More Pictures

We had a beautiful weekend, and the boys spent a lot of time outside. Levi has been having fun for a few days with the sidewalk chalk. Usually I would prefer a deck to a concrete patio, but a patio is much better for chalk drawing! This weekend, all the boys got into the act:

Caleb


Micah


Noah


Troyer's masterpiece


A message from Samuel:


Levi helped too:


The side of our house is concrete block with a stucco like paint on it, perfect for chalk.
My graffiti artists:


Last week was also finally nice enough to get the lawn mowed, so here is a picture of the first mow of the season!

Two Birthdays

Last week was Jacob's 2 month birthday. He had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, and got the usual check up. He weighed 11 lb 10 oz, which was kind of disappointing, I thought he'd weigh more. I checked on the other boys' stats, and it turns out he is my smallest at 2 mos old, even though he was my second biggest at birth. I wonder if it had something to do with all the colds going around last month. He's still in the 50th percentile, so the doctor wasn't worried. He also got 4 shots, plus an oral immunization. Poor baby! I hate that look they get when the doctor jabs them; kind of "how could you have let something like this happen to me???!!!" Luckily at this age they forget quickly, so by the time we were at the van, he was calm and drowsing off to sleep.

This Sunday was Micah's 5th birthday. He had been looking forward to it all month, and we spent last week reminding him to behave and not get into too much trouble so he wouldn't miss it. Well, guess what? He had about the worst weekend ever, in terms of behavior. He was naughty in church (he kept running out of the sanctuary and running up and down the halls alone), so when we got home, he was sent for a nap. Instead of napping, he yelled and got Levi up from his nap, and made more noise. When sent back to his room, he was caught opening the windows and screens next to his bed. They have child locks on them, but he knows how to release them. For this, he lost movie night priveledges and was sent to bed early. Instead of staying in his room, he snuck out and into the kitchen where he was caught sampling the brownies.

How much trouble do you think this kid can think up before he realizes he's making life worse for himself?? Well, Sunday morning, his birthday, he woke up before everyone else and came out and sat on the couch with me. I kissed him and said "Happy Birthday!" and we snuggled fora while. I got him breakfast, which he ate. He wandered off, but I had reminded him that he needed to be extra good to make up for the day before, so I wasn't worried. The next thing I hear is Levi waking up from a deep sleep screaming his head off. I ran to his room to find Micah standing next to the crib with Levi's sippy cup in his hand, and Levi dripping wet. Micah had taken the lid off and poured the water on Levi while he slept. Ugh, back to his room for another time out, and no birthday presents or cake.

Today I had hoped would be different, but nope. He snuck into his older brothers' room and stole some of their things, then ran away instead of handing them over when he got caught. Maybe we'll eat the cake in front of him without sharing. Do you think he'd get the message??? I don't think I could be so cruel....

Spring is Here! Finally!

Today we had the first day of normal temperatures for the whole month. Yes, it was warm at the beginning of the month, but it was actually warmer than normal. Today it was in the upper 60s, and bright and sunny. It was perfect. Noah and Samuel are spending the weekend at MIL's, but I decided to take the rest of the boys to the park. We haven't been there since that day it was almost 80. Oh yeah, the day Levi fell sick with that awful awful bug that hung around here for 3 weeks. Troyer wanted to go over to a friend's house instead, so I only had 4 boys with me. We were there well over an hour, but the sun was so bright that now I have a headache from squinting! The silly park doesn't have any trees (not that there would be leaves on them yet) and all the benches face south. Not sure what brainiac planned that. Anyway, the boys had a great time. The water fountain was already turned on, so of course Micah and Caleb got soaked messing around in it.

As promised, here are some pictures:

Jacob in his swing:

Still a bit of a rash, but much much better than before.

And here is Spring at our house:

What, you say? Why is there a dead plant right at the corner of the front step? Well, it is a mum that blooms every Fall. Normally I'd have it pulled out by now, but it's been so darn cold and rainy that I haven't been out to weed yet. Yes, notice all the weeds mixed in with the blooms. They weren't there on Wednesday, I swear.


