Things Designed to Annoy . . .

First of all, when we arrived back home from Ohio, Bob told us that our trash can was missing from the curb when he got home. (Fridays and Tuesdays are our trash pick-up days.) He had called as soon as he got home, but they were already closed. You can bet we both called on monday morning, as a trash can is something we definitely need around here! I don't like to boast, but we happen to produce some large quantities of very stinky garbage, LOL. Well, no one knew anything. They were checking with the driver to see what had happened, and they would call us when they found out.

We never got a call, so I called again this afternoon after we got home from co-op. We had just set a bunch of bags out on the curb this morning, and they were taken, but no new trash can was left in their place. The lady at American (our trash service) said that the driver said he hadn't taken it, so it must have been stolen, and they aren't responsible for lost or stolen containers. We can buy a dumpster from them for $75 though. How convenient. And how silly. I mean really--who drives down a cul-de-sac, spots a huge trash dumpster (one of many lining the streets of the neighborhood, actually), and decides to steal it?! The lady said it's a "common problem, unfortunately". Hmmmm. So now we have to go to Home Depot to buy our own dumpster. You better believe we are spraying our address on that thing, and it better not show up anywhere else, or I will really be ticked! Who knew our stinky trash can, the one with a broken lid, was so desirable?

The second thing is that Grace lost her pacifier Saturday night. She was getting ready for bed, and she brought it downstairs with her doggie. I can verify that. Not too long after that, it was actually time for her to go down, but the pacifier was nowhere to be found. We all spent quite a bit of time searching, even though I was trying to make a ton of stuff for our Easter dinner the next day. Finally we gave us and just put her down. She eventually went off to sleep, although not without a fight, LOL, and Bob and I decided that maybe we'd just go with it, even though we usually wait until around 3 to get rid of the pacifier. But that meant that we couldn't move Grace into Anna's room like I had planned to, because Grace was fussing around so much and so long to go to sleep. We gave it a few nights, but it hasn't gotten any better, and she hasn't napped without it, which is also wearing thin. She also is waking up very early and fussing around then too for an hour or so, until I finally get her up around 7:00, when the boys are up and can help her get breakfast. Plus, I am really ready to have Faith out of our closet and into her own room. The treadmill is in our room, and I can't exercise on it when Faith is in our closet in the mornings!

So early this morning I gave up and gave her this old ratty binky I found in a basket on my dresser. I believe it used to be Jonathan's way back in the day. She took it then, although when I gave it to her for naptime, she really examined it! She really only needs it to get off to sleep and when she wakes up early in the morning. She was going through the rest of the night just fine. If I wasn't already so tired from everything else, and if I wasn't so anxious to get her moved into Anna's room, we might have gone longer without it. But as it is, I think this is one of those areas like potty-training was for us: I could try potty-training (this is for the boys, primarily) early and clean up a lot of accidents and be really frustrated, or I could wait until they were close to 3, when they caught on much quicker and with much less attendant frustration on my part. I think Grace will be much more ready to part with the binky at 3 than now. Everyone else has had no problems at that age. And in the meantime, I get more rest.

I guess we won't have that problem with Faith. She has never been that thrilled with a binky. She will suck on it if you sit there and hold it in her mouth, but she definitely doesn't search it out! Sometimes it seems like she is looking for her thumb, but if I try to guide it into her mouth, well, she's not that into it either. Nathan was a thumb-sucker, and everyone else took pacifiers--I've never had a baby who didn't take anything! Fortunately she's a pretty happy baby, so she hasn't had a big need for something to help her settle down and soothe herself.

*Update* Okay, the whole trashcan thing has now gotten plain weird. Bob did call, and after talking to a bunch of people, finally got a superviser to agree to replace the can, since it had a broken lid. He wasn't sure that was going to happen though, because this lady started off, "Well, 'replace' implies you have something TO replace" LOL. Yay! So he called me about 4:30 to tell me this. I was upstairs getting the girls up from their naps. Not too long before that, I was outside moving bikes inside from in front of our house because Anna and Jonathan forgot to bring theirs in, and Anna was napping, and Jonathan was with the rest of the boys playing in our neighbor's house. When I came downstairs with the girls, I happened to look out our open front door, and there was our trashcan, sitting right in front of our house on the street, right where the bikes had been not an hour previously! It was our same can, with the broken lid and a big paint splotch on it! What in the world?! Obviously someone took it, but how could that be an accident? "Whoops, I accidentally brought 2 trashcans in, after I got mixed up as to which house is mine!" So now we are really confused. I guess we're still going to get it replaced, but now we will have to call the company back and tell them we DO have something to replace! Totally weird.

River Cruise

Here is the boat we were on, the Spirit of Washington. It was big and new, compared to boats from some of the other companies that do river cruises. Of course, we didn't really have a choice, since we went with a group from the base, but I think they picked a nice one!

Here we are at our table, squeezed in with 8 close strangers, LOL. The tables were all full, and the tables were also pretty packed in there, so it was hard to get in and out. That was why we decided to stay outside once we got ourselves out there! I should have taken a picture of the whole dining room, but I forgot. There were also 2 other levels of dining rooms above us.

Standing on the deck at the back of the boat, the wind wasn't quite so vicious. We saw several little sailboats out. Brrr. I could not imagine being out there, bobbing around on a tiny boat in that weather. Why?! Obviously the sea is not in my blood, LOL.

Unrelatedly, I look like a giant Easter egg in my bright purple coat, don't I? Before you get on the boat, photographers take your picture, which they try to sell to you for $20 when you get off. (I don't think so!) It was easy to pick our picture out of the crowd--look for the purple blob! I was glad to have my coat though. Some ladies were frigid as they scuttled around the bloat, trying to look enthusiastic at the view with their dates, LOL.

You can barely see the Washington Monument in the background here. This would have been really pretty if all the cherry blossoms hadn't fallen off because of the rain and wind the night before!

Happy Resurrection Day!

This is a quick post to let you know that we did indeed make it home safely on Friday! There was even hardly any rain at all, praise the Lord, so the drive went really well. We listened to Rascal by Sterling North on CD, and it was excellent. He has such a great way with words. The time flew by listening to that book! We arrived home at 6:30, ate a quick meal of cereal while I nursed, and then we headed over to Bible study. It was great to see these friends again!

The rain that the Lord held off Friday came in full force Friday night and Saturday. Bob had bought tickets through work for a lunch Potomac River cruise, so we dropped the kids off at the L's house at 10:00 and headed downtown to the dock. The cruise was really nice! We were crammed together at long tables for 10, but it was fun, and the food was really good. Bob and I both had salmon that we liked, as well as a lot of other stuff on a buffet. After we ate, there was a DJ playing music and entertaining the crowd, so Bob and I took the opportunity to walk around outside. It was freezing and windy, but we both had our heavy winter coats, so it wasn't unbearable. Even with the clouds and gloom, it was still pretty, and we really enjoyed it! I need to upload pictures so I can post some. We finally arrived back at the L's house after 3:00. We are so thankful for good friends to watch our kids like that!

We went back home where I started making food in preparation for our Easter dinner, which was a potluck back over at the L's house. Nathan made ginger snaps, I made salad dressing and cut up strawberries for a spinach salad, and I made a 7-layer bar dessert as well. I was so tired when I went to bed! I think all this activity, combined with the long drive, really caught up with me!

Today we had a wonderful service at church. It was the first time for me to be in the service since we moved to the middle school, and it really wasn't bad at all! It helps that it is in an auditorium, not in a gym or something. I think it reminded me of chapel at Dayton Christian or something, which is not a bad thing.

Then we headed over to the L's house at 1:45. We ate tons of good food and talked for a long time! We didn't leave until after 6:00! I meant to take pictures, but I forgot to actually get the camera out of the diaper bag. Oh well!

You may have noticed that nowhere in this list of weekend activities was there anything about unpacking, getting settled back in, etc. That's because that has never actually happened. So the house still looks like a hurricane came through it, strewing suitcases and dirty clothes. I told the boys we would only do a few things for school, and then they can help me attempt to get organized. Maybe I'll actually start them on their test review books for their standardized testing, which is coming up in a month.

Packing Up

We've had a great visit, but our time is just about up. Tomorrow we head back, and it looks like it is going to be a rainy drive the whole way, so I would appreciate your prayers for safety!

