Two Weeks

Our newest addition is two weeks old already!  (Well, 2 and a half if you want to be technical.)  I'm happy to say that she is a much better sleeper so far than her brother or sister were.  They nursed every 2 hours, which means it would be 2 hours from start of feeding to start of feeding... so if it took 30 minutes to feed them they'd only sleep for 90 minutes and then be up wanting to eat again.  Oye.  :)  So far Eliana sleeps (yes, sleeps) 3 hours at a time during the night.  She'll nurse, sleep three hours, and wake up to nurse again.  I'm so thankful, because as tired as I feel now I know it would be so. much. worse. if I was getting even less sleep.

This past week has been a bit rough, as Matthew was in Minneapolis, MN for work.  He just started a new job on Monday, for a company called ApexIT.  He had received an unsolicited offer about 3 weeks ago, and for numerous reasons (including a very sizeable raise) he decided to take it.  He misses the people at Tyler Tech, but so far he has received several emails from other consultants at Apex welcoming him and everyone he's talked to has been very nice.  He was warned his first potential project was for a 'difficult' client.  He had an initial interview with LOL (the client) and it went very well and they wanted him to handle their stuff, so he's been in their corporate office all week kicking off the project.  He wrapped up his week on-site this afternoon.  When he finished up with the guy he's been working with, the guy told him he was very happy with the work he'd done and was going to tell Matthew's boss he needed to give him a raise!  lol.  Not bad for a guy doing work he hasn't done in over 2 years!  I'm pretty darn proud of him.  :)

I'm super thrilled that he'll be back home tonight though.  It's been tough having three children 4 and under all on my own.  Well, not all of it has been tough, but parts have been.  I guess it wasn't maybe as bad as I was thinking it would be, but I'm still glad it's Friday and he's on his way home.  It's just nice knowing that if Joshua is in the tub and the baby starts crying that I have backup.  :)  I did make it out of the house with all three kids on my own though... twice!  They were all dressed and cute... I however, had my washed-the-day-before hair up in a ponytail, my face without any makeup, jeans, and a pajama shirt hidden under my coat.  Hey, at least the kids looked good.  haha.

While we were out, I had no less than five people stop me to tell me how full my hands were.  Guess I'm one of those parents now... you know... the ones with the brood of children following them.  lol.  The looks on their faces were pretty funny when I told them that yes, my hands were full... and I wouldn't have it any other way.  Or the woman who was commenting that now our family wasn't even as far as the boy to girl ratio, and I said "That's ok... maybe the next baby will be a boy."  It was too funny.

And just in case anyone else is wondering:
Yes, they are all mine.
Yes, they all have the same father, and we are still happily married.
Yes, I DO know what causes this, thankyouverymuch.  Ahem.

Memories of Grandma

Growing up, I was blessed to have an amazing and wonderful grandma.  I was even more blessed by the fact that for almost all of my life, she lived with us.  She was there when mom was working long hours.  She was there when I'd come home crying after a tough day at school.  She signed permission slips when I'd forgotten to ask mom, or write me notes to excuse me when I was late for school.  She made my lunches as a kid, and helped do my dishes when I got older and wanted to 'cook'.  :)  She taught me solitaire and the value of sending a handwritten note.  She knew about joy, pain, and incredible sorrow... and she walked with me through a wide range of emotions.  She always knew when I needed her to talk to me, and when I just needed a shoulder to cry on.  Sometimes, she'd even cry with me.  I have so many memories of her.  She was completely entwined in my childhood and adolescence.  I am so thankful for all those days I had with her and the privilege it was to have so much of her time on this earth.

Some of my favorite memories of my grandma are...

Watching her in the garden, and how it impressed me that she didn't mind bugs

How strong and sure her hands were as she worked, and how rough they felt

Making pb&j for my lunchbox

Seeing her sitting at the counter playing solitaire when we got home from school

Eating her Sour Cream and Onion Lays and Diet Pepsi (even though the rest of us preferred Nacho Cheese Doritos, lol)

Her ordering butterscotch sundaes from DQ

Writing 'dust me' on her dresser... then doing it for her a week later.  She hated dusting and pretty much refused to do it.

Her definitive elastic waisted 'grandma pants'

Shaving her legs for her once in a while

Her bugging mom to cut her toenails... and mom putting it off until grandma cornered her with the clippers.  :)

Laying on her bed before bedtime talking about boys, mom, and everything else

How she always encouraged me to forgive others and see the best in them, especially my own mom when we didn't see eye to eye.  She reminded me that mom was doing her best and I needed to give her some grace.

How good she was with great grandma, and how determined she was to take care of her.

Watching her make pie crust.  I swear she snuck something in, because mine never turned out as good as hers.

How bravely she faced her cancer, surgeries and chemo that eventually robbed her of her mind

Watching her crochet straw hats with her big jar of bag balm (I swear I can still smell the stuff)

Taking small odd jobs to help pay the bills while mom was in college

How she never hesitated to tell me she was proud of me

How easy it was to talk her into getting us kids a treat when she took us to the store with her

How she always smelled faintly of baby powder

The time we made attempted to make lemon meringue pie and she used instant lemon pudding...

When we made pie crust with rancid shortening... eew!  In our defence, it was butter flavored shortening so the yellow color didn't tip us off.

When we were making spaghetti and realized we didn't have sauce... she suggested using ketchup.

