This is the day . . .

that the Lord has made. I'm trying to keep that in mind!!

I gave Abigail her third dose of steroid syrup and motrin before her nap. She slept 1 1/2 hours and has seemed to perk up. Her breathing is the same. I'm just watching her now. Trying to decide if a trip to the hospital is in the future. Taking it minute by minute. This minute it does not seem like she needs to go - so we're at home. :)

My husband is here:

http://www.thelucernehotel.com/default.aspx?pg=home&rp=gallery

Alone . . . in a hotel room . . . then working the Lincoln Center. Why does that sound like a bit of heaven to me?

I keep telling myself that one cannot die of boredom and loneliness! :) Ha! I'm going to treat myself to some mexican for dinner (I think) if I can get enough guts to put the girls in the car to drive to pick it up. I'm a little gun shy of puke in the car after yesterday.

You know you're a veteran mom when you clean puke from a car seat, high chair, van seat, from in between your toes, off the kitchen floor, and out of your daughter's shoes all in one day.

Prayer!

We're home again! The diagnosis: Abigail has either bronchiolitis or viral pneumonia . . . again. Her poor breathing is so labored and sad. I just put her and Elsie to bed.

Please pray that we would have a good night - that just one of the girls would need me at a time so I can best meet their needs! Yikes!

Pray we don't need to make a trip to the hospital and that Abigail would sleep deeply and well so she will feel better tomorrow.

Pray that her stomach feels better soon. Poor girl has a sensitive stomach and throws up if she's sick. She needs to keep down her medicine for it to work!

Pray that Elsie would not catch whatever virus this is! I'm always very careful about swapping germs between the girls but I can't watch every minute. Elsie loves to put her hands in her mouth and Abigail loves to hold her hand.

Andrew . . . come home soon!!!! (I'm sure he's really itching to get home - ha ha!)


****I am so thankful to live close to Andrew's family. It is a source of great comfort to me that they are close enough to call in an emergency. I don't know how families do it when they don't live near the grandparents! I'm so spoiled!!*****

We are NEVER alone!

Abigail started running at fever late morning so we're headed to the doctor in a few minutes. I'm just stunned that she's sick again. I've been feeling scared, sad, worried and sorry for myself that I'm going to be doing this parenting thing alone for a few days.

I checked my email a few minutes ago and found the following message. It is from a ministry that I subscribe to (their magazine) but I have never gotten an email from them before. It is amazing how our wonderful God knows when we need encouragement the most. I'm thankful that even though my husband may be gone for a few days, I am never alone in this parenting thing.

Enjoy!

------------------------------------

Dear Jaime, Jubilantly Embracing Motherhood!

How is everything in your home today? I trust you are having a wonderful day with your daughter Abigail and precious little baby.

It is the experience of life that we enjoy good days, but also difficult and challenging days. Don’t let your challenging days overpower your good days. I found when raising our children, and this same principle still works with me today, that it is not so much the circumstances of the day that really matters, but my attitude. Have you found that too?

Attitude makes all the difference!

I found that if I lived my life by how I was feeling, that I didn’t enjoy life very much. It is easy to feel depressed. It is easy to feel sorry for myself. It is easy to get into a self-pity state. But I also found out that feelings come and feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. I cannot base my life on my feelings. I found that I could live in victory as I trusted in the Word of God. It is a truth that is more real than my feelings! And it works.

Perhaps you have had a sleepless night with the baby. Or you are facing a particularly challenging situation in your life. If you look at your problem, you will be stuck in it. But if you look up to the Lord and confess that He is with you, you will begin to walk in victory.

Science has proved that our feelings will soon catch up with our actions and facial features. You may be feeling down in the dumps. Put on a smile anyway! Yes, smile, even when you don’t feel like it! Guess what? You will soon feel better! Smile at your children when you look at them. Smile at your husband. Smile at the world and you’ll soon be smiling because you actually want to smile.

Thank the Lord for His presence with you. Thank Him that He is with you in your problem. Speak to the Lord out loud…

“Lord, I thank you that you are my God. I thank you that you are bigger than this problem I am facing. I thank you that you are with me. Even though I am going through the waters I will not drown because you are right with me. Thank you, Lord.”

As you thank Him for His power and presence with you, you will face your problems in a different light. You may continue to face the problem, but you can walk with a light step because you are looking to the Lord and you know that He is in control! .

The other day I read this scripture in Joshua 12:7,8. “Joshua gave unto the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions; in the mountains, and in the valleys, and in the plains, and in the springs, and in the wilderness, and in the south country (the desert).” Can you believe it? This was the Promised Land! Do you notice that even in the Promised Land they still had to face valleys and mountains and wilderness times? Life is not always easy. It is not all plains.

We have valley times – the times of weeping and troubles. We have mountains to face – obstacles where we can’t seem to see our way through! Many times we go through a dry wilderness or desert time and we don’t feel the presence of the Lord like we have before.

Dear one – don’t despair! It is all part of life. It is all part of God’s plan. If we lived on the “plain” all the time, we’d never get to know our God because we wouldn’t need Him. It is in the tough times that we learn to know Him more and prove that He is the faithful, dependable and unchangeable God. You can totally put your trust in Him. You can put all your weight on Him.

No matter what you are facing at this time, it is not too big for God. Take your eyes off your frustrations or your difficult circumstances and put your eyes upon the Lord. He has promised to carry your burden and He has promised to be your Deliverer! Remember that it is the mountain and valley experiences that cause us to mature and grow in the Lord. You’ll have plenty of them as a mother, but you can praise God, because they are working for you a “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

Thank the Lord today for the precious children He has given you. Each one is a precious eternal soul that is going to live forever. Each one has a destiny to extend the kingdom of God on this earth. And you are privileged to be their mother—to train and teach and prepare them for life and eternity. What a great career.

May the blessings of the Lord be poured upon you, your husband and your children today.

Much love in Christ,

NANCY CAMPBELL
www.aboverubies.org

P.S. Check out the latest postings on the webpage at BIBLE IN THE HOME and PRAYER IN THE HOME. You’ll find them under ARICLES AND STORIES. You will be blessed and inspired.

This week . . .

This week will be very interesting - adventurous - what have you.

I had a teacher in high school that said "what have you" all the time and I cannot say it without thinking of her. Ah the legacy teachers leave. Ha!

Okay so I'm a little slap happy or what have you (ha!) at the moment.

Abigail started coughing yesterday afternoon. It made me nervous because that is exactly how her pneumonia started, just a dry cough. My mothers intuition told me that she was catching something. I wanted to be wrong. I desperately wanted to be overreacting and paranoid.

Such is not the case.

Abigail woke up at midnight coughing and crying and sounding "croupy" so Andrew took her into the bathroom for some steam. She slept fine the rest of the night.

No fever this morning but lots of coughing and a runny nose.

Oh . . . and Elsie is sneezy and a little thick throated as well. Not sounding croupy - thankfully.

Oh . . . did I mention that Andrew is leaving today at 1 pm for a business trip until late Thursday? Yeah! Hmm!

I am so lucky to have family in the area that is willing to help me. This just makes me think of all the single moms and all of the moms who have husbands who travel a lot more than mine. I am in awe of them! I'm seriously not cut out to be a single mom. I rely on my husband for so much. Even if I don't ask him to always get up with the kids or do things, just knowing he is available gives me such comfort!

Things I love . . .

I love . . .

taking walks with me girls. I get to look at and talk to my little sweetie and carry on a wonderful conversation with my toddler. After a 30 minute walk today, Abigail said "Mommy tired!" Ha! Pushing a double stroller on a walking path with hills is quite the workout!

spring thunderstorms and watching the rain from my front porch with my sweet girls.

being a mommy and being at home!

sunshine and peach tea!

a good book.

blogging!

Easter. It might be my favorite "holiday". Being forgiven of our sins is the best thing I can think of to celebrate! (Christmas is very close - can't decide!)

my family. I'm going to be an auntie tomorrow and I'm so excited!

