Eight (and a half) in Anchorage

Vacation!

2012-02-14T12:55:00.002-09:00

I am sitting in Sky Harbor airport waiting for a flight to Seattle, then on to Anchorage arriving home around 9 tonight. Allen's parents have been staying at our house with the kids since the 10th while we had a bit of R&R in a very nice and warm state! I'll have some pictures and posts over the next few days when I get the time - I imagine. I'll be a little busy with restocking the house and just hanging out with the kids, but they're coming.

We had a great time. We hadn't had a "real vacation" (excluding our 3 day trip to Fairbanks, at 37 weeks pregnant in -55f temps)... Since our honeymoon. This was the first time I've ever left Aidan before too but he did well. And baby #7 is still on the inside cooking away... 36 weeks and counting.

Naptime and bedtime resistance

2012-02-07T13:45:00.002-09:00

Andrew, our new 3 year old, still naps. I've never had a child continue napping this long. I'm not one to force a child to continue napping if they can hold it together behavior wise for the rest of the day without one. Andrew is generally a sweet kiddo but on days he doesn't nap, you can definitely tell. Both he and Aidan nap for about 3 hours every day.

Before that nap, I'm encountering some resistance. I'm not sure if it's because he suspects Rosalie is doing exciting and fun things while he is asleep, or if he just doesn't want to stop what he's doing, or what.

Selfishly, with a new baby arriving shortly I am hoping this concurrent napping continues awhile to let us adjust to the new family member.

We also have been having issues at bedtime. He and Aidan share a bedroom (though not for naps, as Aidan really needs his so we have him nap in our room) and we have been having to remove Andrew from that room because he is so rowdy at bedtime. He refuses to verbally request or acknowledge various things he wants and instead will cry. Maybe it's a bit of regression, but last night had 3 in-and-out episodes from his room due to refusing to voice what he wants. It's a strength of will issue and that kid's will is iron.

It's hard being in the final weeks of a pregnancy and dealing with relocating a heavy 3 year old; I'm so glad Allen has been home to help me!

tired is (my) state of mind...

2012-02-07T08:45:00.003-09:00

We are still going to bed ultra early. Last night we retired to our room right after the kids were in bed - around 8:15. We read and watched a bit of Netflix and lights were out at 10. I was up 2 or 3 times for standard late pregnancy reasons and woke another time around 5:30 and decided to just get up and hopefully give myself time to switch out of zombie mode before the kids got up.

I read, checked my email and ate a two-handed breakfast that I didn't have to share. Not a terribly productive use of my time but I feel a bit... awake right now! I wonder if I'll ever get to a point where being tired doesn't register any more since it's normal. So far, not! I guess if I've been through this many newborns/infancies it's pretty unlikely.

It's hard to want to do SO MANY THINGS and just lack the motivation to do it because I feel the need to sit and/or go to bed early instead. There isn't enough time in the day. I remember feeling loads better after Aidan was born. I'm hoping the same thing occurs this time around. Looking forward to meeting this little guy for sure.

This baby FEELS huge

2012-02-04T21:34:00.002-09:00

Or may e he likes to stretch... No idea. But this is the first time I've had one be able to hook some body part... A leg, an arm? Up under a rib and kick me in the lungs while simultaneously grinding against my hip on the opposite side.

No gestational diabetes, an at least ok diet... I'm not drinking soda or eating chocolate every day... But am I gestating a toddler or something? I sure hope he doesn't top Aidan in size.

As I have for every.other.pregnancy. I wonder if this baby may precede his due date. It hasn't ever happened yet... I always at least make it there... If not exceed it by 3-9 days (never EVER going that far overdue again). Historically speaking probably not. But maybe?

splitting up Saturday

2012-02-04T13:21:00.002-09:00

Because we have a wide age range of kids even though they are relatively close in age we can't always do everything together. For instance, right now I am at home with Aidan and Andrew while Allen is taking Allen, Aaron, Perpetua and Rosalie sledding at the nearby elementary school.

I had to buy a new sled (every once in a while one goes missing - I think it got buried a couple huge snowfalls ago!) on the way home from violin lessons. Another thing we do separately for hopefully obvious reasons - it wouldn't be fun OR easy to take the little ones along to private music lessons at another location!

I am a little pleased with myself because Rosalie has handwarmers inside her gloves. Because she's small and relatively thin she chills easily even with lots of layers. I'm hoping the handwarmers buy her extra time in the relatively mild 17 degree weather we have right now - I hope the kids have LOTS of fun with Dad! I cannot sled right now in my advanced stage of pregnancy anyway. Looking forward to doing that NEXT winter, though I wonder if we will get this much snow again!

A few weeks ago we had our roof shoveled off. Our roof is shaped like this (very simplistic text illustration but hopefully it makes the point) ___/\___. Two flat roofs on either side of a vaulted roof that makes up our living room. We'd had so much snow Allen was concerned about the weight of it as it built up, melted and refroze. He had intended to shovel it himself but we lacked a ladder tall enough to reach it, then he was out of town, suffered an illness that took him a LONG time to get over (only really feeling well this week!), then it was -20F for a couple weeks and it got to the point that another major snowfall was forecast so we bit the bullet and hired someone to do it. Two someones, actually, and it took them a couple of hours to do. So one person still recovering from illness, it would've taken the better part of a day. I'm glad we were able to hire someone to fix that for us!

Long story short I miss our whole family expeditions - which should resume this summer - but I think we do pretty well splitting up for age appropriate actvities as well.

let's take apart the couch!

2012-02-04T13:17:00.001-09:00

I usually get this request a couple of times a day. Rosalie and Andrew especially love to take the cushions off our upstairs furniture and build forts, boats, volcanoes, whatever with them. Aidan loves to knock them down, sometimes without permission.

Here Rosalie is removing Aidan from a destructive run.

Aidan joining in with the "big kids"
Just a SUPER CUTE picture of Aidan. He is on my lap as I'm writing this, and he waved at himself. Precious!

Andrew's many faces

2012-02-04T13:16:00.001-09:00

Andrew's a very expressive and (positively, not moodwise) dramatic little guy. He's got all sorts of expressions and "personalities" that the faces go with. I love this age.

Andrew's 3rd birthday!

2012-02-01T16:06:00.005-09:00

Andrew Sebastian turned 3 on January 29th. We had a fire truck themed birthday (I had a little bit of guilt over using premade frosting instead of homemaking it as I usually do, but it worked out and more importantly, Andrew liked it!). We had Allen's parents visit for the day and had entirely too much food (ribs, mac & cheese, veggies, rolls, cake, etc)

For some past years photos & memories, you can check out
Andrew turns 2
Andrew turns 1
Andrew new baby photos here and here

3 year old logic

2012-01-28T09:45:00.002-09:00

I made myself a fruit and yogurt smoothie for breakfast this morning. Andrew immediately appeared demanding one. Because I'd over-made a little bit I put a generous amount in a cup for him.

I offered it and he dissolved into tears. He wanted My smoothie in my cup. I wasn't willing to go that far and offered the original smoothie or no smoothie. He accepted. Guess you never know what you might get unless you ask? :-)

(some of the) happy kids!

2012-01-25T14:50:00.003-09:00

Being in the throes of an Alaskan winter leads to pitiful lighting for photographs. Things are getting better, we are gaining 5 minutes a day. Here are some of SOME of the kids!

Here's a smiley Aidan, 16 months old fresh! His cheeks were a little flushed that day, not sure why.

Perpetua (7) mid-violin-practice
Aaron (9) giving me an odd look while requesting his picture be taken!

Thoughts while cleaning the girls' room

2012-01-21T15:40:00.002-09:00

Biggest thought: if you have so many (whatevers) that they are relegated to a large, colorful tote to store them and they don't get played with, what is the point of having so many (whatevers)?

Going for less with more utility here. I hope the girls will be happy and delighted with their "new" (ie, more accessible because there are fewer items) things.

No, I'm not tossing favorite anythings... Just reducing redundant items that haven't been loved in a while!

I also have two boxes of hand me downs being collected for friends with younger daughters. So many clothes! We are also the happy recipient of hand me downs from others, but I'm somewhat picky on style and wear. That, and Rosalie had a growth spurt recently such that she is wearing size 5 shirts (!!!!!!) and size 4 slim pants. She was in size 3 everything FOREVER.

Makes me wonder, honestly, as she is on a constant dose of growth hormone; same dosage administered every night, and she only makes a tiny tiny tiny amount on her own. Could she possibly even have the ability to have a "growth spurt" in that situation? Maybe a question for her next endocrinologist appointment. All I know is it seems like overnight she went from wearing size 3s to needing 4s and 5s.

Laying low, keeping things together

2012-01-19T14:06:00.002-09:00

My husband has been ill since Sunday afternoon. As far as we could tell, just a really bad cold. He was off Monday for a holiday but also stayed home Tuesday and half of Wednesday. I cannot remember the last time, if ever, that he missed that much work due to illness. He usually gets something and is fine 24 hours later.

Yesterday Aidan woke up coughing a bit and was raspy by afternoon. We gave him some decongestant and had him sleep in our room to closely monitor him if he needed help.

To avoid catching whatever this is I have been sleeping on our downstairs couch. Which isn't as awful as it sounds, our couch is very comfortable! Today Aidan seems a bit better but definitely not worse. I have spent the majority of the day deep cleaning our room (which I had stayed the heck out of with Allen sneezing up a storm) and washing all our bedding so I can move back in tonight.

The kids have a busy weekend ahead with friends, sleepover plans, 3 birthday parties to attend... Next weekend is Andrew's 3rd birthday and party (small and low key) and the week after that our oldest son turns 11. I've decided to move Rosalie's birthday party up a month to mid February since I am due to give birth right around the time of her real birthday, and you never know how you're going to feel when you're that pregnant. So late January through mid February is going to have 3 kid birthday parties.... Then I'll be done for a while!

Anchorage makes you soft....

2012-01-19T13:55:00.002-09:00

Recently Anchorage has had a run of temps between -10 and -16 in the evening and morning hours. I've been driving the kids to their bus stop in the mornings because I didn't want them to get, well, frozen waiting for the bus (they generally wait less than 5 minutes).

The kids have also told me that this entire week they have had indoor recess because it's too cold to be outside. Evidence: current temp is 0 degrees. No wind.

Now I appreciate the heck out of this and am sympathetic to the staff who probably want the kids outdoors to run off steam. I know what it's like to have a houseful of kids who haven't been out in a while, I can't imagine a class full of 22 kids who haven't been out when they are accustomed to being so.

To contrast, in Bethel recess occurred unless the temperature or windchill dipped below -20. That meant someone would check the weather at recess and if it was -17, -18 the kids would go out for the full period of recess.

I was reading this article from Bethel's local AM news and had to shake my head at the following:

High school students and faculty will be able to access the bathrooms in the district office building across from the school, but they’ll have to brave wind chills of -45 degrees this morning to reach those stalls.

The district office is an entirely different, non connected building than the high school thou they are next to each other. School in Bethel dismissed on December 22nd and just got back in this week due to frozen sewer pipes. They had been having temps somewhere around -33, lots of wind, etc and everything froze up. I can't imagine a situation like the one posted above would fly in Anchorage, but I don't see what else the district really could do. As it is it will be interesting to hear what ends up happening with making up those extra days they missed. Not easy for anyone.

He's home!

2012-01-14T21:26:00.002-09:00

Allen is home from a few days worth of business travel to Bethel. I always miss him when he's gone, and took the opportunity to do some lengthy/messy tasks that he may not appreciate me doing while he's home, in case I can't finish up for some reason (or six reasons). I didn't get nearly as much as I wanted done, but that's ok!

