A bit late, but finally officially announcing the arrival of Maggie!

We've had a crazy week. But now that we're finally settled in and all safe at home doing well (she's a champion nurser, and at her checkup today had gained 2 ounces in 2 days!), it's time for an official announcement!

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Margaret Nancy (Maggie), born April 24 at 3:19 pm Pacific time, 7 lbs., 8 ounces, 21 1/2 inches.

Here's how it happened:

We went in for our scheduled 39 week induction. The doctor came in to check me, and we decided to break my water (for comfort and also to see if the baby's head would come down, she had floated up a bit.) I was 1 cm, 50 effaced. He left orders to start pitocin and give me an epidural as soon as an anesthesiologist was available (four of them were there but all were in an unplanned c-section. So we waited.) We just kinda hung out and watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The nurse checked me before starting the pitocin, and just from her head coming down and hitting the cervix (which happened almost immediately), I had progressed to 2 cm. Adding the pitocin, by the time I got the epidural (there was a little problem; I for some reason had pain when he tried to do it in the usual spot, so he had to move up twice, but once it got in it was a fairly good one), I was 3 cm and 80% effaced. At that point the movie was over and I had decided to listen to music instead. We went through a couple of CDs, and when I was checked again I was at a 5.

So then we watched another movie (The Princess Bride-- I had had Jeff put in Napoleon Dynamite but decided quickly that I wasn't in the mood, ditto Beauty and the Beast) and I actually fell asleep during part of it (which is why I had only packed movies I know by heart.) In about an hour I went to a 6. The movie had ended at that point and I warned the nurse, "Now, with my last two, once I hit 6 I went very quickly to 9 or 10. I won't be surprised if that doesn't happen, but I won't be surprised if it does." She said okay, she'd be back in an hour, and I said, "If I don't drag you in here first!"

Well, sure enough, I called it. In about 20 minutes I started feeling incredible pressure. The contractions were coming harder and closer together. I told my husband, and then all of a sudden I couldn't talk through a contraction, and they were one on top of another, and I said, "I think I feel the head moving down." I had Jeff look to see what was going on when I felt some really intense pain and he saw blood.

I sent him for the nurse and she asked, "Do you want me to check?" I said, "Not right now, but in about 20 minutes I think I'm going to have the baby. So come check me in 15." I don't think she believed me. But she came back in about 10 minutes and sat observing me. I kept saying, "I really feel the head, I really think it's moving down." Every time I would have a contraction it hurt, the epidural was wearing off even though the nurse had upped it, I was numb down lower but could really feel the head, and I would just relax, and breathe, and the baby would slide a little more down-- I really did feel it. When I started snapping at my husband about changing the CD (to Hourglass, Kate Rusby) and about how he was sitting and, well, just about everything, she decided she'd better check me in case I was in transition (duh. Of course I was, I told her I would be!) She reached in looking like she didn't expect much, and then all of a sudden said, "We're at plus 3. I'm calling the doctor." She put my legs together and said, "Keep those together, don't move, and don't push! The doctor is on the way." She went out to call, and a few minutes later was back. She got me in the stirrups, reminded me again to just breathe, no pushing, and swabbed me with betadine. My doctor came in and was chatting while he got on his booties, etc. I looked at him and said, "You need to hurry now." He took one look at my face and raced through the rest of his prep. He came over, said, "Oh, good, the nurse already sponged you and everything, let me see what we're doing here." He took a look and said, "The head's right here." We got me comfortably sitting up and he said, "Now, when you have a contraction and need to push..." I completed, "...take a deep breath, hold it, put my chin on my chest, and push down in my bottom like I'm having a bowel movement." He laughed, as did the nurse, and he said, "Go for it when you feel you need to, just warn us. I think you'll push once." The nursery nurses were coming in at this point and setting up the equipment, but I just ignored them. A minute or two later I said, "I feel a good contraction, and I'm going to want to push." He said, "Go for it!" I did but only got halfway through because I started late in the contraction. He said, "Take a breath now and do it again, one more!" I started to but only just started to push and he said, "That's enough, you can stop!" So I pushed about 1 1/2 times. He said, "Look down!" I did and got to see her sliding out (the first time I've been able to do that! The other two had the cord wrapped too tight; Maggie had it around her neck but just once and loosely so he had already slid it off.) Then he put her right into my arms! That was the first time I had ever done that, too, because my other two were blue! I was thrilled. I held her while they dried her and he stitched me (I had a bigger and more jagged tear than last time-- when he had done perineal massage for me to reduce the tearing-- because she pushed her own way out so far and so fast! She just tore me whatever way she wanted hurrying her little self out!) Then he started poking trying to loosen the placenta, which hadn't come yet. I told him, "If you just wait a minute, I feel another contraction coming that's going to get that out." He said, "Well, I'm just trying to loosen it." I said, "Well, yeah, but that poking hurts." So he stopped and waited, and sure enough, next contraction I pushed a wee bit and it slid out, intact! Another first for me-- my other two shredded and had to be cleaned out. I told him that and that I was curious what it looked like since I'd never seen an intact placenta, only a bloody mess! Once he finished checking to make sure it was intact he was happy to show me my placenta, which I found fascinating. (I was way more alert and happy at this point than with my other two, not really sure why! I was kinda out of it and exhausted and dizzy with them, this time I was just really fascinated with everything going on! Maybe a combination of different epidural and less blood loss.) And he even said it wasn't weird I wanted to see it, that he wished more people were interested. My doctor and I totally get each other. :D He did continue the pitocin, which I had requested, because it really helps my recovery.

As we held her and looked at her we kept saying, "She's so little!" The nurses were laughing at us; they see 5 lb. 18 inch babies every day. We said, "Well, compared to our others!" The doctor glanced back and said, "Oh, I'd say 7 1/2 lbs." They weighed her and she was 7 lbs., 8 oz. EXACTLY! We cracked up and I told him, "It's almost like you've been around babies a little bit or something." I think the real reason she looks little is not only the weight comparison to my other two but that she has a smaller, rounder head than the two of them did. She looks a LOT like me as a newborn, my whole family agrees. In fact, I said that in the delivery room, too!

I held her and nursed her while they got things ready to move me, and it was really funny-- at one point the cd stopped and she started crying. She was fed and swaddled and we couldn't figure out why until I realized the cd was over! I had Jeff start it again and she stopped crying! She always has liked that cd... We called people and let them know she was here. Then Jeff went with her to the nursery for footprinting and such-like. They moved me to my room and soon she and my husband were back with me. It took a little longer than my other two because she was having a little bit of a temperature regulation problem (I had noticed in the delivery room that her feet turned purple as she got cold... I think she has Bridey's and my circulation...) But they said an extra blanket fixed it and put her in the bed with me to snuggle and nurse to keep warm, which she LOVED.

After that, my recovery was pretty normal, except for the anxiety that went with leaving her (which you all know about.) She of course got lethargic and sick from the jaundice and did need treatment (you know about that, too.) We are just so incredibly glad she's home and well. Did I mention she's gaining an ounce a day? That's really good since she got a bit dehydrated with the jaundice and was 7 lbs. even two days after birth, though she had managed to gain back to 7 lbs., 1 oz. by the time she came home.

And now for the pictures! (These are from LDR, more to follow.)

We're home! We're ALL home!

We got to the hospital this morning so I could feed her (ouch, was I full, despite all the breastmilk now residing in my freezer from last night.) The nurse said, "The doctor was just here and she's discharged. I imagine you want to feed her first?" Yes indeed!

So we are all home safe now. I will post a real announcement post later. :)

Doing somewhat better, but still missing my baby.

That's right folks, she didn't come home today. Her bilirubin was a bit lower this morning, down to 10.9 from 11.6, but not low enough to get off the bililights. I went in at 9 and fed her, and my did that feel good. The milk that had come in yesterday but not come HARD in, meaning it was still at pretty low levels all day and night (which was kinda a blessing in disguise last night, I only had to express a few drops once for comfort, so I only have to suffer one real night of engorgement), suddenly let down and soaked through my nightgown at 7:30 in the morning. All of a sudden engorgement came on hard and fast, and I was harassing everyone to get ready NOW because I could not stand much more of this and Maggie REALLY needed to eat!

We went to the hospital, kids' breakfast in hand, and they set us up in LDR 1, which is the labor/delivery/recovery room right next to the nursery. Since it's down a hallway and away from the other rooms it is the last LDR room they fill, for the nurses' convenience, and it also happens to be slightly bigger and nicer than the rest! Since Sunday is a slow day for LDR rooms, it was a convenient empty space, and it was designated "our" room for the day as long as no one else needed it. We weren't allowed to touch the bed or use the bathroom, which have to be kept ready in case a patient needs to use it, but we were allowed to use the chairs and such, and of course since Maggie is still not discharged we could ask at the nursery for anything we needed for her-- they are still providing the diapers, wipes, any formula she needs (now that my milk had come in we'd switched from supplementing every other feeding to offering formula if she is still hungry after emptying both breasts, just to make sure she gets as much fluid to clear that bilirubin as possible.) It's nice not to have to worry about that.

We moved chairs from the table that sits in LDR 1, sat the kids down with cartoons in front of the tv, and that kept them occupied for a while, but they were just way wound up. We decided that staying in the room with Maggie with the kids running wild while patients were trying to rest(and me fretting about what her level would be) was counter-productive, and once I'd seen and held her for a while (she ate for almost an hour-- good baby-holding time) I felt better, not so clingy and anxious, so we told them we were going to take the kids out for a walk and would be back, since all Maggie would be doing was sleeping anyway. They told us that the doctor would be in in about an hour at that point and to call then to find out what was going on. So we went down to the Farmer's Market/Family Fun Fair they hold on Sundays down in Montrose, just a few blocks from the hospital, which normally we would never ever do on Sunday-- but we really needed occupation for the sake of all our sanity while Jeff and I worried about Maggie, and the activity was good for the kids, who were hyper as all get-out. We walked around, and Emma requested "When the Saints Go Marching In" from the Dixieland band that was playing (they are probably heartily sick of that song but I didn't think they would mind a request from a four-year-old-- they didn't-- and she really loves that song, she danced and looked so thrilled to hear it that it made them all grin and smile.)