This is Caleb telling me all about how many weeds there are. Those stalks on the left are some kind of evil fern weed. They grew in last year after Chris pulled out the bushes. Even in the dead of winter I could not pull them up. They will have to be chopped, or dug up.


And here is the beautiful garden growing under the tree in our front yard. But, you say, they are just dandilions! So what, I say! They are pretty, and they tend themselves. I hope they fill the whole spot under the tree. We all know, of course, that they will forsake their place of birth and move out into greener pastures, leaving me with no lawn and also nothing to cover up the dirt under my tree. sigh. Oh, and yes, the lawn needs to be mowed too!

So Much to Say, So Too Lazy to Get My Butt Here to Post

You know, I write posts in my head all the time. Several times a day I think about what I would write about what is going on in my life. I have stuff to say, I have pictures of it to post. But can I get around to actually writing it out? Do you think those pictures are not still in my camera? Of course not. Sorry. Every day I get online and spend my time checking out my message boards, and reading everyone else's blogs. I get annoyed at the ones who don't update often enough. And then I log off. Sigh. I'm soooo lazy.

I'm sure you are wondering how we are all doing here after letting you know that we had a cold coming through the house. Well, it got us all, and stuck around for over 2 weeks. It turns out that the rash that Jacob had was indeed viral, because it finally cleared up last week. He is once again a beautiful baby. I think we also coughed our last cough about the same time. Unfortunately, Levi managed to catch a stomach bug just as he recovered from the snot bug. He ate a great Easter supper, then Sunday night puked it all up. Poor Chris, he was holding Levi while the two of them napped on the couch. Ick. Luckily it all ended up, um, not on the couch LOL. He went on to puke for another 2 days, and then moved on to the runs. Meanwhile, Micah woke up Thursday morning (early, 4 am, ugh) puking. His didn't last as long, thank goodness, and it also hasn't moved on to anyone else. I hesitate to say it, but I think we are all finally well now. That was a looooooong 3 weeks.

During all of that illness, life went on, of course. We went to MIL's for Easter supper. It was very good, and the kids all ate pretty well. She hid eggs outside for them to hunt, even though it was only about 40 degrees and WINDY. It was torture for us adults to stand out there while they searched, but they had fun. Thank goodness 24 eggs get found pretty quickly when split between 6 kids!

Sunday morning, Chris went up in the attic and brought down the baby swing. Putting it up is always a hopeful gesture; you never know if a baby is going to like the swing or not. Most of mine have not. Since I was feeding Jacob at the time, Troyer decided to try putting it together by himself. I was very impressed that he did it! He only needed a few hints, but remember how old this swing is and don't even suppose there are any directions left, LOL. It did make us a half hour late for MIL's house, because we were enjoying watching him figure it out, but oh well for her! And even better - Jacob loves it! He likes to swing even when he stays awake, though we certainly can't leave him in there for hours. It's good enough to get me a bathroom run, lol. He will also sleep in it, and that he can do for hours. Woohoo!

On Monday, Aimee came for a visit. She brought the cousins, and the boys were super excited about it. These poor kids just don't see enough of each other. She stayed for a week, though she took a side trip to Michelle's for one night, since it's only a few hours further to her house. Much easier than trying to make a separate trip. It worked out well, because it gave us a chance to tidy up the house a bit mid-week; it was getting ugly with all the kids too excited to clean up after themselves. Hoo Boy, I should have taken a picture of Troyer and Noah's room on Saturday morning, just before Aimee left. It was scary, LOL. We had a great time together, and Chris watched the kids (all of them except for Jacob, so 8 - I'm very proud and grateful!) twice so Aimee and I could go out together. Aimee managed to get out of here and get home just in time to miss the worst of the weekend storms, but she cut it close.