Today, however, is a beautiful day! We were supposed to go visit a friend of mine from way back in college, Marie, who also has 7 kids, but alas, some of hers were vomiting last night. We didn't want to have a vomit-filled ride home or Easter, so we said we'd have to get together the next time we're out here, probably in late June. The kids were all disappointed (me too!), but we made the best of it by heading to the park instead. I put Faith in the front pack, and we even swung on the swings together! Nathan did take a picture of us, but to be honest, it looked like I was still pregnant, not wearing a front pack, so I don't think you'll be seeing that picture, LOL.

Yesterday afternoon, the boys, Anna, and I went to the Air Force Museum. We only went through the WWII hanger, since we got there about 3:30, and it closes at 5:00. That was a good amount of time, especially for Anna, and not too much walking for her. We studied WWII this year in history, so I figured it would be a good time to focus on those particular airplanes. They even had a small display on cryptography, with an Enigma machine on loan from the National Crytologic Museum that we went to back in October!

We watched some interesting videos as well, including one which had Jimmy Doolittle talking about his raid on Tokyo. So fascinating to hear and see him talk about it in person, so to speak. The boys were really impressed by the actual camera footage from a fighter squadron in Germany. Harrowing! We also watched a video on kamikaze planes, and the big finale was the video on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The plane that dropped the "Fat Boy" bomb on Nagasaki, Bockscar, is actually on display there at the museum, and remembering that it was there was what made me want to take the boys there to the museum this time. I figured it would really cement in their minds what they heard on the Story of the World CDs about the end of WWII.

Now I'm busy packing and getting organized. I also need to run to Walmart to resupply the snack bags for the kids (okay, for me too, LOL). In fact, I should probably do that now, while Faith is sleeping . . .

Sleep Problems

Last night, I had a great night sleep! This is a big deal, since I haven't been having too many of them since we got to Ohio!

It started Thursday night, and it only involves the girls. The boys have been sleeping great! Grace had a bad dream once and then was cold another time, Anna fell out of bed once and needed to pee later, Faith decided she needed to increase my milk supply by nursing every 2 hours--it was a long night.

Friday we wore the kids out at Amy's so even the girls slept pretty well, although Anna keeps needing to go potty at about 2:00 AM, and then Faith has been waking up around 4:00, which is earlier than she was waking at home. Still a choppy night.

Saturday we went to Youngs in the late afternoon. Grace gobbled down a hot dog and a scoop of cow patty ice cream, which is a rich chocolate ice cream. Then we came back here and watched basketball and ate popcorn. At 1:00, Grace woke up crying, and as soon as I walked in the room , I could tell she had thrown up. It was all over her and the pack-n-play. Evidently nothing had digested, because there were chunks of hot dog and pieces of popcorn in a lovely dark brown liquid. Blech. I had to stop and think for a minute how I was going to extract Grace from the situation without increasing the mess! I got her into the bathtub, all the while thinking about how I was going to have to go back into the room and deal with the mess in the pack-n-play! Fortuitously, when my parents had this house built, they made all the doorways really wide, so it would be handicap-accessible, so I was able to just pull the entire pack-n-play out into the hallway without further disturbing Anna. It ended up taking me an hour to get both Grace and the pack-n-play cleaned up, and then Grace had to sleep in my bed with me. For the next 2 hours, I slept pretty fitfully, because every time Grace moved around, coughed, whatever, I was instantly alert, ready to grab a trash can if needed! She was fine though, as least until 4:00, when she fell out of bed. Oops! Her tummy was fine, at least. Then Faith got up a little later, then Anna had to pee . . . I was so tired all day Sunday.

Sunday we went over to Amy and Jason's house in the afternoon for an open house celebrating Jason graduating with his MBA. They had rented a bouncy castle thing, which the kids loved, and the boys all played lots of football as well. Everyone was completely exhausted, and no one over-ate, so FINALLY I had an uninterrupted night of sleep. I fed Faith at 10:15 and was asleep by 10:45. She didn't wake up again until 5:30, and NEITHER DID ANYONE ELSE! I'm hoping for another such night tonight, but we'll see. Two in a row might be pushing my luck out here! Good thing I'm on vacation . . . I have a feeling I'm not going to feel too rested when I get back home, LOL.

A New Strategy

I've discovered a new strategy for the post-partum pooch, which seems to take longer and longer to shrink down the more kids I have. The strategy is . . . maternity clothes! Not the big ones I wear when I am actually pregnant, but rather the skinny kind designed for first-time moms with cute little tummies. I always get so frustrated the first several weeks (months?) after delivering, when nothing fits. I buy bigger pants to fit my pooch, but that means that everything else is bigger too, so the pants slide down and are super baggy in the hips. Drives. me. crazy. And when I looked for some new shirts to wear, I found that all the non-maternity ones are really clingy, and they show off every unflattering bulge on me.

A few weeks ago there was one of our big consignment sales back in D.C., and I bought several maternity tops. They are pretty skinny (I can't imagine wearing them when I am actually pregnant!), but they are loose enough that I can lift them up to nurse in them, and they don't cling to my every curve.

Today I went shopping at Once Upon A Child, a consignment store here in Ohio. I found the most comfortable pair of maternity jeans, with just the tiniest bit of elastic under the belly--perfect for post-partum wear! And a pair of khaki pants with just a few panels of elastic in the waistband--you can't even tell they are maternity pants by looking at them! I'm so happy!

This buys me a little more time as I work to get this pooch to shrink. Unfortunately, I just don't see instant results from the pilates I've been doing, sigh. But now I'm comfortable, and my pants aren't falling off. That is a good thing!

We're here!

We had a safe trip to Ohio, praise the Lord. We were able to leave by 9:30, which is not bad for us, LOL, and we made it here by 6:45. I nursed at 9:00, and then we stopped at 12:00 for me to nurse again and for lunch. That stop took a lot longer than our normal lunch stops, but it was fine. I put Faith in the frontpack while I ordered and everyone ate. We got a ton of attention. There must have been 6 or 8 people that made a point of stopping by our tables (we were at McDonalds) to comment on the family, and a lot of other people just pointed and whispered, LOL. This was in western Maryland, close to the WV border. You'd have thought they had never seen a large family of fairly well-behaved children! Three people asked me if they were homeschooled, and when I said yes, nodded and said they could tell. Well, I have certainly seen some very poorly behaved homeschoolers (we have 2 in our co-op!), so that is not a given!

We stopped one more time, at 3:30, to nurse. We just stopped at a rest stop, since the weather was bright and sunny in Ohio, unlike the drizzly rain we left in VA, MD, and WV. I parked by a large hill, and the kids ran up and down this big hill a bunch of times. Good to get the wiggles out!

We listened to The Great Brain on CD, which made the day fly by. Faith fussed around a little, but overall, she was an excellent traveler. Grace did well too, but usually by close to 2, the kids are used to long car trips and can amuse themselves. Of course, she also had all that practice on our 4000 mile jaunt out to Utah last summer! She still fussed around some, but most of the time, she played with her magnadoodle, looked at books, and ate her snacks when allowed. It's so nice when they realize no amount of fussing is going to change the fact that we are in the car, and we aren't stopping for them! Makes for a much quieter and more enjoyable ride!

This afternoon we are heading over to Amy's house to play. She is busy getting ready for an open house this weekend. On Saturday, her husband Jason is graduating with his MBA, and on Sunday, they are hosting an open house to celebrate! Yay, Jason!

Happy Birthday Anna!

Anna turned 3 today! It's hard to believe that 3 years ago, I went in for my appointment on my due date, they found out I was already 5 cm dilated but not having contractions, so the doctor admitted me, started pitocin, broke my water, and Anna arrived a few short hours later! And with her arrival, the color pink appeared in our house. Now pink is almost taking over!

Anna asked for a "pink bunny cake". I'm not sure exactly sure what the muse was for that particular choice, but hey, it was easy, and it did not involved Bionicles, so I was good with it. I would like everyone to know that I made the eyes just black, but other parties, who shall remain nameless, felt that the bunny needed pink irises, like real bunnies. So that is why this bunny looks a bit possessed.

Anna got lots of great presents, such as some Colorforms, a pink bike helmet, a princess beach towel, a shiny silver purse with lots of fun stuff inside, and a lollipop. A few days ago, she and Grace also scored a bunch of nice clothes passed down from the L's girls. They have been cleaning out their basement storage room, and we were the beneficiaries from that! The L's passed on these cute USAFA cheerleading outfits, which bring back such fun memories of going to the football games with them when we were both stationed in Colo. Springs, and Jessica and Amanda wearing these outfits! Anna and Grace were wearing them in honor of USAFA hockey, which has had a great season this year and is playing tonight in the NCAA tournament (double overtime right now!). I think for the football season, Faith will have to be the one wearing the small outfit, though. It's only a 12 month one, and I think it will be a shirt on Grace by then!

