a late update

Last Monday: I had a check-up at the doctor because I was going to be induced on Tuesday (the 30th). After talking with the doctor we realized that according to my ultrasounds that my due date was not till the 18th instead of the 10th. We decided that we would come in on Tuesday morning and have an amniocentesis done to check the development of our little baby boy’s lungs.

Last Tuesday: We arrived at the hospital to be potentially induced. After arriving around 7:30am we were hooked up to monitors and machines. The nurse who set up the bands around my tum-tum was impressed with the hardness of my abdomen. She thought I was having intense contractions because my stomach was rock hard but it turned out it was/is just FULL of baby. After hanging around for a couple hours the ultrasound technician came in to check on the little guy and see if we could find any amniotic fluid pockets that would be suitable to perform the amniocentesis. Once she started moving the magic wand around she too commented on how FULL of baby my abdomen was. This guy is EVERYWHERE! [Not exactly what I want to hear since N weighed in at 9lbs. 11ozs.!] They were finally able to find a spot that they could withdraw some fluid; after much flipping, turning, maneuvering, and manipulating of this baby. I was actually surprised at how painful it was to have the doctor lift the baby and move him around (while still in my uterus of course). Nothing compared to labor and delivery by any means, but none the less still painful. The amniocentesis went well and was uneventful (thank goodness). Then we got to sit and wait for another hour and a half or so. We were a little disappointed at the results (his lungs were at 30 and he needed to be at 55 in order for us to follow through with the induction). So we packed up and headed home; without a baby in our arms.

We were more than alright with the idea of not having the baby induced since his lungs were not fully mature but were slightly discouraged. I guess the timing would have been TOO perfect for it to work out. Our list of things that were prepared for this little guys’ arrival was more than complete plus my mom was up here to help with the kids while I would have been in the hospital. Now we get to play the waiting game and see what happens next. Our doctor moved my due date to the 18th now so we have a little more time. I know it does no good to worry about it but I am just hoping that everything falls into place and the baby is not born during T’s block exams (13th-15th); any other time would be just great! I have another appointment tomorrow so we will have to see what is in store for us next!

Beds are Complete!

Our boxes came Monday night! I was told they would be here last Friday but at least they did not come the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving! T and I got the beds ready Monday night but we did not have them ready before the kids’ bedtime so they all slept in N’s room again. Tuesday night was the first official night of everyone in their new beds! The big kids were super excited and did awesome. N on the other hand was a little overwhelmed with the idea of having the freedom to get out of bed whenever she wanted. It took her about an hour to fall asleep in addition to a few tears. At one point we heard J screaming that N was getting into her bed, so of course T and I both went running from opposite ends of our home. And sure enough, little N had crawled up the ladder and was on the top step almost in bed with J! Now we had tested the waters earlier by seeing if she could physically get up the ladder to see if we should be concerned about this issue but it appeared that she did not have the strength yet. I guess she was just playing possum. N thought she was so special when she got up this morning and walked right out into the living room. She was so proud that she did not have to call for someone to come and get her out of her crib.

Momma Bear, Grrr!

So following our package mix up on Wednesday morning, I made a phone call to the delivery company. It turns out that our packages originally came from NC via a particular shipper (unnamed) and switched carriers in the Twin Cities to another carrier (also to remain nameless) which made the mistake. So I was able to get in contact with the nameless carrier in the Twin Cities and spoke to someone. When I was informed that the soonest they could get us the proper packages would be next week Friday or Saturday (as in November 26th or 27th) I simply told them that was unacceptable and they needed to figure something else out. Then the woman came back on the line said they could reroute a truck and get the packages here by Tuesday morning at the absolute earliest. Still in my mind this was unacceptable; we have already been waiting for these beds for over a month! I *kindly* explained to her that we needed these packages by the 19th (especially since we have a guaranteed delivery by this date and the mistake was not our fault). Followed by letting her know that I was 9 1/2 months (so I fibbed a little by adding a week!) pregnant and my kids need their beds. Then I had an epiphany! If they can't get them to us by the 19th then they need to send them via a carrier that can. I know without a doubt that two different carriers make trips from the Twin Cities up here overnight. After being told that was not an option I was put on hold. All of the sudden (like MAGIC) a supervisor was on the line and he said he would be shipping our packages over night via UPS. Two morals to this drawn out story: persistence pays off and don't mess with a pregnant lady (YOU WILL NOT WIN!). After telling T my story over lunch on Thursday he chuckled a little then told the kids, "You don't mess with the momma bear, especially when it involves her babies". Now by all means I am not going to hold my breath waiting for these packages to come today but I am hoping that this man will follow through on his word and that everything will work out the way it is supposed to. Time will tell...

they are here

The bunk beds made it! We got all SEVEN boxes Wednesday morning. The delivery company called late (9:30ish) on Tuesday night and said they would be here by 8am. I persuaded T to go to school an hour late so he could assist if need be. We were told that they would bring all the boxes to our door but it turned out that they would only bring them to the first dry area within our building; so they left all the boxes in our mail room! I would have been in a big mess if T would not have stayed home. Some of the boxes weighed over 100 lbs. Once T got all the boxes in our home he was off to school. In the afternoon we started to put together the beds (around 3:30) and finally finished around 6:30. After beginning to open the boxes we realized that TWO of the boxes were not ours! They belonged to a couple in Edina (parts of a 1,000 bottle wine rack system!) and we were missing two of our packages. Arrrgghh! Are you kidding me? We waited this long to get the beds and now we are missing pieces. Luckily, the boxes we are missing were not crucial to the construction of the beds. We are missing the boxes that contain the ‘slat’ that goes under the mattress. The beds are completely unsafe and unusable so we had to put all 3 kids in N’s room with their old toddler beds in the hopes of being able to keep them off the new beds. N was so excited to have new bedroom guests that her 8 o’clock bedtime turned into a 9:30 bedtime. The big kids were sleeping by about 8:30 but little N was just too excited! Now we will have to wait and see how long it takes for us to get these other two boxes!? Why can’t things ever be easy around here?

too young for the O.T.?

The kids have really been enjoying reading their children’s Bible lately! Last week they were reading the Bible in E’s bed and J was telling the story of Adam and Eve. “And Eve told Adam ‘that sneaky snake gave me a poison apple’.” I thought that was cute and clever on J’s part. And then last night the kids were playing Bible again. The first Bible game of the evening was J putting her baby in a play mixing bowl, covering it up with a blankie, then putting it on the coffee table. This was her version of putting baby Moses in the river in a covered basket. Once again I thought this was clever. Then E was throwing all the baby dolls they had out of their room yelling, “I am killing all the boy babies!” J was really quick to tell him that she put deer blood on her door so he could not come and take her baby and kill it. Plus she mentioned that she was making good choices and following God’s rules. T and I are beginning to wonder if maybe they are a little too young for the Old Testament?!? We have finished the Old Testament now and are starting the New Testament tonight. I wonder what type of games will be next.

Blueberry-Banana Pancakes

This receipe has become a favorite around our home. When I ask the kids what they are hungry for this usually gets mentioned regardless of what meal we are about to embark upon. We found it in a recent Food and Wine magazine. I know some of you out there are pancake fans so here it is.

Blueberry-Banana Pancakes
Total time: 35 minutes – makes about 12 pancakes

Florence made these pancakes at home one weekend morning with his son Hayden. They’re a slight variation on a recipe for his new book, Tyler Florence Family Meal.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
¾ cup blueberries
2 bananas; sliced lengthwise 1/3 inch thick and cut to fit the pancakes
Confectioners’ sugar and pure maple syrup, for serving

1. In a small bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the buttermilk. Quickly stir in the flour mixture, then stir in the melted butter and blueberries.
2. Heat a griddle or a large nonstick skillet over moderately low heat and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Ladle ¼ cup of the batter per pancake onto the griddle, leaving room for the pancakes to spread. Gently lay one banana slice in the center of each pancake and cook until bubbles appear on the surface, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden brown on the second side, 2 or 3 minutes longer. Generously dust the blueberry-banana pancakes with confectioners’ sugar and serve with maple syrup.

