Ami's Anecdotes & Amusements

More Conversations...

2011-11-30T19:49:00.004-05:00

Some with Scotch, some with LK, and some with other kids. :)

Scotch, nightly, as we say good-night, and daily, whenever we leave a room: "I need a hud and tiff!"

*hug and kiss

LK, one morning on the way to school: I can't believe this!

Me: What?

LK: It's freezing in here, Mom! Aren't you cold? Do you even have the heat on?

Me: (slyly reaching down to turn the heat on in the back of the van) Uh, I just turned it on back there.

LK: You have your seat on, don't you!

*(Heated seats in our new van = wonderful on cold mornings!)

An 8th grader at school: Mrs. S., is it true that we might use your baby as Jesus for our Christmas play?

Me: Yes. I told Mrs. R. that I would be ok with that.

Student: You know that B (one of the boys in the class) will have to hold him, right?

Me: Yes, Mrs. R. told me that.

Student: OK... it will be him and whoever plays Mary.

Me: Who's Mary?

Student: Um... Jesus's mother...

Little Man: "unggooooooo!" :)

A 2nd grader at school, after I asked him about his favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner: "My mom makes these string beans... she adds some creamy soup, I think it's mushroom, and some crunchy onions and bakes it. You should try it sometime."

Scotch, whenever any of us arrive at home: "Are you home?" If we say we're not, she says, "Oh, I thought you were home. Otay!" Then, five minutes later, "You home now?"

Conversations with Scotch

2011-11-20T13:12:00.005-05:00

It's been a while, and she's always saying funny things. So, the things that make us laugh now or have made us laugh in the last couple of weeks...

"Div me the tameraknotters." Which translates to "Give me the binoculars." Or camera knockers. Whatever those are.

"I don't lite you." Followed shortly thereafter by, "I lite you now." This is one we hear often at bedtime when she doesn't like us. Then, the "I like you" part comes about 15 minutes after bedtime as something she calls out before going to sleep. The other night, she didn't change her tune after Daddy put her to bed, so in the morning we had to call Daddy to tell him that she "lited him adain."

"There's me! And there's Big Bubby and Little Bubby!" Whenever she watches a Charlie Brown movie - Thanksgiving and Christmas are in pretty heavy rotation now, and sees Lucy, Charlie Brown, and/or Snoopy.

"Hippeeeee!" Whenever she is happy about something.

"Tome in da titchen." This would be "come in the kitchen," which often goes along with "I hunny!" ("I'm hungry.") Upon following her in the kitchen, she'll likely ask for "tandy," "a fuit tup," "tooties," "a may-may," or "a orem." (That would be candy, a fruit cup, cookies, a banana, or an orange.)

"I need to hang!" Part of the bedtime routine includes Mr. A. and LK doing chin-ups. LK is surprisingly strong and usually does 2 or 3 good chin-ups each night. Scotch likes to try, too. But, she just hangs on the bar. It's really a funny sight. And, I don't think it will be too long before she's doing chin-ups, too. :)

A Bargain!

2011-11-12T17:18:00.003-05:00

I don't typically do this... but I got a great deal today, and wanted to share it if anyone is interested. So, have you heard of bumkins? They have cute baby accessories, cloth diapers, clothes, etc. And, have you heard of Plum District? It's a site run by moms who scour the internet and find various deals and such. Some are local; others are on the internet. Anyway, one of the deals shared today is for a $50 voucher for bumkins. You buy it through Plum District for $25! I googled plum district discount codes and found one for 10% off, so I got a $50 credit for new cloth diapers for Little Man, and only spent $22.50. Hooray! If you're interested, and click here, I'd appreciate it. (That is a referral link, so I could be rewarded if you decide to purchase. Just letting you know!)

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T09:36:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween from Lucy, Charlie Brown, and Baby Snoopy! :)

Reflections on C-Section #3

2011-10-30T14:16:00.001-04:00

At the end of August I promised another post about my birth story, as I had more thoughts on it that I wanted to share. As I'm sure you can imagine, I've been busy. But, ICAN is looking for CBAC stories (c-section birth after c-section) and I wanted mine to be complete to submit. :)

It's now been just over 10 weeks since my 3rd c-section. I've fallen more in love with all 3 of my children each day. I loved (almost) every minute of my time at home with them. I've been back at work for 2 weeks now, which has been difficult, but it's where we are in life right now. Anyway, I've also spent a lot of time in reflection on my 3 c-section experiences, thinking of the things I learned in each. In this post, I'm going to take the time to share some thoughts on each - what made each unique, what I wish I'd known, etc. I'm hoping that sharing will help another woman out there facing a c-section (whether your first, 2nd, 3rd, or beyond). I am not claiming to know everything about the subject, but it is something that I do have experience in and care about.

#1 - My first c-section, as I shared here, was not a planned section.

What did I learn?

- That I am stronger than I thought.

- That I knew very little about birth issues.

- That I trusted my doctors more than I trusted myself (the understanding of that lesson came later).

What was unique about that section for me?

- The experience of induced labor.

- It was my first time being a patient in the hospital.

- The unexpected sadness after having a baby.

- Difficulty nursing the baby that lasted for a week.

What do I wish I knew? At the time, I didn't even know enough to wish I knew more. (Does that make sense?) Looking back, there is a lot that I wish I knew...

- The recovery time after a c-section.

- The physical changes and recovery are challenging (to say the least).

- The full range of emotions to come.

- How nursing is supposed to work.

- The normal process of birth (as in, not the medical list of potential complications and interventions).

#2 - My second c-section, shared here, was planned.

What did I learn?

- That I am even stronger than I knew going in.

- That I still trusted doctors blindly.

- That I wanted/needed to learn more before having another baby.

- That a planned section is somewhat "easier" than unplanned.

What was unique?

- No contractions at all before having the baby.

What do I wish I knew?

- That I had other options. Granted, the section was due to baby's position, so the "options" I'm referring to here are basically that attempting to turn the baby with various methods would have been advisable and safe.

#3 - My third c-section, shared here, was a hopeful VBA2C turned planned c-section.

What did I learn?

- Again, the strength...

- That it is OK to exert your strength and share your wishes with medical professionals.

- That I am not in control of everything (not that I really want to be - just in certain areas...).

- A whole lot about birth issues, natural childbirth, methods to turn baby, etc. (This was through the pregnancy, not necessarily the delivery, but it is important.)

- That a c-section can be "mom-friendly."

What was unique?

- Going into labor spontaneously. Granted, it didn't progress far, and I don't even know how much dilation took place, but it was the only time for it to happen.

- We chose to see midwives rather than (and alongside) an OB for the pregnancy. This change helped me to feel empowered during the pregnancy. The relationship with the midwives was much more personal than with an OB. And I really liked my previous OB, too... didn't always agree, but liked him.

- We had a doula this pregnancy. A huge blessing! We chose not to have her with us during the c-section, because we knew what to expect with that. But, having the visits we did with her both before and after delivery made a difference in my mindset, and helped Mr. A. to be fully supportive of my wishes.

- The time right after delivery - skin to skin contact in the OR, nursing right away, etc.

- The recovery. It was easier this time. I was up out of bed much sooner, I used an abdominal binder for several weeks to help in healing, etc. All going back to really knowing what I wanted and being prepared and educated in the matter.

What do I wish I knew?

- I've given a lot of thought to this question lately. Right after having the baby, I wondered if I would have known that I was going to have a 3 c-section if I would have done all that I did to make this experience different. I can't answer that, but I am glad to have NOT known that I would end up in the OR again. I am so grateful for the opportunity, brought on by previous experiences, to have experienced pregnancy and even a c-section differently this time around. The changes I made would probably not have happened had I known going in that I would have a 3rd c-section. I wouldn't have seen midwives; I wouldn't have hired a doula; I wouldn't have sought the support of ICAN; I wouldn't have educated myself on birth and pregnancy issues. And, I'm thankful for those choices. Do I wish I'd had a successful VBA2C? Yes. But, I am so thankful for all 3 of my little ones and when I feel sad about the way they came into the world, I can look at them and feel grateful that they did come into the world.

My wish is that all pregnant women be educated and know the choices they have. That they be given accurate information in making those choices. That there would not be pressure to be induced or have a c-section for reasons that are not medically necessary, but rather for the sake of convenience. I hope that by sharing my stories, someone takes the time to read or ask questions that will empower them. Please feel free to ask me questions or share comments here.

Birth Story

2011-08-31T11:12:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned in my post on August 17, I was to go in on the 18th for a scheduled repeat c-section. I was to have an ultrasound prior to anything else to confirm that baby was still laying transverse. The evening of the 17th was a pretty busy one. Mr. A and I ran a few errands, wanting to make sure there was food in the house for his aunt and the kids for a couple of days, and wanting to pick up things for after we were home so we didn't have to run to the store. When we came home, we put the kids to bed, packed our bags, and went to bed ourselves. We prayed together, for baby to turn, but more for peace in God's will with the delivery.

I woke up at about 1:30, which was a normal "wake up to use the restroom" time while pregnant. As I was getting back into bed, I felt a contraction. Of course, I'd been feeling them for weeks, so I didn't think much of it. I had trouble falling back to sleep, which I attributed to nerves. About 20 minutes later, I felt another contraction. That was closer than I'd been feeling them before, but again, I didn't think much of it. Just kept trying to get to sleep. Anyway, contractions continued to come, which combined with nerves, kept me awake for much of the rest of the night. We had to get up at about 4:15 to go to the hospital for our 6:30 check-in, and by that point the contractions were about 10-12 minutes apart. They didn't "hurt," so I didn't make a big deal about it, but I was aware of them enough to be timing them. I was also acutely aware of the baby's position; his head was up just below my ribcage. :( Being in labor, albeit early labor, was an answer to prayer... I wanted to be 100% sure that baby was ready to come if/when I had the c-section, and early labor is a sign of baby's readiness.

So, we got to the hospital, and they took us into the L&D pre-op area. After I was changed into the hospital gown, the nurse called for a resident to come do the ultrasound. When he came in, he first checked for the head in the "correct" position, but I told him where the head actually was, and he confirmed it. So, it was time for surgery prep. I was disappointed... but as I said above, knew that at least the baby was ready. I won't go into all of the details of the prep, but I will say that the whole process was much better than it had been during my previous c-sections. The nurses worked together well, let me know what they were doing prior to doing anything, gave me options (would you like the catheter inserted after the spinal? - yes, please!), and respected the fact that I was disappointed as I'd hoped to vbac. At one point, the nurse looked at me and asked if I was aware of the contractions that were coming every 10 minutes at that point.

At about 7:45, the anesthesiologist came to check in with me, followed shortly afterwards by my doctor and midwife. I walked into the OR at 8:05, had the spinal inserted, and the doctors and nurses completed the prep. At some point during this time, I started crying. My midwife was wonderful. She gave me a hug (well, as much as you can hug someone strapped to an operating table), wiped away my tears, and reassured me that I'd done all I could. She also let the others in the room know just why I was crying, as I couldn't put it into words at that moment. Once I was settled a bit, she went to go get Mr. A who took his spot by my left shoulder at 8:19.

The midwife held my hand throughout the surgery, and kept Mr. A and I informed as to what was happening. The incision was at 8:26, and they got to the baby really quickly from that point. As they pulled out his bottom, he peed all over. ;) Then, they had a bit of trouble pulling out the head because it had been so high. Finally, they got him out at 8:32... but he was having trouble breathing and had to have quite a bit of suction. My midwife escorted Mr. A to the other side of the room where he was allowed to cut the cord, which he hadn't been allowed to do for our other kids. Once they got him breathing, they put a diaper on him, wrapped him loosely in a blanket, and brought him over to me, where the midwife unwrapped him and placed him on my chest. She also unstrapped my left arm, so I could hold him. That was... amazing. As I've mentioned before, when I had my other kids, apart from a very brief few seconds of seeing them in the OR, I didn't get to really see or hold them until I'd been released from recovery. I was able to hold him like that until Dr. C. was done stitching me up and the surgery was complete. Mr. A held the baby while they moved me back to the regular bed, and then he was given back to me as they wheeled me back into the pre-op/recovery area. He started nursing shortly after we got in there. :) He stayed with me all through recovery, and was in my arms as I was wheeled down to the floor where I was the rest of my stay.

I have more thoughts about the whole experience that I want to share, but for now, a cute little baby is calling out for me, so I need to run. I'll post those thoughts another time. :)

It's A...

2011-08-27T11:49:00.002-04:00

Boy!

James Martin

8-18-11, 8:32 am

8 lb, 12 oz

21 inches

I'll post the birth story sometime next week. :)

Baby Eve

2011-08-17T19:05:00.003-04:00

I had an ultrasound on Monday. Baby was completely breech then, and has continued to turn between breech and transverse. :( So, doctor scheduled me for a repeat c-section... tomorrow. I'm disappointed and frustrated, having done all I could to avoid a 3rd section, and yet finding myself preparing for just that scenario. There is still a tiny sliver of a chance that the baby will turn sometime in the next 12-13 hours, though it is a tiny, tiny sliver of a chance.

The past few days I've been trying to put into words my feelings about it all... I thought of an analogy this afternoon as I was driving home from seeing the midwife. At the beginning of this pregnancy, as I was reading all of the pregnancy and delivery books I read, it was like I was a little kid who had been given a huge bundle of helium filled balloons, each representing hopes for this pregnancy and delivery. As things progressed, some of those balloons slipped out of my grip. A couple on the day that the nurse practitioner off-handedly commented about this being a repeat c-section... a few more on the day my doctor told me that he "doesn't do vbac's anymore..." a few more at the appointment in July when it was first shared with me that baby was definitely breech... a few more with each subsequent appointment where it was confirmed that the position was not improving... a few more with each day of exercises, etc., when baby didn't turn... more on the day after the version when baby flipped back to transverse... all leaving me here holding one lone balloon that is slowly slipping out of my hand.

Through it all, there is another bundle of balloons representing my hopes for this baby. That bundle is still strongly in my grips. And, of course, one of the biggest balloons in that bundle is the one that contains hope for health for this little one. You see, there are two separate bundles. Two separate collections of hope. One for the delivery, and another for the baby. Not everyone seems to understand that, and repeatedly over the past few days I've heard the comment, "A healthy baby is all that matters." Well, yes... but that statement completely ignores the other bundle of hope that came with this pregnancy. I read an article the other day on the ICAN website and it contained a relevant quote: "The most important thing is that the baby is healthy" is one of the most oft repeated sentiments after a cesarean. Of course it is (*and the mother knows this), but it is also important to comfort the mother and acknowledge her frustration if this is what she is feeling. - Ibone Olza

*parenthetical phrase added by me

Alright, readers... I better go finish packing my bag. If you're the praying type, please pray for peace for me, as well as for health for baby and for me. Thank you!

Catching Up

2011-08-09T14:48:00.003-04:00

Wow! It's been nearly 2 months since I've posted anything. We've just been busy enjoying summer and blogging/being on the computer in general have taken a back seat for a while. So - I'll recap by month...

June - My adorable sister, "Aunt Ashee" came to stay with us for a week. My other sister, "Aunt Erin" also visited, along with her hubby and stepdaughter. (They didn't stay with us, though, so we didn't see them nearly as much.) While they were all here, we were able to celebrate my baby brother's high school graduation, which made me feel super old. I was still in high school when he was born... and now he's headed off to college in South Carolina in just a week!

Anyway, Aunt Ashee also "trained" Scotch in how to sit still for fun hairstyles, as Scotch let (begged) Ashley to do her hair every day she was here. Fun for me, as now she'll sit still for me most days to let me do fun things to her hair now, too. :)

Also in June, I had my first (and hopefully only) experience with a kidney stone. The agony started on Father's Day, resulting in me spending the afternoon in the hospital, in L&D hooked up to monitors and an IV while they did some testing and observations. The hospital staff thought it was likely just a bladder infection, so prescribed an antibiotic. My midwife, however, upon looking at the labwork, thinks it was much more likely that I had a stone. (I agree with her, after reading up on them, the pattern and location of the pain, and the feelings I had as the pain progressed and then stopped.) I was only taking Tylenol, as I hate to take much while pregnant, and they were hesitant to prescribe something stronger without admitting me into the hospital, which I did not want.

July - We celebrated the 4th of July with both sides of the family - swimming and picnicking with Mr. A's family during the day and going to a great fireworks show in the evening with my family.

Both kids were also excited to spend time with J, a cousin who was visiting from Germany. Scotch had never met him, and LK hadn't seen him since they were both around 2. We took a day trip to the beach, and spent a lot of time trying to cool down in the 100 degree + weather.

I also began weekly visits to the midwives, and we discovered (confirmed) that baby was not in a good position for delivery. I began doing exercises, moxibustion, and receiving chiropractic care, in the hopes of encouraging baby to turn head down.

August - We're only 1 1/2 weeks in and it's already been busy. On the 2nd, because of the baby's position, I had an appointment with the doctor who supervises my midwives' practice, for pre-op stuff, assuming it would mean a definite c-section. The doctor surprised me by offering to do an external version.

Wednesday was my weekly midwife appointment, where the midwife was pleasantly surprised, and pleased as well, that the doctor had agreed to the version. Everything else at the appointment was good.

Thursday, Mr. A. took the day off work and we went to a small family-friendly amusement park that is a couple of hours from home. (One that doesn't charge admission because I refuse to pay to go in and not go on any rides!) Scotch went on her first rides, and loved them.

Friday, we got up super early to head to the hospital for the version. We got there at 7:30, and the procedure was done by about 8:20. I had read up on it in advance, and expected it to be painful based on many of the accounts I read... but it wasn't all that bad. A bit uncomfortable, but not what I'd describe as painful. Before I left, the midwife went over some suggestions to encourage baby to stay in position, and we hung out until about 9:15 for monitoring. I rested much of the rest of the day, as I was a bit sore.

Saturday was my birthday (33) and we spent the day at a local car show, with Mr. A's classic car. Actually, Scotch and I joined Mr. A and LK in the early afternoon... we ate lunch and swam a bit before it started raining. Then, we went to Mr. A's sister's house for dinner and cake. Sadly, I realized at some point during the day that the baby had turned back to transverse - his or her head is resting on my right side, which is where he/she had been prior to the version. :(

Sunday was a pretty normal one - church, hanging out together, etc. And, yesterday, nesting kicked in big-time. I cleaned our room, getting rid of tons of stuff that we don't need/use and made room for the baby's cradle to be moved in. I washed a ton of laundry, including all of the gender neutral (and one boy and one girl) 0-3 month clothes.

Today, the kids and I are just hanging out at home, trying to rest and I'm back to trying to encourage baby to turn back. The doctor and midwives I see won't attempt to turn the baby again - figuring that there may be a reason he/she prefers this position... so I'm expecting to hear at my appointment tomorrow that I'll need to schedule a section. Of course, unlike my previous doctor, they'll confirm position before doing surgery, but I hate the idea of having a "deadline" that isn't the baby's for getting into position. Sigh... I'm just frustrated after having made all of the changes and such this time, hoping for a different outcome, that I may end up having another section. I know it will be ok either way - it's just disappointing.

Anyway, that's enough for today. I'll do what I can to post more often, though I know my busy-ness level is about to increase dramatically.

Random

2011-06-10T17:09:00.003-04:00

LK praying last night: Dear God, thank you for this day and that it was nice outside (it was HOT) so we were able to play outside for a few minutes (yes, only a few minutes because it was HOT). Thank you that it's summer because I love summer. Winter's nice, too, but I like summer a bit better. I hope you understand. Thank you for all of the seasons, but especially summer... it's my favorite. Partly because school is out. But, thank you for my school and especially that it's over for the summer.

*The prayer continued to include prayers for people and such, but I found this part hilarious!

~~~~~~~~~~

Saw one of my midwives this week. Have I mentioned just how glad I am that I switched care to them?!?! Well, I am. One of the things I LOVE about going there is that they hand you your chart to look over while you're waiting. So, all of those notes that are in there, all of the labwork, etc., you can see so if you have any specific questions you can ask when you get in the room. And, you're not "wasting time" asking if you passed the GD test or whatever - you already know. Love that! But, the other day the reading the chart part of the appointment was a bit tough. For the first time, I read the complete surgery report from my first c-section. Three things stood out to me... 1 - LK's weight was listed as 8 lb 14 oz; he was 8 lb 11 oz. I have a picture of him on the scale as well as his hospital bracelet to prove that. 2 - During surgery, a cyst was removed from one of my ovaries. I think it was the left one. The report lists it as the right, then the left in another paragraph. There is a bold, all-caps sentence that states that "upon reviewing the report and (his) notes after noticing the mix-up, (the doctor) thinks it was the right ovary." WHAT?!?! Ridiculous. And, 3 - the difficulty I had establishing nursing with LK was noted. It says that the day after he was born, I was "emotional" because of having difficulty establishing breastfeeding, but the emotions were attributed to a slight case of "baby blues." It goes on to say that the "breastfeeding and emotional issues were resolved by the next day." Um, no... that day he did latch on, but only once, and my milk supply was still non-existent. It wasn't until he was a full week old that he finally was latching on consistently and my milk came in. And, the "emotions" being resolved? That was the day I went home from the hospital. I was happy to be getting the heck out of there. Anyway, I wondered after I'd read the report if I had been able to read it sooner if I would have switched providers a long time ago. Not terribly important now, as I have, but just something I thought of upon reading it. And, as I said at the start of this topic, I'm so glad to have switched.

