Jake's Birthday

Well since Jake will be 3 months tomorrow I suppose I should start with the beginning!

I was scheduled to be induced early for several reasons....I wanted to, I was already dilated to a 3-4cm, she was on Jury Duty and didn't know if she would be available the next week if I waited and went on my own, and it was very nice being able to plan for the girls and we are about 30min away from the hospital! Anyways..... I went in about 7:30, they broke my water about 9:00 and then I walked around for a little while.

Nothing really happened so about 10:30 they started pitocin and I started feeling contractions, but nothing super strong or really close together...2-4 min apart, I wanted to make sure I got an epidural and since I was already a 4-5 cm dilated before she broke my water they didn't want to wait too much longer, so 12:30 got my epidural and then a little after 1:00 I was ready....after a couple pushes he arrived at 1:20!!!

Jake Allen arrived weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz and 20 in long!!!

I could tell by the look on the midwife and Aaron's face that it was a boy.....I couldn't believe it.....I had a boy!

We couldn't wait to call the girls and tell them they had a little brother!

Mackenzie was sooo excited! She said..."I prayed God would give us a boy and He did!"

Our first picture as a complete family! We are so blessed with 3 healthy beautiful children! They truly are a gift from God and we don't take this responsibility for granted!

He was so little! He was a very good eater right out of the gate! I felt much better than I ever did after having the girls...I think in due to it being a quicker labor and not being in bed the whole time!

The girls came right to the hospital after their naps and of course stopping to get their new brother some gifts!
Mackenzie was so proud! She adores him and we call her the "baby hog" as she is always wanting to hold him!

Proud grandparents with their first grandson!

Just look at that face!

We left the hospital and headed straight to Target to shop for some BOY stuff! I couldn't wait to shop for a boy....I have always thought those boy clothes were so cute!

That night we had my family over to officially introduce them to Jake since none of my siblings could come into the room and hold him! I was very disappointed about the rule, then of course right after they change it to anyone can come in!

Aunt Amy and Uncle Andrew! We just gave them some practice for their baby who was due 5 weeks later!

Uncle Brock!

Uncle Drew....finally a nephew! He was going to really be disappointed if there was another niece, he has wanted a boy since we had Mackenzie!


I just can't believe how little he was and how fast they grow!

Coming soon!

Wow...does it really say 2 months?
You know over on the blog roll underneath my name....the last time I posted was over 2 months ago??? I guess adding #3 is more time consuming than I thought.....honestly it's been more of a crazy summer than 3 kids, but that sounds better doesn't it!

I have a new mission....to get caught back up on what we have missed the past almost 3 months! So much has happened.....It sounds so overwhelming that I just keep putting it off longer. I don't want to forget anything......poor Jake, the 3rd child, doesn't have anything recorded yet!

Check back soon for a revamped updated blog!!!

Introducing.......Jake Allen

Jake Allen Musselman arrived Thursday May 6th at 1:20pm weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz and 20 in long!

God has blessed our family with a precious little boy and we couldn't be more thankful for our healthy bundle!!!

The Musselman family of 5!

T Minus a Couple Days!

The Musselman family of four is quickly coming to an end..........and soon there will be five!!! It's so miraculous how quickly that changes, and how life as you know it is then changed forever! I haven't posted a whole lot on my pregnancy or taken many progressive pictures of the ever growing belly. As my days or closing in and I have so many thoughts going through my head I just need to get them out!

Warning......pregnant women rambling ahead!!!

