We're back home!

The dishwasher has been loaded up and run, the first load of laundry has been done, the suitcase is almost unpacked, math and Latin got done this morning . . . back to the routine! The boys are all happy to have us back, although I had a moment of doubt last night. I was sitting on the chaise part of our couch, nursing Anna, and Luke said something like, "I liked it better when you weren't here." "WHAT?!" says Nathan, obviously astonished. "You missed her!!" Luke says, "NO! I wish she wasn't sitting there on the couch because now I can't run up and sommersault onto it." Whew!

I am convinced that 2 months old is the perfect age for traveling. Anna again slept almost the entire time on both flights. I just put her in the frontpack, and off she would go. It turns out you can't have babies in frontpacks for the actual take off and landing--it seems that if we crashed and something happened to me, it would be harder for the flight attendents to rescue Anna if she was attached to me. I thought that logic was pretty faulty. If we crashed, I would rather have her attached to me than bouncing around if I lost my grip on her! And who is to say the flight attendants would be better off than me? Anyhow, I nodded compliantly and kept her in there. I'm a rebel.

On 3 out of 4 flights, I was seated by men. Of course, I had to nurse, but they were all very great about stoicly staring at their laptops or whatever. Close quarters though! It was fun to travel just with Anna. I kept feeling like there should be more for me to keep track of!

More pictures

Here are the 3 Claires: me, my Aunt Claire, and Anna Claire.


Anna and Grandma are having a smile-fest at the kitchen table.

Nana and Anna

What a special time for Anna to spend with her Nana! We took lots of pictures, of course, but since it takes me so long to upload them, I'll only post a few--and only one at a time, LOL.

As you can see by her smile, Anna is totally thrilled by the attention she is getting! She spent the weekend smiling and cooing for everyone, so happy to be held the entire time! She is having a rougher day today, LOL, where she has had to spend some time in her bouncy seat and under her crib gym so I can get stuff done. She has decided she much prefers being held continuously, if you can believe that.

4 Generations

So here we are: my mom, my grandma, me, and Anna. If Anna will cooperate and marry an Air Force officer, then this will be a picture of 4 generations of Air Force wives! Obviously, with such a distinguished lineage as you see here, we will be compelled to turn back any non-Air Force men who try for her hand! LOL!

Utah

Anna and I are here in Utah, and we're having a wonderful time! She was great on the airplanes--she slept most of the time on both flights, so I read a book, looked out the window, relaxed. Ahh. Here at my Aunt Claire's house, it's like a slumber party or something! Poor Uncle Jim--surrounded by girls! I don't think Anna has been by herself the whole time, and she is loving all the attention. Lots of cooing and smiling, and not just from Grandma! LOL! I'm taking a lot of pictures, but those will have to wait until I get back home to be posted.

I am finally feeling better, praise the Lord. I think I just needed rest to heal. I even took a nap yesterday afternoon! It's so nice to only be needed by one person. Aunt Claire and I stayed up late last night watching the first 3 hours of Pride and Prejudice. We're going to finish it up today with Mom too.

Our flight leaves at 10:00 tomorrow morning, so we'll have to be up and ready pretty early by my standards! Hopefully Anna will do just as well on the flights home so I can come back relaxed and not stressed out again!

Eeeeek!

Yesterday as I was putting Anna's pajamas on (well, it's just another onesie, actually), I saw a little black thing on her back. I thought it was fuzz, so I brushed it off. And it didn't come off. I examined it closer and then yelled for Bob. Yes, it was a tick! YUCK! How on earth did a tick get on her back?! I truly have no idea. Bob was the brave one here, and he got the tweezers and pulled it out. I think we got it all, but I guess I'm not sure--how can you tell? I am a lot more worried about Lyme disease. Since Nathan got that a few months after we moved here, obviously the ticks around here can carry it. Bob circled the bite mark with a black magic marker so we can keep an eye on it. We're praying that she won't have any problems from the bite, but if she does, then we're praying that it will be really noticable--like Nathan's huge target rash.

I'm almsot ready for the big airplane ride tomorrow--just a few more things to throw in the suitcase. Wow, it is so incredibly easy to pack for just one person and a baby. Hopefully the travel will be just as easy, LOL! I still am not completely better. In fact, my throat is still quite sore. It's like there is a big, painful lump on the left side of my throat, near the bottom. It just . . . hurts. I guess I'll go back yet again on Monday if it's not better by then. Sigh.

Strep1; Antibiotic 0

This morning I finished my last antibiotic, but my throat was still just as sore and my glands just as swollen, so I again called at 6:00 and got an appointment at the clinic. What is up with me and antibiotics?! I mean, I don't take them at the drop of a hat, so I don't think overuse is the problem. In fact, before my bout with mastitis a month ago, I hadn't had any at all the whole time we've been here (almost 2 years), and I can't remember the last time I needed them in Ohio! But anyhow, I'm now on a different antibiotic, this one 4 times a day for 10 days. Maybe this will do the trick--I am so ready to feel better. The house is a wreck, we're doing school-lite, and I want to get ready for my big trip to Utah on Thursday!

Surprisingly, the person I saw this morning was 1. a native English speaker, and 2. a military officer! I didn't think they had any of those working at this clinic! The person I saw last Thursday also spoke English very well and was easy to communicate with. Maybe it's just the pediatric doctors that are so hard to understand and communicate with.

I have been complaining lately about being at a plateau of weight-loss. I was 12 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight, and I just wasn't losing anymore, which was very frustrating. But then I gave up milk for Anna, and there went cheese, sour cream, chocolate, ice cream, etc. Now I've kicked it up a notch by having sore throat for so many days that makes swallowing very painful, and I've lost 4 pounds! As they say, a silver lining in every cloud . . .

The Lone Ranger's gun cake

Here is the cake I made for Jonathan's birthday at his request. Hopefully you all can tell that it is a pistol such as the Lone Ranger himself would have carried. It turned out pretty darn well, if I do say so myself. I was really not looking forward to making it today, since I'm still not feeling all that well, but then Amy called this afternoon, and we had a nice, long chat. While we were talking, I cut out the cake design and slapped the frosting on! Voila! Jonathan was pretty excited about it, which always makes me feel good.

We ate the cake after dinner, and now the boys, for a very special treat, are watching Star Wars. Nathan and Luke have been wanting to watch this for oh, about forever, so tonight is the night. LOL, anything to get them off their Bionicle kick, right? Actually, I think this will just be one more thing for them to obsess over. I'm sure tomorrow will be spent fighting with imaginary light sabers. You will notice that I am upstairs ont he computer instead of downstairs watching the movie. That is because I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies, I have no particular desire to ever do so, and since I've made it 33 years without watching them, why break my record now? I'm probably one of about 10 people on the planet my age who can say that!

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

Jonathan is 3 today! Our little Lone Ranger with the John Travolta cleft in his chin and a big bump in the middle of his forehead, who is finally potty-trained, is growing up! He wasn't really interested in smiling for the camera today however, so we had to settle for this half-grin. Ah well, it's his birthday. He can smile if he wants too!

Doctor Update

I started my day at 6:00 calling to get appointments. I finally got through at 6:20, and the man told me he couldn't give me 5 appointments just to get throat cultures, so he would give my information to the nurses' station, and they would somehow book us all together for a shorter amount of time. Sounds good, right? So I dutifully hung up to wait for the nurse to call back, since they don't open until 7:00. Fortunately, Bob was much more aware and cognizant at this early hour, so he suggested that I call again and at least get me an appointment, since I am really the one that has all the symptons and am very uncomfortable. I did that, getting an 11:00 appointment. At 7:45 the nurse calls me and tells me that there are no appointments left, so there is no way to get any throat cultures for us. She brightens up when I say that I have an appointment. "Well, let's just see if YOU have strep! It's probably jsut a virus anyways." Then she asks the ages of the boys and says they don't do throat cultures on kids under 5. Hmm.

We troop off at 10:15, and I saw a really nice doctor who took 2 cultures, one for the long test, and one for the 10 minutes one. Surprise, surprise, the 10 minute one was positive, so I'm back on antibiotics. I can't believe this--I have been sick more in the past month than in the past year! I guess I really am just sort of rundown from nursing, and therefore more susceptible.

So now I am trying to decide if I will try again with the boys tomorrow. Nathan and Luke are not exhibiting any symptoms at all, and I can't decide about Caleb and Jonathan. They don't seem 100%, but they are not complaining about sore throats, running a fever, or anything, and with the clinic's bizarre no-culture policy, it doesn't sound like they would even culture them if they weren't showing definite strep symptoms, which they really aren't. Grrr.

I don't know if I'm up to another trip out to the clinic tomorrow! We had quite a time getting home today. The Beltway was slow because of looky-loos rubbernecking an accident on the shoulder, and then Rt. 7 was COMPLETELY closed because of some huge crash involving an overturned semi trailer and some cars, from what I could see before we had to turn off onto some little side road with a million other cars to wind and wend our way back to recognizable roads. It took over an hour to get home. Whew! Good thing I wasn't sick or anything.

Limping Along

That's kind of what I feel like we're doing right now--limping along. It turned really hot last weekend, and our upstairs air conditioner has a hard time keeping up. We knew this was a problem from last year, so we're deciding if we need to have it replaced. Someone is coming out to look at it June 6 (2 days earlier than originally scheduled due to a cancellation, but still far off, it seems!). We all camped in the basement last night, where it is definitely NOT hot.

