Naughty or Nice

Things I never expected to hear coming from any of my kids' mouths:

• Mom, Alex peed in the marble hole!  (-- Jane)
• Mom, I made a pee machine!  (-- Alex)
• Mom, I will throw this fabric away since I peed on it.  (-- Alex)

What what say WHAT???  Hahahaha.  Seriously.  That was my Sunday morning.  Which precipitated the need for me to create a list tallying up the "naughty" and "nice" things that are going on around the house.  Mostly because Alex has had a countdown going for Christmas since before Halloween, and I figured the threat of tattling to Santa Claus was enough to keep his naughtiness in check.  ;)

{And in case you're wondering what this "pee machine" was, wonder no more.  Alex used a piece from Ethan's old marble racer set and combined it with a piece of fabric.  Hence the peeing in "the marble hole," as Jane so aptly put it.  And no, I'm not exactly sure of the logistics. Nor do I want to be. Hahaha. We also discovered that HE'S the reason why there has been a mysterious "leakage" next to the toilet for the last few weeks -- apparently he's been sporadically peeing on the floor next to the toilet rather than in the toilet.  Because, why not?  Hahahaha.  Needless to say, we had quite a chat after I discovered this bit of information.}

So now that we've covered the "naughty," I'll close with a picture of the "nice."  :)

Goodnight from our house to yours!  :)

Squad Goals

For Family Home Evening tonight, I attempted to review everyone's November "every day, every day, every day" goals with them.  But since hardly anyone could even remember what theirs were, I figured I'd just recap MINE, and then go over what this squad has been up to.  :)

MY November "every day" goal was to find at least one thing to be truly grateful for every single day.  Since it's the month of Thanksgiving, I thought this would be quite apropos.  My overwhelming gratitude for the bulk of the month has been baby related.  Shocking, I'm sure.  Hahaha.  In all seriousness, though, I am so very grateful for all the help that has been offered our way since Isaac was born.

{Another "Welcome Home" poster the girls made for Isaac.}

Isaac

{Newest squad member.  Almost 2 weeks old.}

• Squeaky McSqueekers had his first bath tonight!  And he hated it.  Hahaha.  Poor little lamb screamed almost all the way through it.  Once he was bundled up and dried off, he was MUCH happier.

• Even though he's still tiny, he's definitely starting to fill out!  Eating every couple hours {almost} around the clock is probably helping with THAT squad goal.  Haha.  :)

• He has a weight check at the doctor tomorrow, and then goes back in for some more blood testing at Children's Hospital afterwards.  He didn't pass the part of his initial newborn screening that tested for hypothyroidism, and had to have additional blood work done last week.  His TSH levels were still slightly elevated, so they want to check again tomorrow to see if they've gone down at all.  Hopefully, all will be well.  

Alex

• Meanwhile, Alex is finally getting used to the idea of Preschool!  It's taken a few months, but we no longer deal with tears or fits about not wanting to go, and I think he's actually enjoying himself while he's there.  :)  They had a "Thanksgiving Feast" at school today, and made these cute little pilgrim hats and a Fall Wreath.

• And not to jinx things, but we've only had ONE incident of night waking since we've brought the baby home from the hospital!  A tender mercy indeed.

• Unfortunately, the baby coming home from the hospital -- and my subsequent exhaustion from being up all night with him -- has resulted in MASSIVE amounts of screen time for the Lover Boy.  He has spent the bulk of his days plugged up in front of YouTube videos for the last couple of weeks, and the electronics overload addiction is going to be HARD to break.  

Jane

• Jane created this adorable little Thankful Turkey in her Primary class on Sunday.  My favorite things about it are that she labeled the bird with an "I am a turkey," and she included "freedom" as one of the things she's thankful for.  :)

• And I'm REALLY going to jinx things here, but Jane has ALSO been staying in her bed all night long for the last couple of weeks.  {Minus one TERRIBLE night, our second night home from the hospital.}

Sophie

• Sophie was excited to "help" me bathe the baby tonight.  And by help, I mean she watched me while I bathed him and then ran to get a diaper for him and his hat for after the bath was done.  :)

• I neglected to get a picture of it, but today was another orthodontist appointment, and the rubber bands she went with THIS time are red and magenta.  I think she quite enjoys picking out new colors each time she goes.  

