Sunday, August 31, 2008

She's here...yep that's right...it's a girl!

A quick update with the full story later once I am home and get pictures off our camera and onto our computer.

Anne was born August 30 @ 8:26pm. She is 9lbs 2oz and 21 inches long. We are currently evacuated in Irving, Texas(in the same hotel where we sat out Hurricane Rita). My mom has my other children.

Friday, August 29, 2008

what are YOU doing to prepare for Gustav?

A VBAC + a hurricane we are probably going to have to evacuate from = me in a hospital room hooked up to liquid contractions as we speak.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Pest Control....

....and this is not a cutesy title referring to annoying children. Nope. We are talking about the real deal. As in a cockroach woke me up by scurrying over my leg. Yep....If this preggo belly weren't in my way I might gnaw my own leg off to get rid of the icky feeling. Husband doesn't understand. He is in fact a little annoyed that I have not just rolled over and gone back to sleep(are you serious dude...can you say, scene of the crime? I think I have ptsd), and even more annoyed that I will not turn off the light(yeah right...if I turn off the light...they will come and get me!). I think I have compromised nicely by not insisting that he burn our bed...right now. I'll let him wait until after 6am.

Lest you think I am overreacting...this is not my first roach this season. In fact, I have had to kill at least 2 roaches a day for over a week now...one of which came to my notice when it ended up on my arm as I walked thru a dark curtained doorway. WE SPRAYED JUST A FEW MONTHS AGO! It has worked every other year, what roaches managed to get thru were always one twitch away from dying when we found them. Have the roaches mutated? Do we have the MRSA among roaches living in our house? And seriously, what insane pioneer rolled thru this area of Texas long ago and thought, "Roaches...check, fire ants...check, insane heat and humidity....check, mold. snakes. alligators. swamps. hurricanes...check, check, check. This looks like a GREAT place to raise a family!" Seriously. Cause now a whole lot of my friends and family live here, and it makes it that much harder to move to someplace sane.

Monday, August 25, 2008

my blessings...

We are in the home stretch now. Less than 2 weeks. Once we get thru tube surgery for Atticus tomorrow I will be ready to have this baby. Now I will admit, I am not the bubbly glowing pregnant woman featured in the parenting magazines. I am crabby, hormonal, paranoid, and increasingly outspoken. I can get full out spitting mad in less than a second...poor Kenneth! Well, I had an interesting experience yesterday. I met a older gentleman who changed my world view for a few seconds and helped me remember a happier, less hormonal time. For starters this is the soundtrack of my day which usually includes....well, a LOT of this:

"WOW, they must keep you busy!"
"Are you ready for this new baby?"(concerned look)
"Holy Guacamole! Is it twins again?"
"You're taking a break after this right?"
"How do you do it?
"Are you doing okay...really?"
"Don't you know what causes that?"
"If anyone can do it, it is you...I know I sure couldn't!"

...and many other variations of the same themes. Now let me be quick to point out that these comments and questions do not bother me. I do not want anyone to feel bad for asking these questions. I appreciate that people care about me enough to ask and are really interested in my response. But I will say....it does make me tired. For example, "wow, they must keep you busy!" is usually said when I have one or both twins on a hip with my extremely pregnant belly sticking out...And I have flashbacks to that morning chasing them all around for an hour and a half before church trying(futile hope) to get to church ten minutes early like the bishop asked(I could totally do it if my kids would cooperate and not do things like throw up on the clothes I laid out the night before...or blow out of their diapers so badly that they need another bath) and managing to make it(once again) barely before the sacrament...and I respond, "Yeah, they sure do keep me busy!" And I feel a little more tired.

Anyway
, yesterday we visited some good people who knew Kenneth growing up. I was introduced for the first time to Grandpa, an older man who due to health problems is living with the family. Immediately when we walked in he was beside himself with excitement to see Kenneth again(I think the last time he had seen him Kenneth was 11). Then he saw our children...this was his response, "Are these your children Kenneth? Oh my goodness! They are so beautiful!" looking at me, "What a lucky woman you are! These kids are blessings! Y'all do good work!" turning to his daughter, "Aren't these some good looking kids!" Noticing I am pregnant and cackling with delight, "And you are going to have another one! That's wonderful! Kenneth you lucky dog!..." and on and on and on. And all of it sincere and heartfelt. His goal while we were there was for our kids to get comfortable enough around him to sit on his lap and play with him...and guess what? It worked! I have never seen Jane sit that long on a "strangers" lap. And his adoration of our family and approval of our decision to have children never. stopped. When we walked out of their house last night, I felt so much love for my family. I was sooooo proud of my beautiful kids and so glad that we made the decision to have them. I felt rejuvenated. Even as I type this I have tears in my eyes remembering the peaceful feeling that gentleman left me with.

Thank you sir. I needed that!

Friday, August 22, 2008

links...

Some things I find funny....here's a craft for the truly creative(but not the faint of heart) and here, here, and here are some video's that I can relate to...but on a much smaller scale. Hope you enjoy...I'm going to bed.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

the benefits...

....of being married to the guy with the wood carving machine!



Tuesday, August 19, 2008

poop happens...

For Jane it was on the floor(luckily on the tile...*counting blessings*) and for Atticus it was in the bathtub(also easier to clean up than a lot of other places)...all within a 20 minute period. We are just steam rolling thru the developmental milestones today! Gavin's contribution? Creating chaos at every opportunity and screaming "NO," in his most defiant manner when I ask him to stop. Good times.