November 10, 2006

Well I've figured out a position to balance Jesse on my chest which allows me to type with both hands, so let's see if I can get this story down while I still remember it all.  

So around 9am on Tuesday I started getting contractions. Not bad but worse than usual (I still managed to make it through my 9-10am conference call). I had a Dr's appt at 11:15 and by then they were coming every 5 min. Not painful enough to where I'd be running to the hospital or anything but enough where I knew it was going to be that day (or so I thought at the time anyway!).

At the doctor’s my blood pressure was 150/90 - a tad high. But I was still only 2cm and very thick. Still, my doc figured I was in labor from my bp and was concerned about me getting to the hospital in time and such, so she said to call her at 3 and let her know the story (i.e. if we wanted to go in or not). She also had an induction date for me if that day wasn't *the* day - the 15th!! Well no way was I waiting until the 15th, so hard labor or not, I was going to the hospital.

We called mom and dad to watch the kids. They got there at 2pm - by then the contractions weren't much stronger but were about 3 minutes apart, so good enough. We left for the hospital at 2:15 after calling the doctor.

We got to the hospital 30 minutes later and spent the next half hour trying to find maternity and then answer the 8 bazillion questions necessary to get us into the actual labor and delivery area. Once in we were sent to "Room 1" (which is actually room 4901). We sat down and stared at each other for about 15 minutes. We both agreed it was a good thing I wasn't in any actual pain because there was not a soul to be found! Finally a nurse came in, said hi, grabbed a light, and left. Huh.

A few minutes later our nurse finally came in and gave me a gown and I got changed.

My blood pressure was now 135/85 and my pulse was in the 130s. A resident checked me and I was 3cm and 20% effaced. He drilled me on any cardiac issues in my past or in my family. I explained I was thirsty. His answer equated to that being irrelevant and also too darned bad because I wouldn't be getting anything to drink for quite some time. In any case he talked to my doctor and I was there to stay so I was being admitted. Alright - things were rolling!

The nurse came back and said my veins were terrible and so she had to put the IV in the crook of my elbow. I asked if that would be a problem if I was lying on my side and she said of course not (note foreshadowing here). She started fluids and antibiotics since I was Group B positive.

At 5 there was a shift change for the residents (3 is shift change for nurses - just fyi) so a new resident came in and checked me. Still 3cm and 20%. Also, did I know that my pulse was in the 130s? Again ensued the cardiac questions. Contractions seemed to be picking up a bit - they were small on the monitor but spaced 2-3 min apart. I asked the nurse if I could have a couple pillows and she said she'd have to send someone to a different floor to find some. I stared at her.

At 5:30 my doctor arrived and checked me. Same. While she was in there she turned my cervix inside out and rearranged various other internal organs. My contractions came to a screeching halt. When she came back in at 6 I hadn't had a contraction in 30 minutes and asked if we could just start the pitocin. She said sure, right away.

Josh and I made polite conversation for a while.

At 6:45 a nurse came in to tell me that she was covering while my nurse was away did I need anything. Umm, yeah, pitocin. Oh, we'll do that as soon as she's back, the nurse assures me. This is when I first started to realize that these nurses lie. So I asked for a blanket instead (all had was a sheet). She informed me that they are out of blankets. Out of blankets?!?! At least she brought me a sheet from the warmer, so that's almost like a blanket - at least for about 20 minutes.

At 7:15 the resident comes in to say that there's a c-section that's just ended but caused a nursing shortage on the floor for the past hour and a half. Well geez, why didn't the nurse just say that?! Anyway, since it had just ended, she was sure we'd be starting my pitocin any minute.

At 8 my nurse finally showed up and got the pitocin started.

A relatively uneventful couple of hours came next - with the nurse mostly remembering to turn my pitocin up every 30 minutes. I met a very nice med student who explained the contraction monitor to me and then asked if this was my first. When I said it was my fourth he gave the same shocked look that I had gotten from every other person who had asked me and then apologized for having explained the contraction monitor to me. Cute. He wanted to know if I knew that my pulse was high and had I had a history of cardiac problems.

I met a rather odd EKG tech who passed the time that he was hooking me up for an EKG telling me about an incredibly large woman he had to do an EKG on and how he had to tip her backwards/upside down on the table so that he could get under her breasts to hook up the electrodes and so he couldn't see her head because it was blocked by her breasts. huh. As a side note, the EKG tech was the only one who didn't think my pulse was all that fast, and my EKG was fine.

At 11 was the next nursing shift change and that's when my nurse - the walking idiot, let's call her Agnes (name changed to protect the idiot), was assigned to me. I met her just after the resident was checking me and proclaiming that I was still 3cm, maybe 40% effaced, and the baby was so high she couldn't even break my water. Great. I also finally met the actual doctor that would be delivering me who said he'd prefer for me to get into a good rhythm before breaking my water and if I wanted an epidural I could do it before having my water broken. I told him the same thing I'd told everyone else that had asked - I wasn't sure if I wanted an epidural yet. Truth is I didn't want one, but I also know that I have a breaking point...

So anyway, now is when things started to get interesting. Around 11 :30 my contractions went from not that bad and 3 minutes apart to holyfreakin-cow and 1-2 minutes apart with about 15-30 seconds in between. The only position that I could manage to deal with them in was sitting up in bed and sort of rocking back and forth a little. It was rough but I was surviving.

But Agnes was not happy - my rocking was screwing with the heart monitor thingy and they weren't picking up the baby the whole time. Of course, that's not what she said when she came in to tell me to get on my left side - what she said was that she didn't like the baby's reaction to the contractions and I needed to lie down. Well fine, I got on my left side.

The contractions were WAY worse and try as I might to relax my body through them, I could only cope by grabbing the bed handles with both hands. This crooked my left arm, the one with the IV, which upset Agnes tremendously. I guess the IV wasn't running in properly. So every time I had a contraction she would remind me to straighten my arm and then go ahead and 'help me" straighten it.

By now the contractions were REALLY bad - I think the pitocin caught up with me all at once. Every time Agnes touched my IV I wanted to beat her severely. Then she decided more people needed to touch it and so 4 or 6 nurses came in and took turns complaining about how it sucked. Then 3 or 4 more came in and said they didn't see any other vein. Holy crap - just give me the bag of goo and I'll drink it - I'm thirsty enough!!

The resident asks again if I want the epidural. I say that if she checks me and tells me I'm still 3 then yes, and if I'm 7 then no. So at 1 am she checks me and I'm still 3 - I mean good god! She says she's going to break my water and I say let's get that epidural first. She says sure.

So I notice that Agnes is not busying herself with calling the epidural guy. I'm so distraught from still being 3 and from hating her that I can barely function and the contractions are coming fast and strong. I can tell Josh is trying to refrain from beating her as well. I ask how long before the epidural and she says she has to get another IV bag hung and 500 in before they call. I stared at her in disbelief. By now I've been here over 10 hours and had several IV bags in me and 2 rounds of antibiotics and we have to wait for MORE on an IV that 18 nurses agree sucks??? So HOW LONG I say. Oh, that won't take long she assures me.

At 1 :45 Agnes says she called the epidural guy and he's on his way but has to do one other patient first. So about a half hour? I ask her. On no, she says, they only take about 5 minutes. What am I - NEW??? This is my fourth kid - I KNOW how long an epidural takes. I don't have time to argue between contractions (I'm back to sitting up - screw her - every time she tells me to lie down I say I have to use the bathroom and proceed to take my damn time, then repeat). I'm not screaming but I'm darn close.

I tell her I want some staydol. She tells me that staydol will make me sleepy - so sleepy that I won't be able to sit up to get the epidural, and that it will last several hours so my epidural would be delayed for quite some time. Again, I did NOT just fall off the turnip truck - I mean really, those of you that have had it know it lasts for all of 10 minutes and barely does a damn thing. I tell her she's full of shit and I want it - ask the resident.

So the resident comes in and says I can have it but she's worried about the baby because the heart rate keeps dropping during contractions. I don't have time in my 5 seconds between contractions to explain that the heartrate does NOT keep dropping - they keeping losing it because Agnes the walking idiot hasn't figured out to just move the probe up higher where my leg won't hit it while I rock. However, since I am a mother, on the off chance that the resident wasn't also an idiot, I said fine, I'll wait for the epidural but I'm not lying down. The got me a birthing ball.

The birthing ball was surprisingly comfortable. By sticking out my right leg I could rock through the contractions and still keep the heartbeat probe functioning. Don't get me wrong, I was still in A LOT of pain, but being able to move around made an enormous difference.

So finally the epidural guy arrived around 2:15. Funny, took him about half an hour - huh! I got situated on the edge of the bed and Josh got kicked out on the room. The times I've done this before the nurse has said to lean on her and has sort of held my shoulders. Agnes wasn't that kind of girl I guess - she gave me a pillow to hug. Luckily I understood how important it was not to move. So I'm sitting there having a contraction and hugging my pillow and Agnes is slipping a blood pressure cuff on me. NOW?! I exclaimed. She looked shocked that I would speak to her in such a voice. Then she clipped my finger with the pulse reader thingy. Good thing because I had been planning to use that finger to poke her eyes out, but now the finger was otherwise engaged.

