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Smatterings

Every day I think, "Oh, I should write about that on my blog!" But I haven't written about anything in a week or so. So, here are some unrelated events.

Luke got Elsi to laugh yesterday, for the first time. Sweet that she laughed for her big brother.

Luke loves being four. He's all the time saying things like, "I can't wear those jammies anymore because they're not four-year-old pajamas."

Ben is doing such a good job with potty-training, to a point. He still hasn't accomplished "pooping in the potty," but he really wants to!

Elsi is sleeping through the night again, until 6 AM! She's not quite as content as she used to be, but I'm not sure if that is a teething thing, or an age thing. I sometimes get the feeling that she is bored, and maybe her brain is moving faster than her body. She's doing a good job sitting up, and rolling to her belly, but can't get to new toys.

Ben's talking is so cute. I love his pronunciations and he's using such grown-up words and phrases.

Say a little prayer

While you're reading this, say a little prayer for Greg and Elsi.
Every day this week she's cried inconsolably for no apparent reason
while I've been at work. Yesterday, Greg was holding her in his easy
chair, rocking and she was fine; he coughed and she lost it, to never
quite recover. He's at his wits' end and could use a little divine
intervention!

While we're on prayer requests . . . pray for Lily, Daniel (my
brother) and Tasha's baby girl. She's been in the NICU for a LONG time
(over 12 weeks, but I'm not sure the exact amount), way past her due
date now, but still not eating well. Pray that she would eat so they
can take her home!

"Real" Food

Elsi had her first "real" food Tuesday night. She's had rice cereal by
itself and with banana, but last night she had part of what we were
eating, but ground-up of course: rice and yellow squash. She made a
lot of funny faces, spit a lot of it out unintentionally, and seemed
to not quite be able to swallow without gagging at times. We'll
probably wait a few weeks before we try it again or else we'll water
down the food more. We're guessing it was a little too thick for her
current swallowing abilities. It was fun to have her at the table
"eating" with us.

This morning, Ben told Greg he wants three sisters.

Train Excursion Slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Pictures of the washed out driveway

When we went to meet Baby Madelyn yesterday, the driveway at their house started washing away before we got there and soon after, it was a chasm in the road -- more details from yesterday's post.

Chattanooga's great!

Today we took our kids for a little train ride! It was so much fun. The boys, especially Luke, loved it. One of the best things about this town is all the fun family stuff there is to do. I love it.

Baby Madelyn

We finally got to go see Baby Madelyn yesterday, which was wonderful. She was so cute and sweet, but I forgot to take pictures, of course. I did not, however, forget to take pictures of the other part of our day that was terribly exciting. When we arrived at their house, the creek that used to flow UNDER their driveway was flowing over it and the edge of the driveway had already washed away. We didn't think it was safe to drive over it. Greg's brother Roger came down with his 4-wheel-drive-Ranger and drove us in turns up to their house. Greg left to go to the grocery store. By the time Greg got back, that section of the driveway was gone, and in it's place was a 10ft wide, 10ft deep chasm. Roger managed to find a way to drive his Ranger through the woods and out a neighbor's driveway, so they can at least come and go from their house as they need to, but they have a big job ahead of them to fix that driveway, unfortunately.

Washing little girls' clothes

One lesson I quickly learned about little girls clothes: You have to wash all pieces of the same outfit at the same time. Many of Elsi's outfits consist of two pieces, especially dresses and bloomers. If you don't wash them both together, one will inevitably get pink because of other stuff in the load with it! How did I come to know this, you might ask? Not telling. . .

Luke's 4-year-old dr. checkup

Luke had his four-year-old pediatrician visit yesterday. He's very healthy, thankfully. He did have to get FIVE shots, which he was none too thrilled about. He's still tiny, actually having lost ground percentage wise on the growth chart since his 3-yr-old visit. He weighs 30 pounds and is 3 ft. 2 in. tall. Dr. Jung wasn't overly concerned, but just said to try to add some calories to his diet with good fats and extra protein (hence the Boost purchase today). We also have to take him to the eye dr. Reading an eye chart he came out 20/30 in one eye and 20/40 in the other. Those numbers aren't so much concerning as just the fact that it was not the same in both eyes. But, compared with how bad my eyesight is, Luke's getting off pretty easy, I think.

