1001 books Challenge

We have started a reading challenge!
We are all trying to read the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read before You Grow Up
By Julia Eccleshare

You can buy the book of the list here
Amazon


It lists books for every age group and before looking through it we had already read some of them.

To extend the challenge DS 1(8)  will be writing his book reviews.

Hopefully it will strengthen his reading and comprehension skills as he goes along.

Cafe Press

Our latest venture is design. In trying to order a few shirts for friends I re-discovered cafepress.
Although it seems a lot has changed over the last ten years of not looking at cafepress, they have kept the ability to design your own products at a reasonable cost.

Check out some of the products for sale here
http://www.cafepress.com/+put_a_bird_on_it_tote_bag,872382781

They now have not only tshirts, but pillows, toted, iphone cases and so much more.

Awesome Husband

I just want to say my husband is amazing. As much as he might piss me off sometimes and we have our issues, I could not be happier with how he has held it together and really stepped up this summer.

He fixed our air conditioning! When they told us we would have to be out of our house (or in our house with no air) for another week, he figured out how to repair the air conditioning. We kept our appointment with the repair company, they looked over his work, and they had to tweak some areas, but it was fixed. The best news is the dogs could stay in the house, and aside from one night of being out of the house, we could stay too. I know tons of people don't have air conditioning, and normally I would not even care, but the baby starts to get really angry when its been 80 or above for more than an hour, and he becomes incredibly hard to calm down. Adding to that, if we aren't in the house for long periods, we don't like to keep fans other than the ceiling fans running with the dogs out, but it seems like if they stay in their kennels even with fans on them, it is too uncomfortable for them.

One week left of maternity leave, lets see what else goes wrong!!

I'm just happy that although there have been really annoying things to deal with, none of them have been that bad.

Air Conditioning Please!!

I was so excited our air conditioner was fixed, but it seems it was not actually fixed. We came home from our two day trip to find out that it  was incorrectly attached to the duct work. It has been raining for the past two days so it hasn't been that hot. We normally keep the house around 75 (to keep the bill lower in this mid 90s heat) so for the past two days it didn't require much more than the fans. This afternoon it started heating up so my husband went out to check the air conditioner. It appeared to be running, but when he looked underneath he saw that the duct with the insulation and all was just on the ground outside the unit.  It turns out it was also full of water.

It just so happens that wasn't even the worst part of the day. My daughter's summer camp was on lock-down because an armed bank robber crashed his getaway car in a police chase right outside the building. He proceeded to fire shots, possibly at the cops before taking his own life probably 100 yards from where the kids (preschool and kindergarten age) were getting to know each other before the start of school. Luckily they handled it amazing, and she had no idea what happened. I could not be happier with their commitment to the safety of the children.

This maternity leave is much less relaxing than I thought, having nothing to do with the baby.
Did I mention at my checkup four days ago my blood pressure was elevated??!?
Maybe one day I will be able to just relax!

ROAD TRIP!!

We were lucky to be able to go out of town for the weekend. Although we probably should have stayed home and continued cleaning up, we really needed a break with the kids. My son decided for his birthday he wanted to do something with ghosts. My husband and I had been talking about going to Eureka Springs with the kids, since it is our favorite weekend getaway spot, but the kids had not seen it yet. Luckily Eureka Springs is home to the most haunted hotel in America, the 1886 Crescent Park.  My husband and son were able to go on the nightly ghost tour during a thunderstorm and even got some pictures!! I'm not sure how I feel about ghosts, but I was too afraid to go, plus someone needed to stay with the baby. My daughter wanted to go, but since she is only four I wasn't sure if she would be scared or not, so she skipped it and stayed behind with me. We got to stay in a "treehouse" cabin, did some shopping, and explored a cave. It was a great weekend!!

July

So we have made it to July 10th

Unfortunately I got sick a few days ago and although I'm feeling a little better, I'm still not 100 percent.

I ended up going to the emergency room (for the first time in my life!) with a fever of 104 and body aches, but after going through an intake assessment then waiting for two hours in a freezing cold waiting room, my fever had dropped to only about 100. Since it was 11 at night we ended up just walking out. By the next afternoon I was feeling somewhat better, but I ended up with a stomach bug that has lasted since then. I'm hoping that I will be feeling better.

With everything that has gone on we ended up cancelling our summer trip that we had been planning before I ever even got pregnant, which was disappointing, but probably for the best since a road-trip and a stomach bug don't mix well.

I'm hoping over the next week to post my summer activities list for the kids, with all the upsets my new goal is to make it through at least half the list, since being out of the house (and now back in the house and trying to clean it) we were not able to do many of the things we wanted to do.

1 month post baby!!

So we officially have made it a month since the baby was born.
It has been been a very eventful month, from the baby being born, the older kids going to their piano camp, our air conditioning going out, being out of the house for two weeks, a visit from our friends, and probably some other stuff I am forgetting.

Today was the baby's one month check-up. He is doing great and is already 10 lbs.  I'm pretty surprised because I have always heard breastfed babies gain slower. He is the first baby of mine that I haven't had to supplement and he is more than a pound heavier than the other kids at this age.

I am enjoying my maternity leave, even though I have not been able to relax and recover the way I wanted. I'm hoping that I get a few days where I can just take care of the baby and the kids, and not have anything else go on.

I started to workout slowly and am hoping to get back in shape. Also I'm about five months (or 155 days, but whose counting ;) away from my third half marathon!! I walked about a mile today around the neighborhood, did some arm exercises, and did the steps. Hopefully I get the all clear for going to the gym at my six week checkup.