The epidural guy informs me I have scoliosis. Yeah, fine, whatever, just go to work (I think to myself - one does not make fun of people giving epidurals!!).

So by 2:45 I've got the world's greatest epidural and am comfortably lying down halfway on my right side (there was just a little patch on the right side of my stomach where I could still feel the contractions, but I didn't mind that). I could move my right leg but not feel anything, I could almost sort of inch my left leg around. It was perfect. Of course, every part of my body and especially my teeth were shaking violently, but whatever.

Josh went to ask for another warm sheet but the nurses at the nurses station said they were out of anything even resembling a blanket.

At 3am the resident comes in to break my water. Agnes is standing there and the resident tells her to give her some fundal pressure by pushing down on it. Agnes stares into space so I do it myself by pushing on my stomach. The resident checks me and I'm 4cm. The sweet but skiddish med student from earlier politely asks me if he could check me as well. Go nuts I say, I have an epidural. He checks me and then thanks me profusely. I tell the resident not to go too far, I was planning to have this baby by 4:30am. Oh hee hee, everyone has a good laugh.

The resident wants to put the head probe on the baby to get a better heartbeat read out. I point out that the heartbeat readout has been fine since I had the epidural and so forget it. She says fine, how about an internal contraction monitor (doesn't touch the baby), I say fine.

So everyone but Josh and Agnes leave. I ask Agnes how the contractions look now and she says they are very strong - must have been a problem with the probe before (when they were barely showing up and everyone thought I was just a drama queen). No duh! I asked how long after birth before I can have something to drink and she says about an hour. We'll see about that I think to myself.

At 3:45 I ask Agnes if she could take a peak down there and see if there was a head coming out. She asked if I wanted her to get the resident to check me. Didn't I just say what I wanted? Ok, fine, call the resident. So the resident comes in and I just say there's a little pressure and I wanted to just make sure a kid wasn't going to come flying out when only Agnes the wonder idiot would be there to deal with it. She takes a look and yes, there is a head coming out. However, the doctor is busy delivering the woman next door.

The doctor pops over to ask if we're serious and also asks if I have an epidural. I say hey - I'm fine, greatest epidural ever, take your time.

At 4am in march the doctor, the resident, and the med student. Agnes breaks down the table and hands me my leg. Josh holds the other one. The resident tells me to stop pushing. I tell her I'm not pushing.

Agnes positions the mirror so I can see - the one useful thing she does all night. His head is at least an inch out of me already and we haven't started yet!!

At this point I should stop complaining quite so much because I am so thankful I had the epidural. Of all my kids this was the most amazing actual birth experience. I can see Jesse coming out and I'm just lying there, enjoying the show. The doctor, resident, and med student are finally ready and tell me to push. I give a mini-push - just a little one - and the rest of his head comes out. I can feel the whole thing happening but it doesn't hurt. It's amazing! Really incredible.

All 3 of them say to stop pushing. No problem. I stare into the mirror while they get ready and with one more push I watch him come out all the way. wow. I can still see it in my head and am so amazing. The rest of the night just didn't matter.

They put him on my stomach but Agnes had trouble trying to clean him up so high so I told her to go ahead and go clean him and then bring him back.

The doctor, resident, and med student stitched me up - the doctor directed, the resident did the stitches, and the med student stood awkwardly with some scissors just to scare me. Sometimes he would get to cut something and I would think "please be careful please be careful".

I ask the doctor if I can have apple juice and he says sure, have all you want. I want to take the 1st cup and throw it at Agnes.

Josh leaves around 5 and I stay in the delivery room nursing my sweet little man. Agnes says I'll be in my recovery room in an hour. Agnes lies, but who cares.

The utterly amazing incompetence is somewhat less so once in recovery, but I'll spare you the details. Bottom line is we're all fine now.

Well that's Jesse's story. 7lbs 1oz 20 inches born at 4:05am. An amazing addition to our family, and the last one. He completes us. 

November 9, 2006

Jesse Benjamin arrived Nov 8th at 4:05am weighing in at 7lbs 1oz and measuring 20 inches. The birth story is likely quite comical for anyone not actually going through it, so I'll write out the long version this weekend. We are doing fine now and are home and resting (at least temporarily!). We already had the new parent let-the-baby-pee-on-you-just-as-you-are-putting-on-the-clean-diaper moment, so got that out of the way. 

November 4, 2006

Well I guess I'll start with the thing everyone has been asking about - no, there is no baby yet. Some of you seem rather concerned that I'm going to have this baby and keep it a secret, so let me assure you that will not be the case.

I saw the doctor on Tuesday – still 2cm and still not effaced at all. She would have set an induction date for me but I know that without a favorable cervix, it was going to take forever, and I really don't want a long labor. After the appt I did a little internet searching and there's this thing called the Bishop scale where if you score a 5 it means a darn good chance of a successful induction. Lucky for me - you get 1 point for each prior vaginal birth, so I definitely start ahead of the game. I get another point for being 2cm. If I can get to 50%, that will make 5. I go back on Tuesday - so think thinning thoughts for me!

No indication that this baby is particularly large or anything, so I think he's just not quite ready yet. I must say that I'm ready though! He dropped last weekend - quite noticeably (maybe because I was previously carrying so high?). So the whole week I've felt like my pelvis could easily split in 2 at any minute. Plus I have shooting pains down my legs - alternating back and front and my lower back is burning from the discomfort. Surprisingly, I sleep relatively well - just waking up every hour or so to turn over, but then right back to sleep again, so that's not so bad. I have trouble getting out of bed or off the couch and feel like quite an invalid at times.

Jocelyn had such a great time trick or treating! She loved her costume (a pink dragon) and kept her hood up the whole time, no problem, with a silly smile on her face. She very much enjoyed touching all the pumpkins sitting out on the stoops of all the neighbors. Timothy also had a fantastic time, of course, though Morgan wasn't really into it and got dropped back off at home early, which was just fine by him. He's had an excellent week at school, but that makes him a bigger space case at home. His principal emailed me the picture of him holding the giant python looking snake at school, which he seemed to be enjoying (but don't anyone get any ideas - we're NOT getting a snake as a pet!). I need to get it posted on the web site but just haven't gotten motivated.

Josh has been very good to me this week. I've sort of been a whiney mess so he's taken over bedtime duty and also took the kids out for a drive a couple nights just so I could have some quiet. The biggest challenge is that Jocelyn wants to climb on my belly constantly, and is not very good at taking no for an answer. She also had a couple days of a slight fever and cold this week, which put her in a less favorable mood than usual (not to mention the 4am wake up time). Aunt Marilyn got a close of this when she called during a Jocelyn meltdown last night - sorry to had to listen to that Marilyn!  

October 29, 2006

Well Josh was pretty PO'd when he got up yesterday. He had spent about 5 hours between Thursday and Friday blowing the leaves in the front and the back. Then Friday night we got rain and BOOM, you'd barely know he had removed any leaves at all. Ahhhhh well - so he gets to repeat the same exercise this week. At least we have blowers so for the most part he doesn't have to rake. We have A LOT of leaves!!!

Let's see - this week Josh went out and got Timothy a boom box for his room (are they still called that?). Josh showed him how it has a CD player and a radio and Timothy asked if it got FOX so he could listen to the Simpsons. D'oh!

Morgan had an excellent week at school and the note from his teacher was glowing this week. She says he spontaneously greets his friends at morning meeting and also says goodbye when he leaves and that he had a good time dancing to Ghostbusters in gym class. I met with his regular teacher and special teacher on Monday and was surprised to learn that he goes through the lunch line all by himself and sits with his friends at lunch while his para sits at a separate table. Pretty impressive I think! His academic skills seem on par, especially reading. He still struggles with his handwriting and his special ed teacher is thinking of getting him a little mini-laptop so he can type instead. He does his computer lessons really fast and the program that was supposed to take 12 weeks only took 4 so she had to call to have the next lesson set sent. The first graders have to learn 100 new site words this year and he already knows 75 plus is sounding out 3 letter words. All in all a good report.

Jocelyn has a bit of a split personality thing going on right now. Sometimes she is about the cutest little angel on the planet, and then sometimes quite the opposite!! She's talking up a storm and says Morgan now, which is really cute. She hasn't quite got Timothy yet, but has the T part anyway. When I ask "Where's Morgan" she looks around for him and if she doesn't see him I tell her to go find him and she runs off into the other room. She missed play group this week as she was sleeping, and we've learned to let a sleeping Jocelyn lie. So far she hasn't got quite as many "rules" as the boys had at this age, but she does have a couple. One is that she has to get into her high chair by herself - if you put her in, she screams. The other is that she wants to put her blanket on by herself. Actually, any time she gets upset it's because you are trying to help her and she wants to do it herself - that's a new one in this house!

I saw the doc on Tuesday and will go again this Tuesday. I was 2cm but not at all effaced, so we're hoping for something in the effacement dept and if so she might induce me this week. I was positive for Group B Strep (which I have never been positive for before but am getting over being sick and I wonder if that had something to do with it??) and so I need IV antibiotics while in labor, preferably 2 doses before my water breaks, which gives her an actual reason to induce me early.

