4 Weeks Old

Our little baby is growing up already. They grow and change so fast. I am trying to enjoy every day because I know this time is short and precious. Usually I am wanting my baby to get older so that he or she will sleep through the night, but she already has that one down. She has been sleeping from 10-5:30 pretty regularly. I am so lucky, I know! Unfortunately I haven't been getting any sleep after that due to a neighbor running a pallet refurbishing business out of her driveway and has started banging at 6:30 am. Insane!

Ellie is getting so alert. She opens her eyes really wide and looks at everything around her. She always turns her head to see who is talking to her. She loves looking at her brother and sister who are usually right in her face trying to get her attention. Even at 2 weeks old when the bath picture was taken, you can see her looking at us intently.



All cuddled up and ready to go. She loves the car, thankfully, especially when she has her binky. She really only uses it in the car and sometimes during the day when she is fussy and tired. It makes her fall right to sleep and then falls out of her mouth. She isn't so happy about the hat, mostly because it falls down over her eyes when she is in the car. She starts crying hysterically, and I know that it is over her face. Poor thing!

Old Country Mercantile

We had a fun outing with the whole family this morning to the local pumpkin patch. It was complete with petting zoo, corn maze, hay ride, pumpkin picking, hay bale maze and horse ride. Ellie slept in her car seat the whole time, so I sat with her at a table and watched the fun from the sidelines. It was really cold out today, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.


Hay Bale Maze


Pumpkin Patch


Hay Ride (Notice the little pumpkin that Rachel picked. She carried it around all night with her. It is green and looks like a green bell pepper.)


Second go around at the hay maze. They had so much fun playing on the mountain of hay!


Bennett being a good big brother.


King and Queen of the Mountain!


Aren't they just adorable?


We opted for the 25 cent horsy ride instead of the $5 a child horsy rides they were offering there. Call us cheap but the kids had just as much fun!

It was a fun outing and the kids had a fun time watching dad carve the pumpkin. Bennett is equally as excited for me to roast the seeds. I don't know what we are going to do with the funny little green ones. Rachel won't let me put them on the table for a decoration. She thinks they are for carrying around. Bennett keeps picking up the carved one and showing it to me and the baby. They are so funny.

No New Posts

No new posts this week because my dumb internet hasn't been working all week. I feel so lost and helpless without internet access. It is pretty sad. I had to actually mail a check this week instead of using my online banking... how archaic! I have hardly been out of the house in weeks and I had 2 fun things to do this week already. I had a baby shower of a friend to go to on Monday night. Ellie slept the whole time we were there. I was scared she wouldn't sleep at all that night, but she still slept her normal amount. Tuesday night I had a mommy get together with some friends and Ellie didn't sleep very much, but she was pretty good thanks to the binky. Ellie is consistently sleeping for a 6 hour stretch and then for 4 or 5 hours after that. It is so great. She is such a sweet baby. I could just eat her with a spoon! I am loving my new baby and am so happy that child number 3 isn't as traumatic as I had heard it would be. Things definitely get a bit hairy now and then, mostly when Ellie is screaming, Rachel has peed all over the floor, and Bennett is asking me 1000 questions. I kind of lose it at that point. I need a mommy time out. Thankfully things are usually much calmer, and we are all enjoying one another and watching the baby grow and change. That's my update for the week. I will take some pictures soon!

Connected Siblings

It the hope of Jeromy and I that we can foster a strong bond of love and friendship between our children. We talk to Bennett about protecting his sisters and taking care of them. We are trying to teach them to have responsibility for one another. This is one of the reasons we plan on homeschooling our kids. If they are away from the home all day and building into the lives of their friends and peers, it will be alot harder to keep them connected to one another when they are home. Learning alongside one another and the mere proximity they will be in with one another will foster playing together and help them to learn how to deal with conflict and how to have a relationship with those older and younger than themselves. It is one of the problems that I see in modern day culture, how fractured we are from one another. Everyone is split up into age groups, even in churches today, singles, marrieds, young marrieds, retired, college, high school, junior high, the list is endless. It is not how real life works though. How often are we around only people in our own age group and place in life? That is not how it is in the workplace or in families. We are at a disadvantage if we choose to be isolated with only people like ourselves. Isn't it a better skill to have to be able to deal with those above and below us in life? There is so much to be learned from those who are older and more mature spiritually and emotionally. We are working to teach these things to our children and hopefully in the process our children will have a vision for this multigenerational way of life.

Ellie's First Bath

Ellie thoroughly enjoyed her first bathing experience. She had a look of shock on her little face when I put her into the water, but she quickly relaxed into the warm bath water. She didn't cry at all. I was so surprised. I had told the kids that she would most likely scream and not really enjoy the bath, but boy, was I wrong. Since the bath she has little red bumps on her cheeks though, so I don't know if it was the soap or the lotion. Another one of us with sensitive skin!

Binky

I broke down and did it. I bought Ellie a binky. I am torn about the decision, but I guess I can always change my mind. Neither of my other kids would ever take a pacifier or a bottle, but I never seriously tried to get them to. Rachel is a thumb sucker and Ellie was showing the signs of becoming one. She is always sucking on her hands, so I thought I would see if she would even take a pacifier. I have heard that it is alot easier to take away a pacifier than a thumb. I went shopping at Walmart by myself for the first time today with all 3 kids (they did great btw) so I bought a binky 2-pack. After I sterilized them I popped one in her mouth and she went to town immediately. She sucked herself right to sleep. I am going to try to just use them for the "I am fussy and tired and want to nurse even though I just nursed and am not hungry but I think I am and it is the only way I am going to go to sleep for you" times. I just hate not being able to see her cute little face behind that huge plastic thing. I know that this doesn't seem like a big deal, but I have always been opposed to pacifiers (I know as a parent to never say never) so this is a changing of mind that I have to come to grips with. So for now I have a quiet house of sleeping children and if it took a plastic prop to do it, I guess I should be thankful for technology.

