Snow Storm 2-12-10

Little Man saw some flurries the other day, and was looking out the car window saying "NNNOOOOOO" (think snow... with out the s) . He was so excited to see snow flurries. These flurries stopped, and he was disappointed that the snow was gone. "Bye Bye nnnooooo" he said.

Imagine his surprise when, a few days later, I got him up from his nap to over an inch on the ground, and still snowing! He came down the stairs, and screamed "NNNOOOO!!!!!!!!" as he pointed out the window. He stared out the back door for almost 10 minutes before he would put on his jacket and shoes.

We got him all bundled up and we headed out onto the back porch. He wasn’t too sure about the snow at first, but decided to check it out! I left his gloves off so he could feel it.



The weather man said we were going to get anywhere from a one inch, to four inches of snow. We already had an inch on the ground, so we decided to make our snowman then, in case it stopped snowing anytime soon.



I had to go inside and feed Little Miracle shortly after we headed out, but Daddy and Little Man thought it was funny to throw snowballs at Mommy! This is what my door looked like when they were done.



Once they were good and cold, and almost out of snow on the porch to play with, Daddy and Little Man headed inside. Little Man and I were going to make cookies for the ladies that watch him on Sunday at church. I got right to work mixing the dough, and Little Man found his cookie cutters.



The cookie cutters were the best part!



He found the heart cookie cutter, and we rolled out the dough. He loved cutting out the cookies.



Once we put the cookies in the oven, Daddy told Little Man to "drop and give me 20" for not cleaning up his cookie cutters. Little Man actually dropped to push up position! Daddy was SSOOOO proud!



The cookies were done! Time to decorate them!!



Before we headed to bed, we went outside one last time to measure the snow, since it finally stopped snowing. We got right at 2" here.



My front yard was very pretty at night.



We put Little Man to bed, and I made some snow ice cream. Stephen is from Chicago and has never had snow ice cream! I was SHOCKED!!



I found it sad that it took a southern girl to give my northern husband his first taste of snow ice cream.



We woke up the next morning to the roads covered in snow. I think this was from the snow coming off the trees, because the roads were not completely covered when we went to bed, and the snow had stopped. This is the view from our bedroom.



We got up and bundled all up again, and headed back outside to play in the snow before it melted away. Granddaddy brought over a sled for us to enjoy! Little Man loved being pulled on it, and he even pulled it around the driveway and up the street some. Stephen has a snowboard he pulled out too, and went down our street on it. It was funny watching someone snowboard down the street. I liked the tree that is at the street in our yard. It has pretty red berries on it, and they looked very pretty in the snow.



Little Man kept saying "I need walk", so we said, Ok - lets go for a walk around the neighborhood to see everyone’s snowmen and all the snow. We made it to the front of the neighborhood and decided to keep walking. We have a McDonalds less than a mile from where we were standing, and it was almost lunch time, so we took off for the McDonalds.



We ate lunch and let Little Man play on the Play Place for a while, before heading back home. We had to carry Little Man home because he was so tired from his busy morning! When we were a few houses from home, we saw our neighbors outside building a snow elephant! Very creative!



Once we made it home, we put Little Man to bed, and watched the snow melt away. It was fun while it lasted!

Wanna Help?

So, I did something today that I have been wanting to do for a long time now.

I signed up to walk in the Atlanta 3 Day! It is a 3 day walk (60 miles!) to benefit breast cancer research.

Wanna help me reach my fundraising goal of $2,300?



Any amount is appreciated!

I will blog more about this later when I have more time.

Super Bowl

Three years ago, Super Bowl Sunday, we found out we were pregnant with Little Man.

I had taken a test in the morning, and thought I saw a VERY faint line. I chose not to believe it. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

We went to church, then headed home. I don't remember what we did that afternoon, but we went to a Super Bowl party that evening at my good friends house. Every one was watching the game and drinking, except me. I knew there was a chance I could be pregnant since we were trying, so I did not drink.

It was the Chicago Bears vs. the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl. My husband is from Chicago, so he is a HUGE Bears fan. We were PSYCHED that they were finally in the Super Bowl. The game started out great. Hester (I believe) took the first kick and returned it for a touch down! DA BEARS!!!

The game went down hill from there. I remember I got really sleepy and cranky. I was rude to my friends who were hosting the party, and we left before the game was over. As soon as we got home, I went to bed.

I woke up Monday morning, and took another pregnancy test. This time a digital. It said pregnant!! Ah, that explains why I was so tired and cranky last night! I called my mom, my sister, then my friend that hosted the party. I apologized for being cranky and said "but I have a good excuse". All was forgiven as soon as I told her I was pregnant.

The Colts won the Super Bowl three years ago...

Flash forward to tonight. We went to at a party hosted by a couple that goes to our church. Watching the Super Bowl with my Little Man (and Little Miracle) was priceless.

Watching the Colts lose was sweet revenge!

Introducing...

Let me introduce our new love, Little Miracle

Life Is Funny

Oh how life is funny! After I posted the blog about how I like to keep my house neat and orderly, I got a chance to watch my sisters three girls at my house. They are great kids, but I have never had 5 kids in my play room at once.



A few minutes after they arrived, Little Man and The Girls went to the play room. They had every toy out in under 10 seconds flat!





