new address

After almost two weeks of trying I still can't upload pictures! Since this blog is for our friends and family that live miles away pictures are the most important part. I have moved our family blog to a new site. Check it out......

http://frankfamilyadventures.wordpress.com/

first week

Hard to believe we brought Owen home from the hospital a week ago. It has been a busy week. Big brothers are adjusting well. Ethan of course has lots of questions. He really doesn't understand why Owen sleeps so much. He always wants Owen to wake up. Hudson was not as impressed with Owen. At the hospital he took a looked at him, said "He is tiny Mommy", then he was asking to watching t.v. Once we got home Hudson had a few setbacks which was to be expected. He only wanted me to help him and he had several potty accidents. After a few days of giving Hudson a little extra attention he is doing much better. Now when Owen cries Hudson runs to find me and says "Mommy, baby wants you". It cracks me up every time. Now our biggest problem is making Hudson realize that Owen is a little baby and he has to be gentle.



Speaking of Owen he is doing great. At his first doctor appointment he had lost a little weight. Nothing to be concerned about just the normal stuff. Today we have another appointment to check is weight, get some shots, and his circumcision. I am sure he will not be a happy baby by the end of the day. He is settling into a schedule. He is sleeping in two-three intervals during the day. Then he will stay awake for a little while to check out everything. He gets more alert everyday. At night he is sleeping 4-5 hours so I really can't complain. Owen made an appearance at Grandma and Grandpa's for the 4th of July. Of course he couldn't stay for all the fireworks but he got to meet everyone. Later in the week we went for a stroll around Ashland so Buela could do some sightseeing. Owen is a really good baby. He just cries when he is hungry and you better be quick with the bottle because he does have a set of lungs if you take to long. LOL!



I am doing well. Honestly, I can't believe how fast I am recovering and how much energy I have. Now if I could only burn some of that energy to lose the baby belly. But I realize that takes a little more time. I have a ton of pictures to upload but for some reason my computer is not cooperating. I am really sorry about that. I am working on fixing the problem. I will update these last two posts with pictures just as soon as I can.

Owen's birth

On June 30th I was scheduled to meet with my doctor at 4 P.M. I was anxious as soon as I woke up since we were already past the due date. Early that morning I got a call from the doctor's office saying that my doctor had called in sick so I had the option to meet with the on call doctor or wait until July 7th to reschedule my appointment. WHAT JULY 7th I don't think so. I immediately said I would come in at whatever time to meet the on call doc. So at 11:45 Matt and I meet with Dr. Fife. She determines that not much has changed since last week and I am still dilated to a 3. We quickly let her know that we are ready to be induced. I was terrified of not knowing when to go to the hospital and from previous pregnancies just know that I never really progress with labor without the pitocin. Normally the doctor's like to be able to delivery for their own patients so they don't induce for other doctor's but since my doctor called in sick we had no idea how long she would be out. Since I tested positive for the Group B it was important that I got antibiotics at the time of delivery so Dr. Fife said that she didn't want my water to break at home and not have enough time for the antibiotics. So that was reason enough to write up the paperwork for me to be induced. Woo Hoo! We arrived at Providence Birthplace at 12:02. It was awesome that Matt new a lot of the nurses so they were happy to see us. By 12:30 I was settled in the room and getting hooked up to the monitors. By 1:00 the iv's of pitocin and penicillin are started and the waiting begins. At 3:45 I get my epidural(that is a beautiful thing). I got the epidural not because the pain was unbearable at that point but because the doctor wanted to go ahead and break my water so they want the epidural to kick in. At 5:30 Dr. Fife breaks my water and I am dilated to 4. I am having a pattern of contractions but not feeling much discomfort at this point. At 6:30 of course during shift change I begin to get sick. No idea if it was all the meds or what but that seems to be a pattern with me during labor. I seriously got sick with all the boys. At 7:30 we meet our next nurse Katie, she checks and I am still dilated at 4 so she ups the pitocin and tells me to keep talking to her about my pain and if I feel any pressure to push. At 8:00 I am feeling all of the contractions, starting to think I just can't do this. Matt is totally watching the monitor and I can tell by his facial expression whether or not the contraction is going to be strong. The stronger they are the more excited he gets because he knows that means it is almost time. Gotta love that he works on all that equipment so he knows how to read all the machines. At 8:15 I have one contraction after another, I am feeling lots of pressure and Matt goes out of the room to get nurse Katie. What do you know, in that 45 minutes I went from 4 to 10 and it is time to push. Dr. Fife had just arrived so it was perfect timing, they start getting prepared. I am totally nervous by this time. Crazy I know since I have been through this before. The doctor starts talking me through what I need to do. Seriously two pushes later Owen Alexander Frank is born at 8:34 P.M. weighing 7 lbs 5 ozs and 20 inches long. He has a full head of dark hair, long eyelashes and was holding his arm.

