Vacation Recap

The original purpose of our travels was joyous, Bob's brother got married and we wanted to celebrate with him, He also asked Bob and Lydia to be in the wedding.  So we prepared and flew across the country to Colorado for the festivities.  Preparing a family of 5 to go from sunny warm Florida to Colorado winter was an undertaking in itself.  We had one suitcase devoted to all the winter weather gear, which was promptly opened as soon as we picked it up at baggage claim to suit up.


Andrew mad the flight eventful.  He decided to get sick not once but twice, making a mess all over himself and his carseat he was riding in on the plane.  The second 1/2 of the flight he slept in mama's lap.
We had leisurely day of travel to the cabin we were staying at.  The kids couldn't wait for our destination so they had a snow ball fight at the car rental lot.

Thursday
Andrew threw up a bit more at breakfast but he seemed ok so we carried on.  We spent time with the Bride's family and helped with last minute preparations for the festivities, including jazzing up Lydia's flower girl basket.

Friday
Mom woke up feeling under the weather, and stayed on the couch or bed all day.  We stayed home and rested for the rehearsal in the evening.  Thanks to Powerade we made it to the rehearsal only to have Lyda announce she wasn't feeling good, and rush to a trash can.  WE skipped the rehearsal dinner and went home to contain the sickness and hopefully heal for the big event the following day.
The big question: Would there be a flower girl?

Overnight Caleb joined Lydia in being up throughout the night withe the bug.  Mom was still not feeling great so daddy handled it like a pro.

Saturday - Wedding day
With the help of Gatorade everyone was feeling up to it and we all made it to the wedding.  Lydia rocked her flower girl duties.  Bob was handsome and supportive as Best Man.  Caleb slept through the reception and Andrew eventually joined him in dreamland.  Lydia danced with the best of them and won hearts.  A snow storm moved in during the party and driving home was treacherous but we made it safely.

Sunday
We planned to ride a cog railroad up to Pikes Peak, but the snowstorm caused it to be canceled.  We couldn't have gotten out if we wanted to, we were snowed in.  The last man standing finally fell, and Bob came down with the bug.  So he spent the day in bed.  Bob's family stopped by with some treats for the kids, we would have seen them on the railroad trip.  So movies and Dish TV were enjoyed by all as a treat.

Monday
 We were hoping to visit Focus of the Family with Bob's family before they left town but the office was closed for the snow and cold anyways.  It was so cold we stayed home again with our plans canceled.  We were able to venture out for dinner with Bob's family before they departed down early the next day.  Monday evening was the only time that all 5 of us were feeling good the entire trip and it lasted only a few hours.

Learning to Sled with Mom

Tuesday
Mom was feeling bad again.  This time with was chills and headaches.  I never felt 100% after getting knocked down at the beginning of the trip.  I slept most of Tuesday and the kids had some chances to play in the snow and learn to sled.

Wednesday
Our last full day in the Colorado Mountains, Mom was still knocked out and not feeling any better.  Andrew had started sleeping more, eating less and being clinging for daddy.  While Mom continued to rest and Andrew took his nap.  Bob headed out with the big kids to at least see something.  They went to Focus of the Family.  Focus has a visitor center where you can visit the locations from the radio drama Adventures in Odyssey, a new favorite at our house.  Mom was still sick so contemplated  splitting up and me not flying home with the family sick.

Thursday - Travel day
We gave ourselves 2 hours for the airport, and 90 minutes to drive and return the rental car, for our 11:45am flight.  But there was a new 4 inches of snow overnight, and we are rusty snow drivers so we took it extra slow.  We had a long line to check our bags, security was not moving fast, we had 2 bags chosen for extra screening.  Mom wasn't feeling well still so I wasn't moving as fast.  In the end we missed our flight by minutes.

We were but on standby for a flight with a layover in St. Louis but we didn't make the cut.  When were pushed to another flight, the attendant was kind enough to work with us and instead of keeping us on another standby list, they added us to a later direct flight, and we flew home at 6 pm.  And finally crawled in to our own beds at 1am.  Thankful to be home.  I"m still feeling sick but its so much easier to deal with being home and with out the added factors of altitude and the drier climate of the mountains.