Christmas Set-Up

We have been grappling with the idea of setting up for Christmas this year. When is the best time for us? T has a crazy school schedule that does not allow for free time during the week and he needs to devote at least 10 hours on the weekends to study. The weekends are really the only time that we can run errands or get anything done around here. We are *hoping* that the bunk beds will be here next weekend, so our project for the next weekend is already set (fingers crossed). That would leave this past weekend (Nov. 6-7) or the following weekend (Nov. 20-21) to set up Christmas. Now since the baby and I will technically be ‘full term’ on the 19^th we decided that we should set up Christmas the 7^th. (These little miracles tend to have a mind of their own: J was 37wks 5days, E was 37wks 5days, and N was (induced) 38wks 6days.) My point being is that this little guy could come whenever he wants! We went to the storage unit and got out all of our Christmas decorations and made it back in time for N to take a nap. J and E were so excited and were thrilled to help ‘set up’ the tree. After getting the lights on, we realized that we forgot the box of ornaments! So we took a little break from the tree and got out the rest of the other holiday decorations that go around our home. We got the totes ready to go back to the storage unit and were off again to get the ornament box. Once we made it back home we had some dinner then finished setting up the tree. The kids had so much fun! It was great to see how much they enjoyed helping and partaking in this activity. I sat on the floor and got the ornaments out one by one while each kid had a turn to bring it over to T and help decide where to put it on the tree. I know that within a few days all the ornaments will be moved to one place and the kids will have rearranged everything on the tree! The tree was almost complete… TIME FOR THE PRESENTS!!! I have all of our Christmas shopping done except for one couple. Everything is even wrapped and ready to go. The wrapped presents have been stacked in our storage room just waiting to be placed under the tree. The kids (once again) took turns carrying presents one by one out to T so they could put them under the tree. [Side note: it is beneficial to have little legs to save trips back and forth, back and forth.] So now we are ready for Christmas! I was wondering how long it would take for one of the gifts to be ‘accidentally’ opened by one of the kids and it did not take long! N ripped open the first gift this morning at about 9:15. I guess we will just have to wait and see how long we are able to keep the gifts out around the tree. Any guesses?

Our finished tree... with kids in pjs and all!!! (E does not believe in pjs.)

Super Sunday Morning!

Sunday started at 7 am, but with DST it was technically 6 am! That is way too early for this mommy, but the big kids were up and ready to go! It is amazing how many things can get done if the day starts at 6. By 8 am I had the kitchen cleaned up, dishwasher unloaded, shower done, make-up done, and hair done. PHEW! Now on to breakfast since the kids were getting hungry. As I peeled the kids away from their morning baby-sitter (aka the Disney Channel: rare tv occasion in our home!) T got out of bed and was ready to start the day. Now we have been talking about starting to go to church for a while now and decided it was time to embark upon this adventure. After breakfast we all finished getting ready for church and we had plenty of time to spare before we headed out. The kids have been so excited about the idea of going to church and getting to be in God’s house that they could hardly walk, literally they were jumping and bouncing all over the place. When we got to church the kids were in awe. J immediately said something to the effect of: ‘Do we get to go in that castle over there?’.  After we got to church we, of course, had bathroom breaks and a few minutes of getting settled. Now I must make a side note here and mention that our kids are ‘typical kids’ and are often unpredictable. They were all behaving wonderfully until church started; we told them it was time to be quiet and that we could not talk anymore. E immediately said that he did not want to be quiet and that he was going to talk followed by some yelling! All I could think of was… we are about 1 minute into church and we are already falling apart, this is not going to end well! After a few minutes, T came back in with E and was able to stay for the next 35 minutes or so! The kids did amazing reading books and playing with the beanie baby that they each got to bring. E decided that he needed to utilize the bathroom again so I took him out. Once I left N feel apart. When I finally came back, which was a while since the bathroom was not close and E decided that he had to go potty then he did not have to go then he did have to go, it was time that we left before causing a scene. Leaving at that time was alright, we almost made it to the end. The kids were quiet while we left but once we got outside J threw a HUGE fit. She was upset because she did NOT want to leave church. Bless her heart! = ) I guess there are worse things that she could thrown a fit about. We told her that we are going to keep going to church and each time will be better and better and maybe next time we can stay till the end. We felt far more comfortable at this church than our prior church because we were not a minority due to the fact that we have children. There were plenty of other families around with kids and other kids that misbehaved as well. I think we are just a little too zealous as far as wanting our kids to behave perfectly in public. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that they are kids and they are ‘normal’. It sure will be interesting when the new baby decides to make his appearance. We are going to have our ups and downs with this journey but in the long run it is going to be a good experience for our family. = )

that time of year

It is that time of year ALREADY! We (the big kids and I) started wrapping Christmas presents today. Alvin and the Chipmunks even accompanied us! We are over half done with the gifts that we are going to buy and now we have to pick up some gift cards. Our goal this year is to be completely done Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. We do not want to juggle 4 kids with the unpredictable weather while finishing our shopping. Plus we have found, over 90% of the time, that if we are looking for a specific item, it is cheaper on Amazon than in the stores! Now I am not trying to be a cheap skate but if we can save a few bucks here and there why not? We have yet to decorate for Christmas. T was a little antsy in his pantsy when he had some time off from school but we came to a mutual agreement that it was just tooooo early. We settled on the first weekend in November to set up the tree and decorate for Christmas. That is still early but with the baby coming and the end of T’s second block if we don’t decorate in early November than it will not get done until December 18^th or so. And we want the kids to be able to enjoy the Christmas decorations longer than a few weeks.

last appt. free week

This week is my last week without an appointment! This little guy is going to be here before we know it! I am ready to be done (and I am sure if you have spoke to me in the last few weeks you are ready too!). I don’t try to complain about all the aches, pains, and discomforts but sometimes they just seem to consume me. As mentioned prior I am very blessed to have such ‘normal, healthy’ pregnancies. I am looking forward to holding my little guy though and loosing about 40+ pounds (the low end of what I have gained so far), all for a good cause though. = ) Next week starts our weekly appointments and hopefully within the next month or so he will be here.

beds and cornice

Much to our dissatisfaction the bunk beds have yet to arrive AND (according to the internet tracking system we have on them) they will not arrive until November; sometime between the 1^st and the 19^th. I particularly enjoy the short window that they allotted for the delivery. Good thing we are only paying over $250 for shipping!
On the bright side, we did get our cornice done for the living room window. It was a family event. J, E, and N helped T construct the wooden frame and I staple gunned the foam and material to cover it. Then T and I hung it up. It is not perfect but not too bad either; especially considering that we have never made one or saw one in person.

table talk

Usually T is home for all our meals but yesterday he happened to have a meeting over lunch. And of course the ‘how do babies get in tummies?’ came up…

J: The new baby is going to come out your vagina just like I did, right mommy?
M: Yes, at least I hope so.
E: I came out your vagina too!
M: Yes you did.
J: If babies come out of your tummy from your vagina, how do they get in your tummy?
M: (pause; think, think, think, quick!) Well, when mommies and daddies love each other a whole bunch God puts a baby in the mommy’s tummy so they can become mommies and daddies.
J: Oh.
E: How does God put them in their? Do they fly in? God can fly because he lives in the clouds.
M: Ummm, no. Babies do not fly in. God is like magic. He just makes special things happen.
J: Wow.

End of story. For now they bought this as a legitimate reason as to how babies get into tummies and hopefully the next time they ask T will be home to answer!

yummy snack

T found this recipe via a facebook friend so we decided to try it out. The kids as well as T and I love them! They are super easy and you can modify them any way you want to!

a few changes

T and I always say that our apartment is set up just perfect for us but then we seem to make a change (or two) and it just gets better! Regardless of whether the change is needed or by choice it always seem to work out. Here are a few changes we have made lately:

Put N's high chair away and got out her booster chair so now she sits with us at the big table. She is so proud! We found an OXO tot training cup that is helping N learn how to drink out of a cup without making a HUGE mess (which I am a huge fan of!). I am not a person who usually promotes products but this cup works great! We moved our coat rack next to the kids' door so J can sit next to Daddy at the table and now N gets to sit beside E. Mommy gets a whole side of the table to herself! (until the little guy comes along anyways)

The kids got a TOY BOX! I cringe a little but am doing alright with letting my Type A personality dwindle a little. We used to have a shelf system with totes that were labeled but we found lately that the kids would just dump them all into a pile and make cakes or pies or something crazy like that. I would spend at least a half an hour everyday sorting and putting the toys back in the 'proper' totes. Now I can just throw everything in the box and they can play with it. Five minutes to clean up sounds far better than thirty, especially with the new baby coming. An added bonus too is that the toy box has a 'seat' on it so the kids can look out the window. The only thing that I don't like about this addition is that the kids keep pinching their fingers in the lid. The first day was much to be desired! They are doing better now though.

T put up the new shelf in our storage room so we have extra room there now too! I left this one in his hands. I did not think it was necessary but who am I to say? The shelf is just over 6' 6" and 20" deep. More space for us to put junk I guess!

Stay tuned for the future additions we will be making at the end of the week:
Bunk beds and a cornice in the living room.

Dentist

As mentioned prior J and E went to the dentist on Monday. J is a pro at the dentist but this was E's first time. I was a little nervous due to his personality, rightfully so I think! To start off with they told me E's appointment was at 10:45 and J's was at 11. Since I firmly believe in T's 'time motto' {Early is on time. On time is late. And late is unacceptable.} I arrived at 10:35 sharp. We did not get called back till after 11:15! Since the waiting room only had about 4 children's books the kids were getting a little restless.