Here is a sneek peek of our Easter photos. Andrew didn't want me to "release" these until he had time to fix them in photoshop (mainly the backgrounds) but he's going on a business trip tomorrow (heaven help me!) and I can't wait anymore!

I had to put this one on here. Isn't this the sweetest picture of Daddy and Elsie Pie?! So precious!

This was the best one of the whole family. It's getting more difficult to get all to cooperate as they get older! :) I can see that I should have turned differently but we were using the camera remote. . . so we got what we got. Oh well!

I'll give an update on what happens with my sister and baby when I know something!

Uplifting . . .

These blogs were just what my weary soul needed to read this week.

I have found that being a stay-at-home mom to be the most challenging and yet rewarding of experiences but with it I have come across a very distinct feeling of failure that is constantly plaguing me.

Whenever my house isn't perfect - speckled with sticky finger prints - dirty dishes - dust - dirty laundry - this feeling comes to find me.

If I'm unable to do things myself - the feeling of failure comes to find me.

When I sit down to nurse my baby and my other daughter begins to throw a fit, crying and stomping away (I know it is jealousy) but the feeling of failure comes to find me.

When my babies are so sick and sad - the feeling of failure comes to find me.

When I see what other moms accomplish and aren't afraid to do in a day - the feeling of being a failure comes to find me.

This isn't a feeling that I have dealt with before. I have always thought of myself as a capable person. It's funny how adding children to life brings along changes in a person's view of themselves.

I am blessed by a wonderful husband who thinks that I'm doing a good job and tells me so. I'm also extremely blessed by a husband who is a big picture sort of chap. Which, thankfully, means he doesn't really notice the mess! Ha!

I was also blessed this week by several blogs which serve as reminders (I know this stuff - it just doesn't always stick!) that what I'm doing may not be able to be measured by something concrete (my work will never be finished) or by monetary gain (oh, how I wish it were!).

Having an eternal perspective and living in the moment . . . measuring my day by how much quality time I have spent with my lovely girls, instead of by lovely my house looks, is what it is all about.

I cannot say this any better than this blogger did (and even if I tried, it would be plagiarism) so here are the links:

http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/?p=363#more-363

What to say . . .

Wow, it has been a week since I blogged.

It's not like I don't have anything to say but just wondering if what I want to share will be taken the right way. Sometimes I walk around and people know things about me and I think "how do they know that?" and then I remember that I blogged about it. Ha!!

So, until I figure that out, things will be slow here and kept on the lighter side. :)

Our family seems to be on the road to recovery. Elsie still has a nasty cough but hasn't had a fever since Monday morning - yeah! I seem to have been able to avoid all the germs (I have my secret ways) and the other two are better as well.

Loving and looking forward to a wonderful week and wonderful holiday weekend. Easter is one of my most favorite holidays. I wish I had a better focus this Easter but I guess I'll have to take what I've got!

Hopefully I'll get the chance/nerve to write again before next Wednesday!

To the hills . . .

The story goes something like this . . .

Andrew and I were watching Lost last night when Elsie woke up about 9:30 pm. Something earlier in the day told me that she was just not quite right.

She was not breathing right. Very wheezy and a barking cough. She acted like it was hard to breathe. Andrew agreed that we'd best take her to the ER. The scariest car ride of my life - I tell you - I thought she was going to quit breathing on the way there - it was such a struggle.

The diagnosis: croup. She picked up yet another cold (where?? - where, I ask you? - the only place we went all week was to a family dinner on Sunday!!) and has developed croup with it.

I was up with her - helping her fall asleep - watching her struggle to breathe - sitting in a steamy bathroom - and outside in the freezing night - until about 4:45 am.

I do not have much in my heart and soul to write this morning. I'm weary - weary of sickness - weary of worry.

This verse popped into my mind this morning - it's just for me today!


Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Internet Fasting and Food

Well, my morning of computer fasting was a little harder than I thought! I was tempted much more than I had expected but nap time is here and I survived! :)




Elsie is starting to get into a good 2-a-day napping rhythm - which is nice - because I can usually hold off on her 2nd nap until Abigail falls asleep at 1 pm. Then it get quiet around here! :)





Abigail is starting to fight the nap. She always takes one but now doesn't want to be put into her crib. She is so aware of things at this stage. I'm amazed at what she picks up on.





This morning she went to the basement door and was looking for her daddy (his office is downstairs). She came back into the living room where I was feeding Elsie and said "No dada downstairs. Dada at work." I was impressed by her knowledge of his whereabouts! :)





In other news, Abigail appetite has really returned! She ate a whole sloppy joe sandwich for lunch, 2 or 3 carrot sticks, a plum tomato, and a fruit bar. My newest food venture with her is to try to get her to regularly eat raw foods. She does well with fruit but I have sort of slacked off on the vegetables - always cooking them for her. She will willingly eat some cauliflower, carrot sticks (thinly sliced) and gobbled up the tomato today.

This makes me excited to plant my garden!

I'm going to try to give her some at every meal, so it just becomes a habit. Of course when they're on the table then I eat some too!

The girls in matching dresses from Aunt Jenny. We had to get this picture taken because the dress is getting a bit short on Abigail. She's a tall girl!

A Radical Idea

I waste a lot of my time on the internet . . . blogging . . . reading blogs. . . email . . . Facebook. You get it, right?!

I also spend a lot of my time wondering why my house isn't clean . . . why I haven't read my Bible today . . . why I can let a day go by without reading to my kids.

Time online isn't bad but it is when it takes away from human interaction. So my challenge is just for tomorrow.

I'm only going to let myself get online during nap time. That still gives me a good long while to play around (my one exception is to fill out a diaper survey, which I have to do before noon - we're neck deep in diaper trials around here).

I wonder what I will get accomplished around here.

Now it's time to put my girls to bed. We all just finished exercising together (well, Abigail and I did - Elsie watched - Andrew worked in his office).

Elsie's Got Skillz

Elsie rolled over today! Yeah!

In other news: we're having to go through a little bit of a sickness detox with Abigail's behavior now. She was used to getting certain things because she was sick and that's not going to fly now. For example:

1) She is going to eat in her high chair. If she doesn't want to eat, I let her down but if she asks to eat more later, we're going to eat the food I already made . . . in her high chair.

When she was sick I fed her wherever she would eat. Laying in my arms, on the couch, in our bed, etc. We're having to get back into a good routine with her eating.

2) She is going to eat what I made. . . not just macaroni and cheese.

Her appetite is much better now but she still prefers only to eat Macaroni and Cheese (homemade with whole wheat pasta and real cheese) but she can't always eat that. I actually fed her Easy Mac (oh the horrors) in the hospital because that was all she would eat. How are kids supposed to get better eating that junk?!

3) She can't have paci's whenever she wants.

When she was sick, I let her have a paci whenever just because she was so miserable (note the ER pictures!). It's back to the regular routine of having paci's only in bed.

4) She needs to continue to work in her patience and listening.

For the most part, she does a remarkable job of listening to me, if I make my wishes known to her (put down the camera and do not pick it up again - for example) but wanting to be picked up while I'm making lunch or changing the TV channel when she doesn't want me to is now getting big reactions from her because when she was sick, I pretty much did whatever she wanted! :)

Abigail Today

Abigail woke up happy and with a temperature of 98.2. Since then it has stayed between 99.2 and 98.2, which I would consider normal.



She is playing more today (not quite as energetic as usual) and has some of her old spunk back.



I'm so thankful!



Her eating could still improve to get back to where it was but she did eat (on her own accord) some macaroni and cheese for lunch.



I'm off to finally shower today and fold some laundry. The mountain of clean laundry is so high that I'm almost tempted to take a picture. We'll see . . .

Recovery!

Abigail got out of the hospital yesterday around 2 pm and promptly took a nap when she got here. Poor girl has really been missing some sleep lately.

She still has very little appetite but slept through the night last night without needing one of us so I hope that's a good sign. It's 8:10 am and she's still asleep.

