Getting Ready

Ok, mom, you could've given me a little more advanced notice on this whole dying thing.  It's not easy packing for 8 people for a 10 day trip in one day, and making flight and hotel reservations.  I'm excited to see Nani though and the rest of the family.  She misses you and wishes it could've been her to go instead of you.  I told her that it wouldn't be long, and that she needed to have a little patience because we need her now.  What would we do without her Spanish Rice?  :)  I've got friends here helping me take care of the kids and holding George while I get ready. Some friends are coming over while we are gone to help me clean the house so I don't have to vacuum and clean my kitchen before we leave. We had to pick out a photo of you for your memorial service.  I think we might use your Facebook profile picture.  I feel like it has been pre-approved.  I hope you are ok with that.  I hope you're having fun at the party in heaven!  I can't believe you missed the finale of the Celebrity Apprentice last night!  Or maybe you didn't.  Is there Super HD where you are?

Good Days and Bad Days

We all have good days and bad days.  Yesterday was a bad day.  My mom passed away at 5:41pm.  It was unexpected and sudden.  I will write the story later.  It's a little too fresh right now.  Basically her kidneys failed and caused all sorts of problems that she couldn't recover from.  She spent about 23 hours in the ER and ICU with nurses and doctors fighting for her to survive.  She had no idea she was in end stages of kidney disease.  She never complained of any symptoms or warning signs.  Apparently the shortness of breath and cough that she was experiencing the past week or two were a result of the kidney failure.  We thought she had bronchitis.  I will greatly miss her and the kids are going to miss their Nana.

Yesterday was a good day for my mom.  She was reunited with her dad and brother.  Before she passed, I told her to say hi to them for us and that we would see her later.  I told my kids that Nana was going to meet her grandma too.  She never met her grandma because she died before my mom was born.  Her name was Bertha.  The kids laughed when I said, "Nana is going to meet Big Bertha."

I'm glad she didn't have to suffer long.  I'm not sure I could've watched her much longer in that hospital bed, intubated and hooked up to so many machines.  I hardly recognized her.  When George was born 2 weeks early, my mom was disappointed that she missed seeing the new hospital during my stay.  As she gasped for breath while we waited for the ambulance to arrive at our house, I told her that she did not need to get sick to get to see the new hospital.  It got a small smile from her, but she looked scared.  Unfortunately she didn't get to see the happy floor with all the new babies. 

It makes a lot of sense that George was born early.  My mom was well enough her first week here to meet him, hold him, and fall in love with him.  It didn't make sense to me that he was 2 weeks early at the time he was born because the previous 5 were born about 2-4 days before their due date.  I know his early arrival was not a coincidence which is comforting.  I think my Heavenly Father had a plan to take my mom home when he did.  It was her time and I think George wanted to meet her before she left.  It just kind of sucks for us left behind.  She was great wife, mom, and Nana.

Yesterday was my parent's 44th wedding anniversary. They had exactly 44 wonderful years of marriage.  I don't have a picture of them together yesterday and if I did, I'm sure my mom would be very mad at me for posting it, so here is one from last year:

I love you, Mom!  Dang it, I'm going to miss you! I hope you can still read my blog in heaven!

Tired

On Friday night my husband took Bradley and Jason on the church Father/Son campout.  He said Jason didn't sleep very well and was squirmy and whimpering most of the night because he couldn't get comfortable.  My husband and I went out on Saturday night while my parents watched the kids.  While out and driving in the car, my husband exclaimed how tired he was.  I'm not sure if he was trying to gain sympathy or have me feel sorry for him, but I gave him a look.  He said, "What?"  I continued to just look at him.  Then the light clicked and he realized who he was complaining to - a mother of a newborn.  Then he said, "That's why you're so awesome."  I wish men had mammary glands and could share in the feedings.

A Birth Story: Episode 7

Ok.  So it's about time I document this birth story before I forget about it and plan for Episode 8.