Sitting next to her in church and hearing her sing, especially Blessed Assurance and The Old Rugged Cross

When she gave me my first real Bible when I was baptized, and how much I treasure what she wrote in it for me

How she took the time to send me letters while i was away at dads as a kid or in college later on

Fingering through her jewelry box, she had some fun stuff in there

When she got put in the nursing home and ended up with a boyfriend!  She always called him 'sweetie' or 'honey' and when I'd ask her who she was talking about she'd say 'oh you know, what's his name.' She never could remember it.

How she always told me what a great mom I'd be someday.

When we'd tease her about something and she'd say, "I'm a tough old bird, you're not getting rid of me that easy!"

Last night this amazing, loving woman passed away.  As I rocked my newborn daughter, I couldn't help but think about how we come into this world so small and new... and (hopefully) leave it old and wrinkled.  Life is so short, and our time on earth passes so quickly.  All we can do is live the best we can and hopefully touch a few lives on our way through.  My grandma certainly touched mine.  She knew Jesus and wanted me to know him too.  For that reason, I know that this worldly goodbye isn't forever.  I am confident that I will see her in the Kingdom someday... with a perfect body and mind.  Then we'll never have to say goodbye again.

A Baby Story

Those of you that have been asking for the birth story and waiting so patiently, thank you.  :)  I've been dutifully trying to nap when she is napping, so posting wasn't really my top priority.  Right now, all 3 kids are napping... which would normally mean I should be resting too.  However, she is due to wake up very shortly.  Which means if I were to lie down, she'd wake up at the exact moment I fell asleep.  So I'll wait and nurse her, then I'll try to nap.   Ok, here's the story:

Here is my last belly pic, taken at 38 weeks:

On Monday night around bedtime I noticed that I was having more contractions than usual.  I timed just a couple and they were around 8 or 9 minutes apart.  I had a ton of 'false' labor with Joshua, so I wasn't thinking too much of it (just hoping).  Every time I got up during the night to go to the bathroom - which is about every hour or so - I noticed I was still having contractions and they were getting stronger, especially when I was up and moving around.  Finally around 4am I decided to try taking a hot shower to see if they'd stop.  They didn't, but the shower sure felt good.  :)  I got out and kind of started getting a couple last minute things for my hospital bag.  I'm starting to get a bit excited at this point, but still have myself half convinced it's a false alarm.  Around 5am I was debating calling my brother to come be ready to stay with the kids.  I felt so incredibly unsure whether him.  Was it really worth it to wake him up?  What if the contractions stop?  But at the same time, I was also thinking I need him to be here early because what if it goes as fast as it did last time and I have the baby in the car?  What if I wait and he doesn't make it here as quickly as I need him to later?  In the end, I called him.  He and Shevon got here around 5:45am... and of course my contractions seemed to stall out a bit.  Are you kidding me?!  Matthew suggested we go for a walk (even though it was only 18* outside) around the block.  We stopped at the gas station and got donuts for all of us.  Hey, if it was a false alarm I figured I'd need to have a peace offering ready for my brother since I did wake him up before the crack of dawn.  The contractions picked back up again as we walked and continued after we got back and ate our treats.  Contractions were now coming about 5 minutes apart.  I called the midwives and told them I'd be heading in shortly.  Then the darn contractions stalled out again!  I was so frustrated.  By now I was sure that the baby was coming today, the contractions felt real and were more uncomfortable... well, when I was actually having them that is.  At 8:30am we decided to just head in to the hospital and see what was going on. 

We pulled up and I told Matthew to just leave my bag in the car.  By now I'm thinking it was a false alarm and we're just going through the motions.  I get up and checked in and Karina (my midwife) came in to see me.  I was 4cm and 80% effaced.  That's IT?  I spent 20 minutes on the monitor and had all of 2 mild contractions.  I'm thinking, the nurses are down there laughing at me and we're going to get sent home.  Ugh.  They suggested I get up and walk a bit just to see.  So we did laps around the maternity ward.  Laps, and laps, and laps.  Every time we'd wander by the nursery, we'd pause and peek in at the babies... sigh... and keep walking.  About two hours or so later they put me back on the monitor and I was having a few contractions, still not great ones.  (Though I had been having decent ones while walking.)  We were going to get sent home.  I called my brother to let him know not to take the kids to our friends house, that we'd be home before he had to head to work.  I called Pine (who was going to watch the kids) and told her we wouldn't need her so she could go ahead and go to her planned Bible study.  A few minutes later Karina came back in to check on me.  5cm now, still 80%.  She decided we weren't going home.  My contraction pattern wasn't great, but I was dilating on my own... so we were told to walk some more.  I called my brother and my friend Tiffany (who had family in town).  Thankfully she was willing to help me out of a tight spot and take the kids until Pine was done with her study and could come get them.  I breathed a sigh of relief and we started walking some more.

Another hour (or two) goes by and it's time for the monitor and another check.  More contractions now, still not a great pattern.  I'd have 3 or 4 contractions about 3 minutes apart... then a 5 minute break.  I told Matthew that I didn't care what my pattern looked like, this baby was going to come out.  I could just tell.  Karina checked me again and I was at 6cm.  She said she'd be back again in about an hour or so.  I sat on the birth ball and we walked some more, and then we sat and messed around on the computer for a bit, then walked some more.  At 2:30pm Karina came back and I had (again) stalled out and was still right about 6.5cm.  She asked what I wanted to do - did I want to go home and wait a bit, keep walking, break my water...?  Matthew and I talked about it and there was no way I was going home.  At the same time, I'd been up since 4am and didn't want to use up all my energy just trying to keep contractions going by walking the floor.  We decided to commit to having the baby and allow Karina to break my water.  We were all very sure that my labor would pick up quickly after that.  Boy did it.  Immediately the contractions got much more intense and crampy.  Matthew asked me if I wanted to get up and walk after I'd spent 20 minutes on the monitor, and I told him I would not be leaving the room.  I sat on the birth ball and he rubbed my back and shoulders.