And that brings up one more thing I was going to post about; but then again, you can guess what I'm going to say: Where the Heck is Spring????? It has been in the 40s for over 2 weeks here, when the average temp should be 60. It has rained and been windy, and overnight we've had snow flurries. I can only be thankful that I don't live farther north, where they are getting feet of snow! But I tell you, my poor daffodils and tulips and hyacinths are looking very sad this year, with trying to survive all the freezing weather. I did finally see some light at the end of the tunnel, in the forcast this morning I saw a 65 for Sunday, and a sun! Dare I get my hopes up?

Oh, also while Aimee was here, I had my 6 week post-partum check up. I was disappointed (but not surprised) to see that I had gained back 8 lbs already. At about 3 weeks I had lost all my baby weight and felt great. That darn Sam's Choice Indulgent Trail Mix is Evil! I really want to try to lose more weight. My total short-term goal is 25 lbs. My dream goal is 50, but let's not even go there right now, LOL. I'm not really prepared for the commitment that would take. I had managed to lose 13 lbs before I got pregnant last year, so I'm hoping I can do it again.

The boys also had an appointment last week, for the dentist. This time 4 of them went at once. I am so pleased with my dentist; he was able to schedule them so that they were all done within an hour. They all did really well, too. This was Caleb's first dentist visit, and he was nervous, but he did great. Poor Troyer, though, had to be reprimanded for poor brushing. He has a problem with heavy tartar build up. He was told this last fall at his last appointment, and he had been doing really well with brushing regularly and flossing. But it seems he has been slacking off. He actually admitted to the dentist that he hadn't brushed in two weeks before his appointment! Ack! You don't suppose he was the only one to get in trouble for that do you??? Oh no, the dentist came out into the waiting room and reprimanded me for it too! I could have died right there in the office. Nothing like getting parenting advice from your dentist. He suggested that I ground Troyer from t.v. until he starts brushing again. Well, duh, I thought we had taken care of that! What do you think Troyer's excuse was? He said "well, you stopped telling me to brush, so I stopped brushing." Huh??? Oooh, I was not happy with that one! Unfortunately, 12 year old boys are not known for their ability to empathise with their mother's embarrassment and take it upon themselves to remedy it. I will be having to inspect his teeth every night again. sigh.

On Friday Noah and Samuel had to take their standardized tests for school. In Pennsylvania the law states that homeschooled children be tested in grades 3, 5, 8, and hmm, I don't know how often in high school. So I had 2 due this year. I knew Noah would do fine, as he is a good reader, and he did not disappoint me. He scored grade level for spelling and math, and 6th grade for word recognition (he has to read a list of words aloud and gets credit for each word he pronounces correctly) and 9th grade for reading comprehension! Woo hoo! Samuel, on the other hand, I was worried about. We are still struggling with his reading, though he has really come very far. He likes math, but because we have to concentrate so much on the reading, he has not had the chance to progress beyond grade level in math, though I think he could. He did score right on track with math. I was pleasantly surprised that, while he struggled through it, he managed to score right on grade level for reading comprehension and word recognition! Woo hoo! Spelling, on the other hand, he only scored 1st grade. I think it might be because he tried to spell boy "boi"? What? I have no idea where he got that from! You'd think in *this* house that is one word they all should be able to spell! LOL It was suggested that I take him to a therapist to have him tested for reading/visual disabilities. While I wouldn't submit those results to the school district, it would still help me to know for sure, and also would be helpful to learn if there are any therapies that could help him read a little easier, rather than struggle so hard. But all in all, I was pleased with the results.


I realize that I have not been keeping up to date on my reading list, or my movie list. I still have not gotten around to learning how to add that feature to my side bar (did you read at the beginning of this post, about my being lazy?), so for now I'll just add it in my posts:

We have watched Zoom, with Tim Allen. We really enjoyed most of the movie, though the ending was disappointing. Not so much the story as the fact that it seemed that Tim Allen decided to just stop acting at the end. It made you stop and go Huh? What happened? It bothered the boys much less than it bothered me and Chris.

We also watched Flushed Away, the CG animation about rats. It was really pretty cute, on the level with Wallace and Gromit to a point. There were a lot of jokes snuck in that you might miss the first time around, and went over the boys' heads, but were cute. And despite it being about the sewer and having singing slugs in it, was entertaining.