CVS Shopping Trip

I'm feeling good about my shopping trip to CVS today. I planned it out, which took way too long, but as long as I don't do it too often, I guess it was worth it. I spent $20 out of my pocket on a prescription, and got a $25 gift card for it (Hamilton Co. coupon book), which I spent on all my stuff. I did a total of 4 transactions so I could use extra care bucks (ECBs) and still have over $4 left on my gift card. I have learned that I have to use my ECBs while I'm there or I don't get them spent before they expire. I got $80.20 worth of stuff for $20 out of pocket, with $4 left to spend!

Here's what I got:
3 6-pk Boost energy drinks @ 6.99 ea - $4 cpns
1 Jumbo Huggies Supreme @ 8.99 - $3 cpn
Total w/ tax: 17.85 after using $5 off $25 CVS coupon and $2 ECBs from prescription

1 3ltr Poland Springs water @ $1
3 Lean Cuisine @ $3 ea - $2 cpn
1 2-pk Tone Mango soap @ $1.88 - $1 cpn
1 Colgate Total @ $2.99 - $1 cpn
1 sidewalk chalk on clearance @ $.50
1 Neosporin Lip ointment @ $2.89 - $1 cpn
2 cheerios cereal cups @ $1 ea - $2 cpns
Total w/tax: $1.70 after using $3 off $15 CVS coupon and $10 ECBs from Boost purchase

1 Jumbo Huggies Supreme @ 8.99 - $1.50 cpn
1 Teddy Graham @ $.99 (treat for the boys for behaving while I shopped)
Total w/ tax: $1.39 after using $8 ECBs from Colgate, Tone, and Nestle (water and Lean Cuisine) purchase

I learned all these tricks from a blog called Money Saving Mom and got the links for the $3 and $5 CVS coupons from The Coupon "High".

Loving Greg's off nights

I love it when Greg is off in the evening. Last night we sat down at the table to a real dinner that I made, then the whole family got in the hot tub together. That was fun. Elsi watched her big brothers, Luke swam under water with his goggles on, Ben floated around with water wings and threw ball-pit balls at Greg (thanks, Dad and Gini =), and Greg and enjoyed sitting close and watching. Tonight, we all loaded up, went to the pool store for chemicals, Wal-mart for groceries, and Sticky Fingers for dinner. I feel like such a normal person with a normal family! And I love spending time all together when Greg is off in the evenings.

Highlighting the age difference

It's hard to remember sometimes that Luke and Ben are not the same age, because they aren't very different in size, they can do a lot of the same things physically, and they both communicate pretty well. This leads to frustration for us grownups sometimes when Ben can't do something that seems like it should be easy and that Luke has been doing for a long time. We have been assured that Ben's skills are commensurate for his age.

Today the age difference was highlighted when we played a new game. The game is called Noodleboro Learning to Listen Pizza Palace. The object is to remember what the "orderer" orders (using picture cards) on their pizza and make the pizza correctly. There are cards that show the toppings ordered and tokens that match the cards to be used as toppings. Luke can remember 3 or 4 items accurately after seeing them once and then having them hidden, and make the matching pizza. Ben can match the toppings to the cards, but he can't accomplish the multi-step task of ending up getting those matching toppings onto the pizza. I even hid the cards from Luke and let Ben see them the whole time. Ben couldn't, or didn't want to, do it. Crazy! The differences in those skill levels is amazing to me.

My kids

Today, I made my kids all sit together for a picture -- finally, a decent
one of all three of them together. I just love them!

Reward trip to Coolidge

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Elsi @ night made better by my sweet husband

Elsi has been waking up numerous times a night now for almost a week! Last night, Greg tried to help me by getting up with her and she just cried and cried until he brought her to me and I fed her. I feel like she's a newborn again or something. I hope she's just teething and it will all go away, but I still can't see or feel any teeth coming in. Greg got up with the boys this morning too, so I could sleep a little more. After he brought me Elsi after she woke up he sent Luke in with my breakfast -- breakfast in bed -- that's like Mother's Day good in my book. I hope she sleeps tonight, but I'm betting we're in for another tough one. Just part of it, I guess. She was SOOOO perfect before all this started so I guess it's fair -- "when she was good she was very, very good; and when she was bad she was horrid."

