The Baby is Four Now!

Today is a milestone in our family life...our baby is four years old. That means that we are officially out of the baby and toddler phase of our life and entering full force into all of the kids being at least preschool aged. It's exciting and yet I'm scared to death. For me, it means facing alot of the unknown. Most of my experience lies with babies/toddlers and preschoolers. Getting into the ages that contain double digits scares the crap out of me. It's exciting, but scary....like most things in life.
I thought it would be fun to reflect a bit on the kids' births and what makes them them....
Alyssa was born in the relatively cold of a Georgia January. Having had some pre-term labor issues but nothing serious, I wasn't sure if I'd ever know what real labor felt like. She was due on my Mom or Sister's birthdays (February 4/5) and ended up being born a little less than a week before. My water broke while I was talking to Dan (who was in the tub) and I had A TON of fluid. I had to have Pitocin and was in labor for 12 hours. She was born early in the morning and was absolutely stunning with a thick head of dark hair (that turned curly within a month or two) and beautiful blue eyes with perfect coloring. From the day she was born, she was relatively independent and that's one of her defining characteristics now. She is independent, strong-willed, and a born leader. She is nurturing and has a kind heart. She loves her "baby sister" and loves to try new things. She's very girly and very into reading and art.
Anthony was a completely different story. After suffering a miscarriage, I had a scary first few months of pregnancy with Anthony but the pregnancy itself went smoothly (especially having a toddler at the time just over a year old). He was born two weeks early after I went in for a routine doctor check and found out I was leaking fluid. I had Pitocin with him too and he was an eleven hour labor being born in the middle of the night. His labor nurse was AWESOME and brought me in ice cream for my little fridge in the labor suite (her name was Leah...I actually still remember that). From birth, he was super laid back. He's very sensitive and has a kind, loving heart. He loves to encourage people and has a great sense of humor. He's very smart and loves to learn new things, especially those that challenge his intellect.
Daniel Andrew was a challenging pregnancy and a challenging labor. About the time I started recovering from severe morning sickness, I started experiencing even more severe heartburn and reflux and suffered until his birth. I delivered Daniel three weeks early after my water broke at home in the middle of the night. He was my only afternoon delivery and he was ornery from the moment he was born. The nurses actually ASKED to give him a pacifier because he couldn't quit screaming. He had a hard time passing bowel movements and once he did, he was a little better while at the hospital. He was a grouchy, colicky baby that wasn't nearly as smiley as the two before him and barely spoke for the first two years. At 2 1/2, though, it was like someone flipped a switch and he started speaking in sentences and became a mellow, relatively happy little man. He gets a little more social every day and is super sweet. He's a cuddle bug but he is "all boy." He wants to run, jump, and climb on everything in sight and he loves to poke other people to get under their skin. He is argumentative by nature but is very smart, smart enough to back up his arguments.
Sydney was a diva from birth. She was a relatively simple pregnancy until the last two weeks before I had her when I started experiencing MAJOR labor symptoms but wouldn't dilate. My contractions were crazy hard but they wouldn't do anything. I had keytones in my urine, threw up everything I ate and was getting majorly dehydrated but the new doctor's office wouldn't do anything for me. Finally, one night after Dan took Nyquil for a cold, I started experiencing SUPER hard contractions. I showered and labored at home for as long as I could and finally we woke the kids to go to the neighbors house and made it to the hospital where I was 7 cm dilated. Long story short, they had to hold her in because the doctor took so long to get there and finally moments before he came in, my water sac exploded on the nurse and he whizzed in right after and delivered her. Contrary to my previous 7 lbs __ oz babies, she was 8 lbs 10 oz...a right round chunker but as beautiful as can be. She knew what she wanted and how she wanted it from birth and still does. She refuses to let anyone tell her how things have to be done and though she follows the rules, she's been known to try to charm her way out of just about anything. She is completely unique from any other child I've ever met and is a spitfire ball of personality....it's crazy sometimes how funny she can be and some of the things that come out of her mouth. She charms everyone with her silly ways and her adorable little smile.
We've been asked at least 100 times if we plan on having any more. The answer to that is that we don't. We didn't plan any of our children but we have our hands full with the four that we've got and we have no plans (and have in fact taken measures to prevent pregnancy with Dan's surgery) on having any more. We DEFINITELY believe that all children are a blessing but we also feel like we are going to take care of the four we've got and that God's boundaries are limitless. If He wants us to have more, He will facilitate that with or without our help. I am not a happy pregnant woman and having a newborn at this point would be FAR too big a hand full. We have a nice, fairly large family with four beautiful, amazing children and we want to give them opportunities to fully explore the world around them and have plenty of one-on-one attention from Mommy and Daddy. We look forward to watching them learn and grow. It's awesome! God is amazing!