Time is going so slow right now

The title of this post contradicts the title of becca's last post...but this is how I am these days.  Strictly because in three days the controls get installed on my van and I can start practicing driving.  With the session I had with the instructor, I feel confident I could drive to Angela's house, the local grocery store, my cousin's apartment, and of course my in-laws.  It'll take a bit before I can venture out more, but I will be able to practice the moment I get the controls. 

Seriously, I think about this every hour and I've been counting down the days and getting more excited each time.  I'm going to get a gym membership and do my PT in the pool; going to visit Heather and Sam, my parents, my grandma in Whidbey, drive to church by myself, do church ministries and church groups and Bible studies...plus if/when we get kids it'll be so convenient to be able to DRIVE.

SOOOOOO excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

time is going by so fast right now.

I have enjoyed reading everyone's posts, even though I haven't had much of a moment to comment or post myself.  I have a few minutes to write now, though! September FLEW by.  Shea started preschool and has been absolutely loving it!  He is so social and gets along with everyone and adores his teachers.  We haven't had any issues so far, and he has a few new "best friends".  I am starting to think more about what he will be doing next year for Kindergarten.  As much as some times I think I want to just send him off to school 5 days a week, part of me really feels like I should be more involved than that, so I'm looking into some programs to mesh homeschooling with more support and social involvement.

The week I started fall quarter, I attended my first two births!  I was on-call for two moms.  Their due dates were Sept. 14 and October 2nd...they both went into active labor on the SAME night! I drove an hour north to the Port Townsend hospital for the first.  Thankfully, her labor was really quick (I was there about 2 hours) and then I left and drove an hour and a half to Bremerton, hoping I would make in time for the other mom.  She was a first time mom and had a long labor.  She didn't give birth until close to 5am.  So, I left at 7:30PM that Wednesday night and didn't get home and crawl into bed until 6:30AM the next day.  I was so beat, but I am so glad I got to do it.  Jeremy started later that day, so he let me sleep for a little bit before taking off, and I took it easy that day.  I got a really bad cold that is just now gone.  This meant that both Jeremy and I were sick on my birthday, and we didn't do anything at all, but that's okay.  I wish I could share a few pictures with you from the birth, but I haven't received the release form yet for one, and the other is still approving what pictures she wants me to use.

I got a few pictures off my cell phone to share.  I lost the cord to download my pictures, so I can only email them to myself which takes forever, so here are a few, anyway!

This is my NEW sewing machine!  My mom inherited some money from her dad when he recently passed.  She was able to use it to pay off a bunch of debt and also wanted to give a portion to each of us kids, but she decided to buy me and Kaitie each a new sewing machine.  We went shopping on Saturday and picked this out.  I haven't gotten to use it yet, but I tried it in the store and love it!  I never thought I would own such a quality sewing machine and I know I am going to have it for a long time.  It looks really simple, but it is so fast and powerful and made to last.  Other pictures are of a trail walk I did with a friend and her kids and the kids walking the dock last month.

Hailey is getting so big now. She feeds her babies on a regular basis and talks so well now, it is kind of crazy to me how old she is.  She is also obsessed with putting on these necklaces and bracelets I kept from my childhood (she calls them "treasures"), she wears them ALL day long.  Shea has been riding his bike a lot (yes, I'm a bad mom and didn't make him wear his helmet, because we going like 0 miles per hour he is so slow.  On the way back, he somehow crashed and nearly hit his head into a mailbox post, so helmet is required now).  And he was excited to wear a firemans helmet and climb in a real firetruck at a kids day fair we went to.

Since we moved, I haven't really re-arranged any furniture, but the other day, I went a little crazy.  I have been in a purging like crazy mode and also, we have been trying to figure out how to bring in the TV from the garage.  We always have to watch DVDs on our computer in the office, so its super uncomfortable, but the TV doesn't fit well almost anywhere.  I figured out to move our small couch into the playroom and put the TV in there in a closet, so we just close the curtain during the day and the kids don't see it and ask me a million times to watch it. We watched a movie last night and it was the coziest we have gotten to be while watching one since before we moved in!  The picture of our new "tv/sitting area" is still in progress in this picture, but now it is all cleaned up and cozy.  It is also nice because we can turn out the lights in the living room (which we have discovered helps Hailey fall asleep SO much faster), and we can sit in there to read or work or whatever without disturbing the kids.