She vomited when we got home last night (orange kefir on an empty stomach doesn't sit well, I guess) so pray that she'll feel like eating soon. We managed to get another dose of her antibiotic in her and she kept that down all night.

Another concern is that Andrew is now sick. I'm not sure how he is feeling this morning. I ended up sleeping in Elsie's room because he was snoring and coughing. I still didn't sleep very well . . . thinking about my babies and if they might need me. I'm just hoping and praying that he has what they have . . . or that he will be very cautious and not pass along any new germs to the girls . . . heaven help us!

Abigail's final diagnosis was that she does have pneumonia. The doctor was not certain if it was viral or bacterial so she is on an antibiotic just to be sure. I guess a good test will be how she is feeling and what her temperature is this morning. If she is much improved after being on the antibiotic for 24 hours, I'd tend to think it was bacteria pneumonia . . . but I'm no doctor.

Poor girl has had a fever between 100 and 104 since Friday (except for when she was drugged) so I'm praying for some relief for her there.

I have more thoughts but they need time to be thought out and written out and Elsie is awake so I'd best run.

Today is a new day!

Abigail Update

Well, yesterday Abigail got to feeling terrible. She would just cry and sit on my lap. I noticed that her breathing was shallow and fast (panting - sort of) so I called her doctor who said to start her on antibiotics. He said to call back after her nap. Well, her nap only lasted a very brief time so I called him back a few hours after that. He encouraged us to take her to the ER just to have her checked out and possibly get a breathing treatment.

We got to the ER around 5 pm. The first thing they medical staff noticed was that her oxygen saturation levels were low, around 88 or 89. It sounded an "alarm" sort of thing in our room! Yikes! Anyway, they came in and put oxygen on my poor girl. She HATES that thing in her nose.

Oh and her temp was 104 when we arrived. Here she is. . .



They gave her Motrin, which took the fever down to 102 and then Tylenol which took it down to normal. They gave her a chest x-ray (she said she had fun having her "picture" taken) which they originally diagnosed her with pneumonia and later said it was an viral infection instead of a bacterial infection (so no antibiotics were given). They did find that her left ear was starting to be infected so they gave her a one-dose antibiotic last night for that.

They ended up admitting her to the hospital because of her oxygen levels. Andrew stayed with her because I had to be with Elsie to feed her. I got a nice sized bottle pumped, however, so I'm probably going to go back in a little while to see how things are going.

Andrew said this morning "there are some stats that are not where they want them to be". . . let me interpret for you. This means that her oxygen levels aren't quite normal but he thinks she ought to come home. :)

I'll try to update later. Here is a picture of our poor girl after some fever reducers are in her body and after her iv. She was a champ! When they put it in all she did was look at me and say "mommy?". No crying or even flinching.

Long and Short of It

Brief overview of our weekend (ish):

Friday: Kids not too bad. Abigail played some and wanted to be outside. Started running the fever.

Saturday: Kids worse. Elsie so congested I tortured her by squirting "Little Noses" up her nose and sucking it out. No fever for her. Abigail not feeling good. Only wanted to sit on my lap. Temp between 100 and 104. Trip to doctor. Gave us a prescription but wanted us to wait a few days to see if it cleared up on its own. (It was Daddy's first trip to the doctor with the kids . . . ever! Amazing!)

Sunday: Kids better. Elsie's nose . . . better. Abigail running around and playing. Wanting to play lots of hide and seek. Did have a tummy ache that made her scream and cry in the afternoon but finally got her to eat peaches and prunes. Went to bed.

Sunday night: The worst night in my parenting experience. I believe I got out of bed to help Abigail 7x but I'm not sure about that - Andrew attended to her twice. She'd cough, sit up, and start crying "mommy mommy". This lasted hours! We'd go into her room and she'd say "eat food" (then wouldn't eat) or she'd say "nap" meaning she wanted to get back in bed. Oh, and I got up with a stuffy nosed Elsie 3x as well.

Monday: Kids worse. Abigail's temp is up again and her cough is dreadful. Elsie's nose is stuffed and running (no fever - thank goodness).

My heart breaks. I wish I could help Abigail (she cries and looks at me like I can). I had to force feed her some toast (she'd eat it but just cry with every bite) so her tummy didn't hurt so much. The only thing she'll eat with any acceptance is peaches. WE'RE ALMOST OUT!!!

to be continued . . .

Bicks

Just call us the "bicks" household (Abigail's name for Vicks). We've been hit by the cough and cold . . . well just the girls so far. Abigail just has a nasty cough and fever. I tell ya . . . I'd rather deal with runny nose stuff than coughs. That really keeps her up at night.

Elsie has lots of nasal congestion but doesn't seem to have a fever at this point. The most exciting news is that in the midst of all this sickness . . . Elsie slept through the night last night (technically).

I put her down at 8 pm and was still up to see her restlessly moving around her crib at 10:30 pm so I went in and fed her. I put her in her bouncy seat so she could breathe easier and she slept until I woke her up at 6:30 am! I couldn't believe it. Then she slept in her swing until 9:30 am. Wow!

So, I know she can do it.

Unfortunately, I did not sleep well. Abigail had a coughing fit in bed about once and hour until about 4 am. Then she slept soundly until about 8 am and finally woke at 9 am. Poor girl . . . must be exhausted from the coughing. I went down to help her cough once and Andrew went down once to help her cough.

The reason we were still up at 10:30 pm at night (we go to bed early!!) was because we're hooked on watching Lost. We just started season 1 and we watched 3 episodes last night. Crazy! I didn't want to watch the 3rd because I knew we'd probably not get much sleep so I told Andrew I would watch it if he got up with Abigail at night. He agreed. I was already awake and restless (from waiting on Elsie to wake up) at 3:30 am so I took the nighttime shift with Abigail anyway.

Okay, sorry this is so boring. I always promise to improve my content but never do! If the girls' health improves this weekend, perhaps I'll have a chance to do another picture post from the Kansas trip!

Sleeping at our house . . .

Well, I have finally been getting a little more sleep!

On Friday night Andrew MADE me let Elsie cry for a while. Well, he strongly encouraged me to let her cry anyway and he helped me by checking on her every 5 or 10 minutes when I'd ask.

It took a while. I think she fell asleep at 7 pm, woke up at 8 pm, cried until 9:30 pm (during which we checked, soothed, and otherwise were attentive every 5 or 10 minutes). I fed her at 9:30 pm and we laid her back down again at 10:00 pm where she cried for 10 minutes then went to sleep.

For the first time in 4 weeks she slept 5+ hours and only woke me up once!!

The next night she was asleep by 7 pm (no fuss) and I gave her a feeding at 10:30 pm and was only up once.

Last night she was asleep by 8 pm . . . slept until 1:30 am (when I fed her) . . . and slept until 7 am! Wow!

Those are the kind of nights I can live with!

Abigail got to go to the zoo today with Maggie. They had so much fun. However Abigail fell asleep in the car on the way back and now is talking and bouncing in her crib during nap time.

Do I feel the least bit guilty for making her stay in her crib by herself awake for an hour during her reguarly nap time? Nope, not one bit!

Anyone else enjoying this spring-like weather?! I sure am! I wore a short-sleeved shirt today! Yeah!

Teased by Spring

Is spring teasing us or are there really some warmer temperatures here to stay? In any case, it doesn't matter!! I took advantage of the warmer weather this morning and took the girls around to 3 different farms in the area. I had some errands that I needed to run at each farm so it worked out great. The best part was seeing Abigail get to pet some baby goats at the first farm. She loved it!

After Abigail wakes up from her nap, I plan to take the girls outside and do a little yard and garden cleaning. We still haven't taken down our garden from last year so I need to make sure the stakes are down, etc, and get it ready to take down with the lawn mower.

I'm so ready for spring and being outside with our girls. I hope it stays nice!!