 A little 'too' comfortable still...

By now the contractions were strong, but nothing unbearable.  I was breathing through them just fine.  I noticed that I'd start tensing my forehead and my toes... so during the contractions I focused on keeping those two areas relaxed and taking long deep breaths.  After a little bit, I decided to try getting into the tub.  I mean, the thing is like 3' deep with jets all over it... and it's in my room.  How could I resist trying the thing out?!  Matthew ran the water for me and I climbed in.  It. felt. great!  lol.  The contractions remained super intense, but the jets helped it to be bearable.  Matthew did a great job talking me through the contractions and helping me stay focused.  I'd told him the things my doula had said that were helpful while I labored with Joshua, and he'd taken it to heart and did exactly what I needed him to.  I kind of turned on my side in the fetal position in the tub, trying to keep as much of my body underwater as possible (not an easy thing when you're belly is 42" around!).  I'd been in the tub for about 10 minuets or so when it happened.  I kinda felt like it might be... and then I was sure.  "Matthew!"  I yelled.  "I'm pushing!"  All of a sudden everything was in fast forward.  He ran and shut the jets off in the tub.  I immediately protested and commanded him to turn those things back on!  If I had another contraction in the tub I sure as heck wanted those jet things working.  He dutifully turned them back on and ran to get the nurse.

Next thing I know she's tearing into the bathroom yelling "Nononono!  We get in trouble for this!" as she grabs my hands and hauls me up out of the tub.  (She was deceptively strong for her size!)  They ran me across the room and got me up onto the bed, where I returned to the curled up fetal position.  (Karina had mentioned early in my pregnancy that delivering while on the lying on the side was particularly helpful in avoiding tears.... and I remembered that.)  So I'm in the bed, soaking wet straight out of the tub, shivering.  I had my eyes closed to keep my focus, but I remember feeling (Matthew) trying to dry me off as best he could.  I was told to go ahead and push when I felt like I was ready.  My ever present sense of humor was still there, I looked at a nurse and said "Now where's my epidural?" with a smile.  She told me "It's too late now, but if you want one when we're all done you can have one!"  I thought she was teasing me back, but Matthew said she asked him afterword if I still wanted it, lol.  Anyway, as soon as the next contraction came I started trying to get that baby out.  The difference in pushing between this time and Joshua was night and day.  With Joshua, I was so panicked that there was no concentrated pushing... it was all involuntary... and scary.  This time I was much more 'with it'.  I'd get a deep breath and push for all I was worth.  I was actually still trying to focus on keeping my toes from tensing, haha.  I pushed for 3 contractions.  I remember the sense of relief when i felt the head come out.  I knew it was all downhill from there.  The rest of the body came out on the next easy push and Karina said "Open your eyes, open your eyes!" and I did just in time to see her lift this tiny baby up onto my tummy.  Matthew said, "She's a girl!"  i had to look to be sure, because I had felt so sure I was having a boy.  Sure enough, we had a baby girl.  She was screaming, covered in white sticky stuff, and absolutely perfect.

We held onto her for almost an hour before surrendering her to be weighed, measured, and bathed. 

Our sweet baby girl was 7 pounds 7 ounces and was 20" long.  The reason it had been so hard to get her head out was that she came out face up.  My nurses couldn't believe I hadn't complained about back pain/labor, but I told them I'd had horrible back pain the entire last trimester of pregnancy so I guess I was kinda used to it.  At any rate, I guess I impressed them.  lol.  They said that also explained the poor contraction pattern, because her head wasn't pushing on things quite right.  I also got more good news, no tears (and thus no stitches)!!  As soon as the main event was over, an amazing tiredness came over me.  Like, hard to keep my eyes open kind of tired.  I'd successfully brought my third little life into this world, so I guess I deserved a little rest.  :)  I still found myself slightly in shock over the fact that I had a little girl.  In all honesty, I had been hoping for a girl (probably because I have so.much. cute stuff of Brielle's just sitting in boxes that I couldn't wait to get out again) but was pretty convinced we were having a boy.  I was excited regardless.

Eliana Grace (pronounced el-lee-AN-na, not anna, but like auna in the word sauna) was born at 4:43pm.  One hour and 45 minutes after my water broke.  She nursed great from the beginning, but was much sleepier than my other two babies were which was kinda nice.  I was actually trying to wake her up every 4-5 hours to nurse where my other two were demanding to be fed every hour or two.  So that meant I got a bit more rest as well.  We went home the next evening at 6:30pm.  My milk came in that night and she immediately started sleeping 3 hours at a time, again a nice change from Brielle and Joshua.  They'd go two hours from start of feeding to start of feeding... so if it took 30 minutes to eat they'd sleep 90 and then want to eat again.  Eliana will nurse for 30 minutes and sleep for 3 hours.  Score!

I still can't believe I have three children.  Wow.  I am so incredibly blessed.  When my brother told Brielle she had a baby sister, she squealed and said " Yes!  That's JUST what I WANTED!"  She wants to hold her all. the. time.  :)  Joshua is very observant, he likes to stand and watch her.  He gives her great kisses and hugs goodnight, and helps me pat her back.  He also goes running to her as soon as he hears her cry, trying to give her toys or books.  He's such a sweetheart.  So our little family is complete... for now...