When that was done we got some drinks and sat in the shade (it was HOT), and Jeff called the hospital just in time to catch the doctor. He explained that her bilirubin was too high still, and that it was still in the high risk zone-- BUT that it was down a bit, not rising, and so that was a good thing. He also explained that even if she had the exact same level tomorrow, she would be out of the high risk zone, and able to go home, because of the older age! So I was almost crying that she would stay another night-- but happy that we were pretty much guaranteed to take her home the next day.

Then we went back, got settled, and I fed her again. Jeff took the kids home for a nap, which they took, and I stayed all day in LDR 1, just nursing Maggie. In between nursing she was able to be in the room with me, in the bilibed (which, btw, is a Medela Bilibed, complete with little sleeper-type cover featuring a duck-- pictures have been taken, of course, and you will see her in it eventually; sorry, not up to that quite yet, probably tomorrow) and I laid back on the recliner (the same type that Jeff napped in while I was in labor, the one intended for the support person, so pretty cushy and comfortable.) I actually got several hours of sleep between feedings that way-- which really, really helped, I have to say. Lack of sleep and food due to anxiety was part of my problem last night, I think. After naps Jeff took the kids over to my mom's, then came to see us at the hospital. I fed Maggie one more time before dinner, and then we went to my mom's house for dinner. She had asked me what I would like and I told her pot roast, so she made me pot roast. I love my mommy. She also made an orange cake because Emma had asked for it, and she made applesauce jell-o (minus apple chunks, with strawberry jell-o and cinnamon applesauce) which we used to bribe Emma to finish ALL of her pot roast, potatoes, carrots, and most of her salad, plus a few bites of biscuit. I was amazed! I had thought she was going to be picky, but the wonders applesauce jell-o will do...

Then all of a sudden my milk came in hard again. Every time that had happened all day it had meant Maggie was about to wake up and be ready to eat. We hustled out but it was ten minutes by the time we left (because the kids unexpectedly wanted to come right then instead of staying with my mom and going home with Jeff after he dropped me), and had been almost half an hour when we got there. Sure enough, she was hungry! Apparently she had NOT been behaving for the nurses, oops! She had cried and cried and only taken 20 ccs of formula despite acting VERY hungry. As soon as I got her in my arms, though, the crying stopped cold! Before I even lifted my shirt she opened her eyes wide and looked contentedly at me! I guess she just wanted her mama-- which made me feel very, very good. I know it's irrational but I had been feeling like a failure because my milk hadn't come in the day before (which had more to do with her being too lethargic from the jaundice to be nursing well than anything I could do) and I think feeling like anyone could take care of her at least as well as I could because she had to be in the nursery all night. It felt really, really good to have that confirmation that I, as her mother, was not only important but ESSENTIAL to her, that she knew me, and that she preferred me to someone else! To make me feel even better, the nurse said that in the last 12 hours she had gained 1/2 an ounce! Yay, all that milk was doing something! And she had just had a VERY green poop (green poop is a good sign in jaundiced babies because it means they're breaking down and passing the bilirubin.) Anyway, she nursed REALLY well, twice in a row, and then settled in. (In the meantime, Jeff and the kids went home after everyone said "goodnight" to Maggie and gave her kisses. I got hugs and kisses, too.) I took one more nap, then nursed her once more (and called my mom), then got her all burped, settled in, and when my mom called to say she was there, I kissed Maggie once more, left her at the nursery, and went down and my mom drove me home. (She also brought us leftovers. Which was nice of her.) And I didn't even cry (although I did a bit later, with Jeff.)

Anyway, the plan is for me to get through tonight as best I can, express some milk as necessary (and maybe get enough to make it worth freezing), hopefully even sleep a couple of hours (although I really don't know if I can manage it without Maggie), and then all get up early, get ready, call the hospital to find out when she ate, and get there in time to give her her next feeding. Then hang around (although again I may stay there and have Jeff take the girls somewhere-- Montrose is right there and the shopping district includes a toy store that allows touching and playing with floor models, and a very cool kids' book store, among other things they might like, or there's even a kids' play area in the ER waiting room they might enjoy), and wait for the doctor to come and tell us it's okay to take our baby home! (It's extremely, extremely unlikely that her level will be even as high as it was today, considering all that green poop, frequent nursing, and the fact that she looks less orange than she did yesterday! But even if it was as high as long as it had not climbed a couple of points we would be good to take her home!) I am just praying that everything works well because we want her with us!

I'm home and Maggie is not.

And that's why this is not a birth announcement post yet. I can't do that right now. All I can do is cry. And get really upset about everything, apparently. (I even threw a fit and just plain refused to leave the hospital in a wheelchair. It makes me feel helpless and I needed to be in control and walk. I just cried and cried and refused and the nurse finally walked me down instead. My mom, who brought me home tonight, was not too pleased with me either. But I just could not add that emotional load on top of everything else I was feeling.)

Maggie has to stay because she needs to lie in the bilibed (which I must admit is much nicer than traditional bililights or biliblankets; it's a brand-new state of the art system they just purchased. She's not thrilled to be in it but at least she's more comfy than she would be in a biliblanket or under old-fashioned lights. I'll give a better description when I post pictures. But being in a really cool bilibed does not make me feel better about leaving my newborn.) Insurance will not cover bililights at home, only their use in the hospital. So she has to stay.

I know it's only a few hours and that she will be well taken care of (she even sleeps better for the nurses in the nursery than for me) but this is just really hard to handle. It feels like one of the hardest, scariest things I've ever done-- even though no one is in danger. How does that make sense? Well, it doesn't. But that's how I feel right now.

I'll post a happier and more informative post when she comes home.

Happy Birthday to Bridget!

Miss Bridget is 2 years old! Happy birthday to her!

Unfortunately, she seems to be more into the "terrible twos" than her sister was. But we love her anyway. ;)

We went to McDonald's for her birthday dinner, her choice of course. She was more interested in the slide than the food! She has just discovered sliding and is fearless, will go down the almost 2-story tall twisty slide on her own if Jeff takes her to the top (she'd go to the top herself but the climbing platforms are just a bit too high for her and the climbing tube is a bit too steep, so she needs a boost.) Then we went to Ralph's and she picked out brownie bites and M&M cookies for dessert (after they ran all over the store with the miniature shopping cart and forced Jeff to chase them.) All in all a fun evening and she was so worn out she went happily to her crib much earlier than usual (although she talked and sang for 45 minutes, there was no screaming, she just calmed herself down and then was out!)

Sadly, no one sang the "Birthday Cake Polka" to either of them this year (an L.A. area tradition, from the "Sheriff John" kids show that was on when my parents were growing up.) Not even at the cowboy party! I was trying to find a video to embed that featured it but none seemed appropriate. So search "Sheriff John, birthday cake polka" if you want to know what I'm talking about. ;) It's a tradition I grew up with and I'll make sure someone sings it next year for them!

Been busy and had no computer...

...that's why I've been away from my blog!

The kids did something to this computer about 3 weeks ago, and then two Wednesdays ago Jeff's laptop stopped working. He took it in (it's still under warranty) but they were real dumb about it, didn't call, and by the time he got it sent in they had had it 5 days already. Annoying. So now it's off to warranty repair la-la land and we have no clue when we'll get it back. *sigh* Thursday night Jeff finally fixed this computer, but since I'm in so much pain it's hard to even sit in the chair (stupid hips) I am not on much. Plus we had 3 birthday parties for Emma and Bridget this weekend! A tea party with my aunt Fri., a cowboy theme party with my mom's side at the park Sat., and then we went over to my dad's for lunch after church today (I only stayed the first hour, as usual lately when I make it at all, but the kids and Jeff were there for all 3.)

Jeff has been trying to clean up the apartment but he is not going nearly as fast as he had hoped (I've been unable to really walk, bend, pick things up for, oh, about 3 months now...) For some inexplicable reason he keeps falling asleep instead... (Can you say "three months of sleep deprivation," boys and girls?) So the place is still pretty much a mess. At this point we're prioritizing what NEEDS to be done before the baby comes home (oh, did I mention that two appointments ago I scheduled my induction for this Thursday? Yep! I'm dilating and effacing and I'm in too much pain to want to go past 39 weeks-- which I will be exactly this Thurs.) And then we're thinking Jeff will take a week or so off using the Paid Family Leave program we have here in CA (which thankfully his employer is awesome about supporting-- he won't have to use his vacation time concurrently or anything to take it.) That way we'll have time to do things like sort through and wash all the baby clothes, which we haven't really got around to (we're just gonna pull out a few basics for the first few days, and the bassinet, and a few sheets and diapers, until we can get everything done.)

Anyway, tomorrow is Bridey's birthday, so we'll let her choose what we have for dinner (since that's the family tradition); I have a feeling it will either be burritos or going to McDonald's or IKEA... She's going to be 2! She has become such a little PERSON, it's amazing. And she TALKS! You would never believe this was the child who was barely communicating until about 13 or 14 months of age. I guess she just wanted to wait until she could "do it right," because now she talks a mile a minute about all kinds of things (often in 5 to 8 word sentences.)

Other than that, mostly just counting down until the baby comes! I am so uncomfortable I cannot WAIT until she is out! WEll, besides just wanting to meet her, of course. And Jeff and I are having fun trying to guess how big she will be. He's thinking she's bigger than me by about 1/2 to 1 inch and 2-4 ounces, but we're both agreed she'll probably be somewhere around the size Bridey was when she was born. Probably not as heavy as Emma was (although maybe longer!)

Anyway, just wanted to catch up a bit since I haven't blogged in, like, weeks! Hope all my bloggy friends are well, and sorry I haven't been around much! :) I have pictures that some day I will post... Probably shouldn't hold your breath, though. ;)

Happy birthday to Emma!