Monday night I babysat the cutest little 5 month old for a couple in the area. They are 15 years old (YES, 15) and had a baby this past summer.  We met them because the dad was working at the church over the summer to earn some money.  They have really taken up the responsibility of their baby so amazingly well, though.  They are homeschooling themselves through a program in the school district so they only have to go to class one day a week and they can even take the baby with them.  And even though they can't drive, they walk miles and take the bus to doctor appointments and anywhere they need to go.  They live with his dad and he seems fairly supportive, but I don't know what their home life is really like.  They needed someone to babysit because they wanted a few hours to do homework, so I GLADLY took their super happy beautiful baby.  The kids loved having her around and were both adoring her and so gentle and Hailey keeps asking me, "Where is your baby??" now.  She is the easiest baby ever, but it reminds me why I am not eager to have another one right now and I LOVE that instead I can bless this young couple by taking care of their little one.  Oh and having a 5 month old sleep in my arms?  I forgot that feeling.  And the baby smell. mmmmm.

Anyway.

What else?  School has been going really well this quarter.  I love my classes and the style of the teachers I have, and it hasn't been stressful at all.  My sister is 37 weeks pregnant right now, so she could be having her baby any day and I am hoping to be there to take pictures/give support and also she is hoping childcare works out so that I can spend an extra day to help around the house after baby is born.  Jeremy has thankfully still been getting hours at work, even though they are heading into the slow season, it seems we are always provided for.  And Hailey is going through a period of really bad sleeping.  It is so hard!  She just got a new bed, which I hoped would help so she wouldn't be falling out, but she just is never comfortable and I don't know how to help her, she wakes up SO much and I am so tired, it's like having a newborn again but without the feeding part.  Jeremy thinks I should ignore her more.  Maybe he is right, but I am not very good at it because I want to help her.

And Shea is going to be FIVE years old in a couple of weeks.  He is trying to convince me to throw him a superhero birthday party.  Also, he wants to be slinky dog for halloween, so I'm trying to figure that costume out.  You should google "slinky dog costume". There are some pretty awful diy attempts.  Enough!

October 13th...

...is the day that I train to drive a car with hand controls, then I can get them installed!  Hopefully I can get the hang of it in the first session (a few hours!)

Car

Today we go and pick me up a Toyota Sienna!  We sold the Mazda to a friend yesterday.  We'll get hand controls installed on the Sienna which involves getting a consultation as to what kind of hand controls I should get, special training, then retaking my driving test and getting a new license.  It doesn't seem like it should be too long before I can drive.  It's been over a year!

We're getting a minivan for a few reasons.  Joe's main reason is that the wheelchair easily fits in the back.  I love the space in the front, and I grew up with a minivan and I like big cars.  I'm hoping someday we'll fill the seats with kids!  And I also convinced Joe that if we go on a vacation someday, say, to Ocean Shores, with kids, a small car will not be able to accomodate the wheelchair plus luggage.  And suppose we get a baby someday?  Then we have even more gear!  He said I have a point.

Kids wise...we've had a few opportunities come up and Joe has said "no."  Each time it has broken my heart.  Currently we have a girl who is a friend of a friend who might be coming into the system, in which case Joe has volunteered to take her for an emergency 30-day placement.  She's in the hospital right now though.  We were asked to take her in before she went to the hospital, but we said a resounding NO!  We cannot take in a child outside of the legal system, even though it's not perfect!  We need to be protected, the kid needs to be protected, the birth parents need court orders that set boundaries for them...anyway.

I bought a baby jail thing because Eli comes and visits and gets into everything and poor Angela has to chase him around.  Also, at least once a week Heather visits with her baby and another friend visits with her baby.  They're too young to get into stuff but it won't be long before they're exploring!  This is what I got and I love it!  It seems fairly big to me even without the extensions.  Eli loves it (and Angela and I love it too, hehehe).  I wanted something sturdy enough that he can pull himself up on it.  It's very sturdy.  And easy to wipe down which was important to me since Heather is so careful not to get Zari sick.  I also wanted something I could set up by myself and I think I can if I'm running at 50% or higher.

Time for us to leave for the dealership!

I am so tired.

I have made two trips to Salem since I last blogged. The first trip was because my grandfather wasn't doing well and I wanted to see for myself how bad he was actually doing, and if it looked as it sounded get hospice set up for him.  Well he did look bad, and we ended up getting hospice set up the day we arrived with the help of an awesome nurse and his dr. (after a facility nurse had told my aunt we needed to take him to the ER on the weekend to get orders for hospice, don't even get me started on how ridiculous that is!)

My mom came over to Auburn and we drove down to Salem together. Wow are long car rides way more work with a little munchkin.  We had to pull over once because somebody was screaming, and then again because the other two somebodies had to go to the bathroom. But we made it in one piece!  My grandpa didn't even recognize us the first day we were there, but the next two days he at least opened his eyes and even remembered Eli, which was so special seeing as he has had pretty bad dementia and short term memory loss since long before Eli was born. 

The man patting Eli's head is Sam, Sam loves babies and wanted to hold Eli every time he saw him, melt my heart. 