I was so happy to pick him up at the airport this afternoon. The kids and I have had fun with non standard (French toast, anyone?) dinners and late evenings playing games, but the house is so much more fun with everyone here.

Confidence of a new walker

2012-01-13T13:46:00.003-09:00

Aidan is finally walking as of a week or so ago. The take off and toddle across the room type of walking. I love it! He is so pleased with himself whenever he decides to take off across a room and then gets to his destination.

We go to a couple different playgroups during the week and it's kind of funny, he has refused to walk in either of those environments. I think it's the large open spaces concept, like he wonders what would happen to him if he tried it? Eventually I'm sure his curiosity will overwhelm him and he'll give it a go.

First "workout"

2012-01-12T20:07:00.002-09:00

It's about 3.5 weeks after my surgery and I "worked out" on the elliptical tonight. I have the quotes out because it was only a 10 minute workout that burned 178 calories. I used to knock out no problem a 500+ calorie workout but in a few months I'm sure I'll be back in that place again. I am trying to think that every little bit helps without getting too syrupy happy about it all.

Allen is working extra this week and I am using the extra time at home "alone" to knock out some neglected household projects.

Other life news would be that Aidan is walking easily all over, finally. I love it. He is very proud of himself. I find myself being very cautious of his arm even thou there was no lasting injury. As I write this he is hamming for his older siblings on the floor of the downstairs family room. It's so wonderful to have such positively dispositions children!

For dinner tonight: lettuce wraps!

2012-01-11T19:39:00.002-09:00

Tonight we made this recipe and it came out really well. Similar to a dish we know as "Korean lunch" that our close family friend has made for us (and is SO amazingly good, I could eat it every day and it'd never get old).

I made a few changes. I used a 5 oz can of water chestnuts and (accidentally) around 1.5 lbs of meat. I also added more sweet chili sauce than called for. I made a dipping sauce with sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce and Korean chili paste called gochujang that we added to the wraps. The kids found it too spicy but they liked the commercially prepared sweet chili sauce I had added to the meat.

It was a bit messy so we had napkins out but all the kids seemed to like it! Even our 2 year old ate it. It was a great change from our "usual" types of dishes and I look forward to making it again. We added some plain rice to some of the rolls to fill them out for the kids. I skipped the rice since I'd had plenty of carbs today. This would be great with ground pork (regular, not sausage) or turkey. You can add things like kimchi, radish, bean sprouts or peanuts to it too.

I can see this becoming a lunchtime staple for me because it was very easy to make and SO good!

Facebook

2012-01-10T23:27:00.003-09:00

For any of my readers who know me through Facebook as well, I decided to deactivate my account at least for a while. I may be back after some time and I do intend to keep blogging (obviously). I didn't want there to be any "did she unfriend me?" weirdness... My decision to not be on Facebook right now is universal, not specific. :-)

Hello in there?

2012-01-10T22:43:00.002-09:00

I have a shelf full of library books sitting in my bedroom. I can't bring myself to gather the mental energy to read any of them. Again, this is not a depression thing at all... Just an attention span thing maybe? I'm enjoying being "present in the moment" even if that increased presence is due to me not having 2-3 books in progress as I typically would.

Lately, the last 4-6 weeks or so the most I've been tempted to read are other friend's blogs, moderately detailed articles on subjects I find interesting... I think this is the "dumbest" I've ever felt! I've tried and researched several new recipes and that is exciting. Tonight I made a lamb roast that I thought was out of this world. Unbelievably, I couldnt find fresh mint or basil in either of my two shopping locations! So I used dried. It worked fine! Same for the figs, used dried that I rehydrated prior to making the sauce. It got mixed reviews from the kids but seriously their palates may just need to mature a bit. In case a reader decides to attempt this, I also altered th cooking process (400 degrees for 30 minutes, then an hour at 335 degrees, for a 5 lb roast) and I doubled the herb mixture that goes on the outside. It smelled and looked amazing.

A windstorm and a 30 degree temperature increase also added some spice to our afternoon. Winds were steady at 45-50 mph and the temp went from zero this morning to at least +34. Of course this meant things outside got sloppy. I picked the kids up from their bus stop this afternoon in the car and had a "narrow miss" when a strong gust of wind blew the door of my suburban shut right after Perpetua's leg entered the car. If she had been a half second slower I suspect we would've been on our way to the doctor again.

In any event, for now the house is quiet and things are going well. For the past 2 days, I've felt like myself mentally, which is a great change! Not sure what was up with that, if it was time recovering from anesthesia, surgery, the mindset of a weakened person, I have no idea but it feels great to "be me". Sounds very pop psych but it's true!

Arms and toilets

2012-01-09T21:14:00.003-09:00

What a title for a post, right?

Toilets first. A few weeks ago we noticed our downstairs bathroom wasn't flushing correctly. Something had gone down that wasn't supposed to. Various non-professional DIY repairs were attempted valiantly by my husband to no avail. Had a plumber scheduled who the cancelled. We finally got someone out today. The happy part? $125 later we have a functional downstairs toilet.

~~Andrew~~ Someone had flushed a tube of toothpaste down the toilet. We are just happy that it was fixable. As if on cue, later this evening we have had to remove a baby toy, a hairbrush, a wrapper and a whipped cream cap from two other toilets. "someone" is on a mission...

Next: Aidan has joined the world of the walking! Yesterday we thought he was coming down with something and he hung out on me all day, taking a very long nap and otherwise being not his usual cheery self.

When I got him up this morning it became clear he refused to use his left arm. It hung by his side and he refused to use it. I put a pile of goldfish crackers on his left side and he reached across his body with his right hand to get them. I put a cracker in his left hand and he reached with his right hand to get it. (I may have cried at this point because I was scared for my little guy!). A few phone calls later I have an appointment set up with a pediatrician recommended by a friend for a couple hours later.

Allen arrived home and I took off with Aidan. Allen is able to access his work computer remotely so he mostly worked while I was gone. The pediatrician's office seemed nice, they got us in ahead of schedule. They said immediately from the way Aidan was holding his arm that he had a dislocated elbow. It likely happened when he caught himself with outstretched arms from a fall while walking yesterday. Thus commenced several painful attempts to pop it back in and sad incentives to get him to use the left arm. The fourth or fifth attempt worked. He did favor the arm in the doctor's office but by the time we got home he gave a bit of a crawl and by an hour at home was back walking.

It was so nice and such a relief to see the little guy's arm going everywhere and being used, the hand grasping, him walking and crawling as he should!

Thank goodness for modern medicine when it's needed. My poor lil guy!

3 weeks out

2012-01-08T21:17:00.002-09:00

Apologies for the surgery-centric post titles here. Tomorrow will be three weeks since my surgery and I think today is the first day that I've mentally felt like "myself". It is a great thing! I got a cold this week around Wednesday and have stayed in, towing a Kleenex box around. I think that's on the way out the door, I hope. Busy few weeks ahead for us here at the house and I'm looking forward to it.

I had the odd experience tonight of going shopping looking for fresh herbs, basil and mint. Not terribly uncommon things right? Two stores didn't have them! And in one of the stores they had almost no milk. It was almost a Bethel flashback!

Younger boys' room: having to keep it empty

2012-01-04T11:27:00.002-09:00

So that nobody reading this gets the wrong impression, I will say up front that my son Andrew is a very mellow, kind, funny kid 99.9% of the time. He is not a destructive terror.

That said... I'm working in the downstairs of my house today, getting things back in order after a couple weeks of doing little to nothing in the house, meaning it's in "survival mode" and keeping things insanely spic-n-span was not at the top of anyone's list. It feels great to be fixing things back up the way I like them!

I started in Aidan and Andrew's room this morning. Awhile back I had to remove their small 3 drawer dressers because Andrew would empty them and scatter the clothes all over the room. I put it back several times - pretty time consuming, then finally gave in and removed the dressers since they were obviously just too tempting for him. Right now they are in our library/family room and I intend to put them in the extra closet, which I am also cleaning out today.

A few random toys had made their way in. No biggie. I vacuumed up some cracker crumbs (food is verboten anywhere but the table for exactly.this.reason). I noticed some marker and pencil scribbles on the wall. A bad bad habit Andrew has picked up. Finally, I righted a tipped over rocking chair. I think I fail to possess the insight to understand why he felt the need to tip the chair over... It sure looks nicer with just a regular, right side up chair in the corner!

I'm making plans to possibly paint the room when Allen is out of town in Juneau later this month. That way he doesn't have to deal with the stress of anticipating "stuff" being done in the house.the backstory to that would be back in 2002, with our first house I was in the midst of removing wallpaper in our sons' room(at that time we only had 2, Allen and Aaron), when we got the news we'd be moving. Allen at that time was working in Bethel Monday through Friday and flying back Friday night, leaving Sunday evening again. He did this for eight weeks before we were able to move. He spent one of those weekends reprinting that room that I'd started, and hasn't forgotten. He is not a fan of "projects" he even thinks he might have to become involved in.

Pregnancy and delivery nightmares

2012-01-04T08:03:00.002-09:00

The last 2 days I've had vivid dreams about things going wrong with the delivery. Last night in my dream my water broke and I decided to get on a plane, and ended up landing in Juneau. The baby was born and had all sorts of complications, that were of course my fault.

I don't feel or anticipate this during waking hours but it sure is getting old to not have restful sleep and instead "live" pregnancy disaster scenarios!

To pull out of this I think I'm going to make the younger kids and myself some pancakes and strawberries or a similar breakfast. It probably won't do much if anything... But I need a few nights with no dreams and lots of sleep!

Follow up and first day back

2012-01-03T18:58:00.002-09:00

I had my follow up appointment today for my surgery. I've been cleared to lift my Aidan again! I have lost so much energy and probably muscle tone in this 3 weeks of reduced activity I am working to get it all back!

Today was the kids' first day back at school and overall it went well. It sure was lonely with just half as many people in the house. Today was my first day completely on my own post surgery too. My lack of energy was the biggest problem. I really need to kick that one in the tail.

Baby boy is being very active tonight. Can't wait til he's on the outside. The kids feel the same way. My next appointment is my 32+ week one. That is hard to believe!

Getting back to our normal schedule

2012-01-01T10:19:00.003-09:00

This year, with several relatively "older" kids, bedtimes during Christmas break got pretty lax. A few times we had kids still up and quietly reading upstairs at 11pm. A few times we saw Rosalie at 10 or 10:30, because she absolutely must keep her older sister's hours in case she misses out on anything.

Aidan and Andrew kept their normal bedtimes. Tomorrow is our last day off from school and "real life"... It's going to be hard for all of us, me included, to go back to early morning rising and the before school morning rush of breakfasts, lunches, where's-my-homework, do you see my hat, etc. I do love to sleep!

We have a busy January ahead with regular life events, travel, and appointments for various things. This is the year we get to meet our new baby!

32 things to do before turning 33... AKA un-New Years resolutions

2011-12-30T11:11:00.013-09:00

This March I'll be turning 32. I generally don't do New Year's resolutions so this will be more of an accountability list I hope to keep up over the next 14 months. Having a couple extra months in there to complete wont hurt!

1. I want to hand make Christmas stockings for all our family members. We don't currently have any... Have in the past but in the course of two moves they are gone. Obviously, this needs doing before December 2012!

2. Restart, and complete, the C25K running program. Allen and I were in the midst of this running program and mostly enjoying it, and I was feeling great, when this pregnancy occurred and I had to scale way back. Right now I'm not doing anything resembling running at all.

3. Semi related, I'd like to get to and maintain a weight of 135 lbs. I plan to replace much of my clothing when I get to this point. Again, the pregnancy kinda threw this one out the window, but it's reasonable to assume I can get there after little one arrives.