Here's more pics:

 Just got home!

 Daddy x 3

 All my offspring.  :)

 Tiny sleeper

 So sweet

 Miss Eliana Grace

Baby feet

Candy Land

I've been really bad about posting... but I've been busy.  Between pregnancy symptoms (some normal, some not), the fatigue, etc. I've had to pick and choose what I spend my time on.  And honestly, when Matthew comes home from work and the house is a disaster, it wouldn't impress him much if I said "But honey!  I got a blog post up..." Yeah... that wouldn't go over well.  :)  So since it's been so long since my last post, the idea of 'catching up' has been a bit intimidating.  I've decided to just go ahead and do short posts instead of one giant post... at least it's in more manageable pieces that way.  At this point, I'm all for easy.  :)

While Matthew was gone for work, I let Brielle stay up 'late' one night so we could have some mommy-daughter time.  She desperately wanted to play Candy Land, so that's what we did.  We played three games.  I won the first game, after which she pouted and got mad because she wanted to win.  She wasn't too impressed with me when I informed her that I would not be letting her win.  We talked about being a good sport and all that good stuff, and she decided to at least fake a better attitude and play another game instead of sulking and going straight to bed.  She ended up winning the next two games, stinker.  At any rate, we had a good time.

It amazes me how quickly she's growing up.  She's not a toddler any more, as much as I want to think she is.  No, she's definitely undeniably a little girl now.  I'm excited and saddened.  I so loved her toddler years.  I'm sure my hesitation stems from knowing what I'm leaving behind (and how much I loved it) and having no clue what is coming at me next.  I am positive I will continue to enjoy her, but I still miss her being so 'little'.

For a long time, she's been very interested in how to spell words and how to sound things out.  So we've been working on that a fair bit lately.  She's loving it.  She thinks it's pretty cool to get out her reading books (the BOB series) and be able to read one to me!  How well she does definitely depends on how focused she is at the moment, but she's picking it up pretty quickly.  Then again, that kid has always loved books.  So far we've read a few larger chapter books out loud together, and her favorite has been Charlotte's Web.  I honestly don't think I'd ever read it until I read it to her.  How sad is that?  Haven't decided what we'll read next... we need to get back to the library again.  What was your favorite book as a young child?

I also caught a rare quiet moment with Joshua.  He was 'nuggling with the kitty and Brielle's blanket.  :)  Sweet boy.

Happy Helper

Last night was a bit rough.  I've been struggling even more than usual with sleep.  Despite taking unisom and relaxing in a hot tub before bed, I still find myself restless and awake for much longer than I'd like to be... sometimes a couple hours.  Which makes no sense, because I'm totally exhausted. 

So anyway, last night was kinda one of those nights.  I was in bed at 10pm, and fell asleep sometime shortly after 11:30.  At 1:45am I heard Joshua start screaming in his room.  I got up and went to him, and he was just clinging to me and kept saying "mama, mama".  Poor little guy.  I picked him up and snuggled him, trying to calm him down.  As soon as I picked him up he quit crying and just wrapped his arms around my neck.  So we swayed like that for a few minutes and I tried to put him back in bed.  As soon as he anticipated what I was trying to do, he started screaming again.  What?!  Since I was in a unisom induced semi-coma, I carried him in and asked Matthew if he could go rock him for a few minutes.  He got up and took Joshua.  I climbed into bed as Matthew left the room.  About 30 seconds later I hear Joshua screaming again and calling for me.  I got back up and got him a sippy cup of milk, thinking maybe he was just a little hungry or something.  He was fine until I went back to the bedroom.  Cue screaming again.  Matthew sat in the living room with him for about 15 minutes, at which point Joshua had calmed down a little bit, but was still crying off and on.  He brought him into our room and snuggled him between us.  It was a bit of a tight fit, between me and my huge belly, my gigantic pregnancy pillow (which Matthew lovingly named "Susan"), Matthew, and now Joshua.  Little man was calm now, but squirmed until he was practically on top of me.  He kept saying "snuggle... mama... snuggle"  Totally cute - until I had to go to the bathroom again.  About that time, he popped his head up and started trying to climb to the window.  Ok... time to go back to bed little boy. 

I had no more than said the word 'bed' and he started screaming again.  By now it's 3am.  Matthew picked him up and carried him (still screaming) back to his bedroom.  I went back in to him after about 5 minutes, not picking him up, but trying to remind him that he needed to go to sleep.  He wasn't going to have it.  So I went back to bed.  A few minutes later we hear a banging... I asked Matthew "Is that the downstairs neighbors banging on the ceiling?"  He mumbled that he didn't know... but apparently Joshua felt guilty for causing such a fuss and decided to go to sleep.  Whew. 

I woke up at 8:20am and could hear someone unloading the dishwasher.  At 8:30 Joshua started making noise, so I got him and headed for the kitchen.  Brielle was in there, happily unloading the dishes.  She told me "I'm putting away all the dishes I can reach, and if I can't reach where they go I'm putting them on the counter so you don't have to bend over, cuz it hurts you when you bend over."  Aww!  Sure enough, she emptied the entire dishwasher.  "My" dishes were stacked nicely on the counter, ready to go.  It took me all of 2 minutes to put the last few dishes away, and indeed, it was very nice to not have to bend over 30 times.  She was quite proud of herself for being able to be such a big helper.  She cracks me up when she says "Isn't it nice to have such a helpful daughter?" and "Don't you love having children who help?"  She always says it in such a matter of fact way.  Sometimes it seems she's implying that I had children because they'd be helpful.  lol.  I remind her I did not, in fact, give birth to her simply so I'd have someone to unload dishes or vacuum for me.  I do appreciate that she does those things, but that's not why I had children.  :)

After breakfast, I washed Joshua's face and started putting dirty dishes into the dishwasher.  I look up and see Joshua trying to wash Bingley's face with his washcloth.  Oh goodness.  He's having a grand time, and Bingley (while thoroughly unimpressed) endured it rather well.  He tossed me "why me" look before the washcloth was again tossed over his face.

