Finally home

I got home yesterday afternoon - this was my longest hospital stay and I was so ready to leave!! Since I tested positive for Group B Strep and I didn't have time for the antibiotics before Isaac was born (see story below) they had to keep Isaac for 48 hours to watch him closely. But we are home now, and enjoying it!

Here's the short story, I'll go into more details another day:

I woke up at 1:38am Tuesday morning and thought I felt my water break. But it was just a little tiny gush and I wasn't sure. I got up and went to the bathroom and still wasn't sure. So I laid back down for a while. Then I got up and used the computer for a few minutes. I stood up at 1:55 and felt a bigger gush and knew it was my water! I woke Roy up and he hopped in the shower and I called our friend who was going to watch our kids. I got dressed and got everything together and we left our house around 2:35. At this point I was starting to feel a lot of contractions and was starting to worry that we weren't going get there quick enough. We took the kids to our friend's house and headed to the hospital. I was checked in around 3am. The nurse checked to make sure my water had broken and then checked me and said I was at 7cm. I knew I was already going through transition. I felt nauseous and just couldn't get into a good position to deal with the contractions. It was constant pain, no breaks at all. After 15 minutes or so I said I was feeling a lot of pressure and wondered if it was time to push. The nurse checked me again and said I was at 9cm. I decided to stand up and see if that helped, and my nurse said I could push just a little bit to relieve some of the pressure. So I stood up and wrapped my arms around Roy's neck and leaned on him and that offered a lot of relief. I would push every so often and then all of a sudden I felt like Isaac was going to just fall out! I got back into bed and the nurse checked me and said I was ready to push. I didn't even get into the typical "pushing position" with my legs up, I just started pushing! My doctor just barely had his gloves on in time to start catching Isaac! And we almost forgot to get the camera out! He was out in about 3 pushes - officially born at 3:46am. It was amazing!! (BTW, a little TMI, but I didn't tear AT ALL - which has made recovery a breeze!) Unfortunately he didn't get enough antibiotics, but since my water was only ruptured for 2 hours before he was born, there was less of a risk for him getting GBS.

Anyway, it's taken me a really long time just to write this much. Here are some pictures, and more stories to come soon (including the tornado that hit Kirksville).

I had to post this one because Roy spent so much time touching up my blemishes :)

Getting ready to leave!

Waiting for daddy to bring the car to the front of the hospital.

Excited to see his brother!

Rae holding Isaac for the first time.

Isaac Wright

Introducing Isaac Maxwell (AKA I-Max):


Born May 12, 2009 at 3:46 AM. He was 9 lbs., 4 oz.

UPDATE: To be fair, the picture above was taken at 7:30. Here's one taken about 5 minutes after he was born:

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Hope you have a great day today! Man, you sure are getting old - what does that make me? Yikes.

Eight things I love about my mom

(I don't want this to overshadow Roy's post from earlier - make sure you scroll down to see his)

8. She gave birth to EIGHT children...all natural births. One of 'em was the day before Mother's Day - I was trying to be like her. :)

7. She was able to stay at home with us kids and it meant a lot to me. Even when she did have to take odd jobs here and there for some extra income, she was still available before/after school for us and I always knew we were her top priority.

6. She taught us to do chores. I was pretty young when I started helping out with laundry and was in charge of my own when I turned 14 and I'm sure I started dishes when I was tall enough to reach the sink! :) She taught us that everyone in the family takes care of the house, not just mama!

5. She let us have pets (which I'm sure she did a lot of the taking care of), she made it possible for our family to go camping all the time (I'm sure that was NOT very relaxing), she always let us have friends over to play, and she let us be in dance classes and sports. She probably could have saved herself some work and said no to these things, but she didn't.

4. She always volunteered for stuff that we were involved in. She'd help out at school events, church events, everything. I loved that my mom was always a part of my activities.

3. She is a fantastic granny. She tries to know her grand kids individually and not just make assumptions about them. I can't wait for her to come visit and see my kids!

2. She makes me feel like a good mother. She compliments my efforts and makes advice when needed. She recognizes my strengths and weaknesses.

1. She has always been an example to me of someone who has faith in Jesus Christ. More than anything she has given me or done for me, I am so grateful for the testimony she helped me gain at a young age.

