, your finger, just give me something to suck on!!

Jeep wants to lick him. Willy could care less!!

Nana

Meet Matthew

Check out all that hair!!

The proud daddy!

Our AWESOME support staff:

Ms. Lori is the midwife that caught JoshMs. Diana walked in right after Matthew was born

and was our nurse

Josh meets his brother and falls IN LOVE!!

All he wants to do is hold him!

Ellie meets Matthew for the first time:

They love his toes!
I forget how little they look in their car seat

Welcome Home

Matthew Lawton Stickle

Tuesday May 20, 2008

2:15 in the afternoon

7 lbs 0 oz 19 in

~

we are all at home

we are all healthy

and

we are all tired

~

until tomorrow with pictures and more details...

Love, the Stickle crew

37 weeks!

and still pregnant...
I can't believe I made it!
Only by the grace of God have I survived 3 weeks on bed rest.
I am resting when I want just to get ready for labor, but
I am no longer bound to the couch!!! So, yesterday I went to church and played some baseball with Josh and went to mom and dads for the Pens game then Cranberry to find a book for Josh.
It was nice to feel like I had a life again!! : )

Now that I have hit 37 weeks I can deliever at the Birth Place!
So lets have this baby already!!

Can't wait for mom to come home from Fla!!
Maybe Matthew is waiting for nana...

an octopus has 8 legs!!

he made an octopus at school

i think this is my favorite thing he has made ever!

Ocean cupcakes

baby Matthew is still in my belly.

~

ok, i lied. I "made a birthday cake." i forgot that Josh was the birthday boy this Friday at school. So what I meant to be funny, turned out to be true.

So I asked Adam to bake the cupcakes and then Josh and I decorated them!

As part of our at home ocean unit, we made blue jello and were going to put swedish fish in it! Well, super dad found these ocean swedish fish!

The blue are dolphins, yellow starfish, orange seahorses and purple blowfish! We put them in our jello. The first helping at dessert was good. The next night, the swedish fish had gotten soft, wet and soggy. very gross. But, we got more for on top of our birthday cupcakes!! We added the beach feature to our cupcakes!! "Nana, check them out!...we miss you"

Mother's Day Tea Party

I was invited to a mother's day tea party at school this morning! They had their grand entrance and paraded around the room, then they sang some songs for the mommies. They each got a turn with the microphone (read the entry below), sang one more song and then they fed us dessert and brought us special punch! We got gifts (beautiful necklaces made out of paper flowers, beads and straws) and flowers planted in a plastic cup. It was a wonderfully beautiful morning. and Josh was so loving on me this morning! He just kept saying he loved me. It was pure joy!
~
This morning, Adam and Ellie left early to head out to the construction sites. So Josh was hanging with me. I was standing at the closet trying to decide what to wear when Josh comes up and points to one of my nicer shirts and says, "Mommy, I think you would look beautiful in this, and I like these two too." He knew I needed some assistance! So, I decide to wear it for him. After I got dressed, he looked at me and said, "Mommy, you look beautiful." I love when he says that to me! it is so sincere! His daddy is doing a wonderful job at teaching him how to be a man of noble character!
~
We had talked him into the possibility of Nana having to go with him to the tea party this morning incase Matthew had already arrived. So as much as I am ready for this baby to just get here already, I was so happy I could go to the tea party with him! As we got in the car he said, "Mom, we have to go get nana!" It was hard to explain to him that nana was at work and that mommy got to go to the tea party.
This is a picture of everyone else doing the movements to one of the songs and Josh not doing them. This is his shy side that only those lucky enough to go to school with him get to see.

Then they said their handprint poem and then they turned it around to say their flowerpot poem that was on the other side! I love having his hand prints, watching how he grows! It goes so fast and that is why I cherish days like today!

Entertainment

while on bed rest...

So, since there is no baby and we are all sick of talking about how Matthew has not been born yet and how my progress is (or isn't) ...I just needed to post about my other kids! They are both feeling better by the way! For those of you who haven't heard that excitement, last friday, Ellie came home from the doctors with a double ear infection and Josh has been fighting a fever since then.

~

So even though I am still on modified bed rest, I cheated this morning (big time) when Josh took me to his Mothers Day tea party at school!! It was the best day I have had in a while! My favorite thing was when he took the microphone in his hand and actually spoke into it (believe it or not, he is VERY shy at school)! "I love my mommy because she plays baseball with me."