On another note, I was watching a news program about mommy bloggers and how blogging has become the new "talking over the fence." I think that it is true for the most part. There is a mother of 6 who wrote a hilarious ebay item description here of some Pokeman cards her children had somehow snuck past her at the store. I read it on ebay and cracked up. Well, I guess she gained some fame from that because she has a blog that gets so many hits, she now makes $4000 a month in advertising. How crazy is that?! I didn't even know that blogging was a potentially money making activity. Now if I could just get blog READING to make me money I would be on to something.

Appreciating the Blessing of our Children

I found this blog linked from another blog and I literally wept as I read through some of it. They recently lost their newborn little daughter from a genetic defect 8 days after she was born. If you are at all in need of a reality check of how blessed you are to have healthy little ones, read this blog. I have a new perspective of how I should be more appreciative of what God has given me. I have hugged all 3 of my babies a little tighter today.

The Farley's Blog

Goings On

Sorry I haven't posted in so long, but our internet has not been working reliably for the last several days.... ARGH! We are doing well. The older two kids have had colds that they are recovering from. I am tired of blowing noses, but I know that is what I will be doing for the next 3-4 months. They have been enjoying the nice weather we have had for the last few days. It has been in the seventies and I know that they were probably the last nice days we will have until spring. So sad! Popgrandma sent the kids some costumes that they have had a blast wearing. We don't do Halloween, but enjoy collecting costumes for dress-up year around. We now have a cute little cowboy and cowgirl. I told Rachel that cowgirls say, "Yee Haw," and she now says, "Hee Haw," and even calls the costume her "heehaw." It is pretty cute.



We have been spending lots of time with my parents these last weeks and they are enjoying their new grandbaby. We went over their house after church yesterday and left all the kids with them while we went shopping. I nursed the baby before we left and she slept the whole time we were gone. It was nice to get out for a while but shopping for clothes 2 weeks after having a baby is not recommended.... pretty depressing!


Ellie is still sleeping alot. Some days it seems like she sleeps all day and all night. Other days she is awake alot but really tired and needs to be sleeping. I can't remember how long the sleeping all the time lasts before they go to regular 3 naps during the day. She has been sleeping for 4-6 hours for the first stretch during the night. Last night I had to wake her up after 6 hours to nurse because I figured I shouldn't go longer than that between feedings to keep my milk supply up. She went back to sleep with me for another 3 hours. I have been getting pretty good sleep, more than I remember getting with my other kids. Unfortunately my allergies have been really bad so I feel tired and wiped out no matter how much sleep I get. Sage brush is in bloom here and it seems to affect darn near everyone I talk to. I don't know how long it is in bloom for, but it seems like it has already been a month and it is all still yellow.




I feel like I am getting back into a bit of a routine and normal life. I even planned meals for the week. We'll see how that goes. I sure appreciated meals brought from our church after we had Ellie. It is hard to get back into planning and shopping and cooking. I will probably start fixing most of dinners while Ellie has her long nap (I guess I shouldn't be blogging but cooking because she is sleeping right now!) My husband has to deal with seeing me still in my pajamas when he gets home with my hair in a ponytail and my glasses on. I have yet gotten back into the routine of "getting ready" in the morning. I at least manage to brush my teeth because I can do that while holding the baby! Small steps I guess. I have stayed on top of laundry, but cleaning the house might take some serious discipline. It is weird how having a new baby throws life out of balance for a while. I am looking forward to getting back into a routine and I am sure my kids are too.

She's Changing So Fast

Ellie is starting to have more regular awake time every day.




Bennett likes to try and calm Ellie when she is crying.


Rachel likes to help bounce Ellie too.


Bennett is ever trying to be in control, especially of his little sister.

New Babies

It is so amazing having a new baby. How you can fall in love with someone so little who can't talk or respond and you have never even met before is pretty remarkable. Ellie is starting to get used to life outside the womb. It is such a crazy thought that she used to live inside my body and then one day had to start getting used to life outside of it. She has been struggling with falling asleep. She gets really tired and all worked up about it and thinks that she needs to continually nurse to help her sleep. After I nursed her on each side twice she still wouldn't fall asleep at 9 last night and she had been awake since 4 in the afternoon. She was acting so hungry, but I knew she was exhausted so I put her in her crib to see if she would tire herself out crying. After about a half hour of crying, she quieted down and slept for 6 hours! I got up to check on her because it had been so long and I was worried. She was still asleep so I woke her up to feed her. I hate listening to her cry, but it was the only way she would go to sleep and I am so glad I did. I am not so naive to think that this means that she will start sleeping every night, but I am willing to take the one night of success and be happy.

Bennett and Rachel are doing well. Rachel is probably 80% potty trained. She hasn't had an accident in 3 days and is even pooping in the toilet which is a big accomplishment! She caught on so fast and I am so proud of her. There is no way we would have been able to try potty training with a new baby in the house if she wasn't ready. Bennett even told me that he helped her use her potty chair this morning before I was up and even wiped her and gave her a jelly belly. I'll tell you, sometimes I think that boy could live in his own apartment and be fine. He is so independent and self-sufficient and only 4!

