Here's the story,
Of a lovely lady,
Who was bringing up one very lovely girl.
She had hair of gold,
Like her mother (used to have),
She was named Charis.
Here's the story,
Of a man named Ben,
Who was busy with two jobs of his own.
They were insurance & homemaking,
Living all together,
but they about to have one more-.
Till the one day when the lady went to the Dr.,
and they knew there was much more than a hunch.
That this group,
Was about to have another.
That's the way we all became the James Bunch,
The James Bunch- the James Bunch
That's the way- we became the James Bunch.
The Real Story
On Wednesday I went in to the Dr. for a routine 39 week check-up and the Dr. said that I was dilated 3 to 4 and leaking amniotic fluid. They said I had two options: either take an ambulance down to the hospital or have a family member come pick me up. Ben ran over from work (which is across the street from the Dr.'s office) and we drove home. Charis was there with Ben's mom so we said goodbye and headed to the hospital. We got there around 1:00 and got checked in and walked around and sat and waited. My contractions were still very irregular and not very painful. Finally around 6 or so at night they started to get more painful. I got an epidural and things still weren't progressing. At at about 8:30 the Dr. put me on Pitocin to speed things up. At 11:15 the Dr. checked me and I was dilated to 10. She said that it was time to push so I pushed four times and out came a little baby girl! She was healthy and happy (she didn't scream too much). We came home from the hospital on Thursday night around 7 but had to go back on Friday because we had checked out so early. At that appointment the Dr. thought that Emma had jaundice so we had to return today for more blood work and Dr. appointments. So after spending three hours at the hospital on Friday then three more on Saturday we now get to go back tomorrow and spend 3 more hours at the hospital. Other than that Emma is doing very well. She's eating a lot and filling her diapers right on time. Mommy is doing well too. This delivery was worlds better than the first. My sister was able to be in the delivery room with me and both my mom and Ben's mom (who were also in the room) said that it wasn't a fair representation of what labor and delivery are really like. I just hope that it makes her have a baby sooner. My kids need cousins!
On Thursdays Charis goes to KinderGym with Mimi. They started going together when I was put on bed rest and today was the first time I was able to go with them. It was so much fun. Kindergym is a program at church for toddlers. It's like a mini church/preschool where the kids learn songs, Bible stories, colors, animals, sitting still and they get to play on all sorts for fun gymnastics equipment. This first picture is 
circle time led by Teacher Shelby. (Sorry the pictures are so dark and far away. I was feeding Emma during the whole KinderGym.) Charis loves to play on the rings, balance beam, slides and see-saw. Then after free play was over the kids and moms played with a parachute (which I think will forever be the greatest invention for children to play with. It is hours of endless fun!) After KinderGym we ate lunch at the Grace Grill with Mimi. Yummy cheeseburgers! Here is the latest picture of Emma from yesterday. 
While we were driving to the park Charis was sitting in her car seat and chatting away to no one in particular but always non-stop (as most girls do) and the majority of what she says either doesn't make a whole lot of sense or I just can't understand it. Then out of the blue she says, "That's awesome!" Ben and I couldn't contain ourselves. (You're really not supposed to laugh at your children, but sometimes you just can't help it.)
Then tonight our friends and neighbors (Jack & Cindy) brought dinner and fellowship over to our house along with their 3 kids. Charis and their youngest love to play dolls together. At one point in the evening I went into Charis' room to see how the girls were getting along. Charis looked at me and said, "You go now, Mommy. Olivia stay."
It's hard to believe that 4 years ago today Ben and I got married! So much has happened in that time and yet I feel like it has flown by. Unfortunately, we've realized that our anniversary comes at a difficult time during the year. By January 4th not only do we not have any money but we've usually exhausted our babysitters and are sick of eating (since the Christmas season just ended). So this year we took it easy and just spent time together as a family. Ben took the day off of work and we went to the library with Charis. She loves going to the library and looking at all the books (she also really likes the drinking fountain for some reason). We checked out some books for her then headed over to Target to do some Christmas returns. We ate hot dogs at the Target food court and headed home for nap time. Ben let me a really long nap (2 1/2 hours!). Then we ate leftovers, gave Charis a bath and put her to bed. We served up two bowls of MooseTracks ice cream (yum) and played Settlers of Catan. Ben won (of course). All in all it was a good day and I really enjoyed spending time with my family. This morning, before he woke up, I put a card on Ben's pillow that I found at Hallmark yesterday. The front says, "Good lovin' is like good cookin'..." Then when you open it up it says, ..."They're both better served hot!" and it starts to sing as you open it up..."Hey, good lookin', whatcha' got cookin', how 'bout cookin' somethin' up with me?" I heard him open the card then shut it really quick when it started to sing. Then he opened it really slowly and laughed. I originally wanted to deliver it to his work so that he could open it at his desk and share the laugh with his co-workers but he stayed home today so Charis and I got to enjoy the card (Charis enjoyed it all day long, over and over and over and over again. She just kept opening it and laughing then closing it, then opening it and laughing, then closing it).