Kansas Reflections, Part 1

I'm going to do this in several parts because I do not seem to be able to find the time and energy to make one big long post about our time in Kansas. Nor do I have the desire to fight with blogger on the justification of this text so . . . it will be middle justified. Sorry!

This first picture is in my grandparents basement with them spending time with my girls. They were a big reason why we made the trip. They aren't able to travel to Ohio at this time (probably anymore) and my grandpa is going through Chemo so we wanted to visit them!

It took Abigail a few days to warm up to them but many games of peek-a-boo later, she was giving them big hugs goodbye. Warms my heart!

In this picture, I believe she was pointing to my grandpa's stuffed Elk. She was pretty scared of the ole' fella right at first but by the third or fourth day visiting them she wanted to pet it as often as I would pick her up. He has a stuffed deer as well! :)

My sweet Grandma had the right touch to put Elsie to sleep, usually without much or any fuss, which is a pretty good skill! (I'm listening to her fuss right now). She put her to sleep most of the days we were there! :)

Okay . . . more later. Elsie is needing to go to bed!

Where I'm at . . .

Perhaps more blogging will be coming today . . . perhaps not. I'm just so tired. Elsie is still getting up 3x a night and it's getting to me. Last night it was 11:30, 3:30, 5:30, and awake at 7 am, acting hungry!

I'm letting her cry some (certainly to sleep if she doesn't fall asleep calmly) but I think she's too young for an all-out-middle-of-the-night cry-it-out.

Most days I wonder how I can function another day like this. So today I'm pulling out my good friend, the pump. I hope Andrew is still willing to take over one of the night feedings this weekend because I need at least one night with only two feedings, instead of three.

More pictures and interesting content to come.

Yawn!

Home!

We're home! We had a great trip, really!! I'll post more about it after I get some things around here under control.

Elsie is still getting up 3+ times a night so I'm running on very little, fragmented sleep!

Who does Abigail look like?

It is popular opinion around these parts that Abigail looks like my sister, Jenny. I found some similar pictures (amazingly so!) and will let you all decide. What do you think?

Jenny and Aunt Ronda at Jenny's 2nd birthday.

Aunt Ronda and Abigail, just after Abigail's 2nd birthday.

Jenny playing the piano.

Abigail playing the piano.


Jenny standing and looking happy (a little younger than Abigail - we think).

Abigail standing and not looking happy. 2 years old.

Double Spoiled

We had some ice and snow last night so church is cancelled this morning. It gets me out of singing, I guess! Here is what we are doing instead. . .

Kansas Cuties!

We are having a blast visiting my family! Here are a few highlights and new updates!

- We are enjoying getting to spend most mornings with my grandparents. After breakfast we load up in the van and go to their house (a mile away) and spend some time there). Abigail has had some major break-throughs. She is now petting the elk head and deer head that reside in my grandparents basement and she let my grandpa read her a book today.

Elsie is also enjoying time with her great grandparents. She always seems to be ready for a nap when we get there and I believe my grandma has rocked her to sleep 5 times now! She's getting so spoiled! :)

- Abigail's language has exploded. It definitely makes sense because she has four adults doting on her all day long. At home, it's just me and she definitely doesn't get as much attention. She's starting to talk in complete sentences and come up with some pretty funny things on her own. Here are a few examples.

• Earlier this week my dad walked past her in the dining room and she said, "Papa, big tummy!" Hilarious!
• Some of her sentences include, "Abi eat food too." and "Abi put the toys away."
• She also LOVES my dad's cats and will call them by their "nicknames" including my dad's favorite cat, Puff Daddy, which he calls Puff Dads. It's pretty cute to hear Abigail say "Puff Dads".
• She's constantly playing hide and seek. Not only does she want us to find her whole body when she hides but sometimes she'll hide her hands and say "hands go?"

- Elsie has really grown and changed a lot (it seems) in the past week as well. She has really struggled with sleep, though. Some nights I've been up 4 and 5 times feeding her. I have two suspicions as to why this may be happening.

1) She's falling asleep while nursing so I just think she's not getting a lot to eat.

and my other idea is that

3) my milk supply has dropped. I've been doing weight watchers for a month now. I read online yesterday that nursing mothers are supposed to really be careful with weight loss and not lose more than 1 lb a week. I guess it's bad that I've dropped 5 lbs since I got to Kansas (a week ago!). So yesterday and today I tried to eat a little more, but not so much that I'd gain it all back.

I'm still tracking everything but just trying to hit my points each day and not have 9+ left over, like I was doing. Poor Elsie! We'll get it figured out. She was only up twice last night so I felt remarkably well rested after being up 5x the night before! Yikes!

That's all for now. Andrew is coming out next Tuesday and then we'll head for home on Saturday (a week from tomorrow). We are certainly having a wonderful time here. I feel like if I had my husband and my bathtub, I could stay forever! :) It has certainly been nice to have a ratio of 4 adults to 2 kids, instead of the usual, which is just me with 2 kids! I've definitely been relaxing and able to do more fun things when others are around to entertain Abigail.

More another time. I have lots of pictures and videos that I'll try to put in a recap at some point.

Tomorrow is another big day. My Aunt Ronda, Uncle Dale, and Aunt Flo are coming to visit us! Yeah!

Adventures in Traveling

I never meant to go so long without writing. I guess that I'm taking advantage of all the free-time I have. I have read a book, am taking in lots of Olympics and cooking shows (my favorite!) and enjoying lots of family time.

Anyway . . .

The trip out here was full of adventure.

You know the beginning. . .

Two hours after starting our journey, Abigail got carsick. I pulled off at a bad spot (residential) because she was screaming and my brother couldn't stand the smell. We had no place to clean her up. It was FREEZING outside so I hopped in the back of the van to try to clean her up as good as I could. My parents (driving their suburban) caught up with us and my mom hopped in the drivers seat to drive us to a gas station.

Well, let's just say that on the way there we had to jump a snow bank in order to get on the right road. It was an adventure!

We got Abigail cleaned up in a very dirty gas station bathroom (yuck) and cleaned up the car seat as much as possible and continued on the way, with my mom riding in our car with a bucket . . . just in case (for Abigail).

She didn't get sick again, thankfully, but both girls were crying and fussy by the time we reaching Effingham, IL. so we decided to stop for the night.

I had been dreading spending the night in a hotel with the girls for a while. We've had BAD experiences with Abigail in the past so I wasn't sure what to expect but it wasn't terrible.

I think I figured out that I got up with both girls 5x that night. Abigail started crying at 11:30 pm and wanted food (thank goodness I travel with some) and Elsie needed fed several times. They both woke up early (6:45 am) because of the time change.

We decided that the best coarse of action would be to move Abigail's carseat to my parents vehicle so that someone could sit beside each girl and help them if necessary. This worked pretty well . . . except that it meant my mom ended up having to entertain Abigail the whole second day! Whew!

We didn't get here until about 9:30 pm and then Abigail was wound up. She kept saying "kitty cat" and chasing my parents cats everywhere! Crazy! She still loves them.

Since that time, things have calmed down somewhat. Elsie is still sleeping terribly! I'm not sure if she's growing, spoiled, bothered by her stuffy nose, etc. One night I got up 5x and last night I got up 3x with her. I might try a different sleeping arrangement tonight and see if that helps. Abigail was exactly Elsie's age when she slept through the night for the first time, so I'm expecting to have a little better sleep by this point.

Well, Elsie's hungry. More later!

V-Day

Happy Valentine's Day to my sweet husband! I miss you and love you!

Women Drivers

I will post more about our actual driving experience but I wanted to write before I forget!

Not to brag but I have had so many people comment on my driving (in a good way) the past several months so I thought I'd write my own driving principles down.

I also must give credit where credit is due. I learned a lot of good driving techniques from my husband! :)

Anyway, here it goes.

Jaime's principles for driving in traffic.

1) Be calm.

2) Use your mirrors. Takes way less effort that looking behind you. I use my mirrors all the time - so I know when cars are coming up behind me - I don't just use them when I'm changing lanes or passing.

