Merry Christmas from the Ziaja 5!

This is a two part post considering that Rowan is almost three weeks old and I have yet to blog about his birth! Opps! I am having a day to myself with just Rowan and have a date with folding and putting away laundry! Jason took the older boys to his dads house so he could help him run some wiring to their game room.


On the morning of the 7th we dropped the boys off at my Mom's house and headed for the hospital at about 1:30.  We had to wait around and since we had a scheduled c-section, I knew of course that we wouldn't be having the baby right at 4 pm as scheduled. Emergency c-sections went before us of course! Jason and I watched Food Network all afternoon, which was like a semi-vacation in itself because we do not have cable anymore makes me miss the food network as its my favorite channel. :(  Anyways, we kept getting pushed back and finally at around 8 pm I got to walk back to the OR.  The anisteilogist asked me at one point if I was getting nervous because my heart rate monitor skyrocketed! I had to get my spinal administered twice because they didn't tell me what happened, nor do I care to know, but the second time worked but was kinda freaky because my right leg involuntary jumped and spasmed as the doctor was doing it and it kinda freaked me out.  Jason and I were kinda laughing because when the nurse was trying to get Rowan out she was literally on my stomach and you could see her shadow through the blue curtain on my stomach! Rowan Quinn Ziaja entered the world at 8:43 pm.  We realized after looking at photos of the boys right after he was born he could seriously be Corbin's twin almost 5 years later! He looks so much like Corbin! Corbin looks like Jason as a little boy and Grayson looks a lot like me!

Jason took tons of pictures of Rowan in the OR but they are on his phone!:(

Rowan is an amazing baby! He only wakes up 2-3 times a night to eat and he LOVES to be with his Mommy!!!! He is very much a Mommy's boy! He is content with being with me all the time.  We cannot wait to see him grow up! We are loving every second with our family of 5!  :)

I made Jason take one last picture of me pregnant with Rowan before I changed into my gown at the hospital!  This is me with 40 lbs on me! UGH! I still have 18 lbs to lose! Its slowly coming off and I cannot wait until 6 weeks post-partum and I can get clearance to exercise! :)

Our sweet baby Rowan! He was born on 12/7/12 at 8:43 pm and weighed 8 lbs 5 oz!   We were so shocked at how big of a baby I was carrying!!! My biggest baby yet! :) We love our Chunky Monkey! 

Grayson checking out my i.v. and making sure Mommy was ok! 

Lovin' on "blue sheep!" 

Getting ready to go home from the hospital! 

Daddy with his 3rd precious boy! 

ANNNND we have ANOTHER thumb sucker! A week after he was born I rolled Rowan over on his tummy so I could snap his onsie and he started sucking his thumb! 

Grayson wasn't too sure about his baby brother for a while,  but now he LOVES baby Rowan! 

Corbin is a bit obsessed with Rowan and is constantly hugging and kissing on him! So sweet! 

Part 2 - Christmas!

Christmas Eve tea at my parents house! Corbin and Grayson loved it! 

Rowan slept the entire time! 

Grayson with one of million silly faces he does all throughout the day! Love him!!! 

My handsome husband! 

Christmas morning! 

The boys wore their Power Rangers Samurai costumes to our parents houses! LOVE IT! 

Our new bedspread from my parents! LOVE IT! In the 7 years we have been married with have gone through like 5 bedspreads. One Corbin spit up on as a baby and it got ruined in the washer, and it said it could be machine washed! Another few were duvet covers and Jason and I decided we HATE duvet covers and will never buy one again. So when I saw this bedspread on Casey Wiegands  http://www.thewiegands.com/ website I loved it and had to have my mom order it for Jason and I for Christmas! Its from Anthropologie and I love it! 

Our sweet baby sleeping peacefully! 

Eviction from the womb is tomorrow!

Tomorrow we get to meet our sweet baby, Rowan! We cannot wait! I am kinda of in disbelief that 1) its finally here and 2) I will have a newborn again! I am so used to the boys and that they are fairly independent so its going to be weird to have someone who depends on me 100% again. 

  I am also shocked that he did not come on his own!!!  I went to the doctor again today and I was not dilated at all! I will be 39 weeks tomorrow exactly when I have him! My family and Jason keep saying "he likes to snuggle with his Mommy!;)" 

 We go in tomorrow at 1:30 to the hospital and the c-section is scheduled for 4 pm. I know we probably will have him a lot later than that because lets face it, hospitals rarely run on time. So if you could say a prayer for us at around 4 that would be great. I am really nervous this time. I guess with Corbin and Grayson I didn't know I was going to have Corbin turn into a c-section so I had no time to think about it. Then with Grayson same thing, I didn't know I was going to have him that night so it was a surprise. 

