So it's been a while...

I encourage people to check here often but do I post often? Nope. It's not for a lack of wanting though. Just time I think.

Yes Jana, sleeping through. Since March 8, 2008. He went from waking every few hours on the night of March 7 to sleeping through for 10 hours on March 8 and has never looked back. We're basically ready for him to move out of the pack n play in our bedroom and share with his older brother, because he sleeps longer than Caden! But first we have to move Avery out of Caden and Avery's bedroom and into her big girl bedroom with Hello Kitty. All things in due time.

Speaking of "big girl", we went last night to register Avery for preschool. She will be attending Creation Station Christian Preschool starting in September. That is, if she is potty trained by then. I came to the realization on Monday night that I am incredibly upset about Avery not being potty trained. And then it hit me. That's not it at all. You know what it is? It's the reality that yet another one of my children is not meeting milestones on time. Do you have ANY idea how hard it is in our society to have children who are not "super stars"? Children who do things early are apparently exceptionally bright. Children's IQ scores (yes, at FOUR) are touted as predictors of future successes. And then if you have a child who doesn't do things early, you've probably got trouble on your hands. Or at least you're not quite as blessed as others.

Obviously, I am speaking in some jest, but this is the overwhelming idea in society, and little Pella is no exception. It's just difficult. And I realized that THIS is what I am struggling with. Yes, Avery is extremely strong-willed and this not pottying thing is totally her thing, but I'm going to have to back off. I thought maybe I could just force it but it's not going to happen. I'd LOVE for her to be trained, but she wouldn't. So if she can't go to preschool in Sept, she'll owe me the non-refundable deposit back when she's older.

It figures

I just loaded up this whole thing to post an update, and guess who just woke up? Yep, tiny man. He's been sleeping through (like 9pm - 8am, woo hoo!!) so I am super happy. We're off to Wal-Mart after he eats. Happy Monday!

The picture says it all

but if you know ME at all you'll know I have to add some. Here is Declan, taken a few weeks ago when I had the date stamp off because I was trying to get cute pics for his baptism (which was on Sunday and VERY awesome). So I don't know the exact date but DANGIT he is cute. This has to be my all-time favorite picture I have ever taken of one of my children.

Most of us are feeling better!

On Friday my temp rose to 101 and I felt just awful, terrible, no good, very bad. Just like Alexander, you know that book? It was that kind of day. I muddled through, all the while feeling TERRIBLY sorry for myself because it was my birthday and I hadn't even had a decent Mountain Dew. About 6:30pm, my fever broke. I started to feel better, and better, and BETTER until I honestly felt like nothing at all had been wrong. Woo hoo! Know what I had for my birthday dinner (yes, I am a birthday fanatic so this was seriously traumatic for me, you have NO idea)? I had oatmeal. But it stayed down and it tasted really good after a whole day of nothing.

I also got lots of birthday emails and ecards on Friday. I heard a rumor about someone who may or may not have sent an email out that piggybacked on mine. A-hem. Yes, I know 30 is not that old, but to ANNOUNCE it to everyone, now that's just slappable. Or huggable actually, it was VERY nice and it did lift my spirits.

Avery's back to herself though more whiney than is usual, even for her. Caden is fine. Declan seems to have skipped it entirely...now it's just James who needs to get better. He's got the poops, there's no other way to say it, poor guy. I keep telling him he needs to get into the dr because it's been DAYS on end of this for him, but in typical man-fashion he is declining. We shall see.

Here's my random though of the day: this time change is really nice when you have a newborn because it APPEARS as though they slept an hour longer than they actually did! I'm still miffed at you Valerie. :)

Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeeee

I've got a stomach bug. Oh joy! Remember Caden had it Wednesday? Avery woke up with puke all over this morning. James has been feeling icky for days on end and even stayed home from work today to try to feel better. He was getting Avery bathed and cleaned up and I started feeling sick. An hour later I was throwing up. I don't think I will forget my 30th! Time to update the info over to the side...we are no longer in our twenties. James turned 30 on Feb. 23.