Some kind of bug has gotten us as well, and I'm wondering if it might not be strep. Caleb, and to some extent Jonathan, have been complaining over the past several days that their "foreheads" were hurting, and also their neck/throat/teeth area. It's hard for Jonathan to be very specific, so that's why I didn't take it all very seriously. I was prepared to make a dentist appointment for him, but last night MY throat starting hurting, I had a big headache, and my neck glands were quite swollen. Hmm . . . mybe this IS something to be concerned about after all! So tomorrow I will call the clinic starting at 6:00 to see if I can get 5 appointemnts for strep cultures, since I figure if one has something, everyone has been exposed. We are terrible about sharing glasses, etc. But I digress. It would be too easy for the clinic to just let everyone get cultured. No--we all have to have appointments. Grr. Looks like we'll be spending the day in Fairfax, if we're lucky and can even GET appointments!

Since I'm not feeling well, for dinner tonight I am pulling out my secret weapon--chicken soup from Michele S.! She brought a big bag of soup over when we had our open house back in April, and I've been waiting for the time when I felt most needy to actually use it! It's been so nice having it the freezer, knowing I could use it, but not needing it--until now.

Anna's face has cleared up again, but her head is still very flaky--even flakier than before. This is scary because it is SO MUCH like what happened to Caleb and his head, and I can't stop it! It's not just little dandruff-like flakes either--it's big patches of scaly flakes. She's not scratching it or anything, so I know it bothers me more than her, but still--I don't want her head to turn into one big crust of infection like Caleb's did.

In one piece of very good news, the county tax assessor came by our house last Thursday. We had challenged our tax assessment this year, since it had increased by about $200,000 over last year's. Yow! Since we still have the original lovely linoleum in the kitchen, the ratty looking tile counters, the original and very worn caarpeting, and the houses around that have sold recently have all had these things updated, we thought it was unfair. So the man called back to say he was knocking $20,000 off the assessment! Yay! Of course, that won't make a huge difference in our taxes, but every bit counts.

So that's our update.

2 months already?!!

Anna Claire is 2 months old today! She's smiling, cooing, and sleeping through the night, making everyone around her happy! She was a stinker today and pooped through her outfit while I was nursing her at church. Being a young, inexperienced mother of 5, of course I did not have any extra clothes in the diaper bag. Oops. Will I never learn?!! The first thing I did when we got home was put an extra onesie in the bag, so now we are prepared.

Remember that I was trying less milk to see if her face and head would improve? Well, her face was looking tons better (her head was still fairly flakey). I ate a baked potato with cheese and sour cream last night, and this morning her face was a lot drier and flakier. Of course, she also had a bath last night, so it could be that too. More experimentation is needed, lol. Someone at church recommended rubbing olive oil on her head, so I might try that too. Anna--our little Italian piece of foccacia bread.

Public Service Announcement

Management is announcing the end of the popular "Skittles for Poop" program. This was instituted as a motivational tool for reluctant potty-trainers, and it was even opened up to those who were already potty-trained, in an effort to provide even more incentive. Management thought the program would die a natural death, but it has still been mentioned on the odd day, so we are now proclaiming a formal end. You can no longer come to our house and expect a brightly colored chewy fruity orb of sugar for producing #2 on the big boy potty. Management sincerely hopes this change of policy does not prevent people from visiting, however. Thank you.

Maybe we're a bit TOO affectionate here at home. . .

Last night Nathan and Luke had track practice. I pushed Anna in the stroller in a little grassy area by the high jump pit, while I watched Caleb and Jonathan run around. (Side note: The reason we weren't by the stands was because there was a championship lacrosse game going on. Fascinating sport! I had never watched lacrosse before, but it seems like a cross between soccer and hockey, since they can go behind the net, and there is sort of a penalty like icing. The way they twirl their stick/net things (do they have another name?) to keep the ball in is cool--manly baton-twirling. While I was watching, our team scored 3 quick goals. Anyway, I digress. . . )

So as I was watching lacrosse, I noticed that Caleb and Jonathan were really close to a man and his little boy who were sitting on the grass by their stroller. I started walking over there when I saw Jonathan leaning really close to the man. I thought he was whispering in his ear(!). As I got closer, I heard the man say, "You are tickling my ear!", and I realized that he was kissing his cheek! What?! And Caleb was acting with his little boy, who was 8 months old I later found out, just like he would with Anna--"Oh, you are such a cute boy [*kiss, kiss, kiss*], You are standing up! [*kiss, kiss*]" etc. Ack! I was just slightly embarrassed. The man was a nice, jolly type though, and he didn't seem put out by it at all, but still . . . I had no idea they would be so bold with perfect strangers! Where do they get that from?! Not me!

The man turned out to be very nice (he introduced himself, but his name flew right out of my head). We got to talking, and he said that he and his wife were overwhelmed with their 3, so he couldn't imagine having 5. I told him that I thought it was harder to go from 2 to 3 than from 3 to 5, and plus, now Nathan is almost 9, so he can do a lot more to really be helpful, like get everyone lunch. Whoops! It turns out his oldest son is also 9, and he doesn't do much at all! I then gave my standard spiel about how since I thought I was only going to have boys, I decided I wasn't going to be the only one doing any work around the house, so now I am teaching them how to cook, clean, etc., and hopefully my future daughters-in-law will all love and appreciate me. He looked like he thought that might be a good idea, but really . . . do you take advice from a lady whose boys walk up to strangers and starting kissing on them?!! I think not!

Computer Complaints

Well, I thought I had the whole picture posting thing figured out, but as it turns out, I think I just got lucky the one time I tried it with only one picture. I've tried a bunch of times now to upload another picture for a new post, but I keep getting an error message that the website is not responding. Oh well, I'm still blaming my slow dial-up connection. Why not?!

You might wonder why we still are living in the dark ages of dial-up internet. It is because we are living in a neighborhood that time forgot. Yes, even though we are in high-tech Northern Virginia, we are in a small neighborhood (as opposed to the town-size neighborhood all around us), and somehow we got left out of whatever it is you need to get DSL or broadband. We could get cable internet, but since we don't have cable, and we have heard nothing but bad about the cable company (Adelphia), we never have. Ahh well, the unfairness of life, as I so frequently tell the boys in that annoying parent tone.

And as long as I am complaining about my computer, I still can not press enter and have a space appear when I am blogging. My cursor just disappears. If Anthony L. hadn't taken pity on me and told me how to do the html for a paragraph break, I would never be able to have any breaks in my posts! What is up with that?!

And now that I have wasted good time messing around on the computer and loudly complaining about my failures, I must go nurse again. Good night!

A Fine Day

I tried a bunch of times to upload these pictures, but I think I've figured it out--I can only upload one picture at a time for a post. The curse of slow dial-up! So the weather here has been so incredibly pleasant lately. It's been in the low 70's, with a nice breeze, and not too humid. Anna sat outside yesterday in her bouncer seat and watched the tree branches above her. It's weird to think of someone really seeing leaves and branches for the first time! I took her over to visit some of the neighbors too, so she had a busy social afternoon.

Words a Mom Never Wants to Hear . . .

Jonathan: "Mom, is the baby back in your tummy?"

Skin Problems

Anna looks so much like Caleb's baby pictures. That is a little scary for me, since Caleb is our allergy child, and I wonder what genes go with the "physical appearance" ones! I mentioned a few weeks ago that Anna had really broken out on her face. The zits have pretty much gone away, but her facial skin is still really . . . rough, I guess you'd say. Definitely not smooth. Sometimes really red and splotchy (like after she's pitched a little fit), sometimes a normal color, but always just sort of rough. And kind of dry/scaly too, especially on her forehead and between her eyes. It's not really flaky, but it's sort of scaly-feeling. Weird. I'm not sure that I would call it eczema yet, but I am basically treating it as such. I've started putting a lot of Aquaphor on it, and I think that is helping a little bit. I am also cutting down drastically (meaning almost none) on my dairy intake. Her head has some flaky patches, but I am just not washing her hair very often, and it's not too bad.

When I took Caleb to his 2 month well-baby appointment, I had just started noticing flakyiness on his head, which I assumed was cradle cap. I mentioned it to the doctor, and she agreed, telling me to scrub the patches with a soft toothbrush before washing. I did this faithfully, but the patches just seemed to get bigger. Soon the patches were taking over his head, and his poor head was really crusty. I washed his hair more often, since it looked so terrible, but by the end of the day, it was all crusty again. When I took him in for his 4 month appointment, that doctor took one look at him and referred us over to Dermatology. The derm. doctor said that Caleb had the worst infected case of eczema he had ever seen on a baby, and he put him right on antibiotics. It took 2 courses for his head to clear up. Poor guy. I felt so terrible, but who knew?! I immediately went home and did research on eczema, and I discovered the link between it and food allergies. That explained some things. A few weeks prior, Caleb chewed on a fork of mine after I ate some walnut coffee cake, and he broke out all over the side of his face and around his mouth. When my Aunt Claire came out to visit, she kissed him after eating cereal, and he got little hives where her mouth touched him. Fortunately I had never given him any regular formula and very little solid foods. When we saw the dermatologist again, he pooh-poohed all my research, but I was able to get a consult for the allergy doctor anyways. They did a skin test, and he tested positive for wheat, milk, peanuts, eggs, and tree nuts--everything except soy in the test. Since I was nursing, I immediately cut those things out of my diet too (well, actually first I went home and called Amy crying, LOL). Caleb's skin is really good now, except for a patch on his ankle and his weird toenail problem, but it took over a year before it all really cleared up. His food allergies have lessened too, and he's much less sensitive to milk now (but he's really sensitive when his environmental allergies are stirred up).

