Thursday, May 21, 2009

Milestones

Yesterday was quite the day for milestones. First and foremost was the moment that my sweet baby smiled at me. She has been smiling since about 3-4 weeks old, but never looking at anyone. Then, she smiled at my Mother-in-law and then at my Sister-in-law, and then one day at my friend. I have tried and tried and tried to get her to look at me and smile, but she wouldn't. I was starting to think that she didn't like me. Yesterday, she looked at me and smiled BIG! I loved it. I grabbed my camera while she was in the same mood and tried taking pictures of her, but no more smiles. Sorry.

Less importantly, but perhaps just as exciting: yesterday my boys had twinkie for the first time. Actually I was quite proud that Spencer was 7 and only now had his first bite of a Twinkie. Before I get comments from Mom about that not being healthy... They now come in a 100-calorie pack. There are 3 mini cakes in the pack. I had one, Spencer had one, and Carter had one. So, we each had about 33 calories a piece... not the end of the world.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Quote of the day: So sweet

On Sunday afternoon, I was talking to Spencer about a friend of mine who passed away this last week. That night, in his prayer before bed Spencer said, "and please bless mommy's friend who died that he is good in heaven."

What a great kid to want to make sure that people we know are happy, no matter where they are... I love him!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Current photo fun... my sweet children!

Disclaimer: I need to add a bit about one of the photos. There is a photo entitled "Laundry Day" and is an artistic representation of a day in the life of a 4th baby... Mom didn't like that I included it - Sorry.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Quote of the day: Issues, Sir

Carter: I don't feel good today. I had issues at school today.
Me: Issues?
Carter: Yes, EVERYONE in OUR family has issues, right Mom?
Me: That's for sure!


Also, I don't want to forget this but the other day when I was on the phone with Paige, her 3 year old said to her, "Please, SIR, I need a kleenex!" It was the cutest thing I've ever heard.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Final catch up post!

Dave's last week home, after I had the baby, was Spring Break. We tried to do fun things with the kids everyday. On Monday, we took them to a really fun playground with a huge slide.I can't remember what we did the other days. But I know there was kite flying one day. On Friday, Dave took the oldest 3 kids to Harper's Ferry. They seemed to have fun!Friday night, we celebrated Miana's birthday with ice cream sundaes. I can't believe she is 2!

Sunday was Easter, here are their baskets. The next Saturday, the boys started soccer. Carter was too sick to play (fever) so he had to wait until the next week to play. Here are some pictures of both boys...







Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Catching up!

So much happened after bringing #4 home from the hospital, it has been hard to find time to blog. I use my blog as a journal for myself so there are many things I want to document that might be boring for everyone else. Sorry, but here goes.

Tayla had some trouble gaining weight the first few weeks so we took her to the doctor for weight checks every 2-3 days. At the 2nd one, she hadn't had enough poopy diapers and was still very yellow, so the doctor sent her to the hospital to check her bilirubin levels. Everything came back normal and I continued nursing and supplementing with formula. Finally, at 4 weeks old she was back up to her birth weight... yay!

On Monday, April 6, I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up with a strange pain on my right side. I went up to bed and woke up in the night needing to use the bathroom. When I stood up I felt a huge gush. I went into the bathroom I found that my underwear was completely covered with blood. When I stood up, there was so much blood in the water I could not see the bottom of toilet. It was scary. I thought I should wait an hour and see if the bleeding continued before I called the doctor. When I next got up, there was much less blood. I was still bleeding but it had tapered off, I was also passing large clots (golf ball sized). In the morning, I called the doctor and was told to come in immediately. We found someone to watch the boys (it was Spring Break) and Dave drove me and the 2 girls to the doctor's office next to the hospital. I was still bleeding, but not nearly as much. After a quick exam, the doctor drew some blood (to check my iron levels) and sent me for a sonogram to see if there was any placenta left inside (the usual cause of bleeding and clotting). I then went home. I heard nothing until 2 days later at my already scheduled incision check on Thursday. Blood work and sonogram were normal. I had to wait about a week for the bleeding to stop. 2 different doctors gave me various theories about what it was (including a period.) The one that fit the best and that I tend to believe is that it was the internal scar from incision. It forms a scab to stop the bleeding and sometimes that scab comes off before the wound has healed. This causes you to bleed and pass clots... but who knows for sure? I am fine and have not had any bleeding since.
Dave eventually had to go back to work. I dreaded that, but am adjusting. I miss being able to take naps during the day. I miss having the house clean (he's so good at that!) I miss HIM! He hasn't had to travel since the baby was born, but that is quickly coming to an end. Reality will hit big time in mid-May. He has a one night stay (May 14-15) in Detroit and then home for the weekend. Then, back to Detroit forever (I think it's 6 weeks, coming home on the weekends). I really REALLY don't want him to go. I am not ready for 4 kids alone. I know I'm not.
I think that is all I wanted to talk about here... I will post about the kids starting soccer at another time. Thanks for reading!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Grocery Store today