Missing Daddy

This week has been a little bit of a long one.  Matthew has been doing lots of driving across Wyoming, Nebraska, and back to Wyoming.  Doing lots of demo's and kicking butt.  :)  He does such a great job (everyone says so.. not just me!) and I'm so proud of him.  I always wanted to marry a man I could be proud of, and he sure fits the bill.  He's a hard worker - even when no one is looking - which seems to be such a rare quality in people these days.  He's also an amazing daddy.  I've never seen a man so patient or willing to let a child help.  When he's cutting stuff up in the kitchen and Brielle wants to help, he pulls her up a chair and sets her up cutting her own stuff.  When he is going to work on his motorcycle and she wants to help, he takes her with and actually (gasp) LETS  her help!  She is so proud of herself, especially after their garage time.  She'll come in and tell me all about the carburetor and the spark plugs.  :)  I love it.  I'll have to sneak out there with the camera one of these days and snag some pictures.  Matthew will probably roll his eyes and make some comment about how "not everything needs to be documented"... but I think he'll enjoy looking back on those photos later on and be thankful I took the time to take them.

 

Anyway, this picture is actually from before daddy left, but I hadn't gotten it posted, so I'll do so now.  The kids got moving quicker than I did one morning and when I came out to the living room, I saw this:

 They were set up at the table, having a tea party together.  Neither one was screaming... they were both just having a good time together.  It's pretty rare that Joshua is sitting still, let alone that they're sitting still together.  They were both quietly pretending to eat their cakes.  Made for a very nice start to the day.  :)

 

The next day, 3/7/13, I made steel cut oatmeal for breakfast.  Both kids LOVE hot breakfast cereal stuff.  Oatmeal (regular, steel cut, or baked), cream of wheat, etc... they'll eat it all.  Well, Joshua had already had a cup of milk so I guess he wasn't as hungry as usual so he decided to play in his cereal a bit.  He managed to make quite the mess.

I even had to vacuum so we wouldn't be grinding the oatmeal into the carpet throughout the day.  Whatever posesses people to put carpet in the dining room (especially of a rental unit) is beyond me.  It makes no sense - other than it eliminates the noise of chairs scooting across the floor I suppose... but still.  Dining room floors should be washable.

 

Over the weekend, I made an offhand comment about wanting cookies... so what did my sweet husband and daughter do?  They made cookies.  :)  Oatmeal chocolate chip... and my husband even used the grain grinder and used fresh flour!  I came to check on them right after he'd put the first few cookies into the oven and I noticed that the dough was still very sticky.  He peeked into the oven and sure enough, the cookies were turning out more like giant oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes!  I advised him to add more flour until the dough was 'right' (yes, I'm so technical when it comes to baking!) so the cookies would stay thicker.  I helped and we doctored the dough and ended up with some very yummy cookies.

Then it was nap time for a tired boy!

 

We got up on Monday morning and took Daddy to work so he could pick up his vehicle and get on the road.  Brielle has been counting down the days till he comes home.  We pretty much did nothing on Monday but clean up a bit.  I was pretty sore and uncomfortable.

 

On Tuesday after nap, Brielle wanted a popsicle.  We'd gotten some last week as a special treat.  Dreyers Lemonade Fruit popsicles... yum!  She scarfed hers down and I was curious to see what Joshua would do with his.  He hasn't had one in quite a while.  He didn't disappoint.  :)  He was so funny.  He kept saying 'Bite!' and trying to bite it, but he'd barely touch his teeth to it before pulling back and making a funny face.  Eventually I convinced him to suck on it - though he seemed to prefer licking by that point. 

For those of you that might want more than just a photo... here is a little video of him.  :)

 When Brielle came out, he decided that he'd share with his big sister.  Not that Brielle minded.  After I quit recording, she started trying to get him to ask her if she wanted the rest of it... the little sneak! 

 Again, a quick video...

I also got a little treat... but mine came from the FedEx guy.  See what he brought me?!

Ok, so it wasn't actually from the FedEx guy, he just got to be the lucky one to drop it off and make my day.  :)  My dad had offered to buy one as a combined birthday present for Brielle and I, since she likes to help so much in the kitchen and my hand held beaters emit a yucky electrical smell and threaten to die on me every time I use them on anything thicker than whipping cream.  So yay!  I haven't managed to use it yet, but I will soon!

 

This morning we broke up the monotony with a play date!  Brielle woke up and ran to the bathroom and started brushing her hair.  I asked what she was doing and she said, "Getting ready."  I asked what she was getting ready for, and she said, "Braylee's coming over, I can't look like a ragamuffin!"  Of course, how silly of me!  :)  Braylee and Nora - and their mom of course - came a bit later and I ended up being that parent that has to constantly apologize for my child's behavior.  Joshua was a terror!  If the girls hadn't been playing in the bedroom, he would have been put to bed.  He threw a block and hit Braylee on the head, then he threw a hard ball and it hit Tiffany, then he whacked Nora on the head with the doctor kit... it was nonstop with him all morning!  Of course as soon as it was pointed out to him that his friend was crying, he'd go give nice touches and say sorry... but two minutes later he was at it again.  Not sure what got into him.  Don't get me wrong, he likes to throw things and that's something we've been working on, but he isn't usually so determined to throw things at people!  So he went to bed immediately after they left.

