David LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his baby sister...he has held her more than everyone else combined (other than myself, but I get to feed her, so that kinda gives me first dibs automatically).  There's nothing sweeter than a sweaty 8-year-old boy running in after playing football with his daddy and coming straight over to the couch and asking to hold his baby sister. 

Julia is Becca's 2nd momma.  She is learning how to change her diaper and is doing a great job!  She is now telling everyone that when she grows up she doesn't want a job...she wants to be a momma!!!

Joshy has been a bit "lost" lately...I guess it's probably a middle child thing...though now he's sharing the middle with Susie, so maybe it'll get better.  I think he sometimes feels lost in his big brother's shadow...David is much more vocal about things and tends to get the lion-share of attention because of that (not always good attention, but attention/time, nonetheless).  He is such a sweet and creative little boy.  He loves to build things, do experiments, color pictures for everyone, and write us all precious notes.  He didn't want to hold Becca for a couple of days, but now he's warmed up to her.  Jesus, give us wisdom to raise these precious children!

Susie is loving her role as big sister once again...what a sweet little momma...she is having a bit of difficulty with her pronouns, though.  "Becca is so sweet...is he sleeping, momma?"..."He's a girl, momma?"  "Is he milking your belly, momma?"  "Oh, Becca,  baby...don't cry...he's closing her eyes, momma"...

...and finally, Sammy...who loves to bestow his wet kisses all over his baby sister...he'll hop up on the couch and say "HOLD"...after I put Becca in his lap, he holds her for 2.2 seconds before declaring, "Done".  He is greatly disturbed in the morning if I leave Becca in her cradle in my room and come downstairs without her...he points at her bouncy seat and says, "Becca, IN"  He is also very concerned if Becca doesn't have a passy in her mouth...he is very diligent to fix the situation...whether she needs it or not!

Guess what we did 4 days after Becca was born?  We went to the mountains.  Lest you think I was crazy to do this 4 days after having a baby...let me be clear...we stayed in a heated cabin, I was driven everywhere I needed to go and I didn't cook a thing!  That's a vacation!!  The place we stayed is called Cherokee Cove.  If you live anywhere near eastern Tennessee, this is a must-see place.  The weekend was their monthly Family Campout weekend and they do it for FREE as a ministry to families.  They took such good care of us...and the food was incredible!!  What a blessing!!  The kids had a blast hiking the trails with Daddy and Brittany and saw where a bear had recently been sleeping!!  I just hung out enjoying the view and snuggling a precious little baby.  It doesn't get much better than that!

Here's Brittany holding her newest cousin...and for the record, we couldn't have gone to Cherokee Cove without Brittany's help...one daddy, 5 kids (including a 2 and 3 year-old), hiking on steep trails would not have worked very well...Brittany was such a blessing, as usual!). 

And here's Miss Becca Joy tonight...she is such a beautiful, sweet-tempered baby.  Since we got back from Cherokee Cove, she's only woken up 1x each night...sleeping for 4-5 hour stretches.  It's a beautiful thing, and I am so thankful!!! 

I always enjoy reading other people's birth stories, but I know not everyone feels the same way as me.  So, feel free to skip this post if you would like to.  If you are like me and you missed the birth stories of the rest of my kids, here are the links...David, Julia, Joshua, Susanna, and Samuel. 

We moved to our current (and hopefully final) home about 6 weeks before Sammy was born.  At that point, we'd heard about home birth, but never considered it because of the home we lived in...it was just not conducive, in my mind, for a home birth...I rather liked leaving there for a couple of days every now and then.  Don't get me wrong, it was a good house and we loved our 8 years there...we had just grown out of it and since it was built in the 1930's, it only had one teensy, tiny bathroom.

So, anyway...after the ordeal that was Samuel's birth and the hassle everyone endured to come visit me in the hospital for 2 or 3 days...40 minutes away and the loneliness that I experienced in the hospital...40 minutes away from my family for several days... we I began dreaming of having the next one at home.    David was pretty easy to persuade...or even if he wasn't persuaded, he was at least agreeable...or resigned, perhaps...

We decided to have a waterbirth b/c I enjoyed the 3 minutes of relief the bathtub gave me at the hospital with Sammy...

So, the following is Becca's very short birth story...

I was up most of the night on Sunday night...just not comfortable, but nothing to get excited about.  David stayed home for a couple of hours on Monday morning just in case...but by 10am, he went to work and we went about our day as usual.  My midwife came for my regular appt. on Monday afternoon.  She assured me that, yes, I would, indeed, eventually go into labor...nobody stays pregnant forever .  David got home from work at about 6:15pm.  Everyone sat down to dinner...pasta and meatballs...as I was walking to the table to join everyone, I had my first contraction...it was right around 6:30 or so.  I never did sit down to dinner.  David saw my face and said..."I'll fill the pool..."  About 5 minutes later, I had the second one, so I called my midwife to just let her know.  She said, "Call me back in an hour or if things change."  I called her back in about 6 minutes and 3 contractions later.  She said she was on her way. 

