Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Oops

Mitchell is turning into the funniest child I know. I swear I laugh out loud at him sometimes. Like today. He was sitting in the booster chair (he's been evicted from the high chair because of you-know-who. She's eating cereal now, you know, but that's another post) and he kept calling me over saying, "Mommy, hurt!" and pointing at his leg. Until I took a close look and discovered a tiny scab on his knee. He didn't stop complaining about his "hurt" until I actually picked the scab off. Then it was all better. Now that's weird! Then, just moments later, I said "Oops!" about something unrelated. Then I hear a little voice say "In da potty." Oops in the potty. No, let's clarify. "Poops in the potty!"

Monday, November 13, 2006

Dinner for the family - the easy way

Dream Dinners. I know you've heard of it, or something like it (i.e. Super Suppers, etc.). So they've come out with a cookbook. It's called Dream Dinners. Yes, I know, shocker.

If you haven't heard Dream Dinners or Super Suppers, here's how it works. You go to their storefront, spend about two hours preparing meals with prepared ingredients (the onions are already chopped, the chicken is already cooked and diced, etc.) and you come home with eight or ten meals for your family. You stick them in the freezer just pull them out when you need them. We've done this a couple of times at a local place and it's fun, but expensive. So when the Dream Dinners cookbook came out, I bought it and we are loving it! One day a month, I give John a grocery list. He goes to Sam's and the grocery store and buys all the ingredients we need. We spend about 5-6 hours together in the kitchen putting together meals and at the end of the day, have about 18 meals in the freezer. Some are casseroles, some are soups, some are marinated meats. Most will have leftovers, so we have enough dinners to last about a month.

The cookbook shows ingredients for one dinner in one column and ingredients for three dinners in another column; we always do the three dinners ... it just seems to make better use of our time to slap two more dinners together.

Yesterday we made:
Split pea soup mix (not from Dream Dinners, but good nonetheless)
Baked Ziti
Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Beef Stir-fry
Three Cheese and Spinach Soup
My mom's Meatloaf and Sauce

Voila! Eighteen meals in the freezer!
John and I both enjoy it; he shops and makes cocktails, I organize the processes, and we both cook and assemble. I love it that we've been married long enough to be comfortable in our roles. I know now that John doesn't like to read the recipes; he likes to be told what to do. We make a good team in the kitchen. :)

Monday, November 06, 2006

Four months old

Charlotte is now four months old. Wow, does time fly, or what? We had her four-month well-check today and she weighed in at 14 lbs. 3 oz. And to think that when we brought her home she was just a tiny six-pound peanut! Now, she laughs out loud (especially when I fake a sneeze - that's hilarious, you know) and she "talks" to us all the time. She really is a great baby. And she looks so pathetic right now with one pink and three orange band-aids on her legs from the shots today.

John and I traveled to New Hampshire last week. He was recruiting at Dartmouth College and so I tagged along. We left Tuesday morning and flew to Boston, then drove up to Hanover, NH for two nights. We took Charlotte with us and it was lovely. She is just right on the hairy edge of being too old to travel easily, but we got very lucky. Although, it seems that her favorite thing last week was to blow out her diapers. Why do babies love to do that in airports, or Talbot's, or, say, at a nice restaurant? She did have the decency, once, however, to do it in an outfit that snapped all the up the front and down the legs, to getting it off wasn't a problem. The rest of the time she was wearing onesie-style tops, so [use your imagination here so that I don't have to type "poop"].

The leaves were peaking in the Boston area, but alot of the trees were already bare in Hanover. Except for one right outside our hotel on the "green". It was flaming red ... so beautiful. Thursday morning, before we drove back to Boston to catch our flight home, we took a little side trip to Quechee, VT, to a pottery and glass-making facility and restaurant. It was so fascinating. They were using hydroelectric power from the river outside to heat the furnace to 2400 degrees and make glass. We watched them blowing glass and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Charlotte slept the whole time.

It was an amazing, refreshing trip. Thanks to my parents, who watched the other three kids while we were gone.

On another note, I thought I had it rough with doctor appointments until I read this from another blogging mom who has SEVEN children. "On my calendar this month for the children I have five dental cleanings, one dental sealants, four orthodontist consultations, and two check-ups at the pediatrician." That's 12 appointments in one month! Not counting sick kid visits! I feel blessed. :)

In the hole

So, Jack has lost his first tooth:

He was so paranoid that it was going to hurt that he just let it get more and more loose until he could bend it completely perpendicular to the rest of his teeth. I finally got him to open his mouth and I just popped it out. It didn't even hurt or bleed. It's bittersweet, when they start losing their teeth. He's growing up so fast; soon he'll have those giant permanent teeth that are much too large for his face.

Apparently the tooth fairy pays $5 for the first tooth these days. Inflation is harsh. I sound like I'm a hundred years old, but back in my day, a tooth only fetched $.25!

Saturday, October 07, 2006

In which I desperately try to catch up...