**Due to graphic content reader discretion is advised** :) 
**It's totally long too.  Maybe you should grab some popcorn.**

It began Monday May 3rd.  Every time my bladder filled up, I had a contraction.  I assumed that it was just a weird physiological response.  After all, my doctor predicted at my appointment last week (April 27th) that there was a 99% chance that I would be at my appointment the following week (May 4th).  So I was contracting approximately once an hour, but nothing regular.  I went to bed that evening without having had a contraction for at least a few hours.  My husband was planning to stay home from work on Tuesday morning while I went to my doctor's appointment.  I was predicting that my cervix would be completely closed the next day and I would have to suffer through two more long weeks of pregnancy.  I was ok with it though, because I had more things to get done before baby's arrival and my parents weren't scheduled to come until Sunday the 9th.

At about 1:41 AM I contracted.  My bladder was full.  I went to the bathroom.  I finished feeling the contraction, noted the time, and fell back asleep.  At 2:00 AM I contracted again.  My bladder was not full.  Uh oh.  Now I was starting to wonder if my cervix was actually dilating and at what rate.  At 2:06 AM  I contracted again.  Crap.  I began to think that I might actually be in labor.  I took a walk around the house.  I went to the bathroom to make sure I wasn't mistaking it for a bowel obstruction or gas bubble.  I pondered if I should call my on-call friend, Jennefer, to come over.  I hated to have her come over in the middle of the night, have us go to the hospital, and come home to say, "Sorry, I just had to fart."

I decided to go upstairs and tell my husband the predicament.  I said, "David, I think I'm in labor."  He jumped out of bed and said, "What should I do?  Should I take a shower?"  I said, "No, just get dressed.  I'm not sure we have time for you to take a shower." (My husband is unable to take quick showers.) At this point the contractions were quite close together and getting stronger.  I called Jennefer and she didn't answer.  Now I was a little panicked. I called another friend, JoAn, and she was amazingly still awake and told me that she had just gotten home from the grocery store not long ago.  I could hear the TV in the background.  However, while I was on the phone with her, my call waiting beeped.  Jennefer was willing to come over and she didn't have to work in the morning like JoAn.  So we waited for Jennefer while I finished packing my bag.  I called the doctor.  The contractions started getting harder.  I called Jennefer on her cell and told her we were going to take off to the hospital and she could let herself in.  I didn't want to take any chances.

I had several contractions on the way to the hospital.  We arrived at about 3:15 AM.  I handed the ER admitting person my hospital registration and insurance cards that I was planning to mail the next day.  I told her that I gave birth to a baby in the lobby of the ER before and that she might want to hurry.  I messily signed the forms and they wheeled me up to Womens Services.  I got a room.  When they examined me, I was 5 cm dilated.  We had plenty of time to spare.

I labored while watching infomercials.  I totally want a TriVac.

I labored while starving.  I was trying to decide what special treat to have for breakfast in addition to my hospital meal.

The thing I remembered most about laboring was the extreme bladder discomfort.  The nurse wouldn't let me go to the bathroom because the doctor was delivering another patient and the nurse was afraid I would have the baby on the toilet.  Instead she gave me a bed pan.  I totally couldn't do it though.  I had too much stagefright.  I've spent about 30 years making it a point not to pee in my bed, why wreck all my progress?
 

[Wish I had a photo of me sitting on a bed pan]

Finally when the doctor was finished delivering her other patient, the nurse let me go to the bathroom and I peed a whole lot.  Such relief!  The nurse asked, "Are you peeing, or did your water break?"  Quite honestly I wasn't sure, but I assumed it was pee.  After my bladder was empty, the baby began to descend.  The doctor came in and said I was fully dilated and she broke my water (which confirmed I only peed on the toilet).  She told me I could start pushing.  I thought it was a little weird because I didn't feel ready to push.  I did not have an epidural so I could feel everything.  I just didn't have the urge push and I didn't feel my contractions were all that strong.  I told her if I pushed, all that was going to come out was poop or farts.  She told me it was ok.  So I gave a half hearted push during a kind of weak contraction and I was right.  Now I am going to take all the glamour out of childbirth, but here is an interesting fact:  Fart + Amniotic Fluid = Funny Gurgling Noise.  Yes.  Lovely.  It's a shame that TLC and Discovery Health doesn't reveal these things on their Baby Story and Birth Story episodes. They make it seem like such a beautiful process. (Sorry to my male audience.  I'm just keeping it real.  You can't say I didn't warn you.)