4. Get ALL the way to the top of Flattop this summer. Have gotten MOST of the way there several times, the heighest we got this summer I was with the older 3 kids, and Perpetua got scared of falling off the side of the mountain, so we turned back.

5. Take an hours-long hike with only my husband and the baby along. We love family hikes, and even more than that Allen and I would both love to be able to go WAY into the backcountry and challenge our adult muscles... We can only push our kids little legs so far, and they do great as far as I'm concerned. We just want a bit more, and a bit tougher.

6. Kayak Campbell Creek again. Did this in July with a friend and it was amazing amounts of fun. I saw Anchorage in a whole new way!

7. Get my photography business off the ground. I love photography and had some in Bethel but haven't done anything other than for our own family in Anchorage, and I want to! I have some business cards ready to go but need to do some advertising :-)

8. Figure out a good solution for our winter gear as it comes in the door. We have a shoebench, but 6 kids worth of snow gear makes quite a pile and we do not have a formal entryway. The door opens directly into our living room and I'm not about to drill hooks into our nice living room walls.

9. Declutter the children's rooms so they still have a comfortable amount of their stuff but it's more manageable for them and for me.

10. Get better about packing lunches for school the night before instead of the morning of.

11. Go an entire week going to bed at or before 10pm in an attempt to have actual rest and fulfill the demands of needing to get up early to "get things done".

12. Try new pita bread recipes, to see if anything beats the one I already have and love.

13. Find some great breakfast casseroles that are easy to make, the kids will eat and Allen likes to relieve a bit of the morning rush.

14. Figure out how to use the space in my angled kitchen cabinet in an organized fashion. It has a standard sized cabinet door but lots more available space I can't figure out how to use. I may store infrequently used bulky items in there.

15. Figure out the desired organization of the garage shelves and keep it that way. Not really me messing it up but it's a great place for the kids to "put something away".

16. Take a road trip within the state, with the kids. Grandparent's house visiting does not count.

17. Plant a garden. Attempt to grow at least one vegetable! At this point I intend mainly pretty flowers. Strawberries would be nice too!

18. Get to Ketchikan to visit my folks. This isn't necessarily easy due to requiring Allen to take time off or me to find care for the younger kids (except the new baby), finding at least 4 days to do it since it's a 4.5 hour flight and that basically eats a day, etc. etc. etc.

19. Repaint Aidan and Andrew's room, before the new baby arrives hopefully! New baby will eventually room in with Aidan and Andrew, which is great because they are small, but right now it's a very un exciting white. At our old house we had LOTS of color.

20. De-wallpaper and repaint the kitchen!

This list is in progress.... Once I get all the items listed I'll link it on my sidebar and post pictures when I make progress on a particular item!

Freedom writing

2011-12-29T00:03:00.002-09:00

I spent the last 20 or so minutes writing a post I'm not going to publish here. The writer's equivalent to "getting it all out"; the ups and downs of surgical recovery, pregnancy fears, winter blahs, appreciation for the small things.

Fill in the details as you like, I suppose. I'm not a great Pollyanna and would call myself a "realist" not a pessimist. It's hard to fight my "realist" tendencies when I truly feel like calling it like it is some days sans sugarcoating. I need to find a way to look on the positive side without stretching so far it's unbelievable. I have a friend who is very good at realistically accentuating the positive while acknowledging the tough stuff in life (pretty sure she doesn't read this blog though!). I have found myself lately wondering "what would ______ do in this situation" and I try to model that imaginary response.

Silly really... And this post is starting to go the way of the one I'm not publishing. Probably a sign I need to get to bed. I hope tomorrow is a good day for ll of us.

29 week appointment

2011-12-28T11:09:00.002-09:00

Had my GTT done today. I loathe that test. Here in anchorage they use a larger volume of fluid to deliver the 50g glucose load and it was nauseating! Less is more as far as I'm concerned there.

Baby is measuring 29 cm (normal), Bp was fine/low ish and weight gain was minimal especially considering my extremely low activity level since surgery!

Next week I have an appointment with one of the other OBs to discuss c-sections, etc. with everything going on here, my general feelings and past issues (large babies, quick labors) things are not cut and dry. Har dee har for double use of the word "cut".... ;-)

1 week out

2011-12-26T16:58:00.002-09:00

So I'm one week out from surgery today. Still under lifting restrictions. I had a little cry today because I'm frustrated by not doing any of my normal tasks. My husband and family has been pretty understanding with cutting me slack though. I can tell that all this "rest" isn't really helping my physical condition and I am looking forward to the time when I can be comfortable enough to start my walks outside again and hopefully build myself up a bit physically before the baby arrives.

We had a pleasant Christmas. I was happy to get 2 phone calls from my Bethel friends today and it made me miss the people quite a bit! I also realized if we were about to welcome our 7 th child into the house we lived in in bethel we'd have plum run put of room to comfortably house a growing family.

Not a lot going on here - so not much to write about. I'm doing a lot of reading. I'm still way more tired than normal. I cleaned my room today ( no bending, had Rosalie help me with that part!) and that felt pretty nice. Of course that was the limit of how much activity I could put into a day so I rested after that!

Merry Christmas...

2011-12-25T12:23:00.002-09:00

I'm 6 days out for surgery and mostly using regular tylenol with an occasional prescription painkiller thrown in. Yes, I'm careful about total dosages of acetomenaphin. Still some discomfort, and still no lifting of kids or laundry baskets. I don't need to take anything before I go to bed, so that's something.

We are waiting on Allen's folks to get here for the kids to open gifts. They have been disciplined about it, no complaints so far. So different from my childhood of first thing in the morning unwrapping frenzy for only two kids!

I still feel some amount of sadness that this Christmas was not what I'd have hoped due to my physical issues. Better luck next year I suppose.

Restless

2011-12-23T07:18:00.002-09:00

My surgery was Monday. Monday through thursday I spent most of the day on the couch, getting up, painfully, when necessary. Allen's mom has been in every day to assist with care of my two youngest, whom I cannot lift (say, into a carseat, a high chair, even to pin down for a diaper change... Or put down for a nap). It's very, very hard to turn over my domestic responsibilities that I normally really enjoy to someone else and do little other than sit and watch it all happen.

My older kids are on Christmas break from school through January 2nd. Normally I'd be baking, decorating things with them, playing outside, hauling them all over town for various enriching activities. Sadly they haven't left the house for just as long as I have. They did go play at a friend's house on Monday, said friend ended up with 11 kids playing at their house, "only" 3 of which were mine. The mother must be a saint.

Yesterday Perpetua received an invitation to go to a friend's house and was gone most of the day. Came home with a bag of decorated cookies. I stole some!

Today is the first day I haven't woken up in worse pain than the day before. I have some bruising around the surgical site which is a little ridiculous and does hurt! I really want to push it today and do things... Like clean my kitchen which has been in the care, mostly, of my 9 and 10 year olds for maintenance. However, I know this "feeling better" is not going to last if I spring off the couch the moment I get a bit of improvement. For instance, I have only been able to get out of bed alone twice. I still needed some help this morning, the act just occurred with less pain. Note that you use your abdominal muscles for so many things!

So I'm going to rest...again... today. Look out the windows, peruse friend's blogs, wait for my husband to get home. I'm really glad it's the weekend, it will be nice to see Allen during the day too. I'm not sure I'm going to make it to Christmas Mass but will do my best with reading the missal at home.

Incarcerated umbilical hernia while pregnant

2011-12-22T20:01:00.003-09:00

All the googling I did while waiting for my surgery suggests this "never or almost never" happens to pregnant women. It did happen to me, so I'm going to write about it in case there's some other person out there looking for firsthand information.

I have had an asymptomatic umbilical hernia sine my 5th pregnancy. It would be uncomfortable at times but mostly was just a nuisance. I was aware it was possible to surgically repair, but who wants surgery? So I ignored it. Same with my 6th pregnancy. This time around I had trouble and pain with it sooner than in previous pregnancies but planned just to ignore and tough it out.

I was walking around with a friend at the museum for several hours. When I got home I was in more pain than usual. The next morning I woke up with a hard lump where there was normally just soft normal skin. It hurt to push in, and really wouldn't push in.

I called my OB office. I couldn't get in with my usual provider and ended up seeing someone I really disliked... "couldn't say" if I had an incarcerated hernia - I'd basically self diagnosed and wanted them to tell me I was ridiculous and to go home. Instead I got an appointment with a no-bedside-manner OB who referred me to a general surgeon. In my opinion a waste of $30. "not our area of expertise" he said. If I as a layperson could figure this out I would expect him to be able to as well.

Next day showed no change and I went to the surgeon. He pushed on the bulge (very painful!) and it went nowhere. He said I did have an incarcerated hernia, consulted with my OB and they recommended I have surgery to fix it.

The first available surgery spot was a week and a half out. So i spent the next several days in varying degrees of pain, wondering if baby would be ok, and how badly I'd be laid up after surgery.

The day of the surgery arrived. I went alone. Had to check in 2 hours early which in my case meant 5:30 AM. It was not fun to be alone and I cried a little. They called a nurse from L&zd to monitor baby's heart rate, which was fine. They inserted an IV and the anesthesiologist came to talk to me. She said they would use minimal medication and only medications they would also use on a baby if they were having surgery. I would be awake the whole time, and the medications the surgeon would use would be limited to local anesthetic.

They gave me enough of something that my fear was decreased. I did feel the surgeon doing things to my stomach but did not feel pain. I honestly don't remember them even giving the several shots of local anesthetic. The surgery took about 90 minutes.

After surgery I went to the recovery room. Again they attempted to monitor the baby. It took them some time to find the heartbeat and I was shaking at least partly out of fear. They did not monitor during surgery because of the location of the surgery, it wasn't possible. Eventually they found the heartbeat, and I calmed down.

I was moved back to the day surgery area and Allen came and picked me up. On the way home the car drive jostled me uncomfortably. The local anesthetic wore off. I used prescription pain pills but had a lot of discomfort with movement.

On day 2 and 3 postop there was more discomfort.

Day 4 was about as bad as day 3 and I'm still using the pain meds. It's still hard to move around and I spend much of my time laying down or sitting on the couch. My mother in law has been coming in to help, because I cannot lift my 1 or 2 year olds nor do I have much stamina for doing things with the kids. Not a very fun Christmas vacation for the kids so far.

I'll keep updating this post as recovery progresses because clearly, this does happen to SOME people while pregnant and there's not much if any firsthand information out there available. I'm really looking forward to being more comfortable physically and hope that it happens sooner rather than later.

This is hard!

2011-12-20T17:52:00.004-09:00

Moms aren't supposed to have issues like this.

I'm sitting in our living room, adjacent to our dining room watching the family eat dinner... One I'd prepared ahead of time to relieve pressure on my husband and myself since I didn't know how bad surgery would be.

While so far this is a great outcome it doesn't mean I'm not in a lot of pain -I am - and the kids continue to need things that sometimes I cannot do. Allen's mom was here today from 9:30-1:30, then Allen came home. He plans to go back to work after Aidan and Andrew are down for the night.

I am stil on pain meds. I am in more pain today than yesterday. While the surgical repair was done under local I think I have some pain from laying in one position for 90 minutes, etc. the medications don't eliminate the pain, and there's definitely a period between when it wears off and when I can take more that I am very uncomfortable.

I really hope today or tomorrow might be my low point, and that things look up from here. I need help getting up from laying down and sometimes sitting. I need to be propped in a certain way to sleep, and if that fails I wake up in jarring pain.

Son Aaron is here asking to play cards so more later.