This week we watched the Ant Bully. Actually, the boys watched it, I never did get around to it. They liked it, Aimee rated it "cute" and Chris thought it was dull. I can't tell you more than that, sorry, LOL

Since we were together, Aimee and I rented a chick flick, Must Love Dogs. It was a good girls' movie. While I don't think there is really much chemistry between John Cusak and Diane Lane, I liked the story enough. I'm also still wondering how Cusak's character supported himself if he never sold any boats. Those materials aren't free.

On my bookshelf, or rather, from the library's, I have been reading some of Catherine Palmer's books. She wrote a series that I read last summer that I enjoyed, so I was looking forward to more of her writing. The first two were The Affectionate Adversary and The Bachelor's Bargain. Both are set in Regency England, and were ok. She is a Christian author, and I sometimes find it difficult to enjoy the plot and characters when they get bogged down with trying to sermonize from the pages. What I did like was that it is a series, so the characters from one book are found in the next, and she continues to develop them and reveal more about their lives. At the end of the second book, she advised rereading the books from the series I read last year, as she was going to include some of those characters in her next few books. I look forward to that.

Right now I'm reading Love's Proof, which centers around fictional members of Isaac Newton's extended family. Again, the sermonizing is distracting, although at least in this book it is actually part of the plot. I have to admit, my preference for novels would fall somewhere solidly in between the snow white purity of the Christian novels and the outright raunchiness of traditional romance novels. I find the heroines either fight their attraction to the point of irritation, or give in to it much too easily. Can't they think it without acting on it? Can't they *think* nasty thoughts even though they manage to control their tongue and not say them out loud? Oh well, someday Aimee and I are going to write our own romance novel, and it will be just the way we like it, LOL. And the heroine is going to be a short, well rounded (as opposed to tall and thin!) red head with blue eyes instead of the inevitable green, who is somewhat outspoken though not given to crusading for causes, and is intelligent but still enjoys a proper courting. It will, of course, take place in Scotland! LOL

Ok, I think I am finally caught up. I'll get those pictures uploaded soon!

Yet Another Blog Post About Being Sick

Isn't that what everyone else is blogging about this week? Well, we got hit too. At least we only got a head/chest cold, and not a stomach bug (knocking on wood!) Levi started it last Tuesday, and it grabbed each of us, one by one, until none were left untouched. Not even Chris, or poor Jacob. Luckily Jacob just has a mucousy cough, but no trouble breathing and no runny nose, so he is still sleeping well, and generally happy. In fact, I got some cute pictures of him smiling this week! So, in spite of being miserable from coughing my head off, here is the spot of sunshine in my life:







Of course we all got sick when the weather was in the 70s and bright and sunny. Now that we are (hopefully!) at the end of it, the weather is turning on us. It will be in the 40s by Friday (and below freezing at night!) I wonder how cold it will be for Easter. Sigh.

5 Weeks

Just got back from Jacob's one month appointment. He now weighs 10 lb 12 oz and is 22 inches long - growing well! The doctor says that the rash must be a viral infection that will have to run its course. That would normally be 7-10 days, and since he's had it 8 days already, we're hoping it's on its way out.

Meanwhile Troyer and Micah seem to have caught Levi's cold, and Caleb might be coming down with it today. Ugh. MIL had invited my pick of 2 boys to spend the weekend, but we may have to delay it. They were supposed to stay over 3 weeks ago, but that week MIL and FIL were sick, the next week we had too much snow to travel on Friday, and last week Troyer and Noah had to spend Sunday making more peanutbutter eggs. I sure would hate to cancel again, but I will if no one is healthy enough to go.

So, What's New?

First, a picture of Jacob I took this week:


This one looks the most like him out of all the pictures I have taken so far. He has a nasty red bumpy rash on his tummy, neck, and face, almost like heat rash, but it won't clear up. I'm going to ask the doctor about it at his appointment.