So as Bob said, this with be the vacation by which all future bad vacations will be judged in our family.  

Thank you God for Bananas

I love when God gives us concrete in your face, undeniable moments to see he cares about the details in our life.  One of my favorites is when God gave us a hat for Bob.  Last week he gave us a bundle of bananas

We do our grocery shopping on a weekly basis.  This weeks shopping trip ended up happening on monday with all three kids in tow, and it was raining.  It was a trip I was regretting making and knew would be difficult from the moment we pulled into the parking lot.  It was a 5 minute drive from home.  But we were out of bread and milk and eggs so it had to be done.  Usually we start at Aldi
and then go to Publix for the items we couldn't get at Aldi.  While we were shopping the rain got worse and became a downpour.  One of my kids is terrified of being in the rain.  I got my shopping done while trying to keep the running down the aisles and vocal levels reasonable.  We usually pass over the bananas at Aldi because they are very green and don't ripen well we have found.  We bought other fruit.   We purchased our food and bagged it up and started to wait out the rain.  My patience was running thin and another stop was not in the cards especially with the extra work of unloading and loading the car in the rain.  We went home and did without the missing items on the list that didn't get picked up at stop #2.  No big deal, we will get them next week.

That was monday, Wednesday night we were at church for mid week classes.  As the night was wrapping up we spent a few rare moments talking with our Pastor about some upcoming events we are involved in, when the person closing the Cafe suddenly asked if we eat bananas.  Startled we said yes and remarked how we do but not at the moment we were out and didn't get any this week.  "Here you go God knew and here have these."  OUr kids had been running around and as kids always do told us they were hungry.  So we broke a banana off the bunch and told them what had just happened and we all celebrated that God gave us bananas.

God really does care about the little things.  

We Returned, and Conquered!

Today I cried at Seaworld.  It wasn't for the captive animals.  It wasn't for a sweet moment with my kids.  It wasn't because I got hurt .  I died because I was there.  We live in central Florida, so we tend to take theme parks for granted.  But I was there, by myself with 3 children.  We used to have passes and then parenting got hard and we had a colicky baby and a developmentally delayed 2 year old (now known to be Autism), and a strong willed preschooler.  Panic set in just thinking about what could happen at the park.  We gave up our passes.

This was then

Today 10 months later we got them again and I visited the park with 3 kids by myself and we all had a good time.  Time had passed everyone had gotten older and independent.  Life changed as much as it stayed the same.  Our son isn't cured, but we have spent hundreds of hours working with him and learning how to help him where he is.  He got overwhelmed but we got through it.  He wants to go back.  The colicky baby now has a speech delay but he was excited and found some new words, fish, shark.  I still had my three kids but this time we conquered the park and weren't scared.

I never thought this day would come but its here and I will embrace it with a smile, and remember how far we have come.  Yes, there will be new challenges, but we will face them as they come.  We will LIVE our life and not hide from it.

This is our now!

Andrew's Health update: Dismissed!

 Grandma came to visit when Andrew was born. When it was time for her to leave, I remember wanting to pull at her ankle and beg her to stay.  Having her around was keeping us all sane.  Andrew was already starting to have colic and putting him down for the night could take hours, only to have to start it again when he woke up to eat the next time.

Being our third child we knew a couple of things about babies and had some expectations about what to expect.  But He rewrote our parenting book.  Every evening for months it was a lottery if he would go to bed easily or if it would take hours.  The pediatrician dismissed it as colic.  But we had other suspicions not that we knew exactly but this couldn't be normal.  

Finally at 6 months old we switched pediatricians and started seeing a GI specialist.  at 11 months it was time to do some real investigating and Andrew was sedated for some exploratory scopes to look at his digestive track and see where the problem lie.  We got the results back the week of thanksgiving.  We had something to be thankful for this year.  The tests came back with no visible concerns but the lab work showed 2 different issues.  He was allergic to cows milk and soy, AND his pancreas was not producing some of the enymes needed to digest the food he was receiving.  Changing his formula yet again, and adding some enzyme replacement medicine solved the issues.  