I love you mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day 2009

Happy Mother's Day, pumpkin!


Rae helped me pick out a little fountain for you, and she either kept it a secret or just forgot about it. Either way, I hope you like it.

39 weeks

I don't have very many pictures of myself pregnant with the other two kids, so I wanted to document this pregnancy a little better. Here I am at 39 weeks. Gonna have a lot of weight to lose this summer!



Roy was out with the kids yesterday afternoon, so he decided to take the opportunity to get my Mother's Day cake a little early. I told him the exact brand of cheesecake I wanted, and told him I wanted it before Sunday (so that the weight gain from it could be blamed on pregnancy). It was delicious.

I went to the doctor yesterday and I didn't progress much from last week. I'm at 5cm now. But I'm pretty comfortable and although all I think about is having this baby, it's not bugging me too much. Roy's proctoring his last final right now and then I'm free to go into labor :) He doesn't have to have grades in till next Friday, so things are pretty relaxed around here. I just have to find something to keep us busy today!

Reading time

Ashley was going to post this tomorrow, but I just can't wait. According to Ashley, Rae had never read this book before, though to me she seems to be reading slightly faster than usual. It's interesting that she slows down well before she gets to the word she can't figure out; it seems like she's reading ahead. I didn't know kids did that.

Rae's been reading like this for several weeks now, but it still amazes me. Her speech still isn't too great, which probably comes from me, genetically or otherwise. Actually, Ashley and I both have mild speech defects, so maybe Rae got a bad mix of genes. She's still working on it.

By the way, don't overlook Ashley's post from earlier today. We're getting prolific.

Slightly obsessed

Sometimes my need to be organized and prepared makes me a bit self-conscious. I tend to worry about things that don't need to be worried about, but I can't help it. My hospital suitcase has been packed for far too long and the carseat has been in the van for 2 weeks. I refuse to go to bed without the house completely clean (I cleaned the toilet at 10 last night) because I don't want to come home from the hospital to a dirty house and I don't want someone coming over to watch the kids in a dirty house. But being prepared is what makes me feel good. I can't know the exact date I'll have this baby, but I can be ready no matter what. And I still don't know for sure if we are moving this summer (most likely we aren't) but I can still be as prepared as possible by getting rid of junk now instead of when it comes time to pack. Some people are more relaxed if they just wait till it's time and then handle all the organizing, but I am not one of those people. Sometimes it makes me stressed, but in the end I'm always happy that I took the time to prepare myself. Each time that I have needed a spare outfit for a kid and I had one, each time that we needed that towel in the car, each time I'm prepared with activities when the kids get antsy waiting for something, each time I remember to grab a quarter to shop at Aldi and remember to put my bags back in the van ..... those are the times that make me feel good about being slightly obsessed.

Gotta speed it up a bit

We've always said we want 7-9 kids. I'm not sure if that is still the case, but I decided to crunch some numbers today. So far our kids are roughly 900 days apart in age. If we keep at that rate and want 5-6 more, we are talking another 12-15 years! So which scenario do I like more: 2 1/2 years between kids and not being done till I'm in my late 30s? Or closer together so I can be done a little sooner? My youngest kid could be an aunt or uncle by the time they are 5! Hmmm, maybe the easiest solution is to go with less kids. :)

But seriously, I always thought I wanted my kids closer in age. But, when it comes to the point where it's time to think about having the next kid the thought just exhausts me, and I'm not as fertile as my mother! Hmmm, we'll see how things go this time around! But I might need another 900 days before I'm ready to be in the last week of pregnancy again!

Progress of Spring

Last Saturday:

This Saturday (today):

In Kirksville, I think spring is Ashley's favorite 3 weeks.

Ain't gonna happen

I've tried writing Rae's birth story, but it's a hard thing to do when you are in the middle of another birth story. I'm grumpy and don't feel like thinking about anything involving labor. Hopefully I'll get all three written down in the next few weeks. But thanks for those of you who wrote birth stories - especially my cousin Lyric! Oh, and finish yours Katie!