And here is a picture of Faith, just to keep everyone happy. She's cooing and smiling up a storm!

The Girls

My mom was requesting more pictures of Faith, and I realized I haven't taken any lately! Poor 7th child . . . I think she is going to follow true to trend and be an "odd number baby", which means being a little chunkier (i.e., not in the 5th percentile, LOL), and looking more like Anna with a rounder face. But I could be wrong. Grace and Anna still looked very similar as babies at the 2 month stage. Faith is definitely plumping up. She's a little over 10 pounds now. Last night she went from 10:45 until 6:30, which was wonderful for me, except for the engorgement, LOL.

Here is a bonus picture of Grace and Anna, plus Anna's favorite "pink babydoll". Someone in our neighborhood was throwing out these little chairs back in January, so Bob brought them home. Anna and Grace love to set them up next to each other and sit in them, eating or reading books together. They're too cute! I love seeing them become best buddies.

Changes

This is our church. I love it! It actually looks like a church, LOL, and it is surrounded by a huge grassy area for the kids to play on after service. It was built back in the 1850s. Eventually the church sort of died a slow death, and a few years ago, it only had a few aging members, and no permanent pastor. A church from downtown D.C. was looking to plant a church in our county, and they found this church. About 3 1/2 years ago, they offered to send a pastor and a team of members from the downtown church to run children's ministry, etc. This was agreed to, and the church has grown ever since.

At first, the entrance was through the bell tower, and we sat facing the back of the church. There was only seating for about 90, and even when we started going there, back in November 2006, it was getting really full. In the summer of 2007, we gutted the inside and turned everything around. Now we sit facing the bell tower, and that added maybe 50 or 60 more seats. But we quickly outgrew that too.

Here you can see the addition that was put on, probably in the 1970s or so. It has a big fellowship room upstairs, plus some offices, and a few classrooms, the nursery, a kitchen, and another big room downstairs. For the past year, ushers have put seats in the big room upstairs for overflow seating, and there is a closed circuit TV so you can see the service from in there. That room is getting full too.

This was our last Sunday to have our main worship service here. Starting next week, we will be meeting in the middle school down the road from here. I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, we totally need the space. It's so crowded and hot in the old building. And I certainly don't want to be the person who says, "Now I'm here, so no more new people!" We have wonderful people in our church, and our pastor is so good, so I want as many people as possible to hear him! But still--a middle school. Bleh. I will miss all the light streaming in the windows, and the beautiful view of trees. Also, the singing sounds so great in a small building! I'm not sure how the sound will be in an auditorium, but I imagine it won't be quite the same effect. Plus, there will just be a lot of set-up hassles. Mainly, I just don't like change, LOL.

We will still meet at this building for our Sunday evening service, so it's not like we're saying goodbye to it forever. But still--I'll miss the morning service being here!

End of the Week Wrap-Up

Whew, the week is over! Here is how things shook out:

1. Anna broke out in hives Wednesday night, but because I am now up on current dosing amounts for children's Zyrtec, she got the right dosage from the start. The hives never got huge, and they were pretty much gone yesterday. She also found her binky Thursday (it was hiding under the trestle of our big table). I let her watch a video with it, and then I conspired to make it disappear again. Now she says, "My binky is lost AGAIN" in an exasperated voice, but so far, she hasn't needed it for nighttime. Now for the one in the car . . . I think that one will also go to the big binky place in the sky, but not until after we get back from our trip to Ohio. I'm not crazy!

2. Bob got rear-ended on his way home from work Wednesday night. He had called just a few minutes before to tell me that he was about 5 minutes from home, so I should go ahead and leave for my chiropractic appointment so I wouldn't be late. I merrily drove off, and while Bob was sitting htere in traffic, the guy behind him failed to stop. Fortunately, there wasn't really any damage, either to the car or to Bob. And fortunately, Bob had the presence of mind to call Ed, who came over to ride herd on everyone, since Bob obviously wasn't going to get home in less than 5 minutes! Thanks, Ed!

3. I had a great post-partum appointment Thursday afternoon! My blood glucose numbers were great, so the diabetes is gone! I was so relieved to hear that! I also got a tetanus shot while I was there. As far as I can tell, I haven't had any shots since I went off to college, in the summer of 1991, so I figured it was time, LOL. It's so much easier to keep up with stuff for the kids than for me. Now my arm is sore though. I was a bit sad the little kids weren't there to see Mommy be brave and not cry--Anna needs the good example, LOL.

4. Luke is now the proud possessor of an ID card as well. It took he and Bob several attempts, however. They tried back when Bob was on his paternity leave, but the computer was down, so that was a wasted trip to Bethesda. They did get the number for the CAC office, so they called the next day--that was an "appointment only" day, so it was a good thing they didn't drive all the way back for nothing! Another day they called, but the wait was 3 hours . . . they decided not to go. Finally they went back early Thursday morning. But there were still a lot of people in front of them, and the line wasn't moving fast. They bailed and decided to try the office down at Ft. Belvoir. It turned out there was no waiting there! Live and learn. So now I proudly carry 3 ID cards in my wallet! All my babies are growing up . . . I guess that's why we keep having them, LOL.

5. This is "Tax Weekend" here at our house. We are striving to finish our taxes before Bob starts the acquisition class on Tuesday, and I leave next Wednesday. Obviously we're not working on them right now, however. Feel free to keep asking us about our progress. We need the accountability, LOL.

So far this week . . .

It's been a busy week, and it's only Wednesday! Here's what we've been up to :

1. Anna gave up her pacifier at night! This was not by choice or in my perfect timing, since she was sick, but hey, whatever works. She brought her binky downstairs with her after her nap on Monday. She is only allowed to have it in her bed, or in the car, so I told her to go put it back up on her bed. She disappeared with it, but when bedtime rolled around, it was nowhere to be found. Luke and I both searched for it, but we couldn't find it. Anna says "It's hiding." I guess so! She woke up once asking for it (and running a fever) Monday night, but last night she slept through without waking. Woohoo! I had wanted to accomplish this before Grace moves in to share a room with her. I am planning on that move after our spring break trip to Ohio the first week in April, so this came at just the right time, sickness or not!

2. Bob passed his physical fitness test at work. This is always a good thing, especially seeing as how Bob has been distracted by little things such as having his 7th child the past few months and not working out all the time!

3. We got new cell phones yesterday. We got our old phones back in May 05--before I even got pregnant with Anna, if that gives you an idea of how long ago that was! Those were our first phones, and frankly I could have kept them forever, except that they were starting to not hold their charges very long. We had talked about getting new ones for awhile, but the big impetus yesterday is that we lost one of the chargers, so we only had one charger left. I am planning to go to Ohio with the kids for 10 days, taking my cell phone, while Bob will be here, taking an acquisition class, with his cell phone. Since they both need to be charged almost every night . . . well, that wasn't going to work! We bit the bullet yesterday, and now I am trying to figure out the ins and outs of a new phone. I don't have time for this! I did manage to figure out how to program the speed dial numbers and record my voice mail message, so I'm good. I am not even going to worry about the camera capacity.

4. Faith was 5 weeks old on Sunday, and yesterday evening, she smiled and cooed at me for the first time! I know Grandma was hoping she would wait until we get there, but I guess now Faith can get some good practice for her smiling, so she'll be a pro by the time we arrive at Grandma's house! Those first smiles are just so sweet, and they really do go a long way to making all those middle of the night feedings worth it!

5. To celebrate St. Patrick's Day yesterday, I made a corned beef brisket and vegetables inteh crockpot, along with soda bread. I also had cabbage, but I figured there was no way that I could prepare cooked cabbage that would make me want to eat (or smell) it, so I just chopped it up and served it with an oil/vinegar dressing, like I always do. Might as well serve it the way I like it! The corned beef and vegetables turned out quite well, and we didn't have any leftover meat! I cooked it in apple juice, a tip I got off the internet. The soda bread was good too. I actually made 2 loaves. For the first loaf, I jus tused plain soy milk in place of the buttermilk, like I usually do (even in recipes like banana bread. I never sour soy milk.). But then it dawned on me that since there were no eggs, I really was counting on the vinegar and baking soda to react, making gas, to leaven the bread. I was afraid that loaf would be hard as a rock, so I quickly whipped up another loaf, this time souring the soy milk with vinegar. Yuck. But it did the trick! That loaf was definitely lighter, although the other loaf was perfectly edible. I told everyone it was a taste test.