The only remaining issue was for him to catch up on his weight now that he could actually use the food his body was taking in.  We were also told it would not be unreasonable for him to outgrow these issues.  

Today we saw his GI doctor and received the news we were waiting on.  Lab work that was completed late last year confirms that both the enzymes and allergies are no longer affecting Andrew.  We can wean him to cow's milk to drink and feed him a worry-free diet.  

Andrew will be 2 later this month and we are more than excited to give him his very own birthday cake to smash and eat to his heart's content.  His speech skills are behind but the great team helping him catch up isn't worried.  He has been too busy using his Cute super powers to charm everyone he meets.  

Ready, Set... Homeschool!

I told myself in August this year I would let my daughter attend traditional school, in our case public for the whole year and it would be best for our family to homeschool starting the following year for 1st grade.  And then the 'itch' came, I missed learning with her.  and then the teacher left and she had to switch classrooms.  I was expecting to not like everything about school, but i didn't expect 10 minutes of recess, and fundraiser forms brought home the first day of school.  I was scared to jump in fully and commit to homeschooling.  Doing preschool was a fun way to fill our time, now the stakes felt higher.  I didn't want to give up my peaceful afternoons when 2 were at school and the youngest was napping.  But I missed her and I missed teaching her.  So we jumped in and aren't looking back.  It feels right somehow.  So we are piecing it together and starting 1st grade for my almost 6 year old on monday.  Here we go!

Field trip to the zoo when the grandparents visited for the holidays

We are planning to use:

Spectrum Math grade 1

Spectrum Language Arts grade 1

Spectrum Writing grade 1

Magic Tree House books

American Girl books

and whatever else we find along the way.  

What worked for us: Christmas 2014

More and more I have been purposefully working to keep our life simple and meaningful.  Our Christmas activities were not exempt.  Here are some of the special things we did this year that worked for us.

Christmas Day

1. Truth in Tinsel - We love this preschool friendly Advent devotional for families.  This is the second year we have used it.  All three kids participated and colored ornaments related to each days part of the Christmas story. 3 kids X 24 daily crafts= a lot of ornaments to display.  This year we painted a tree on newsprint to "hang" our daily ornaments on.  The kids liked adding out our tree each day and it helped with our theme of preparation for Christmas. 
2. We bought a live tree - This year we finally did it.  It wasn't like our childhoods but we did it.  We had a full size and live tree.  Both of us remember going and cutting down the Christmas tree on family land.  This year we went to a tent where we could choose a cut tree from North Carolina that had a color coded label for the size.  But none the less it was a live tree.  
3. Homemade ornaments - I picked up 2 sets of ornament craft kits and some glitter glue and we started working.  It was a fun way to ease into the holiday season and build anticipation for decorating the tree.  We had foam ornaments and wooden popsicle sticks and it pretty well filled the tree.  We also made some salt dough ornaments to go with our Truth in Tinsel crafts as well.  
4. Nathaniel's Toy Shop - Nathaniel's Hope is an awesome ministry based here in Orlando.  They encourage and support families with VIP (special needs) kids.  One of their projects is a toy giveaway program for VIP families.  We not only got to shop for a few toys for our kids but also got to see Santa and were visited by R2-D2 and some sweet therapy dogs while we were waiting.  
5. Making and giving fudge - I have so many great memories of my Grandma.  the strongest of which usually involve food or smells.  Every year she would make fudge for the holidays.  My mom says it the best recipe ever, she may be a little bias.  As a kid we would make fudge in addition to cookies to give to the neighbors and enjoy ourselves.  I have kept the tradition.  What makes it easy is, the recipe makes 5 pounds of fudge so there is more than enough to give way and keep for yourself.  It gives us a simple way to give a gift to others who have been a part of our lives over the previous year.  This year that included teachers, therapists, co-workers friends and neighbors
6. Not making cookies - This year a choice we made with doing what was meaningful.  Cookies didn't happen.  Not until the Grandparents came to visit and even then it was Christmas eve and we only made 3 simple recipes.  Grandpa's must have Spritz, Molasses for Bob, and Rice Crispy treats for the kids.  