[Be thankful I don't have a picture to insert here.]

The doctor told me I was right. I wasn't quite ready to push because I still had a bit of a "lip" on my cervix. (Whatever that means.  I don't think facial parts should have double meanings.) At 5:15 AM she said she would come back in about 15 minutes.  She took off her blue paper gown and was gone for about 3 minutes when I told the nurse I was "feeling the urge".  The doctor came back, put on a new gown, and prepared for delivery.  I pushed once.  I moved him about 3 inches down the canal.  The doctor told me the baby had a very round head and was blonde.  During the next contraction I pushed again, but I just wasn't in the mood for pushing.  I got spoiled with the birth of Jason when he just popped out on his own with no voluntary pushing required.  But I pushed anyway, and when I began to feel the burning sensation of a head in my crotch, I pushed a little harder.  It was when the nursery nurse cheered me on that I pushed as hard as I could, and out he popped at 5:21 AM!  Little Boy George.  Wait.  Let me rephrase that.  Little Baby George.  I don't think this world needs another Boy George.

I was so excited my fear of dying in childbirth didn't come true!  I was monitoring my blood pressure all along.  It seemed to maintain a consistent rate of about 115/70.  All was good.  The doctor said I didn't bleed much.  The baby looked like he had Elmer's glue all over him. They said it was because he was 2 weeks early.  I allowed them to clean him up.  I wasn't all that interested in holding my gooey baby.  I prefer to hold them when they are clean and cute.  While they cleaned him up I had the doctor show me the placenta and I had David take pictures.  I'll spare you the pictures.

So all was well.  My husband left the hospital at about 7 AM to get the kids ready to meet their new brother.  I was anxious to take a shower because my pits stunk so much.  Shortly after the nurses changed shifts, my nurse, Leslie, helped me to the bath/shower that she filled.  I soaked in the tub for a while. I debated whether I was going to wash my hair.  I decided to go for it.  I wanted to look good for pictures that day and I thought the hospital shampoo smelled super good.  I stood up and washed my hair.  I bent over to touch my toes because I could.  All was well until.......

I had a gush of blood pour out of me.  I wasn't all that worried.  Clots happen and sometimes the bleeding comes in gushes. When it didn't stop, I pushed the nurse call button, and when Leslie came in I asked her if it was normal to have this much blood come out of me.  She said, "Yes, you just had a baby."  I took her word for it and she left the room, but it just wouldn't stop.  I began to smell the stench of blood. I could smell the iron. I called her again and as I stood there naked in a puddle of blood in the tub I said, "This doesn't seem normal.  I feel dizzy."  She quickly helped me out of the tub and laid me down on the bathroom floor.  I fainted for a few seconds.  She gave me a shot of Methergine in my leg to help the uterus contract, and she brought in a wheelchair so she could take me to my recovery room.  As she and another nurse helped me into the wheelchair, I was doubting my ability to get into it without passing out, but I trusted their faith that I could do it.  The last thing I remember was sitting in the wheelchair falling forward into the arms of the nurses thinking "Everything is going to be ok.  Everything is going to be ok.  Good luck to David raising 7 kids on his own."

The next thing I remembered was waking up on a stretcher with a cold washcloth over my forehead in the room where I delivered.  There were a few panicked nurses scurrying around me, covering me up, and taking my blood pressure.  I saw a midwife next to me and she introduced herself.  I heard Leslie say to the midwife, "I called you when we couldn't wake her up.  We didn't know what to do."  Apparently I had been passed out for about a minute, but Leslie said it was a very looooong minute.  She told me I got her heart rate going for the day and that she could skip her workout that evening.

I knew my doctor was doing rounds that morning, so I asked for him.  Thankfully he was there and he promptly came in.  I think he was testing my level of consciousness and asked me, "What did you do this morning?"  I thought it was strange question because I was thinking "Duh.  I just had a baby."  But I simply said (probably with somewhat of a slur), "Had a baby."  I think he was reassured that I had a grasp of what was going on.  I caught a glance at the blood pressure monitor.  It said 84/48.  I knew that was low and quite a drop from what it was during labor.  As I laid there in a daze with my nurse to my left and my doctor to my right I dared to ask, "Am I dying?"  I thought for sure they were there to simply console me through the end stages of life while the hospital staff called my husband to come quickly.  But they smiled and said, "No, you're not dying.  You just scared us."  I was relieved.  I told them I was starving and asked them when I could eat.  A nurse came in to give me some orange juice with a bendy straw and said to me, "This is why we don't have babies at home."  I fully agreed with her.

