Blaise Emmanuel

18 days ago we welcomed Blaise Emmanuel Schaal into the world at 4:05am on Oct 21, 2015. He was quick to arrive but rather smooth compared to Anneliese's birth. As you all know (I'm sure the only people who follow my blog are either family members or instagram followers) we were quite anxious for this little ones arrival...seeing as he made us wait a week past his due date. Andrew's parents had already come and gone and my parents were going to be leaving Saturday. I was worried we weren't going to give birth and then not have family here to watch the kids.


We went for a walk after my last prenatal appointment

However, at our last prenatal appointment which was on Tuesday, our midwife stripped my membranes which lead to some cramping around dinner time and started some contractions around 8pm. They weren't hard contractions but definitely consistent so I started timing them and they were 4 minutes apart for 2 hrs. We didn't do anything about them cause I could talk and walk thru them....they weren't getting harder or anything like that so we went to bed. At which point they slowed down and I got about 45 minutes of sleep...could have been more however Malachi AND Anneliese didn't sleep too good the first part of the night. Up until about 12:30 Anneliese was in our bed with us because she wouldn't sleep. She NEVER comes in the bed with us so she just thought it was play time and thought it was fun to kick around the bed the whole time...until I had had enough and told Andrew to take her to her room. At this point my contractions started up again and these were the real deal. Unlike Anneliese's birth when the contractions started really intense and progressed quickly, these started slower but harder than the contractions earlier in the night and progressed at a slower rate. So I told myself it wasn't going to be a quick labor and delivery...I felt blessed to ease into the painful contractions and felt I could keep my cool a lot better than last time. I stayed awake and proceeded to "snapchat" my sisters, since they are on west coast time and still up. Once the contractions got closer and harder, I woke Andrew up (who was sleeping in the kids room...remember I had sent him away with Anneliese? Well she was sleeping soundly by now, thank goodness) and we called the midwife; she was at a different hospital with a patient and told us to call back when we felt it was time to head to the hospital where we were going to deliver. After getting off the phone I decided I wanted to wait a while longer and labor at home instead of getting to the hospital too early. By now the contractions had been 4 minutes apart for 2 or 2.5 hrs and lasting 45 seconds. About a half hour later I felt it was time to head to the hospital.


Snapchat picture I sent to my sisters, right before leaving

The drive there was actually really smooth, It's never fun laboring in the car but the 15 minute drive wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Of course walking up to the maternity unit is never one of my favorite things to do while laboring but at least it was in the middle of the night so there were not many people and we made it just fine. I had to sign/date/time some papers at the front desk, so I remember exactly what time that was: 3:40am. We got to our room, I gave a urine sample (dumbest thing in the world to ask a laboring woman but I managed to successfully give them what they wanted although challenging). I felt nauseous at this point and dry heaved a couple of times (sorry if I'm giving too many details) and got back into the bed in our room. Soon after my midwife showed up and my water broke. Contractions were getting to the point where it was pretty hard to breathe through them. Then I felt like pushing...our midwife checked me and I was 9cm. She said if I felt like pushing to go ahead and do so. I was confused because I had been so used to the dr's in my previous births telling me exactly what to do but the midwife was just letting me do whatever I wanted. I asked how I could push if I wasn't fully dilated and she responded with, "this is your third baby, you will push yourself to full dilation!"  I went a couple of contractions without pushing because I just didn't feel ready for some reason. But then felt the dreaded stretching "down there" which meant it was time to push. With the next contraction we delivered the head and then the contraction after that the shoulders and rest of the body, exactly 25 minutes after signing the papers at the front desk.

The midwife put the baby on my chest and told Andrew to check to see if we had a boy or girl. He looked and said he thought it was a boy with some uncertainty. The midwife made a comment about there being some sort of "mass" which I saw down by our little baby's "privates" but she didn't seem too concerned so I continued to hold our little Blaise Emmanuel (the name we had picked out since Anneliese's pregnancy). However, shortly after, the nurses had called in the pediatrician to take a look at the mass. She looked him over said that he was a completely healthy baby but didn't know exactly what the mass was...at some point they determined it was his bladder and he had what is called Bladder Exstrophy. They took him to NICU, with Andrew close by. It was weird to be in the delivery room without my husband and/or baby but I very much enjoyed my midwives company as she cleaned me up. Protocol says after 2 hrs mom can leave the delivery room...however my sweet nurse said I could go to the NICU after 1 hr. That hour went by quick and I soon made it to the NICU to see our adorable son. Normally you'd think it'd be terrifying to see your newborn baby in the NICU but it wasn't that scary. I mean he was a completely healthy baby, breathing on his own...everything was working, he just had an exposed bladder.

