Ashlynn is already 4 weeks old. Time is going so fast. She is such an easy and wonderful baby so far! She only gets up twice in the night. When she was first born I decided to try and breastfeed again. You may remember that I tried to breastfeed Brittany, but after 10 days my milk still had not come in. I joke that we have Logan because I couldn’t breastfeed Brittany! When Logan was born I had decided that I wasn’t ready to attempt breastfeeding again. Since Ashlynn is our last baby I decided to give it another try. Well, she got 2 weeks, but I could never get my supply up to where it needed to be to satisfy her. When we went in for her 2 week check-up she had not gained any weight at all. So we decided to forget breastfeeding and just go back to the bottle. I’ve found that there are some benefits to bottle feeding. For one, I don’t have to do all the night time feedings. Ashlynn only wakes up twice in the night, but I only have to get up once! Also, it forces me to keep up with the kitchen since I have to wash bottles all the time! There is a part of me that regrets that breastfeeding never works out for me. I have no choice, but I’m so grateful that we have the resources to bottle feed. I’m thankful that I don’t have to make formula like my grandmother did when she had babies!

Ashlynn is such a happy baby. She always smiles when she sees me. It makes my heat melt. I love it when my babies look at me and smile! It's one thing that never gets old!

Before Ashlynn was born, I thought that Brittany would adore the baby and Logan would be jealous of her. However, in the last month Logan has grown to adore his baby sister. Logan loves to give Ashlynn her pacifier when she starts to cry. He is always making sure that her pacifier is close by in case she needs it! Brittany on the other hand usually doesn’t pay too much attention to her sister. She loves her, but she’s more interested in playing with her princesses than paying attention to Ashlynn.

We were fortunate enough to have both Brett’s and my mom come for a visit after Ashlynn was born. Brett’s mom came first and his dad actually came for the weekend too. It was so nice to see them! My mom came the day after they left. After she left Logan said, “Grandma takes a lot of pictures!” Brittany responded, “Yeah, but Grammy K doesn’t take that many.” I thought that was so funny because my mom really is the picture queen. She is always asking Brittany and Logan to pose for her so she can get a picture. I guess she just wants to remember every moment she spends with them. The kids always love to see their grandparents and always ask to see them when they leave.

I'm a person who doesn't slow down, even when a new baby is in the house. Three days after Ashlynn was born, we went to church. Everyone was amazed that we actually came to church that soon. I figure the sooner you jump back into life, the easier and less daunting it will be. We were about to walk out the door and suddenly remembered that we needed to pack a diaper bag. I guess we couldn't leave the house without some baby necessities! We finally left the house and I looked at the clock. It was 10:30 and church starts at 10:15. I was shocked to see that we were so late to church. I'm happy to say that we haven't been late since!

So far life as a mother of three is not nearly as difficult as I thought. Brittany and Logan are so understanding when they have to wait for me to help them with something. They play so well together so they don’t even miss having all of mine or Brett’s attention. In fact even before the baby was born, they would often tell me to go away when I would ask to play with them. They do love to play games with Brett and I. They love Candy Land and Hi Ho Cherry-O. It’s so fun playing games with them!

God has truly blessed me with three wonderful kids! I hope you have had a wonderful month!

Love,

Brett, Cherise, Brittany, Logan, and Ashlynn

Daddy and Logan playing

Brittany loves to play dress up!

Logan loves Buzz

A moment to treasure!

Ashlynn

Ashlynn's Birth

Our baby has been born! Ashlynn Grace Best was born on January 27, 2011 at 2:30am. She has quite a story to tell about her birth! I first woke up at 11:30pm on the 26^th with a huge leg cramp. I then noticed that I was having contractions. I decided to start timing them and noticed that they were coming every 7mins. Up to now I figured that they were just Braxton Hicks. After an hour of timing them I decided to wake Brett up and let him know. We sat there for another 30mins and finally decided that we should head to the hospital. We had arranged for our good friend Angie to watch the kids when I went into labor, but she had taken a Benadryl and didn’t wake up to the phone ringing. I knew that she was working that day and would be up at 4am. I wanted to just wait at home so we could drop the kids off, go to the hospital, and not have to make several trips to and from Chandler. Brett decided that we needed to go to the hospital and decide what to do with the kids later. I reluctantly agreed. As we got closer to the hospital my contractions became harder and harder. We arrived at the hospital at 2:15am. Brett checked me in and they took it to the back. They were trying to put the monitors on me, but the contractions were so bad that I couldn’t sit still in the chair long enough for her to put the monitors on. She decided to take me to a bed and told me to put the gown on when I could. I put the gown on and she came back to see how far along I was. She told me that I was at 10cm. I was of course begging for an epidural. They said that they would try, but I knew that it was too late for one. The lady then wheeled me into the labor and delivery room. When we got to the room, there were a bunch of nurses and the dr. in there. I was still begging for an epidural , and they kept telling me that they would try. Although I knew it wasn’t going to happen, it gave me hope and got me through the process. They told me to hold my hand still so they could put in the IV. It took everything I had to not move my hand while they did that in the middle of a contraction. All of the sudden I realized that she was crowning. I asked if I could push and the dr said yes. I pushed as hard as I could and then the dr told me to stop pushing. I said, “I can’t!” In another push she was born. I heard them say the time she was born, but nobody told me what the gender was. I asked what it was and Brett said, “It’s a girl!” It was an amazing experience! I am so grateful that I was forced to experience a completely natural birth, but I would have never chosen it.

Brittany and Logan ended up being in the room with me when I gave birth because there was no time to take them back to Maricopa. I would have never in a million years wanted them in the birthing room, but it ended up being ok. They sat on the bench seat with their blankets and were fine. Brittany was mesmerized by what they were doing to the baby after she was born, and the nurse even let her listen to the baby’s heart. The staff was so great! As it turns out, it would have been really bad if Angie had heard the phone. We wouldn’t have made it to the hospital if we had stopped to drop off the kids. We would have gone in and set the kids up, and by the time we got to the hospital, Ashlynn would have been born! Brett would have delivered her on the side of Hwy 347.

Angie arrived to the hospital just in time for me to go to post partum. Breanna stayed home from school and watched the kids. It was nice to know they were in good hands!

As I mentioned earlier, we had nothing prepared for the baby. We loaned our car seat to a friend who lives in Casa Grande. We were supposed to meet them for a play date on Fri, but that didn’t happen! Brett ended up driving to Casa Grande to pick up the car seat so Ashlynn and I could go home!

When all is said and done, I’m so grateful that God is in control. When I would start to panic that we had nobody to take the kids, I would always hear God telling me to trust him. I did and it all worked out just the way it needed to. Praise the Lord!