Birth Stories

I love a good birth story. Obviously a lot of people do, or shows like Baby Story wouldn't be around. :) When you are close to the end of your pregnancy, people tend to ask you what birth was like for your other kids. And the person asking will often tell you about their experiences. I love it. And so, for all to enjoy (or skip, I don't care) I'm going to write the birth stories of Rae and Blaise. I don't have them written down at all, so I thought this would be a good chance to get them recorded for prosperity. And to take my mind off the current pregnancy. And to encourage you to blog about your birth stories - or anything at all - so that I have something to distract me. :)

Speaking of distractions, my kids are crazy and annoying this morning. We didn't have any of our usual Tuesday activities and so they don't know what to do with themselves. Coming soon: Rae's birth story.

Rae's soccer game

Rae was a lot more enthusiastic at this soccer game. It was windy and a little cold, so she was hesitant at first, but with a little bribing she got out there and actually tried this time. As you can see from the videos, she only stays focused for a minute at a time. After the game she said "why weren't the kids on my team letting me kick the ball?" It gets kind of chaotic when there is a huge group of kids all going for the ball. She said she likes practice better because they each get a ball to kick around! Two more games left and then we are done!

That's me!

I won a giveaway! I hardly ever win these type of things - even at RS parties and baby showers and stuff. I'm so excited!

We managed to enjoy the rain

The kids got these raincoats and umbrellas for Easter (unfortunately they didn't come on time to be in their baskets) so we went for a walk in the rain today. Aren't they cute?! Before it started raining (and looked like it wasn't going to rain at all) we went to the lake to play. We were there for about 10 minutes and then it started to rain. We hung out until we were getting too wet and then we went home. I wish I had planned ahead and had them wear their rain gear to the lake.

Anyway, it's been a good day. I love the rain when it's warm outside.

At least it is warm outside (oh, and skip this if you are a man) (Updated)

I wanted to blog about something other than our life, because life is kinda lame right now. But I couldn't really come up with anything. You know how those last few weeks of pregnancy go. I'm trying to stay busy and happy but I'm tired and irritated. But the weather is going to be great today, so I'll try to stay busy and distracted! Monday was a great day - I was busy, distracted, didn't even think about being pregnant! But Tuesday I started having a possible sign of labor (diarrhea) and so I spent the day doing last minute preparation. Wednesday was spent with more of the runs and more wondering what the heck is going on with my body. I also didn't have the car, so we were stuck at home. Today it is supposed to get up to 80, so I'm going to try to stay out of the house as much as possible!! (Near a bathroom though)

Have any of you had the runs as a sign of labor? I had the same problem with Blaise, but it was just once or twice and it was just 24 hours before he was born. I'm going on 48 hours now. Sigh.

**Just in case you think I'm crazy, here's the "medical" reason for the runs: "During the early part of labor, your body begins to release prostaglandins, a group of hormonelike substances that cause the uterus to contract and help soften and dilate the cervix. But prostaglandins can also hyperstimulate the bowels, causing frequent stools or even diarrhea, Dr. Grabowski says."

** Update: (10am) I checked the weather forecast this morning and it was supposed to be sunny and 80 degrees with some wind. Well, apparently the wind blew in some rain clouds, because it is warm, but it's also dark and dreary. So I checked the forecast again and now it's saying thunderstorms all afternoon. Why didn't they know this 2 hours ago??

Oh, and my poop is solid again. I knew you were all dying to know.

I highly recommend.....

....deep-fried Snickers. There was a club doing a fundraiser on campus today with fried food. When Roy saw the flyer he knew he better inform me! :) They had fried Oreos, Twinkies, Snickers, french fries and okra. Rae got a Twinkie, I got a Snickers and Blaise got an Oreo. Then we went back for another cookie for Rae and Blaise and another Snickers for me. :) (It was a mini-snickers) The fried oreos were really good too. I'm glad I got to indulge and use pregnancy as an excuse! Apparently most things really are better fried!

Cutie pie Rae

Every night we tell Rae she can't get out of bed till 6:30 am. (I know, that's super early, but they go to bed at 6:30, so it all balances out) Anyway, this morning she came out into the living room around 6:45 and said "I couldn't wake up at 6:30 because my dream wasn't over yet. At the end of the dream the people in my dream said 'let's do this dream again'." I should write down stuff like this more often - they are always saying funny stuff!

