2-Week Appt.

Today I had my 2 week check-up and it went well. The girls had wrapped up presents for Dr. Farias and we had fun showing off little guy to her.The whole way home, he cried and now that we have three car seats in the back of my truck, I can't just simply climb back there and make it ok, so the girls and us just sang and sang to him while this is Jonathan holding his ears at the stoplight. He sang too, mind you!

Speaking of doctors, Justus' first appt. last Friday went well. He has regained his full birth weight and then some and his jaundice has greatly improved. His pediatrician is sort of quacky but we like him. He told me strongly to drink a margarita nightly so when he nurses, it'll help him and I both sleep good! That's great advice! I tried it but no significant difference yet!

Catching Up

My mom and dad headed out yesterday, but not before we had tons of fun together. My dad made two lasagnas for us to freeze. My mom did all kinds of stuff...homemade breakfast biscuits and strawberry pies, mopping, folding, pooltime with the girls and my dad loved that especially. We also got Justus dedicated yesterday so they could be there but that's on video.It was beautiful and at baby dedications our pastor picks out an individual verse for each baby he dedicates. The verse he chose for Justus Chandler is one of my favorites. It's Philippians 3:14," I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."During the reading, Justus thrust out his little hand up in the air with his fist out front. We all laughed!

Now we're getting back in our routine and I'm eager to do it on my own now. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...yes, we can!

Baby Bobbi...

On the 11th of this month, we said goodbye to little 19-month old Bobbi Rae McDermott.Bobbi was born on Dec. 28, 2006 with a very rare brain disorder and lung and heart issues. At birth, her mother, Danielle, was told not to feed her because she would die very soon. She wasn't bathed either. Her parents, Danny and Danielle, waited for her to pass. But she didn't. She was such a fighter. She lived week after week for 19 months until she went to be with Jesus on July 1, 2008. She was only 9 lbs when she died but her little 9 lbs did more for the world than we've ever seen. Her father was an atheist until her miraculous birth and survival after which he comitted his life to Christ and is now on the front row every Sunday with his family.
At Bobbi's funeral, everyone was asked to dress casual and wear pink. We all did and it was beautiful. When I see Jonathan's pink polo hanging in the closet, I can't help but think of Bobbi. Jonathan never wears pink but it suited him so well that day with his pink rose that he carried in her memory.Bobbi's service was the day after we were released from the hospital with baby Justus. We were so glad we could make it. My mom stayed home with Justus so we could go. At Bobbi's burial, one pink balloon was let go for each day of her life.
I wish I had a picture of baby Bobbi so everyone could see her beauty. She had blond curly hair, very short and long fingers. She was usually on oxygen and she was fed every 2 hours around the clock by her loving parents. She was never healthy on this earth but she was a fighter and now she's as healthy as anyone could wish for. She usually was wearing pink and she liked music.
Bobbi, you are strong and healthy now and you can walk and dance and play with the angels. We will see you again soon, love. Bye for now.

A Little More!

Just some more of the obvious! Glory and Grace are such proud big sisters to their Justus, who I have affectionately dubbed " Milk Dud," because of how he dribbles milk out the side of his left lip whenever he eats! He's so darn cute, we can't stand it!
we'll try to get pics of his bath tonight, but no promises. It's a pretty big job with the girls prancing around and dribbling water and baby wash all over him! My top priority is that no one drowns or slips in the bathtime excitement!
My Zoloft has been working, I guess. I've had no problems with any sort of depression or even baby blues. We're very thankful for that! Especially Jonathan!
Thanks to our church friends and neighbors who have been bringing meals nightly. It has been wonderful and we love it!!!!!

Some of The Story!