Taking kids to the grocery store is my least favorite activity of all. To me, the grocery store represents order. I know my life with little kids will be in constant chaos, but the grocery store has everything in rows. The rows have a category and everything in the row is organized with like items. It is order and organization in my chaotic world. Introduce children into that environment and all of a sudden bliss becomes hell. Not always, but with me and my children, it is more likely to be a horrible experience than a pleasant one.

Today, Miana first started by throwing all of the food out of the cart. Then, I got her to stop and Tayla started screaming. It was time to check out so I headed to the front. While standing in line, Miana kept standing up and trying to jump out of the cart. I had to do self-checkout because all of the lanes had several people in them and Tayla was screaming so I wanted to get out quick. The lady next to me kept trying to talk to Miana, which made her try to jump out more. Finally, I get through the process and am ready to leave. The lady heard the baby screaming the whole time and kept commenting to her clerk (they opened a new lane next to me right after I started checking out) about the baby and the toddler. She was an elderly lady (I estimate late 70s). Finally, she turned to me and said, "Is there anything I can do to help you?" I smiled and assured her that it was all easy from that point on. We left the store and I thought to myself:

You know it's been a bad day at the store when the 80 year old offers to help YOU out to your car!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Carter's Birthday Party


I hate posting out of order (chronological) but I need to post about Carter's party which was 2 days ago... I promised I would put pictures up!

All Carter wanted was a moonbounce party. I looked into several local places that have indoor moonbounce parties, although they were very fun, they ran $300-$400 for the party. Not quite what I was hoping for. I was willing to spend some money as this is Carter's biggest party that he will ever have (we do a big first party at age 5, then a smaller party at 8, one at 12, and a final party at 16, they get no other birthday parties maybe 1-2 friends allowed to do something with the family). So, I looked into renting a moonbounce, I found a reasonably priced one and reserved it. I sent out invitations to 18 kids ages 4-5 years. All week long, Carter asked if it was Friday yet. Finally, Friday morning came. At 6am, Carter came into my room, woke me up, and asked if it was time for his party yet. The party was to start at 1pm, we had a long time to go. I busily cleaned the house all morning, stopping only to feed the baby and get things for Miana and Carter. Miana worked AGAINST me the whole morning, the worst being opening a package of Ritz crackers, dumping them all over the kitchen floor, and then stomping on them. Also, I was stressing over the weather. It was supposed to rain off and on all day. It started raining at noon. Here was the radar at 10 min. to 1pm. The hand in the middle of the picture is where we live...
All day, Carter asked if it was time yet, just about every 15 minutes. At the moment I was checking radar, this happened...
He did not wake up until there were 6-7 kids here and one of the moms started singing "Happy Birthday" to him. Here is what the moonbounce looked like for the first hour...
(Yes, those are puddles of water) Finally, the sun came out and one of the moms dried it off (I'm still technically in recovery from a c-section and didn't want to rip anything)... She was a life saver!! Here are some kids jumping.
I think everyone had fun and Carter seemed to like it. I am pleased with how everything turned out in the end and I am VERY glad it is over.