I took Ellie to the Dr. today just to use the scale to make sure she is gaining weight now and she was 8 pounds 4 ounces. She is gaining weight, but not as fast as I was hoping. I have been more worried about Ellie getting enough milk than I have ever been with my other kids. She just wants to nurse so often I worry that she is hungry because I don't have enough milk or something. I know that nursing too often doesn't allow your body the time to replenish the supply, so I have been contemplating the binky to appease Ellie's wanting to suck in between feedings. It just seems crazy to need to feed her more often than every 2 hours. I really don't want another thumb sucker either. Rachel's orthodontia bills will be high enough on their own.

We have been awful about taking pictures, so I don't have anything new to post. Be patient with us! Yesterday was my first day on my own, so we are in coping mode. Thankfully our church has been bringing us meals, so at least we have been eating! What a blessing food is! I am sure glad I put some food in the freezer before Ellie came.

Hopefully I will post some pictures soon!

New Pictures

Little Ellie is still doing well. We had a Dr's appointment on Wednesday and she has lost a little weight but is nursing well and will put it back on quickly. Having child number three has been weird. You would think that we would have the whole baby thing down by now, but to be honest I can't remember what we did with Rachel that worked so well so that we can repeat it. When Rachel was born, we knew exactly what we were and were not going to do with her from the mistakes we made with Bennett. I can't for the life of me remember when we started having her sleep on her own and let her cry. I feel like I am doing this for the first time again. It isn't like I have that much time between kids either, but two years is a long time to remember the details I guess. I think we are just going to have to find our way again and refigure things out. I do know that I am not going to be able to sit on the couch holding Ellie while she sleeps all day long for very much longer. It is a time to enjoy now before real life kicks back in. We are also potty training Rachel right now as crazy as that sounds, but she is doing so well with it we don't want to stop and let her forget. My mom started the training while she had the kids for the first few days after we had Ellie. We have instituted the bribery method. Go pee and you get a jelly belly. One night she wanted one so bad she sat on the potty chair for an hour. I remember with Bennett that we had to stop the "incentives" at some point when he wanted to try to go 50 times a day. All in all we are settling into life again and enjoying our new baby.

We Are Still Here

Just a quick post to let you all know that we are still alive and well. Ellie had a pretty rough first couple of nights home. No sleep to be had. The first day she was awake all day and night, she just wasn't tired I guess. The second day she slept all day and was up until 5 am and then slept half the day. Last night I was afraid we would have a repeat because she had slept so much during the day, but she slept really well. I nursed her in bed and she went right back to sleep each time. Ahhh, sleep is such a great thing! She is nursing really well and although it is really painful for me I know that it is only rough the first couple of weeks. We have a Dr. appointment for her tomorrow morning so I am always anxious to know how much weight my babies have gained. Mine don't ever lose weight, they just gain large amounts right away. It is pretty funny to see the Dr's reactions to the number. Wow, they are sure good eaters aren't they? I need to take some new pictures and will post them soon. Gotta go, baby's crying.

The Short Version

Just wanted to let you all know that we are all home safe and sound. The short version is that Dr. Perry turned Ellie head down at about 10 am Thursday morning, started me on Pitocin at 1pm, broke my water at 9:30 pm and I had her at 6:40 the next morning. It was very long and hard and in hindsight if I had to do it over again I probably would have taken the epidural because I was so tired for the hardest part of the delivery (transition and pushing) but she made it here safe and sound. She is absolutely beautiful and weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and is 20 inches long with a headful of dark hair. We begged them to let us go home yesterday so that we wouldn't have to spend another night at the hospital. We were so tired and wanted to sleep in our own bed! They let us go at 5:30 Friday evening and we came home, ate, and went to bed by 9. We slept fairly well and Ellie is nursing great but is hungry so hopefully my milk comes in ASAP. Bennett and Rachel were so excited to meet their new sister and kissed and pet and poked her endlessly. I promise to post a full birth story at some point later, but thank you for all your prayers during this really stressful last couple of days.

slow progress

Samantha has been on pitocin since 1pm. They have decided to break her water to try to move things along. Will update when we can.

News

We have an appointment at the hospital tomorrow morning at 7:30 am to have a manual version done. Dr. Perry was great this evening and reassured us that he will try to move the baby, but also isn't opposed to delivering a frank breech. He has done it many times. He does want to induce me right away if he can get Ellie turned to not give her time to turn back. I am scared of Pitocin and all the other can of worms it opens, but pray that I can still have this baby naturally even at the hospital. It looks like one way or another we are having this baby tomorrow.

Bad News

I had my ultrasound this morning and found out why I haven't gone into labor yet. Ellie is in a frank breech position, which means butt down. There is no way to have a regular delivery with her in this position, so they are going to try to move her head down. I have heard that this is horribly painful, doesn't work a majority of the time, and poses risks to the baby. They will monitor the baby via ultrasound during the moving to make sure everything is okay, but there is a good chance I will end up with a C-Section. Please pray that I can find a Dr. to do the procedure, that is our first obstacle. I will keep you posted. Please Pray!