Just before everyone had sat down to dinner, David told some friends he'd come over in a few minutes to unload a big stove from a truck...he almost called and told them he couldn't, but since they only live 6 minutes away, I told him to go and get back quick...he was back by about 7:15.  About that time I headed upstairs to our room.  The kids went outside to await our midwife's arrival as well as for Nana and Papaw who were on their way as well...

I think my midwife got here around 7:30...and about that time I asked if I could get in the pool...as I was headed that way, my water broke.  As soon as I got in the pool I felt like I would already need to push soon...it didn't seem like everyone was quite ready for that, though...my midwife was still getting set up and the second midwife was still on her way.  The next 30-45 minutes are really a blur...a very painful blur...the second midwife arrived just as I had to start pushing.  Long story short, our precious baby was born underwater at 8:34 pm.  She didn't cry when she was born, but she was very alert and looking around...she was so peaceful.  We didn't even look to see if she was a girl or a boy for several minutes.

The idea behind having a baby in the water, or at least laboring in the water, is that the water takes some of the pressure away and makes the pain more bearable.  I'm not sure if it works quite as well on lightening fast labors..., but it is definitely preferable to a "land delivery". 

We praise God for His guidance and protection during and after Becca's birth.  I didn't have any of the complications I had with Samuel and for that we are so thankful!  In thinking through everything, I'm particularly thankful that God led us to have this baby here at home...given the speed of the labor, I most likely would not have made it into a room at the hospital if that had been our plan...and nobody wants to have a baby in a waiting room...or in a car...

Here are some of my favorite parts of having Becca at home:

• hearing the kids running around and hearing the praise music blaring downstairs during the delivery
• being able to bring all of the kids in just a few minutes after she was born to meet their baby sister
• taking a shower in my own shower just minutes after she was born
• sleeping in my own bed
• not being woken up every 30 minutes for someone to check my temperature and my blood pressure and to push on my belly
• not being woken up and told I needed to nurse my baby
• waking up to the sight of goats grazing in their pasture with the sun shining in my window...not to the sight of a parking lot outside the window
• Eating good home-cooking rather than perfectly portioned hospital food with no taste
• Hearing my 2yo wake up and start yelling..."Momma, Baby, Momma, Baby"
• Having my kids all come in and climb on the bed to see their new baby sister in the light of day
• Spending the day enjoying my entire family, not missing them.

I have no idea what God has in store for us, or even if He plans to bless us with more children, but I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to have this precious child at home...it is a memory I will cherish forever.  Thank you, Jesus!

Rebecca Joy Bainbridge

(Photo courtesy of our neighbor Nathan...thank you!!!)

I just wanted to post a picture tonight...hopefully, I'll get a bit more done tomorrow and post some more details for those that are interested.  We are all doing well.  Becca Joy is so precious...she seems to be used to the noise and "love" her siblings are giving her already...she must have heard it all from the womb and prepared herself then . 

More later...thank you for all of your prayers...we felt them!

Well, it appears we may end the madness at 11 days overdue...we'll keep you posted.

We appreciate your prayers

An interior decorator I am not...I don't really care if my furniture matches...I never get inspired to move the furniture around...I really don't care if there's any pictures hanging on the walls...it's just not my thing.  I love going to other people's houses that are gifted in this area, but that never translates into me wanting to do it in my own home...maybe it's just the stage of life I'm in...maybe when my brain wakes up and I have more kids that can dress themselves and use the restroom by themselves, I'll be able to get my creative juices flowing...I doubt it, but I can dream!

Even with my lack of fashion sense, I have always wanted Scripture on my walls...I just wasn't sure how to make it happen...until...last year, I read Misti's blog about how she wrote a Bible verse on her bathroom wall.  I then began hearing of a website that would send you a stick-on of whatever quote you wanted.  That sounded better...less work, and all...but when I researched what I wanted to put on my wall, it would have had to have been a custom job...read VERY EXPENSIVE...so, back to Misti's idea... .

Here are the 3 projects I've completed in the last 12 months...and no, they each didn't take 4 months to complete...try maybe 4 hours apiece...

Project #1...on a support beam in our Family Room...Phillipians 4:13

Project #2...on our bedroom wall...David's Grandmother Julia Carter painted the painting that hangs below the verse and wrote Psalm 23:2 in the corner...she did such a beautiful job!  She also just happens to have a big birthday coming up...I won't tell you how old she is, but she was born in 1918...Happy Birthday, Grandmother!!!  We love you so much!