 

So now it's Wednesday afternoon.  Brielle has an eye doctor appointment in the morning to double check her glasses prescription... and then daddy comes home in the evening!  :)  A neighbor once told me, when I'd made a comment about missing Matthew when he was gone, that we just hadn't been married long enough.  So far that has proved to be total baloney.  The longer we've been married the more I miss him when he's gone. 

So come home soon, honey!



Midwives and Creamy Hot Cocoa

Monday afternoon.  I had my bi-weekly appointments with the chiropractor and midwives today.  Matthew took some sick time and stayed here with the kids.  With all the sickness around and the fact that the roads were covered in ice, I didn't want to take them out with me.  I'm very glad he was able to stay with them, because there were a lot of kids in the waiting room at the midwives office... sneezing all over the toys.  Not that my kids don't sneeze all over the place from time to time, but it's not yucky when MY kids do it.  lol.  So anyway, I got in and everything still looks good.  Baby is head down and low.  Heart rate was about 140ish.  The good news is we've hit the point where they wouldn't try to stop labor if it started.  They'd much prefer if baby got at least 2 more weeks of solitary confinement, but chances are baby would be fine it born now.  :)  Yay!  

After nap, I made hot cocoa while Joshua ran circles in the kitchen yelling "cocoa!  cocoa!".  Nice to know I have my own little cheer team when it comes to the intricate task of cocoa making.  :)  I'll go ahead and share my recipe... cuz it's good and I'm generous like that.  Everyone should have a recipe for yummy cocoa.  I used to like the packet stuff.  But it always took 2 packets per mug  to make it not taste like watery chocolate.  Now?  Now I can't even drink the packet stuff.  I refuse to order it in restaurants because I know it's going to be Swiss Miss served in a fancy cup.  I'd rather have yummy cocoa in a plain old mug at home... if I really wanted to I could put it in my own fancy mug.  :)

Creamy Hot Cocoa

serves 4

1/3 c. cocoa

1/2 to 3/4 c. sugar, depending on taste

pinch salt

1/3 c. hot water

3 1/2 c. milk

1/2 tsp vanilla (or almond extract - my fave, or mint...)

1/2 c. cream (or just more milk)

Yes, the milk jug is empty.  I had my priorities straight.  I made the cocoa... then took pics!

Mix first 4 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Let boil, whisking constantly to prevent scorching, for a minute or two.  Slowly add the milk while stirring.  Heat until hot, but not boiling.  While that's heating up, pour a little cream into each mug.  Once the cocoa is hot, stir in the vanilla and pour carefully into the mugs. 

It seems I always end up with at least some on the counter.  (Or, like today, all over ME.  I'm going to say it's just because my belly is sticking out so far... totally not my fault!)    

This is my view looking down... see my toes?



Then enjoy.  I was going to get a picture of Joshua too, but his was already gone and he was wandering around trying to find some more.  :)

I especially like using whipping cream for the little bit of milk in the mug... because then I have some to whip and put on top too.  :)  

To keep Joshua away from Brielle while she drank her cocoa, we snuggled in the glider.  He is quite a good little snuggler when he wants to be...

And 30 seconds later he's back to this...  :)  I love my little man.

HAHA!  As I was typing, Matthew came out to get some cocoa too.  He drank it then headed to the office with a mug of water.  Joshua saw it and asked for a cup.  Matthew got him a cup and poured some of his water into it, gave it to Joshua, and went back to the office.  joshua sat down and drank a bit.  Then Brielle came into the living room.  He stood up and carried it over to her, saying "Bey-o, wa mm?"  which obviously means, "Brielle, do you want some?"  She said "No, thank you." and he immediately dumped the rest of the cup of water down her back!  (She was still in her nap attire - just panties.)  lol.  What a little stinker!

Busy Weekend

What a whirlwind the past couple days have been.  Weekends always feel a bit like that, which means Monday always feels like it comes about a day and a half early.

Matthew got home on Friday evening, and since it was so nice we decided to pick him up and go to the park.  Well, we managed to pick him up and get some dinner... but by then it was dark and getting colder.  Darn it!  So we drove out to Worden to pick up Mr. Bingley from our fabulous friends.  The kids weren't too bummed about missing the park.  Sure, they had to settle for playing indoors instead of outside, BUT they got 3 playmates.  Guess it was a decent trade.  We made it home way after bedtime and got the kids to sleep.

Saturday morning we got up right on time (much to my dismay).  No sleeping in for these kiddos.  Matthew and Chappy went shooting at 10:30am.  He was super excited to get our handguns fired and get the new shotgun and .22 Mag sighted in. 

I did some vacuuming and general house stuff.  I picked up all the stuff off the kids floor so I could vacuum in there, and Joshua decided he rather liked the horse up a little higher...