Update

I went to the midwife this morning for my non-stress test. The baby reacted to movement and contractions well, nothing out of the ordinary. I have gained 36 pounds to date, and I am sure that will continue to climb the longer I am pregnant! My blood pressure was fine which I was glad about with the weird migraine episode on Sunday. She wished I had called her and let her know about the vision changes, but I am bad about wanting to worry people for nothing. She asked if she could check to see if I was dialated, and I told her that I would rather not in case I wasn't dialted at all because I would be depressed. She won out and I let her check. She said I was only at about a cm and the cervix still felt pretty thick, but I know that a couple of contractions can change that real quickly. She said the head felt right there, but when she started feeling around to feel the other baby parts on my abdomen, she started questioning whether or not it was head or butt she felt. She said I have such a long torso that there is alot of room in there, and she could really move the baby around wherever she wanted. Needless to say, I am now scheduled for an ultrasound in the morning to make sure the baby is head down, a chiropractor appointment to make sure my pelvis is in alignment, and another midwife visit to give me some herbs to try to jump start things if the baby is in fact head down. This is what I wanted to avoid by being "late." All the extra stuff that starts going on to "help" things along. I just want to have this baby, so please pray I just go into labor before tomorrow and a head comes out before a butt or foot.

Pictures

I haven't been into taking any pictures lately. I think I am saving up for the baby and all the pictures that you take in the beginning. I did get a few today.


This was me the day before my due date when I thought I would be having the baby sometime soon!


Rachel is really into saying, "Cheese," right now when you take her picture, so I have been able to get some cute ones lately. Bennett is another story!


This is the only picture where Bennett isn't making a REALLY silly face.

Strange

I guess I know now that I have had two babies that went over 41 weeks not to expect any early or on time deliveries. I have felt like I am probaby dialated for the last couple of days, I don't know how much though. We went over my parents house yesterday afternoon, and on the car ride there, my right eye started acting really strange. I couldn't see out of it very well and it was like my brain wasn't computing what it was seeing. I started to get a little worried as it was starting to pulsate and get worse. I thought I was going blind or had a blood clot or something. When we got to my parents, my mom asked me if I had a headache, and at that moment I didn't. 15 minutes later, my vision cleared up and I got what I can only assume was a migraine headache. Can I say how sorry I am to those of you that experience these on a regular basis. It was awful! It lasted until about 10 pm and then started to go away. I have a little twinge of a headache today, but nothing like last night. I don't know if it was pregnancy related or due to the allergies my whole house has been suffering from this past week. Sage brush is in bloom here and even the kids are runny nosed because of it. I am sure glad the headache went away before I went into labor. I can't imagine trying to deal with both. I have to go in for a stress test tomorrow if Ellie doesn't show up. I was hoping to skip out on all the extra monitoring, but we'll see what happens in the next 24 hours. I started going through the kids clothes today and putting away the ones that are too small and washing the fall/winter ones. I think I am going to take a trip to Target too to get Bennett a couple of pairs of sweats and some pajamas. I try to shop at thrift/children's stores throughout the year to have their next size of clothing and I did pretty well this year. Rachel's foot has grown so fast though that I have had a hard time keeping up with what size she should be wearing. Poor thing always seems to be wearing shoes that are too tight. I usually take out the next size too late and it is already getting too small. That's all for today unless I have any news later :o) (don't get your hopes up though!)

Tired and Hanging in There

I am tired of posting these non-posts, but for all of you that keep checking my blog to see if I have "popped" yet I will indulge you! No contractions and no sign of Ellie today.

Nope

A week overdue and nothing yet!

Midwife Visit

My midwife came today to check me and the baby. Everything checked out great. She is delivering twins today, so she begged me to not go into labor until tomorrow. I wish I could control such things, but Ellie will come when she comes. Stay tuned, hopefully this will be a productive weekend.

Clarification

Maybe I should have specified to Ellie which Friday I thought would be a good one to have her on. It was LAST Friday, not the one 7 or 14 days later. She might have gotten confused, so I thought a little clarification was in order.

Diaper Conclusions

No, I haven't had this darn baby yet, so I decided to post on something else for a change. I posted a while back that I was looking to try out some different brand diapers as the other brands out there are cheaper than the Pampers that I currently am devoted to. A friend happened to have a smorgasbord of different brands to try and was nice enough to give me several in each brand, so the trial began. She gave me the Kirkland brand (Costco), Huggies, Target brand, and I had bought Parent's Choice, a cheapie Walmart brand. The biggest difference I found in the diapers was the amount they would absorb without leaking. The White Cloud diapers were so cheap and leaked pretty bad, and I ended up having to change Rachel's diaper twice as often as I would have normally, so no savings there. The Kirkland diapers are just a little cheaper, 19 cents per diaper, than Pampers, 21 cents per diaper, and they were the only diaper I liked equally, maybe a little less well, than Pampers. The Target and Huggies were okay, but I didn't feel they were quite as absorbent as Pampers. The biggest difference between the Pampers and Kirkland brand is that the Kirkland diaper has a cloth-like exterior and the Pampers have a more plastic-like smooth exterior. I don't think that really affected the diaper at all, maybe just a personal preference to some people. There is a bigger savings 13 cents vs. 16 cents per diaper in size 1-2 in the Kirkland diapers, so I will probably use those for Ellie when it is convenient. I can't say I will make a special trip to Costco just for diapers, but will buy them there if I am already shopping there. I buy my Pampers at Walmart where I shop every week anyway, so the convenience factor is a lot higher. Bottom line is that I really like Pampers the best, but if price became a more important consideration, I am glad there are other alternatives out there that are pretty good.

Nada

I at least have started having some minor contractions again. I had alot on Friday night and then nothing all weekend, not even very many Braxton-Hicks. Last night I started having some again, so that is good news. Even better news is that I slept really well for the first time in about a week or so. I woke up feeling good and so happy to have slept! My house is clean and we are all ready to go!