J's Turn: She did AWESOME. She let the hygienist count, clean, polish, floss, and put vitamins on her teeth. She even let the dentist look at all her teeth and they talked about how many she had (20 by the way). It was a proud mommy moment. : )

E's Turn: Crash and Burn. He did not want anything to do with the hygienist even looking in his mouth let alone doing all the 'duties'. Somehow though we managed to get everything done. There was a *little* kicking, screaming, covering his mouth (by him not us!), refusing to open his mouth, biting, and rolling around in the chair but he made it! That kid has some attitude and boy is he strong, phew! I felt bad for the hygienist and kept apologizing, but she did not seem too fazed by his behavior. He let the dentist check him out too then we were out of there. Thank Goodness!

NO cavities so we don't have to go back for another 6 months! Maybe next time I will make T take the kids!?!

block 1 week 10

To start off with... T passed all his tests last week for his first block of Medical School! Woohoo. Which means that he gets to stay home with us for 10 whole days! The kids as well as myself are super excited to spend all this time with him. Now T on the other hand... he LOVES his family very much and enjoys spending time with us but tends to enjoy the stress and pressure of school as well. In order to keep him busy at home I [secretly] made a 'to do' list of things for us to work on while he was around and had the time.

Monday: Dental appointments for J and E (separate blog about that experience). Shopping for winter coats for the big kids, they are going to need them before we know it!
Tuesday: N's 18 month well child check-up (separate blog as well). Flu vaccines for everyone except mommy (I got mine last week at my OB appointment).
Wednesday: Grocery shopping. Oil change for the van. Daddy's pumpkin pie (J and E helped of course). Take the bikes and trikes to the storage unit as well as get the baby car seat for the little guy. : )
Thursday: Put up a new shelf in our storage room. Mommy got her hair trimmed.
Friday: Hmmm... what else can we make Daddy do???

In addition to all this fun we have been trying to go for walks, trike, and play outside. However, the mosquitoes have been so horrible around here that within 10-15 minutes we have to come inside. We thought for sure that since the weather has been so cool overnight lately, high 30s to low 40s, that they would be nonexistent by now.

where did the time go?

N had her 18 month check up yesterday and is doing GREAT! She is 31 inches tall and just over 25 pounds. She is a busy body, constantly crawling, climbing, and tumbling over everything and anything. She does her best at keeping up with her big brother and sister. Her vocabulary is right about where it should be especially concidering that she has older siblings (youngsters tend to talk later). She is even able to balance on one foot! While we were walking around the clinic every person we passed she made a special point to flash a big smile and occasional giggle. She is such a flirt! N got two shots including her flu shot. She was so oblivious to what was going to happen. She sat on my lap perfectly. The nurses cleaned her legs off then stuck her with the needles. Poor N took a deep breath, held it, and then let out a loud cry. I think she was more in shock than she was in pain. Big crocodile tears rolling down her face and then a sticker made it all better. Oh the power of a sticker!

story time

I recently heard about ‘story time’ at some local libraries. I am not a huge fan of bringing my kids out in public alone but thought I should give it a try and see how it goes (it can be difficult being outnumbered at times). We went to story time this morning and the kids did awesome! J was a little reserved at first but with some coaching I was able to get her to enjoy herself. She did an impeccable job on her art project (not quite sure where she got her ‘Type A’ personality from!?!) and was very proud of it. E was more interested in playing with the blocks that another little boy was using so he slyly made his way over to play with him. I was just happy that he did not freak out about getting any glue on his fingers and cause a scene since he is a bit of a fanatic about not being sticky or dirty. And N did great too. She sat in the toddler/pre-schooler sized chairs like a big kid and thought she was so cool! It was kind of cute to watch her because she was so proud of sitting on a chair all by herself. She held her crayons in her hands and every now and then would make a little scribble on her paper. If she dropped one on accident she quickly got off her chair, picked it up, and got back up on the chair; then just sat their proudly looking around with a huge smile on her face. I was a tad overwhelmed. There were far more children there than I had expected (17-20) and of course not knowing how my lovely children were going to behave made me a little cautious. There are different days of the week as well as locations that we have available to attend so we are going to go back for more! Plus when the baby comes I will be able to bring him too! This will be great for the kids to interact with other children and get used to listening to someone other than mommy and daddy. Overall I think it is a win win situation!

Happy October

We are 30 weeks along today so we are 75% DONE! Yay! This little guy has been movin’ and groovin’ at all times lately. I especially think it is a little comical when one of the big kids sits on my lap and leans against my tummy; he seems to be screaming, “Quit squishing me”. He kicks and moves like mad. One of the kids the other day even commented, “My little brother keeps kicking me, tell him to stop”. I continue to feel well which, is always a plus. All my tests from my last OB appointment came back normal. That is one less thing I have to worry or think about!

T is still trucking away at school. Today is the last day of his first block. For those of you who are unaware I will tell you briefly: Each Medical Student has 4 years of schooling. The first two are in the classroom and the second two are spent doing rotations at hospitals and/or clinics. Each of the first two years is divided into 4 10 week blocks. The first 8 weeks of the block are spent learning material (via lectures, small groups, patient experiences, labs, etc.), the 9th week is test week, and then if the student passes the tests s/he gets the 10th week off. If they do not pass then they retest. Sounds stressful right? It is. Anyways… T’s last day of the first 8 weeks is today! So he gets to study, study, study, and study a little more this weekend. Hopefully he will pass his tests next week; I think he could really use a week off to relax a little. He probably won’t get to relax too much though since we do have 3 kids at home! He has worked so hard and I hope that it all pays off for him. (Say a little prayer!)

The kids. I don’t even know where to start.
J continues to impress us with her reasoning abilities along with her thoughts. Just the other day she told us, “Today is Tuesday, so yesterday was Monday and tomorrow must be Wednesday”. This does not sound too impressing for an adult but for her to have known what day of the week it is and to be able to relate that to past and future is pretty good. Half the time I don’t even know what day it is! T has been making remarks (jokes basically since he knows how I feel about the subject) that the kids should just stay home and not go to school. Since I am a teacher I should just teach them. This is what J thinks now.
T: (came home early from school the other day)
B: Why are you home? Are you sick?
T: No. I was just tired of studying at school so I came home.
J: Well, you can just do home-school from now on.
T & B: (Laughing)
J: Mommy can teach you, she went to school to be a teacher.
T: Yes, yes she did.
I appreciate her thinking that I am super mommy but I highly doubt I can teach him how to be a doctor. She hears one thing, and then days, or even weeks later can apply it to a conversation. You never know when or what is going to come out of that girl’s mouth.

E has been so much better lately! I think he is starting to calm down a little, Thank God. He seems to be a better listener and more willing to cooperate. Not all the time but far more often that he used to. His vocabulary is out of this world, for a 3 year old. He always has something to say and there is never a dull moment between him and J.

N has been showing us her personality a little more everyday. She still loves to accessorize, generally with extra items of clothing, hats, purses, and bracelets (if we let her she would have necklaces but I am too paranoid to let her play with those). She thinks she is so cool and clever when she surprises us with a new word or trick. A few lately include: hot, hop, hot dog, bye (while waving). The last one mentioned was a little delayed but I realized that we never really say or do that. We always leave together and when T leaves he gives each kid a kiss and says “love you, see you when I get home”.

Just call me 'Grace'

We were on our way into our home last night from running a few errands and I decided to be extra graceful. I rolled my ankle while carrying N and fell to the ground in the hallway! I felt super bad because J was walking in front of me and I put my arm out to break my fall but ended up pushing her down to the ground. ~Good news though I did not drop N or land on my tum-tum!~ J got up, looked back at me with a disgusted look on her face and said, "Why did you push me down?". I could not help but laugh. Obviously it hurt but the look on her face and the situation itself was a little funny. I ended up crawling into our apartment since I fell right outside our door. I went to UC this morning and it was just sprained, no broken bones! I get to wear a 'boot' for a few days and hopefully it will be feeling better at that point. Leave it to me. Sometimes even I can't believe how awesome I am! = )

under pressure

Because I am blessed and able to stay home with the kids, I am able to see all the little progressions from baby to toddler to preschooler, etc. N has some new ‘tricks’ that she does but whenever I tell T about them he does not believe me. So then I prompt N to do her ‘trick’ and she just looks at me like I am an idiot. I guess she just doesn’t perform well under pressure. Here are some of her new ‘tricks’:

*Lifting up her butt when we change her diaper so she can get a new one on.
*Saying a few new words; duck, mow (her version of a meow), stop, oof (woof), ball, and dada.
*Walking backwards! She is pretty proud of this one!!!
*Pointing to her body parts when asked where certain ones are.
*Putting shapes in her shape bucket.

I guess she just likes to do things on her own time when she is good and ready.