I had to sit on my hands to keep from cleaning! They were having so much fun!





They played for hours! Little Man did NOT want to go to bed when it was time for them to head home!

How Do You Do It?

I was recently asked by a mommy friend "how do you do it?"

"How do I do what" was my response

"How do you keep up with all the house stuff while watching two babies?"

Ah.

Let me first say that my house is by no means spotless. It never will be. My house is clean, neat, orderly, but if you move rugs or look under beds, you may find a lost sock or a pile of dirt. I hate to dust so if you catch me on a bad day, there is a layer of dust so thick you can write your name in. I am a little OCD when it comes to everything being put away where it belongs, but the dusting and such does not bother me as much.

When Little Man was smaller, I had what I thought was the perfect cleaning schedule. I had it written out on the fridge. Daily I would make beds, gather up all the laundry and dishes from the night before and do general pick up. I had a weekly schedule too. Mondays were vacuuming days, Tuesdays and Thursdays were laundry days, Saturdays were clean out the car days, etc.. This schedule worked out great for a few weeks. Then I had a lazy day. Then the next day my chores doubled. Well, I was lazy that day too, so it all went out the window.

Once we bought our house, I knew I would have to make some sort of schedule to keep up with everything. I brought out the old schedule thinking I would just use it again. Yeah, not so much! I realized that it was not going to work out having daily things to do. I like to stay home and chill around the house, but Little Man likes to go out, so I am not home as much as I used to be. I tried to keep up with everything in the house, but I found myself falling behind again.

So how do I do it?

Every time I change a diaper, the diaper gets brought downstairs, and goes into the bin. Every time we change clothes, the clothes get brought downstairs and go into the washer or the hamper if the washer is going. When we are done with our dishes, they go into the dishwasher. I unload the dishes (something new for me, Stephen has always done dishes, but they would sit in the sink for days before they got done) in the morning or when I get a free minute during the day. The clothes and diapers get washed when the washer is full. I usually do a load of clothes every day, and diapers get done every other day. Dishes are a daily thing now too.

I am starting to teach Lincoln to not pull every toy out of his play room at one time. If he is playing with the blocks then he needs to put blocks away before we pull out the puzzles. (I usually only make him do this if he is playing with something that has a billion pieces, and he wants to pull out something else that has a billion pieces) Sometimes I have to tell myself to just let him be a kid, and let him make a mess. I pick up his toys after he goes down for a nap, and again at bedtime. He is getting pretty good at helping me pick up, but is not 100%.

The big things, like dusting and cleaning the floors gets done when they need to be done. When I notice the dust getting thick, I will dust. Things like that get done when Stephen gets home since they take longer.

So I guess the answer to the question is that I do it as I go. It is so much easier to keep a clean house clean, than it is to clean a dirty house.

Imagine It!

We took a trip last week to Imagine It! The Children's Museum of Atlanta. Little Man's good friends D and C came to play too. We had never been here, and I do not know why! It was AWESOME!! Little Man had SO much fun! I am going to let the pictures do most of the talking.

Curious George had an exhibit there. They had all these little doors to open, and different things were inside the doors. Little Man LOVED these!!


Little Man got to fish! They even had rain jackets to try to keep the kids halfway dry.


Climbing


Moon Sand! This stuff is cool! It is sand, but acts like wet sand in the fact that you can build with it. BUT WAIT, there's more.... if you pack it together, it breaks up easily, so you can build even more with it!

Playing on the scale


Balls!! Little Man liked this one the best I think. They had a "forklift" that you load the balls into, then the balls traveled all over, and ended up dropping right back down to where you started. Little Man LOVES balls, so he had a blast playing with this!


Driving the ball forklift


Painting with C


Baking Mommy a cake! Well, Mommy says it's a cake!


Playing with D and C


Little Man and his friends had SO much fun! It was hard to keep him awake on the ride home, since it was past his nap time. As soon as we got home, he crawled into bed and slept for 3 hours!

We will definitely go back, and next time we will take Daddy!

Little Mans Dictionary

Little Man is becoming more and more vocal. He is finding his words and it is so darn cute to me to see what he is going to say next! Some words he pulls out I did not even know he knew. Here is his "dictionary". Just a few of the words he is using now.

battery : the fix to anything broken.
pronounced : batt-ree.
ie: while grocery shopping at Walmart yesterday, Little Man saw an overhead light was out. Pointing to the light, he said "light... uhoh... battery"

burger : any sandwich.
pronounced : bour-burr
ie: I was eating a turkey sandwich at home and Little Man points to it and said "I need burger"

slide : the fun thing at the park
pronounced : lie-d
ie: We hung out with one of Little Mans best friends yesterday. Pulling up to their house, he saw the playground and excitedly shouted "SLIDE"

train : anything that runs on a track
pronounced : rain
ie: While at lunch yesterday, Little Man saw on the road an 18 wheeler tractor trailer. From where we were sitting, it did look like a train car. He points to it and said "train"

baby brother : the smaller child in this house
pronounced : be-bee br-udder
Every morning Little Man comes out of his room, runs to Little Miracles room and says "Where is baby?" Then he goes to my bed, and says "Baby Brother!" when he sees him sleeping in my bed.