At that point I reminded my doctor that he predicted last week that there was a 99% chance I would be back in his office this morning.  He told me he regretted not having given me his home phone number last week.  He's been my doctor for 10 years and 7 births and has delivered none of them. I guess I've made it to his VIP list and he is willing to do a special delivery for me.   He missed this one by about 1 1/2 hours just like Rachel's birth two years ago.  His on-call shifts begin at 7 AM.  Then I said, "Maybe the next baby."  He just laughed and said, "You're a tough cookie."  I guess most women aren't thinking about having another baby 3 hours after giving birth and passing out from postpartum hemorrhage.  But what can I say?  Odd numbers make me uncomfortable.

I was trying to recall the dream I was having while passed out.  I remember visioning something.  I didn't see "the light" or anything near death experience like that.  All I can recall is the presence of my children.  It was a very peaceful feeling, which is odd because usually when my children are present the atmosphere is anything but peaceful.  When I woke up I didn't fear death so much.  I just remember feeling very relaxed.  Maybe I was just enjoying being in a completely dependent state, having five people take care of me. If only I could've rolled over onto my belly and requested a massage.  And a milkshake.

For awhile my doctor stood at my side, held my hand, monitored my blood pressure, checked my fundal firmness, and prescribed treatment to the nurses.  To give you a visual, my doctor totally looks like Bernie Kopell from the Love Boat:

The only difference is my doctor doesn't wear a captain's hat.  Instead he wears a lab coat, dress shirt, and bow tie. I seriously love my doctor and he has the most calm bedside manner ever.

Finally he determined me to be ok and he prescribed 4 anal suppositories of Cytotec to further help my uterus contract.  The nurse shoved the four big pills up my butt.  Not very comfortable.  Then Leslie massaged my uterus and a clot the size of a grapefruit came out.  Her eyes widened and she looked alarmed by the size and told me that was likely the cause of my bleeding.  I took oral Methergine the rest of the day to help my uterus contract.  I passed a few more clots.  Got a bracelet on my wrist in case I needed a blood transfusion during my hospital stay. Thankfully I didn't.

Leslie brought me to my recovery room on the stretcher. When she opened the double doors to take me across the corridor to the recovery side of the Women Services floor there was man with a big machine buffing the floor and about 6 big yellow cones strategically placed along the corridor.  It totally cracked me up.  As she made her way across the corridor, dodging the cones, I felt like I was in the middle of a pinball game.  We made it across without hitting any cones.  That was fun.  I was still super starving and they gave me a lousy breakfast.  HELLO!? I just had a baby!  Surely they could've done better than an oatmeal raisin muffin, Raisin Bran cereal, and tiny melon fruit cup.  The only thing it seemed to be missing was a cup of Metamucil.  I think I almost cried when I saw it.  I ate it anyway and looked forward to lunch and the Sonic Burger, onion rings, and Oreo Blast I was going to ask my husband to bring for dinner.

I received a blessing of health from my husband and another man from church, which helped to alleviate my anxiety.  The rest of the day I ate, watched TV, visited with my kids, and got absolutely no rest. Leslie would not let me stand up for the rest of her shift because I don't think she wanted any more incidents to give her a heart attack.  Doc stopped by to check on me that evening.  I asked him if he knew what might have caused the bleeding.  He said, "I hate to say it, but...'Old Uterus'."  Meaning old and used.  OUCH!  I guess it's reality.  It has been well-used, and I am getting older.  Then he left, probably to go watch Charo perform while eating dinner aboard the Pacific Princess as it heads to Acapulco.

Meeting their new brother.

Wendy wanted to make it a point to get her finger in the picture.

A double rainbow to end the day.