3) Don't follow too closely. If you stay back a reasonable distance, you won't need to slam on your breaks, you can pass more easily, and you won't cause traffic behind you to break unnecessarily.

I hope you've enjoyed my advice! :)

Well . . . we're here!

We made it to Kansas . . . . many hours later! :)

I will do a longer post when I'm not about to fall asleep at the computer. Our trip started off on a very interesting note. Not two hours into the trip, Abigail got car sick . . . all over her car seat and self. It was FREEZING outside so we had to get her cleaned up as best we could inside the car. Anyway, I need sleep so I'll write more later.

The important thing is that we made it.

We're looking forward to playing with kitties, spending time with family, and relaxing. We sure do miss Daddy, though (I miss my sweetie!). It about broke my heart when Abigail would say "go home". She was okay after we explained that we were going to Grandma RoRo's home.

Night all!

Snowy Saturday

It's a snowy Saturday in Ohio. I have no plans on going anywhere today and we're nice and cozy.

Thank goodness for electricity, plenty of yummy food, a wonderful family to play with, and plenty of movies for entertainment.

Actually, I won't be able to watch a movie for a while yet. I'm in the process of making Abigail's birthday cake (s) for her party on Sunday. The cake is made but I'm going to attempt to decorate it like Elmo. I'm also baking cupcakes with a slight variation of her cake recipe, which I thought I'd share.

I'm in no way a food blogger. Maybe someday but it seems like too much work.

Instead I'll just post the recipe on here and let you try it!

My sister-in-law found this originally so thanks to her. I've made it all year! We eat it for breakfasts, without the frosting, because it is pretty healthy!

Abigail's Applesauce Carrot Cake

2 cups grated carrots
2 cups filtered water
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups maple syrup
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups spelt flour or unbleached flour (I use whole wheat if I don't use spelt)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup nuts of your choice (I usually use pecans)

Preheat oven to 350.

Grease pan with spray oil.

In a large pan, bring water to a boil. Add carrots and simmer for 7 to 10 minutes. Pour entire contents of pan into mixing bowl. Add the oil, apple sauce, eggs, syrup, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and salt. Stir the mixture well.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and nuts. Stir this dry mixture into the wet mixture. Don't overmix.

Pour into your pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Use a toothpick or wooden kabob stick to test cake.

Once cake is cool, turn onto a plate and frost.

I'm using a standard cream cheese frosting. We usually don't put frosting on it and eat these as muffins for breakfast.

Once you get the carrots grated and cooked, it's super easy.

Enjoy!

Dear 2-year-old Abigail

My darling daughter,

What an adventure our lives have become with you around. We love hearing you talk and discover new things. I always love hearing what you come up with next. Here are a few "new" things you are doing:

1) Counting! You've been saying your numbers for a while now but just recently you've started counting things and being right! I gave you a piece of bread yesterday, cut into two pieces, and you said "one", "two" - counting them perfectly.

2) Colors. You are slowly but surely getting your colors right. You now get purple every time and are really good at blue as well.

3) Caring for your sister! You are a champion at putting Elsie's paci back in. Each morning when I go into your room to get you out of bed, you say, "help Elsie". You know she's in the living room waiting to eat so we hurry out to help her. This morning you said, "Oh, hi Elsie. Hungry!" So sweet!

4) Helping Mama! You love to help me do housework. Most of the time you actually do help, but this morning I was cleaning toilets and didn't really want you to help. I explained this and you said, "Okay, Abi watch." (Yes, you call yourself Abi - crazy!).

You are our sweet little adventurous first-born. Each day is a growing experience for you and for us. We love you so much! There are times when you can be a challenge but (with the help of your daddy) I am looking at those times as great opportunities for us to teach you about becoming more Christ-like - which I hope and pray every day that you will one-day desire to do.

Your life verse is Romans 15:13 - "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Your dad and I want all those things for you. We want you to be filled with joy and peace. We want you to trust in our Lord, the maker of you and all wonderful creation. We want you to overflow with hope and be filled with the Holy Spirit!

Abigail with her new dress and her Bitty Baby's new dress.

Now let's go start our next adventure!

Love,

Your Mama

Don't Blink!

I finally figured out (or spent the time figuring out) how to change my blog. I knew it would be easy but I just never took the time to do it.

I love it!

Enjoy!

Happy 2nd Birthday Abigail!

I will try to write my sweet daughter a birthday letter but for now I just want to wish her a wonderful birthday!

She ushered in the day with a coughing fit,a forceful tantrum over what she would wear today(what is she . . . 12?!!!) and the desire to put her pee and poo in the potty! :) She hasn't actually done that yet but it was the first thing she talked about! :)

Two years ago, I was enduring a painful labor and having no clue how my life would change when that little bundle joined our family! What a wonder, joy, and adventure (and many other things) that little girl is!

Busy Week! Reflections!

I have lots of deep thoughts to write about but very little time to put them into words, sentences, and paragrahs that make much sense to anyone else.

I am very sentimental around this time - remembering what I was doing two years ago. This was the day before I became a mother for the first time and boy, I had no idea! No idea the joy, love, challenges, growth that would occur when Abigail joined our family!

We faced another challenge this weekend. Andrew caught a nasty stomach bug this weekend and was laid up for the good part of a day. He's out of bed this morning but is still at home - taking his first ever sick day (for himself anyway - he's stayed home with Abigail before). Thankfully the rest of us have been spared - at least so far. Abigail woke up coughing last night and my heart pounded for a while, thinking it was a puke cough instead of a cold cough but she's just still struggling to overcome her cold. Yeah!

My family is coming in on Friday to help us celebrate Abigail's birthday and then the girls and I will be caravaning back to Kansas for a 2 week stay, mainly so the girls can visit my grandparents. My house is in need of a good decluttering (it's fairly clean because I tried to sanitize EVERYTHING yesterday) and I need to get organized in order to pack for the long trip.

So, that brings me to my next point. If you've read this far, I'm impressed! Anyway, I need suggestions of things my toddler can do in the car. We don't have a TV and I'd probably nix that anyway, due to Abigail's tendency towards car sickness. I want to get her a lap board so she can color or read books. Any other ideas? I'm kind of desperate!

I'm nervous about traveling with her that far. Mainly because yesterday she whined and cried about being in the car for the five minutes it took us to get to Andrew's grandma's house. Yikes! Maybe I need to bring my ear buds. We'll probably have others riding with us and so they can help with the entertaining a bit.

Okay, I'd better get to work. I have tons of dishes and laundry to do and I must scour both bathrooms. I'm planning on Lysol, a mask, and rubber gloves! Ha!

Photo Shoot

Our friend Lisa came over tonight and took some terrific photos of the girls. The photo shoot was primarily for Elsie who, as the second child, has naturally not gotten as many photos taken of her.

We're trying to remedy that. Here is just a sample of what she took for us. There are quite a few more on Facebook. Blogger takes so long to upload photos, so I only put on three. I'll try to include more later.

Thankfully both girls were very sweet and cooperative.

Our sweet butterfly!

Adventurous Abigail!

Sisterly Love!

We got some great photos of the two of them together. We need more things on our walls so I forsee and very large picture of the two of them hanging in our living room very soon!

We are so blessed!

Advice for the Weary?!

I'm going to try to make this short because I think Abigail is awake (but shouldn't be!).

She has yet another cold. I'm so thankful that it's relatively mild and her colds don't usually turn into more serious things like infections, etc.

However, all of her most recent colds result in the nastiest constant cough! It will be the end of me (I'm exaggerating, of course).

At 1:30 am, I got up to feed the baby. At 2 am, I was still awake and heard Abigail coughing over the monitor. I got up to help her. Here are the rememdies I tried:

- Vicks on the feet. This helps some but doesn't stop the cough.
- Homeopathic cough medicine (because you can't give the real stuff). I normally wouldn't be tempted to give her drugs but the poor thing can't sleep.
- Humidifier in her room. Because of her frequent colds, I almost always have one running.
- Honey. This does help soothe her throat at first but doesn't stop the coughing after a few minutes.
- Drink in bed. I let her keep a sippy cup of water in bed. It was gone when I went down at 2 am so I got her more.