 

 

 

 

Add another almost 9 lb baby to our repertoire! Can you believe all of my children
have been just about the exact same size??

I know you probably want to know more details about his condition and surgery but this post is dedicated just for Blaise's arrival.

 

Again I have to give all the credit to my amazing husband, and St. Gerard who is the patron saint of expecting mothers and unborn children who I prayed a novena for a safe and smooth delivery.

 

Blaise Emmanuel Schaal

8lbs 14 oz, 21inches

 

 



The Waiting Game

So we've started the waiting game....Our due date is tomorrow and for the past week I've had people wondering when our little one will arrive. Mentally I was a bit mixed up because my mother in law got here last Monday so I was "ready" to give birth. But it wasn't even the week of my due date yet...and this baby seems to think he or she will follow suite with his or her siblings and show up past due date (unless he/she shows up tonight?!?). But at least the little one is healthy.

I got checked today by one of the midwives and I'm 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. But that doesn't necessarily mean anything...if I remember correctly I was 2-3 inches dilated for a week or more with Malachi and I didn't give birth for 4 days after being dilated 2-3 AND having my membranes stripped with Anneliese. But we're all praying this baby will show up a bit earlier than the past two deliveries.

Any other prayers would be greatly appreciated. Honestly I'm more nervous for this birth than I was for the last two. For Malachi's birth I didn't really know what to expect, but felt ready due to taking the Bradley Method birthing class and most importantly I felt spiritually prepared as I prayed for that delivery every day all day it seemed. Then for Anneliese's birth...I half-heartily did our breathing practices from the class and prayed but not as persistently as Malachi's but I wasn't really nervous for it. Well her birth started off so incredibly intense I really didn't think I was going to be able to handle it all...however the entire labor and delivery was only 3.5 hrs so that was a blessing. But it left me with little confidence for this birth because I truly didn't feel like I was going to be able to handle the contractions...I felt panicked but was blessed with a short delivery. I can't help but think I'll have that same feeling of not being able to handle the contractions but the labor will go longer! I'm hoping I can "get in the zone" like I was able to with Malachi's birth. Anyway, that's where I stand right now regarding giving birth for the 3rd time.

But I'm praying to St Gerard who's feast day is Oct 16 and he is the patron of Expectant Mothers and Unborn Children.

 

One day short of 40 weeks

 

Meanwhile, the kids are LOVING having Andrew's parents here to play with them. Here are a couple of pictures that Andrew's dad took of the kids playing in the leaves.

 

 

Also, Guack Guack and Malachi made an apple pie from the apple trees in our yard!

 



4 Years

Almost 2 weeks already we celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary. Like always I can't believe how fast time is flying by and that Andrew and I have been married 4 years already!

A couple of days before, I had logged onto our Verizon account and was looking at the points we have accumulated....we had looked at them before but couldn't figure out how to use them without spending money. What we saw before was if you use a certain number of points then you can purchase gift cards or merchandise at a reduced rate, cause your points give you a percentage off. We wanted to get something totally free with our points but didn't see an option....however the other day I figured it out. They have "points only" auctions, so I started bidding on restaurant.com gift cards with our points to see if I could win one to use on our anniversary, instead of spending money that we'd rather put towards debt. I bid on about 6-8 different auctions throughout the day but got outbid last second every time. Until about 6:30, right as Andrew pulled up in the driveway I WON an auction for a $50 giftcard to restaurants.com! Needless to say I was SO excited and yelled at Andrew to get up into the house quickly. Well here we are 2 weeks later and still haven't received the giftcard...it's a good thing we didn't put off our anniversary dinner for it to arrive! We ended up going to The Stirling Hotel (not actually a hotel, just a restaurant and bar). We had been wanting to go with the kids cause they have chickens and a little play area for them...and Andrew had gone when I was out of town and really liked the food. The food was VERY delicious....Andrew and I both got burgers (I know, just burgers you say?) but they were really really good. I would get the same thing in a heartbeat. The kids split an adult half portion of Mac n Cheese which was devoured by all of us...it had garlic, was super creamy and there were breadcrumbs on top. I told Andrew I could see myself wanting a "take out order" of the mac n cheese after baby is born on a day when I can't get around to making a decent meal. He said "hint taken" =)

