Charles

Charles came home from school last week with a tooth box around his neck and a gap in his smile.  There was no tooth in the tooth box however.  Eric was quite excited to tell me the story.  Charles was on the playground and ran into another kid.  His already loose tooth was knocked out and disappeared in the wood chips.  I guess the tooth box was just to show that he lost a tooth at school.  The evidence of this incident was a semi excited boy with a fat lip.  He was of course sad that his tooth was missing but happy that he lost a tooth. 

Charles also learned to ride his bike with no training wheels this week.  He has been riding with only one training wheel for quite a while.  He didn't have the courage to ride without it.  The kids were out riding and Eric ran in the house to tell me that Charles was riding on only two wheels.  I went outside and sure enough there was Charles riding his bike with the training wheel up in the air.  He hadn't even realized that he was riding without the help from the training wheel. 

mama called the doctor and the doctor said...

I love the advice the doctors and nurses give as they send you home from the hospital after having a baby.  "Get lots of rest and take it easy".  Easier said then done.  When the baby is two days old they have to visit the pediatrician for their first visit.  Then, in the case of Andrew, he had elevated Bili Rubin levels so we spent four of his first seven days running back and forth to the hospital for blood tests.  Then he had to see an orthopaedic doctor for his collar bone yesterday and back to the lab for his PKU test and another hearing test today. 

Lucky for us, his Bili levels dropped to a normal range so Saturday was his last day of photo therapy, the x-rays showed that his collar bone is starting to heal (only one more week of pinning his sleeve to his chest) and he passed his hearing test just fine this time.  Now Tuesday is his two week well baby check up then we should be good to go for a few more weeks. 

I shouldn't complain.  Things could be a whole lot worse.  I have a perfectly healthy, happy baby that came home with me from the hospital after he was born.  I am just a little out of practice with this newborn baby stuff.

Welcome Baby Andrew

Our newest edition arrived on Friday, August 13th at 4:19 pm. He weighed 8 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. I was induced 6 days early (at the time of the birth I was second guessing myself in making this decision but in the end I was happy I did because he would have easily been 9+ pounds like my other children).

My doctor asked if it bothered me that he would be born on Friday the 13th but I didn't care. However, there was some "bad luck" involved. First off, my epidural did not take full effect. I only felt it in my right leg. I felt absolutely no pain in the births of my other children. Knowing that I would feel this birth scared me to death. I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to pain. I cried and panicked the entire time. I wanted to give up and stop pushing because it hurt. I still wonder why anyone would choose to not have medication. You ladies who choose not to are definitely braver than I.

The second bit of bad luck was that Andrew fractured his collar bone on the way out. It went unnoticed until the next day during his circumcision. The nurse came back and said he didn't move his left arm from the elbow up during the process and an x-ray confirmed the fracture. He spends his days and nights with his sleeve pinned to his chest to keep it steady.

We've had Andrew in our lives for 6 days now and love him to death. The kids are thrilled to have a baby brother. Katie is like a little mommy. She always wants to hold him. We are so happy he is here and is healthy and beautiful. Welcome to the family Andrew!!

Friday the 13th

I don't know if any of you are superstitious or not but I am not.  It's probably a good thing too because I am scheduled to have the baby tomorrow, Friday, August 13th.   As you can see on the baby tracker to your right I technically have seven more days to go.  I went to the doctor today and nothing has changed since last weeks appointment except that the swelling in my legs and feet has gotten a lot worse, by belly is still growing and I can't quite get comfortable.  This pregnancy has been easy (just like my other three, thank goodness) but I am ready to meet our new, tiny baby. 

There is lots to be done in the next twelve hours.  Eric still needs new school shoes and clothes, I need to buy two more notebooks, the house isn't quite as clean as I would like and there aren't a lot of groceries in the house.  However, the nursery is ready and I'm not too far behind on laundry.  We'll get things taken care of and be just fine. 

I can't wait to see what we have hiding in this belly of mine!!

Cute Quote

We went up to Cripple Creek this weekend (I'll post more about it later when I can get the pictures off of Dean's phone) and stayed in a hotel.  They didn't have one room with two beds so they gave us two rooms.  The kids slept in one and we had the other.   FYI: I stayed with them until I knew they were fast asleep.  I told Eric to call our room if Katie woke up or if they needed anything.  However, I didn't know you had to dial a 2 before the room number in order for the call to go through.  The next morning Eric  knocked on our door to tell Dean they were awake.  He said, "I tired to call but there was no send button".  This is the product of a child raised without a land line.   

4th of July Weekend

I never thought we would vacation in Alamosa but we did.  Usually when we go to the Valley we stay with my parents or siblings.  This was a little vacation for us though so we stayed at a hotel instead.  The kids were bursting with excitement over this.  Katie, who hasn't had much experience staying at a hotel was excited and a little mixed up.  Here is where the mix up began.  She has show and tell at school.  She couldn't remember that the hotel was called a hotel.  The entire trip she referred to the hotel as "the show and tells".  It was adorable.

The kids loved swimming everyday and playing on the water slide.  Friday night we ate dinner at Mrs. Rivera's and were entertained by a Mariachi band.  Eric said he thought the music was good for a while and then it got annoying.  He was right.  They played right next to our table and there were quite a few of them so talking and listening to each other was a challenge. 

Saturday we went to the 4th of July parade in downtown Alamosa.  There was not a lot to see but the kids loved it because they got about as much candy as they did on Halloween.  After the parade we went to Cole park for a Tea Party Rally and to let the kids play.  I can't even remember the last time I had been at Cole Park to play.  I do remember going there on field trips in elementary school  though. 

After that my family came up to swim then we went to Aaron's house for a cookout and horseback riding for the kids.  My kids were in heaven all day! 

Sunday, we swam for a few more hours then came home to get ready for the fireworks.  We were able to do sparklers and small fireworks before the rain drove us inside.  We saved the big ones for Monday night. 

San Isabel

Two weekends ago we decided to go camping.  Dean and the boys went Memorial Day weekend but I opted out at the last minute.  After hearing their stories I knew I had missed out so I was really excited to go this time.  We went to the La Vista campground at San Isabel.  It was great for several reasons.  A few of them being  1.  close to home 2.  bathrooms and running water near by 3. walking distance to the lake.  We stayed two nights which was just right.  We got rained on the first night and then again the next afternoon but it really wasn't that bad.  The kids had fun fishing and playing in the water.  Dean was the only one to catch a fish (actually three).  Charles had one and was reeling it in as fast as he could.  It flipped out of the water a few times and eventually got away.