:

Project #3...on our kitchen wall...and let me just tell you God tested my "fruits" when Sammy decided that he, too, could take on this project.  Finding a spare permanent marker that was left within reach, my sweet, helpful boy decided to write all over my "gentleness".  Thankfully, I caught him fairly quickly, regained my "self-control", and "peace" and "patience" and after using an entire Magic Eraser, managed to minimize the damage...not eliminate it, but at least minimize it...I only had to totally re-do 2 letters.  ...and let me give credit here where credit is due...Brittany actually colored in most of this verse...I just did the initial tracing...Oh, I love having a 14-year-old in the house!!! 

The next projects to tackle will be the kid's rooms...Misti did an incredible job in her kid's rooms...take a look!!!  Here's the girl's room...and I can't find her post for her boys room, but the verse had something to do with how beautiful it is when brothers dwell together in unity.  Indeed...that would be a beautiful thing, wouldn't it...I'll let you know when I start seeing that beauty around here .

All right...resume baby watch...another 2 hours and I'll officially be 10 days late.  The suspense is killing certain members of our family.  My eldest son was downright testy last week when we started school as usual on Monday morning...he was expecting a baby to give him some time off!  Another day, I asked him to go do his morning chore of feeding the dogs...he had forgotten and was curled up on the couch reading his 6th Hardy Boys book in 3 weeks...he did not handle the interruption with the grace I would have wanted him to exhibit and remarked that I should have my baby so I won't tell him to do his chores...Yes...that was a good moment...

Anyway...feel free to pray that this baby comes promptly...we're free anytime...we were trying to target specific days...the 16th, 18th, 20th, 25th...because those all "sounded good" to David, Sr. or coincide with other birthdays in the family, but now... WE DON'T CARE...a safe delivery any 'ol time is my prayer. ...please join me.

No, no baby yet...my little baby ticker at the top says she/he "should" be here now.  For the record, it's about 3 days off...I'm not due until Thursday (the 18th)...and I don't have babies early...I don't usually even have them on time...given the option, my big 'ol babies enjoy the free ride just as long as they are allowed to stay in there.  I'm thinkin' it'll be late next week...can you tell I'm tryin' not to get my hopes up???  I'm so confident resolved to a late delivery that my church scheduled a shower for me 2 days after my due date...But anyway...this blog was not about the baby...NEXT...

...nother story for my own archives...but it needs background.  When David, Jr (8) was about 19 months old and didn't have too many words in his vocabulary, we stopped by our church to pick something up.  The church we went to shares the building with a day care, but the church side was mostly dark during the week, except for the office.  David was standing in the hallway just outside the church office while I was in the office.  He began to wander towards the dark end of the hallway when out of nowhere, the bathroom door opened right in front of him and out walked a man-sized Easter bunny.  (He was there for an Easter party at the childcare center and just needed a break).  I can not adequately describe the terror that inflicted on little David.  I had to blow in his face multiple times to get him to take a breath from the first sob...understandably...he was just innocently walking down an EMPTY, dark hallway when out of nowhere, he was standing face-to-face with a giant bunny!  When he did begin talking profusely in the next weeks and months, every time we went to church he fearfully asked about the "big bunny".

Fast forward 7 years...the boy still despises life-sized costumed creatures of any kind...thankfully, he has matured greatly and no longer runs, screaming in terror at the sight of one or refuses to go places these beasts are known to congregate, but, rest assured, he still hates them...he just quietly stands behind David, Sr. or I...and if we go to a baseball game that has a mascot, he always knows where that thing is...and if the mascot begins to come our way, David makes an escape plan.

Our other children don't share the same level of terror that David possesses, but they have picked up on their brother's trepidation.  This was driven home again for me when I tried to take my kids to Chik-fil-A tonight to grab some chicken after a late Wal-mart check drop shopping trip.  We started to go through the drive-through and then noticed it was Family Night, so kid's meals were 99 cents...BINGO...so we parked and started in to grab our loot...

We had noticed while in the drive-through line that the cow mascot of Chik-fil-A was outside greeting customers...the kids all happily waved as David pulled his window blind down...no big deal...But now, we had to enter the door the Cow was guarding.  Suddenly, I had 4 kids (Julia was with Papaw and Nana)hanging on me trying to avoid being seen by the giant cow.  Thankfully, after waving at us, the cow (who is much more perceptive than the bovine in my back yard) stepped to the side giving us ample space to scurry by unscathed.  Once inside, Susanna (3) and Samuel (2) couldn't get enough of that cow standing outside the door...they chatted noisily about that "scary cow" who "likes me" the entire time we were in there.  Susie even wanted to go stand by the door to get a better look.  See, she knows cows...she knows they can't open doors, so she was perfectly safe to stand on the other side of a door from him.  Once again, a costumed creature tormented my children needing to take a bathroom break...and wouldn't you know it, the break door was right next to our line...resume terror-stricken hold on momma. 

