Preschoolers Teaching Me To Serve
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Jul. 5, 2008
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Miss Julianna Kate Has Arrived- And With A Bang!
Posted By
crazybusy
Okay, so the bang came along later that evening, but...
So July 3rd I had a super busy day. I had my midwife appointment at 10:15am that morning (after not getting to sleep till at least 3am the night before). She stripped my membranes a bit again. I came home right away so I could try & finish up my computer stuff. I think that's when I posted on my blog too.
I still couldn't get things to work and then had to leave at 1:30pm for my spa foot treatment. Ah, that was lovely. And she played with labor inducing pressure points.
After that, I ran a few errands and ended up finding an awesome deal on a new computer. Got it. Took it home so Kenton could start setting it up for me. Ran back to town. Gabe, Gracie & Josiah went with me. We ran by the post office, filled the van up with gas, ran by Safeway & got Kenton a coffee. All the while having some pretty strong contractions every 20 minutes or so. Kenton called my mom & put her "on call."
I got home probably around 7pm, put the groceries away & started making dinner. Called my mom & just asked her to come over. It takes her 45 minutes to get here & I thought it'd be easier for her just to be here already if we had to go to the hospital.
We ate dinner, my mom got here, we got the children in bed. I was sitting at the new computer trying to get things loaded in between contractions.
I finally called my midwife around 11pm & she told me to go in to get checked. We took the hospital bag & camera with us in case they decided to keep us.
My contractions were irregular but pretty strong. I was a little disappointed when we got there, they checked me and said was only dilated a 3-4 (I was 2-3 at my appointment earlier that day- before the contractions began). I thought they'd send me home, but they were pretty sure I'd have her soon, so they kept me.
The midwife that delivered Josiah came in. She just knows what to do. She was shushing people when she could see I was obviously having a contraction. A guy from lab came in to draw my blood and while he was doing so, I was having a HARD contraction, had my eyes closed & was concentrating on breathing through it and he's sitting there telling me that I can talk while he's drawing my blood. ?? That's when Mary was shushing everyone & had to explain to him that I was having a contraction! (Men!)
She dimmed the lights, brought in some CD's for us to choose from & play in the CD player. Then she brought in a steaming cup of water with lavender oil in it. She rolled a birthing ball over and put a pad on it for me to sit on. My gosh, did that thing help! I labored on that for a long time!
So I started thinking about getting into the tub at this point but wanted to know how much progress I'd made so far. I didn't want to get in there and have it possibly stall labor if I still had a ways to go.
Before she checked me, she had me guess how dilated I thought I'd be. I told her I was hoping I'd be about 7 but was probably only 5 or so. She checked me & I was still only 3-4. How disappointing.
They were fine letting me stay if I'd wanted to because they were certain I'd have her soon, but I was so tired, I thought I'd just go home to my bed and try to sleep between contractions. We were all a little bummed.
So we got home around 3am on July 4th and went to bed. I was easily able to sleep between contractions but they were getting REALLY hard and I could not get comfortable. I woke Kenton up & told him that we had to go back. I needed pain relief and I was either going to get in the jetted tub or just get an intrathecal (like an epidural but just a one time shot). I was tired and discouraged and didn't care about a natural childbirth anymore.
I didn't realize at the time that we'd only been home for just over an hour before we headed back, probably because I was able to sleep a little. It just seemed longer to me.
So we get back to the hospital. The same nurse checks me in. She checks my cervix and I'm up to a 6 by that point. I sat on the birthing ball a while longer and then decided to get into the tub.
The tub. Ha! Obviously a MAN must've picked out that tub. It was probably only a few inches wider and deeper than a standard tub. Sure, it was jetted, but if it doesn't cover your belly all the way, who cares!? The last time I gave birth there (with Josiah), they didn't have tubs. In fact, they were working on making all of the post-partum rooms private at the time and things were LOUD due to the construction. Anyway, I had to get an approval from the department manager to bring in a kiddie pool to labor in with him. That thing was awesome- way better than this jetted tub. I was able to completely submerse my belly and lean on the side of the pool with my legs kind of sprawled out to the sides. I labored like that with Josiah until it was time to push. It worked so well. So I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't get into that same, comfy position as I did with Josiah because there just wasn't room and the water level wasn't high enough. The water helped, but not as much as I'd hoped.
I was very tired and the contractions were incredibly painful and I was ready to just give up. The nurse checked me and I was dilated to 8 yet I still asked if it were too late for an intrathecal. She said it wasn't but that they'd have to put in an IV and give me a bolus of fluid and have me lie down in bed so they could hook me up to the monitors to keep an eye on the baby. Even in as much pain as I was in, *that* option sounded worse than the contractions. I figured by the time they accomplished all of that, I'd be ready to push!
So I continued to labor in the tub. Heard a lady across the hall screaming for several minutes as she was pushing. Got a little freaked as it reminded me what was next.
A few more contractions and I was starting to feel the urge to push. They checked me again & I had just a bit of cervix still there. They said they could just push it out of the way & I could start pushing. But I didn't want to get out of the tub. Heck, I didn't even want to start pushing, to be honest!