My baby is four! (To be honest, she hasn't been a baby for a long time. But she will always be MY baby.) At this time four years ago we were getting ready to go to the hospital, where we were expected at 6:30 Central time for my induction. (Well, I think I was getting ready, and Jeff was napping. ;) )

She can be a challenge but we are so glad to have her in our lives. :)

Now, back to planning the cowboy birthday party she wants for her and her sister... (It was supposed to be a tea party but she's changed her mind. Which means another delay in getting out invitations. But that's okay; a cowboy party is much easier to find cheap decorations for. ;) )

Emma comes up with the best ideas!

Last night we went over to my dad's house for a while. He had made some chocolate dipped strawberries and we needed to keep the kids out from underfoot of the refrigerator repairman (who HAD to come on Sunday, much as we hate breaking the Sabbath, because stuff had to be cleared out of the fridge and freezer and I can't do that right now, and Sunday is the ONLY day Jeff is home.) So the girls and I went to my dad's while Jeff waited for, assisted, and paid the repairman (and put the food back afterwards.)

They played outside at first and picked lemons off my dad's tree (which is a Meyer dwarf, so it bears pretty much year-round-- right now there are blossoms, half-grown fruit, ripening fruit, and ripe fruit all on at the same time-- and it's low to the ground so little ones can pick lemons themselves.) They pretended to "cook" with them with the play kitchen, then Emma said she wanted to make lemonade. Okay. So we went in and asked my dad, who of course cleared a space and got stuff out for us. I washed and cut the lemons (11 of them-- Ems insisted on using ALL the lemons we had picked, luckily Meyer lemons aren't very tart!), and Emma used the electric juicer to juice most of them herself (I did the first half to show her how.) Bridey actually did three halves herself by the end, she thought it looked fun and wanted to do it too! Then I put some water and sugar in a pitcher and had them help stir it until dissolved, then we stirred in about 3 cups of lemon juice (most of it-- my dad saved the little extra for later use.) It turned out really delicious! I don't usually use that much lemon juice but it was really good! We had it with our dinner (which we had brought over) and Jeff had some too when he came over. Then we had dessert and then Jeff cleaned up while I rested, then we went home.

It wasn't actually that much work, and it was really fun. I have a feeling Emma's going to remember it for a long time. So I'm glad she had such a great idea!

...and sometimes, they actually learn what you try to teach them.

We went to the store today, the little Armenian grocery near our home. It's been really nice weather; I am trying to get out as much as possible while it lasts! (The walking is also good for my hips, and helps the baby not poke me so much.) We picked up some stuff for lunch and dinner, some more apple juice, milk, stuff like that (and of course a few treats.) Our fridge is still broken so we've only got our freezer and my mom's mini-fridge that we're borrowing, so it's been a bit of a pain keeping food in the house, we're averaging a trip to this store (the only one in walking distance, really, at least walking distance when this pregnant) about every 2 or 3 days. And lots of delivery in between.

Anyway, we were there at a kind of busy time of afternoon, I guess. There were several people with small children (6 or 7 and under-- several around 2 or 3) in the store at the same time. There also happened to be a man in an electric wheelchair, who had Cerebral Palsy. He was verbal only with great difficulty (I heard him talking in Armenian to the storekeeper at one point) but he had a big smile on his face the entire time we were there.

What made me happy today was the way my children reacted to this man who was differently-abled. The other children in the store stared rather worriedly, or kind of hid behind their mothers, and the older ones kind of pointedly looked away, trying not to be rude by "staring." Bridey saw him smiling and smiled back, waved, and said, "HI!" Then she turned and excitedly told me, "Mommy, man habe swollew wike me!" ("Man have stroller like me!") He laughed at this, and so did she, because she laughs when others laugh. Then Emma walked up and said, "Hi! How are you? My Aunt Mimi has a wheeled-chair like yours. I like it!" He burst out into the biggest, sunniest smile you can imagine.

As we were on the way home, Emma told me (in between bites of her ice cream), "I liked that man's wheeled-chair! I really liked it! Mimi uses a wheeled-chair too. I think they are fun." Then she told me, "That man holds his hands differently. But that is okay. He was nice."

I think they're gonna be okay.

Oh! And I forgot to mention...

...last night Jeff watched the video of the ultrasound I had on Thursday while we were waiting for the cheesecake to be cut. And because I needed to label it, he FINALLY agreed to finalize the middle name! So, here's the official name: this little girl will be Margaret Nancy (to be called "Maggie", or maybe even "Maggie Nan" by me. :) ) This is the longest we've ever taken to decide on a finalized name! So I'm quite glad it's done.

Happy Easter!

We had a good one, hope you all did! We dragged ourselves out of bed (laaaaaate night, no sleep) and got dressed. Then we got the kids up (Emma tends to be cranky getting up early for church but "Let's go see if the Easter baskets got filled!" worked wonders.) Then while they ate junk (the Easter bunny put mostly healthy stuff in their baskets but, of course, they went STRAIGHT for the jelly beans, which were at least fruit-juice based; they did have some jello with peaches and some apple juice, I guess that's fruit, right?) we got them dressed. Went to church (and stayed the whole time! Jeff fell asleep in Elder's Quorum, I was looking all over and the EQ Pres. noticed me and said, "Oh, he's in there, you can get him any time... He fell asleep and we figured he needed it so we just turned off the lights and left him..." Well, at least they understand!)

Then we went home; I made the ham (and burned it a bit, but it was okay on the inside! I think our oven must run a bit hot) and everyone else napped. We had to turn on the air; record-breaking highs yesterday combined with oven on for 3 hours equals too hot! Then I trimmed up the artichokes, and we headed over to my mom's. I got the artichokes cooking. My grandma had taken the potatoes to her house to cook, since my mom's oven had died! So we waited for her to get back while the kids played in my mom's living room (she has all kinds of cool old FP toys, like a castle and a Sesame Street set) and then they took their baskets and hunted eggs. (We made sure Emma left some of the easier ones for Bridey while she got the hang of it, but by the end Bridey was spotting even some of the tougher ones!) Then we all had dinner. Michael showed up with one of his friends. They actually behaved. (So did the kids-- mostly.)

After dinner we got some belated Christmas presents (everyone got sick and we never did our Christmas stuff with my mom and grandma.) The kids got some toys, books, clothes; I got a really cool diaper bag from my mom, and a neat Tupperware thing from my grandma. Then we ate cheesecake; by that time we were all exhausted!

I do have some pictures, but they're not off the camera yet! I'll post them when we pull them off.

A Song by Emma

Emma came up with this one tonight (sung to the approximate tune of "The Noble Duke of York"), while looking at the whale bath toy:

The whale jumped over the sink
He fell down and bumped his head
The farmer cut the whale in half
Now he can't jump and see the kids again.

*giggles*

St Patrick's Day Dinner

Tonight I cooked St. Patrick's Day dinner, a day early. (We ate it tonight and will eat it again tomorrow, no one will complain since we all like it!)

I made baked ham and colcannon, very traditional for an Irish dinner. (We like corned beef and cabbage, but we don't eat it on St. Patrick's Day-- it's more American than anything else, and we prefer to eat real Irish food.) Colcannon is one of my favorite foods in the world! Following are the recipes I used. I actually doubled them tonight (2 hams, double recipe of colcannon) because I was making enough to feed not only us, but 15 or so people at Jeff's work-- our St. Patrick's Day celebration at home will be a little less than it sometimes is, so he might as well share it with his co-workers!

Super-Simple Baked Ham


1 5 lb. canned ham (we prefer Dubuque brand)
Whole cloves
Prepared spicy mustard
1/4 lb. brown sugar, in a bowl

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

Drain ham and place in a pan (glass is good for this, it's easier to get clean.)

Stud top with cloves.

Squirt mustard on top of ham; rub all over top and sides. Rinse and dry hands, then take the brown sugar and pat it all over, until the ham is covered.

Bake, uncovered, for about 1 hour 40 minutes (20 minutes per lb.; if you have a 6-lb. ham you should cook for about 2 hours.)

Check internal temperature, remove from oven, and let rest before slicing. Serve hot or cold. About 10 servings.



Colcannon


About 7 lbs. starchy potatoes, such as Russets, peeled, rinsed, and diced
1 head kale (about 1 or 2 bunches, depending on size, if your store sells it pre-cleaned)
cooking oil
2 large leeks
1 1/2 cups milk (I use 1% or 2%; can use nonfat or whole as desired, or even 1/2 and 1/2)
water
salt
pepper
1/2 lb. butter

Place potatoes in a pot of water, salt the water, cover, and bring to a boil. Boil until tender. Drain and return to pot.

Meanwhile, rinse kale well, dice (you want pretty small pieces), and steam. Steaming methods: place in microwave safe dish with a small amount of water and a splash of oil, cover, and heat until lightly wilted and beginning to soften, draining any excess water when done, OR heat just enough oil to cover bottom of pan in a pan large enough to hold all the kale, saute until slightly wilted, add just a splash of water, cover, and turn off heat, allowing kale to steam until just softening.

Trim tops and roots off leeks. Slice leeks in half and rinse well (because they grow in layers, they often have dirt or grit trapped in between.) Slice halved leeks thinly.

Place in a saucepan with milk. Heat on low, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes, or until hot. Cover and let them rest until ready to use.

When potatoes are done and drained, mash with leeks and milk. Add kale and 3/8 lb. butter (1 1/2 standard sticks); fold in thoroughly, until kale is incorporated and butter is melted. Add salt and pepper to taste. To serve, mound in bowl or large dish, depress top slightly, and top with remaining 1/2 stick butter, sliced. allow butter to melt down the pile of colcannon and enjoy! 10-12 servings.


And now I am going to rest because my arm and back are a bit sore from mashing those 14 lbs. of potatoes! :) Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day, everyone! And don't forget to wear green.

More reasons I'm never sending anything FedEx. :|

So apparently the other two seats were delivered today... I knew nothing about this until Jeff asked when they were scheduled to come. I checked the tracking info and saw "delivered 11:34 AM." WHAT???