I guess that's about it from here. I wonder if I can talk Josh into going to Panera and getting me a decaf caramel caffe latte ... he hates it when I want the fancy stuff. 

October 21, 2006

Ugh, this house is a mess. Between Josh being sick and me being fat and lazy, we've really let things go. The thought of going into labor right now and having my mother see the house this way is freaking me out. Oh, the validation she would feel when she realized that she was right, I AM a slob - oh it's too much! hahahaha. But at least I'd know that she'd keep busy while I was in the hospital and I'd come home to a clean house. I'd never find anything ever again - but it would be clean!! Note to my pregnant readers - register for a cleaning lady!

I'll be 37 weeks on Monday, which means that a) baby could come at any time, b) more than likely that won't happen, and c) I'm developing a loathing for women who get to deliver at 37 weeks because I'm not one of them. I've been having contractions on and off all week, mostly in the evenings. We'll see on Tuesday if they are doing anything, but my guess is not.

Jocelyn had play group on Friday but wasn't really into it. Josh says she just sat on the rocking horse and smiled at everyone, but didn't play much and didn't even enjoy the parachute as much as usual. She now calls Morgan *More* which is cute. She sort of says Timty for Timothy, also adorable. When she goes to bed at night she gets into bed and pulls the covers up on her and falls asleep in perfect form on the pillow.

Timothy had a field trip to some rock place on Tuesday. We got 8 million notices on it because they had to be there early. I got him there on time and packed a disposable lunch, as per instructions, but I put the disposable lunch inside a non-disposable lunch box. ooops! Luckily I must not be the only parent that can't follow directions because they were prepared with lunch bags and he was able to transfer his lunch to a disposable bag. Phew! I tell ya - this whole school age thing is harder than it looks! This weekend we're making volcano cookies for a school project. Thank goodness for cookie dough in a tube!

Morgan continues to outgrow everything we put on him. I moved all his 6s out of his drawers and found some of Timothy's 7s and smaller 8s to give him instead, but I need to get him some new pants. Josh is going to Target to get a birthday present for a party that Timothy has tomorrow so I'll have him pick some pants up. Morgan's feet are growing too, so he needs new socks and underwear as well. The kid is going to be a mammoth. Meanwhile the 2Ts that I bought for Jocelyn for fall/winter are HUGE on her. In fact, the 12/18 months are fine for length but are still big on the waist.

We got Morgan to eat about 10 strands of plain spaghetti this week by putting them in front of him one at a time. Baby steps! He also ALMOST ate a breadstick in that he put it in his mouth, figured out that it had parm. cheese sprinkled on it, and took it back out and put it in the box. Hey, it was close!

Josh's cold is still lingering but I think he's mostly better. His back was bothering him earlier in the week (who knew you could throw your back out coughing?? ahhhh, old age) but that seems to be on the mend as well.

I guess that's the update from here. It's been 15 whole minutes since I last peed, so off to the bathroom again I go! 

October 15, 2006

Well, in case any of you were wondering, Jocelyn is now the tantrum QUEEN. This morning she handed me a piece of trash and I thanked her and put it down, which launched her into a 20 minute tantrum. Screaming at the top of her lungs, hitting anything in sight, following me around to scream LOUDER, that kind of thing. She's quite gifted. When she's not throwing a tantrum, she is just OOZING cute from every pore. It's almost impossible to deal with, I just want to eat her up.

She's talking more and more. Josh was watching college football yesterday and kept saying NIIIIIICE and so of course Jocelyn started saying it too, which was just hysterical. Then of course we start laughing so she says it even more. She's started wrestling with Timothy, and despite her small stature, puts up quite a fight! The poor kid is also getting 4 teeth that just won't seem to poke through. The drool is quite impressive, and we let her have her binky more because she doesn't so much suck on it as hold it to each side and chew on it.

I bought Jocelyn 2Ts for fall/winter clothes and they are HUGE on her. She's such a little stick.

Morgan's been in a rather good mood lately, so I don't have the heart to cut his hair. He's getting pretty shaggy but he just hates haircuts so much!! It's alright - the 70s are in these days right? We see the specialist for our annual appt on Tuesday. He's getting so big. In the last couple weeks he's pretty much outgrown all his pants and now he and Timothy are both wearing size 8s. So I bought extra and they can share. Morgan needs his cuffed, but other than that they fit fine.

Timothy came with me yesterday to meet my sisters and Ruby and Patience in Sturbridge for breakfast. It was fun and he was quite excited about the cupcake that Auntie Mandy bought him to take home. Jocelyn got one too and I ate Morgan's (he's not much for cupcakes unless they are Hostess). Yum! Timothy was nice enough to read me an entire book on the way up.

I'm 36 weeks as of tomorrow which means Jesse could be here any time. I don't exactly have a record of going early though, so I'm thinking I'll make it to my induction, which will be sometime the week of Nov 6th though I don't have a day yet. At my appt this week I was still 1cm and not at all effaced, and there's really been nothing going on contraction-wise, so I think he's nice and comfy in there and not at all anxious to join us. That's ok though, a few more weeks won't kill me. Wear me out - but not kill me.

Josh seems to have hurt his back again. Nothing specific to blame it on besides old age, but he's pretty unhappy today and Jocelyn's random tantrums aren't exactly cheering him up. He's still recovering from last week's cold too, so an extra grumpy daddy these days. 

October 10, 2006

<note just to my mom>

Ok, I thought I would give you some info for when you watch the kids. To be honest, as long as they are all alive when I get home from the hospital, I don't really care what you do, so ignore whatever you'd like - this is just to help.

Morning -

• sometime before 7 - Timothy gets up
• by 7:20 or so Josh gets up and wakes Morgan (take his pull up off and send him to the bathroom) Let Jocelyn sleep (close her door mostly if you want to block some noise)
• ask Timothy to make waffles, or else see if Morgan wants some cereal (usually fruit loops, sometimes golden grahams) give Morgan a little water if he asks but not too much liquid or he'll have an accident on the bus
• Timothy needs a snack (which he should be able to get himself) and his water bottle filled - RED backpack
• Morgan needs a lunch (2 peanutbutter sandwiches NO JELLY, goldfish, cookies, juice box) - BLUE backpack/lunchbox
• Please put a note in Morgan's red folder that you are watching the kids and leave your cell phone in case they need to reach you
• Get Morgan dressed - underwear and rubber pants (if you can't find them, that's ok), high top sneakers
• Wet down Morgan's hair and brush it (in the drawer in the kitchen on the island across from the fridge is the brush)
• Timothy leaves the house at 8:02 and goes to the bus stop by himself
• Morgan's bus comes to the house between 8:10 and 8:20 - driver gets CRANKY if you aren't at the end of the driveway waiting - Morgan gets on the bus by himself
• Usually Jocelyn sleeps through this or plays quietly in her room
• Once you come in from bus, then she can get up and changed and eat - sometimes she sleeps pretty late, like 9 or 9:30

Jocelyn -

• usually plays for a bit before she eats - will pretty much eat anything
• plays all morning, eats lunch, sometimes naps around 1-2, but at least goes to her room for rest time for an hour or 2

Afternoon -

• Morgan's bus comes to the house between 3:25-3:35 - again the driver gets CRANKY if you aren't out waiting. He gets off the bus by himself, and usually checks the mail on his way in
• Take off his rubber pants and send him to the bathroom
• Probably a good idea to send him to the bathroom every couple hours thereafter
• Timothy comes in on his own around 3:45 (he'll ring the front doorbell or come in through the garage if it's open)
• They'll ask for food if they are hungry - Jocelyn will want whatever the boys have. Morgan usually asks for yogurt - cut him off after 2, and when he asks for juice offer water instead.
• They eat around 5-6. If you want to order pizza from Sal's (they deliver) the menu is by the phone and the kids will have pizza sticks (large - give Morgan the ones on the edges that are mostly crust, Jocelyn prefers the middle ones). Else Morgan basically only eats chicken nuggets and fries (odds are there are some in the freezer). I try to remember to give Jocelyn milk with dinner.

Bedtime -

• Diapers are in the pantry closet, as are wipes. 
• Jocelyn and Morgan head up to bed at 7:30
• Morgan goes to the bathroom and you brush his teeth and then he gets a pull-up and gets gated in his room.
• It's easier to put Jocelyn's PJ's on downstairs - she usually screams if you do it in her room.
• Jocelyn's PJ are in a basket in her closet, but she can also sleep in sweats and a shirt, it doesn't really matter
• Jocelyn gets a binky (or a couple binkies!) and a sippy cup of water for bedtime. I put the gate up and then put her in bed and put the blanket on her and read her a couple books
• Then I tell her goodnight and give her a kiss and leave. She usually cries for a minute or two but that's it.
• Lights off in their rooms but we leave the hallway light on
• Timothy's bedtime is 8:30 - he can put himself to bed (I remind him to brush his teeth). He can sleep in our bed while you guys are there

Other -

• In general extra sheets for the beds are in the closet of the room where the bed is
• the living room TV - receiver set to DVD, remote with COX on it (on CABLE) Changes the channel, the Sony remote (on AMP) does the volume
• bibs are in the 2nd drawer down under the cups
• Socks for both boys are in Timothy's room in the first end table, top drawer
• Cleaning supplies are under the kitchen and bathroom sinks - the kitchen sink has a child proof thingy on it, don't forget to keep that locked, Jocelyn likes to play in there
• You can start a stack of christmas presents in the video game room
• There are some travel shampoos in the blue bathroom in the drawer between the sinks - else you can steal shampoo/soap from our bathroom closet or shower

Things you can clean if you want -

• Any floor
• Any bathroom
• Anything in the kitchen except the little desk where the phone is - that's organized chaos

Ok, that's about it. Josh will call to check in I'm sure. You don't have to send the boys to school if you don't want to, and bedtimes can be pushed as you see fit.