~~~~~~~~~~

My little brother graduates high school next week. Not sure how that happened so quickly. He was just a little 2 year old at my high school graduation and now it's his turn. Both of my sisters will be flying in from Idaho this week to be here for the graduation. The youngest (Hi, Ash!) will be staying with us, and LK can't wait! (So, be prepared to be attacked while you're sleeping and stuff!) Scotch keeps looking at pics of Aunt Ashley and asking "she your stitster? she tomin' (coming)?" So, I think she's excited, too.

~~~~~~~~~~

Scotch still says the baby is a "stitster," while LK and Mr. A say it's a boy. I'm still completely neutral, with no strong feelings one way or the other. LK today, after getting into an argument with Scotch, said that "if this baby is another girl, we need to send Scotch away and only keep this one for a trial run. If she's nicer than Scotch, we can keep her." Um... yeah, we'll just see about that.

Ugh... Mommy Wars

2011-05-23T18:52:00.004-04:00

I usually don't get involved in the whole "Mommy Wars" nonsense. Because honestly? Being a parent is HARD work. It doesn't matter if you stay home, work outside of the home, or work from home... it is HARD. I think that we can all agree on that. Also, we all do what we think is best for us and for our kids. Again, I think we can all agree there.

Now, you all know that I work. Is it a choice? Not really. At this point in our lives, we need the 2nd income. Have we made cuts? Yes. Are there more we could make? I suppose. But, as I've said before, even making those cuts would not make up the salary difference. So, I work. I'm blessed to have a job that is sort of the best of both worlds. I get 3 months a year at home, I'm off when my (school-age) kid(s) is off, etc. But, I am spending time away from my kids while still having to keep up the house, do the grocery shopping, most of the cooking, the laundry, etc. I'm not complaining... it's just what I (and millions of other working moms) do.

But, when I read this post on Babble.com, "Questions from a SAHM for working parents," I got irritated. And, wrote the answers to those questions to share here. My responses:

1. 1. No. But, I got that reaction before I left to “start my day” at work.

2. 2. No. But, again… I get that before and after "work." Though I try to limit computer time then because my priority is my kids when I'm at home.

3. 3. Not while "at work" (usually). Though, I’m working during the same business hours of the bank, doctor’s offices, etc., so I can’t make those calls (or often run those errands) during the day.

4. 4. Yes. I do get that luxury during the day, from time to time.

5. 5. “Out to lunch?” What is that? I get maybe 30 minutes per day for lunch, and that includes time traveling from 1 work site to another.

6. 6. Again, I get to save that “fun” for the time “after work.”

7. 7. Again, “after hours.” Though, there was the one time that one of our students wandered off inside the building only to be found under the bench in the lobby of the church that hosts our school while sobbing because she was “lost.” (Not on my watch, though I was the one that found her. I do wonder, though, how someone responsible for only a couple of children at home could have this happen for the length of time it would take to move 6 pairs of shoes, presumably from the closet to the bathroom or the kitchen.)

8. 8. Actually, yes.

9. 9. Before and after "work.”

10. 10. No, but my kids don't do that.

11. 11. Before and after “work.”

12. 12. Before and after “work.”

Now, I know that stay at home moms do deal with these things. I know that this post was written tongue in cheek (as were my responses), and was written in response to the author's conversations with her husband. But, I guess I just don't see the point. Yet, I still have all of the home responsibilities that stay at home moms do. And, less time to do it all, as the time that I'm not at work is time for my kids. I try not to spend hours cleaning or whatever while they're awake because I do feel like I miss out on so much with them because I have to work.

I think my main point is what I said earlier. Parenting, no matter the other circumstances, is hard. We should try to support one another and not make it seem as though one side or the other has it harder. It just isn't a "winnable" argument. Those of you who stay home, I applaud you for the sacrifices you've made. Those of you who work, whether it's a "have to" situation like me, or a "want to" situation like some I know, I applaud you for the sacrifices you've made as well.

I would love to hear your respectful thoughts on the article I shared and the staying home vs. working decision. What has worked for your family? How do you make it work?

Things That Make Me Happy

2011-05-18T13:00:00.003-04:00

Just some random things today...

* there are only 13 days left of the school year.

* after those 13 days of school, I'll be a "stay at home mom" for the next 5 or so months!

* hearing #3's heartbeat on Monday morning.

* the way Scotch says, "Love EE. (Love you.) Soon see ya! Bye-bye!" when I put her in her crib at night.

* that both of my kids, while they love cake, ice cream, and cookies, are just as happy with apples or bananas and peanut butter for dessert.

* listening to LK read more each and every day.

* glimpses of sun in the midst of a rainy, cool week.

* bright azaleas blooming in the flower bed out front.

* the smell of the roses starting to bloom in my backyard.

* watching Mr. A. listen intently to the midwife as she discusses vbac with us.

* that Mr. A. is so supportive of my hopes for vbac.

* the anticipation of fresh summer veggies from the garden.

LK Cheats

2011-05-13T13:00:00.000-04:00

LK cheated on a paper in school the other day. And I couldn’t be prouder of him. Odd, no? Here’s the story. It was in the afternoon, when his kindergarten class does “enrichment” type activities. They’re working on the letter u, and had done a drawing of an umbrella, which they were supposed to “decorate” with other u words. They were supposed to try to think of at least 3 words, but he could only think of 2. As the students were finishing their pictures, they were asked to read their words aloud. One of the girls at his table had 4 words, so when she read hers, he wrote 2 of the words she said on his paper.

I asked if he got in trouble, and he said no, his teacher didn’t know. I thanked him for telling me and told him we’d talk further about it later. He did his homework, and Mr. A came home shortly after. The 3 of us sat down and talked through the situation again. He was hesitant to tell Mr. A, but did.

We talked about how our actions have consequences, so told him that he would have to tell his teacher and would also be punished at home. We made sure to clearly express that because he was honest, his punishment would be much less than had he not told the truth and we found out later from his teacher that he’d been cheating. He had his Wii privileges revoked for a couple of days, which was not easily accepted, but eventually done. We prayed together as a family immediately after the conversation, and LK asked for forgiveness for cheating.

The next morning, he went up to Mrs. H. and told her the story of what happened. She forgave him and thanked him for talking to her. As he went to sit with his class, she told me that she was certain there were other kids doing the same, and being that it was an “enrichment” type activity, she hadn’t said anything or really given it too much thought; they were still practicing the u words. However, she added, she was impressed that he knew that cheating was wrong and that he shared the whole story with us. And, she was even more impressed at his taking responsibility in talking to her about the situation.

So, yes, I’m proud of my cheating boy! And, I really, really hope that openness he feels in sharing the events of his day doesn’t diminish, as he grows older.

Mother's Day Snapshot

2011-05-08T20:21:00.002-04:00

As I'm getting in the shower this morning before church, I hear Scotch in her room, making happy noises. So, I hop in the shower without getting her up first. I finish and go in my room to get dressed. I hear her door and wonder if LK came up to get her out of the crib, which he does once in a while. But, I don't go check, just pull on my skirt. A minute later I hear the door again, followed by little footsteps and a loud, "HI MAMA!" Sigh, the little bugger climbed out of her crib. Before today, I'd never seen or heard her even trying. Ah, well, time for the big girl bed.

As we leave church, we talk about what we're going to do for the rest of the day. I'm looking forward to a family day at home - doing some gardening and such. But, we have to stop at the grocery store first. My favorite place. (And by favorite, I mean the LAST place I want to be on Mother's Day.) I get what we need and load it in the car. Then, Mr. A tells me that he needs to run to his Mom's to cut her grass and bring the mower home to do ours. Fine... Then his sister texts him that his niece is having a cookout at around 5 if we want to come. OK, my hopes for a quiet, relaxing family day are diminishing....

Mr. A comes home, and as he's mowing our grass, Scotch goes upstairs to play for a minute. I go up to check on her and she's sitting in the bathroom smearing shampoo in her pigtails. Sigh... this is the 2nd day in a row she's done something similar to this. Yesterday, it was lotion. At least shampoo belongs in your hair and can be rinsed out pretty easily. Quick bath for her, then she and LK go outside to play for a bit while Mr. A finishes mowing. It's already 4:30, so time to leave to go to our niece's house.

We head out the front door after Mr. A cleans up a bit, and LK gives me a compliment... or something. "Mom, it looks like you're getting really skinny... from behind!"

Anyway, that about sums up the day around here. I do want to take a minute to say Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there. And, when I say that, I include those of you who haven't yet met your babies, those who are step-moms, and those who are "mom-figures" to others as well. Hope it was a good day for all!

Scotch's First Haircut

2011-04-29T09:47:00.004-04:00

If you're friends with me on facebook, you've already seen these, but they're too cute to not share here, too. Last week, Scotch (finally) had her first haircut. I'd trimmed her bangs once, but that's all that we'd done as far as cutting her hair. We decided, though, that it was time to trim the ends and get her used to the idea of sitting in the chair (or on my lap) and having her hair cut. She'd been along as LK had his hair cut last time, so the place was familiar and the idea not brand new. But, we completely expected her to NOT sit still throughout the entire process. As we started, she was clinging to me while sitting on my lap. Then, "Bubby" came to the rescue, standing slightly behind me and distracting her as her hair was sprayed with water, combed, and the cut began.

By the end of the process, she was so relaxed and content that she even sat still to have her hair blown dry.

When all was finished and the camera was handed back to me, she did not want to look at me for any pics. (Which is not unusual.) LK was trying hard to get her to look at me here.

The promise of a lollipop, which LK went to get just as I took this picture of the finished product, finally convinced her to look at the camera for a second.

Random

2011-04-27T13:49:00.003-04:00

Overheard yesterday while Scotch was playing with her dolls...

You want more milt? ... otay... lifts shirt and holds baby up... OW! No milt if you bite, otay?! ... Otay, here's more milt.

*Yes, she is STILL nursing, though it's down to once or twice a day. And, yes, I've had this exact conversation with her.

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Still no thoughts on a blog nickname for baby. Also, no thoughts at all on a girl name in case this is a girl. We have a boy name - the boy name we chose for Scotch if she'd been a boy. But, not a clue for a girl name. And, I guess, that's more important than a blog name, right?

~~~~~~~~~~

I've been off work all week and it's been wonderful! We were off Thursday and Friday of last week and go back tomorrow. I'm dreading the morning. It's been so nice to get out of bed in the morning when Mr. A leaves for work, take a leisurely shower in peace, and then have an hour or so to read, pray, clean, or whatever I want before the kids wake up. And, then to have the whole day with the kids - playing, reading, eating together, going to the park, cooking, etc. Weeks like this make me wish my staying home was a realistic option for us right now. But, it just isn't... we live simply as it is, with no car payments, a small house, eating out very infrequently, etc. Yet, both incomes are needed for now. (Yes, I know that there are other things we could cut back on - phones, tv, etc. But, cutting those would still leave a gap between necessary bills like housing, food, electric, etc. and Mr. A's salary.) Sigh... thankfully I do love my job. Just love my kids more!

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Monday I grabbed the camera to take along on our walk to the park. As we were walking, LK and Scotch were holding hands and walking ahead of me. It was a picture-worthy moment, so I pulled the camera out and turned it on. And got an error message. I tried to turn it off and then back on, but the lens won't retract if that makes sense. And, the camera will not work. :( So, we're looking to replace it, cheaply. Any suggestions for a simple, basic camera? We use it to take occasional video, but mostly just for snapshots and the like.

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Potty-training with Scotch has been pretty unsuccessful so far. I'd hoped to be able to make major progress this week, and she is interested. At least in the whole wearing big girl pants, that is. But, she won't willingly sit on the potty when I suggest it, and isn't motivated by any of the things that worked for LK. So, we'll put it on hold until the summer when I'm home with her all of the time, and hope it works before the third comes.

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Speaking of #3, I finally get to meet one of my new midwives next Tuesday. Mr. A and I went to an orientation at their office last week, where I expected to meet at least one of the midwives, but we only met 2 of the nurses. They were nice, but the orientation was not what I expected entirely, nor was it all that helpful. There were a group of 8-10 pregnant women (with partners) there, and the orientation was mostly about delivering at their birth center. Which I would love to do, but can't because of my situation. So, all of the things like not having an IV in place, not have continuous fetal monitoring, being able to go home typically within 6 hours of delivery, etc., will not be the case for me, so it was kind of hard to sit through. And I wasn't entirely comfortable asking all of my questions as 5 of the women who were there were pregnant with their first, and my pregnancy history (and related questions) is not exactly the happiest of stories. I am still looking forward to meeting the midwife, though, and hopefully getting reassurance that this will be the best option for us.

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My little brother turned 17 last week! Hard to believe. I remember the day he was born. Not that I was there. I was still in high school, across the country, but I remember the call that he'd been born. And I remember the first time meeting him and so much more as he's grown up. Now, he's a 17 year-old licensed driver who is insanely smart and will be moving down south for college this fall. Super proud of him, but it makes so real just how fast kids grow up!

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Alright, better go bring the towels in from the line before the rain moves our way. Have a great day!

Easter

2011-04-25T09:26:00.004-04:00

Tried to post yesterday, but had blogger issues... So, Happy Easter!

We had a great weekend, starting with LK getting to go on his first "hunting" trip on Friday with Mr. A's brother. They went to a cabin in the mountains with a group of men and kids where LK was taught how to shoot with a bit of target shooting, followed by calling turkeys. Mr. A was able to join them later and took LK and a friend on a hike before bed. Saturday morning, they all got up super early and went out to hunt turkey. One guy in the group got one, but LK and Mr. A didn't see any.

Later on Saturday the fun continued with a get-together with old friends, some of whom we haven't seen in years. Unfortunately it was cool and rainy, so the party was moved indoors, but all 12 adults and 13 kids had fun anyway. The food was great, and the time together was fun and relaxing.

Saturday's fun continued when we came home with dying Easter eggs, which Scotch really got into this year. She dropped a couple as things were getting underway, but such is life with a 2-year old. After finishing the eggs, we had a pizza and movie night together. Then the Easter bunny dropped off fun baskets for the kids. Both got coloring books, crayons, a mini Zhu-zhu pet (that doesn't make noise!), a chocolate bunny, some Peeps and other candy, and chap-stick. LK also got some pencils, Mighty Beans, erasers, and a few other things. Scotch's other things included some "big girl panties" that she's super excited to wear.

Sunday morning was a bit crazy (because I'm a procrastinator and waited to do my baking for dessert until the morning). Mr. A sings in our church choir, so he had to leave early and stay for all 3 services. I came downstairs when he did to bake the apple pie and realized that we were out of cinnamon. So, I decided to make that at my dad's house when we got there, and instead focused on getting my little brother's birthday cake done. As that came out of the oven, the kids woke up and were thrilled by their baskets. We ate and got ready, then headed to church, which was great. After church, we headed over to my mother-in-law's house for a quick visit before going to my dad's for dinner. We had fun visiting with family the rest of the day.

Hope your Easter was great as well!

Meet the Baby

2011-04-14T14:06:00.004-04:00

With all of this talk the past week about my previous deliveries and pregnancies, the timing hasn't been right to "formally" introduce the new little one to all (or both...) of you. I had my 20 week ultrasound last week, and everything is looking great. I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite pics from that with all of you today. (The quality of the pics isn't all that great; I just took pics of the prints they gave me and they turned out a little blurry. Sorry.)

This is probably my favorite shot. The baby was working hard to get his or her foot up and then proceeded to suck on his or her toes. You can also see a little arm bent, with the hand up next to his or her ear.

The bottom of baby's left foot.

A profile shot.

*This baby doesn't have a blog nickname yet. We're not finding out what we're having, though when you ask LK, he insists that he's getting a little brother this time. And, when you ask Scotch, she only says "stitster." Any ideas for a blog name? I've been thinking about it a bit, but we haven't even been calling the baby anything other than "the baby." So, any thoughts?

2011-04-12T15:59:00.003-04:00

In early February, I attended my first pre-natal visit at my doctor’s office for this pregnancy. This was at 12 weeks, and was a long appointment with the nurse practitioner. She offhandedly said, as she looked through my chart, “This will be another c-section.” I stopped her, asking if that was definite, and she said that because I’ve had two, it’s pretty much definite. I started to cry a bit, and Mr. A told her that “WE want to vbac.” (I’m so proud of him!) Then she said that while she’s supportive of vbac, we have to talk about it with the doctor, as he’s the one that delivers the babies.

As we left that appointment, I made a mental list of the things I wanted to do before my 16 week visit, which would be with Dr. B. I e-mailed the midwife friend on facebook. I attended a meeting of the local chapter of ICAN. I read Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin and The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer. I did some preliminary checking into “real” childbirth classes as opposed to those I took at the hospital while pregnant with LK, where they basically told us the things they’d do to us rather than helping us understand the natural process of labor.

Then, I went to my 16 week visit. Everything was looking good. I’d lost some weight (about 8 pounds), but that’s normal for me. Blood pressure was good, measurements were right on, the baby’s heart sounded great, etc. As we were finishing up, I asked Dr. B. his thoughts on vbac. His response broke my heart… “We don’t do that anymore. We used to, but it’s just too dangerous.” I wanted to rally against him, point him to the articles and even ACOG’s statement that indicate otherwise, ask him to show me the articles that indicate “danger.” But, I was stunned. And speechless. And LK was with me. And, by his tone, I knew there was no convincing him. I made my appointment for my 20 week visit, agreed to see a perinatologist for my 20 week ultrasound, and left, not sure if I’d ever be back.

I understand that there are risks; I’ve read enough articles to know that. However, I know that for most women, the risks are minimal. I do understand that if you are one of those who has had the worst-case scenario happen, the statistics on risk don’t matter… that was how I felt after my molar pregnancy. But, there are risks that we take every day without giving them a second thought. And, God is bigger than any risks we might face.

The “biggest” risk when attempting a vbac is uterine rupture. Even that, scary though it sounds, happens in less than 1% of vbac attempts (about 0.9% in vba2c’s), and of those only around 1% are fatal to the mother and/or baby. (Uterine rupture is even a risk in a first pregnancy – though around 0.3% from what I’ve read.) The likelihood of uterine rupture increases with the augmentation of labor with drugs like Pitocin, so a labor induction should not be considered for a woman attempting a vbac. Believe me, I’m more than ok with being able to refuse Pitocin. And, the risk of uterine rupture comes with pregnancy – not just labor and/or delivery.

There are risks to c-sections, which were never fully explained to me with either of mine. They include cuts to other internal organs, loss of blood, blood transfusions, surgical nicks to the baby, future infertility, and/or placental problems in future pregnancies. In fact, with regard to risks being explained… at my 12 week visit this pregnancy, the nurse said, “Not that it will happen, but if the need should arise, would you agree to a blood transfusion?” That, my friends, is NOT informed consent.

Please know that, in no way, do I judge others for the births they have chosen for their babies. And, I know and accept that there are instances where a c-section is truly medically indicated. I know many who have had c-sections and have completely different perspectives and feelings about it from mine. And, that’s ok. I know that, in the long run, I have so much to be grateful for when I look at my 2 beautiful children and as I look forward to seeing my 3^rd face to face. They are healthy, and safe.

My biggest complaints in my experiences have to do with the idea that the c-sections I had were not medically indicated, and the risks of surgery were never fully explained by those responsible to do so. Sure, I signed the consent forms, but when you’re presented with a stack of 20 papers by a nurse who is in a hurry to “get the show on the road” while other nurses are coming in and out trying to get an IV inserted, etc., it isn’t a situation conducive to asking questions and/or reading each and every word of the documents you’re signing. I also feel as though I was misled during Scotch's pregnancy. Dr. B, as you may recall, gave no indiction that a vbac was not an option. However, in 2009, the year she was born, out of the roughly 700 births at our small hospital, only 2 were vbac's. Am I really to believe that she would have been 1 of 3? I don't believe that; he would have found another "reason" for me "needing" another section. :(

Today, though, I’m thrilled to announce that I just heard from the midwife group I’d been hoping would take me on as a client, and they said yes!!! I meet with them for the first time next week, and I’m so excited for that! That appointment will just be an orientation where I’ll meet the midwives and staff, but I can’t wait. Now to fully prepare myself for labor… ;)

*Any statistics shared in this post were not made up, and I don’t want to plagiarize, though I want to post so I can get dinner going. I’ve read so many articles that I don’t remember where each can be found… most were through links that can be found here and here.