When I look back at Caleb's baby pictures, at around 5-6 months, his face really changes. His eyes get really red and puffy, and his face just doesn't look right. This continues until around his first birthday. It is so obvious to me now, looking back! Hopefully I will be more aware with Anna, since I feel like we're basically on our own here, as far as medical care. I can't even get a consult for Caleb to see the allergist, even though it's been 2 years since he's seen one, and I would like to know if we are still doing the right things. I'm sure it would be very difficult to get one for Anna, if I should ever feel like she needed to see someone. I will probably start putting the evening primrose oil and flaxseed oil on her tummy, like I did for Caleb. That really seemed to help his skin problems, although it sure stained his pajamas! I guess she would definitely be wearing those boy clothes then--I'm not ruining brand new girl clothes!

Garage Saling

This morning I went garage saling. One of the neighborhoods around us had their annual community garage sale. This "neighborhood" is actually more the size of a small town, so much so that last night I went to their website, printed off a 3 page list of addresses of garage sales, highlighted ones that mentioned "girls clothes" or baby stuff, and then spent a good amount of time with my Northern Virginia atlas, figuring out where these streets were and making myself a little map so I could actually find them. That part of the plan worked perfectly. Also, Anna cooperated beautifully, waking up around 7:00, so I could leave at 8:00, when they started. I didn't get very much stuff though. It seems that in this high-price area, people have an inflated idea of what their old baby clothes should sell for! I am not going to pay 2 or more dollars for a stained little pants set! Oh well. I did pick up a cute little pair of "training" roller baldes for Caleb. They have little wheels on each side of the back wheel, so you don't really have to balance on them, although Caleb still has a hard time keeping his feet underneath him. He keeps sliding right onto his little bum! He likes them a lot--he's been wanting to rollerbalde with Nathan and Luke. I also got a Fisher Price "Great Adventure" castle, with some plastic knights. I don't think they even make this anymore, but it's been a big hit so far, especially with Caleb and Jonathan. I also got a 2 person bike trailer for $15. That was a good deal, although it has spent some time in a storage unit and is kind of dirty. I hope Bob can figure it all out. I still don't have a bike, but I figure that at ths point (well, actually when Anna is older and sitting up, but anyways . . . soon), Bob can pull Anna and Jonathan, Nathan and Luke can ride with him, and Caleb can ride with me while I walk. He can't keep up with the bigger boys yet anyways. So I spent 2 1/2 hours at 20 or more garage sales, and I got 3 things, plus 3 outfits. Hmm . . . not my most successful day. I guess that makes me feel good about not going to any garage sales since we've been here! Twice a year the MOPS group has a huge consignment sale, and I think that is a better thing--everything in one place, and the prices were better. So I will plan on hitting that in the fall to get more clothes for Anna. In the meantime, I can feel good about sleeping in on Saturdays and know that I'm not missing out on tons of great bargains!

. . . and then on to canasta and bridge

So Bob has a new project underway--he is teaching Nathan and Luke how to play pinochle. Bob comes from a big card-playing family, and I . . .well, I don't. We played tons of board games, like Scrabble, Life, and Monopoly, but we weren't into card games, using a real deck of cards. I don't think there was any real reason behind that, but that's how I remember it. While Bob and I were dating and newly married I wanted to fit in with his family, so I gave card games, especially pinochle, the ol' college try. Unfortunately, they weren't so much into gently teaching newcomers the finer points of the game. I guess they were more into
"immersion" learning--you just start playing and try to pick it all up as you go. But I don't do well with that kind of training, and them yelling "YOU HAVE TO PLAY TRUMP!!!" and "WHY DID YOU PLAY THAT?!!" all the time at me was not conducive to me developing a love for the game (Bob wants me to add that this is the reason why he doesn't play much golf). After I started having kids, I was able to just not play ("Oh, I'm going to have to nurse soon", LOL--now you know the real reason we keep having kids. Just kidding!), and now I just happily sit on the couch and do my crossword puzzle while they play.

Bob IS a patient teacher, however, and Nathan and Luke are quickly picking up the game. They love it! All day long I am hearing terms like "royal marriage", "meld", "deck and a half" and other pinochle words. The boys are going to be a big hit at the family reunion in July. I am proud to have a part, albeit small, in continuing the strong pinochle line. Of course, they want to play all the time and have a hard time understanding why not many other people have a clue how to play this game outside of senior centers. But at least with me helping to bring so many new players into the family, people will have no reason to bug me about playing myself!

Back to the routine . . . again

We started up school again this week. Now that Anna is 7 weeks old and pretty much sleeping through the night, I feel much more capable of handling the school end of things again. Plus, I get antsy when we stop school for awhile--like I can see all the stuff the boys have learned flying out their earholes and into outer space. I must plug the holes!! LOL! We are just reviewing Latin this week, but we've started right back into math. Luke finished First Language Lessons, so I'm just having him do some grammar worksheets until I decide it's time to start what he'll be doing for next year (Nathan's old Shurley Grammar book). Nathan still has some more Rod and Staff grammar to finish. We have a few more weeks of spelling to finish out this book, so we'll just keep on there too. We started reading Farmer Boy for our new read-aloud. We're plugging right along in handwriting and Story of the World as well. We decided that this year's grand party (in place of separate birthday parties) will have a Colonial/Revolutionary War theme, so we've gotten lots of books out of the library and are starting to think of craft and game ideas. We'll probably shoot for the end of July/beginning of August, like last year. Again, this year's theme fits in with this year's history. Hmm, wonder how that happened? I'm so tricky! : )

We celebrated Mother's Day Sunday by grilling out pork chops after church. I don't really like going out ON Mother's Day, since I am not into crowds. It never seems to fail that when lots of people are watching, my children will act up. Conversely, when no one is around, they are angels. So last night we went out to TGIFridays, which has "kids eat free" on Tuesday nights. Actually, it's only one free kid per adult meal, so only 2 of our kids eat free, but hey--it's still a savings! The restaurant was pretty empty, the kids were great, and we had a nice time, although I will say that I prefer Chili's fajitas to theirs. Unfortunately, kids never eat free at Chilis, so we just go there for dates.

Yesterday, I watched Christine's 4 boys for her. She had watched mine several times while I had OB appointments, and she had some errands to do yesterday to get ready to fly to her brother's wedding next weekend. So there were 8 boys here, but I didn't feel as outnumbered as I usually do since now I have Anna on the girls' side. LOL! Actually, it's great because they all get along really well. They just kind of disappear and play! They played a game of soccer for quite awhile. How nice to have so many people for teams! Then they came in and played Bionicles. When Anna was awake, she was fawned over by all of them. She is so going to grow up expecting the undivided and adoring attention of all the men around her, LOL.

So things are pretty much back to normal again, and it's a nice feeling.

Brought to you by the letter "C"

My good friend and old neighbor Pam tagged me today with a word game. Here's how it works. Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter (Pam gave me the letter C). Write ten words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation of what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along. So here goes:

1. commissary: the military grocery store. Prices are cheaper there, especially for things like cereal and meat. Since we are fairly far from one here, I try to go about every month to 6 weeks. Then we totally fill 2 carts and usually spend about $500. Yikes!

2. control: well, I think we all know what that word means! I struggle with wanting control of everything--my kids, my life--everything! I'm working on trusting the Lord and letting Him have total control, knowing that He only wants what is best for me, just as I only want what is best for my children.

3. contumacious: obstinately resisting authority; insubordinate; disobedient. Okay, I confess that I found this one in the dictionary! But now that I have found it, I'm sure it will be a regular part of my vocabulary, as in "Jonathan was contumacious tonight when he wouldn't take off his shoes by himself when my hands were full, and thus eventually had an accident in his pants because he never went potty."

4. consistency: holding always to the same principles or practices. I went to a Christian high school, and they always gave out character awards at sports banquets, graduation, etc. Mine was frequently "consistency". Never a fun quality like "spontaneity" or "creativity". Ah well, you can't win what you don't have! LOL!

5. contraction: the shortening and thickening of a muscle in action, esp. of the uterus during labor. Obviously this word has a special place in my life! I wonder how many contractions I've had total?! Mine feel like bad menstrual cramps until late transition time. Then they feel more, hmm, bone-grinding, I guess you'd say.

6. classical music: my music of choice. My favorites? Well, I always birth to Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Bach's Air (from Overture No. 3 in D major) is my all-time short piece--so beautiful and relaxing. I like Brahms a lot. We all really enjoy the Beethoven's Wig series, and I just found out that #3 has been released! It's already on our Amazon wish list.

7. conjugation: a schematic arrangement of the intellectual forms of a verb. I used to think that I knew all ab0ut conjugating--I love, you love, he loves, etc. But now that we are learning Latin, we are taking conjugation to a whole new level (amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant . . . etc., etc., etc.) There are 4 conjugations in Latin, and we've only learned the first.

8: contraception: well, I had to look this one up too--kidding! Just kidding! LOL!!

9. clarinet: I played this instrument for 8 years in middle and high school, and then for another year while we were stationed at the Air Force Academy (which was about 10 years later!). The chapel there had a little instrumental group. It was fun to play again--I was really pretty good in high school (I was a "consistent" practicer, LOL). But I must say I haven't picked it up again since we PCSed from there Jan. 2001.

10. couch: we have a big Lazyboy sectional in our family room. We got it back in Ohio, when we wanted a couch where we could all easily fit. It's really comfy, and it has a chaise on one end where I love to sit (and nap). It is great for nursing too. We do a lot of our schoolwork on the couch, and after school is done, I love to see it full of boys reading, all sprawled out every which way!

Happy Mother's Day!

In honor of the occasion, here are some of my favorite quotes on the subject of motherhood. Any other favorites out there?