  We have to take Grayson to the doctor tomorrow morning because poor guy we think has a sinus infection or something. He isn't feel his best and I don't want to be worrying about him in the hospital. I talked to my sister Carrie today and told her about Grayson and she said well you don't want him to have a virus Rowan could get or something. I guess I didn't think about that! So off to the doctor we go.  Jason may have to wear a mask around Rowan too for a few days because he has had some upper respiratory issues. I talked to my dad though, who is a doctor and he said since I am nursing Rowan and he has the moms antibodies for the first three months he should be ok though. 

Again please think of us tomorrow afternoon. I know I am going to be annoyed because I cannot eat or drink water ALL day long. I drink tons of water all day so this will be extremely annoying to me! 

 Oh well in the grand scheme of things we are just excited to meet our Rowan! :)

Happy 3rd birthday, Grayson

 This post is about 4 days late! Opps! Grayson turned 3 on Saturday. If you ask him how old he is, however, he keeps saying 2. He will not accept the fact that he isn't two anymore!!! 

  He wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese on Saturday even though my mom took them there on Jason's and I's anniversary so we could spend the day together, (it was great we got Christmas presents for the boys, went to dinner at yummy North, our favorite, and got to sleep in because the boys slept over at my parents house with their cousins!) So we went back to Chuck E. Cheese and we had a great time. All Grayson's cousins were there including Jason's sister's little girl, Daphne! Jason's mom came as well and one of his other sisters so it was nice. I made Grayson a cheesecake, he has been telling me for months thats the cake he wanted, but he didn't want to eat it because he had opened all the presents from my mom and didn't want to stop playing so he cried and squirmed while we sang "happy birthday" and then when we were done he went to go play with his toys again! Can't believe our baby is three! Love Gray so much he is such a sweet loving little boy!!! 

  Well I thought Rowan Quinn, baby # 3's name, would be here by now, but nope went last Wednesday and still no change! I go again tomorrow lets see if he is wanting to meet his big brothers soon. OMG Corbin is so anxious to meet his baby brother. He is so adorable he wakes up and give me a hug every morning and then has to lift up my shirt and give his brother a huge hug! Love it! I will miss it!:)  We also mark off on our countdown calendar to his arrival everyday. When we are counting down how many days are left Corbin always screams "baby" on the day Rowan is scheduled to arrive! 

          Random photos from the week of Thanksgiving and Grayson's birthday!

Playing with the Peppa Pig house with his cousin, Morgan! Thanks Morgie for sharing and introducing Corbin to this new show! 

Love those girls!

Intense concentration, playing a pirate game with Daddy and Chuck E Cheese.

Grayson LOVED the Roller Coaster game and playing it several times!!! 

Present time!!! 

Corbin had to help Grayson open his presents! 

This is my 37 week belly shot with Rowan Quinn, my mother referred to me as a "house" at her birthday dinner
at Flemings on Monday night. Yes, thanks I know I have gained 40 lbs, but I am not worried about losing it!! 

Not wanting to do "Happy Birthday!"

Reluctantly blowing out my candles with Daddy!

                                      

Corbin got to go to my brothers Karate class with his cousins! He had a rough time following directions.
Something we are bringing up with our pediatrician because during soccer he had difficulties too. 

Getting tough with his cousin, Reese! 

We went through the car wash and OMG, Grayson was terrified!  Poor kid!  Broke my heart he was shaking so bad! 

Opening presents on his birthday, yes he slept in his clothes from the day before because we basically lived at my parents house and the boys were so worn out playing with their cousins!

Gray was so excited he got his favorites, a big Captian REX from the Clone wars, a book, Llama Llama time to Share, a Lego set, no duplos for this boy he LOVES  real legos and the little lego figures. He also got a Power Rangers Samurai DVD, this kid loves Jaden, the Red Ranger!

  

Daddy's birthday and Baby # 3's Birthday has been scheduled!

 Yesterday I went to the doctor for my weekly checkup. I have been going every week since 30 weeks because my doctor is being extra cautious because my platelets are low. I actually went to a hematologist as well as per the doctors orders. They both just feel this is pregnancy induced low platelet count.  When I went yesterday they had actually gone up a slight bit which hasn't happened since I found out about this 10 weeks ago at 26 weeks.   

   My doctor also told me that we have a c-section scheduled for Friday December 7 at 4 pm.  Yes, our baby could be born on Pearl Harbor day, I will be 39 weeks exactly.   I just read a blog post from a girl I like to read about and she has a december 3rd birthday and hates it. This totally discouraged me! I keep thinking he will be born in November like Grayson was. (I had my group b strep test yesterday.. and I was checked and I am not dilated at all, today I am 36 weeks)  :(Although with Grayson I was put on bedrest at 36 weeks and then had him a week and a day later. No signs of pre-eclampsia or high blood pressure at all this pregnancy.  Jason and I both feel that my not working has everything to do with this fact.