Our missionary relatives

I'm so proud of my bro. Peter and Janet for working so hard and being so faithful at raising support to go to the mission field! It's been really neat to see the ways God has provided for them, making it so clear that he has called them to this work. But, I can hardly think about it without tearing up -- they're leaving in the middle of November for training in CO, and may or may not be back in Chattanooga before they leave at the end of December. I want them to go, but I don't want them to leave! =(

Chik-fil-a Family Night

We went to Chik-fil-a in Fort Oglethorpe tonight for dinner for family
night, which is every Tuesday and kids' meals are free. They had a clown who
painted faces and gave out balloons. As you can see, Luke chose Batman and
Ben chose NOT to get too close to the clown. =)

Sleep -- thanks for the help!

Just wanted to say thanks to everybody for the suggestions on getting my kids to go to sleep at night! We've made a few changes thanks to you all. First, Luke is not taking naps anymore. He's having "quiet time" for a couple hours in a different room than Benny, with books. He doesn't have to go to sleep. That's not going great right now, he's getting kinda bored, so we may have to explore a few other ideas, but that's during Greg's childcare time usually, so I'll leave that for him to try first before we institute any changes. Secondly, the boys are now earning pennies to ride the carousel. I took Didi's idea from my Facebook notes comment and melded it with one I'd tried that didn't work as well. I give them five pennies in each of their jars when I put them to bed. If I have to go back to their room for any reason, I take a penny. In the morning, they get to put the ones they still have onto their penny chart. They're motivated and so far, it's working pretty well. And, Elsi slept through last night; first time in 3 weeks. We'll see if it continues!

This week is different, and different than I planned.

This week, Greg is in some sort of mental health crisis intervention class, which means he works from 8 to 5:30. This poses a babysitting problem for us, since I still have to go to work from 10:15 to 2:45. Greg's mom was planning to come up to help us Monday through Wednesday and we were really looking forward to having her. Also, Greg would be home with us every evening. So this week was going to be different, but nice in its own way.

It all got changed up when we kept getting rain and kept getting rain and kept getting rain. My school was cancelled Monday and Tuesday, which eliminated the need for a babysitter and Greg's mom couldn't get up here until at least today. These added elements made it all a little more exciting. I'm not sure that missing work was advantageous for me right now because I have work piling up for me that has looming due dates, but it was nice to have an extra long weekend! And we're still looking forward to having Greg's mom, as soon as she can actually make it up here.

Eating Oreos

I didn't have to go work today, which is bad for our community, but good for
my kids, since Greg had to be in class today during the day. In this picture
you can see how we spent part of our morning. Greg bought me Oreos because
he got ice cream, which I can't eat right now, due to a certain nursing baby
who doesn't digest milk products very well yet. At this point, I'd MUCH
rather have the ice cream! But thanks, Babe, the Oreos are yummy too!

Elsi @ 5 months

Little video of Elsi who is 5 months today! She smiled for me, but wouldn't do the other stuff she normally does in her bouncy seat, such as babble, grab her toes, or the toy hanging next to her.

Update on Elsi's fever

Thankfully, Elsi's fever didn't last long. It was gone before I got home from work at 3 the next day -- not even 24 hours. I'm glad it didn't last long. Nobody likes having a sick kid; it's sad for them and sad for you!

Elsi's first fever

Elsi has a fever tonight, somewhere around 102.5, but since I don't like to do the rectal thermometer, I don't know the exact temperature. I gave her Tylenol; hopefully, it helps. She seemed mostly okay today, but tonight, she was a little more whiny than usual -- not upset, just puny.

I'm slowly learning to trust my "mom-sense". Usually, when I think they might have a temp., they do. I like that I can use that hunch to make an educated guess when it comes to the welfare of my children!

Sleeping help!

Sleeping is not going well in our family these days! Elsi has stopped sleeping through the night. Greg and I have been having allergy troubles and both snoring and waking each other up. Those sleep problems I can cope with, though.

What I can't handle anymore is this: Luke and Ben take FOREVER at night to go to sleep -- I'm so tired of it! It's 10:30 and they're still awake back there, inventing reasons to yell for me to come back there to answer a question, scratch an itchy spot, pick up a dropped stuffed animal, etc. I used to let them read books while they were going to sleep. We haven't let them do that in a couple weeks and it hasn't made one bit of difference. They've also been taking really short afternoon naps, around an hour today -- shouldn't they be exhausted by now?

Sunday

Well, today was our first day back at Sunday school, with the start of the new Sunday school term. I think we might be one Sunday late, but it didn't sound like it in the ladies' class I went to. Luke's starting the four-year-old class, and Ben is finally in an actual class, not just a nursery. I want to check out the other ladies' class too, though. Today I went to the group that is studying Colossians. Next Sunday I think I'll check out the "Women equipping women" class and see what that's all about.