"Making the decision to have a child--it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." Elizabeth Stone

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." Lin Yutang

"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness." Honore' de Balzac

"Mother's arms are made of tenderness, and sweet sleep blesses the child who lies therein." Victor Hugo

"Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of little children." William Makepeace Thackeray

"When God thought of Mother, He must have laughed with satisfaction and framed it quickly--so rich, so deep, so divine, so full of soul, power, and beauty was the conception." Henry Ward Beecher

"Stories first heard at a mother's knee are never wholly forgotten--a little spring that never quite dries up in our journey through scorching years." Giovanni Ruffini

"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my successes in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her." George Washington

"Men are what their mothers made them." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That is his." Oscar Wilde

"The trouble with being a parent is that by the time you are experienced, you are unemployed." Rosemary Coleton

"No one will ever engrave 'She kept a tidy house' on a mother's tombstone." Susan Causdale

"I looked on childrearing not only as a work of love and duty, but as a profession that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world, and one that demanded the best that I could bring to it." Rose Kennedy

"A man loves his sweetheart the best, his wife the most, but his mother the longest." Irish proverb

Interesting Article on Motherhood

There was an interesting article in today's Washington Times (the best newspaper out there!) entitled Motherhood ensures moms do know best: Having kids makes women smarter .

"Motherhood can be tremendously strengthening to you as a person," says
Katherine Ellison, author of "The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter."
Mrs. Ellison's book, which is grounded in scientific studies, finds "five
attributes of a baby-boosted brain." Motherhood, she writes, appears to be
linked to enhanced perception, with greater sensitivity in smell, vision,
hearing and physical contact. "Mom radar," as Mrs. Ellison puts it. Mothers are
also likely to become efficient and resourceful multitaskers who are strongly
motivated to set and fulfill goals. Other hallmarks of motherhood are improved
social skills and emotional intelligence, which allows them to reduce stress and
encourage resilience.

The article goes on to talk about how almost all mothers, however, feel that their brains have turned to mush after having children. Here is Mrs. Ellison's answer to that:

There have been attempts to analyze "porridge brain," as maternal ditziness is
called in Britain. In 2001, British neuroscientists Matthew Brett and Sallie
Baxendale wrote a paper on a new disorder they called "gestational memory
impairment." Other studies have found that pregnancy can temporarily shrink a
woman's brain, and pregnant women and new mothers can be distracted or falter on
memory tests. In addition, there is ample anecdotal evidence that pregnancy and
new motherhood bring difficulties in concentration, deterioration of expressive
language skills, mental fogginess, forgetfulness, confusion, disorientation and
poor concentration. But Mrs. Ellison says scientific evidence suggests that
these changes are not evidence of a loss, but signs of a transformation into a
better brain. Mothers' brains not only return to their normal size within months
of birth, but have enhanced capacity, she writes.

Well, I can certainly see both sides on this one. One the one hand, there is a lot of stuff just to keep track of around here--how much clean underwear everyone has, whether or not there is extra toilet paper in the garage, when Anna ate last, when Jonathan peed last, what we're having for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and whether we have all the ingredients, etc, etc., etc.--and I think I do a fairly good job of that. I can smell a poopy diaper from a room away, and I can generally tell when people are up to no good in far off places (increased sense of hearing?). I'm picking up Latin fairly well, making me wish I had uninterrupted time to concentrate on it. But I certainly do not feel as "sharp" as I was when I was sailing through college. My brain often does feel like porridge, especially when I am suddenly asked to figure out something, like the most cost-efficient size of canola oil at the commissary. And I have a degree in math! Also, I NEVER left my credit card on the counter before I had kids. I often have to read things more than once to remember them. That drives me crazy. Later in the article, they do blame sleep deprivation, but my babies have all been good sleepers, so that doesn't really hold water for me (Anna slept from 10:30 until 6:30 last night!!!!). Some other scientist says, "Any cognitive lapses are a tradeoff for a better functioning and focused brain later on." Hmmm. Well, I'm still waiting for that! When exactly do I get this new, improved brain?!

That Sinking Feeling

Last night I went to the post office to mail a package. Bob had told me about the lovely new machine that lets you do everything automatically, thus avoiding the ever-present line, so I was going to try that. I got up to it, opened my wallet to get out my credit card . . . and realized it wasn't where it usually is. In fact, it wasn't there at all. Oh, my heart dropped absolutely down to my toes. I grabbed my stuff, mumbled something about not being able to do this right now to the lady behind me, and ran out to the car. As I sat there, I remembered clearly going to Kohls the night before to buy a picture frame. I had all the kids, and I could see myself paying with the card, then laying it down on the counter for "cashier verification". And obviously, I didn't see myself pick it back up again! I called Bob, then hightailed it back over to Kohls. Praise the Lord, my card was waiting for me up at customer service. What a relief! Bob was johnny-on-the-spot, and he froze the account before I got over there, just in case, so we will be getting new cards soon. This little incident does not bode well for me shopping with all the kiddos! I was so thankful that I went off to the post office though. Otherwise, who knows when the next time would be that I would have tried to use my card? It could have been days later, and I would have had a much harder time remembering where it got left!

The reason that I was buying a picture frame (which was 50% off, by the way) is that we have finally truly joined the digital age, and we have a printer for digital pictures. One of the first things we printed off was an 8x10 picture of my brother Dan and his lovely wife Melinda on their wedding day. Gee, it's only been 2 years since that day! LOL! But the picture turned out great--we turned it, cropped out some of the background--very nice (I think it was #499, Dan). And it looks very classy in the frame too. So now that have this printer, maybe I will more more ready to give up my old-fashioned camera and just use the digital one. I have been very reluctant to do so, since I doubted that we would ever really get the pictures in hand, so ever since we got the digital camera, I've pretty much taken the same shots both on that camera and on "my" camera. And up till now, the digital ones have stayed on the camera or the computer, and mine have regularily turned into pictures that you can show people in the comfort of our family room, not all hunched around the computer screen! But now we've reached the big time--nothing's stopping us now! Pictures for all!

Testing Jitters . . .

. . . mine, of course. Today was the first day of standardized testing. Elizabeth volunteered to pick up the boys and take them in the morning, which was wonderful, because they needed to be there at 9:10 (that's another thing I can't do--get everyone ready to go and out the door even by 9:30, much less 9:00!). Thanks, Elizabeth! The boys waltzed confidently out the door with nary a care in the world. I was less sanguine, especially since today's subjects included spelling, Nathan's weakest subject.

When I picked Nathan up, his teacher told me that Nathan was a really fast reader. "Yeah", he says, "I always finished first--no one ever beat me!" Ack! I reiterated that this was NOT a race. Speed is fine as long as you are CAREFUL. Unfortunately, he can be pretty careless at times. Oh well! He also told me that spelling was easy. LOL--sometimes things can seems easy because you just don't know when you don't know something! We'll see . . . Luke thought everything was easy. Hey, it's first grade, and he's mainly doing second grade work, so I would say he is probably right. Hopefully he was careful too, and not over-confident. Just 2 more days--and then 2 months of waiting for scores to come back, LOL!

Picnic/Potluck Marathon

You know how you either have weekends where there is absolutely nothing going on, or weekends where you have a gazillion big events? Well, this is one of the latter weekends for us. Our homeschool co-op had their end-of-the-year graduation ceremony and picnic yesterday afternoon, our church had a ground-breaking ceremony with a potluck afterwards this morning, and this afternoon we have our AWANA closing ceremony/pizza party. Oh, and Bob couldn't get out of desk duty at his real estate office today.

First, the homeschool picnic. Usually this ceremony is at the church, but this year the leader of the committee really wanted to have a picnic at her house so that more families would come, not just those with graduating 6th graders. Since there are about 40 families in TNT, you can imagine what kind of a house and yard this lady has. No, actually you're not imagining enough--it was really an incredible place! They live closer into the city than we do, but it felt like we were out in the middle of nowhere. They have a long (paved) private drive back to their property--what a great place for kids to ride bikes, rollerblade, etc. Then they have a big field, they have a forest part with a stream, they have a grassy part with trees, and a grassy part without trees, they have a swingset area, they have a trampoline, they have an orchard part, and also a big plowed garden area. Yeah, we didn't want to leave. The best part is that the grandparents live right. next. door. On this same private drive. Sigh. What a dream! The parents are both architects, so they designed their house to look like an Italian villa built by a favorite Italian architect of theirs. It was big, but very comfortable. Rustic inside. It wasn't really my dream style, but it was really neat. The family has 5 kids, 4 of whom are adopted from China, so they can stand to have a big place and big yard. Only one of the kids is a boy though--what a shame! Anyhow, we had a fun time. The weather was beautiful, and the kids played hard.

This morning, after I fed Anna at 5:45 and put her down again, I really fell fast asleep again, so I didn't wake up until 9:00, when she did. Ack! We need to leave for church by 9:45 to be on time! That didn't happen. Bob didn't go, since he had to be at Weichert, and we were 15 minutes late to church. Fortunately, we got there just as everyone was getting into their cars to drive over to the new site for the groundbreaking--I saved myself the trouble of unloading everyone, just to load them up again! After the groundbreaking, the pastor wanted each family to come up individually to have their picture taken with the shovel. There I was, all by myself with the kids, and Caleb chose to be very uncooperative and camera-shy. So the picture of us is without Bob, with me doing that smile-grimace thing while speaking threateningly out of the side of my mouth and reaching around to give the Vulcan death shoulder grip to Caleb, who is attempting to hide behind my legs and pull me down. No fake smiles and perfect family this morning, no sir! We did manage to get everyone back over to the school where we were having the potluck without furthur incidents, and I managed to get everyone through the food line AND even get something for myself to eat before Anna had to nurse again (she was cooperative, I guess to make up for Caleb, LOL). Potlucks are hard without both adults! I had Anna in the frontpack, so at least I had both hands. The whole thing unfortunately reinforced the illusion that people in the church have of me as some sort of super-woman--She pops out babies! She gets them all to church by herself, albeit 15 minutes late! She makes a mean strawberry spinach salad! One woman actually said to me, "Is there anything you can't do?" ROTFL! Yes. How about "get an uncooperative child to smile for a nice family picture?" Here's a partial and nonexhaustive list of things I can't do, just off the top of my head:

--Dance

--Type

--Pottytrain without getting really frustrated

--Draw

--Decorate a house with tasteful knickknacks, pictures, etc.