Good heavens! Has it really been almost a month since I posted? (Thank you, Lindsay! I really didn't realize it have been that long!) My perfectionism is rearing it's ugly head! (If I can't do it "right", then I won't post at all!). Well, here you go. There are no photos to share right now. Maybe later.

Okay - the bean incident. Once upon a time, Mitchell shoved a [cooked] bean up his nose. That's how all good stories start, right? It was a Tuesday night. What to do? Well, I didn't know if that warranted a trip to the urgent care, or not. I hoped not, because, to our insurance company urgent care = E.R. = $100 copay. So, I called my doctor friend and she said it could probably wait until tomorrow. The next morning, promptly at 8:00:01, I began that frantic dial, hang up, redial process (that all mothers have done) in order to get Mitchell in for a "beanectomy" ASAP. Or, "Stat!" should I say.

The doctor poked around in his nose and removed the bean, a little mushy bit at a time. It was pretty gross to watch. So, I'm betting his nose was a bit sore for a couple of days, but he really didn't seem any worse for the wear. By Friday we had pretty much forgotten all about it. But then. I can hardly bear to type it. On Saturday he came walking through the living room with something hanging out of his nose. Now, as a mother, it's pretty common to see stuff hanging out of your kids' noses. However, this was brown and looked rather nasty. Oh, holy schnikes, it's half of a snot-covered bean. I'm telling you, this was Gross. Here's what I'm ashamed of. I grabbed a tissue and swished it across his face because I was most worried that the thing was going to fall onto my RUG!!!

Garden (and accidental garden) update: The cute little watermelons are not going to make it. They reached the size of ping-pong balls and mostly started to turn yellow and fall off the vine. Then John poisoned the vine so that he could get the yard ready to plant winter rye. Bummer. On a positive note, our fall garden is flourishing. The kids and John and I have been harvesting beans off our bean pole and the ocra is doing really well (it's amazing what regular watering can do!). Good thing John put that drip system in! Our strawberry plants (3) have sent out runners, which put down roots. We cut the runners and now we have more than a dozen strawberry plants. Yum! We also harvested a ginormous zuchinni and 5 cucumbers this year. Good times.

John, Charlotte and I traveled to Colorado Springs last weekend for John's 10-year college reunion. The other three kids stayed with my parents at their house and they all went to their cabin. We had a great time, but my, we are getting old. We were in bed at 10 p.m. the first night we were there.

Mitchell will be two tomorrow. And, my, he is certainly alternating between perfection and terrible these days. He's in the process of making the move to the "big bed", which is really a misnomer because it's no bigger than the crib. It's a toddler bed, so the mattress is actually a crib mattress ... it just doesn't have high sides to make it a "baby jail" like the crib. He loves the "big bed", but if he gets out of bed, his punishment is to go back into the crib. Followed by our punishment of 5 minutes of bloodcurdling screams. Again, good times. We keep finding him asleep on the floor of his room, though, which is heartbreaking. Especially because of the abundance of sleeping options in the room (queen-sized bed, toddler bed, crib ... um, no thanks, I'm good here on the floor). Whatever.

I took him to Target (along with the three other children ... what am I, on crack?) the other night to pick out Halloween costumes. Jack promptly picked Darth Vader, Holly Grace picked Snow White, and then there was Mitchell. Here's how the conversation went:

Me: Oh, Mitchell, look here's the aisle with costumes your size!

Mitchell: Elbo!!!

Me: Oh, do you want to be Elmo for Halloween? Here, let's try on the Elmo costume!

Mitchell: NOOOOO! Tractor!

Me: No, honey, they don't have a tractor costume. Look how fun Elmo is!

Mitchell: No. Tractor.

Me: Yes, I know, you want to be a tractor, but they don't have one. Do you want to be Elmo?

Mitchell: No. Tractor.

Holly Grace: Mom, he wants to be a tractor.

Me: Um hum. I know.

Jack: Look, Mitchell, you can be puppy!

Me: Do you want to be a puppy for Halloween, Mitchell?

Mitchell: No. Tractor.

Me: How about a duck? Do you want to be a duck?

Mitchell: No. Tractor.

(Are you seeing the trend? And don't bother telling me that they have Cars character costumes and that Mitchell could be "Mater" from the movie. Because while Mater was my favorite character, I think it's lame to "wear" a car. I hate those costumes. I apologize if your child is going to wear a vehicle for Halloween. I'm sure he/she will be the cutest vehicle ever.)

Me: How about a chicken? or a princess? or a devil (seems fitting)? or anything but a tractor?

Mitchell: No. Tractor.

(Seriously, he's got to be thinking, "What is it with you, lady? Are you deaf? I want to be a T-R-A-C-T-O-R!!!")

Me: Okay, here are your choices. You can be Elmo, or you can be a chicken. Look at them closely. Evaluate the pros and cons. The choices is yours. Elmo? or chicken?

Mitchell: No. Tractor.

Me: Fine. You will be Elmo. Let's go.

So we pay for the costumes and head home. Once we get home, I try to get Mitchell to try on the costume. I can't even get him to stand still for two seconds. What is with this kid?