Will update this post with pictures soon! For some reason I am trouble with uploading the pictures been working on it for days.

No baby yet........

Okay so I have been a slacker this week on posting new information. Sorry! We spent the weekend camping with Matt's family so we didn't get home until Monday afternoon. Then I was exhausted so I didn't find time to get on the computer. The camping trip was a blast. The boys enjoyed the great outdoors. Ethan loved going out on the boat and just playing with his cousins. Hudson was just happy to be able to run around and eat all day long of course. I was not able to get any pictures. I know that is a shocker. But you have to remember that I was chasing Hudson around while Matt and Ethan were on the boat. Plus with Hudson being potty trained now I spent half of my time taking him to the restroom. For some reason he didn't always want to go in the camper so we took many walks to the restroom. Ha ha!
Many of you thought I was crazy for going camping two weeks before my due date. I survived! However, I am not going to lie, I was uncomfortable at night. I just couldn't sleep in the pop-up. I spent most nights sleeping in a camping chair. But really that could have happened at home because when I lay down the heartburn is out of control. I guess I am just practicing for being up all night once the baby is here. I did so much walking around camp that I was sure that would get things going with labor. WRONG! On Monday I went back to the doctor and although the baby has dropped I am still only dilated to 1. Tuesday I was back in total nesting mode. I rearranged the boys bedroom and put the last of the few baby items in our room. I did several loads of laundry so that I would be caught up whenever we had to go to the hospital. Last but not least I packed my hospital bag just in case. The doctor keeps reminding me that things can change at anytime so I should be prepared. Yesterday was Matt's birthday and I was convinced that I would go into labor then. Matt doesn't like to celebrate his birthday and since he was turning 30, I figured having a baby would be a good way to get the focus off of him. But of course nothing happened. I did go to Target and pick up diapers, formula, and pacifiers. Just in case we have that baby this weekend. Now it is honestly just a waiting game, I believe we have everything in order.
Here is the latest picture of my ever growing belly. With any luck this will also be the last belly picture..........


Ethan took the picture and thought it was funny to take a CLOSE-UP since my belly is so big!

Yellow one belt, Graduation and Potty Training......

It has been a busy week in the Frank household. It was Ethan's last week of Preschool and he couldn't have been excited. He really wants to be in Kindergarten and ride the yellow school bus. So he has been counting down the days to Preschool graduation. ABK had a really cute ceremony this morning. All the Preschool graduates wore cap and gowns. When they received their "diploma" they were asked to spell their name into the microphone and then smile for the Kodak moment. A few of the kids were nervous and not willing to speak. Of course that was not a problem for Ethan. He spelled his name and then gave the biggest grin! After the diplomas were given to each graduate they sang two songs. It was very cute.

Ethan got a little bit of a surprise yesterday with Karate. He missed a week of class due to our Arizona vacation so he was not quite ready for testing last week with the rest of the students. But his awesome instructors could see that he was working hard and had he been in class then he probably would have been ready. So yesterday he had a private lesson with one of the instructors and proved that he new the curriculum. Then after his regular scheduled class they gave him a make up test and he received his yellow one belt. Ethan was beyond excited. This means he gets to move into a new class and will also need new gear as he will begin sparring. It is great to see Ethan passionate about Karate and his focus and discipline gets better every day. Since his out of school for the summer(and with a new baby on the way), I think it is great that he will be challenged with the new karate class. He needs something to release all that energy!

Hudson has had a busy week as well. As many of you will remember he has been entertaining the idea of potty training for months now. He has been wearing pull ups since Thanksgiving but thought of the potty more as a toy rather than something he should use all the time. Well, this week he showed a lot of interest. I should also mention that he has been refusing to take a nap. So my thoughts were if he is not going to take a nap then I am going to nag him to use the potty. Well it is working. Hudson made the switch from pull ups to underoos this week! The accidents have been few and he is doing much better than Ethan ever did. The first two days were really tough. But by day three he was telling me when he needed to go. Only problem is we let him run naked the first few days because I was tired of washing all the wet clothes and I think he enjoyed the nakedness a little too much. LOL! But now we are back to wearing clothes. This morning he woke up and I was shocked that he didn't even have an accident in the middle of the night. He spent a couple of afternoons with his Aunt Summer and even then he went to the potty at her house. I think in another week we will be pull up free! Which means he will be out of pull ups by the time the new baby arrives. Woo Hoo!