Seems weird to write about this stuff for other people to read it. Do people really want these details of my life? They're just so ordinary.

Conversation with my boys

I just had this conversation with my boys.

 

Me: I'm going to go get clothes for you guys while you eat your cake. Should I leave you here and go to the store and buy some?

Luke: You will get arrested, Mommy.

Me: Why would I get arrested?

Luke: If you do naughty things and leave your kids at home by themselves, the police will come arrest you.

Benny: Don't do it, Mommy! Don't do it!

Blah days

Us grownups around here are feeling a little blah these days. It's been yucky cloudy, rainy weather for the last three days. We're both tired -- three early mornings for Greg this week (he normally gets to sleep until I go to work at 10, because he doesn't get home until after midnight and can't go to sleep right away); and struggling with allergy related symptoms: sore throat, headaches, snoring, etc. Not that these things are rare -- I'm sure all of you have some experience with them!

Milestones

Elsi just rolled over, all by herself, back to tummy. This is the first roll that I knew for sure wasn't a fluke, because she was laying on her back on the floor -- she got no help from the surface she was on or because I propped her up on her elbows. She did it!

Enjoying my children

I believe that for Luke's first years of life, I mostly survived my kids instead of enjoying them. FINALLY I realized, I needed to stop trying to get other things done and just be in the moment with them, because those moments would be gone before I knew it! I am so thankful to the Holy Spirit for speaking that insight into my heart. It also helps that Elsi is sleeping through the night, so I can get a decent amount of sleep and not be so irritable and exhausted all the time. Now, I have my Bible Study friends praying that I will be disciplined about going to bed at a decent time. Should I start tonight . . . nah. Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.

Elsi at Luke's 4th birthday party

Elsi is getting so talkative! She is definitely showing some female
qualities. It's really fun to hear her. Right now she mostly squeals.

Luke's party

We did manage to have Luke's birthday party yesterday. He doesn't realize that his actual birthday hasn't happened yet =). He got a new bike, which was the one thing he asked for. It looks so big, but he can ride it. We took him to the playground tonight to ride around the track and he had a great time. I just wish I had my camera! I feel like I'm missing out on so much.

Frustration

I FINALLY remembered to take a bag of carrots back to Bi-Lo this evening that were slimy when I first got them home. It was rather frustrating though, because the receipt I pulled out was over a month old, so they wouldn't take it back. First of all, it is awfully hard for me to get to Bi-Lo with three little kids in tow, so I can't just run over there to return stuff that's bad -- it's hard enough for me to go grocery shopping in the first place! Secondly, I could've sworn I bought them just a couple weeks ago. I don't know for sure that that was the right receipt, but it probably was. The cashier came at me like I was a liar trying to pull something over on her. I hate it that she though that, but I guess I understand. It's just frustrating trying to get things like that taken care of when you have the rest of life to worry about too, and I don't like throwing three dollars in the trash can! I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was a bag of carrots that my kids can't eat now. God's money, right? Is that the answer I'm looking for here?

I love being able to vent on my blog, to no one in particular!

Elsi's newest tricks

Elsi has really been coming alive and active these past couple weeks. She's started to be very interested in toys, staring at them, touching them, holding them, putting them in her mouth. Another first occurred last night. I tried to feed her in the women's class I was sitting in. She couldn't eat for being distracted. While it was frustrating, I'm glad she's learning new things!

AWANA

We went to AWANA tonight for the first time since I was a little girl. I remember loving it, so I wanted my kids to get to have the experience too. Plus, it will help them memorize Bible verses and the books of the Bible among other things. They had a great time. Lukey even got a special balloon because he was one of the best behaved kids. Granted, it was his first time, and he was among people he doesn't know. He's bound to behave worse in the future. Luke was in Cubbies and Ben was in Puggles, and they're really looking forward to next week now!

a different night

We went up the mountain to help a friend of mine from work start a blog. She lost her husband in October and the Lord has shown up for her in miraculous ways. Friends keep asking her to put her journal in a blog. She was telling me about the different feelings she was having about it that she believes were attacks from Satan to try to discourage her from sharing with others. Guess what happened tonight? Her internet was down! We'll just try again next week.

I believe the Lord brought us together because I almost missed meeting her.She came to work at my office last year on the same day that I left on maternity leave, so I only met her briefly and a few times later as I've gone back to visit. We were fast friends because we found out that we go to churches in the same denomination (a pretty small one) and she has a daughter at Covenant. And I don't even work at that office anymore, but she e-mailed me to ask me to help.