We head upstairs for bed. I am changing his diaper when he looks up at me, big brown eyes open wide and says, "I a chicken! Bock, bock."Are you freaking kidding me?

The costume has been exchanged and tried on. We know how to make chicken noises and flap our wings. Now we're working on saying "Trick or Treat". I'm not holding my breath. I'm thinking we will be knocking on doors and saying to those who answer them, "NO! Tractor!"

Monday, September 11, 2006

Vital Stats - two months

Little Charlotte - still little, but gaining in percentile!

At the two-month check-up she was 10 lbs. 13 oz. (up from 6 lbs. 1 oz. at birth) and 22 1/4 inches long. She's now 50th percentile for height and weight. Her eyes are still blue and her little legs are starting to get a little fat on them! Her feet are still really tiny - her toes are like little corn nibblets. Her fingers are so long that when she tries to find her thumb and does actually get it in her mouth, she gags herself. It's pathetic.

Now to get this off my chest. What is up with the books saying that "sleeping through the night" is when the baby sleeps five hours in a row? Who has ever woken up feeling grrrrreat after a measly five hours? Heck, Charlotte was sleeping five hours at night at like, one week. So, now we're getting more like seven to eight hours straight, which I say is more like sleeping through the night; however, personally, I would prefer a solid twelve hours. :)

Things Charlotte has done in these two months:
  • learned to hold up her own noggin, when she's not too tired
  • started smiling, especially at her brothers and sister and perfect strangers. Not so much for Mom.
  • began tracking objects with her eyes
  • become enthralled with ceiling fans (who needs expensive baby gyms and other toys?)
  • put herself to sleep (only after we put her in the "baby straightjacket")
  • outgrown an outfit!
  • had her first round of shots (she was not impressed)

I was thinking about our doctor visits and how, because our pediatrician only works part-time and books up quickly, there were six of us in the exam room at Charlotte's well-baby visit: the doctor, me, Charlotte, and her three siblings. I do not recommend this. Alas, it was unavoidable, though. Then, I got to thinking about upcoming doctor appointments:

  • Mitchell's 2-year in October
  • Charlotte's 4-month in November
  • Jack's 7-year in December
  • Charlotte's 6-month in January
  • Holly Grace's 5-year in February
  • Charlotte's 9-month in April.

Throw in a group visit for flu shots sometime this fall and a couple of sick visits and I should probably be awarded my own special parking space and entrance at the doctor's office. Sheesh. The flu shot visit is always the most fun, by the way. I've never been so embarrassed by my kids' behavior as I was last year. I'll keep you posted.

New photos and an account of Mitchell's "bean encounter" to come as time permits. It's hard when you have four kids and your husband is out of town. It took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to make my easy 5-minute meat-loaf today. It was a good thing I started to put it together at 3 p.m. We were actually able to eat it at 5:30! :)

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

How to Insure that Everyone Sleeps Late

So, we had a rather late evening (for us) yesterday. It was Labor Day and we spent the entire day at some friends' house. We took John's rapidly-becoming-famous ribs over for lunch. The plan was to eat and swim and hang out. But, after a double-digit number of days of triple-digit weather, thankfully, it rained. And rained. And rained some more. We could not have been more thankful. So we fed the kids (their two and our three) hot dogs (why waste fabulous ribs on kids who won't appreciate them?) and sent them upstairs to play. Our friends turned on the pool heater so that maybe the kids could swim. It wasn't a thunderstorm, just a slow, steady rain.

Well, we ended up all swimming. In the rain. And it was GREAT! We even brought little Charlotte out into the hot tub with us. We don't even have a swimsuit for her (do they even make them in 0-3 month size?) so she just chilled out in a swim diaper. She loved it, by the way. We didn't keep her in too long, though. It was pretty warm in the hot tub. After I got her dressed again, we put her in the infant carrier with a giant golf umbrella over her on the deck. She was perfectly content!

Anyway, we had dinner with our friends, too, then we let the kids stay up far, far too late while we visited downstairs. Mitchell, of course, was asleep in the pack-n-play, but the other kids were upstairs playing. We finally got them home and in bed about 10 p.m. Jack was upset with John because he didn't read to him (Oh, the horror, the abuse!).

So, here's how to make sure, in a house with four children, that everyone sleeps as late as humanly possible:

1. Wake up early (6 a.m.) and realize that the baby slept all night!

2. Feed the baby when she wakes up at 6:30.

3. Decide to go ahead and get the baby dressed; undress the baby before you've even finished snapping the outfit up because she just spit up all over it. Redress baby and lay her down by Daddy in the bed.

4. Check email and favorite blogs.

5. Intercept 4 year-old as she's coming down the stairs with her blanket, upset because she's left her favorite bracelet at friends' house last night. Remind her to use her "whisper voice" so she won't wake up the rest of the family. Lay down on the couch with her since it's only 7 a.m. and you know she's still tired.

6. Carefully remove your arm from under (miraculously) sleeping 4 year-old's head because 23 month-old is calling you from his crib. ("Mom-may! Mom-may!)