Grace

Package from Papi!  {My dad always "cushions" his packages for the kids with lots and lots of candy.  Needless to say, his packages are always a hit.  Hahaha.}

• Grace's birthday has been stretched out a little bit longer thanks to my dad!  We got a package from Papi today with birthday gifts for the birthday girl, as well as a card and gift for ME/Isaac, and coloring books and other things for the rest of the kids. 

• I had to laugh out loud when I came across the following quote in the book my dad sent me, because -- in general -- Grace and I are not much alike.  But THEN, I thought back to Grace's church outfit getup from yesterday and I thought the verse was quite on the money.  :)

"As is the mother, so is her daughter."  -- Ezekiel 16:44

• I took Grace shopping on Saturday to get her some new church clothes, and found this skirt at Target that I loved and that Grace seemed to like as well.  And if you know how difficult it is to find stuff that Grace likes and will actually wear, you will know what a feat this was!  Hahaha.  And THEN, for church yesterday, Grace wore me down into wearing MY black heels to church.  Perhaps maybe she will end up following in my footsteps one day.  :)

Seriously though -- this skirt is totes adorbs.  I literally almost bought one in my size for myself.  But then I realized Grace would NEVER wear it if she thought we were going to be twinners.

Ethan

• And that brings us to Ethan.  My lights boy.  Yesterday saw Ethan bringing up ALL the boxes of Christmas lights from the basement to start an inventory of what we have and what else we need.  I seriously laughed out loud when I came upstairs and saw the state of his room, complete with a whiteboard plan of action.  I guarantee he will beg us to buy even MORE lights before the season is over...

• In more lighthearted news, Ethan beat me last night -- for the first time EVER -- in a game of Rummy 500.  He was quite pleased with himself.  :)

• On the academic front, Ethan has earned high honors for getting straight A's in the first quarter of school this year.  I love what a classic firstborn child he is.  :)  He's already planning out his future academic career and goals to ensure he gets a scholarship to college.  

And that wraps up the recaps!  I'd love to add more bullet points to everyone's lists, but it's getting late and I'm tired.  The only other big news happening here, is that my mom comes to town tomorrow and we're so excited to see her!!!  And with that, I'm signing out for the evening...

Flashback Friday -- 11 Years of Grace

Grace's birthday, this year, sort of slid under the radar -- what with the impending arrival of the baby and all.  In order to let her spotlight shine just a little bit longer, I thought today's post would be the perfect time for a retrospective of Grace through the years.  And by retrospective, I mostly mean a photo journey of her 11 years here on Earth.  :)

{Just as a disclaimer, the first half of these pictures are cell phone shots of the original pictures -- therefore the quality is pretty terrible.}

Grace Elizabeth

Hospital picture 

3 months old

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

 

5 years old

6 years old

7 years old

8 years old

9 years old

10 years old

11 years old -- and taking her selfie game to all new levels.  Hahaha.  I haven't been able to convince her to take her birthday pictures just yet, but I'm hoping I can trick her into posing for a Katniss inspired photo shoot...  :)

When Dodo Came to Town

As I was looking through pictures on my phone earlier today, I realized there were a couple that I had completely forgotten I'd taken while Uncle Dodo was still in town!  The week he was here -- if you'll recall -- Jane was "Star of the Week" at school.  One of the perks of being the Star, was taking a stuffed Curious George home for a week's worth of adventures together.  {There was also a binder for her to write up and paste pictures of said adventures to turn in at the end of the week.} Jane mainly ignored George -- other than for an obligatory pose or two on the trampoline and around the house for the sake of the binder -- but Freddie helped to incorporate some magic into the situation for her.