Waiting

Having a baby is definitely a lesson in patience. 40 weeks is a long time to wait for anything, especially a new child and anything past 40 weeks adds to the agony. My fatal mistake this time was thinking I was going to deliver before my due date. I had it in my mind that I was going to go a day or two early. When that came and went I started feeling a little depressed. It doesn't help that I am not sleeping very much at all at night which makes for a long, tired, cranky day. I think my family is more ready than even me to have this baby, so they can have their mommy/wife back. Bennett was 10 days late and 8 pounds/ 20 inches and Rachel was 1 day late and 9 pounds 4oz/ 22 inches. I was assuming my body was streamlining this baby operation and not taking as long, but I was wrong. My theory with the different sized babies was that I was a vegetarian when I was pregnant with Bennett, and I started eating chicken during Rachel's. I called her my "chicken baby." Gotta love that protein. I also was crazy with the amount of sugar I ate with her pregnancy, but didn't test positive for gestational diabetes. I still wondered if blood sugar had anything to do with her being so big. My weight gain was the same with both of their pregnancies, 40+ pounds, way more than necessary and not fun to lose! This time around, I have watched my sugar and have gained alot less weight, so I have been curious whether I would have a bigger or smaller baby with my lower weight gain even though I have eaten more protein with this pregnancy than with the first two. Babies usually get bigger the more you have and boys are generally larger than girls, except not in our case already.

On a brighter note.... I have been sleeping in later in the morning since I have been sleeping so poorly at night and usually the kids play downstairs quietly until I come down to get them. This morning they were upstairs and being noisy, so I called them into my room and reminded them that they should still be downstairs waiting for me. I got up because it was after 8 and I was awake and we started our morning routine. Much to my shock, Bennett informed me they didn't need any breakfast because Dad had already fed them and gotten them dressed. Yay Dad!

That's all for now. My midwife is back in town, so I guess the Lord wants her to deliver the baby which I am okay with. He knows more than I do about the future, so that makes it easy to rest in His decisions.

Nope, nothing yet!

Ticking Time Bomb

That's what I feel like right now! I am at the point that people keep calling me to check to see if I have "popped" yet. No baby yet. I talked to my back-up midwife and she will be in Yakima, and hour and a half away, tomorrow for the afternoon which I was not too excited about. I would have to call her and she would run back here. I am really hoping to have this baby today. I have had both of my babies on Fridays, and I think that it would be cool to keep that going. She told me to work on a project to pass the time, but I have pretty much finished everything I wanted to get done, so I spent the morning baking. I made almond butter balls, a favorite of the kids. You just throw some dates, shredded coconut, and almond butter into the food processor until it forms a ball. I then add some whole almonds and dried cherries in and mix again. Form into balls or logs and keep in the fridge. I also made some peach/blueberry muffins, and some brownie muffins that stuck to the pan....bummer! I had to pry them out and put them in a ziploc. They still taste good, but I think they will need some vanilla ice cream to be crumbled on top of. I did all the dishes I dirtied and now I feel like my back is broken! Nap time for me.

Everyone's Okay

I thought I should post an update lest anyone think we are all here suffering with the stomach flu. Rachel was fine the next day after her overnight bout with it, and no one else seems to feel like they are coming down with it, so the prayers are working.

My midwife came by yesterday to listen to the baby and leave my file here because she is officially out of town until Sunday night. Jeromy, the kids, and I all took a long walk last night (it was only a few blocks but I am pretty slow these days, so it just took a long time) hoping to move things along, but nothing yet except alot of pressure.

I rearranged our downstairs this morning, and if that doesn't bring on labor, I don't know what else will! I'll keep you posted.

You Will Never Guess

I think that we can pretty much claim the Guiness Book of World Records for the most cases of stomach flu in one one year. I was still awake at about 11:30 last night due to some killer indigestion and the baby not wanting to be still, and I heard Rachel coughing and choking on the baby moniter. I ran downstairs to find my worst nightmare right now....... Rachel was throwing up! Man, how many times does one family need to experience such joy? I brought her upstairs to sleep near me which was a total mistake. The girl would not go back to sleep. She talked nonstop for the next hour and a half before she finally went back to sleep. "Mama, I throw up in bowl." "Mama, I watch Dora super babies." "Two super babies." "I have pajamas, huh?" "I have water, please?" She didn't sleep in like I had hoped either. I finally let her get up and watch a video with Bennett at 8 while I slept for another hour. She is eating today and playing, but does look a little pale. I am PRAYING that this ends with her and doesn't go through all of us like usual. I thought I was done with laundry for the week, but I am off to do another load.

Blogging Casualty

Who knew that blogging could be hazardous to your health, well at least if you are a two year old. Admittedly, I am addicted to reading blogs, even ones belonging to people that I don't know or hardly know. It is like reality TV on the computer. This afternoon I was reading a blog by someone that is in the "I hardly know" category, but it was obviously so interesting that when Rachel asked me to help her put the top on one of her toys, I didn't look up long enough to grab it fully and smacked her in the mouth with it giving her a bloody lip. Pathetic!