Have fun!  

October 7, 2006

Well it's October, which means it's time for everyone to be sick - ugh. Timothy was first with a cough that lasted about an afternoon. Then Josh and I promptly caught the plague. It turned into a nasty chest cold in each of us, but a gallon of OJ later and I'm feeling mostly better. Josh is still struggling a bit, though is markedly improved from earlier this week. I worked from home on Wednesday and Thursday and then went to work Friday but came home in the afternoon because I was just dragging.

I see the doctor on Tuesday for my strep B swab - woo hoo! Oh the joy. I really can't complain though. All in all this has been a rather enjoyable pregnancy. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that I'm pretty ready for it to be over!! I've been having more uncomfortable contractions Friday and today on and off and it's getting old pretty quick. Let's hope that when I see the doctor Tuesday they've at least done something. Also cross your fingers that baby has turned head down.

This weekend was Sukkot so Joey came over Friday afternoon to help Josh get the Sukkah up. Jocelyn was also a big help!

Jocelyn is talking more and more and sort of counting to 5. I say sort of because she can do it if you say it with her, but if you don't she just says one two three two three two three and then claps for herself. She's so freakin' cute it's almost hard to take at times. But then it's bedtime and she turns into the child from hell. She and Timothy have been getting closer and closer and now when she's upset she runs to him for hugs, which is pretty darned adorable!

Not much new with the boys. Morgan had school pictures this week and his teacher said he did a good job, so we'll see how they turn out. Timothy's were the week before. For Jocelyn I should probably take a head shot so I have one to sort of match.

I know Mandy will be ashamed but I'm wearing overalls today. Besides yoga pants, it's really the only comfortable thing I have left, and the yoga pants have to get washed sometimes! 

September 30, 2006

Well I just wore myself out turning the house upside down looking for my blank Christmas stockings. Man, the downside to a big house is when you can't find something there are a lot more places to look! I could have sworn that I had 2 blank ones left but looks like I only have one. So with 3 new babies this year, I'll have to get a little creative. I'm afraid Grammy Lessard is losing hers completely and I ordered her a new one. I'll take her name off and replace it with one of Patience, Jesse, or Chase. Then another will get the blank one that I did find and then mom volunteered to share with dad so that will be the last one. I'm afraid no one is allowed to have any more kids! As it is I only have 12 hooks, so the adults will all have to double up anyway. Although now that our TV blocks the fireplace I'm not sure where we'll hang them anyway - we may have to resort to using the fireplace in my office.

While searching through EVERYTHING I had to pull out the 2 boxes of Halloween costumes so right now Jocelyn is running around in a Dumbo costume. It's so cute! I do have to go through the costumes and make sure there's one that fits Morgan. Only Timothy gets a new one this year. If memory serves, Timothy was a ninja 2 years ago so that's probably what Morgan will be. It's a good one for him because it doesn't have a mask.

I've been having bad dreams this week - like anxiety dreams or what I call death-by-papercut dreams. No large monsters or death or anything, just those dreams where all the small stuff goes wrong one thing at a time. They wake me up (at which point I of course have to get up and pee) and then I have trouble getting back to sleep. I went to bed at 9:30 last night and didn't get up until 9 this morning, but I got up 4 times, so I still feel tired. I guess I best get used to it though!

Morgan's started biting his nail again - right down to the nub so they bleed. Ugh. I went to Target and bought the nail biting stuff (it's behind the counter in case anyone doesn't want to be like me and walk up and down every aisle before finally asking). The ingredients are cayenne pepper and citric acid and the directions say to apply twice a day. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be slowing him down much.

We dragged a bunch more baby stuff up from the basement while I was busy turning the house upside down today so Jocelyn is in the other room (in her Dumbo costume) swinging in the travel swing. I thought she might like it - we had bought it for her originally but Morgan ended up getting the most use out of it, so now it's her turn. She also crawled into the bouncy seat and hung out there for a while. The bassinet is on the ground and she likes getting in there too. Everything needs to be cleaned and aired out so that's on the agenda for tomorrow.

For today, it's whoopie pie day! I decided to admit defeat with my weight and just enjoy it - and what better way to enjoy it than whoopie pies! So I'm just resting a bit and then I'll be off to the kitchen. 

September 24, 2006

Well just when I thought my days of making dioramas were over, here I am on the couch exhausted from a morning of creating a room for Tom Little out of a shoe box. What a challenge in parenting it is though. I mean, Timothy wanted to make the wallpaper out of fabric instead of colored paper. I had limited glue (I really need to stock up on some elmer's) and knew I could tape the paper vs. glue the fabric. I knew I should let him do it his way, and yet... yeah, we ended up doing it my way. As a compromise I let him do all the cutting, so nothing is square. I let him pick the fabrics for the curtains and bedspread and carpeting, so it's the world's ugliest room.

Poor Jocelyn has not been feeling well for a few days - mostly a terrible runny nose. It's woken her up a few times, specifically Thursday night around 3:30am for some time, then she went back to bed and slept until noon, missing play group. She's getting pretty tired of me wiping her nose every 3 seconds. This morning while Timothy and I were busy creating, she got pretty jealous so Josh set her up with paper and crayons. Well, she liked the crayons, but not so much the paper, so when I was done gluing, I scrubbed crayon off the counter. Comes off, but not easily!

Morgan has started biting his nails again. It's not quite as bad as last year yet, where he almost chewed them straight off, but it's getting there. If I had any energy left today I'd go out and get some of that no-biting nail polish stuff. Other than that he's been doing well at school and having good days this week. He bought lunch twice on chicken tender days and ate all the chicken part, so that's nice. He's started saying hi and bye to his friends without prompting, and the class continues to be impressed with him spelling all the days of the week, which I'm sure makes him very happy.

We had Timothy's Open House this week, which was crowded. It's like being back in high school except smaller and even more random people just stop for no good reason in the middle of the hallway and hold everything up, so irritating!

I'll be 33 weeks pregnant on Monday, and I feel like it's never going to end. There's no such thing as a comfortable position. This is the second Saturday in a row that I've spent in bed due to just exhaustion, which seems to result in too many contractions. I've made it down to the couch today but my hopes of getting out to Target are dashed after the multiple trips down to the basement and back up for craft supplies. I have no stamina, and have no idea how I'm going to get through labor, which I'm started to freak out about. My doctor implied (but didn't say outright) that she would induce me earlier than 39 weeks if I had dilated to 3cm at some point, so I'm hoping these contractions I've been having are actually doing something. I dragged the bassinet up from the basement today and need to get some febreeze. Also need to put the pack-n-plays together today (the one that Jocelyn had for downstairs, a new one for our bedroom because Jocelyn got sick one night and well, long story short, we had to throwaway the play pen).

Uncle Joey came over Friday afternoon to make us Rosh Hashanah dinner. I wasn't feeling very well so decided to lie down for a few minutes before dinner, and fell asleep for 4 hours! So I missed dinner, but did feel somewhat better after the nap. I got up for 90 minutes and then went back to sleep for another 9 hours. 

September 10, 2006

We went to the Wapping Fair today. We got there just in time for the pig races, which I must say were hilarious. We wandered through the animal tents and nobody cried and all the kids at least pretended to look at the animals. Jocelyn wasn't extremely interested, but not disinterested either. One goat stepped up on his gate to try to get closer to her and she leaned her head into my shoulder and gave him the shy look, but she didn't scream and didn't hide her eyes. Morgan liked the sheep.

We walked around all the little craft selling stands and got Jocelyn a ribbon crown. We played some games - Timothy tried to shoot a basketball, both boys tried to throw bean bags into Sponge Bob's mouth (for that one everyone under 12 was a winner, so they each won a blow up hammer suitable for hitting each other with), and Morgan fished for ducks (winning a stuffed alligator for Jocelyn).

We got french fries for the kids and fried dough for us, and then Morgan watched the ferris wheel while Jocelyn and Timothy and I rode the merry go round. Jocelyn didn't cry! She's the first one we've had that didn't scream the whole time! She rode the horse for a bit and then was done so I held her the rest of the way. All in all quite a nice day. It's quite loud there and Morgan covers his ears a lot so it's hard to tell if he’s having fun, but all the way home he kept saying "did you have a fun time?" and when we pulled in the driveway he said "thanks, that was great fellas".

