September 2023

Just catching up a bit

We kicked off the month of September with an open water swim that got delayed because of weather and then canceled due to thunder (while some of the swimmers were still swimming) so that was reeeaaalllly fun)

H and J befriended some kids at the park who shared their juice jugs with them and they couldn't have been happier. Its strange reliving some of the stuff I used to do with the bigs or the middles with the littles. 

I've been plotting a rework of our photo wall. I have since spaced out the pics a bit to give them a little elbow room but it remains a work in progress and there are never enough black and gold frames to go around

H is super into dipping her food - even if it is sour cream. 

The Gs are still going strong at work and have even starting stretching a longer nap in the mornings which I very much appreciate. Yes their shirts say I'm the Favorite. I've been accused of only holding my favorite : ) 

Sometimes, some kids can express parental emotions better than the parents themselves 

H had all my feelings locked in her facial expressions the afternoon the van was towed - I think she was just scared of the tow truck but she and I were tracking

One Thursday afternoon I whip into the driveway after hearing a weird noise as we drove down our street. I sat in the front seat texting but then knew we were toast when E announced - ummmm Mama I think you need to see this. 

I hop out to find fluid pouring out of the front underside of the van. I hustle everyone out since I didn’t know what it was. Well come to find out it was coolant and a week and a thousand dollars later the van was back. Transporting 11 people around in two cars for a week gave us even greater appreciation of le Van. Also, we have the exact same van on order because this one is fast approaching the 150K mile mark. More on how we came to that decision later. 

Six month old twins. I love them and I am so grateful they are ours

J helped me make his bday cake and I let him lick the beaters and he proceeded to dip them back into the batter... but I couldn't be mad at him. Also on his bday week we realized that if you are painting with OIL based paint you CANNOT use your oven (unless you want your food to taste like gasoline or propane). Fun Fact

He is FOUR! He loves everything outside. He is not a huge fan of playing soccer but he will stand on the field. He is a very early riser. He is probably the most perceptive kid - he notices where we are when we are driving and if we take a different way. Trains, trucks and machines make his day

For he bday he really wanted a lawn mower - like a real one. We talked him down to a wheel barrow which he loves to fill up with leaves and dirt and yard trash and dump it. Also he has conned A into giving him and C wheel barrow rides. 

Eight is Great - for M

 This week M turned 8!

The big bad eight. 

Despite being definitely one of the big kids, she can often be found playing with Lady C or carrying around J - who is a bit denser than she is - so that makes us a little nervous. 

She loves to play soccer and was rewarded with a spot on the County All Star team this fall - she is thrilled! Swimming is not as much her thing but her competitive spirit really helps her out and having a load of friends at practice also helps. 

Last week she came home with the Little Flower award from school because she puts others before herself. I told her that was way more important to us than any straight A report card that comes home. 

We were recently remind she’s our best ascetic and will boycott dinner if she doesn’t like what we are having - most notably she won’t eat soup on the sole basis that it is soup - that doesn’t apply to chili though.

A is 6!

This week A turned the big six! 

We celebrated over the weekend with his requested Dirt and Worms cake - which is actually a cake (dessert really) that I got to make - Grammy and E (with Papa's help) are much better bakers than me. 

A is quite the busy guy. He loves to be outside getting dirty or doing a job. Hence the skateboard, boogie board, shovel and blower he got for his birthday. 

I made him close his eyes because I wasn't going to try to wrap a shovel. Currently A is into emptying the sandbox of all the sand, making piles of leaves to burn, burning leaves and cleaning off the playset with his blower. 

He has settled into K and made a few friends. He comes home from school EVERY day with his white uniform shirt FLITHY. But that shouldn't surprise us because this is him making sand angels after school before swim practice. He is enjoying swim team and soccer. C is still his best partner in crime even though they can fight terribly - they are great for each other if they are outside. A is taking J under his busyness wing and they swept out under the stairs in the garage over the summer. 