I did finally get out. They listened to baby's heartbeat a while while I sat on the birthing ball again. The midwife told me I could get into any position I wanted for pushing. I felt like just staying on the birthing ball but as she so kindly told me, it'd be a little difficult to deliver a baby while sitting there. ;)
I finally got into the bed... in a sitting position. They lowered the foot of the bed (it drops straight down) and had me sit on the edge of it. I pushed like that for a while. Then they got out the squatting bar & I used that a bit. And then they put the head of the bed up and I leaned back on that & put my feet up on the squatting bar and started pushing like that.
It felt like forever that I was making any progress.And I will admit. I was good and quiet through all of my contractions, but when it came time to push, some sort of animal instinct took over. Hee-hee! Kenton did mention later that I wasn't as loud as the lady across the hall, but still. The grunting and groaning through the pushing and contractions did seem to help for some reason. I'm usually a quiet laborer/deliverer.
The midwife had Kenton right there as the baby was crowning and talked him through delivering her. I didn't even know he was there. The last 2 pushes were so intense and so incredibly painful, all of my focus was on that and my eyes were closed. I thought she was going to be huge. I thought I had torn from north to south. And then she was here.
Ah, the relief of the birth over with and the pleasure of meeting my new baby daughter... it was so wonderful. How quickly you forget what you were doing just seconds before.
The first thing I noticed about her was her hair... or lack thereof. ;) She does have a bunch but it's all on the sides and in the back. And then I noticed the dimple on her right cheek and a few times thought I saw one on her left. She hardly had any vernix at all. You know, that thick white stuff on babies? I've never had one so "term" so it was strange to see so little vernix.
I think she's beautiful. She may just be Gabe's "match". We shall see as she gets older.
So Julianna Kate was born on July 4th, 2008 @ 7:55am and weighed ONLY 7 pounds 5 ounces! (she should've been born at 7:44am and weighed 7-4, don't you think?) I didn't need stitches. We thought about changing her middle name to Liberty or something patriotic like that but nothing flowed as well as Kate. Plus, Gracie wouldn't have been happy. She loves the name Kate.
So far everyone loves her. I probably need to make a "whose turn it is to hold the baby" chart of some sort soon. Josiah's not so sure about her. He's S-L-O-W-L-Y warming up to her. I don't know what's going through his little 3 year old head, but when he came to see me in the hospital, he asked me, "Mom, are you sick?" Poor baby. Ha! As I was typing that, Josiah came down the stairs and sweetly asked, "Where's the baby sister?" and actually asked if he could hold her! He kissed her on the head too. Okay, he's warming up I'd say.
I had 4 days that if I had to choose, I'd love to have her born on. They were June 26th (our anniversary), June 28th (my grandpa's birthday), July 4th and July 7th (a 7-7 birthday). So I am just thrilled she was born on the 4th! What a fun day for a birthday party!
The fun thing is, here they shoot fireworks over the pier at night. They put on a really good show. It's just REALLY REALLY hard to find parking and even harder finding a good (close) spot to watch. However, since I was still in the hospital, everyone came there to watch! The hospital is on the water & we were on the 3rd floor. They have a "sun room" (ha!) that overlooks the water. We, and a few other patients & a couple of midwives & their families, got to watch the show from there. We opened the windows so we could hear the bangs as the fireworks exploded in the air. It was so cool! What a birth day!
I am (obviously) home now. I'm very very tired but am feeling pretty good... except for the afterbirth pains. Youch.
And we're in the middle of computer issues still. I can't do anything with pictures until it's all straightened out, but promise to post some as soon as I can!
My head's about to roll off my shoulders so I'd better stop here. I'm backspacing more than I'm typing! |
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Jul. 5, 2008
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Who's Da' Man!?
Posted By
ArrowsInOurQuiver
Will strutting after a spike on one of his best buds in volleyball....and the shirt was a gift....I know this looks like a really cocky picture, but its a fun one for our family and just wanted to share.
Will and I will be out of town this week for youth camp. His parents will be staying here with the kiddos, but I probably won't get much chance to update the blog, unless it's in the wee hours of the morning. I will try to check back in, but can't promise. Otherwise, I will see you when I get back...I will miss you all!
Charity |
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Jul. 5, 2008
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4th of July
Posted By
Megan
Yesterday we spent the day with Jeff's family enjoying our annual 4th of July backyard games. As always, it was alot of fun. O and C had a blast playing while T was passed around and held with loving arms by many. Every year Uncle Mike comes up with the best games that he builds and puts together himself. We weren't able to stay for all of them this year, but enjoyed the ones we did get to play.
And yes, we keep score and win awards. It's all very competitive!!!
(in a good sportsmanship sort of way!) 
Let the games begin......
 The first game was golf. Each round was increasingly harder and included obstacles.
 I think we may need to get a set of golf clubs for the boys. O especially liked playing and was pretty good at it.
 This is O's cousin, M. They are inspecting all of the golf holes.
 T with Aunt Debbie. These two spent lots of time together.
 Next was a game of Forks. This is Jeff with cousin Terri from Texas. (Texas T) It's been 7 years since we've seen her. It was great to spend time with her.