We had another warm sunny day yesterday, it was over 80 degrees! I took the kids to the park, thinking they'd enjoy getting out of the house. I was wrong, we should have stayed home. Sigh. Noah complained that it was too hot to do anything, so it was boring and he laid on a bench in the shade the whole time. Poor Levi came down with a cold in the morning, and by the time we got to the park he was in bad shape. His nose was running, and he was so sleepy he looked drugged. He tried so hard to play because he just loves the park, but he could barely drag himself over to the slide, look at it, and drag himself back over to me. Poor guy. By the time we left, which was only a half an hour since we weren't having as much fun as I thought we would, he was feverish and glad to go home and have a nap. He's not much better today, though his fever is gone. He has a croupy cough that kept him up last night. It doesn't seem fair that the warm weather is bringing in the sickness that we avoided all winter.

Here are some more pictures of Jacob from the last few weeks. I don't take that many because, well, at his age they all look the same, LOL

One Month Old!

Ok, a few days late, bad me. I guess I was waiting until I had pictures to post, but guess what? They are still in my camera, so we'll be waiting a bit longer yet to see those, LOL. Jacob is growing nicely, though he won't have a dr appt until next Friday, so I don't know how much he has grown. I know he fits better now in the outfit he wore home from the hosptial. He also has already outgrown his newborn sized onsies. He's got more hair on his head, but it is still so fine and downy that it is hard to say what color it definitely is. I still think it is red, but if so it is a strawberry blonde more than bright red like Troyer's. He smiles often now, though not for the camera yet. If I talk to him and tap him on the nose playfully, he smiles, and he smiles back when I smile at him. His brothers just love it when he smiles at them :-)

We had some warm weather again last week, so on Thursday I took everyone out to the park next to the library. It was kind of breezy, but nice and sunny, and the boys loved getting out. I wasn't the only one with the great idea, though, there were soooo many other moms there with their young kids. I've never seen the park so crowded! Of course I didn't think to bring my camera until I was there and saw another mom with hers. So no pics of Jacob's first ever day at the park. Oops. He spent the whole time in the carseat anyway, so not such a big loss, lol.

Troyer and Noah spent the morning with Chris making chocolate covered peanutbutter eggs with their Pathfinder group. I went with them last year, and yum, they are good! It is their annual fundraiser, and they do really well with it. After they finished off helping out on the egg assembly line, Chris took them and Samuel to see the new Ninja Turtle movie. They had a good time being out with their dad and getting to go out to a movie, but they were a bit dissappointed with the movie. They thought the plot was dumb. Oh well, at least they had a nice afternoon with dad.

Ok, I'll try to get to those pictures soon, and I'll have a weight update by Friday. I still haven't gotten far on researching how to add stuff to my sidebar yet. Our latest movie we rented was Over the Hedge, which we really enjoyed. Lots of little silly lines thrown in, and the extras were really cute. I think we'll probably end up owning this one.

A Small Update, and Something New

Jacob is 3 weeks old today, and doing great! He slept almost 5 hours last night, so when I woke up at 4 am, I had a hard time going back to sleep, LOL His cord stump fell off on Monday, so he now has a pretty belly button, and I forgot to mention that at his 2 week weight check he was back to his birthweight. He officially was 8-14, but he had just pooped right before the nurse weighed him, and after nursing him for a half hour before the doctor came in, I figure he was back up over 9 lbs *grin*. He has also smiled a few times this week, and a lot this morning. The boys were thrilled when he smiled at them!

Now on to something new. Aimee and I were talking about our latest novels we're reading, and also what movies we've seen recently, and we thought how cool it would be if I could have a spot on my side bar, or maybe a link to another page, where we could list what we're reading and watching, and write little reviews about it. Keep in mind, we are not into deep thinking stuff here, just fun. We prefer historical romances, specifically Regency and early Victorian era, and also some time travel, and most anything set in Scotland. After 20 years of reading this stuff, we've developed a preference for certain writers, while some really bad stuff makes us gag, LOL. We'd love to write about what's good and what's awful, and have anyone who stops by leave comments with suggestions or additional reviews. I will have to do some research into how to edit my side bar, and whether I want to do a separate page or just list the books and movies on the side.