Not much for news from the week. I just finished all my homework - I had to cover one of Timothy's books, order too much crud from their fundraisers, and fill out the 8 million forms that came home on Fridays. Whew!

I've been having wicked heartburn lately - probably because I'm eating so much. I made a concerted effort to eat smaller portions yesterday and didn't have to take any Tums until the evening. So far that's working again today, and it's better for me anyway. 

September 7, 2006

Got to go see Morgan's classroom yesterday - it's so nice! The classrooms at Wapping are big and open with high ceilings and lots of windows very nice. (Timothy's classrooms have been very cramped at PRS). He sits at a desk in a group of 5 desks. I met his teacher who was super nice and talked about how excited she was to have him in her class. Then I went to the special room and saw his cubicle where he has his own Toshiba laptop computer loaded with educational software that allows him to do both reading and math assignments. She walked me through some of them and what he can do is pretty impressive!

For example the computer tells him to read the three sentences (The car is green. The sign says stop. something something) and then click the blue box. When he clicks it, there's a picture of a green car and he has to match it to the correct sentence. There are 8 questions per *unit* and he has to get all 8 right to move on, else it starts over. Once he gets them all right, a little picture of a kid raising his hand shows up on the screen and it says "please call your teacher" and the teacher advances him to the next one.

She says he LOVES it - which he must because he's already done 52 units!! Similar situation for math. He's been spending the mornings in his regular classroom and then he's so tired in the afternoon that he can't make it, so he comes back and does the computer for a while. He still has specials (music, art, whatever) and recess with his class. It was nice to get to see where he goes every day! 

September 3, 2006

Josh just got back with the munchkins from Dunkin Donuts so now I'm feeling a little better. So is Morgan - he's a munchkin hound. He likes the plain glazed ones.

We went to visit an old co-worker from Andersen yesterday. She's got a 3.5 year old and then 15 month old twins. It was a loud visit but a fun one. Then I told Jocelyn to take something out of her mouth and she started crying and we decided it was time to go. She fell asleep in the car (pretty unusual for her) about 2 minutes after we left. The boys were well behaved so I was happy with that. Morgan was a little out of it, but he was quiet and didn't break anything.

Today it's raining and we're just planning to sit around. I actually wasn't feeling all that great when we got home yesterday but then better but today kinda icky again. I think it's just a run down pregnancy thing - everyone else seems fine. 

August 19, 2006

Ahhhhhh vacation. Worth every red cent if you ask me. We're at the same place we stayed at 2 years ago except that they have made some very nice renovations, including finishing off the basement into an in-law apt (living room, kitchen, bedroom, 3/4 bath) and expanding the main bathroom into something much larger than a broom closet, complete with washer and dryer. Oh, and the master bedroom has a king-sized bed now, a must for someone more than 6 months pregnant and her oak tree of a husband.

The other bedroom upstairs has a set of bunks and a full size bed, with very little other space once all that furniture is in there. We had to move stuff around a bit to fit Jocelyn's pack'n'play. The boys started out in the bunkbeds but Morgan had a little trouble remembering not to pound on the bottom of Timothy's mattress, so Morgan moved to the full size. That's when he figured out that he could crawl from there into Jocelyn's bed, and so he managed to wake her up several times. Longer story short, it took a few nights to get the sleeping situation to be an all-night kind of thing, but we seem to have it under control now. (knock on wood).

I'm not totally sure why they limit occupancy here to 8 people since it seems like you could fit more than that (the living room on the main floor has a pull out sofa, and the living room downstairs has a regular sofa and a cot in the closet), but that's ok.

Timothy still thinks we're roughing it though - the volume buttons on the remote don't work so he has to keep touching the actual television to change the volume (a skill I had to teach him, it was pretty funny actually) and he still doesn't quite understand the difference between highspeed and dial-up and why our wireless laptops can't be wireless here.

Were having such a fantastic time though - and the most incredible weather! (knock on wood again!). We drove up Saturday, stopping in Leominster to meet the new Roberge (so cute!). The traffic getting up here was just ridiculous - took us 3.5 hours to get from Leominster to South Portland, where we stopped to see Grammy Lessard for only about 20 minutes since we were running late at that point. We left South Portland around 3:30 and got to Krainin around 4 to pick up the keys and backtrack about 6 miles to this cabin. We emptied the car and Josh ran out for groceries while I unpacked.

Mom and Dad arrived Monday afternoon and stayed until Thursday morning. We had a very nice visit. Lots of swimming and to Timothy's delight, some poker. Josh and I got to leave the cabin sans kids on Monday night, which was very fun! We drove up to Naples and got specialty coffees and sat outside to enjoy them. On Wednesday mom and I ran out and did a little shopping. Even though it's ridiculously over-priced, we love The Cry of the Loon. And when I say over-priced, I mean we saw a lizard that had no particular purpose for $400. It's fun to look around though.

We also went to My Kid's Closet - a kid's consignment store - where I found some boots and snowpants for Jocelyn. They are super ugly but for something that she's only going to wear 3 times, it hardly matters. And at $5 for two together, the price was right! We also stopped at a t-shirt stand where Grandma bought everyone Maine t-shirts - we're such tourists! The ones for the boys were the cutest I think - they have a little dumptruck type thing on them and say "I Dig Maine".

On Thursday I managed to finish the book that I've been reading to write a review for an actuarial magazine. Super dull, I was proud of myself for getting through it. Now I just have to figure out how to write a book review.

Jocelyn has picked up a few new words since we've been here. She says OW when she pretends to fall down and yesterday when I finished brushing my teeth she told me Good Job! She also says BYE regularly - complete with waving. So between those and her already regular words of hi, daddy, and uh-oh, I think she only has to pick up 6 or 7 more words in the next week and a half before her doctor's appt to be almost age appropriate. She appears to be saying UP when she wants to be picked up, so I think that one is about to break through, and she has something that sounds like thank-you as well.

Yesterday was a red-letter day for Timothy. I bribed him with poker-playing to get him to use the noodles to float without his feet or hands touching the ground and he actually did it! In fact, once he did it, he played around with the noodles for quite some time and seemed very proud of himself. He was still only about thigh-deep, but we'll work on that part.

Jocelyn pretty much hated the water at first but has now dared to go about ankle deep where she can sit and splash herself. She ends up with about 2 Ibs of sand in her swim diaper, so that requires a strip down and washing before we go inside, something she's not particularly fond of but the screams have turned to cries instead, so that's progress.

Morgan, as usual, is generally up to his eyeballs and you have to pry him from the water. He drinks a better part of the lake each time we're in it, but I've given up on trying to stop him. He wears his sponge bob arm floats without complaining, so at least I can spot him. He's gotten too heavy for me to swing around in the water - and when I tried it that first day my belly told me to cut it out.

Grammy Lessard came for dinner yesterday and we had a nice visit with her. Jocelyn almost sort of gave her a hug goodbye - the boys were a little more accommodating. Grammie Whitten and Maurice will come for lunch on Monday, a tradition we look forward to, and then that will be it for socializing for us.

Last night we taught Jocelyn ring-around-the-rosie. At first she thought we were all nuts, but once she saw us do it she became a big fan and we did quite a few rounds· enough to wear me out (getting up and down isn't as easy as it used to be!). Then we did I'm a little teapot (Morgan looks cute doing the teapot - he tips the wrong way though).

Nothing on the agenda for the weekend. Josh went out for groceries again yesterday so that we don't have to fight the weekend crowds. I've only washed my hair once since we've been here (ewwwwww) so maybe I'll work up the motivation to shower. 

August 6, 2006

Well I've decided that I'm uncomfortable - though I can hardly complain with the discomfort Mandy must be in these days. Still, finding a comfy position to sleep in has become a challenge to say the least. This kid (who the internet tells me is about 2 Ibs) is VERY strong and also quite limber from what I can tell since he can kick the top and bottom of my stomach at once. Sometimes I picture that he must be like the astronauts in the space shuttle running in circles.

Morgan had his annual doctor's appt and did great (helped along by the fact that he's all done with shots until he's 15). He's 48 inches and 57 Ibs, putting him in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. He's a big kid! I tried to lift him over Jocelyn's gate the other day and decided afterwards that I really shouldn't be doing that. So this morning when he was spazzing out and kicking anyone in his path, I had to call Josh to drag him to his room for a break. Anyway, he was good for the doctor and let him look in his ears and eyes etc etc and when the doctor told him thank you (for saying ahhhh so nicely) he said *you're welcome Sponge Bob* which got giggles from the whole room.

Jocelyn went along to the doctor with Josh and Morgan (while Uncle Joey took Timothy to Chuck E. Cheese's for the morning - we had a least a billion tokens leftover from his birthday party) and she had fun playing with the toys in the doctor's office and Josh also said that in the waiting room she and Morgan both decided to test out each chair.

I had thought this was Morgan's last week of school (the week that just passed that is) but according to the bus driver there is one week more. So I guess we'll be dressed and ready on Monday morning and see what happens. Then after this week we're off to vacation!! YAY!! It should take us about a week to get packed, so I'll get started at least making a list of everything we need today.

