Unusual Days For These Parts

Cocoa
Saber
Picnic
Drawers
Rain

Upward Basketball

This was a first run at basketball for Caleb.  In first grade, he could sign up for Upward Basketball!

He has enjoyed himself and has learned a lot.  We hope he continues to want to play in future years.

Here are some photos from a game early this year.

And my personal favorite...

All I Want for Christmas...Wait, It's Mid-January Already?

Caleb lost his second front tooth this evening.

He got in the van after school with it rotated 90 degrees. It had to come out tonight.

Why does this have to be an hour long ordeal?  Oh, right.  I'm dealing with a 7 year old.  I forgot.

So, he bit the loose tooth at dinner and it bled.  He went to twist and pull in in front of the bathroom mirror.  20 minutes later, we still had made little progress and I wasn't allowed to touch the tooth.

He finished his dinner then tried in front of the mirror in the girls' room.  20 minutes later, he had it rotated a bit farther, but it was holding on strong.

He sat on my lap on the couch and tried for another 20 minutes, the air filled with the sounds of whining.
I finally convinced his to let me apply teething gel and give it a few tugs myself.  Three pulls and zero cries of pain later...and we have a little boy who needs TWO front teeth!

Budding Artist

Sarah has drawn her first rendition of our family!  

From left to right: Norah, Sarah, Mommy, Caleb, and Daddy is lying down at the top.

I'm so thankful that I thought to take a picture before it was erased.

Norah Walks

Norah took her first steps alone today!  She's been cruising along furniture and such.  She's been pushing around her walk-behind toy.  But today we helped her balance and she was off!

Of course, she'll need lots more practice, but it cool to see still.

First you will see just her feet, then the whole shebang.  The last part isn't rotated properly...sorry about that!

Quote of the Day

This one brought to you by Caleb...

"Mommy, when we grow up, Sarah and I are going to be polices.  We are going to work at the same police station.  We can give each other kisses.  We can share a police car.  We can have a police dog."

Right now, those kisses are so sweet.  Brother to sister.  One day, he'll be repulsed by the idea of even hugging his sister, I'm sure.

I love that boy!

Up And At 'Em

Look what Norah did this afternoon.

And last week.

Proof that they don't stay little for long.

Major Milestones

All three of our kiddos are reaching milestones lately.

Caleb, 6 years old

He is reading!  It's been a process over the course of his kindergarten year.  Each week, he learned about a letter of the alphabet and a sight word.  Those sight words have given him so much confidence.  Now he's able to sound out words, even the longer ones.  So far, he's read two books for us at bedtime.  We couldn't be more proud!

Sarah, 2 years old

She is potty training!  I sent her home with Granana on Sunday and she brought her back potty trained on Wednesday.  Mom did say that Tuesday was a disaster, with accidents galore, but Wednesday did the trick.  She managed to stay dry all day, including the two hour drive home.  Way to go, girl!

Norah, 7 months old

She is crawling!  She has her first tooth!  She can (but doesn't always) sleep through the night!   Crawling is a loose term, but she can get from point A to point B rather quickly.  That qualifies in my book!  Her first tooth is the bottom left, and it's well on its way.  No difficulties breastfeeding with the tooth...yet.  As far as sleeping through the night, I find that she does better when she gets in a good dinner of veggies and cereal and a solid nursing session.  I also discovered last night that she may not be waking up in the middle of the night to nurse.  All I had to do was go n and turn her from her tummy to her back when she was crying at two this morning.  Who knew?

Norah Beth- {6 months}

Weight: 14 lbs, 4 oz

Height: 25 inches

Head Circumference: 16 1/2 inches

I think these are right...the doctor used the write them down for me, but now I guess I'm supposed to do that myself.  And I don't...considering I'm undressing her, holding her, comforting her from her vaccinations, and redressing her.  Geez.  So, these stats are at least in the ballpark.

Quote of the Day

Sarah:  "Mommy, I hear fire ants!"
Me: "Do you mean a fire truck or an ambulance?"
Sarah: "Yes!"

Sarah Dressed Herself

She's been dressing and undressing herself pretty well without any help for about a week now.

This morning I couldn't help but laugh.  This is how she came out of her room, so proud of herself.

What a good little Aggie!