 

 

Anyway, it was a delicious meal...and of course I love having an excuse to make a dessert so I made no-bakes. With the intention of Andrew taking some to work so I wouldn't eat them all but they didn't set too well. I gave a couple to a friend but you can be sure I ate every last one of them (not all on one day though). We also pulled out our wedding glasses and drank a bottle of sparkling cider. Nothing too crazy for this anniversary but was still a very delightful evening.

 

Then the following day, Kiewit (Andrews company) was having a get together at Pier 13 in Hoboken so we had a chance to take our yearly picture with our chalkboard...with the lights of Manhattan behind us. Yes, that's the Empire State Building.

It turned out WAY better than I thought it would (Andrew proved me wrong), I really like it!

Never would I have thought we'd be living on the East Coast and I still find myself in shock that we live a half hour away from New York City. These last 4 years have been quite the adventure but at least I have the man of my dreams, my best friend and now 2, soon to be 3, new best buddies to share in all of these adventures. We are so truly blessed.

 

 

 



Baptism Day & Potty Training

August 22 was Anneliese's baptism day. We celebrated with home made cinnamon rolls and went to play at the water park (just a park with water features not an actual water park).

 

Also, during one of our stops on our drive home from Michigan we let Malachi pick out some new underwear and we've started to potty train!

 

This was after his first time ever going on the potty...we have a cute video of him saying "no more diapers for 'chi!" but videos never work on here so I'm not even going to try.

His treats after going potty...yes those are jelly beans from Easter but at least it was an unopened fresh bag and he loves them! Oh and it's super cute he even shares his treats with Anneliese!

This was after what seemed like hours...probably realistically a little over one hour, of waiting for him to poop. He finally did it. Anneliese has been quite the cute cheerleader for her big brother thru all of this!

 

I remember my mother in law telling me that potty training hadn't been that big of a deal for my sister in laws. I had been skeptical this entire time leading up to it with Malachi but I have to admit it really hasn't been that bad...(besides last Tuesday but EVERYTHING was going badly that day). He has gone by himself without any of us helping or even knowing that he needed to go. AND he's even gone on big potty's in dr offices and gone a couple of times in a porta potty! Good Job Malachi!

Michigan Trip

The kids and I were able to take a trip up to Michigan for a couple of weeks starting at the end of July. Andrew was only able to join us for the last weekend as he had some work and Army obligations so Auntie Jen flew out to NJ and drove with the kids and I up to Michigan. We of course had to stop by Carlos Bakery and see the Statue of Liberty the morning she flew in.

Road Trip! Kids did great!

 So, the original reason we went up to Michigan was because the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist were having their First Profession Mass and Ceremony which is open to the public. Sr Jamie didn't make her first vows yet (2 more years) BUT the night before, in a private ceremony she received her white habit and her new name...which is Sr Cora Rose. SO beautiful: the name and habit. Sr. Cora Rose was her first pick but it the Mother Superior with the Holy Spirits guidance that makes the final decision, and she got her first pick! Sr. Jamie has always had a devotion to Saint Rose of Lima so that's where Rose comes from and Cora means "Heart" in a different language (I don't remember which one, latin or greek or something). She liked Cora because it reminded her of Jesus's Sacred Heart....and from a letter she had written us a couple of months ago "It is because of the love and mercy from His Heart that I was healed from my past sins and felt all His love for me. The soldier pierced His side so that us sinners could have access to His Heart. Even if I don't do anything extremely spectacular in this life, I at least want people to remember me as my living and loving with a heart like Christ"

It was such a blessing to see her and for the amount of time that we did! I thought we'd be able to see her for like a half hour but we got to spend a couple of hours with her and she gave us a tour of the Motherhouse!

After the ceremony we all headed up to my dad's cottage on a small lake called Lost Lake in northern Michigan (parents were with us too). We celebrated my moms birthday with lots of dancing and a big delicious chocolate cake!

