So Much Snow

We're in the middle of another humongo snow storm. It's already dumped about 14" at our place and it's still coming down.

This winter has been one storm after another. You'll hear a lot of people around here complaining about the snow but I'm not one of them. I used to love the snow purely and for no other reason than the great powder skiing opportunities it provided. That seems like a lifetime ago. Now I love the snow because:

(1) It's pretty (beats looking at the brown soggy lawn all winter);
(2) A big storm adds some excitement to an otherwise blah winter day
(3) I rarely HAVE to drive in it (no more long, scarry commutes from Syracuse to downtown or the U);
(4) Giant snowmen all over the neighborhood
(5) I love how the snow flocks the branches of the trees right after it falls.
(6) The sound of the snowplow coming through the neighborhood (one of Gavin's favorites, too)
(7) This will seem weird, but I love it when the car slides just a little.

That last one reminds me of when I was a teenager and I was with my parents and sisters when we slid off the freeway into a gully between the northbound and southbound lanes of I-15. Now that was a little TOO MUCH sliding. I do remember us laghing about it though while we were sitting in the gully waiting for help. (Or maybe it was everyone but mom laughing).

1 Month

Today Mia is one month old! She's getting very close to flashing us a smile. We've noticed that she watches our lips when we talk to her and a few times she's taken on a very serious look and tried to move her own lips into a smile. She hasn't quite got there yet but it's likely to happen any day.

I still remember the first time Tristan smiled. I was on maternity leave from my job and I'd spent many days and nights caring for him and getting used to the rigors of motherhood. The day he first smiled at me I knew it was all worth it.

My Failed Photo Shoot

We were all home today and the sun (kinda) peeked through the clouds, so it was a perfect day for a photo shoot. I've been trying to get to this all week as I'm excited to get started on Mia's birth announcements.

After doing a few of these in the past, I've discovered that the fundamental ingredients in a successful newborn photo shoot are:

(1) Someone to help me so that the baby is positioned correctly and doesn't roll off the couch. And not just ANYONE will do. This is a highly specialized job. This person needs to be patient and needs to understand my need for perfection. They also need to be willing to sit under a heavy fleece blanket in the sun for a rather long time.
(2) Patience
(3) A south-facing window
(4) A sunny day
(5) A cooperative baby

Well, all of the ingredients were present today... except for #5! I guess we'll try again in a few days.

Is it ok to Spoil a Baby?

At three weeks of age, Mia is already spoiled. She's definitely figured out when she's being held or carried around, and when she's lying down in her crib. It's pretty common for her to wake up and start crying when she's laid down.

I wonder how this could have POSSIBLY happened!

Christmas 2007

It seems a little anti-climatic to write about Christmas at this point but I've been promising myself for weeks that I would do so...

We had a fabulous Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's for our traditional raclette dinner. We got a huge snow storm that started in the afternoon and continued through Christmas morning, so it really felt like Christmas. My stepmom, Joy, was here from Phoenix and Lisa was with us, too. We had a wonderful dinner, read some Christmas stories and played Taboo. It was the kids' first experience with Taboo and I was surprised at how well they played. Since then Tristan has asked if we could play again sometime.

We were up EARLY Christmas morning and enjoyed watching the kids open their gifts. The highlight was Tristan and Jolie's excitement at finally getting a video game system, the ever-coveted Wii. Tristan has been asking Santa for a Game Cube or other system for two or three years and he was absolutely convinced that he was the most unlucky kid in the world because he didn't have access to video games 24/7. It turns out that one of his favorite games on the Wii is NBA Live 2008 with which he can play any NBA team against the Jazz (see photo).

We enjoyed the rest of day with my parents, aunt Lisa and Grandma Joy. We ate great food, opened more gifts, spoke to far-away friends and family on the telephone, and enjoyed each other's company. It was a great day!

Just when I needed Diet Coke more than ever...

Wow, so much to blog... so little time!

