Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Esther is smiling!!
It's adorable and someday I'll get a photo of it. She's also still going about 6 hours at night between feedings which is wonderful! She'll go 3-4 hours during the day for the most part. IF she goes 4 hours too often then she does wake up at night so we're trying to keep those times shorter... it's just not always worth waking a sleeping baby!
Tyler's therapy came to an end yesterday and he's very much improved. We'll continue the home therapy until his followup appt in February and hopefully after that we can just continue it and end all discussions of surgery. I was playing doctor with Grace the other day and realized she has all sorts of new teeth! Especially molars. I guess making her eat those carrot sticks has been helping push them through!
I can't believe Christmas is a week away!! We have given up the idea of cookies. I made some Christmas nachos with the kids the other day. I had some corn tortillas that we were just not going to use so I decided to let the kids use the cookie cutters to cut them and then i baked them. It was fun and I just made triangles with some since the cutting wasn't easy! We've also been making Christmas shape pancakes pretty often this month. We go to Alliance to see the lights at Silver Park as often as we can. We also go to a house in a neighborhood near us that does lights to music. They have a transmitter so you can tune in your radio to hear it and watch. It's great. They have 6 songs I think we counted. We have SO much shopping to do still and not much time to do it! We hope to travel to do Christmas with my family next week Tuesday thru Thursday. Then we have Christmas at home, then on the weekend with the Bush's and Kandrays! Grandparents are such a blessing! I do love that Christmas lasts for several days, but it sure can be stressful!
Our news this week is that we made an offer on a house last night! What are we thinking!?!? We've been "casually" looking for months, years really- since we've moved here. We upped the search recently considering buying while we owned the Mansfield house, or paying it off and then buying. I never took it too seriously because we were years from paying the Mansfield house off anyways. Then the Mansfield house sold and I think Gary shifted from "casual" to "search" mode and I was busy in "labor" mode and then "survival" mode and missed his shift! THEN Saturday came and we saw two houses in the same price range, one a foreclosure and one a century home. The foreclosure needed lots of cosmetic work and teh century home was in excellent condition completely updated, and we fell in love with it. After much discussion, many emotional and fearful tears on my part, and even more prayer we made an offer on it last night. We can't afford the listing price and made an offer a little below what we can afford. If they counter we only have our final price to respond at so we're praying that they are willing to take less than asking price. It's worth the asking price I'm sure due to the condition of it and the location, but we absolutely will not pay more than what we can. We know what we're willing to pay per month for mortgage/insurance/taxes/utilities and we won't go above that. We know if they don't take it, then God has something better for us!
I've learned in this process how absolutely wonderful Gary is. He's so patient and so willing to work with me and make our marriage and decisions a partnership. He was fully on board with moving forward before I was but he's accepted the process I need to go through (endless discussion) and accepted the emotional process I have to go through too. He was willing to wait until I was fully on board. He's willing to pray through it with me and answer the same questions a million times! For the man I think it comes down to does this house fit us, is it where we want to be, and can we afford it, and some of does is feel right. For the woman I think it's a lot more about can we afford it, and does it FEEL right. Just because you walk into a house and feel at home and love it doesn't mean it's best to actually BUY it!
I'm also grateful that Gary's willing to look at our finances and make decisions that are conservative and comfortable so that nothing has to change to make it possible. We could over extend ourselves and count on certain monies each year like tax returns, but he's careful to plan only on what we know. It's easy when emotions are involved to talk yourself into more than what you can do and I'm so thankful Gary's so disciplined in this area. We're not so disciplined in other areas but we're working on it!
The offer is being presented this morning so we should know soon!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Correction!!
It has come to my attention that we are in the month of DECEMBER, not November... and so I missed our 12 year!! AHH!!!! It was November 13th, 1997 that Gary and I became a couple and so we've been together 12 years and a month! :)
Tyler's Therapy is continuing well. We are also still enjoying preschool and enjoying Esther! Her vaccines last Friday got her all out of whack so we're trying to patiently wait through it but it's so discouraging when she slept through the night and was nursing so well, and on such a good routine, to now have her eating randomly and sleeping randomly. Thankfully she's still sleeping 4-6 hours at night, eating (some) and then going right back to bed. So we'll take the fussy afternoons and fussy late evenings if it means she'll still sleep at night Unfortunately with the pain and fevers that come with the vaccines, we've been giving her Tylenol so my gut tells me that's the ONLY reason she's sleeping at night! Maybe it'll get her into a good habit and when we stop the Tylenol (hopefully tonight, pending another screaming fit) we'll get lucky. ;)
We got to go into Alliance twice this weekend to see the lights and I finally got to attend a church service again! I think I'd only been to one or two since Esther was born. We were still in the hospital the first Sunday, had a couple where I stayed home because one or more of us were not feeling well, one where I spent most of it in nursery nursing (ha ha) and two in nursery serving. So If my math is correct it was my second week to actually hear the sermon! It was wonderful and it was good to be back, even if I did have to drive on some slushy roads to get there. Gary was kind enough to take Tyler with him since he had to go early for worship team (and to feed the Bush's dog- they were out of town). Thus I only had myself and the girls to get ready... I got there in time for the first song so not too bad!! Those and some successful (though stressful) shopping trips were the highlights of the weekend. I'm also currently winning this week's Gridiron challenge so that's always fun! As long as my dad's wide receiver does not get 25 or more points, and Gary's tight end does not get more than 14 points, I'll win for the week!!
