Rowan Elizabeth

Meet Rowan Elizabeth Fuller!

She was born at 39 weeks on March 17,2010 at 7:52am.
She was 21 inches long and weighed...

That's right, 8lbs 11.6 oz!!!

Mommy and Daddy were very surprised when that number was announced in the operating room to say the least!

After an hour in the recovery room and Daddy sharing the good news with our family in the lobby we were able to head up to our postpartum room. Rowan was still getting a bath in the nursery when we arrived in the room so the girls (and our family) were able to come in and "check on Mommy". After about 30 minutes Rowan made her way to the room and Daddy grabbed her Big Sisters in the waiting room to come meet their new baby sister.

Here's Peyton (L) and Grace (R) seeing Rowan for the first time.

To which Peyton announced, "She's beautiful!". We couldn't agree more!

Rowan then played her first (and I'm sure not last) game of hot potato!

Here she is with Grandma & Grandpa.


Ganmamma, Popa, Nana, and Daddy.


Luv


Uncle Ryan


Not even a couple hours old and we decided to test Rowan by playing with fire as we put our newborn daughter into the hands of toddlers!

Peyton was first...

...with the help of Grandma.


Then it was Grace's turn...

Grandma again played a very important role!


Daddy's Girls...
(Peyton, Mommy, Rowan, & Grace)

I beg you to remember that I had just had surgery about two hours earlier... thank you.


Here is Daddy getting back into the groove.


Although with just one baby to change this time around I don't expect any complaining, which will be nice.

Here is Rowan all geared up and ready to ride to her new home in the outfit her big sister Grace picked out for her. That will be our explanation when she grows up at least.

Our little bunny!

So far (on Day 13) we couldn't ask for a better baby! She rarely cries, only when she's hungry or getting her diaper changed, if that. She's been sleeping well and we haven't had to use a bottle yet. Coming from our last experience of running the dishwasher 3 times a day and using around 16 bottles or more a day - this has been a HUGE change from what we are used to. She rolls with the many hugs & kisses, excited shouting, and singing her big sisters throw at her at any given moment with the grace one would expect of a third child. She left the hospital weighing 8lbs even and when we went to the doctor 4 days later for a check-up she was already up to 8lbs 4oz. Our doctor thought she was on pace to exceed her birth weight by the time we go back for our 2 week check-up (this Friday).

She was declared "perfect" by our doctor after the check-up and we couldn't agree more!

We are so happy she is finally a part of our family and can't wait for the memories to come!

Although in full disclosure, we are a tad terrified of the three weddings in our future.

Thanks to everyone for the sweet wishes in person, through the mail, and on Facebook! We are so lucky to have such great friends share in these exciting times!

Am I crazy?!

I get asked a lot if the girls are ready for the new addition. To be honest, it seems like right now that answer is an easy "yes". Maybe I am super naive but the girls couldn't be more excited about Baby Sister's arrival (tomorrow)! I am pretty sure they do actually grasp the concept. They know she's in my tummy, that she will come out when I'm at the hospital, and that she will come home with us soon. The only thing I'm not sure about is our hospital stay after the c-section when they'll come visit but won't be able to stay with Mommy & Daddy and Baby Sister... we'll see though. I know they have a lot of fun things ahead of them this week to keep their mind off of all of these changes which makes me feel much better about the whole situation.

In preparation for the new addition we started talking a while ago about the changes that would happen when Baby Sister gets here. Here is what we have all mutually agreed on:

1. They will split diaper changing duty - alternating who gets the stinky diapers every other day.
2. While they won't have to do the laundry they will be expected to fold it.
3. They will be expected to entertain and and stop any crying outbursts Baby Sister might have (although not
during the night - that would be cruel!)
4. And my favorite - other duties as assigned.

So obviously I'm kidding here, Peyton will only have to take care of #1 and #2 while Grace will be expected to complete #3 and #4.

About 20 or so days ago we made a "Countdown Chain". You know, like the kind you did in school for Christmas where you would tear off a ring every day as you anticipated your presents on Christmas morning? Same concept. I gave the girls each a sheet of paper and had them use crayons and stickers to decorate their pages. Once the stickers came into play the crayons might as well have been broccoli. They wouldn't touch them. I took their sticker books, aka pages, and cut out long strips that eventually made up our chain and put it on the mantle. I hoped this would give them an idea of the time frame we were talking about since weeks are a tad hard to grasp still. Days of the week we are good on, but once you get past Sunday into NEXT Monday I'm pretty sure we lose them. While I'm not sure it helped a whole lot regarding the time concept, I think they started to appreciate we were finally able to do some things for our baby sister, besides shop.