Who knows what the next year will hold for A but I'm sure it will be busy and dirt-filled. He said next year he needs to get a gas blower so he doesn't have to wait for the battery to charge on his new one : ) Spoken from the kid who poured gasoline in his plastic lawn mower a few years ago! 

7QTs - Soccer, birthdays, & other grateful things

Linking up with Kelly ... It only took a month to finish my seven summer updates. Here's to some more of the latest and greatest. 

---1---

I think I left off the weekend of Js bday which was action packed with soccer, a flat tire 

After choir practice, while Lee was in Raleigh for church. Very thankful for the boy who stopped me before leaving the parking lot - because I had no idea - before we were heading 20 min down the road for Mass. It could have been a disaster because I would not have known who to call. A friend whose daughter is in choir happened to be picking up her kids and was like - oh my husband can fix that! Insert all the praise. He came and was better and faster than AAA - which we don't have. He was telling the kids all the stuff he was moving around and super patient with the flurry of questions. God was watching out for us because we were rolling a zillion miles a minute that day. 

The next day was As bday but not without a swim meet first 

It was the first home meet we had since January 2020. 

It was a fun, fast and close by meet which are all PLUSES in our book. 

A swam and did well. He almost didn't DQ in backstroke - he flipped over on the last stroke and his 50 free was funny to watch because everytime the coach said something to him, he stopped and looked at her and took FOREVER to get down the lane. 

Then it was As bday celebration!

---2---

Last week was blessing of the pets... 

aka Es least favorite day of school because... dogs. But the Tortuga came and got blessed. E threw some fresh grass and leaves in his cage before - so it 'looked better'. 

Speaking of animals

See that hump in the roof - yes? 

Wasps were building a nest up there and separated the gutter away from the roof/house?!?!?! So random! I thought there were going to be hundreds but when Lee sprayed them there were maybe twenty or so? 

---3---

Lots of soccering without many pictures... Papa needs to step up his game!

I was conned into Italian Ice after one of M's games

But it was hot and she played hard. I took A and R out that night much to the other two's chagrin. C did not get the nod because she has basically gotten on the field and started crying. 

But this week Lady C held it together and played and got her post game refreshments for the first time this season! and scored a goal or two. Proving to me (and hopefully herself) she can do it but I think I'm going to hang up my C coaching hat in the spring : ) 

A celebrated his 6th! bday with his soccer team in a late night (for 5 and 6 yr olds) games. I brought cupcakes - in addition to the snacks - and his team sung him Happy Birthday! It was late but it was fun. 

These girls are so intense playing and super fun to watch

Ms friend from school is on another team but are all smiles when the game is over. There's alot of good action and games in Ms age group at the moment. I don't know if it is the energy of the coaches or the quality of the players but it has been a really fun season of games to watch - and there's still a few more games left!

 

---4---

H is embracing her role at the office... 

I think she much prefers hanging out in the bouncy seat or on the floor with toys and plants to look at than this swinging chair BUT it was cute while it lasted. I think she'll warm up to this and get some good exercise soon. 

---5---

I made a discovery recently while giving blood (I give for the cookies : ) ...

 

I'd never heard of it and neither had the other donors who were at the blood drive. Alkaline water. Apparently the pH is supposed to help your body hydrate better? I guess it has been around for a while and I'm late to the party (shocker) - more investigation required. It does a little bit different than 'regular' water. 

---6---

With all the time and energy going to carting kids to and fro and soccer coaching (which I do like but man it can get stressful), a friend's bday was an excuse for some me time

We went to a wine tasting and apparently they are every month so we might need to carve out friend more often. We had a fun time and tasted some interesting wine - some we liked and one really earthy cava that I thought tasted kind of like dirt. H behaved and Lee held down the fort and all its dinnering, showering, homeworking and go to bed glory. 

---7---

Despite all the busyness, I can't help but think of this family and how their world was turned upside down; pray for them. Their daughter was two days older than H. Between them and my niece who is still in the NICU - but doing great! - it causes Lee and I to pause and be grateful for our wild routine because every day is a gift. 