I went and looked and they are outside our door! Thank goodness we live in a safe apartment complex! Somehow the FedEx guy got in without buzzing like he's supposed to (probably someone was going out and opened for him as he was coming up), and then WITHOUT KNOCKING OR ATTEMPTING TO GET A SIGNATURE, he just LEFT THEM OUTSIDE THE DOOR. If they had been damaged or stolen I would have been REALLY MAD. As it is, I guess I'll just be glad they're here. :|

FedEx is NEVER getting my shipping business, and if I have a choice I'll choose another carrier when ordering things, too. Grrr.

I am NEVER sending anything FedEx, EVER.

Today I got TWO of my Radians. The other two are apparently in another shipment somewhere and the info on them hasn't been updated since they left CO. Hmmm. First the estimated arrival date was last Friday. Then FedEx took 3 days to pick up the car seats after a next-day pickup was scheduled. So they changed the EAD to yesterday. Then today. Then tomorrow. Finally Thursday.

Today, with no warning (and we're all sick, so I wasn't dressed or anything, and look awful, I'm sure, unkempt and in my nightgown) two of the seats arrived. The other two are still showing a Thursday EAD (which these two were last night when I checked them, too.) At this point, I'm expecting them to arrive some time between tomorrow and next week. *rolls eyes*

To make FedEx look even worse, I've had 3 packages sent UPS ground in the same period of time, and arrive with no delays. I know there have been storms and grounded flights in the midwest, but that shouldn't affect ground shipping from CO to CA, should it now? Not to mention that the UPS packages were coming from areas that WERE affected by ice storms, blizzards, and the like during that time. Hmmmm.

On the good side, I got one seat all adjusted and ready to go (it's the one for my dad's car; since I got Bridey's seat and one of Emma's, I figured I would give the first one that came for Emma to my dad for his car, since she currently has a well-fitting seat in our car, if a cheap one, but has pretty much outgrown the one she's using in my dad's car. So the first seat goes to replace the unsafe seat while she can wait another week if need be to get the seats in our car.) They are just as advertised, very narrow, nice low profile, and super-sturdy! And I've gotta say the folding up is cool. Heavy, but then again, that's 'cause they're built to be so sturdy and hold such big kids! And Emma looks to have a good few years of growth in this seat. I think she'll make it at least to 6 for sure (by height of course, there's no way she'll outgrow the weight when she's only 34-ish lbs. right now! By six I do expect her to have passed the "standard" 40 lb. limit, though, so I'm glad I'll be able to keep her harnessed-- check out the sidebar for info on extended harnessing!) I am going to be thrilled to have the kids in such great seats (now that I've played with one and figured it out.)

Now I think I'm gonna take more Sudafed and Tylenol; I'm so congested my ears hurt. :( Bridey has been screaming her poor little head off since she woke, about every little thing, saying "no no no!" and throwing fits. I think she feels about like I do. But I am not up for wrestling meds into her; maybe when Jeff gets home we'll dose her so she can sleep tonight. Emma's doing the best of the three of us, she's a little drippy at the nose but her cough seems better today and she doesn't seem so miserable. And her throat seems better than ours, she's a little more open to eating "scratchy" things.

Little Miss Bigfoot

Okay, we knew Bridget was outgrowing her shoes, and that she has big feet. But this is getting crazy.

After my doctor's appointment (Miss Bigfoot the Youngest had fun kicking the doppler and giving the doc grief when he tried to listen to her heartbeat; he thought it was pretty funny) we dropped by the shoe store because Bridey has literally outgrown ALL her shoes. She hardly even got to wear the size 7 sneakers we bought last month. I measured her feet and she's more than 7 1/2, I had to buy her size 8 sneakers today. EIGHT!!! She is TWENTY TWO MONTHS OLD! Emma is just barely starting to creep up on the limits of her size eight shoes! I got Easter/summer church shoes for both of them and one pair was size 8 for Bridey, one was size 8 1/2 for Emma. (Church shoes give a little more growth room because they can wear tights or thin fancy socks instead of play socks with them.)

Now, hopefully Bridey will not grow so fast that I will have to buy her size 9 shoes before the summer is over... Even $13 Payless shoes get expensive when you have to buy a new pair each month!

Their Easter dresses also came UPS today (this dress in "Straw Yellow Daisy"; their cousins got the same dress in "Shell Pink Daisy") and I pulled them out to look at the size. Emma's looks perfect (got her a 5) but I'm going to have to try on Bridey's 3T before I decide whether it's big enough or whether to send it back and get a 4... She is just growing so fast!

Bragging on my sister

My sister (half-sister, same mother, whatever) Megan (who is a graduate student in ceramics) has had a piece accepted for the International Orton Cone Box Show! It's a prestigious travelling 2-year show. All the pieces must be small, no bigger than 3X3X6 inches, and available for sale, valued between $30 and $150. Or something like that. :) This article about the 2004 show will give you an idea how hard it is to get in, and how well-respected the show is.

Here are pictures of the piece that was accepted:

Middle of the night snacking

Onion bagel with reduced-fat cream cheese and a can (yes, that's a whole can, folks) of freestone peach slices, drained. Mmmmmm.

Why am I telling you this? Because I can.

I remember the days...

...when doing ONE load of laundry did not cause me to be short of breath, dizzy, and thoroughly exhausted.

When eating dinner was not a chore that likewise exhausted me.

When I could interact with my kids without becoming so frustrated that I put MYSELF on time-out to avoid screaming.

When showering was part of my, if not daily, at least weekly routine, and not something I vaguely remember I used to do more than a few times a month, and baths, while nice, were not a near-nightly necessity for back pain.

Ah, the days gone by... As they say, "Welcome to the third trimester." :|

Time is a funny thing...

Sometimes, days and hours drag by so slowly. And yet Sunday, the one day we have together as a family right now, seems to fly by so fast.

I can't believe Sunday is practically over. I wish it weren't. I like seeing my husband now and then. ;) And yet, every day done is another day I don't have to wait for things...

Things I'm waiting for:

St. Patrick's Day. How can I not love a day when I wear my favorite color and make colcannon and listen to even more Irish music than usual? Although we traditionally have poached salmon with the colcannon, since I just like an excuse to buy some good salmon and cook it (well, it is a traditional Irish food source, too), this year I'm not sure I'm up for that much extra work. I'm thinking of getting ham steak instead and just serving fried ham with the colcannon. I doubt I'll be baking soda bread, either. In any case, colcannon is the main thing for me... 2 weeks, one day left until St. Patrick's Day.

Easter, because Easter is a great holiday. It's all joyous and happy; it's religious and intuitive all at once (how can you not celebrate Spring? And celebrating Spring goes perfectly hand-in-hand with celebrating the Atonement and the Resurrection.) And we get to hang out with my family and eat good food. And the kids get new matching dresses, which is always cute, and hunt eggs, which is cuter. 3 weeks left until Easter.

The end of tax season. That will be niiiice. I am very anxious to NOT have Jeff working 90+ hours a week (usually more.) And we'll finally be able to really get things ready for the baby to come. 6 weeks, 2 days left until April 15, the end of tax season.

The baby coming! So far we're planning on April 24 (when I will be exactly 39 weeks along) as the induction date. (I may not make it that far but if I can it would be a nice day, we think.) I'm looking forward to meeting the baby, of course, but also to just not being pregnant any more! It hurts. And to getting some REST in the hospital, I love my girls but I will really enjoy just having ONE for most of the day for a few days, and getting to bond with the newest little snuggler. Not to mention being waited on, never running out of diapers, not having to fight little ones over what I want to watch on tv... 7 weeks, 4 days left until my anticipated induction date and meeting Maggie.


What's funny is, when you put it in weeks, it doesn't seem that long-- but when you try to think ahead to it, your mind can't quite grasp how fast it might go, and each individual day still seems to go so slowly sometimes.

I remember waiting seemed so much slower when I was little. Perhaps it was because it was more of a percentage of my total life lived, and now it's less? If that's the case, is everything just going to keep speeding up as I get older? I can't believe my little baby Emma will be four on April 5... And Bridey will be 2 on the 21st of April. Soon after that I'll turn 25, and a month after that will be our fifth wedding anniversary! *sigh* I remember all that time, but it doesn't seem like years.

Time is such a funny concept.

I am officially, medically confirmed weird.

So, I just spent (counts) 9 hours in the hospital. I was so dizzy today that I couldn't stand up. This happens sometimes when I'm pregnant, but usually goes away within a few hours. After it had persisted 7, I called my doc who told me to go get checked out. After 2 more hours of procrastinating, I called my mom. She met us at the ER and watched the kids (we picked up Emma-- and dinner-- on the way) while I went up to L&D for monitoring (the ER won't do much of anything when you're pregnant without making them look at you first) and then back down to the ER. Then Jeff (who had come home from work when I fell) switched the car seats to her car, and left. Then I got to, basically, wait around while they watched my bp yo-yo (oh so fun-- readings ranged from 128/68 to 91/44, and everything in between), did an EKG, did a lie down-sit-stand monitoring test, took my temp, took a urine specimen, took blood, took blood again when the lab lost the blood... At one point my mom took the kids to her house, where unfortunately for her they did NOT sleep, and Jeff came back from work, and then left again, picked up the kids, and came back, and they finally released me, after telling me that I'm dizzy, giving me medication for it, which didn't help, and telling me not to stand up if when I stand up I get dizzy. Which is what I KNEW WOULD HAPPEN AND WHY I DIDN'T WANT TO GO IN IN THE FIRST PLACE... Ay.

The doctor could find no cause, and could not understand WHY this happens every time I'm pregnant. (Idiopathic labyrynthitis or something like that is the official diagnosis.) He said it seems I'm just weird. (He is very nice, and said that in a joking tone with a smile on his face. I like him a lot. He remembered me from two years ago when I came in for something else while pregnant with Bridey, when I had different glasses, different hair, and did I mention it was two years ago? :o Truth be told I remembered him too-- he's very nice and cool!)