Which leads me to my super awesome and HIGHLY insane idea for our last weekend as a family of four (hence this post's title). Stephen had to work on Saturday morning for a couple hours so I thought, this would be the perfect time, at 9 months pregnant and by myself, to break out the easel that Grandma & Grandpa bought the girls for Christmas and PAINT a picture for Baby Sister! (By the way, Grandma & Grandpa, the drum set should be arriving today if not tomorrow at the latest!)

Here they are all smocked up and ready to go!

Peyton doesn't like the flash (who does?) and she's learned to anticipate it with great accuracy.


My Picasso's... (Peyton on the left, Grace on the right)



Here is Peyton showing me just how difficult it is to get the proper amount of paint on the brush so as to make sure it takes longer than 24 hours to dry.



Here is Grace double brushing it.



Here is Peyton showing Grace the intricacies and power of the color blue when applied correctly.



Grace proudly proclaiming, "Somebody get me a GALLERY!"



Here is Grace's painting for Baby Sister...

We are still working on smiling AT the camera.


Here is Peyton's finished painting for Baby Sister...

I like to call it "no stone/paper left unturned" for her use of the ENTIRE page. I promise she was very excited and happy about her painting for Baby Sister and I promise the kitchen is now clean.

This whole experience ended up being almost better than an hour of Play-doh (crazy I know!). The BEST was when either of them would go check out the others painting. It was hilarious! They would shout "It's beautiful, Grace!" or "I love it, Peyton!" Here is some video of one of those exchanges as Peyton goes over to view Grace's work. Look closely at Peyton really studying Grace's picture. Too cute!

I love Peyton's encouraging words for Grace, "It's beautiful".
She's not too excited when she says it but it's enough encouragement to propel Grace to do her very best for Baby Sister on this project.

Each of their paintings, 4 total (which have finally dried), are taped to Baby Sister's closet doors to welcome her home.

And show her what she's up against.

Stranger Danger!

A BIG shout-out to the wonderful teachers the girls are lucky to have at our daycare. They are awesome and the girls enjoy them so much!

Case in point: I posted a status update on Facebook that one of them saw and she was sweet enough to realize my children (and the rest of the class) needed some serious help fending off strangers!


They worked for a whole week on strangers and what to do if someone approached them. We even got handouts so we could re-enforce what they talked about at school. It was great!

Then they were sent home with their art projects... the BEST ones we've ever seen!!!

Here is Peyton's "strangers" page.

Considering this lady has been in prison before, it's safe to say Peyton's gut reaction to label her as a "stranger" is dead on! However, I did let her know that if this lady offered to pay for her college education and wedding that we should re-evaluate her "stranger" status. Also, puppies can be strangers too!

And here is Grace's "strangers" page.

First of all, kudos to Grace for going above and beyond and not only showing a stranger but also representing a common theme they often use to lure in their child targets, candy. Second of all, and most importantly, if Grace see's this particular "stranger" (aka Jake Gyllenhaal) I told her to bring him to mommy.

Grab your sunglasses!

You're certainly going to need them!!!

I've mentioned previously the beautiful color we've chosen to apply to our precious 3rd child's room... Planet Krypton Green.

Actually, Behr Paints, found at your local Home Depot, calls it:

After applying it, I'm thinking I would have called it "Fairway Missed".

We thought it was going to be subtle... until Stephen and some friends put on the tinted primer. That's when we knew there was no turning back and our precious daughter might resent us for the rest of her life. After adding the coats of paint it has toned down slightly. But we are still offering sunglasses for visitors to borrow before walking in. Just pretend you're at an amusement park (Disney) at a 3D attraction!

We promise once you enter there will be throwing up, crying, and messy pants... just like the real 3D rides!!!

So at this point there is nothing else I can do or say but show you a picture of the crib, decorations, and the "Green Monster" wall.

I beseech you NOT turn off the lights at this point in the blog.

Disclaimer: We are not responsible for any medical conditions caused by viewing the neon color found in the above picture.

Overall, the room really is growing on us. I just keep reminding myself of the positives - like when she wakes up at 3am in the morning I won't have to reach for the light...

3 year check-up

It's so bizarre going to the doctor's office and not being contagious. You almost feel like you shouldn't be there.

