Mornings, weightloss, and updates...

This morning was one of those mornings my eyelids glued themselves to my eyeballs. I really did not want to get up. I figure my job begins when my children get up and this morning they decided to sleep in. Actually, Thayen is still sleeping (it is 8:20 am) which is unbelievable. Anyhow, Tim was bustling around looking for clean underwear; all in a tizzy. I'm a little behind on laundry. I tried to mutter something like, "Check the pile of clothes downstairs..." I just really wanted to still be asleep. Why am I sharing all this? Because for a while now I have been rolling out of bed around 6 am to go running before the family gets up. I've been doing a great job of this until recently I appear to have morphed into some sort of a slug in the morning. Tim keeps joking with me, "You're probably pregnant!" ha. ha. I'm sure that is not the case, for various reasons. Anyhow, I am excited to introduce to you my SIZE 4 jeans!!! Yep, after all these a.m. workouts and a change to my dietary habits, I am the proud wearer of a size 3/4. I lost 17 pounds in the past two months and am working to maintain that. I feel great, have lots of energy (except, of course, the whole current debaucle of not being able to rise in the morning...), and have 0% thigh rubbing while walking. That, right there folks, is worth the effort.

So here's some more of the latest and greatest. Thayen is almost 3 now (December 14) and I am working on planning his 'cowboy party'. He helped pick some things out for the celebration. He keeps talking about it. He chose cow print table cloths and a giant 43" horse balloon. Luella is 9 months and scooting around the floor. She's got the bear crawl down now. Not quite on all fours yet. She is such a doll. I don't think I've ever known a baby so sweet. She "hums". Whatever she is doing, she makes these content little humming noises. I should also say here that Thayen is an amazing older brother already! He is always concerned about her and gentle with her. He likes reading books to her (Yes, there are a few books he can "read". I think he has them memorized), building towers out of legos to watch her knock them down, and he especially enjoys making her laugh. Yesterday they took their first bath together and it was a riot. He splashed around to make her laugh; the more she laughed, the bigger he'd make a scene...Until it escalated to nonstop belly-laughs for the both of them. I sadly had to end it when I had to remove their shivering bodies from the luke-warm water.

Well, duties are calling, so this is my sign-off 'til the next. Wish it were more exciting, but hey, it's still early! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Tomorrow is the big day.

Until next time, enjoy these fall photos of the kiddos (don't be surprised if a couple of these end up in your Christmas card):

Meet Luella!

I have been deciding whether or not to delete this blogspot. I just do not have the time to put it on my priorities. I just keep hesitating hoping I will have this magical time slot appear in my day when I have absolutely nothing to do except...blog. Today is one of those days. Actually, I am putting off housework and Thayen is watching his Veggietales Pirates movie for live the thousandth time.

As most of you know a TON has happened since my last entry. Namely one HUGE happening--the birth of our gorgeous daughter, Luella Verona Treto, on February 15. Woo-hoo! She's already two months old! I feel like it was just yesterday when she was born. I have been asked to write a little about the birth, so to start it was such a wonderful blessed experience, as with the arrival of any anticipated bundle of joy. I had her at home in our living room in a birthing tub. I'm planning on doing it this way, Lord willing, with the rest of our children to come (who knows how many...). The labor began on Saturday with contractions anywhere 8 to 20 minutes apart ALL DAY LONG! We thought for sure our blessed baby would come on Valentine's, but I continued to labor all night (sleeping between contractions) and throughout the next day. They really began to pick up around 6 pm Sunday evening. I was on my feet all day long. Every time I found myself sitting or laying down during a contraction, I was in much more pain. So I paced around our living room and stopped and rested on Tim's shoulder or leaned on the arm of the couch to "relax" through the contraction. The midwife arrived somewhere around 9 pm and I was only dilated to a 4--bummer. So more pacing and an hour later I dilated to a 5, which was wonderful news this meant I got to spend the rest of my labor in the nice warm tub full of water. Plus the contractions were getting a great deal stronger. The rumors are true: water takes away much of the pain. It was soothing, but certainly did not take the hard part of labor away. I kept asking myself in my head, "What am I doing to myself?" & saying things like "I am going to die..." etc. At 11:20 pm on the dot my water broke and it felt like I had to take one ginormous poo and my body began to push the baby out on its own. The midwife kept telling me to stop pushing and it actually took more of my effort to restrain my body than to actually push when I was supposed to. So I had another contraction and out came baby's head. One more contraction and I pushed baby all the way out at exactly 11:28 pm. Easy peasy---yeah right. But it did go pretty smooth. I won't lie there is nothing I can say to describe that horrible sensation when baby's head is halfway out (and you are like stretched "down there" to the MAX!) and you are told to stop pushing. What?! But then there is absolutely no other feeling on the earth that you get when that baby is in your arms and you have this incredible sense of relief flood your entire body and you enter some sort of other-earthly realm. I did it! Praise God--He helped me through the entire thing! Then to hear, "It's a girl!" I wanted to cry for joy, if I had had anything left in me to muster the energy for tears. It was just awesome. Just awesome.

We had her name, Luella, chosen right after we were married. I had a dream we had a boy and a girl and the girl's name was Luella. I woke up and told Tim and he really liked that name. So we took it as a sign from God. Luella is a combo of two names Lou (meaning warrior) and Ella (meaning torch or bright light). The name Verona came after I had a miscarriage. We received a prophetic word that the Lord would grant us victory through this circumstance. So we knew we had to have a name meaning victory. Verona not only means victory in Greek but it means truth in Italian. And it is simply a beautiful name. A beautiful name for a beautiful blessing.

So there you go.

More later on life with Lulu & little Mr. two-year-old T. Right now I've got to get cleaning. In-laws will be here in 3 hours!!

In labor Sunday morning.

In labor a few hours before birth (I know...nice socks!)

The kiddie pool

Seconds old. Tim was by my side the whole time--what a wonderful man.

Wiped!

Thayen meets Luella in the morning.