7. Enter 23 month-old's room and pull out all the tricks to try to keep him in his room so that he won't wake up the rest of the household. Ask the now-awake Daddy to bring yogurt into the 23 month-old's room to buy more time.

8. Send 23 month-old to the shower with Daddy to keep him out of the living room. Resort to covering his mouth with your hand when he screams a bloodcurdling scream because he doesn't want to put his diaper back on after the shower.

9. Realize that 4-year old is now awake, but 2 month-old is now asleep. Head to the kitchen to get breakfast and try to keep kids quiet so as not to wake 6 year-old and 2-month old.

10. Jump through hoops to keep kids quiet ("Do you want this? How about this? Oh, this Thomas the Tank Engine cup? Milk or water, your highness?")

11. Sneak upstairs to check on 6 year-old.

12. Realize that 6 year-old has been awake and playing K'Nex in his room for at least 1/2 hour.

13. Resolve to never keep kids up past bedtime again.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

This is a great way to watch TV


Reminds me of that scene from Notting Hill.

The Third Child

I realized today that poor Mitchell is so neglected on the blog. It's basically because he naps three hours a day, he's not a new baby, and he's not starting anything new right now (in terms of school, activities, etc.). But, he is starting so many new things! Here, I gave him a spoon and container of yogurt just to see if he could feed it to himself without making a huge mess. And you know what? He's probably a more tidy eater than Jack and Holly Grace both!And if you're having trouble being a tidy eater with a spoon, you can always just drink your yogurt.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Guess what's growing in our backyard?

All that work that we put into our garden ... and this is what we find growing in the backyard (not in the garden!).

Yep, that's right! It's a teeny tiny watermelon! Last summer, when our house was still under construction, we brought a watermelon out one evening. We paid no attention to where the seeds landed. Well, a couple of weeks ago, a little plant appeared in the middle of the dirt that we like to call "the backyard". (We haven't laid sod yet because of the watering restrictions due to the drought.) I thought it looked suspiciously like some of the vines growing in our garden and left it there. Sure enough, baby watermelons have begun appearing! We wonder if they'll be worth eating! Any tips out there on growing watermelon?

Week of Firsts

We had a big week around our house last week. Jack had his first day of first grade. The workload is significantly greater this year than last. There was a lot of coloring (I didn't realize how much!) in kindergarten. Not so much in first grade! Which is nice, because Jack wasn't a huge fan of the coloring, anyway. Jack really likes his teacher and I think we're going to have a great year.

Holly Grace had her first dance class. It's a 45 minute combo class - tap, ballet and tumbling each for 15 minutes. There are six little girls (all 4-5 years old) in her class and they couldn't be cuter. Those tap shoes are the shiniest I've ever seen!

Charlotte learned to smile last week, although I couldn't have been lucky enough to capture it on film. She's not making a big habit of smiling yet, either, but we see one every now and then.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Big Promotion

Jack tested for and was promoted to Yellow Belt at TaeKwonDo last week. He is very proud of his accomplishment. This is him with his teacher after the awards ceremony.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

New photos

I took some B&W photos of Charlotte today. Here are a few of my favorites.



Sunday, August 06, 2006

Gaining

Charlotte was 8 lbs. 6 oz. at four weeks (up from 6 lb. 13 oz. at 2 weeks). And, her cord finally fell off at exactly one month old. I thought she was going to go to Kindergarten with that thing on her tummy. Ick.

Last night she slept from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.! Grandma (from Kentucky) and Uncles James and Matthew are in town, though, so I didn't go right to bed at 10 after she ate. Rats. I missed out on seven straight hours of sleep.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Lots of Hot Air

So John is home on paternity leave (thank you, Capital One) and Jack and Holly Grace spent the better part of an hour trying to make a hot-air balloon out of K'Nex, a plastic bag from SuperTarget and a blow-dryer. John took pity on them and helped them make one that would be more inclined to fly out of a Chick-fil-A cup lid, fishing line, birthday candles and a produce bag. So we get set to light the candles ... Jack and I are holding the edges of the bag out and John is reaching under with the lighter. He lights all four of them, then a little four-year-old voice begins singing, "Happy birthday to you ... happy birthday to you ..." It was hilarious!

"But did it fly?" you ask. Well, not exactly. At first. But it did stand up straight as it filled with hot air.

Then John decided to ditch the lid and candles and just hold the lighters under the bag.



Oh, here it goes!


Ladies and Gentlemen, we have lift-off!

My children and I are so lucky to have this man in our lives.

Meatloaf Part II

Years ago, when I had just moved out on my own to a micro-house in Kress, Texas, I called my mom to get her recipe for meatloaf. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "I need your recipe for meatloaf"
Mom: "Okay, sure. Just mix your ground beef with an egg and some crackers in a bowl-"
Me: "Wait, how much ground beef? How many crackers?"
Mom: "As much as you have - probably about a pound. Crackers - I don't know - 20 or so? Not quite a whole row of saltines."
Me: "Okay, mix it how?"
Mom: "Just smush it up with your hands and shape it into a loaf"

and on and on this went. Till we got to the best part.

