Operation Potty Train Emory -- Complete!

love her!

On Jan. 2, against my will, we started potty training Emory. Scott has been on me about it for months but I was definitely not going to start whilst pregnant! I promised him I would start in Jan whether I wanted to or not. I don't know why, but it just seemed like such a daunting task. Thankfully God gave me Liberty. As it turns out, it's not as hard to be a mommy when one of my children is Liberty Grace. She basically potty trained Emory--taking her to the bathroom a hundred times a day for two weeks :). I was telling Scott the other day that Emory was basically trained and told him Liberty did about 80% of the work while I only did 20%. She promptly disagreed saying I only did about 1% :). I told her I get extra credit for the day I had to clean poo off the kitchen floor! She conceded. So we have one less kiddo in diapers and I'm so glad its behind us. My girls are getting so big!

Archer - One Month Old

I cannot believe my sweet baby man is already a month old! Why is it when I'm pregnant a month seems like an eternity and once the baby is here time warps by at an unreasonable pace?   

I am more in love with this little guy everyday. I still have trouble believing I actually have a BOY!  So far he has been so sweet and easy.  He sleeps anywhere from 2-4 hours at a time although the 4 hour stretches are still pretty rare.  Typically during the day he still wants to eat every 2-3 hours.  I wish I knew how much weight he's gained.  He looks enormous to me already.  He has almost outgrown most of his newborn clothes.

This is my favorite outfit :)



There are times when he is awake that he will sit happily and just look around.  However, most of the time he prefers to be held.  I actually have to wear him in his sling or front carrier to clean and cook or I would never get anything done. 



Things are still pretty simple around here--eat, sleep, and change a few hundred diapers.  The girls adore him, especially Emory.  I can't wait for the next month when he starts to wake up more, smile, and start making all those sweet baby noises.

I am in complete awe of what a miracle Archer is.  I am so thankful the Lord would trust us with another one of his precious creations.  It's amazing to think before the foundation of the world the Lord already had this little guy in mind.  He already knew that I would be his mommy and I'm thrilled that our fourth little blessing is this little man!

New house...but not our house

When Scott and I started the process of building our new home we anticipated it to take 3-4 months tops. Now 8+ months in (counting the time it took the architects to get us a plan) we have found ourselves extremely frustrated on more than one occasion. We have to constantly remind ourselves that God's timing is better than ours and if he's telling us to put on the brakes then there must be a reason. Hmmm...someone remind me again next week when I've forgotten again :). Our situation became even more stressful when the owner of our rent house didn't extend our lease past January. We now have to be our of the rent house by the 30th and our new house is a least a month if not longer from being complete. Soooo....where are we going to live? Up until a couple of days ago, we had NO idea. Just the thought of having to move all of our stuff plus 3 kids twice is overwhelming. Not knowing where we were going was stress overload.

As it turns out, one of our friends has an extra house. Literally a house that is just sitting empty that they are going to let us stay in. But, that isn't even the best part. The house is fully furnished! The only things we have to move is our bed and our clothes. There are even dishes in the cabinets! That means we will only have to pack and unpack once!!! We can live in this house rent free for as long as we need and it's conveniently located in Edmond. When options like living in an RV for 30 days we're going through my mind, this is truly an amazing blessing! We looked at the house today and honestly it is so much better than even our rent house that I can't help but feel completely overwhelmed with gratitude at the generosity of our friends . Just the fact that we will have two bathrooms again is enough to make me want to do a little happy dance. So, now we are looking at the best of a bad situation.

Super thankful!

Archer Flynn Haas

Archer Flynn Haas was born December 15, 2010 at 12:15 p.m.  He was 7 lbs 5 oz and 20 in long.  He showed us right away that he has a set of lungs.  Out of all four of our children, he definitely screamed the loudest and the longest!  It was a precious sound.

Big Boy!