One evening during that week, I noticed that Freddie had disappeared upstairs for a good long while.  WELL.  When we were rounding up Alex and Jane for bed, we came upstairs to their room and discovered this -- a TOTALLY and completely cleaned up bedroom, with Curious George and "his note" tucked on Jane's pillow.  Believe me when I say their room was a complete and total disaster area before Dodo/"George" worked his magic.  Jane and Alex were both stoked upon viewing the scene, but for different reasons -- Jane because she was so tickled that "Curious George" had cleaned up the room and Alex because now they wouldn't have to clean it for Saturday chores.  Hahaha.  Of course, once the implications dawned on Alex that a toy had "come alive" to clean their room, he was terrified, so I ended up breaking the news that it was actually Freddie.  Much to Jane's dismay.  Hahaha.  I couldn't win for trying.  Jane wanted to believe George had done it, and Alex needed to be reassured that he didn't.  :)

The week with Freddie went by way too fast and we were all sad when he had to leave.  On his last day here, we went to Orange Leaf for one more treat.  If only we could hang out with Dodo EVERY week!

I love this picture!  I also love that tonight at bedtime, Grace was texting Freddie for help with part of her homework -- she had to interview 3 adults, and after me and Scott, Uncle Dodo is the adult that came to mind.  I love that.  :)

My Story and His

{Arriving at the hospital}

As I mentioned in a previous post, my mantra for the last several weeks has been "Peace, be still."  While studying my scriptures last month, I came across a variation of this theme in a verse that I personalized to make my own -- 

Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning having this baby; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God.  (D&C 101:16)

Every time I started to stress about when the baby would come, or if we'd have help around, or whether or not the actual labor and delivery would be smooth or traumatic, I'd repeat this verse in my head, and my heart would fill with peace.  This constant reminder to trust in God is what helped me to feel peace and be still throughout the weeks leading up to Isaac's birth.  It was such an amazing thing to watch as EVERYTHING really did work out and fall into place leading up to the big day.  First with having Freddie here for a week -- which was such a help and so much fun even if the baby DIDN'T come while he was here -- and then with having Scott's parents come into town the day after Freddie left and me going into labor the day after they arrived!

As for the birth day itself, everything went as perfectly as it possibly could.  Minus the doctor's visit earlier that day, that is.  Dun dun dun.  Hahaha.  I had my 40 week check-up last Monday, and it was the worst.  I went in deciding to discuss a possible induction with the doctor, and perhaps I didn't bring it up in the clearest way, but the doctor was seriously the rudest and most dismissive person possible in response.  {I had stated at previous appointments that I really wanted to avoid an induction for several reasons -- 1.) my two previous inductions (Ethan and Jane) were nightmarish, traumatic experiences, 2.) I think going into labor naturally just works out better, and 3.) my mom was induced with her last baby (#7) and experienced a uterine rupture during the course of the induction and almost DIED -- something I really wanted to avoid.  After doing a lot of thinking and praying about it, I decided at that point (being past the due date) that I'd like to schedule an induction for sometime that week, while Scott's parents were still in town to help.}  After coming in and checking my progress, she basically told me that there was nothing they could do for me since I didn't want to be induced.  Then when I tried to explain that I was now considering an induction, she responded with a rude "Well, what does that mean?  We can go back and forth all day, but I thought we had already hashed this out."  And then when I wanted to verify that I'd be a good candidate for induction, she exasperatedly told me that I've been a candidate, and they would have induced me at 39 weeks, but I had said I didn't want to.  It was seriously weird.  Especially because I had seen this particular doctor before and really liked her.  So, maybe she was just having a bad day, or something, but the end result was me being completely terrified of having the baby.  ESPECIALLY if it happened to be on a day where this particular doctor was on call.  It was all so very ironic, because just prior to the doctor coming in, Scott had commented on how very "zen" I'd been this time around regarding the actual birth of the baby.  Needless to say, I was NOT zen on the drive home from the appointment.

I ended up setting an induction date for Wednesday, the 11th (with a DIFFERENT doctor, thank goodness), but luckily, all's well that ends well, and I ended up going into labor on my own later that day -- probably thanks to the membrane stripping that the doctor did while I was there.  {And which seriously HURT.  Basically, that doctor's visit was the worst.}  I started having semi-regular contractions that afternoon after getting home from the appointment, and did a LOT of walking around the block to try and get things rolling.  {Seriously -- according to my fitbit, I ended up walking almost 6 miles over the course of that day!}  I made it through dinner and getting the little ones in bed before seeing that the contractions were becoming slightly more regular -- 5-10 minutes apart -- as well as slightly more painful, and decided to give the doctor a call.  The nice thing about being pregnant with a 6th baby is that everyone gives you a WHOLE lot of credit for knowing what you're doing.  Haha.  Since we live a good 35-40 minutes away from the hospital, and my labors have a tendency to go pretty fast, the doctor gave us the go ahead to come on down and get this thing done!  Hahaha.  :)