6. This morning I drove through rush hour on an empty stomach to take my 2 hour glucose tolerance test. I'll find out the results tomorrow at my 6 week post-partum appointment. Hopefully that will be my last glucose test out there. They take your blood first, to get your fasting number, but they make you wait to start drinking the glucola until those results are back! I had my blood taken at 8:15 (it took awhile to find a good vein), but I couldn't start drinking the stuff, and starting my 2 hour clock, until 8:50! Nothing like waiting on an empty stomach, and knowing it's not even counting!!

Now I think I will lay down for a little bit. I'm out of sorts because of my early morning and all the sugar water. Tonight I have a chiropractic appointment to look forward to, however!

Raspberry Leaf in Pregnancy

My friend Beverly is getting ready to have her 5th baby. She's been having lots of contractions, but not a lot of progress, which is incredibly frustrating. I've been eagerly following along, because it's always really interesting and fascinating when it's not your own impending birth, LOL. One thing I recommended to her last night was drinking several cups of really strong raspberry leaf tea, because that is supposed to tone your uterus and help it dilate efficiently.

All this talk of dilating and tea reminded me that I had wanted to post something about what I did differently this pregnancy, in case I forgot sometime. I usually start drinking a cup of raspberry leaf a day in the third trimester, and by the time I'm close to delivery I try to drink 2 cups a day. When I was pregnant with Nathan, I read an article in a natural health book that recommended raspberry leaf tea. It gave a long anecdotal story about a lady who drank the tea during her first pregnancy and had a fairly normal delivery, but not pain-free by any means. Then she read an old book that talked about what the midwife would have actually recommended, which was to drink a really strong cup of the tea ( 1 pint of water and 1 ounce of tea, steeped for 30 minutes) when you are in labor. This was supposed to really make labor pretty painless, and the lady telling the story had apparently had a really easy delivery. I never really made the tea that strong until we moved here, but I really can't complain about my labors (although I wouldn't have labeled them "painless", LOL), and I never needed any pain medicine. I did make it really strong like that once we moved here, but then I was basically induced 2 times, so I drank it before going in and starting the whole process, but I didn't know if that was the same. Anyhow, I was convinced enough of a good effect, even if it was just psychosomatic, to keep drinking the stuff fairly faithfully throughout the third trimester of all my pregnancies.

With the last 2 pregnancies, I've also added a cup of alfalfa tea daily, since that is supposed to prevent post-partum hemorrhage. You may recall that is what my doctor with Grace was totally paranoid about, so that's when I started drinking it. (Nathan wants me to point out that alfalfa tea tastes and smells like you are drinking grass water.) For someone like me, who really doesn't like hot beverages at all, drinking 2-3 cups of tea a day was quite torturous. Almost as bad as the gestational dibetes diet. Well, maybe not, but pretty close . . . Add in to that the tiny bladder capacity of an almost full-term lady, and I was pretty miserable as I floated through the day.

Well, after we got back from Ohio in January, I went to the health food store to buy some more raspberry leaf and alfalfa teas, since I was pretty much out. I was determined to drink all the tea, even though I wasn't sure when I would do that to make it fit into my complicated gestational diabetes eating regimen. The health food store was out, but they assured me they would be getting more in soon. So we all trooped back in a week later only to find out the tea was still out. I was getting frustrated with all this delay. I was already 35 weeks along, and I was ready to start drinking this stuff and making sure my uterus was nice and toned! Then I remembered that I had an internet connection . . . I went home and found a lovely herb web site where, lo and behold, you can actually buy raspberry leaf capsules for cheaper than the tea! How wonderful! All the great effects, with none of the bladder-sloshing! So I bought a bottle of pills, plus a box of the tea, because I was still thinking I would make the really strong pint to drink when I went into labor.

It was so easy to take the pills instead of drink the tea! I found alfalfa capsules at Walmart, so I started taking those as well. What a dream! I definitely took way more raspberry leaf extract this pregnancy than ever before. I started out by taking 2 pills a day, but by the last 2 weeks, I was taking 4 raspberry pills a day, plus 2 alfalfa ones.

So how did it work out for me? Well, I didn't think I was even in labor because the contractions weren't that long or that strong. Even once I realized I was in transition and we were on the way to the hospital, I still wasn't breathing through contractions. I did make my tea, but that was when I realized that I was probably not going to last until it had steeped the full 30 minutes. After about 20 minutes of steeping, right before we got in the van, I drank a few sips of it, felt like I was going to throw up if I drank another sip, and threw the rest down the drain. I was uncomfortable, but the contractions just didn't hurt that badly, even those last few ones right before pushing (as I was walking from the parking garage, through the pedestrian walkway, over to the elevator, and up to the 5th floor, LOL). So my conclusion, which is arguably the result of a very small sample size, LOL, is that taking a lot more of the raspberry leaf extract is definitely a good thing as far as relatively painfree labors go. I will be taking the pills again, should I have another baby.

And I hardly had any post-partum bleeding either. My uterus clamped down right away, and I stopped bleeding fairly quickly in the weeks to follow (except when I over-did it!). Of course, that was helped by a quick labor instead of many hours of steadily-increasing pitocin, like I had with Grace, so I can't say confidently that the alfalfa had that much to do with it! But I was very pleased with the result of my herb pills, and I would definitely recommend them to others who are in thier third trimesters.

A New Week

Well, here we are, at the start of a new week. Anna is running a fever, Grace is still spotted, and Jonathan is still hacking away. I have a cold, I guess. I thought it was allergies, but now I'm thinking more of a cold. My motivation to be organized and on top of things is at a low, LOL, which is why we didn't finish school until after 4:00. Maybe when my head clears up . . .

To be honest, I'm having a hard time getting into a good routine. Working around nursing has been harder, and I think it's because especially Jonathan is taking a lot more of my schooling time. I have been the least consistent with him this past year, and now I'm the most frustrated with him, although it really isn't his fault that he hasn't magically osmosed the knowledge I would like him to have! Also, Faith has needed more attention to make sure she really latches on than some of the other babies, so I haven't been able to multitask while nursing as much, which always frustrates me too.

I've been trying to exercise as well for a couple of reasons. One is that I really do feel good after exercising, and I think it helps keep me mentally balanced. Another is that I am ready for some of my clothes to fit. I hate the post-partum period, where your tummy is still poochy, and you still look pregnant! The most important reason is that I go Wednesday morning for my follow-up 2 hour glucose tolerance test, and then I will have my 6 week post-partum appointment on Thursday afternoon (yes, it's a little early, but that's what worked out, schedule-wise). Unfortunately, I am having a hard time fitting in exercise as well, if you can imagine. I really don't want to have problems on this glucose test, and I am trying not to worry.

Sigh. I keep reminding myself that this phase will pass quickly, Faith will be sleeping through the night soon, the virus will move on to some other unfortunate family, Jonathan will remember how to count by 2's starting with an even number OR an odd number, and eventually I will feel more like my normal self. But I am ready for that day to be here NOW!

On thing that has been a tremendous blessing is that our church has started giving us 2 meals a week once my parents left. (They were providing one meal a week after the baby came, while my parents were here.) I was loathe to have any more meals, figuring that I would be over a month post-partum byt the time my parents left, so I would definitely be on my feet. Who knew we'd all be sick, and that the meals would be at the perfect time? Obviously God knew, LOL.

Another Update

I'm sure you are all holding your breath to see how Grace is doing today, LOL. Well, the good news is that she is much better, hive-wise. They are smaller and not as red. Her hands aren't as swollen either. She is still really congested, although the vaporizer helped her sleep just fine last night. She is still running a fever, but I can keep it down with Motrin. Mainly she is just exceptionally snotty. At least it's draining, right?

My friend Lisa wrote on my Facebook page that she had pretty much the exact same thing last week, the fever, hives, and congestion, and it was just a virus. I was relieved to hear that! She said it took 5-6 days for the hives to go away. It's good to know that, and now I don't have to schedule in another big chunk of time next week for a trip to Bethesda! Another friend of mine, Christina, said one of her sons has gotten hives like these before with viruses also. Boy, you'd think with 7 kids, I'd have experienced this before! Learn something new every day!

Update on Grace

For those who are curious, Grace is still very "hivey" today. The ones on her face are maybe not quite so red as yesterday, but the hives are still over a lot of her body. And the weird thing is where they seem to have gotten smaller, it looks like her skin is almost bruised where the hives used to be. The skin seems darker. I've never seen anything like it before. Also, her hands and fingers are still pretty swollen. Not her wrists, though. It's just really weird to see her with these big man hands, because normally she has really small, delicate ones.

