8.28.2007

More Baby Pictures

Ty Courage's First Bath 8/26/07



Beautiful Beat-Up Baby Boy
8/28/07




8.24.2007

Belated Birthday Wishes

We celebrated the birthdays of both Chance and Ezra last Friday. It was extra special because grandma was able to be here to share in the festivities. That hasn't happened since our move to Texas.


Ezra turned 4 on the 13th and Chance turned 21 on the 17th. It was special to celebrated the births of our oldest and youngest (for one more day) together. We are blessed to have Chance as an oldest son. His siblings adore him because he always takes the time to play with them and talk to them. He prays for them and with them and goes before them to set an example of service and sacrifice and love of our God.

And Ezra has been such a blessing to our family. His smile can light up a room. He is a funny little chatterbox that provides lots of family entertainment :) May God raise you up to be a mighty warrior for Him, may He bless you and keep you all the days of your life. We love you Ezra!



Birthday Blessings



Rootbeer Floats, mmmm!

Showing Off

Just a few more shots of our sweet new baby boy.

I finally got some with his eyes open.

8/21


8/23

It's Just Not Right



Do you see that beautiful baby, peacefully sleeping? I took this photo at about 10am a couple of days ago. He had been asleep since about 5am. That's 5 hours of sleep. Glorious, precious sleep. Would that those 5 hours were between midnight and 5 am. But alas, between 10pm and 5am he didn't sleep more than about 20 minutes at a stretch. He ate. All. Night. Long.


Things are going to have to change.

He is awfully cute though!


It's Frugal Friday


The last time I painted my bathroom I spent a good 20 min. looking for the roller that I had been using the time before. Finally, I remembered that it was in the refrigerator.

Now, this tells me a few things. First, if I have room on the shelf for a large paint roller to go unnoticed, I really need to go shopping. Second, I haven't been the one making many of the meals lately. But the third one is the reason for this post. Did you know that when you finish rolling, if you are not done with that color you can wrap the roller in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge? Now, maybe I am the last one to learn this little trick, but I thought it was pretty cool! I don't know how long it will keep the roller fresh and paintable, but I know it lasts at least 2 weeks.

This is really great because I hate washing out rollers. In fact, I hate it so much that I don't do it anymore. I throw them away when I am done using them. So, the fact that I can save them until I am done with the color makes me feel a little less wasteful.

There ya go, that's my frugal tip. My first submission for Frugal Friday!

8.19.2007

A Name and Some Pictures

For Part 1 and Part 2

Introducing Titus Courage Elliott (Ty)





Happy Birthday Baby!

For Part 1

After a check to see where we were and a quick sweep of the membranes (which wasn't as bad as I feared), they gave me some homeopathics to take, ummm, not orally.

I had 4 vials and was to take 1 every half-hour. Then they left and I was to call if I needed them.

I think they left about 1pm.

Shortly after taking the first vial contractions started. Not too hard and not real regular, but definitely contractions. By the time I took the third vial they were hard enough that I had to breathe through them and they were 2-3 minutes apart and 50-60 seconds long. No one in the house really noticed, I'm sure everyone thought it was way too soon for anything to be going on. I had told myself it would be at least midnight, and I couldn't seem to get that timeframe out of my head. I kept thinking, "How am I ever going to get to midnight? They are so hard and coming so quickly!" I sent Hailey to find a watch, so I could see if they were as close as they seemed. My mom started timing and was pretty surprised.

About then the midwives called to check on me. I told them I hadn't taken the 4th vial, but that they should probably come back. It was about 2:30 PM.

They came on back and hung out for a little while. They also gave me some tips for getting through the contractions and gave me blessed relief through counter-pressure on my hip bones. That was pretty amazing. The birth ball was also a surprising blessing. I had picked one up at their recommendation, but really didn't think I would use it. But it was sooo much more comfortable than anywhere else.

Mike worked on setting up the pool. He was rushing around and I'm thinking "You can relax a little, we have hours!"

I went ahead and had them check me again because the contractions seemed so hard and they were coming so quickly. I was at 8cm, 9 during a contraction. It was time to get in the pool :)

Once I was in the pool there was a little lull in the contractions. It was just what I had prayed for. Time to catch my breath and gear up mentally a little bit. I had prayed for a short labor, a little baby, and the ability to remain focused. God was so gracious to me. Although, I was pretty taken aback at how fast everything seemed to be moving. The bathroom was dark, with candles for light and everyone did pretty good about being quiet. Only a few reminders were needed :) And the midwives left me alone a lot, which was really good. The girls were there, but they were good about fading into the background :)

At 4:30 PM our sweet little baby made his entrance into the world! Born in the pool into daddy's hands. We all commented on how tiny the baby was. But most surprising was the fact that IT WAS A BOY! Mike and I were SURE it was a girl! But God has blessed us with a beautiful baby boy. So, now the count is 5 boys, 3 girls. Hailey says there is still time to even it up :)

The midwives didn't share our opinion that he was small, and after weighing him, I guess they were right :0 He is 9 lbs 3 1/2 oz. and 21 1/2" long. His head and chest were 14".

He also has a headful of hair (none of my babies have had any hair). At first they thought it looked red, but it isn't. It's light brown right now.

The cord was wrapped around his neck twice, and he delivered with his hand next to his face, so he is pretty bruised up, but he is beautiful!

The placenta didn't want to come, and that ended up taking quite a bit of effort. And the after-birth pains are...well intense doesn't begin to describe them, but we are all healthy and well, and ever so grateful. It is wonderful to have a new little baby in the house.