Speaking of baby, I had another check up with the doctor yesterday. Everything looks fine. I am dilated to 1. Nothing too exciting but the doctor did warn that things could happen quickly since this is my third. We still have three weeks until the due date but I am wondering if we will make until then. With Ethan and Hudson I was not dilated at 36 weeks so already this baby is ahead of them. I was on fire last week with all the organization. This week I have been more tired and not quite as motivated. I will keep the blog updated with each appointment now that I am going on a weekly basis.

Below are a few pictures from Ethan's graduation.


Waiting for his name to be called


Spelling his name


Kindergarten......Here we come!

The final month!

Hard to believe I am in the last month of this pregnancy. Well, the time has gone by fast but my body definitely feels like it is in the last month. I constantly feel out of breath. The baby is kicking all the time! I can't sleep. The heartburn is out of control. Oh and the list goes on and on. But I know that in a few short weeks we will welcome our new bundle of joy and it will all be worth it! I think I have hit the nesting stage(or maybe it is because everything on T.V. is reruns) but I do know that I can find enough energy to get the room ready for baby. Okay it is not an entire room but a corner of our room. Either way it looks totally cute. Matt and Ethan put together the new dresser/changing table. All the clothes, blankets, bibs, and burp cloths have been washed and put away. All of the toys have been brought in from the garage and cleaned. The cradle is all set up. I honestly think the only thing I need to do now is pack my hospital bag which I shouldn't need for at least a few more weeks. My next appointment is on Friday the 5th. At that appointment the doctor will begin the exams to see if anything is happening. If you want to take a guess as to what day the baby will actually arrive I am taking a poll. Official due date is June 29th to give you an idea. Ethan was kind enough to take some more pictures for me and of course I have included the infamous orange tank top and black pant picture so you can see just how much my belly has grown. I can tell you that I feel as big as a house. LOL! I have also included some pictures of the baby's "corner". I will do my best to update frequently these last few weeks while we wait for the grand appearance.


Seriously the tank top BARELY covers my belly.


36 weeks photo by Ethan


new dresser/changing table(the changing pad is still in use by Hudson, but we are working on that!)

more storage for bibs, burp clothes, and receiving blankets(check out the basket of shoes, can you tell Mommy has a shoe fetish?)

The cradle

All the cute little clothes........

Arizona Vacation

We had a blast in Arizona! It was so good to see family and friends. It was fun to check out our old neighborhood and see how things had changed. Ethan was funny he kept having flashbacks. When we first mention Arizona he acted like he didn't remember much but once we got there it was a different story. His face would light up and he would say oh I have been here before. I was so excited to be able to attend my friend Megan's baby shower. Our due dates are three weeks apart so I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to travel to her shower. While attending the shower I got to see a lot of other girlfriends too. Hudson attended the shower with me since all the guys went to the movies and he was too little to do that. He had all the girls wrapped around his finger. The reason we planned our vacation for May was to attend Ty and Kelli's wedding. Their wedding was beautiful and so much fun. Once again it was great to catch up with so many friends at the wedding. I always love weddings but it was also like a mini reunion which made it even better. Matt spent one day at CBS Tech to hang out with his old co-workers, they even put him to work. I was able to have lunch with co-workers from DPR. It was great to go check out the office. I do miss that place from time to time. One thing I am sure of is that I don't miss the extreme heat or the TRAFFIC! Of course I was excited for some sunshine and 90 degree weather was not really counting on the 100 plus weather. Hudson learned very quickly that you do not go outside barefoot. Poor little guy got trapped on the sidewalk yelling its hot, hot, hot. How quickly you forget how spread out everything is in Phoenix. During our week long vacation we drove 920 miles! It didn't take long for my feet to swell in Phoenix. I couldn't get enough water while we were there. I actually did pretty good for being 8 months pregnant. The worst part was flying home. The Mesa airport was not prepared for four Alleigant Flights leaving during the 4 0'clock hour. We waited 90 minutes in the security line. Which meant all the flights were being delayed. The boys were frustrated standing in line and I was getting over heated. By the time we got on the plane everyone was in meltdown mode. Then of course they didn't turn on the A/C until we were up in the air. Since we were preboarding with kids that was a long time to sit on the plane with no air. I thought I was going to throw up or worse pass out. Ethan and I took a nap. While Matt had to entertain Hudson who refused to fall asleep. But we arrived in Medford safely and everyone was glad to be home!

Dawn, Jen, and me at Kelli's wedding

Kelli and I

Hudson loved the water

Ethan and Lillian having fun in the pool

Hudson and Landon this looks like trouble