I suppose it wasn't a complete waste of time-- I got to watch all the cute paramedics go by... *sigh* And at least I can now tell people that I am officially, medically confirmed weird. ;)

Next time I get dizzy I am not going in even if my doctor tells me to.

"Happy bubble!"

So, the kids were playing in the living room. I was trying to watch Medium (hooray! New episodes are back!)

All of a sudden I heard a sound like the "whoosh"ing of a foam coming out of an aerosol container (think whipped cream, yes?) followed by Emma laughing and Bridey clapping and yelling "Happy bubble! Happy bubble!" I go out and what do I see?

THEY HAVE FOUND A CAN OF SHAVING CREAM, SPRAYED IT ALL OVER THE WALL OVER THE COUCH, AND PLASTERED A DECK OF "GO FISH" CARDS TO THE WALL WITH THE SHAVING CREAM. AAAAAAAACK!

To make it worse shaving cream had incidentally been splattered all over the back of the couch cover-- the brand new, just-washed couch cover. Grrrr.

I tried to have Emma take down and wipe down cards with me but she was just making more of a mess. So I wiped the cards and the hugest chunks of the shaving cream left on the wall, cleaned the couch, and then set her to washing the rest of the shaving cream off the wall. And the "Go Fish" cards have been taken away for the duration of a week because they were not used properly.

"Happy bubble." Yeah, right. AND I missed the climax of Medium.

It is SO nice to have children who love to eat...

I am aware that there is a species of toddler/preschooler/older child out there known as the "picky eater." This is an unknown animal at our house. Well, that's not quite true; they have preferences, and many of those preferences might be considered "picky" by some. But for the most part, they are what is known to grandmas all over the world as "good eaters."

For instance, tonight for dinner we had artichokes, fish nuggets, home-made tartar sauce, and boiled baby rose and purple potatoes. I am aware that some children, if served this meal, might have had a fit and refused to eat. My kids gobbled it, and asked for more... Jeff had fun supervising Bridey to make sure that she didn't eat the WHOLE artichoke leaf, but that was our worst problem tonight. Emma said she likes artichokes, and she likes the hearts the most. She also enjoyed trying the purple potatoes (such fun! Food in a silly color!) When asked what they were like, she answered, "They taste like cranberries and juicy." Okay. I can kind of see that. They were very moist because their skin holds in more moisture than many varieties, being a bit tougher, and they have a decided earthiness, more than most varieties of potato, which does remind me a bit of unsweetened cranberries. I'm kind of amazed that a three-year-old could come up with a comparison like that, though!

We have our problems in this family. But luckily for us, food issues are not one of them! And now we are all very happy and content, with good food in our tummies. What a nice way to end a Sunday. :)

Radian 65 on sale at hipmonkey.com!

Yeah, I should have waited another week...

Radian 65 car seats are now only $169.99 (no tax, free shipping) at hipmonkey.com (as mentioned in a previous post, where I got my 3 Radians before-- for a little more!)

Yes, I bought another one.

It's for Grandpa's car (Grandpa picks Emma up from preschool when Abba can't-- like all the time during tax season-- and she is outgrowing the seat he has for her.)

With this extra Radian, I'll be able to get 3 car seats in the back of Grandpa's car using the Radian for Emma, the Scenara for Bridey (currently her main seat, soon will become her spare), and the SnugRide infant seat (minus base) for Maggie (or move her to the Scenara and Bridey to the seat Ems is currently in when she outgrows that) if we ever need him to take us anywhere before I have got our minivan (which we're not getting until I'm pregnant with number 4.) So that's another good reason to get it. :)

And we can afford it right now, we just got our tax refund AND Jeff got a $300 tip at work yesterday.

Am I a total geek that this makes me so happy?

There are some other great seats on sale, too! If you are interested in a higher-weight harness seat for your child, now is the time to buy!

MY trip to the dentist went MUCH better than Emma's.

I haven't had dental insurance for a long time, like since before I was married, so I haven't been in years. My wisdom teeth have come in and are causing me great pain (one is in sideways and of course none of them have been sealed, like my other teeth, so prone to cavities because of the crowding they're causing.)

My dad gave us a ride, and he walked the kids to the library and the park while I was there (they were both just a few blocks down.) They only had to wait about 20 minutes at the end; they came in when it started raining.

After waiting almost an hour (only bad part), I finally was taken back for x-rays. That was the longest part of the visit-- it took a LONG time because I have crowded teeth, TMJD, and a VERY STRONG gag reflex. The dental technician ended up numbing my mouth with benzocaine and then sticking it in at the last second and saying "now" to the tech standing outside to get shots of my bottom, impacted tooth. Ay.

Then we got to the consult. The dentist says that yes, the wisdom teeth need out, and yes, I have cavities, but if my doctor and I are more comfortable waiting until the baby is here that's okay, as long as nothing changes. I have to floss every day, brush 2 or 3 times a day, and use mouthwash (all things I already do) and call if there is ANY change or increase in pain level. But she thinks that the cleaning I got today and daily maintainance will be enough to keep it at bay so I can get the work done after the baby comes. Yay! So I have an appointment for that for the middle of May-- I think the 15th. That will be a good time, I think.

BTW, we used 1-800-Dentist to find a dentist in our area that was open Saturdays, would take a pregnant woman (though of course I had a note from my doctor giving permission), and does oral surgery. She's the nicest dentist, and has about the nicest staff, I've ever encountered. So score one for 1-800-Dentist!

When I got back, my mom was here. (She came over right after we left.) She stayed for several more hours, and cleaned some more dishes and more of my apartment. Again. I love my mommy.

Now my dad is bringing me the first artichokes of the year! (He went to Bristol Farms, and they have the BEST artichokes and only the best!) Mmmm, I sense an artichoke in my future tonight or maybe tomorrow...

My little mimic

Tonight I was sitting on the bed when Emma came in with one of her "babies." (She told me that it was a boy-- even though I'm pretty sure it's not-- and that its name was Daniel. Like Ms. Rayann's son Daniel.) Anyway, she came in and said very seriously, "Mommy, I need you to help me with something, okay? Please help me out by holding my baby very carefully." I said, "Okay," and took the baby. "Be very careful! Don't drop my baby, okay?" "I promise I will not drop your baby. I'm very good at taking care of babies. Really." "Okay, that will be a big help. I will be back. Bridget and I are going to do our job by shopping for groceries now." And she left. And I cracked up!

I got my new car seats!

Well, I didn't get them, yet. But I'll get them in about a month. And I ordered and paid for them today. I ordered them from hipmonkey.com's Presidents' Day Sale. Emma says, "I will have a gray car seat, Bridget will have a pink car seat, and Maggie will have a tan car seat." She is very adamant. So we bought two Radian 65s (one "Granite"-- grey, one "Champagne"-- tan), and one Radian 80 in the Princess pattern, for Bridey. Since our kids are tall and skinny enough that they will probably outgrow even the 65s by height before they outgrow them by weight (most kids do, even though the Radian has very high top slots), this will work great for us. They sell the infant insert separately, so the 65 (which doesn't come with one) will work fine for the baby once we get one. (We'll also probably get a few of these because the seat covers are hand-wash only and I'd MUCH rather throw one of these in the washer if we have a diaper blowout or a potty-training incident in the car seats. Since these products are made by Sunshine Kids, the company who makes the Radian seats, they have been tested with the Radians and are not considered an after-market product. Remember to read the instructions for your car seat to find out what is and is not allowed to be used with your seat before you use ANY extra products, as use of such products may void the warranty and cause you to be held partially liable by your insurance company in case of a crash that your child is injured in-- which means they may not pay for needed therapy or other benefits.) AND the seat covers are interchangeable for the 65 and the 80, so if at some point Emma DOES outgrow it by weight before height, we can just switch her cover with Bridey's, if it comes to that. And with the sale, my grand total for all three was $619.97! That's a great deal for 3 Radians. And shipping is free, and no tax. AND shopping at that site benefits the Kyle David Miller Foundation (it's actually run by his mom.)

Can you tell I'm excited?

The sale runs through tonight if anyone else is interested. Besides Radians they also sell Britax, Recaro, and SafeGuard higher-weight harnessed seats, Britax strollers, and Peanut Shell slings and nursing covers, among other things. :)

Getting ready for Valentine's Day

Emma is old enough to be excited about Valentine's Day (and every other holiday!) now. (They did Chinese New Year at her preschool, too, and she loved it!) She's been bringing home crafts, having me cut out hearts for her to decorate with markers, etc. But I thought that making 17 valentines (one for everyone in her preschool) would probably be a bit much for her attention span. So when I went to the store last night (I needed desperately to get out!) I picked up a box of strawberry cake mix (on sale, of course), some Valentine's Day cupcake papers, and some candy hearts. Emma is going to help me make cupcakes tomorrow and decorate them for her class, and take them in to preschool with her. She is very excited.

On top of that, Grandpa (my dad) must have somehow known that I've been lamenting not being able to get to See's lately, not even for Valentine's Day. He got us gift certificates, and he asked whether he should give them to us or stop by and get some for us, or whether I would like him to try and get off in time to pick us up and take us tomorrow. Of course I chose "take us tomorrow!" That will be a lot of fun for the girls AND for me. I love going to See's (and not just 'cause they give out samples! ;) It's just a fun place!)

And on Friday night Jeff has promised we will all go out to dinner (probably the Glendale location of Conrad's because it's the only place around open 24 hours-- actually the only place open past 11 or so. Well, the only decent place, I don't count Denny's, and even our IHOP closes at 11-- you have to drive a lot further to get to the nearest 24 hour IHOP. And it's fun, and the kids like it-- they give them coloring pages and crayons, and the two of them can share one kids' meal because the portions are so big! Plus the food tastes like someone actually cared how it would taste when they made it, they have yummy specials... Mmmm, I think Friday they even have the famous "steak soup!" Man, that soup is delicious-- ground sirloin, all kinds of veggies, and they put something special in it, that I can never quite duplicate at home...) We're not going on Thursday because we figure Emma will be wound up enough after preschool, and I'll want to get out more desperately on Friday, and it might be less crowded, plus of course Jeff gets paid on Friday. ;)

So actually, all in all, we're doing quite a bit for Valentine's Day this year. And here I was lamenting that we wouldn't get to do anything at all, other than make cards. :) It's nice when everything works out.

