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