2011-04-11T10:04:00.003-04:00

So, when we left off, I’d just had Scotch and talked a tiny bit about the recovery after having a c-section with regard to caring for your baby. At my 6 weeks follow-up with Dr. B after having Scotch, he said something about a patient of his who’d had five c-sections, so I “could have more” after having 2. I didn’t really think much of that comment at the time. While I looked forward to having more kids, I was nowhere near ready to think about that. And, the idea of a 3^rd section was not appealing, but… just not something that was really on the radar at the time.

Fast-forward a bit over a year. I become facebook friends with a woman I’ve never actually met, who grew up with Mr. A. She’s a midwife, and I often see posts from her about birth-related things. I click on a few links she shares and start to think about what is going to be best for us if/when we have a 3^rd. (While we haven’t decided when, we’ve started to talk about it.) I start to do some research of sorts… I watch several amazing videos (including this one) of vba2c's on youtube. I think that is a beautiful video, and it isn't too graphic, but if you’re not into birth videos… well, you’ve been warned. I google “vba2c” and find hundreds of links. (Not ALL of them encouraging, but...) I find sites like ICAN (The International Cesarean Awareness Network) and others that share research which seems to indicate that I have a good chance of success in having a vba2c, with the right support and care providers. I even find a locally-based facebook group, encouraging women to seek to educate themselves in birth matters. In all of this, I’m still kind of thinking “these people are extremists; I don’t know if this is right for me.” ;) But, there’s a constant nagging feeling that the 2 deliveries I’ve had could have and should have been different. And, I keep going back to the videos I'd watched, envious I suppose, of the feelings of accomplishment and empowerment I see in those parents.

In July, I see links to ACOG’s statement on vbac. So, now, even medical professionals seem to be supporting the feelings I’ve been having on the subject. This was very encouraging to me, though I didn't know how quickly, if at all, those "in the field" would accept the recommendations. Also, we still weren’t quite ready for a third baby.

In November, we got pregnant. I immediately knew that I wanted to do all that I could to try for a vbac this time. I started re-reading articles I’d bookmarked in the spring and summer. I had long talks with Mr. A trying to explain to him just how important it is to me. He tries to understand, and is willing to listen, though he does think I'm a bit crazy because I mentioned that I want no drugs.

More about the journey since in the next post… :)

2011-04-08T14:05:00.002-04:00

OK, today’s post is happier. :)

Fourth pregnancy – Following our second pregnancy loss, we waited a few months before trying again. For the first time, really, we decided to just “not prevent” and trust God in the whole baby arena. (What a feeling of peace we got upon making that a conscious decision!) We again got pregnant quite quickly. At that point, I had in the back of my mind that I wanted a vbac. I mentioned that at one of my early pregnancy visits. Doctor said that if all was looking good at the end of the pregnancy, it could be an option. (This is going to be especially relevant in a future post.)

That pregnancy went well. I did have some extra scans early because of my pregnancy history by that point. Even later, I had a Level II scan rather than the basic at 20 weeks. But, everything was good. My blood pressure was good, glucose tests were passed (though borderline and I had to repeat the 1 hour), etc. We found out that we were having a girl, which was a bit of a surprise, as I always saw myself as a mother of boys. But, we were excited. I did end up with one extra scan at 36 weeks. (I don’t remember why – maybe to check the fluid levels since we’d discovered they were high late in the pregnancy with LK.) Anyway, at that scan, my thoughts about her position were confirmed; she was footling breech. One foot down (and pressing/kicking my cervix) and the other up by her head. My hopes of vbac were rapidly coming to an end, as that is an especially difficult breech position to deliver.

Now, going back a bit… I wanted a vbac, but I did nothing to prepare myself for that. I didn’t take any classes, seek support from other women who’d had one, or read the research; I did nothing. All that I had done was mention to my doctor that I was interested, and even that was only once or twice early on in pregnancy.

At the follow-up with my doctor after the scan confirming Scotch’s position, my doctor confirmed my suspicion that because of her position, my only option would be a repeat c-section. He said nothing to indicate that there was any possibility of her changing positions, nor did he suggest anything that might have helped her to change positions. So, again, not really knowing better, I went along with it and scheduled the section for January 15, 2009. Again, one week prior to my due date. (Also, again on the 15^th of the month…)

So, once again, I checked into the hospital early in the morning, signed a slew of papers (which again were never fully explained), and got settled into a room hooked up to monitors. This time, the IV took many attempts, several nurses, both arms, different locations, and left multiple bruises. It was not a good start to the morning for me. They did all of the prep for surgery in the room, without the spinal in place – shaving, bladder catheter, etc. All the while they were hooking me up, etc., not one person even felt my belly for the baby’s position. It was still in my head that the only reason I was there for a section was because of her position. This was not an “elective repeat” situation. I know, to the nurses, that’s what it was… but no one confirmed or checked that with me. It turns out, as I had suspected and Dr. B confirmed upon pulling her out, that Scotch had indeed turned head down… the night before surgery. (I don’t blame the nurses for not checking – it’s more on me because I didn’t speak up and ask them to check.)

I walked down to the ER once the anesthesiologist arrived, at around 9:30. He inserted the line for the spinal, and then I was again strapped to the table. Scotch was delivered at 10:15 am, weighing 8 lbs, 2 oz, and measuring 21 inches long. Again, I did not get to see her until she was all cleaned up. A huge difference though, because I’d had chats with Mr. A about it, was that I was able to see and touch her while still in the OR. They unstrapped one of my arms so that I could touch her and I got to see her face before they took her to the nursery.

Mr. A went with her, then came back to me in recovery again. The time in recovery was less with the spinal than it had been with the epidural, though I don’t really remember exactly how long it was. I do remember not liking the feeling of “feeling” returning to my lower body, but being anxious to show the nurse that I could move my feet and legs on my own so I could get out of there and into the room with my little girl. I also remember feeling hot and itchy while in recovery (and for the 48 hours or so after surgery), which was apparently a side effect of the anesthesia. I was given medication to help with that.

Once we got back to my room, Scotch was brought in right way, and I was able to nurse her. Unlike her brother, she latched on right away and started nursing like a champ. (Though, we did have issues with the neonatologist at the hospital FORCING us to supplement with formula while we were there… that was agony… I knew what I was doing, Scotch knew what she was doing, we were fine.) My milk came in within 24 hours, which was definitely an answer to prayer. Another major difference between the 2 deliveries and hospital stays – because Scotch was born at 10:15 on a Thursday, there was no one there when we got back to my room. We were able to have some time alone with her, then called Mr. A’s aunt, who was watching LK for us, telling her it was time to bring him to meet his sister. We were able to have some time, just the 4 of us, before the rest of the family and friends started showing up. That was nice – and another thing I’d made known in advance that I wanted.

Recovery from a section is difficult. You’re caring for a newborn and have just been cut open so you’re healing from that as well. With both, I tried to limit meds (because of nursing) to just what I needed to get by. I know they say not to “be a hero” with that, but I just didn’t want the extra drugs in my system. Things that should have been “easy” in caring for a baby, like changing diapers, were made much more difficult by the fact that I couldn’t sit up straight, lift the baby, get up quickly, etc. I’ve not tried to be “supermom” in doing everything myself. I let others cook, clean, and shop for me in the beginning. Yet, those things like changing and bathing should not be difficult for mom to handle.

Alright, next post will include the time before this pregnancy… my thoughts on vbac, research I’ve looked into, etc.

2011-04-07T16:15:00.002-04:00

In starting this “series,” I debated a bit… do I include all 4 previous pregnancies, or not? I decided that the 2 pregnancy losses are important in my story, so they will be included. However, since I’ve already shared those stories completely, I’m going to link to my post from October 15, 2009. There’s more there than just the stories of those pregnancies, but it covers the stories well. It may be a hard post to read, and if you’ve been around since then, you may have already read it… but I’m being lazy today. :)

2011-04-06T10:12:00.005-04:00

So, conveniently, given where I am in life, April is "Cesarean Awareness Month." I've shared previously bits of my journey, but thought I'd do a short series of posts that will hopefully explain my perspective better, explain why I'm seeking a vba2c this time, and address some of the questions I've been asked as well as potential risks, etc. I'll start by sharing the stories of each of my previous pregnancies and deliveries (only one per post so each post isn't miles long... and to motivate me to continue blogging regularly, too).

First pregnancy - Mr. A and I got married on December 20, 2003. About 4 weeks later, I realized that I was "late," which was very unusual, so we drove to Target in a snowstorm and picked up a home pregnancy test. I took it that night, and it immediately came up positive. We were... overwhelmed, I suppose, is the best word. We were not planning on having a baby so soon. We cried, we prayed, and relatively quickly became excited. We told everyone by the time we were about 8 weeks along. I did all of the things you're "supposed" to do, reading "What to Expect" and "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" religiously, going to the doctor every 4 weeks, then every 2, then every week, following all of the doctor's advice, signing up for "childbirth" classes at the hospital, etc.

The pregnancy itself was kind of rough - I lost 12 pounds in the first half because of pretty constant nausea. Overall, I was healthy, though. And, so was LK. At about the halfway point, my doctor and the nurses in his office began to express some concern about my blood pressure being a bit high when I was there. I began to worry about that some, and bought a blood pressure cuff to use at home. At home, it was consistently right around 115/75, which is great. I would check it occasionally when we were out, too, and the highest it ever was outside of the doctor's office was 125/85... high, but not alarmingly so. However, in the office, at one point towards the end of the pregnancy, it was 148/95. Worrisome... but balanced with the fact that it was always "normal" at other times, to me, it indicated my anxiety at being there. And, nerves about labor and delivery and stuff since all I was reading, had learned in the hospital class, and saw on TV indicated that it would be horrible... and up to that point, I'd never spent the night in the hospital, too. Then, at one of my last appointments, the doctor ordered a couple of extra tests as a result of the blood pressure. That day I had an ultrasound, which indicated that the baby was healthy, but I had a slightly high level of amniotic fluid, which could potentially create a complication if my water broke spontaneously... but I was told by the doctor it wasn't a huge concern as my level was just barely above average. I also had a non-stress test, confirming that LK was doing well. But, because of my blood pressure especially, I agreed to an induction on September 15, 2004, which was one week before my due date.

I went to the hospital early on the morning of the 15th, checked in, signed a slew of papers (none of which was really fully explained to me), got hooked up to monitors, and then the pitocin started. My blood pressure was 165/100 when it started... I was insanely nervous and overwhelmed at all of the monitors and such. And, I remember thinking, "They said in our class that we'd be able to walk while in labor... how can I do that while hooked up to all of these machines and the IV and stuff?" Obviously, I was limited in movement. And frustrated because the contractions were right on top of one another with very little relief in between and I couldn't get comfortable in any position.

After just a few hours of that, I asked for Stadol. That came relatively quickly, and I HATED it! Suddenly it was like everyone in the room was moving in slow motion. I was still vaguely aware of the contractions, but was more concerned about the fact that I felt like I couldn't talk and Mr. A had left the room to grab a bite to eat so I felt alone, too. They upped the pitocin upon giving me the stadol, so when that wore off after about 40 minutes, I was miserable again. Every time I tried to change positions, the monitor would lose LK and the nurse would come in to move it. By the time that was done, I was uncomfortable again. I asked for an epidural. As I sat up for that, my water broke on its own. After the line was placed and the drugs started, the nurse checked me and I was still at 4 cm. (which is what I was at before the Stadol.) But, she expected things to pick up now that I could relax a bit more.

Hours passed... finally at around 6:00 I was checked again. Still at 4 cm. At that point, it had been about 6 1/2 hours. So, my doctor came in and said we should start considering a section. We agreed, and within 45 minutes I was wheeled into the OR. LK was delivered at 7:15, weighing 8 lbs, 11oz, and measuring 21 inches long. I wanted to see him, to touch him. But my arms were strapped to the table and I couldn't move. One of the nurses kind of showed him to me as they took him over to be cleaned up, but I couldn't see him really. Then, they brought him over for a "family picture" after he was all wrapped up. I still didn't get to see his face; all I saw was this bundled up baby. I kept saying I couldn't see him, but no one seemed to care.

As they stitched me up, Mr. A went with LK to the nursery, then came back to me in the recovery room. They wouldn't bring LK in. All I wanted was to see and hold my baby. I had to wait in recovery until I could move my legs, and then they wheeled me into the room I'd stay in the rest of my time there. Now, since we knew at around 6 that I'd be having the section and it was now well after 8, EVERYONE had shown up at the hospital to see LK. Family from both sides were there, friends were there... they had all seen my baby before I had. Once I was in the room, they all crowded in and LK was passed around... I still hadn't held him. I look at those pictures, and I'm smiling, but I'm not "happy." I mean, I was happy that LK had arrived and was healthy, but I just wanted everyone out of the room so I could get to know my baby. But, I didn't (couldn't) say that to them.

Finally, after about an hour, everyone left and I was able to hold LK. By this point, he was 2 1/2 or 3 hours old. I tried to nurse, but I was so exhausted and had virtually no support from the nurse staff... he didn't latch on, but they said it would be ok; he'd figure it out. What followed in that regard was a miserable week in which I felt like a failure as a woman because I hadn't been able to birth my baby the "normal" way and then I couldn't feed him the "normal" way, too. I was stubborn and insisted that we not give him formula, so apart from 1 bottle given in desperation on our first or second night at home, he didn't have formula. We kept attempting to nurse every 1 1/2-2 hours around the clock, hoping something would happen. It did, though it took 6 days. Once my milk finally came in, things started to improve. I still felt guilty about having the section, though I didn't work through or even address that for a very long time...

Boy, that was long... if you read all the way, thank you. Stay tuned for more of the journey to today in the coming week or so.

2011-03-31T10:42:00.002-04:00

Since I hadn't posted in so long, I thought a few pics of the kids were overdue. And, since yesterday was relatively nice (especially compared to the forecast for tomorrow... 3-5 inches of snow on April 1 - Ugh!!!) and Mr. A took the kids to the park so I could make dinner in peace, I sent the camera along. Enjoy!

2011-03-28T10:25:00.003-04:00

So, what has Ami been up to? Obviously not blogging... busy, but not much to show for all of that. A quick catch-up...

* In case you haven't already heard, I'm pregnant again. I'm just a bit over 19 weeks, and finally starting to feel better. (Though yesterday morning, not so much!) Everything is going well... nice to be "normal" this time around. With my pregnancy history, I could have had a lot of extra early testing and such, but as this may well be our last, I wanted to be as normal as possible. I did have one early scan, to make sure all looked good, so that was done at about 10 weeks. Other than that, nothing "extra" is being done.

* On a related note, though, if you've been around, you may remember my posting about ACOG's position on VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) changing last summer. The changes SHOULD make it easier for a person in my position (having had 2 c-sections) to have a vbac with a subsequent delivery. However, I'm not finding that to be the case. My doctor has informed me that he "doesn't do that anymore." (Though what exactly he has to "do" during a vbac is kind of beyond me...) So, I'm looking for a 2nd (and perhaps 3rd and 4th) opinion on that right now. It's a little nerve-wracking to be potentially looking for a care provider at this point in my pregnancy, but it is something that is important to me, and Mr. A is supportive, so we're looking. My "first choice" option, the one where I think I'll have the best chances of support and success, is to see a midwife. Unfortunately, I'm not a candidate for homebirth (I would seriously consider it), having had 2 c-sections - no local midwives I can find will attend after 2, and a husband who is not on board for homebirth (he never has been). And, continuing the unfortunate trend... there are no local midwives who attend hospital births. So, I've contacted a group of midwives who attend hospital births a bit over an hour away from home. The distance is not ideal, but... again, it's important to me, so that's where we are looking.

* LK is doing great in kindergarten. He loves to read, and is constantly picking up books wanting to read them to anyone who will sit still long enough to hear a few pages. That could be me, Mr. A, Scotch, the dog, the fish, people who come over, really anyone. One of my favorite things to watch right now is Scotch curling up next to LK as he reads her a story. He also LOVES to write. He's in a full-day kindergarten program, but about 1/2 of the kids go home after the morning. So, the majority of the "academics" is completed in the morning. In the afternoon they do all sorts of fun and enrichment type activities related to what they're learning. His favorite is to write stories using stories they've read in class as starting points or rhyming words, etc. He's hoping to play tee ball this summer, though I'm still waiting to hear from the parks person in charge of that. Good reminder to call them again...

* Scotch is also doing great. She's talking up a storm and loves her dolls. She still loves to watch Olivia and is hysterical to watch when she starts dancing. Anytime music is on, she's dancing - it can be praise music, slow songs, fast songs, current music, or music from the past... if it's playing, she's dancing.

Alright, I guess that's good for a quick catch up. My hope is to be back more regularly - at least a couple times a week. :)

Conversations with Scotch Part 2

2011-02-08T09:33:00.003-05:00

No guesses? That's a bit discouraging, to be honest. :( But, I'll reveal what she's truly saying anyway...

- maymay = banana

- hunny = hungry

- ohno = yogurt

- cheecho = cheerios

- nuse me = excuse me

- dip (this one has multiple meanings... the proper one being one of 3) = dip, sip, chip

- hop dop = Hop on Pop, one of her favorite books

- dup = get up (heard frequently when she's 'hunny' and wants food right now)

- mon = come on (used often when telling her big brother to hurry up and come play with her)

- maro dy = Mario time (which she says whenever LK asks to play the Wii)

Conversations with Scotch

2011-02-04T11:16:00.003-05:00

I used to post "conversations with LK" pretty often, and those are still funny, but I've yet to post a "conversations with Scotch" post because, at just over 2, conversations with her are sketchy at best. But, in the past couple of weeks, she's been coming up with funny things, funny words, and just general silliness. So, rather than the normal "conversations with..." post, I'm going to post some of the words and phrases she says, the way she says them, and see if anyone else can figure out what she's saying. These are just some of her many, many words. Do you know what she means?

- maymay

- hunny

- ohno

- cheecho

- nuse me

- dip (this one has multiple meanings... the proper one being one of 3)

- hop dop

- dup

- mon

- maro dy

*I'll post the translations over the weekend.

2011-01-05T09:58:00.003-05:00

I tried to post this video a few times over the Christmas break, but was unsuccessful. So, I'll give it another shot...

Christmas was great! Gifts were appreciated, the day itself was quiet and peaceful (except the part where our tree fell down! Ornaments, including one of my favorites purchased in Hawaii while we were on out honeymoon, were broken, LK was screaming dramatically, and there was just general chaos for about half an hour...), and the whole 1 1/2 weeks off of work and school was wonderful!

Now, we're in that post-Christmas time where most everything has been played with and put away, but not quite everything. And, the tree is still (well, back, I suppose) up, as are many of the decorations... Wishing for some normalcy and a clean house. Yet, going out of town this weekend for a couple of days with family. Oh, and trying to prepare for a 2nd birthday party for a certain little girl next weekend... :) Yep, that's me right now! Hope you've all (both, whatever) recovered from your holidays and are resuming life as normal. :)

2010-12-24T08:42:00.002-05:00

So, I have let the blogging daily habit fall by the wayside. I enjoyed the challenge, but probably shouldn't have picked the busiest month of the year to attempt it. I am still feeling a bit "lost" in terms of direction or voice... but I'll keep at it, as I do enjoy having a place to share. :)

Part of that "lost" feeling, I think, comes from feeling like much of what I am sharing is trivial. You see, last week, a mom whose blog I follow got devastating news. Her adorable 5-year old son was taken to the doctor to investigate a lump they'd found in his abdomen. Within days, he was admitted to the hospital to have very invasive surgery as the doctors suspect that he has cancer. So, here is this mom of 3, looking forward to seeing her other 2 kids tonight and spending Christmas Eve at a Ronald McDonald House so they can have some sort of Christmas in the hospital. It just makes the worrying about baking and making sure the house is clean and the presents are wrapped seem so... trivial.

So, while I am still doing those things (baking, cleaning, wrapping, etc.), my focus has shifted back to where it belongs. I'm thanking God for sending His Son and for the opportunities we have to celebrate that each day, but especially at this time of year. I'm thanking Him that He hears our prayers, even when we don't have the words to pray. I'm thanking Him for my 2 wonderful kids and an amazing husband. I'm thanking Him for health and provision. Anyway, in case I don't get back later today or tomorrow, Merry Christmas!