Somehow we got out of Chik-fil-A with out further incident.  We came home and during family devotions, Susie and Sammy were quietly and happily doing a little puzzle together...UNTIL...someone mentioned THE COW.  Sammy apparently thought the cow was outside our door just waiting to attack him...he sat in stunned silence for a few moments and then quietly climbed into my lap muttering, "cow...all gone?...cow...here?...cow...ou-side?"  Susie used the opportunity to tell Daddy that she waved at the cow while David pulled down his window blind so she couldn't see the cow anymore.  I know he appreciated his little sister pointing out his fear .

So, tomorrow, I'll take my kids back to the pasture where the real cows are, and despite the fact that Clarabelle outweighs the scrawny kid in the cow costume 6 to 1, my kids will not be the least bit afraid.  We belong in the country!

We finally got the little goat that we've been talking about for a few months.  He's so sweet...about 4 months old and just as cute as can be.  We picked him up last Wednesday and within an hour of being here, he'd already escaped his fence...oops...We determined that 3 sides of his fencing is adequate, but the 4th side is what he shares with the cows and, well, cows are just a wee bit bigger than a baby goat...so, for the rest of the afternoon, we tied him out by a tree in the front where there is plenty of brush and ivy, too. 

At some point during that afternoon, Susanna either pet the goat (who most likely had been in poison ivy) and then rubbed her face or picked poison ivy for the goat to eat and then rubbed her face...not sure which...but the next day, she started to get a little bit of a rash on her face...I'll give you some pictures for maximum effect...

Here's a picture of our sweet Susie a week before "The Rash"...

Here's Susie on Day 2 of "The Rash"...pretty swollen and ugly (the rash, not the beautiful little girl :-)), but still manageable and she wasn't in too much pain or discomfort...

...and, drumroll, please...here is poor Susanna 3 days after it began...of course, on a Saturday when we can't take her to her regular doctor...

...and, no, she's not closing her eyes in these pictures...the sweet girl woke up not able to open her eyes at all!!!  She was so amazing, though...she didn't fuss at all as long as I was with her.  I carried her around and she would ask..."Are we outside?...Are we downstairs?"  We tried Benadryl, but it clearly wasn't going to help enough, and I was a little nervous about her breathing, so we took her to an Urgent Care place where they put her on prednisone.  I don't like to use many medicines with my little ones, but this seemed to be an extreme case, so we went for it...it was amazing...by the time she went to bed on Saturday night, she could open her eyes a tiny slit...we still couldn't see her eyes, but she could see a little bit.  By Sunday evening, she looked like she had on Friday.  She said to me, "Momma, I like to open my eyes a little bit!" 

We are amazed by her.  She is our fiercely independent child, who has a tendency to get angry when people try to help her because she can do it "Myself" (her Momma and Nana are NOTHING like that ).  That determination and independence served her well in a difficult situation, though.  Despite her condition, she still insisted on buckling her own 5-point car seat and feeding herself graham crackers and milk (much more cleanly, I might add, than certain other siblings with full sight).  ...and she just didn't fuss...it was amazing to me. 

Today, a week after her initial contact with the ivy, her swelling is gone and her face is just one big scab...she does have ivy all over her legs and fingers, too, but that doesn't seem to bother her too much. 

...and the goat is now safely confined in the pasture far, far away from the toddlers .

My children don't know how lucky they are...they have a sweet tooth for a momma.  At least that's how I see it.  We are rarely without some kind of homemade sweet thing to be enjoyed even if dinner was less than spectacular. 

The other night after dinner we had ice cream and I dished up everyone's serving.  Perhaps it should tell me something when half of the kids were not able to finish the ice cream...apparently, I'm a tad too generous.

Labor Day weekend was a very busy weekend for us with 3 cookouts/get-togethers in 3 days.  So, while our weekend was long on yummy food and treats, it was a tad short on actual nutrition.  Sammy drove this home for me on Sunday night (after get-together #2) when he went to the fridge for a snack.  The fridge was packed with goodies...fruit salad, yogurt, cobbler, applesauce...but what did the boy go for?  GREEN BEANS...is he my son?  I thought for sure he was mistaken and opened up the container so he could take a closer look...then I offered him some yogurt.  He would not be dissuaded...He wanted GREEN BEANS!!!  He cried the whole time I heated them up in the microwave b/c he was sure I wouldn't give them to him.  He ate the whole thing in no time flat. 

Nutrition, please, Momma!!!