I'm not going to turn on the lights and put her in the steamy shower at night. She's too young to lean over a bowl of steam. Eucalytus oil is good but it is so strong and I'm not sure how to use it at night with her.

She was up then from 2 am (her cough was better but not gone) until 3:30 am and I heard her the entire time. She was coughing and talking. Then I got up with Elsie at 5 am and heard Abigail coughing between 5:30 am and 6:30 am.

So, if you have even the slightest suggestion for me, as to how to calm Abigail's almost contast coughing, I'm all ears! I will try about anything.

Yes, she's up and she really should be sleeping after a night like that and after a 45 minute nap yesterday yet I hear the poor thing hacking away.

Her daddy has no idea that Abigail will be his responsibility at night for the next two nights (yeah weekend!!!!!). I have got to get some sleep!

5 years

I cannot believe that it was five years ago that my sister suggested that I start a blog. I certainly have enjoyed the ride!

I wish that my site looked better. It's so plain and not eye-catching in the least bit. My web designer is a bit busy most of the time however.

I do love having the archives! I love being able to look back and have a record of our lives. It comes in handy sometimes!

Okay, I'd better save my husband from the kids. He's trying to work.

Noses

My poor girl. She was wild and crazy last night. I tried to get her to calm down by letting her watch a little TV before bed. She was climbing on all the furniture and running around. I sat on the floor to change Elsie's diaper and the next thing I heard was a big thud. Abigail had fallen off the arm of our chair and onto the hardwood floor.

At first she seemed fine and then I looked at her face. . .

I have no idea how she skinned her nose and lip with that fall. She must have hit her face on the floor. Ouch! The main problem today is that she's getting a cold and her nose has been running (buckets!) all day and so I have to keep wiping that sore nose. I'm trying to just blot it and get her to let me suck it out with the aspirator as much as possible.

My poor sweetie.

She's been asleep almost 2 1/2 hours so hopefully that will really help fight the cold. (and helps mama's sanity!)

Fun with the Girls

We're having a fun day here in the Schechter house. Abigail has moved herself (not our doing) to a new routine since I've been home with her. She stays up later in the evening. If we put her bed, she just sits and talks to herself in her crib. And then she's been sleeping in until after 8 am every day. This morning she didn't get up until 9 am! Makes for a very quick morning. She's also just passed the 2.5 hour mark for her nap. I'm pretty sure she'll get up soon.

Last night Abigail found my high-heeled boots and wanted to wear them. She almost bit the dust several times but didn't do too bad! :)


This picture is from a few days ago. Abigail lovin' on her sister. She loves to hold her! :)

I let Abigail pick her own clothes for the day and this is what she picked. (sorry you have to look at our mess. It's living room cleaning day because I have voice lessons tomorrow).

She then proceeded to want to wear my apron. I think I have worn it once, while pregnant, to keep stuff off my belly while cooking. She loved wearing it around. I need to find her an apron of her own! :)

I was going to try to bundle everyone up this afternoon and play outside today but it just started raining snow pellets . . . . um . . . . or snowing rain pellets. I'm not sure which. We'll be staying inside.

I can't wait for spring and summer! Of course my spring fever is spurred on by the fact I spent most of nap time looking at seed catalogs for my garden. It will be so much fun to play outside with my girls!

Have a great day!

Rest for the Weary!

Thanks for all the encouragement on my last post. I will check out those books and resources. I really just get frustrated when there is an overabundance of disobedience or clingyness (but who doesn't). I don't mind the day-to-day stuff because I know it is what God is asking me to do for this time in my life. It sure does make me appreciate my own mom.

There are times that I wish my husband would notice the made bed or perfectly clean kitchen but then there are other times that I'm glad he doesn't notice the disgusting bathroom or unmopped floors - so I don't mind the not-noticing! :)

I was looking back through the blog to when Abigail was Elsie's age to see how she was sleeping by that point because . . . I'm really not getting much sleep! My sweet Elsie can make it 3 or 4 hours in the first stretch at night but then it's usually every two.

Last night was no exception. We went to bed late because Elsie and I were at a women's Bible study. I got her to bed at 10 pm. She slept until 2 am but then was awake at 3:45 am, 6:16 am, and now finally up at 8 am. I feel like I didn't sleep at all!

Abigail has been starting to sleep in lately. She will at least go until 8 am and sometimes 8:30 am or later. I am SO thankful because sometimes it allows me to catch up a little bit!

I'm really not sure why Elsie doesn't sleep better. She is a pretty good self-soother. We let her fall asleep on her own all the time. She is sleeping alone in her crib all night. I'm beginning to wonder if I have a low milk supply and she's just needing to feed that much to get her calories! I'm going to try to really drink a lot today and perhaps pump once to increase things. I'm so tempted to pump a bottle and have Andrew take one feeding but if it is my milk supply that would only serve to make things worse.

We'll see.

I just feel like she should be sleeping better already (almost 11 weeks old).

Despite getting up so often with her, I am completely head-over-heels in love with that sweet girl. I don't feel frustrated by getting up so much (like I thought I would). It's just more of a contemplation as to when I will be getting more sleep!

Quote . . .

I read this quote today:

You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, and training them up in God's fear, and minding the house, and making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts."

~Charles Spurgeon


and I needed to hear that after our morning (which has only been going for two hours). Abigail seems to be needing more attention than ever these days. I also thought my house would be much cleaner after I was a stay-at-home mom. I am so blessed that I have a husband who doesn't care . . . and who thinks I'm doing a great job!

Elsie's Birth Story

I have been meaning to write this before I forgot any of it. May be too late for that! We'll see how this goes.


At 2:30 am on November 8, 2009 I woke to find that I was having some uncomfortable cramping. It wasn't unbearable so I decided to try to stay still as long as possible and just relax. I was able to relax enough to actually sleep in between the contractions, which only came every 30 minutes or so. I did wake up and look at the clock every time I felt them, just to be sure of the timing. Part of my reasoning to stay in bed was that my previous experience told me that if I moved about, it would only serve to speed up the labor. Usually that is the goal but Andrew and I had talked the week before about how nice it would be to have this baby during the day time so I wanted to try to wait as long as possible before waking Andrew up. These were definitely manageable on my own, so I just rested.


At 7:00 am, I was uncomfortable to get up and get into the bathtub. By this point the contractions were still light enough for me to move about on my own. I got out after a brief time and woke Andrew up to tell him that I might be in labor (he didn't believe me at first).


He got Abigail up and fed her breakfast and got her dressed. He then called his dad, who was at church (I think), to see if they could take Abigail. By this point I was laboring some downstairs. Abigail would get concerned when the contractions came and I wouldn't (couldn't) respond to her.


Around 9 am (again, I think) Andrew took Abigail over to his parents house. When I was having a contraction, the thought that kept going through my mind was "we need to get to the hospital . . . now!" and then when they would let up I would think "I wonder if I'm really actually in labor". Ha! So funny!


Andrew got home and started seriously timing contractions which were every 5 or 6 minutes apart. This wasn't serious so we labored at home for a while. The real telling thing was that they were getting much more intense than they had during the early morning hours.


After calling the birth center and midwives, we decided to head to Dayton to the birth center around 10 am. We also found out over the phone that they were all full. I wasn't really nervous about this since I would still have my midwife and Andrew with me, if I had to go to a regular L&D room.


The car ride was pretty uncomfortable. Andrew was trying to be gentle and drive carefully, so much so, that at one point he got honked at by some guy. It wasn't very nice! :) I think I had 6 or 7 contraction in the car.