Not Me Monday

I would never, EVER even think about buying a new car seat so Little Man could continue rear-facing until 45 lbs. I would never KNOW that I could buy it now, with Stephen out of town, install it, and he would probably not notice the new seat. He would, however, notice the money out of our account. (No, I did not buy it. I still REALLY want to though!)

I would never email myself a reminder from my Blackberry. Like one that said "blog car seat email" to remind me of my Not Me Monday ideas.

I would never get said email, and ponder over what it meant for about 15 minutes before remembering what it meant.

Kids Say The Darndest Things...

Out of the mouth of babes...

When Little Man was learning to say "please" when he wants something, and "thank you" after he gets it, we were giving him M&Ms. Little Man wanted one, so he went to Daddy and said "please". Daddy gave him an M&M and said "now what do we say when we get what we asked for?" and Little Man said proudly "I need more"

We have a talking smoke alarm/carbon monoxide detector. I was cooking the other day and it went off. (It goes off pretty much any time I have the oven and cook top on at the same time) It screams loudly "FIRE FIRE" then beeped three times. Little Man was terrified when it first went off, but since then, he has been walking around the house saying "FIRE FIRE beep beep beep".

Little Man gets chocolate milk before his nap and bed. The other morning, he got out of bed and we went downstairs so he could have breakfast and regular milk, no chocolate in the morning. I poured milk into his cup, and he went to help me put the lid on his cup. He looked in the cup, noticed it was white milk and said "NO I need chalk" (his word for chocolate milk.)

Not Me Monday

I would never give my over active toddler chocolate milk before his nap. Or before bed for that matter. It does not make him stop fighting going to bed.

I would never go grocery shopping and then leave all the groceries in the car so Little Man and I could play at McDonald's. Hey, it's really cold outside, the groceries were fine.

I would never load both kids into the car and head out with no place to go. I wouldn't just drive around randomly because they were both quiet. Sanity break anyone?

34 pounds.

Little Man weighs 34 lbs. This means he is incredibly hard to pick up. Means he is growing up. It also means he has almost outgrown his rear-facing car seat.

This makes me sad. Very sad. My Little Man is growing up too fast!

My sister bought me a Britax Marathon car seat what feels like centuries ago. Little Man was about 6 months old. He looked SO tiny in the HUGE seat. She bought it for me with the promise that I would keep him rear facing till the weight limit of the seat. No problem I said!

I have gotten many weird looks when putting my toddler into the car. People see his size and give me a look of "what is she doing??". I have many times wanted to tell people how much safer it is to keep your babies rear-facing, but I just know they will say "oh-well the pediatrician said we could turn him at 20 lbs and 12 months". Yes, that is true. That is the law. But just cause you CAN does not mean you SHOULD. I mean, come on, you can walk on hot coals, but should you? I don't know, I have never done it, but I don't think I would!

I feel like the end of Little Mans "babyhood" is coming! He, I know, is no longer my little 7.5 lb baby. He is growing into a cute, loud, curious Little Man. And this is just part of his transformation. So, tomorrow morning his car seat will be forward-facing in my car. Look out world!

If you want more information on extended rear-facing and the benefits of this practice, check out these links.

All the benefits of rear-facing

CPSafety

Healthy children (linked from the AAP website)

Snow!!

Living in Atlanta, we hardley ever get snow. It hardley ever gets under 32 for more than a day! This past week has been different. It has been in the teens and 20's all week, and yesterday we got SNOW!!!

The flurries started shortly after I put Little Man down for a nap. This is what greeted me when I went to get the mail. Tiny flakes just starting to stick.



It started really coming down a few hours later.



Little Man woke up, and pointed outside. He was not too sure about what it was! I told him it was snow, and he said "snowman". He has a snowman toy, and we have been pointing them out in books, so he put the two together. Too bad there is not enough snow to make a snowman! Well, a good one anyway!



I think the snow will stick around for a while since it is 16 degrees out there today!

Not Me Monday!

I have noticed on my girl friends blogs this "Not Me Monday". Things you would NEVER do. Ya know, you would never feed your kid sugar only to send them to school? Or you would never watch your child scale the kitchen cabinets to get a cookie? Yeah, so... ok, things you do and admit to! So, I have decided to take part in the "Not Me Monday" blog post!



I would never leave my child in his room while he is asking for me at his door just to get a blog post up.

I would never grocery shop late at night with both kids. Then come home, get all the groceries out of the car, put away the cold stuff and leave everything else on the kitchen table for another day.

I would never leave clothes in the dryer long enough to get wrinkled, and since I hate to iron, toss them from the dryer back into the washer.

Little Miracle's Birth Certificate.

I went the other day to pick up Little Miracles birth certificate. I was kinda excited! When I was filling out the form for the certificate in the hospital, I was told to put my name as the "attending physician" since there was no doctor there. Cool!

Imagine my surprise when I saw this.



I find it funny (maybe I am the only one?) that it even shows that my home birth was not intended!

Fun With Little Man

We made rum balls (a holiday tradition at my house) yesterday. I have my grandmothers recipe for them, and they are SO good! Little Man decided to help me roll the dough into balls and coat them in powdered sugar. Once he tasted the powdered sugar, all helping was off. He decided to play in, and eat the sugar instead of helping mommy! He was so cute though, covered in sugar from head to toe.



After we got some what cleaned up, Little Man found Stephens handcuffs from his police days. We found a way to keep Little Man in line!