We had plans to go out tonight but we'll save that for when we're actually feeling better.

Poor Caden!

This poor baby cannot catch a break. He has missed school for the past 2 solid weeks due to illness, hospitalizations, etc. Monday school was delayed so he didn't have school. Yesterday he actually made it to school, although the buses now have a "hard surfaces only" policy when the gravel roads are bad so I had to bring him in and pick him up. So today James was going to bring him in but I went to wake him up and there was puke alllllll over his crib. Poor baby!!!! So think of him....and send him get well wishes! He's acting totally fine, but of course he's home from school.

Come take a peek...

at our little cutie pie. Here's Declan's 1 month pictures. The chunk is already 12 pounds and doing well. Enjoy!

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=3565527

password: declan

He's coming home!

I'm sitting at the computer (duh, I know) - Dora's on for Avery and Declan is next to me in the swing. He's crying, but what's new these past few days? Buddy has a nasty cold and isn't feeling that well.

Anywho, Caden is being discharged as I type! So they should be home soon. Caden is considered infectious for another week so we're going to have a LOT of family togetherness. :)

Caden is in the hospital.

It's been a ROUGH February here. James has broken his arm and is in a cast. And now Caden is in the hospital with influenza and pneumonia. And YOU thought I just never updated this thing because I was LAZY! SHAME on you.

AND. I know some of you are wondering and Declan is FINE. Some of his bloodwork that was taken just after he was born showed that he might have cystic fibrosis. We had further tests done and he does NOT have it. Praise God!

Declan's birth story

What? He's only 2 weeks old. I'm not THAT behind. Things are going well here - not getting a ton of sleep but it's not awful either. Declan (you pronounce it DECK-lan) is a good baby overall. Slightly fussy, but we're now trying soy formula instead of regular to see if that helps with the fussies. If you read this today (Thursday Jan 31) please say a prayer for us - I'm not yet ready to share but tiny man has some possible complications. I'll share when I can - we don't know anything for sure yet...we just could use prayers as we wait for test results today.

We got to the hospital around 6:30 Thursday morning, Jan 17. Our dr was back in OB already and by 6:55 the IV needle was in my arm (just in case I wanted pain meds) and I was laying back, ready for him to break my water. Now with Avery, I was dilated to 3 and one swipe with the amniohook and we had a gush. Holy smack, not with Declan. Our doc had to try at least 5 times, with a break in between because I was not exactly cooperative at times. He said he'd try one last time (I was a -2 station so D's head was WAY up there) and then we'd start pitocin, which I didn't want. The last time he did it, and there was a gush. YAY! Except OW, I'm serious, that was probably the most painful part of the day. So literally, nothing happened for hours. From 10-11 I had some regular contractions, but I know myself and they weren't that bad. We tried walking, changing positions, etc. At around 12:30 my dr checked me again and I was still dilated to 4 with the same effacement and -2 station. He said we needed to start some pitocin - dangit. So they started a very small dose, upped it after about 15 minutes. An hour later my dr was back and he said to crank the pit. Nice. So they did that around 1:30 and that's when things flew. I don't remember the exact timing of the events, but I know I had my first dose of Sublimase (pain meds, yep, I didn't make it, lol) at 2:10 or so. I was able to relax a bit between contractions with that and by 3:00 I was asking for more pain meds. The nurse gave a 1/2 dose at 3:05 and by that point I was 8-9 and feeling WAY pushy. At 3:10 my dr was running down the OB hallway (my SIL was working and gave me the outside play by play) and I was complete. The nurse had called him 10 minutes before to say I was 6-7 and feeling pushy, so she called him again just before 3:10 because I was asking, "IS HE COMING?????"