Congratulations to Rayann-- it's a BOY!!!

Rayann had her baby! It's a boy! (We were both thinking girl-- it was a complete surprise!) Michael Dennis was born at 1:50 AM CST 2/11/2008, 9 lbs. 2 oz., 21.5 inches, completely healthy, an at-home VBAC. Mama is doing great and so is baby! Lots of love to her and the new baby, and thanks to her for calling me, even if it was five minutes after I'd gone to sleep and I didn't get back to sleep for hours. ;) I wanted to know! Now I have to decide which baby boy goodies to send from my baby gift cupboard... What a nice decision to have to make, huh? :D

Dentists, drugs,and HALLUCINATIONS

So we had quite the day. We went to the dentist and all I can say is thank the Lord for my mother. She went in, gave Emma the second dose of sedative (I forced her to choke down the first), talked her through the procedures, and basically made it possible for them to do the work today. Emma has a ton of cavities; they only got x-rays and did the bottom half. The top ones have to be done another day because it wasn't safe to sedate a 33-lb. child long enough to do them all. I'm going to talk to her pediatrician about prescribing flouride.

Then we got home, I put Bridey down in the crib, she played a while then went to sleep (thank you Lord) and then the REAL fun started. Emma had a paradoxical reaction to the benzodiazepan she was given. I know what fun this is because it happened to me when I was 12. (I can't have anything in that class and now neither can she-- Valium, Versed, or the one she was given which I have written down somewhere and which starts with an "m", my mom e-mailed it to me so I can update her records but I can't remember it, or anything related.) She got real sleepy, like she was going to conk out; that was fine since she was cranky and still dizzy from the nitrous. Then all of a sudden she was wide awake, asking what the turtles were doing. Um, what turtles? The ones building something by her. That was fine-- until they climbed onto her and she was screaming "get them off, get them off, oh, no, they went in my pants!" What followed was 2 hours of frantic phone calls to my mom (who, btw, is a pediatric nurse) and me doing everything in my power to distract her, reassure her that they were just pretend, not real, and they could not hurt her (although then she said they were attacking her and they WERE hurting her, poor baby had-- and has-- a rash, my mom thinks from where they restrained her, and was interpreting it as the turtles attacking her), and we even had to take off her pants because she was absolutely hysterical that they were building something in her pants and she WANTED THEM OFF. I was brushing off imaginary turtles, for a long time, and it was not fun. Then they turned into ants. At least the ants weren't on her, just on parts of the bed. So she colored, being careful to stay away from the ants, and I used "magic ant spray" to "clean off the ants" if they "got too close to her." (Hard to do since she was the only one who could see them. She had to direct me and tell me if I missed any.) Along with this reaction comes extreme low blood pressure, which causes dizziness, so when she would stand up and climb to get away from them, she fell. She fell off the bed twice. This only made things worse. I was trying to get her to drink water, to clear it from her system a bit faster, but she wouldn't drink much because her mouth hurt and of course wouldn't take any Tylenol for the pain.

Finally it wore off. Thank goodness. And she ate some yogurt and fell asleep for four hours or so (actually I slept for almost three, until the baby got up.) I am so grateful that her reaction didn't last as long as mine did. And that her sister slept through it so I could give her my full attention and be there for her.

She woke up and wouldn't eat or drink still because her mouth hurts so much. I did get her to eat an ice pop. And her grandma is bringing her a milkshake for dinner (and a hamburger for her sister and a chicken salad for me.) So that's at least something. She's asking for bread so I think I'll let her try a bit of soft white bread with the crusts removed, and some hummus.

It's really hard dealing with this! And Jeff won't be home until almost 11 again. AND this means the rest of her work can't be done in the office-- that's the only pediatric sedative they're licensed to use. She will have to go to the hospital and have the work done under general anesthesia. I'm just hoping my mom can take the whole day off that day because I cannot care for a child recovering from general anesthesia AND my second child AND myself all alone. I just can't.

New Car Seat Safety Info on Sidebar

I'm one of those car seat freaks. You know, the one who obcesses over not only my kids' safety in the car, but everyone else's. I see tv shows with improperly restrained kids and wince. Anyway, I've been thinking a lot lately about the subject (as I researched how to fit three across in the back of our Corolla-- we'll be doing it using three Radians, the narrowest seat on the market, two rear-facing and one forward-facing for Emma in the middle) and I thought I'd share a few tips, because a staggering number of parents don't know enough to be able to make the safest choices for their kids in the car, and an even more staggering number of parents buy car seats but don't use them correctly.

Take a look and see if you learn something! If you spot any errors please tell me-- I did check it over several times but it is a bit late and I am a bit tired today. :)

Quite a week.

It's just been one of those weeks. On Thursday last, Jeff was in a wreck. Our car will be in the shop for two weeks-- not cool. We had to buy a new car seat for Emma because hers was in the car; don't know when the insurance company's going to get around to replacing that one. I had to take her to the dentist on Sat. (I had noticed a spot on her tooth.) She has cavities. We have to take her in next Wed. to get them fixed (and it's going to be a doozie of a day then, too, since we have to take her fasting. Yikes.) Afterwards we hit the Mervyn's sale and IKEA-- which was a bright spot-- but Bridey decided she'd rather play than nap, and didn't nap at all. Jeff's last client came in late, and he didn't get there to pick us up until after 10. Then on the way home, we ran out of gas (stupid rental car only indicates that the tank is low at the last minute.) We had to coast to the nearest gas station (thankfully it was downhill most of the way) in the rain. Then as Jeff pulled up he realized-- the gas tank was on the other side. Thankfully, there was a guy there who helped Jeff push it around to where he could get it over. Then, turns out there was a problem with their machines, and they were only taking cash. We scrounged up $5 between the two of us-- we just don't carry much cash-- and that was enough to get us to the next gas station, where the card thing was working. Jeff went to church the next morning without us, because we all had a horrid cough and my head was throbbing and my throat was aching. It hasn't stopped since-- the head throbbing has eased up a bit, but the threat and cough remain. Grrr. As soon as I start to get over one thing I get another! Bridey too. (Emma was a little cranky but got over the bug in a day or two, it seems.) A few nights ago, I had contractions that didn't slow down unless I was lying down-- kinda hard to manage with 2 little ones running around. And Jeff's not getting home until between 9:45 and 10:30 now, pretty much every night. That was rough. Today Jeff had his second sitting of the Part 2 EA exam-- and again, missed passing by 2 points. So he'll have to take it again-- if he can find the time. He's upset because he didn't really get a chance to study-- between the wreck, dealing with Emma's insurance, and working 75 hours a week, not to mention two kids and a pregnant wife, he's tried, but not gotten much in. Not to mention, I apparently missed a sale on Radians at Babiesrus.com, which stinks, because it was, like, half off, and that would have been a really nice savings. We have to buy three so we can fit all 3 kids in our car once the baby comes. *cry* It's really expensive, and they just don't seem to go on sale hardly ever. When they do, they're gone within a few hours.

Hopefully things will ease up soon-- because this week has proved the truth of the saying, "When it rains, it pours." I don't think I can take the downpour much longer!

When Abba's away...

...the girls will play.

Jeff is on a business trip-- he went to Oakland after work yesterday evening with others from his work, to do non-stop tax returns (mostly for fire fighters, apparently-- kind of their niche up there) tomorrow and the next day. He won't be home until tomorrow night.

We got through last night with only a bit of difficulty; Bridey woke up every few hours screaming for no discernable reason, had to be cuddled for a few minutes then put back down. (And yet, she slept through the INCREDIBLY LOUD paint sprayers right outside this morning. Go figure.) Emma was a little anxious to go to sleep with me instead of laying on her own bed with Abba (she's been sleeping in the inflatable on our bedroom floor, better than having her in our bed, but I can't lie there right now, at least not if I want to get up, you know, ever, and she won't fall asleep alone, so she came in the bed with me), mostly expressing this in a fight over whose pillow she was going to use (she wanted mine. I said no way. She ended up with Abba's.) But most of her anxiety was dealt with pretty well, mostly because of excitement over getting to go to the store with Grandpa (who picked her up from preschool, and took her shopping with him and let her pick out treats to bring home) and our pizza party tonight.

You see, since Abba had to leave us, I thought we'd have some fun without him. Something for Emma to look forward to and tell him about, you know. So tonight, we're having a pizza party. The pizzas are ordered (should be here in 10 minutes or so, as I write), and we're going to watch movies (I'm starting early so I won't miss my Friday night shows ;) ), eat popcorn, drink special drinks (soda for me, undiluted apple juice for Bridey-- she usually gets about 1 part juice to at least 4 parts water, if not more, and horchata for Emma), and have cookies, candy, and I even ordered hot apple pie snacks from the pizza place, which we NEVER have. Emma keeps saying, "We are going to have a PIZZA PARTY! And Abba can't come, but I will tell him about it, that is SO MEAN!" Then she giggles her little head off. (Of course, she said, "We are actually pretty nice, really. We will save him some pizza for when he comes home.")

I also let her help me open my package that came from Old Navy (with my 75% off maternity clothes, woo-hoo!) She loves to help open packages. She will have LOTS to tell Abba about tonight!

Sometimes you find something that really works-- Hanes socks

Sometimes, stuff actually works the way it's advertised.

The girls are really hard on socks. REALLY hard. They stain them, wear them down, everything imaginable. Not to mention it's hard to keep matching pairs clean when they take them off and scatter them all over the house where I don't find any given sock's mate at wash time, especially when each pair in the pack has a different color, accent, or cute little design.