Esther is not crying, and the dishes are done so i really ought to consider bathing the kids... and putting away some laundry is always a good choice....
Friday, December 11, 2009
Growing Like Weeds!
These kids are growing up WAY too fast! Today we had well child visits for Esther and Tyler. Tyler's on his FIVE YEAR checkup! wow! He's 45 inches tall and 46 pounds. That puts him still around the 90th percentile for height and the 80th for weight. He really enjoyed this visit learning more about what the doctor does and getting to see everything on a more personal level than just watching myself or his sisters. He especially liked getting his blood pressure checked. I think our Dr. play around here will be slightly more accurate after this morning's trip. Esther is growing too! She weighed in at 11 pounds 1 oz which means that in the past 7 days she's gained 17 ounces. Sheesh! I certainly did not have to defend my choice to breastfeed! She's also 22 1/2 inches long which means she's grown 3 inches from birth. No wonder she's already growing out of not just her Newborn clothes, but also her 0-3 month clothes! I'm so sad to already be packing clothes away. We got so many beautiful sleepers and outfits and already had TONS from the other two kids... she truly is only wearing things once or twice before they don't fit! I hope she slows down a little so we get a better return for our 3-6 month clothing investments. Her other big news is that last night she slept through the night! She ate at 11, going to bed around 11:45 and she slept until 6! I went to bed around 12:30 so I got more than 5 hours straight sleep which felt amazing. I was in a panic when I awoke but she was sleeping peacefully. Even with her congestion she's doing amazing. She's such a good baby and I love that I finally have a cuddly baby! She loves to be held and I love holding her. I have regular mountains of laundry and dishes that pile up but I don't care. She's awesome and I don't know what we did before she came!
Today is also a major day in family history because last night the Browns beat the Steelers. This is the first time that has happened in the lifetimes of any of our kids! Haha! It was fun to watch and I'm glad Esther's first Browns/Steelers game was a good one and one worth staying up for! I was wearing the Browns hair crunchy Jen made me so I think she must have put some magic into it! How sad it is that this is likely the highlight not only of the season but of the past (and probably future) several years. Oh well... that's sports in Cleveland! If you grow up in it like we did you know what you are getting into because you've watched your father, grandfather and great-grandfathers suffer through year after year. I think we're more well rounded people because we grow up knowing what disappointment is! ;) And if you are lucky you grow up learning how to properly vent your anger at refs, coaches, and players- all while getting in a good workout.
This week Tyler continued his therapy for his muscles and tendon. He's doing well and we're being pretty consistant working at home as well. Some days are better than others of course. We are seeing improvement and are thankful... it's going to be a matter of self dicipline for Tyler which will be a good challenge and character building for him. The therapy will help him get to where he is able to stand and walk flat footed, and then it'll be up to him to train himself to do it and make a new, better habit.
We are also still enjoying our homescooling. The kids often want me to read further than the "lesson plans" say we should so we do. It's been a great motivator for me to force me to sit down with them while Esther naps or daddy has her and read to them and talk to them. This curriculum helps us make that more of a priority which I needed.
Our crazy treadmill purchase is also being enjoyed. It's a bit boring right now because I don't have an iPod or even a working CD player but in a month it'll be in front of the TV. :) I'm cleared to excersise and my OB appointment Monday went well. I am very thankful to be so healthy and able to recover so quickly from labor. It wasn't so easy the first time around which makes me appreciate it even more.
Last weekend we had a wonderful visit from the Kelloggs. We stayed up WAY too late Friday night but having fellowship with another couple sans kids was just awesome. I loved every moment of it and wish we could do it more. I needed that so badly. It has made me more tired this week, but again, very worth it. It was also fun to see the kids get to play with Faith. They love her so much and always are talking about her, it's nice that they do actualy get along when they are together!
Christmas is coming, ready or not, so this weekend will be busy with shopping and hopefully energy will allow some cookie making. I always love weekends when we can all just be together, even if we are busy. The rest of the month will fly by so I fully intend to enjoy this weekend relaxing with the love of my life and our three beautiful babies. We chose to journey through life together 12 years ago Sunday. That was one of the best decisions I ever made!
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Happy Thursday again! I actually put on my chore list to update the blog on Thursday's in hopes of getting on here more regularly. Last week was CRAZY!
Wednesday of last week Josh and Lia were both in town so we got up and did some housework and then headed over to the Bush's house. They gave Tyler his birthday presents and got something for Grace too so the kids had a blast with new stuff. I love to watch them play together. Of course after a couple hours Tyler was dressing the princess and Grace was driving the monster truck. *sigh* They only switched for awhile but it was funny still. I got to be in on some wedding conversation which was so fun. I love weddings. That evening my mom came down and stayed the night. It was great to get the extra time with her to visit. Thanksgiving morning we tried to watch the parade but I really had to wash all the dishes i'd left and I also had to get us ready and do usual morning stuff so it was a bit chaotic. The kids and Gary enjoyed the parade which was ironic since it was my mom and I who actually wanted to see it. I caught the cheerleaders and a few balloons and the kids enjoyed what they watched too. We got to the Bush's around noon for Thanksgiving with them and Josh (Lia went to Pittsburgh). It's so exciting to think about them being married next year!! My mom left to not have to drive home in too much darkness but we stayed. Uncle Dan, Aunt Tami and their kids came in the early evening so we got to visit with them as well.