Also, she has continued to run a fever of a little over 100 today, and she is pretty congested. She's not wheezy though, so that's a good thing. I put the vaporizer in her room tonight. Maybe that will help. She's really not too uncomfortable, though, just a bit snotty. As long as the fever is down, she's pretty happy and content, and she continues to not be bothered at all by the hives.

I guess we're just playing it by ear at this point. I don't think we're planning on doing anything this weekend unless something gets really bad, but if things aren't better by Monday, I'll call and take her in again. I'm praying she's a lot better when she wakes up tomorrow though!

Grace's Hives

When Grace got up this morning, it was obvious that the Benedryl and Zyrtec I had given her yesterday had not made a difference whatsoever. Her hives were much bigger, and there were a lot more of them, so I called and made an appointment for this morning at 11:00. The doctor said they were definitely hives, and we would probably not ever know what had caused them. She felt that Grace had probably had a virus a few days ago, because often hives like this come after a virus. She said they can come and go for up to 3 months! I hope that won't happen. To be honest, these hives remind me of Nathan's weird rash a few Christmases ago, for which we never could pinpoint a cause either. Maybe he'd had a virus before then. I don't really remember!

I actually pooh-poohed the idea of a virus to the doctor, but after we got home (at 1:45, having waited an hour at the pharmacy for more Zyrtec), Jonathan was EXTREMELY whiney. He about fell apart because he couldn't cut his sandwich in half. I was nursing, of course, but after I was done I felt him, and he seemed hot. It turns out his temperature was 102. So maybe there is a virus going around! It's always hard to tell by feeling if Grace has a fever--she just runs "hot", with her supermetabolism, so she always feels pretty warm. She certainly wasn't acting like she had a fever the past few days though!

Anyhow, it turns out that I wasn't giving her anough Benedryl or Zyrtec, so that's probably why it didn't seem to help. I'm supposed to give 1/2 tsp., so we gave that once we got home, and we'll see if these crazy things go away. At least they aren't bothering her.

Here is a picture of her once we got home. You can see how the hives have gotten bigger and bigger, although the picture really doesn't do them justice on her trunk! The hives are pretty much all over her body, even down to her fingers, which she can't really bend. Her face is a bit alarming to look at as well! She definitely looks like she has some dreaded, highly contagious skin disease!

So now she, Anna, Jonathan, and Faith are all down for naps. I think that's where I am headed. I was going to do a few other things with the boys this afternoon, but after a 3 1/2 hour jaunt to the doctor, I am tired. So much for that normal routine, huh?! No wonder I can never really get anything accomplished around here!

Back to Routine

Today was Bob's last day of paternity leave. It's been nice having him here at home--one more week of being able to run errands by myself in the afternoon! He's going out with a bang though. This morning I woke up with that scratchy feeling in the back of my throat that either means a cold or allergies. When I changed Grace's diaper mid-morning, I discovered that she has broken out in some kind of blotchy hives, mainly on her trunk and legs. I have no idea what she could have reacted to, but as the day wore on, the hives got bigger. I did give her some liquid Benedryl, but it hasn't made much of a difference so far. Anna was crabby this morning, so I told her to go up to her room (the only place she is allowed to have her pacifier nowdays). After not seeing her for awhile, I went up to check on her, and discovered her fast asleep in bed! She has been complaining that her tummy hurts, and she's had a bit of diarrhea, so I guess she has some kind of bug too. Good grief!

We had been getting back into a good school routine, but this morning, after the boys did their independent work and I did a few things with Caleb and Jonathan, Bob took them all swimming. The girls and I hung out here. I had the best of intentions of finishing up stuff like spelling this afternoon, but after lunch, I took a nap for several hours. Nothing more of academic value happened, LOL.

Bob also picked up some seeds on the way back from swimming. Even though we rarely have gardening success, we are once again going to try it. I keep telling myself we are just practicing for whenever we have our forever home, the one with the huge yard and plenty of room for a nice sunny garden! We have a seed starting kit with a bunch of little peat moss pots, so Nathan figured out how many of each thing we should plant. The planting is going to take place tonight. I'll keep you updated on our gardening progress . . .

So tomorrow Bob is back off to work, and hopefully we girls will be feeling better. At least I haven't had mastitis yet. I'm hoping these naps will ward that off.

A Real Prince

We had a fun day today. Some friends of ours, Tim and Michele and their 3 kids, came up to visit. We have known them for many years, even before they were married! Tim was a batchelor back at Wright-Patterson, and he was a saber-bearer in our wedding. They live south of the city, and traffic is such a hassle around here that we rarely see them, so this was a real treat! They came to drop off several boxes of clothes that their daughter had outgrown. They also brought a box of pink princess Mega Bloks, which I am sure you can imagine delighted Anna! There is a castle, as well as a carriage, 2 Cinderellas, and a prince.

Anna and Jonathan were playing with the blocks after dinner, and Anna put the prince in the carriage.

Jonathan: "Where is the prince going, Anna?"

Anna: "To Home Depot!"

LOL! The image of the prince installing his own hardwood floor or changing the flapper valve on the castle toilet struck me as funny, not to mention him pulling up to Home Depot in his pink pumpkin coach! But Anna knows the right kind of man to look for--a prince who does his own home improvement projects, although maybe minus the pink pumpkin coach.

Another picture . . .

. . . by special request of Aunt Claire. Sorry it's a bit blurry--our camera battery was just about dead. I charged the battery, so I'll have to try again tomorrow. Faith is 3 weeks old now, and she is staying awake longer, to the great delight of her siblings. She is still a very happy girl, who rarely fusses, even when being passed around to various sets of arms. We got the crib gym thing out of the basement for her to lie under, and she's been enjoying looking up at the dangly things. She's been sleeping really well at night--I've been feeding her around 10:00, and she'll go until around 4:00, and then until after 8:00. Now I just need to go to sleep as soon as I put her down at 11:00. Unfortunately, I'm always trying to do just one more thing, so it's later, and I'm always tired the next day.

Tomorrow Mom and Dad are driving back to Ohio. We will be very sad to see them go! It's sooooo nice to have the extra help, as well as the extra company throughout the day. The nice thing about this time, though, is that Bob gets paternity leave! Sometime in the last 18 months, the Air Force has instituted a new paternity leave policy, which says that the dad can take 10 consecutive days of free paternity leave anytime during the first 60 days of the baby's life. Bob started his 10 days Monday, so I won't be the lone adult when Mom and Dad drive off! That will give us another week to get back into a good routine before he starts back to work.

Happy Birthday, Luke!

We celebrated Luke's 10th birthday today! I was very, very happy because Luke did not ask for a regular cake for his birthday--he asked for a chocolate cheesecake!! He is my new favorite child, LOL. Since I didn't have to work all afternoon on a Bionicle cake or some other time-intensive cake, we really went all out for making birthday desserts, which we took to Bible study.

We had the chocolate cheesecake, which had chopped up Snickers bars both in it and sprinkled on top, as well as chocolate syrup drizzled over. It was delicious! We also had chocolate-covered strawberries, with a choice of both light or dark chocolate, and we also had rice krispie treats with blue frosting, just to make them special, for those people like Caleb who are allergic to both cheesecake and chocolate, and also for those like Nathan and Amanda L. who just don't like cheesecake. We came home with a small square of cheesecake, so people pretty much scarfed everything down!

I can't believe Luke is in double digits now! He has really grown up a lot this past year, I think. I was a little worried about how he would handle all the orthodontia, but he has really taken that in stride. He has also become so amazingly athletic. I am still surprised at how good at basketball he turned out to be. Also, he is an amazing big brother to the girls. They really bring out a softer side to him. He can be pretty cynical, but he is so sweet and gentle when he talks to them and helps them. If I am not available, he is the one Grace turns to when she needs comfort, and he will sit and hold Faith for long periods of time on the couch. One night, after kssing Grace goodnight in her crib, he told me that it was the best thing to have little sisters. It was so sweet. I am so thankful we didn't stop having kids after having him, because I think his personality would be different without the younger ones to bring him balance. It has definitely made him more flexible and able to think about others. Now he and Caleb still butt heads all. the. time. but I told him that the Lord knew he had areas that needed to be worked on that Caleb brought out in him, and vice versa, and so that's why God put them both in the same family! Their relationship is definitely an area of prayer for me though.

I know I have shared before on the blog about Luke's meconium issues at birth, and I don't take for granted the fact that he is a healthy, happy 10 year old. We are so thankful for Luke!