Katie was wonderful to us tonight. She bought us pizza at Mr. T's, gave my kids juicy juice to drink and me coke, and helped me take them to the playground when her internet proved not to be working. It was a great evening. Can't wait to try again next week!

Doggie Blues

So, I let Kaiser run away and drove around for an hour looking for him to no avail. I let them out to go to the bathroom, went to put Elsi down and came back and he was gone =(. I thank the Lord for Becky living downstairs to let me drive around with my kids still sleeping here at home. Greg had just given him a bath and haircut too and he's been in the house and being SOOO good, not chewing on stuff like he usually does. Pray that he comes back or we get a phone call from somebody that finds him and gets our number off his collar.

Sunday Dre:ss

My kids were all dressed up for church today for one reason only: Luke was determined to wear his shoes with "high heels." He likes his black dress shoes because they have heels that click when he steps. So, I told him if he was going to wear the shoes he had to wear nice clothes and he was fine with that. Benny then wanted to dress like his older brother, so they were wearing preppy little sweater vests over collared shirts with nice khakhis. They looked so handsome. If only my camera wasn't broken . . .

Growing girl

I took Elsi to the pediatrician today for her four month well visit. She got shots, of course =(. She weighed eleven-and-a-half pounds and was twenty-four-and-three-quarter inches long. That is 10th and 50th-75th percentiles respectively. It's crazy that she's so tall compared to her weight and compared to her brothers at that age!

Elsi is 4 months old

Elsi turned four months on Thursday. Can't believe it. She's so sweet and precious! Didnt' sleep through the night last night, however!

Baby Faces

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Luke's foot update

Luke, Elsi, and I visited the pediatric orthopedist yesterday. Good news! Luke has a buckle fracture of his first metatarsal, which is supposedly a very "stable" break. He doesn't have to wear a cast; he just has to wear a shoe (his own), and go back to the orthopedist in four weeks for a new x-ray to make sure it's healed up. It hurts if he walks barefoot, but he is allowed to go swimming, which is a major relief.

Grown up Ben

My little Benny is growing up. He's started calling me MOM (instead of
Mommy). Not sure I was ready for that!

Luke's foot

Luke got his cast cut off today, but then put right back on! He still
couldn't walk on his foot and it appeared to still be hurting. He said it
wasn't, but he pulled his foot away every time the doc pushed on that spot
where they thought it might be broken. Luke was excited about going
swimming, but still can't =(. We have to go see an orthopedist now, and most
likely get a real cast -- maybe he'll be able to get that one wet.

Luke's foot

Little Luke may have fractured something in his foot a week ago. Our last night @ the beach with Greg's fam, he jumped off the bunk bed like his cool bigger cousins. Monday morning, when it was still hurting, I took Luke to the pediatrician and he sent us to get an xray of Luke’s foot but couldn’t see anything, but since Luke still could’t walk on it, he put a partial cast on it for a week. At the end of the 7 days, they’ll remove it and see if he can walk and bear weight on it. If not, they’ll send him on to an Orthopedist. The foot has a reddened bump and bruise on the top, on that bone above his insole. He was not to walk on it or swim this week which was hard with his cousins TC and Josiah here – at the same time, they were a big help in entertaining him. While at the hospital for the x-ray, Ben fell off a chair and got a good knot on the back of his head J. It was a challenge managing 4 boys and an infant at the doctor’s office and the hospital all morning, since Luke had to ride in stroller which meant Elsi was being "carried" (worn, actually) so I couldn't deal with Ben bonking his head very easily, but we survived!

Camp T-siah Day 2

We went to see Igor today, me and five kids. The movie wasn't that great, but at least we had something to do for a while. I forgot to take pictures though. TC and Josiah were very helpful with the younger guys, especially Luke, since he has to be carried or pushed in a stroller everywhere he goes. TC took Luke and Ben to get drinks out of the water fountain and Josiah pushed him in and out of the theater. TC has also taken up the role of Elsi's guardian. He puts her paci back in her mouth or picks her up anytime she cries. So sweet! I think the big boys were probably bored this afternoon, but they say they're not homesick, so I guess they're okay.