2010-12-22T14:05:00.002-05:00

The worst of this headache seems to have finally passed, but I'm giving a bit of a lazy post today. It's the first day of Christmas vacation and my house is a disaster, so my goal is to get it clean today and then finish up my baking. So, enjoy this video, which was taken before we had our Christmas decorations up, the day after Scotch heard the song for the first time. She now repeatedly asks for "Piggy" and dances around the house whenever she hears the song. :)

2010-12-20T16:07:00.003-05:00

Ugh... working on day 3 of a serious migraine and feeling miserable. The whole right side of my head is throbbing. Light is bothersome, noise is horrible, and life doesn't stop when mom isn't feeling well. I'll try to make it back later to share some wedding memories. (It is, after all, our anniversary!) But, if I don't post, don't worry too much... just trying to recover.

2010-12-18T00:04:00.002-05:00

Yes, I missed a day. Just got busy and the day got away from me. Maybe I'll "make it up" with 2 posts another day. Anyway, tonight, Mr. A. and I went out to celebrate our wedding anniversary (which is this coming Monday) and had a great time. We went out to eat at a small, family-owned Italian place about 20 minutes from our house. I know the owner (her son attends the school I teach at) and we'd wanted to try it for a while. I was so impressed to see her hug probably 75% of the customers that were there - because she knew each of them. Anyway, while we were there, we had a little chat about local places. You see, last week, one of our favorite small restaurants closed after having been open for over 60 years. It was across the street from my in-laws' house, and was a place that we frequented once or twice a month. They had great (though terribly unhealthy) food, and it was a great place to meet your friends for a drink or quick meal. Good service, you know, where the servers know your name, was the standard. In fact, Mr. A. took my dad there for lunch on the day he asked for my dad's blessing to propose. At any rate, this place closed after so many years of not doing well as larger chain restaurants moved into the area. :( So, while we were out this evening, Mr. A. and I discussed some of the local places that we've never visited, but would like to. We're going to try to visit those places in the coming year, supporting local business people, rather than the large chains whenever possible. I'd challenge you to try some smaller, locally-owned businesses in the coming year as well.

Christmas Sweets

2010-12-15T16:22:00.002-05:00

It's probably not much of a surprise to anyone that knows me or has been around for a while that I love baking. I could bake something new every day, and I would love that. I love playing with new recipes and trying new things. So, each Christmas, I decide to try a few new things along with the old stand-by recipes. Thankfully, I'm surrounded by people willing to try what I make (so we don't have to eat it all). And, my step-mom's family, for years, has done a "cookie exchange" for Christmas among the families. Each family brings a plate/container of cookies and/or candies for each other family that will be there. It's fun to try things I didn't make, and a good opportunity to try new recipes as well. So, needless to say, I've started my baking and I'm looking forward to finishing it in the next week or so. This year I'm making:

Sugar Cookie Cut-outs

Snickerdoodles

Chocolate Crinkles

Mint Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Cranberry Orange Pinwheels

Cake Balls (LOVE Bakerella!)

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Balls

Chocolate Pretzel Clusters

Peppermint Bark

Toffee Crunch Bars

Fudge

How about you? Any favorite Christmas sweets that you make or look forward to every year?

2010-12-14T19:31:00.003-05:00

Some days I wonder why? Why do things happen the way they do? I know that God a - knows, b - is in control of all things, and c - uses trials in our lives for specific reasons. Yet, there are days when I just have to wonder. Deep down, I know that I don't want the full answer to that question. In my humanity, I couldn't handle it, nor would I want to. Yet, some days I do wonder... Why are some people continually handed heartbreak? Why does God "give and take away?" Why are some people seemingly denied their heart's desire?

These are not questions I'm really seeking answers to. I know enough of an answer to satisfy me most days. Then, there are days like today when I see a friend suffering heartache... again... and just wonder, why?

2010-12-13T19:06:00.004-05:00

Earlier in the year, I tried to make a good effort to consistently plan meals well based on items I had on hand and to plan shopping trips around what was on sale. I did really well there for a while, but lately I've been stopping at the store for one or two things that I need for dinner that night, etc. and walking out of the store after having spent $30 or more. Yikes! That's in addition to my regular weekly trip, which I obviously haven't been as diligent in planning and it's shown in the bill. So, I'm doing my best to jump back in properly. This week's menu is a little spotty as my "pantry" (which is not an actual "place" in my house) is low.

Tonight - "Breakfast for Dinner" (pancakes and sausage)

Tuesday - Baked Chicken and Rice, Salad

Wednesday - Flank Steak with tomatoes and garlic, served over egg noodles, carrots

Thursday - Tortilla Soup

Friday - Calzones, Salad

Saturday - Family Christmas Party, so lots of deliciousness that I don't have to make!

Sunday - "Leftover Buffet"

Whenever I sit down to do this, I realize that we eat the same 15 or so meals over and over. So, I ask you - what is your favorite "go-to" meal?

Christmas Card Pics

2010-12-12T16:22:00.006-05:00

For about 2 weeks now, I've been trying to get a decent pic of either the whole family or both kids to put in our Christmas cards. I wouldn't have really cared except for the fact that we got our cards for this year after Christmas last year and they are designed for a photo to be part of the card itself. Anyway, here is a small portion of today's "photo shoot." At least they were both in good moods throughout... but there were only 2 (out of a total of 25) shots where they both had their eyes open, weren't making funny faces, and were looking at the camera. Sigh... at least I got the one for the cards! I didn't include it in the post, though. :)

*As a side note, we have only received 2 cards so far this year. Are people really not sending them as much or have we been cut from lists?

2010-12-11T22:29:00.002-05:00

I've already mentioned that LK is getting a Wii (the tag will be to the family, but we all know the truth...), and I'm sure that it will likely be one of those gifts he remembers in the future. That thought got me to reminiscing about gifts I remember. Funnily enough, I don't remember a ton of gifts I got as a child. I do remember the year I got a Cabbage Patch Doll, which was a favorite. I remember getting a stereo (the "boombox style") one year, in middle school. It was a Christmas that my sisters and I spent in New Jersey with my dad, and I was afraid to check it when we flew back to Idaho, so I carried it on with me. I ended up pulling it out of the packaging because it was too big in the box, so I was carrying around this plastic wrapped boombox, and trying to make it fit under the seat in front of me. It didn't quite fit, and I remember trying to "hide" that fact from the attendants by covering up with a blanket and arranging it so it couldn't be seen on their walk-through. :)

Let's hear from anyone else who'd like to share... favorite childhood Christmas gifts?

2010-12-10T16:17:00.003-05:00

I'm facing a bit of writer's block... Trying to not bore you to tears while writing each day this month, too. So, with that in mind, I'll simply pose a question to you today: Is there anything you'd like to me write about? Something you've always wondered? Etc.? I'm not promising that I'll answer anything, but the floor is yours. :)

2010-12-09T14:11:00.005-05:00

Since I was not around during the summer... I thought I'd share just a few pics from our summer adventures. And, since it is FREEZING today, the sight of shorts and short sleeves makes me long for summer temps again. :)

This was at one of Mr. A's softball games. Right in the middle of the game, it started to rain and LK thought it would be fun to play in the rain... He and several of his friends jumped around during the whole rain shower. This was early on, obviously, based on the semi-dry shirt.

Remember how I went to Virginia for some training? Well, while we were there, Mr. A. took the kids to an aquarium and zoo. Scotch loved looking at all of the animals.

And, LK loved it, too!

We go to many car shows during the summer. This tank was the highlight of the summer car shows for LK. The owner offered to let him climb in, but he didn't do it.

We did get to a few baseball games... this one was one that we were able to enjoy as we took LK but not Scotch. (When Scotch is along, there is no chance of sitting and enjoying the game.)

There were fireworks after the game... LK hates the noise, so he stands like this, covering his ears.

We also went to Hershey to visit the chocolate factory this summer. LK got to "work" packaging some Kisses, and they both enjoyed looking at the old machinery at the museum.

*As an aside, LK does have shirts that are not Phillies shirts, but apparently he wears a lot of Phillies shirts. I didn't realize just how many until I went through pics finding some for this post. Seriously, there are 3 different Phillies shirts (on him) in this small collection of pictures. :)

2010-12-08T19:10:00.003-05:00

I had a couple of "IRL" requests for how I made our wreath, so I thought I would write it out to try to explain. It would be better with pics, but I didn't take any as I made this year's, so we'll have to make due without. I've been asked to make one for my mother-in-law, so if I do, I'll take pics of that and add them to the post.

Start with a wreath form, which I found at Michael's for a few bucks. (The link is just from doing a quick google search so you could see what they look like...) The one I bought was 16 inches, but they come bigger and smaller. Then, take clippings from the bottom of your Christmas tree or any other evergreen tree and trim to 5-6 inch lengths. The "tips" of the branches are best. You need what seems like a lot... I used around 150 of the 5-6 inch pieces. (Which I was able to get from 3 large branches trimmed from the bottom of our tree.) You'll also need some wire. I had some metal wire, which worked well. It was actually kind of "rope-like," with 5 or 6 thin strands of wire roped together if that makes sense. (I didn't save the packaging, so I can't tell you exactly what it was.)

After you've cut your clippings to the appropriate lengths, you're ready to start assembling. Tie one end of the wire to the wreath form at your starting point. Gather 4-5 of the clippings, with the cut ends bunched together. Wrap the wire (already tied to the form) tightly around the clippings, and then weave the wire through/around the wreath form a couple of times. Gather the next group of clippings and do the same, placing it about an inch "below" the first bundle, with the branches going in the same direction. Play around with spacing and fullness of your bundles to make it to your liking. Continue all the way around the form. I found that cutting the wire as I went was helpful, so I did about 4 bundles at a time with each length of wire. When you get to the end, you may need another hand or two to hold the first bundles up so you can place the last bundles underneath the first. When finished, I had to trim a few stragglers that were sticking out farther than I wanted, but wait until you're done to do that.

After you've completed the greens, it's time to decorate your wreath! You could use some cheap (dollar store) ornaments - just string some of your wire through them and then through your wreath to attach to the wreath form. You could do the same with pine cones, holly, etc. Finally, to make the bow, I used a technique I found on a blog last year... I dug up that post so you can check out her video tutorial yourself. It's super easy to do, and fun!

I hope some of you will try this, and share with me how it goes! :)

*When you're ready to take your wreath down, be sure to save your wreath form (and bow, if you'd like) to use next year.

2010-12-08T14:11:00.006-05:00

Blogging daily, yes, I failed. Yesterday was super busy... though I only worked a half day. LK's Christmas concert was last night, meaning that they had a 1/2 day at school. Meaning I didn't have to work in the morning because the schedule was messy as they had rehearsal basically all morning. So, I got to stay home, shower in peace, and let Scotch sleep in while Mr. A. dropped LK off at school. He later picked me up, then the 3 of us picked LK up at school and they dropped me off at the middle school campus so I could teach for the afternoon... and they went to hang out with Nanny while I worked. We went home, relaxed while watching a Christmas movie for a bit, had dinner, and rushed out to the concert in the evening, which we followed with a stop at Friendly's for dessert. So, I didn't get on yesterday... But, I did have a post planned, so I'll go ahead with that now and maybe, just maybe, do another this evening. :)

Alright, so Mr. A. has escorted LK on his pumpkin patch field trip every year so far. I was looking through pics on the memory card the other day and came across this gem from the trip this past October:

This struck me as hilarious! This poor momma pig looks (to me) like she's pleading with someone to give her a break as her little babies are chasing her down, looking for milk.

OK, maybe she just looks that way to me because Scotch, who is almost 23 months, is STILL nursing 3 (sometimes more) times per day. Weekdays it's usually morning, when I get home from work, and bed-time. Weekends, there have been days that she's after me (much like these little piggies) every single time I sit down. She's eating well otherwise, and does drink "regular" milk (which took a long time), but still loves nursing. I, on the other hand, would be happy to be down to 1 time a day by now... but every time I try to limit her, it's a nightmare. Any suggestions from other mommas out there?

2010-12-06T16:42:00.003-05:00

LK has made no secret of the fact that he REALLY wants a Wii for Christmas this year. He's wanted one since they came out, but it just hasn't been in the budget. This year, in January, Mr. A. and I purposed to save our change during the year, with plans to use what we save for Christmas, and possibly a Wii. We didn't count it as we saved - just put quarters in one bank, nickels and dimes in another, and pennies in a large jar. A few weeks ago, we saw a sale ad for KMart, where we shop for random things, and they had the red Wii pack with the new Super Mario Bros. game packaged with the game system for $199. And, if you bought it that week, they would give you 50,000 "Super Reward Points" (worth $50) in their rewards program. Great deal, so we went ahead with it. Before we'd counted the change... a few days later, we counted the change... $197! (And, we didn't count/roll any pennies, but I'd guess there is at least $15 in pennies in the jar.) Yay!

Anyway, we've been giving no clues that a Wii is a possibility for this year; rather reminding him of how expensive they are. Also, we've been emphasizing the true reason for Christmas, which has nothing to do with presents in the sense we often think of.

So, last week, LK was watching "How the Grinch Saved Christmas" for the first time of the season. At one point he turned to me, before the Grinch "learned his lesson." He said, "You know, Mom, the Grinch really did have it all wrong. He thought Christmas was just about presents and trees and lights and things. It isn't." So I asked if it would be OK if we didn't give presents and put up the lights. He said it would be OK, "because Christmas is supposed to be when we say Happy Birthday to Jesus." He's sure got things figured out! So proud of him! (And, still excited to see him unwrap the Wii on Christmas morning!)

Getting Crafty

2010-12-05T14:53:00.004-05:00

(Have I mentioned lately how much I hate trying to do photo posts? I know why many of the blogs I read in which the authors do a lot of photo posts are not hosted by blogger...)

Anyway, we've been getting a bit crafty around here this weekend! And, I'm probably the world's least crafty mom, but I'm having fun with it.

First, while not entirely complete, the wreath I made last night with some clippings from our Christmas tree. I made my first wreath a few years ago after deciding that I didn't want to spend $25 or more on a wreath each year, and it's surprisingly easy, though a bit time-consuming. I'm planning on adding a few more clusters of balls, and maybe a few pine cones, but so far I'm liking this wreath the best out of all I've made so far.

Second, some pics of the kids working on gifts for the grands.

They were both working very diligently on getting things just the way they wanted them. I'll wait to show pics of the finished projects in case any of the grands decide to check in here.

So, let's hear from you... any favorite Christmas crafts you'd like to share?

2010-12-04T18:29:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite Christmas memories has to be from when I was probably 7 or 8 years old. We went to spend the night at my grandparents' house, but it wasn't just us... it was me, my sisters, and my mom, and many of our cousins and aunts and uncles. I remember their old farm house so fondly, the red exterior and front porch, the small kitchen that always seemed to smell wonderful, the tiny 1/2 bath off of the kitchen that was a bit creepy, the front room where Grandma and Grandpa would watch Hee-Haw and read books, the pictures of horses, cowboys, and family members... That Christmas I remember the cousins sharing the 2 adjoining rooms upstairs, after we'd hung stockings on the mantel. I remember that some had left stockings at their homes, so we used Grandpa's 1980's style socks - you know, the knee length socks with 2 wide red stripes at the top. :) I don't remember what I got that year, but I remember a large portion of the family being together and having fun. One of my hopes for my kids is that as they grow up, their memories of Christmases will not be of what gifts they got. Rather, I hope they remember the family being together, having fun, and praising God for sending His Son to earth as a man.

How about you? What is your favorite Christmas memory?

2010-12-03T16:33:00.002-05:00

Like many (most? all?) parents, Mr. A. and I will often have treats after the kids are in bed... ice cream, popcorn, etc. Well, just in the last 2 months or so, LK has realized that this is going on. And he does not like it. One recent evening, about a half hour after we'd put him to bed, we decided to have some ice cream. As we sat in the living room watching Hawaii 5-0 and enjoying our chocolate peanut butter ice cream, we heard a loud sigh, then a growl, and then stomping coming down the stairs. LK got about 1/3 of the way down the stairs, then yelled, "I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!!" As I type it out it isn't quite as funny as it was the night it happened... but he was fuming mad and we both laughed hysterically about it for days! I suppose the good thing that is coming out of his newfound awareness is that we're not eating fattening snacks in the evening quite as often. :)

2010-12-02T19:31:00.004-05:00

OK, so Day 2 of this commitment to post once daily... Kind of a boring day around here, so how about a recipe? No objections? Alrighty then, here goes. This is another one of those that started with an actual recipe, but has changed with time as I've made it over and over. I don't make it the same way each time, so the recipe has a lot of variation and approximations. I love recipes that can be adapted to your taste and preference, and this is definitely one of those. Hope you'll try it and enjoy it!

Chili

- 1 lb each Italian sausage, removed from casings (sweet or spicy... or a combination) and 1 lb ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken)

- 1 onion, chopped

- 1 cup chopped celery

- 1 cup chopped bell pepper

- 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

- salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, basil

- diced tomatoes (I usually use 2 or 3 15-oz cans or a quart jar from our garden)

- tomato sauce (1 small can)

- beans, drained and rinsed (Mr. A. doesn't like beans much, so I use 1 large or 2 small cans... twice that amount would be good, in my opinion)

Directions:

- Brown meats together in large pot. Add onions, celery, pepper, garlic, and some salt and pepper.

- Drain grease.

- Add tomatoes and sauce. Season with chili powder (to taste, but I usually use 2-3 T), cumin (I usually use 1 1/2 T), and basil (1 1/2 T). Bring to boil, then add beans.

- Cover and simmer over low heat for at least 1 1/2 hours. The longer the better, though. :)

I usually serve this over crumbled nacho chips with shredded cheese on top. Mr. A.'s family likes chili over rice or macaroni noodles, so I've served it that way, too. (though I prefer the crunch of the chips)

Alright, time for Thursday Night Football! :)

2010-12-01T20:50:00.003-05:00

So, if I just jump in and start writing, I figure maybe I'll find out what direction I'd like to go in this blogging endeavor. That said, I'll make an effort to publish one post each day this month... by Christmas it should be a habit, right?!

Today we attended a funeral for my 95 year-old step-great-grandmother. She passed away the Saturday before Thanksgiving, after not having been well for some time. The funeral was still tough... even when you know it's coming, death can be difficult. She was such a neat lady. She loved her family so much, and loved to have fun. Her daughter described her as having "maintained a youthful innocence and sweetness," and that is such a good description. Time with family celebrating her life was nice, despite the insane weather.

Also today, Scotch used her potty! She was wearing just her diaper because she'd made a mess of her clothes and it was after 6:00, so I didn't put on a new outfit. She needed a bath, so I didn't put her jammies on yet either. She was sitting on my lap, looked up at me, and said, "Poopy.... peepee." Then she climbed down and pulled off her diaper, which was a bit wet. She peed just a bit on the floor and then said, "Uh-oh. More!!! More, Mommy" as she was running toward the bathroom. We went, and she went! She was so excited! :) I was, too... I won't miss washing diapers too much!

Alright, I have more, but I'll save some for the rest of the month. I don't want to bore both of my readers on day 1!

Back... with a recipe!

2010-11-10T15:54:00.003-05:00

I guess I should give this blogging thing a shot again. I know it's been forever... and I don't really have much of a reason. Sure, I've been busy, but I've also been kinda not interested in blogging. Not entirely sure where that is coming from. I haven't been reading as many blogs either, so that could be part of it. I did read a post recently from another blogger who had disappeared for a while and came back with an explanation... and I really identified with what she said. I have felt at times, as she has, that there is just "so much of the same" out there in blogland, and I don't know how I feel about adding to that. And, so many of those who I initially started this blog for (family and friends who live far away) are on facebook and, honestly, that's an easier spot for sharing pics and such. So, I've been using that as my place to catch them up on what's going on. I'm not sure what direction I want to take with the blog, then... do I keep it a traditional "mommy blog?" Do I try to find another niche? There are other things I could talk about, I suppose. Do I just balance the mommy thing with the other things? Not sure, and not really even promising that I'll stick it out too long. But, for now, I'll commit to giving it more effort for at least a few weeks.

Anyway, I'll start with a recipe that I just made... well, created, I suppose. I read a few different recipes and then completely altered one to make it my own, and I love the way it turned out.

Pumpkin-Pecan Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (any kind you like - I used unbleached all purpose)

1 cup rolled oats (traditional or quick-cooking)

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 T wheat germ (or not... whatever)

1 T cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger (adjust spices to what you like... we like cinnamon, but aren't huge ginger fans)

1 tsp salt

1 15 oz can of pumpkin puree (or 1/2 a large can that you have left over from the pumpkin cookies you made last week...)

3 eggs

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar (you could use honey or another sweetener in place of sugars, too...)

1/2-3/4 cup rough chopped pecans (or walnuts or shelled sunflower or pumpkin seeds... I used pecans obviously given the title of the recipe)

Directions:

1 - Prepare the muffin pan (paper liners or lightly grease) and heat oven to 350.

2 - Stir together all dry ingredients (not sugars or nuts).

3 - Beat wet ingredients (including sugars) until combined.