We left a little after 9, and arrived at the hospital around 10.  The labor and delivery floor was apparently slammed that night, and we ended up having to wait in triage for a bit before we could get settled into our room.  The contractions were still there, but not horrible, but I knew that things would really pick up once my water was broken.  The doctor asked if that's what I'd like to do right away, rather than start Pitocin, and I agreed without a second thought.  My body majorly reacts to Pitocin, and I wanted to avoid it if at all possible.  I decided to get my epidural as soon as we got settled into the delivery room, in anticipation of my water being broken, and I was SOOOOO happy that I had another good experience with a working epidural!!  {If you'll recall, Alex's was the only other good experience from start to finish.}  The doctor came in to break my water shortly after the epidural was placed, and I was SOOOOOOO happy with who was on call!  She was seriously one of my favorites from the prenatal visits because of how caring and compassionate and personable she seemed.  She was the BEST!!

So, my water was broken at 11:45 PM, and then for the next two plus hours, I labored in peace and stillness while resting/dozing off in a dimly lit delivery room, waiting to welcome this baby into the world.  I was struck by how profound that peace and stillness was as I thought of my scripture again and again.  When it came time to push, Isaac came out in less than a minute's worth of effort.  He was practically perfect in every way, and my heart melted as soon as I heard that first little cry.  And squeak.  :)

Isaac Gordon

Born 10 November 2015 at 2:02 AM

8 lbs 1 oz, 20 inches long

By the time we were wheeled up to the maternity ward, it was nearing morning.  Isaac got his first bath in the sink in our room, and then he pretty much slept the day away.  Our room was tiny and cramped and felt a bit like a jail cell, but at least it was a private room and we didn't have to share with anyone else!  Hahaha.

Scott is blessed with the ability to fall asleep anywhere at any time, so long as he's tired.  I don't have that gift.  Hahaha.

Happy mother and babe.

The kids came to visit with Grandma and Grandpa after school that day, and they were pretty much the loudest on the maternity floor.  Think lots of excitement, lots of fighting over whose turn it was to hold the baby, and lots of emotions due to tiredness.  It was great.  :)

Happy father and babe.

Grace had claimed being the first to hold the baby for months now.

{Jane was having an EXTRA emotional day -- probably because she was up in the middle of the night for a couple of hours, as she's wont to do.  Poor grandma.  :(  }

Alex was more than a bit apprehensive about holding the baby.  To be quite honest, I think he was a little scared of him.  Haha.  He's mostly gotten over it now, but I think the baby still makes him a bit nervous.  :)

Proud biggest brother.

Tired little space cadet

New family of 8!

The boys!  :)

Grandma and Grandpa -- and Isaac with his namesake.  {Scott's dad's name is Gordon.}

My only real disappointment with the hospital experience was this water pitcher!!  Hahaha.  Seriously, though.  I live for those big water pitchers with the straws that I've gotten at every other birth.  {Please tell me you know what I'm talking about!}  I'm always SOOO thirsty after having a baby, and I love the ice and water in those cups!  I'd been going on and on to Scott about how much I was looking forward to getting that cup this time around, only to be massively disappointed with this retro, non-take-home pitcher I had instead.  :(  

Preshy presh!

We ended up going home Wednesday evening around 9, and were tickled to see a "welcome home" sign placed in the garage in front of the door leading inside the house.  I think the kids were pretty excited he was coming home.  :)  I was so exhausted from not sleeping well at the hospital, that I headed straight up to bed and crashed for a couple of hours before needing to get up and feed the baby.

Cute little lamb!

So, that is our story!  Everything worked out perfectly.  Sleep deprivation is still the name of the game over here, but we're making it work.  Scott has been able to take the last week off for paternity leave, and he's planning on taking all of next week off for Thanksgiving.  AND my mom is coming in town a week from today and will be able to stay and help with the baby for a few days as well!  Yes indeed, everything has worked out perfectly.  And I'm so very grateful!  

3 days new!

Cute little profile

{16 November 2015}