Smiles and Loves

Jared is now one month old and smiling! He's pretty smiley if you catch him well rested right after he has eaten. Wait too long and he'll be grumpy because he's bored. I forget how much work it is to entertain a baby.
This kid is very loved. His siblings constantly want to hold him. It's can be kind of annoying since most of the time they want to hold him when he's cranky and usually he sits and cries on their laps. But they keep asking, so I guess they don't hold it against him.
J's hair is pretty awesome. It prefers to stick straight up despite my efforts to comb it down. This picture is immediately after his bath and it's particularly bad. He looks like a little mad scientist. Throwing a temper tantrum. Angry Baby! I love this kid.

Off to School (x2!)

I officially have two kids in school! Kiwi started kindergarten and G started 2nd grade. I feel very lucky that we are able to have them at the same school. G-man tested into GATE (the gifted program in our area) for first grade and goes to a school in a different neighborhood. He is in a self-contained GATE classroom with other gifted kids. We were really happy with his experiences last year and are continuing at the school. Almost all the kids that were in his class last year have returned. He also has a male teacher this year. I am so excited for that. It is so rare to get a male teacher in the younger elementary grades.

Due to the extra support from the GATE program and it's title one designation, the elementary school also was able to keep full day kindergarten. When G-man started kindergarten I was frustrated that I didn't get a half day option. Now that I have two kids in school plus the two little ones at home, I'm so glad Kiwi has full day kinder. It would have been such a pain to pick up kids from school twice a day.

Kiwi had a great week. She didn't know any of the kids at the school. I think she's slowly making friends. Although apparently her favorite past time at recess is chasing boys. The second day Chad took her to school, intending to walk her to the area she lines up. When they got there she hopped out of the truck, told Chad she remembered where to go, and ran off to the playground equipment. She is such a brave, independent little thing. I think it took half the year for G to let Chad drop him off outside his school when he was in kindergarten. By Wednesday I had G-man picking Kiwi up from her kindergarten class so I didn't have to unload the boys from the car.

It's amazing how fast these kids are growing up. I think I may have to walk to pick up Kiwi a few times a week just so I don't feel like she is growing up so fast. But I'm so glad she was able to go without being afraid. I'm so proud of my little girl!

My Four Babies

G-man

Kiwi

Mr. S

J-Dub

I wanted to see all their baby pictures side by side. They all look so different.

Thoughts on a Two Week Old Baby

My three boys!

Seeing as I'm two weeks postpartum these thoughts may be scattered and a bit crazy. But that's how I be these days.

-We decided to give our little guy the middle name of William. We've been having fun with nicknames. J-Dub is my favorite. Chad came up with J-Will. I'm think we should call him J-Willie and hope for a future in rap music.

-The delay in giving him a middle name caused a mix-up with the social security and vital records office. I guess they don't deal well with people who haven't had names picked out for all their children since middle school.

-I really love the place where Jared was born. It's a free standing birth center right next to the hospital. There are no OB's, only midwives and nurses. The beds are regular queen size beds, there are no epidurals, and there are no IV's. Most importantly, you can take your baby home when it is four hours old. Unless you have group B strep. Then you get to make the nurse feel like a jailer when she makes you wait until the baby reaches the 12 hour mark. The best part is now I can say two of my kids were born in a bathtub.

- The nurses are awesome. One nurse got out our camera while I was giving birth and started snapping photos. Most of those will be deleted. Within 30 minutes of J-Dub's birth, Chad and I were left alone to bond with the baby along with a bowl of strawberries and angel food cake. When I came back two days after he was born (for rhogam) they gave me a plate of snacks to eat while I nursed him. I've decided that food is the way to my heart.

- One nurse made cards for each of my kids with J-Dub's footprints on it. She has three kids of her own, so it was nice to have someone who understood siblings. I've also gotten calls every couple of days from the nurses to check up on me. It makes you feel good.- One of my regrets from this birth is that he was born on a weekday during clinic hours at the birth center. One half of the building is for prenatal visits and the other half is where the real fun happens. Labor was harder this time than the last two. J had the cord around his neck which made things go slower than I am used to. Let's just say I may have scared a few women away from the natural delivery option.