The labor and delivery couldn't have possibly gone any better.  Although I had been having contractions off and on for 2 weeks, I didn't actually go into labor until Thursday.  I had a doctor's appointment that day and was already dilated to a 4.  My contractions started about 4 p.m.  I called my parents to let them know about my progress and they decided to go ahead and drive to OKC rather than risk missing the delivery.  I was so nervous that it was another false alarm since the contractions weren't regular yet.  Fortunately about 5 a.m. Friday morning the contractions were coming fast and hard.  I woke everyone up and we headed to the hospital.  Since my parents and my sister were all in town, we decided to take both Liberty and Emory to the hospital.  We were checked in and in our room by 7 a.m.  I totally chickened out and ended up getting an epidural :).  After that it was just a matter of waiting around.  By the time it came to deliver Archer, Liberty had decided she would like to stay and see her brother be born.  I had been trying to talk her into being in the delivery room for months but she insisted she wanted to wait with Papa in the waiting room.  I was so excited when she decided to stay.  So Scott, Liberty, Mom, and my sister were all there to welcome our little man into the world.  My OB was in surgery, so her partner ended up delivering Archer.  She was absolutely wonderful!  Overall our experience at OU was great.

Archer meeting the family for the first time.



We couldn't be more excited to be adding a sweet boy to our family.  It still seems so wierd to have a son!  He is so sweet and, of course, all of us just adore him.

First Smiles

Archer is only 3 weeks old and already staring to smile. I love these first big open mouth smiles :).

In Haas Family News

There are a couple of big things going on at the Haas house.  The first is obviously the baby.  This pregnancy has been a little challenging because I am SO tired.  I know I was tired with the other three, but I seriously think this time its worse.  Maybe I'm getting too old.  I don't know, it definitely feels different.  On the bright side though, I'm not as sick this time as I usually am.  Although I have plenty of nausea, I'm not actually throwing up.  Yay!!  I'm praying that the second trimester will usher in energy and less nausea!

We also have not decided who is going to do my prenatal care.  I will be 10 weeks tomorrow and it is a completely new experience for me not to have already seen an OB and have some sort of plan in place.  We have narrowed the hospital down to OU and we will probably see one of the midwives there.  Our first appointment with one of the Midwives was a bust.  Scott really hated her and it just wasn't a good fit.  Since there are now 4 midwives at OU, I'm hoping one of them will work out.  It would be nice to have everything set before the end of my first trimester.

The other big thing going on right now is that we are about to start building our house.  Yes, after two years of working toward this goal, it looks like it is for sure going to happen this summer!  It has been seriously stressful to say the least.  We have just hit one obstacle after another.  Then, when everything finally did come together Scott and I have had a real challenge deciding what house we are going to build.  I'm not even sure we are 100% sure yet.  Nonetheless, its down to two.  We are just waiting on a few last details to make the final selection.  I'm just ready to go.  It is has been such a long, emotional process andow that I'm pregnant, I just don't have alot of spare brain energy to devote to it!

Prayers for the baby and house are much appreciated!

We're Expecting!

Our newest little addition should arrive sometime in December.  We are so excited.  I feel like I have been praying for this sweet baby for so long.  Although I realize it hasn't really been too long since Emory isn't even two yet!

Even though we have been hoping to conceive, this pregnancy truly came as a shock to me.  Last Wednesday we were on our way home from church and I was complaining about how nauseated I had been feeling for the past few days.  Scott and Liberty started joking with me that I was pregnant.  By the time, we got back to Guthrie I was feeling so paranoid that I stopped at Walgreen's for a pregnancy test.  It was about 8:30 p.m., and I took the test immediately when I got home.  I really couldn't believe it was positive.  It took all my will power not to take the other test immediately.  Instead I waited til the next morning.  Of course, the second test was positive as well :).  Scott and I have never been good at keeping our baby news secret.  So, even though I am only 7 weeks, the whole world gets to know :).

Liberty is very excited to be a big sister again.  I am so thankful because until recently she wasn't sure she wanted us to have any more children.  She didn't leave my side for a full 24 hours after we told her.  I really think this is the first pregnancy that she will really remember so it should be so fun.  She is also very excited that Emory will get to be a big sister now too :).

As previously stated, I am already feeling quite yucky.  It isn't too terribly bad though and I'm hoping it won't get any worse.  The morning sickness gets better with every pregnancy, right?  Or, is it that the older I get the harder it is?

We haven't decided on prenatal care yet or where we will deliver the baby.  Right now I'm leaning toward OU Midwives.

I hope you will join us in celebrating and praying for this new little life!