Goodbye 2009

*typing while nursing a baby, so pardon any typos*

I can't believe 2009 is almost over. It was one hell of a year.

In January we were still dealing with the molar pregnancy.

In February, we found out that Stephen's job was gone in south Georgia, and that we would be moving to Atlanta again.

In March we were cleared from the molar pregnancy, and given the go ahead to try again for a baby. We conceived Little Miracle that night, and found out about him a few weeks later.

We moved in April, and put in the offer on our house in the beginning of May.

In June we had our NT scan and found out about the possibility that Little Miracle may have had Down Syndrome. When my blood work came back with a high possibility that he did have it, I got worried. We also found out that Little Miracle was a boy in June.

July brought the health ultrasound for Little Miracle that told us he was most likely healthy.

In August I decided to have a natural water birth, and we got into the car accident.

September FINALLY brought us our house closing!

October was Halloween and moving into the house. We also moved Little Man to his big boy bed, and into his own room.

November was Thanksgiving, organizing the house and getting ready for Little Miracle.

December. Wow. What can I say? Little Miracle decided to be born at home, and since then we have been trying to adjust to life as parents of two!

What a year! I am glad it is almost over. We have no "big plans" for tonight. Being parents of a newborn, it's too hard to get out. Plus, I need my sleep!

Look for my goals and plans for 2010 in a new post!

Things I love

I love the way Little Man says "nnoo" when he is trying to do a puzzle and puts the piece in the wrong spot. He puts the pieces in the wrong place some times just to get me to say "no" in a funny voice.

I love the way Little Man says "thank you" after I give him ANYTHING. His "thank you" sounds like "da do" and its so freaking cute.

I love the way my house looks mid afternoon. Little Man has scattered his toys all over the living room and his play room. Yes, its a mess, but it means my oldest has had a fun morning playing with all his toys.

I love how I have had to stop typing this four times now to give Little Man a "high five" for completing his puzzle.

I love the way Little Miracle nuzzles up on my chest and sleeps.

I love the way Little Miracle bobs around my neck, chest, arms, etc.. when he wants to nurse.

I love the way Little Miracle looks up at me and studies my face while nursing.

I love the way the fireplace looks when it is on. And how Little Man comes downstairs every morning and points to it and says "light" and blows to turn it on. (He "blows" it off and on... ya know... turn off the gas as he blows and he "blew out the fire")

I love my girlfriends. They are the best ones a girl could have. Some of them blog too. Check out their blogs JaMonkey and RenderMeMamma

I love that my husband has an awesome job that allows me to stay home and enjoy my kids.

I could go on, but Little Miracle is back to fussing. I love the way I can nurse him to calm him down!

Dear Mr. Fussy Pants

Dear Mr. Fussy Pants,

Please stop fussing so much. You slept so well in the hospital, but the day we brought you home, you started screaming. Its been 3 weeks now and you are still screaming.

Mamma has cut out milk and caffeine in hopes that it was something she was eating that was making you scream. It has not helped as you continue to scream. Mamma and Daddy are at their wits end trying to figure out what is wrong and why you fuss so much. You usually have one long period of fussiness, but you are generally fussy all day. It would be better if you would not start said "long fussing period" at 8 pm. If you start, at say noon, then you would be calmed down by ... say 4 pm, and we could all sleep. But since you start about 8 pm, you are still fussing at midnight.

Daddy is going out of town next week, and we need you to sleep better so Mamma does not go insane. Daddy will be gone for two weeks, and if Mamma gets no sleep in thoes two weeks, she will be a very cranky lady. Little Man does not like a cranky Mamma, and you don't either. Thankfully your brother sleeps thru your screaming, or he would be a cranky mess too.

Thanks Little Miracle for listening. Now can we go back to bed?

Merry Christmas

I used to think Halloween was my favorite holiday. I think Christmas is gaining in on it.

We went out last night to our church's Christmas Eve celebration. They do it in the town square! There was hot coco, Santa, a band and even snow! Yes... SNOW in Georgia... Ok, so it was soap bubble type snow, but hey, it looked real!

After we got home, we put Little Man in bed, wrapped presents and set them under the tree. We tried to stay awake to see Santa come, but just could not.

This morning, Little Man woke up at his usual time. We got him up, and left Little Miracle to sleep. As soon as Little Man saw all the presents under the tree, his eyes sparkled. He was SO excited!

He tore thru all his presents and spent the morning playing with his new toys.

My dad came over in the morning also to see Little Miracle and the new house.

We spent the afternoon laying around being lazy. I got a short nap, which was nice!

Little Miracle is doing good. He is a very fussy baby, but I think we are figuring him out. I think he is sensitive to either milk or caffeine, so for now, I have cut both out of my diet. Makes it hard for a chocolate lover like me!

It is very magical to have a newborn at this time of year. To love and snuggle with a newborn at Christmas is my favorite now!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Me?!? Wonder Woman?! ... Nah.

Every time someone hears about the birth of Little Miracle, they are in shock.

“You had him at home?”

"In your bathtub?"

“Who delivered him?”

“You had no medical people there??”

“How did you do it??”

Then comes the “WOW. You are Wonder Woman!”