4 - Stir dry ingredients into wet, just until combined. Stir in nuts or seeds.

5 - Optional - sprinkle with a bit of crystallized sugar for that "coffee shop" feel.

6 - Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Tid-Bits

2010-07-22T15:01:00.004-04:00

Scotch had her 18 month checkup today. She's 29 inches tall and 22.2 pounds. Short and light. Less than the 20th percentile for each. But, that's consistent with where she's been at each visit, apart from birth when she was in the 75th percentile for each.

~~~~~~~~~~

She also got tooth #16 since I last posted. And has started talking even more. And, finally started drinking milk. And, as of Saturday, decided that sand is ok to play with. Even to stick your feet in. It's fun to scoop and dump it all over peoples' towels and stuff, too. :)

~~~~~~~~~~

I finished the online portion of my class this week and leave on Sunday for the residency portion of the training. I did ok during the online portion, getting 100% on most of the weekly quizzes and 90% on a couple. I'm still working on some of the memorization that needs to be done by Monday. That part has been somewhat overwhelming for me. I'm reading and re-reading the same 50 pages over and over trying to get to where I know them forward and backward.

~~~~~~~~~~

LK a few weeks ago, upon seeing a family with 4 kids at the drive in: Mom, it looks like a lot of work to have 4 kids!

~~~~~~~~~~

LK, upon getting in the car the other day: Mom, I think we need to buy a van.

Me: What? Why?

LK: You know, for when we have more kids.

Me: Oh, we're going to have more kids?

LK: Yep, I think 2 more. 1 baby brother and another baby sister.

Me: Oh. When is that going to happen?

LK: I don't know. But, we should look at vans.

Me: What about our house? Would 2 more kids be able to fit in our house?

LK: Well, yeah. I'd share with the brother and Scotch could share with the sister. Oh wait, Scotch's room is too small to share. So, she could move to the attic with the sister.

~~~~~~~~~~

*For the record, we are NOT currently pregnant and have not talked about having more kids in front of or with LK. And, while I think we probably will try again at some point, I'm not sure yet when that will be. I'd guess at the least several months from now. But, LK has already got all of the space issues solved for now it seems.

~~~~~~~~~~

On the whole having another baby front, I have been thinking about that lately. Especially in terms of delivery. I don't want another unnecessary c-section. My first, with LK, was a result of a 'failed induction' that I had because my blood pressure was super high during that pregnancy. Looking back, I should have pushed for bed-rest and frequent non-stress-tests to make sure LK was ok, as I had no other issues or symptoms of pre-eclampsia which was the big concern. Scotch was a scheduled repeat, but only because she was footling breech as of my 38 week appointment. However, the night before my section, she turned. Looking back, I should have at the very least asked for a scan before getting hooked up for surgery to confirm her position. I don't know what would have happened in either case, and I had 'easy' sections, but I'd like to avoid another if possible. That was going to be very difficult as until yesterday, the ACOG did not recommend vaginal birth after 2 or more cesareans without a prior delivery. I was to the point of looking into homebirth options, but Mr. A. was/is completely against that option. (I'd still kind of like to look into it.) But, good news from ACOG yesterday - basically saying that a 'trial of labor' is recommended and safe for most women who have had one or two prior c-sections with low horizontal incisions. Yay! I know that doesn't guarantee I'll avoid another, but I have 'ammo' to take to the doctor when I do become pregnant and ask about it.

~~~~~~~~~~

Our garden has already produced an abundance of produce! We picked 15 peppers the other day, and had yummy stuffed peppers for dinner that night. We've also picked several cucumbers and have had fresh radishes for salad every night for weeks. Our tomato plants are overflowing with tomatoes that should be ripe in the coming weeks. And, I've been using fresh basil and oregano almost daily. Oh, and we have a watermelon that is about the size of a basketball! Mr. A. thinks the animal I posted a pic of a few weeks ago is a ground hog. A little one if that's what it is. But, we planted some marigolds around and throughout the garden and we haven't had any critter problems since. Our bean plants, though, were destroyed before we got to that. Also, our carrots didn't take this year. Sigh...