This is a very *rare* moment for me to sit down and try to catch up. The baby is sleeping, Gavin was invited to play at a friend's house, and I have a whole 30 minutes before the other two rug rats will be charging in the door like a couple of bulls in a china shop.

I took this photo this morning and now that I think about it, this baby looks exactly like Dan! It's not nearly as obvious when you see her in real life. Honestly, I think it's the expression on her face. Something about that serious, pensive look. Hmmm...

Things are going pretty well. Dan went back to work on Monday, that was a hard day as all the kids were home and I hadn't slept much. I had my first post-baby emotional outburst (as opposed to all the pre-baby end-of-pregnancy emotional outbursts) as I was sitting upstairs in the rocking chair nursing Mia and Dan was going out the door. If I remember correctly, the other three kids were running wild and arguing over something and I realized it was going to be a hard day. I was also supposed to take Mia into the doctor for a weight check. She still hasn't regained her birth weight so our pediatrician wants to keep an eye on her. I guess I was feeling a little overwhelmed.

The other thing I should mention is that Mia now seems to be going by Mia. Sometimes we call her Camille, sometimes Mia and most of the time "the baby". We like both of her names so I guess we'll see what sticks. Oh, and Grandpa D. keeps calling her "Shirley" because "she was early". But don't get me started on that...

Mia is sleeping pretty well other than waking up to eat every 2 hours or so. Two or three nights ago (can you tell that I'm living in a fog?) we went to bed about 10:30 or 11:00, she ate a couple times and then she and I were up at 2:00 am and I never went back to sleep. That was a rough night. I've decided that I must have eaten something that upset her and she was wanting to nurse to ease her discomfort. She was crying and kicking her legs like she was in pain. As soon as I got her settled down she'd be awake crying again. That's when I decided to kick my Diet Coke habit. And let me tell you, it hasn't been easy. There's probably no time in my life that I needed caffeine more than now and I've had to give it up. I guess it will be worth it if we can avoid any more nights like the one I've just recounted. I guess.

I'm going to try to upload some photos of Christmas today... stay tuned.

Camille

I was lucky enough to catch Camille with her eyes open a few minutes ago. Isn't she pretty? She has a bit of a rash on her chin which I think is either from nursing or rubbing against her blanket when she's rooting. She has a very strong sucking reflex.

She's Here!

Let me introduce you to Mia Camille (Camille), born December 17th at 3:55 p.m.

For those interested in the birth story, read on. For those who are not, she's beautiful and healthy and we're so glad she's here.

So they started me on the pitocin just after 9:30 a.m. Things were progressing pretty slowly for the first several hours. At one point my nurse, Becky (the most phenomenal labor and delivery nurse on the planet!), thought she probably wouldn't see our baby before her shift change at 7:00 p.m.

The anesthesiologist did my epidural around 2:00 and things seemed to pick up after that. Unfortunatly, it only worked on my right side. They had me shift over to my left side in hopes that gravity would help. The anesthesiologist also came in and adjusted the catheter but that didn't help either. So, unfortunately, I can't say that my delivery was pain-free, but that probably wasn't a realistic expectation anyway. The epidural was very helpful, even on one side. I would estimate the pain of childbirth as one tenth what it was with my other deliveries (especially 10 lb Jolie!) so I don't have much to complain about.

About 17 minutes before Camille was born she made a sudden move. My nurse lost her heartbeat and had to move the monitor down on my belly. Just minutes after that, I could feel a lot of pressure and I knew she was almost here. My nurse ran to the hall and yelled for them to page my doctor. He came in dressed in his street clothes and asked if I could wait for him to change into his scrubs. Another benefit of the epidural! There is no way I would have waited for him if I'd not had the epidural. I only had to push through three contractions and she was here! Yea!