--Keep a clean kitchen counter

--Stay ahead of the laundry mountain

--Give up chocolate

--Eliminate paper clutter

--Speak a foreign language

Well, there are many more things, but I'm going to have to nurse again soon, so . . . that's a start. After I nurse, we have to load up again for the AWANA ceremony and party. I can't believe that we are having 2 big meals where I don't have to cook ON THE SAME DAY! What a waste! But next weekend is completely free, of course.

I can't believe Anna is over a month old now. Where does the time go?! You will notice that this picture is not a close-up of her. That is because "close-up" is no longer what we call her best angle. She has broken out with zits on her cheeks like a nervous teenager. Ahh, the loss of her sweet, girlish complexion. LOL! The reason for this breakout is that she spits up tons, and if she does that while napping, then she rolls around in it, irritating her face. And the reason that all happens is (whispering quietly) she sleeps on her tummy. I always feel like such a criminal when I admit that actually ALL of my kids have slept on their tummies. They hate being on their backs. Since I am such a rule-keeper, I always start out with the best of intentions, and they spend the first week or so on their back (or side, actually, since they REALLY don't like being on their backs, even at just a week!). But then as they get more vocal about it all, I let them go onto their tummies. When they spit up and are on their backs, they sputter and gasp, and frankly that scares me. Of course, I also worry about SIDS, and I fervently pray for their breathing and safety every time I put them down. But they're so much happier on their tummies, and they sleep so much better. Sigh. I do wait until they can lift up their heads and turn them by themselves. So there--my dirty secret is out.

In other news, Jonathan is still doing great with his pottytraining--no accidents at all yesterday! He's even been going on the big potty. Mom and Dad are getting ready to leave tomorrow. They're going back to Ohio by way of a wedding in South Carolina. It's just been so wonderful to have them here. Having my mom around every day to talk to, bounce ideas off of, do stuff with, etc. has just been great, and I'm going to miss her so much. The boys will be so sad too. The house will seem so empty! Empty--but not quiet, I'm sure. LOL!

The King on His Throne

Yay, I think he's finally got it! He didn't have any pee-pee accidents yesterday, although he did poop in a pull-up. Today we went to WalMart this morning, and he did just fine. Then tonight, while the big boys and I were at track practice, he pooped on the potty! *big cheer* There was a big celebration with freezer pops for all when we returned. We'll see if he can duplicate his successes tomorrow. I am just happy that he's not peeing in his underwear anymore. I'm feeling good about that!

I'm glad my mom was here for the pottytraining. She read tons of books to him and really kept on him about going, especially the first few days. I was so discouraged when he didn't just immediately grasp it all. I think that for me, I see it as some kind of test for myself--can I teach him a basic skill that he must grasp? And if not, then how can I possibly teach him anything else?! So I get very stressed about it, and that's not a good thing. In some ways, I am like that about reading too, since that seems to me to be about the most basic learning skill you can teach. Nathan didn't just pick up on reading right away, and that was hard for me. Luke basically taught himself to read, and I felt great about that! Caleb is shaping up to be more like Nathan in how he learns, and he certainly isn't just going to teach himself anytime soon. I'm finding myself putting off really starting formal school with him, and it's mainly because I know it's going to be hard teaching him to read. And for some reason, that makes me feel like I'm not a worthy teacher. I know, I'm crazy, but there it is. And yet, so far I've successfully pottytrained 3, maybe 4 boys, and 2 of them are reading. In fact, Nathan is an excellent reader, and reading is what he would prefer to be doing almost all the time! I guess I'll always feel somewhat insecure about how I'm doing, especially right now as we come up to their standardized testing. I always breathe so much easier once I get their test results back in June or July!

Another weekend

Wow, what a difference a week makes! Last week I was sick as can be, entertaining Bob's family. This week I feel like a whole different person, in part because Anna had a great night last night. She went to sleep at 12:30, then slept until 5:45 (!). After I fed her, I put her back down, and she slept until 9:45. And so did I. Ahhhh. What a difference a few hours of uninterrupted sleep makes in one's outlook on life in general.

It's a good thing she's being so cooperative, and I have such a good outlook on life, because Mom and I have retackled pottytraining Jonathan, and frankly, he's not been nearly so cooperative. He's trying to be, but he's having a hard time putting it all together. Thursday was not a good day; Friday was a little bit better, but it involved him staying in the kitchen on the linoleum the entire day. Fortunately he is happy being read to or just playing with his little Larry the Cucumber figure and a Duplo horse, so he didn't complain much. Also, we plied him with juice boxes and apple juice (both are VERY special treats around here), so he thought that was great. He's just having a hard time feeling (or I should say noticing) the urge to go (he's improving, though), and he's having a hard time emptying his bladder completely when he does go. Also, he has never pooped on the potty, which causes me some concern, especially in light of Luke's constipation issues. Since he has no compunction about pooping in his underwear, you can understand my hesitation to let him out of the kitchen! I'm not sure what we'll do about church tomorrow--probably just put him in a diaper, and work more next week. I just never dreamed he'd have such a hard time with these concepts! I'm praying for patience . . .

A Complimentary Dinner

Tonight I made enchilada casserole for dinner, a huge favorite of the boys'. They gave me an appreciative round of applause at the beginning of the meal, and then when Nathan was all done (3 big helpings later), he leaned back and told me it was "excellent . . . as usual". Luke followed that up with, "Hey, Mom, your tummy is shrinking!" Why yes, LOL, thanks for noticing! It's not shrinking fast enough to suit me, since I still am nowhere close to fitting into any clothes, but it IS smaller. Usually the kind of "tummy" comments I get are something like, "Wow, Mom, your tummy looks like a big stretched-out balloon", which was said by Nathan after I had Jonathan. Not nearly as complimentary, I must say.

I think the boys were predisposed to be so flattering because I went to the library this morning after my dental appointment, so they have all sorts of new books to read. Yes, I am feeling well enough to run errands! It is so nice to be able to do things without that chronic excruciating soreness. I feel I am still more tired than normal, but the pain . . . so wonderful to have that gone. I am thanking the Lord to live in the age of antibiotics! I can't imagine how those pioneer women could have handled mastitis--bears and Indians, yes, but mastitis, no.

Deck Garden

Once again, Bob and the boys have planted a deck garden. It's really thriving due to all the rain we got over the weekend. The box in front has beans--all the strings are Bob's innovative space-saving way for the vines to climb. They also planted squash, spinach, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, and bell peppers in the other boxes. The boys aren't big fans (yet!) of peppers or cucumbers, so I think they only were allotted one or two plants. In the big pot that you can only see the edge of, Bob has 2 tomato plants (boys aren't big fans of those yet either, LOL), and 2 blueberry "bushes" (actually "twigs" right now--we're hoping they make it, much less ever bear fruit!) I'll try to post pictures to show the progress.

In other backyard nature news, yesterday morning we saw a pileated woodpecker out our study window. Nathan actually was the spotter. The bird was pecking away at a stump we have back in our little stand of trees, so he was really low to the ground. After he finished pecking, he rooted around in there for awhile, geting bugs out with his sticky tongue. Yummy! He's a pretty big bird, with that striking red crest on his head, so even the little boys could see and identify him. After that exciting interlude, it was back to the test review books for the boys. The Stanford tests are in 2 weeks!

Infection 1; Antibiotics 0

Now for Round 2 . . .

I called for an appointment as soon as the line opened this morning, but the only one they had was at 3:40. I knew that wouldn't work, since I would be stuck in rush hour going home, so I decided to go back to Bethesda's ER. I had prayed last night that if I was supposed to go back there, there wouldn't be any good appointments left at the Fairfax clinic, and there weren't. Nothing like clear direction!

I didn't get there until 12:15, and it started out badly, as there were no parking places at all by the ER door. I had to drive around the complex (it's huge) to the other side where there was a parking garage. Fortunately, I found a place there. The check-in lady even recognized me ("Hey, didn't you have a breast infection on Friday?!" "Yes, it's the same one, in fact.") When the doctor came in to see me, she also recognized my case! This has never happened to me before in military ER medicine! She was the head ER doc on Friday too, so the doctor I saw then had discussed my case with her. She remembered my allergy to penicillin, and their drug discussion. She said that I didn't have an abscess, but that the infection was obviously not responding to the antibiotic they had given me (clindamycin). She decided to start an IV antibiotic on me then, and to change my prescription to Keflex. This is what I took when I had mastitis with Caleb, although I would never have remembered without someone saying it first. She told me they didn't try that first because some people who are allergic to penicillin are also allergic to Keflex. Thankfully, not me.