Friday we got up and loaded up the van for a day up North. We made good time to my dad's house. I'm sure all the black Friday shoppers were back in bed by the time we hit the road. :) WE had lunch with my dad and he took the kids down to the lake for a little bit. It was absolutely FREEZING! The kids nap/rested there and then we got into our Christmas outfits and headed off to the Cline's for Christmas! Michaela and Bonni couldn't come because Michaela could not travel. I think her knee was still bothering her. It was such a bummer not to have the whole family there but it was great to get to see Uncle Steward and Lauren. I'm glad they got to meet Esther when she's still a baby. We had dinner and then presents. Like everyone else in the world we get stressed about the traveling and the planning and the disturbance to the kids routine, but in the end we're so thankful to the Lord that he's provided us with family and allowed our family members to enjoy long healthy lives. Grandpa will be going to the Cleveland Clinic next week for his back pain so they are not headed to Florida quite yet. If they don't go I think we'll get to see them around actual Christmas which would be the first time in several years. Either way I pray they can do something for my Grandpa's pain. We got home pretty late that night and slept in Saturday.
Esther did really well for the week but she took all her naps those three days in someone's arms so getting home and trying to get her to sleep in her bed during the day did not go over well. SHe was pretty fussy at night that week and all weekend and was having a hard time nursing. Monday Tyler had his first therapy appointment for his legs/feet. Our pediatrician is practically across the street and Gary was off work that day so we decided I would take Esther to the Dr. and he would take the older two to therapy. Esther checked out just fine. It's taken some work but we seem to have gotten her back to eating better. She's certainly not malnourished because she weighed in Monday at 10 pounds even! She was not even 7 lbs at 2 weeks and now at 5 weeks 3 days she'd gained 3 pounds! It helped my anxiety to know she was fine and her ears were fine and I'm sure my being relaxed helped her settle back into real life. I hope being a few weeks older helps when Christmas comes. I remember being insanely stressed about Tyler eating and sleeping over Christmas and I almost quit nursing him because it got so difficult. I think having done it before i'll be better prepared to have an infant for the holiday madness! :)
Tyler's therapy went well. He went Monday and Wednesday and we have to do exercises regularly here at home. he'll go for 3 weeks and we'll continue to work at home and hopefully things will be improved when we see the Dr. again in February.
Today is Gary's Pap's surgery on his carotid artery. He did qualify for the stint after all which was a huge praise. Stephanie went with him this morning and they had to be there super early. I've been praying things will go perfectly! What a comfort to have the Lord to go to in times of stress and worry over our loved ones.
Our Preschool curriculum came last Friday so we waited until Saturday to open it and we've enjoyed it daily ever since. It's truly just reading aloud to the kids but we're enjoying it and i'm enjoying that I can make the discussion about our reading as long or short as I want based on my knowledge and the kids' interest. I do wish it had questions to ask and a little more guidance ... but i also like the freedom to ask what I want. :)
Wednesday after Therapy we finally made it out the Neely homestead so Jenn could meet Esther. I wish we could have made it on an evening so Aubrey could meet her too but hopefully soon. Jen made us the most adorable little onsie dress and crib sheet! I so admire her sewing talent... but not enough to invest in a sewing machine and learn. :) It's so great to have friends to visit (and great that our kids get along so well!) and I'm glad we went even if the kids were insanely crabby when we got home. :) They would stay there all day and night if I let them. Yesterday was also the first day of Sue's last chemo treatment. November was a good month for her and I truly hope December will be too... i pray the Lord will choose to heal her.
SO that brings us to today! The Christmas stuff is finally up which means I can go back to tackling organization, routine cleaning and the mass of laundry I've let accumulate... why do I do this to myself?!?! Tomorrow hopefully we'll be having friends to visit!!!!
Monday, November 23, 2009
We're no longer house hunting which has been wonderful. We still enjoy looking at pictures online and will go to open houses if any interest us, but no more driving 3 kids and a tired mommy all over the county in the evening. :) We are also no longer wasting our poor realtor's time. We might start looking in January but for now, plan to just enjoy the holidays and our family- especially the baby days with Esther. She's growing too fast!
We ordered our first home-school curriculum last night! I'm very excited that we finally did it and will be getting it probably sometime next week. I think we'd usually get it sooner but with Thanksgiving i'm sure it won't come by weeks end. We went with a Sonlight program which is pretty expensive but since it's literature based it's almost all books that will be part of our library. I'll also be able to use it with both girls after Tyler is done and can take more than one year to go through it. That makes it a great value assuming we love it as much as I think we will. Even if we hate it, we end up with books we can read to the kids and the kids can read rather than a bunch of software or textbooks and workbooks we'll never use. I doubt we'll do much with it before the new year but I'm excited to have something all done for me where all i have to do is follow the instructor guide. I love making up my own things, but it can be tedious and i lose motivation at times.