- After two weeks I am even more sleep deprived and Jared has gas. The last few days have not been fun. Luckily my parents took the older three camping so at least I can just sit and hold a baby. Now if I could just stay away from the bad food that's making him uncomfy!
-J-dub has a fair amount of hair, and it makes a pretty good mo-hawk. Kiwi had one as a baby too, but hers was caused by two cowlicks on the back of her head. Luckily I can grow her hair out long to hide them. It was fun trying to deal with it when she was a baby.-Seth is starting to warm up to the baby more and has a lot of fun "holding" him. I love that holding basically involves the baby lying on his lap.All in all, I think I'm slowly getting used to this. The kids start back to school in a week and then I'm sure everything will change again. But most of the day will be just me and my tow little boys. It'll be a lot quieter around here, that's for sure.

Baby Jared

We had a baby today! Jared (middle name soon to be determined) was born at 9:19am after six hours of labor. He was 8 lbs, 10 oz. and 20.5 inches long. He has lots of hair and eats ALL the time. It looks like we're in for a long night.

Being Pregnant

I've been making a mental list (I like lists!) of things that are hard to do when 38.5 weeks pregnant and I thought it would be fun to actually write them down. Here are a few things that I'm looking forward to doing without a giant basketball getting in my way.

1. Laundry, cooking and dishes: Both counter-tops and washing machines are at the worst height for me. It's impossible to get close enough to what I'm doing without hurting myself because of the 1 foot protrusion extending from my midsection.

2. Tying shoes: I have to wear tennis shoes or I am in pain by the end of the day. I really need to find some sandals that support my arches, but I hate shoe shopping. And sandals that support arches are always grandma shoes. Not that my tennis shoes and shorts look awesome. It's just what I have.

3. Putting on pants: If I could go without pants every day, I would. It would be much cooler and I wouldn't have to deal with the sciatic nerve pain that comes every time I try and stand on one foot.

4. Picking things up off the floor: I am a huge klutz when pregnant, and the amount of butter on my fingers has increased lately. It seems I drop everything I get my hands on. Keys, food while trying to eat, my hairbrush, my toothbrush, pens, clothes while trying to dress myself. Thankfully while in public places I have a very helpful 7 year old who will pick up stuff from the floor and help me avoid the embarrassing pregnancy squat.

5. Getting up: You really begin to perfect the art of rising from a surface without the benefit of abdominal muscles. I think I've perfected the art of getting out of bed in the morning. First the legs over the side followed by pushing oneself to a sitting position. Luckily our bed is tall so I don't have to use my nightstand to get to a standing position.

6. Chasing a two year old: Mr. S is going through a "lets run away from mommy in the middle of a parking lot/grocery store/library" stage. There's nothing quite like having to run in public after a laughing/screaming two year old.

I would put sleeping on here, but I've had enough children to know that I will not be doing much of it for the next few months. It may be easier to sleep, but the 2 hour eating schedule sure does lessen the enjoyment. I may not wake up with a dead leg/arm anymore, but that may just be because I don't sleep long enough to actually allow circulation to be cut off from any parts of my body.

So there are my thoughts on being pregnant. A reminder to myself of what it's like during that last month if I ever entertain the thoughts of having another one.

On a more positive note: This baby is posterior so I get to feel and see his feet jabbing my belly all day long. It's a lot of fun. I can't wait to touch those little toes for real!

Canoe Trip

Ah, the lazy, hazy days of summer. Potentially the dog days of summer, but it is so hard to tell which are the hottest.

We decided that we needed to do something fun for dinner, so Luann (of course, really) when with Cucumber Canoes. Fun to make, fun to eat, and chock full of vegetables.



Ingredients: Cucumber, hollowed out (seeds, yech!); Tuna Salad (ingredients vary, depending on what is in the fridge); Carrot, stick form, (2) sticks; Cherry or Pear Tomatoes, (2); Pinch of Imagination.