   

   Reading one of our presents

7. Opening a few Gifts Early - We let the kids open a few gifts early one each on the 2 days leading up to Christmas.  It fit with our advent study, and they asked so nicely ;-)  This helped alleviate the anxiety and anticipation of opening everything on Christmas morning.  Unwrapping gifts can be a source of meltdowns for ASD kids and this helped at our house.  It gave them something special to play with while the adults were doing the last minute preparations.  
8. Opening our Gifts as we unwrapped them - We decided that we would allow the kids to unpackage each gift as they opened it and open the next one when they were ready.  This was great fun to really enjoy each gift as it was discovered and let to a slower start to our morning.  We also could keep the wrapping picked up by opening presents at a slower pace.  In the end we did end up with some rapid fire opening but everything was enjoyed and not forgotten.   
   
   

The mother they need, not that I want to be.

http://supportforspecialneeds.com

Last year we added our third child to the family and I had a plan on how life would go.  Preschool at home with my two budding geniuses, who were eager to learn, with field trips to the science center, and story-time at the library.  Baby in my lap with brother and sister siting next to me listening well and participating.  This isn't my last year.

The first few months were spent surviving at home with a baby who when awake was screaming, and my other two kids pacified by PBSkids.  11 months later we learn that the baby has milk and soy allergies, and pancreas enzyme deficiency that is causing him to not gain weight.  5 months in to the screaming baby, we start noticing the soon to be 3 year old, still won't still still to color, is uninterested in dressing himself, and still needs a bib for any messy meal.  2 pediatricians later and 3 specialists he is diagnosed with developmental delays, sensory processing disorder and low muscle tone.  He begins 2x week occupational therapy, that i have to sit in the waiting room while he completes.  Leaving little time and no energy for mom to do any organized teaching at home.  Each specialist would tell us, take away his favorite toys, less time on the iPad, he'll grow out of it, do this...  And between my boys' appointments my 4 year old started pre-K which was equally draining with the short school day and drop-offs and pick ups to schedule around.

My life is looking a little different now.  I"m homeschooling the now 5 year old because its too stressful to leave the house with all 3 kids on a schedule every day. The 3 year old still hasn't mastered a spoon, watches and repeats his favorite movie lines over and over, and jumps on the couch so much he got 2 trampolines for Christmas.  He still carries his blanket around and if you don't have it be ready for meltdown.  My baby is now a toddler and starting to do some things my 3 year old struggles with.

The 3, 5 year olds are less tan 2 years apart, I imagined homeschooling them mostly together at the same level, with small differences.  the 5 year old excitedly read her first (leveled reader) chapter book this month, and can do simple addition on her hands.  The 3 year old is still learning to hold a crayon and draw a line.

Its not the life I pictured but I feel a great responsibility to care for my boys and their special gifts.  I am a researcher and Google is my friend.  I was even asked at a meeting if I had an education background for the knowledge I appeared to have.  I will fight for my kids to succeed and get the help and tools they need.  I wasn't planning on this hard work but i'm willing and able.  

The Itsy Bitsy Spider climbed up the water spout...

Down came the rain and washed the spider out...

this moment brought to you by starfall.com  :)

Andrew: 3 months

When I was pregnant I was continually told that 3rd kids tend to be the wild card, not to expect them to be like either of your other children.  I wasn't sure what to think.  Andrew has proven this to be true.  He is our first high-needs baby.  He must be held a specific way to calm down.  He hated the traditional swing we had bought for him, but we discovered he loved the Cradle swing the church had, so we went shopping again and he is happy.  He will fuss if his diaper is wet, and let us know he needs a change.  He has also had some issues with being regular so that has caused some new experiences for the family.  He seems to have some reflux so he disliked laying on his back to sleep so again we went shopping and got a "Rock and Play" Cradle for him, it keeps him at a comfortable angle and rocks gently as well.  It even seems he is picky about what mommy eats, which mommy isn't so sure she likes.

At least he is starting to coo and roll over so he reacts more to all of us.  Making the hard times easier to handle and keep us looking at the big picture that he won't be this little forever.

Andrew's happy place!

