Blizzard Christmas

The snow ran the show and stole the show for Sheats Christmas today. After Aliza made an early morning phone call to Grandma to make sure that she could "come to her house to open presents safely" we slowly made our way to Mom and Dad's house. We made the sentimental decison--to be at Mom's house for Christmas--my brother made the rational decision--to stay off the roads. It wasn't the same without him, Meghan, Caleb and Gideon.

Miss Princess (with her bare legs under that little skirt) welcomed Janell and her family.

There was a lot of snow. Mr. with his popsicle in one hand and bare feet inside his boots.

Josiah got a chainsaw from Grandma and Grandad and he was one happy little boy. Grandad had to find some wood for Josiah to cut.

Then he made his way outside to cut a tree. He went out all by himself, cut the tree, and then followed his tracks back to the house. So grown up.

My Christmas present.

Jeremy had to make the call whether to drive home after lunch or spend the night at Mom's. We decided to come home. This is how much snow we had. The normal 30 min. drive took an hour. The children all fell asleep on the way home and we had no slips or slides. Now we are snuggled in at home for the next couple of days.

Our Merry Christmas

Ready....Set...

Go!!!

Princess. Aliza spent the day trying on her various princess dress up clothes.

The excavator had to be the highlight of the day. There could not have been a more perfect gift for us to give Josiah. When Great Gramma and Grandad came for dessert tonight Josiah couldn't wait to show them how it worked. He sat down, put on his hat and said, Great Gramma take a picture of me on my excavator.

This was our first holiday at home all day. I enjoyed it, but I am tired. So so tired. I think a month of new baby and holidays has done me in. I want to lock myself in my room, sleep as long as I possibly can and then do a couple scrapbook pages.

Our Eve

Pop-pop Freed met Anna.

Busy grandparents. My Mom and Dad with all 6 of their grandchildren. We never had a picture of all of them together so we said we didn't care how it turned out. We just plopped all the kids on the sofa. Josiah was quite upset to be taken away from a "repair" he was making to the bulldozer. I'll have to post the better picture Meghan got later.

And now I think I will be feel excited in the morning. Jeremy helped pick up the toys and do some cleaning. I'm really nervous about whether Aliza will be happy with her presents.

Anna--1 Month

More Moments

I don't have energy for writing stories. I wish I had some energy and/or brain cells to reflect a bit on what I have felt and experienced this last month. I am thankful that God gives me the energy and perspective to enjoy (most) of the moments of each day.

We got some snow this week. Aliza and Josiah were so excited. I got them bundled up, they played outside for a few minutes and came in cold and wanting hot chocolate. This cycle occurred multiple times during the day.

Cutting. A favorite activity of Aliza. I am finally over enough soreness that I can bend over to clean up this mess.

No further explanation needed! =)

Daddy's helper.

Josiah discovered that he likes Puppy Chow.

Mommy's big helper (Aliza) covered Anna with 4 blankets. I think Anna was nice and cozy.

Decorating Gingerbread Men

Mom started the tradition of having the grandchildren decorate gingerbread men several years ago. It was fun to see the difference in how Aliza, Josiah and Caleb decorated this year from last year. They grow up so much in a year!

Aliza decided she was going to make a Princess Snow White gingerbread man. So she made sure she brought her book so that she would remember how Snow White looks.

I think she forgot about Snow White pretty quickly, but I was quite impressed with her creation.

Josiah enjoyed the sprinkles....

...and the cookies.

Aliza concentrated so hard! By the end she was working so hard to control that frosting that her whole body was shaking when she squeezed the bottle.

Moments

Just a few moments I've captured over the past week or so.


Anna lifting her head up high.

Josiah made himself a sandwich. Flatbread, celery, grapes and cheese. He didn't eat a bite of it, but it was fun to make.

Caleb was so proud to hold Anna.

After being outside for all of 5 minutes on a cold day, Aliza and Josiah came in declaring they needed hot chocolate to warm up.

For the 100th time....You are too big for the swing! Plus it is not ours, it is Aunt Janell's.

I don't know how Anna sleeps, but she does. She will most likely be able to sleep through anything.

This sign appears on Aliza's bedroom door. It is a stick figure with an X through it. The translation is: No Josiah allowed in my room.

We attended the community Christmas potluck tonight. This is how close the children got to Santa. He wasn't very engaging and didn't even give them a prize out of his bag. I guess you had to actually sit on his lap to get that.

Bad Luck

I was talking to my Mom on the phone this morning. Aliza has a habit of loudly interrupting my phone conversations. So she came up to me saying something very loudly and excitedly. I couldn't quite understand what she was saying, but after her saying it 10 times I figured out that she was saying "We are about to have bad luck." I figured she was playing some sort of imaginary game so I very wisely said, "Aliza, there is no bad luck in our house!" She insisted that we were about to have bad luck and pleaded with me to come look. I walked into the kitchen and saw Josiah holding 2 eggs in his hand and the rest of the carton of eggs was sitting on the floor. Aliza said, "See Mom! We were about to have bad luck." I just laughed. Yes, Aliza. Yes. We were about to have bad luck. Thank you for telling me.

Inventions

I was given a couple new gadgets before Anna was born. They are new inventions to me and I have loved them.

This is Anna's high chair and one of her favorite napping spots right now.

This car seat blanket is awesome. There are holes for the straps and it can unzip to be a flat blanket too.

And this is called a puj tub. It is a sturdy foam material that stores flat and keeps it shape in the sink with magnets. It is super awesome for c-section Moms. It must feel very secure for baby because Anna has never cried during her bath.

Chaos

Now you will appreciate the family picture on our Christmas card.
(Assuming I get them ordered and in the mail.)
Thanks to my brother for being such a good sport and putting up with our craziness.