Last week when I had my 38 wk apt. my midwife told me that she has jury duty for the next 2 months and didn't know what to expect schedule-wise. This is the first time I've had a midwife and I sort of went this route for the delivery process. Now with that said I would not be devastated if I went on my own and had to have one of the other doctors if she wasn't available. So last week she scheduled me to go in tomorrow(Tues) and see where I'm at and if I'm ready she might induce me based on the fact that she would know her schedule for that day and really that day only (jury duty). Well if it were a different situation I would like to go on my own, but there is a battle going on inside of my head. What ifs......it would just be easier if I could plan it.....I would make sure the girls got to my parents, wouldn't go in the middle of the night, wouldn't have to wait for Aaron to get all the way home from work if I went during the day, have enough time to get to the hospital, have enough time to get an epidural and things could be squared away at home and ready!!! I told you crazy prego rambler!
On to today....I called the office to see if she was in and if she happened to know what her week looked like because I had heard that you call in for the week, not every day like she thought. For a couple reasons, Aaron wouldn't have to take off work and go in with me tomorrow if it is only a check and she could induce me later on in the week. Well, she is in the office all week.....yay! Soooo, I'm supposed to go in tomorrow for my apt and see where I'm at and then she will induce me Wednesday or Thursday! I would prefer Thursday for scheduling purposes for the girls and Aaron's work, but I'll take whichever.
I feel as ready as I think I can be. I still remember the feeling before I had Kate and wondering how you could love another child as much as you love the ones you have. That feeling is coming back, but I know better this time around. I'm just anticipating how the girls are going to handle the transition.....especially Kate who has no clue as to what is coming her way! We don't have our names picked out for sure...well we have our top 2 or 3 names, but I like to go in with the one for a boy and one for a girl. I feel with your third you should be a little more relaxed, but it's always the unknown and also being at a different hospital changes things a little for me.
Now I said I was ready, that meaning physically and mentally but not quite on the home front yet. I did get a lot done with getting the baby stuff ready , but I just need a day to clean the house up!
I'll post an update tomorrow after the appointment......check back if you want to hear more rambling!!!

April Accounts

My pattern continues.....lumping a whole months worth of activities and pictures into one post! It might just stay that way for a while!!! Here are some randoms of what we've been up to this month.

Aaron has been slowing cutting down a tree in our backyard and to use up some of the twigs we broke out our fire pit that we got at the end of last fall that we never got to use. The girls and friends, have had a few too many s'mores!


Since the baby is coming we needed to start transitioning Kate from her crib to a "big girl" bed. I didn't want to do it too close to when the baby arrives for "too much change" sake, so we took the rails off her crib which converts to a day bed. She did amazing with the change and has only fallen out once in the night. Once the baby goes into the nursery Kate will share a room with Mackenzie and we plan on getting bunk beds!!!

My baby girl.....ooops I mean "big" girl had Kindergarten round up a week ago! I can't believe that she is that old! She was very excited and did great. It helped to have one of her best friends going to the same school. I am excited for her to go, but sad about how quickly time goes!

With the due date quickly approaching I wanted to make a point to spend some extra quality time with the girls....especially Mackenzie as she will be more aware of the change. So one of my good friends had been asking me to get a pedicure with her and we took Mackenzie along. This was her first pedicure ever and she was so cute. She looked so little in the big chair and ended up getting a special treat from the lady by getting flowers on her toes!



Kate is still really into singing and I just have to keep up with her as her songs get bigger and bigger! Sorry for the quality.....my camera mixed with her raspy voice..... if you can't understand she's singing "Brother John!"

A growing family means......

......change! A lot of change comes with adding another little one to the mix and most of those changes are much anticipated, but there is one that wasn't as welcome! We realized that having 3 kids meant that we were going to need to go shopping for a different vehicle. 3 cars seats across the same bench seat and getting them buckled wasn't going to be very easy. I have experienced it this year a couple days a week when I pick up another little boy and take him to preschool. Aaron and I have always said we didn't want a mini van, so we were trying to look at all of our options. I'm not really sure what the real reason is for being opposed to them.....I guess I have to honestly say it is just the idea of it, and everyone has one! We soon found out in our research that we needed several things for our next vehicle.......something with captain chairs, not a bench for a second row...... storage space for traveling behind the third row.......and something within our budget! These qualifications left us with few options, so we narrowed it down to the mini van!!! After shopping for several months and the weeks closing in on us, we finally found one we liked.

We sadly had to say good bye to the Jeep that we really loved! Mackenzie was very involved in the process....many trips with us to the dealership, opinions about which ones she liked and many questions! She is very into vehicles and to this day we are not sure how she became so interested in them.

We are excited about it and have to admit it is very convenient in many ways.....it just took us a while to come to our senses!