We got to the hospital/birth center and parked in the garage. I decided to walk in with Andrew instead of being dropped off so that the walking could encourage labor and dilation. A nice lady (looked like a nurse) stopped us on the way in to ask if I was okay. I told her that I was in labor but that's why I was here! :) She said that I should have gotten a wheel chair to be more comfortable. I didn't really feel like explaining that I wanted to walk so I just said that it was okay and continued on inside.


(This was a prime example of how most of the public is uneducated about what activities truly help a mother in labor (walking, movement, focus, relaxation) and what activities slow down labor (laying in bed - especially on the back).


We got to the birth center and they were still in the process of getting the rooms cleared out and ready for me and another lady in labor. We were told that we could either go to triage (I'm not even sure what that means) in the regular L&D ward or labor in the waiting room of the birth center. We chose the birth center to be closer to the midwives and natural birth supportive nurses. I could tell the baby wasn't coming in the immediate future.



I know it sounds like laboring in the waiting room would be unpleasant. If this had been my first baby, I'm sure I would have been much more uptight about it. However, I knew what to expect and what I needed to do to get through each contraction. I labored in the waiting room, the L&D bathroom (just the general bathroom), and hallway for several hours, just taking it one contraction at a time and relaxing through those. Andrew was a big support and I leaned on him during most contractions which really helped me to relax.



During this labor I felt dizzy and weak after each contraction, which I didn't remember feeling with my first, so I liked to have Andrew close by. I never did pass out or anything. I just had that feeling quite often. The midwife told me later that this feeling is quite normal during an un-medicated birth.


Around 1:00 pm, I was able to get into a room. The nurse had a difficult time getting an IV in my hand. She eventually had a regular L&D nurse to do it. I had to have a hep locked IV because I tested positive for Group B Strep (again).



I got into the labor tub as soon as it was offered to me. It felt good, although I could have used hotter water (as always). After laboring in there for a bit, things started to get serious and I didn't even feel like responding to people in between contractions. The nurse picked up on this change of attitude (a very good sign that transition is happening) and called the midwife to check me. I was fully dilated!



I couldn't believe it. With Abigail my labor stalled out between 8 and 10 and took hours. With Elsie I went from an 8 to 10 in a matter of minutes. When the midwife told me that I was at an 8 and they started to get things prepared, I kept thinking that they didn't know it was still going to take hours. However, I was wrong.



Pretty quickly after that I felt the urge to push. This isn't just an urge to push, it is a feeling that can't be stopped. There is no way I could have stopped myself from pushing. The pain was very intense by this point so I had to really focus to make myself stop pushing in between contractions (because I wanted the baby out). I was able to rest between contractions this time. I wasn't with Abigail and just kept pushing even when there wasn't a contraction.



I guess at some point I said "I can't do this anymore" and "get her out" but I don't really remember that. I have heard that most women having a natural birth go through that breaking point where they just give up. It is usually soon after that the baby is born! :)



I was still in the tub at this point so the midwife and nurse began prepping for a water birth. It wasn't necessarily my plan going in to have a water birth but I'm so glad I was able to do so. Andrew sat on the edge of the tub and I leaned back against him for the pushing part.


The exit part of the birth is by far the most painful, at least in my experience. I had a "ring of fire" experience that definitely hit a 10 on the pain scale. I was making quite a bit of noise at this point, more growling (I'll explain more later) and could feel my throat getting scratched. It is so weird what you notice in moments like these. I could reach down and feel her head and then all of a sudden the head was out.



With Abigail, I pushed her out in one single motion. By that I mean her head came out and the rest of her slipped out too. With Elsie, I pushed her head out and then the midwife said, you need to push her shoulders out. It took two contractions (I think) to get her shoulders out and then she was laid up on my chest. Her head came out at 2:53 and so that's when the recorded her birth time as.



My first thought was what a big baby she was. I was a little astonished that I had just had a baby (see . . . weird thoughts). She got cleaned up a little while still in the tub and Andrew cut the cord after we allowed all of the blood to flow from the cord into Elsie (it was white and not pulsing anymore). The nurse took her away to get cleaned and checked. Andrew went with Elsie even though she was still in our room.


The midwife and nurse helped me out of the tub and I talked to the bed so I could deliver the placenta. I had much more significant pain (cramping mainly) after Elsie's birth than Abigail's so I didn't want to push the placenta out but it wasn't that bad. The midwife explained to me that the after pains are usually worse with 2nd births (and so on). I had a hard time concentrating on Elsie for a few minutes because of the pain. It eventually subsided with a little help from my friend, Motrin.



I had a 2nd degree tear with my birth with Abigail (who was 7 lbs 14 oz) and no tearing to speak of with my birth with Elsie (who was 9 lbs 2 oz). I contribute a lot of this to the fact that I knew what I was doing. I waited to push until I felt the urge (with Elsie) and that allowed my body to be prepared for the birth. I sort of forced Abigail out because I had been in labor so long.

Elsie was a great nurser from the very start. She started nursing just minutes after being cleaned up and getting to me on the bed (probably 15 minutes after the birth - maybe sooner). She didn't sleep very well the first night (and is still not a great sleeper) until I laid her on the bed beside me. I guess she just needed to be near her mama.

In the hospital, I also had an experience that I didn't have with Abigail. We ordered supper at the normal time and I ate every bite. I was ravenous. Then I woke up in the night (2 am maybe?) and was STARVING. It felt like an emergency. So Andrew got up and found the employee cafeteria and brought me food. I actually ate a plain hamburger (no condiments) in its entirety. If you know me, you know that's not my favorite food, so I was so hungry.

I then woke up and ate a huge breakfast. I guess my 9lb 2 oz baby was eating a lot from me and so I needed to eat a lot too. This evened out eventually. Our first few weeks home were challenging. They weren't challenging because of Elsie (because she's a terrific baby) but because Abigail was seriously ill right at first and then I got a breast infection (not mastitis) a few weeks later. Thankfully we came through it just fine with the support of our wonderful family!

This was a wonderful experience and felt so incredibly easy compared to my birth with Abigail. Almost makes me want to do it again (but then they turn into toddlers - ah!). :)

I do want to address one more thing that is difficult to explain unless you were there. My primary method of getting through each pain and the birth was to moan or make noise during each contraction. To write about it now and talk about it when I'm not in labor feels and sounds incredibly weird to me (probably as weird as it sounds to you). However, when you're in pain like that it is the most natural thing in the world! This pain technique is partly why I don't want to be around anyone but Andrew (and medical staff) during the birth.

I was tempted to video this birth (I'm probably WAY to modest to actually video the birthing part - but just have the camera in the room) because it would be nice to have that way to remember but we didn't. I'll have to have Andrew read this and see if he remembers anything differently than I do. I don't always remember clearly when in labor. :)

Questions and comments are welcome!

I haven't blogged

I can't believe I haven't blogged in almost a week. I guess having two young kids is catching up with me . . . oh . . . and I'm lazy. I've been watching lots of TV this week . . . we'll just leave it at that! :)

My house is currently a wreck so I've got to step up my game this week. It's amazing how fast it can get messy, just after I clean it!

I started teaching voice lessons again this week. I currently only have one student but hope to get just a few more. I originally wanted to make this more of a part-time job but I'm enjoying being home with the girls so much that I don't want to give too much of that time up. Andrew recently got a promotion (and raise) and his company just got a large project (hopefully this will mean the return of regular bonuses) and so we're not in quite such a desperate position for me to bring in some income that we were before. Hallelujah!

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll get my act together and actually write posts that I edit. . . and think about . . . and put pictures with.

Still working on Elsie's birth story.

Have a great week!

Box fun!

I'm working on Elsie's birth story. It's taking me a while! So to tide you over here is another fun video of Abigail. My mom asked if she ever played in the box and the answer is definitely "yes!".

Enjoy!

Thursday

On Thursday it snowed a lot! I decided it would be a great day to just stay at home.

Abigail played happily and decided to wear her "Big Sister" shirt.

Elsie decided to be her "good baby" self and sleep most of the afternoon. It allowed me to get lots done. I made a full meal for all 3 meals so I had a lot of cleaning up to do. (This is how I get so much done in the kitchen and still interact with my baby - except when she's sleeping).