Saturday Lori got to come to meet Esther! It was so nice that she was able and had time to drive out here to see us. We miss you Lori! She brought Christmas gifts for the kdis and so they are thrilled to have alerady started Christmas! I did not do a very good job of making a big deal out of Thanksgiving this year so in their minds we are straight into Christams. Since we're having Christams with my side of the family on Friday, it's hard to make the distinction so i've just let it go this year. We do talk a lot about being thankful but we didn't get into the pilgrims at all this year. :( Maybe tomorrow if i'm super motivated. :)
Esther is still doing well! She is one month today! I can't believe how the time has gone. She is much improved in her eating and she's on a good routine throughout the day. If I could get myself up regularly to feed her at the same time each morning it would be even better. :) The other two kids love her to bits and always want to look at her and kiss her. They are great about playing with each other or by themselves when I have housework to do or need to nurse the baby. I'm thankful to have the extra space of the basement for them to play in for the days we just can't make it outside to run around.
This week we're looking forward to THanksgiving and Christmas with family and I think Gary even gets Monday off so we might get a relaxing, restful family weekend- after we decorate for Christmas of course! We're all fighting illness and colds but so far none of us have gotten sick (knock on wood). I'm very thankful for antibacterial gel, vitamins and lysol in addition to sweatshirts and slippers!!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Clearly I need to blog something short every day or couple days. Our weeks are getting very confusing. So last week was hospital week, then closing on Friday, leaves and fever on Saturday, no church and party on Sunday and thus begins another week!
Sunday 11/8: Due to Grace's fever we stayed home from church. Gary left to go golfing with my dad shortly before naps. Tyler had a meltdown because he wanted to go, he was afraid of starting Kindergarten because he can't write all his letters, and he was crying that his party was on the wrong day because he's still four. I begged him to PLEASE nap so he'd feel better and not so crabby for his birthday. My mom arrived about 2:30 and we got to visit while the kids napped and finished getting the house cleaned up. We left a little after 4 to go see a house that was open in Alliance. We've looked at it several times and kept feeling like it was meant to be it'd still be up for sale. Since my parents were in town and it was open we headed over only to find out that it was NOT open! Someone called the realtor for the home though because he came and let us see it... I liked it more, Gary liked it less. Turns out there was another offer going in Monday so if we wanted it we had to "act fast". Upon discussion we decided to let this one go as it was not in the location we wanted. We'd really like to be closer to the school we're sending Tyler to. We got back to the house and ordered food from Grinders and we let Tyler open his presents while we waited on the food. Then while everyone ate, I fed Esther, then we did cake and ice cream and visited a little and the grandparents headed for home. Tyler got snow pants, the train Proteus, Legos, some Cars vehicles, a Cars launcher, and a fish! It's good to turn 5!!
Monday I'm sure we did something but I can't remember what.
Tuesday we went to see another house that is in the perfect location but small. We liked it enough to consider making an offer so we made plans to see it again Wednesday with Gary's dad to look at the details. Wednesday's showing wasn't at all what we expected. We saw the house and the owners where there and it was just overall a very strange experience... very strange...
Wednesday night was also a nightmare as far as sleeping goes. Esther doesn't have the jaundice anymore so she's eating better and not sleeping as much. This also means it's harder to get her to go to sleep, especially on her own. Somehow we've gotten ourselves in a situation where she needs to be in her seat, held, and have a pacifier to fall asleep. this is NOT GOOD!! She slept very little all day Wednesday, and very little all night. Now it's Thursday and she cried through one nap. We're on our second nap and she's quiet but keeps making noises up there. Thankfully she's at least in her own bed and resting. I'm pretty sure she's sleeping and the noises are just her transitioning through sleep cycles but i'm afraid to go check! Every time I check on her something wakes her up (most likely increased downstairs noise) and she sees me and screams.
So even though this house seems wonderful in so many ways, it's still small, and probably not the best time to be moving or making these kinds of decisions. We're just a little to strung out and sleep deprived! We're not sure yet, but I don't think we'll be making an offer. At least not today.
Last but certainly not least:
Happy Birthday Mom/Grandma Sandra!!!
WE LOVE YOU!!!
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Happy Birthday Tyler!!
Tomorrow, November 9, Tyler will turn 5 years old! I can't believe it! He seems so grown up to me and yet I know he's still a very little boy. :) Tonight we are having the grandparents over for a special birthday dinner and we hope to go bowling as a family sometime this week. We had plans to go to Toys R Us to have him choose a gift yesterday but Grace woke up from her nap with a pretty high fever so home we stayed. :( That means of course that here I am at home iwth the three kids while Gary's off to church. He was back on worship team today after about a month off and his dad is preaching! I'm so dissapointed to miss it. Grace is acting fine but I know that could change at a moment's notice and I know we are likely to all be contageous at this point.
Yesterday (Saturday) we went to the Bush's and the kids got to play in the leaves and help get them to the road for leaf pickup this week. Tyler loved it and Grace wanted to be inside reading books and keeping an eye on her baby sister. I was so impressed to see Tyler raking leaves into a pile, then onto a tarp, then dragging the tarp to the road and dumping the leaves in the pile all by himself. Of course we stayed close to him but Pops showed him how to do everything and he did it all by himself! They also got to take a couple wagon rides which is always a favorite activity.