Well, you know how ERs are-- it took awhile to get a corpsman in to put in the IV, another while for a nurse to come in to hook up the actual solution, awhile for the solution to run, and then an even longer while for someone to come back to check on me and take it out! I did 2 crossword puzzles and took a nap, LOL. But then I had to go to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription, and let me tell you, this is where I really missed having Bob there in uniform! When I got up there and saw that there were no seats left in the waiting area, and people were basically waiting all over the place, that was a bad sign. They have a number system, like at Wright-Pat, and I was able to get in a different set of numbers because I was "discharged from the hospital", so I didn't have to wait AS long, but it was still a wait of about an hour and 10 minutes. Whew! Other people were waiting well over 2 hours. Ridiculous. Active duty in uniform get a whole different set of numbers, and their numbers are called immediately! They only have to wait about 10 minutes, as their prescriptions are just immediately filled. Ah well. I eventually made it out of there at 4:30. I was so worried that I would totally get stuck in rush hour traffic on the Beltway, and if I had been traveling on the Inner Loop, I would have. There was an accident, and they were stopped! But the Outer Loop was moving, albeit sluggishly, and I made it home by 5:30, ravenously hungry and desperate to pump.

Anna has been a real trooper through this whole ordeal, taking a bottle like a champ when I've had to be gone for a feeding (or 2, LOL). That was such a relief, to know she would do that without making a huge fuss about it! And I've certainly been pumping a freezer full of milk, so it's good to know she'll use it. Mom did yeoman's work (don't you love all these Navy terms I'm sprinkling in here? It's a whole 'nother language!) here at home with all the kids, both Friday and today. I probably would have had a nervous breakdown if she hadn't still been here! The Lord knew she needed to be here for such a long time! As for me, I'm pretty tired, but--call me a cock-eyed optimist--I think that possibly I am less sore now. Oh, I am so praying that I will feel better tomorrow!!!

Mastitis Update

The good news is that I survived our company, both on Friday night and today. The bad news is that I really am not any better, and I certainly wasn't thrilling company. In fact, I had to go upstairs a few times to lie down today. But hey--no one is coming to see me, right?! They want to see Anna, and fortunately she is just fine! Last night at the Bible study potluck, Christine told me she had mastitis with all 4 of hers, so she couldn't believe that I hadn't canceled! We all have to eat though . . . As we were talking, she noticed I was shivering, and she ordered me to bed! We compromised, and I lay on the couch under a blanket. How ironic that on what must be one of our busiest social weekends of the year, I am feeling my absolute worst! I'm not planning on going to church tomorrow either. How funny--I went to church 5 days after delivering, but mastitis 3 weeks later is keeping me away.

The problem is that I can't keep my temperature down. I'm taking 800 mg of Motrin about every 8 hours or so, with 1000 mg Tylenol midway, but my temperature keeps coming up after about 3 hours. I get a huge headache, chills, etc., and I end up in bed in my fleece nightshirt surrounded by warm rice bags in an attempt to stop shaking. Eventually I fall asleep, and then some time later, I awaken absolutely drenched in sweat with the fever broken. I'm still pretty sore, so my guess is that the antibiotic I'm taking is just not working very quickly. Since I am allergic to penicillin and am nursing, that really limits what I can take. I've played around with the intervals between the Motrin and the Tylenol, but I can't stop the fever. Frustrating.

We had a great time (well, those of us who were well!) today with Bob's sister Ann, her husband Wally, and their adult daughter Christi. Bob and the boys played Power with Wally, everyone played Skip-Bo, and of course, Anna was passed around whenever she was awake. Christi won Jonathan's heart because she tirelessly read tons of books to him and Caleb. After all our days of sunshine, today it poured down rain pretty steadily. I had hoped people could go outside some, but that didn't happen! I'm hoping that they, as well as others in Bob's family, come back again soon to visit when I'm feeling totally healthy.

Oh no! The big "M" word . . .

. . . mastitis. Yesterday afternoon I nursed Anna right before leaving for track practice. I noticed that I felt a little painful on my left side, and I wished I had time to pump as well, because it just didn't feel empty. But I didn't; we were late as it was, so off we went. By the end of track, I was very anxious to get back home to pump, and I was very uncomfortable. I realized what was happening, so after pumping and nursing, I put warm moist compresses on it, but that was temporary relief at best. I knew I was running a fever last night, and it was past the "clogged duct" stage, so I called for an appointment this morning. Alas, the Fairfax clinic didn't HAVE any appointments. I knew I would have to go to the ER at Bethesda, since it couldn't wait until Monday. Fortunately, Bob was able to come home at 11:30 to take me. I was so thankful, since I wasn't looking forward to maneuvering on the Beltway with my soreness, as well as a raging fever of 102, a pounding headache, the chills, etc. Amazingly, we got seen pretty quickly. There's something about having the active duty person there in uniform that really helps! We got there around 12:00, and we were done by 1:30. Is that a record or what?! So now I am on antibiotics, which will hopefully take effect quickly. Like I have said before, I would rather go through labor and delivery again that have mastitis. It is so painful. Bleh. I had a bout of it with Caleb too, back in Ohio. After that, I became a fervent advocate of the "football hold", since I had heard that that empties the ducts better. I always started with that, and then I would switch positions midway through each side. I didn't have any more problems with Caleb, and none at all with Jonathan, so I was feeling pretty confident that I had solved the problem! Obviously there is something more going on, though, and I don't know what it is. What amazed me was just how quickly it progressed. Hopefully it will go away just as quickly. I am off to take a nap before our Bible study potluck, which is at our house this evening. Fortunately, we are just providing the meat and drinks, so we don't have to do too much. Mom has been so great about cleaning the house, and Bob will do the grilling, so . . . not much for me, which is good, because I don't really feel like I'm worth much today! Tomorrow Bob's sister Ann and her family are coming up from Richmond to see Anna. I'm really hoping to feel better by then.

You've Come a Long Way, Baby

Yesterday I put Anna in the stroller and walked a few houses down to where the boys were playing in our neighbors' back yard. There were several kids there, including a family who was just visiting. One little girl, who was probably 8, asked whose baby it was. Jonathan piped up proudly, "That mine sister--ANNA CLAIRE!" He still has problems with feminine pronouns, but at least she is no longer "that guy". And that's pretty big progress for less than one month!

Four Very Happy Boys

My brother's wife's parents ("Mr. and Mrs. H") were kind enough to send some really cute outfits for Anna. They were also kind enough to give Walmart gift cards to each of the boys! You can hardly imagine the excitement when the boys found that out! As I have said before, we allow them to buy Lego Bionicles, but they have to use their own money. When they received this unexpected windfall, they were ready that moment to make a trip to Walmart, but it had to wait until this afternoon. Caleb especially was thrilled, since he doesn't really get an allowance, so he didn't really have a way of buying one yet. Nathan, Luke, and Caleb didn't let the week go to waste, however--they made the important pre-buying decisions of who was going to get what. So once we actually got to Walmart, they just basically snatched the correct ones off the shelf, and there we were! All done! Jonathan decided on a Lego Knight named Sir Rascus. He apparently has "power-armor", but Jonathan was most impressed by his big sword. When we got home, everyone assembled their person (or whatever you call a Bionicle), and then I was treated to the happy sound of boys playing for a long time. A priceless gift for me!

Spring Break is Over

We had a glorious Easter. The weather was nice, especially in the morning, so it was easy to visualize being at the tomb, seeing the stone rolled away, and, best of all, seeing the risen Savior! We went to church in the morning and then we had our big meal at our regular dinner time--I'm just not organized enough to get everything in before church to eat right afterwards! After dinner we finished going through our Resurrection Eggs with the boys. I really like these. Each egg has a token from the Easter story (like a piece of linen, a donkey, a wine cup, etc.), and as you open each egg, you read the corresponding Scripture reference and the short reading in the little booklet that comes with the eggs. Easter was a lot more meaningful this year because Nathan really asked some good questions about it. Yesterday he wanted to know how people in the Old Testament were saved, before Jesus came. We had a good discussion about faith using Abraham as an example. Friday night, while reading our bedtime Bible story, we had a good discussion about the Old Testament system of sacrifice, and how Jesus fulfilled all of that completely. I love being a part of seeing children work out their faith and gain a deeper understanding of who Christ is and what He did for them! Along the same lines, Nathan and Luke started watching the Narnia DVD last night. As Nathan said, it's a perfect thing to watch for Easter! They didn't get that far before it was time for bed, but Nathan is looking forward to watching more tonight. I'm not sure if Luke will watch it all. He's more like me--not a fan of scary things that you see. I would much rather read the book, where I can control the images better in my mind, than see a movie, where someone has already put their own images there, ready to go straight to my brain!

We also celebrated Grandpa's birthday last night with coffee cake (and rice krispie treats for Caleb). It's ironic that coffee cake was what Caleb first reacted to as a baby! I think it was Dad's birthday then too, and we were over for cake. Caleb would have been about 6 months old. After I ate my piece, Caleb chewed on my fork and promptly broke out in hives all over his face. The cake has walnuts on it and milk in it, and Caleb has turned out to be allergic to both of those. Anyways, Dad left this morning for his trip to China, and he'll be over there for his actual birthday, so we celebrated early.

Today it has been back to the old grind, however. The boys did some of their standardized test review book, we reviewed Latin, and I finally installed Typing Instructor on our computer so the boys spent a goodly amount of time doing that. In fact, I think I might start doing some of the lessons! It looked fun and easy, and I am not a good typist at all. I told the boys to aspire to their Uncle Dan's and Aunt Claire's skill level of typing, NOT their mother's! And of course I did laundry. I will confess that I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at the amount of laundry that we are generating. I feel like I can barely keep up with the regular loads of darks and whites, and the "other" loads (towels, sheets, delicates, etc.) keep getting pushed back. At least we're heading into summer, where shorts and t-shirts don't take up nearly the amount of washer space that seatshirts and jeans do!