Just In Case You're Wondering

No baby yet. I am having contractions here and there, but nothing that is serious enough or consistent enough to bring on labor. My guess is that I won't have Elizabeth until the end of the week. Rachel was a day late, so I will probably go sometime close to my due date on Saturday. I will let the blog reading world know when I go into labor, so stay tuned. My midwife is coming over on Wednesday to see me before she leaves for her trip, so I will let you know if there is any news at that point. I am getting out my labor Bible verses today. I have started to feel a little fear creep in for the whole labor/pain involved with delivering a baby, but God's Word definitely is a comfort, so I am going to choose to dwell on what He says instead of what Satan wants me to feel. That's all for now, I am in cleaning mode and just finished the downstairs. Now I am off to do laundry.

Midwife Appointment

I had my second home visit with Fran, my midwife, this morning. We talked about when to call her to come over (early so that she can get here in time!) some different birthing issues I have had in the past (I'll spare the men readers those details!) and the fact that she will be out of town Thursday to Sunday of next week. I am due next Saturday, and I am hoping to go a day or two early which would put her in Seattle during that time. Ginger, another midwife and natuorpath doctor that the kids and I go to will be on call while she is gone. Ginger wasn't a preferred provider with my insurance, so that is the only reason I didn't go to see her from the start. Getting to have Ginger deliver the baby without having to pay any extra money (Fran will pay her directly) is the best of both worlds. Ginger is a Christian and I think it would be nice to have her here for the delivery. We'll see what God has in mind. I don't feel that desperation yet that I would do anything to get this baby out, so I am probably not going to deliver anytime too soon. I measured bigger this week, smaller than I should be, but the baby is still really low and we just need to know that she is still growing. Everything is good and it is just the waiting game now. This is definitely one of the hardest parts!

Ellie's Baby Shower

It is always a blessing to have a baby shower, to celebrate the imminent arrival of a new baby, to thank the Lord for the gift of children. I was encouraged in this way last night when a woman from church, Trudy, hosted a shower for me.


Julie gave a wonderful Bible study to start the evening. It was encouraging mothers to not look at the giving of all of our free time ( "me" time) as a bad thing but to look at it as service to the Lord. I struggle with this selfishness all the time, so it was a timely topic! Julie and her husband have 6 children, and we are so thankful to know them.


Having a laugh at one of the games we played. Everyone wrote a baby care question on one side of a card, then handed the card to their left and wrote the answer to their original question on the backside of the new card. There were some funny combinations!


That is Trudy in the purple shirt to my left. That is the only picture I captured of her all night! She is such sweet lady and made the evening very special with her hospitality.


That is my mom in the brown shirt talking to Julie's mom, Jeannie, and Terry. It is so special to have my mom so close to share all of these memories that we didn't get to when we lived so far away from each other.


This is a card addressed to Samantha and Rebekah. Julie had it stuck in her mind that Elizabeth is going to be named Rebekah and called her that all night! It is a great name, just not the name of this baby!


It just isn't a baby shower without other pregnant women there. Mystie, on the right, is 22 weeks pregnant with a little girl, and Liz in the white is due a month after me.


Gift time!

St. Louis

This week I am in St. Louis, MO for a Cisco Certified Network Associate BootCamp. This trip has only been planned for about two weeks so it has been a rather wild couple of weeks. For the last six months or so doing projects on the wireless network where I work (pnl). I made my intentions of becoming a network engineer known to my line manager who went and talked to the network team who in turn found that they had money to send me to training. The catch was that the money had to be spent and services received by October 1. In case you missed it, Samantha is due September 15th! so it was either now or never. Well long story short we decided this was too good of an opportunity to pass up and we scheduled the trip as quickly as possible.

I left Pasco at 6am Saturday 8/25 (Samantha's birthday!) on a flight to St. Louis with a one hour lay over in Denver, CO. When I arrived in Denver I was told my connecting flight had been cancelled due to mechanical problems. This may have been due to the FAA manditory inspection of Boeing 737s after one caught fire on a runway in Japan.

I was given stand-by tickets for two other flights but they were full so I had to wait until 7pm. I packed light and didn't check any bags so I could get out of the airport quickly, but as a result I had to drag my bags around with me for the 8hrs I was stuck there.

I finally got into St. Louis at 10pm and was picked up at the airport by my good friend Jon Grable who's family has been living in St. Louis for almost a year. We (Samantha and I) were friends with his family while we were in CA and have missed them dearly. After a quick drive around St. Louis, he took me to the house they have been staying in for the last 10 months. It is a beautiful brick 3 story home that has been recently remodeled. Georgeous!

Juanita made me a midnight snack (literally) and we hung out and caught up. It was so fun. I could hardly sleep as I was so excited to see them and thinking about questions I had forgot to ask them.

The next morning I was blessed to wake to the pitter patter of little feet. The Grables have 5 beautiful children including a new baby boy named Jeremiah. So fun to hold such a beautiful little one. Jon made pancakes for breakfast and we all enjoyed them!

I will post more in the next few days including pictures of the excellent food I have been enjoying here in St. Louis.

37 weeks 6 days

I had my first home visit from my midwife today. She measured me, listened to Ellie's heartbeat and checked out where we would be delivering the baby. At my last visit, I measured 37 (cm's I think) which is right where I should be. Today I measured 33 and she couldn't get over how low the baby was. I told her that my pelvis felt ready to give way and very achy, and she said that all I needed were some regular contractions, and we would have a new baby. I haven't carried this low with my first two pregnancies, so maybe I will finally get a baby with a conehead! Bennett and Rachel both had nice round heads because they didn't engage until right before they came out. I am also getting really tired with not sleeping well at night and the aching back and pelvis are making it hard to be comfortable whether I am standing, sitting, or lying down. I am definitely hoping that this baby comes a little early. Two more weeks seems like an eternity to me! Jeromy gets home tomorrow, so at least Ellie waited to make her appearance until her daddy got home. I am so happy about that!