Dan and my mom were both in the delivery room througout the day. I think we all agreed that despite all the worry and angst leading up to my delivery, it was the easiest of all four. There were no problems with my heart and I was SO well taken care of at the U, it was unbelievable. My nurse was with me from 9:30 until 5:30 and hardly left my room through the whole thing. With Jolie and Gavin I was literally begging for someone to come in and check me as my labor progressed and I had the feeling that I'd been abandoned.

So here are the stats: 7 lb 12 oz.; 20 1/4" long; a bit of darkish hair and cloudy blue eyes. She is a very pretty baby and so far her favorite past times are eating, sleeping and pooping. I'm not sure whom she looks like, some say Gavin. From the nose down she definitely looks like Dan. All my babies have had Dan's lips and chin when they were born. Ofcourse there's always hope that her looks will change!

Tomorrow's the Day!

Just a quick post before I go to bed and hopefully get some sleep. Tomorrow's the big day. We'll be headed to the hospital in the morning right after we get Tristan and Jolie off to school. I've spent the weekend getting all our ducks in a row: working on school projects, typing up schedules and routines for those who will be here while I'm in the hospital, doing laundry, depositing money in the kids' lunch accounts, paying bills, organizing, picking up he house... and I finally just now packed a few things for the hospital.

I'm both anxious and excited. Truthfully, I'm a lot more anxious than anything right now. There's something about having done this before that makes me that way (i.e. I know what I'm in for...) Plus I have more to worry about this time. I'm being followed as high risk and I'll be wired up like a Christmas tree (EKGs and heart monitors). I'm also going to have an epidural. I should be looking forward to experiencing less pain than the last three times but somehow the epidural really has me scared. I hope that I know when the time is right, that I can get through the procedure without passing out, and that it will offer the sea of tranquility that it's supposed to. Everyone tells me that it's no big deal; I wish I could believe them.

On the bright side, we should have a sweet little baby girl sometime tomorrow afternoon! Can't wait for that!

Rambling thoughts from someone who laid awake all night

I spent the day wrapping gifts and doing the last of my Christmas preparations. My mom, who I'm sure has sensed my stress and anxiety over the last couple of days, offered to take Gavin so that I could get some of this done. I even sloughed off a PTA meeting at Jolie's school in order to make the most of my time (I hope they forgive me).

I've been feeling a bit... overwhelmed... trying to handle the already insane Christmas season as well as getting ready to have a baby on Monday. The toughest part is that daily life occupies at least 90% of my time. How can a person do anything "extra" when their life is consumed with working, entertaining an insecure three year old, cooking, cleaning, answering phone calls, mountains of laundry, hosting three-year-old playgroup, volunteering in the classroom, driving carpool, making playdough figures for 3rd grade diaramas, checking division problems, listening to Jolie read Junie B. Jones, making cookies for the neighbor's funeral, preparing for Friday's den meeting, refereeing sword fights between someone wanting to fight and someone trying to do math homework, and sweeping up spilled cereal?

And yes, next week we add a newborn to the mix...

But at least tonight there's a chance I might actually get some sleep because I know that my Christmas gifts are wrapped and ready to go. We'll worry about the rest next week.

Baby C.

OK, apparently the sarcasm of my last post (baby names) didn't come through to some. It's a joke, people! There's no way I'd give a kid any of those awful names. (No offense to anyone named Jesusa). I just thought I'd lighten things up a bit given that the poor child has to be born within a few days of Christmas.

I have an update about baby C: You may have noticed that 7 days have magically slipped off my countdown. D-day is now December 17th. I saw Dr. E. yesterday and my exam revealed that I've made some progress since my last visit. I wasn't surprised as I spent part of Sunday night/Monday morning wondering if I might soon be on my way to the hospital. I had some pretty hard contractions that woke me up. Dan was already at work and I realized it might be a good idea to have a plan in place just in case I actually go into labor on my own this time. Most intelligent people would already have a plan, but remember that twice I've been induced past my due date. Once you've been down that road you put the other alternative out of your mind (you have to or you'd go crazy).

