Reason #1: Welcome Mya Ruth!
Mya Ruth Ausenhus was born October 25, 2013. She weighed 6 lbs 9 oz and was 18 inches long. She was two and half weeks early, so she was a bit of a surprise! On October 24, I went to my regular 37 week check-up, having left work early and in a rush, and after a variety of calls to the doctor-on-call was sent to the hospital to be monitored, due to being 5 cm dilated and nearly fully effaced. My history of a very fast delivery with Abby caused concern that things would move very quickly. I met Brant at the hospital at 4:30 that afternoon and "being monitored" turned in to deciding to keep us there and have a baby! The plan was to break my water to help contractions to start. However, the doctor on call had a variety of other deliveries and C-sections that evenings, so he didn't end up breaking my water until about 10:30 that evening. I think Brant and I both said several times that evening, "Huh... we didn't think we'd be doing this tonight!" Mya entered the world at 2:00 in the morning and we have been in love with our precious little peanut ever since.
So happy so early in the morning!
Our family of 5
I love all of Mya's beautiful dark hair
Mya is greatly adored by Ben and Abby! Ben loves to cuddle with her before bed and now both kids started to argue about who gets to have Mya in their bedroom during stories at bedtime. Abby starts talking to her in the same way nearly every time she sees her, and it sounds something like: "Oh, hi, sweetie! You're so cute you sweetie pie!" Abby also asked earlier this week if we get to keep the baby. We responded that yes, Mya is ours and we are keeping her. Since then she has excitedly exclaimed several times, "We get to keep the baby!"
Reason #2: Happy 3rd Birthday, Abby!
Abby turned 3 years old on October 26. Of course, this is just one day after Mya was born, so I was still in the hospital. We had plans for a birthday party on Abby's birthday, but ended up having cupcakes in the hospital and delaying her party until the following weekend. Abby currently loves Cinderella. Last summer, she and I had a "girl's night" and watched the real Cinderella for the first time. Since then, it has been all about Cinderella and the movie has been watched too many times to count. So, quite appropriately, I made a Cinderella cake and if I do say so myself, it turned out pretty neat! Abby LOVED it! My brother gave Abby a Cinderella dress for her birthday and she has been in it nearly everyday since. She loves to turn on music and dance in her dress, and usually says something like, "Pretend I'm a princess and you don't know me" or "Clap when the song is done!" It is hard to believe that Abby is already 3 years old, and as Mya now wears some of Abby's old clothes, it makes me feel like time is just flying by and that Abby was just the infant I was snuggling. Happy Birthday, sweet Abby! We love you so very much!
Cupcakes at the hospital
Cinderella in the garden, right after the fairy godmother gives her the dress, which is Abby and my favorite part of the movie!
Happy Birthday!
Abby got a baby doll bed, carrier, and diaper changing kit. She loves to play with her baby doll now that Mya is around. She sometimes becomes my shadow - who knew a diaper change could be so interesting!
Reason #3: Healthy Kidneys and Medication Free!
On October 4, Abby returned to Iowa City for a follow up appointment to her surgery. After an ultrasound, it was determined that she still had quite a lot of hydronephrosis (fluid on her kidneys) and that we would need to return in several weeks for another ultrasound to see whether it had improved. The doctor explained that it wasn't uncommon for kids with high grade reflux, like Abby had, to take longer for things to function normally. As the doctor said, the surgery was like taking a four lane highway and making it a one lane highway and that it can take awhile for the body to figure out how to adjust to this. However, I was a bit distressed and worried about this, as a second surgery would be how this would be corrected and that freaked me out. Abby and I went back on Monday for another ultrasound, labs, and appointments. The ultrasound showed that the right kidney looked almost normal and the left had improved quite a bit compared to the October 4 test. What a huge relief!! Additionally, Abby is now medication free! No more daily antibiotics or blood pressure medicine. To all of this, we say HOORAY!
To top this off, female siblings of kids who have VUR have a 30-50% likelihood of also having VUR, so our pediatrician scheduled an ultrasound for Mya last Friday to check her kidneys. We say another resounding HOORAY to the fact that Mya's kidneys looked completely normal!!
Reason #4: Success at School
I was stressed at the end of the summer about Ben starting kindergarten for many reasons: shy, small kid in a big school, etc. etc. However, Ben is doing so well and we are amazed by how far he has come and how much he has grown up! Although Ben is most proud of his physical feats at recess by mastering the monkey bars, we are proud of his progress both socially and academically. He has made some good friends and seems to get along with lots of kids. His teacher reports that he participates regularly in class (which was absolutely unheard of in preschool) and shares both about school related things and his life at home (again, completely unheard of prior to kindergarten). It is also so thrilling to see his reading and writing coming along so quickly. Just this morning Ben walked to the bus door by himself without a hug or a kiss for the first time. I know this is a small thing, and it broke my heart a little bit, but to me, this was another step of independence for Ben. Way to go, buddy!
Reason #5: Happy Halloween!
The kids had a great time at Halloween this year! Ben dressed up at Wolverine and Abby was... you guessed it... Cinderella. Mya even had a costume - Tinkerbell! Both kids loved trick or treating, although Brant and I just love how as all the other kids in the neighborhood are running between houses, our kids saunter along between houses, too intrigued with everyone else's costumes and decorations on the houses to move at any sort of a quick pace. They both share the quality of being overly observant, I guess! We also had our annual "spooky supper" by candlelight at our house on Halloween. Our menu included jack-o-lantern clementines, mummy juice (juice boxes wrapped in paper towels and googly eyes), ghost bread (breadsticks twisted like a ghost), witches brew (soup), bones (pretzel sticks and marshmallows in almond bark), and owls (a graham cracker, oreo, and candy corn concoction). So fun - and the kids love it!
Cinderella ready to go trick-or-treating
Darling Tinkerbell
Watch out for those claws!
As you can see, we've had a busy few weeks, and honestly, it has also been a little exhausting with the lack of sleep with having an infant again, and it just being busy. Of course, both kids have also had the stomach flu in the last two weeks as well, so Brant and I feel like we have been fully initiated into managing our family of 5.
In closing, on a serious note, I am beside myself with love for our family. There is nothing like the addition of a new family member to bring to life how very precious all three kids really are, and how much I value and love Brant and the family we are raising. We are so very blessed!
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