So I started pushing and here's where things get dicey. With the first push his head crowned, and it's usually at this point that I push again and the whole head comes out. Easy peasy. Not so this time. I pushed, and pushed, and pushed and that stinking head wouldn't come further. James was sweetly coaching me along, "He's almost here honey, I can see he's got lots of hair!" but dangit if I couldn't get him to come out. And, interestingly enough, my contractions QUIT. I pushed because I knew I had to to get him to keep coming. The dr kept saying, "Another push and we'll have a baby." and nada. I was SO frustrated. So I finally gave it EVERYTHING I had and just pushed like mad and his head came out, cord wrapped so tight they couldn't slide it off. So it had to be cut with just his head out. Then I gave a gentle push and delivered the rest of him at 3:25 (so only 15 mins of pushing, but it felt like forever), and they whisked him to the warmer and started assessing him. He did have a heartrate and his color was ok, but there was nothing else. His first APGAR was 3 and they started giving him oxygen to get him to start breathing. I was trying not to freak out and just giving it over to God, but Caden did the same thing to us at birth (his first APGAR was 2) and it's just plain scary. I hate it. I told James it almost makes me think we're done at 3 with the way these deliveries go for our little boys. That and the amniohook ordeal this time, shudder. He came around though...they had to give him narcan to counteract the effects of the sublimase I got so close to his arrival. That was most of the problem - I got that drug so close to the time he was born (and not a lick bit of good it did anyone, either). Once that drug made its way into him he started breathing on his own and everything, so that was good. So slightly scary but overall a very fast labor again! Once that pitocin got cranking we were flying.

Declan is now SCREAMING so I must go. I WILL post pics very soon. I promise. He's so cute!



Edit - ok, he stopped screaming for the moment. Here's a pic of him as we're getting ready to leave the hospital on Sat the 19th:

The new ticker tells it all...

our baby has been born! Declan Gareth was born on Thursday, Jan 17 at 3:25pm CST. We are thrilled to welcome him into our family and he is already well-loved. Pictures and story to follow soon!

An amazing moment

You have those moments with your kids, moments where you see who they truly are, their character. Sometimes I joke that Avery is truly a drama queen, and honestly the jury is still out on that one, but last night at bedtime the moment was all about Caden. It's rare Caden gives us a big view of what he's thinking. That's one thing that's hard on your heart about his delays. Whereas Avery can tell us why she's crying and what might make it better, Caden usually just dwells in his own world and we all glean what we can from what we have in that moment. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we get it wrong. Last night, Caden simply gave it to us. In spades.

Our usual bedtime routine is changed up a little bit since mommy no longer has a lap to speak of and simply cannot get down on the floor to sit, but here's the general gist: All 4 of us go into their shared bedroom and each adult takes a child to change into jammies. Sometimes we brush teeth, lots of times we don't (tell on me and I'll tell something on you, lol). It's usually lots of laughing and tickling and talking about our day, things like that. We have a good time with it. After jammies are on we sit on the floor - Caden on mommy's lap and Avery on daddy's lap - to read from our devotional book for kids. Then we say prayers. Recently both kids have been sitting on daddy's lap while mommy stands. It's really much nicer, plus the visual of me getting up off the floor at this stage of pregnancy is enough to keep both kids awake for the rest of the night and NOBODY wants that. At this point it's time for getting into cribs (yes, both kids are in cribs and no one's complaining so we're leaving it alone!) and it's also time for possible meltdown from aforementioned drama queen.

You see, this is the time for turn-taking with certain toys that are allowable in bed. However, Avery sees this as the time for bartering and winning. We have 3 Learn Through Music toys. These are toys that you slip a large cartridge into and it will play music, learning games, etc. It's interactive via a touch screen...let me find a picture.