Back Home!!

We are finally back home!!
We were officially out of our house for two weeks, which was close to impossible with three dogs and three kids. For the first few days (when we only thought it was going to be a few days) we were staying with my parents. When we found out it would be longer than a couple of days, we decided to stay at a cabin at the state park, to avoid any interference from my parents. They are the type of people who when I saw to my children "Don't do that" they go into the room as soon as I leave and say "Go ahead, just don't tell your parents".  With a seven and four year old that gets incredibly frustrating and leads to many meltdowns. Also when the instructions were things like be quiet your brother is taking a nap, it led to a screaming infant, an angry four year old and my seven year old laughing at the huge mess.
We left the cabin because the air company said they could finally fix our air, then right after checking out we get a nice phone call "We can't come out today" . . .

it is HOT

Unfortunately I have not been able to write due to our air conditioning being out.
Normally air being out is not a huge problem, but its June in Memphis, and the temperature has been in the mid 90s. Also there is a heat advisory, and we have three small children, the youngest being our newborn. We have been out of our house for nearly two weeks, and only now have internet where we are staying. It has been horrible not being able to go home two weeks after having a baby, so far everyone seems to be dealing with it better than I thought they would. Hopefully we will be able to get back in our house and establish a routine sometime in the next few days!

Not much happening here!

My older kids are at piano camp all this week. I was looking forward to them being out of the house, and still being busy so I did not have to feel guilty for spending so much time with the baby.  What I did not realize, was with them out of the house, we really don't have that much to do.  It has been very nice to catch up on sleep and be lazy in between feedings. I think I am looking forward to being able to do more stuff during the day, because two days into this I am already feeling very lazy!! With this being my first maternity leave I feel guilty like I am skipping something important. This is the longest I have not had anything to do (like go to school or work) probably since high school (so at least 10 years!!), I am pretty much at a loss as to what to do with myself. I never anticipated that it would be hard to relax and just enjoy down time.

Post Baby Weight Loss!

Even though it's only been 12 days since I had the baby, I was brave enough to hop on the scale. I had barely gained any weight during pregnancy due to being sick the entire time, so I knew it wasn't going to take long to lose it. I officially weigh less than I did pre-pregnancy, and during pregnancy. In the first two months of my pregnancy I had lost close to 10 lbs. The bad news is I'm considerably more out of shape then I was before pregnancy, which is to be expected since I was too sick to be able to exercise comfortably for the majority of my pregnancy. 
Now I can slowly start my training for my third half-marathon in December!! I have to stick to only walking for the next 4 weeks. I went on my first walk today, it was only one mile and I walked very slow, but at least I'm getting back on track!

Farmer's Market

Today was the first time all five of us went out. I guess that's not really true since we have been to my parent's house twice, but I don't count that as "out". 
This morning we were able to get all three kids ready and walk down to the farmer's market. It is on our corner so it was really only two blocks, and we were only gone for about 45 minutes, but it was still nice to feel like we had everything under control with all three kids.  We joined a local CSA so we were just picking up our weekly share, but it was nice to walk by the other booths and get out of the house.

Baby is here!!

He finally came!! DS2 was born June 4th at 8:02 am, 8 lbs 7 oz, 20 inches long.
I couldn't be happier because he is perfect!!

So far having three kids at home is tiring but much easier than I feared. I have gotten to spend alone time with everyone and its only been 4 days. I'm looking forward to adjusting to our new normal.

Hopefully Today is the DAY!

I've been having contractions for a few hours that seem to be getting regular, so today is HOPEFULLY the day that we will welcome our third child into the world.

In the meantime, I'm planning things for my older children to do once the baby is here.

I've done one of those summer bucket lists, but changed it to include more things that they can do on their own both inside the house and in the yard.

We did a few sections-
Outings
Things to do inside
Things to do in the yard
Things that need Mom and Dad's help
Cooking

That way they can go over to the list when they are bored and find a "new" activity and do it.

They are also going to be keeping "journals" of the events just to help with writing over the summer, and because they love planning.

Still waiting ....

Still waiting, hopefully today will be the day. If not we are going to at least schedule an induction today, since I've been dilating slowly for two weeks but have still not gone into labor.
Having contractions for two weeks has been no fun, especially since it really limits any activities.

I still have my fingers crossed that I will go into labor sometime soon.

Still no baby ....

Still waiting, after hours of irregular contrations yesterday.
I had no idea that you could have contractions for almost two weeks that were both real and painful!!
Both my other pregnancies were so easy.

My older children are luckily out of the house today going to a local day camp for the week.

I was so proud of them for being excited to go, especially since my husband and I are antisocial and terrified of trying new things.
It makes me happy that so far we haven't seemed to pass that along to them.

As summer unofficially starts I can't wait for summer activities!!

As I am reaching what I hope is the final hours of this pregnancy, I am alternating between feeling sick, and having intense cravings.

Today it's cookies!!

I love desserts and my husband is an excellent baker, so I have taken to pinterest to pin cookie recipes.

You can check them out here:
http://pinterest.com/suzyd27/cookies/

First Blog Post

Although we have attempted a blog before, I'm hoping this time it will work!!
 
Our family consists of myself and the husband, DS 7, DD 4, and DS 0 (estimated June 2, 2013), along with 3 dogs and a turtle.
We love spending time as a family, making music, playing video games, crafts, and hanging out. Hopefully here I will be able to share many of our projects and adventures.