But now all is well.  Baby George is here.  I am still alive with an old uterus, recovering, drinking protein shakes, eating roast beef sandwiches, taking iron supplements, and feeling like a milk machine.

Redirect and new url

Ok.  So I wanted to let you all know that my blog is successfully redirecting.  However if you have me on your Blogger Reading List (on your Blogger Dashboard) and depend on it to know when I post a new post, you might need to change the url for that.  I think you actually have to stop following my old blog and add the new url as a new blog.  You might also want to change the url if you have me as one of your favorite people in your sidebar (Thank you if I am one of your friends! You make me feel loved.) and in any RSS feed.

You might have noticed that I have now added my friends in my sidebar.  It's beens something I've wanted to do for a long time and it was much easier to add after the migration.  I apologize if I have left anyone out.  I simply added the people who blog rather regularly.  I didn't add people with private blogs, so it doesn't mean I don't read yours, if yours is private.  I will be adding more as I remember.

Here is my new url:  http://blog.melindabeth.com

I hope that all works.  Darn Blogger for creating a little more chaos in my life.

Also, I have the birth story written.  I just have to finish editing it, add some things that I forgot, and upload some pictures.

I'm slowly reentering the blogging world.  I miss it.  My husband bought me a new mini netbook computer so I can do my social networking, blogging, and surfing the internet on the couch and in bed while I am nursing.  It was my having a baby, Mother's Day, and early birthday present.  My husband is so nice to me for supporting my online social life!

Also, I am still working on new design.  This is the current one while I work on finding one or making one.

I'll be back!

Still a Blogger

Just wanted to let you all know I'm still here.  Baby #7 was born on Tuesday, May 4th, so things have been a bit busy around here.  He was 2 weeks early so my mom was not here to help and we have been on our own.  However, we have had some great help from friends from church with getting us some meals and watching the kids while I was in the hospital.  My parents get here on Sunday evening.  I'm excited for that because I know my dirty dishes will be up to date next week.

I will post the birth story soon.....

My husband is still working on my website.  He did the redirect, except for my images.  I hope to get the images back soon.

Test

This is a test.  I apologize if my blog looks ugly.  I have officially migrated it to be hosted by Blogger and now I have some figuring out to do regarding design.  Thank goodness for web developer husbands.

Here is an updated picture of me at 37 weeks and 2 days. 

I love trick photography.  The approximately 15 square feet of floor that is shown in this picture gives the illusion that my whole house is clean.  Don't let it fool you.  There is a mess of stuff going on around me.  I just kicked it out of the way.  And I think my house smells like pee.

Tonight we had a little get together at a burritto shop in town.  About 10 of us from church gathered for an informal "baby shower" for two people, me being one of them.  Another friend of mine had her baby 5 weeks ago.  It was supposed to be just a time to sit, eat, and chat, but some people brought presents.  So she was the skinny one opening presents and I was the fat one opening presents.  I have to admit that I felt a little ridiculous opening presents for a 7th child, but it was fun, and it was more like just getting early baby gifts that some good friends likely would've given me after I had the baby.  I'm glad to have been able to open them while I am still alive and able to express my gratitude in person.

Hmmm.  I think that is about all for today.  I'm home, sugared and caffeined up on Barq's rootbeer and trying to decide what to do.  I'm sure there is something good on TV to watch.  I'm just not going to watch ANY medical shows about having babies. 

Wednesday

I marked yesterday as a very boring day, but I totally forgot to mention that it was the 20th anniversary of my first period. How could I forget that? Yes, on April 26th, 1990, at age 13, I got my first period. I was wearing white shorts. Thankfully it was a half day at school. When I got home I told my mom and she gave me a maxi pad. I don't think it took me long to figure out how to use a tampon. The day before on April 25th, I got a full set of braces. You could say that week possibly marked the peak of adolescence for me. I'm glad those days are over. Junior high was brutal.