I Finally Finished A Project!!

I started knitting this blanket when I was pregnant with Rachel, but we didn't find out her sex beforehand, so I didn't feel compelled to finish it. The original plan was to have 4 white/pink squares in the middle and 16 squares altogether, but I don't think I would have ever gotten it done, so I left it at 9. I also had planned on knitting a heart and sewing that on the middle square, but I couldn't figure out the pattern I had for it, so I went with the monogram. It turned out alot better than I thought it would. I was nervous about sewing all the squares together and having it look decent. It feels good to have that done. Now I just have to get started on Rachel's scrapbook!

TO DO

I made a list last night of all the things I need and want to get done:

(Done)-Wash towels/receiving blankets for homebirth
(Almost Done)-Get supplies ready for homebirth
(Done)-Sort and wash baby clothes
-Unpack baby items and get Ellie's room ready
(Done)-Sew together knitted baby blanket squares
-Sew curtains for front door window
(Done)-Shop for Cal King sheets
-Clean Upstairs
-Print out new recipes
-Cook freezer meals
(Done) *2 Meatloafs
(Done)*60 Meatballs
(Done)*Spaghetti Sauce
*Teriyaki Chicken
*BBQ Chicken in Marinade
-Make
(Done)*Salsa
(Done)*Salad Dressing (mix together seasoned salt mix for salad dressing)
(Done)*Salad to eat this week
*Granola

I have so far spent 3 1/2 hours in the kitchen and made a huge pot of spaghetti sauce, 60 meatballs, 2 meatloafs, 2 batches of salsa, and a large green salad. I also did a load of laundry that is still in the washer and will probably stay there until this afternoon. I am wiped and don't think I will be doing anything but resting on the couch for the next few hours. Tomorrow I would like to get the upstairs at least vacuumed and the 2 chicken freezer meals done. I know that I have orders to take it easy this week while Jeromy is gone, but I just can't do it. There is too much to get done and not very much time left to do it. My mom came over last night for dinner and helped with the kids, made a pot of chili for us to eat/freeze, gave the kids a bath, cleaned that bathroom while the kids were in the tub, and put them to bed. That was a huge help. Evenings are when I run out of steam and getting the kids ready for bed is enough to kill me! 4 more days until Jeromy gets home and then I can start doing things to encourage the arrival of our little one. Hopefully it will be cool enough to take some long walks.

Turning 30

I don't feel any different today being 30 than I did yesterday being 29. I think the only difference I will encounter is when people ask me my age. My mom has always told me her 30s were so much better than her 20s, but I always thought my 20s were pretty good. I became a Christian at the age of 23, so I spent most of the decade serving the Lord and seeking Him in my decisions. I got married at the age of 24, had Bennett at 25, Rachel at 27, moved to Washington and owned my first home at 28 and sold it at 29. They were very full years, and I am sure the next 10 will be even fuller yet. I still have a desire to adopt a sibling group from Africa, serve in my community more, and get my children involved in giving and serving others. I don't know how that will all look but the desire is there.

I watched an interesting 20/20 program that I had taped today looking at philanthropy and charity in America. The myth is that Americans are stingy and cheap and that America doesn't give enough of our wealth away. Another myth is that liberal people give more than conservative people. It just isn't true. The two people groups that give the highest percentage of their money to charity is the working poor and the rich. People of faith, all faiths, give more than anyone else, not just to their church either. They give more to non-religious groups, they give more blood and donate more of their time. The top 23 of the 24 most generous states are all "red" states. It is true that the US government doesn't give as much of its money away than other countries, but Americans give more individually than any other people. No one else is as generous as Americans with their money.

The program also looked at the uber-rich, the American billionaires. There is a movement within their ranks to give generously... Warren Buffet, Ted Turner, and the Gates have all given away at least a billion of their own dollars. They call it "philanthropy" though, not charity. The difference is that philanthropy creates something new to solve problems in the world, it doesn't just throw money at it. The host interviewed several billionaires and asked them why they don't give more of their money away. Why do they need so much? There were many different answers to that question. Some said that they do give enough, some said that there weren't enough organizations to give to that do a good job, some said that investing their money back into business helps more people by creating jobs for more people and creates more wealth, some said that they can't "afford" to give more. I thought that one was funny. The show was very interesting, and it was nice to hear the truth for a change that Americans aren't all bad.

One thing that their research found was that private charities do a better job than the government does at meeting needs. That means that people like you and me can really make a difference. That is one of the reasons the researchers say that liberal people don't give as much. They live with the philosophy that the government should meet the needs of people. The government should create programs and distribute wealth to the people. That just isn't how churches and the generous American operates. They take it upon themselves to do the job, they don't wait for someone else to do it. Churches start foreign orphanages, schools, hospitals, soup kitchens, and shelters. When they give of their money to these causes, they become invested personally in them.

I feel compelled to do more with the resources the Lord has given me. Give more money, time, energy to serving those less fortunate. I need to start praying that God will lead me to where He wants me to serve. Jeromy too feels the desire to get more involved in our community. We just haven't found where that will be and what God wants us to do. There is so much work to be done, and I want to use my talents wisely. That seems like a good goal for my 30s.

