Hi. Sorry I've been absent for so long. Even now, I'm not really ready to post, but I'm feeling some serious with drawl symptoms - It's been almost two weeks since my last post. Nothing earth shattering that's been keeping me away - I just don't seem to take the time to do it. I have been visiting your sites though. I have found that now that I have so many more blogs that I check on a regular basis (my Google reader just feeds them to me anytime anyone I've listed posts something new...) that I don't leave comments very much anymore - but know that I'm reading and enjoying the happenings in your lives.

The signal to sign off is now crying and big sister is running in to help - which I expect will make it worse... I do have a "pondering" that I want to flesh out with y'all - but it appears that will need to be either later or tomorrow.

until then -

the check is in the mail...

Ok - there's not really a check in the mail - but my Christmas cards are in the mail! Hip Hip Hooray for me! The photo on the card (the one posted below) isn't perfect (but I still think it's cute), and as I was stuffing envelopes I found a typo in the annual update letter, but it was good enough - and I really wanted to be done with it.

I went back to Primary yesterday for the first time since Caleb was born. I was pretty worn out by the end of church, but I did it and it was great to be "back in the saddle." I sure did miss the kids while I was gone.

Somehow we have lost our digital camera. I'm dying to find it and take some more pictures of Caleb. (preferably with his eyes open...) I'm thinking if I could find the motivation and energy to clean up this messy messy messy house, I'll probably find it... Wish me luck!

Barak Obama - NOT MY VOTE!

I am really quite surprised at how well Obama has been doing in the Primary Elections so far. A while back my husband sent me this photo of Obama, taken at some steak fry gathering in Iowa - and it shows Obama, standing through the singing of the National Anthem, without ever putting his hand over his heart. The link to the Article is http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2007/10/20/obama-no-hand-heart-pledge-either-will-msm-notice

To be candid, I also watched the video of the rendition of the anthem, and I had been there, I may have not had my hand over heart either - my fingers would have been in my ears, but STILL... Obama seemed to enjoy the singing - he was singing along and clapped when it was over so what can I think...
I suppose I should also have a disclaimer here: I am assuming the photo and video are real and accurate - but in today's world, who knows...

For political information and opinions from someone who is much more articulate and much better informed and aware - I highly recommend you check out My "dreamer" friend Candace and her blog.

Suffice it to say, Gov. Mitt Romney has no need to worry that Oprah will sway ME to the Obama camp. I want a President who respects America's flag, America's Anthem (even when very badly sung), and who respects, lives, and defends the values that America once stood for.

WAHOO!!!

Hip Hip hooray - I blew my nose today!!!

This may seem trivial to all of you out there in blogland, but for me, this was a great milestone. I haven't been able to blow my nose with any kind of power since Caleb was born. (who knew that the nose was connected to the stomach??? Anyway, it felt GREAT! (that is one thing I actually like about being sick, or otherwise laid-up; it makes you SO very very grateful for the little things in life that you would otherwise give no thought to - like being grateful to be able to blow your nose.)

Another thing of interest: I got the following in an email from Melissa. I have seen things like it before but I still find it really amazing what our brains are capable of doing:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?


Lastly, if you are in need of a good laugh, I saw this clip from the Carol Burnett show on Shellie's blog this morning and I really got a chuckle out of it. I don't know how to put the youtube video right on my blog, but you can use this link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9T8i4FkNVo - or you can go to little but loud and watch it there.

Have a great day!

I resolve to....

I was thinking about New Years and the whole resolution thing - and I decided to resolve to make NO RESOLUTIONS until February. I figured I should give myself a whole month to make sure I am physically back up to snuff and not trying to go full speed ahead before my body is ready...

Sounds good EH? - I thought so too, until yesterday, when my ever-goal setting husband was busy working on some of his (and some family) resolutions; which then pulled me into the process since I'm the one that is home during the day and will be the main person implementing the goals and plans we set up.