This past week was pretty stressful but also wonderful. Gary went back to work of course and so it was just the kids and I. Esther did not do well nursing at the beginning of the week which was extremely frustrating. I wanted to give up several times, especially at night when she would cry every 5 minutes for hours and seem hungry so often, and not eat. I kept at it and started giving her little bits in bottles to get her going. I think it calmed her somehow. She just seemed constantly exhausted, or overstimulated. Having two older siblings, she probably is often overstimulated! We're working on balancing keeping hte kids quiet and making Esther get used to them. :)
Wednesday we had a weight check and I was able to have Steph watch the kids for me while I took Esther. She was up to 6lbs 14 oz (from 6lb 8oz the week before) which was good... but the nurse felt she was too yellow so she sent our doctor in to see Esther. She was concerned and felt she was more yellow than the week before and sent us over to the hospital for bloodwork. Gary met me there and we had it done and then I went to get the kids and go home. We got home very late that day so naps where late which threw off our whole day.
Thursday we had to go again and I had to take the kids by myself. It would turn out to be a horrible day in many respects. I managed to get Esther fed, then get myself and the kids up and dressed and fed, then fed Esther again and left. We got to Alliance and the power was out in teh whole town! You don't realize how many lights there are in town until you have to stop at every one of them and make SURE no one is running them and running into you! I turned left at the Bush's road because there was a policeman directing traffic. I figured it was safest to turn there. :) I figured out how to get to the hospital and was pretty proud of myself. By this point I was tired and sore and stressed and just ready to get this over with. I was on the phone when I got the kids out and we went in and waited. I forget how loud my kids talk until we are in a quiet place. *sigh* the power was half out in the hospital so there was not a lot of white noise around... no tv or music or hum of power and the lights were dimmed but my kids were yell-talking. Finally we went back and the kids did not sit still, did not be quiet, and did not keep their hands to themselves. I was beyond frustrated. Usually they are pretty well behaved in situations like this but my lack of parenting them since Esther joined us is quickly biting me in the you-know-what! Finally we were out of there (after saying goodbye to everyone in the lab) and I stopped to get my keys out. Couldn't find them. I had no jacket pockets, they were not in my jeans, and not in the diaper bag. I thought maybe since I had been on the phone while unloading that possibly I left them in the van so we trecked across the parking lot to see. Thankfully the van was unlocked so I could get the kids in, but the keys were not there. I looked under the van, under the seats, under the carseats, in every crevice of the seats, in the ignition, under the rugs, took Esther out of her seat and the cloth off of Grace's to look under them. Nothing. CHecked my pockets and Tyler's pockets and the diaper bag about 12 times and called Gary in a panic- yes, crying. Crying and yelling i'm sure. Poor Gary. He offered to come help me but what could he do? I even had Tyler look under the seats and the van and the vehicles to either side of us in case I missed it. I finally put things back in the van and decided we had to all treck back in to ask if someone had turned them in. I prayed this whole time that i'd find them and NOT have to go back in and that they'd turn up so we could just GO HOME. By this time it was well past time for me and the kids to eat lunch and Esther was needing fed too. I felt the need to check the diaper bag one last time and so I deliberately did, taking each item out and placing them on the seat. Nothing. THen I noticed the side pocket where bottles go and checked there- and there they were. I swear I'd checked them before but must not have. I was SO thankful!! We buckled the older two up and I headed to teh McDonalds drive through! Nothing like golden arches when you are stressed. Food is my drug of choice I guess. :) We went home and ate our lunch and got to bed and I fed Esther. Whew!
Friday was very similar as far as stress goes but nothing went disasterously wrong. This time I had to have us all to the hospital and home and Esther and the kids fed and me ready to go by 1:00. CLOSING DAY!! We were meeting our Realtor at the house at 2:30 so we HAD to leave by 1. It was close but I managed to get us packed and ready to go. YOu know i had to pack for any situation with Esther. :) I don't think I ate lunch, but I got everything else done. :) We walked through the empty house and it was unreal. It looked the same as when we'd moved out. It was strange to think someone else had lived there since we had. Thankfully they left it in great shape and clean so we headed over to the title company to close. I figured it would take awhile but was very wrong! 10 minutes and a few signatures later we were ouside with our debt cut by more than half. WOW! God is so good! The Stuaffers were free that evening and were gracious enough to let us come to their house and spend the evening wiht them, over an hour earlier than I'd said we'd see them! We had a wonderful visit and I was thrilled to get to see little Ali again! We had dinner there and just go to catch up and fellowship. It was nice to not have to nurse Esther in the back of the car in a parking lot too. :)
blog started 11/8, finished 11/12
Friday, October 30, 2009
what a week!!
Shortly after I blogged last Thursday Gary called me from work. He should have been on his way home so I assumed he was calling to tell me he was on his way, but he said to sit down, he had news. Thankfully I was already sitting down and of course about 10 scenarios went through my mind... not a good thing to tell a woman 14 hours before she goes into the hospital to be induced! Turns out we got an offer on our house in Mansfield.
Yup, you read that right! After living here 3 years we finally got our first offer. It wasn't just an offer, it was an offer for what we owe on the house, and it was in CASH!!! Gary flew home with the faxed paperwork which we signed and faxed back as quickly as we could. We were THRILLED!! We don't have to wait for a loan to go through and the amount we have to bring to the table at closing is totally manageable. To say we're thankful would be an understatement! That news alone would have made the month a good one, but God continues to pour out his blessings!