Hmmmm I wonder where she got that!

Terrific Tuesday

We had a busy Tuesday this week! I love having relaxing days but it is nice to have a busy day every now and then. It went a little like this…

Breakfast and Laundry: We started with breakfast in the morning followed by 3 loads of laundry before 10 am. Now I know most people don’t enjoy doing laundry in an apartment facility but I personally love it. In my mind it seems like I save so much time when I can wash and dry 3 loads of laundry in 1 hour and 10 minutes! I think it helps too that the laundry room is essentially right across the hall.

Play Time: We were a few minutes late for our play date at 10ish. We got to go and play with T, L, and H plus I got to visit with A. We all have such a good time when we get together. I am always amazed that all 5 of the ‘big’ kids get along so well.

Lunch Time: We zoomed home for lunch and were off again.

Shopping: The three kids and I went to Old Navy to get some jeans for the big kids. It kind of made me chuckle a little when we went into ON. The big kids were disagreeing on which cart they wanted me to put N in. An associate was walking past and commented that I have my hands full with all three kids (even though they were behaving well considering what they could have been like). I simply said “yes they sure are busy” and then I went over to take E’s hand before he bolted somewhere when I noticed her eyes get huge. I immediately looked around to see if J had done something but she was just standing there. The associate then said, “Oh my goodness you have another one on the way!” as if it were a bad thing. I just smiled and said “yes he should be here in a couple months” then walked away. Some people just leave me speechless sometimes. The kids were so excited to be able to walk around the store next to me (since they are usually in the carts to prevent ‘grabby hands’ when we all go shopping). Overall, they were really good listeners while we were out. = )

Back at home: When we got home from ON T was home from school for the day! YAY! Tuesday was a BIG day for him because he got all his doctor ‘tools’ that he ordered. He was so excited to play doctor with the kids and see how all his gadgets worked. The kids enjoyed the stethoscope, tuning forks, and reflex hammer, just to mention a few. Then it was rest time. Now it was a little after 2 and ALL the kids were exhausted; perfect timing for T since I was on my way out to go see the doctor (solo this time!). {He did luck out. N ended up sleeping till 4:30 and we had to wake the big kids up at 5! So he did not really even have to ‘watch’ the kids.}

Doctor Appointment: Today was a big appointment for the baby and me. It was our 28 week appointment so we had to do the gestational diabetes screening test. Essentially, chug a whole can of orange crush in 5 minutes or less and then have your blood drawn exactly an hour after finishing the soda. Doesn’t seem too tough but the last quarter of the can was difficult to get down this time. Yuck, it was so sweet and nauseating. Of course since I had an afternoon appointment my doctor was behind schedule so my 2:45 appointment turned into a 3:50 appointment. I might have been able to see him around 3:30 but I had to go to the lab to have this test done. Anyways… We are officially in the THIRD TRIMESTER!!! Baby Boy’s heartbeat was at 162 this week, my weight was *up there* (enough said), tummy measured a cm larger than expected but not too surprising or concerning. Overall everything looks great. Let’s just hope that the GD screening test comes back negative so I don’t have to cut sweets out of my diet completely! That could make for a really crabby mommy!

Dinner: Dinner was a little early this evening since we had to do some grocery shopping before bed time. I finished eating dinner then snuck off to fold the neglected laundry from earlier in the day. Put the laundry away and we were off, again!

Grocery Store: T was able to go with to the grocery store this time. It is so much easier when he is able to be the extra set of hands that inevitably is needed. We made it through the grocery store and were just about done in the produce department (last stop). E decided that he needed to go potty. (Not complaining, we are so happy that he is potty trained and done with diapers, but it does complicate things sometimes.) I left T with the girls and two carts in the produce area and we were off. Made in time; no accidents! Finished the last of our shopping and just got out to the van (T generally takes all three kids out and gets them buckled while I check out and then he puts the groceries in the van for us.) when T lets me know that J is crying because she has to go potty, bad. We went back into the grocery store for another potty break. Again not a big deal but it would have been really difficult to take her if T was not there. By the time we came back to the van and got her buckled again T was almost done loading the van so we could head home.

Unloading and Bed: Snack and unloading the van of groceries put us at 8:30 this evening. Now usually the kids are all in bed sleeping by 8:10 so this is a big deal for them! After putting perishables away, brushing teeth, and getting beds ready with lovies/ cuddlies I went to go get waters for the kids. And that is when I saw it, IT! What is IT you may ask? N snuck a dozen eggs out of the shopping bags! Oh don’t be fooled with her age, she is a clever little one. There was a carton of eggs next to the couch, five or six eggs (unbroken THANK GOD!) on the carpet, and one broken egg on the floor! I laugh about it now because it could have been such a big, big mess that I would have been really unhappy about. The one broken egg was on the linoleum floor! Woohoo, my kids made an easy mess to clean up! I think at that point if I would have seen all those eggs on the carpet broken I would have sat down and cried. What a stinky, sticky, dirty mess it could have been! Egg cleaned up, water cups in bed with the kids, lights off, phew! What a day!

Autumn Weather

The cool weather is quickly approaching so we took the opportunity yesterday to sneak an afternoon at the park in! Here is a picture of the kids enjoying the outdoors...

‘Imagine that’

We got a notice a week or so ago that we were going to be getting a new oven. Now in the past when we had to get a new oven it was like getting a used car. We got a new oven to us, NOT a new oven from a store. But much to our surprise we got a BRAND NEW oven (like from a store) today, ‘imagine that’! All of the units in our building were replaced. The kids enjoyed watching the orchestra take place. Over the course of a half hour or so we had 7-8 different men in here doing the switch. Long story short they took our old oven out, loaded it in the bucket of a front loader and dropped it in the back of a dump truck. Next they used the bucket to crush all of the ovens!

The kids are always able to ‘imagine that’ when it comes to playing. I am forever grateful that they are all close in age and love playing together so much. What one doesn’t think of another does (side note: not always a good thing!). Here are a few things that have been of interest during playtimes lately:
• Lincoln Logs: Lincoln logs can be so many things: houses, swimming pools, fences to keep the animals in, flutes (when played to the side), clarinets/ recorder (when played forwards), drum sticks (when played with bowls and pots/ pans), and of course they can be used as medicinal pills while playing doctor!
• Pillow and Hangers: The kids like to sit on their pillows and use hangers to ‘row their canoe’ across the linoleum floor. They even have encounters that they crash or fall off into the water!
• Doctor Kit: The kids love to play doctor! They do check-ups, follow-ups, and consultations; so if anyone is in need of a doctor… But seriously they have been playing with daddy a little too much so now when doctor is played the first thing they say is, “So what brings you in today?”. (For those of us out there that are not going to be doctors, that is the supposed to be one of the first questions that a doctor asks his/her patient when a visit occurs.) They have it down already even though J wants to be a Teeth Doctor.
• Babies: All the kids have had a special interest in babies lately. YAY! Even little N carries her babies around feeding them bottles, taking them for walks in the stroller, and of course giving them plenty of lovies. These babies could not ask for better parents! Not only do they get all the love in the world but they also get: baths, diapers changed, butts wiped, clothes changed, burped, feed bottles as well as baby food, buckled in car seats, pushed in swings, laid down for naps, and taken to the doctor for check-ups, along with many other games.

And lastly, our car is STILL not fixed, ‘imagine that’. The insurance company was late in sending out the payment to the place that is going to fix it. This of course set us back and now it will take at least 7-10 days to get the parts in. The soonest that they will even be able to begin fixing the car is the 23rd! So maybe our turn around on the car will only be a month or so (accident was on the 26th).

early morning

Today started at 3 AM! I heard the thump, thump, thump of little feet running. E had to go potty. No big deal. So I got up and helped him go to the bathroom then was going to put him back to bed. He decided that he was hungry and needed a snack. [Now I know what it is like to wake up in the middle of the night hungry and in most cases the best thing to do is just eat a snack and then go back to sleep in 20 minutes instead of laying in bed thinking about how hungry you are for 2+ hours.] So I got E a snack cup and put some multi-grain cheerios in it (a little healthy at least!). In the mean time he has managed to scream and get J rustling in her sleep. No more do I get back to bed and J comes down the hall saying she has to go potty and it is not fair that E gets cheerios and she does not! So I get up again, get her a snack, wait for them to finish eating, and then send them off to bed again. By now it is about 3:45 not too bad right? Just get comfy and start to doze off when I hear the TV on in the living room. What the heck? Up again! I go out to the living room to find that: E turned the TV on while J turned to channel 3-6. What else? DISNEY CHANNEL! Those kids are too smart for their own good sometimes. And of course since Playhouse Disney’s schedule runs on Eastern Time the cartoons have already started, it is a little after 4 AM now. So back to bed for the two kids after fighting and trying to get me to let them stay up and watch cartoons. Once in bed E decides (after I leave the room) that he is going to start kicking the wall next to his bed. Yes, the wall that is shared between N’s room and the big kids’ room. Now E woke N up and she is making a little bit of a fuss in her room. I decided to leave her in her crib and see if she would just put herself back to sleep. Apparently J had a different idea because she ran into N’s room shut the door and turned on the light as well as the TV (making sure to change the channel to 3-6!). When I heard this through the baby monitor I was not a happy mommy to say the least. EVERYONE BACK TO BED!!! Now pushing 4:30. I don’t know how long it took the big kids to fall asleep but I did not hear them again until after 8:30. N (much to my surprise) went right back to sleep! When I was in there I picked her up, gave her a hug, and told her it was still the middle of the night and she needed to go back to sleep. I left the room, shut her door, and did not hear her until 7:30. I don’t know how much she understood but at least she was not up for the day at that point. Now I am sure any mom can relate (dads may differ but moms anyway) once I got back to bed I laid there. Tossed and turned, tossed and turned, I just kept waiting for the next shenanigan to unfold. Finally around 5:15 I let my guard down and fell asleep. Needless to say when my alarm went off at 6:30 I did NOT get up. I crawled out of bed at 7 so I could have a cup of coffee with T before he left for the day.

