A Whole Hand

December 18, 2004

Five years later

Paul is five! Now to catch up on his recent happenings.

Last summer with Dad home Paul learned to ride a two-wheeler (in seriously like 2 hours) and re-discovered his love of biking. Every day he begged to go on rides.

Last fall he took a football class. He learned how to throw and catch and played a flag football game. He earned his first little trophy.

Paul is a full-fledged Ute fan. At church someone said, "Go Cougs!" to him and he looked at him in all seriousness and said, "I'm a Ute." He told his preschool class that the girls in his family are Cougs and the boys are Utes. Then he asked each kid what they were (most didn't know). He likes going to games with Dad.
He's taken an interest in drawing and writing (finally). Almost every morning he draws a picture of our family and writes our names on it. The other day it was quiet and I found the boys at the table coloring. (Gasp!) I'm proud that he is finally trying, otherwise Kindergarten is not going to be much fun.
Paul is still a great worker. He can always be counted on to work in the garden, rake leaves, shovel snow, vacuum, or set the table. One day he shut himself in his room and then said he had a surprise for us. He cleaned his entire room himself!
Paul is a wonderful big brother. He (usually) plays well with Sam and he adores his sister and loves to talk to her and help take care of her. This makes him mom's big helper too.

Paul has many friends. Apparently he's very popular with the girls at school. Sometimes he says they fight over him. We thought he was pretty oblivious to the whole thing (being a boy), but then he told us who he is going to marry. I think the drama is subsiding now and we just hope he can be a good friend to everyone.
Paul's a thinker and asks great questions. Once he asked, "What do babies think about?" He's a little overly concerned about death and the resurrection. He's still very interested in bodies and how they work with some new interest in skeletons. He knows a lot about dinosaurs (thanks to PBS' Dinosaur Train). He has an awesome vocabulary and loves to learn new words like inaudible and perturbed. He also likes to memorize Dr. Suess books which the boys read at bedtime.
We just love our Paul and all the fun and energy he brings to our family.

Moments {In Prespective}

Being a mom of three little kids, life happens in moments. I'm trying to keep it all in perspective. I tell myself almost daily that this time won't last forever--partly in consolation that I won't be stuck at home dealing with poop and tantrums for the rest of my life and partly to remind myself that one day my kids will be grown and gone and I will miss these days. There are moments when I feel that motherhood is everything I dreamed it would be: surrounded by my little ones reading stories or Paul giving me a picture he drew of us with a heart at the bottom because we love each other or listening to Sam play make believe or Jer wrestling the boys after work or catching one of Audrey's cute smiles. Prespective is important. For example when Paul tells me his bad behavior is because Grandma's not here and she's more fun than...I was proud because he must have thought he'd hurt my feelings if he finished the sentence which means he's learning some empathy and self control, right? Or as my boys touch every knob/button/dial and open every cupboard/drawer/door in the hotel room I think how great it is that they are so inquistive. Plus I got to play dress up today with this little ensemble that I couldn't resist buying (it came with a matching dress coat). Really, life is beautiful.

Fall Family Photos

Hopefully, I'll get an update on here soon, but pictures will have to do for now...I hope you're enjoying autumn time.

Happy Halloween

Highlights from Halloween '09:
Seeing the witches at Gardner Village
Making costumes and a Halloween tutu
Picking pumpkins with kid-sized wheelbarrows
Snow
Winning second place in the Chili Cook-off
Sam clutching his candy bag with a death grip
Eating spaghetti and eyeballs for Halloween dinner
Paul running to every house during neighborhood trick-or-treating
The Utes (barely) beating Wyoming and Jer missing the game to be with the fam
The boys playing their parts as robots or Samtron and Paultron
Our sweet little flower sleeping through her first Halloween

First Photo Shoot

Our beautiful Audrey 10 days old. (I sure hope Santa stuffs my stocking with a new camera this year).