So many of you have asked further details of Justus' birth story so I'm going to recount some of the story as I remember it.
We labored all day Saturday with nothing really progressing. We stayed at home for most of the day and then went for Panda Express and walking, walking, walking. Nothing! So we went and retrieved the girls from my nurse friend Kim's house(she's my friend who I work with, carpool with and her family is amazing), and we went to the store and bought deli meat and let the girls pick out special dinner treats. Went home and finally turned in at 11. Mind you, by this time, I had reshowered and shaved and washed my face since I was sure this stinker wasn't coming tonight but might come in the morning.
Then just one short sleepy hour later, I woke up with strong contractions like I had been having all day but they were now just 2 1/2 minutes apart. In between contractions, I reapplied my makeup because I wanted to have perfect pictures for the delivery! HA! What a joke! Then we waited one hour to make sure the contractions were staying consistent and we called our neighbor friends to come over and stay with the girls. They came quickly and we were off after quietly kissing the girls and thinking we'd never again just have two. Our family was about to grow!!!
We arrived at my hospital where I work at 0130 and I had called ahead to reserve the labor nurse I wanted. Thankfully, I got her. More on Julie later!!!!!
She whisked me off to my room, asked if we were planning on an epidural, Jonathan said yes emphatically, I said I'd see how it goes!!!
Labor, meanwhile, was getting stronger and more painful, but I felt like I could manage as long as I was moving and changing positions often. I walked, I sat on the birthing ball and Jonathan and Julie gave me back massages.At 6am, we were 6 cm's dilated and my doc was called. She said she'd be there at 0645 to break my water so I could progress. At 7, I cried for Julie to please call her because if I didn't have someone show me the end of this pain, I absolutely COULD NOT do this any longer. She called and the doctor had hit her alarm and was now running late. I was mad! I love my doctor, but I wanted her there right when she'd said she would be. Meanwhile, I was no longer managing well with the pain so I was given some morphine that didn't do JACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I mean JACK!
However, Julie had delivered her sone naturally and she kept telling me," April, you're doing it, you're doing this" over and over again while she gave me back massages since the baby's head was against my spine. She never stopped encouraging me through each contraction.
At 0715, Doctor Farias came in and said I was still just at 6 cm's. I cried. But she broke my water and then we began to progress some more, reaching 10 cm's at 0855. During this whole time, I begged and begged for the epidural during the contractions but after they were over, I'd say no, I didn't want it. It was all ready on the table but I maintained that I didn't want it between contractions. Julie and Jen, my two nurses, were the ones who kept me on course. They knew I really wanted to try a natural birth and they empowered me to do it. We pushed for 10 minutes and Justus was born at 0908. The pain was immediately over and I felt like Superwoman!!!!
Would I do it again this way? Probably not, but I am glad I experienced something women have done for years. I can relate now!!!! And it proves that one can do ANYTHING for a season! It does finally end!!! And now, we have this handsome baby to prove it!!! It's all worth it, my friends! Love you! And by the way, my makeup was all cried off and my eyes were droopy! So much for the makeup redo!

More of the Prince!

We are home and glad to have our new baby with us! Justus Chandler is the most precious baby boy ever and we are adjusting well. The girls adore him and kiss him all over and we are learning all about what it's like to have 3 children. We love it although it's a little musical at our house. More to come!!

The Eagle Has Landed!!!

On Sunday, July 13th, 2008, at

9:08am, Justus Chandler Drolet was born. Mom and baby are both doing fine. As you can see by the pic of the baby on the scale he weighed in at 8lbs.8oz, and he measured 20.5 inches long. He is a big one! In case you were wondering, this is Daddy Drolet(Jonathan) writing this post today because Mommy and Baby are resting at the hospital while I stay back home with our lovely princesses, Glory and Grace. Thank you all for all your support, words of encouragement, and prayers. Your friendships have meant alot and we look forward to what God has in store for our future with this new addition to the Drolet home. Be blessed and goodnight.

Labor or Labor Not???

Ok, so this child and I had our first argument today. Little Drolet runs his own timetable, apparently.Yes, for our many friends and family who are wondering and thinking about us, I went into labor this morning at 1am while I was on my shift at work. Went down and got checked out and we are at 3 cm. I contracted every 4 minutes for 8 hours and came home to shower and kiss the girls, thinking we would head back up to the hospital soon thereafter. Well, soon thereafter never came. The contractions are painful but now they're very far apart so we're hanging out....waiting with anticipation!
All the nurses even said they would see me back today and had my room ready!
This is our first natural labor as the girls were both induced so I want things to just happen on their own,hence no induction plans right now. I just didn't think it would take this long!!
I'm gonna go eat some turkey and take a bath and more blogging when there's something to blog about!