I decided I could be a crab and grumpy all day or I could just not let it ruin my day and put me in a bad mood. So when J got up and was mad at the world I just put her back in her room and let her come out when she was done being a grump. *So far* we have had a good day! Nothing too catastrophic and we even made chocolate zucchini bread! {Which turned out super yummy!} T has a long day today and won’t be home till at least 7 so we will see what the rest of the day holds… at least we are over half way! = )

uneventful life

Life has been quite uneventful lately, which helps me keep some of my sanity. Here are a few things worth mentioning…

• Our car is going to be getting fixed! We will be able to continue using two vehicles. The other insurance company is going to be paying 100% of the repairs (which they should be) and it should be fixed within the next week or so. It has not been too bad. It is a little bit of a pain if I want to go somewhere during the day because T has to take the damaged car or ride his bike.

• N’s vocabulary seems to be improving. She now has about 8-10 words that she attempts to communicate with us. We know what she is trying to say and she uses them in multiple situations so we count them as words. It is so fun watching her grow into a little person and develop her personality. Even her facial expressions leave us laughing at times. She is so expressive!

• E’s potty training continues to be an uphill battle along with his lack of cooperation. He is such a good kid when he wants to be; I think that is what makes it so frustrating. One minute he will be the best listener ever and then the next minute he fights you on every single little thing. At least some consistency would be nice. : /

• J’s clavicle continues to heal even though she occasionally bumps it and has pain. I think she will be tender there for a while and since she is no longer in her sling sometimes she (as well as others) forget that she is still a little fragile.

• T’s Medical classes have been going well. He is ½ done with his first block. Woohoo; only 7 ½ more to go! I think we may have underestimated how much time he needs to study but he has been managing. I think that the last week to ten days before his block examine is going to be ugly. It appears as though he has enough time during the week to get his LOs done and look over his anatomy for labs. Other than that he has to study his lecture materials on Saturdays. I don’t know how much someone can really study. There comes a point when you have to realize that you can’t know everything and you just have to give yourself a break. It will be nice after his first block examine is over, this way he will know more of what to expect in the future.

• As for the baby and me, we are doing well. This little guy moves around quite a bit and seems to enjoy the warmth of my ever growing belly. I feel like I am getting huge but since this is my fourth baby I guess I should be used to it by now. I am truly blessed in that I don’t have pregnancy complications; i.e. high blood pressure, preeclampsia, severe swelling, placenta abruption, or any other of the 100s of things that can go wrong during pregnancy, but I sure don’t enjoy being pregnant. And I most certainly don’t enjoy the idea of thinking about labor and delivery. Ugghh. All I can say is I am glad this is going to be our last baby and I won’t have to do it again. I can’t wait for the pregnancy to be over and maybe try to get back a ‘normal’ body again (if there is such a thing). In the last 5 years [roughly] I have been either pregnant or nursing constantly so I feel like my body has been on loan for a long time.

I guess that about does it for now. Hopefully the kids don’t do anything too entertaining that I get to write another blog about soon. : )

J's Check-up

J had her big appointment yesterday and does NOT have to wear a sling anymore! Woohoo!!! The doctor took a look at her clavicle and felt the bone which seems to be healing well. She did say that the bone healed off set a little bit so J will always have a bump there, which will add character. Some of the bump will be reabsorbed into the body naturally so it won’t be as noticeable. I hope that the amount left will be minimal to the point that if you did not know it was there or if you were not looking for it, you would not see or notice it. She enjoys not having to wear her sling anymore and is back to her crazy self again. There have been a few times that she (or another family member) bumped it on accident and she cried a little. I think it is going to be sore for a while but time will heal it and before you know it she will be back to 100%!

no good very bad day

Once order was achieved in our home yesterday I sent T a text message to inform him of my horrible terrible no good very bad morning, [of course I wanted a little sympathy from him!] when he said ‘Yeah today is a bad day. I just got hit by a semi!”. I, of course, did not belief him. Then when he convinced me that he was not kidding I had a million questions; did it back over your car?, were you in it?, are you ok?, where did this happen?, now what?, etc. He was finally able to get me to stop asking questions and tell me the story. It goes a little like this {I am sure he would tell it better, but…}

So there he was driving in the right lane when a semi decided to switch lanes and did not see him there! The semi hit the back driver side and back of the car. He spun a little bit and was able to get some control to the point that he was able to pull over to the side and call the police. When he got out of the car the semi driver had pulled over and kept repeating (while smoking over a half dozens cigarettes), “Oh my gosh, are you ok? I could have killed you! I could have killed you! Are you ok?” We are all so thankful that he was not severely hurt. He was mentioning some back pain but we will have to see how that turns out in the next couple days. Things easily could have taken a turn for the worse and he could not be here today. I just keep playing over all the things that could have happened in my mind and every scenario just brings tears to my eyes. But T had an angel with him, watching over him and protecting him!

We are so BLESSED!

Now we get to go through the technicalities of things; file claims, work with insurance companies, and see where we go from here. Poor T! As if he does not have enough things to do and take care of with school now he has to have this on top of everything. I have been working on taking care of as many things that I can for him, but since I was not the individual involved in the accident they do have to talk to him about some of the details. I am curious to see what happens from here: how long it will take to fix the car, whether they will total or fix the car, and how much of a hassle it is going to be. Some companies can be real headaches to deal with. I *think* that the companies we are dealing with are going to be acceptable. Only time will tell.

an infamous sticky substance

In an attempt to pick up our room a little bit this fine morning, I decided to get out the ironing board and iron a couple pairs of T’s dress slacks in addition to a couple dress shirts. Now I will admit that ironing does take a little while and I did do it in our room with the baby gate up so that little hands (or any other body part) would not accidently get burned, but I was constantly checking on the kids [honestly]. I would check on them about every 3-5 minutes due to the amount of noise that I was hearing at that given time. Generally in our home if things get really quiet that is NOT a good sign. If you can hear them playing or reading to each other things are *typically* alright. So after changing a diaper, helping J go potty, getting E something to drink, and checking on them at least 5 or 6 times I thought I was doing pretty well with keep tabs on them…

WRONG! I turned around and saw J coming out of the bathroom and E going in so to make sure things were still going smoothly I went to check. J had maple syrup all over her hand that she had just cleaned off (ok not too bad, not happy, but not too bad), E had maple syrup all over his hands, his shirt, his face, and up/down his legs (once again not too bad; clean up his body change his clothes, right?). At his point I was even laughing a little. Now here comes the big bang! I turn around and see N coming down the hallway with a play ‘pot’, which has about a half inch of maple syrup in it, drinking as if it were a cup! She has it all down her dress, all over her face, arms, legs and hair. The two little kids get to take a bath/ shower now! It was not worth it to try and clean it up with wet wipes. So after cleaning up ‘pots’, changing clothes, and giving baths I thought it was cleaned up…

WRONG AGAIN!!! I went into their room only to step on maple syrup in the carpet. So I cleaned up that maple syrup too! Then I went into the kitchen to find maple syrup on the floor and rug. Next this infamous sticky substance was found on the carpet in the living room, the couch, T’s fleece blanket, and more toys!
Really kids, REALLY?

All because I was trying to be a good wife and iron T’s clothing.
I guess that is what I get for trying to be nice. ; )

24 +5

This morning I had another one of many doctor appointments for the baby to be. We are 24 weeks and 5 days along! This was an atypical appointment in which I had to bring all three kids with me. Since T was starting Medical School we did not know what his schedule was going to be and by the time we did know, the times my doctor had open did not match with the times T had open. So… I got to take the kids with me!

