Jacob Michael Gattuso has arrived

October 19th this sweet boy joined our family at 2:11pm weighing 8lbs. 3oz and 21 1/2inches long. Like his sisters he was about 3 weeks early (36 weeks and 6 days).



One of my favorite doctors (Dr Fleming) was on call and I was more than ready to have Jacob come into this world.



The night before we went out to dinner with Michael's parents and I kept telling everyone this was like my last supper so I had to make it good. I just had a feeling. Apparently my feeling was right. I had started timing my contractions at about 4am and finally woke up Michael at 5:45am to let him know that they were getting closer together. I did my best to hold off calling the Dr until I knew the girls were almost up. I really wanted to say goodbye to them and explain that it was finally time for Jacob to "pop" out as they would say. We got to the hospital about 8:45am and I was at about 3 1/2. I was admitted and got in my room and got an epidural within the next hour. Unfortunately it didn't work like it should have and I only felt it in some places and so most of the contractions I was feeling. By the time I had reached 6cm they decided to take it out and give me another one. I progressed quickly and basically went from a 6 to a 10 without and epidural. It finally kicked in about 3 minutes before I pushed and as Michael seems to be telling everyone the rest was "easy" as two pushes later, Jacob was here. I keep reminding my dear husband that although that part was "easy" please don't forget that is that "fastest" yet hardest labor so far. He's still learning.

Of course it was all worth it. Look at what we get in return





Our first family picture as a family of five



The girls were overjoyed to be able to finally come to the hospital and wear their big sister shirts. They had long been awaiting this day as well.



Michael's parents came for a visit on Monday evening so we were all elated that they could be here for the birth of their grandson just a few days after their arrival! It was very helpful to have them home with the girls while we were at the hospital. Thanks Mike and Sue!



It was also great to have my parents home from Arizona and be a part of this whole process again. It's been nice to have them around to help as well. Juggling three might take me a little while so it's a good thing they live around the corner ;)



My mom couldn't resist taking a picture of Michael trying to change his sons first diaper. It's a little different than he's used to. He's always been a champ at helping with diaper duty but over a week later he still keeps telling me it's a two person job...hmmm



Here is Baby Jacob locked and loaded, ready to go home to his crazy sisters



I thought I would enjoy my "vacation" but I trying to orchestrate things from the hospital it just seemed a little easier to do it hands on at home, so I was ready to be released too!



What can I say, these girls are completely loving their new little brother.



Can't you tell?

Izzy the hairdresser

Let me start off with a background on this. A few months ago my lovely mother pulled out the following picture from my baby book along with an envelope of hair.



She proceeded to show our darling 4 year old and tell her the story of when I was 2 1/2 years old and took the scissors and gave myself a haircut. Keeping in mind that "Isabelle the sponge" never forgets things she just quietly processes them. This past Saturday Michael was in the front of the house cutting the ornamental grasses back for the winter. With big cutting shears in hand he looked like Edward Scissor Hands and the girls giggled as he told them that he was giving haircuts. Then teasing them he asked if they were next. They giggled some more and screamed NO! Well about 10 minutes later Isabelle announced she needed to use the bathroom and wanted to play inside and inside she went with Katelyn in tow. We finished up and about 5 minutes had passed when Michael went inside and came back out with this:



My heart sank as I wondered which child cut of their beautiful hair. I walked inside to find a nice "shelf" cut off of the front side of Isabelle's hair.





We shared some words with her and finally got her to calm down from the crying. I reminded her that once you cut the hair off it cannot be glued back on and we now had to get in the car and take her to get the rest of the hair to try and be the same length. She was devastated obviously not knowing it would lead to cutting her long long hair off. In her moment of panic she cried. "but what will all my cousins say about my short haircut?" Interesting that those were the thoughts running through her head. I reminded her that she was going to be Rapunzel for Halloween and took pride in the fact that she had the long "Tangled" hair that we were going to curl and make beautiful.