So there it is. Each child gets one, and we have several cartridges to go around. Problem is, the cartridge of the month is Elmo's All About Numbers, seen above. Affectionately known as the "yellow Elmo", this bad boy is dearly wanted by both kids. We have, in the past, taken it completely away and made it off-limits for bedtime, but recently things were going better and we offered it back. There are 2 coveted things before getting into cribs. First is getting the yellow Elmo. Second is being the one to push the button on a toy up on a high shelf that shows a glow-in-the-dark picture show and tells a story. Last night, it was Caden's turn for yellow Elmo and it was Avery's turn to push the button. Avery pushed the button, but then decided she also wanted yellow Elmo. A lot. Enough to start a screaming fit about it in her crib. We were walking out of the room to leave her in her dark despair when Caden grunted at us.

He pointed to his yellow Elmo, signed Avery, signed "cry", pointed back to yellow Elmo and thrust his hand toward her. It was a sentence, and it was heard plain as day, even over all of her screaming: "Avery's sad because she doesn't have yellow Elmo. Give it to her." We asked him, "Caden do you want Avery to have yellow Elmo?" Nod yes. Never have I been so touched by something so seemingly small. His little heart is huge. He doesn't want his sister to be sad, instead he'll give her something cherished when it is HIS turn for it just to make her happy.

Sometimes I underestimate him. Sometimes I think he "doesn't get it." He gets it alright, and he cares a lot, too. There's something about him that is just so perfect, so right, so "with it" and I am trying a lot harder to make sure I see that about him. I am thankful for this little man, my little gift from God. He is a daily reminder that all is right with the world.

We have a date!

Induction is now scheduled for 6:30am on Thursday, January 17. I really wanted the 16th due to 2 friends having birthdays that day, but it wasn't possible with our OB department, so the 17th it will be. We'll do it the same way we did Avery - go in to the OB and my doctor will just break my water and it's off to the races!

Any predictions on how fast this time? With Caden from the time my water was broke until the time he was here was 2 hours 45 minutes - but we had used some meds to start my labor hours before my water was broke with him. With Avery it was just over 3 hours from water breaking to her delivery. We're praying it goes just as fast if not faster this time, too!

Caden and Avery are excited. We're all excited. Here's a pic I captured of the two of them early this afternoon - they're practicing up!

Today's the day!

Due date, that is. And, in typical our-baby fashion, he's still cooking in there. I am not complaining. I have no pie-in-the-sky fantasies about how easy and flawless this is going to be now that the little ones will outnumber the big ones. Sure, I want to meet him and see him and snuggle him and all of that, but he's OHHHHH so easy to carry around in utero. My joke is that we overcook them in our house - they still come out tender, but they're "well done." :)

Still, a due date comes with such anticipation. It's like a birthday you never knew existed, one you've been planning for for months...and here it is, with no hoopla at all. I was 6 days late with Caden and had to be induced, and was induced with Avery just 2 days before her due date. My labors tend to go quite quickly, so once the water is broken it's time to go go go!

I've gotten a lot accomplished. I am more "ready" for the baby than I have been for any others. There are actually meals made and frozen in the freezer. The house is clean(ish), lol. There are gifts bought for each of the kids from the baby, and from the kids to the baby. Maybe the 3rd time's the charm, or maybe I just realize - "Get cracking lady! You aren't going to have MORE time once he's here!" Nesting is always fun for me though - sort of like a small blast-from-the past of being manic without the negative side effects. I wonder if I could market that. *giggle*

No baby yet....

and I barely remember that I have this blog. Someday I'll get into the swing of things. I am, however, nesting a good deal of the time and getting quite a bit accomplished with the spurt of energy comes around. It's hard to get physically in positions to clean things well though - I mean, I can get DOWN to scrub the floor but getting back up is quite the sight. I shall spare you.

Today I got my hair cut (trimmed really) and Avery's hair WAY cut. I think we probably took off a good 6-8 inches. I thought I might freak out or at least do a little hormonal crying but it's really cute and she wasn't in the least fazed by it, so that was great. I have pics - I hope to get them on here when I feel like figuring it out.

So my next drs appointment is on Friday and I'll know more then. Until then......

Wow, this is really sad!