Baby Changes

Praise the Lord for these two changes in the past 2 weeks!

Norah's found her thumb.  I personally prefer the pacifier since you can take that away at some point, but, hey, I'll take what I can get.  Sucking her thumb means she's self-soothing and that's a good thing!

Norah's gone about 5 days without an inexplicable bout of fussiness.  That is the biggest victory we've had so far!

Norah Beth- {3 months}

She's such a strong little baby!  She can:

Hold her head at 90 degrees when on her tummy.

Scoot herself upward when on her back (by arching her back and pushing with her legs).

Sit in the Bumbo (even though it says not to use it until she can sit alone).

Smile.

Laugh.

Babble with "oooohs" and "aaaahs."

Sleep at least 6 hours at night.

Put herself to sleep.

Chew on her fingers.

She's still snorting and she still won't take a pacifier...or a bottle for that matter.

Norah's 2 months!

Norah Elizabeth

2 months old

9 pounds, 9 ounces

21 inches long

Adjusting to Life On the Outside

Norah's Birth Stats & Story

Here are the stats:

• Norah Elizabeth Freeman
• September 27, 2011
• 12:14 pm
• 6 lbs at birth
• 5 lbs, 14 oz at time of discharge
• 19.5 in long
• 12.75 in head circumference
• dark brown/black hair
• Special fact: Her birthday is the same day my daddy died 4 years ago.  So bittersweet.
• 4 hour, 44 minute labor (we delivered less than an hour after breaking water)
• no epidural = alert baby and mommy

Praying for:

• My blood pressure, still working its way back down to normal
• Stable milk supply for nursing
• Norah's overall health and weight gain
• Sleep: these night time nursing sessions are killing me

Just so you're forewarned, I am including as many details as possible.  I want to be able to read this in the future and have the whole story to come back to!

We went in at 7:30 am on Tuesday, September 27 for an induction.  At that point, I was 38 weeks, 4 days.  I was dilated to 4 cm with 75% effacement.  I expected to have the Dr. Rister come in and break my water at 7:30 am, but that didn't happen.  The Labor & Delivery nurse was training a new nurse, so things moved along at a snail's pace.  When the doc came back at 8:10 am, the nurses still didn't even have my IV in.  At that point, Dr. Rister had to go to his office for his regular day of OB/GYN appointments.  Sigh.

The IV insertion was quite an experience.  The nurse in training was sweet and gentle, but she pushed that IV needle into and back out of my vein.  Painful.  Very painful.  Made me jump out of my skin.

Once that was finally over, I had several hours ahead of me until I'd see my OB again.  Sad face.  So, the nurses started my Pitocin drip to get the labor moving along.  The contractions felt like menstrual cramps that became more intense as time went on.  This entire process of labor was annoying.  I know, I'm complaining about something that most women experience for hours on end.  It's just that I counted on things moving a lot faster, because I'd expected to have my water broken before then.

The nurse checked me for dilation around 11 am.  I was dilated to 7 cm and 90 % effaced.  She also noted that my bag of water was bulging.  And so that is what I'd been feeling for the last few weeks.  I had mentioned to Jadie and a few friends on several occasions that I could feel "something" pushing out.  It didn't feel like Norah's head or foot or anything, just an uncomfortable bulge very near to the exit area.  :-)  So that's what it was!  Bulging bag.  What a ladylike term.

Dr. Rister returned around 11:20 am to break my water.  Finally!  This really got things moving, as I expected.  Over the next 45 minutes, my contractions became more painful and I opted for an IV drug called Fentanyl which I could take 3 times at 20 minute intervals.  It may have taken the edge off, but I still felt just about everything.  The nurse checked me after about 30 minutes to check progress.  I was dilated to 9 cm, but she discovered that Norah's head was blocking the remainder of my water from coming out.  She shifted her out of the way a bit, released the rest of the fluid and I immediately dilated to 10 cm.  It was go time!

Dr. Rister came back to our room and told me to start pushing with the contractions.  I couldn't get myself coordinated for the first two cycles.  My body just couldn't figure out how to push.  It was probably due to the fact that I was delirious from the Fentanyl.  Once I got things coordinated, she was out after only 2 pushes!  What a relief!