We determined that we aren't really happy with where our son (age 7) is as far as work ethic, money sense, responsibility, etc. The problem with not being happy with where he is, is that WE are the ones who got him to where he is... (more especially ME - I am the one who got him to where he is, which is that he "hates" to work, cleaning his room is always "too hard," he refuses to do any type of work unless a parent is working along side of him (even then this usually equates to the parent doing 90% of the work), he thinks he should get money for any trifle thing he DOES do, every time I turn around he has created another huge mess and left it for me to clean up, he has little to no sense when it come to money matters, etc...)

So - what are we going to try?

1) Give the kids a fixed allowance. This money is not tied to doing chores, but they will now be personally responsible for more financial things. For example, anytime they want a toy or treat at the store - THEIR money, buying presents for friends birthday parties - THEIR money. (Aaron announced, "I'm never going to birthday parties again, I don't want to spend MY money") Anytime the kids don't want to go with me to the store or to run errands, they will have to pay for a babysitter with THEIR money. If they want to get out of doing on of their household chores, they can offer to pay someone else to do it, or pay for an adult to help. (Yesterday Aaron spent his entire allowance ($5) to pay Katrina to clean his room for him because it was "too hard" for him) (Katrina in turn paid me $2 to help her get it done, but she still got a pretty good deal.)

2) TV tickets. We choose to not pay for cable or satellite, and we don't get any tv reception without it, but we do have a tv that we use to watch movies. I admit that during the past year I have let watching get out of control. (I've been just too tired to deal with kids and the boob-tube babysitter has been too easy to refuse) Anyway, now each child has tv tickets that they can turn in to watch tv or play on the computer. They get a max of 2 hours per day (which is still probably to much) and any tickets left unused at the end of the week can be turned in for cash.

3) Each child will still have a few chores that are their responsibility each day to contribute to the good of the family.

That's about it as far as things we decided and implemented yesterday. We'll have to see how things work as we go along, and make adjustments as needed. As for my OWN personal resolutions... I RESOLVE TO MAKE NO (official) RESOLUTIONS UNTIL FEBRUARY!!!

So there!

a few more photos

Just a few more photos. I liked the one at the bottom enough that I really wish Aaron had been in it. I could have used it to get Christmas cards printed up and then I'd be able to get them sent out. Unfortunately, Aaron was in "a mood" and refused to have his picture taken that day... oh well. We'll try again another time.

The recuperation process seems to be going well. We are back at home and today Tim went back to work - thus making it my first day all alone with all four kids. My patience levels are still in super short supply, but I am trying to reign myself in. Tim has tomorrow (New Years Day) off, then Aaron will be back in school on Wed. I need to schedule Caleb's two week check-up and my two week post c-section check up for this week as well, but I'm not really in any big rush. I really am not looking forward to going out in this freezing cold weather - hauling a new baby and trying to keep two other kids within arms reach (my reaching length is considerably shorter since I lack the ability to bend if it requires any help from the stomach muscles) Oh well, a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do. And right now, THIS mom has "gotta" feed the kids lunch and then take a nap! (I'll just have to take my chances with the disasters that will most certainly result during said nap time.)

Baby Caleb

Hey all, I'm finally back. I am happy report that Caleb Jonathan has safely arrived. Things did not go at all as planned...
He was born just after 1:00 (I don't recall the specific time, as I'm sure you can understand after hearing about his arrival, and I don't want to get up right now to look for the paper that has the exact time) on Monday, December 17th. He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz, and I can't remember how long they said he was... Anyway - here is the story of his eventful arrival.

On the morning of the 17th, I had a full day planned. I had asked Tim to stay home from work so that I could get to all of my various appointments without having to worry about fining a sitter for the other kids. Trina had her speech class at 9:00. I was scheduled for a non-stress test at 9:30, my IV Iron therapy at 10:15, then my weekly midwife check up at 11:45. Tim had scheduled appointments to go to the dentist and to get his car's oil change done in the afternoon.