Me: "Okay how long do I bake it?"
Mom: "Well, gosh, Crissy. I don't know ... until it's done!"

So, here it is, the recipe as I've made it for over ten years now and as my mom has made it since my childhood. It's different in that the sauce is separate, not mixed in with the beef. It's easily doubled and I usually double it to feed our family. Also, if you double it, you obviously stand a much greater chance of having leftovers, and therefore, meatloaf sandwiches the next day.

Meatloaf
1 pound ground beef
20 saltine crackers (in a pinch you can use bread crumbs)
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Crumble up the crackers and smush all three ingredients together in a bowl. This is a great job for your kids if you have the patience of a saint and don't mind them (and your countertops) getting a little messy. Add salt and pepper if you like. Form the mixture into the shape of a loaf. Place in a 9 x 13 pan and bake at 400 degrees until done. :) It usually takes about 30 minutes for a 1 lb. loaf; 45 minutes or longer for a 2 lb. loaf. I try to make the 2 lb. loaves thinner so they take less time. You will know it's done if it's not pink when you cut into the center. Unless you like your meatloaf rare. Then it's done when it IS pink in the center. But I don't know of anyone who likes their meatloaf rare.

While the meatloaf is cooking, make the sauce.

Sauce
1/3 med. size bell pepper
1/3 onion
1 small can of tomato sauce

Chop the bell pepper and onion into whatever size pieces you like. I generally chop them pretty large so that, on the off chance that one of the kids actually wants sauce (most of the time they don't), they can pick out the chunks. Saute the onion and pepper on medium heat in butter, margarine, vegetable oil, or olive oil in a small saucepan. If you have some fresh garlic, you can throw that in, too. When the onion and pepper are crisp-tender, add the tomato sauce and heat through.

I don't know why all three of my kids love meatloaf, but they do. The older ones don't care for the sauce, though - they like it dry. Good luck!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Why I Love Meatloaf

1. Six ingredients total - and I almost always have them on hand
2. My kids love it. I mean, [fighting for the last piece] love it
3. No crumbs, no mess, no spills. I don't have to sweep under the table when they're done eating.

Can this be normal? We're talking meatloaf here! Let me know if you want the recipe. Perhaps it can work miracles in your house, too.

24

Okay, are we the only people out there who haven't watched this show? John added it to our Netflix queue and we got the first four episodes about two weeks ago. We started watching it and became totally addicted! If you don't know what 24 is, it's a TV show that chronicles the events of one day in the life of Federal Agent Jack Bauer, starting at midnight and continuing for 24 episodes (one for each hour of the day) . So we finished all 24 episodes (it took us almost two weeks to watch them all, after the kids were in bed each night), and John said, "Do you think Season Two is out on DVD yet? Or was last year the first year of the show?" So those of you who watch 24 are laughing out loud right now. Yes, we realized that the first season of the show was actually in 2001 when we finally looked at the DVD case and saw when it was recorded. Okay, so we're losers. But now, the pressure! We have, like, 4 more years worth of 24s to watch! That's almost a hundred hours of television!

But here's the real kicker ... John is always annoyed with me when I don't want to "commit" to watching a movie, yet I have no problem sitting down and watching two episodes of my favorite TV shows that we have on TiVo. Still two hours, just not a movie. Why is this? Why can't I commit to watching a movie? We can't figure it out. But I don't have any problem at all committing to watching twenty-four hours of programming. Maybe because it's broken up into small one-hour episodes? It's crazy.

So, we won't spoil it for those of you who have not seen the first season of 24, but, my gosh, what a twist at the end!!! We are still reeling over it!

A New Woman

Wow, I feel like a new woman today. I fed Charlotte early (9:30 p.m.) last night and then we went to bed at 10:00! I woke up briefly at 11:00 because she was "gritching" around in the bassinet, but she went back to sleep, thankfully. I was just up once at 3 a.m. for a little bit to feed her, then she went right back to sleep. John and I were both up at 6 a.m. (it's trash day!) and I actually got a shower before I had to feed her! Mitchell and Jack slept in (till about 7:30) and Holly Grace actually woke up in a great mood.

We have an appointment with a pediatric dermatologist today for Mitchell and I will be braving a doctor visit with four kids by myself today. This should be interesting. I'm sure I'll be packing lots of snacks to keep little mouths busy.

Monday, July 31, 2006

Have I Ever Been This Busy?

A whole week has passed and I survived! We were home alone on Monday and Tuesday (the four kids and I), then John was home with us the rest of the week. Although having him home didn't really "count" because of his little surgery on Wednesday and subsequent recovery. Yes, folks, it's official. We are not going to have any more children. John sent an email to his classmates from the Air Force Academy that said, "Charlotte Ivey was born 2 weeks ago and is doing well. For those of you keeping score at home, that is Lodmell child #4. This will be the last edition of Lodmell children. The production line is being disassembled tomorrow. Wish me luck!"