Right before we went down to Salem my college friend I hadn't seen since my wedding, Michele, said she was driving super close to my house on her way from Portland to Canada where she is now living.  She is doing her internship as a large animal vet, and was going to move to Australia in a few days to finish it there.  She came over less than an hour after she texted and we got to catch up for a few hours, it was so fun, so random, and one of the huge blessings of being SAHM right now is being available!

Paul and I finally got down to his grandparents house so they could visit Eli, it had been more months than I can remember since they had seen him, it was so precious to see Nana leaving over and smothering Eli with kisses. 

Eli loves the fridge, and by loves I mean any time he hears it open he drops whatever he is doing to crawl as fast as he can and stand inside it. He cracks me up.  I had to move the soy and hoisin sauces because he likes to suck on them like a bottle!

This last month has really brought out the mischeviousness in Eli. Climbing in the dishwasher, taking food out of the fridge, climbing all the stairs, knocking over plants, tearing leaves from succulents, it pretty much never ends!  He also walks super well now behind a walker and he is so proud of himself for it!  I wish you ladies had instagram because I post a lot of photos and videos of him over there :) 

Eli and I tagged along to the Harvest festival in Seattle a few weekends ago.  Eli loved the band that was there (hence the huge smile) and loved seeing all the animal they had.  Both babies, Eli and his buddy Meli, slept the whole way too and from Seattle, it was a miracle! 

Eli practices brushing his teeth with me, he is getting so active and observant and he just keeps getting more and more fun!  He is also eating like a teenager lately, he still nurses the same but the amount of actual food he consumes is incredible!  I have started having his bottle with water in it all the time for him.  I just ordered some cups with straws and we are going to try that for him when he is sitting in his booster. 

We went out to breakfast at one of our favorite places, Sunrise Cafe, a few weeks ago.  We took along Eli's booster and bib and it was the best thing we ever did!  He enjoyed some of the amazing and HUGE omlet with us and he couldn't escape!  I don't know who designed the high chairs for restaurants but who made them so deep and wide, Eli can escape the seatbelt no problem.  McDonalds on the other hand has awesome high chairs, which I am embarassed to admit I know that.  I don't actually know the last time I ate anything besides a dipped cone there though, so thats a plus. :) 

Paul and I having a relaxing moment while Eli slept. Seems these are few and far between because Paul is always working or has something going on.  I can't wait for a more predictable schedule and normal life when he becomes a manager.  He has a manager interview in a few weeks and I am praying Gods will be done.  I have full confidence he will pass, but only if it's the Lords will.  I have peace God has a plan for us, and I will just ride the waves of whatever happens.  

Eli looks at Paul with such awe and wonder these days and I was so happy to have captured it while he was sitting on the bed.  I sure do love these two boys in my life, they definitely have me wrapped around their finger. :) 

I have still been loving bountiful basket, and Amber has been getting them lately as well!  I just order hers along with mine and drop it by, which means I get to see her almost weekly! :)  Amber can't have peppers though so I ended up with a TON of bell and chili peppers this last time.  I roasted them all in the toaster (convection) oven and froze them in half cup packs.  I am excited to have them available for lots of cooking this winter! 

I did Jamberry nails for the first time.  I have had them on for 1.5 weeks now and they are holding up so well!  They are more work to put on than the advertisements let on, but so cute and work so well.  I also could probably do my nails 3x from a package instead of the 1x I thought. 

My walking, climbing, crazy dare devil of a boy!  He has so much energy these days.  He just went through a growth spurt, which I am so glad is over.  He sleeps awful on vacation anyway, so combine being away from home for a week with a growth spurt and just getting over his second bout of croup, it meant I was up 3-4 times a night.  Paul went hunting and was gone for 5 nights so all the wake ups were on me.  Oh I was so tired! We are sleep training again this week and it is already getting better. Phew! 

Swinging at my parents house in the same swing my mom swung my brother to sleep in as a baby.  My brother is now 21!

While in Salem this last weekend for my grandpas memorial (he passed just a day after we left town, he knew we said our goodbyes) we went and visited my other grandparents.  Grandma Shirley loves being on the floor and playing with Eli even at 80 years old!  The only two times grandpa Bob has smiled in the last 6 months is when Eli has visited him. The power of a baby is incredible!   The guy on the right in the football picture is my grandpa that just passed away, he was such a stud!

Paul had the day off yesterday and we went to Flaming Geyser State park.  It is just about 15 minutes from our house, and we only stayed for about a half hour, but it was a fun family adventure, and Paul even agreed to a few family pictures! 

Eli made the rough transition from 3 to 2 naps this week so I am having to get  creative with fun things to keep him up between naps.  He used to only stay up 2 hours at a time, but started refusing his last nap of the day meaning he was up for nearly six hours before bed, um that was torture and he was super grumpy!  So I switched to keeping him awake for 3 hours at a time between naps and not only has he not refused a single nap, he also naps way better than he was.  It is also helping him sleep longer at night, still with wake ups that we have to pat him back down, but hopefully those will go away soon.  He now sleeps in till about 6:15 or 7am which is so so so much better than the 4 am that we did for a month! 

