the generation gap

me "doo doo doo, looking out my back door"

ephrim "No it's not back door it's, 'doo do do, lets get on the bus!'"

*update* ephrim "Doo do do get on my back door" it's a merging of the generations.

Marlene?!

Okay so I've really blown it. I'm going to blame it on extreme sleep deprivation. Someone ordered two wraps and I know her first name but I cannot find her phone number. Her name is Marlene and she had a baby boy a week or so before I had Travis. If any of you know who I'm talking about please please please let me know how I can find her! Thanks.

And Jen I got the diapers and cups from www.naturalbeautycanada.com she works from home I think and she has flat rate shipping! She's from the lower main land.

The goods.

Well the diapers and sippy cups are here! I buy the cadillac of cloth diapers. I use them all the time for my babies and to me it's worth the money. You can cloth diaper successfully for much less money. So far we have been very blessed (by all of you) and have had to spend very little money on diapers, and they will last for many children, especially since I can mend any velcro bits that may not hold up.

We had some extra money left over and I decided to spend it on some "Safe Sippy" cups. I LOVE these cups! They do drip a little since they wanted to make them not so hard to drink out of for babies. Since the only thing I usually give my kids to drink is water it's not a big deal for me. I am planning on ordering two more of these so that Adon and Emma can use them for water bottles. They are really great! We got a blue one and a teal one (which they call green).

And please head over to "my charming kids" to keep up with Stellan and what is going on. Things are getting worse and this family needs our prayers for whatever God has for them. This all seems so sureal for me, I can't imagine what they are going through.

Last thing

So I really don't want to be posting this, but Stellan is back in the NICU with SVT. Please head over to MckMama for updates and to find out what's going on. And please pray for this family. Often!

Eye Candy

So this is the basket that my mom delivered on saturday. Here's the list of what's inside
5 egg salad sandwiches
5 tuna salad sancwiches
1 ham with sweet/sour ham sauce
1 roast with potatoes and gravy
2 (containers)mashed potatoes
2 rice pilaf
2 sweet and sour meat balls
3 jello
1 baked custard
2 cauliflower in cheese sauce

Yeah, wowsers. My mom is an amazing cook and this was such a HUGE blessing to me as my church meals are done now and it's so nice to not have to cook yet.

Sleeping on my lap

Sleeping in the wrap, first trip out to the chicken coop.

Hmmmm. I can see that!

Happily sleeping on his tum.

We got the bassinet from Jaclyn... THANK YOU! I have to admit it was the best gift anyone could have given us.

Joe got his own baby. He was starting to want mine too much. Emma spend about an hour teaching him how to take care of his baby. Even how to feed it.

He really likes his baby!

And Emma's. I didn't get any good pictures of him bashing the baby's head on the floor or biting it's foot.

How old are they?

Stacy asked in the comments how old Emma is so I'm just going to post everyone's age.


Adon is 7
Emma is 6
Ephrim is 3
Joe is 1
and
Travis is 12 days old.

I just have to say I'm feeling a lot better about this Travis characted. The first week had me a little worried. But since we've discovered he's a tummy sleeper things have gotten a lot better. Yes I know.... "back to sleep" hard to miss is when it's printed on their diapers. Ever heard of the saying "When Momma doesn't get any sleep, someone may get hurt" ? Yeah, the second one pulls more weight around here ;)

Ten Days

No time to actually write anything but here are some pictures from our first ten days as a family of seven. Travis doesn't like to be put down. Ever.

The yellow lump is Ephrim, the green one is Travis and the blue lump is me. This is the day I got the flu. It was gone by the next morning praise God!

Joe is a savage... at least he likes to act like one.

Mmmmm.... pizza. Cheeseless pizza! It was good Joni! The best part about this is that when he woke up he cried for about three seconds and then started to chew again.

Just like Daddy, a Coke and the remote!

Big brother #1. I am so thankful for this boy!

Emma teaching Joe to put away laundry. I'm so thanful for this girl!

Big brother #2. He absolutely adores Travis and told everyone who came over that "we got a new Travis!"

This girl already has a Mother's heart.I don't know why they're so tired?

Well hello there! I'm home! There really honestly isn't a lot to tell about Travis' birth. From start to finish it was 8 hours and the actual delivery was only 7 minutes. It was very intense and crazy but so good! It just one of those things when you feel like you're going to die and then it's done and you're like "what's the big deal?"



They broke my water around nine in the morning and I walked for an hour, nothing happened so they put me on Oxytocin. I was scared about being on the drip since it increases the risk for rupture but the doctors really felt confident that all would go fine and I had about the best nurse (Roz) a person could ask for. From 10:30 until about 6 we just slowly increased the level of Oxytocin. My Doctor came to check me at 5ish and I was six. He seemed a bit discouraged at my progress. Things were really getting intense and I was getting kinda "pushy" then I started having back labor. Travis was transverse which means his head was sideways and was trying to rotate into position. I've never had back labor before and I cannot imagine how women go through their entire labors that way. I'm very thankful it was short for me.


Roz checked me again and I was 8. I remember hearing her call the doctor "Hi, She's 8" click.