Splish splash

The kids got new boots for Easter from Oma, so I took them out the other day and let them splash in puddles. Yes, they are still in their pjs.

Rae answers questions about me

1. What is something mom always says to you? “I love you”

2. What makes mom happy? “When I clean the house for you” (she is a really good cleaner)

3. What makes mom sad? “When I hit somebody”

4. How does your mom make you laugh? “Tell knock-knock jokes”

5. What was your mom like as a child? This was beyond her

6. How old is your mom? “25” (she’s always asking us how old we are)

7. How tall is your mom? “Medium”

8. What is her favorite thing to do? “Clean the kitchen” (I guess most kids think this of their moms)

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? “Play with Blaise”

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? She didn’t understand this one

11. What is your mom really good at? “Cooking” (ha)

12. What is your mom not very good at? “Cleaning the house all by yourself” (apparently I need her help)

13. What does your mom do for a job? “Babysit Dallin and baby Marshall” (my friend and I exchange babysitting once a week – I’d hardly call it a job)

14. What is your mom's favorite food? “Tacos” (uh, no)

15. What makes you proud of your mom? She could only come up with something that doesn’t make her proud of me – giving her time outs. What a goob.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? “Sponge Bob” (gee, thanks)

17. What do you and your mom do together? “Cuddle”

18. How are you and your mom the same? “We both have bangs”

19. How are you and your mom different? “You have a bigger head than me”

20. How do you know your mom loves you? “She tells me”

21. What does your mom like most about your dad? “He loves you”

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? “Walmart” (nope, that’s just the only place to GO in Kirksville!)

23. How much do you think mom weighs? “41 lbs” (woot woot)

Easter Clearance

I just got back from Walmart, where I hit up the Easter clearance. I like to buy all the decorating stuff on clearance. Last year I bought some Paas Color Snaps, and I really liked them, so this year I bought 3 packs. (Half off they were 40 cents)


If you see them, I highly recommend picking up a couple packs. Rae really enjoyed using them. You can dye your egg, let it dry and then decorate it with polka-dots or stripes, etc.

Walmart was out of Dove chocolate by the time I got there. So bummed. I might try Walgreens and Hy-vee later. All I wanted was some Dove chocolate. Oh, and some Cadbury eggs, which I did get, and ate already :)

Happy Easter!

About to start an Easter egg hunt on campus, yesterday morning:



Egg-hunting at home this morning:

Twilight

Roy convinced me to rent Twilight last night. I disliked it as much as I figured I would. There were several things that bothered me about it and now I know why I just couldn't even imagine reading the books when I heard what they were about. And I'm not just saying this because I want to be different than everyone else - I really, really didn't like it. Roy, on the other hand, loved it and is excited for the next one. What a traitor.



Oh, and make sure you keep up on the videos under "Favorite Stuff Right Now" in our sidebar. They are hilarious!

What can I say...I'm a Jeppson

On our trip to Michigan I did most of the driving and I had a lot of diet dr.pepper and sunflower seeds to keep me awake. By the end of the trip I smelled like my dad! (they were ranch flavored ones) He can't go anywhere without eating sunflower seeds. And now the floor of my van is messy with shells. (Not as messy as his car though!) Anyway, I still have a few left in the bag and I find myself eating them on short errands. They are so yummy and addicting! When I went to pick Roy up from school the other day I was eating some and he said "why the heck are you eating those? You won't be hungry for dinner." Silly Roy, sunflower seeds don't fill you up - they just make you thirsty! He just doesn't understand the appeal of sunflower seeds. Anyway, every time I get in my car and smell the sunflower seeds I think of my dad and our long long trips to Utah and Colorado. Oh, and we'd stop and get a few sodas from AMPM (gas station) and there was always a "special" one for my dad that the rest of us weren't allowed to drink! Yum, long trips are a perfect excuse for diet dr.pepper :)

Oh, did I mention that I got pulled over on our trip? It was about 2 hours away from Saginaw, at about 1 in the morning. I was the only car on the road (there were a few trucks) and I was going 75 in a 70 zone. I saw the cop parked in the dark on the side of the road, but it was too late. He said he got me going 80, but I know I was going 75 because I had my cruise control set. I couldn't find my registration and I was sooooo nervous! He asked where we were going and why and how long we had been driving. I think he felt sorry for us since Roy had an interview in the morning, so he let me off with a warning. Whew! I've never been pulled over before. Roy has been pulled over 3 times since we left California, so we decided that speeding isn't a very good idea in this part of the country! We used to speed the whole way to Blythe from Davis and there'd always be cars zooming past us and we never got pulled over. On our trip home we had the cruise control set at the speed limit the entire time - we aren't taking any more chances!