So the long and the short is this: I'm scheduled for an induction at 7:30 am on December 17th if nothing happens earlier. Dr. E. is willing to wait but I'm terribly concerned that things might happen on their own just in time for me to spend Christmas morning in the hospital. I didn't truly realize what a bummer this would be until last week when we started putting up Christmas decorations. Suddenly I was overcome with sadness at the thought of missing the kids on Christmas morning. Parents spend the whole year toiling away, disciplining their children and saying "no" sixty times a day; Christmas morning is one rare moment when we can sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labors. We get to witness their joy and happiness, thier wonder and excitement, all the while knowing that WE helped make it happen... and who wants to miss that?

Please vote for your favorite baby name!

As you can see by the countdown at the right as well as the photo of my belly which is now resembling a bowling ball, the big day is quickly approaching. It seems there are two big questions on everyone's mind:

1. When is this baby is going to make her appearance?
2. What are we going to name her?

Since I have no control over question number one (much to my chagrin), I thought I would shed some light on question number two. Dan and I have had many discussions about appropriate names for our baby. Here are our favorites:

Holly
Noel
Jesusa (pronounced hey-su-sa)
and my personal favorite, Carolyn... because that's what you do on Christmas, you go a-Carolyn!

Please vote for your favorite in the comment section of this blog. I'll be checking back here daily until I either pop or my doctor finally decides to give me the needle.

Let's Go Bowling!

We celebrated Tristan's birthday on Friday. We've learned over the years that the week of Christmas is no time to celebrate a kid's birthday. I'll never forget the year he turned three and I was so excited to have a party with his friends. Not a single solitary child could come. We ended up going to McDonalds with Grandpa and Grandma and Aunt Lisa.

Due to the season and the nature of 8 year old boys, we decided to have our party somewhere other than my house. I learned that lesson at Tristan's 6 year old Army party in which chaos, mayhem and destruction ensued.

The bowling party was a hit. We had 11 kids, including Gavin and Jolie. The boys were able to be their loud, wild, crazy selves and it was fun. We bowled, ate these cupcakes that I saw in a fancy cookbook at Sur la Table, and opened presents. We gave prizes to the kids who ended up with the highest and lowest scores. Gavin, by the way, bowled two strikes. Thank goodness for gutter guards!

Oh and thank goodness for Grandma, Dan and Aunt Lisa who helped me with the party. I don't think it would have been quite the success without them.

Thanksgiving Pow-Wow

Look how Jolie showed up from school this afternoon. I knew her class was having a Thanksgiving pow wow today, but I had no idea. Her teacher is is the best!

How are your Thanksgiving preparations coming? Do you have your turkey thawing in the sink and your pie pastry in the oven? Me neither! Actually, I told Gavin we were going to make our pastry today but we haven't gotten to it yet. Still working on laundry and trying to figure out what we're having for dinner tonight. Maybe I'll get ambitious later if my back isn't killing me. At least being 35 weeks preggo got me out of hosting this year! Thank goodness for that.

Queen for a Day

Saturday was quite a day for Jolie. We went to have her ears pierced and then she got to go on a $50 shopping spree at Toys R Us. Saturday night she got dressed up and went to see the play Little Shop of Horrors with Grandma. Three indulgences in one day!

Jolie has been earning stickers toward the ear piercing for the past few months by keeping her room clean. I've been at my wit's end with her messy room. I'll spend a good portion of a Saturday helping her get it organized and then within a few weeks it's back to being a disaster. So we came up with a chart and Grandma was in charge of dropping in from time to time to do room checks. Jolie didn't know when they would be so she made a special effort to leave her room in good shape when she left in the morning. The goal, ofcourse, was earning enough stickers on her chart to have her ears pierced. Let's hope the habit has stuck.