Editing to add more, because later has arrived. Anyway, handing over, scaling back or plain stopping my usual family duties and responsibilities is disappointing and difficult. I have a wonderful friend who tells me to look at times like this as a blessing for others to do service (thanks Marce!). It is hard for me to do, and hard for me to also think that others don't resent me for giving the "opportunity". I am already feeling guilty as I will be giving birth in a few months and will again be at a reduced level of physical capability after that. At least then I'll have a wonderful baby to concentrate on. For now all I have is my iPad and books while other people take over my usual tasks.

Surgery done, baby ok!

2011-12-19T12:19:00.001-09:00

Briefly, due to my pain and fatigue: my surgery was successful. Baby boy stayed put and continues to gestate. Thank goodness. I'm in a considerable amount of pain but so relieved to have this behind me and recovery ahead!

Warm up, melt down

2011-12-16T23:02:00.003-09:00

This winter we have twice experienced a big dump of lovely sow followed by a period of above freezing temps that melts it all away. We are in such a warm period right now, I must say it looks more Christmas-y with snow on the trees!

Allen has been away on business in Bethel but will be home tomorrow. I am still feeling nervous about the upcoming surgery early Monday morning but now it's mostly to get it behind me and look forward to the rest of this pregnancy.

Speaking of pregnancy, I've decided to do my peace of mind a favor and swear off pregnancy and parenting boards. Reading them gives me too much disquiet when people are spouting opinions based on things *I* have to experience, not just theoreticals. It's not so much that I care what others think, though I find the topics interesting... It's just too personal to me right now with the experience so close at hand. I think I'll have more peace with less reading and research on that topic (after an hour spent tonight researching vbac rates and complications for grand multips... Such fun!) I'm going to attempt on keeping things positive for me and get over this next hurdle.

I am really hoping this surgery doesn't ruin Christmas vacation for the kids. There are so many things I want to do. We have a busy weekend ahead, and my surgery is supposed to be at 7:30 Monday morning. I don't know how with it I will be afterwards but I'll attempt to post that I made it through. In the meantime prayers that baby boy stays put during the procedure are welcome. There is only a small chance of this messing with the pregnancy, but it's still there. That part scares me the most. Moms aren't supposed to need surgery, recovery times, etc... Especially while carrying a fragile new life.

snow day!

2011-12-12T14:10:00.003-09:00

School was cancelled for the day, so on top of a short week, the kids get a 3 day weekend. Pretty cool, right? Yesterday we had a calm morning-early afternoon with snow. Then winds picked up and for a few hours we had 50-70 mph winds. I was really glad Allen was home instead of traveling, it's silly but I don't like inclement weather all on my own!

This morning I had a suspicion school would be closed so I got up, checked and it was. Nobody else was awake so I made lunch for Allen, got him on the way to work and went back to bed! We didn't get up at the house until 9:30 or so. Did breakfast and everyone but Aidan promptly begged to go outside and play in it!

Here's a picture of how deep the snow is. Most of this, I'd say 85%, is new snow. Mailbox is normal "mailbox height" off the ground!
I offered the kids $5 each if they wanted to go do a "great job" on the driveway. Aaron complained that we lacked a snowblower. For the mostpart they had fun being outside, and then some kind neighbor whom I don't even know came up with a plow on his truck and finished the job off. I'd just pulled Allen's car into the garage to let the snow melt off of it! Great timing.
Our oldest son Allen
Perpetua was a great helper.

kiddo shots!

2011-12-12T14:06:00.004-09:00

Here are a few pictures from the last few days. I did a bit of clothing shopping for the kids to replace and get new stuff, especially Rosalie as lots of Perpetua's stuff was hand-me-downs that hasn't worn so well (aside from that she's built much differently from Rose!). This was one of the cute new shirts we got her - she really likes it, can you see why?
Just a pretty girl with some Christmas lights in the background

We got a lot of snow... then a lot of wind, then LOTS more snow yesterday and overnight. Andrew went out to play in it with Rose while Allen took the older 3 kids sledding. I stayed here.
Random Perpetua shot

reindeer farm

2011-12-12T13:56:00.002-09:00

This weekend our family went to the "Reindeer Farm" out in the Butte (about a 1 hour drive). I took Aaron and Perpetua to their violin lessons, went back and picked everyone else up, picked Perpetua up from her lesson and we headed out directly. The drive was lovely. We had a funny "coincidence"... we were discussing automobile damage, windshield damage and out of nowhere a rock kicks up off the highway and gave my suburban windshield a nice ding. Bummer, huh? But the nature of our conversation at the time made it funny.

Here are some "scenery" photos. For an Alaskan blog I've really failed the past year at any "scenery" stuff. Trying to do better.

The place kind of reminded me of Dwight Schrute's beet farm if you've seen "The Office". There were certain elements of the tour that were "charming" in a crazy way. Like that most of it was unheated, and what heat there was was usually provided by open propane flame heaters (!). And that the "facilities" for visitors included 3 unheated outhouses, the only one I looked at and didn't use had frozen stuff in part of it and frost on the seat. No thanks! Happily we were there for free because Allen's folks had a guest pass and had invited us (otherwise it would've been $7 per adult, $5 per kid... I really don't think 1 heated bathroom is too much to ask!)
Here are some elk. They did have reindeer but I must've been holding a child at that point so no pics of them. Sorry!
Fog rolled in and made a great scene...
Here's Aaron in the craft area. It was warmed with an open flame propane heater but still - pretty darn cold.
Aaron and Rosie making crafts

We went on the hayride twice. Here's Allen, Andrew, Aidan and Rose.
Older son Allen
Overall it was nice. But it was awesome to get back in the warm car, blast the heat and drive home too!

I ran out of lights!

2011-12-08T22:44:00.003-09:00

Dealing with the surprise this week of facing unexpected, if "minor" surgery and the related discomfort of this condition and anticipating a recovery, I have not felt like doing ANYTHING Christmas related. Some of my friends can attest to that as I dumped on them via e-mail about it. Today I forced myself to decorate a bit in hopes that it would help. I think it did, a little.

I ran out of lights and I haven't done the inside of the house yet. We have really big, bigger than me, windows all on the front and back of our house. So I did the front porch rail, Allen's office, and the 3 windows in front. Will have to get more lights tomorrow to finish up the inside! I hope the kids are surprised. When they came home all I had done was the front porch, so it should be a nice surprise for them tomorrow.

The lights really ARE 2 different colors here. It isn't that marked in person, but the lights on the right of the photo are LED lights and the left are regular lights. Allen's class had an exchange that we participated in and got LED lights for regular - but I ran out of them. We were only trading in our old lights. I hope they run it again next year! Then they can all match...

Perpetua's 7th birthday party

2011-12-08T22:37:00.003-09:00

Last Saturday we had Perpetua's party here at the house. She turned 7 on November 27th. Tomorrow, December 9th, is the anniversary of the day we got to bring her "home" (to my parent's house in Anchorage, since she was in intensive care immediately after birth and we still weren't back in Bethel yet). What a long time to wait for such a precious girl!

We had 10 guests from her class, plus our own 6 kids. Homemade cake, homemade games and lots of fun. Nobody cried, which is a real plus! I liked the home hosted party. We attend lots of parties at "places" and while I offered that choice to Pet she chose a home party. They seem more personal to me. There are never games and the crazy interaction we get to see at those parties compared to what we've seen at home.
This was her cake "before". Colors were her request - pink, purple and green. It was 2 full cakes stacked on top of each other.
This is what was left behind after the 2 hour party! I always feel good when kids actually EAT the cake (since *I* made it) instead of tossing most of it as I sometimes see. I guess that's a pride thing, but still. Makes me happy. Even this slice didn't last 4 hours past the party, as one of Aaron's friends ate it!
I'm kind of looking forward to taking a small break from birthday parties for a while, too. We have NO birthdays in December, one at the end of January, one a week later in early February, and then I'm due to have this baby... right before Rosie's birthday. And my birthday follows 5 days after hers. We really stacked 'em up in March!

Chorus night

2011-12-08T20:04:00.002-09:00

Tonight was the extracurricular O'malley chorus evening concert, finishing up what the kids had been working on 1-2 times a week for several weeks. They did a great job! Allen and Perpetua both participated.

The kids went to several after school events... Singing at the Anchorsge airport, at Providence Extended Care, and a few times for the school. I noticed something that made me a bit sad. In the grades 1-3 section the split between boys and girls was about 50/50. Then I looked at the other half of the choir, the grades 3-6 portion. There were only 7 boys in there and many more girls. What's up with that? I'm proud that my 5th grade son is a 2nd year enthusiastic participant in this activity. I hope he continues to pursue his interests without regard to how many boys vs. girls are involved. I was just really surprised that not many boys in the upper grades got involved.

In other news, we attended Mass as a family this morning for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It was nice and a little different as the kids missed about 90 minutes of school. I'm glad we got to go together as our only other option close by would've been at the same time as this concert. I am a little sad that my husband didn't get to go, but such is the reality of having many small kids who don't sit quietly. Rosalie wanted to come along and listen to the songs. I think she really liked it and by the end of the relatively short performance, she was cuddled in my lap with a coat over her looking drowsy.

I also tried putting up some Christmas lights today. With not feeling so great physically and the doctor appointments recently I've been a bit down and this was an effort to try to pull out of that. It kind of worked, they are nice to look at anyway!

On a lighter note...

2011-12-07T13:03:00.001-09:00

When I was a child I had my own room and there were only 2 kids. I wasn't especially good or diligent at keeping my belongings organized.

I've found that I don't enjoy keeping my children's rooms clean any more than I liked cleaning my own. My room as an adult is an oasis of peace... But periodic maintenance on my kids rooms.... Wow. I'm left wanting to run away to the spa!

That won't happen... Unless it's me that is!

2011-12-06T16:47:00.003-09:00

This post is not going to have a happy tone. I have had a difficult day.

I was thinking recently about whether or not to pursue a vbac. Vbacs have their own risks, one of which is a 0.7-0.8% chance of the uterus rupturing along the scar line. I lean against it because I've had so many "that won't happen to you!" things actually go ahead and happen anyway. I will illustrate that in a minute. All that aside, that statistic is probably not from someone who has carried 6-7 full term deliveries, either.

So when Perpetua was born she had passed meconium, which happens between 5-20% of births. Of those, meconium aspiration syndrome develops less than 5% of the time, out of that subset of babies. Perpetua did. Of those babies, 34% require mechanical ventilation. She did. She also had a complication called PPHN, which exists in a smaller subset of all those statistical babies. So there's anomaly number one.

Number two: Aidan's birth. The way he presented while in labor - after starting at head down - happens in 0.5% of all labors. It happened to me.

Number three: all of Rosalie's medical issues. How rare is that? Pretty darned rare, especially with her pretty good outcome.

Number four: I found out today that I have an incarcerated hernia. I'll have to have outpatient day surgery (if all goes well) before baby arrives, it can't wait til after. I'm in pain. Want to guess how often this happens to pregnant women? Almost never. My surgery is scheduled for December 19th. Merry Christmas!

I'm sad about having to deal with this. If you know me personally and want to call please don't, I don't really want to talk about it because I will start to cry. Blogging is different, and of course prayers are welcome and desired. The thought of this issue, the possible complications, the small but existent chance that the surgery will mess with my pregnancy... It's easy to brush it off as stuff that "won't happen to me" except for that inconvenient fact that several things that won't happen already have.

So back to the other topic... I'm a tad gunshy on those "tiny" risks. Vbac sounds like a great idea until I start to consider that I've lost out on smaller odds. I wouldn't put my kid on a flight that had a 1/100 risk of crashing. This is not to say it's not a viable option for others, I'm just not comfortable with it for myself.