He also helped Brielle re-arrange her closet.  Ok, help might be the wrong word.  He pulled a bunch of her clothes off the hangers and then came to me like this:

Matthew got home just after the kids got up from nap, so he took them to the park and I bummed around at home worked on Joshua's scrapbook.  My goal is to have it done before baby arrives.  I finished Brielle's scrapbook about 2 weeks before Joshua was born, so apparently this is just my 'way' of doing it.  I'm intending to do a scrapbook for each child's first year.  I always do great keeping up on it at the time until about the 3-4 month mark.  I figure it must be because that's about the time that they stop sleeping quite so much and start keeping me busier.  So yes, that's right where his scrapbook had been sitting... 3.5 months.  I'm up to six months now, with all my pictures already printed and organized (a very time consuming part of scrapbooking), so I'm very confident that it will be done in time.  Well, unless this baby comes in the next week or two.

Sunday morning we hung out and rested, did some laundry, and played.  Brielle and daddy played a new game that she got for her birthday.  It's a Dr. Suess game called, "I Can Do That!".  She had a blast.  :)  I however, was barely able to move, so I got to watch from the couch.  I will be so thankful when I have a beautiful baby to snuggle and my back/hip pain go away.

Matthew and Brielle polished their boots (and mine) and then Brielle got her first lesson in gun-cleaning.  I took a picture, but I think it's better if it remains off the internet.  :) 

Totally mundane, but I went to give Joshua a cheese stick for snack, and this is what I found in the fridge... now who do you suppose...?  (Why yes, those are bite marks!) 

We picked up a bit before Bible study... but about 20 minutes before study was supposed to start, the sky totally went black and the wind picked up.  Within minutes it was hailing - hard.  Everyone called to cancel due to super slick roads... so we got to hang out instead.  I went back to my scrapbook and Matthew entertained the kiddos.  He even made his famous Fried Potatoes and eggs for dinner.  Brielle really really wanted to help him cut potatoes.  So, being the wonderful daddy he is, he gave her a potato and a butter knife and let her have a go.  She gets so focused!  Of course he added her potatoes to his when he cooked the second batch.  Brielle was so proud of herself.  :)

I love it when he makes those.  He's offered to teach me, but I've declined for two reasons.  First of all, I love that they're something we only get once in a while.  If I could make them and we had them more often, we might get tired of them.  Secondly, I like that it's something HE makes.  :)  When I request it, I know I won't be the one cooking dinner.  I like that it's his special dinner (or brunch, or whenever I get a good craving for it) and something that only he makes.

Don't get me wrong, the man knows his way around the kitchen.  It's not like this is the one and only thing he knows how to cook.  On nights when we have a lot of leftovers to use up and I'm at a loss, I turn him loose in there.  He always comes up with something to use everything up and it (almost) always turns out great.  I'm horrible like that.  I'm more of a recipe gal, though I am getting (a little) better at the fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants cooking too... he's just still far superior.

A Re-Run

Are you kidding me?!

Do you ever feel like you're life keeps replaying certain scenes over and over again?  I sure do... and it does happen.  Want proof? 

Remember this?

Or this one?

Well we can now add this one to the list...

Yes.  That's right.  Baby powder... again. 

The powder was up out of his reach, honest.  What the pictures don't show is the pile of dirty clothes tossed onto the floor and the laundry basked flipped upside down next to the dresser.  This little boy is creative I tell ya!  I keep trying to remind myself that his problem solving abilities will be an asset to him someday... instead of just being a hassle right now.

Anyway, we had all been happily playing in the living room.  He rolled a big ball down the hallway and chased after it.  No big deal, right?!  Except he didn't come back right away.  It's fine, there are toys in the bedroom too.  After about 2 minutes I asked Brielle to go see what he was doing.  She ran off to the bedroom like a good little helper.  Two minutes later she comes running back to me saying, "Mom!  Joshua is doing something naughty!  He's dumping baby powder EVERYWHERE!"  Are your suspicions up?  Mine were.  Anyway, I follow her back to the bedroom.  There is my little man, up on the dresser.  By the look of his face, the powder got everywhere as he was trying to dump it into his mouth.  Yep that's my son.  He wouldn't touch sloppy joes and squash at dinner, but give him a bottle of baby powder and he'll feast!

Then I look around, and I see this:

There is also baby powder on Brielle's pink toybox, baby highchair, play vacuum, and rocking horse.  Hmm.  Something isn't adding up here.  He is on the dresser, and he had to have climbed up there to reach the powder... yet there is powder all over the room.  Brielle ran back to check on him and didn't come say he was being naughty right away.  There was way too much powder scattered for him to have done it in the 30 seconds it took me to get back there when she came to get me.  Also, mysteriously there is some white residue on Brielle's leg as well.  Hmm... is it just me or is this case pretty easy to figure out?  I asked her if she had had any part in making this mess.  To her credit, she fessed right up and admitted it.  She even told me all the places she'd dumped powder, which ended up being all the places besides the dresser, or course. 

I thanked her for being honest about the mess, talked about the fact that she'd lied and tried to get her brother into more trouble when she had come and told me that he was being naughty with the powder.  She got a spank and was sent off to get a rag and start cleaning up her mess.  I cleaned up Joshua and the dresser, and vacuumed the floor.

Then, since it was already 6pm, I brushed their teeth and put them to bed... an hour early.  I.was.done. 

There is some good news though.  The bottle of baby powder?  It's officially EMPTY!  Thank goodness.  If it hadn't been... it would have been garbage anyway.  I'm done with baby powder.

Misc. Happenings

Guess I'm not great about updating every day.  That's one benefit to facebook I guess... it only takes a minute or two to check in.  This blog, while more personal, does take a bit more time all at once.  However, I'm sure if I quit facebook entirely and just did this (even every 3 days), I would still reduce my 'screen' time.