Another picture

Here is another picture of Anna, specifically for Aunt Claire who requested more! She is a real sweetie--how could she not be, with all that brotherly love?! She still won't look at the camera when I try to take her picture, though. I guess I'll give her another few weeks to master that . . .

Spring Break!

This week we have pretty much taken as Spring Break. By that I mean, we haven't done any school, and we might as well call it something! Grandpa was here (he leaves Monday for 2 weeks in China), Daddy took off Tuesday and Wednesday, and the weather was just gorgeous--definitely not a week for hitting the books! Instead, the boys have spent lots of time outside. Nathan and Luke have played a lot of basketball at the end of the cul-de-sac. Bob took them, as well as Caleb, for a bike ride on the W&OD bike path Thursday morning, and then they had track practice Thursday night. Today all the boys played tennis with Bob at our swim/tennis place. Maybe we'll call it sports camp week. Ahh, the joys of a large family--plenty of people to play with! It's also been a good week for freezer pops, which is what you see Jonathan clutching in the picture. No way was he putting that down for even a second!

Tonight Bob and I are going on a date (is that what it's called when you're alone with the person you married, away from your house? LOL!). I think we're going to Chevy's since we have a coupon, and I love Mexican food. Meanwhile, back at the ranch here, Grandma and Grandpa will be holding down the fort and grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. (Isn't that great how I could mix metaphors and use TWO place descriptions for our suburban Colonial house? LOL!) I'm sure everyone will do just fine.

Well-Baby Update

Anna had her 2 week well-baby appointment today. Bob took yesterday and today off, so he went with me while the other boys stayed with Grandma and Grandpa--a date! Anna is now 9 pounds 5 ounces, up from her birthweight of 8 pounds 11 ounces. That is exactly what Caleb weighed at birth! She's now 22 inches long, up from the 20.5 inches she was at birth. So she is growing just fine. We saw a doctor I have never seen before. He was very nice. I'm not sure where he is from--maybe Greece or somewhere like that? Definitely not a native English speaker, although I think that is a prerequisite to work at that clinic! He was funny--he knew Anna was a girl, and referred to her as "Beautiful girl" and other expressions like that, but everytime he referred to her with a pronoun, he used male pronouns--JUST LIKE JONATHAN! I laughed in the car, but I managed to hold it in in the clinic. The doctor was very concerned because I didn't bring along records from her birth (which the hospital never gave me). I couldn't tell him her Apgar score, and he had a hard time moving past that.

Doctor: You can't remember [his] Apgar score?

Me: Umm, no. I never really heard it. They whisked her aside to make sure she didn't aspirate any meconium . . . I did hear them say she pinked up really nicely, so I'm sure it was fine . . . maybe an 8 or 9?

Doctor: Can you remember what [his] Apgar score was?

LOL! He was also like that with the question of how many total hours she sleeps, day and night. I have never added it all up, so I kept hemming around, saying that she was doing really well, eating about every 3 hours during the day and going at least 4 hours once during the night, and she usually is up about an hour after feeding during the day . . . so how many hours is that? But he kept wanting a real number. Let me get out some paper. . . I never did answer.

I did call the hospital where I delivered, and tomorrow I plan on going there to sign the release form so they can send her records over to the clinic. So that should put his mind at ease--he can get her Apgar score straight from the records!

Sobering News

This afternoon, Bob was paging through my dad's copy of Checkpoints, the alumni magazine for the Air Force Academy, when he noticed a familiar name on the last page. His roommate from the Academy, Steph Kajah, died on February 15 in a skiing accident at Breckenridge. Wow. That was a shock. Steph was the man who led Bob to the Lord. He would faithfully read his Bible and listen to Chuck Swindoll on the radio, and eventually Bob was curious enough to start asking questions. Bob was religious, but he didn't really know God or understand what Jesus did for him. Steph was the one who explained that Jesus took Bob's place and paid the penelty of death for Bob's sin so that Bob could have a relationship with a holy God. We are confident that Steph is in the presence of the Lord right now, and because of his faithful testimony, Bob will be there when he dies too. I am so thankful for Steph's life, since he directly impacted my life by leading Bob to the Lord, but I am so sad for his wife and family. And it is also very sobering to reflect on whether or not I am impacting anyone's life for eternity, since none of us know how long we'll be here on earth.

Caleb and Anna

Caleb loves his sister, who he always calls by her full name "Anna Claire". The reason he loves her is that "we haven't seen her for years, months, and days". LOL, it sounds like she's just been traveling or something! I'm sure when she is older she will appreciate knowing that she was missed in our family even before she was conceived!

The picture quality is bad here, but for some reason I had a real problem getting this picture to post. Oh well. It was a really cute picture on the camera! : )

Open House

Wow, I am so pooped right now. There are a lot of families in the greater D.C. area that we have been stationed with before, or that have been at Wright-Pat and know my parents. This afternoon we had an open house for all those people. It was so much fun to see all these old friends again, a real Wright-Pat reunion! Mom and I have been especially busy the past few days cleaning and cooking. I was worried before it that no one would come. In fact, I never wanted to have an open house, like for my high school graduation, because that was always my fear. And then yesterday afternoon, right after Mom brought Dad home from the airport, and as I was in the middle of making a big pan of fudge, the doorbell rang. It was one of our old friends, along with one of her kids. I was surprised to see her, but I quickly figured out that she thought the open house was yesterday! Ack! She told me I looked great, which made me laugh inside, since I was wearing a ratty t-shirt and sweats, which were covered in flour, chocolate, etc., since I had been baking desserts all day! Bob and Nathan were at Home Depot, which was a little awkward too. When they came in, Bob asked brightly, "So what brings you out this way?", and she answered, "Why, your open house!" I really hope she goes back and looks at her email, just so that she can see that we aren't really ditsy and totally unprepared for major social events that we host! Anyhow, that whole thing made me anxious about the real thing today--not a good omen! But not to worry. People did show up, and we had such a great time with everyone. The kids all played well together (and there were a lot of them), and there was lots of laughter in the family room and around the table as we told stories and caught up! I wish they all lived closer--in one big neighborhood! Again it makes me look forward to heaven, where I know we who know Christ will have eternity to spend together, laughing and catching up, all in the presence of Christ, where there will be no more tears and sorrow! The Christian military community is such a great group of people. We did have plenty of left-over food, so Mom and I are looking forward to some days of left-overs while we enjoy our clean house. Well, the clean house will probably only last a few hours, but still . . . it was nice while it lasted!

The Pottytraining Blues

So I've started pottytraining Jonathan, who will be 3 on June 2. You may think this is a bad time to start, having just had a baby, but since my mom is here, it's actually a good time. She can help get him where he needs to be while I'm nursing or whatever. The only problem is that Jonathan didn't get the memo. He has had 2 other times where he has been extremely interested in pottytraining, and he has come to me when he needed to go, even pooping. Unfortunately both of those times were right before big trips (to Colorado in June and to Texas in December), and I just couldn't think about having a newly trained boy on a long car trip filled with rest areas and truck stop bathrooms. Blech. So I let him go, but I didn't do much to encourage him, like put him in underwear or really work with him. Of course, now that I am ready, he is not much interested. Well, that's not completely true. Bob told him he could have a Skittle when he went, so for the past few days he has been motivated to go, just to get a Skittle. Unfortunately, if he is NOT in the mood for a Skittle, or he is involved in something else, then he is not so interested in going. Also, he is not pooping on the potty at all. Wednesday, right before piano lessons, he went in his underwear. Let's just say that was very messy and leave it at that. Also, add in that I wasn't pleased, since he had just peepeed on his potty. Sigh. After that, I was leary of underwear, so I have been putting him in Pull-ups. That was probably a good move, in that he blithely pooped in one this morning. Unfortunately, he has also peed in them a few times today. Grrr. I have never used Pull-ups with the other boys, since I think they feel like diapers, and hence aren't that effective in pottytraining, but I don't want to deal with poopy underwear again. Maybe I was wrong and this isn't a good time! The other boys have all pottytrained very quickly within a month or so of their third birthdays, so maybe I should just hang it all up for another month. Sigh. I hope all the hype I've heard about girls being easier to pottytrain is true.

Happy One Week Birthday!

What a difference a week makes! We celebrated Anna's one week birthday by eating ice cream while the birthday girl napped. She'll get hers later on, I guess! Anna also had her first sponge bath this morning. Obviously cleanliness is not a priority for me, LOL! She really wasn't that dirty until a day or so ago, when she started spitting up after meals, just like all her big brothers. Somehow, I grow incredible spitters-uppers. Anyways, I grew tired of the sour milk smell. She didn't even fuss during the bath. She's really very even-tempered, from what I can tell so far. She has also made incredible progress in getting her days and nights straightened out this week. For the past few nights, she has slept really well. Last night I fed her at midnight, then she woke up again at 4:00, and again at 8:15. Hey, I can work with that! She's starting to have her eyes open a little more often during the day, to the great delight of all her brothers. Speaking of brothers, Jonathan has progressed from calling her "that guy" to "my baby" (actually, to be accurate, "MINE baby"--he speaks sort of a King James English). I have actually tried to take more pictures of her, but for all her even-temperedness, she is not a very cooperative model, LOL! She always waves her hands around at the last minute, turns her head, screws up her face, or something, so there really aren't any great pictures. Sorry Aunt Claire! I'll keep trying though--a mother's love and all that. Off to nurse again!

A Family Picture

Here we all are, just a few hours after Anna was born. I haven't even been moved upstairs to the postpartum ward yet! Grandma and Grandpa brought all the boys to see their new sister for the first time. Nathan and Luke were excited to see the baby, but Caleb and Jonathan really wanted to see me. Awww. That melts a mommy's heart!