I don’t consider myself Wonder Woman! I cry with migraines, complain with hangnails, and grit my teeth with cramps. The same woman who birthed her baby in the tub at home with no medical people there is the same one who cringes when her baby latches to nurse, and the same woman who cries when her stitches hurt. Would Wonder Woman do that?

I think anyone 9 months pregnant, with a baby crowning, would find themselves doing the same thing. He was coming! He knew what he was doing, all I had to do was let him come. If I could have held him in, and made it to the hospital to birth him, I would have! It makes me think about woman long before my time that always had them at home, with no help other than other women, other mothers. They did not have the choice to have drugs, hospitals, doctors, or even paramedics on the way.

I did what I had to do. And that really was not much. I only pushed 4 times. He did all the work. All I did was catch him. It still amazes me that between him and my body they knew what to do.

I took some classes during pregnancy that focused on natural labor and delivery, since I was planning on doing it naturally anyway. I think these classes helped me realize your body is amazing, and can do it!

Little Miracle is a great baby. He is a champion nurser, and an awesome sleeper. I am sure those two go hand in hand. He was born perfectly healthy. I did have group B strep in my urine in early pregnancy, and at 36 weeks, so we had to stay at the hospital for 48 hours so they could keep a close eye on him. Obviously, I did not have time to get antibiotics before delivery! All of his blood work came back fine, so we were released right at 48 hours.

Would I do it again at home?

No. Not planned anyway.

Would I do it again naturally?

Yes.

That is a feeling I would love to have again! I am still on top of the world! I am still walking around with my head held high, a huge smile on my face. It is very empowering to let your body do its job getting the baby out! Your body grew the baby with very little help from you, so it knows what it is doing. Labor and delivery is not a medical thing. It’s a natural thing.

So Wonder Woman? Not me!

You Know What They Say About "Best Laid Plans"?

You know they say "best laid plans always fail"?

I had a "best laid plan" for the birth of Little Miracle. I hired a doula, switched to a midwife that does water birth, had taken all the classes, read all the books, and was ready for my HOSPITAL water birth with my doula and midwife there.

I didn't get it.

12/7/09

I cleaned the house tonight when Stephen took Little Man to the gym. I was having a few contractions, but I was having them all week. They would come and go, nothing consistent. After I cleaned, I sat on the birth ball for a while. Bouncing. Swaying. Doing anything I could do to get the contractions to come back and stay consistent. Nothing was happening, so I decided to give up and go to bed. I had seen my midwife that morning, and I was 2-3 cms, but she stretched me to 3-4. She said she would "see ya tonight" but I did not put faith into it.

I went to bed at 9:30. I say went to bed, but I just laid there and tossed and turned. I was uncomfortable. I was 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I wanted to get the show on the road! Little did I know the show was on its way, coming down the fast lane.

I was just about to drift off to sleep around 11:15 to 11:30 when I felt a contraction. Hum, I usually don't have them when laying down. And this one was getting painful. I got up and went to the bathroom. I had another fun sign of labor approaching in the bathroom, so i knew something was happening. I texted my girlfriends that I think something was up. This was 11:42 pm.

I filled my tub and crawled in hoping to labor at home for a while. I told my husband to get the computer and to start timing the contractions. By midnight the contractions were 2 minutes apart lasting about 2 minutes each. Hum. Maybe time to call some people!

12/8/09

Stephen called my mom (to come and watch Little Man) and our doula and midwife. Looking at my phone, he called my mom at 12:13, the midwife at 12:19 and my doula at 12:21. (My water broke when Stephen was on the phone with our doula) My mom was on her way, my midwife said get to the hospital. The contractions were coming so fast, and starting out SO hard, I just knew there was NO way I could do this naturally. I begged Stephen to get me to the hospital and to get me an epidural!

I suddenly felt the urge to push. I never felt this with Little Man since I was so drugged, and I did not believe that I was feeling it. It was too fast. There is no way I was fully dilated!

I pushed once and put my hands down there. I felt his head bulging me outward so I told Stephen to call 911. He didn't believe me when I told him I NEEDED to push. He was telling me to just hold on and we would get to the car, and to the hospital. He did not believe that the baby was coming either.

I pushed again and felt his head crowning. At this point Stephen was on the phone with 911. I don't know when he realized that I was not kidding, and called 911. He told them "my wife's in labor".

I pushed again and his head came out. I was in SHOCK. OH MY GOODNESS!!! I was having him in my tub at home! All these thoughts came to mind. I am at HOME, in my tub, with NO MEDICAL PEOPLE PRESENT. What if he gets stuck? What if the cord is wrapped around his neck? What if I can't get him out?

I gained my composure, and knew that I could do this. I knew what to do. Almost like instinct.

The next contraction came and I pushed out his body. I had my hands down there to catch him and pull him up to my chest. I rubbed his head and Stephen patted his back. Stephen was still on the phone with 911. He told them that the baby was born! I asked Stephen what time it was. I wanted to know the exact time I had him. It was 12:30 am.

He let out the tiniest little cry. I knew he was ok. I pulled him off my chest to check for his cord. It was around his shoulder, but not his neck. I untangled him, and put him back between my breasts and covered him with a towel that was on the side of the tub.

Stephen went downstairs to let my mom in (who had been trying to knock for a few minutes, and even called, but we never heard her) and wait for the ambulance.