They are now both wearing the same size, so we had to buy more socks. I bought a pack of Hanes girls' ankle socks, which are advertised as "repelling more dirt" or something like that. (They were $0.50 more than the Target brand socks so why not?) After one load of wash, I bought two more packages!

While we will still probably buy the odd package of "pretty" socks for dress-up wear, these are our new everyday socks for the girls. They are thick enough that they aren't getting weird worn spots after a couple of wears like the other socks do. They really do release dirt better in the wash (other white socks would get sprayed and sprayed with Shout and still come out looking slightly dingy. These get one light spritz of Shout and come out looking pristine, even when Bridget stepped in caramel, chocolate, and macaroni and cheese, then ground them in.) Emma is very particular about the way her socks sit on her feet; these seams are comfortable for her and the socks are well-shaped for her little feet, meaning no crying about "My socks are not right and I can't deal with it!" No fancy doo-dads and patterns means never not having a mate to a sock as long as we keep up a decent supply. And when Emma grows out of this size and moves up to the next one, the color coding will mean we will know whose socks are whose.

I'm seriously thinking of never buying another kind of socks (other than fancy socks for the girls and dress socks for Jeff and any boys we may have.) Just keeping a list of who wears what color heels and gradually replacing all our non-special white socks with Hanes!

AND there was a coupon in the paper this week for $1 off any Hanes socks. Score! I will totally be using THAT coupon!

Good Grief (or, if that's fat, I don't want to know what I am)

Okay. So apparently Jennifer Love Hewitt was photographed in a bikini, and people started calling her "fat" around the internet. They were making fun of her rear, thighs, etc. She responded that she's happy with her body.

WHY SHOULDN'T SHE BE? Good grief, the woman has a wonderful body! (Here is a link to the picture, with very unkind caption, for those of you who are interested. Warning: some language, especially if you click the picture to get the rear view.) I would LOVE to have that body! What the heck are they thinking? The woman is SKINNY! So she has a bit of stuff in the rear, and some thighs. They're still smaller than mine! Sure, her choice of swimsuit could be more flattering. But she looks better in a swimsuit than I ever will, rear-end fat notwithstanding.

People who think JLH is fat: you're crazy, and possibly sick. Would YOU look that good in a bikini or out of it?

Sick AGAIN

I can count on one hand the number of times we've made it to church in the past 4 months. Literally. (A few times Jeff and Emma have been well enough to go without Bridey and me.) And tomorrow, we're not going to make it again.

We are all sick. We have an annoying post-nasal drippy thing going on that was so hard on Bridey last night she kept waking up from coughing and choking on snot. We finally gave her Sudafed at 2:20 am, thankfully it didn't make her hyper, or she was exhausted enough to get over that, because after that she dried up and went to sleep for the rest of the night. We did go out to the store today (thrift store, yay! Jeff STILL HAS NOT FOUND MY MATERNITY CLOTHES so I had to pick some big t-shirts and maternity pants up at the thrift store to hold me over. Hopefully he'll find my maternity garments before I have to buy new ones-- at best estimate I will last three more weeks before the regular garments just absolutely do not fit. Jeff found a t-shirt for me that says, "I'm PREGNANT, I'm UP and DRESSED, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?" I love it! I also got books and videos for Christmas presents-- part of our reduced consumption Christmas is that we buy gifts at the thrift store. The kids get one new gift each from Santa. Oh, and a beautiful wool coat for Emsie.) But we were careful not to touch things unnecessarily or, you know, breathe on people. Or let the kids do so. We don't want to spread this thing. And we're definitely not going to church like this, there are elderly people, immuno-compromised people, and premature babies in our ward. Not going to be responsible for making them sick!

Jeff is supposed to be studying for his EA exam right now (he's taking it-- well, part 1-- the 17th of Dec.) but I think he's watching tv or playing a game (he got a laptop for a graduation present. He's thrilled.) Oh, no, here he is, EA study guide in hand. Guess he's being good! (Now the kids have made him read one story before he gets to study. I guess that's allowed. ;) )

We had my appointment on Monday afternoon (after Bridey's Monday morning exam, and her SIX SHOTS-- what I get for postponing her vaccinations because she was always so sick and it didn't feel right to give them to her before; thankfully she had one day of fever from the MMR and it was over, and didn't freak out every time she saw the band aids like Ems used to.) The heart rate was good, the weight gain was good, I got a new prescription for phenergan (yay!), this time with 3 refills-- which should last, at the rate I take the stuff, until I'm 8.5 months pregnant, so I sure HOPE the morning sickness will be done with by then! I have settled into a routine of taking it every night before bed, and that keeps the sickness away until the next evening. I forgot last night and almost threw up before I took a half dose this morning. Then I slept, 'cause it makes me tired. So I just need to remember to take it before bed so that doesn't happen! He also confirmed that Zantac is just fine when I have severe heartburn.

My Uncle Bob is doing somewhat better with his therapy. (They have confirmed, it is ALS. :( ) He is home and receiving daily therapy and assistance from a home care worker. He has a hospital bed in his room and that is where he stays mostly, except during therapy. We went over the other day and we all stopped in his room to say "hi." He is very excited to find out the gender of the baby.

Oh, that's right-- the gender of the baby! I forgot to mention that we'll find out at the ultrasound, which is scheduled for Dec. 21. If, that is, the baby cooperates! I hope for Uncle Bob's and Jeff's sakes that it does. They'd go crazy! But I personally don't really want to know, never do. Jeff and I finally compromised when I was pregnant with Bridget that we'll keep finding out until we have at least one boy; then, with each gender covered, he's willing to let the one after that be a surprise.

I have had some seriously weird cravings lately. Last night I HAD TO HAVE black olives. And water chestnuts. And dill pickles. But that was only after I got over the craving for an ice cream sundae with (get this) vanilla ice cream, chunky peanut butter, strawberry jam, dill pickles, whipped cream, and tuna... I decided to pass on that one so as not to make Jeff and Emma sick. Previously in this (and other) pregnancies, I've had cravings, sure, but they were for things I already liked-- curry, tater tots, Chinese food, etc. The bizarre cravings of the last few days, the fact that I like peanuts this time around (aversions with the girls, very severe with Emma) and don't like pineapple pizza (which I have never liked EXCEPT while pregnant with the girls and occasionally while severely PMSing) have Jeff convinced this baby is a boy. We shall see!

So, um, that was pretty much our week. Not much else going on, save the, you know, tiredness and business and did I mention tiredness? Hope you are all well! Sorry I haven't been blogging much, I just haven't often had the energy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, I am thankful for phenergan and Zantac, which will enable me to actually eat Thanksgiving dinner.

Dinner's at my Aunt Linda's, at 5:30.

I'm bringing the green bean casserole (whoever's hosting gets to "assign" food. I got volunteered for this because it's easy and I'm pregnant.) Since I do not generally like green bean casserole (nor does my mom, nor do several other family members) I will be bringing petite peas with green onions in butter sauce as well.

Mmmmm. Someone around here is cooking sweet potatoes and I can smell it. If I opened the door I bet I would smell turkey, too.

Dang, I'm hungry. Time for my breakfast (microwave "baked" potato.) Yum, I can't WAIT for dinner!

Shopping: the good, the bad, and the painful

We had a shopping day today. USA Baby was having a sale; we didn't end up with any big-ticket items. We did end up with $60 worth of small ones, including things I'd been meaning to buy online but couldn't justify the shipping for; the sale price made them as cheap or cheaper than online prices, so I got them. We also got a very nice calming CD with instrumental arrangements of hymns and gospel songs that put the kids right out in the car and calmed my crankiness, and some cute and cool little pacifiers that snap closed to cover the nipple part when baby drops them (like this; we got two Bugsy Beetle patterned ones, one Lola Ladybug, and one Ethan Penguin.) Everything in the store WAS on sale, but unfortunately it was almost all only 15% off, not the higher-end discounts they had advertised so heavily, and most of it was overpriced to begin with. We did pick up some training chopsticks just because I have fond memories of learning to eat with chopsticks as a kid and even though Ems already knows how to eat with chopsticks, Bridey gets jealous and would like to learn too. And the price wasn't atrocious after the discount, so we figured why not.

Then we went over to the "Holiday Tent" at IKEA. We got all our gift wrapping stuff for Christmas.

Then since Macy's was right there and my aunt had given us some old Macy's scrip they never used for Jeff's graduation, we decided to do Macy's too. We got Jeff two dress shirts (one on sale, one on clearance) and a tie, then went downstairs so I could eye up all the baby stuff. The Christmas dresses were soooo cute. I really liked a few of them, but I knew we couldn't afford them (we had about $35 left after the shirts and tie, and that was before tax.) But then Jeff told me to choose the ones I liked, and buy them anyway; he said it was okay that it was a little more than I had budgeted for both dresses this year, that it was worth it to see me happy. I went and looked at the ones that I had loved the most-- and noticed a green notation on the tag. They were already marked down to $25 from $50, 50% off! With the additional 30% discount, that meant that both dresses would be $35 together, not $35 each, and just paying the tax was definitely within our budget! Then when I checked out, it turned out that the clearance shirt was on additional sale as well because of the brand it was, so it was $10 instead of $15 as it had been marked. So we walked away from checkout with two dress shirts, a nice tie, and two Christmas dresses for an out-of-pocket cost of $2.38-- less than the total tax on the items we bought!