The Birth Day

For some reason it's amazing to me how each birth experience is different and none of mine have gone as I planned. With all the contractions I'd been having and the fact that I was dilated to almost a 3 for almost 3 weeks, I didn't think I would make it to my due date. My doctor gave me an optional 39 week induction, but I passed it up because 1) I didn't want to be induced (like I was with Paul) and 2) I was hoping to go natural (like I did with Sam, although that wasn't planned). But my due date came and went and because of the glucose intolerance my doctor didn't want the baby to be overdue, so Thursday morning we headed to the hospital for induction. By then though I was just wanting the baby out so I wasn't too disappointed (just a little). I still thought I would try to go natural. They started the pitocin at about 10 am. I was disappointed to learn that they wouldn't let me get up and walk and there was no soaking tub--those were what got me through labor with Sam. The doctor broke my water at about 11:30. The contractions were strong and steady and manageable. I read a book and Jer and I played a game to help the time pass. As the contractions got worse, I was breathing through them and still feeling confident. At about 2:30 the nurse checked me and I was at a 9 and the baby still had to come down a little and I still wasn't completly effaced. I doubt the nurse got back to the nurse's station and I was suddenly in horrible pain with the urge to push. The nurse and doctor came. I seemed to have forgotten how to push or do anything. The pain was so intense. But I realized I had to get the baby out. So I tried to focus and push past all the pain and burning. She was born at 2:51 pm. Sweet relief.
My reasons for going natural were personal. I really feel like looking back it's an amazing physical and spiritual experience. The nurses and doctor praised my self control and it's hard to explain, but honestly I feel like it made me a more better and stronger, more empathetic person. I also love the recovery. Three hours after she was born I was sitting at a table having a steak dinner with Jer watching the sun set behind the mountains. I had already been to the bathroom twice and except for the cramping, was in very little pain. I took two motrin at the hospital and haven't had any other medication since--that's really awesome compared to my recovery with Paul. With all that said, though, if there is a next time I think I'll opt for the epidural.
Audrey is a great baby so far. She's a champion nurser and has been sleeping pretty well at night. I tried to get more pictures, but it's so hard to capture her cuteness and sweetness. (And we need a new camera). I made her little coming home putfit, so we tried to do a photo shoot at the hospital, but she was not very cooperative. She also loves to suck and has found her thumb a few times. The boys, especially Paul, are crazy about her and are such good helpers. We've loved having a new addition to our family. And it is glorious to not be pregnant anymore!

Introducing...

Countdown Contest

Take a guess at when you think the baby's coming. Here's some helpful info:
The official due date is 9/30. At my last appointment (9/9) I was 80% effaced and dilated to 1.5 cm. With Paul I was induced the day after my due date and Sam came all on his own 4 days before my due date. Paul was born on a Saturday at 2:02 am. Sam was born on a Friday at 9:23 am.
Jeremy informs me that a prize will be awarded to the person with the closest guess (and it will be something good) since this is his idea.

Back to School

Life at our house is finally returning to normal. Ahhhhh. We had a special Back to School Night with a caterpillar-butterfly theme. We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, ate caterpillar pizza, garden salad, and dirt cups, painted butterflies, and played with butterfly nets. The boys had lots of fun.Paul went back to preschool. He's in an afternoon class three days a week. Sam comes home with me and takes a nap. The second day I sat down to enjoy the quiet for a few minutes before tackling all the housework and fell asleep sitting upright. I woke myself up snoring. As long as Sam keeps napping I'm really going to enjoy this new arrangement!

Jer started work as well. He spent 10 days in Oak Harbor, Washington staying with our hospitable friends from Optometry school and filling in for a doc on maternity leave while we were waiting for credentialing at his new job. We were grateful for the work, but hated being apart, especailly after having so much time together this summer. We were all so glad when Daddy came home! So far, business is slow, but he's glad to have such a great job and soon the optical shop will open and the schedule should fill up.
I got to go on a little get-away to Park City with some friends from Optometry school that I haven't seen since graduation. We stayed in a hotel, giggled until late at night, went to Swiss Days in Midway and shopped all day. It was a much needed break and lots of fun to catch up with Deb and Jennie. Now, I'm just waiting for baby. The bag is packed, clothes washed, diapers and wipes ready. I got a pedicure today and have a hair appointment on Tuesday. I just hope that I can finish the boys' Halloween costumes before she comes. Then we'll be all set for life to change again.

The Nursery

The nursery is done! I've been dreaming of decorating a little girl room for...well, forever. It was way fun to do. I started with the Bessy Pease Gutman pictures that I framed from an old calendar. I had similar prints hanging in my room as a little girl. I also wanted to include some of my porcelain figurine collection. My aunt gave me a new doll for my birthday from birth until when I was about 14. I wanted soft pastels--pink, robbin's egg blue, white, cream--for the color scheme. I was planning to make the bedding, but I found a steal at the Salvation Army Store one day. They get brand new items from Target and the bumper and crib skirt were only $14. The colors were perfect. Then I made the pillow, curtains, name plaque and mobile, dressed up the lamp shade, and paper-mached the nesting boxes. The mirror is Jer's great grandma's that we've had since we got married. My mom made the blessing dress and bought the little bench. All-in-all I love it!
Pregnancy update: Eight weeks to go! I guess we can start counting down soon. Baby is growing right on track. She does have a two vessel cord instead of a three vessel cord. She may be at risk for low birth weight, but as long as she keeps measuring correctly and I keep gaining weight, there's no worry. I also have glucose intolerance (not gestational diabetes) which means I have to watch my sugar intake and she may be at risk for high birth weight (I suppose that'll even out her birth weight). Jer and I joke that she's not even born yet and already she's high maintenance (compared to the boys anyway). But we're excited to meet her. Paul and Sam like to talk to my belly and feel her move.