To start off with J is still in her sling so everything seems to take a little longer; in addition to E still having a raging spirit. I walked out of our home at 9 am and by the time the kids were buckled, diaper bag settled, and van was in gear it was 9:15. We got to the clinic, walked in, checked in and it was 9:27. Good thing my appointment was at 9:35 instead of 9:25 like I thought it was. At every appointment a urine sample is necessary to check glucose and protein levels, off to the bathroom we were. Of course the two big kids had 101 questions about everything in the bathroom in addition to wondering why I needed to pee in a cup. Then they both needed to go potty. We made it out of the bathroom.

The waiting room was alright; we only had to wait 15 minutes or so. Considering the circumstances the kids could have been a lot worse. We read their Tag Reader, looked at a few books, and then it was our turn.

The nurses at our clinic are not always the most pleasant, they seem to lack in the manners department as well as the ‘that is not appropriate to say’ department. This nurse went into how she wished she could afford to be a stay at home mom, like myself, and that I was very lucky. She may feel that way but I just thought it was a little odd that you would tell someone that when your job is to be checking how the patient’s pregnancy is going.

We waited a little more for the doctor to come in. The kids did AMAZING; I think I was just a little over paranoid. I kept saying, “Sit down”, “Don’t touch that”, “That is not for kids” etc. Those exam rooms are full of things that kids want to learn about and get their little hands on. I just did not want to break anything.

Once the doctor came in it was smooth sailing. He mentioned that N was essentially a carbon copy of me and that the kids were well behaved. We went through all the routine things: no pains, urine looks good, weight gain was alright, baby is moving around, etc. Next it was time for him to check out my tummy. The kids were pretty interested in what he was going to do at this point. He measured my tummy (and it was perfect 25cm) then he used the Doppler tool to find the baby’s heartbeat. The kids just sat there with their eyes BIG. They were excited to hear their brother’s heartbeat!

Then we were off! We made it through this doctor appointment, but I think for my sanity I will do all that I can to schedule future appointments when T can stay home with the kids so I can go solo!

not happy

E was having one of those mornings again today!
It started out just fine until I tried to get J dressed. Since she can't lift her right arm (due to her fractured clavicle) we had a hard time finding something to wear today. It turns out that she doesn't have many tank tops or tops with scoop necks. So we decided to go shopping and get a couple shirts for her to wear.
We got to Kohl's, since I was 'single-parenting' with the three kids, two out of the three needed to ride in the double stroller. N was for sure going in the stroller and since J wanted to look at shirts for herself we decided that E needed to go in the stroller too. OH MY, he was not happy about that. I finally was able to buckle him in the stroller (while he is screaming like I am the meanest mom in the world). We get in Kohl's and it is dead silent; could have heard a pin drop except for the fact that my son is still screaming! I think everyone in the store turned and stared at us.
We made it over to the toddler clothes, found some clothing, looked at a few toys, checked out, and we were on our way out. E pushed the first button to open the door {Thank You E!} then J pushed the second button {Thank You J} which happened to go outside. Bad move. E freaked out that he did not get to push the button to the door that went outside. I tried to explain that it did not matter, each kid got to push one button so it was fine. He however insisted that it was NOT fair. After a great deal of screaming, kicking, hitting, and the like (on his part) I was finally able to get him buckled in his car seat to the point that I could tighten and restrain him. He may only be 3 years old but boy is he strong! He calmed down again in the van on the drive home but...
When we got out he was all wound up again. He did not want to walk upstairs back to the apartment so he tried to run away. I will set the stage for you: pregnant mommy carrying a one year old girl, purse, shopping bag, and trying to maintain control of a raging 3 year old. I am sure it was a lovely sight. I got him in the building then he was limp as spaghetti. I managed to get him up the stairs even though he was no help and completely dead weight. Came in our home and straight to time out for one little boy. He cried and screamed his piece while we looked at J's new clothes and got the laundry ready. Time out is over then he goes to his bed for a few minutes of rest (his choice not mine).
Now he is just fine; until his next out rage. Even the simple little things just set him off and a person never knows when it is coming, LOOK OUT!

ouch, ouch, owwie

Saturday (21 August 2010) turned out to be an eventful day! But not in a good way. We started the morning off with 'normal' Saturday morning cartoons (since that is the only day of the week the kids are allowed to watch cartoons!) and breakfast. After breakfast T left to go and study at school for the morning while I got the kids ready to attend open gym at the Red River Gymnastics Center. [They had an open morning in which admission was free opposed to $4 a child, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to check it out!] We got there a little before 10 am and things seemed to look alright. Then everyone in Grand Forks that had a toddler and/or pre-schooler came. PHEW! There was probably close to 75 people there, including kids and parents. It was a little overwhelming even for me! I was ready to leave after about 15-20 minutes but the kids were having so much fun I did not have the heart to make them leave yet. As we were playing by this 'pool' of foam cubes J got hurt. Of course I was helping her jump into this 'pool' so I felt terrible that she got hurt. I asked if she wanted to leave and she whimpered a sad little 'yes'. So we got ready to leave and while she was trying to put her shoes on she broke down in tears, sobbing that her neck hurt. We managed to get composed and made it to the van. After getting everyone buckled I called T at school and said I think she may have fractured her clavicle, I should probably take her to Urgent Care. He met us at home and took the two little kids inside. J was in so much pain she could not move her arm to get out of her car seat. So we were off...
URGENT CARE, not so urgent. We checked in then waited about 30-35 minutes before we were registered. I swear if those people took their thumbs out of their butts they could help patients a lot more efficiently! I told the woman why we were there while she preceded to take vitals and such. Then she had the nerve to tell me that J was probably over exaggerating, after all she is a kid. It took all I had not to flip out but I just said I would feel better if she saw a doctor and had x-rays to make sure it was not a fracture. Of course then J had to go potty and I asked if I could take her. She said that was fine and we were off. When we came back she was checking in another patient (which was fine) but when she was finished she ignored us. Another woman came over and asked if we had completed our registration and I said I did not think so but was not sure. She brought us back and finished all the paperwork and got J a bracelet. Then we got to go and wait some more till a room was open in Urgent Care.
The nurse finally calls us back, about another 20 minutes or so, and we follow her to the room. Which there are 5 rooms and only 1 was occupied. After getting in there the nurse was taking information down,while chewing her gum like a COW {side note: one of my HUGE pet peeves}, then left. To my surprise the Doctor was in our room within 3-4 minutes, WOW! He did an exam with her, felt her clavicle and said he thought everything felt normal. Since she was so resistant to movement and was crying when he was touching it though he thought it would be a good idea to take some x-rays. And... Dare I say it, "MOMMY WAS RIGHT!" She did have a fracture! I am not happy that she had a fracture but it does make me feel good that I was right. She had an unusual fracture in that the bone ends were pressing against each other so they buckled up instead of one going over the other. This was 'good' news because if they would have been going over one another she would have needed a 'figure 8' cast on her upper body but since they were buckled she only has to be in a sling for 10 days or so until her follow up with her pediatrician.
I am so glad that I took her in right away! My baby girl is already starting to heal. We can see the bump starting to form over her fracture already. The Dr. said it may get the size of a golf ball but should be reabsorbed over time. Now we just have to wait for her check-up on the 31st of August.

ND BOIS

So while scanning through Facebook the other day I happen to come across this video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-NksDSgKZ8. Now being that I live in North Dakota and T is from Bismarck this hit a little close to home. I have been to Bismarck more than a couple times and was able to relate to some of the locations seen in this video. I am also partial to the song that this is a 'spin off' of. I even showed this video to T and he laughed out loud to a couple different lines in the song. ENJOY!

the oven kept getting hotter

Yesterday was baking day in our home. N went down for her nap and the big kids got to help me! We made a super batch of banana bread with chocolate chips and walnuts (YUMMMM!). The kids loved helping by adding eggs, flour, sugar, bananas, vanilla, etc. Then of course watching the stand mixer is always such a treat for the kids. Although it makes me nervous that a little hand or finger is going to get mixed in too. I always make sure to put J's hair back so that it does not get sucked into the mixer either. Ugh, I can not even imagine what damage that could do! Anyways... we got the bread in the oven at 300 and read books for about 55 minutes. Took the bread out, let it cool, and then it was snack time. While the kids were eating snack (by this time N's nap was OVER) I whipped up another batch of banana bread. This time using a different recipe from the notorius cookbook that does not always turn out! Baked up that bread at 350 for a while. Now it is time for chocolate chip cookies! As long as the oven is on I may as well keep going, right? Cranked the oven to 375 and the cookies are almost done. Now it was time to shut the oven off and start the stovetop for dinner. Tuscan Chicken over Linguine with steamed fresh green beans on the side. Sounds good right, well not so much. Better luck next time. Not all the meals we eat/ cook can be perfect! = ) At least the family humored me and ate *most* of their meal.

to teach or not to teach?