A new post every 10 days or so, how do you like that? LOL! Lots has happened in the past 9 days, just no new baby yet. We'll try to update as soon as he arrives (yes, HE). Let's see...I've been in the ditch with Avery and Caden in the backseat, did I tell you about that? That was embarrassing and fun, though very short-lived which was a blessing. The 2 vehicles behind me that witnessed it pulled me right out so thank God for them! Long story short, we lost control a bit (James thinks from hitting a rut or something - it was 100% ice on the gravel roads) and I corrected once, then started skidding the OTHER way and panic-breaked, which sent the car completely around and into the ditch facing backwards. From the backseat Miss Avery pipes up - "Mommy? Where we at?" Ahh, outta the mouths of babes. I told her we were in the ditch and she said, "Oh, can you turn the music up?" I guess she was really rattled, huh?

We've had a good Christmas, though it's now the 28th and our kids still haven't opened the gifts from James and me or the gifts that came anonymously at 9:15 on Christmas Eve. That was a HUGE blessing - yes, we know who you are and you will be thanked, but wow, we've never been so touched in our lives. We plan to do that tonight as a family...

I'd write more but my FIL is here installing our new railing/balcony and little 3 year old girl doesn't like the noise, so we need to head downstairs to pacify her. How was your Christmas?

I'm still here!

Haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Just busy I guess - you know that Christmas season kind of busy? Oh, plus we were without power on Tuesday which I wrote about, but then again on Thursday for 12+ hours (and of course those hours were 6am-6pm or thereabouts).

So this morning Caden got off on the bus without a hitch and Avery is still sleeping as of 8:15, so here I am. I'm sure it doesn't help that both kids were still wide awake and hollering (playing) at each other across their bedroom last night at 9:30. I think I'd want to still be sleeping as well. *yawn*

We really need to get milk and juice this morning so I'm headed to wake up the girl in just a bit. Hope to update later!

How do you spell ICE STORM?

"Pain-in-the-butt." That's how. This is the 2nd major ice storm we've had in 2007, but this one was a doozy. Our power went out around 6:30 this morning. I knew school had been canceled so I was lazing in bed when James poked his head in our bedroom to tell me the power had gone off. Great. Last time (I think it was February) we were without power for 2-3 (I can't remember) days and it was so frustrating. (Good glory, I can't remember ANYTHING lately, lol.) So I was praying for the best but expecting the worst. Living out here in the country is not always a little slice of heaven. So, the kids got up around 8 (yay) and we got our glamorous breakfast of Pop-Tarts straight from the box (who am I trying to impress? That's every day's breakfast!) and started our day.

Avery wanted to watch Dora. "Dora's broken." Caden wanted the Christmas tree lights on. "Lights are broken little man." We hemmed and hawed about that for a while but then, much to my amazement, I watched my children play, not fight, not scream, not hit each other for the next 4 hours. Yes, I did type that correctly. 4 hours of that. So, I hoisted my pregnant self out of the chair and decided it was time to actually do something around here. I was not about to waste their good moods. I spend way too much time at the computer and that was simply not an option this morning (I have mentioned my lack of internal motivation which directly corresponds to my inability to tell myself no, right? Right). We traipsed downstairs and I tackled the kitchen. Cluttered counters, drywall dust on everything, just a mess. My dad brought over some of my mom's cute snowman stuff last night that she doesn't have room for anymore, so I set about putting that all up in the kitchen - stuff like cookie jars, mugs, salt and pepper shakers, very festive. I got the kitchen counters cleaned up, put up the snowman stuff, cleaned the top of the fridge (I know, nesting much?) - and the kids were still in great moods. Well, Caden had stripped himself down to just his diaper and tee shirt, but he was still in a great mood.