It all started out fine. Tim took Bry and Trina to speech and I went to the hospital for my NST.
For this point on, the schedule got a tad bit off track. During the NST, they kept seeing drops in the baby's heart rate. "Nothing really serious," but enough to make them concerned that the baby was under stress. (Is this the story of this pregnancy or what? It seems like every time I turned around there was something else that "wasn't serious," but was something to be a little concerned about and keep an eye on.) The NST people called the midwife and she told me that the baby was showing enough signs of stress they she felt they should induce me and get the baby here. I said okay, called Tim to tell him that plans had changed and we were going to be having a baby... I went downstairs to cancel my IV therapy and then drove to the hospital where I would be delivering.

I checked in, got settled, and they started me on Pitocin (spelling??). So far so good. They continued to see decelerations in the baby's heart rate during each contraction but still nothing to be too concerned about... About an hour into the pit drip, Tim and the kids arrived (he hadn't been able to get a hold of my mom to come watch the kids yet...) I called my parents next door neighbor and was able to catch him at home. He confirmed that he had seen my mom working outside and I sent him over to give her the message to come to the hospital. Then my midwife (Sue was the delivering midwife that day) came in and broke my water.

About 20 minutes later, my mom arrived. (talk about perfect timing...) Right after my mom got here, the nurse (her name was Jill and she was wonderful!) came in and said that they were starting to be more concerned about the baby. Every time I had a contractionn the heart rate would drop significantly enough that they couldn't get a clear reading of it via the external monitors. They wanted to put in an internal monitor - on the baby's head, so they could get a more accurate reading of what was happening. I of course agreed, and that's when everything went berserk. Jill went to insert the internal monitor and found that the umbilical cord coming out first. (called prolapsed cord) Every time I would have a contraction, the cord would descend first, the the baby's head would put pressure on it and cut off all the oxygen supply to the baby. She called the midwife in, who confirmed the situation.

The next thing I knew I had a slew of nurses surrounding my bed and about 15 seconds later I was being rushed down the hall to the OR for an emergency C-section. The next few minutes while they waited for the Dr to arrive, I was prepped for surgery, given a shot to stop the contractions, all the while Jill was doing everything in her power to hold the baby's head and umbilical cord apart from each other to keep the oxygen supply getting to the baby. (It was VERY painful from MY perspective) The two doctors arrived, I was put under, and I woke up in SERIOUS pain about an hour and a half later.
For the first 24 hours I wasn't able to nurse Caleb. Apparently when there is a lack of oxygen, the body sends everything to the brain, and the other organs sort of shut down. If the baby gets food in the stomach before the organ starts functioning, the food will just rot in the stomach and cause infection or other problems. To be honest, I was actually kind of glad, because it meant one less thing for me to have to deal with that first night. Caleb was on an IV getting sugar water, so he was as content as could be,and he just slept the night away in the nursery. I tried to sleep, but it wasn't until about 3 in the morning when the pain medication finally seemed to catch up to the pain.
I stayed in the hospital until Friday, then came straight to my mom's house where we will stay until this weekend. We figured it would be much easier for my mom to help out if we stayed here. Tim went back to work this morning and I am SO glad I'm not at home, in my split level house with a kazillion stairs, trying to take care of 4 children. After going up to Montana to help my sister after her C-section, and seeing how difficult her recovery was, I was dreading the healing process. I think my doctors must have been better than hers, because I feel like I'm healing well, and I'm getting around much better than I thought I would be.

Caleb is just so sweet. The kids all love him to death and are anxious to help and to hold him. We've taken some better pictures than these hospital shots, but the thing (USB cord???) to download them from the camera is at home, so you'll just have to take my word for it...

Well, that's the story. I feel so blessed that everything went as it did. They tell me that if my water had broken at home, it is likely we would have lost the baby. The morning after the delivery, the Dr. came in and said something to the affect of , "aren't you glad you're not living in the pioneer days? You and the baby would have been markers along the trail." Now isn't that a lovely thought? I am so very very grateful that Caleb is healthy and that everything went as well as it did. As they were prepping me for surgery, I kept thinking of the blessing I received a few months back; that I would have the strength to endure the trials and afflictions, and that I should/would get the proper medical care, and that I would be able to welcome a healthy baby into our family. I'd say that as much as that blessing didn't tell me what I wanted to hear... it was right on the mark.