Today I was watching TV and came across A Baby Story on TLC. NOT a good show to watch when you are 37 weeks pregnant. It sent me into a panic. The lady featured had an abnormal heart condition with high blood pressure. I didn't finish watching it to see if she survived or not. It's likely she did, but I will surely be the unlucky one to die in childbirth. Just tell me you all will miss me when I'm dead. To my local friends, make sure my children are dressed properly at church and that the girls' hair looks good. Thanks. And I'm cool with it if my husband remarries. I think it would be good for my kids to have a female influence while they are young. As long as he doesn't marry her for eternity and she's not hotter than me, I'm totally cool. And I would prefer that she is also a widow and an A cup. I probably think about this stuff too much.

Update

Ok. Ok. Ok.  I'll blog.  I'm just a grumpy 'ol pregnant women unmotivated to do anything.  I'm trying to take it easy this week because I don't want to have this baby in April.  I want to be sure he is born in May.  So far each child and parent has a different birthday month.  I want to keep it that way.  The jumping jacks will begin on Saturday.

My AC is fixed.  Yahoo!  It's supposed to be hot this weekend.

My OBGYN got shiny new toilets in the office.  I was just thinking last week how ugly the toilets seats looked.  They must have read my mind. 

My blood pressure was high at my appointment today.  138/something.  It kind of freaked me out and I almost had an anxiety attack while waiting for the doctor to come in.  I asked him about it and he said he wasn't worried.  I have this fear of dying in childbirth.  I'm just a little weird like that.  I'm working on it.

My doctor told me that he estimated that their is a 99% chance that I will still be pregnant at my next appointment next Tuesday.  I didn't tell him about my jumping jack plan.  Maybe I can prove him wrong.  He also estimated that Bradley would be about 6 lbs something when he was born.  Bradley weighed 7 lb. 14 oz.

Did I mention that I am in the grumpy phase of pregnancy right now?

Maybe I will have something more exciting to talk about tomorrow.  My apologies. :)

Thursday

The most exciting thing I did today was order new toner for my printer.  I went for the cheap "Brother compatible" toner cartridge.  Let's hope it works.

Happy 10 Years!

Five years ago I had this great plan to save up some money to take a 10th Anniversary trip to Hawaii.  Little did I know that I would be 36 weeks pregnant.  It's a good thing we didn't go.  I would've surely been mistaken for a beached manatee.  Instead we went to a Japanese steakhouse and I ate lots of food.  It was delicious.  I never saved up the money anyway.  So it's a good thing.

For our anniversary I gave my husband a card.  He doesn't like cards because he considers them a waste of money, so I just dug into my stash of greeting cards and gave him a "Congratulations" one.  Inside I put my new Social Security card.  I finally changed my name after 10 years.  There was no good reason why I never changed it.  Just laziness.  So, it's official.  We're married.  My husband gave me dinner for our anniversary. 

Reading, Writing, Talents, and Divine Inspiration

Sarah is my delayed learner.  She likes to learn things on her own time.  She is six years old and still in the early stages of reading.  I'm ok with it.  She likes Barbies and any kind of pretend play.  She is my child who will make a family out of five colored pencils and create a big elaborate story.  I am a believer in letting children play to their heart's delight.  I believe playing is learning.  She's is practicing the early stages of story writing while playing Barbies and Pencils.  I don't care so much that she's not writing the plot down on paper.  It will all come in its own good due time.  What she lacks in language skills, she makes up for in math.  She's good with numbers.

Today she got her composition book out.  She told me that she was going to learn to write words today.  I was excited that she took the initiative to decide that.  Then she proceeded to ask me, "Mommy, how do you spell 'multitude'?" 

Ok, so I was thinking more like "cat", "bat", "rat", "sat", or maybe even some four letter words.  But if she wants to start with "multitude" that's fine.  She told me that if she is going to be able to read her scriptures really good she needs to learn how to spell the words.  Then I asked her to write, "It came to pass..."

***********************

We had a talent show tonight for Family Home Evening.  These were the talents:
Emily - She showed us a picture she drew.
Bradley - He played a song with his right and left hand on the piano.
Sarah - She did a handstand and a headstand.
Wendy - She was disappointed that Jason threw her picture away, so she attempted a cartwheel.
We aren't quite sure what Jason and Rachel's talents are yet.  I think the mess around the house and drawings on the walls are their talents.
Mommy - Emily suggested that I show my big belly because I am good at making babies.
Daddy - He tickled the kids because he's good at tickling.