It turned out fine. A few uneven ends that we are willing (or have to) overlook unless we want it even shorter. I think I am struggling with it the most. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones that are making it difficult but I loved her long hair. It will grow back and Izzy is over it so I will work on getting over it too. When I asked Izzy to promise me that she would never do this again her reply was "you did it too Mom"! Nice.

Catch up

This one is a long one so be warned. There were a lot of "catch up" pictures that were easier to throw into one post.

We took the girls to a Red's game before school started again. One of those last things to do before a new baby comes along. It was pretty hot outside but I think they both enjoyed themselves. Izzy finally got over her fear of Rosie Red and Katelyn was just happy with whatever yummy food was given to her.





Then is was back to school time. Izzy has always loved school. When she was two years old she was begging me to go to school so I would bring her backpack to a music class and tell her that was her school. Last year she felt so grown up going to preschool. We put her in 4 days a week for 1/2 days. It didn't phase her being away from home. In fact she wondered why she didn't go on Fridays. So as you can imagine as the elementary school students headed back almost two weeks before her school started she was very concerned that she was once again missing out on something. Here are some pictures of the first day of school. She was so excited (against my better judgement) to wear her new light up shoes and her new backpack. Life was good!







Shortly after school started we decided that we needed to get Izzy into an opthamologist to get her eyes checked. She had been squinting for the past 8 months but we were waiting to put her on our eye insurance this coming year. The past few month things got worse and we noticed more problems. We decided it was definitely time to get her in before things got worse. I was worried about an adjustment period but she has done remarkable and it just showed us how much she really needed them. We let her pick out two pairs but these are her favorite :)



All in the same week, Isabelle came down with the croup. It was probably the scariest thing I have experienced thus far as a parent. She woke up in the middle of the night literally gasping for breathe with a temperature of 103. The next day we went to urgent care (of course this always happens on the weekend!) and they gave her steroids which helped clear things up. I must admit her little raspy voice was very cute. Not even two days later Katelyn got the same thing. I was at least prepared this time as I knew exactly how Izzy's had started and got her into the pediatrician the first day to get her dose of steroids. We made it through it. Hopefully we are just getting these nasty sicknesses out of the house before the baby joins us.



More house projects. Michael tackled this one without me pressuring. They were blocking our view of the kids playing across the street and they had to go. There were three big ones and my wonderful husband stepped up to the plate to tear them out. We still have the roots left to deal with but I am fine with that for the time being.

Moving and House Projects

Mid July was moving day and we were very lucky to have lots of help from family and friends. We couldn't have done it without them! I was otherwise occupied and not worried about taking pictures but my mother was wonderful enough to at least take some on her cell phone.





We kept a POD at my parents house to clear out our things so they could move back in. It made moving a big portion of our stuff easier when the company picked it up there and dropped it off at the new house.


Izzy and Cakes waving goodbye to Nana & Papa's house



My new neighbors thought I was pretty crazy as I was 6 1/2 months pregnant and painting everything around me in the 90-100 degree temperatures. I started with the mailbox post and went on to the garage. I have to admit if I just waited a little longer for the cooler temperatures it might have been an easier job to tackle. For some reason I picked the longest hottest streak in Cincinnati to do my outdoor painting. What can I say I was nesting :)



I moved on to the doors later with my sister Tracy who was another big painting helper!



Just recently I decided to keep and update the kitchen table we have had for years. I love spray paint, it's my new best friend. So it's now spray painted and thanks to the Blakes and my lovely husband who has a hidden talent for covering chairs, it's like a new table!



The old fabric which I was happy to get taken off









It took a long time to take the wallpaper off in the kitchen (about 1 1/2 weeks). I again had a lot of help! Thanks everyone. It took a little while to pick a color but we finally did.



Thanks so much to my talented friend Shelley who spend two days painting the kitchen. There was a lot of cutting to do around the cabinets but she did an awesome job!



Next up was the baby's room. It's the only bedroom painted but everyone knows the nursery is a priority (back to the nesting). Here's the finished project!



Again I love spray paint, here is before



Here is the after



So we have kept busy on the house front. Everyone keeps telling me to stop with the projects. I keep trying but this baby better come soon or I think I might have a few more ideas of things to start!