More pictures later when i upload later tonight.

~

Josh is in an ocean unit at school right now. But, since he has been missing some school, this is one of our lessons at home. All I really wanted to teach him is that Octopus' have 8 legs. Yet, he continues to persist that they have 10 and even called the octopus on the phone this day and asked him to "get out of the ocean and come to nana and papas to show mommy your legs." His imagination is just too much for me some days!! I love it!

You can see his fishing hat (to block the sun of course), his "fishing pole" (uncle ben has since bought him a real one because a piece of green string just won't do) and you can also see the fish we made and decorated (and fed with fish food...this was one of my favorite projects from Noah's Art)! Thanks for the help nana!!

Then, on Saturday, Ben was "super uncle" and took Josh out fishing most of the day! Josh loved it, especially his time with his uncle and mom enjoyed the morning resting!
The kids have been super cuddlers lately

(since time with mom means time on the couch)

especially Josh. This is us catching some Noggin last week!

Week 36 Day 2

The doctor apt went well this morning.
Josh wanted to know if we could get Matthew out and take him home.
And, a mommy was delivering while we were there! very exciting!!
~
I am still contracting...they are getting stronger and closer.
At 9:30 this morning Matthew was in the birth canal (-1) and I was 2cm and 80% effaced.
Still early, yet moving along. But most of you know that at any moment, i could be at 10 cm.
Who really knows when this little man is coming, other than the big man upstairs.
~
So, they are requesting another week of bed rest.
Or at least a week of taking it easy. So no walking, or baking a cake...
but to keep my sainity, i'm doing some things (like sitting up, helping with meals and taking the kids upstairs for nap).
~
Thanks for those praying, we'll keep you posted!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

I hope all the mommies have a great mother's day! Thank you to all those moms and people who have been helping us out lately!

As a gift to myself on mother's day, I am taking myself off bed rest since I'll be at 36 weeks. I'm not going to run a marathon, but walking won't hurt right now and will probably feel good. Besides, Josh is ready for me to be off bed rest!

Off to Nana and Papa's for Ben's birthday "party."

Hopefully this little man is coming soon!!!

Day Eight

Still no baby. Matthew is already letting us know he is his own man with his own time.
Tonight marks the end of day eight and my first week of bed rest is over with the contractions still coming to random to put me into active labor.
Adam and I went to the doctors today and Matthews heart rate is perfect and I am fairing well.
We'll continue this routine (bedrest and hydration) for at least another week until my next apt and then reassess (perhaps check my progress).
Even though you can't really tell how big the baby is, and beside the fact that his head is pretty well settled into my pelvis, she thought he was at least 5lbs even though he has a "small tushee." i think she mentioned his butt 3 or 4 times!! So Matthew is long and skinny. no surprise to us with our history. Then we headed over to the hospital just to check the place out since we'll probably deliver there rather than the midwife center (a bit disappointing, but best for Matthew and me).
thanks again to all those who have been praying and helping!

The Mom Song

This rocks!

Day Four

of bedrest and still not losing my mind.
Today marks the end of 34 weeks and 5 days. We're taking it day by day, but
Best case, we want to get to 37 weeks.
Josh was born at 37 and 1 day and Ellie at 36 and 5 days.

~

thank you to those praying.

~

i owe too much to my wonderful inlaws who have had my children since wednesday night and will keep them through sunday. therefore, less stress around the house. at least this house... Josh locked grandpa and ellie out of their house yesterday and grandpa had to crawl through a window in the kitchen. that is all i know of what happenend and is probably best! teehee!!

~
all is well with baby Matthew, he's just a little too anxious. i was having a lot of contractions while just sitting on the couch tuesday afternoon, so, flat i went to get them to calm down and thank goodness it worked.
even though i am flat on my back, only allowed to get up to pee,
i am still having random contractions, so i am definitly in early labor or laying would make them stop completely.
Stronger ones when i cheat to sit up for a few minutes desperatly needing to give my ear a break. it's funny how much it hurts from laying on it.
today was the first day that my muscles ached and i'm counting solely on adrenaline to deliver this baby when the time comes.
~
So, considering, all is well. I am back in front of the computer and haven't gotten through half my stack of movies or even touched my books. and i still have blank crosswords in my book! Glorious!!
~
thanks again to all those praying!