I need to go to the hospital lab this week and get my glucose test and rhogham shot. It's such a freakin' hassle. On the subject of freakin', Morgan had been randomly saying it's magically delicious (generally when we were asking him if he wanted cereal) and Timothy has taught him to instead say it's magically freakin' delicious. Great, I'm such a model parent!

Timothy has his annual doctor's appt on Tuesday and then Jocelyn has her 18 month on Aug 30th (which happens to be the first day of school so I'm going to take the day off and watch the boys get on their busses and then take her to the doctor). I want to ask the doctor about her talking, or lack there of. She seems to be quite on track otherwise but still says very little, though she babbles almost constantly. Still, I may see if I can get Birth to 3 out here for an evaluation. I have a feeling that the doctor will want to wait until she's 2, but I think having Morgan for a brother buys us a little more caution, so we'll see. I'm not particularly concerned really, but in retrospect wish I had pushed for more help earlier for Morgan and don't want to make the same mistake twice. 

July 29,2006

Gooood morning everyone!

Timothy and I saw the dentist this week. I went first and the hygenist said let's start with some x-rays. I pointed out that I was pregnant. She asked when I was due and I said November. She said "but you don't even look pregnant!" I informed her she must be blind.

Timothy did have to have xrays though which meant that the hygenist and I spent about 15 minutes wresting the thingy into his mouth while he kicked and screamed. That was fun! So much fun in fact that I decided taking Morgan couldn't be much worse and so 6 months from now I'll be taking them both with me. I told her about Morgan though and asked what we could do and she said we'd do what we could and not what we couldn't, so I think it'll be fine.

Josh went to buy the dresser I wanted for the baby last weekend and was informed that they don't keep it in stock and it would have to be delivered. THAT's how they getcha - $50 delivery charge when the store is a mile away - doh! But whatever, it got delivered Wednesday and by then I had sorted and washed all the clothes and so it's now full of baby stuff and ready to go.

Jocelyn was sitting at the foot of Morgan's bed the other day playing with Morgan's feet while he was trying to nap. When I walked in she pointed to him and said "tickety" (which I took to mean Timothy). I said no, that's Morgan. She said tickety. I said MOR-GAN. She said TICK-ETY! oyoyoy. So she calls them both tickety.

I saw the doctor last week and everything is progressing. Got my lab order for the glucose test and rhogham shot - the fun never ends! Since she's new she didn't know the process for actually getting those things, so I explained the process to her. The whole thing takes about 4-5 hours, including 5 minutes of blood taking, 5 minutes of getting a shot and a lot of waiting in between.

Josh was complaining last night that he can't beat Timothy at any video games any more. He says Timothy will let him get a point here and there when he's getting frustrated, but he can tell he's being toyed with. Timothy just came in to report that in their recent match he won 12-2.

Timothy's learned to pick Jocelyn up - and she loves it. She jumps off the couch to him and randomly walks up and reaches up to be held. It's pretty cute. 

July 20, 2006

Morgan had such a nice birthday - I was so glad to see him excited about it. We all wished him happy birthday a million times and Timothy kept calling him the birthday boy. He got to bring cupcakes to school and then after a pancake dinner on Sponge Bob plates we put candles in hostess cupcakes and sang happy birthday over and over so he could blow the candles out over and over, which he LOVED! Then he sang happy birthday daddy so we would do it again - hee hee hee.

We had all his presents in a gift bag and he actually stood there and took them out one by one and seemed excited, which was so nice to see. My mom got him a virtual fish tank, which is pretty neat and was a big hit. Josh picked out some great stuff including one of the multi-bubble electric bubble wands, which we took outside and had quite a bit of fun with. All the kids loved the bubbles, and Jocelyn even had a sound effect that she did when she popped them. Josh took a bunch of pictures while I did the bubbles so I'll put some up on the web site this weekend.

Then the boys went in and played Morgan's new Sponge Bob video game while I put Jocelyn to bed. Morgan's already learned to answer 6 when asked how old he is. It was a great day for him and so fun to see him excited about it! 

July 15, 2006

I think our house is growing binkies. We keep taking them away from Jocelyn and she keeps finding more!

Jocelyn has transitioned nicely to her big girl room and big girl bed. She falls asleep on her bed without crying or anything, and generally wakes up happy. Only one morning she got up early and screaming, but I think she must have had a nightmare. She was so inconsolable! Actually I was a little later than usual in to work because I stayed to give her a few extra cuddles.

Morgan had mostly good days at school this week. Only Friday did they say he was out of sorts and also had an accident. The rest of the days he stayed dry and requested the bathroom on his own when he needed it, plus was happy and did all his work.

Timothy seems to be keeping entertained at home and does not often complain about being bored, so that's nice.

I won my bid on eBay for some froggie wallpaper border for the baby's room. I got 45 feet for $9 including shipping! What a deal! It retails for $45 without shipping. Now I've got a bid on a blue gingham valance and Mandy has agreed to do a few drawings for me, so that ought to complete the room nicely. Just need a dresser and we should be good. Plan is for Josh to go get the dresser this weekend - possibly with help from his dad. Jonathan and Susan called to say they are going to be in the neighborhood tomorrow so will be coming by for a visit which is nice.

We're not doing anything much for Morgan's birthday this week. Josh will go out and get some paper goods and we'll just have a family party Thursday night.

Work was a little crazy this week - is it a full moon or something?? I made it through 

July 9, 2006

Good morning everyone! I slept until almost 9 this morning! Then I checked on Jocelyn about every 10 minutes until she finally got up at 9:45 - I couldn't believe she was sleeping so long!! Tim and Amy and Ethan were over yesterday evening so maybe that wore her out. Ethan is so cute - has a big smile that lights up his face - and he's already crawling (he's 7 1/2 months old)! Not even army crawling but actually up on hands and knees - pretty impressive. Jocelyn didn't care much for him except that she kept trying to steal his binky and anything else he was holding. Toddler rules I guess. Ethan and Timothy hit it off though and were all over each other - it was pretty cute.

So let's see - last we left off I was finishing up painting Jocelyn's room. I did indeed put a second coat on the new wall and Tuesday Josh helped me get her furniture moved in (after the escapade of moving the furniture out - I was glad he was still talking to me!).

Wednesday when I got home from work I took Timothy out and dropped him off for his cartooning class and headed to Sam's Club to buy a mattress and box spring. I was very proud of myself for getting it down and onto the cart and then navigating the aisles. I had intended to buy sheets but they didn't have any in a twin. So I picked up about a billion pairs of socks instead. On my way out the old guy checking the receipts said I must need help getting that into the car, but I assured him I had made it this far...

The car was a challenge only because I had to leave one of the back seats up for Timothy to sit in when I picked him up (when all the seats are folded down in the van it makes an 8 foot bed, which is very convenient!), but I managed to get everything in there. Then I picked up Timothy (who seems to be enjoying the class) and Josh helped me get the mattress set up next to her bed and we put a temporary sheet on it. Jocelyn loved being able to watch herself in the mirror while she jumped on the bed, so we gated the room and let her sleep in there. After about 90 minutes she was all played out and fell asleep in front of the mirror.

Thursday I went to Bed Bath and Beyond for sheets and a bedskirt. When on earth did sheets get so expensive?!?! The first sets I came upon were $99 any size - holy moly! After what seemed like hours of searching, I found twin sets for $10 - woo hoo! So I bought 3 sets since I wasn't sure if I'd ever find them that cheap again! I found a bed skirt and blanket on clearance and rewarded my good shopping with a new sham in white eyelet. Then I went to AC Moore for wallpaper decals and found the same fairies for her room but couldn't find any bugs or frogs for the baby's room.

I went home and started to peal the old fairies off the nursery only to discover that they are not as strippable as they claimed to be!

So Friday I stopped at Lowe's for wallpaper stripper and then went to Babies R Us and got a frog mobile, also on clearance. It's cute - it's a frog prince and a frog princess and then a few stars. Anyway, got home and stripped the fairies with the stripper - much better!

Yesterday I got 2 coats of the "sage mist" green onto the nursery and put the new bedding in the crib, making it instantly irresistible to Jocelyn who screamed when I took her out of it. Silly baby. I make her a huge new princess room and she wants her crib back!

Anyway, I'm hoping to finish up both rooms today (except that baby still needs a dresser) and get some pictures taken. Jocelyn has managed to fall asleep on her bed the last 3 nights, which is nice.

I guess that's about it from here. Sounds like the princess is done with her breakfast so I best so get her cleaned up. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend! 

July 4, 2006

Goooooood morning everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying the nice long weekend. I took yesterday off so as to have a 4 day weekend - woo hoo!

Thursday Tim and his co-worker Ed came over and built us a wall - yay! So the loft is no longer and is now a bedroom. Tim came back Friday to finish up and even put down matching molding on the side in Jocelyn's new room.

Friday night we headed up to my parents' place in NH and were pleasantly surprised to the traffic was nothing out of the ordinary. We got there around 9 and Mom had the beds all set up for us. Saturday morning we got up and went swimming - it was beautiful out! Nice and toasty, perfect for swimming.