Norah's birth was much kinder to my body than Caleb's or Sarah's.  I'll be sure to thank her for that later.  She managed to make her way out without the need for an episiotomy or any tearing.  Praise the Lord.  This means that recovery has been quicker and less painful as well.

The craziest thing to me is that today, on October 5, we're still 2 days away from her due date.  How in the world do women make it to 40 weeks?  I've got to give them credit!

Bubblicious

Sarah Talk + Yesterday's To-Do List

We're back home from taking Caleb to school this morning and I have a few fun things to share with you.
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Sarah is saying sentences!
She frequents the phrase "I can..." (insert jump, do it, brush teeth, hold it, get it, eat it, etc)
Here are a few of the sentences I've heard in just the last few minutes:
Take shoes off now.
I am cold.
Cover up.
Help, Mommy.
Dark in here.
Get silky. (her blanket)
Need pillow.

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Caleb was at a loss this morning when he couldn't find the cars he picked out to take in the car on the two-minute drive to school.  I found them shortly thereafter.  Can you guess how they ended up in there?

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I finished the fall mantel yesterday.  It was one of the three things I accomplished from yesterday's to-do list.
I only see a few similarities between it and my inspiration photo, but I love my version just the same.
It cost me nothing.  That is always a beautiful thing.

• I cut branches from our crape myrtle and stripped them of their leaves.
• I used fabric and paper I already had for the large frame.
• I printed pictures onto regular printer paper and taped them to the front of the frames.
• The white pumpkin (it was maroon, but I spray painted it white), leaves, and votive holders are from last year.
• The leafy battery operated candle that you can barely see of the far end is a purchase from last winter when it was marked down from $16.95 to $2.18 at Pier One Imports.  Score.

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I made the laundry soap using the recipe from Great Oak Circle.

6 cups Borax

4 cups Baking Soda

4 cups Washing Soda

4 cups Fels-Naptha bar soap (about 2 bars)

It made about 3 1/2 mason jars of detergent when all was said and done.
Two Fels-Naptha bars did NOT yield 4 cups after being finely grated in the food processor.  It was more like 3 cups.

The Fels-Naptha looked like cheddar cheese after the initial grating!

Remember that you only use 2 Tbsp for each load of laundry, so this should last quite a while.

Also, I thought you might like a price break down in case you're considering doing it yourself.  

All of my items were purchased at Wal-Mart without coupons or sales.  Every item was found on the laundry ailse.

2 Fels-Naptha Bars @ $0.97 each

Arm & Hammer Laundry Powder @ $3.24
Borax @ $2.98
Large Box of Baking Soda @ $2.12
TOTAL was $10.28 before tax

I also purchased Main-Stays brand Mason Jars @ $7.88/dozen

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Later, taters!

Caleb's First Day of Kindergarten

No pictures.

That was the first failure.

Or, make that the second failure.  The first was the batter in the minivan.  Thank goodness Jadie and I were leaving at the same time so he could give the van a jump start.

Sarah and I walked Caleb to his classroom.  He stopped at the door and turned around for good-bye kisses.  And that was that.  He was in the classroom in the blink of an eye.

What did I do with my time today?

• Sifted through some of Caleb's fall clothes from previous years to take to Smarty Pants.
• Worked on some hair clips for the Etsy Shop!
• Had the neighbor jump start the minivan (again).
• Spent an hour at Casey's Auto Shop getting the minivan's battery replaced.
• Made a quick visit to the hospital to take a friend our pack-n-play.
• Got some lunch.
• Decided to wait on Smarty Pants until tomorrow.
• Completed the hair clips for the Etsy Shop!
• Time to pick up Caleb...and try not to cry about it.  Why did I choke up when picking him up and not when dropping him off?

Caleb wasn't much of a story-teller this afternoon, but I got a few things out of him.

• He did get to go to the playground.
• He went to PE today.
• He ate a good lunch.
• He earned lots of "Best Bucks."
• He earned one of his "Best Bucks" by telling someone thank you for opening his applesauce at lunch.

Caleb Meets His Teacher

Caleb at his "desk"

Mrs. Fajardo and Caleb

Last night, he said she was the bestest thing in his whole classroom.

This morning, he said she was the bestest thing in the whole world.

Even though he's excited about his teacher, he says he's not excited about going to school.

Here's to hoping that will change!