The Happiest Ever!

Well, tonight I was just thinking about how happy I feel right now. The excitement and anticipation of having a new baby and a boy, at that, are definitely alot of it, but I've been hit with this feeling before in the past few months and I'm trying to figure out what it is.
It's surely not the great money we make, being that we're bringing in less than we ever have and I will shortly be on unpaid maternity leave!
It's not our fancy cars. They're both paid off and have a plethora of dings, dirt and fabric stains to reveal their character!
It's not our mansion of a home. We're renting, most of the walls are white and half of our pictures and wall hangings are in storage! Although, I must say, I do like our little house alot!

It's this deep abiding confidence that wherever we, the Drolet family, go, wherever we are, whatever we do, we are in God's hands. We are being watched, prayed for, protected, adored, loved on, instructed by a Sovereign God.

The one thing I have learned most since our move to the desert of Arizona is that I am not to necessarily know what tomorrow will bring. Planning for the future is helpful but trusting that my plans will come to fruition is not. God cannot use a vessel full of their own agendas. I'm starting all over in this area of my faith.

So, this happiness, this confidence is sort of new for me and it will be long-lasting, because I'm learning now what makes one truly happy. Everything we have is from God, everything we are is because He put it there and everything we will do or have done is by His grace and for His glory.
This is true happiness.

Proverbs 19:21
There are many plans in a man's heart,
But the Lord's counsel-only that will stand.

Tucson Zoo on July 4!

We went to the zoo this morning and had a blast. We purchased a year membership and are enjoying it well.

The giraffes got up real close to us and the lion roared really loud right while we were looking at him. Glory and Grace called him Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia. And so he was...for the day!

We all got our faces painted and had fun with that too.

Doctor's appt. yesterday went well. We're at 2 cm's dilated with 2 weeks before the dudate. I'm so excited, words cannot explain. All is ready, except thechanging table. I have to get a pad and litttle cover for it, but crib is up with a blue sheet and the swing is ready and we are now just cleaning and organizing and getting so excited about his debut!!!!!!!

Little of This, Little of That

This has been the greatest July 4 ever and it's still not over!!!!! Grace has adopted the new babies' first lovie and enjoys holding it and carrying it around the house.
Last night, we had a magnificent monsoon, complete with thunder, lightning, heavy, heavy rain and a rainbow right before it all. We have never had such rain while we've been here and it was so fun to eat mint chocolate chip icecream and watch it pour!
Aunt Pat, Jonathan's dad's sister, is in town from Colorado and we have had a great time with her. She did the girls hair last night and this morning taught them how to spread icing on the cinnamon rolls.

Baby Shower # 2!!!

This Sunday was another great baby shower! As you can see, we have some great friends here in AZ!!! In the middle is Cami on the floor. She and my other friend, Angie, in black, sitting to my left in the last pic, were the hostesses.My cousins, Veronica and Erika are in the first picture.Little Drolet got pretty much everything he needs! We should be good. Just diapers, that's all I'm lacking.So he can get here anytime now. We'll be ready, little guy!!!

Here and There and Everywhere

Just a few things I had to mention. One, my sister, Pamela, has a great boyfriend named Eric and I couldn't believe I've never blogged about him. He and Pamela are pretty serious. He's 23, lives in Austin, has a great job as a computer something or other...uh-oh, I should know this, and he takes good care of Pamela. This is him with Glory, who's showing off at the moment. Pamela has been accepted into nursing school and begins this fall. I'm really excited for her. We'll be the "nurse sisters."!!

Here's our 27 1/2 week prego pic. I'm really stickin' out but I feel great!

Third and way important is the picture of Glory with her first American Girl doll. She asked for this for her birthday from us and she got it. American Girl dolls are collector's dolls. They're pricey but beatiful and you can add on to them through the years because they have tons of accessories and clothes you can purchase for b-days, Christmas, etc. This particular doll is Julie from the 1970's collection. She's really cute and Glory can't go anywhere without here.

Take a look at what these dolls are all about on www.americangirl.com