We went into the hospital at 5 AM on Friday. We made great time, even stopping for Gary to get coffee because, lets face it, 4:30 AM is not a high traffic time of day. We got in and they got me settled in my room {No Jen, not the one with blood on the ceiling. For those who may not know, Grace was born in a room with blood on the ceiling and 10 months later her friend Zeke was born in the same room- blood still on the ceiling. I should have snuck into that room to see if it was still there. :) }. I had group B strep and needed antibiotics so they got my IV going (NOT my favorite part!) and that medicine going and the pitocin going. This all happened around 7 AM. The monitors were showing contractions before they started the Pit so I hoped i would be progressed further and looking at a fast labor.
My doctor was scheduled to be there at noon and we wondered if we'd make it that long. Our little girl was not quite ready though and I had progressed very little. After several hours trying to regulate the pit to get my contractions 2-3 minutes apart I had still not progressed. My contractions were either right on top of each other or 3-4 minutes apart I assumed at that point I'd have a very long day, and maybe even night ahead of me. For the zillionth time I wondered if induction had been the right choice.
My doctor called the hospital and asked that all his patients get their epidurals and waters broken so my turn came at 12:30pm. I'd just been checked (no progress- still 2-3) and my contractions had been getting worse so I was trying to figure out when to get the epidural. I knew they'd get worse with the water breaking so I asked for it. I was waiting to get to 5 if I could knowing that the epidural could possibly slow my labor down. With the breaking of my water my contractions went from very painful to excruciating in about 5 minutes. I was shocked!! Paula came and did the epidural just before 1 and it was VERY hard to breathe through those contractions and stay still. I just kept telling myself I could not do this for another 8 hours or more and that I needed to get it and pray for the best. I prayed that my body would progress and if it didn't and I needed a C-Section that God would just work it all out. I sent Gary to get some lunch. The epidural would take 20 or so minutes to fully numb me by that point and then they were going to be back to do my catheter so I told him go ahead- that someone would be back if I needed something and I had my call button. It would be hours so he needed to eat but to be back in a half hour to sit with me.
He left about 1:15, a nurse cam to check me and do a cath at 1:30 and I was complete. They started to ready me to push!!! I was in shock. I actually asked her what "complete" meant figuring I MUST have heard her wrong!! At that point people flooded the room, Gary was paged and showed up and I think I was pretty much in shock. My nurse got me set up and asked me to do a practice push "to see how you do" and about a third of the way through my push she made me STOP and I knew she was coming. Then MORE people came into the room including my doctor who basically ran into the coat thing they were holding for him and came over to me. A push later they unwrapped her chord, and two more pushes later she was born!
At 1:56 pm, Friday October 23, 2009 we welcomed Esther Joy Bush into our family. She is beautiful.
Several hours later she weighed in at 7lbs (and a quarter of an ounce) and 19 and a half inches long.
Now, home a week later I can honestly say it's been a whirlwind. Our little angel is perfect but she's not so keen on eating. :) She prefers to drag out the time between feedings which stresses mommy out. They want her to be eating every 2-3 hours and we're lucky if we can get her to eat in 4. I'm trying to look at it as extra sleep right now and be thankful, but it's hard. You can't force a baby to eat. All signs point to her getting enough so we'll see how much weight she's re-gained this coming Wednesday. This past Wednesday was her first Pediatrician appointment. She weighed in at 6 lbs 8 oz which is only a half pound weight loss overall which she said was good. Another praise is that her bilirubin numbers were good enough in the hospital that she did NOT have jaundice (The other two did) and did not have to have any repeat blood tests done!!
Having Gary home this week has been nothing short of wonderful. I"m so in love with that man!! He's just amazing and the best dad in the world. I can't thank him enough for taking this time to be with us and be such a support.
The kids love her. They want to know where she is all the time and are quick to alert us if she's crying and offer suggestions on how to make her stop. Neither of them has said a single thing about her crying at night (though I know it disturbs their sleep because they are both napping every day and clearly need it). They love to watch her and kiss her and love to help out bringing things to mommy or helping daddy. They have also been playing together wonderfully the entire week. I"m so glad they have each other. This first week, in that way, was easier than my first week with Grace when Tyler was lonely for someone to play with.
God is so amazing.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Tomorrow is the big day!
At my appointment last Wednesday my doctor confirmed that I was scheduled with the hospital to be induced on Friday the 23rd at 5 AM. There are many doctors in the practice and he will start his on-call day at noon. The doctor on call until noon is the same one who began my induction with Grace. We're very excited to have the date and know what is going on, and praying we can be up by 4am to get there in time! We're also so very blessed that it worked so well into our friend Paula's schedule to work that day since she does the epidurals. :) She has the most important job of the day in my opinion!
I've been trying to be more active this past week, walking more and working on projects around the house so that things are off to a good start when we get home. It seems I've blogged about it previously. I've not been sleeping well and the baby is definitely preparing to come. I wouldn't say I've had contractions but I hope the things i AM feeling mean that my body is progressing and this induction will go just as well as with Grace.