Heavy sigh. And until then I will spend the next week and a half enjoying time with the kids as usual and trying to ignore the additional pain I'm in.

14 more weeks?

2011-12-01T21:43:00.002-09:00

Yes.

Our schedule lately is chock full with thanksgiving, Perpetua's birthday, planning her birthday PARTY, chorus events, finding and giving rides for and to others. Playgroups, shopping trips, organizing, decluttering, and all the everyday stuff.

I feel bigger every day! Tonight we went over to a friend of Allen's for dinner and met their family. They have 2 sweet little kids and 2 fun dogs. I had to cut and run near 8pm with Aidan and Andrew... They were getting tired. I got home and up and down the stairs and I was starting to feel every one of my 25 weeks right now. I had the passing thought... 14 or 15 more weeks of this and I'm just going to get bigger?

Yes.

But I'm trying to focus on the fact that many people would love to have the opportunity to feel exhausted by a pregnancy but cannot. It doesn't always help but I am trying. Meanwhile, I am really looking forward to meeting this little boy.

school happenings

2011-11-28T15:07:00.003-09:00

I have been very fortunate to be able to participate in a number of activities - with several still to come - at the children's school! Recently I attended the grades 3-5 concert in the evening. Because of the timing of the concert and the attention span of our youngest children we often need to split up and cannot attend together without disrupting the performance, so we usually will send one parent to something like this.

Our oldest son, Allen, was the emcee of the concert and would announce the title and background of each song. There was one other 5th grader also emceeing, and I have to say they did a great job. Allen's teacher recommended him because he is, well... loud and enthusiastic. I received several compliments on how well he did.

I've been impressed with the school because their music program focuses on a different musical style, composer, and/or music from a certain country depending on what grade you are in. The children in this concert had been studying Rimsky-Korsakov, John Philip Sousa and one other whose name escapes me. They did a great job with singing and dancing! Below is a picture of Allen and Aaron dressed up for the concert.
No pictures for this next event, but I also had the opportunity to assist Perpetua's class as well as the second grade classes in playing "Thanksgiving Games" as might have been played at the first Thanksgiving. I'm not sure how much historical context they had, but it sure was fun! The teachers did a good job tying in historical lessons, traditional games, and a plain good time. For my station we would pair a first grader with a second grader and sometimes there were an odd number of kids so I'd play the game with the first grader. Unfortunately there was no way to 'stack' this game so I beat a couple of them. I am soft and admit that if there HAD been a way I would've stacked it so the kid won most of the time!

In the next couple of weeks I am looking forward to assisting Aaron's class in baking bread and Perpetua's class in both a Christmas party and a holiday crafts morning where I believe the kids will be making gifts to take home. I'm so glad Allen is able to take time off so that I can go help out at these events!

Aidan Matthew @ 13.5 months

2011-11-28T15:05:00.003-09:00

Here are a few recent pictures of our curly haired little buddy! He loves to play ball with just about anyone provided you roll it right back to him. He says "no" very emphatically. He loves to put things in the aquarium. I ended up taping it shut after one particularly exciting incident involving some scrambled egg he came upon.

He is not walking yet but will be soon, I think.

Rosalie & Andrew

2011-11-28T15:03:00.000-09:00

This is from the period where they were all getting over this long-lasting cold. I stayed in for several (think 3!) weeks with them so they would not be out exposing others or catching things from others. I'm usually not a germophobe but this was a nasty bug and I felt our resistance was weakened.

catching up: Halloween

2011-11-28T14:59:00.003-09:00

I have been sparse in posting mostly because life has been very busy, but also because I've been sick for about 6 weeks. It was some seriously long-lasting cold. If I had known around week 3 that I'd be sick for another 3 weeks I would've gone in but at this point, I'm 95% better (YAY!). I also finally have some time to go through some pictures we've taken over the last month or so. Here is our partial crew from Halloween.

Where's Aaron? He was throwing a fit of some kind and we penalized him by missing 10 minutes of Trick or Treating. In case you're thinking "HOW HORRIBLE!!!!11!!" he did get plenty of candy and hopefully learned a lesson too. Allen is behind the alien mask. Andrew dressed up as a pumpkin to assist his dad in passing out candy. We ended up not getting any trick-or-treaters! The rest of our neighborhood was very busy and hit hard. I suppose that we live on a side-street does not help. Rosalie has on cosmetic band-aids. She did pretty well, due to the weather I drove the kids from house to house and they would get out and go ring the bell. I did end up having to bring Rose back home because she fell on someone's steps... and that can end it all for a 4 year old.

All in all we had a great time. I enjoyed being the one to take the kids around - the last several years that has been Allen's job but we switched this year.

25 week appointment!

2011-11-28T14:44:00.002-09:00

Today I had my 25 week prenatal appointment. I saw someone other than my usual doctor, and she will also be not in the office for all of January. Should make things speed right by. I saw one of the practice midwives, who will not be delivering me (not sure if that's a practice rule, or a hospital rule, or a licensure rule - I have heard that midwives aren't allowed to attend VBAC patients without an OB backup, and I know at this particular practice they just plain don't).

Anyway, I am so thankful that everything looks great! I "only" gained 4 lbs since last time, which is totally fine... and Thanksgiving was last week so I am cutting myself a little slack! Baby is measuring entirely average which is also great. I'm still not really sold on VBAC (another post in the works!) but if I don't have "big baby" to deal with as far as extra risks that would be great.

Baby's heartrate, my BP, etc. all were totally normal. I set up my next several appointments - after next week I'm on every-2-week appointments, all the way through January. While I am really excited the pregnancy is speeding along, it is a difficult thing to arrange childcare (ie, my husband or taking along a 4, 2 and 1 year old) to all these. I am considering it for my January appointments at least, though not my December one since that's the glucose screening and I have to sit around for an hour waiting for a blood draw. Never had issues with that, but I do have a sibling with diabetes so I don't feel skipping the test would be prudent for me.

Below is a low-quality iPad belly picture. Don't worry, no actual skin :-) You'd think for such an expensive device it would have a better camera. I'm thrilled with it in every way but that one!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T20:18:00.002-09:00

We are back and settled in at our house after driving out and spending the day in the valley with Allen's folks. It was a nice time, lots of great food, and the kids had a wonderful time seeing their grandparents. I realized we hadn't been out there to see them since before the snow started flying. I'm not the biggest fan of winter weather driving and today's drive was a bit spry on the way out with poor visibilities. We made it there and back without incident but there were a lot of cars in the ditch.

I'm looking forward to spending the next few days at home with Allen and the kids, who are all off!

I am a sentimental sap!

2011-11-18T11:12:00.002-09:00

I am spending today going through our stores of baby clothes and doing other organizing. We receive a lot of hand me downs which I always appreciate. If there's something we can't or prefer not to use I always pass it along to someone else who can use it.

I cleared off 8 shelves of baby boy clothes today, separating between stuff to donate and stuff to store for Number Seven. I also have, hung up in one part of the closet, 4 newborn baby outfits... 2 for a boy and 2 for a girl. The girl clothes, with our track record, may never see use again... But that they are there warms my heart. One of them is the outfit I brought little Rosalie home from the hospital in. Like I said... Sappy!

Bought a gingerbread house today....

2011-11-17T14:43:00.002-09:00

One of those precooked, assemble and decorate deals for the kids. I hope they like it.

Last Saturday Allen and I had the opportunity to go on a date night as we had babysitters. After eating we went to the library. As an aside, our date nights in bethel used to consist of going out to eat and then walking along the riverfront, then going to both grocery stores to see what was there. So for us, a dinner, library trip and movie was super fun.

Anyway, at the library I saw a book on gingerbread. I got it and was thinking happy thoughts. Back when I had just 4 kids I made several homemade gingerbread objects with the kids that were fairly elaborate. I had been resisting the premade gingerbread house.

Then we got home and had our regular weekend. Time went by and I snagged the book to read while I was supervising bath time. It was hopelessly elaborate. And something I would do if I had 1 or 2 kids, or was a 50 year old retiree. I laughed at my enthusiasm for even picking the book out! Maybe 20 years from now I will be doing the homemade gingerbread thing again. For now I'm very happy that for $9.99 I can assemble the kit I got and watch the kids go to town decorating it.... That's what's important.

BIG baby movements!

2011-11-15T10:41:00.000-09:00

An addendum to the post below: I've been feeling those wonderful BIG movements from the baby. The ones where it seems like he is flexing his entire self and bumping around in there. It's such a heartwarming feeling. I'd forgotten, believe it or not, when you started getting the really big movements and rolls around in there. Right about now, it turns out!

sequestered!

2011-11-15T10:28:00.002-09:00

Our family has entered daytime self-seclusion. I am alllmost surfacing after almost 2 weeks of being sort of to very sick. I can almost taste food. I am so thankful that I was not flat-laid-out during this illness and could still do some fun indoor things with the kids.

In the meantime, Aidan and Andrew are still coughing, and some of the other kids are as well (minus the fever). I'm keeping the small ones home - the big kids are going to school, because they aren't "ill" per the school's definition, or mine really - if I kept them out every time they had a cough we would miss a LOT of school. I am skipping all of our normal activities and just holing up at home. First, nobody wants to see a sick kid at a playgroup. I know I cringe. People bring kids with running noses (and then don't notice when it's all the way down the child's face) and coughs, but I am not going to.

I figure somewhere, we are run down immune-system wise and it's a good idea just to hole up. I attended Mass separately from Allen last week and probably will this week to keep the kids in another week or so. They seem fine. I've been reevaluating how much we are out and about anyway. I used to do 3 outings a week to various groups for the kids and I think I'm going to cut it back to just one and maybe two IF we all feel like it. For a while I compared myself to a friend who also has 3 young kids and is pregnant and still goes to all these groups, and runs one of them. Then I had my reality check... I have 6 kids, and the assorted activities/obligations that go with a school aged child in a moderate number of extracurricular activities. I'm pregnant. So I'm cutting myself some slack, even if other people seem to do twice the amount of activities that I do. They aren't me!

In other news, Allen seems to have (temporarily??) fixed my car. It was low on oil, and has a leak somewhere. He put more oil in and things for now are working. I'm suspicious of it but trust that he knows if the car needs to go in, and no alarms are ringing at me so we are all good for now.

Alaska Dinner Factory meals: we've had 3 so far and they have all been at least as successful as my own usual offerings. It is unbelievably awesome not to have to deal with food prep. One side effect of this illness is that I have next to no energy, so not having to do any meal prep is simply very welcome. Last night I thawed some salmon and it's marinating (my own recipe, not an Alaska Dinner Factory one), we'll grill it tonight. I had the ingredients for it before my session and needed to use it - AND it's really yummy - so win win. And no prep tonight!

Aaron got a new violin. It's a 1/2 size violin instead of a 1/4 size violin. In the back of my mind I would love to order a full size violin and take lessons with him but practically, I don't have the time, and I'm not sure it would be a good use of money. For now I amuse him by occasionally picking up his violin and playing things. I can read music, and with him showing me very basic stuff about strings, fingerings, etc. I can play a bit on his violin. Maybe in 20 years I will take lessons for myself. In the meantime, Perpetua also wants to start playing and we are setting up lessons for her.

Allen will be em-cee-ing the winter concert his school is putting on, along with another kid. It's fun to see him branching out and using his confidence and silly self to do things like this. He says he prefers using his voice (he is in extracurricular choir as well) to learning an instrument and I'm thrilled he has this interest.

Perpetua's 7th birthday is coming up - Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. We are putting her party off til the first week in December since it's a hard time to have a party with people being out of town!

No other news for now. If I get a minute to upload some pictures it's past time for some new ones, I think!

and now, car trouble!