Jolie was also fortunate enough to win a $50 Toys R Us giftcard from Coldwell Banker who sponsored a coloring contest at school. She must be the lucky one in our family because we never seem to win anything! This will make two wins for Jolie in the past few months (the other being a pie-eating contest at the fair). Her picture turned out pretty cool. After looking at it I think she won because she added some things to the picture instead of just coloring it (stars and ghosts in the background). Hmmmm... I wonder whom she gets that creativity and artistic talent from????

Jolie loves musicals and was so excited that Grandma invited her to see Little Shop of Horrors. If we were wealthy and she were an only child, she and I would definitely have season tickets to the ballet and theater. It amazes me that she can sit still and pay such close attention at her young age. But then again, maybe that's because I spend so much time with little boys and they're so UNABLE to do those things!

Je deteste daylight savings!

How is it that I feel so exhausted while everyone is saying that we got an extra hour of sleep this week?

Daylight savings is a great concept but it sure BITES for people who have little kids! Mine (all three) have been up at 5:30 the past three mornings. That combined with being in the last trimester of pregnancy, being sick, and trying to recover from our trip and the time change from the east coast has just about put me over the edge. I feel like a walking dead person.

We spent our last day in Orlando at Magic Kingdom. We wanted to see Animal Kingdom but we decided to go back to Magic Kingdom because the kids really wanted to ride a lot of their favorite rides, plus this time of year it stays open 2 hours later than Animal Kingdom. It was a fun way to spend our last day. I couldn't resist Splash Mountain even though it's not advised for people in my "condition" (shhhh...) Jolie was a lot more cautious our last day there and wouldn't go back on it so it was just me and the boys. I was amazed at Gavin, he truly is fearless. It was a lot more violent than I remember and he had no reservations about going back on it. We even sat in the front seat and got completely soaked! Fortunately, Friday was a beautiful day and there was no rain. On our last trip out of the part we were able to ride in the very front of the monorail with the driver (pilot? conductor?) which was a thrill. You have to have special permission so we lucked out.

Saturday morning we got up and started packing. A few of us had been coming down with a cold while we were there and it really hit Tristan and I on Saturday morning. Tristan woke up and said his ear was hurting. Not a good thing for a parent to hear a few hours before getting on a plane. He had some problems on the first flight but I was able to talk a guy in a coffee shop into giving me some hot water and I used a shirt as a warm compress to massage his ear canal before we got on our second flight.

We're still trying to recover from this HORRID cold virus and get our lives back in order. I've done 9 loads of laundry over the past few days and finally got it all folded and put away last night but I noticed that the hamper is half full again. If anyone finds my extra daylight savings hour please let me know, I could REALLY use it.

Thursday

This morning the kids wanted to swim so we headed over to a pool we discovered on yesterday's scavenger hunt. It has waterfalls and water cannons. Tristan met some friends who he played water football with. Florida still has the strangest weather I've ever experienced. It was sunshine... rain... sunshine... rain all morning. The temperature is still plenty warm (mid 80's) so in a way, I'm grateful for the rain. The first day we were here I was really feeling the heat and humidity and I was wondering if I'd made a mistake coming here 8 months pregnant.

This afternoon we went back to MGM to catch a few things we missed and to see the night-time Fantasmic show. We rode Star Tours which I had forgotten I wasn't fond of when we went to Disneyland a few years ago. Gavin wasn't thrilled with it either, he was sitting between Tristan and I and he was asking for Dan the whole time. I kept telling him to close his eyes if it was too scarry and at one point I even put my hand over his eyes to spare him the motion sickness that seems to come with that ride. He pulled my hand away from his face as though the curiosity was too much to resist.

We also saw a fun Jedi training show in which Darth Vader made an appearance. It was especially fun since we brought the first three Star Wars movies on this trip. The kids have been watching them in the morning and a lot of our conversations have revolved around me trying to sort out the whole Star Wars saga.

