Grandma and Papa built Alex a sandbox in the backyard. It definately is a big hit.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Go Diego Go!
Joy, Doug and Maddie had given Alex a megablocks Diego rescue center toy for his birthday...it is one of his favorites so as a treat for when they came to visit and the baby was born my parents brought him a complimenting Diego set w/ more animals and another jeep. When she bought it my mom didn't realize that it came with a little computer that makes all sort of animal noises and plays two songs.
That little computer has brought us nightly entertainment. Alex has some amazing dance moves to that jungle music. Here it is in pictures, the video camera will be coming out tonight for sure.
The scoop
I'll keep this basic and not too graphic due to the wide variety of people who read our blog :).............
Sunday night we had an outdoor service and picnic for church where several people commented that I looked "ready to burst". I assured everyone that I felt great and felt like I'd be pregnant for at least another week if not a bit over my "due date". That night I went to bed and woke up around 3 am to use the bathroom. After washing my hands I turned to grab a towel and ended up standing in a puddle.....and then another puddle while I was cleaning up the first one. We got all excited and called our midwife to give her the heads up that my water broke. We decided to call my parents right away too so they could start on their way over, we figured even if it took a while for things to really get going maybe they could make it almost all the way here before we had to head to the hospital and find other care for Alex.
Neither one of us could sleep so we took care of a few things that we'd been putting off....you know, because I wasn't going to have a baby for another week or so. We did eventually both get some more sleep and although I was feeling crampy I still wasn't having any contractions by the time we all got up.
My parents got here after lunch and I still wasn't having any contractions to speak of. Ben and I went for two long walks that resulted in nothing but making me tired. I was leaking fluid the whole time, my belly got much smaller.
We talked to our midwife a few more times and at bedtime decided that if nothing had happened by morning we should face the fact that I might need some assistance getting labor started.
By morning I was still only having minor uncoordinated contractions so we made arrangements to meet our midwife at the hospital and start some pitocin to get things going as it had now been over 30 hours since my water broke and I was still steadily losing fluid.
We checked in to the hospital around 10am, got settled, the IV was started at 11am. I really, really had wanted a natural birth and was really worried that because of the pitocin and having to be monitored and have the IV that I wouldn't be able to move around enough to stand the pain.
I started having contractions by 11:30am. Almost right away they were strong and 3 minutes apart. Our midwife and a nurse set up an area so that I could move between the bed, the birthing ball, a rocking chair and the bathroom without too much trouble.
When the IV was started at 11am I was barely dilated and thick and by 2:30 I was 10 cm and ready to push. The time between there was extremely intense. With a lot of help from Ben and our midwife Peg we made it without any additional medication. I didn't need any stitches or anything either.
Maya was born at 2:44pm, September 4th. She was 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 19 inches long. She looks so much like Alex....
Alex was only a little heavier but he was almost 4 inches longer so she seems so tiny to us. She started nursing very well right away, which was a big relief to me because of all the struggles we had with Alex.
When my parents brought Alex up to meet her he looked at her and said " Mom, I love her." He was very nervous about touching or holding her though. He did ask right away "Is she still Maya?" because that is the name that he picked out and we kept telling him we would decide when she was born.
We came home the next afternoon. Alex was much more comfortable with her in our own house. He was excited to hold her and would touch her head and hands.
She is doing great, eating a lot and my milk came in yesterday. She sleeps a ton right now. Way more than Alex did. A little more during the day than at night but still not bad at night.
I feel really good. So good I have to remind myself not to over do it this next week.
Alex has been having tons of fun with Grandma and Papa. Next week will be a big transition when they are gone and Ben has to be at the office more.
Sunday night we had an outdoor service and picnic for church where several people commented that I looked "ready to burst". I assured everyone that I felt great and felt like I'd be pregnant for at least another week if not a bit over my "due date". That night I went to bed and woke up around 3 am to use the bathroom. After washing my hands I turned to grab a towel and ended up standing in a puddle.....and then another puddle while I was cleaning up the first one. We got all excited and called our midwife to give her the heads up that my water broke. We decided to call my parents right away too so they could start on their way over, we figured even if it took a while for things to really get going maybe they could make it almost all the way here before we had to head to the hospital and find other care for Alex.
Neither one of us could sleep so we took care of a few things that we'd been putting off....you know, because I wasn't going to have a baby for another week or so. We did eventually both get some more sleep and although I was feeling crampy I still wasn't having any contractions by the time we all got up.
My parents got here after lunch and I still wasn't having any contractions to speak of. Ben and I went for two long walks that resulted in nothing but making me tired. I was leaking fluid the whole time, my belly got much smaller.
We talked to our midwife a few more times and at bedtime decided that if nothing had happened by morning we should face the fact that I might need some assistance getting labor started.