My mom comes in tonight after work to stay with us. She'll be here while we're in the hospital to watch the kids and everything is in order and ready for her to take over. The kids are very excited to have her coming and excited to know that most likely their Papa, Grandma Bush and Pops will be dropping in this weekend too. Grace understands more than I thought she would and Tyler is following every detail carefully. He's very much like me wanting to know exactly what is going to happen and what to expect and wanting no surprises. He's upset about not getting to come to the hospital to see us but is taking very seriously his role of Grandma's helper and Grace's helper while we're gone. We're also starting to discuss his quickly approaching birthday more so he's allowing himself to get excited about that too.
It's a big several weeks for us with the baby, Gary's birthday and his birthday all coming up. In addition Halloween is in there. We're not sure what we're doing for trick-or-treat yet, but the Bush's will probably try to take them or we'll do something special. I'd like to try to do pumpkins this year since we haven't in awhile but we'll see how things go this weekend before we make too many plans!
I'm still struggling with the hospital's policy of not allowing the kids to come. It was so important to me to let the kids see the baby first and for the 5 of us as a family to have special time before introducing the baby to the rest of the family. I still can't quite pinpoint exactly WHY it's so important to me or why I'm so emotional about it (well, the emotion part would be explained by the hormones on top of my already overly emotional personality). Gary hopes to set up a video conference between our home computer and the laptop we plan to take with us to the hospital. I'm praying that it works so the kids can see us and we can see them, and so they can see the baby. I'm also choosing to look forward to the time we will have next week just the 5 of us when we are home and Gary's off of work. Things can't always go the way you want them to and while I'm still upset and disappointed, I'm choosing to accept it and make the best of it.
I'm very nervous about being induced... nervous she's not ready or I'm not ready and things will get complicated. I'm nervous about being a mom to three in addition to balancing my other roles- wife, daughter, sister, friend. It's a bit overwhelming to think on! Nursing one while two run amok, and keeping up with the daily things that being a mom bring from patience and discipline to attention, love and laundry! The overriding feeling through this all though is a simmering peace knowing my Lord and Savior has me, and those I love, in the palm of his hand. Things don't go the way we want them to. We're surrounded by hurting family and friends and the burden is just too great, what a joy we have to know the burdens are not ours to carry. We can't carry our own burdens or the burdens of others but we must, out of obedience and for survival, hand them over to the Lord. I'm relearning that daily. I wish I could say I'm "practicing" it daily but in truth I'm not. I'm trying though! As hard as it is to see those around me struggling and hurting and living with worry and doubt, it's also been a blessing. Not quite the "Pure Joy" James talks about, but a blessing. We tend to spend more time with our Lord and allow the opportunity to know Him and ourselves better and more deeply when we have things to bring before him. So to those of you who might read, know I do pray for you and share in your burdens with you. Know that I'm thinking of you and know that through you, my relationship with Christ and my faith are strengthened.
May God always be glorified in the things we say and do. Thank you to those who are praying for us and this baby. We ask you to continue to pray over this weekend as we welcome our newest gift from God into our family. We hope you'll check back here for updates and hopefully photos!
~The Bush's
Saturday, October 10, 2009
2 weeks to go!!
Happy Fall everyone! We've had a very NOT busy month so far and I'm loving it. I'm not enjoying the cooler weather but am thankful it's not 100 degrees or snowing. My due date is still Oct 28 but we are looking at being induced on the 23 which is a Friday. I see the doctor the 14th to decide for sure. Our are has an "epidemic" of the Swine flu and so the hospitals are under quarantine. I found out yesterday when the lady from the Birth Center called to say the older siblings class for next week was cancelled because they are not allowing any children under the age of 18 into the hospital. This means the kids can't come see me or meet their sister until we come home. I"m very very upset and downright angry about this. I do understand why they make such decisions but it robs me of the sweet moments of us being a family of 5 before letting others meet the baby. It was so important to me and special beyond words to get to have Tyler come into the room with us and meet Grace and spend some time letting him get to know her before grandparents and other family came in. If I stick to the desire to do this, then none of our family will get to meet the baby until we come home from the hospital, and I'm not sure I want that either. I'm so torn and saddened by the whole thing. I hate telling my family- you can't come see me at the hospital- and I hate the thought of everyone seeing her before Tyler and Grace. It's a no-win situation. I'm grateful the hospital takes measures to ensure the health and safety of it's patients but I also don't see how my kids walking through a hall, up and elevator, through another hall and into my private room puts anyone in danger. Like I told Gary- it's not like they'll be licking the bassinets in the nursery. :) I'm just praying that they'll let the kids come anyways and I won't have to worry about it, and if I do that whatever I decide will be understood by everyone. Gary is hoping to rig something so that we can video conference from the hospital to home so we can talk to the kids and show them the baby through the TV. It's not ideal but it would be a great compromise if we went that route... and if the hospital allows it of course. :)