Just to start, I'll let you know, we've been reading Mary Balogh's Bedwyn series, including the new set of 4 that spun off of those. Also, Lisa Kleypas did a "Wallflowers" series that we liked, and which we are looking for additional books about characters with minor appearances in that series.

I should mention that we just don't do Westerns or Indians, and tend to avoid medieval settings. Every once in a while I do like a contemporary story as a change.

Movies: my family is signed up with Netflix, and we love it! Just this week we've gotten Secondhand Lions, which we found surprisingly enjoyable (Michael Caine is not my favorite), and today the boys and I watched Yours, Mine, and Ours - the classic version with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. It was better than I remembered, and the boys were somewhat amused also. Next on the list should be the recent remake of it.

Ok, so my assignment now is to find out how to get that added to my sidebar.

Oh, and of course get more pictures of Jacob uploaded ;-)

2 1/2 Weeks Old

Sorry I haven't been posting more; so far there's nothing much to say, other than that Jacob is awesome :-) He sleeps pretty well, for a newborn, and he's getting more alert and spending more time awake looking around. He's pretty calm around his brothers, who all love to come and kiss him.

Latest pictures:

9 days old - everyone else went to church and left us alone to relax for a few hours

I let him lay on the floor for a little while, and he seemed to enjoy that.

Here he is this morning, 18 days old, on my lap (where he usually is! LOL)

When the sun is shining on his hair, it has a definite red tint to it, so I'm thinking I've got another redhead! Poor Chris is outnumbered! LOL

1 Week Old

Jacob is 1 week old now. Just last week I was feeling surprised at how quickly and easily he was born. He's been home for 5 days and his brothers are quickly learning how he fits in our family. Chris has been home all week, helping keep them in line so I can recuperate more easily. Jacob is a snuggler, and sleeps best when cuddled up to me. He is still having a bit of trouble when it's time to fill his diaper, he cries quite a bit, but once he is done, he is sweet and happy again. My milk came in Saturday morning and he loves it! He had a doctor's appointment this morning just to make sure everything is going well, and the doctor said he looks perfect! He only weighs 8lb 10 oz, yet, so he hasn't regained his birth weight yet, but that is normal for my kids, they usually take 2 weeks to get there. At the rate he is eating, I think he will be over 9 lbs by next Thursday. I will take him back in to the dr just to check his weight then.

I wish I were better with a camera so you could get a better idea of what he really looks like, as it is I don't really have many pictures of him yet. Mostly because I am the one holding him! LOL


napping with Daddy

Today a friend from church came over to give all the boys haircuts. When she was here on Tuesday I mentioned that I had not been feeling up to it this month and that they were all lookinga little shaggy. She used to be a hairdresser at a salon, and offered to come back and do the cuts. Wow, that was such a great baby gift! They look really great now. They have never had professional cuts, I always cut their hair. I just take clippers and do a 1" cut all the way around, then trim the neck and ears. Noah is especially excited about his cut. He got it cut very short! He looks so blonde now.



The only cut that didn't really turn out great was Levi's, and that's because at 2 years old, he just doesn't sit nicely for haircuts, LOL. We fed him cookies, but he was still a bit wiggly.



Caleb's turned out well, too:



Here is a group shot; you can't really see the cuts well, but you can see that they aren't all shaggy anymore!



Troyer wanted to keep his longer than the others', but that means he will need to get a cut again that much sooner! Probably next month, sigh.

Pictures!

Ok, here are the pictures we have so far:


Troyer holding Jacob, just an hour or so old



Jacob 1 day old

And 2 days old:


Noah and Jacob


Noah, Micah and Jacob


Troyer, Caleb and Jacob


Levi didn't get to hold Jacob, but he wanted to make sure he got his picture taken too!

Notice that there are no pictures of Samuel; he thought the whole baby thing was "boring," but he has since changed his mind and decided that he likes the baby after all :-)

He's Here!

And he has a name!