At this point, Avery proclaimed it was time for lunch with a can of ravioli in her hand from the pantry. Caden proclaimed it time for Dora yogurt with the grab of a spoon from the drawer and an emphatic "uh UH!" pointed toward the fridge door. So, I rummaged around for the hand-held can opener, all the while staring longingly at the electric one hanging idly from the upper cabinets and lunch commenced. Never mind the ravioli was cold - they like it that way. Plus I always rinse the ravioli with hot water to rinse all the sauce off so it's less messy - so that sorta warmed it up. James had called at this point to tell me he wasn't coming home "for lunch" as per usual but would be home early afternoon for the day.

We finished up lunch and they were back to the races with playing nicely with each other. BONUS! I sat at the table, willing the lights to come back on. Nuttin. I looked outside and noticed we had an actual power line down in the front yard/ice hole. So I called the power company right away - that should put us at top priority, right?

Next I decided to tackle the mound of medical paperwork waiting to be filed. Guess what? Didn't take me that long and it's done now!!! And THEN I got out the Avent bottles we have and sorted through those (long story short, I am bottle feeding this little boy because of the meds I am taking for my bipolar - really difficult for me, but I am happy with our decision and I know he'll be just fine. I'm just very used to breastfeeding and have no IDEA how to bottle feed!). Sooooooo much got accomplished today, and I'm really proud of that. Now, if I could only just force myself away from the computer at least 2 days a week think of all that I could get done! Nah, let's not think about that too hard.

Around 4:30 our house temp was getting chilly, so we decided to head in to James' parents to spend the night. We got there, had a wonderful supper, and around 7pm my phone rang - it was our neighbors with the good news of power back on!!! Plans changed, we came home, put the kids to bed and now here I am, James fast asleep on the couch. Some things never change.

We have possibly lost at least one really big shade tree. Many more of them aren't looking good - the ice is very thick on the branches and they are hanging down touching the ground. I hope we can save them, but we're thankful to be warm and safe here at home.

Now WE'VE been elved!

Thanks to my friend Lynnae, I just had to try this out for our family. Never mind that it took me a stinking long time to do.....The kids adore it! Caden starts signing "more" almost as soon as it begins. Hope you get a giggle, too.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1291463659

And perhaps I remember why

blogging was difficult for me. I spend days on end thinking of something witty and fun to post about, and absolutely nothing comes to me. So instead I think I will just make an effort to write at least 3 times every week, and whatever comes to me, comes. Sound good?

This morning was the first morning I had to send my boy to school all dudded up in his winter attire. For us this meant snowpants, coat, hat, mittens and boots. Now, if you know Caden at all you will know that he doesn't like what's not familiar to him. So the snowpants were an issue at first, and of course they go on first. He didn't like the feeling of them being over his shoulders and the zipper being zipped up. We got past that, and then came the coat. No problem there because we've been wearing that for months now. When I was shopping on Tuesday of last week I found a new hat and mittens for Caden as he's been wearing the "old ones" for the better part of 2+ years. Well guess what? Caden no like the new mittens and hat. He tore those mittens off with tears faster than I could get the next one on. So, we went back to the old ones, and then Caden was happy. Whew.

Twice this school year Caden has gotten on the school bus (actually a suburban with carseats) sobbing inconsolably. Both times were when he had a new pair of shoes on. And it's not that they hurt his feet, it's that they are not what's familiar. The final thing to be donned on his little frame? The snowboots. *deep internal sigh from mommy* I had to stand him up on the floor in order to get enough pressure down on his heel for them to slip on. This was not an easy task what with him being completely bundled up. And the sobbing commenced. I refrained. They were on, we were ready - and the bus was late. At least 5 minutes. So we stood in the front room and waited through the tears. But I will say that once he saw the bus, things did improve quite a bit, so thank God for that!

That is probably one of the most frustrating things about being Caden's mommy. Most of the time, I do understand what's upsetting him, which I am thankful for. However, there is just no reasoning with him. There's no explaining that he needs to wear boots so he can have fun at the playground once he gets to school. The understanding of the "why" does not come easily to him, and that is very, very difficult. I do pray for that to get better as he ages and I see glimpses of it getting better at times, but it's a hard thing to deal with.