This sounds like a silly question but I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Let me explain. J and E have been playing all sorts of games amongst themselves, along with N. They are growing and learning by leaps and bounds. These kids (J and E) know their alphabets (even some sounds that particular letters make), numbers, shapes, and colors in addition to many other things. I have been thinking about starting to teach them how to read during N's naptime. My only reservation on this is that they are already advanced for their ages and I don't want them to get bored or left behind when they enter Kindergarten. Being that I have been in Kindergarten classrooms before, as a teacher in addition to being a para, I know that a lot of times when kids don't need help the teacher just ignores them and they don't get any enrichment. I don't want my kids to have a negative feeling about school or being bored while they are there. I could always be a nagging mother while they are in school but I don't want all the teachers to hate me either.

I have also been thinking about trying to plan activities (whether that be reading, cooking, games, what have you) everyday that we could do while N is having her naptime but I have reservations about that too.
1.) If they get into a habit of having a special activity everyday then when the new baby comes I may not have the time to do an activity. This may result in a resentment towards the baby or myself; I certainly don't want that. I have the time now maybe I should be taking advantage of it?!?
2.) Now I know this may sound selfish but in the afternoons it is quiet time. This is the time that I can relax, unwind a little, or just sit down. If I have activities planned I won't get any time during the day for me. As mentioned earlier that may sound selfish, but some days (like yesterday) T is gone for 12 or more hours straight! As much as I try, I am not the perfect mommy; I get tired too! This time period allows me to semi-regenerate (a little itty bitty bit). I feel like now I am barely able to keep up with dishes, cooking, picking up, and play times let alone add something else to my list of things to do.
3.) Winter will soon be here and they are going to need something to keep them busy, esp. when we go days on end when we are unable to leave our home (due to frigid conditions). I know there are tons of ideas and things that can be done with children indoors but with winter approaching I am afraid that if I start with activities now I may run out of ideas. I guess the internet is full of interesting things that the kids would like to do... it is just a matter of if I would like to clean up at the end!

I guess after making my points I have come to the conclusion that instead of not doing activities with the kids now I should just stop typing and think of something small that we can do together. And I am off...

babies and muffins

On Tuesday this week we went to the bus park and had yet another play date with A and S along with their children. I got to hold baby H, who was only 10 days old. ahhh. He is so cute and teeny tiny. It seems so hard to imagine having such an itty bitty baby again. N is a brute so we don't have to be too gentle with her. I felt the same way though when N was born. Our neighbors had a baby a couple months before N was born and I could not imagine having a little baby around the house since my baby was E and he was over 20 lbs at that time. We quickly adjusted to having a newborn just as we will with the next one. I was a little surprised that our big kids were not too interested in looking at H. N on the other hand was playing, saw me holding the baby and glared at me from a distance. She has such a little personality on her already. I think she has done a good job of developing her character amongst all the chaos that takes place in our home.

So I had this idea to make snacks/treats for T's PCL group on Wednesdays since another person brings treats/snacks on Fridays. Last evening I made muffins. They looked BEAUTIFUL! Raspberry Almond muffins as well as Lemon Poppyseed muffins. The Raspberry ones had raspberry jam filling and slivered almonds. I must say they looked perfect. I just wish they would have tasted perfect too. The Lemon Poppyseed were made with fresh lemon zest, poppyseeds, and a lemon syrup glaze across the top. Let's just say they were less than perfect tasting. I followed the recipe exactly! They had good flavor but the texture was so heavy they were a little hard to swallow. I keep trying recipes from this cookbook that T got me for my Birthday this year but only one out of three recipes that we try we actually like. Maybe we have too picky of pallets or maybe the recipes just suck. I know one thing for sure is that we did not mess up the recipes! Long story short: T did not take his snack/ treat to school for his PCL group. Maybe next week I can make something that does not suck. Chocolate chip cookies, puppy chow, zucchini bread, banana bread, etc.; I guess basically anything that is not a new recipe!

Where's Daddy?

Conversation from dinner last night:

J: Mom, where is daddy? Why is he not home for dinner?
M: Well J, Daddy had to go to a special meeting for people who are going to be doctors to learn more about being a vagina doctor (ObGyn).
J: If Daddy is going to be a vagina doctor than he has to be a peep doctor too. And if he is going to be a peep and vagina doctor he is going to need lots of gloves.
M: [laughing to hard to respond to her]
J: What? If he has to check people's privates he will need lots of gloves.
M: [regaining composure] Yes, yes he will.

What else does a mother say? This kid thinks of everything. *sigh*

just another day

Life is pretty uneventful right now, which is probably a good thing! The kids are being typical kids and getting into things all the time, T is at school working hard, and I am home managing our 'normal' everyday life. I am never amazed at what happens or what is said around our house anymore.

Just the other day J told me that she would not eat the food that I cook when she gets bigger. Of course my natural reaction was 'well why not?'. Then she preceeded to tell me that she was going to move to California because that is where she wants her baby to be born. 'Huh, really' was my response. I don't know where she comes up with this stuff. Whatever makes her happy! She is such an unpredictable child most of the time she just blows our minds.

And E. I don't know what to do with that kid. He is so determined to do what he wants, when he wants that it is almost too much sometimes. He will do things when he is good and ready to do them and no one is going to change his mind. Just yesterday we were going to go grocery shopping and it took T and I over 10 minutes to get him ready to go. At one point T told me to deal with him because he does not have the energy to do it. I just laughed. HA. Then T finished getting him ready to go. E is so strong and solid that it is getting hard for me to physically handle him, esp since my ever growing belly keeps getting in the way. We will see if when the new baby comes he will cooperate a little more.

Little N. She can't be forgotten nor will she let anyone forget about her. She may not say many words but she is always heard. That girl has a scream on her like no other. Enough to literally pierce an ear. We have been discussing her language lately and how many words she is able to communicate/ speak and I don't think she is too advanced in that area. She tends to grunt, scream, squeal, and point more than use words to communicate what she wants. One of her favorite words is 'Mom' or some version of that. I think it is actually a little funny because she is completely like that running joke... 'mom, mommy, ma, mom, ma, mommy, mum, mommy, ma, ...' 'What?' 'hi'. She will yell and yell and yell until I answer her and then she just runs off to play. Another thing we have noticed too is that she primarily refers to me as 'mom' but if there are other adults around and she wants their attention she will call them 'mom' too.

One 'Real' Week, Done.

Today will end the first 'real' week of T's Medical School. He did technically start last week but that was primarily orientation things. Now the fun part begins; Lectures, Case Studies, LOs (Learning Objectives for his case studies), Presentations, Study time, and Family time. He sure has a lot on his plate to keep him busy. I don't know very many people that would be able to juggle the schedule that he has but he seems to be doing alright so far.

The kids have adjusted well too, I think. We took advantage of the fact that T was a student for many years. We always had meals together, open times during the day that we would play or run errands, and evenings free. It is just a fact of life that most families only see each other for a few hours a day due to parents that have to work and eventually kids that have to go to school. Our culture is such that families really don't spend that much time together anymore. So I guess I am trying to say that we are still very lucky that we get to have all our meals together everyday and get to spend time together as a family, plus T and I have an hour each night to watch TV, talk, play a game, or whatever that quite a few married couples don't have. My hope is that we are able to continue this schedule and routine for a while at least. I am sure things will be intensified when our new baby comes because things are usually altered to the baby's schedule instead of the adult schedules.

Our NEW Schedule

Sooo we decided to make a schedule which would allow for family time as well as PLENTY of study time.
7- breakfast
10- snack if needed
12 noon- lunch
4- snack
6- dinner
7 to 8- Family Time
8- bed time for kids
9- bed time for adults

T will be able to enjoy all meals with the family as well as have family time from 7-8 EVERY night. Plus studying on the weekends is not going to be an all day every day thing. Sundays will probably be his day of *rest* from school except right before his block exams. We switched the kids' snack from 7:30 to 4 thus allowing us to have dinner around 6-6:30. I honestly feel that the schedule we have will work for ALL of us! The kids love having their 'Family Time' after dinner!  And last night I was even sleeping before 9 o'clock!

On my toes

These kids of mine sure like to keep me busy. Just within the last few days here is a list of shenanigans that they preformed for me.