Announcing... Jacob Matthew!
born on Feb 22 at 3:15 pm, weighing 9 lbs even, measuring 19.5 inches long

Here is the short version of the birth story:

I was absolutely right on Thursday morning; when I went in to my doctor's appointment at 10:30, I reported the contractions and a bit more bloody show, so the doctor checked me. She said I was 4 1/2 - 5 cm dilated, so I could go check in to the hospital! Whew! SIL was home with the boys and Chris and Troyer were with me, so we went right over. I got checked in and put in a room, then waited to meet the doctor who would be delivering. Of course it was a doctor I'd never met, but oh well. He ended up being very nice. He checked me and said he could break my water any time, but I said I wanted my epidural first, so we'd have to wait for that. It took a while for the blood work to get to the lab and the anesthesiologist to get to my room. I guess there were a few other moms in labor at the same time. Finally at about 1:30 the doctor came back and said I was almost a 6, and he'd break my water during the next contraction. I think about 2 or 2:30 they started some pitocin because the contractions were still not closer than 10 min apart, and at 3 the nurse came in and checked me. I was over 9 with just a lip left. She told me to try a push to see what would happen. The epidural was way too strong and I couldn't feel anything, and I had no urge to push, so I tried but couldn't tell what it was doing. She bugged her eyes out and said Stop! LOL She called the doctor back in and they had to tell me when I was getting a contraction so I could push. It only took 3 pushes and out he came. He was born at 3:15. He cried a lot, but as soon as they let me hold him he quieted down again.

I was supposed to have about 2 hours to recover and then get transferred to my regular room, but since the epidural was so strong, it took much longer for me to be able to get on my feet again. I hated that; I wish it wouldn't have been so strong. I think it caused some trouble for me as well, because since I couldn't feel when I pushed, I think I pulled quite a few muscles in my abdomen. They are still really sore. Finally I got in my room about 6:30. They brought the baby to me pretty quickly, which was nice.

We didn't get the name picked until Saturday morning, right before we got checked out. We went in circles back and forth, and finally settled on Jacob Matthew. A nice normal name, no hillbillies, LOL. When we got home the boys were very excited, and all took turns holding him. SIL Shawna stayed a while so she could see him and hold him, then headed back home. I'm so grateful to her for coming over and helping out with the boys so Chris could be with me. The boys had a lot of fun with her too. :-)

I'm really tired, since Jacob seems to like sleeping during the day, and coming more alert at night, plus he was colicky already last night, poor baby. But Wow, he is awesome. I'm so glad he's here!

I have a bunch of pictures on my camera, but no time so far to get them uploaded to post. Hopefully soon!

Happy Due Date to Me

Today is my due date. I am still not having regular timable contractions. I never thought I was going to make it the full 40 weeks. If I go in to my appointment today and the doctor says nothing is happening, I will cry. It is not fair to be so uncomfortable and bothered by contractions that do nothing. If, oh happy day, the doctor does find that I have been dilating and lets me go check in, I will not have time to post again after my appointment. Obviously, if I come home then I will post and let you all know. Otherwise, I won't be posting again until Saturday!

Rats!

I guess I jinxed myself by posting; the contrax have slowed way down and hurt much less. I won't be calling anyone yet. Oh well.

As Close As I've Gotten Yet

Tonight I had over 4 hours of very close, very painful contractions. I may yet call the dr and go in. They are not being consistent, but they are anywhere from 12 to 3 min apart, and they HURT. The baby was super active tonight, more than he's been in a few weeks, and I wonder if his activity is causing the contractions. Though he is mostly quiet now, and I am still getting them.

Honestly, part of me is putting off calling in because it is the middle of the night. I just hate to call the babysitter to come over and then end up coming home in the morning. Another part of me figures it's best to put off going to the boring hospital as long as possible, LOL. I think, though, that if I do end up going in and staying, I won't be able to post again; so this would be my announcement. If I do go in, and then come home, I'll post again that I'm home. And if I end up not going in at all, of course I'll post that too in the morning.

Wish me luck!

More Waiting

Tuesday morning, and still nothing. I sure wish I had more news. Looks like I'll make it to that appointment on Thursday.