We also saw a Little Mermaid Show (Jolie loved it but Tristan acted as though we were torturing him to make him sit through it), an Indiana Jones stunt show, we came across Jo Jo and Goliath from Playhouse Disney, and we went to the big Fantasmic Show which was incredible. Gavin was very concerned about whether Malificint would be making an appearance. She must have made quite an impression on him at the Magic Kingdom show the other day!

It was a fun day! Sadly, tomorrow is our last full day here. We're not sure whether we'll go to Animal Kingdom or back to Magic Kingdom for our last day.

Happy Halloween!

What a nice, relaxing day we had today! It was almost like being on vacation.

When Dan and I opened the shades this morning and saw the sun (yes, that's right... the sun!) we decided to take the kids swimming. They've been begging us to take them since the night we arrived and they saw the pool all lit up from 5 stories above. Problem is, we've hardly been here and it's been pretty drizzly. Today turned out to be a beautiful day.

We also decorated trick or treat bags, went on a halloween scavenger hunt in which the kids were able to do some trick or treating in their costumes, and there was a fun halloween party at the pool tonight. We played games and Jolie & Gavin had their faces painted and Tristan had his caricature drawn.

Oh, and we went by the store and bought some Kit Kat bars since there wont be any trick or treat bags to raid after the kids go to bed. Happy Halloween!

MGM

We spent the day at Disney-MGM Studios. The Tower of Terror was the attraction we've all been excited about. Dan took the kids on his own since it's apparently not advisable for an expectant mother to free-fall 5 stories in an elevator. When I met back up with them, Gavin said that he liked it. He's since redacted his statement, saying that he actually didn't like it. I don't think he's decided yet.

Here are some of the other things we did today: we saw a great broadway-type Beauty and the Beast show (Tristan said it was the worst part of the day); we saw all the Disney celebrities in a big parade (you should have seen Gavin's face when the evil queen from Snow White approached him); Jolie got to dance with the performers in the High School Musical 2 show (again, Tristan says it was one of his least favorite parts of the day although I was watching him during the show and he was clearly mesmerized. I even caught him mouthing some of the words to the songs); we got a behind the scenes look at the making of The Lion the Witch and the Wordrobe (one of our favorite books and very favorite movies); and we saw a cool car stunt and special effects show (the fire and explosions were cool but an especially big hit with the boys... of all ages).

Tomorrow we're taking a break from all things Disney. Marriott has some Halloween activities planned and we hope to familiarize ourselves with the resort where we've mostly just been sleeping.

**Sorry for the sideways photos. Dan doesn't have Photoshop on his laptop so I can't edit them right now**

The Happiest Place

We've spent the past two days at the happiest place on Earth. It's been fun and taken a lot out of us. We've covered most of the Magic Kingdom these past two days. Here are the highlights so far:

Tristan's favorites: space mountain and splash mountain (basically anything fast and thrilling).
Jolie's favorites: The ever-popular tea cups (if I remember correctly, her favorite at Disneyland when she was 2 as well) and splash mountain.
Gavin: the monorail, the tram from the parking lot, Aladin's carpet or whatever ride he was on immediately before you asked him.

Gavin has been very adventurous. I was a little concerned about taking him in the Haunted Mansion today, given that he's very succeptable to scarry things. He's up during the night with either a night terror or nightmare about 3 or 4 times a week. He insisted that he wanted to do it though. We'll see what he dreams about tonight. Jolie is definitely on the road to recovery from her pathological fear of amusement park rides. She still doesn't want to go on roller coasters but she'll try most everything else. She even asked if we could go back to space mountain because Tristan has been talking it up so much.

We knew it would rain while we were here and like good Disney guests, we brought our rain ponchos. Yesterday it was very hot and humid and it drizzled for a few minutes here and there. Today was a torrential downpour. Other than the fact that we all looked like drowned rats, the rain didn't slow us down. Dan and I are watching the local news right now and it looks like we'll be having more of the same due to a tropical storm named Noel. Better go air out the ponchos...