 Today is Jason' birthday and we went to get kolaches and starbucks as a special treat. We never get starbucks anymore so it was nice! We ordered a cake from Amy's ice cream, the Turtle, which was amazing by the way. We also go our cake free because the lady who made it accidentally dropped it and so we received a bigger one because she did't have the smaller one. Score! We also are going to go to Chuy's for dinner! Yummy!!! 

 The boys enjoyed wrapping and unwrapping daddy's gifts! Corbin sang "happy birthday" to Daddy 2 times while snuggled with us this morning in our bed! It was cute!  

  We are looking forward to the next week because Jason took today off and all of next week! The boys are so in love with their Daddy and love spending every second with him when he gets home! I am sure there will be tons of playing Mindcraft, which is what they are doing as we speak with my brother, who is over! 

Soccer and more

Meeting Daddy and Corbin's "idols" from Minecraft (its a video game that Daddy loves) on youtube ! We went to San Antonio to meet the Luclin's and other youtube video games who make videos on youtube of the mindcraft video game.

Corbin with some of the Mindcraft Youtube video makers!

We LOVE OLIVES!  I had a lady at Subway ask me how I got Corbin to eat olives. She thought it was a weird thing for him to like. I told her he loves all olives even green ones! :) More often that not my boys request fruit or a veggie for a snack without my prompting! LOVE IT! They love coconut water too!

Love this! He looks so cute! The boys loved eating them off their fingers!

Wearing Daddy's shirt! This was pre-haircut! He needed one bad! We gave him one that weekend!

Corbin started soccer and Jason is the coach!

"Mommy, I want to play too!!!!"

Daddy is the coach for our team! Jason is doing an amazing job with teaching 3 and 4 year olds! His patience with them and positive reinforcement with these kiddos is amazing! I am one proud wife!

Daddy made me a Mindcraft helmet!!!

 Had to take a picture before Corbin'a second soccer game!

The boys were trying out Karate moves!! :)

28 weeks, ( I am now 30 weeks) I feel HUGE! However I went to the doctor today and I am baby R is measuring right on.  I also have to go now every 2 weeks because Dr. K is wanting to monitor my blood pressure, which is doing alright, and my blood platelets very closely. He said if my blood pressure gets higher I will have to go weekly! I also asked him if my platelets get too low what would happen, and he said that I would have to be put to sleep during delivery. OK now that is something I do not want! I want to see my child at birth! I will have waited 9 long months for this moment!

Love our sweet boys smiles! ;)

At a birthday party!

Making my own peanut butter and jelly for the first time!!!

This picture is from the first week of soccer but the second week was not so great! Corbin cried the entire time. Their shirts are reversible and he had to be gray the second week and Corbin was obsessed with the fact that he was not wearing a the blue shirt (blue is his favorite color.)  I had to put Corbin in time out and we pulled him out of the game because he kept crying and was being a toot! I felt bad because my Mom and brothers came to watch him and he didn't even really play.

Lately

Helping Mommy cut cucumbers, its a butter knife he is using ! I love that our boys choose healthy snacks!

Down on the UT field with Aunt Tori. I guess they got to get a press pass and got to be down on the field once the players took to the field! Jason and I love this picture! Needs to be framed!

Making pizza with Mommy! Gray was excited! :)

At my cousins wedding in Dallas. My sister took this picture of my dad and I on her cell and eek I don't know how to fix the scary eyes I have on my computer.

Lazy day painting!

 Lately we have been relaxing a lot. I went to Dallas the first weekend of September for my cousin Eric's wedding.  Jason stayed with the boys and I got to have a weekend with my parents, brother and my sister. My parents graciously let me fly with them and I got to stay with my sister at her adorable apartment. Makes me really want to decorate this house really badly! Alas, it costs a lot of money and we cannot do that at the moment. We have been in this house for a year since August 27th and I know we will get it together eventually.

 I had a great time in Dallas and did a ton of shopping, I don't know why I didn't just buy a ton of maxi dresses with I was pregnant with the other boys. I hardly wear maternity clothes because I wear maxi dresses and just dresses/leggings all the time this time around.

The bad thing about being in Dallas was that I was on my feet a lot and I started getting a ton of bruising on my left leg, the one with the huge varicose vain down my entire leg. I went to my doctor the week I got back because I had to do my glucose test. I passed and since having Grayson they have changed the test from one hour to two hours to avoid you having to come back to do the three hour. I had to do the three hour test with Corbin but I did pass that one too. I showed my doctor my leg and he wanted to check on my platelets and did a blood test. Well I got a cal that next week and said I needed to come back in because my platelets were low. I went with the boys for a quick 5 minute draw and got a call back a few days later saying my platelets are still low and they are going to have to monitor it.  The nurse said that it wasn't a sign of pre-eclampsia yet and that the doctor wasn't concerned about this yet. So I have been taking it easy as much as possible.