Anyway, I just felt like being kind of random today. Oh, and speaking of Michigan - he didn't get the job there. I'm glad the whole family went and had the chance to see the area, since we probably won't ever go back. There's still one more option before we decide for sure whether we are staying here for another year. But the other option is kind of a secret, so I'll let you know when we know!

Up next: Easter pictures and festivities!

Oh, and I had to throw this picture in just for the heck of it. It may be the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Happy Birthday Dad!

We serenaded him at 6:30 this morning (his time) but I forgot that I was going to do a post for him too. Hope you had a great day pops! Love you!

Those kids of mine....

My kids are pretty non-mischievous. I have only found things in the toilet one or two times. There have only been a few cases of coloring on the wall (and nothing permanent). They have never played with the contents of their diaper. For one thing, I'm pretty controlling and obsessive, so I almost always know exactly what they are doing and they don't get a lot of opportunities. Also, we've always lived in close quarters, so I can pretty much see the entire house from my spot at the computer. :) And for another thing, I think they are just pretty laid-back kids who aren't looking for trouble. I hope that is the case, because yesterday Blaise got into some trouble and it was pretty stressful and kept me up late with "what-ifs".

We spent a good part of the afternoon outside on a sleeping bag just hanging out, enjoying the sunshine. After a while we invited my neighbor out with her baby to enjoy the warmth. While she and I were talking the kids decided to mess around inside. Rae thought it'd be funny to lock the door. That's fine, because she knows how to UNLOCK it (it's pretty stiff and hard to unlock) She came back outside and Blaise decided to lock the door. Yikes. He does not know how to unlock the door, and quickly realized this and got really upset. I tried for a minute to get him to unlock it but knew it just wasn't going to happen.

But of all days for this to happen - today was the perfect day. My neighbor was right there and I could use her phone. Roy had taken the car to work AND there were no students yesterday, so he didn't have classes or office hours. I called him and told him to hurry home and unlock the door. He was home within 10 minutes. Meanwhile Blaise was pretty unhappy in the house, but Rae and I just talked to him through the window and told him that daddy was coming with the keys. At one point Blaise got my keys out of my purse and brought them to the window and said "mommy, here are your keys, open the door!". It was so cute and pathetic and funny! It was stressful but it was all over pretty quickly and Blaise was fine after we opened the door. And Rae and Blaise both seemed to learn their lesson. I hope so, because....

...On any other day things would not have gone so easily. Roy does not usually have a car. Sometimes he does have a car, but is in class most of the day. Sometimes I'm the only one in my neighborhood home and wouldn't have access to a phone. Would I send someone to Roy's office to get the house key? How quickly would my landlord or a locksmith be able to get there? How long would Blaise sit at the window crying and how long until he'd become hysterical? All of these questions ran through my head last night, and as I asked Roy each one he just said "you'll just have to make sure it doesn't happen again so you don't find out". And he's right. I'll never let them play around in the house like that again. And while I'm at it, I'll probably be even more obsessive about everything else around here too. Heaven forbid we ever move to a two-story house - I'll never be able to relax!! (oh, and in the picture at the top they are sledding - cute huh?)

I miss.....

...California in the spring. It snowed today. I want to drive south until I hit temps in the 70s. I need sunshine, I need warmth, I need to be outside. Please spring, come and stay awhile.

Snowman, Haircut and Soccer

Roy starting his big project.


It was a little too big for the kids to help.


The finished product. This was around 11am.


By noon it was melting and starting to lean.


This is what it looked like when we got home from church at 4 that afternoon. So Roy had the kids try to push him over. It took awhile for them to find the right spot. Take a good look in the video at 40 seconds. Rae steps back and goes forward with her shoulders like they always do in cartoons - it's so cute!




The next day the bottom of the snowman was the only sign of snow.