2011-11-13T10:44:00.000-09:00

My suburban/land-whale/people mover is refusing to start properly.

Good thing I was up extra-early because I was up through the night, and left the house around 7 to go get donuts, go to Wal Mart, and go to Mass. This really IS a good thing because Allen's car seats only 5!

I'm looking forward to this spree of small but annoying issues to stop popping up.

still sick, frozen pipes...

2011-11-11T08:41:00.002-09:00

This post is not intended to be a complaint. We all know what fun it is to listen to someone else complaining, right?

Perpetua is all better. I am still mildly sick, Rosalie has a cough, Andrew and Aidan are still coughing. It's not been fun. The cough resembles croup and sounds like a barking seal. Andrew woke up early this morning coughing but is currently still asleep. I'm going to let them sleep as long as they can, because it's tough to be a sick little guy.

I had a session at Alaska Dinner Factory on Thursday. I made 12 meals (they are LARGE meals and several will generate leftovers). Allen thought it would be fun to give me a break from kitchenwork, and to try some new stuff. It's almost like having someone else cook for me. The concept was that all the prepwork was done, you choose several meals you want to make and assemble them there, leaving the staff to clean up after you (which rocked out loud!). We ate our first one last night and it was really good! I have been so tired lately that a break from standing in the kitchen is very welcome.

In the not so awesome news department, we've been told we have a frozen pipe downstairs. How, we have no idea. We are fortunate in that even with the heat downstairs off it is something over 60 degrees down there. The heat upstairs is fine. No kids have complained. Of course, this is not covered by our lovely home warranty - why would anything happen that would actually be covered? We've tried various home-fixes without success and I think today Allen is going to call in an expensive professional on which we will spend too much money to get the problem resolved. I'm not thrilled as this issue should've been disclosed to us - the first guy from our home warranty place said it'd probably happened before and that IS an issue that needs disclosing. It's just another detail to add in feeling beaten down by life circumstances. And these are such trivial ones I wonder what my problem is. I suppose my larger issue is I hate "wasting money" especially at this time of year.

I have plenty of housework to keep me busy today, though I have a small umbilical hernia that is causing me a lot of discomfort. The only way to get it to quit hurting is to, and how practical is this... lay down on my back. Not really a lot of time in my day for that. It's discouraging to be in pain this early in the day!

sick babies!

2011-11-08T09:33:00.001-09:00

Today Perpetua is home from school with a mild fever (it was a bit higher last night) - Rose also was running a fever. And I'm thinking Aidan is also ill.

Poor everybody! This morning I got Aidan up and he just layed on me for about 30 minutes. No heinous symptoms, just coughing and runny noses.

Sick babies are so sad!!

Bethel!

2011-11-07T11:34:00.002-09:00

Perpetua and I got back from our trip to Bethel last night. The plane was delayed a bit over an hour on the return portion but it gave me the opportunity to escape the airport and go have tea with one of my long time friends at her house. Fun!

We stayed primarily with Perpetua's best friend and her parents, who are also friends of ours. It worked out really well! Saturday morning I walked with Pet and her friend to AC Store and bought a coffee for myself - since I didn't sleep all the past night (Perpetua had some issues overnight which brought her into my room, and she's not a peaceful sleep companion!). Saturday midday several of my friends, along with several of Perpetua's friends, met up at a new-to-me restaurant (for those who know Bethel, the old Datu's). My friend recommended a burger - and it was very yummy! There was also actual service. Not something I usually expect in Bethel. In the afternoon I headed to yet another friend's house, while Perpetua went sledding with a group of her buddies in care of their parents. Had dinner at that friend's place, saw their new house, met some new people.

Sunday we hung out and just generally enjoyed other people's company, it was very nice and quiet. Bethel was quiet, "warm" (high 20s) and only moderately windy.

I had a completely enjoyable time with my daughter and all of our friends. I saw our house out of the airplane window as we were taking off back to Anchorage and I admit I cried a little. Though I have to say it looked even smaller from the air than I remember. And since we have a choice, I don't think 9 people in 1600 square feet in bethel would've worked for us. Stuff I tried to use to stop the tears :-)

In all I'm really glad I had the opportunity to travel to Bethel, happy that my friends are doing well and things are moving on just like they have for me. It's nice to see people continuing to do well! Anchorage got a lot of snow in my absence and it was really pretty to come home to. I slept well last night and took advantage of the "extra hour".

heading to Bethel

2011-11-03T09:55:00.003-08:00

Tomorrow Perpetua and I are taking off for a trip to Bethel (weather permitting). I look forward to going out! I'm a little sad that it occurs during the winter months, but we were so busy this summer that it will all work out for the best.

I am going to go pick up some treats for friends today, since nobody seems to have a big list of stuff they need brought out! I'll just bring out some fun fluff.

moving in, round 3

2011-11-01T15:40:00.002-08:00

Today I reorganized Andrew and Aidan's dressers. Andrew had a charming habit of pulling the drawers out, emptying them of their contents, and strewing it about the room/tossing it in Aidan's crib. You can imagine the mess that made, that then had to be refolded and put away again.

I did it several times, tried various discouragements to this behavior. Finally I removed the 2 dressers from their room. Today I finished putting it away for a final (I hope) time. I plan to label the drawers and find a new home for them (probably in the girl's room, which is not ideal, but better than nothing)

I also have plans to get into the family room closet. Our family room is actually 2 sort-of-separate rooms. There was a 5th bedroom that the original owners decided to just open up and have it join the family room. it offers a nice division with possibilities later - but there is a closet in it as there would be in a regular bedroom. Super bonus, right? Yes, absolutely! But it's currently filled with somewhat homeless stuff in boxes. All of which need to be gone through. A project for tonight or tomorrow!

preschool failure

2011-11-01T15:31:00.002-08:00

I'm admitting defeat!

Or rather, I'm changing my game plan. Last month I attempted our previously well-enjoyed preschool program (which I have to say, I still think is FABULOUS) with Rosalie and Andrew.

I ran into a few challenges. Andrew is a different creature altogether than the Rosalie-Perpetua combo I did this successfully with before. He is not into guided activities, which is fine... he also prefers to play rather than listen to stories. Also fine.

So by the time I was done wrangling Andrew and Aidan, our various playgroups, daytime book discussion clubs, older kid classroom activities... and naptime rolled around, I had housework to do. Which made dedicated preschool time with Rosalie also more difficult to manage. Yes, it could be done - at the expense of everything else I'm 'supposed to' get done during the day.

So, this month I'm going to go back to my very own self-made arts, crafts, letters & stories like I used to do a LONG time ago. There's a time to acknowledge the weaknesses a person has. I can't do it all, I guess. Big surprise!

I must've done something really bad to someone, somewhere...

2011-10-31T11:19:00.002-08:00

I have to laugh as I thought about doing one of those 'day in the life' blog posts. Today wouldn't be a good choice.

Woke up with no pillows, still tired
One of my children, who shall remain nameless, shot me horrible looks in the morning because I didn't know where their snowstuff was (they were out playing yesterday, and *I* do not keep track of *their* gear!
wrestled 3 smaller children into the car to take 3 older children to school, running a bit late but we got there on time
returned to the house to get winter gear for the 3 smaller children, since we had a time crunch upon previous departure and were in a garage I just strapped them into their seats
returned to the school to see Perpetua's play (which was cute!). Had to chase Andrew around the class briefly with Aidan in arms. That felt ridiculous. convinced aidan and andrew to sit on my lap during the performance
Went to the store to get plates, cups & utensils for Perpetua's class. She had signed me up to provide this, and provided plenty of notice. I plain forgot and was not in a store all weekend. Party is this afternoon.
Going to get a cart at teh store, completely wipe out in the parking lot, splitting open my palm in 2 places, scratching up my elbow, and my left hip is going to have an insane bruise. I'm electing not to go in for a checkup because there's nothing they can do at this point in pregnancy anyway, I didn't fall on my stomach, and i've felt the baby move since then.

It's not even noon. I plan to hide in my house and attempt to be homemaker-ish for the rest of the afternoon. Goodness knows there's plenty of housework to do.

non-verbal communication

2011-10-29T20:23:00.001-08:00

Aidan is at an age I absolutely love (11-15 months or so)... he's got some words, but not a ton. Tonight I was tucking him in and offering a pacifier and a toy car. He brushed the pacifier away and shook his head no, reaching for the car.

Earlier today I was up and down the stairs putting in loads of laundry (among other things) and Aidan popped up at the gated entry to the stairs waving like mad with a big cheesy grin.

You don't need words to get your POINT across. I love the little guy. I love their learning to communicate. It's a really fun thing to watch!

Aaron/ultrasound funny

2011-10-29T17:11:00.000-08:00

I brought home 4 pictures from our recent ultrasound and gave the kids the news that they would be having a little brother. They were thrilled with the pictures.

Later Aaron approached me in the office and quietly asked if "the baby's other parts had formed. Or does he just have a head and arms?"

Poor guy was wondering since that was the only thing we had pictures of. I told him everything else was there just like it was supposed to be. He laughed and said he was just a little worried. It never occurred to me to explain that everything else was there too!

Baby #7

2011-10-27T12:50:00.000-08:00

is healthy boy #5 for us! I can't wait to see what he has in store for us. These pictures are loading sideways despite me trying repeatedly to flip them... :)

Aidan and Aaron

2011-10-24T12:47:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of pics from just recently. Aidan, 13 months, today.
Here is Aaron and his cake before it got consumed by a houseful of kiddos.

Aaron's birthday party!

2011-10-22T19:10:00.003-08:00

We had Aaron's birthday party at home today and we had a great time. Total of 20 kids, including ours. We had the standard games (along with our personal favorite, hands-free-jello-eating contest). Kids really seemed to have fun! I have to admit I like these home parties better than the hosted-at-places parties that I've been to thusfar... while they are cool, the kids at Bouncin Bears for a party aren't really all interacting the way I've seen at home parties that we and other parents have hosted. Even if they are a lot more work for the parent.

Right before the party Aaron had his violin lesson - his teacher, hearing it was his birthday (tomorrow) got the sheet music for Happy Birthday and they were playing it together. Made Aaron happy! His goal, according to him, is to "make money playing the violin" and he has been practicing heavily, all self-motivated. More power to him. We've told him about things like scholarships and such, and I think that's a great thing to aim for. I was really surprised, today, I heard playing from behind the door and thought it was his teacher (the notes were strong and clear) - but it was Aaron.

This upcoming week is going to be very busy for us; parent teacher conferences, half days off school, inservices, playdates... and our sonogram for this baby is on Thursday. I'm hoping to find out the flavor but hoping only for healthy baby :)

really good chili!

2011-10-21T22:14:00.001-08:00

I made this chili for dinner tonight. It tastes fabulous, it's the best one I've ever tasted - honest! Which really impressed me because it was NOT that time intensive to make.

I made the following changes...

I used tomato sauce instead of tomato juice (and a little less than they recommended - the veggies let out juices while they cook so it turned out to be a good thing
I used diced tomatoes instead of tomato sauce where called for. Added some heartiness and it was just yummy
I used 1 lb ground beef and 1 lb pork sausage.
Finally, instead of canned beans (shiver) I used dry beans I had simmered separately and then rinsed, and added when everything else was done.

I won't need to keep looking for a "good chili recipe" any more!

On another note, wish me luck for Aaron's party tomorrow!

Aidan, accelerated

2011-10-18T14:11:00.000-08:00

The past week or so Aidan has been exceptionally busy and active. He is not walking, but cruises with great enthusiasm and speed. He throws up his hands and stands alone. He seems to know he's right on the edge of something really great. It's a lot of fun to see enthusiasm for newfound mobility on the face of a one year old.