I have to say I'm a little sad. I sure do love having a tiny baby. I love giving birth and being in the hospital and picking a name. I love the smell of a freshly bathed baby and I love baby noises. I love nursing a baby and rocking a baby and watching a sleeping baby. But one thing I do NOT love is being pregnant. I can't even count the number of times during this last pregnancy I said, "I am so done. I am NOT doing this again." So, four is a good number. This is a good place to stop ... our family is complete.

So, after telling, oh, about a hundred or more people who have asked, "Oh, she sleeps great - she only wakes up once during the night to nurse then she goes right back to sleep!" Charlotte made a liar out of me. Last night I was up from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Let's back up. I usually try to make her have some "awake" time in the evening. But yesterday we went to church and she just slept in the infant carrier from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Then I woke her up and fed her and she went right back to sleep until I woke her up and fed her again at 10 p.m. I should have known that I was in for a long night. Because when she woke up at 2 a.m., she thought it was time to be awake! If the lamp was on, it was all good, but as soon as I would turn the lamp off, she would get mad! She finally ended up falling asleep on my chest about 5 a.m. I think I feel a nap coming on this afternoon.

Tomorrow we have an appointment with a pediatric dermatologist for Mitchell. It's not a big deal, except for the fact that all four children will be going with me. This should be interesting.

Photobucket - Video and Image HostingHere's a new picture of Charlotte. It amazes me how much she has changed in just one week.

Monday, July 24, 2006

Home Alone

Today is our first day home alone (just the four kids and me). Grammy and PawPaw left yesterday and boy, are they missed! We're doing okay, though. We may even try to go somewhere (SuperTarget) to help the day pass a little more quickly.

Charlotte is actually starting to fit into some 0-3 mo. clothes. Thank goodness! I only had a couple of things that fit her, so we were doing a lot of baby laundry in Method detergent!

She's alert a lot more these days - just looking around with her big blue eyes. We are all enamored with her! Mitchell likes to surround her with toys when she is in a bouncy seat or in her car seat.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

2-week visit

We went for Charlotte's two-week appointment today. She gained 13 ounces in 7 days - she's now up to 6 lbs. 13 oz. The doctor said that it's fine to let her sleep until she wakes up during the night since she's gaining weight so well ... which is good because that's what I've been letting her do! She generally eats at 10 p.m., 3:30 a.m., and then 7 a.m. I consider myself very lucky to only be getting up once at night.

We are using a Miracle Blanket with Charlotte and it's awesome. I've never been able to swaddle a baby this well. We highly recommend it, since it's like a little straight-jacket!

Sunday, July 16, 2006

The Dairy

The other night I was nursing Charlotte and Holly Grace wanted to hold her. She said to me, "Can I hold baby Charlotte after she's done milking?" Moo.

Hospital pics

Charlotte and Mitchell. He calls her "My Baby" - never "Charlotte".

Holly Grace kissing Charlotte's tiny fingers

Jack and baby sister

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

First Doctor Visit

Charlotte was down to 5 pounds, 10 ounces when we left the hospital. Today she is up to 6 pounds even, just three days later! Hooray for our good little eater.

Monday, July 10, 2006

All the Gory Details

And I mean all the details. If you are "faint of heart" you should just skip this post and know that everything turned out beautifully.

So, my last post before she was born just said that we were on our way to the hostpital. We got to the hospital about 6:30 p.m. I was having contractions all the way there about 4 minutes apart, but they really weren't painful. My cervix hadn't changed any since my appointment that morning, so the doctor gave instructions for me to walk around the hospital for two hours, returning to my room to be monitored every half hour. John and I did three half-hour walking tours of the third floor (my feet were killing me) and returned to be monitored for about ten minutes each time. The baby was doing great, but after the third round, there was a dip in her heartrate after one of the contractions. Normally, I don't think this would have been a big deal, but it happened with Mitchell and he ended up having a knot in his cord. So, John and I kind of got uptight.

The nurse checked me again, and I still hadn't made any progress. She put a call in to the doctor, who decided to go ahead and keep me there (they had been planning on sending me home if I didn't make any progress) because of the dip in the heartrate. We definitely felt like it was a two-edged sword. On one hand, we didn't want to see that dip because of what it could mean. On the other hand, we were glad to be going ahead with labor and delivery.

Meanwhile, the kids were with friends and my parents had flown in to town and picked them up. They took them home and put them to bed and we promised to keep them updated through the night.

They finally started the pitocin (to get the contractions going stronger and more regular) about 11:00 p.m. We started the epidural process about midnight, and by 1:30 I was feeling no pain at all. John got comfortable on the couch and promptly went to sleep. I slept a little on and off, but I was being checked pretty frequently.

At 2:00 a.m. I was at 4 cm.
At 3:00 a.m. I was at 5-6 cm.
At 4:15 a.m. I was 7 cm. and my water broke as the nurse was checking me.
At 5:00 a.m. I was complete and the nurse had me do a practice push. I didn't really put alot into it because I didn't want to deliver without my doctor there. So, the nurse counted to 10, then told me to take a deep breath and start pushing again. So this time, I "wrapped up around the baby" and put some effort into it. She said "One ... two ... okay you can stop pushing and I'll go call the doctor. You really moved the baby down with that."