For dessert we ate Twinkies.  Saturday while grocery shopping my husband was disappointed that the kids didn't even know what a Twinkie was. So we bought a box.  My husband and I were ashamed that our kids didn't know Hostess Cakes.  They enjoyed them.  Emily told us that in Primary yesterday her teacher was trying to explain about birthrights because their lesson was on Jacob in Esau.  The teacher used the example of the oldest child getting a Twinkie.  Emily said there was a child in the class that said, "What's a Twinkie?"  Emily made sure to tell the teacher that her parents bought Twinkies the day before and that they were going to eat them Monday night.  So I'm convinced my husband was divinely inspired to buy those Twinkies to help reinforce the Sunday School lesson.  So, next time you're at the grocery store, don't resist the urge to buy a treat.  It may be divine inspiration.  Tonight all six kids received the Twinkie birthright:

Baby Pictures

Today after lunch we sat on the porch and ate Jelly Bellies.  The kids had a good time asking, "What's this flavor?" for every single Jelly Bean that they ate.  I had to reach into the depths of my adolescence and try to remember which color was which flavor. The ones I remember most are buttered popcorn, toasted marshmallow, watermelon, rootbeer, cotton candy, tutti frutti, and banana.  Buttered Popcorn is my favorite. 

While we were outside I decided to take some baby pictures of some of our vegetable plants.  I knew I would regret it if I didn't.

This is Sarah's pumpkin.

This is my green onion.

This is broccoli.  I bought 9 plants at Lowes.  I've never grown broccoli before, so we'll see how it goes.

This is cucumber and a sunflower (in back).  I am going to have A LOT of cucumbers.  I think I have like 25 plants that will be growing along the fence.  I think I will learn how to pickle this year.  I think I have like 20 sunflowers.  I'm into excess this year.

 

I think this is Cotton Candy.  I wish we could plant Jelly Bellies.

My Day in a LIst

I was totally going to post about something today, but my pregnant brain forgot.  My pregnant brain is becoming a lot more forgetful these days.  I almost hate to think about all the things I might have forgotten.

We had pancakes and strawberries for dinner.  It was yummy.

The gnats are eating me alive in all this gardening.  They are out 24 hours a day.  They even attack when wearing bug spray, pants and long sleeves.  This garden better be worth it.  There's still a lot of work to do. 

I'm tired.

I'm into listing things these days.

I successfully replaced a headlight in my husband's car yesterday.

I have a bug bite on the top of my index finger that I just finished scratching.

I think I planted my zucchini too close.  I find it excruciatingly painful to thin plants.  It feels like murder.

My Nightly Neatening chore tonight is to clean my desk.  I'm not sure I will get to it.

The light over my kitchen sink is out, which makes it very uninspiring to do dishes.  I'm too short and pregnant to change it, but am too tired to go upstairs to ask my husband.  It's too bad he's not online for Google Talk or doesn't check his Facebook.  Maybe I will email him.

I just ate two leftover pancakes and made them into strawberry tacos with whip cream.  It was yummy, but doesn't count for dessert.

Seriously, why am I listing stuff?  Does anybody really even care?

I worked on writing the ABC's with Wendy and Jason today.  Jason was a lot better than I would've expected at 3 1/2.  He is right handed.  He's been pretty ambidextrous up until this point, but it looks like he favors the right hand for writing.  He will occasionally eat with his left hand.

We totally forgot to celebrate Jason's half birthday on Saturday.  That was disappointing.  But he does know he is 3 1/2 now.

Thursday is ham sandwiches and potato chips for lunch day.

Taxes Filed

Ok.  I took two days off.  I was busy with taxes.  They're done.  1040. Schedule A. Four Schedule C's. Schedule SE. Form 5329.  Form 8812. From 8889.  Schedule M.  Additional Dependents Worksheet.  + State Taxes. Sigh.  Thank goodness for software!  Unfortunately I didn't realize until after I paid for the software, that we qualified for the free version because our adjusted gross income was below the threshold (thanks to unemployment). Oh well.  For some reason my eFile gets rejected every year.  I must be doing something wrong.  To make it easy, I just print and mail it via Certified Mail.  I actually enjoy doing taxes.  It's not so bad when you get a refund.