Malachi's first motorboat ride

Dancing it up for Grammy's bday

 

Anneliese started walking just about 100% of the time while at the lake.

My mom and I took this exact picture in 1989, my mom was pregnant with Robin and I was 2 years old!

Malachi caught his first fish!

Who knew acorns could be SO entertaining? The kids played with them the entire time.

 The house on Lost Lake has been in my Dad's family for 46 years I hadn't been there for over 10. We look forward to going back next summer when Andrew can join us!

 Andrew was able to fly to Detroit after his 10 day military commitment in Oregon and attend my cousins wedding with us. He even flew in a day early and surprised us!

Anneliese was a dancing maniac!

Malachi was Mr. Cool

And mommy loved that the kids could play in the "Gardens"

The next day we drove home, this was after we attended Mass in Toledo and received a marriage blessing since our anniversary is in August!

Construction added an extra 4-5 hrs to our trip...Andrew had to do something to keep himself and Malachi occupied as we sat motionless. His "stereo headband" was from a kids meal at Wendys.

As much as I enjoyed seeing family and spending time at the lake, I was very appreciative to see my husband again and be in our own home. No more big trips for us this summer and I am happy to stay in one place for a while!



Our littlest one-baby #3 *Updated*

So two days before we left Oregon we had our anatomy ultrasound and got to see baby #3. It was great to see the little one kicking, open and closing it's mouth and the little heartbeat beating away. We feel so blessed to have everything look as it should. We were 22 weeks at that time and now 2 days away from 26 weeks!

 

His or Her little nose pointing up. Neck and body is to the left

I love this picture because we have one of Malachi in utero just like it. The baby is flipped from the pictures above... See the legs going up over his/her head? The baby's knee is at the chin and foot at his/her forehead, to the left of the picture, his/her body is at the right of the picture.

Here's a picture of Malachi in the same position:

 

This was taken on Father's Day,  23 and half weeks along!

 

Dumping Debt Series

Okay so I'm SUPER behind on keeping you guys updated on our Total Money Makeover and apologize that I've completely dropped the ball on this. 

Here's a snapshot on where we're at with dumping debt.

 ***I wrote this back in April but never posted it. I've added even more of an update at the bottom***

 

Things have been a little rough financially since moving to New Jersey. Everything is so much more expensive....food, rent, auto insurance, and of course the fact that any time we want to go home we have to purchase tickets instead of just spending money on gas(yes we've been budgeting to pay for those flights but it's still an extra expense we didn't have before). AND we are paying out of pocket for Andrew to fly back to Oregon for all of his military obligations...a tough decision we had to make but feel good about what we decided (yes you may think we're crazy). Anyway, the first couple of months of living here we haven't had a whole lot of extra money to put towards debt.

BUT, on a good note we have been able to use cash envelopes which we weren't able to do in Canada. How cash envelopes work is at the beginning of the month or twice a month...however you want to do it, you get cash for different categories that are budgeted and place them in your envelope labeled with those categories. Then before you make a purchase you have to decide which envelope it comes from and use that cash to pay for the items. When the envelope is empty, no more spending till the next month when you fill it back up! For example groceries, we budget $285 for groceries (that amount was perfect back on the west coast but we've found that we may need to bump it up a bit now since things are not as cheap but we haven't done so just yet.). So, every time I go grocery shopping I take money from the grocery envelope and pay for the items...it's pretty simple. It really helps stay on track because you "feel it more" when you spend cash...you literally see the money going out rather than just swiping a card and looking at it later. It keeps you on track! Things like utilities don't have cash envelopes because we just pay them online with our debit card. 

As for our debt, remember we paid off the Army Career Starter Loan in Oct. and only have Andrew's school loan left. During our move we were not paying more than just the minimum because we wanted to make sure we had extra money for the deposit on our rental and anything else that may come up. So to say it quite frankly, we have not been making any progress for several months now. It's disheartening because we haven't made any advancements toward our goal and August 4 will be here before we know it! Plus, here's another thing, remember how we were banking debt money in our savings when we were expecting Anneliese....well we're right back at that again. If you don't remember, the reason is because Dave Ramsey suggests to pile up a bunch of savings (extra money that would have originally been paid towards debt) when you are expecting a baby or a job loss. That way you have extra money to take care of things if need be. It really helped us last pregnancy because we had to pay the doctors out of pocket and then we got reimbursed from insurance a little bit later (that's how the Global plan worked, since we were living in Canada). With Anneliese's delivery, her and I were both healthy and we didn't need to use any of that money we had saved and so that was the big payment in October that bumped us over the halfway mark. SO, assuming this pregnancy and baby is just as healthy we will be able to put any money we've "banked" towards loans but no sooner than October.