We've recently been fading out the summer clothes and fading in the winter clothes. As you can imagine, things that fit Tyler last April just don't look quite the same! We had a great trip to Goodwill over my birthday and got him some new jammies- youth size 6 and they should fit him for at least this year and hopefully next year. He's got plenty of length to grow into them and he can still wear them now. We also decided the kids needed jackets so we went again. Gary needed one too and he's impossible to buy for. He never wants to pay more than 10$ for any article of clothing so Goodwill is a good start for him. :) We got him a jacket, Tyler a jacket, Grace two dressy "church" jackets, a dress for Grace and shoes for me for $15. They have colored tags that are $1 and another color 50%off each week and we took advantage of that! We went again last night hoping to find some fall pants and a long sleeved white shirt for Grace. She has many cute summer dresses and jumpers that she could wear if she had long sleeves underneath. I'm also hoping to find Tyler some play tennis shoes so his nice ones last a little longer. We tried the Salvation Army in Belden. We didn't have much luck but I did find two more jumpers and a onsie for the baby for $3 total. They have a larger selection and I plan to go back after Christmas if the kids need more winter clothes. We can always get Tyler shoes for his birthday. I had some gift cards I'd been given for Old Navy so we decided to use those to get Grace what she needed. I was appalled at how expensive that store has gotten!!! I'm anxious to see how the quality is because I believe I'm right to assume it's not improved with the higher prices. I know I can get better quality things at Carter's or Kohl's on sale for much cheaper. Oh well. It'll be awhile before I"m buying myself anything from Old Navy so better to use free money than keep shopping around. We got her two long sleeved white shirts (one a turtleneck) and three pairs of pants and it was $44. Ouch! It physically hurt me until she rang up the $17 jeans and they came up $7. Then of course paying with gift cards makes the pain go away slightly. Then we finally hit Baby's R Us which I'd been wanting to do for ages. I just love that store. We sat in the $500 glider rockers and had a lovely conversation with the sales associate who assured us that now was the time to buy b/c they were 15% off. Gary politely told her it was the remaining 85% that concerned us! We did find the baby a brand new sleeper (even though she has 30 of them) to be her going home outfit. It was half off. :) We also splurged and got her a baby book which I hope to be better about filling out than I was the other two!!! And of course we got her some pacifiers. We looked at a lot of other things but decided everything else could wait till she came. Gary really wanted to look at the double strollers and I said we should wait till Christmas. If we find in her first two months we wish we had one, then we know what to ask for, if not, why waste the money and have the thing taking up all that space? Really, how often am I going to go out with the 3 of them by myself this winter? Grace is fully capable of walking everywhere or she can be in the grocery cart. :) If we're both there we can just use two strollers. Gary studied the gates too which we are keeping in mind as a possible future purchase. we have two nice ones but neither fit between our playroom and living room which might be something we look into. I looked at all the fun stuff, the cute sheets and other things. We have everything we need, but it was still fun to look. :)
Tonight we are taking the kids to Alliance for a harvest party. I hope the kids will enjoy it. We don't think they will get to trick or treat this year so i'm glad we found out about this in time to take advantage of it.
We have had a quiet month. Some shopping here and there and visiting Grandma and Pops. Church activities and helping Daddy at work fill up a few evenings too. Grandma Sandra came down for a day to help me wash the walls. The Kelloggs came up and over for a day to visit and spend time together. It's been nice to stick close to home and just rest. Tyler is going to story hour at the library on Wednesdays which has been a nice time to get out of the house and also hit Aldi and get it all done so daddy doesn't have to come with us. :) He's really enjoyed it and brought home some really cute crafts. Grace loves the time with mommy looking at books and playing with the frog puppet they have there. Bible study has started back up as has MOPS. I missed this month but look forward to making December and maybe even November, Lord willing. We've kept busy and enjoyed increased family time. It's nice to have evenings of just the four of us and even weekends! We've also gotten a lot of projects done around the house getting ready for the baby. The basement has been cleaned out and the play area expanded, all the woodwork and walls in the house have been cleaned. Closets and bedrooms cleaned out, the kitchen cleaned out (the garage not so much!). The baby's crib is up and made, the clothes are washed and put away and Gary installed the car seat today. I made space for bottles and bibs and they are all washed and put away. Toys are washed and in a basket and a space has been made for the mini-crib my mom hopes to bring with her when she comes to meet the baby. I think all we need to do now is pack my bag! And of course keep things picked up.... The kids have been playing very very well together and getting very into pretending. Grace seems mostly content to let Tyler lead, which he's happy to do. Her language has exploded the past few months and while I miss her being my baby, it's wonderful to get to talk to her and have conversations with her and continue to see her grow into her personality. Having this baby right around the corner makes Grace's maturing a little easier. Tyler is growing up too. He's very smart but also very content which I appreciate. He has picked up Grace's stubborn streak and they prefer to join together to aggravate us than to do it alone. They stick together and really are wonderful friends. I'm thankful they are so close and hope they remain that way with the baby coming.
Gary and I are doing well too. He's been overly stressed with work and I've been overly emotional and the two do not always mix well, but we're working on it. We're also learning already to team up better in dealing with the kids as they team up against us. I figure this will be good for us as head into life with 3 kids and needing to take the Zone Defense approach. :) We know our renters still plan to move out, but we've not gotten a date yet. We did get a rent check the first of the month which was a huge blessing. They are often unable to pay on time which can throw a wrench in our finances and cause us to wonder and worry. Getting it right on time was wonderful this month knowing we've got another month of them paying the mortgage and utilities. We had also hoped not to be needing to be over there a lot doing work this month. We're, as always, waiting on the Lord and his timing!
I hope to post more often as things get busy and exciting again here but know better than to promise. Continue to enjoy the photo's Gary is able to post and watch for Baby Updates and Photos coming soon!!
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
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