This kid can eat!

Our babies not only start out being big, but they get even bigger really fast. Talon has already changed so much and he's chubbing up nicely.

OH NO!!

Hailey was so excited about going to Preschool and she talked about it everyday this summer. I was so happy for her because with me just having a new baby and being stuck at home so much, I knew that boredom would get the best of her. Her first week of school went well. She came home happy each day and so pleased with herself.

This is how the second and third week of school have gone! Not good! Yes, John is carrying her out the door! AUGH!! She refuses to get dressed in the morning and has way to big of an opinion about everything. We gave up last week and told her to pray about going to school and ask Heavenly Father to help her know what she should do. John and I have been praying our hearts out as well. We thought, maybe she really shouldn't be going if it makes her this sad. She would rather sit in her room for 4 hours doing nothing than go to her school.
WHAT HAVE WE DONE WRONG??
Having a newborn and trying to deal with this each morning has just about killed me. I dragged her on the bus with her screaming and crying one morning. I then cried the whole walk back to our apartment. My mom and I went and spied on Hailey that day...I just had to know if she was okay. SHE WAS FINE! Laughing and dancing with her friends. She came home happy too but then the next day we started all over again.
This last Monday she refused to go, yet again, and we didn't even try. All we heard all day from Hailey was...I'm so BORED, and I want to play with Gracie (her bestfriend who moved to Utah). I try to entertain but lets be honest...SHE NEEDS WAY TOO MUCH ENTERTAINMENT! This mommy isn't sleeping so much and I'm about stretched as far as I can be.
So we decided that she is 4 and we are making the rules around this joint. I know that she is being well cared for and I've witnessed the fun things that they do there. So...my little girl is being forced to go to preschool...for her own good. Not all children need it. Infact, most don't! BUT-SHE DOES! She is so busy and SO badly needs some good friends. I'm glad that she likes to play with Isabella and me all day but we aren't as fun as other 4 year olds. She doesn't have any friends her age where we live and she is the only sunbeam at church. This poor girl needs some playmates.
We've tried everything that you can imagine and we are now to the point where we are picking her up at 10:30 to shorten her day...a ton!
I even brought her to another preschool to see if she would like it better. She still said that she wasn't going. She stomps her foot and says, "I'm not happy about this." We hear that a few times each day.
I'm sorry this post is so long but it has been such a priority in my life the last month. If you have any suggestions please share!!

Thanks MOM!!!

It's been one week since my mom left us! We are all still alive...barely! My couch is overflowing with today's clean laundry and my sink is full of dishes...but we are surviving. Thank you so much mom for your never-ending love and your self-less help! You were amazing and I don't think that I could have happily done it without your help. I love you!

One Happy Guy

It's hard not to blog about the new baby in our life...since that is what is new to us right now, but I promise to try and be well rounded. I just have a few comments to make about the great feelings that I have had about having a son for John to love and bond with. John is a great girl dad...meaning he understands the whole doll and purse thing and enjoys them getting all fancied up. But...there is something to be said for a man having a little boy to do boy things with. He had a little date with Talon tonight watching his first football game. This is one of John's favorite things to do and I'm sure this was just one of many nights like this. It makes me so happy to see John enjoying him so much. Sure, Talon slept most of the game but it is sweet to think of the good times to come. We have been blessed beyond words.

Daddies little girls!!

I caught John reading this book to the girls today!! They actually were listening...oh dear!

He's one week old!!

What a fun little boy Talon seems to be. Well, at least as fun as a one weeker can be. I forgot that they basically are always sleeping. If he is awake then he thinks that he needs to be eating. He's going to chunk up really fast. We brought him in for a weight check when he was 4 days old and he had already regained his birth weight. The nurse thought that was pretty amazing.

Talons First Bath

We tried to make this a pleasant experience for the little guy, but he just wasn't lovin' it.

Introducing Talon Clark Hecker

On Saturday, we were facing storms from Tropical Storm Hanna and we lost our electricity for over 4 hours. I was having one of those "I can't be pregnant anymore days" and so John took me out on a date for a break from children and house chores. Because our electricity was out, we brought our girls to the babysitters home...we are blessed with great babysitters. Well, as our movie began I started feeling painful contractions and decided that I better start keeping track of the spacing. I got out my cellphone and every few minutes, I took a mental note of how long it had been since the previous contraction. They were anywhere between 3 and 8 minutes apart and ranged from 30 seconds to 1 and 30 seconds long. The only problem was that some of them hurt really bad and some didn't. I thought that they needed to be getting gradually more intense and so we kept debating whether or not we should go into the hospital. We did not want to get sent home!! I wasn't packed, so we decided to go home and start packing bags while we thought about what to do (the kids were still at the sitters). As we are running around packing, John wass recording my stats. I had a few REALLY painful contractions and I told John at that point...I don't care if this is real labor...I am going to the hospital. Even though this was my third baby, I had never gone into labor on my own so we felt like first timers!! Our fantastic friends, the Burton's, kept our children for us overnight so that we could go to the hospital.