I'm going to be honest, Andrew and I were bummed that even if we are able to save enough money to pay off loans (but it'd be sitting in savings for baby emergency) we wouldn't officially be debt free till past our goal of Aug 4. We started to think and discuss if we really actually needed to bank money or if we'd be okay without saving extra during this pregnancy. Then of course shortly after that discussion Andrew was listening to Dave Ramsey and a lady called in asking our exact question. Dave had a good point, he said "even if insurance covers 100% of bills, what if the baby had an emergency and needed to be flown to a specialty hospital....wouldn't it be nice to know you had extra money to be able to hop on an airplane without worrying about how to pay for that ticket, hotel and food?" That was a good enough explanation for Andrew and I, so we've started putting extra money in savings rather than towards our last debt. Besides, assuming we are blessed with a healthy delivery and baby, that money will go directly towards our debt anyway, it'll just in in October or November instead of August....not really a big deal is it? The answer is no...haha...but it still took us a little bit to get past the idea of not making our goal. 

So that's where we're at. Still trying to figure things out with our budget here in New Jersey and banking any extra money we have for baby emergency.

Hope this all makes sense...I always feel like I try to cram so much information in one big breath on these posts. If you have any questions feel free to ask! =)

**Update** So I wrote this post back in April. At that time we were super bummed about not making our goal. However in April we received a large amount of money for "Tax Equalization"...meaning Andrews employer was making up for taking too much out of his paychecks when we were living in Canada since they weren't exactly sure how much to take out, with us living in a foreign country and all. Seeing that large amount in our savings (remember? our baby bank until Oct) has helped us to be okay with not making our goal and now we're trying really hard to add to it so that maybe we can just make ONE final payment...how awesome would that be?
And for those wondering, we only have about $20,000 of debt left!

Taken from Dave Ramsey's Instagram

 

Fathers Day 2015

This past weekend was our first full weekend home after our trip to Oregon. I was SO looking forward to spending all weekend with Andrew and doing little projects around the house. So excited that I became REALLY annoyed when he came home from work Thursday night with a fever and sore throat. Oh and I should mention that both kids had had a fever and diarrhea throughout the week....what fun for my birthday week right? But God had a blessed weekend planned for me even though I was being a negative nancy and thought for sure I was going to get sick next.

Andrew felt tons better Friday night and it just so happened that we all were healthy for the weekend, Praise the Lord (literally, I really was saying prayers of thanksgiving).

 

Saturday morning we spent over 2 hours in Lowes getting supplies for picnic tables, insect tents, dreaming about getting a nice patio umbrella, a small wire fence for the backyard and other odds and ends.

Within 5 hours of getting back to the house Andrew had a kids picnic table and an adult table made and on our patio. I couldn't believe he got it all done, and only by watching a youtube video, great job Handsome!

Sunday, Fathers Day, we went to mass, stopped by Costco (it seems we can only find pants that fit Andrew at Costco and for what seems to be really cheap!), picked up some hanging flower baskets at a local florist then came home to mow the lawn and enjoy our backyard together.

It was absolutely wonderful!

Hard at work, I forgot to mention we cleaned the garage too. Plenty of work space now!

The kids table

 

View of the back yard from sitting in the shade.

 

I've been wanting to do our own "family photoshoot" like we did impromptu two years ago on father's day. Funny how both times the kids were only in
 diapers. =) (I can't find the other set of pics to compare...sorry).

 

 

Not all the pics were as cute as the ones above

Andrew opening his "Thank you, God, for Daddy" kids book and "Home to a Soldier" sign

Happy Fathers day Andrew, Dad and Dada!

This last visit to OR was Malachi's first time calling my parents Grammy and Grandpa...although at times it sounded like he was saying Meatball instead of Grandpa.