Decluttering

Yesterday I embarked on a big decluttering project. Well, let's just say I actually decluttered yesterday, and now we'll see if anything else gets done. I have been itching to declutter. I feel hemmed in by the amount of stuff we have, and the amount of time it takes to keep it all organized and put away (anyone who comes to visit can see that I do not actually take all that time, LOL), and it's very frustrating. It's been 4 1/2 years since we moved, which is obviously too long. We have accumulated a lot of stuff in those years!

My biggest problem was where to start. Finally Nathan and Luke took matters into their own hands, and a few days ago, Nathan went through their closet and pulled out a bunch of shirts they didn't want anymore. These were strategically left in a pile in the middle of the floor, so I decided to start on the closets in the boys' rooms. It took me several hours, but I went through both closets. It confirmed what I already knew--we have way too many clothes. I collected 2 garbage bags of stuff to donate, and 2 large tubs of clothes to consign at our big local consignment sales. I should probably just donate those items as well, but I made over $100 at the fall consignment sales just selling clothes, so it's hard to pass up that opportunity. Unfortunately, that means that the winter clothes will have to be stored until the Fall, so my thrifty nature is warring with my desire to clear everything out, LOL. We'll see. If we do move in the summer, those things are NOT moving with us!

Speaking of moving, Bob said he thinks we might not get a new assignment this spring. He looked at his records, and it looks like our clock was restarted when we got the one year extension last February. So that means it looks like we just arrived here last year. But who knows--anything is possible.

I have decided that I need to think as if we for sure are moving this summer, because otherwise I am not motivated to do the decluttering that is really necessary. Now my only question is where I should work on next . . . I know I have 3 tubs of maternity clothes in my closet, but there are lots of things that I haven't worn at all in the past 3 pregnancies. Those are on their way out! The basement storage room also needs work. I need a place to put the tubs of clothes. My only other question is where I'll find the time . . . I just have to tell myself that we're moving this summer!

2 Week Well-Baby

Faith had her 2 week well-baby appointment this morning. She is back up to her birth weight of 8 pounds, 10 ounces, so that is good. The doctor said she is in the 50th percentile for weight, but the 75th percentile for length and head circumference. Then she said that she wouldn't be surprised to see Faith be in the 75th percentile for weight as well by her next appointment. I laughed and told her that I would be pretty surprised! I expect that Faith will start falling down the chart, ending up around the 10th percentile or so by a year. And this will happen regardless of when we start solids!

Everything else is fine. Her jaundice is gone, as it always is by the 2 week appointment. She has slightly clogged tear ducts in both eyes, but they are improving. Her right eye is slightly more watery than the left one, but I've been massaging them. She has the clearest skin of any of my babies, I must say. No infant acne to speak of! She's a pretty happy baby; she still really doesn't fuss very much. She has been giving me longer stretches at night, sometimes as much as 5 hours. Usually I'll feed her around 10:30 or 11:00, then she'll wake up again between 3:00 and 4:00, and then again between 7:00 and 8:00. That's not too bad for a 2 week old!

Faith also had another hearing screening before the well-baby appointment, and this time she passed in both ears! Yay! I was so thankful to those like Johanna and Carri who commented on my last post about the failed hearing test. Your comments were very encouraging!

In the picture, Faith is being held by her February birthday buddy Luke, who will be turning 10 on Friday. You can check out his braces-less smile!

Where everyone shops . . .

Last night at Bible study, Anna had to go potty. She noticed the brass trashcan in the L's bathroom, which is totally unlike the plastic Rubbermaid ones that adorn all our rooms, LOL.

Anna: "Mommy, what a pretty trashcan!"

Me: "Umm hmmm"

Anna: "Who gave that pretty trashcan to Mrs. L.?"

Me: "Probably no one. She probably just bought it."

Anna: "Did she buy it at Walmart? Or at the commissary?"

LOL! Because you know, those 2 places are where you get everything! I guess you know where we shop now.

Orthodontic Update

Luke had not one, but two orthodontic appointments yesterday. At the first one, he got his braces and his expander taken off. Yay! He kept saying how weird it was to feel his gums and the top of his mouth. I don't think any of us will miss the sucking sound he would make to try to clear out food that got stuck up in the expander, LOL. I still can't believe the difference that 6 months of the expander, plus a few months of braces, made in his mouth. Wow.

While he was there in the morning, he had impressions made to fit him for a retainer that he will mainly wear at home and at night. The orthodontist also came out to talk to me and tell me that he also needs to wear a head thing to help his lower jaw grow forward, since it is really small, and his teeth are not lined up properly. He asked me if I thought Luke would wear it, and I said he would probably wear whatever we told him he had to wear. Luke needs to wear the head gear for 14 hours, most of which will be at night while he's sleeping. This is the good thing about homeschooling--Luke seems totally unaware that there might be any sort of stigma against orthodontic appliances. I was a bit worried that he would be really self-conscious and not want to wear the thing, but last night he didn't really seem to care. He wore it for about an hour and a hlaf, while watching a movie. We have to work up to the 14 hours, and he did say it was uncomfortable after awhile. I hope he can sleep with it! I'm not sure that a picture will be forthcoming, but we'll see.

When we went back for our afternoon appointment, Luke picked up his new retainer. I don't know if he just only needs a small one, or if retainer technology has really come a long way since I was in junior high, but it looks nothing like what I remember people wearing! Those were these huge things with a big pink palate part, and wires everywhere. His is clear plastic with no wires, and it is not noticeable at all. He's just supposed to wear that at home, not out, which should be easy. I'm not sure how long he'll have to wear these things. We go back next week to check on the progress.

Finding Things

I'm not saying this sort of thing ever happens around here, but someone on the Well Trained Mind board posted a link to this funny post by the Country Doctor's Wife , which I am just copying and pasting in its entirety, since I know you are probably lazy like me and might not bother clicking on the link. All I'm saying is that I happen to live with 5 males as well . . .


"My dear friend, Mistah Zellah has often philosophized over the years, that the real reason women are able to find things more easily than men, is not because they are smarter, more determined, or one step higher on the evolutionary spectrum. Rather, it is because they have a uterus. He believes that it is the uterus that gives women the ability to exhaustively hunt for things.... to keep looking even when the first few spots do not pan out... to open doors... to look under beds... to empty drawers... to actually move a pillow or a pile of clothes or a sofa cushion to see if the missing object is located UNDERNEATH... to look behind the jackets on the hooks... to stoop... to bend... to move their necks from side to side during a search... to keep looking and keep looking and KEEP LOOKING until the lost item is found. He believes there is a yet to be discovered synapse, a muscle or a nerve ending that travels from the uterus to the brain that men do not have and this is why women can search, search, search and find and men can only briefly scan a room at eye level for a precious lost artifact before throwing their hands up in surrender. Living in a house of five males, I often wonder if Mistah Zellah could be right.

This weekend the Country Doctor and my son Drew were in a frantic fury trying to find a missing team basketball jersey. It is the exact same frantic fury that occurred the weekend before... and the weekend before that... and also the weekend before that. Before basketball season it was a football jersey... before football season it was a baseball cleat... etc, etc, etc. It is always a vital piece of sports equipment and it is always lost.

Actually, the item is not lost. It is just located slightly beyond their peripheral vision and that makes the missing item impossible for them to find.

I asked the Country Doctor what he would do if he could not immediately locate one of our sons in a convenience store, after filling up at a gas station in another town. I am positive that if the child did not materialize, directly in front of him, in a matter of seconds, the CD would decide that the kid was gone for good. He would run out to the car to tell me that one of our boys was lost, forever. I would jump out of the car, rush into the gas station, move my body slightly to the left, swivel my head ten degrees to the right and our child would instantly appear in front of me.

"How did you do that?" the CD would gasp.

"I used my EYEBALLS!!!!!!! You know THESE THINGS!" I would say, pointing to my eyes.

This evening, right in the middle of preparing dinner, I had to go pick up my eldest son from school.

"Ethan!" I hollered as I was leaving the house, "Chop up some carrots for the stir-fry while I am gone."

"Where are the carrots?" Ethan called out as I was walking out of the house.

"In the fridge... in one of the drawers..."

I knew I should have run back to the kitchen and set them out on the counter... but as the fridge only has TWO DRAWERS I thought SURELY HE CAN FIND THEM!!!!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!

I came home to find my son standing in front of the fridge unable to locate the GIGANTIC BAG OF CARROTS IN THE DRAWER OF THE FRIDGE RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS FACE!

After dinner, I announced that I would really appreciate it, if everyone could put their dishes in the dishwasher when they were finished with dinner. Immediately, I realized that I needed to give them a lot more information if I truly expected them to be able to FIND THE DISHWASHER!