Camp T-Siah Day One

Today was a little chaotic. Probably tried to pack too much into one day. TC and Josiah, our nephews from Atlanta (Greg's sister's kids) are visiting. TC made up the nickname Camp T-Siah as a combination of both of their names, saying they are running summer camp this week for Luke and Ben. We had to take Luke to the dr. this morning to get his foot checked out, which then required a visit to hospital for x-ray, then back to dr.'s office for a lightweight cast. Dr. says it may or may not be broken -- hard to tell with little kids -- but it still hurts obviously. We'll go back in a week and they'll cut the cast off. If it doesn't hurt anymore, we'll assume it was sprained/strained(?) and move on, but if it still hurts, we'll have to take him to an orthopedist. TC and Jojo were so good and so helpful that I wanted to do something fun. So, we went to the aquarium. Ben however, melted down about halfway through, desperately needing a nap and knowing that Mommy was a little tied up because I was holding Elsi. Not sure if they had fun or not, but at least we're home now and they can play video games uninterrupted since the little boys are FINALLY napping!

Our trip home from Family Vacation

Last week we were with Greg's family at Seagrove Beach near Panama City Beach in FL. Our trip back was awful because we sat in mostly stopped traffic for a couple hours about halfway through our trip. We should've been home about 5:30 but it was after 8:30 by the time we finally got there. TC and Jojo, our 9 and 8-yr-old nephews are with us for the week. We stopped at a gas station near the end of the trip and let all the boys out in a grassy area to run around while I fed Elsi. They started dancing around and singing silly songs to try to get cars to come into the gas station we were at. I managed to snap a pic of Jojo dancing while my boys tried to throw stuff down the covered drain.

Joker

Elsi had oral thrush and since we couldn't get her doc to call in a
prescription after hours we had to resort to the gentian violet.

We're on vacation with Greg's family, having a great time. They boys are pretty much occupied playing with their cousins. We're all swimming in the pool a lot and going to the beach. I've been talking lots of naps too. I am very content just to stay around here and not go out and do anything. Not really sure why, but it probably has something to do with how much more work it takes to get three kids out the door to go somewhere than just me and Greg -- like I can even remember that! ;-)

Sleeping until 8

Elsi slept until 8 this morning, with minimal intermittent moaning starting at about 7. I fed her at midnight, then we both went to bed by 1. 7 hours in one stretch! How 'bout that?!?!?

Fun weekend

We had a fun and tiring weekend. We went to Atlanta to hang out with Greg's fam. His brother Roger got a speedy boat and the boys spent the day riding on it. I swam to it and got on and off, but Elsi couldn't ride because we didn't have a life jacket for her, so I just enjoyed swimming and relaxing. Lyd and Gabe came down too for the afternoon, which was awesome! Greg's probably more exhausted than when we left, but he had a good time. Luke rode on the tube behind the boat. We also spent more time than usual hanging out with Greg's siblings and their families, which was really fun. Sadly, I didn't take a SINGLE picture!

Happy Mommy

Elsi smiled at me today. It was the first time that I was SURE she was smiling AT me. Naturally, I loved it =). I'd post a picture, but you know it will take an eon to get a picture of her smiling!

sports weekend

We had a lot of fun going to semi-pro games this weekend. Baseball last night and soccer tonight. Luke liked the baseball better. Why? There were fireworks at the end.

printing a retraction

Greg is "only" 34, not 35, which is good news because it means I'm only turning 33 this year, not 34.

Elsi's Growth Chart

She's gaining on them!

Loving my family

I am just so thankful for my family tonight. Ben is so cute with his hair cut and I'm so proud of him that he's swimming all over the pool in his tube and loving it. Elsi's growing -- today she was 8lb. 15 oz (10th %ile); 21.5" (25th %ile!) and head 37 cm (5th %ile); working on learning how to smile and coo. Luke is loving his friends, reading, writing letters, cutting with scissors, playing with the web cam embedded on the laptop and just generally loving life. Greg turned 35 today and has been such a wonderful husband and Dad -- I've really enjoyed his company since I got back from Lyd's wedding and I'm just so thankful!

Trying to clean

I tried to clean the boys' room today in a way they can maintain. Will they put away their toys if they have marked boxes with pictures saying what goes where? Any body wanna place any bets?

Blue Dukas Mentality

One of the things that is taking too much of my time lately is the effort of trying to save money. I HATE paying full price for things -- I feel like I'm getting duped or something. Do you think that comes from the "blue dukas" mentality?