On February 10, 2010 we found ourselves mildly contagious (aka healthy), having just suffered through our THIRD flu of the season (yes, we got the seasonal flu vaccine and got H1N1 before our office had the shots) and went in for their 3 year check-up.

Here are the stats:

Grace: 30lbs - 50th percentile and 39" inches tall in the 90th percentile
Peyton: 30lbs - 50th percentile and 38.5" inches tall in the 85th percentile

Our doctor thought the nurse measured Peyton incorrectly because there is not a 1/2 inch difference in the two of them, if any at all. We all thought they were the same height.

So here are Peyton's revised stats:
Peyton: 30lbs - 50th percentile and 39" inches tall in the 90th percentile

This such a fun age for us as parents. Here are some of the things they like to do lately:

- play Queen/Princess/Prince (we have to correct Peyton on this as she is obviosuly not a prince!) Generally one of them is "waiting" on the other. They don't have the hierarchy down yet either so sometimes in our house the Queen is serving the Princess. Scandal!

- they LOVE to play puzzles! (thank goodness I have a wonderful husband and father who doesn't mind taking the brunt of this obsession!) They actually completed one of their first puzzles, together (teamwork!), this morning all by themselves. They are very capable of doing all their puzzles by themselves but I think they just love to have Daddy help them...sneaky and cute!

- they have also recently been really into books (as they should be, I know!). I made some quiche recently for dinner. Just bacon and cheese and eggs - that was it. All things they eat regularly. I asked them to help me make it because I was 99% sure it would be a struggle to get them to eat it once it was cooked. Of course they took one bite and proclaimed it was "yuck". So Daddy got a brilliant idea and told the girls no Wubbzy that night. I think I was as shocked and upset as the girls!!! What would we do?! Through tears (quiche really is that bad I guess) they made the conscience decision to forgo TV before bed. I thought they'd never go to bed - we were doomed! However, we mustered up some impromptu parenting genius and did what we should have been doing every night... read books. It's been a book night 95% of the time since then (especially when they request upwards of 14 books a night, much to Daddy's delight!)

- Candyland. every. night.

- Dance parties! They got a keyboard with all kinds of fun buttons to press from Grandma & Grandpa for Christmas. It has different "genres" you can select - reggae, hip hop, country - that play their own version of popular kids jingles. One of them will start a song and then they both run to the middle of the living room and start busting a move! It's awesome! We even recently got our first unassisted somersault out of one of these dance parties.

- Stickers. Standard fare for a 3 year old I'm pretty sure.

- Helping mommy, especially when it comes to baby stuff. Peyton shows the most interest in helping it seems like. So I'm debating on teaching her how to unload the dishwasher or do the laundry. I'm split 50/50 for now. They will both be great helpers when the baby gets here though! I'm looking forward to watching them grow into their "big sister" roles which they have already been thinking about. At least once a day one of them brings up what she will teach or show the baby. I can't wait! We are still trying to convince them how much fun changing dirty diapers is but they aren't taking the bait.

Favorite foods: pizza, apples, pears, grapes, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese, Hershey kisses, ham & cheese sandwiches, PB&J, spaghetti, taco soup (!), corn dogs, muffins, and the list goes on... Thank God they have a high metabolism!

- McDonald's (rarely of course, but every time we go one will get the cheeseburger and the other will get chicken nuggets, it never fails. They always share their food too - pretty smart huh?)

- If you ask Grace which restaurant she wants to go to this is her answer: Mexican.

We are very lucky, they are great kids. They rarely get into trouble however we did just starts our 3's so things could change. They are taking 1 nap a day which I pray continues after we bring home baby #3. One of the best things to see in them is their love for each other.

Mommy & Daddy's favorite part of the day remains the moment we see them when we pick them up/get home from work. It's the best feeling in the world to have two someones always so excited to see you!

We can't wait for the rest of this 3rd year and all the fun memories to come, which will surely be documented here regardless of how embarrassed they might be in the future!

3rd Birthday Party

Because of the "Snowpocalypse" that hit Memphis, the girls and I high tailed it to Grandma & Grandpa's house on Friday (their actual birthday - January 29th) to wait out the blizzard. Of course they both had fevers all day so that was awesome! The next day we had Nana & Popa, Aunt Karen and Luv join Grandma & Grandpa and GiGi for a more formal family birthday party.