My mom came upstairs and saw him. The look on her face was priceless. I don't think she believe that I just delivered a baby in the tub at home either!

The paramedics got there a few minutes later. I still had Little Miracle on my chest and covered so we stayed that way for a few minutes to try to wait for the placenta. The paramedics were very nice and were doing things on my time. After a few minutes they suggested that we go ahead and cut the cord so they could check on the baby. I agreed and they clamped it. They went to cut it (with a razor blade they had!) I stopped them, and asked if Stephen could cut it. They all looked at each other (there was about 4-5 men in my bathroom... all of them with a look of disbelief and shock on their face... I don't think any of them had ever seen a call like this before, either that, or they were just happy they did not have to deliver a baby) and someone finally said "Well I don't see why not" and handed Stephen the razor blade.

The one female that was there with the paramedics took Little Miracle and wrapped him up in a foil blanket. She took him to the master bedroom. We (the men and I)waited about 10 minutes for the placenta and it was not coming, so they loaded Little Miracle and I up into the ambulance to head to the hospital. I told them which one I wanted to go to, and away we went.

I held Little Miracle on my chest skin to skin the whole ride down. I was having contractions still, but they were no where near as strong as the ones I had just had. We finally made it to the hospital, and my doula showed up, then Stephen (he had to follow in our car) then my midwife.

The placenta took what felt like forever, but it was nice to have my doula there to help me thru the contractions. Once it came I felt SO much better! My midwife had to sew me up because he came so fast that I tore. I did not feel it when it happened, because his head numbed me on the way out.

The female paramedic was finishing up her paperwork and talking to me. She said that the initial call she got was "woman in labor". Then she said not even 30 seconds later, dispatch said "woman delivered". She said she had to question dispatch "Woman delivering, or delivered?" because she did not believe it either!

By the time my midwife was done sewing up my nether regions, it was all starting to sink in. I had a baby! At home! In my bathtub! With no one there! In less than an hour! Now that's a feeling! Talk about on top of the world. I still want to stand on top of the roof and shout! I DID IT! Granted, not how I had planned AT ALL, but either way, I did it!

He was born at 12:30 on the nose. 7 lbs 6.9 ozs 19 inches. Perfectly healthy!

Why Yes, I AM Still Pregnant.

I never made it past 39 weeks with Little Man. I see now how blessed I was to have him "early".

I will be 40 weeks tomorrow, and I am officially ignoring my phone. I have had people calling constantly. I know they mean well. They start the conversation with "how are you feeling?" and then proceed to say "your still pregnant?" or "when are you gonna have that baby?". It is very annoying. I don't know when he is coming, if I knew that then I would play the lottery too. I want him here more than you do!

He is not really late until 42 weeks, so I know I still have a while until my midwife would take medical interventions. I pray every day he comes soon. At my last appointment, my midwife said I was 2-3 cms, 85% effaced, and he is at -1 station, so he should be here SOON. But only he knows the day he is coming.

So, trust me, you will know when he comes! My blog may be the last place to know, since I am not very good at getting over here and posting. But if you follow me on Facebook or anywhere else, you will know!

Here is one last belly picture... I think this was 39.3 weeks.

Thanksgiving, Christmas Decor and Playing In The Leaves

We had a great Thanksgiving again this year. I was worried that I was going to go into labor and miss the turkey, but that did not happen.

We had a lazy morning around the house. After Little Mans nap, we headed to my moms for dinner. Little Man and Gram (my mom) played for a while when Grandpa (my moms husband) was finishing up dinner. Stephen was watching the football games and I was between the games and Little Man.

Dinner was AWESOME! Grandpa made turkey, stuffing, asparagus, spinach casserole, sweet potato casserole and two pies. Did I remember it all?

After dinner, we played some more, and I installed Little Mans extra car seat in my moms car for when we are at the hospital with Little Miracle.

I am a firm believer that Christmas decorations should not go up until after Thanksgiving. Actually, they should not go up until after my birthday, which is December 4th. We decided this year, that with Little Miracle coming any day now, we should put up the tree after Thanksgiving, and before my birthday.

So when Little Man was napping, we pulled out the tree. He woke up shortly after we got it up, and decided to help daddy fluff it.



I decided to only do tinsel this year, we have a pre-lit tree so there is lights, but no ornaments this year. All of mine are sentimental to me, and with a toddler around, and a newborn almost here, I thought it best they all stay in the box!

Little Man LOVES to point out the tree to us. He points to the lights, and to the star on top.

This afternoon, we decided to start on some outside lights. Stephen wanted to get rid of all the leaves in our front yard while I was putting lights around the bushes and garage doors. Little Man LOVES to act just like daddy, and had to help. Well, we have two blowers, so he grabbed the one that was not plugged in and helped!



After they blew the leaves into a pile, Daddy showed Little Man how to jump in the pile of leaves. Oh My he had so much fun playing in the leaves!! I did not get any pictures of that, I wish I would have!

Little Man is still loving his room, but he has found his freedom from not being in the crib. He likes to read now during his nap time, instead of sleeping. He has skipped his nap for 4 days now. I hope he is not giving it up! Mommy still needs her quiet time! He likes to read a book, then push it out of his door. This is what I see when his "quiet time" is over.



See the shadow at the bottom of the picture? Yeah, that's a shadow of my massive belly...