J is TWO!

Our sweet baby J turned TWO. He is still so snuggly and pretty chill most of the time. I adore his moppy head that he loves to twirl a small little piece in the back when he sucks his fingers.

J is such a Papas boy. Every morning he shouts from his crib PAPA PAPA PAPA. If Papa is eating breakfast at the table J is right there with him. He love to SHOUT BYE BYE BYE BYE BYE the moment he thinks Papa is about to leave for work. 

J loves being a big brother to H and will hold her and get on the bed next to her when she's waiting for a new diaper. He's got a great group of big sibs who look after him and who J thinks he can boss around just by shrieking at them. 

He likes to squeeze my face and put his nose right up to mine when he wakes up or when I pick him up from school and sometimes during really inopportune moments like at church when I have to use every ounce of control not to completely bust out laughing 

He is a hard working guy who will likely follow in A's footsteps because he loves to ride cars, get dirty and stay busy around the house - as evidenced by the broom he got for his bday that is custom sized (thanks to Lee's handy dandy saw) to his height : ) 

Updated 1 of 7 - Baby #7

Let's see if I can knock out these 7 updates in a semi-timely manner... 

So about six weeks ago I was very pregnant with baby number 7. Lee was still very much - and still is - in the throws of an insanely busy pool season. My doctor was on call on the 27th so that was the day I signed up to get induced. (I've been induce the last five times so I figured induction was inevitable - and I found out my doctor was on vacation the following week - so I would have rolled the dice with on call drs so whatever) 

We did the normal leave super early for the hospital - C and J both happened to wake up right before we left. C probably because she knew Jibbe was coming and J probably because he knew I was really sad to dethrone my sweet, cuddly baby boy. 

All the normal hospital things - questions, IV, pitocin. I was pretty on the fence about an epidural. I'd never had one but after C's birth I think there might be some PTSD from the whole thing. I talked to the nurse about it and she was really helpful and not pressuring either way. We got to walk the halls with the the IV and did so for about 2.5 hours. I made my final decision about the epidural and got it before lunch anticipating that this birth would be similar to Js - who was born before noon. 

Well that didn't happen. My doctor came in at lunch and I was still only 1-2 cm which meant all our walking/pacing/making circles in the halls was basically for nought. He asked why I got the epidural (so early) and I told him I was tired (and tired of being in L&D) and I just wanted this whole thing (labor) to be done. 

Insert all the laughs. 

Now for my thoughts on the epidural. I think everyone talks about the stick being terrible and then it being dreamy after. Well for me the stick was not terrible ( the antibiotics they gave me every four hours through my IV burned waaaaaaay more terribly than the epidural). Then the numbing sensation came but not complete. I kept on asking the nurses if I should feel this way or that way and I kept reminding them that despite this being #7 this was epidural #1. 

By mid afternoon I was beginning to question if the epidural was really working because I was still feeling more of the contraction discomfort - not bad but still noticeable and I thought some women sleep after getting epidurals? So the kept asking the nurse if this was normal or not and finally she decided to page the nurse anesthetist who did the epidural and she put some thing thru the line and there was immediate comfort/relief for about 20-30 minutes. Then the contraction pain started again. 

At that point I was convinced I was never having the baby and I'd end up with a c-section - because this labor was going longer than any others and I JUST WANTED IT OVER. 

So the anesthesiologist came to check the epidural because I think my L&D nurse was getting the point that she thought it wasn't working. He said he thought the location and everything was fine but decided since I was already sitting up he'd do a second one. At that point I was worried about the needle and not being still enough if a contraction happened. So the timing of epidural #2 was great as was the actual epidural. I don't know if it was the placement of it - I assume it was - or if they also upped the flow of medicine - but it was fantastic. The anesthesiologist stayed more than a few minutes to make sure I was good to go. 