8.18.2007

Baby News

Well, my midwives should be here any minute to take a little look-see and see if my cervix has begun to do any...changing. I have been having lots of contractions, but we all know that doesn't necessarily mean anything. If there are no changes to my cervix that indicate my body is getting ready for labor then an herbal induction is not likely to be successful.

This isn't like going to a hospital and getting pitocin in an iv. You know you'll be leaving with a baby when you do that. But I vowed never to do that again, so we'll just have to see if we can help baby along a little with more natural methods. I wouldn't be trying to move anything along any faster under normal circumstances. Eli was 2 weeks "late" and I was okay with that. But I really do want Mike to have as much time as possible with the baby, and for my mom's early trip not to be in vain. So, hopefully this little one is ready to meet the world :)

*Update* I wrote the above yesterday but didn't post it because the midwives got here and I never got back to it. I had begun taking a couple of homeopathics on Thursday afternoon, and had begun having lots of contractions, but nothing regular. So, when they checked me and I was dilated to 4cm and 80% effaced I was pretty surprised. I don't usually dilate early. Everyone began to be hopeful that we would indeed have a baby soon.

8.13.2007

Happy Birthday Ezra!!


We're holding off on the celebration until daddy comes home, but today is Ezra's 4th birthday. What a blessing his addition has been to our family.


It has been such a joy to watch him blossom from a little boy who barely spoke and didn't know how to smile, into the affectionate chatterbox he is now.
We love you Ezra, and we are so grateful that God put you in our family!

Exercise

Today I worked on painting my bathroom. It goes like this: brush, brush, brush, rest, rest, rest. You get the picture, it's slow going. I got one coat on most of the bathroom and then I decided to join the kids in the pool.

I've been wanting to get in the pool for a long time. I was wondering why I hadn't when I remembered that we have been fighting the Great Algae War all summer. Well, the war seems to be won, at least temporarily. The water is clear and beckoning. So, I dug around for something I could swim in and headed on out.

I expected it to be a bit cold, but the pool, unlike me, doesn't live in air conditioning. It was as warm as bath water, even a little warmer than I would have made a bath at that particular time. It was wonderful.

To actually be able to move around unencumbered was such a treat. I felt almost normal in the pool. My belly was virtually weightless and I could walk and swim with no discomfort. I really should have done it sooner.

The kids of course thought it was great and serenaded me endlessly with "Mommy, watch this!" "Look at me!" Eli attached himself to me and announced that he never intended to let go. Then he proceeded to shower my nose with kisses.

I swam for a while and then held the side and did some kicking. Hailey told the others that I was exercising. After thinking for a minute, Eli said that I should do some "boy" exercise.

"What is "boy" exercise, Eli?"

"You jump off things, flip, run around the pool 70x, climb trees, fight with swords, play fight, jump on the trampoline, run around and through things, and jump out of airplanes."

I think I'm too tired for "boy" exercise.

8.10.2007

Show and Tell



For Show and Tell Friday I thought I would share with you what my kids couldn't wait to share with me. I was roused from my rest by the excited shouts of children. It seems they had found a little tree frog in the pool. They had all held him and now they wanted to share their joy and show the little bugger to me. They especially wanted me to note that the inside of his back legs were yellow, and Sierra wanted to make sure that I knew he would eat aphids, which they had fed him.


I tried to take a picture for your enjoyment, but he wouldn't hold still for long and my camera seemed to want to focus on anything but him. So, tear your eyes from Hailey's perfectly focused feet and take a look at our blurry little tree frog. Who is now safely...in the trees.




8.09.2007

Checking In

I know, it's been a long time since I've posted. I guess I just haven't felt like it. I haven't felt like I've had anything beneficial, enlightening, interesting, or mildly humorous to say. In short, I've felt pretty whiny. And who wants to hear that :)

Mike was able to come home for a visit last weekend, and that went a long way in making me feel a bit more centered. Like I could continue to climb the mountain in front of me. We really couldn't afford it, but like he said, sometimes you just can't afford not to. He knows when I am crying it is NOT GOOD. I rarely cry. He cries at sad movies and tough goodbyes, not me. I just don't cry easily. Sooo, when I do, I really do. And in response to my meltdown, he decided he ought to come home for the weekend. It was a good decision.

And there was just 10 days between him leaving and his next stay here. At this point, I can do 10 days standing on my head! And when he comes back, he will be here for about 3 weeks. I hope, hope, hope to have the house done when he leaves. Oh, and we really hope to greet our newest little un-named bundle of joy in that time-frame too!

And on that note, we have been really praying that this little one would come soon after he arrives, rather than just before he leaves. And in discussing that hope with our midwife yesterday, she suggested that we set up a time to try and get the ball rolling. Sooo, we are looking at possibly trying to do some things to bring on labor on the 18th or so. That is a week from Saturday. A WEEK FROM SATURDAY!! That's soon.

But I did buy some t-shirts and diapers, so I guess we're ready :)

I am really looking forward to meeting our baby, and the day when EVERYTHING I eat or drink won't give me heartburn, taking deep breaths, not wanting a drywall fix like a junkie needs a needle, and some relief from back/hip pain. But actually pushing the baby out??? Not so much. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the labor. And labor is such a mental thing. I don't want to go into it ambivalent or nervous. I want to welcome it, to embrace it, to be unafraid of it. I'm not there yet.