1. J hides, E tries to jump over the puppet rack, while N eats out of the trash: J is hiding behind the puppet stage and E is trying to get over the middle of it. I am dealing with this mess before someone gets hurt while getting hit and kicked. I am finally able to get J into timeout when I turn around and see N digging in the garbage eating leftover cupcakes. She has cream cheese frosting and carrot cake crumbs all over. Deep breath, sigh, count to TWENTY; and I am off to clean her up.
2. N poops in the bathtub again. Bath time is almost over and I am just about to get the towels when J starts screaming and literally jumps out of the tub. 'She pooped again, all over the place'. N did it again and this time it was not a chunk that just stuck together. It was everywhere. Toys need to be bleached along with loofahs, bath mat, and the tub itself. E was a little less phased he just said, "N that is gross". Typical boy I guess.
3. E at breakfast. I think most of the time he does not even know what he wants. Do you want waffles or a toaster strudel? Both. Oh ok. I give him a waffle but he actually wanted a toaster strudel so he cries. Then I switch and he still cries. Pushes his plate forward and refuses to eat. Fine. Do you want something to drink? Juice or milk. He claims he does not care and I should choose for him so I get him a glass of juice. Nope, wrong. Screams he wants milk. Thus I dump out the juice and get him milk. Nope, still wrong. Screams he wants juice so I dump out the milk and get him juice. Ok now he is happy and is eating waffles while drinking juice. AHHHHH! Sometimes.
4. E getting dressed. Do you want boxers or panties? Boxers; he kicks and screams. Briefs; he kicks and screams. He doesn't like Mickey Mouse anymore. He does not want to get dressed. He does not want to put his sandals on. He just does not want to do anything. If he was not so damn strong it would be a different story, hence why I have bequeathed all E tantrums to T when he is home.

Stayed tuned for more fun and excitement.

The BIG Day!

6 August 2010: Friday started off with a busy morning. V and B were up here so we went and ran some errands. We started by going to Target then were off to Hallmark, Old Navy, and the Columbia Mall. Phew! Side note though, I was able to find a baby book for the new little BOY that is going to be entering our world later this year.

We zoomed home for a quick lunch which T was able to enjoy with us for the first time of the week, due to his crazy new school schedule. Nothing fancy just wraps/sandwiches then we (B and T) were off to the Medical School.

We spent a little while looking around the school and seeing where he will spend most of his time. Then it was time to listen to some speakers in one of the lecture bowls. It was primarily information about the curriculum, history of the school, and ways to manage and help medical students be as successful as they can be. The information presented was quite nice and I appreciated it; however I was a little turned off by some of the remarks that were made about students who have spouses and/or families. Essentially the message I got was that from now on I was going to be a single mother and any second of T's time that is spent with the family I should be grateful to receive. Now being that I am a believer of family time and CO-parenting of course I had a little bit of a difficult time with this. I felt/feel that school is very important but that does not mean that we (the kids and myself) do not exist anymore. That is simply unrealistic in my mind. Just because T is in school does not mean that I don't have thoughts, feelings, or stress. The complete emphasis was on the student and how the world should revolve around school.

Anyway after the lectures/ speakers we headed home to get the kids and other family for the White Coat Ceremony. When we got home Gpa D and Gma W were there. They were able to spend a little time with the kids and E got to open his Birthday present, because on top of everything else TODAY WAS E'S 3RD BIRTHDAY!

Next we were off to the Alerus Center for the big event. We got places to sit then V and I took the kids out into the halls to run around and get rid of some energy. Apparently T's new friends were making jokes that by the time our fourth child comes around he is going to have a film crew following him at school because we will be starring in our own reality series. Hahaha. The ceremony went well, the kids lasted about 45 minutes. One of the best parts was when the class of 2014 was walking in, dead silent keep in mind, and J yells out, "There's my Daddy!". Basically everyone around us was snickering because it was so darn cute. T got his new fancy white coat and then we were off to dinner at another one of the ballrooms.

The invitation said 'picnic' but this was anything but a picnic. White Linen table cloths, pink and green cloth napkins, circular tables, etc. I guess it was picnic food so that is where they got it from. The kids finished off the meal and did well, GD and GW were off to the cities, and we were headed home. E finally got to open the rest of his birthday presents although he did not get his cupcakes till Saturday night!

Time?... Are you there?

Time just seems to slip away. I spent all day getting our home ready for the big weekend and now I am completely exhausted. T has been so busy with orientation this week we did not even get E a bday present (yet), opps! I guess it is alright because when I asked him what he wanted he replied, "Nothing". What 3 year old does not want at least something for their bday? So after his 12+ hours at school today T is going to go get E something for his bday. I would feel like such a horrible parent if he did not have a gift to open on his bday. I hope we will be able to make tomorrow special enough with all the things we have going on with Medical School for E's bday (meetings, ceremonies, picnics, etc.). At least we will be able to see T this weekend before all the major school stuff starts?!?

The kids have been very trying today which makes T's long days seem even longer. He has not even started actual class stuff yet! I think this mommy is going to be going to bed early. I took all the kids to the grocery store with me today and was completely embarassed as E screamed his way up and done almost every single aisle. I don't like to cause a scene, esp. in public, but I also don't want him to think that he is going to get to do what ever he wants just because he screams and cries. argh. J does well in public because she is afraid of strangers and does not want them to look at her. And N, well she is just so entertained by E's temper tantrums that she would not dare put up a fuss. I can only imagine what grocery shopping is going to be like alone with FOUR kids. Uffda! That does not sound fun to me at all. I get stressed just thinking about it. I am sure when I am in the situation it will be just fine but until then... Oh My!

The last few days

Well just as I thought, I did not have time to write anything the last few days. T started Medical School on Monday and things just seemed to not leave a break for me. I forgot how much help having an extra adult around is. J and E as well as N like to keep me on my toes and if they are not constantly being supervised there is inevitably going to be a huge mess to clean up. Here is a recap.

Monday~ T's FIRST day of Medical School. Although it they are only going over orientation things he seemed to enjoy meeting his classmates and getting a little more information as to what is going on during the next FOUR years. At home here we started with baths (which came to an abrupt halt once N pooped in the tub!), then went to JCP to get E a haircut for his 3RD Birthday coming up, ran a few more errands then came home. Lunch ready, kids feed, N napping, so now I get to go through 2 totes of baby girl clothes. We decided to give all our baby girl clothes away since we found out we are having a BOY! (WooHoo, even things up a bit around here!) Dare I say it was a bittersweet moment since our girl clothes were so stinkin' cute. But we had our girls and now we are done so what is the point in holding on to them anymore, right? Gma J and company came to visit for an hour or so and then we waited for T to get home so we could hear all about his first day. Sounds like he is going to be a busy, busy man!

Tuesday~ Normal morning, if there is such a thing, got ready and ran to the grocery store. The kids got to pick out a special donut treat; which they were super excited about. Now that I am pregnant enough that it is obvious the number of stares I get when I am out with the kids alone is more than I expected. People don't really seem to be afraid to gawk at me and then make it clear that they are looking at my bulging belly. I find it hard to believe how rude some people's looks can be. I guess maybe because I don't see a problem. I am a young married woman with 3 1/2 kids, what is wrong with that? O well. Lunch, nap, then PLAYTIME. We have become good friends with S and L as well as A and T. We love meeting up for play dates at LA or the mall. All 5 kids seem to get along so well and love being able to play with each other, plus extra bonus, the moms get to enjoy some adult time too! It is so nice to have females my age that I can talk to in which I we have things in common. Don't get me wrong, I love being a stay at home mommy but sometimes it is nice to have other moms that understand the frustrations that are dealt with everyday. We (S, A, and myself) are all blessed with wonderfully amazing husbands but we all know that moms and dads are different. There is just no way around it. T was able to come home before his big 'cocktail' party at the NDMA (which he LOVED). He told us all about his 2nd day and was overly excited to learn about the case study for the week. It made my heart happy to see how excited he was. Honestly he was like a kid in a candy store... pacing around, tone of voice changed, watery eyes (not that he was going to cry, just excited), talking fast, etc. I think he was more excited about getting his first case study than he was about getting married or having kids?!? BUT... I am happy that he has a passion for what he is about to embark upon. The journey is going to be tough but he will do great, I just know it. When he got home from his cocktail party he was able to play with the kids and tell us about his evening. He had a blast! He is such a social individual (in the right situation) that I can't imagine going to an event like that with him and not having a blast.

Wednesday~ I had just thrown in a couple loads of laundry (9:30ish) when I decided to check good ole Fb. We had an invite for a play date at 10AM today! I did not see it until now so I quickly got the kids ready to go switched the laundry and we were off to the mall. S, A, and I seem to have such a good time when we are together. And once again all the kids played together! My kids played so hard they are ALL sleeping! Even J and E! They have not napped in 6 months or longer. N is expected but not J and E, they did not even fight me when I told them to go lay down and take a little break, score! A little quiet time for mommy. Well now off to finish the laundry.

Dare I say BIG weekend ahead... T has his White Coat Ceremony, E turns 3 (eekkk!), Gma V and Uncle B as well as Gpa D and Gma W are coming! Then T gets to officially start school on Monday.

Here we go.

Life is full of adventures! We have many new and exciting things coming up in life so what a better way to keep memories than start a blog. We may not have many followers but we can use this to track our journey.