I think I look like I'm feeling pretty good here, and you know, I was! And I still am. It's amazing the difference between having your first child and having your fifth! If only you could have your fifth one first! LOL! I remember going to visit my friend Elizabeth after she had her fourth. Nathan was about 9 months old at the time. I asked her how she was feeling, and she said something like she wasn't ready to do jumping jacks, but really she was feeling pretty good. And I clearly remember thinking, "She's lying!", since I could very distinctly still remember how I felt a few days after having had a baby--like my whole nether region had been through a meat grinder, and I could barely sit down, not to mention how exhausted I was. But as I have discovered myself, she wasn't lying! One of God's little gifts to moms of more than one, I guess!

In other "Anna" news, she had a really good night last night. Obviously posting about my troubles here got her to shape up, LOL!

Anna Claire

Here's a picture of Anna. She looks like Caleb did as a newborn. We're settling in nicely. She is still a little mixed up as far as her days and nights go. She is really alert from about 1:00 AM until 3:00 AM, but she only wants to sleep all afternoon long! We're still working on all that. The boys just love her. Jonathan is so funny--he calls her "that guy", and he never uses any feminine pronouns. So he'll say things like "That guy has his eyes open." He's funny. Caleb is very particular and only calls her "Anna Claire". Luke is enthralled with her; he by far is the most interested in her every move. Nathan likes her, but he's not gaga or anything. LOL! It's been fun dressing her in pink. She actually has a much nicer complexion than the boys ever did--no pimples or anything--and she looks surprisingly cute in pink! Who knew?! Time to nurse again . . .

She's Here! A Birth Story

I love reading birth stories, and I figure a blog is the perfect place to put one! Mom and I went off to my doctor's appointment Tuesday morning at 9:30. I was uncertain of what all would happen, but at least I wasn't feeling constipated! LOL! The office is actually connected to the hospital. When the doctor examined me, I was already almost 5 cm dilated, so she really wanted me admitted. She nicked my amniotic sac a little, just enough to make it trickle, and Mom and I went next door to the hospital. Bob went into work really early (5:00), so he had already worked his half-day by 10:00 and was on his way over. My labor nurse was prior Air Force, and she had delivered her first baby at the USAFA hospital, just like me! Small world! I got admitted and answered all the OB questions, and my doctor came back over around 11:30. This time she really broke my water with the hook, and then we discovered there was meconium in the fluid. I was pretty concerned, since Luke also passed meconium in utero, and he aspirated some during delivery. He had to stay several extra days in the hospital with a zillion tubes in him, and he had to be on oxygen for 3 weeks after we went home. I really didn't want all that to happen again, so we called people to ask them to be praying. They started an "amnio wash" on me, which I had never heard of before. Basically, it is a tube inserted into the uterus that puts saline solution in there to hopefully flush all the meconium out.

Sometime around the same time, the doctor started me on a little pitocin, since I wasn't having really strong contractions. Of course, that's a little deceptive, since I hadn't had really any strong contractions at home, and yet somehow I was already 5 cm dilated! In between my doctor's appointment and being admitted to the hospital, Mom and I walked out to the car to get my bags. There I drank my strong solution of raspberry tea, like I always do when I am in labor. I drink the tea during pregnancy to promote a healthy pregnancy, but for labor, I use 1 oz. tea in 1 pint of water, steeped for 30 minutes. This is supposed to help your uterus contract efficiently and help with the pain. It works for me, evidently. I never felt like the contractions were all that strong, until after 2:15 or so. The nurse asked me how far I thought I was, and I told her I thought I was at least 7, since I was starting to feel really flushed with each contraction, and I was a little shaky. So I was pretty sure I was in transition. She told me to tell her when I felt the urge to bear down, and then she would call the doctor to come over. Well, of course the feeling of rectal pressure was getting stronger, but I really like being left alone, and I didn't want to call the doctor over too early, so I probably waited a little too long to tell the nurse I was getting close. At about 2:45, I was laying on my left side, and I knew I was almost ready to push. The nurse had just called the doctor, who wanted her to examine me to see how dilated I was. I was over 9 cm, with just a small lip of cervix left on my right side. The nurse wanted me to turn over on my other side to get that lip away, but I knew there wouldn't be time for that. The next contraction I really had to push, so I panted through it. The doctor was on her way, and they wanted me to keep panting until she got there, but you know, what can you do. It's a strong urge! Plus, when I was in labor with Jonathan, I was laying on my side and felt a tremendous urge to push, and then I sat up (my choice actually--they would have let me push on my side but I didn't think I'd be comfortable with that, for some reason), and I never had such a strong urge again. And I felt like it was really hard to get him under my pelvic bone, and in retrospect, being on my side would have been better. So with all that in mind, I gave little pushes on my side while sort of panting while they took the bed apart, etc. I sat up and gave a big push, and she was already almost crowning, so my strategy worked! LOL! The doctor wanted me to scoot down to the end of the bed more, but again, there was no time for that, as the baby's head was pretty much right there. I pushed through another contraction or two, and the head came out. The doctor suctioned for awhile, then I gave a big push (I don't think I even had a contraction), and the rest of the body came out, and she was born at 3:09 PM. I will say that I think not being constipated made it so much easier, since obviously it is easier to push if there is more room and your rectum is not full! So no embarrassment on the delivery table, Pam! : ) I was glad to hear the doctor say that the baby actually was a girl!

The neonatalogist was there because of the meconium, and she whisked the baby over to the warmer to work on her. I was glad to hear the baby start crying, and the doctor say that it didn't look like she had aspirated anything. Praise the Lord for that! In the meantime, the doctor looked me over. I didn't tear or even abrade at all, so not much to do there. She and the nurse both told me that they wished everyone delivered like me! : ) My way of dealing with labor pain is absolute calmness, like some zen discipline thing, and I like being left alone, so I guess that makes the nurse's job easier. Bob was great about putting some counterpressure on my back while I was laying on my side, but that's pretty much all I want. I bought a new "Baby Blues" comic book to read during labor--nothing too deep and stressful, you know--and it was a nice distraction. So it was a pretty quick labor, and the Lord protected both me and the baby. Anna Claire was 8 pounds, 11 ounces, over half a pound smaller than Caleb and Jonathan! She was 20.5 inches long, and she has the same really long fingers and toes (and skinny feet!) that Luke has. Most people would consider her pretty bald, but for one of our babies, she has a surprising amount of hair! And she has a little fringe around the back that is somewhat long, making her look like a little old balding man when she's hunched over! She's a cutie, though. We'll try to post a picture sometime soon, although you know how good we are at posting those! LOL! Well, time to nurse again. More later, if I think of anything else!

A Big Experiment

Well, I am still here, and not in labor. I had a great time at my shower on Saturday. Elizabeth is a wonderful hostess, even though she wasn't feeling well AND had been up until after 1:00 the previous night with Amanda in the hospital, ruling out appendicitis for her!

My new problem is constipation. (Stop reading now if that little fact is too much information, LOL!) Even though I have been daily eating prunes, bran muffins, and other high fiber foods, as well as exercising, and drinking lots of water, nothing has helped these past 2 weeks. It was an unpleasant surprise to me when I starting having babies that whatever is stuck in the ol' bowel gets pushed out when you push out the baby, and I had a lot of problems with that when I went in to have Jonathan, so I definitely want to avoid that unpleasantness with this baby. It's quite inhibiting to this modest girl, LOL! My friend Christine had mentioned that she had some castor oil, so I did some research and decided to take it, not really to induce, but to relieve constipation. I took 2 Tbsp. last night, mixed with 2 Tbsp. orange juice and 1/2 tsp. baking soda (a trick I read about--the baking soda emulsifies the oil so it mixes in with the orange juice--it's still incredibly gross-tasting however). I took that little concoction last night at 6:00, fully expecting to be in the bathroom all night. Instead, I got . . . nothing. I would like to take this opportunity to award myself the "Iron Bowel" award, and thank all the people, such as my dad, whose genes made this feat possible! LOL! Seriously, I did not go to the bathroom once, so obviously I am a hard-core case. I did have some contractions last night, starting at about 9:00. They were fairly regular, but they were about 10 minutes apart, and they never really got closer together or much stronger. I went off to bed, and I had contractions through the night because I woke up a few times because of them, but by 5:00 in the morning, they had gone away. Oh well. This morning I decided to get serious with this constipation issue, so I took 4 Tbsp. of castor oil. I am awaiting further developments there. Who knew my bowel could be so stubborn?!

I went ahead and made an appointment with the doctor I've been seeing for the past several months for tomorrow (Tuesday) at 9:30. She had told me that she doesn't like to break amniotic sacs in the office (the other doctor prefers to), so she would try stripping my membranes again before considering anything else. I would rather try that, so I'm glad I could get in tomorrow. Further bulletins as events warrant . . .

Quick update

I had another appointment this morning. I'm still pretty much the same as far as dilation goes--3+ cm, but the baby has dropped some. The doctor thoroughly stripped my membranes, so hopefully that will cause something to happen, although I haven't even had a contraction after my appointment yet! Actually, I have a shower tomorrow afternoon from 1-3, and I really want to go to that, so hopefully things will start after that. Yes, I know--it's highly unlikely that this baby will cooperate and start coming when it's convenient for me! Oh well. There are several people in the general D.C. metro area that we have been stationed with before, and they are invited to the shower. I really want to see them and visit!

The docotr said that if I haven't gone into labor by Monday, then to call and make an appointment Monday morning for either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Then they will see if anything has happened, and consider breaking my water (the office I would go to is right next to the hospital). I would probably pick Thursday for that! But we'll see what happens in the meantime . . .