There used to be this little souvenir market in Nairobi; I think it was near the Sarit Center. We used to love to go there to buy artsy/crafty-type souvenirs, like wood-carved animals, soaptstone coasters and candle holders, baskets, etc. The thing about the blue dukas that was different from a regular store is that you were supposed to barter for things -- if you didn't, you'd be getting duped for sure. In places like those blue dukas (and there are lots of places like that in East Africa for souvenirs), bargaining can be a majaor process, depending on how much time you're willing to spend on it.

I don't barter for things here, but I look for coupons and sales that can be used together. I don't even bother even looking at sales racks that aren't at least 50% off. There are even a few blogs and websites I look at where they tell you what's on sale and what coupons have been in the paper that can match up with those sales. Even with that information, I spend a lot of time putting all my coupons together with all the sales, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something good for my family, so I guess I'll be fitting it in now when I can. I just need to be a little more disciplined about getting to bed at a decent time!

Weighing in at 7 pounds

Elsi weighed 7 pounds today on her one month birthday. She's doing great!

Visiting Grandpa

My boys are out with my dad right now. He took them to the park and to Wal-mart. They love having him around, and so do I! I got a nap and a shower and Greg got his car registered. It was way over due. Dad got pulled over in Knoxville a couple days ago when he was driving it, but luckily, he just got a warning.

I got to dress my baby in a dress today!

I actually got to put a dress on one of my children today. It was very fun for me =).

Selling Point for our Neighbor's House

Greg's take home police car is apparently a selling point for our neighbor's house. Not working really well, however, since the house has been on the market since last summer!

Rolling over

My 2-1/2 week old child has just rolled herself over 4 times in a row. I think I've heard before that newborns can do that sometimes, but it's because of reflexes and stops after a few weeks, only to start again a few months later. Either that, or I just have a GENIUS little girl =).

Job Change

Well, apparently my boss told everyone at work on Friday, so I guess I can let the cat out of the bag now. I am changing jobs next year. I'm not particularly excited about the change because I'll be sad to leave the ladies I've been working with for three years, which includes some dear, dear friends. I trust the Lord that his plan is perfect and my job had started to get kind of stressful (who knows how much of that was the pregnancy as well).

The funny thing is that my job is changing due to the economy, but not in the way you would expect! I am being moved to a part-time teaching position, because the state is getting stimulus money and want us to expand some of our special ed. services, including assistive technology, which was my job. We're not quite ready for me to work full time, so I agreed to go back to teaching Orthopedically Impaired students. It won't be quite as flexible -- I'll actually have to work the same times every week, without being able to flex my time as long as I put in my total hours, like I was able to do before. But, as I said, the Lord knows our needs.

Cousin Fun

We've had a fun week with Tasha and Jude. Sad they have to leave. Poor Tasha isn't feeling great herself, but she was still such a big help. The main reason I need help now is that I just don't have much time between baby feedings and I'm exhausted from getting about two hours of sleep at a time.

Elsi

She's awake more now and it's precious.

Big bro

Our Newest Addition

Greg's e-mail announcing our baby girl: Elizabeth Sharon arrived Monday at 7:17pm after the doc threatened Esther with a C section.  The labor stalled at 4cm and the dr came in and said if things didn't progress in the next couple of hours, he would have to do surgery.  Esther took this to heart and so after I left to find some supper she decided to dilate fully and try to call me back early from supper.  So...10 minutes later the dr was back, about 1 hour and 20 minutes after he left the 1st time. Two more contractions and Elsie entered this world crying her head off and peeing all over the doctor, her way of punishing him for threatening her mother.  She weighed 5lbs10.7ozs and 18 in long, had a few wisps of what appears to be red hair, and a good set of lungs.  She isn't feeding well yet so we are working on that and having to supplement with some formula till she gets the hang of it.  Grandpa Wilhelm came to visit today to help daddy try and distract the big brothers.  Lydia and Kaki were here and a great help but have to leave today.  Great Auntie Ann comes in from Canada to help today.  That is where we are today.

Having a baby Monday!

When I went to the doctor today, he said my fluid was down to a 6 and
there were more calcifications on the placenta. Since I will be 36
weeks on Saturday, he said we should just go ahead and have the baby.
So I'm going to the hospital on Monday morning, 5 AM, to be induced!
Doc believes the baby will be ready to go home and not have to go the
NICU; said he thinks she'll weigh about 6 lbs. I'm excited, and a
little nervous. Lydia and Kaki are here now, both planning to leave
Tuesday, so hopefully for their sakes we'll have a baby before they
have to leave. Praise the Lord we made it so far and pray that we'll both do great.