Unfortunately, things then took a turn for the worse. As we were exiting, I slipped on a spill on the floor. (A "wet floor" sign was up, but on the other side of the walkway from the spill and behind a sign, not easily visible.) I cried out in pain as my back pain was immediately eclipsed by hard, painful contractions. My husband managed to help me limp over to a chair they pulled up for me. They gave me some water, took my information, and immediately cleaned the spill up better (apparently it had already been mopped, but not well) and moved the sign, as well as posting an employee to warn people away (which I was glad to see.) After a while the contractions were less, and I was able to walk out to the car. But they didn't stop on the ride home, or when I got home and put an ice pack on my back. I was worried, so we called around until we found someone to help with a blessing (our home teacher works late most Saturdays, and most every other night, unfortunately; he's a full-time student and has a full-time job as well to support his two kids and pregnant wife. I don't begrudge him supporting his family, of course, but it can be hard to reach him, so we often end up calling someone else for immediate needs.) He came right over and after the blessing, the contractions finally stopped (I had one during the blessing and then no more.) The pain in my back also got better (helped as well, I am sure, by the Tylenol and ice pack.) But all in all, it was a scary experience. Thank goodness, no bleeding, although I did have rather heavy cervical mucous discharge. If the contractions had not stopped, I was nearing the two-hour deadline I had given myself before I was going to have to call the doctor and probably go in. Instead, I laid back on the ice pack and we watched Evan Almighty (very funny, not at all disrespectful to religion, and really quite entertaining.) So I'm hoping this is pretty much the end to the incident, but we'll see.

First Prenatal Check-up

We went to my first check-up today. Emma was in preschool; Bridey stayed with Abba until time for the ultrasound. The doctor did both trans-vaginal and external ultrasound, for greater accuracy. I am a few days further along than I had guesstimated; my official due date is May 1, 2008. Looks like this baby is going to have a birthday VERY close to Bridey!

The baby (yes, just one baby!) seems healthy, did not like being disturbed by the u/s passing over (I think s/he was sleeping; the u/s passed over and the baby just scrunched up and flailed in protest!) Not nearly as active as Ems or Bridey were on their ultrasounds at this stage, but that's OKAY BY ME!

And I got phenergan, to curb my nausea! w00t!

I just talked to my aunt.

My Uncle Bob has been sick for a while. They haven't figured out what has been wrong with him. Last night they got a tentative diagnosis of Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS.) This is really bad.

They're still waiting on some more tests. It is not a definitive diagnosis yet. I would really appreciate everyone's prayers, for some kind of miracle that it is NOT ALS, for him to have a long and healthy life even if it is, just for him to be well, for his doctors to figure out what to do for him, and for my family in general.

Uncle Bob is really special to everyone who knows him. He has been a Catholic school teacher for many years (interspersed with some principaling and some consulting.) He has touched the lives of his students and their families as well as our family in so many ways. He is just one of the most wonderful people I know and we are not ready to accept this diagnosis until it is definite.

Please, any prayers you have for him and for us are much appreciated. His name is Bob Grossi. Thanks.

Do I REALLY have to change it?

Bridget has a poopy diaper. I know it's poopy. It's a really stinky one and I can smell it from across the room. She did it about 5 minutes ago.

But I also know that it's gonna smell WORSE when I open it up to change it.

And I'm gagging just smelling it in the closed diaper from across the room.

And I just managed to eat a little food and drink a little juice.

And I really don't want to throw up again.

And she's not complaining. Yet. She's happily playing "throw sister's stuffed animals on the floor, pick up, repeat."

But I'm probably going to throw up anyway if I don't change it soon.

I guess I'd better suck it up.

*sigh*

*goes to change the diaper*

Anyone want to help plan a menu?

It's for 10 to 60 people, a few of whom may be vegetarians, most of whose likes and dislikes I don't know, for dinner and dessert.

Yeah. That's what I thought. We're planning the menu for Jeff's graduation party-- invites went out a while ago-- the RSVP deadline (we specifically asked people to respond whether they are coming or not because you know how people are) is this Friday, and guess how many responses we've gotten, out of 50 invites? About nine. Nine. I'm going nuts trying to figure out-- can we have nice food, or are we going "feed the masses cheap"? I'm doing my shopping on Saturday and all I can say is they had better respond soon or I'm going to start making follow-up calls. And I'm not sure I can be polite.

But I do have some thoughts on the menu. I'm assuming we'll probably actually get between 30 and 50 people. Here's what I'm thinking so far:

-A crockpot roast dish. Either corned beef with veggies, a traditional pot roast type beef roast with veggies, or maybe pork roast with apples and potatoes (because pork roast is on REALLY cheap right now.)
-A chicken dish. Probably thighs and/or drumsticks because they are also cheap. Possibly deviled (we used the recipe for Emma's first birthday party and it was delish.)
-Salads. Probably a green one-- maybe this one, which can be made ahead of time and then everything tossed together at the last minute-- and several others, like a fruit salad, a three-bean salad, and maybe one more, I don't know what kind.
-A kind of macaroni-and-cheese, dressed up; little shells, tossed with a cream sauce with some garlic and herb Boursin melted in-- maybe I'll even use a jar of pre-made Alfredo sauce to make it easier-- dumped in a casserole, topped with bread or cracker crumbs, and baked. I'll give it some fancy French name that means "shells with cheese sauce" (I think I know how to say that but need to check my spelling.)
-Rolls. Because rolls are easy.
-Punch. Probably a container of cranberry juice cocktail and a bottle of Sprite dumped over ice. Maybe something else if some other kind of juice is on sale and I come up with something good.

I figure that should make everyone happy, right? Something for everyone. I will of course make signs telling everyone what is what, what was cooked with meat, what is vegetarian, and what is vegan, as well as any potential allergy alerts.

For dessert we are having a make-your-own ice cream sundae bar. We may or may not have a cake as well (which my aunt has offered to buy) depending on how many people come.

But this is all dependent, of course, on how many people are ACTUALLY coming.

If only 20 are going to show up, I will make something, you know, nice.

And if no one replies despite reminders, I'm going to have to smite them.

The up side of having a red couch and orange dining room chairs

When your 18-month-old eats your Baked Doritos and gets cheese hands, she doesn't stain the furniture-- only your pants.

A quick post of congratulations

I am still not up to my regular blogging schedule-- but I just wanted to post that Jeff is officially done with school! Yay!

He finished his last classes (they ended officially on Saturday), has his grades (he pulled off a 3.41 GPA! Yay for Jeff!), and on October 13 the graduation ceremony will be held at which he will officially be given his B.S. in Accounting. (Of course, we won't be there; he probably won't even bother to view it online. But it's good to know his name will be read out for everyone to hear.)

He is very happy, we are all happy, I am very proud of him. And we are planning a fun party on the 20th to celebrate.

Yay for Jeff, who finished school while working full time and being a full-time daddy and husband! It's the end of a long road for him.

Now to begin studying for the EA exam...

I have been derelict in my blogging duties.

I admit it. I'm sorry.

We had a wonderful time in Vegas (Emma wants to go back!) but I came home sick.

Not just pregnant sick, really virusy sick. And got over that one and got another.

I haven't been to church in, like, 3 or 4 weeks. I had to drop out of the quartet I was supposed to be in for a stake event because not only was I too sick to make the practices, I completely lost my voice for about 3 weeks. It's just now starting to come back.

So I haven't really had any energy for blogging. I am reluctant to admit I haven't even been reading other people's blogs much.

Besides me, the kids have been sick. Emma missed preschool about 3 times, and Bridey is having trouble sleeping at night because of the coughing and congestion.

So. I suck, I'm sorry, but I will probably not really blog again for a while, until I'm feeling better. It will be at least another week.

Feel free to tell me how awful I am.

So Long for Now

We're heading off to Vegas! Jeff is preparing for his EA exam and there is a seminar there (the one in L.A. was on Sat.-Sun., which is obviously a religious conflict. So his work, which is awesome, is paying for him-- and us-- to go to Vegas instead, where it is held Thurs.-Fri.)

I'll tell you all about it when we get back (we are staying at Circus Circus and meeting someone from the Nauvoo forums, both of which I am sure will be fun.) So so long until we get back!

Sooooo hot.

The last four or five days have been sweltering. I'm talking 113-120 degrees F. Even at night it's not cooling down like it usually does. And of course, the air a church has not been working properly. I went for Sacrament meeting and then had to come home (Bridget's nap time anyway) because between the nausea and the heat, I almost passed out in the bathroom.

Emma apparently told one of my friends that "the baby in Mommy's tummy made her feel sick." Hmmm, I may not HAVE to figure out how to break it to my dad and Sheri (they're coming over tonight for a Labor Day barbecue-- they have no a/c on the first floor of their house, and the swamp cooler is not working, so they're bringing the food they are feeding us over here and will grill the steaks and corn they're bringing on the big community grill out by the pool, then we will go swimming.)

I get pregnancy symptoms REALLY EARLY. I'm about 2.5 weeks past ovulation, and I've been sick about 2 weeks. I'm talking "morning" sickness (not necessarily in the mornings only!), dizziness, food aversions, cravings, severe fatigue, chestal swelling and soreness (already my nursing bras don't fit right, grrr), frequent urination, swollen feet, mood swings, crying at commercials, and general snappiness. Also, salty food tastes way more salty and sweet food tastes overly sweet. Luckily, instead of craving junk food this time (how I gained almost 60 lbs. with Bridget), I seem to be craving fresh fruits and veggies, salads, and whole grains. For instance, the other day I went to the store thinking I wanted chips and dip-- and ended up gagging at the sight of chips and dip, and getting 12-grain crackers and soft cheese with herbs and garlic (pasteurized, of course) to dip them in. I may have a repeat of some of my Indian food cravings I had with Emma, though, and man am I going to miss the Lebanese grill we loved in Richardson this pregnancy. I am also trying very hard to drink water before and after I eat-- this seems to make me less hungry and more satisfied, and helps with some of the "morning" sickness as well. It is looking more and more like I have a window from about 3 PM to 10 PM wherein I can eat, as long as I do it carefully, without losing anything I get down. Hooray! I do, however, have heartburn during that time. Grrr. But I am hoping my weight gain will be more sensible this time, considering I started with 18 extra pounds to begin with. *sigh*

Also-- and this is the saddest part-- ketchup does not make me gag, but it does seem to give me heartburn. I am having to severely limit it. Wah!

Well, I have to go make some mango sorbet for tonight. We were going to make home-made ice cream but I gagged at the thought of all that fat and sugar, and decided to make sorbet instead. Hey, at least the kid's keeping me straight on my diet!