The Gift of a Good Start

My Mom and Jeremy's Mom tag-teamed to give me a great start to being a Mom of three. What a huge gift the last 2 1/2 weeks have been.

Even before the Moms stepped in my good start started with a good anesthesiologist. I could tell right away that the spinal went very smoothly--despite me being extremely nervous. Surgery went fine. It is a little surprising what surgeons say while they are working.

While I was in the hospital, my parents kept Aliza and Josiah at their house. Jeremy's Mom took care of Anna and I at the hospital. She spent the night with us so that Jeremy could come home and sleep. It was a much better experience to have a private room at the hospital. Because Karen could stay with me I was able to keep Anna with me the whole time. I was much less emotional and was able to get a little sleep. The first morning I had to cry. I had kept Karen up all night with one need or another. She really was a private duty nurse for me and I was so very thankful to have her with me.

My Mom was able to take off 2 weeks from work. She either spent the day at my house or I spent the day at hers. The day included supper and cleanup. Jeremy and I got spoiled having a few minutes each evening to sit alone at the table and chat. She reassured me that I was really supposed to do nothing because, in fact, I had just had surgery. It took me a while to adjust to doing nothing.

Jeremy's Mom came back to our house for 5 days to help. She came loaded with groceries and supper ideas and some fantastic pumpkin harvest scones. Today she left me with a clean bathroom, swiffered floors and leftovers.

Now I'm on my own! For the first day I'd say we made out pretty well. Now when Anna settles in for the night I'll be asleep instantly.

Anna--2 Weeks

I'm in love with this sweet little face.

Today my driving and lifting restrictions ended. I guess I thought that meant I was magically healed. Not so much. All I did was take Anna to the doctor by myself and carry Josiah to the step for time out and my body let me know I still need to take it easy.

A Little Bit of Christmas

We made our M & M pretzel treats and decorated the tree. That's the extent of Christmas decoration for me this year!

I took the ingredients and the mess right to my Mom's house. I had great helpers and it was really fun to do. Josiah ate and ate and ate the Hershey Kisses and the M&Ms.

This was Josiah's first year of really getting in on the decorating. He wanted to put the star on top.

Josiah and Aliza hung most of the decorations by themselves. Can you tell? Jeremy spent a long time trying to get one string of lights to work. It was a puzzle that didn't get solved. Aliza took a good picture of the tree (and Daddy's elbow!) I call this our interactive Christmas tree. It can be handled and redecorated whenever the mood strikes my little ones.

The Process of Becoming Siblings

The thing I was most looking forward to after delivery was introducing Aliza and Josiah to their new sister. The night before my c-section we told Aliza and Josiah our baby's name and that Uncle Joel and (Aunt) Brandi would be at our house in the morning because Mommy had to be at the hospital "while it was still dark." Aliza burst into tears. By morning she was fine, but she didn't make things easy on me! When Jeremy called Joel to tell him Anna was born, he heard Aliza in the background saying, I know my baby sister's name, but when I open my mouth it doesn't come out! (She forgot the name.) After I got situated in my room and Anna was cleared from the nursery Jeremy brought the children to the hospital.

This is how well it went:

They were, by far, more interested in the traditional fishing pole gift from Grandad than their baby sister. I had no idea, but apparently Aliza was expecting me to give birth to her 6 month old cousin, Renee. The one who can laugh and sit up and interact a bit. She told Grandma and me that her sister is not her favorite. Renee is. We didn't react. We just realized that she was surprised by how small and "uninteresting" a baby is.

Two days later:

The night we came home from the hospital Aliza asked to hold Anna and she was very very happy. She still declared that Renee was her favorite. That story has changed now. She wants to hold Anna several times a day and gives her hugs and kisses. Aliza peeks at Anna while she sleeps and says, She is soooo Adorable.

This is the only time Josiah has wanted to hold Anna. He likes to touch her head and check her out here and there, but for the most part he is busy pretending with his tractors and tools. The other night Anna was crying at bedtime. Josiah wanted to check on her and came back to his room crying alligator tears because Anna was crying and that made him sad.

So here is the first and only picture I have of my 3 children together. Aliza holding Anna's hand and Josiah giving her a kiss.

4 year old Perspective

As of 24 hours ago Aliza had no idea that Mommy's produce milk to feed babies. Last night she saw me feeding Anna and did a double take. She kept talking and then started asking questions. So I gave her a simple explanation with proper anatomy language. Her summation, So, Mommy, you drink milk and it comes out your breast?

While we were driving to my parent's house for Thanksgiving today, Aliza was in the back seat of the van and making up a song on her perspective of babies. One line was "Babies grow in Mommy's tummy and come out very tiny." Another line was, "Babies drink milk out of Mommy's breast."

Then I was feeding Anna just before we came home. Anna's eyes were open which really mesmerized both Aliza and Josiah. Just as I was getting ready to feed Anna, Aliza goes screaming out of the room, "EVERYBODY! COME QUICK! COME QUICK! YOU ARE GOING TO MISS IT!" Breastfeeding was a spectator event that she wanted everyone to witness.

It hurts to laugh, but I couldn't help it.

Anna Elizabeth

Anna Elizabeth Heslop
8lbs 40z 20 1/2 inches
Born at 8:04am on November 22, 2010

She is beautiful. She is content. A good eater, a good sleeper. We are so thankful that she is part of our family.

Anna and I came home from the hospital today. I have so much to be thankful for. I did not get a spinal headache!!! Praise the Lord! I had no idea I could come home and actually function. My other personal little miracle is that I started having contractions at 1:30am the night before going to the hospital. C-section or not Anna would have most likely been born on Monday.

Now I must sleep. Happy Thanksgiving!