So we get to the hospital at about 8:30 pm and it's empty! No one was in labor and there was only one baby in the nursery! Saturdays are not induction days which makes for a quieter stay. It was nice having the floor to myself! I had recently had a pelvic exam (the day before) and was only dilated at 1 cm! I was surprised when she checked me when I first arrived at the hospital because I was already at 3 1/2 cm. My contractions were at a steady 3 minutes apart at that point and were uncomfortable. The doctor decided that I was in labor and I was SO happy when they said that I could stay. She called for the anesthesiologist, who soon became my least favorite person in the world! I have had an epidural with both of my previous pregnancies and LOVED it! I felt nothing...like I said....I LOVED it! Well, this guy must have thought that it was target practice or something because 30-40 minutes later...he had attempted 6 times to place the epidural. It was so painful! The tears were streaming, and I just couldn't bare to tell him to stop trying. I was THAT afraid of natural delivery. He kept giving me more numbing shots because I could feel every prod and puncture...but after like 8 bee sting shots, I could still feel every attempt. He finally got it in...or so he pretended. I think that he just gave up and just put it wherever he could just so that he could move on. The crying didn't stop for awhile. I was slightly traumatized at this point and couldn't stop shaking. It didn't take me very long to realize that I was feeling way too much. My doctor broke my water and then told me to get some rest. I was dilated at 4 cm. It was midnight at this point and I was exhausted. My nurse said that she would be back around 2 am to check me. We turned out the lights and I settled in for a two hour nap. About 15 minutes passed and I pretended to ignore my contractions...that makes them go away...right? I felt a sudden and painful urge to push and I started to yell at John to go and get the nurse. I just said, "somethings happening...get someone." He slowly stood up and just looked at me (he's totally thinking I'm crazy) and he says, "so you want me to get someone?" "UMMMM, YES!!!" I exclaimed. As the nurse comes in, my babies heart rate drops dramatically and I'm just thinking, here we go again-that's exactly what happened with Hailey and Isabella and they both had to be pulled out of me! So the nurse hooks me up to oxygen and flips me to my side to get the baby movin' and she finally decides to check me. I am now at 9 1/2 cm! YIKES! That only took 15 minutes! They prepare me for delivery! A nurse attempts to give me a different pain killer through my epidural line which of course doesn't do a thing because the drugs weren't getting to where they needed to be getting. At his point it was too late for any drugs through my IV because of some risk to the baby during delivery. I am TERRIFIED! My contractions were back to back...no breaks at all. All I can say is that I was not prepared and had no idea how to breath through the contractions. My natural instincts took over and I just wanted to push. The nurses kept telling me that I needed to wait for the doctor (who was slowly getting on her delivery outfit) and I just kept screaming, NO I NEED TO PUSH, SOMEONE GET YOUR HANDS DOWN THERE, I NEED TO PUSH! They had already taken the bottom of my bed apart and so I didn't want my baby to end up on the floor. I was so frustrated. Why won't anyone listen to me, was all that I kept thinking. Finally the doctor was ready and I was able to push. Ouch! It hurt really bad and I will never agreeably do that again. The only reason that I was able to keep going was because I knew that the harder I worked at getting out the baby, the faster it would be over. It was a definite feeling of theres no going back! I've never felt more that I can't do this! At one point my doctor said that I could feel his head if I wanted to but I was in so much pain that I didn't have enough energy to even think about moving my arm at all. At 12:59 am, he arrived in all of his handsome glory. He was facing up...which added to my pain and he had the cord wrapped around his little neck. Some great news...as soon as he was out, the pain was gone! Besides the doctor sewing me up (which I felt) I was so releaved to be done. It took me about 2 minutes of just lying there, taking in the whole experience, and then getting over it, before I was ready to enjoy my sweet baby boy. I love him! I absolutely love him.

He weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 21 inches long. Isabella was delivered in the same room and so a sudden flood of memories and emotions crept in. I thought that I was experiencing an intense moment of dejavue (sp). They sounded the same and looked a like too. Hailey looked so different then these two. Talon does have squinty eyes like Hailey did though.

We didn't get into our recovery room until about 3 am and I was begging to sleep. The lights finally get turned out and I must have had so much adrenalin that I couldn't sleep. Two hours later and I finally beg for something to help me sleep. I was able to sleep for two hours before it was time to take care of my baby. I never did get to go back to sleep and I am still playing catch up from such a crazy night.

My hospital stay was so nice. I loved my hospital and the nurses and was very comfortable. I was able to stay for two more nights and enjoyed all of the care that I was provided. The highlight of my stay was when John brought the girls in the meet their brother. Oh how sweet it was to watch them fall in love with Talon like John and I already had. Pure joy was the best way to describe their faces. They are still loving every second of him.

The girls have been fighting over who gets to hold him all day (exhausting for mommy) but I am so glad that they are so happy to play with him, he fits right in. Isabella doesn't talk a ton but she did come up with "T" for Talon. It's so cute to hear her calling him "T", although that's not a nickname that I would have chosen.

Talon brought them gifts which were baby twins with hospital bracelets and all. Isabella started to call her baby "t" and she cannot be separated from him.

What a great big sister. She really is very good at holding him, although she is way to confident and that makes me nervous.

He is such a sweet little boy. He is a great nurser (I wasn't so sure at first). Once he figured it out, he instantly became a pro. He sucks so hard that my milk actually came in while I was still at the hospital. The next day or two will not be so comfortable.

Getting all bundled for his first car trip. Destination: HOME!

We are so happy to have Talon in our family. He is so special to us and I am overwhelmed with love for him and his sisters. I feel so blessed to have these sweet children as apart of my family. I know that there will be days when it will be hard, so hard. Each of these children have such different personalities and each comes with there own challenges. Today, I am so thankful for all that comes with each child. The good and the bad. I pray that I might always know what they need and that i might be directed to teach them what they need to know to prepare them for the rest of their life. They are in my care for such a short time and I want to love every second of it. These children are my world and I am so thankful for them.