Here is Grace waiting patiently for the loot that was to come:

The girls got all sorts of great gifts from everyone, some of which included:

Some adorable pullovers from Luv:



Cute jacket/pants outfits and savings bonds from GiGi:

A tea set, Girafalaff Limbo, and some cool Wubbzy stackers from Aunt Teresa, Uncle Al, and "Baby Nathan":

Their very own computers from Nana & Popa:

Vera Bradley travel bags (mom was SUPER jealous!), ballerina slippers, leotards, and handmade tutus from Grandma & Grandpa:

The girls big gifts from Mom and Dad were princess scooters:

On the menu - pizza of course! Their favorite food...

Mom threw in some grapes for nutritional value.


The cake and party hats the girls requested (no joke):

The Girafalaff game in action!

Peyton, showing Girafalaff is sometimes no laughing matter.

We had a great time at the birthday party!

A BIG thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for hosting it!!!

Learning

The title makes me feel better as a parent. The pictures do not.

Watching one of their favorite shows I was able to catch them both memorized.

I love this look from Peyton.


However, I knew immediately we were done with the impromptu photo shoot at this very moment.

Attention: Pigs Have Flown!

Most of you reading this will NEVER believe what I am about to post. Luckily I have pictures.

For their 3rd birthday Grandma made the girls some ballet tutus, got them leotards and real ballet shoes. They put them on a couple weeks ago and this is what you have. Adorableness time a MILLION! (Yes, this is still Emily typing...)

Look at that form!

This is definitely a keeper!

And they're off!

I just love this picture and Grace's face!
They LOVE their daddy!

You better believe we practiced our soccer passing skills in the playroom that night as well - I wasn't about to let them enjoy being ballerinas for too long...

Zhu Zhu Pets

So let me start off by saying I'm the coolest Mom out there. Why you ask? Because I was able to secure the ever elusive Zhu Zhu Pets as a present for the girls 3rd birthday via Amazon.com! I was so excited and proud of my find - after all there are actually websites out there that can tell you in real time which stores have these things in stock!

What is a Zhu Zhu Pet?

They are rats, I mean, hamsters that seem to have a mind of their own and scoot around independently in their "habitats" (sold separately of course!). They make annoying, I mean, cute sounds and only cost $8 at Wal-Mart. I know right, 8 bucks! On Ebay, before Christmas, they were going for upwards of $35-40 and that's just what I saw. I'm sure it got much worse - things have seemed to simmer down now though.

Of course the girls are oblivious to how cool they (and their parents) are now since receiving said rat/hamster but luckily they do enjoy them.

Here is Peyton watching Patches zoom around!

"Patches" has her own bedroom (pink pod) and bathroom (blue pod) and zips between the two lickity split!


Daddy was at Wal-Mart earlier this week during his lunch break and picked up the exercise wheel for Patches. No one wants a fat electronic pet hamster, including the Fuller Family!


Work it Patches! Go, Go! 1 more mile, you can do it!

He also bought 3 MORE rats/hamsters!!! I tell you, once you catch the Zhu Zhu pet fever, you've got it! I mean honestly did you think we would just stop at one? Patches at least needs a friend to play with - - a la Peyton & Grace. So we welcomed Jilly to our "family" two nights ago and the girls love her. We're not sure when we're going to give them the other two - maybe for Valentine's Day.

Or if they pitch a fit and it's the only way to make them stop crying...

Just kidding! We would NEVER bribe them...

THE Question

I have many blog posts in the queue, but only have time for a short one. We get asked all the time if we have a name for the baby yet. Considering we only have a maximum of 42 days left at this point (I'm 33 weeks and my c-section date should be March 17) it's a pretty valid question.

The answer to this question (as many of my friends and co-workers already know) is a disappointing, no. We are not "in utero" namers to begin with so that doesn't help either. Basically, you'll all find out the day she is born just like her parents probably will!

However, I did want to provide a short list of names we have garnered from the girls which, based on this list, are very imaginative at times:

Snow White

Ariel

Restaurant

Ponk Honk
(some made up word they like to use - they claim it means "hello" in Chinese but they actually know better since there is a show on TV called Ni Hao - Kai Lan. "ni hao" meaning "hello" in Chinese - those tricksters!)

Susie

Baby Sister

Peyton

Grace

I'll have to add more later, I know there's more! Way back in the 4th or 5th month we did actually run some of our real contender names by them and we got resounding no's for each... so of course we've never gone down that path again. The girls will find out what their baby sister's name is just like the rest of you. There, doesn't that make you feel a little better?