Easter Drawings

Both Lydia and Caleb love reading Bible stories at bedtime.  We have had to repair our Story Bible twice and we have had it only a year.  Lydia recently discovered The Picture Bible on our shelf, one of Bob's favorites from childhood.  It uses a graphic novel/comic book style to tell the stories of the Bible.  Bob used it to share the Easter story with Lydia this year.  Later in the day they were outside and drawing with chalk and drew the story on the drive way.  Bob drew the cross, the sealed tomb, and the empty tomb, and Lydia drewJesus's face on the cross and the best part, Jesus risen from the dead, waving at us!

Three Years of Good-Bye

Thursday was an interesting day for me.  It didn't feel like thursday at first because I had been sick the day before and Bob had stayed home.  Second, our mom's group did something different and we didn't chat like usual but spent the time individually in prayer.  It was so refreshing to be able to have a large chunk of un-interrupted time when I didn't have to worry about when a child might bounding in with a request.  My afternoon brought an unexpected text message and more phone calls and then Bob ran in the Orlando 5k and we cheered him on, to return to our car to see another text message bringing me to this post to sort my thoughts. Grandma, my last Grandparent, had passed away.  It was quickly and quietly like we had hoped it would be, in a hospital and not at home, but peaceful and surrounded by 2 of her children.  She had lived a full life and met 4 of her great-grandchildren.

Lydia receiving the last great-grandchild quilt, hand stitched

Her and my grandfather were in a major car accident in December of 2006 and should have both died then, but didn't.  It helped them both heal and lifted their spirits when they were able to see each other through the shared bathroom.   Every moment since then has been a gift.  They attended my wedding the following year.  Grandpa passed away in 2010 an emotional roller coaster of a hospital stay.  I was at Disney World that day.  How extreme the contrast.

Lydia in the front yard (May 2010)

Grandma and Grandpa were truly knit together as one soul.  Many of us wondered if she would live to see the next Christmas with such a broken heart for her husband of 65+ years.  She lived another 3 years, again a gift of time.

September 2011

People ask how I'm feeling and its always a mix when dealing with grief.  But relief is a word that comes to mind.  Her care was becoming exhausting for her family, and her body was just wearing out.  She had lived a long full life, and seen the world.  Her friendships circle the globe, with no exaggeration.  Daily life was becoming more of a burden and her heart continued to be lonely for her husband.  So now that she is gone, she is free from pain and reunited with the love of her life in Heaven.  I'm sure she is touring the garden he has spent the last 3 years working on in heaven just for her, he was a Master Gardener.

Caleb "signing" the guest book

The extra years they lived together let them celebrate my wedding with all of their children together in one place.  They met their third great-grandchild, and only great-granddaughter.  The extra years she had with us meant special memories with 2 great-grandchildren crawling and running and discovering the wonders of farm chores and picking fruits.  

picking tomatos

watering plants w/Aunt Alice

We said our last good byes in January 2012, Lydia watered the plants as had become her chore when she visited with water from the pump, we played Candyland with Great Grandma, Lydia's birthday present, and when it was time to leave, Caleb wanted a bite of Great Grandma's York Peppermint patty.  She readily shared it, expecting him to take a bite, but instead he put the whole thing in his mouth.  Sorry Great Grandma!   Memories we can keep, when we must let go of people.

Playing Candyland with Great Grandma

Caleb stealing Great Grandma's York Peppermint

Chocolate Rocks and Bullzer-Dozers

  Caleb's vocabulary is ever expanding.  With plenty of references to Thomas the Tank Engine and Veggie Tales.  Sometimes he comes up with his own words.  He has 3 pairs of winter jammies and 2 of them have special names.
  First, we have his "Banjo Jammies"  They really have electric guitars on them but when he first wore them he called them banjos, not sure where he has heard a banjo before.  His second pair of named jammies are his "truck" jammies (pictured)  These have "bullzer-dozers" on them among other things.
  Caleb has also taken notice of one of mommy's snacks, peanut butter and chocolate chips.  But to Caleb they are "chocolate rocks"  Last week he even helped himself to some while mommy was taking a nap.  