Meanwhile, we got the bad news on the car. We had the wiper motor fixed on Friday, but there was a long list of other repairs it needs to pass inspection. Today I called and got the estimate on it: almost $800. UGH! The darn car isn't even worth that! However, we don't have anything else lined up to drive; we were hoping to be able to wait until summer to shop for a new (used) car. And even at that cost, it's still less per year than paying a new car payment. So we are going to have the work done, but now the question is, when? The mechanic says that he can have it done by Thursday afternoon, so that should work out for us. I'll have to take the van to my appointment Thursday morning, but even if the doctor has me check in at the hospital, I still have to drive home to get Chris, so we'll be able to pick up the car at the garage before we go in. What a hassle. Why did this have to happen now??? And heck, at this rate, I won't be having the baby until next week anyway.... *sob*

Up All Night Again

Well, I've had contrax all day, but mostly the ignorable kind. Tonight I had a few that really hurt, but of course, as soon as I tried to time them, they calmed down. So for now, nothing more, but maybe soon? I was looking at the calendar and realized that if I were to go overdue a week, I would actually be having a March baby! Aaaagh! I never never never thought I'd be even considering the possibility! The roads here are slowly getting better, so any time now would be great. Really. Please. Please! LOL

A BAD Day

I called the dr's office and asked if I could just cancel the appointment, rather than contribute to the traffic in that mess of ice and snow. They reassurred me that the main roads were clear and I should have no problem. They implied that they were looking out the window at the street in front of the office.

Well, they lied. The roads were AWFUL. I swear the drive in could have put me in labor. Even the main roads weren't cleared, and it seemed like *everyone* was out. I sure didn't need to be out adding to the mess. THEN to top it off, the doctor didn't even check me. They did the usual weight, bp, hb, and said "see you next week" - UGH! So it was a total waste of a trip! Why the heck did I have to go in??? I was also the last appointment of the day, so of course I sat for 30 min (in spite of the fact that half of their appts DID cancel, they still were behind?) and stewed about how I had to drive back home in the mess. I mostly wanted to be sure to get home before dark, when all the slush would start to freeze over again. It never got above 20 yesterday, so nothing melted away.

THEN (LOL yes, it's not over yet!) on the way home I tried to use the windshield wipers to wash off the slush splatter from my window, since the sun was setting and glaring off the window and I could barely see, and the wipers went up and then quit! The wiper motor died before it even did one swipe, so now I had road splatter AND wipers in my way! I was never so glad as when the sun finally sank below the level of the tops of the buildings, so the glare cut out. Of course, when I got home, dh tried to blame me for breaking them. He actually asked me why I thought I needed to use them, as if turning them on was a dumb thing to do. Uh, hello? I thought the car had wipers because you were supposed to USE them??? UGH

So now instead of wishing this baby out, we have to keep him in, at least long enough to get the car to the garage and get the darn wipers fixed, since there's no way we'll be able to drive it as the snow melts and splatters the windshield. Our street still has about 2 inches of ice on it, so taking the 12 pass van out is out of the question.

My next appointment isn't until next Thursday, which is my due date Waaahhhhh.

Snow!

The boys finally got their wish and we got a decent snowfall. Unfortunately, it ended in a lovely crust of ice on top, which was horrible to shovel. Chris sent the oldest 2 boys out to shovel, but they spent more time falling down in it than shoveling it LOL.



He went back out to clear the driveway so he could go in to work, but the plows came by, and it took him 3 tries to get the driveway open. He was very frustrated and exhausted by the time the plows went home and his work wasn't undone one more time, so he ended up staying home from work for the day.

The temperature has now fallen below 20, so the roads are still awful, even one day after the snow has ended and the plows have been through. I have a dilema now, I have an appointment this afternoon, but I'm considering cancelling it; I haven't had any more signs of labor, and I have enough trouble driving the stick shift while pg when the roads are good. I am dreading the drive over to the doctor's office. But if I cancel, I may not be able to get another appointment until late next week. What to do, what to do...