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" . . .