Less Than Perfect Easter Dinner

Easter Dinner.  It doesn't initially sound like a big deal especially since we wouldn't be cooking for extended family, they live too far away.  But for me this was a big deal this year.  I felt like cooking a big meal, and that is a big deal when you review the past year.  A year ago we were settling back into live in Florida and trying to regroup from our sudden U-turn in life.  Last May we I tried a gluten free diet to solve the depression and low energy that I was plagued with.  Soon after we discovered we were going to have a third baby.  All that leads to this Easter when I am celebrating my own new life with a gluten free diet and a family that has a place to be rooted.

I wanted to cook Easter dinner to celebrate.  I had the perfect plan.  Steaks on the grill, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and for good measure some festive cupcakes.  Then we made it hard on our selves, we added guests, doubling the crowd, less than 24 hours before the meal.  And to add to it we didn't finalize the menu until 3 hours before when 1/2 the party was going to the store.  We added hot dogs for the kids to save the steaks for the adults and made big pans of the sides.  We didn't have praline topping for the sweet potatoes and we blackened the first round of hot dogs for the kids, and one child refused to eat her dinner, leading to a melt down.  So much for a perfect dinner, at least the gluten free cupcakes turned out yummy and of course celebrating with friends was way better than doing it by ourselves.

Check out some more posts about Less than Perfect Meals and Jill Savage's new book No More Perfect Moms at Jill's blog.

Lydia's Healing Miracle

Our kids are teaching us everyday and challenging our faith   Lydia got her first scrapped knee a few weeks ago when riding her bike.  It wasn't too bad of a fall but it led to a rather large scab on her knee. When she complained about it hurting we would reminder she could pray for God to make it feel better.  What we didn't expect was her reaction as the scab started falling off.  She started getting excited and telling us

"God's hand came down during the night,

and healed it just like I prayed!"

The refreshing faith of a child, if only we had enough faith to trust the same explanation.   

Easter 2013

We had lots of fun and perfect weather for Easter weekend.  We got an extra day with Daddy with him having the holiday off.  The big kids found lots of eggs at the church egg hunt on saturday.  And on Sunday we celebrated with our church at a local High School auditorium that was twice the size of our church building to hold all the holiday visitors and guests.  

On the way home from church we experienced something new, Easter traffic.  The Catholic church near us is rather large and only has one entrance on the only road to our house.  We got to sit in traffic going to the Catholic church for 20 minutes on our way home from church.  If we hadn't experienced this same traffic jam, to a lesser degree, on a different Sunday we might have been more surprised.  

Easter Traffic, who knew?

Dressed to Celebrate!

Andrew's birth story, a home birth

 I like to say we have gotten progressively hippy in our childbirth choices.  Lydia at the hospital with all the drugs, Caleb at a birth center with a midwife and no drugs.  And now for Andrew we were choosing to have the midwife come to us and we were planning on having him at home.  I am thankful for the broad childbirth legislation in Florida that we had the option of a home birth.

I was constantly told my midwife and others that the 3^rd pregnancy is a wild card and not to expect it to be like your first or second, and Andrew proved that to be a true statement throughout.

At first we thought we were going to have a girl because I had mild morning sickness much like with Lydia. And really I never felt 100% throughout the pregnancy. By 20 weeks I was already having round ligament pain in my abs from carrying the baby and it last for the whole second half of the pregnancy. This alone made me rather uncomfortable.

At 35 weeks I had a new experience that I didn't have with the others, Preterm Labor. The midwife suggested we go to the hospital and get checked out because I was having time-able contractions that weren't going away. After calling a friend to come sleep with the kids, because of course this kind of thing only happens in the middle of the night, we went to the hospital to wait for 3 hours to get checked out to be hold I had no progress and they were sending me home, how disappointing, but good that baby was still baking.

Audrey weighing Andrew

The midwife suggested I go to the Chiropractor and have a procedure called the Webster method done to try and turn the baby and hopefully make some thing happen or stop it. The chiropractor visit stopped the contractions after 24 hours of no-progress labor. And the midwife put me on bed-rest for the next 3 weeks to help us keep our plan of a home birth. The hospital would deliver no problem at 35 weeks but it wasn't safe at home. Those 3 weeks included the Christmas holiday which we had family coming to visit. It was great to have them around and their help but I missed not being up and around and watched everything from the couch.