Morgan loves the water and stayed in the whole time even though it was rather chilly. Jocelyn mostly walked in the water, out of the water, in the water, out of the water. Timothy played mostly in the sand once he figured out the water was so cold.

Grammy Lessard and Helen came for a visit around lunch time and brought italian sandwiches - yum! We hung out and chatted for a while and then headed back down to the beach. By then Jocelyn and Timothy were not quite as thrilled so Josh ended up taking them back up while Mom and I sat and watched Morgan play. He's so graceful in the water. We came back and my mom beat me badly at scrabble - but it wasn't my fault, I only got vowels during the whole game.

Saturday night we watched The Empire Strikes Back - Josh and I had watched the first 4 episodes of Star Wars last weekend, so it was a continuation for us. (Last night we finished off the double trilogy with Return of the Jedi - now Josh says we have to start over again).

Sunday wasn't quite as nice weather-wise. We took the kids to the park and it decided to be hot then. Mom and I went and picked up lunch but by the time we got back it wasn't hot any more. Josh and I took Morgan down to the water anyway, but only stayed for a bit as it was too cold. Then Josh picked up and packed up while Mom and I played scrabble (this time I had much better letters and even managed to win by a few points). We left around 2:30, about when the sun decided to come out - d'oh!

We got home at 6 and I jumped up on the staging that Tim had left for me and primed the livingroom side of the wall. Took me about an hour, not too bad at all. Yesterday morning I got up and headed to Lowe's for paint and painted the wall - the color, while close to the rest of the room, is not quite perfect and I'm sure it would drive my mother crazy, but I was so NOT in the mood to paint the whole room. I'm sure Tim will make fun of me. Then I primed the other side and took a break while it dried. I bought a very nice purple for Jocelyn's new room and managed to get the one coat on before calling it a day. Looks like only the new wall needs a second coat today, which is a good thing since I don't have enough paint to do a second coat on everything.

Josh helped me move the treadmill and the loveseat out of the new room last night - and we managed to do it without needing a divorce, though surely it was close. The treadmill was first and we were stuck in the doorway for some time and did a little damage to the molding (luckily I had to buy stain for the new piece of molding anyway, so I'll touch that up today). However, once we figured out which strategic parts to remove, it fit easily, and making it through the bedroom doorway was a breeze.

So for the loveseat I decided to be all smart and get a tape measure. According to my tape measure, there was simply no way the thing was making it through the doorway. But as we all know, math lies - so we tried it anyway. We got stuck in the doorway again but this time I removed the feet right away and then it was no problem. Josh basically carried it down the stairs and into the media room (now known as the video game room) by himself and I put the feet back on it once he got there. Phew!

Our biggest problem was that the air conditioning downstairs is still broken (part ordered and may be in this week) so it's gotten a little toasty down there and we were both pretty sweaty and cranky by the time we finished.

So today I just have to put a second coat on the 1 wall and then can clean up and vacuum and get the rest of Jocelyn's furniture moved in and put up the full length mirror that we inherited from my mom. I have to buy another mattress and boxspring to put on the floor beside her bed because she's not quite big enough to be that far off the ground yet, so she won't get to sleep in the new room until I do that since I'm not moving the crib. But I'll go to Sam's soon and get that, and once she moves I can paint the baby's room. I also need to get some wallpaper decals and and things for the walls as she has a lot more wall space now.

Morgan starts summer school tomorrow and is in desperate need of a haircut today. I buzzed Timothy on Thursday and I just love his hair buzzed! I buzzed Josh too and now he hates me and likely won't let me cut his hair again - so if you see him with waist long hair you'll know why.

Oh yeah - while we were at my parents Jocelyn finally figured out how to go DOWN stairs (she has been going UP them for a while, but down was not her specialty) so we got to stop blocking the stairs and now she has free reign of the house. We haven't seen her since we got back!

Upstairs is still a novelty - she loves to go in Morgan's room and jump on the bed and to go in Timothy's room and just touch all his stuff. Timothy will need to learn to keep his door closed! We all have to remember to keep the bathroom door closed - I took her and Morgan in there to brush their teeth the other night and while I was brushing Morgan's, Jocelyn managed to climb into the tub and start drinking the shampoo. I tell you that kid will eat anything! 

June 25, 2006

Morgan pooped on the potty twice this week! Ok, so maybe I haven't mentioned much that Morgan isn't trained yet but we've been working on it the last month or so. For the last 6 months he's been pretty good about peeing on the potty, but the pooping has been a challenge, so this is pretty exciting. I was worried that Jocelyn would be trained first. So right now he's down to only one diaper at night and some days we deal with accidents and some days we don't but it's getting to be more don't days than do days, so that's nice.

I went to a co-worker's baby shower today - she used to work with me at Andersen too so I saw some old Andersen buddies which was nice. The shower was fun but it was POURING on the ride both ways, which is not my favorite weather to drive in.

Our friend Tim got his boss to give us a deal on having our loft walled off so we're getting it done either this week or next - yay! I cleaned out the closet in there and we moved the video stuff down to the media room which will now be known as the video game room. I'm excited to get her new room painted and decorated!

The boys have been off school since Tuesday and now this week Timothy's cartooning class starts on Wednesdays. I think he'll enjoy it. Then he has karate on Tues and Thurs still.

Our air conditioning broke downstairs so it's been toastier than usual but the upstairs unit is working a little overtime to at least keep us comfortable. The guy was out here yesterday and isolated the problem and we hope to get it fixed soon. 

June 20, 2006

I had a doctor's appt today and I got to have another ultrasound to follow up on some shots they missed from last time. Definitely still a boy! I was encouraged by the fact that the head was measuring a bit on the small side (since big is a sign of autism, I find small to be preferable) and the legs a bit on the long side (like a whole week ahead!) and everything put together was EXACTLY my due date.

Nuchal was good, knuckles were good (something about babies with Down's don't have a fifth knuckle or something? but this baby had all the knuckles he was supposed to), and every other thing that was supposed to be a certain number or less was indeed less - so yay! He was also INCREDIBLY CUTE! The u/s tech remarked that he was showing off his manliness and had flashed her at least a dozen times - men! He was VERY active - which I'm sure had nothing to do with the OJ I downed right before I went. The hr was 165 so I clearly made the poor kid hyper!

I only gained 1 Ib since last appt! - but I have gained 15 total, ugh.

My bp was 112/62. I asked about my dizzy spells and she said the ones that happen when I'm getting off the couch are probably a blood pressure thing but wasn't sure about the 2 that happened while I was just standing there. She said let her know if it keeps happening and I said I'd be sure to give her a call if I actually pass out.

Today was the last day of school so both the boys came home with about a bazillion different papers and projects. The laundry room is pretty much full. Timothy has several packets of homework to work on over the summer and I had to hide them so he wouldn't finish them all today. He had an EXCELLENT report card - I'm really proud of him. His writing marks improved dramatically over the last marking period, which is what was needing the most work. He clearly worked very hard on that, and also on art which I know he doesn't like but he got an E+ (ok, it's a weird scoring system - but you basically either get an E-, E, or E+) and I told him I was very happy with that and he said all he did was try his best. Well that's about all I can ask isn't it!

Morgan’s report card came home too and he can count to 110 now and made some other improvements. He knows all the sight words, all the letters in uppercase and lowercase, and almost all the sounds (just working on a hard G). He has strengths and weaknesses but all in all he had a great year. He only has a few weeks off before summer school which starts July 5th.

Poor Jocelyn isn't feeling well today - she's got a fever and is whining and just not quite herself. But then, we saw everyone Sunday and now it's been 48 hours so that's about right - doh!

I had some other stuff to report but I forget now. Ahhhh pregnancy. I’ll remember by this weekend perhaps. 

June 10, 2006

Well I hate to say it because I don't want to jinx anything, but I have really been enjoying this pregnancy. I found the greatest maternity pillow so that even sleeping is comfortable at this point. I was barely sick at all in the beginning and now my only symptom (besides the rather large belly) is random dizzy spells. Those are mostly ok and short lived, though I was moving Timothy's caterpillar cocoons to the butterfly house the other day and it smelled a little weird and my eyes got all blurry and I had to back away and sit down and have Josh finish - so that was a little weird. But I'll just avoid caterpillar food in the future!

Jocelyn was running around commando yesterday and Josh sent Morgan in to use the bathroom. Jocelyn ran after him and followed him in, stood in front of her potty chair (just like Morgan in front of the toilet) and peed on the floor! I don't know how we're going to teach her to sit when she spends her whole day with standers!

In general Jocelyn pretty much thinks that Morgan hung the moon. He wants nothing to do with her though. She follows him around and wants to do everything he does. He barely notices her. Josh therefore took the opportunity to explain to Timothy how girls only want what they can't have - hahahaha.

So after further discussion Josh and I have decided on getting an estimate of putting a wall up in the loft and turning it into another bedroom so all the kids can have their own room. For some reason the thought of my son sleeping in a purple room with fairies was starting to bother me, so I hope it's something we can swing it - perhaps this summer so I can make him an actual nursery. I already bought a new crib set from overstock (for $40!!) with a froggie theme, so I'm thinking a nice pale green for the walls. Jocelyn will move into the new room (we considered moving Morgan because this will be the 2nd biggest room, but he really loves his big window) and I'll probably still do purple for her. Anyway, I'm excited and Josh says he'll call someone for an estimate this week.