In other news, we decided Blaise desperately needed a haircut. It looked fine when it was smoothed down, but most of the time his hair was ridiculously messy. So we finally broke down and bought a hair buzzer thingy. (We had one before but it was a really cheap one that didn't work very well) We were going to try to give him a decent haircut, but he does not handle haircuts very well, so we just buzzed it all around.

Before.
After. It took me a while to get used to it, but I think he looks good both ways. I miss his long, beautiful hair, but this is definitely much easier!


And in other news, Rae had her first soccer game today! It was cold and windy and Rae was not in the mood to play. She and her friend were very distracted and pretty silly at the beginning of the game. By the end of the game Rae was just grumpy and refused to play. She kicked the ball one time - the rest of the time she just let it go right past her. She never ran towards the ball or anything. Hopefully she'll be more entergentic and enthusiastic when it's warmer. Or maybe I'll have to sign her up for dance classes or science classes or something. She said she likes practices better, probably because she gets a chance to have her own ball to kick around! Hopefully it'll get warmer and the next game in two weeks will be more enjoyable.

Goofing around.
The first time the ball came towards them.

"What am I supposed to do??"

Well, at least she turned towards the ball.


"I'm done!"

Totally slacking

I just haven't been in the mood to blog lately. I won't go into too much detail about Michigan, because it will take too long, so I'll just write about the highlights.

Roy's interview was on Thursday, so the kids and I just hung out and shopped and swam in our hotel pool. It was a nice, relaxing day.



We went to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch. Man, their pizza is horrible!


Rae got lost in the tunnels. She kept coming to this spot and looking out the window to figure out how to get out. It was so sad but so funny! I had to send a little boy up there to help her!


Friday we got up and headed to Frankenmuth for the day. Did you click on the link? Do it. Frankenmuth is a little tourist town with Bavarian-themed shops and restaurants. Roy grew up going there a lot. It was so fun! There were tons of candy shops and fudge shops (man, you could smell the fudge from the street!) and toy shops. It was like being in Germany again! I got a couple of yummy German pretzels. Then we headed over to Bronner's Christmas Store. It's the world's largest Christmas store. (Roy went there when he was a kid) The kids had a lot of fun. After that we went to a McDonald's down the street that was even Bavarian-themed! If you are ever in the area of Frankenmuth, I definitely recommend going!



In this cheese shop they had "chocolate cheese". (I don't know how they made theirs, but this is the only thing I could find when I googled it. Roy loves it, but I couldn't even swallow it!

I really wish I had gotten one of these! They were expensive, but I should have splurged! But I had really bad heartburn that week and figured this would make it worse.

A huge Santa outside of Bronners.

Distance from Bronners to various places.

Giant polar bear giving Rae a hug.



The McDonalds we ate at.


We went back into Saginaw (well, actually Bay City) and stayed another night. Saturday morning we drove into Flint (where Roy grew up) and spent an hour looking at the houses he used to live in. It was neat to see Roy remember little details about the area and neighborhoods. When we got to the house where he lived when he was ages 4-6 he remembered that there was a playground around the block, so we went there for the kids to play. And then we went to the trailer park where he lived when he was ages 6-13 and he took pictures of the creek he used to cross to walk to school. We also stopped by his old school. Even if Roy doesn't get the job in Saginaw I'm glad our whole family went on this trip so we could all see where Roy grew up. It was pretty neat.


Roy lived here from ages 4-6


The playground around the block.



His old school.

We drove all day Saturday and got home by 10pm to a lovely snowstorm. Gee whiz, can't spring have a turn?! It all melted the next day, but not before we had a chance to make one last* snowman! (*That's what we said about the snowman we made a couple of months ago!)

The snow that was there to welcome us home!



This week has been off and on rainy one day, sunny the next day. We try to enjoy the sunny days as much as possible! It's supposed to be warm and sunny tomorrow, so Rae might actually have a soccer game! (Her game on Saturday got canceled and so did her practice on Monday) Roy won't hear from Saginaw till Monday at the earliest, so I'll keep you posted! And I'll post pictures of our gigantic snowman later.

Happy Birthday Colin!

Rae says she misses you and hopes she gets to see you soon - she said she likes playing games on the tv with you! Hope you have a great birthday!