Please pray for Luke and Ben too. They've been very clingy today and I'm not sure why, but there have been a lot of people helping us out by doing many of the things I normally do for them. Besides struggling themselves -- they're wearing out the rest of us with their whining and fighting. I'm sure Greg is tired too, but he's been wonderful to me and the boys.

God is Good!

Things were actually looking up today at my bi-weekly doctor's visit. (Is bi-weekly twice a week or once every two weeks?) AFI (amniotic fluid) was almost at a 9. Means we have at least another week, unless it just goes really downhill between now and Monday. I've been on Spring Break this week, so I haven't done much of anything. Next week, I'm not supposed to go back to work, however, which is good and bad. Got stuff to do and don't need to eat up my sick days, but God is in charge and I feel encouraged. It's hard at times to be in such limbo, and I think Greg is especially feeling it right now. He would LOVE for this all to be fast-forwarded and be OVER.

Today's Preggo News

I guess it's not really BAD news, but kinda feels like it to me. I'm 34 weeks and a couple days. Doc said baby still looks good, but fluid has dropped more. I'm supposed to be getting as much rest as possible and doing fetal kick counts between now and my appointment on Thursday. He said we'll probably be having a baby this weekend or next week. I'm voting for next week or later!

THE Latest

33 weeks, 2 days today. Had another dr. visit today. Amniotic fluid level is basically the same as last Thursday. Went from 6 on Thur. to 7 today. Dr. said to continue what I've been doing (drinking lots of water, restricting activities as much as possible making it my goal to be off my feet for an hour to an hour and a half 3 times a day) and he thinks I'll get another couple weeks out of this pregnancy, which would be great. Dr. said at this point his concern is not to prolong the pregnancy, so I may have avoided the long hospital stay this go around. We'd like to avoid the baby having to be intubated, like Ben was, because Ben's had health issues from that scar tissue. Please pray for that.

I haven't cried yet in his office, but almost did today. I cry when people start to get too nice to me =). He almost "crossed the line" today!

Thanks so much for all your prayers and help. We so much appreciate the food and company (aka, helping with the kids so I can be on the couch =).

Not such a good Update

Well, not such good news today. Baby looks good, but fluid was down today to a 6 (from a 12 on Monday). Nothing else is changing though. I'm just supposed to keep getting lots of fluids and lots of rest.

Good pregnancy news!

Today, my amniotic fluid was back up to a 12 (from a 9 on Friday)! I am trying to thank the Lord for pollen and allergies. My throat was hurting all day yesterday and I know I drank at least four 20 oz. bottles of water. So, now I'm trying to keep up what I did this weekend. Lots of rest and lots of water! Thanks for your prayers.

Newest pregnancy news

The news Friday at the OB doctor was not too good. My amniotic fluid was down a little more, from a 10 to a 9, and the doctor said baby growth may be slowing a little. He sent me to the hospital to get steroid shots yesterday and today for baby lung development, just in case. I will now be visiting the doctor twice a week, with my next visit being on Monday. When I asked him at what fluid level he prescribes bed rest, he said to start to restrict my activities as much as I can, because fluid below a 5 will land me in the hospital again -- not exactly sure what that means -- almost sounds like he was kind of saying it was up to me, but these were the consequences. The week before, he told me to lay down for an hour three times a day. Lyd (my sis who’s a labor and delivery nurse) and my Mom-in-law (nurse as well) agree that I need to keep my stress level as low as possible and get lots of rest, of which kind laying down is better than sitting. If the placenta is the problem, the less work it has to do to keep working properly the better.
Anyway, I'll TRY to keep you posted. I'm planning to try to find some help in the evenings while Greg's at work (Monday through Friday, 3:30pm to 12:30am this week), especially to get through dinner and bed time. Anybody wanna come visit =)?
It's been a little worse this week though, because Ben has been sick (not awful, but a croupy sounding cold/cough) and today it seems that Greg and Luke may be coming down with it. Thankfully, I've been able to avoid it so far.

Pregnancy News

Last Friday at my appointment (31 weeks) everything was still good, but the tone of the appointment felt a little more serious. At this point it’s still just precautionary, but my doc wants me to get off my feet for an hour 3 times a day, avoid heavy housework/physical activity, and make sure I’m getting extra protein. Baby growth was still good, amniotic fluid was still in normal range but down 2 cm from week before. Some fluctuations are normal, so we just don’t want a continuing trend! Pray we cn keep it up!