Anyway, it has been three days since my last post, so let's play a bit of catch up.  :)  On Friday last week I was having a massive craving for sugar cookies... probably because I found this delicious look recipe and I was curious to try it out.  I admit that those brightly colored sugar cookies in the grocery store often look good.  I love that they are so soft, thick, chewy, and sweet.   So I was thinking that a copycat recipe would be fun to try.  I tell you what, I was NOT disappointed!  Those cookies are ah-MAZING!  They taste rich and buttery (probably has something to do with 3 sticks of butter for 28 cookies...) and real.  No artificial waxy taste.  I ended up being too tired on Friday night to finish them, so we got up and frosted them on Saturday morning after breakfast.  The kids had fun "helping".  Here's a peek.

On Tuesday morning we headed to Worden for a playdate at our old house.  Brielle loves going back and visiting her pink bedroom, but most of all she loves the chance to see Lizzy.  Her face lights up when she sees Lizzy come running out of the garage when we pull up.  I'm sure she does that to everyone, but Brielle thinks it's just for her.  :)  Who am I to tell her otherwise?

Emilie and I sat and chatted while the kids all played.  We mixed up a loaf of bread too... because what fun is a day without a kitchen project?!  I will admit that it is a bit strange working in my old kitchen, which is now Emilie's kitchen.  lol.  She has it set up very nicely in there, and we are so happy that they are loving the house.  We may not always understand the way God works, but are confident that they belong in that house.  :)  Matthew is raring and ready to start our next adventure once the house is officially theirs... if only we could figure out for sure what exactly our next adventure should be.  haha.  We have some ideas, but are still praying about it.  We definitely want this next home to actually be a home for us for a while.  Despite what some people seems to think, we do not actually plan to continue moving every 6-12 months or during every pregnancy.  I get a little sensitive to comments about our 'history' at times, but Matt reminds me it's our life and we've done the things we've done for good reasons - so who cares what other people want to think.  Guess I just need tougher skin sometimes.

Ok, I got a little off topic there.  Forgive me.  :)  As we were getting ready to leave we let the kids run around and play outside a bit.  It was about 48* but the wind was cold!  Didn't stop the kids from having some fun though.

They ran wild for about 20 minutes, until ears were red and it was time to head home.  We said goodbye to Bingley (Emilie is wonderful enough to even dog-sit for us once in a while so he can spend more time outside and enjoy a puppy-play date since they have 2 dogs too.  How cool is that?!)

This morning we took daddy and dropped him off at work.  He has since run off to Wyoming with a woman from work.  :)  When I say that to him, he gives me the look, and reminds me that Lucy is super sweet - and approximately 65 years old.  lol.  I've met her, and I agree that she's very nice.  A guy from the office also went.  He has a demo for his software product on Thursday morning.  Lucy and Tim have stuff to do all day Thursday, so they will all head back on Friday.  It's about 8 hours away, so they'll be home sometime Friday late afternoon/early evening.  I am glad that he doesn't have to drive all by himself.

After we got home, the kids had a little breakfast and then Brielle and Joshua snuggled up on the couch with a pile of stuffed puppies and a baby doll.  Of course by the time I thought to take a picture, Joshua was about over the sitting and snuggling part and had decided to get down and move on to the 'I just want to throw them' part.  For your information, Brielle does not like that part.  :)  I got him set up with something else so she could finish playing with puppies that were not flying through the air at her head.

Since then it's been a pretty lazy day.  I'm going to have to figure out something for dinner here soon... ideas? 

Goofy Girl

This afternoon Brielle and I were watching The Biggest Loser on hulu.  She likes watching the people get healthier and adds another aspect to her understanding as far as why we do things the way we do.  I love hearing her say things like, "Wow, this is really sweet... good thing we don't eat this every day, huh mom!"  And yes, she has actually said that.  She loves running around the house for 'exercise' too.  :)  Anyway, as we were watching an Allstate commercial came on.  We usually mute and minimize the screen during commercials, but for some reason we didn't make it that time.  The guy at the end (as always) says, "Are you in good hands?"  Brielle turns to me and says, "Mom, are we in good hands?"  lol.  I said yes... that we are in the BEST hands - God's!

A couple hours later I heard her singing "Head and shoulders, knees and toes" with Joshua.  I didn't think much of it until I listened a little closer and realized she was singing "Head and shoulders, knees and penis".  Apparently boys have their own version of the song and I never knew it!

Pregnancy: 33 Weeks

New belly picture!  Since I didn't take any pictures up until about 30 weeks, I figured I'd better take one a week until the end to make up for it in baby's scrapbook.  I place the pictures around, so I can see my progress in a clockwise direction.  That's been the first page of both Brielle and Joshua's scrapbook.  So here's this week's picture (taken on Friday the 22nd). 

Why yes!  It is almost time for another picture already!  Told you I'm not always great at getting things up in a timely manner.  I'll do better next week, er, this week.  :)

The good news is that we finally have a plan in place for when I go into labor.  All I keep hearing is that the midwives think that baby is going to come early.  I'm thinking, a week?  two weeks?  a month?  How early!?!  Of course they have no idea, and they are just guessing (based on the contractions I'm having and the fact that we've done this twice already).  But I'm thinking, I have things I need to get DONE before this baby comes... how much time do I have?!  Guess I better just get busy and risk being bored at the end of this pregnancy... sitting around with nothing to do but watch soaps and eat sugar cookies.  :)  HA!