The doctor arrived about 5:10 a.m and started "gowning up." They removed the bottom of the bed and put my calves in the supports. The doctor got into position and then started talking to John about our recent vacation. Then she looked at me and said, "Okay, well, here's the head if you want to give a little push."

So I started to push and she immediately said, "Okay, stop pushing." John looked down and said, "Wow, lots of hair, and she's face down!" (Babies are supposed to be born looking at the floor, but our last two have been born looking at the ceiling. I would have put money on this one being "sunny side up" as well.)

So then, she just slid out and there she was, all covered in vernix (since she was only 37 weeks) and pink and beautiful. She did have lots of dark hair and she was so tiny!!! John cut the cord right away.

They put her on my tummy and dried her off, then took her to the warmer to do the assessments and clean her up. Her 1-minute APGAR was 7, the 5-minute was 8. Meanwhile, the doctor was marvelling at the cord. Apparently, it was "hyper-coiled" meaning it was coiled more tightly than most cords. This can result in smaller babies as it inhibits their growth. The doctor commented about the large amount of blood in the amniotic fluid and, once the placenta was delivered, found a small tear on it. She called this a "possible partial abruption", which is pretty scary, since an abrupted placenta can be serious for both mom and baby.

At that point, my doctor said, "Let's just say I'm glad we went ahead and delivered this baby." Yikes!

John held her for a bit, then I held her for a few minutes, but she was working really hard to breathe, so we kissed her and sent her off to the nursery for a little assistance. She did great and we had her back in our room within four hours.

Charlotte is nursing great and we go to the pediatrician tomorrow to see how she's doing. She lost weight down to 5 pounds, 10 oz. by the time we were discharged, so hopefully she's gaining it back now. Tomorrow I'll try to post pictures of her with the siblings, who are completely enamored with her.

Friday, July 07, 2006

One Day Old

My daddy loves me!

Newborn


Well, here she is! Charlotte Ivey made her grand entrance at 5:19 a.m. on Thursday, July 6, 2006. She weighed 6 pounds, 1 oz and was 18.5 inches long. The labor and delivery were easy (no pushing required!). I'll update with more details later. She's nursing well and has already found her fingers and thumbs.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

"Contraptions"

We're leaving for the hospital ... contractions are about 5 minutes apart but not terribly painful. The doctor wants us to go on in.

Jack asked me today if I was having any "contraptions." If only I were having contraptions instead of contractions!

Delivery is Imminent

Well, of course it is! I can't be pregnant forever!

I went to the doctor today and I'm 3 cm. and 80% effaced. Since she can't deliver this baby this weekend and I'm (as she said it) a "ticking time bomb," we decided that she would strip my membranes. If the baby is ready, this can jump-start labor. If you want to know what "stripping of membranes" is, click here. It's a pretty painful procedure, but it seems to have worked. I'm having contractions every 8 minutes or so. Mom and Dad are on their way into town, and we think we'll probably be headed to the hospital sometime this evening. We'll try to labor at home as long as possible.

The next update may be after the birth!

Singin' In the Rain


It's been so long since we had rain, when it rained yesterday, the kids just sat at the window watching it. They reminded me of the kids in The Cat in the Hat. Of course, they remembered the time last winter when they wanted to play in the rain, but it was too cold and I said they could do it in the summer when it was warmer. So, they put on old clothes and their raincoats and rainboots and headed out. I wish I'd thought to take a picture as they were headed back in, covered in mud from head to toe.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Tall Tales


This is Jack, "Captain Gil" (the fishing guide) and Jack's northern pike that he caught fishing on Lake Champlain in Vermont. It was one big fish!

Friday, June 30, 2006

Sewer lines?

Jack attends a University Model Classical Christian School, which means he goes to school three days a week and we homeschool the other two days. We absolutely love it. Over the summer, we are trying to keep up with the "school routine" by doing a little bit of work during Mitchell's naptime most weekdays. We're reviewing math facts and other math concepts with Jack and, since Holly Grace wanted to "do schoolwork" too, we're working on number recognition and writing numbers with her. As a side note, Wal-Mart has some really great little "workbooks" by SchoolZone that the kids really enjoy.

So to make things a bit more fun, I picked up a "Travel the 50 States" workbook and some maps with stickers for the kids. We read about and study a state each day and geography is their favorite "subject". For each state, there's a map with major cities and landforms and we talk about them each day. We started with Alabama and are working our way through the states alphabetically.

Today we were on Connecticut, and we were looking at the map. We were talking about the symbols on the map (as we do every day) for highways, rivers, lakes, cities, etc. Jack turned to me and said, "When are we going to have another sewer line?"

"Excuse me?" I say, thinking something has gone horribly wrong with the installation of the backyard sprinkler system that is John's current project.

"When are we going to have another sewer line?" he repeats.

"I'm sorry, Jack, but I really don't know what you're talking about."