~~~~~~~~~~

LK is already planning his birthday party. It's in September. He has his guest list figured out, the location selected (the pool at the YMCA), his wish list is up to date, and he planned his cake last night. Something about Spiderman and he wants webs all around. I'll have to do some looking online to see if I can find something I'm comfortable re-creating.

~~~~~~~~~~

I guess that pretty much sums up what's going on in our house at the moment. I do have some pics to upload, but that will probably be after next week sometime. The family is coming along and will be 'vacationing' while I'm in class all day, so I'm sure we'll have some adventures to share.

(Almost) 18 Months!

2010-07-09T14:05:00.003-04:00

I've been feeling as though I've been slacking on updates about Scotch for some time now. Since she'll be 18 months old next week, I thought I'd give an update.

At 18 months, Scotch:

* climbs EVERYTHING!

* says a few words a lot, and several more once in a while - Mama, Dada, Bubba, Obi, doggie, hot, up, dank oo (thank you), no, yes, ub oo (love you), uh-oh, and a few more.

* knows several body parts - nose, eyes, teeth, hair, ears, belly, toes.

* gives lots of hugs and kisses.

* LOVES her Daddy, squealing and knocking on the front window when he pulls up after work.

* likes to play with her blocks, phones, trucks, and especially her baby dolls.

* loves clothes and shoes.

* likes to be clean, using napkins herself after eating messy foods.

* doesn't like the water, but tolerates being taken into a pool.

* does not like sand. She refuses to walk or crawl on the sand at the beach or in a sand box. Even if a blanket or towel is spread out, she doesn't like it.

* is a bottomless pit some days, eating everything she sets her eyes on.

* only wants to eat crackers some days.

* feeds herself, even messy foods like yogurt and applesauce.

* is starting to drink from a "regular" cup.

* is still nursing and refuses milk that isn't from Mommy.

* has 15 teeth (8 on top and 7 on bottom).

* is funny. She loves to laugh and make others laugh.

* seems to be getting over her biting. For a while, she would bite people if she was angry or frustrated.

* throws tantrums... screaming, crying, throwing herself on the floor, etc.

* is interested in the potty and knows when she needs to be changed.

* is always on the go, with no interest in sitting down for too long.

* likes songs and music.

* loves to dance.

And, a video of my little princess showing off some of what she knows and can do. Enjoy!

Anyone know...

2010-07-02T10:01:00.005-04:00

what this is?
Or how to get rid of him? (I did consider whacking him with the rake he's hiding behind, but that just seemed cruel.) But, he did do this to my green bean plants. (So maybe I should have.)
(Oh, and don't mind the weeds - I haven't worked out there this week yet.)

The Tooth Saga, Part 2

2010-07-01T21:49:00.004-04:00

It's out! Yes, loyal readers, the first tooth has been 'lost,' the tooth fairy has been to our house, and we have all survived. Here's how it happened...

Yesterday afternoon, I was sitting in the chair by the front window, enjoying the GORGEOUS weather we were having, doing some homework, keeping half an eye on the kids playing on the floor. LK had a blanket spread out on the floor and he and Scotch were sitting there playing with blocks.

Now, have I told you about Scotch? That she bites? Um, yeah... she's a biter. (I'm planning a full Scotch update in 2 weeks - she'll be 18 months already! - so you'll hear more about her soon.) Anyway, she bites. And, she really likes it if someone is laying (or is it lying?) on the floor and she can "sneak" up and attack. If you don't count the times she's bitten me while nursing (OUCH!), LK has been the most frequent bite victim.

Anyway, they're on the blanket playing, he's being very patient with her, giving her blocks, not complaining when she won't give them back, etc. Then, for whatever reason, he decided to "pretend" (his word) to bite her on her chubby little leg. I didn't see it happen, but there were no marks on her, so I'm guessing he didn't really bite. So, the next thing I hear is, "Scotch! My tooth! Mom, my tooth is gone!" He picked it up, showed me, and rushed to the mirror to look at himself. Then he started bleeding. And crying, but just a bit.

I got him to calm down, hold a napkin in his mouth, and then rinse it out with some water, and then snapped a quick pic. He was so proud and excited. And the tooth fairy? She left "2 golden dollars!"

The Tooth Saga, Part 1

2010-06-28T09:15:00.003-04:00

LK has had 4 loose teeth for some time now. The top 2 and the bottom 2 in the front. A few weeks ago we noticed that he has adult teeth growing in behind his 2 bottom little teeth. Gross! This whole losing teeth thing grosses me out, but that's the phase of life we're in right now. Anyway...

Friday afternoon, it was nice and quiet here in our house. We'd had VBS all week; LK went for the first time, I was teaching, Scotch spent the mornings in the nursery. We were all pretty tired, and knew we had to head back to church for the closing program that night, so we had a movie on and we were relaxing. Scotch was nearly asleep, and I was ready to doze myself.

LK decided then that he needed to remove the ID bracelet that he had to keep on all week for VBS. I asked that he wait until after the movie, but he didn't want to wait. So, he decided to use his teeth to remove it. He hooked it behind his bottom teeth and yanked. Hard. And then he screamed. Loud. I looked over and there was blood and drool and a very upset LK. As I said above, the whole losing teeth thing - just yuck.

So, I grabbed a napkin and helped him hold it in his mouth to soak up some of the blood. I looked just to make sure the tooth was still there, and it was. I gave him a popsicle, thinking the cold would feel good, and maybe he'd push/pull the tooth out while eating that. It helped to quiet him, but he was very worried about the tooth. He didn't want it to fall out. What if it falls out while he's asleep? What if he swallows it? What if he can't eat and he starves waiting for it to fall out? What if he swallows blood? What if ... ? It went on and on.

Finally, I asked if he wanted to go over to Nanny's because she likes to pull teeth. His response was, "Why would you say that to me? You see I'm upset and you ask if I want to go have my tooth pulled at Nanny's. Why did you say that?"

Um, because if the tooth is out you won't have to worry about it any more... Sigh... Needless to say, we didn't go to Nanny's. He did let Mr. A. try to pull it out Friday night, but with no success. The tooth is still hanging on despite my getting LK to eat an apple each day, and even corn on the cob last night. Ah, well... hopefully it will not be ready to come out on my watch.

**********

And, while we're on the topic, what does the tooth fairy leave these days? When I was a kid, it was whatever spare change was in her pocket at the end of the day - sometimes $0.09, sometimes $1.54. LK told me he thought she would leave $100 in gold coins... Yeah, that's not happening. I was thinking of maybe getting some Sacajawea dollar coins to give him for teeth - one per tooth or something like that. Just wondering what the current going rate is for teeth.

Father's Day

2010-06-20T20:25:00.005-04:00

Yesterday as I was at Target picking up a few things, I decided to grab Father's Day cards (yes, I procrastinate). As I was looking through the selection, holding a sleeping Scotch on my shoulder and maneuvering through the other procrastinators, LK kept picking up one card that played a goofy song. Over and over I told him to put it back without listening to it. One lady next to me laughed every time he opened it and even asked him to show her where he got it so she could get it, but I didn't listen to it. Finally, LK insisted that Daddy "would love this card and it would make him laugh," so I agreed to listen to it... and ended up buying it... for too much money, but it is funny. Anyway, LK made up a dance for the song... Hope you enjoy it. :)

And, in case you missed the lyrics...

Baby Poo by Arrogant Worms

(seriously... check iTunes for the rest of the song...I couldn't make this up.)

Now I stay at home and talk about baby poo, baby poo,

All I talk about is baby poo, baby poo.

Sometimes it's all brown and gooey,

sometimes it looks like dijon mustard.

Sometimes it's like melted crayon,

sometimes it just smells like poo!

I used to talk about philosophy,

(not sure...), Socrates.

I used to think metaphysically,

but now I think the world revolves around baby poo, baby poo.

All I talk about is baby poo, baby poo....

Summer!

2010-06-17T12:15:00.004-04:00

So, here we are... school's been out for a week now. What have we been up to?

Well, I started my NILD training. I got a 100% on my first test! And, I learned that I can't study and work the way I could 10 years ago while in college... staying up until 1 am to write a paper is pretty easy when you're 21. When you're 31 and have 2 kids... not so easy. :) I was asked after my last post what this training is/entails. NILD trains educators to provide educational therapy to students with learning disabilities, re-training their brains in how to learn. I will not be changing jobs next year, just bringing a new program to our school in addition to what I have been doing. Exciting stuff!

We took our first day trip to the beach of the year. Since Mr. A. is still off work every other Tuesday, we went this past Tuesday. We have a slew of beaches to choose from within a 2 hour drive of our house, and we like different beaches for different reasons... some have indoor showers and changing areas, some are close to or on a boardwalk with games, shops, and food, some are just closer/easier to get to, some are more kid friendly, etc. So, this time we chose Seven Presidents Park in Long Branch, NJ. It's a great park/beach for families, as the water remains pretty shallow quite a ways out, there is a playground park area for kids, and a lot of families go there. Also, since they don't have lifeguards on duty yet, it was free! We expected to pay about $20 to get in and park... free is way better!

Anyway, it was a gorgeous day - sunny, about 75 degrees, and the beach wasn't overly crowded. Now, if you've been around my blog for a while, you may remember that LK has never liked the ocean. Remember the pic of him being dragged into the water while on vacation 2 years ago? Nothing changed last year. He refused to go in the water despite our reassurances that it was safe. Well, Tuesday, I convinced him to just get his feet wet. He did, and then went a little further, and then a little further. After about 10 minutes, he decided that he LOVES the ocean. He didn't want to get out of the water for anything... lunch, going to the bathroom, leaving, etc. We never expected that. Anyway, here are a few pics and a video showing our fun day. (The video is giving me trouble... I'll keep working on it, though.)

In other news, I brought the training potty up from the basement this morning. Scotch has been showing some interest, and while I don't expect her to actually start potty training just yet, I figured it wouldn't hurt for her to get used to sitting on the potty, etc. Well, when I brought her down this morning, she went right over to the potty, pulled up her nightgown, and sat down. She looked around, got up and grabbed a book, and then went to sit back down on the potty. Too funny! Maybe later this summer I'll work on actually getting her to use the potty.

What else is going on this summer? VBS is next week. LK is excited, as it will be his first time attending. I'm teaching a group of 5th graders. I'm also teaching 2 weeks of summer camp at our school this summer - a math week and a poetry week. LK wants to do soccer camp again. And, hopefully there will be some more day trips to the beach.

How about all (both?) of you? Any fun summer plans? Suggestions for inexpensive summer fun? I'd love to hear them!

The Fish

2010-06-03T17:14:00.002-04:00

For LK's 4th birthday, we got him a goldfish. Cheap gift - the bowl, some rocks, water treatment stuff, the fish, and some food. And, he LOVED it. He wanted a new pet; I didn't want one that would require a lot more work for me - hello, I was 6 months pregnant at the time. The goldfish was a perfect choice. I was hoping he would come up with a creative name, but my mother-in-law came over that night and said that the fish looked like Dorothy, Elmo's fish. (Grr...) So, 'she' became Dorothy.

Things were going well for Dorothy. She swam, ate, had her water changed as needed, and her bowl received hugs almost daily from LK. Then, on January 14, 2009 (the day before Scotch was born), she died. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Why, oh why didn't we consider that goldfish don't live very long before getting one for our incredibly sensitive 4 year old? When we told him, he cried, we cried, and several other family members cried. Over a fish...

We asked LK a few days later if he wanted to get a new goldfish and he said he didn't think so. But, in March of 2009, he asked for another goldfish. We packed up and headed off to the pet store. He picked the fish he liked the most out of the 20 or so in the aquarium. He immediately named her - Dorothy 2 (D2 for short).

Now, here we are 15 months later and that fish is STILL alive. There have been 3 separate occasions where we were certain she wasn't going to make it through the night. The 3rd was Monday... we were walking past her bowl into the kitchen to finish making dinner when Mr. A. looked at her. She was kind of floating on her side, seeming to gasp for breath. We figured that this time was it. We took her into the kitchen, prepared a fresh bowl of water to put her in (despite having just changed her water late last week), and hoped for the best. LK noticed during dinner that she was 'swimming funny - backwards and sideways and stuff.' He got all upset, certain that she was going to die... Now, she is swimming around as if it never happened once, let alone 3 times.

So, how long have goldfish lasted in your house? And, how have you dealt with the death of a pet with your little ones?

2010-06-02T15:28:00.004-04:00

OK, new background... check.

Now, to get back into the blogging routine. :) School is drawing to a close, so I'm finding myself with a bit of extra time now and again... maybe I can get things in line around here. In the interest of a quick 'catch up,' I'll continue my recent pattern of complete randomness this time.

**********

In 'me news,' I'm beginning 2 new adventures this summer. The first is work related - I'm going to be going to training in NILD Educational Therapy. I'm very excited about it, and so thankful that things have been put into place to allow it to happen this summer. The class is a combination of distance and on-site training, with the distance portion starting next week - on the last day of school for me. I'm a bit anxious about being a student again, and especially the whole distance learning thing. When I was in college, I could stay up all night reading a book and writing a paper if I needed to. It's been 10 years, 1 husband, and 2 kids since then... not sure if I can do that as well, so I'm going to have to budget my time well.

The 2nd new adventure is also work related in a way. I'm venturing into the 'home sales' arena by joining Scentsy. For those of you who haven't heard of it, I'll be sharing more info soon... including my website, so don't go looking for the information and ordering from someone else. :)

**********

LK had his pre-school 'graduation' chapel today. Before I get into that, a bit of a vent... A year (or 2 or 3... whatever) of pre-school is NOT some big accomplishment that requires a full on graduation. For that matter, I think Kindergarten graduation is pretty much a joke, too. I get it, we're all proud of our kids. And, each school year is an accomplishment. But, "graduation?" No. Graduation should be reserved for high school, college, grad school. That's my opinion anyway. Thankfully, our school doesn't make a huge deal out of it, but I know many that do.

Anyway, what LK's pre-school teacher does is present each child with an "award" based on their personality, etc. I knew she was talking about LK way before she said his name... the speech was something like, "This little boy knows a lot about a lot of things, and he wants to make sure you know it. No matter what we are talking about in class, he has a story that goes along with it. So, the 'Best Storyteller Award' goes to... LK." Uh, yeah, my son never shuts up. She pretty much got that right on.

**********

As for Scotch, she is just funny. I'm pretty sure she said her first full sentence the other day. What was it? "I don't want to." LOL! Also, she 'kisses' now... puckers up, says "mmmmm" and kisses. On Mother's Day, I was in the church nursery with her and she kissed one of the little boys in there. Right on the lips. Thankfully, his mom and I have agreed that they are allowed to marry each other in about 30 years, so we're good. :) We're in so much trouble with this one.

**********

Oh, the garden was finally planted over the weekend. We ended up with tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, spinach, peas, green beans, radishes, carrots, watermelon, basil, and the strawberries and oregano that were already there. We've already picked some strawberries and they are very good. I can't wait to begin harvesting the rest!

**********

Alright, I better get the house picked up or laundry going or the dishes washed or something else along those lines.

2010-05-07T10:19:00.003-04:00

I really do have every intention of being a better blogger and getting here to write and share more often. Life just keeps getting in the way. So, quickly, a few pics from this week for now... and hoping to have a real post coming soon...
(Last pic taken by LK. Why is it that when he says, "Smile," she lights right up?)

Random

2010-04-26T10:01:00.005-04:00

Yes, I know I need to get things updated around here - background and such. I'll try to get there by this weekend...
~~~~~
I'm working on another exciting announcement in the coming weeks. No, I'm not pregnant!
~~~~~
Grocery report - I saved $48.50 when I went shopping on Saturday morning... still spent $93.40, but I bought a lot of meat, so I'm ok with that. I did discover a few weeks ago that one area grocery store attaches $ off coupons (I've seen up to $3 off) to meat packages that need to be sold by Sunday early Saturday morning, so I've started shopping then and getting great deals that way.
~~~~~
Thanks, Emily, for the tip on the site you use. I've looked at similar sites, and would LOVE to see one with local deals for my area. Sigh...
~~~~~
We DVRed "Food, Inc." last week and have yet to watch it. I kind of want to wait to watch it because I know that once I do, I won't want to eat any of that meat I just bought.
~~~~~
I know that some of my readers are great "eaters," eating all natural, etc. We're making changes in that direction. Any advice? Especially in the saving money area - I get so frustrated that eating well seems to cost more.
~~~~~
We did start working in the garden last week - the ground is ready to be planted in the next couple of weeks. Strawberries are already growing, as is oregano. We're also planting tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, green beans, carrots, basil, and we're thinking of trying watermelon (again), lettuce, and radishes. Any other suggestions? I'd love to plant things we can preserve in some way to use through the winter.
~~~~~
I was so excited last night to give a mini cloth diapering lesson to several of the moms in our small group at church. A couple are expecting this summer, and are looking into the option; another has 3 kids already and said she's been thinking about it for if they have another. Yay!
~~~~~
LK last night during a thunderstorm, "Mom, I don't want to listen to the thunder anymore. It's keeping me awake. Can you turn it down?"
~~~~~
LK last week on a difficult allergy day, "Mom, is there a lot of pollen in the air? I think I need some nasal spray because my 'nachos' are all clogged up."
~~~~~
Scotch's recent words and phrases - "want that," "what's that," "uh-oh," "hi dere," and "where Bubba?"

Blog Hiatus - Over

2010-04-20T10:31:00.003-04:00

Has it really been over five months since I've blogged?!?! That's what blogger is telling me, though I find it hard to believe that much time has passed. I'm sure that by now both of my readers have given up on ever hearing from me again. Yet, here I am. A brief synopsis of the past five months -

December... Scotch started walking. :) She took her first tentative steps on the 22nd, and then really took off by the end of the month. Christmas was fun. The kids both got way too much stuff, but they are still playing with/wearing most of it, so I suppose that means it was good. Little Kahuna's favorite gift was a V-Smile handheld video game; Scotch's favorite was her American Girl doll. She is adorable with her 'babies,' hugging and taking care of them already. (We did put the AG doll away for when she is older, though.) Also in December, the Mr. and I celebrated 6 years of marriage. :)

January... The highlight was Scotch's first birthday. We chose not to have a party, as the bathroom downstairs was (is) still not back together, money was (is) tight, and she's one - she can't argue it yet. But, we did have a small family party with gifts and cupcakes. This girl LOVES sweets.

February... Snow, snow, snow. We had many large storms, dumping several feet of snow at a time on us. Scotch and LK were able to go sledding often. LK loved it, while Scotch kind of looked at us like we were crazy.

March... Um, nothing really huge stands out for the month. Oh, wait, the bathroom - tiles were laid, walls were painted, and the toilet was installed. I think the room should be complete by the end of April. I hope!

April... Easter, egg hunts, great weather, and spring break! Oh, and taxes... ugh! :) Scotch and LK have both grown like weeds. All of a sudden, the pants I bought in the fall are inches short on him - thankfully, we got a huge bag of hand-me-downs, AND he can start wearing shorts soon. I'll be hitting yard sales in the coming weeks to fill out both summer wardrobes.

I've tried to continue on my saving money kick, especially when it comes to groceries. One week I was shocked that I had spent $125. From then on, I've been diligent about clipping coupons, stacking coupons on sale items, and planning meals around what's in the cabinets or freezer and on sale. I'm consistently saving 40% of off my grocery bill, and actually getting frustrated because I want to get to 50%. Any suggestions?

Alright, I'll close with a few relatively recent pics. Enjoy!Scotch really wants to do everything herself now - even feeding herself.Scotch and Daddy after LK's Easter Chapel at school.
Scotch and LK before Good Friday service. She almost always refuses to look at the camera, and he is always giving goofy faces now. Sigh...

LK on Easter at my sister-in-law's place.

Scotch's first Easter egg hunt. This was when she realized that there is candy in the eggs - see the Kiss falling from the open egg?

She was so excited to find eggs among the plants.

Family pic after church on Easter.

See, she won't look at the camera, and he makes goofy faces.

After feeding the ducks... she was obviously not thrilled with that. :)

11 Months

2009-12-18T10:43:00.002-05:00

Eleven months old. Where does the time go? Scotch turned 11 months old on Tuesday, and got to spend the day with Daddy, as that is his regular day off (since they cut him down to 4 days) and the regular sitters were not available. And, since I've got some nasty virus or something going on with my laptop, I'm just now getting online to post the regular monthly update. Hopefully things will be back in order soon so I can post some pics as well...

Anyway, at 11 months, Scotch is:
~ cautiously taking a few steps unassisted.
~ "singing" with us.
~ eating, eating, eating... new things this month included chili and, yes, french fries.
~ chewing with her 7 teeth, while working on at least one molar.
~ talking a lot - my favorite "new" word from her is "Bubba" (heh - brother).
~ waving, clapping, and shaking her head "no."
~ climbing.
~ rearranging the house. :) Really, one of her favorite activities is to push the coffee table across the living room. She'll pull up at one end of it, and just start pushing. She laughs and smiles the whole way - despite (or maybe because of) my protests. Then, when it won't move any farther because it has hit the carpet or a piece of furniture, she'll move to the other end and push it in another direction.

Again, sorry for no pics - I forgot the camera today. Hopefully I'll be around to post some Christmas pics at some point.

Catching up

2009-12-11T11:22:00.007-05:00

I've been in a 'bit of a funk' the past couple of weeks, and it sucks. So, I haven't been blogging, despite this being a 'blog-worthy' time of year. At any rate, a few pics of what we've been up to...

Like last year, our city had a 'candle-lighting' ceremony downtown on Black Friday. It was a cold night, so we bundled up and headed downtown.

On the 5th, Mr. A. and I were able to get out for the night to attend the wedding ceremony of a friend. It was a nice night out, and we love December weddings. I got this shot quickly one evening. LK was 'reading' to Scotch, who was laughing hysterically at every noise he made. I like the picture - even though you can't see their faces.Because it was SO cold on the day that we had planned to go cut down our tree, Scotch and I stayed home while Mr. A. and LK went to find it and bring it home. Before leaving, I gave LK explicit instructions as to how big the tree should be - as tall as the windows, and no wider than his arms could reach. Uh, yeah... it is MUCH bigger than that. (pics of the actual tree coming in a later post)LK's Christmas concert for school was this week. He was SO excited to wear a tie for the concert, and again, did a great job singing a couple of songs with his class. We have a tradition of sorts, of stopping at Friendly's for dinner and ice cream after his concert, so this pic was taken there. I think it's one of my favorites of the 2 of them so far.

This, that, and the other thing

2009-11-27T12:12:00.006-05:00

This past Wednesday, LK participated in a Thanksgiving chapel at his school. He did a GREAT job singing with his class. The pre-schoolers always get the best reactions because of the cute songs they sing and the motions that go along with them.

And, they LOVE chapel because they leave after many of the other classes have sung to have a party. LK really enjoyed his cupcake 'turkey.'

Our city high school has a traditional Thanksgiving morning football game against a 'rival' high school. Actually, the rival high school is one that they don't play during the regular season at all, as they are from NJ. And, these two teams have played on Thanksgiving for over 100 seasons... been on ESPN a couple of times, too. Anyway, the night before the game, there is always a huge bonfire. We park a bit away to see it, and this year's was quite impressive.

That next pic shows LK enjoying his favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal... canned cranberry sauce. Yummy!
Scotch preferred sweet potatoes and turkey, although she liked cranberry sauce, too.
Her favorite, however, was the pumpkin pie, which she decided wasn't coming quickly enough when we were feeding her.

The other thing I wanted to share in this post is a confession. You see, a particular part of our house is UGLY. It was ugly when we were looking at the house 4 years ago, and made worse by our dog. It is the 'mud room' and downstairs 1/2 bath. We call it "Obi's hole," as that is where Obi stays when we leave the house. When we first got him, he had pretty bad separation anxiety, and took it upon himself to destroy walls, floors, etc.

Well, I have good news... we are FINALLY working on making it look better! So, being brave, I wanted to share a few before pics. I'll update with in-progess and after pics as they are available. (Sadly, once we are done, Obi will have the nicest room in the house, as the only other rooms we've made any improvements in are the kids' rooms - and they only got paint. Sigh...)

Giving Thanks

2009-11-26T10:09:00.004-05:00

As I sit here in my warm, cozy home, smelling the pumpkin pie in the oven, listening to LK's excitement over the balloons in the Macy's parade, I can't help but be thankful. So, I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to share just a few of the things I'm thankful for.

~ My family. Both the family I live with, and family living all across the country. I'm blessed to have a loving, supportive husband and 2 wonderful, beautiful children. I also have not one, not two, but four fabulous parents. And, many grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, and in-laws.

~ Friends. Friends I've known for years, and friends I've never actually 'met.'

~ Jobs. Both Mr. A. and I are blessed to have stable jobs that we enjoy. While there are definitely days that we wish we were bringing in more money, our jobs are enough to provide for our needs.

~ Freedom. Special thanks to those men and women who have or are fighting and working to protect our freedoms. I also thank the families of those men and women for the sacrifices you make.

~ God's grace in providing all of these blessings, and SO much more!

Happy Thanksgiving to all (or both... whatever) of my blog readers! I know holidays are difficult for some of you, so I'm praying for ALL of you to have a restful, thankful, peaceful day of blessings.

Tagged

2009-11-25T23:04:00.003-05:00

Deb over at Our Life - This and That has tagged me to do a 5 Things Meme. So, here goes...

5 Things Meme
5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1~ going to college
2~ staying out way too late
3~ going to clubs in Philly
4~ driving my little white Hyundai
5~ working at my favorite internship – Head Start

5 things on my to-do list for today:
1~ get this blog post completed
2~ wash diapers
3~ do the dishes
4~ pick up toys
5~ make pies for tomorrow

5 snacks I love:
1~ ice cream
2~ Reese’s peanut butter cups
3~ chips and salsa
4~ crackers and cheese
5~ popcorn

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1~ pay off debt
2~ kids’ college funds
3~ buy a vacation house
4~ season tickets to the Phillies and/or the Eagles
5~ give

5 jobs I’ve had: (I’ve had WAY more than 5…)
1~ All Pet Complex (kennel person and receptionist)
2~ retirement centers (dishes and patient care)
3~ retail (Warner Bros. Studio Store, Burlington Coat Factory, Pier 1)
4~ banking (teller)
5~ teaching (2 private learning centers, 2 Christian schools)

5 people I’m tagging:
1~ Shannon
2~ Kristin
3~ The Sandgroper
4~ Jill
5~ Shana

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

2009-11-22T20:49:00.007-05:00

It's really not beginning to look like anything just yet. But, in the next week or so it will. Anyway, I decided to make a wreath again this year for our front door. I did it several years ago, using trimmings from our Christmas tree, but wanted to do something a bit different this time. I was reading various blogs yesterday, and ended up on one with directions for this fun-looking wreath made of Christmas ornaments. I tried to bookmark it, but lost it... so I'm going to share what I did without giving credit to the person who ultimately shared the process with me. Oops! :)Start by going to the dollar store and buying a whole lotta ornaments. I got around 70. In addition to the ornaments , get one package of wire edged ribbon. You'll also need a wire hanger.

Undo the hanger, and form the wire into a circle. Goofy helper not required. :) Although I did need help from Mr. A. in getting the top of the hanger unhooked. I broke the first one trying to unhook it.

Thread the ornaments on the hanger. We used a color pattern, and then tried to vary the size and design of the ornaments as we put them on. When you begin, it will look kind of sad and pathetic.

As you finish, and the hanger is full of ornaments, it will look more like this. Dollar store ornaments are quite cheap (duh!), so I had several fall off of the part that has the 'hook' as they were being threaded. I attached some of them back, and others, toward the end of the process, I couldn't because there wasn't room to get the ornament in the proper place. Re-connect the top of the hanger and create a bow (something I'm obviously still learning how to do) out of your ribbon for the top.

Voila! My new wreath that only cost $12.72!

10 Months

2009-11-14T22:02:00.007-05:00

Holy cow! Scotch is already 10 months old!!! She's such a blessing, this one. She's still very easy-going and happy, despite currently fighting her first (hopefully only) ear infection. At 10 months old, Scotch:

~ is a crawling fiend.

~ is beginning to climb... the stairs, the furniture, etc.

~ has 6 teeth, three of which appeared on the same day.

~ stands alone for several seconds.

~ is actually "playing" with her toys.

~ dances and loves music.

~ listens to stories being read to her.

~ says mama, dada, nana, hi, hot, yay, and I think she's trying to say book, Obi (the dog's name), and brother (sounds like "bruddy").

~ waves and claps.

~ eats pretty much everything we eat. This month, she especially likes chicken and pasta.

And, as usual, a couple of photos of our dear little lady... (the only decent one I was able to get on Sunday - hanging out with one of her great-grandmothers and another that isn't that great, but you can see her many teeth.)

Photography with LK

2009-11-02T21:19:00.007-05:00

Our Halloween plans were all shot when LK came home from school on Thursday with a fever. I'd already taken Thursday off of work to go to a doctor appointment with Mr. A., so had to call for a sub for Friday as well. LK's temp that afternoon was 101.5. Tylenol brought it down to 99.5, and by bed-time it was back up to 101.8. More Tylenol, bed, and Friday morning he was perfectly fine. But, I'd already made arrangements, and stayed home with him. As I said, he was feeling and acting fine. He'd previously shared his desire to be Captain Hook for Halloween, but Friday announced that he wanted to just use his Eagles costume instead. I was glad for this, as I hadn't completed his costume. And, as Scotch was going to be home handing out candy with me, I was able to just have her wear her 'Got Candy' t-shirt and pumpkin hat. Easy. (This was Saturday morning, at LK's soccer game.) Friday night, we carved our pumpkins. Mr. A. chose to do a Phillies P (again), I did the ghost, and LK wanted a traditional jack-o-lantern face. We were pretty pleased with them.Last night, LK grabbed the camera that I'd left on the kitchen table. The following series are all shot by him. (Yes, Scotch is in her high chair and not strapped in - she has figured out how to work her way out of the straps. And, I was standing less than 2 feet away at all times.)

Some 'art' that LK created earlier in the day.