For supper I made creamy vegetable soup (yum), Pioneer Woman's onion straws (double yum - see picture below), and apple crisp (also yum). Abigail ate a ton of apples as I was peeling them for the crisp.

And Andrew arrived home about 2:00 pm so he wouldn't get stuck downtown.

What a wonderful and cozy day!

Abigail Reading

I hope you enjoy this video of Abigail reading to herself. Last night while I read her a bedtime story, she started "reading" along with me. It was like she just couldn't help herself . . . she had to talk! :) Oh boy!

Abigail talk!

I suppose I can start writing these since Abigail is talking more and more each day. She's not speaking in complete sentences (yet) but getting close.

She is just a little sponge, soaking up everything she hears! We are being very careful what we say and what we watch because we don't know what she'll pick up on.

For example, yesterday I happened to turn on the Price is Right while nursing Elsie. One of the "prizes" was a package of Milky Ways. The announcer just said it once and Abigail was then prancing around the room saying "Milky Way".

She also has been saying "dot com" over and over again. I guess she hears it enough on commercials on TV (although we don't watch that much TV) and through what her dad does that she has picked up on it. I'm sure she has no idea what it means.

Also, she has discovered the joy of reading her kids Bible. She can say "Bible" and yesterday, during her reading chatter, I heard her saying the words "Jesus" and "God" while reading the Bible. When you ask her who is in the Bible she says "Jesus". I can't believe she picked that up!

She is also learning many new food names. She now asks for "Oatmeal" (Sounds like Ohmall), "broccoli" (bahkey), "cookies" (don't freak out - they are really organic fig bars), etc. I can't even remember them all.

She also says "Oh my goodness" all the time and in very appropriate ways!

I'll try to post videos later today. I just wanted to get these written before I forget about them!

Book

I'm currently reading "Crazy Love" by Frances Chan for a womens Bible study that I'm in. I'm only in chapter 2 but it is life changing.

Go get the book if you're tired of yourself (like I am!).

I'll have to post a review once we're done with the study.

Time at home!

I have been meaning to write this post for a while. It has been formulating and stewing in my brain for a while so I guess it is best that I write it down.

Today is actually my second offical day of being a stay-at-home mom. If I was going to return to work, I would have done so on Monday. So, I guess I have felt like the first 8 weeks were "maternity leave" and an adjustment period.

Have you ever had a time in your life when you just felt right? Like what you were doing was where you were supposed to be? That your heart was all in one piece and not divided? Well, that is how I feel.

I'm not saying that there aren't moments, hours, days, (weeks?) that are challenging, especially with two kids so young.

However, I finally feel connected to my kids, not so out-of-touch with my husband, and like my home is finally settled (or more so).

I'm not sure that any of this makes sense so I guess I'll just end with the fact that I am enjoying being at home even more than I thought I would. I am especially looking forward to warmer weather (brr!) so the girls and I can do some outdoor activities.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to just be a mom and wife at this time!!

This week!

Before saying anything else, I want to clarify that we decided to put forth more effort (especially Andrew) and try to keep our dog. He got to sleep in the guest room last night and was fine. No barking or destroying anything. I got him a few things to chew on and a few treats. Hopefully as the girls get a little older and easier to manage, I'll be able to work with Dewey on a few of his bad habits. Also, when it's warmer I'm looking forward to walks with him and the girls. I'm hoping most of his issues are just a reaction to becoming 3rd in line for our attention and that he'll get used to Elsie soon (she's such a good baby it seems ridiculous that she could be causing him any strife!).

Today I was able to go shopping ALL BY MYSELF. I went to the outlet mall close to our house and got lots of clothes for Abigail and a pair of shoes for myself. It was fabulous!! I was only gone a little over an hour but it was very relaxing and nice. I had a few things to exchange so it was nice to get that done before the deadline and by myself! (I also showered by myself today - Halelujah!).

This week looks to be nice and quiet for me and the girls. I was thinking of signing Abigail up for story time at our library but it is going to be so cold that I think I will wait. I hate to HAVE to get out in the cold if it isn't absolutely necessary. Perhaps we'll get together with some friends in the area.

Andrew is teaching another class at Indiana Wesleyan University so this means that on Tuesdays (for 5 weeks) I'll be alone with the girls all day (he won't come home before his class). They won't get to see their daddy on Tuesdays. :( I may have to figure something out to save my sanity on those days like visiting people or doing a bit of shopping. We could Skype my parents a few times that day so I could talk to some adults. :) His class starts this Tuesday.

Have I mentioned that it's cold here?! It's hard to get out with two little girls, but especially hard when it's so cold. I can't wait till spring and summer when it won't take me 15 or 20 minutes to get everyone bundled up to go outside.

Anyway, if I don't get out on Tuesdays, it won't kill me (I keep telling myself that).

I'm starting to think about and plan Abigail's 2nd birthday party (it won't be extravagant or anything like that). Can you believe that our little miss will be 2-years old in a month?! Wow!

Here is a recent video of her. (Her cold is slowly improving. I'm so thankful that it stayed relatively minor. She never acted like she felt bad the whole time!). I have some habits that we really need to start doing with her (giving her cod oil once a day is one). Hopefully we can stay healthy for her birthday!

New Year 2010

I love the New Year. I believe I love the feeling of it more than any other holiday. I love a fresh start, new organization, and the high left over from Christmas.

Having said that, I'm not sure that I have ever really remembered any resolution longer than the month of January. So, this year I set up reminders in Outlook to pop up on the first of every month.

Here is a list of some of my goals for 2010:

1) My friend Lisa gave me a calendar with one Bible verse every day. I am going to try to read the selected verse every day of the year. I read my Bible but not as consistently as I'd like. It's only one verse, will take less than a minute, so hopefully I can stick with this.

2) Exercise 2x a week. I wanted to put 3x a week but I'm trying to be realistic. If I was really being realistic, I'd probably put 1x a week. Hopefully I will be able to treat each new month as a start over and really try to stick with this one. I want to be in better shape and do this for my health.

3) Spend more quality time with my family - especially my kids. I spend time with them - oh yes I do. However, listening to Abigail play in the living room or kitchen while I unload the dishwasher, clean the counters, fold laundry, etc, is not exaclty quality. So in my daily schedule/plan (yes I have one and stick with it most days), I am setting aside time to really spend with her. Elsie's time will probably be in the evenings after Abigail is in bed and Abigail's time will be during Elsie's morning nap.

Abigail is catching onto things so quickly these days so I want to be sure that I'm doing all I can to help her learn.

4) Work through Bill Gothard's character qualities with myself and my kids. My kids are young, I know this, but hopefully by hearing these from a young age they will be able to really stick with them. Of course, their mommy really needs to work on these too. I mean - REALLY needs to work on them!

5) Lose 20 pounds. I'm reading through Thin Within and we'll see where it takes me. Perhaps this goal should be more of a "being happy with myself" goal but we'll leave it for now.

That's all for now!

Sleep!

Stats from last night:

3 x: Woke up to Dog Barking
2x: Woke up to Abigail crying in her crib (lost her paci's I discovered this morning).
2x: Woke up to Elsie needing to be fed.
2x: Woke up to my husband 1st coming to bed, then getting out of bed because he couldn't sleep (at 1:30 am). (Mad at the dog).
1x: Got up with the dog.

= a very tired mommy! I'm trying so hard not to be cranky this morning.

All this is after going to bed at 11:00 pm and getting up at 6:30 am with Elsie. I woke up all those times in between there!!

I have NO problems sleeping, ever. If I do, I can just make myself lay still and rest. I really wish the rest of my family would let me sleep or at least stay in bed!!

P.S. Andrew threatened to send Dewey to the pound last night so pray for us. I don't want to get rid of him at all but he is tearing up the woodwork in our house (I'd keep him anyway) and my husband HATES him. We need a solution . . . fast!!