Thursday, December 29, 2005

Crhistmas was good. I had a raging swimmers' ear infection. I got crappy antibiotics and by Christmas day was in excrutiating pain. Fortunately, I also had LOTS of painkillers. Codeine during the day is FUN!

The kidlets got lots of clothes adn books and bath stuff. Celeste got an easy bake oven. The girls both got Cabbage Patch kids, very exciting. William got a suitcase of his own, and a lage kid sized front loader and dump truck, not ride on size, but big play size. Samuel got puzzles and a Weeble tree house.

But, I got them the big gift. A wonderful wooden playstand set complete with kitchen. One side of the play stands has a bench to sit on. The other side has a sink and stove. Plus a refrigerator that stands alone and LOTS of wooden blocks. Ths children all love it. I ordered it from a friend, got it here in plenty of time for Christmas, then put it together ALL BY MYSELF! and my children love it.

We spent time with family. It went well. No one fought or yelled or anything. My children behaved like angels, seriously.

My baby sister came with her FIANCE. He tried to set my parents' house on fire late Christmas night. The firetrucks came and everything. We were already back home in our beds. William was a bit disappointed that he missed all teh fire trucks. Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you all about it.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Stuff

I love a good deal. So when I found clearance Ralph Lauren on sale an additional 40% off, I was HAPPY! So I got 2 outfits for picky Celeste, an outfit for Lydia, a shirt for William, and a cute skirt for my teeny tiny sister who is 27 but can wear a sizxe 12 children's skirt. I just pulled it all out to wrap for Crhistmas, and one of the shirts is missing. so I called the store. The nice lady said she would pull ALL the shirts in a size 6 or 6x and hold them for me until I could get there this afternoon. I love customer service!

Stuff I remember.

Celeste weighed 8pounds 12 ounces when she was born. Her head was 14.5 inches. I had LOTS of drugs with her labor. I went natural for 14 hours, then had a contraction that lasted over 10 minutes. I got some drugs, then an epidural. Then some pitocin, and finally, a baby girl. She had a TON of hair. She got a chin length bob haircut at 8 months old. Really. She started signing when she was 4 months old. She started talking at 10 months. She hasn't shut up since then.

Lydia was a quick baby. My water broke at 9pm with a big POP! We got to the hospital at 9:30. I was 2cm dilated. They admitted me at 11:30 when I was 2.5 cm dilated. Lydia ws born at 2:02am. She went fast. I pushed for only abou t20 minutes. She weighed 8pounds 8ounces. Her head was 13.75 inches. I learned that three-quarters of an inch is a LOT more than you might think. Lydia had a lovely thatch of dark black hair when born. She had a sense of humore from birth. She wouldn't smile unless it was actually funny. No silly faces, or stupid grandparents blowing raspberries. She laughed at jokes though. weird, still is, but I love her!

William was a longer labor, but I never pushed. I just waited for someone to show up and catch him. He was a one handed delivery as he just wouldn't wait. He weighed in at 9 pounds 2 ounces. Not too shabby. We never thought we would have a boy. I have 2 sisters and Nathan has 2 sisters. We were surprised at the ultrasound when Pat said it was a boy. He was a lovey cuddly snuggly baby from birth. And a voracious eater. He gianed 2 pounds in the 6 days between hospital discharge and his first pediatrician visit.

Samuel was different than I expected. I pushed for over 2 hours with him. My labor was weird, very different from all the others. He was born at home, and I am so glad. It was atough delivery, but itwould have been much worse at a hospital. He weighed in at a slender 10 pounds 2 ounces. He was very quiet when he was born, He just looked around and took us all in. He didn't cry until 3 am the first night he was alive. It was quiet. We were all asleep. And a PIERCING scream erupted in the darkness. Nathan and I both sat bolt upright. We turned on the light, and there was our darling baby squealing. He sounded like a pteradactyl. Just a little magic mama milka nd he calmed right down, but eh scared the poop out of both of us.



And now, it is December. That big little baby is almost 8 months old. He has been sitting up since 4 months old. He's crawling and cruising and loves to explore. And he has a terrible cold right now. Poor thing gets his nose sucked out every time he wakes up. I've been putting breastmilk up his nose to kill germs, and in his goopy eye, and pretty much on anything that looks icky. Poor baby. Off to hug him some more. All too soon he will be too big for my lap and will push me away when I try to kiss him. But not yet!