Yes, that is my butt. And, yes, those jeans are too big. In fact, most of my jeans are currently too big. A 'good problem,' I suppose, although not so much when you're as cheap as I am.

The horribly ugly light fixture in our kitchen.

Hope you enjoyed LK's perspective on things. :)

Working

2009-10-23T11:01:00.003-04:00

I have been having a hard time lately with the reality of my life that I have to work outside of the home. I am blessed in my job, and I readily admit that. I get months off every summer, and work pretty 'easy' hours, for the most part. Yet, if it would/could work, I would gladly stay home with my kids. This came up this morning as I was driving LK to school.

LK: Mom, I really like summer. Don't you?
Me: Yes, I do. I like the warmer weather, going swimming, summer stuff.
LK: I like those things, too. But, that's not what I mean.
Me: OK, what do you mean?
LK: I like the summer better because I get to hang out with you and Scotch.
Me: I like the summer for those reasons, too, buddy. But, going to school is good, isn't it?
LK: Yes, I do like to learn stuff. But, you could teach me stuff. Why do you have to teach other kids stuff? You could hang out with me and Scotch, teaching us stuff.
Me: Maybe someday, LK.

I recently read somewhere something that had been written by a stay at home mom. She was "complaining" about things like not getting to go to the bathroom by herself and all of the work that she really does that often goes un-noticed and/or unappreciated. Here's the deal... I KNOW about all of the work that goes into being at home. I do it 3 months out of each year. I also know that during the months that I'm working, I still have to do all of that work that a stay at home mom does... in addition to the 40 or so hours of work that I'm doing at my job outside of the home.

So, really, don't complain about the never-ending pile of laundry, because I'm doing laundry for a family of 4 as well. Don't complain about the endless errands you have to run, because at least you can go to the bank when it is open without losing your lunch hour and the grocery store during the week when it's not jam-packed with people who need cart driving lessons. Don't complain about the cooking and the dishes and the cleaning, because you can at least work on those things when the kids are napping and those things aren't interrupting your (limited) time with them. Don't complain about not having any 'adult' conversation, because much of it at work is over-rated and usually circles back to our kids anyway.

I'm not saying that one group has it easier than the other. But, we should be aware of and respect the struggles of both sides.

And, as for me... well, we're looking into some possibilities that may allow me to be home more. I'll share details as we make decisions.

A few pics

2009-10-22T16:49:00.002-04:00

Yes, yes, I know... I haven't blogged in nearly a week. It's just crazy how busy I've been the past few months, and blogging is one of those things that gets pushed aside. But, I wanted to share what we've been up to.

Yesterday, Mr. A. was able to go with LK and his class on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. Here they are on the hayride. And, here is LK in the pumpkin patch searching for the best pumpkin.

This was this afternoon. Scotch loves her daddy!

I'll try to get another post put together in the next few days. I've had a lot of random things cross my mind with the "I should blog about that" thought, but need to sit down to write things out. Sigh... anyone have an extra couple of hours they want to give me? :)

9 Months

2009-10-16T16:18:00.003-04:00

As each month passs, it becomes more and more difficult to believe how old Scotch is. But, it is true - she is now 9 months old! At 9 months, Scotch is:

- crawling very well.

- cruising everywhere that she can.

- standing alone momentarily.

- making huge messes as she methodically removes everything from its place (books, toys, movies, etc.).

- eating lots of 'real' food.

- babbling incessantly.

- saying 'hi' and a few other things that sound like they could be words, but I'm not convinced about them yet. (in addition to 'mama,' 'dada,' and 'nana.')

- giving high fives and waving.

- starting to dance when she hears music.

- working on many teeth. She has the 2 bottom center teeth, and one off to the side on the top. She's working on the next 2 on the bottom and 3 on the top.

A couple of pics - one not so happy and the other much more happy.

remembering...

2009-10-15T05:05:00.005-04:00

October 15 is Pregnancy and Infant Loss and Remembrance Day. Typically, today I'd be doing a post titled "9 Months," as Scotch is 9 months old today. (I'll do one tomorrow.) But, there was a lot of heartbreak on the road to delivering a happy and healthy baby 9 months ago. And, today is about remembering that.

Did you know that the reported number of miscarriages is equal to about 20% of all pregnancies? But, in some instances, a pregnancy is lost before the woman knows she is pregnant, and not all women report known miscarriages. Some doctors actually think the number of miscarriages is more like 40% (or more!) of all pregnancies. There are slews of reasons that miscarriage happens. Chromosomal abnormalities, physical issues, etc. Grieving the babies I lost has been perhaps one (two) of the most difficult challenges I've faced.

Despite the staggering numbers of miscarriages that happen, until it actually happens, no one talks about it. In the days following each of my losses, I was completely overwhelmed by the number of women I knew who shared their stories with me. Yet, never had we shared those details with one another before. That saddens me.

While I know it is difficult to read and hear about pregnancy loss if you've never personally dealt with it, I still think it is wise to do so. You may be one of those women who never personally experiences it. I think that's great! Odds are, though, that someone close to you will go through it one day.

I have 3 goals for today -
1 - To share the stories of the 2 babies waiting for me in heaven.
2 - To provide a place for other women who have babies waiting to share their story.
3 - To help 'educate' those of you who have not experienced pregnancy loss in ways to support someone going through it.

(This is going to be a long post - settle in...)

Mid-December, 2006 - We'd been trying for just a couple of months to get pregnant. We wanted our second child to be about 3 years younger than LK. That cycle, I got a positive pregnancy test! Yay! Our due date was Aug. 16, just 1 month before LK would be 3. Perfect! That also happened to have been my Great Grandma's birthday, and I knew early on that we would have a girl and name her after my GGma - Stella, after her middle name. We were so excited, and didn't wait long at all to share our news. In fact, at the family Christmas party, we put LK in a shirt that I had made saying "I'm going to be a big brother in August!" You see, we had no thought that something could possibly go wrong.

I went to my first doctor appointment in early January, and the doctor decided to have me come back the following week for an ultrasound. That is not standard practice for him, but I wasn't worried at the time - just excited to get an early pic of the little one. At that first scan, I knew something wasn't right before Dr. B. said a word. He said, "I'm sorry, things don't look good," and asked again when my last period had been. I told him, and he just shook his head. How could this be? I'd been having a bit of spotting - brownish, but nothing heavy and it seemed to be 'normal' based on what I'd read. And, I certainly felt pregnant. But, then he turned the screen towards us and we knew that he was right; the news wasn't good.

Normally, an ultrasound at that point in the pregnancy would show the sac and a little embryo with a beating heart. The sac should be fairly round, with smooth edges. Mine was empty... and kind of smooshed looking, and the edges were all rough. I didn't know what that part meant, but Dr. B. took us into the office after finishing what he needed to and told us that I needed to go to the lab to get a blood-test that day and then 2 days later. He thought I could be having a molar pregnancy. I'd never heard that term before, and I don't really remember much of the rest of that conversation. We went to the lab - my hormone level that day was 80,000. Two days later it was 81,000. (I spent many hours googling molar pregnancy and was scared of what I found.) In a normal pregnancy, it should double every 2-3 days. Not looking good. One week later, it had risen to 126,000 - and still no baby evident via ultrasound. It turns out that in a molar pregnancy, there are cells created that could become cancerous and they cause the body to produce the pregnancy hormones. It was important that I have a d&c soon to prevent the cells, if they were there, from spreading.

I ended up having a d&c on January 24th of 2007. We still weren't sure if I had a molar pregnancy, as the only way to know is to do a pathology test on the placenta, so that was sent to the lab. One week later, at my follow-up appointment, Dr. B. informed me that I had, indeed, had a partial molar pregnancy. (Molar pregnancy can be either partial or complete - different genetic make-up, but the 'treatment' is the same. The risk of cancer is higher in a complete.) I had to have my hormone level tested weekly until it reached negative levels, and then monthly for several months. He originally said monthly for a full year, then 6 months, and then after I'd asked him to read some specific articles I'd found, he shortened that to 4 months.

During that time, I was 'not allowed' to get pregnant, as any rise in the pregnancy hormone would be treated as cancer with chemo. That was a rough couple of months, as it seemed like everyone around me was pregnant. A friend at church had announced a new pregnancy to me the week after my first scan (she didn't know), and to this day I look at her little boy, due one week after my Stella and think of her. And, in addition to all of the pregnant women around, I was still having to go to the lab for a stupid pregnancy blood test every few weeks. And, having to frequently explain to the people working at the lab that while I would love to be pregnant, I was hoping this test was negative because a positive result could mean that I had cancer. Not a fun conversation to have over and over and over.

After several months of blood draws and waiting, we were given the clear to try again by Dr. B. We actually decided to wait an extra couple of months, in part for selfish reasons of wanting a spring due date. When we did decide to try again, again we got pregnant fairly quickly.

When you're pregnant after having a molar pregnancy, you get a lot of 'perks.' Lots of bloodwork early on to make sure your hormone levels are rising properly, early ultra-sounds, etc. So, when I found out I was pregnant in mid-October, we got in right away for bloodwork and things looked good. Levels were rising, and normal. I had an ultrasound in late October, after having a bit of spotting, and things didn't look good. The sac looked normal this time, but again it appeared empty. We again should have seen more based on my levels, so the doc didn't have much hope.

I did not want to rush into another d&c, so we decided to wait a week and have another scan. Mr. A. couldn't come that time because of work, so I was alone and prepared for the worst. But, when Dr. B. started the scan, he got a huge grin and said, "I don't believe this. I see a heartbeat!" I nearly fell off the table trying to sit up enough to see the screen. (Any of you ladies who've had an early internal scan could imagine...) There it was, a beautiful little flicker. I could see it, too. Dr. B. said I must have been off a few days in my dates, because this little one looked good so far and the heartbeat was strong. He started me on baby aspirin because of the spotting I'd had, and asked me to come back in 2 weeks - the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Two weeks passed, with no more spotting. I went in, with Mr. A. that time, and Dr. B. got the same look he'd had at that first scan in January... "I'm so sorry," he said. It turned out the baby had died probably 2 days before. I was a mess. We'd already been down this road. Why was I losing another little one? Why let me see the heartbeat to then let the baby die? Oh, I was mad. And hurt. And sad. We decided to wait to see if I would miscarry on my own. I really wanted to avoid surgery, and didn't want to have it the day before Thanksgiving, which was my only option if I wanted to get in that week.

Well, several weeks went by, with nothing happening - apart from me still throwing up every day. So, I ended up having a d&c on December 19, 2007. Because of my history by that point, they automatically sent the placenta to pathology to make sure it wasn't a repeat molar pregnancy, and I had to have my blood drawn weekly until it reached negative levels to be sure there were no molar cells growing anywhere. It turned out to not be another molar pregnancy, but a 'normal' miscarriage, meaning we won't know why it happened until we get to heaven.

The months following the 2nd loss were incredibly difficult. I went into a pretty deep depression, and felt so alone. (As you do when depressed.) I let things go - didn't clean, pay bills, cook, etc. I feel horrible even now as I look at pictures from those months, as my memories of them are pretty fuzzy. I feel like I let LK and Mr. A. down in so many ways during that time. I nearly called Dr. B. several times to ask about medication, but never did. I finally opened up to Mr. A. about all of it, and that alone made me feel so much better. Not all the way back to normal, but getting there. It was tough on us, but we made it through.

That spring, we decided we were ready to try again, and that trying again is what brought Scotch to our family. While I love the babies I have not met, I cannot imagine life without Scotch. (Boy, if you didn't know that was her blog nickname, that sentence would be really funny.) I know that if we hadn't been down the road we were on, she would not be a part of our family.

How to help a friend or loved one going through a pregnancy loss...
There were several friends I leaned on heavily following both losses. Some of the biggest blessings came in the ways of little cards that appeared in my mailbox with the words "I'm praying for you." Seriously, that is all it took. I didn't need to hear about the "friend of my cousin who had 'xyz - horrible pregnancy' story." I didn't need to have (stupid) people asking (stupid) questions. (Like the hospital workers who asked me when I was there for blood work and x-rays before the second d&c who asked if I had been pregnant in the past 3 months. Seriously, read the freakin' file! I'm there because I'm getting a d&c the next day - that is usually not a happy event. Or the comment from the x-ray tech when I replied to the "Are you pregnant" question with a "Well, I'm having a d&c tomorrow." She said, "Oh, so you thought you were pregnant?" Um, no, bitch... Sorry for that little tangent.) Really, if someone in your life is going through a loss - of any sort - just being there, and willing to listen is often all that they need from you. Don't be afraid to talk about the loss, just follow their lead. I promise, it will be appreciated.

Finally, I've taken a lot of your time today. I appreciate it if you've read all of this. If you'd like to share a story of a pregnancy (or infant - I don't want to forget you; I just haven't been there) loss, please do so in the comments. If you don't feel comfortable sharing your story, but would like to acknowledge a baby, feel free to do that as well. Or, if you have suggestions for ways to support parents going through difficult loss situations, add those too. And, feel free to add your "What not to say" comments as well. :) Praying for all of you on this day and always!

The Weekend

2009-10-12T09:59:00.008-04:00

Saturday morning - soccer game. LK did pretty well in his game this week. He is the youngest (and smallest) player on his team, so it does get difficult for him. He can't keep up with or run as fast as the others on his team. But, this week, he did manage to help with a few defensive passes and got an assist when he was on offense. Saturday night - car show. Mr. A has a classic car (have I blogged about that before?), so we spend several evenings a month from the spring through the fall attending area car shows. This was the last one for the year sponsored by the club Mr. A is a member of, and they have a halloween theme, so LK dressed up as a Philadelphia Eagle. This may or may not end up being the costume that he actually wears on Halloween night. He's currently saying that he wants to be Captain Hook and Scotch to be Tinkerbell. :) Back to the car show pics, I just think Scotch looks cute in this 'first Halloween' hat.

Sunday afternoon - the annual pumpkin patch/hayride trip. This year, we ended up going with a bunch of LK's cousins and 2nd cousins. The first pic here is fuzzy because it was originally all 7 of the kids, and I cropped out the others. But, don't they look cute? (Yes, I know LK needs a haircut - I have an appointment scheduled.)

Soccer Photos

2009-10-10T15:35:00.006-04:00

Imagine a bright, cool fall morning. We leave to drive to the soccer fields, about 10 minutes from home. When we leave the house, everyone is in a good mood. LK is excited about the game, Scotch is content, I'm looking forward to a nice couple of hours in the sun. We are running a bit late, but no biggie. I can't find the picture order form and it is picture day, but I figure there will be extra forms available.

We arrive at the fields, and climb out of the car. I open the trunk to remove the gear - soccer ball, blanket, stroller, diaper bag, snacks, water bottles, toys, chair. I get everything situated, and then remove Scotch from her car seat to her stroller. She hates it and starts screaming. Whatever... we have to get across all of the fields for pictures, so we take off. About halfway to the picture set-up, LK starts whining that there is something in his shoe. About 2/3 of the way, Scotch finally stops crying. About 3/4 of the way, I realize that I left the checkbook in the car. Crap. I can't run back because I've got 'whiny boy' and 'girl who hates stroller' with me. I can't leave them and run by myself because Mr. A. isn't there yet. And, I see LK's team all getting lined up to move to the picture area. So, I proceed, figuring I can talk to the photog, fill out the form, and then get the check after pics are done. I spot the extra forms, about 20 feet from where LK's team is lined up. I check him in with his coach, tell LK to stay put, and go to grab a form. As I'm standing at the table, and realizing that there is a place on the order form for credit card info, I feel someone rubbing my butt. "LK! Get back with your team!" I escort him back to the end of the line, and he's crying. Huge tears streaming down his face, sobbing, hysterics. I ask why, and he doesn't know.

Coach calls the team to the photographer's station. I push the stroller and LK attaches himself to my leg like a barnacle on a rock. He's still crying, and now Scotch starts in, too. I start to fill out the order form, thankful that I don't have to run to the car. I ask LK again, "what is wrong?" He replies that he doesn't want to have his picture taken. He's afraid (?) of getting it taken. We move to the very end of the line so the other kids on his team can have their pic taken. I'm talking to him, trying to convince him that it will be fine. Scotch escalates to full fledged screaming. People start to stare. My phone starts ringing. It's Mr. A. calling to see if I'm alright and let me know that he's running late. (Gee, thanks, hon!) The rest of the team has had their individual photo taken and are waiting to get the team shot.

Despite his protests, I drag LK under the tent where the photographer is taking individual shots. He tries to hand LK a ball to hold. LK refuses to take the ball. Photographer suggests doing group shot first, but LK won't move. I look over and see some of the other moms trying to calm Scotch, but she wants nothing to do with any of it. Finally, I'm able to get LK to stand still long enough for the photographer to get the grumpiest looking picture of him I've ever seen. He then happily runs over to join his team, sitting in the front row with the biggest goofy grin ever. I stand off to the side, wishing I could hide and Scotch is still screaming. I can't take her out of the stroller, as I'm still carrying a lot of the other stuff. The pics are done and we walk to the field so the team can warm up for the game. LK skips onto the field and acts as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Scotch sees Daddy coming, and starts to laugh. I'm already exhausted and the game didn't even begin yet. :)

*I'll share the pics once we get them. :) I'm sure it will by hilarious to see them!

Randomness

2009-10-07T22:13:00.003-04:00

So, this evening, LK was eating a small pack of animal crackers and brought this one to us because he thought it was funny that 2 were stuck together...Uhhh... yeah, I think I'll leave that one alone.

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Scotch's black eye has healed (yay!), but then she went and fell against the desk she was holding on to stand up. This time, she split her lip open and got a bruise on her gum. Yes, the top gum - right in the middle where a tooth is about to come through has a bruise on it. Poor thing. As if teething pain alone wasn't enough. Oh, and speaking of her teeth, she's following in LK's footsteps and getting "fangs." That is, on the top, the 2 center teeth aren't through yet, but the 2 on either side of those are just now cutting through. I'll try to get a pic when they are a bit more visible, if she cooperates.

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We go to church on Wednesday nights - Mr. A has choir practice, I'm teaching a group of 5th grade girls, and LK is in a class with 4 and 5 year olds. (Scotch goes to the nursery.) So, tonight on the way home, LK was talking to me about his class and telling me about a girl he likes in there. We'll call her Q.

LK: Mom, I really like Q. She's pretty.

Me: Yes, she is. Do you talk to her?

LK: No, I don't.

Me: Why not?

LK: Well, I'm kind of shy, you know. And, I just act silly in front of her. She just looks at me.

Me: You know, if you want to talk to a girl, all you have to do is say "Hi."

LK: I'm too shy. I'll just keep acting silly and maybe she'll notice me.

He's such a nut... and apparently the guy trying to get the girl's attention by being goofy. I didn't know that started at 5.

Bruised

2009-09-27T14:59:00.005-04:00

Boy, the pressure is on to be 'interesting' with this influx of 'followers' in the past couple of days! I make no promises, but welcome the OHIH crew! :)

So, I was under the impression that baby girls were supposed to be 'easier' than baby boys. I could have sworn that someone told me this. Yet, this girl: is ALL over the place. See her right eye there... yep, my beautiful little girl has a black eye! She was cruising the other night and fell to the floor on her bottom. Well, that must have made her mad, as she started to throw a bit of a tantrum, and threw her head down screaming. She bumped her cheek/jaw bone and got the tiniest little bruise there. Now, a few days later, she looks like she took a left hook. Perhaps from this guy:who is just a crazy ball of energy. This is the face I got the other day when I asked for a smile while we were at a local high school football game.

An LK Funny and 8 Months Old

2009-09-22T16:06:00.005-04:00

Sunday morning, as we were leaving in my car to go to church, Mr. A. looked across the street, where his truck was parked, and noticed a 'puddle' under it. He said, as we pulled away, "If that is still there when we get home, I've got trouble." Of course it was still there when we got home, so he and LK changed into work clothes and went out to investigate. The puddle was anti-freeze, but he couldn't figure out where it was leaking from. So, he called our mechanic (a friend) and asked if he'd be able to stop by and take a look. He stopped and had a few theories, but didn't know for sure and said if we could get it up to his place he'd look this week. Well, we don't (didn't) have AAA and didn't want to pay to have it towed if we could get it up there another way. It turns out that Mr. A.'s mom has AAA (funny as she hasn't driven in 5 years or so). So, we decided to try to drive it up to the mechanic's house, but had to take her along, in case we ended up needing to call. LK was telling a friend this morning all about it and said, "They had to take Nanny along because she had the batteries." I asked what he meant, and he said, "You know, the AAA batteries for the truck!" :) Love that kid!

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So, as both of my kids were born on the 15th of their respective months, last Tuesday was not only LK's 5th birthday, it was the day that Scotch turned 8 months! I can definitely say that I love this age... actually from about 6 months until 15 months was incredibly fun with LK and I'm enjoying it so much with Scotch, as well. At 8 months, Scotch is:

* crawling (this started on Sept. 3rd).

* eating a lot of foods - homemade baby food, mushed up 'real' food, and more.

* pulling up on furniture.

* beginning to cruise.

* saying "Mama" and "Dada" with meaning and intention.

* saying a few other things like "Nana" and "do" (dog?).

* using her teeth to chew on everything. She has one tooth so far, but the other bottom center one is visible beneath her gums and 4 can be seen on top ready to pop through soon.

* playing with toys and exploring everything.

She continues to be a pretty easy-going baby. She 'goes with the flow' as we go places and do things as a family. She loves the dog (who, thankfully, is great with her), and laughs a lot. We're so blessed to have her in our family. And, here are 2 pics from last week.

LK's Birthday

2009-09-21T16:29:00.004-04:00

I'm a slacker. I have pics and birthday stuff to post that I've been 'ignoring' since last week, so here goes!

On Tuesday, Sept. 15, LK turned 5 years old! Five years has gone by entirely too quickly. I love my little boy's spunk, enthusiasm, and sense of humor. He tells the worst jokes ("Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Banana." "Banana who?" "Banana house!" then he laughs hysterically.), but he always keeps us laughing. He's got such a sweet spirit and loves his sister, family and friends so much.

I also wanted to take a few minutes to share his birth story, because I haven't done it here before, so feel free to skim down to pics if you'd rather. :)

I'd had high blood pressure throughout my pregnancy with LK. It was consistently in the 140/90 range. Those of you who have been pregnant may know that high blood pressure is often a sign of other things going on which are not good for mom and/or baby. In my case, there were no other signs of problems apart from the blood pressure, but according to all that I've read, the blood pressure being as high as mine was is like a 'time bomb' that you don't really want to play with.

At my 37 week doctor visit, my blood pressure was up to 150/100 when I first was checked. Despite the pressure dropping slightly after the doc checked me out, he had me stay for a non-stress test right in the office. I was having a few contractions, but they weren't doing much and the baby was handling everything well. I was sent to the hospital for a scan and a repeat non-stress test the following week. Again, everything looked good, except that my blood pressure was still high and it was discovered that there was an excess of amniotic fluid around the baby. I was scheduled for an induction at 39 weeks. (When the doc brought that up I told him that I was sure I'd end up with a c-section, so could we just schedule that - the answer was 'there's no reason to expect that you'll need a section, and no, we can't schedule an elective c-section for your first baby.')

So, Wednesday morning, Mr. A and I loaded ourselves into the car with my pillow from home, and 'the bag' containing cute non-maternity jammies for me and a gender neutral going home outfit for LK. I was checked in, hooked up to the monitors, and my blood pressure was checked. That morning it was 163/114. Still no other signs of major problems, but those numbers are not good at all. I was hooked up to pitocin and immediately began having pretty hard and fast contractions. After a couple of hours I'd gone from 2 cm to 4 cm and asked for drugs. The contractions weren't horrible, but I had no relief in between them and so wanted something to make me relax. They gave me stadol, which was horrible - I felt like I was watching everything in slow motion. I was still in pain, but didn't really care... for about 30 minutes and then it wore off. I asked for an epidural, but the anesthesiologist at our little hospital was in the next delivery room with a mom delivering a breech baby so they gave me another dose of stadol until she could come to me. When she came in about an hour later, the nurse had just checked me and I was still at 4. Talk about frustrating...

Anyway, as I sat up for the epidural, my water broke. We figured that between that and me relaxing, things might start to move faster. Not so much. Over the next 5+ hours, despite increasing the pitocin, I stayed at 4 cm. So, when my doc came in at almost 6 and suggested a c-section, I agreed immediately, telling him he should have just listened to me in the beginning. :) After getting things ready, I was in the OR by around 6:50, and heard the "It's a boy" announcement at 7:15. Our first thoughts on seeing him were that he looked just like my little brother. Thankfully, he was healthy, and my blood pressure dropped almost immediately to a normal level.

After an hour or so in recovery, I was wheeled to my room and LK was brought in. Unfortunately, my room was packed with well meaning family and friends excited to see him. I hadn't even held him yet, and he was passed from person to person for at least an hour before I was able to have time with him. I love those that were there that night, but I look at those pics and see how miserable I was...thrilled to be a mom, but miserable in a hot room crowded with people holding my baby.

Anyway, this has turned into quite a novel, so I'll stop now and share a few pics from when he was born (pics of pics so forgive me) and a couple from his birthday. Please don't mind the cake; it's FAR from my best, but was thrown together after work with what I had on hand. And, it tasted great! (Which is what really matters, right?!?!)

LK's Birthday Weekend

2009-09-13T23:03:00.007-04:00

As of Friday, our weekend plans looked like this:
Saturday 11:20: LK's first soccer game
Sunday 9:00: Leave for amusement park to celebrate LK's 5th birthday.

Now, the Sunday plans meant missing several other things - church, a meeting with the former 5th grade girls' teacher for Wednesday night ministries (oh, yeah, I'm taking over that and it starts this week), a car show that Mr. A. really wanted to go to, a family reunion for Mr. A.'s mom's family, and our 'small group' for church. We knew we would not be able to do ALL of those things, but had originally hoped to get some of them in before we we given the soccer schedule earlier in the week. Anyway, this is what really happened. :)

Saturday, 8:00 - we woke up to wet, rainy, cool weather. 9:02, LK's soccer coach called to tell us that the game had to be rescheduled for Sunday at 2:40. 9:14, I checked the weather forecast for the city where the park is located. They're calling for a mostly cloudy day, but no heavy rain until late in the afternoon. 9:20, Mr. A. and I decided to just do the park that day, so we could make some of the stuff on Sunday. 10:12, we walked out the door on the way to the park. Some pics from the day...

Lk loves cotton candy!Scotch wasn't thrilled to be in her sling.

LK and Mr. A. on the big slide.

Mr. A. and the kids on a riverboat ride. Scotch is starting to smile when we're taking her pic and I love it. LK, on the other hand, is making goofy faces pretty much all the time.

LK loved this goofy ride. He literally finished the loop, then went right to the end of the line to go again. (and again, and again...)

Scotch had had enough, so she just crashed on my shoulder, completely 'missing' the train ride.

LK was wide awake through it all!

He was SO mad at me in this pic. He did not like the log flume at all. He was mad that his birthday sticker got wet.

Bumper cars with Daddy!

See the smile. :)
And, see the grumpy face. He fell asleep on the way home and the flash woke him up here.

So, since we did the park on Saturday, our Sunday was open for church, the meeting mentioned above, and the make-up soccer game.

Sitting on the sidelines waiting to get in the game.

I'm sure there will be more birthday stuff this week, as his actual birthday is Tuesday. He chose the amusement park in lieu of a big party, but we'll do cake and ice cream at home and maybe have a few people over for that.

Remembering

2009-09-11T09:23:00.003-04:00

Well, here it's been over a week since my last post. Life gets a bit crazy as school gets back in session for me, so I just haven't had too much free time to post much of anything. School is going well, although I'll be much happier next week when my schedule is finally ironed out for good. LK is loving his class this year, although he's home sick today... poor guy came into our room at around 6:45 begging for water because his throat was 'scratchy.' He doesn't have a fever, so I'm guessing it could just be allergies or maybe a little cold - but he didn't think he could go to school, so he's home with "Nanny."
~~~~~~~~~~
I am currently sitting in my classroom (with no learning support students yet... sigh) thinking back to 8 years ago. I was working part time in a different school and didn't have to be there until 10:30. I got up at around 8 and took a shower, started to get ready, and then turned on the TV in my room. I couldn't believe what I was seeing... one of the Twin Towers was on fire. (In fact, I'd been inside that very building just a few months before.) WHAT?!? I ran downstairs to ask my dad what was going on. He had been watching something on cable and switched to one of the major networks just in time to see the 2nd plane crash. I seriously thought it was some bad movie or something. But, of course, it wasn't. I sat there with my dad and watched both buildings collapse. Over and over and over. Then, coverage started pouring in from Washington, and then there was word of another crash out in western Pennsylvania. I called Mr. A. (who wasn't "Mr. A." yet) and talked to him for a bit. I finished getting ready to head in to work, as they were trying to continue a 'normal' day. Of course, it was anything but. Some of the parents of our students worked in NYC, and many of the parents who were home chose to come pick up the kids. Rather than 'teaching' history to the middle schoolers still in class that afternoon, we watched it.