My bush beans are sprouted and growing.  I don't even know why I am growing them because the deer are just going to devour them anyway. 

My green onion is sprouting.

I'm addicted to crunching on ice.

Our car broke again, but it's fixed $360 later.  Hopefully it's fixed for good this time.  He replaced the battery and alternator.  Apparently it wasn't a strong enough battery for the car and it was causing the alternator to give out twice in two years.  Let's hope he's right.

Rachel is talking more.  She says, "Trash, Daddy, shoes, bye bye, Bra-yee (Bradley), ga gone, mine, mew (milk), pew (pillow), I see, and no."

We've had the windows open lately.  The other day I put Rachel down for a nap upstairs in the kids room.  The kids could hear her talking from the window downstairs, so they were communicating, "Bye!" to each other.  They got a kick out of it:

The Garden

Yesterday while out in the front yard tending the garden I heard my husband say, "Get back in the yard!"  Sometimes our kids wander to the other side of the fence which makes it hard to keep an eye on them.  I looked up and saw a little girl about 4 or 5 years old riding a bike and what looked to be her grandfather to come and get her.  I asked my husband, "Did you just yell at the little girl?"  He nodded in embarassment.  Sometimes face recognition fails when doing a headcount of your own kids.  That little girl is probably banned from ever riding her bike in front the "mean people's" house.

Speaking of the garden, I totally cheated on my tomato plants this year.  I went ahead and bought some hybrid tomato plants.  My heirloom seedlings just didn't seem strong enough and I was afraid risking them not working and not having any tomatoes this year.  So instead, I planted a few of the strongest heirloom tomato plants in a pot in another part of the yard and hopefully I will get at least one or two tomatoes to collect seeds while we feast on hybrids.  I did the same thing with the bell peppers.  Gardening is a huge learning process.

My husband is also a little obsessive with collecting seeds.  He planted A LOT of grapefruit seeds last year in little pots.  He just repotted them in 5 gallon containers.  We have, like, twenty something potted grapefruit trees in our yard.  It's a little bit embarrassing.  When we got home from church today, my husband was out surveying the plants.  The neighbor across the street said, "Those are awfully nice clothes to be farming in."  So, yes, our tiny little yard is slowly becoming a farm.  But if all goes well, we should have some good produce this year.  I hope.  I really hope.  I'll have to post some pictures soon.  The zucchini, cucumbers, sunflowers, watermelon, and some zinnia have sprouted.  Still waiting on the cantalope.  I hate this part.  It can be so stressful...

Jealousy

Yesterday while eating lunch with the kids we read The Friend, our monthly church kids magazine.  We read a page about missionaries. Sarah said she wanted to be a missionary when she grows up. Emily said she wants to get married and stay home to take care of her kids. Then Sarah changed her mind  and said she doesn’t want to go on a mission because she doesn’t want anybody to take who she is supposed to marry while she’s gone.  At six years old she is already fearing the "Dear John" letter.

Today

Not a whole lot happened today, except laundry, and I didn't wash the dishes tonight, and I'm sure I will be really mad at myself tomorrow for it, and this is a really long run-on sentence because I just don't care much about grammar tonight, and I'm going to go to bed with a belly full of Oreo Sonic Blast, which will hopefully help me to wake up bright and early and be motivated to wash the dishes in the morning, but probably not.

[Gasp for breath]

Good night.

It's Clean

Wednesday's Nightly Neatening chore is cleaning out the refrigerator.  And cleaning it out I did!!  I actually did it this afternoon while I still had some energy in me and I thought it would be a good activity to hang out in the refrigerator during the hottest part of the day while my AC continues not to work.  My refrigerator has never been so clean.  I made sure not to block any air vents while putting the stuff back inside to cause sodas to explode again.  I think I might put a sign on my fridge like they do in factories that says:

This refrigerator has operated

____________ Days

Without an accident.

 

____________ Days

remain to acheive our goal.

Also dealt with more car trouble today.  I'm trying to figure out if I am being scammed or not.  Apparently we need a new alternator, but we just replaced it 21 months ago.  More research to do tomorrow on that.