"It is the rectangular silver appliance located in the kitchen," I explained, " You open the door and put your dishes inside."

The Country Doctor got up and stood in front of the fridge.

"You mean this one?" he asked opening up the fridge. "It has dishes in it."

"No... not that one... it is lower... you are going to have to bend over to find it."

The Country Doctor moved over and stood in front of the stove. "This one?" he asked. "It is silver and lower and it has a door..."

"No... but you are very close... turn around."

The Country Doctor turned around.

"This is a sink." he said.

"Yes, I know," I replied, " Move your body one step to the right and look down."

The Country Doctor followed my instructions and he found the dishwasher! At that moment, I looked at my four sons still seated at the table. I realized that watching their father find the dishwasher not ten feet from where they sat, did not improve the chances that they would also be able to find the dishwasher.

Suddenly, I discovered that I did not have the necessary strength to walk each one of my sons through the motions of locating the dishwasher. I was simply not strong enough to endure it. I felt weak and dizzy and sick to my stomach. If I kept this up... I was clearly going to perish. I wisely decided to admit defeat and live... for the sake of my future grandchildren... for the sake of my show cats... for the sake of the people who read my blog... I decided that teaching my four sons how to find the dishwasher was not the hill on which I would die.

I placed a feverish, shaking hand on my abdomen and thought about my uterus... my good old uterus... my helpful uterus. The same uterus that had sheltered all four of my boys... nourished them... cradled them... protected them The same uterus that clamped down and pushed them out when it was tired of them. I felt a shudder of pity sweep through me. Can the male species really be blamed for their inability to find things? After all, they are missing the vital organ that connects the brain to the eyeballs and allows the neck to swivel from side to side, which then causes the knees to bend and look underneath the stack of towels on the chiffarobe for that missing shoulder pad. They don't have a uterus! It is almost as if they were missing half their brains."

Dietetic Freedom

I must say that I have been enjoying the freedom of no longer having gestational diabetes these past few days! No pricking of the finger, no worrying about when I can eat . . . I had cinnamon toast with breakfast! Fruit with lunch! Two servings of pasta with dinner! It's been so nice!

On the other hand, I can honestly say that I felt better when I was following the diet. I've gotten used to the smaller portion sizes, and more carbs make me feel bloated and heavy. Eating protein with snacks, eating smaller amounts more frequently--it all just made me feel more even-keeled. And I am missing the exercise! Even though it took up an inordinate, non-sustainable amount of time, all the time on the treadmill gave me lots of time to myself just to think and to listen to praise music on the Christian radio station. I am looking forward to starting back again, although NOT 3 times a day!

I have decided that I am going to give myself a week of eating whatever I want. That should help me work through all the birthday/ birth day/ Valentine's day cheesecake, chocolates, candy, and other goodies that have appeared in our house over the past week. Then I am going to start back on a modified gestational diabetes diet. By "modified", I mean that I will enjoy eating dessert at Bible study and other special occasions, and not be so totally anal about every serving size. But in general, my strategy will be less carbs and more protein. I do have to go back and have a 2 hour glucose test done in a few weeks (sometime before my 6 week post-partum appointment), to make sure the diabetes has gone away. Hopefully I won't have any problems with that! It's one thing to go on a diet . . . it's another thing to do all that pricking.

3 Days Old

So Faith is now all of 3 days old. Since we got discharged early, she had a follow-up doctor's appointment this morning. She is down to 7 pounds, 13 ounces, but my milk came in yesterday, so I am sure she'll start gaining it back. She also has a touch of jaundice, but again, that's par for the course for our fair-skinned babies. That's the good thing about it being #7--you pretty much know what to expect, so it's not too worrisome. The only thing that is potentially worrisome and different from everyone else is that she has not passed her newborn hearing screening in her right ear. That's the test where they bounce sound waves off her eardrum--the waves go in, but they haven't been to be read coming back out again. At the hospital, the doctor said it was because she was still so young--not even 24 hours old when they did the test there--and she still had too much fluid and vernix in her ear. And that's pretty much what they said again today. Still, that's weird. We'll have it done again when we go back for her 2 week well-baby check.

Faith has been busy being loved on here at home. She also has spent some time in the snazzy swing from Johanna, which makes Anna very happy, LOL. She loves that swing!

I don't know if there has ever been a baby surrounded by as many people who adore her and want to hold her! There is always a line whenever I'm done nursing. I am constantly having to shoo people back while I'm nursing, or all her brothers and sisters would practically be sitting on me!

Anna is still so thrilled to have a real, live baby in the house. She constantly carries her baby around, and she really imitates whatever the person holding Faith is doing. Here my mom was holding her, so Anna got a blanket (in this case, a super-soft one that was a present from Elizabeth) and very carefully arranged herself and her babydoll so that they looked like Grandma and Faith, with lots of sideways glances, just to make sure things were perfect!

Faith is a good nurser, and she's been a pretty happy and calm baby. She's not much of a fusser so far anyways. I'm feeling good except for my milk coming in. I think this is my least favorite part of having a newborn. I love the first 2 days, when you feel good and aren't yet engorged! Faith is still wanting to sleep more during the day and wake up and be more alert during the night, but she is improving. We're all just enjoying snuggling her cuddly little baby self, and rubbing her soft little baby head! She's a sweetie!

Faith Amy is here!

Faith arrived yesterday, February 8, at 11:54 AM, at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. She weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and she was 21 inches long. We came home this afternoon, and everything is going fine! Now, for more details . . .

I continued having bloody show Saturday night, as well as these "gas pains". The pains were never regular or very strong, but I did assume they were contractions. I just was afraid they weren't doing anything. If I got up to go to the bathroom, I would feel one or maybe 2, but they certainly weren't waking me up or anything.

I woke up Sunday morning fully intending to go to church. I ate breakfast, debated about whether or not to walk on the treadmill (decided "no"), helped people get ready, and showered and got myself dressed in church clothes. All the while, I was feeling pretty uncomfortable with these pains, which were in my back, mainly. I got on my hands and knees and crawled around for awhile, and I rocked my pelvis a lot, knowing that the baby was probably not in a good position and that should help. Finally, at 10:00, everyone else was ready to go to church, but I decided I was too uncomfortable to sit through a service, so Bob and I didn't go. Mom said I should call the labor ward and see what they said, but I told her I knew they would just say to come in, and I didn't want to do that and have them tell me the contractions just weren't strong enough to do anything, and that they would give me some pitocin. I wanted to wait until the feelings were in a more regular pattern. Up to that point, they weren't regular, and they weren't long--less than 30 seconds long.

After everyone left, I updated my Facebook status to say that I was having contractions, but that they were in my back, and I was trying to get the baby into a more favorable position. I also piddled around, getting the rest of my stuff into my hospital bag. I brewed up my super-strong raspberry tea pint that I drink when I go into labor to help ease labor pains. It is supposed to be 2 cups of boiling water over 1 ounce of tea, brewed for 30 minutes. I realized at that point that maybe I wouldn't be able to wait 30 minutes for the tea to brew, however. Hmmm. At that point, these feelings were definitely happening pretty regularly, about 3-4 minutes apart, although they were still only 30 seconds long, and it wasn't like I was breathing through them or anything. I just felt more comfortable leaning over when I had them. So I leaned over the couch, and I realized that I was actually quite sweaty and clammy and most likely in transition. Hmmmm.

I told Bob we needed to go to Bethesda immediately. We loaded everything up in the car, but as I was walking out to the van in the driveway, I was already feeling a lot of pressure and wondering if we had not waited too long. Bob zoomed along in record time, and we were so thankful it was Sunday morning, so there was hardly any traffic. We left our house at 10:50 and got to Bethesda at about 11:25. I prayed the whole way that things would slow down enough for us to actually get to the hospital, so I wouldn't have a Beltway baby! And although I kept feeling more and more pressure, I didn't feel the urge to push, and my water never broke.

We went up to the labor and delivery floor where they examined me in the triage room. The doctor said I had a slight anterior lip and a bulging bag. They wheeled the whole bed I was on into a labor room, broke my water at 11:50, and I was ready to push! I pushed a few minutes, and Faith was born at 11:54. You know how you always really remember your first birth, so when I felt her head getting close, it hurt, and I thought, "I so do not want her to stay right there through a whole 'nother contraction--that hurts!" Then the doctor said, "You're almost there--keep pushing!" So I did, and her head popped out! One more push, and out came the rest of her. Ahhhh. Every time I have a baby, I am so happy that you only have to have your first baby once! It definitely gets tons easier!