By morning I was still only having minor uncoordinated contractions so we made arrangements to meet our midwife at the hospital and start some pitocin to get things going as it had now been over 30 hours since my water broke and I was still steadily losing fluid.
We checked in to the hospital around 10am, got settled, the IV was started at 11am. I really, really had wanted a natural birth and was really worried that because of the pitocin and having to be monitored and have the IV that I wouldn't be able to move around enough to stand the pain.
I started having contractions by 11:30am. Almost right away they were strong and 3 minutes apart. Our midwife and a nurse set up an area so that I could move between the bed, the birthing ball, a rocking chair and the bathroom without too much trouble.
When the IV was started at 11am I was barely dilated and thick and by 2:30 I was 10 cm and ready to push. The time between there was extremely intense. With a lot of help from Ben and our midwife Peg we made it without any additional medication. I didn't need any stitches or anything either.
Maya was born at 2:44pm, September 4th. She was 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 19 inches long. She looks so much like Alex....
Alex was only a little heavier but he was almost 4 inches longer so she seems so tiny to us. She started nursing very well right away, which was a big relief to me because of all the struggles we had with Alex.
When my parents brought Alex up to meet her he looked at her and said " Mom, I love her." He was very nervous about touching or holding her though. He did ask right away "Is she still Maya?" because that is the name that he picked out and we kept telling him we would decide when she was born.
We came home the next afternoon. Alex was much more comfortable with her in our own house. He was excited to hold her and would touch her head and hands.
She is doing great, eating a lot and my milk came in yesterday. She sleeps a ton right now. Way more than Alex did. A little more during the day than at night but still not bad at night.
I feel really good. So good I have to remind myself not to over do it this next week.
Alex has been having tons of fun with Grandma and Papa. Next week will be a big transition when they are gone and Ben has to be at the office more.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Big craft day at our house
Yesterday a bunch of friends came over and we dyed playsilks using kool-aid. There were quite a few of us here so it was a little crazy! But the kids and adults seemed to enjoy it. I was a lazy mommy and didn't take any pictures :(
For anyone interested it's a really fun, easy thing to do. I got the silks from Dharma Trading company , the 30 x 30 size makes a fun toy. You just add 3 cups of hot water, 1 cup of vinegar and 4 packs of kool-aid type drink mix into a bowl and add a pre-washed and still wet playsilk. Mix it around and stick the whole thing in the microwave for 30 sec. and stir/swish and repeat for another 30 sec, stir/swish....do that 3-4 times or until you can see the water getting more clear or cloudy white rather than colored. That means all the dye is being taken up into the silk. Rinse it really well in cold water and let it dry! They looked pretty cool all lined up on our clothes line drying!
Here is Alex playing with his today:
Alex's 3 year stats
We don't really do much in the way of doctor visits and "well checks" but they needed to change Alex's dose of flouride and didn't have a current weight on file for him. So we took him in yesterday.
Alex is officially 31 pounds and 38 inches tall. That puts him smack in the middle of all the growth charts for his age. According to the nurse practitioner his is "very verbal" (......um, you think?) He is on track when it comes to fine and gross motor skills according to their lists.
We are not sending Alex to any official 3 year old preschool this fall. We are doing a little informal "preschool" co-op type thing with a few other families. We are having the kids get together once a week and will take turns having it at each of our homes and being the leader. It's going to be very simple and NOT a curriculum based type approach at all, just learning together through play and songs and art projects.....that type of thing.
Alex and I will also most likely be participating in a once a week Waldorf children's program that is in the process of being organized right now.
SO...that's really all that's new now that Alex is 3 :)
Alex is officially 31 pounds and 38 inches tall. That puts him smack in the middle of all the growth charts for his age. According to the nurse practitioner his is "very verbal" (......um, you think?) He is on track when it comes to fine and gross motor skills according to their lists.
We are not sending Alex to any official 3 year old preschool this fall. We are doing a little informal "preschool" co-op type thing with a few other families. We are having the kids get together once a week and will take turns having it at each of our homes and being the leader. It's going to be very simple and NOT a curriculum based type approach at all, just learning together through play and songs and art projects.....that type of thing.
Alex and I will also most likely be participating in a once a week Waldorf children's program that is in the process of being organized right now.
SO...that's really all that's new now that Alex is 3 :)
Monday, August 27, 2007
Playing around
I decided to play around a bit with some of the diapers and diaper covers I got for the new baby. The diapers are unbleached cotton (so they were an off-white color), 3 of the covers are moisture resistant fabric on the inside and cotton on the outside and then one cover is wool. I did some reading and got some dye and experimented a bit............
These are some diapers and some of the cotton covers. I used Dylon dye and did them in the washing machine:
This is the wool cover. I used some left over Easter egg dye tablets and did this one on the stove top:
I'll have some more pictures later...I've finished another cotton cover that turned out interesting, some green diapers and some purple diapers.
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