I don't remember a whole lot after that. I remember thinking that Jaclyn wasn't there yet. BOOHOO! then another contraction, then I heard the doctor come in. Then I was pushing. And it wasn't like the last time. Last time I pushed a bit first to get the baby down, then I took a few more pushes to get him out. This time his head was half way out after one push. He did a wierd shoulder thing that freaked the doctor out but after the next push he was out and I WAS DONE! Praise the Lord. All was well. I was good, baby was good. And when I say all was well you mommas out there know what I mean ;)

The best part is that he does not have a cleft palate! My God is amazing. I am so thankful. There is more that I want to share but it will have to wait. I need to go feed my babe.

Say Hello!

Starla posting for Sarena:

Travis Richard was born tonight at 6:25pm. He weighed 8lbs and was 21 inches long. Mom and baby are both feeling great and will probably be home tomorrow!!!

Psalm 46

Ruth shared a part of this psalm in the comments the other day and I just wanted to share the whole thing because it is very powerful and is really ministering to me right now.



Psalm 46
1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, (removed people, the earth removed)
and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; (into the sea, all of the mountains!)
3Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God,
the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved:
God shall help her, and that right early.
6The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved:
he uttered his voice, the earth melted. (uttered his voice and the whole earth melts. This is power beyond what we can comprehend!)
7The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8Come, behold the works of the LORD,
what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;
he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder;
he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10Be still, and know that I am God:
I will be exalted among the heathen,
I will be exalted in the earth.
11The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

My God is INCREDIBLE! He is power and might and he cares for me, for the tiny baby in my womb. I know that he is able to do all things. I am not left here to flounder on my own trying to decide what to do. God has heard me! I am in his care and I can rest knowing that even if I have a c-section tomorrow, he is in it.

Update.

Just in case there are those of you who are wondering what's going on...


Nothing. I had mild contractions throughout the day. MILD. Strong enough to wake me up from my nap, and that's about it. As the day went on they became fewer and farther between. I am now going to have a bath and try to get a good rest. Hopefully they will come back tomorrow.

For now I am content. There is a plan. And other than that there's nothing else I can do.

I will have a baby in my arms by thursday morning. Hopefully those arms won't be shaking uncontrolably from a c-section.

Night!

3 cm

Yep I'm finally dilating! No labor yet but I am so relieved that something is finally happening! If it doesn't happen before we will be having our baby on wednesday, or at least trying to. I really don't have a lot of options so we'll just have to see how things go. The baby's head is still high which means he can't break my water because the chord could prolapse (come out before the baby) and that's very bad. So please pray that

1) I will go into labor on my own in the next 48 hours
2) If I don't the baby's head will come down
3) I will continue to dilate until then!

Thanks guys!

Micah 7:7

"I watch in hope for the Lord. I wait for God my savior. My God will hear me."

Pray for me today people.

nothing yet.

But I'm really ready for it to happen. I am also ready to put Joe to bed, have a bath and sleep for three days. Apparently my body is going into "conserve energy" mode. Dalen made dinner tonight. I layed on a make shift bed on the floor and played with Joe. I wish I could eat things that have tomato in them. No spaghetti, chili or sweet and sour, these are things we usually eat about once a week. I enjoyed some left over yorkshire pudding with jam and two everything cookies. Maybe I'll make myself some real food later. Maybe I'll just go to bed.

Anyway just wanted to let you all know they deal. Pray for things to get going, I am still quite happy and not feeling "overdue". I'm just ready now. Even Dalen is complaining. He never complains, he always deals with my complaints. It would be great if I could have the baby tomorrow as Dalen wouldn't have to miss any work. Idealy. When is having babies ideal? Yeah I thought so.

What a great morning!

Wow that was awesome... it was "the" nurse but she was absolutely great and so long as she doesn't try to give me an IV I think we'll be all good! Also my doctor didn't even meet me at the hospital and just told the nurse to come back Monday morning for another stress test! Thank you so much for your prayers people! I was totally expecting to have to fight it out with the doctors! Apparently they value their Saturdays! Off we go to get ready for Emma's party! Did I mention that my MIL was here all night cleaning my house for me, with supper in hand?! I am blessed beyond measure! Now I need some labor to start!

Stress test

I'm heading to the hospital right now .....


for a stress test. Sorry Jen I had to!

I am going to be meeting my doctor and possibly having to defend my stand to not interfere in the "this is taking forever" pregnancy. Please pray that I will have dilated more, that my doctor will be happy and I won't have to battle too hard. By battle I mean talk it out people. Also for those of you who know what I'm talking about... it "the" nurse. Pray for me!

In which Joe takes a bath by himself.

"Hmmmm... what do I do with this?"
.
.
.
.

"Momma uses this to wash me."
.
.
.
.
" Oh right I'm in the bath, I should be splashing like a crazy person!"
.
.
.

"HAHA!"
.
.
.

"Oh this retains water... I can drink from it."
.
.
.

" Mmmmm soap and baby dirt."

.

.

.

.

"Forget the cloth."

.

.

.

.

" Gug."

("Gug" is Joe's new word for anything that he may want to eat, drink or just generally enjoy)

Emma Grace

Oh how I love my girl. It's going to be hard to pick which pictures to post of her. Emma has been a huge joy in my life. It doesn't hurt that she loves all of the things that I love. When she came home from birthday shopping with Grandma today and I asked her what her favorite thing to buy was she said "FABRIC!" Ahhh... a girl after my own heart! Here is a peek at Ms. Pie as we call her around these parts.... also known as Emma Pie, Baby Girl (Daddy's nick name for her), Emma Bemma, Emma Grace and Gracie Pie. Feel free to share any memories you have of Emma. I'm sure she would feel really special to hear them!