I couldn't believe it was all over so quickly. Everything was kind of chaotic, with people rushing in and out. I was just sort of in shock, but really glad that it was all over. The thing was, I didn't nurse right away, so by the time I got Faith back and tried, she really wasn't interested. She also started having a hard time staying warm, and when they checked her blood sugar level (because of my gestational diabetes), her number was really, really low--28. The pediatricians were called, and she was given a bottle of formula, since she wasn't interested in nursing. Then they tested her levels again, but only about 5 minutes after she finished eating. Her number was 38, which was still not that good. The doctors said they wanted to take her to the NICU and give her glucose in an IV for 12 hours, until she got rid of the extra insulin in her blood and could regulate her own levels.

At this point, my parents were on their way to visit us, having gotten home from church and eaten lunch. I knew the kids would be so disappointed if they couldn't see Faith, so I wanted them to wait to take her until the kids had visited. Bob asked if they could stick her heel again and take one more reading. They did, and her number was up to 60. They still wanted to take her, but they agreed to wait until 3:00, so the kids could visit.

After we took some pictures and let everyone exclaim over Faith, the doctors took her over to the NICU, with Bob following along. When they got there, the NICU nurses tested her glucose levels again, and they were up to 107--perfectly normal. So they decided not to start any glucose IV, but they would just observe her for awhile. After my parents took the kids back home, I went over to the NICU to nurse. I asked the nurse there how long Faith would have to stay if everything continued to be fine, and she told me 24 hours! She said Faith had to prove she was well, etc., and that once a baby was in there, they rarely left earlier than 24 hours later. Grrr. This meant I would have to get out of bed every few hours and trek over to the NICU to nurse at night. Plus, Faith looked like a chunky toddler in there, compared to all these preemies! She was right across from an adorable set of twins that had been there for 11 weeks. They had started out at a little over 1 pound each, and now that they had chunked up to 4 pounds, they were getting discharged the next day! Faith the newborn looked like a giant compared to them! Since she didn't even have an IV line in, it seemed silly for her to have all these leads attached, and all this care. I started praying that she would be able to get out of there sooner.

Her glucose numbers continued to be just fine, and when I went back to nurse at 7:00, a new nurse told me the doctor was getting ready to send her back over to my room! Yay! So around 9:00, she was discharged from her little stay at the NICU. She has been a great nurser so far, and I was glad to be able to nurse her in bed, instead of far away in a rocking chair, with a ton of beeping and activity going on around us!

Since she was doing fine, and I was feeling fine, we got discharged this afternoon, making it home by 3:00. Everyone was excited to see us! Now we're just settling in. It's great to be home! I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight, without corpsmen and doctors coming in all the time for various reasons. I will say that all the people we dealt with at Bethesda were so very nice. It was really a good experience all around. Very impressive, especially for a military hospital!

Still Here . . .

Well, no birthday baby for me. Oh well! That would have been fun though--I share my birthday with my uncle, my mom's brother. So if I had delivered today, that would have meant that my grandma and my mom also would have also delivered on the same day! But it was not meant to be . . . I have continued to have bloody show all day today, and I'm pretty dure I lost my mucous plug this morning, but I jsut haven't had any sort of regular contractions. Or really too many contractions at all, to be honest. My plan is to take the castor oil tomorrow afternoon after church.

I did have a wonderful birthday, though. I went out to lunch with a group of 4 other ladies. We had been in a Bible study together for 2 years, but we stopped meeting last summer and just never started up again. I have really missed them, so I was so thrilled when one of them sent us all an email this last week suggesting a get-together! We spent almost 3 hours at a local restaurant catching up over lunch! It was so fun!

After the afternoon basketball games for Nathan and Luke, Bob grilled some absolutely delicious steaks, and we had a real feast. We also had baked potatoes, green beans with almonds, and spinach strawberry salad. You can't get a yummy meal like that for 10 in a restaurant for any reasonable price! Plus, he had stopped at Sams and bought some mini cheesecakes and a caramel apple pie for dessert! Yum! After walking on the treadmill for 40 minutes, my blood glucose number was 130, which isn't too darn bad considering the big meal and the cheesecake!

Now we're watching the Ben Carson movie Gifted Hands on TNT. I've always admired Ben Carson, and he has such a great, inspiring story.

So even without having a baby, this has been a wonderful birthday! But now I am really ready to go into labor . . .

Progress?

Well, I have had a lot of bloody show this afternoon/evening, so hopefully something is happening down there. I have had some contractions, but the baby is still in a weird position, and they feel different from the contractions I usually have--more like gas pains than menstrual cramps. She's still pretty high, I think, but I think she is facing the right way. Anyways, we'll see if anything further develops, but even if it doesn't, at least I'm hopeful that I will be more dilated on Tuesday. It's more than I had happen with Grace!

Nathan and I ran some errands today, and one place we went to was Walmart, so I could buy some castor oil. I did take castor oil before I had Anna, but it was more to relieve constipation rather than to start labor. I did have some contractions after taking it, although it did not start my labor. The bigger issue is that Anna passed meconium before birth, and I always wonder if it was because of the castor oil. I don't see how it could be, because everything I have read says that it does not pass the placenta, and the way it works physiologically would not carry over to the baby, but still . . . Anyhow, I have decided I will try taking some Sunday afternoon if nothing has happened by then. We'll see. Even though labor did not start with Anna, I was 5 cm dilated when I went to my appointment on her due date, and when they started the pitocin that morning, it was only a few hours until she was born--a much better experience that with Grace! But maybe just buying the stuff will show my body that I am SERIOUS about having this baby, and things will progress, LOL.

Today was a good day--I have already been celebrating my birthday, which technically is tomorrow. Nathan and I came home to find a beautiful bouquet of roses from Bob, and when Bob himself came home at dinnertime, he had a huge bunch of balloons of all manner of meesages--congratulations, happy birthday, it's a girl, I love you, etc. The girl at the dollar store was not sure what to make of the mixed messages! So maybe my birthday will also be my "birth day". That would be nice! You know how it is at the end--ANY day is a good day to be born!

Another Appointment

I had my last OB appointment this afternoon at Bethesda. The doctor said I was 3 cm dilated this time, so that's some slight progress over last appointment. She did a very thorough job of stripping my membranes, so maybe that will start something. I went into labor with Luke after having my membranes stripped, but not with anyone else that I can remember. I know I had my membranes stripped multiple times by multiple different doctors when I was pregnant with Jonathan, and he was still 2 weeks overdue and had to be induced!

The baby is still really high. In fact, as the doctor was stripping my membranes, she kept laughing because the baby was sticking her hand down there and pushing against the doctor's hand! Before the doctor stopped, she said the baby moved her hand back up by her body, so that's good. Hopefully she will move down, at least before the induction. They won't break my water with her so high, because they don't want the cord to wash down first.

So there you have it. I would say if I don't start having contractions tonight, then nothing will happen until I get induced. At least I have a homeschool co-op moms' meeting tonight to distract me.

Madagascar Report

Today was a big day for Nathan--he gave an oral report based on the research paper he wrote for the homeschool co-op writing unit. The 5th and 6th graders had to pick an African country to write about, and he picked Madagascar. He did a great job on his report and got good feedback from his teachers. I was happy with how self-motivated he was to get the report done, and also to work on his display. He did stuff with Powerpoint as well as figured out the pictures he wanted to use. I really didn't have to do much at all, which was nice. My parents have friends who work for the same organization they do, and they have actually visited Madagascar. They were kind enough to email us some pictures, and then we also got a few off the internet.

It turns out Madagascar is an interesting country. Did you know that 1/4 of the plant and animal species in the world are found in Madagascar? Many of these species are native only to Madagascar. Also, most of the people there are not African by heritage. They actually are descended from Indonesians, who somehow traveled over there a long time ago. "Malagasy" is the adjective you use to describe things from Madagascar.

Actually, all the oral reports were very interesting. I stayed and listened to about half of them, including Nathan's. He was pretty nervous, so his first few sentences were directed to his notecards, but after he had to start pointing out things on his display board, he loosened up and started looking at the audience. He did really well, overall.

After all the kids were done, they had an "African feast". Everyone brought in food from their African country. We brought a dish called "varenga", which is boiled, shredded, roasted beef. We put it over rice, since that is a very important staple in madagascar, and they eat it for every meal. It was really good! I was amazed at how much food there was, and also at the great variety. People really went all out! A lot of stuff was pretty starchy, so I didn't sample it, but everything I had was very good!