Then all was well. At some point in the late 4 pm hour I told my nurse I thought the baby was coming and my doctor was in for evening rounds and confirmed that yes I was ready and then everyone left - I swear everyone left for at least 5 minutes. It was so weird. So not like previous births when I tell them it's time, everyone jumps into action. I guess that's the difference between an epidural and non-epidural birth. 

Obviously everyone came back and after a few pushes 

Hannah Helen 

Hannah was born. We weren't surprised that it was a girl. A was really gunning for a boy but the big girls switched from team boy to team girl at the beach when they found out that there was a girl cousin on the way (baby cousin decided to make an early appearance so she could all the prayers) 

One of the more striking things about the whole hospital experience was the anesthesiologist came back - right as H was being weighed and evaluated - just to see if the epidural was working. It was so refreshing to know he cared enough to came back - and I bet if the epidural wasn't working he would have fixed it. 

Hello exhaustion

We FaceTimed all the siblings since the visitor policy at the hospital was different because of COVID and I will say we'd probably FaceTime again if there is a next time - it was so much easier, especially for the grandparent who did NOT have to load everyone up and drive and traipse through the hospital for a 10 minute visit. 

Lee went out and got dinner and we celebrated with chicken sandwiches and milkshakes. I got settled into the mother-baby room and my nurse said something about being here two nights and I said, no I'm leaving tomorrow and she said well you were strep positive so you'll have to stay two nights. All the eyerolls because I got more antibiotics than ever - I was getting out of dodge. The rest of the night pretty uneventful night expect at 2:30 when the nursery nurse came and told me H's glucose level were low and we might need to talk about supplemental feeding... Insert all the me trying to be as polite as possible with it being 2:30 AM and just having a baby. Then there was a discourse about since I had gestational diabetes... blah blah blah. Which I reminded the nurse I didn't but then she told me that since I refused the 3 hr glucose test then I was being treated as if I had gestation diabetes - me eating all my words because that's exactly what I told my doctor 2 months before - just treat me like I have it. But I did not know that baby's glucose levels would be monitored after birth. Guess who would be take the 3 hr glucose test because that'd be way easier than getting into with the nurse at 2:30 in the morning. 

The next day was a long day at the hospital because she was born so late in the day. We finally got the nod to leave right in time for a massive rain storm that Papa courageously ran through to get the truck. He was soaked for ride home. 

Everyone was excited to meet baby sister. J has been the most interested in her and looks for her when she cries and definitely pays the most attention to her. C kept asking if we were going to keep her / how long was H staying. 

Lady C is no Longer Three

E was not home to make the usual birthday cake so we went for a cookie ice cream cake - because someone wouldn't tell me what kind of cake she wanted. She also wouldn't tell me what she wanted for her bday gathering dinner and on her birthday during chocolate chip pancakes - she said she didn't want to have a birthday at all. 

Lady C is now four! 

I try and pause for a brief reflection on the last year or years. I really think C's birth exemplifies everything about C and her personality. She came into the world fast and furious without a doctor to catch her and hasn't stopped since. C is loud and proud and sneaky and sweet and an excellent excuse maker and if she were the first kid and we didn't have any practice - we'd be toast. Good thing she is number five. Preschool was fun times this year and she memorized songs and bible verses with a South African accent thanks to her ever-patient teacher. She played soccer in the fall and cannot wait to get back this fall. She loves purple - most of the time - and looks for purple cars that could be hers one day. She is a boss leader to her big and little brothers. I don't think we have had a girl love to be outside as much as C though I think it affords her more mischief time. She's the one I'm screaming at to PUT ON YOUR HELMET because she rides her bike and scooter like a dare devil. C is not quick to try new things - like swimming - and puts up an excellent tantrum because she thinks that will divert our attention and change gears. She is super smart and if we can channel some of her energy for non-naughty things - then she will go far. She's definitely been the more challenging little kid to parent but it's character building for both parents and kid. 

Lady C, girl, you are going places with your energy and determination. Hopefully we can steer you in the right direction because you won't look back. 

C asked for clips for her birthday - not hair clips - OXO clips so she can make tents and she got two packs - amongst other fun things.