I continued to show no progress when I was examined and the baby was in position head down but his face looking up, “sunny-side up” This would lead to a painful and hard delivery if he stayed this way. I finally gave up any hope of him coming early and being the 3^rd child he was going to do things differently, his way. 

 On January 19 at about 5 in the morning my water broke. Thankfully it didn't make a mess in our bed. Today we are having a baby. We took our time getting up and made arrangements for the kids to go to a friend's house for the day. And they went out the door before 8, little did they know what was happening while they were gone. The midwife arrived at our home around 10 and began setting up. They blew up the birth-tub (swimming pool) and began setting out different things so they would know where they were. 2 midwifery students also came to assist. The more senior student, Audrey, was actually helping me and the midwife, Maggie was overseeing her. So we had a little party while we waited for Andrew to arrive.

The party "guests"

just born

As things got more intense I moved from my bed and walking around to being in the birth tub. The water helps relieve some of the pain and is soothing. The midwives kept commenting on how calm I was and chilled out. I was laughing and joking with them until it was time to push. I pushed for 20 minutes which was spent mostly trying not to push so I could ease him out and not tear the perineum, like had happened in the past. And around 1pm Andrew James joined us.

He had to be different of course so he didn't cry for the first 2 days. He purred like a cat constantly even when he was sleeping so it made it hard for us parents to know if he was awake. He was a champ for nursing and had no problems getting started. The purring was very funny. The midwives cleaned us up and did their paper work before cleaning up the space and leaving us to rest. Bob and Me and baby Andrew.

Our friends brought the big kids home at bed time, bathed and in new/borrowed pajamas. Lydia had gotten her finger nails painted for the first time and even had her hair braided. Caleb was just glad to be home. They were both happy to meet their little brother before going off to bed themselves. The neighbors told us later that they thought maybe he was being born that saturday because of the extra 3 cars in our driveway and no other signs of activity outside, when we usually park our 1 car in the garage.

Thank you to Tree of Life Birth Center in Sanford Florida for an amazing experience

A Manatee Adventure

  Recently I had my 28 week appt for our new baby who is coming in Janurary.  This appt involves a blood draw and glucose test.  I am very fortunate that my midwife uses a 50g Carb breakfast instead of a heavily sugered drink.  Bob joined the kids and I for the appt so the timing would be right and then we had a fun family day afterwards.  THe midwife's office is setting up a second location so at the last minute we discovered we were driving to a new location.




 The directions we used took us needlessly through extra towns but it did let us see a sign for Blue Springs State Park, winter home to hundreds of manetees.  So after the appt we went to look for manettes and saw at least a dozen.  The kids played on a playground and we had lunch at a local diner. It was a great family day.

Fall Filled with 1st

In addition to being first time homebuyers last month.  The halloween festivities enabled Lydia to experience many firsts.

• She picked out her costume, a pink fairy princess of course!
• She indulged in Sno-cones, cotton candy, and cupcakes at the church fall fest.  
• She went door to door trick-or-treating in our neighborhood for the first time
• Caleb did not ever wear a costume, we had one dreamed up but we never executed it.  
• Both kids are making friends with the kids in our new neighborhood, and the other kids often come to see if Lydia can come out and play!

Recycling the Mail

Lydia is starting to have chores to do around the house.  Among them is setting the table for dinner and taking the recycle out and helping daddy with the dishes after dinner.

She also sometimes will go to the curb to get the mail by herself.  She is very proud of this chore.  This week when she went to get the mail, she took the liberty to save a trip back outside by depositing it in the recycle bin on the way in.  I think she is noticing a pattern from all the political ads we get in the mail.

Of course, she was reminded mommy and daddy must see the mail BEFORE it goes in the recycle next time :-)

Linking up with Moments to Remember

Dinner Table Games

We have a game we often play at the dinner table.  One person will start by saying someone else's name and then that person says someone else's name, like a game of verbal hot potato.  It can get pretty funny and lots of giggles.  Recently when we played it Caleb suddenly added a new name "Thomas" and when no one responded he added some other names, "Toby, James, Percy, Gordon, Henry"

We have a little boy who loves his trains!

Linking Up with Family Fun Friday