In the weeks following, stories flooded the media - personal accounts from people nearby, stories of loved ones on the planes and in the buildings. It turned out that a relative of a friend was on flight 93, the one that was taken back from the terrorists and crashed in Pennsylvania. Patriotism flooded the nation - flags were flying proudly, large groups traveled to NYC to help however they could, people flocked to blood banks, and more. Just this past Monday I drove past a street in our city and every home on a certain block had a flag flying. It made me remember those days immediately following 9/11. (Just fyi - our American flag is ALWAYS flying proudly outside our home.)

I wonder about the people too young to remember, or not even born yet as of 9/11/01. Do they or will they understand the significance of that date? I know that in our home we have a small picture of the Twin Towers. LK asked about it one day and I was almost surprised by the emotions I felt as I tried to explain to him the significance of those buildings and that day. I want him to understand the value of freedom and the sacrifice of so many on that day and throughout history in preserving the freedom of this great nation.

I'd love to hear your memories of that day. Also, if you have children, how are you telling them about it?

Savings

2009-09-03T10:50:00.004-04:00

So a long time ago (spring...), I made a comment somewhere about working on a post about saving money. I just opened what I had saved, and it was not very readable. We've recently had some changes in our family that make saving more important, so it seems like a good time to re-visit the subject and to attempt to make a clear post about all of it.

First, the circumstances I just alluded to. Mr. A. is a truck driver. Not the whole tractor-trailer gone for 2 weeks at a time kind of driver, but he does local deliveries for a plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning supply company. Much of his job has to do with people either re-modeling or building new homes. With the way the economy has been for the past year or so, people are doing those things less and less. Meaning, the company he is at has been having some struggles. He's been able to escape losing his job for a few reasons, one of which is that he's the only one at his store with a CDL, required for the truck they use for most of the deliveries. At the end of July, he came home with the news that they were being forced to cut hours (again). Since the last time that was done, everyone else in the store went from 45 hours a week to 40, it was his turn to be cut. He's now working 32 hours a week. This is nice in that it gives him a day off during the week to be with the kids, get stuff done, or whatever... but not so nice in that it means a 20% cut in pay. So... the need to save money is greater now than ever.

So, what do we do?
* Coupons. I love them. But, it can get overwhelming to use them the way that some do. So, each week I sit down with the Sunday paper and the coupons I have. I create my shopping list based on what's on sale and what I have coupons for. We don't buy things that can wait unless they are on sale and/or we have a coupon. I just recently discovered that Target (and other stores) will honor both a store coupon and a manufacturer's coupon on an item. Yay! I get fliers from Target often with store coupons (esp. for baby items) and I can combine them with manufacturer's coupons to get things for significantly less than they would be otherwise. I sometimes see those reports from shoppers with a cart full of groceries who paid some ridiculous amount like 89 cents... I haven't come close to that, but there have been occasions where I've saved over $50 on a grocery order with coupons. (My big question is do those people with the 89 cent grocery bill buy fresh produce and meat? Because I can't figure that out...)

* Buy in bulk or larger packages. One example - chicken breast was on sale at a local grocery store for $1.69 a pound last week. I bought 3 big packs and then froze smaller meal size portions in freezer bags.

* Garden. This is the first year that we've planted a garden, and we've loved it. I currently have a countertop full of beautiful tomatoes just waiting to be made into sauce this afternoon (with the basil and oregano growing in the garden). We also have a huge number of carrots waiting to be frozen, and a freezer full of green beans for the winter. Oh, and we have a watermelon about the size of a basketball waiting to be picked. (Anyone know how to tell when that's ready?)

* Use vinegar. Vinegar, you ask? Yes, vinegar. I use it in so many ways. Mostly cleaning and laundry, but check here, here, and here for lists of many ways it can be used. (I just discovered some of those and will be trying some.)

* Cloth diapers. Yes, we started cloth diapering Scotch over the summer. The initial investment was a little large (about $100), but we've already 'broken even' when you consider that we haven't had to spend $15 or so a week on disposables. We still use disposables overnight - but a pack now lasts over a month. (Of course, as anyone who uses cloth will tell you, it's hard to not want to buy more - to have cute covers and such.)

I know there are more, but in the interest of not writing a complete novel, I'll close for now. I will, however, ask you to share any tips that you might use in your homes to save. Thanks, all! :)

First Day of School

2009-09-02T17:53:00.005-04:00

My handsome little man went back to school today. His first day of the last year of pre-school. Every year we take a pic of him standing in the same place on our front steps on the first day of the school year. He's grown SO much in the past year. For comparison, find last year's pic in this blog entry from last September.

He had a great day at school with his friends old and new. And, as an added bonus, he didn't fight getting up this morning. (Tomorrow may be another story as far as that goes.)

The first day for LK also means the first day back for me. It went pretty well, although it was quite busy. Tomorrow will be a bit closer to a 'normal' schedule, and I'm hoping to get my schedule all ironed out by the end of next week. Creating my schedule is often the biggest challenge of the first several weeks of school. :)

Alright, I better go get dinner going, but look for more from me this week!

Really?

2009-08-29T14:32:00.002-04:00

So the other day we were out and about with the kids. It was dinner-time and we were sitting outside at a steak shop with picnic style tables. I was feeding Scotch, with LK's "help" and Mr. A was inside getting our dinner. As usually happens when people walk by, some stopped to admire Scotch. LK, being the proud big brother, always tells those people all about her and how wonderful she is. One of that night's conversations went as follows:

Admirer - Oh, she's a beautiful baby. Is she your sister?
LK - Yes, that's my baby sister. I help with her.
Admirer - Wow, what a good big brother. How do you help?
LK - I help change diapers and sometimes I feed her and play with her.
Admirer - You ARE a good big brother. What is your sister's name.
LK - "Scotch." (Of course, he uses her real name.)
Admirer - (looking at me) What did he say?
Me - "Scotch."
Admirer - (as she walks away) Oh, I didn't know people still named their babies that.

What?!?! It really isn't that uncommon of a name... and it's a REAL name. Yes, it's not one that's in the top 10 on the baby name lists for the past 100 years, but that is one reason that we like it. Sigh...

Summer Photos

2009-08-27T22:57:00.005-04:00

I'm back! There is so much to catch up on, and I have several posts composed - some saved on the computer and others floating around in my head. But for now, a few pics from our summer. Hope you enjoy them!

This pic was taken in June, during one of Mr. A.'s softball games. It was a cool evening, so we were bundled up. I love this picture. Scotch's eyes are so blue. And, the adorable hat was a gift from a dear friend of mine who lives in New Zealand. Here is Scotch's first meal of baby cereal, fed to her by her loving big brother.This is one of my favorite pics of Scotch with me. :)Go Phillies!In July we went to a family reunion for one side of Mr. A.'s family. It's a big event, held every year. This year they had a basket raffle. LK really wanted this basket of crayons and other goodies. We bought 3 tickets for $1 and put all 3 in the bucket for this basket. One of Mr. A.'s cousins put about $5 worth of tickets in the bucket and told us that if she won that basket she'd give it to LK. Well, he won with one of his 3 tickets. He was SO excited!Here is Scotch on the first day of LK's soccer camp. And, here is LK on the last day of camp. Every child got a medal. He LOVED soccer camp and is signed up to play in a local league this fall.

We made it to the beach only once this summer... and ended up having to leave after only about 2 hours because of lightning and rain. But, it was a fun couple of hours. Like last year, LK did not go into the water, but had fun playing in the sand.

Scotch, on the other hand, enjoyed getting her feet wet.

I'll be back with much more in the coming days and weeks. Hope everyone has had a great summer!

Hello???

2009-07-14T14:57:00.003-04:00

OK, I have disappeared, but not completely. Both of my loyal readers have contacted me recently asking why I haven't posted in so long. Everything is alright - we've just been busy AND having some internet issues that I haven't gotten around to calling the cable company about fixing yet. Anyway, all is well, I'm just on a bit of a blog vacation. :)

Scotch will be 6 months old tomorrow! How the heck did that happen?!?! I can't believe that half of a year has passed already since she joined our family. At any rate, at 6 months, she is rolling all over the place, laughing all the time, combining vowel and consonant sounds (ahgoo, ung, mo, and more), sitting up on her own. Also, she's eating some solids - which we're making at home, and is now wearing cloth diapers.

Little Kahuna is getting big, too! He's looking forward to soccer camp the first week in August. He adores his little sister still, and is great at helping to take care of her.

That's pretty much it for us - the quick version, anyway. We've been busy with Mr. A's softball games and visiting family and friends, many of whom have new babies for the kids to play with. Hope you're all doing well!

What We've Been Up To... with pics!

2009-05-25T20:48:00.005-04:00

Sorry for disappearing for a time there - we've just been busy. I was telling a friend the other day that I haven't had any free time at work as the end of the year is busy and I haven't had free time at home because there is so much going on. Anyway, here are a few pics of the things we've been doing. Enjoy! Scotch LOVES her sling! Here she is asleep at a local cruise night. So sweet!
This pic was taken on May 15th, Scotch's 4 month "birthday."
It's SO hard to believe that she's already 4 months old. I completely missed doing the 4 month post, but she's doing all sorts of fun things now. Prior to turning 4 months old, she did a bunch of new things 1 time (laugh, roll over, and more), but now she's doing them more regularly. It's still a lot of work to make her laugh, but it is fun!

And, since LK is such a ham, he had to intrude

on Scotch's 4 month photo shoot!

LK's class took a field trip to Land of Make Believe on May 22nd.

Daddy got to go with him, and they both had a great time!

Still on the trip. There are several other pics on the

memory stick, but most have other kids in them.

Saturday, we went to a birthday party at Bounce U. Before letting the kids play, they have them watch a video on safety. I took this pic because I noticed something 'wrong.' Can you spot it? I didn't notice until just before taking the picture.

Watch out!

Yesterday we were able to go to an Iron Pigs baseball game. I love how grumpy Scotch looks in this picture. It was hot, and she was not too happy about it.

"You know you make me wanna SHOUT!"

dictionary

2009-05-14T08:58:00.005-04:00

Snore-tickle (snor tik el) verb. the act of pretending to sleep while making loud, obnoxious snoring noises and simultaneously tickling your pre-schooler as he laughs hysterically at bed-time. As he was fighting going to bed, LK begged Mommy to snore-tickle him. - snore-tickling, - snore-tickled

Not Me, Again

2009-05-11T13:04:00.006-04:00

Welcome, once again to Not Me, Monday! The weekly blog carnival hosted by MckMama. After reading what I've NOT been up to, click over to her blog and read up on what everyone else has not been doing. Enjoy!

It has not been a whole week since I last posted. I have not composed several blog posts and just not gotten around to proofing and posting them. That would be lazy... and maybe mean that I got all of my housework done for the week or something along those lines. :)

I am not thrilled that it is May 11, meaning there is less than one month left of school!

I did not take a picture of LK and Mr. A yesterday that made me cry because it was a 're-creation' of an almost identical picture taken 2 years ago. Yeah.. the original is on a memory stick somewhere in my house, but it's the wall-paper on my computer, so here's a pic of my computer screen with the original (Mother's Day 2007) followed by the one taken yesterday. Sigh... no tears from me.

Not Me! Monday

2009-05-04T13:10:00.005-04:00

So, I haven’t posted about him in a bit, but sweet baby Stellan was able to come home from the hospital last week! He went through major heart surgery and is on oral meds, has regular doctor appointments, nurses visiting, etc., but he is home! God is so good! In honor of Stellan’s being released, I decided to join in on MckMama’s weekly blog carnival!

Basically, it’s an opportunity to fess up to some of the real-life (mis)adventures that have gone on in my life in the past week or so. Sound fun? Well, they’re definitely fun to read, and it’s time to join in.

So, while pumping at work last week, my pump did not die on me, mid-pump. I’m a full-time working mama, of course I paid several hundred dollars for a brand-new top of the line pump… Who would try to save a few bucks by buying a cheaper one? Not me!

When Mr. A. went away for the weekend, I did not agree to take LK out to dinner at Friendly’s. Even if I did, I would never allow him out of the house in camo pants, an old stained t-shirt, and ~~ugly~~ Lightning McQueen sandals… and no coat or socks despite the cool rain falling. What kind of mother would do that?

I absolutely did not leave all of the socks in their own laundry basket while folding all of the rest of the laundry and then dig through that basket when looking for a pair of socks this morning. I mean, all of our socks were certainly put away with all of the other laundry right after they were matched up and folded.

I did not make chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast yesterday. We always eat fully nutritious, healthy breakfasts, after all.

I am not counting down the days ~~(28!)~~ left of school. :-)

I did not learn a new blog trick (the strike-through) this weekend! Thanks for tweeting (?) about that again, MckMama!

Want to win?

2009-05-02T09:21:00.002-04:00

Every once in a while I see someone doing a giveaway on another blog and I think: 1 - Wow, I should do a giveaway sometime (we'll see), and sometimes 2 - Wow, I'd kind of like to win that! So, this morning I was following links from some of the blogs I read, and I 'met' a fellow mommy-blogger over at The Coco Cafe, who happens to be having a giveaway at the moment. She's giving away a very cute Mei-Tai baby carrier. So, as I currently have a HotSling and LOVE 'wearing' Scotch, but she's growing and that sling won't last forever, I decided to enter to win. If you'd like a chance (or more) to win, follow me to the contest. :) More from me in a bit... it's been a crazy week.

Weekend by Numbers

2009-04-27T12:31:00.003-04:00

average high temperature – 90
money spent on drive-in movie - $20
loads of laundry completed – 5
poopy diapers changed – 6
number of times Scotch spit up all over herself – 3
- all over me – 2

- all over anyone else - 0
outfits worn by Scotch – 6 (!!)
- by me – 3
kid baths – 4
showers for me – 1 ½
tantrums from LK – 3
trips to the park – 2
praise songs sang in church – 8
women who ‘oohed and aahed’ over Scotch at a baby shower – 8
trips to the grocery store – 0 (yay!)
rooms dusted and vacuumed – 2
hours of TV watched - <1

A Fun Night

2009-04-26T15:02:00.003-04:00

It seems that spring has skipped right over us, and we've been dumped right into the middle of summer! :-) This weekend has been gorgeous! Highs in the upper 80's, sunny, light breezes, just gorgeous! Even better than when those temps return in the summer, as we're not dealing with the high humidity now. So, last night Mr. A and I decided to take the kids to the drive-in. We haven't been since well before we were married - we saw 'Jurassic Park 3.' So, LK had never been. We picked up some sandwiches and drinks for dinner and headed north.

LK thought it was great that he could run around and play before the movie. But, once 'Monsters vs. Aliens' came on the screen, he rushed to his chair! He did get a bit frustrated during the movie as he wanted to see the WHOLE screen and the car in front of us had an antenna that was in front of his view of the screen while he was sitting in his chair. He ended up sitting on Daddy's lap for most of the movie, under the blanket as it did get a little chilly. Scotch just looked cute - I love this pic of her. She did great throughout the movie... nursed a few times, didn't cry, fell asleep at the end of the movie. And, I've been making a point of getting pics of myself with the kids so they know/remember that I was around during their childhoods - not always the one taking the pics, you know. So, one of me with Scotch before the movie.

So, how about you? What did you do this weekend?

Trike-A-Thon

2009-04-24T14:52:00.004-04:00

Every year, LK's pre-school has a 'Trike-a-thon' to raise money for St. Jude's Hospital. Last year, LK was so excited about the event, and this year was no different. However, this year, I was able to be there for it! So, here are a few pics from today. :-)

Rollin', rollin', rollin'...

2009-04-23T21:36:00.003-04:00

Guess who can roll over now? Yep, the same little girl who got her first hair clippies AND first sunglasses today. :-)

The Reveal

2009-04-17T21:16:00.006-04:00

Before

I tell you all about my haircut, I thought I'd share this yummy recipe I threw together last night. It's nothing fancy, nor is it entirely original, but I did put it together without a recipe. (Hence the lack of real measurements... I rarely measure when making dinners like this.)

Ami's Chili-Mac

1 1/2 pounds ground beef or turkey (could also combine with some sausage)

1/2-1 onion

2-3 cloves of garlic

green bell pepper

cumin

chili powder

salt and pepper

olive oil

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 small can tomato sauce

water

1 1/2 - 2 cups pasta

Directions: In large pot, brown the meat in about 1 T olive oil. Chop the onion, garlic, and pepper, and add them to the meat as it browns. Season with some cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. When meat is browned, drain grease and return to heat. Add the tomatoes and sauce. Cover and simmer at least 1 hour. Check the seasonings, and add more if needed. Stir in the pasta (I used ditalini - little tubes that are about 1/4 inch long), and some water if needed (I needed about 1 cup). Cook until pasta is done.

* It would probably also be good with 1-2 cans of beans (I would add them with the tomatoes), but I didn't use them because the hubby is not a fan of beans. Also, we had the leftovers tonight, and it was even better the 2nd night!

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

So, during my search for a new haircut, I decided to check out Locks of Love. I know several people who have donated hair to them in the past and it is a great cause. I wanted to check to see just how long the hair has to be for them to accept it and use for a wig. The answer? 10 inches. I wrote down the pertinent information, and then showed Mr. A the cut I was thinking of. (I only mention that because EVERYONE that saw me today after getting it done asked if I had his permission... as if it is his hair or something like that. Even the woman cutting my hair, who has known us for years asked if he was ok with it.)

And, after all is said and done, I'm happy with my haircut (although not this pic so much). It's all 'flippy' tonight, and I'm sure it's not going to do that when I do it on my own, without a blow-dryer. I hope to get some fun family pics this weekend, so we'll see what it does then. Oh, and I'm excited to send off my braid for a child who needs a wig!

Three Months!

2009-04-15T19:07:00.004-04:00

Scotch is 3 months old today!

At 3 months, she is:

laughing.
"talking" and cooing.
imitating various facial expressions.
controlling her head fairly well.
able to push up when on her belly.
able to recognize voices.
turn towards noises.
loving being in her sling with Mommy.
sleeping through the night consistently.
able to reach for and grab her favorite toys.
drooling and blowing bubbles.
trying to roll over from belly to back and back to belly.

Help Me. :-)

2009-04-14T16:14:00.002-04:00

I have an appointment on Friday for a haircut. I've worn my hair basically the same way since... high school, I guess. The length changes once in a while - I've gone as short as shoulder length. The current length is about as long as it's ever been. So, any suggestions for me? I'd kind of like a change, but I just don't know what to ask for. (There's a pic in the previous post, for those of you who don't know me 'irl.')

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T20:50:00.003-04:00

A couple of pics from today... Enjoy!

Easter Truths

2009-04-12T07:24:00.003-04:00

I was going to write a post about Easter, and what it means to me - eternally speaking and all - and then I read this post over at My Charming Kids. MckMama has such a way with words and says all that I wanted to share, so instead of me trying (not as eloquently) to say the same thing, I'll send you over to her blog once again. :) I know that most of my (handful of) readers believe this truth, and I rejoice in that knowledge. I pray that others would come to a place of understanding this Easter. Happy Easter!

Things LK Says

2009-04-11T22:36:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, I promised recipes, and they're coming... I mentioned in a comment on Mindy's blog that I have a post in my head about what we do to save money; it's coming... I have several new pics on my camera that are waiting for another day...

Today, I want to list some of the funny things that LK says or has said that have 'stuck' in our family. You know, from when he was beginning to talk and couldn't quite pronounce everything, and from as he's gotten older and can pronounce most things, but sometimes doesn't quite hear what is said, and he'll repeat it in a funny way. Here are a few of those words/phrases you'll hear if you visit our family.

Gooka - What LK called himself before he could pronounce his name

menember - remember

Handy Nanny - Handy Manny

deletoes - Doritos

light saver - light sabre

nuggins - chicken nuggets

awaihee - Hawaii

Are there any funny little mispronunciations you'd like to share from your families?