Hope all is well with you ladies! 

Happiness

Ahh! I wrote a whole thing about my birth story and then my computer died and I lost the whole thing! I'll have to write about it later.  I'll share some pictures for now.  About a month before Callum was born I got a smart phone and have been able to take a lot more pictures.

This is my sweet little boy, I just love watching him sleep.  He's so precious! We had a midwife appointment today and he is doing so well! He's gained 12 oz in the past 5 days and is now up to 8 lbs 5 oz.  We had been waking him up to feed in the night because I was worried about him gaining, but now I know he's totally fine and I can let him sleep more!

Five days after Callum was born we found out that he had a pretty severe tongue tie and upper lip tie. A pediatrician was able to cut the tongue tie initially, but behind it was another one and he said that it needed to be cut my laser.  Thankfully there is a dentist who specializes in this not too far from us and they were able to see us right away.  It was so hard to watch as they numbed his mouth, the hard part was after the procedure because his breathing sounded horrible.  The numbing had gone down his throat he couldn't control his saliva until it hit his windpipe and then he would cough it up.  Justin was so good at holding him.

The night after he got the revision was tough.  He hasn't ever latched because his mouth was so restricted, so I've been working on breastfeeding, but he gets fed by me pumping and a bottle.  That night he had trouble even taking a bottle and would get so upset when we tried to give it to him.  We ended up using a spoon to feed him.  Thankfully things have been slowly getting better since then.  Sometimes he forgets how to suck and gets frustrated with the bottle, but today has been really good.  After every feed we have to stretch the skin under his tongue and upper lip so that he doesn't reattach to where it was.  It's so hard because Callum cries and sometimes screams when we do it.  I also have tongue exercises I have to do with him so that it moves around more.  

On a happier note, we went to church last Sunday and had so much fun showing him off to all our friends!  He slept the whole time.  It was so fun to dress him up in dress clothes! 

Beatrix has been really good with Callum.  She gives him little licks on the head and cheek.  She doesn't seem to be jealous yet, so I'm hoping it continues to go well.

It was so fun to see Callum's cousin with him!  

This is from last night, I just love watching him eat and sleep.  It took about 10 minutes for him to start sucking on the bottle, I was so glad once he finally took it! 

Waiting for Baby

Yay I'm finally posting! Even though I don't post very much, I often think about how I need to post about things that I'm doing, and then it doesn't happen.  But it is today.

Pregnant.  I feel like this is my defining attribute at the moment.  I didn't really understand it when women talked about being sick of being pregnant until a couple weeks ago.  I've been blessed with an easy pregnancy and it's only lately that I've been feeling a bit done with it.  Mainly because I'm not as mobile or have as much energy as I would like to.  I also want to just hold our baby!  I know that God will bring this baby in his timing, so that has helped a lot.  I've had enough time to get everything ready, have I told you guys that I'm doing a water birth too?  We've had the tub for 3 weeks already.  I really hope I get to use it and don't end up going to the hospital.

Angela and Becca, I have you to thank for choosing the water birth.  Both of you had such positive experiences that I decided to go with it.  It's something I had thought of before, but knowing women that have actually used it and loved it is really reassuring.

 I don't feel tired of waiting for this baby yet.  It's helped a lot to have my mom here and keep me busy.  We do something everyday.  I haven't even had time to work on my last sewing project for the baby.  I want to make a new cushion cover for the rocking chair.  My plan is to start on it today, hopefully it doesn't take too long.

Here are a couple pictures of my mom and I visiting a historical mansion in Toronto last week.

It was a really hot day, but it was so nice to have my mom around to take care of me and buy me cold drinks when I was overheating.  

I do have to show off one project I finished.  I finally finished the baby quilt for my sister-in-law who is due end of October.  I really wanted to get it done before our baby came.  I gave it to her last week.

I was also really blessed to have a baby shower a week and a half ago.  My mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law spent a lot of time putting it together.  They spent all day Saturday cooking.  It was so fun to have a party to celebrate our little one coming! 

Two of my former students were able to make it out from Toronto, it was the first shower my Japanese friend had ever been to.

With my sister-in-law, Emily.

I have a midwife appointment today.  I'm curious what she'll say.  Two weeks ago she said the baby still had a lot of room to move around.  

Maybe next time I'll blog I'll have a baby-or not.  ha, I'm trying to be realistic.  I know babies can take their time sometimes.  I just want the baby to be here before the 11th because that's when my Dad is coming and I want my parents to have some time with the baby before they head back to the Philippines.