We are patiently awaiting the first snow (that sticks). I've seen flakes drift down but they don't stay. Temps are in the high 20s-low 30s in the morning and most of the day as well. The kids have to take their hats and gloves to school or they will be denied outdoor recess!

Other than that we are busy with continuing to (re)organize things at the house. We are unpacked but still moving in in other ways! It was 3 months in the house a few days ago. I love that every week I feel like we are that much closer to getting things the way I want them to be and the way they will stay.

I sent in invitations for Aaron's 9th birthday party that we set for this Saturday. Despite all the great party locations for him to choose from he wanted a "home party" like we had in Bethel. I hope I'm up to the task.

today is not going as planned

2011-10-11T11:02:00.002-08:00

I will post about my trip later this week when I have more time. I had a really nice visit with my folks and as usual Ketchikan was lovely.

That said: today gets a giant "aargh!" from me.

I was supposed to assist the IGNITE kiddos doing orienteering in a nearby park today (guarding boundaries so they didn't run off the trail, etc). I had everything packed up in my car and... it doesn't start. There's some clicking noise coming from the fuse box. I get out our auto-charger and can't get the cover off the battery. Allen, of course, is in a meeting and I'm supposed to be there in 10 minutes. So I call the school and tell them I won't be able to come. Insert super unsmiley face here... I love helping out with the older kids and this really put a damper on my day.

Resolved to spend the day at home now (what choice is there, now?) I figure I'll make muffins and clean. I get out my pre-made muffin stuff from the freezer - I made a double batch last time and froze half - so smart and time-saving, right? Heat up the oven, and go to get the pan liners... but wait, there are none. OK. And none in the garage. OK. So I shut the oven off.

At this rate maybe it's safer just to stay inside and not... have a meteorite hit me? That's a bit dramatic, sure... but I don't think today is "my day"...

headed for Ketchikan!

2011-10-05T13:14:00.001-08:00

I leave Friday morning to have a bit of a visit with my folks. This time, no children are accompanying me - they are holding down the fort with their dad. I'm looking forward to seeing my parents, and maybe even some uninterrupted reading time... and long hikes. I'll be back Monday night!

start of a new week

2011-10-02T22:09:00.002-08:00

This week I start our new home preschool program with Rose and Andrew. I went with the Learning Box Preschool again, even though we now live in a place with "real preschools" and craft stores.

For one, I like having the kids at home with me! Craft projects and reading? What's not to love about that? Secondly... it's hard to get out to those craft stores to make up your own projects. At least, for me at this stage in my life it is.

I'm really excited to start this back up with the kids. Since it's geared to kids ages 3-5 Andrew's a bit young, but I included the younger sibling back when it was Rosalie who was too young, and she was able to do a lot of it - with some help - and more importantly, had a lot of fun.

The weekend was rainy and cold. Not that that is a bad thing, there's a certain bit of appreciation that comes out, especially to your warm house, when the weather is not cozy outside! I deep cleaned our bedroom (things tend to stack up when you are running in and out all the time) and it looks fabulous. I realized today that it has been a long time since we had a permanent home that fit us all. Probably several kids ago. Our rental had plenty of space, but we knew it was a temporary situation. So while buying property in this market (Anchorage has not depreciated like, or as much as, the rest of the nation has) is not necessarily the best move we are happy to have a nice house with all the space that we need.

My next project - after I get things exactly the way I like them (we are still a ways off from that! I'm now tweaking the unpacking job I did and re-putting stuff away) - is to de-wallpaper the kitchen and paint it some bright color. I got a yellow paint chip today and I may tape it up to see if it's the one or not.

Andrew & me

2011-10-02T21:57:00.002-08:00

Aaron took this picture of us tonight. I thought it was kinda fun! Andrew loves having his picture taken... you might be able to tell with his silly smile!

Saturday update

2011-10-01T16:25:00.002-08:00

Aidan and Andrew both ended up being sick - Aidan for 2 days, Andrew for 3. As of today Rosalie is sick too. It seems fairly mild with just a fever (which is still no fun, but treatable) and nothing more dramatic, thank goodness.

I had my 16 week prenatal check on Thursday and all is progressing well. I had slipped while loading the kids into their carseats in my suburban, but no damage was done (thank goodness)! Next month we will have a sonogram and hopefully learn the flavor of the baby as well.

Today, Aaron had another violin lesson. He has been practicing almost every day and is attempting other songs that he likes to play for his teacher as well. Now they are added to his practice repertoire!

No other news here - well there truly is more to write, but with all that's going on around me this second it's lucky I got this many thoughts strung together :-)

the decision not to go anywhere

2011-09-28T09:59:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm missing a semi-playgroup/book discussion group at our church. The "mom's group" gets together and discusses a book and questions. I have enjoyed it in the past - this is the first one since they dismissed for the summer. It doesn't technically start til next Wednesday, so I'm not missing anything other than the "get together".

Just seems the kids were not in the mood to be out today. I will use the time to address stuff that needs doing here at the house, there's never a shortage of that. I hope the payoff will be a super clean and relaxing house before afternoon! I plan to work on hanging the rest of our Native art in our room and downstairs. I love the stuff we have so it needs to be hung up somewhere.

I would love to put it on one wall in our room, but that almost seems like hiding it so not everyone can enjoy it. I suppose we are the ones who live here so it matters most if WE enjoy its placement. Hung up somewhere is better than in a pile in our room though!

Tuesday Night Run!

2011-09-27T22:38:00.002-08:00

We participated in tonight's Tuesday Night Race over at Kincaid Park. Kinkaid Park is across Anchorage from us - still on southside, but with traffic and stoplights it took us 25 minutes to get there. It was a nice drive (with the exception of accessing Raspberry Road off the Seward Highway... yuck). We parked along with so.many.other.people at Kincaid Park. Checked in for the race. Before I get ahead of myself, "we" is Allen, Aaron, Perpetua and I. Allen Husband graciously indulged our fun idea and played with Rose, Aidan and Andrew here at the house. It might have helped that I had a great sandwich waiting for him when he walked in the door!

Anyway - we check in. Aaron and Perpetua see classmates! We watch the other 2 leagues of racers (there are 3 - Lightning, Farm, and Munchkin - we "raced" the munchkin division). You might guess our cohort was heavy on parents with young children, young children, and old people - and you'd be right.

It was a 2K race, which is only about 1.25 miles long. The terrain was up and down hills, through woods. We had to walk parts of it because of how many people there were but everyone was friendly! This was the kids' first race like this (they had previously done other "fun runs") and they gradually got more confidence in going ahead of me. Then they left me in the dust... I finished after them!

I did find I am still able to jog a bit - not the whole thing, but something is better than nothing, at 4 months pregnant. Overall I'm so glad I went and I hope we go again! Plans are for next Tuesday to do it again. These events are held rain or shine (snow, sleet, mud, etc). If even one kid is up for it I will be to. Temps for tonight's run were 44 degrees - by the end none of us were wearing sweater/jackets.

feeling the baby move

2011-09-27T09:45:00.001-08:00

I felt the biggest series of movements out of this baby yet yesterday evening. I never get sick of that feeling! So exciting. This pregnancy feels like it's relatively speeding along, compared to my others... I guess there's just more going on, by default, than all the other times! Trying to savor each moment and enjoy it and brush past the physical discomforts (I think that relaxin hormone is working overtime on me).

That did not stop us from entering a Tuesday Night Race tonight, and we are looking forward to it. We being the older 3 kids and myself. I don't have any illusions that *I* will be "racing" but the kids certainly will be. Aaron was thrilled to be 2nd in his class during PE of how many laps around the ice rink/basketball circle he could do in 9 minutes. Almost a mile. :-) Not bad for 8 years old.

what works for us...

2011-09-26T13:54:00.002-08:00

I frequently observe the habits and practices of families that have characteristics I admire, and ask questions about things that I'm not 100% sure of myself on - for example, kid's bedtimes.

I have gone back and forth mentally while maintaining a relatively consistent practice (exceptions for weekends, summer weather, etc) and have decided that while one time might work for another family, 8:00 is simply too early for OUR family. We have gradually acquired a staggered bedtime wherein Aidan and Andrew go to bed around 7:30 and the other children go sometime between 8:30 and 9. There simply wasn't enough time in our day to be relaxed as well as attend to necessary responsibilities (homework, musical instrument practice, leisure reading, hiking, cleaning, showers, etc) so we had to push that strict 8pm bedtime off a little bit.

For the mostpart it's gone well. It just makes me realize that while a 7:30 or 8pm bedtime (or, say, xyz schedule, or homeschooling, or public schooling) may work for one family that does NOT mean it will translate with equal success to mine.

Took me a LONG time to realize this! Longer than you'd think.

more "visitors"

2011-09-21T09:18:00.001-08:00

Trash day draws them out. I meet the kids at the bus stop and walk them to and from every day. Today we drove since neighbors kindly warned us these guys were roaming the neighborhood - there were 3 as far as I can tell.

One did turn up at our house. UGH!

Rosalie recently

2011-09-20T22:36:00.000-08:00

Rosalie: the new baby is going to be "steamin' pretty"

2011-09-20T15:14:00.000-08:00

And no, I have no idea where she got that phrase. She is looking at some baby clothes I have saved to either SAVE or pass along depending on what flavor this baby turns out to be. She and Perpetua are very convinced it's a girl and she just informed me that once the baby gets her, she's going to be "steaming pretty".

Alaskan girl

2011-09-19T19:27:00.003-08:00

Perpetua's homework tonight included 3 thermometers showing temps in Fahrenheit and 3 pictures of activities (building a snowman, raking leaves, playing at the beach in a swimsuit with a dog)

She was supposed to match the appropriate temperature to the seasonal activity. She got winter (10 degrees) right. Then when we came to the 50 degrees season, she said "summer!" enthusiastically and started to connect the temperature to the summer picture. I had to gently redirect... but I'm glad she's got an Alaskan view of appropriate activities relative to temperature :)

Weather in the 50s is fine hiking weather!

always buy the warranty!

2011-09-17T23:48:00.001-08:00

Well, that will be my rule at least.

6 days ago we got new glasses for our oldest son. By the end of the eye exam/glasses getting/etc. experience I wanted to just get the heck out of there and go home (it had been about 2 hours at that point, because Rosie also had an exam).

I felt like I was being upsold when they did the various polycarb lenses, warranty, etc.

Today, Allen was wrestling with his brother (recreationally, not arguing) and his elbow contacted and broke his glasses irreparably. Happy ending is that we got them replaced (just needed new frames since the lenses were fine) at a total cost of $0 to us. Whew! I guess it was not a waste after all!

September update

2011-09-17T00:13:00.002-08:00

Finally a few minutes to sit and write something. Today we got "real internet" hooked up at our house, and I'm sitting in the living room upstairs writing this!

We have had the happy occasion of hosting Allen's best friend who is moving back to Bethel after some time in California. He doesn't leave until Monday so we are having as much fun together as we all can (including all-of-us lunches that involve bringing the youngest 3 kids out to eat)

Tonight, we secured a babysitter - two, actually - and hit the town for 5 hours. What we really did was have dinner and go see a movie, then get ice cream. The movie was... really bloody and not my style, but the food and company were excellent.

The kids have been doing well in school. Perpetua is in the same class as many of her friends from last year. She has a regular circuit of playdate buddies and that's really nice. Aaron is in the ASD's gifted program, Ignite, and had his first pull-out class this week. He enjoyed it. He is also enrolled in private violin lessons since the at-school private lessons are not currently being offered. Double edged sword, but I think there's a definite upside to self-directed lessons with a private teacher. There are merits to group instruction as well, but either way he was happy to bust his violin out again. Allen is also doing well in 5th grade. A smoother ride than 4th grade but not bump free - nothing ever is though. His class is looking forward to a trip to the Alaska Sea Life Center on Sept. 23rd.