 How the game is played: There are 2 teams of 2 standing across from each other. Each team takes turns rolling their balls into the "fork" across from them. Then they add up their points and the first team to 11 wins. I would love to create this game for our backyard....for kids you could really vary the scoring to help them learn math.
 Next was the Balloon Popping. This was alot of fun. We all took turns throwing darts at the balloons. The team to pop the last balloon wins. This is Aunt Connie.
 O loved this game. Can you see his dart in mid air? He popped quite a few balloons.
 Next we tried to play Cans, but the wind was not cooperating and kept knocking the stacked (empty) cans over. But O did throw a few balls and knocked them over too.
 Uncle Mike chasing C.
 Jeff with his Grandpa Berle and Grandma Wanda. I just love this picture!
 Great Grandma Wanda holding T.
 Cupcakes!!!!
 From left to right....Corey (Jen's boyfriend), Jen (Jeff's cousin) and Terri (Jeff's cousin).
Corey and Terri are having a healthy debate about something. 
 Jen and Terri
It was a fun day...very relaxing and great to spend time with family. |
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Jul. 4, 2008
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Happy Fourth of July!
Posted By
momof2blessings
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Jul. 4, 2008
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Family Charades!
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This is a video montage of our family night a few weeks ago. We had a blast playing charades.
It was a first for all the kids and it took some of them a while to catch on. Austin had a hard time with SUN but he didn't get discouraged. It was amazing to see him keep trying and persevere.
Anyway, I know this might be along the lines of boring home videos but the last clip is hilarious! If you know our family IRL, in real life, you will want to watch.
Enjoy! |
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Jul. 4, 2008
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I updated the Preschooler Music Montage
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I know this may be a really boring musical montage unless you are related to these preschoolers. So this montage is for them, the die hard, watch boring kid home videos wishing you could be here with them friends and family!
Don't forget to mute the playlist first. |
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Jul. 4, 2008
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Homemade Yogurt . . . it really isn't that hard.
My first batch of yogurt in the Yogourmet came out beautifully! It only took 5 hours to incubate, during which I just stood by and watched. It would usually take 6-7 hours the other way. And really you don't babysit the yogurt, the machine works on it all afternoon. I just take it out and put it in the fridge after 5 hours. Simple, really.
I have actually been making yogurt for over a year now and the incubating part gave me the most trouble. I found it difficult to maintain a constant 105-120* temp for so many hours. I would put it in my oven and keep taking the temp and then turning the heat on for just a few minutes. I lost several batches to too much heat. Otherwise known as baked yogurt, very smelly!
So now I just scald the milk mixture, I add 1/3 cup dry milk and several tablespoons of sugar, to 180* and then set it aside to cool down to 115* or so. Then I add the yogurt starter, about 1/3 cup of plain yogurt, and stir it all together.
The machine does the difficult part for me. I love the simplicity of this machine. I wish I had made the change sooner.
Yesterday, we dove into the first batch and made a banana, strawberry smoothie. I added about 2 cups of yogurt, the frozen fruit and a dab of honey. It was delicious! I added quite a bit of yogurt so it would have a drink consistency not a frozen spoonable consistency. The kids loved it!
They loved it so much that when Austin spilled his, Sam dove down tongue first to lick it up before Austin got the rag!
You know something is good if the kids think it is tongue licking good!
I may need to purchase one these extra canisters though!
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July 4, 2008
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I wonder Why ....
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Jul. 4, 2008
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Happy 4th of July!
Above is a picture of the Fruited Cheesecake Flag we made for today.
The kids helped with the crust and the blue part of the flag.
It would look so much prettier if it was on something other than a cookie sheet,
but I don't have any 13" x 18" serving platters. It still tastes good
Have a happy day!
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Jul. 3, 2008
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Amazon.com deals
Let me just start out by saying that I love to grocery shop sitting in my swivel rocking chair, with my lap top in my lap and the kids sound asleep. It really doesn't get any better than that. :)
Ok, so Amazon.com has good deals on groceries . Some days they are average or even more than Wal-Mart, but I love it when I can combine deals and save big.
I purchased coconut oil using the subscribe and save feature, saving 15%, and then had free shipping and no tax. This brand is a much better deal than what I can buy locally.
Then I bought cereal and some Sunkist fruit snacks for the kids. I hope the snacks will last for 2 months but in reality they will last for 2 weeks when the neighbors hear that crunchy, granola, tree hugging Christine has bought gummy snacks! I got these deals using a limited time offer of $20 off $49 purchase. Then it was free shipping and no tax. Notice how my total is really close to $49, that is the best way to get the most out the coupons.
My last purchase was for 2 cases of Sweet and Salty snack bars for John. He loves them and they ended up being $1.59 a box, he said he usually pays $3 a box at Wal mart. I got these through the GROCJUNE coupon for June clearance deals. It was $10 off a $25 purchase and once again free shipping and no tax.
I love these deals but I always try and make sure that I am buying items I need and that it is a good deal. Sometimes I don't mind paying a little more if since it saves me a trip to the store with 5 kids.
Hope this helps someone else. |
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