Well, today Little Man played for almost 2 hours in his room. He got quiet 10 minutes before his "quiet time" was up. We went up to check on him, and sure enough, he was passed out! But, not in his bed... RIGHT behind the door. I had to put just the camera in the door to get this picture. Silly Man....



We are at 39 weeks with Little Miracle now. Officially the longest I have ever been pregnant. Little Man was born at 39 weeks, so I was halfway hoping Little Miracle would follow in his footsteps. I really want him to come in December though, so a few more days and he is really good to go!

As Ready As I Am Gonna Be

38 weeks.WOW. If Little Miracle is anything like his older brother, he will be here soon. Little Man was born at 39 weeks on the nose. Kinda surreal to think this time next week I could be a mom to two!

This week I have done TONS around the house. I have mad nesting skills and that burst of energy you get at the end of pregnancy that allows you to get things done.

Little Mans room in the new house was pink. Pepto Bistmol pink. Like someone opened bottles of the stuff and threw them in the room. Not just the walls either, the trim, baseboards, windows, shutters and closet doors! This had to go this week. I painted it blue. Little boy blue. That pretty shade of bright blue. Not baby blue but bright, toddler blue.

Today, with Stephens help, we got his room cleaned out. It was the catch all room from moving. You know, a room that everything that you have no idea where it goes, goes? I found a dresser on Freecycle, and we repainted it white and made the blue knobs red to match his shelves that I painted.

When Little Man was sleeping we cleaned out the room, and when he woke up, we hung shelves and moved his bed in. He is now officially out of the nursery! Little Miracle wont be in the nursery for a while because we co-sleep for at least the first 6 months, but Little Mans bed was in the nursery, and was blocking the closet!

Here is his room. It is a crappy cell phone picture. I will try to get a better picture soon. See the painting on the wall? I did that! It has his name in red letters in the grass of the painting too. (photoshoped that out)


And his dresser. It was already white, just was really beaten up, and had blue knobs.


Again, sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures.

38 weeks. Did I say that already? I still can not believe it. Stephen works Monday and Tuesday of this coming week, then Monday of the following week, then is off till mid- December. I am hoping Little Miracle holds on until December, but I really want to meet him!

Big Changes

With a new baby coming soon, I knew it was inevitable that Little Man gets out of the crib. I was in no rush, since Little Miracle will sleep with us for at least the first 6 months, but I knew I needed to either find a toddler bed or find some kids sheets for the double we have.

Well, the other day during Little Mans nap time, I was endlessly searching Craigslist for a desk for our bedroom. I came across a super cute car bed, and thought to myself "do they make train beds?". Little Man loves his trains, and we plan on doing his room in them. A quick Google search and I found this one.


(manufactures image)

I went to the website for it, and found out they no longer make this bed. They replaced it with Thomas the Train. I do not want to get him a Thomas the Train bed, I don't really want any characters in his room. Kids get too obsessed with one certain character in my opinion, so I am not pushing one on him. When he finds a character he likes, we will embrace it.

So I decided to go back to Craigslist. I typed in "train bed" and came up with three posts. Two were that bed!! I was SO excited to learn that they still had it, and we were already planning on going to the town that the seller lived in the next day.

When we got the bed home, Little Man was not too sure what to think. We got it cleaned, and put together, and put the crib mattress in it, and he grabbed a pillow off the couch and laid down. It was already almost his bedtime, so I told Stephen to get the crib mattress back into the crib so he could go to bed. I was not ready to move him into his "big boy bed" yet.

Little Man was heartbroken! He laid down in the frame of the bed, and said "I need chalk" (which is his word for chocolate milk, which he gets at bedtime). Well, ok, lets get the bed upstairs in the nursery and see how he does. I was fully expecting him to jump and play in the bed and be up all night.

We got him his chocolate milk, put him in jammies and laid him down. I told him if he gets out of bed, he will go back into the crib. We turned on his radio, turned off the light, and kissed him goodnight. To my shock and surprise, he only woke up once that night, and stayed in his bed all night.

His nap yesterday went just as well, and last night he fought bedtime a little harder than he ever has, but he stayed in his bed while fighting it. I have told him if he gets out of his train bed, he goes to sleep in his crib. I can tell he really does not want to sleep in the crib, so he stays in his bed!

I am working on teaching him to stay in bed when he wakes up in the morning, which is actually going well. I told him that he needs to stay in bed until Mommy or Daddy comes to get him, and he listens quite well. Yesterday he was up playing, but that was the first time waking up with his new found freedom. This morning, he called for me, and was still in bed when I got to him.

I still can not believe that my Little Man is big enough to be in a toddler bed! It seems like just last week I was 36 weeks pregnant with him, and getting the nursery ready for him! Now I am trying to get the nursery ready for Little Miracle, while trying to get Little Man out of the nursery and into his room. (That will take some more time, the walls are still pink, and it's our catch all room with the moving)

Halloween

I love Halloween! It is one of my favorite days of the year. Now that I have kids, it is even more fun!

I started the search for costumes a few weeks ago. I waited till after Little Mans second birthday, which is just three weeks before Halloween. I looked everywhere and had no idea what I wanted him to be. He has no favorite characters, because he does not watch much tv.