"Here, I'll show you," he says patiently, and flips through our book till he gets to the Alaska page. "See, like this one," he says and points to a red line cutting a swath from North to South in Alaska.

"Ah, yes," I say, suppressing my laughter, "You mean pipeline. That's the Alaska pipeline." Whew.

By the way, I think that Alaska is the only state with a pipeline on its map. I'll let you know when we've finished all 50 states.

Where have my ankles gone?!?


This is what my ankles and feet feel like. Ugh. Okay, they don't really look that bad, but to put it in perspective, I couldn't find any flip flops at Target today that I could squish them into; they're just too thick! Woe is me. I can't wear my lime green flip flops for the next two weeks!

Eclair cake

Or, as Jack would say, "Declare Cake." This is so very, very easy to make, but make sure you start it a day in advance. And, if you let your kids help mix up the pudding, make sure you use a DEEP bowl because vanilla pudding flying all over the kitchen, while fun in theory, is a mess in reality.

2 small boxes vanilla instant pudding
12 oz. container whipped topping, thawed
1 box chocolate graham crackers
3 c. milk (I used whole to make it extra rich and fattening!)
1 container dark chocolate frosting
powdered sugar (optional)

In a large bowl, combine pudding mixes, whipped topping, and milk. Mix 2 minutes at high speed, or until thick.

Layer a 9x13x2 inch pan in the following way:
-graham crackers
-pudding mixture
-graham crackers
-pudding mixture
-graham crackers.

Refrigerate 2 hours. Use the whole container of frosting, and spread over the entire surface. Refrigerate 24 hours, to allow time for the graham crackers to soften. Just before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Appointment update

I saw my OB today and I'm now 2 cm. dilated and 30% effaced. So, slow and steady wins the race. She is going to call the hospital tomorrow and make an appointment for me to be induced on the 13th of July (just two weeks!). So we will have a baby by mid-July one way or the other!

I got my double stroller today. Boy, did I labor over that decision. I've had a tandem before and it was a monster to push, so I opted for a side-by-side this time. I found a great deal online at Kids Palace and I'm really pleased so far. It's a Combi Twin Savvy EX and holds an infant carrier on one side (for those of you who care or might be in the market yourselves).

Dried Cherry & Pecan Oatmeal

3 C Water
3 C Fat Free Milk
2 C Whole Oats
½ C Dried Cherries, chopped
5 T Brown Sugar
1 T Butter
¼ t Cinnamon
¼ t Vanilla
2 T Toasted Pecans

Bring water, milk, oats, cherries & 1 T brown sugar to boil; reduce heat & simmer, stirring occasionally 20 minutes or until thickened.
Remove from heat, stir in 4 T brown sugar & next 3 ingredients.
Spoon 1 C oatmeal into 6 bowls. Sprinkle with toasted pecans & additional brown sugar, if desired. Serve immediately.

This yummy recipe is from my mom. You should double it if you're feeding a crowd or really hungry kids, or if you want to have leftovers. If you have some real maple syrup just sitting around from recent trip to Vermont, you can add a dash of it to your bowl. There's nothing like it!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Cars


Jack, Holly Grace and I went to see Cars today. What a fun movie. For an animated film, the scenery is spectacular! Be forewarned, though ... it's a long movie - 116 minutes! Very enjoyable - we highly recommend.

4 weeks and counting

Okay, so it's been about 28 weeks since I posted. I guess you could say I've been rather busy, with growing a baby and three other kids!

I've decided to "go public" here so that everyone can keep up with the pregnancy progress. It's been quite a ride! We're having a girl, due date July 25. Her name will be Charlotte Ivey and we are all terribly excited. Well, except for Mitchell, who has NO IDEA what's headed his way. He's not quite 21 months old and, while he loves babies, he still likes to be rocked and snuggled himself.

I had a test done early in the pregnancy (about 15 weeks) that showed that the baby had an increased risk of having Down's Syndrome, so I went to a perinatologist who did an extensive sonogram. She looked good ... well-developed nasal bone (lots of Down's babies don't have a nasal bone at all) and some other indicators that were good. We went back four weeks later to have a look at a more developed heart and everything looks good for now. Unfortunately, without having an amnio, we can't know for sure that everything is okay until she is born. But we aren't losing any sleep over it. She is what she is and we love her just the same.

When we were getting ready to go on our annual trip to Vermont I got kind of apprehensive. I was about 30 weeks along and something didn't feel quite right. I was honestly afraid I was going to deliver in Vermont. So right before we left we had a sonogram that showed the baby was breech! So that's why it felt different! She's turned now and is head-down, ready to go. Which brings me to the 35-week appointment (last week). With Mitchell, I was dilated to 2-3 cm. and 50% effaced at 35 weeks. With this baby, however, I was only at 1.5 cm. and not at all effaced. So I think I may be in this for the long haul! I have appointments every Wednesday morning from now till delivery, so I'll try to post soon after each appointment. I guess I'd better learn how to post photos, too, so everyone can see the baby after her appearance!