Plumbing Update

Well, the hole in the huge, old cast iron pipe was fixed this morning. We live in a 1940s house and the guy that replumbed it when they rennovated last year was able to come out and fix the pipe. He knows the whole system well, so he knew what was wrong. Unfortunately, the sewage backing up into the house isn't related to the hole in the pipe. What are the odds of that? Now we have had a different set of guys out in our backyard digging for the last several hours. They said the pipe they are trying to get to is alot deeper than they thought it would be. (Of course it was right under my flower bed!!) Hopefully they will be done soon, they can can clear out the blockage, and we will be back online with a working system again. We are going to go to my mom's house tonight to do laundry if they aren't. The first plumber that was here said we could use a little bit of water today, so while I haven't gotten a shower yet, we have flushed a toilet or two and washed our hands when needed. This has made me thankful that we are no longer homeowners and don't have to pay for any of this!

On a much brighter note, my very considerate husband came home during his lunch to clean the very stinky, sewage covered upstairs bathroom. I was so appreciative because my lower back is ON STRIKE today! Thanks honey!

Yuck!

Is there anything more gross than raw sewage coming up from all the drains in your house? I am waiting for the plumber to get here before I clean up the bathroom where it spilled over the toilet. Luckily that was the only place it overflowed although I am not very excited about having to clean it up. Jeromy leaves for his week-long trip in the morning and I need to do laundry so that he has something to wear while he is gone. Pray that the plumber is able to fix the problem ASAP and that I can use our toilet! Yikes, 9 months pregnant and no toilet!

The Benton-Franklin Fair and Rodeo '07

It's that time of year again. We are suckers for the fair. I think we have gone every year since Jeromy and I were dating. We decided to forgo the overly expensive rides for the kids this year since they got to go on some when we were in Minnesota at the Mall of America. Instead, we opted for the overly expensive but not very good fair food, looking/petting the livestock, the rodeo and something called an Elephant Ear. My favorite fair treat is a funnel cake, but we were appalled to find out they were charging $6.50 for a regular size funnel cake. Are these people mad? That is ridiculous even by fair standards! Instead we got an elephant ear which is an enormous piece of deep fried dough covered with cinnamon and sugar. It was good but not funnel cake good. So sad!


Rachel was really scared of the animals unless Jeromy carried her. Actually, she wasn't scared of the chickens, bunnies and bird building, but just of the noisy animals.... pigs, sheep and cows.


That cow in the background was the biggest bull Jeromy or I have ever seen. He must have weighed a good 1200-1500 pounds. He was pretty intimidating.


One of the girls let Bennett feed her pig a treat. Did you know that pigs like red vine licorice? They don't like the cheaper Twizzler variety of licorice (who does?) but they really like red vines.


Me! I still haven't gotten a good hair picture yet. You can't even tell I have any bangs in this shot. I think I need a more head on picture to see all the layers. I can't believe I survived walking around the fair. I wore my belly belt which is a lifesaver on my back and my Dansko clogs which my back can't live without either. By 9:30pm I was done and ready to head home!


A picture of a cool horse-drawn carriage at the rodeo. We didn't get very many good rodeo pictures because we weren't up high enough to get any shots without the fence in front of us. We saw mutton riding (too cute!), steer roping (I couldn't believe how hard you can snap a cows neck without it breaking!), bareback bronco riding, steer wrestling (I am not sure of the correct rodeo term for this, forgive me), and we missed the bull riding because we left early.

It was a fun night for all!

Homemade Tortillas

I LOVE homemade corn tortillas and after having some really good ones last Friday at a restaurant, I thought, "How hard can it be?" I bought some Masa flour at the grocery store, I already have a tortilla press that my in-laws bought me a couple of years before (that I hadn't used yet), and a cast iron skillet. That is all you need. I mixed 2 cups of masa in a bowl with 1/4 tsp of salt and 1 1/2 cups of water. The directions said to mix it for 2 minutes. It was just like kneading regular bread dough, but a little stickier. I think I would have added a little more flour next time. This recipe was supposed to yield 16 tortillas which I figured would be enough for dinner (steak fajitas) and some leftovers.


Mix the dough.


Roll the dough into 16 balls.


Line the tortilla press with wax paper to eliminate sticking. I didn't have any problem with sticking, so the wax paper worked great.


Press and Voila!


Heat the cast iron skillet (It has to be cast iron for the authentic thing) to med-high and cook each side for 50 seconds. I found that the tortillas would start to bubble when ready to be flipped and that it took a little longer than 50 seconds.

There are some things I would do differently next time, and it was so easy that I will definitely make them again. They tasted so good!
-I would only made 8 balls with the recipe next time. The tortillas were too small with the 16 (only 4-5 inches in diameter). I made a few small ones for the kids and then used 2 balls to make the rest. They were a much better taco size.
-I will absolutely double the recipe. We didn't even have enough to satisfy everyone for dinner. We each had 2 and we all wanted more!
-I will roll them out a little thinner than the press makes them. The press left them a little thick, almost like pancakes.
-I will cook them on lower heat (medium) for longer. They didn't really have enough time to brown much, just charred a little in spots.
-I will make sure everything is ready for dinner before I make the tortillas. You have to completely babysit them and can't get anything else ready at the same time. I sauteed onions and bell pepper while making the tortillas and even that was a little hard. You could also cook them first and then get everything else ready. I kept them in a bowl with a wet towel surrounding them and they stayed hot and didn't stick at all. It think it also helps them to finish cooking in the steam.

All in all, it was a culinary success! I love when I go to special work to make something that turns out well. I don't have pictures of the finished product because the camera ran out of batteries. Bummer.