I LOVE to dress up too, so I was trying to find something for both of us to be. I finally convinced Stephen to dress up too, so it made it even more fun, looking for costumes for all three of us! Everywhere I looked had something for Stephen and I, but not Little Man, or had a toddler costume, but not adult ones. I looked at every character!

I finally found the CUTEST Tin Man from Wizard of Oz for Little Man. I looked around and ended up at another store and found the Scare Crow for Stephen, and Dorothy for me. Now came the fun part, would the costume fit over my 9 month pregnant belly? I tried it on in the store, and it did, so we were set! I also found some kick-butt shoes! They were about 3 inch platform heels in glittery red. (Yes, my 9 month pregnant butt wore 3 inch platform heels for most of the day. I did have tennis shoes I put on for a little bit too)

We got all dressed up Saturday morning to go to a local square for trick-or-treating at the businesses. We had a long day of fun planned, but the weather did not want to cooperate. We got to the square and it was drizzling. Not too bad, but half of the businesses were not doing the trick-or-treating. We decided went to most of the stores then decided to eat lunch down there.

After lunch we headed home to let Little Man nap. It was already 2 hours past his usual nap time, so he did not want to sleep. He played in his crib for almost an hour before he passed out.

We had to wake him up about 30 minutes after he fell asleep to head out to another town square for their kids fest. We got back in costume, and headed out. The rain had finally stopped, so we thought it was going to turn into a good night. We met some friends at the square and let Little Man play the games and get candy. Right as we went to get some dinner there, it started raining again. We piled into a tent they had set up there and waited the weather out.

While we were in the tent, one of the people in charge of the kids fest asked us if we had entered into the costume contest. We said no, and she asked us for our names so she could enter us. A few minutes later they were calling us to the stage. We won!! We won "best costume". Little Man LOVES his trophy!

After that we decided that the weather was not going to let us trick-or-treat too well, so we would head to the mall because they were having trick-or-treating there too. We got to the mall, and it was PACKED. The adults all went to get coffee, then we started going to the stores, only to find that NONE of them had candy left!!

At this point it was getting late, and we were all getting tired of trying to trick-or-treat. We all decided that we would skip trying our neighborhood and just head to Walmart to buy candy!

Five adults and three toddlers headed to Walmart to buy Halloween candy and beer! After Walmart, everyone headed to my house to open up our candy bags, switch some around, and enjoy the night. We put Little Man to bed, and the other two toddlers played downstairs. They have later bedtimes than Little Man, and by then he was SO tired from his short nap.

All in all it ended up being a good night. I am glad Little Man is not old enough to understand that he did not get to trick-or-treat. I make him say "trick-or-treat" when he wants a piece of his Halloween candy, and he says it like "treat-treat". Then he says "thank-you" and eats his candy.

Hopefully next year the weather will cooperate with us!

Life Got Busy...

Ok. So.... life got busy.

We closed on our house September 30th. The movers came the first week of October with all of our stuff. It was so nice to see our stuff again! Its amazing how little you can live on, but in 6 months, you being to miss your stuff. They set the big stuff up for us, and had all the boxes in the rooms they belonged in.

I started unpacking as soon as the movers left. The living room was first on my list. Then the play room and kitchen. Little Man played in his play room for HOURS while I unpacked the kitchen. He had not seen half of those toys in 6 months, so he thought they were all new.

I have slowly gotten most stuff unpacked. I still have to work on Little Mans room, but the nursery is done. For now, he is staying put there!

We found several unexpected things in the house. Gotta love a house that was empty for two years! We found mold in the basement, that had not been there a few days before we closed. Stephen had to rip up all the carpet from the basement, and then we noticed water coming in from the foundation. Stephen dug up the gutter pipe, and it had a split in it. So that was fixed. THEN he was down there making sure we were not getting water in and noticed sewage backing up into the shower and toilet. Thankfully it was in the basement, and we had nothing down there. The water company people came out and put a camera in the sewer pipe, and we have tree roots growing through them. OH the joys of home ownership!

We also found when replacing ceiling fans that none of the ceiling fan boxes were actual "fan" boxes. They were the plastic, "not for ceiling fan use" boxes. Also, they are not properly braced. Its amazing that the fans that were up lasted this long! We are still working on bracing the new boxes so I can install the fans.

We got the trees cut down that we wanted to, got the whole house re-piped (had old pipes that were the kind that are known to break), hot water heater replaced, new appliances in the kitchen, and just bought the paint for Little Mans room. Right now it is a beautiful shade of Pepto Bismol... you know that pink stuff! It will shortly be a shade of blue!

We still have a ton of work we want to / need to do to the house, so it will be a work in progress for many years to come.

My pregnancy is progressing well. I switched to a new doctors office for my pregnancy. It is the only midwife practice in Georgia. Meaning, the midwife is the boss, and the doctor works for her. All of the other midwifes in this state work under doctors, and he has the final say. I am very excited to be using them! They are awesome with natural births, and have been doing water births for years.

Now begins the waiting game. I am 35.2 weeks pregnant. I had my first son at 39 weeks, so there is a good possibility that Little Miracle will come early too. My midwife today said there is a possibility that I could have a baby this month! ACK, I am NOT ready!! I feel pretty good, but I do have that "end of pregnancy" tireds that every mom to be gets, and chasing a toddler around all day does not help that.