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

I survived Atlanta. I lived through 3 days with my mom and my sisters. I survived Ikea. I had a BLAST!!!! I stayed with my mom on the Club Level at a nice hotel. They had this great room where there was always food out, and good stuff too. And whatever you wanted to drink, including booze. All for "free." Free in quotes because it is part of the room price I am sure, but my mom paid for the rooms.

Samuel woke up several times the first night, but did much better the second night. We went out to eat amazing and wonderful food. Samuel slept through nearly every meal. There were 3 extra people to hold him, even though he really preferred me.

They have a Target that is 2 stories high, just across the street at the hotel. We looked at some exquisite jewelry, and eve tried on lots of stuff. I felt like a princess.

My sister selected her wedding dress and veil. We knew it was the right one becausewhen she walked out in it, we all started to cry, just a little.

Nathan had fun with the girls. He just had Celeste and Lydia Friday night and most of Saturday. They went shopping for Christmas presents. He bought one for each of the big kids. Samuel doens't much care, at 7 months old, and will probably eat the paper. He said he got something for me! This is big since I got NOTHING last Christmas when I was pregnant and just a bit emotional. I alos got bupkis for my 30th birthday. Well, I did get taken out to dinner, but it was very last minute.

William spent the night with Kathryn, the wonder sitter. She has been baby siting for us for 5 or 6 years. She got married over the summer and the 3 big kids were in her wedding. Also, Kathryn's mom, Vanessa, watches our children occassionally. Kathryn's dad, George, was a great help in getting the FOUR TREES cut up and split into firewood and moved after they landed in our front yard as Katrina blew through.

So William went with Kathryna nd spent the night with her at her parents' house. They played outside and I don't think Nathan picked him up untillate Saturday afternoon.

And Nathan is such a fun dad. He bought plastic bowing stuff for our LOOOONG hall. And took the offspring to their favorite restaurant. And he even gave 2 of the baths! And made breakfast Sunday morning for everyone before church, and got them dressed for church. He is such a great guy.

And now, I am back home. Movers come on Wednesday to get the rest of the crap out of our old house. And Ralph will start work on Wednesday too. And I have about 2 truckloads of stuff for Goodwill, Salvation Army, or Hannah Home, the local place for donations.

Have a great day, and STAY WARM!

Friday, December 02, 2005

I'm going to Atlanta! I'm going to Atlanta! Sing it with me!

Today is Lydia's 5th birthday. She was up with the sun, or at 6:30 with her big sister, which is close enough to up with the sun. Lydia got LOTS of Polly Pockets from her grandmother and great grandmother, and a My Little Pony, plus money from 2 other great-grandmothers. I would hazard a guess that she wil use her birthday money to buy yet more Polly Pockets. But the three big kids played NICELY for 3 horus yesterday, so I LOVE Polly Pockets!

Ok, on to me. Did I mention I'm going to Atlanta? My baby sister, who is 24, got engaged over Thanksgiving weekend. She and my mom planned a trip to Atlanta for this weekend as Atlanta is the nearest BIG city. They need to get a move-on a wedding dress since the wedding is scheduled for June 24th. I asked if I could tag along. Leah, the sister, said SURE! So, I planned to go. Turns out my middle sister, 27, had millions of sky miles, so she is flying down from New York City to meet us too!

The best part of this trip though? My mom and I get to go early since we live closer to Atlanta and don't work, at least we don't get regular paychecks, so we have a bit more freedom. So I am meeting mom at IKEA!!!!!!! I get to buy bookshelves for my kids' playroom, an maybe a desk for me, and who knows what else. AND my mom hasn't gotten me a Christmas present yet, so she will be funding said trip to IKEA.

I am almost as excited about Atlanta as Lydia is about her birthday!!

So, if you don't see me around for a few days, I am
GOING TO ATLANTA!!

By the way, if you are planning to find out where I live and break in and steal my stuff, only sweet baby Samuel and I will be headed to Atlanta. My very large, body building husband will be here. Of course, he will have the other 3 kids, so the fact that he is only 5ft8inches and an attorney don't really matter. The ankle biters will get you if you try to break in.