Timothy's only half-way through his thank you cards to his friends. Oy - it's like pulling teeth! He does a good job once he gets started though. 

June 4, 2006

Well I guess Timothy's birthday was a success - he said his party was the awesomest day ever and today he thanked me for a great birthday. I left one of his presents by his bed for him to open first thing this morning. It was the All About Me Book. I had gotten it for him when he was 5 and it took him months to fill it all out but he had a great time doing it. Today he filled out the whole book in under 2 hours! Again he had a great time again though. Then we had a few more little things for him and his big present - a watch. It's a stop watch, alarm, does the dishes, etc type watch with a velcro band. Amazing what you can find on the internet.

Jocelyn and I went out to a sidewalk fair type thing put on by my OBGYN today. She got a pink balloon, I got an assortment of coupons and also entered a contest for a free half hour of unwanted hair removal - hope I win! I know, more than you needed to know. I needed my hand to fill out the little form thing so the lady at the table offered to hold Jocelyn. She wasn't particularly thrilled by that, but she didn't cry, so that was good. More just wiggled and grunted. We didn't get to stay too long because I had forgotten the sling and boy was she getting heavy!

Morgan did so fantastic at Timothy's party yesterday. I wasn't sure how he'd do with all the noise but he was great and very well behaved. He even joined the parade with Chuck E. Jocelyn, on the other hand, was a different story. She LOVED the characters and the singing and dancing - the louder the better - but the rest of the time she whined because she wanted to run free. She almost was brave enough to touch Chuck E. himself, but then not quite.

The cutest thing was when Mandy and the girls arrived at our place before the party. Jocelyn walked right up to the girls and said "hi!" It's really her only regular word right now so she uses it frequently. She was particularly in love with Sage, it was really cute.

Oh, and we found out that while Timothy has several very nice friends, he also has several that are REALLY obnoxious. I emailed one of the moms afterwards because her son was so nice - and it turns out they live one street over, so perhaps he and Timothy can play over the summer. The kid is clearly going to be some kind of professional athlete and is starting early by mastering every game at Chuck E. Cheese's! I've never seen someone get that many tickets. Anyway, his dad and younger brother had stayed to play but sat off to the side. Both were so polite and Alex was also very nice to his brother even though he was with his friends. Very impressive. Anyway, several of the more obnoxious kids wouldn't even come sit for pizza or cake and just kept asking for more tokens. Whatever. So today when Timothy was going to a bowling party I told him to be sure to listen to the kid's mom and do whatever she said it was time to do! I would be appalled if he acted like those snotty kids.

The only issue at Timothy's party was we couldn't remember one of the kids being picked up. The rest I had done a pretty good job of remembering and seeing them leave and seeing their actual parent but one I just couldn't remember. We stayed 40 minutes past when the party ended and both Josh and I went around separately looking for him and didn't see him (though it was Saturday at 1 pm so it's possible I wouldn't have found my own children - though this kid looked like a mouse with glasses so was easier to pick out than average), so we went home and called his house to make sure he had been picked up (I was embarrassed to admit I hadn't noted it, but would have been more embarrassed if he actually hadn't been picked up!) Anyway, I talked to his mom and she laughed and said her husband is an idiot and she forgot to tell him he had to say goodbye to the parents. Phew! Next time I'll take phone numbers from everyone at the party so we can call from there.

Thanks to everyone who sent cards for Timothy's birthday. Please bear with us - he's got quite a list of thank yous to write, so it may be just a bit. I may cheat and have him do email thank yous to all of you - hope that's not too rude!

One more cute story - I used to have a bedtime song that I used for Timothy - sort of a marching song. He reminded me of it the other day and Jocelyn has taken to it quite well. She's a funny marcher but loves it - and when I start to sing it she heads right for the stairs. Very nice! 

June 1, 2006

10 years! phew, we made it. Another 40 or 50 to go I hope. Ok, so who were the doubters out there - come on, I know there was someone!

I took today off and we're going to go out to lunch (with Jocelyn of course) and then do a little shopping. We found out this week that we're having a BOY! So we're going to look for a coming home outfit for him, and maybe a few other things of course. My boys clothes for 0-3 and most of the 3-6 are all the wrong season so I get to do some shopping - yay! Once he gets a little bigger to where the clothes fit for longer I should have plenty. We still can't decide on a name despite intensive discussion over the last few days. The ultrasound was very fun because every time the tech asked him to do something he did - a very obedient son! All organs and limbs are accounted for - and he's measuring a few days ahead of schedule. My doctor still will only deliver at the farther away hospital, but as a compromise she offered to induce me a week(ish) early so we didn't have to worry about making it to the hospital on time, so that's nice.

Baby's been kicking up a storm this week, so hard that I'm able to feel some from the outside already. I downloaded 40 minutes worth of Mozart last night and have started my Mozart regimen like I did for Jocelyn (one controversial treatment for autism is playing mozart through a machine that simulates what the music would sound like through amniotic fluid - we haven't tried it on Morgan as it requires wearing headphones, but the babies have no choice when they are still inside me)!

On the subject of my belly - it's huge! I wore non-maternity clothes (that started out 2 sizes too big, but non-maternity just the same) still this week but it was the last time.

Jocelyn now says hi on a regular basis and calls everyone daddy - so basically right now daddy means hey you big person. She seems to be getting cuter by the minute, if that's even possible. She wore her new bikini last weekend to help wash the car - which was just too cute! She and Morgan played at the water table together which was also adorable.

Last weekend was dumpster weekend! The dumpster arrived Friday and we started around 8am on Saturday throwing stuff away. It was full by noon!! So now the garage is clean and so is the basement - yay! We can even get both cars in the garage.

The coil on one garage door snapped a few weeks ago so someone is coming out tomorrow to have a look and I hope fix it.

I got a considerable amount of work done in the garden last weekend and it's almost cleared out. We planted a dwarf lilac bush and have a little more work to do before we can plant actual flowers I took out a couple rhododendrons and a couple evergreen type bushes - the stumps were nearly impossible to remove but with Josh's help and a few hours of intense sweating, we got most of them. My parents sent us a garden bench for our anniversary which was delivered yesterday. We'll see if we can get it put together today or tomorrow.

Saturday is Timothy's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's so that should be fun. Then Sunday on his actual birthday he's going to someone else's birthday party at a bowling alley. Full weekend! 

May 21, 2006

Well I got lucky this weekend and managed to work in the garden for about 2 hours each morning before it started to rain. Actually, today it's not raining, though the sun isn't out any more. But the reason I stopped today was I found a snake and well, that was a good enough sign to stop for me!

Josh did have some good advice (he did come running out when I screamed, I have to give him that) - he said "well if it rattles, stop gardening". Soooo helpful. And in another reminder of how boys are different from girls, when Timothy heard there was a snake he said WHERE??? and came running. He was practically on top of it before he found it, which didn't seem to bother him at all - he just said AWESOME and went back to playing.

I am making progress though - slowly but surely. There's a garden in front of the house on the side that was just WAY overgrown and I've been trying to get more of it out so that I can start over. It's a little more work than it looked like! My mom suggests regularly that I just poison the whole thing, but my way gets you a better workout. There are a few cute flowering bushes that I've found and are worth saving, so that's nice. And there are some BIG rocks which are also neat.

Timothy told us he got to read Superfudge in front of his class this week. He loves to read in front of the class (not my kid!) and the teacher told him that the rest of the class is learning expression because of him. Apparently he's quite a ham and goes for the laugh with a little extra emphasis here and there (ok, maybe my kid). He also did a presentation in front of the fifth grade about a project they are doing to gather supplies for service dogs (police/fire/guide dogs). I would have been terrified, but he couldn't have cared in the least.

Jocelyn had her 15 month appt this week - she weighs 20lbs 10oz and is 31 in, which puts her around the 15th percentile for weight and 75th for height! I swear we're feeding her! I joked with Josh that we're going to have to start giving her protein shakes. She HATED the shots and apparently gave the nurse a nasty glare on their way out - so I guess she can hold a grudge. Despite not being much of a talker yet she was on target with all the other developmental stuff - which is something a little new for us! Even with Timothy we only ever answered "yes" to about half the developmental questions, and with Morgan it was even fewer than that. She is starting to say words (mama, dada, hi) so the doctor is not concerned. Of course, the doctor is never concerned about anything! hee hee. He sure was surprised to hear that we're expecting again though.

Morgan had a couple good days and a couple off days this week and then on Friday Josh couldn’t get him up and out of bed so just let him stay home. Josh has had a cold and figured he was getting the same thing, but then he seemed fine.

I've been getting a little burnt out at work. I need a few days off so I decided to take June 1st and 2nd off so Josh and I can celebrate our anniversary - holy moly where did 10 years go??? We'll go out to lunch with Jocelyn or something - it'll be fun. Then I'll probably just work on the garden some more. I figure by September I'll have that part done and in the fall I can work on the stuff directly in front of the house.