No other news for now - the house is 90% settled and it feels pretty good. That final 10% will make it fabulous, I hope!

Aidan turns one!

2011-09-17T00:09:00.003-08:00

Aidan Matthew turned ONE on September 2nd!

Our family tradition is to have the baby self feed a cupcake or a piece of cake. It's messy and great entertainment for everyone. Aidan was so into it he got 2 cupcakes.

catching up... way back in August...!

2011-09-16T23:57:00.007-08:00

It's been a while! These pictures are from a hike we took back in August. One of our favorite trails, it connects to so many others and is close to our house.
Here's Rosalie showing off a crazy face!
We packed strawberries for a snack. Andrew really likes strawberries!
Perpetua in a tree
Allen

everybody on the way to yet another trail
Us being the fun and responsible people we are, we encouraged the boys to cross a small river for $5 each. They both did it. Allen multiple times, Aaron once. Just enough to get $5.

Note that the water was no deeper than knee-deep... but Allen got soaked anyway. It was a great evening.

thinking of getting a fence.

2011-09-01T17:26:00.003-08:00

I live in a neighborhood in a city of almost 280,000. This is in my yard. It's not like I'm backing up to a greenbelt or a park. There are lots of trees but also, houses.

I'm thinking we may put up a fence next year! Wildlife is fun/neat/appreciate-able, but this little guy/gal was 10 feet from Andrew's bedroom window!

so nice to NOT be moving

2011-08-30T13:24:00.002-08:00

I'm still settling down from our past year, I think. My due date with Aidan would've been one year ago yesterday - he didn't show up til September 2nd. It's odd and tiring to think back as to what I was doing a year ago - packing, waiting to give birth, wondering WHEN we would make the move, kids starting school and wondering about their yet-unknown-new-school.

It's SO NICE to not be packing. We are still unpacking... but I'm hoping that'll be mostly to all done very soon!

There's a feeling of relief to not have any huge life-altering deadlines looming!

hiking!

2011-08-25T12:43:00.002-08:00

My poor blog went a week with no posts!

Amongst all the other stuff we are doing, I had to post about our wonderful experience hiking along Turnagain Arm this morning. The older 3 children are in school and there is a summer/fall hiking group associated with our church parents' group.

We drove a little bit down the Seward Highway and enjoyed the views so much - even though it was overcast and barely over 50 degrees. I went a little overkill and had the kids in hats and coats (I was dying in my light windbreaker carrying the kids later on down the trail - so they may have been too hot).

We probably did about a 2 mile round trip. Andrew's patience when hiking alone with me is not awesome. He did OK though, and I had to split off from the main group and head back to the parking lot. It was a little spooky as I noticed a smooshed (old) pile of bear scat. We were loud enough - haha - to hopefully scare off anything in the area and made it back to the car just fine.

I'm so glad we can participate in outdoor activities and look forward to the day when ALL the kids can go on longer hikes!

first haircut

2011-08-18T16:37:00.001-08:00

Here is Aidan after his first haircut this morning. Such a cutie! This past week or so I'd received several comments on how cute "her" hair was and figured it was time even if I liked the curls. He still has curls - see?

prenatal appointment

2011-08-17T13:13:00.001-08:00

I went in for my (first real) second prenatal appointment this morning. All checks out with baby - they adjusted my EDD back a little bit from what it was, but that's not too terribly surprising. It was a difference of about 6 days.

Baby is healthy, strong beating heart and everything looks good! I liked the group of physicians I'm dealing with - they actually do shared care with midwives but because of my previous c-section I would have to be delivered by a doctor regardless of who I see during the pregnancy.

No real other news - I've hit a second wind on motivation for unpacking - yes, we are still unpacking. It's raining cats and dogs. Aidan and Andrew are sleeping, the girls are watching a movie they requested (we do not have cable TV any more, and they haven't watched a movie in a while), and the boys are at school... better get back to work before people wake up/start coming home!

Not a typical 1st day of school post

2011-08-16T22:03:00.006-08:00

The day went well for the boys..........................

but we went hiking this afternoon and it was fabulous!

This is a preview post. I have lots of pictures of our afternoon and evening - this one was too sweet not to share right now though!

last day before summer break ends :-(

2011-08-14T22:46:00.001-08:00

Once again I didn't get everything I wanted to do done - all the enriching experiences. Not ALL completed - though we did work on them - I would like to think we had good experiences nonetheless... we all know learning doesn't have to be confined to a classroom.

Such a busy summer. I'll keep my hopes up for next year too - this one was great and I'm really sad to be sending my kids back - while at the same time, hoping for a great year as last year was!

eventful day

2011-08-12T17:08:00.003-08:00

I woke up today with Allen as usual, he got up to get ready for work and I did too (though my work is at home!). I started some dishes, and the kids started joining me.

Andrew got up unusually early, 8:15. He was crying and would not stop. I held him - and continued holding him for the next hour. He whimpered if I mentioned putting him down or moving him. He had no fever, no cough and had been fine the night before (we were out playing at the lake, picnic dinner). At 9:15 I went to go wake Aidan up - the kid can sleep - and Andrew proceeded to lay on the couch while I fed Aidan.

Pancakes were made, Andrew refused them. All the other kids ate. And Aidan ate some more. We provided Andrew with toy cars, and I stayed near him because he got sad if I left. He would accept water.... which he threw up again 20 minutes later.

I set up a new "sick spot" for him - waterproof pad, blankets, new pillows, etc. and he layed there for the rest of the morning going in and out of sleep.

Meanwhile, we had lunch, Aidan went down for a nap around noon. Aaron and Perpetua decided to ride a bike around "the loop" (a road in our neighborhood). Part of the thrilling part about the loop is its downhill grade. Perpetua got her bike going really fast, and wiped out at the bottom of the hill garnering a bloody nose and elbow scrapes. The kids could only remember my CELL number (which lives in the car, not the house) and so Perpetua was tended by a kindly neighbor. She came home with an ice pack and a yellow washcloth but happy. I'm glad there are nice people nearby. (No, she wouldn't have been out riding alone, I allowed her to accompany her brother).

Andrew meanwhile made a swift recovery and proceeded to eat vast amounts of food. He didn't throw up again which has me puzzling what was wrong.

The girls did chalk drawings in the driveway while Allen and Aaron played in our yard with some neighbor kids.

Andrew ate more food.

I tried making a cheese souffle but couldn't find various things - one ingredient that I know I have - and then my handmixer (I do not have the patience to handwhip egg whites to stiff peaks!). Eventually all was fixed. Then the doorbell rang...

And there was Perpetua with some lady in a blue uniform and something strapped to her hip. I registered that as a gun and this was a police officer??? I was horrified - what had happened? because Perpetua had been playing on our porch. Happily, it was NOT a police officer - it was the FedEx lady.

I think I am looking forward to bed tonight!

Allrecipes ASIA???

2011-08-06T15:41:00.002-08:00

Where have you been all my life? Seriously! Judging by the scant number of reviews I've encountered thusfar, maybe the site is new?

Here's the extra stupid (sorry, I cannot think of another term to use!) part. If you open regular Allrecipes, and Allrecipes Asia at the same time, the recipe from the Asia site doesn't show up on regular Allrecipes.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I tend to go to Allrecipes when I'm looking for a new dinner recipe because I love the reviews aspect, the suggestions possibilities. I've gotten some great stuff. I also tend NOT to make "American food" in general for dinner - we love the flavors of Middle Eastern, east Indian, and Korean cuisine. I make things from those families a lot. There aren't a LOT of those I don't already know how to do over at Allrecipes. Except at the Asian site. Again - seriously? Why are they not linked?

I know what I'll be doing tonight when I have a few spare minutes... looking through their databases.

The stairs are fixed!

2011-08-06T13:00:00.003-08:00

When we purchased this house there was an issue with the existing wrought iron stair railing. It guards a large part of the front of the living room where the stairs are and the railing continues down the stairs as well. The issue with the railing was only with the top part - the metal balusters had a spacing large enough for a kid to stick their head through. At the bottom the spacing was actually large enough for Aidan to roll under if he had tried.

We had it fixed this week - for less than quoted, which is always nice! A local metal place came out and did a specialized type of welding to install more metal balusters and put a simple metal bar at the bottom to eliminate that baby-unfriendly gap. Since we have so many children and little friends around it only made sense to do a permanent fix rather than living with a tacky looking semi-solution.

All we need to do is repaint it (they had to sand off some of the paint). I'm going to wait and do that when I'm a bit further along in the pregnancy. I'm overcautious about that kind of thing!

Here are some pictures of the finished fix.

late night cleaning

2011-08-01T22:43:00.002-08:00

We are still in the thick of moving into our new place (it has been only a little more than 2 weeks). I think we are doing OK for the number of people we manage and the semblance of normal life we have attempted to provide since we moved (as in, meals with plates and silverware!)

Tonight I was cleaning, I had a rare bit of evening energy after watching a good movie with everyone. As an aside, it is really odd to have children old enough to watch a non-animated, non-kids-targeted movie and have them GET IT. Nice. Kind of like having kids graduate to chapter books with a plot instead of Up! Down! Inside Out! etc.

Anyway - I have a hectic busy day tomorrow in which I can only hope to catch a breath SOMETIME. I was cleaning up the upstairs in the hopes that it being already done would smooth along the course of my day - I know it will. Aaron appeared upstairs and wanted to help me windex the coffee table and windows. He remarked on how GREAT it looked upstairs. I said something about eventually when I had enough time it would be like this ALL THE TIME. He was so positive about that, it made me laugh inside. We all are craving order and a completion to this unending move-in process. I know we are getting there, we may even be more than halfway done... I may get to park in the garage next week (did I mention there were 2 black bears in our yard last night?!!!). I'm hoping to turn Family Room 2 into a schoolroom for the little ones. THAT should be exciting.

No more news for now.

and now for something completely different!

2011-07-31T21:19:00.001-08:00

awesome, huh?

Rosie's new look!

2011-07-31T21:06:00.002-08:00

Tonight we did haircuts/trims for just about everyone. The boys are simple, and Rosie got a new look. She has very fine, thin hair and this looks so much better than how it was! It was definitely longer, but on the straggly side. She really liked her new look!

19 days til school starts??

2011-07-28T10:41:00.002-08:00

Yes, seriously! Sad!!! I'm one heartbroken parent. I know there's the other side of the equation that says "then homeschool them"... but for our family at this time, homeschooling ALL the kids is not a good option. We have one kiddo who absolutely does better with a non-parental teacher figure. The other two I think I'd do fine but they are honestly receiving an excellent education and looking forward to seeing their friends - so I'm not up to stirring the pot at this time. I probably will end up homeschooling Rose at least for a while. I am definitely doing Learning Box preschool again! Looking forward to placing my order, bummed that it doesn't start til September. However, we'll fill that time I'm sure.

We've had some rain but yesterday evening and today have been tolerable-to-nice. We went to a new park (new to us) off of Rabbit Creek Road yesterday and had a nice time. They have a huge field (downside, some of it is... well, a high water table... and the ground is wet). The kids had a good time. Rose and Perpetua spent the night at Grandma's for a just-for-fun visit so it was just Allen and I and the boys. After that we went home and grilled hot dogs for a late dinner - using up what we have and all.

Plans for the weekend - Saturday is busy with parties (birthday party and a baby shower, then a ladies night apparently). Not sure what's in store for the rest of it...