Tag Archives: The Kids 2011

We grow babies not flowers

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I have two flowerpots that I keep in the kitchen to make dirt cake (oh yes…and it’s good too).  Bryant has found that these plastic flowerpots have another great use.


Bryant’s Hat Part 1 from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.

But wait, there’s more:


Bryant Hat pt 2 from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.

He not only likes to put it on his head so he can’t see. But, he also likes to run around the house, with it on his head (so he can’t see), making noises. At least we know when he’s coming and to steer him clear of any danger.

But he’s totally adorable when he does it!

(Pictures courtesy of Zoe).

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First Haircut

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Yes, I’ve already posted about Bryant’s first cut.  But Ceili Rain, in her two years of life, has not had a haircut.  It was growing really slowly.  I finally realized last month that it was getting scraggily and very uneven.  So, when the boys had their haircut, we went to town on hers as well.

It’s fun cutting a little girl’s who was too excited to sit still.  Not really…but it was interesting.  I think she was more excited about wearing the cape and getting to sit on the big stool.  She really wanted me to use the clippers but I draw the line on those with my sweet girls hair.

So, basically, all  I did was even it up in the back.  She had long hair from birth and then another layer of new hair. 

Almost done!
Ta da!  It ain’t exactly professional, but it’s done!
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Seven Update

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A friend said we should name the baby Seven in honor of a Seinfeld episode where George decides that his first child will be named Seven.  Go youtube it.  It’s totally there.

So, #7 will be nicknamed Seven until he/she gets a name which will hopefully be in about six weeks.  It works for a boy or a girl, see???

I had a checkup today and had to go it alone because a plague was attacking the kids and we didn’t want to share it with anyone until we felt we might be in the clear.

I’m just going to confess.  A dear friend let us borrow her doppler to listen to the baby’s heartbeat.  We tried it at 12 weeks and again on Monday night (at 13 weeks).  We both felt dumb as dirt because we were both certain the baby was still in there but we couldn’t find him/her.  We really weren’t too worried that something was wrong because, well, because I’m 13 weeks and still having a bit of nausea.  And it’s not fun.

I just knew that Dr. J’s nurse or Dr. J himself would be able to find the heartbeat and I was already to focus on the location so I could do the same at home and let the kids listen at their leisure.

Dr. J’s nurse tried and tried but just couldn’t find it.  She thought she heard it a couple of times, but then couldn’t get a good reading. So, since it was late in the afternoon, she checked to make sure the tech was in (because if she hadn’t been, I totally was going to demand that someone else do it and do it quickly).  She was.  And, because Seven was acting up, I totally got a sweet ultrasound, which I secretly wanted anyways.  Who doesn’t love seeing their baby on screen?  Especially since the last picture I had was a kidney bean with legs.

Baby was there, moving, wiggling, kicking his/her legs.  And the heart was just a going at 164 beats per minute.  And that is, I do believe, the highest little heartbeat we’ve seen in any of our kids (and I had not had any caffiene before I got there).  But, as the ultrasound tech put it, it was perfect.

It was a quick ultrasound but right as she was finishing up, she snapped a picture of this:

That would be that the baby just decided to take a rest and plopped himself/herself right down to get all cozy and snug.  Mark said it looks like the Dreamworks fishing kid at the intro of all their things (it’s on youtube as well).  Either way, I just think it’s adorable and we are all getting so excited that our baby looks like an actual baby.  

And, if you’re wondering, the hematoma is still there but very, very small.  I know where it is, but it is hard to see if you don’t know what you are looking for.

We rejoice that God’s blessed us and are looking forward to a fun second trimester!

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Finger Painting

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It’s 5:30 am on Wednesday.  Yeah, I’ve been up since 3:30 due to being hot, bathroom run, itching (more on that later), and sinus infection.  I have to be up up by 6:15 and ready to get kids up because for some reason I scheduled their dentist appointments for 7:45 in the morning.  My brain is totally fried.

So, I thought I’d post, seeing as how I missed yesterday, have read all my facebook statuses, and am now up to date with blogs I don’t follow.  Priorities you know.

Liam and Josiah are using a new phonics curriculum.  I’ll post more about our homeschool stuff later but I wanted to share this first.  The curriculum suggests using different tactile things to encourage writing letters, etc.  One of the suggestions was finger paint.

So, I grabbed a box of pudding, mixed it up and sent the kids outside with it, plates, and swimsuits on.  They enjoyed it for about ten minutes and then wanted to play in the sprinklers!  They barely even ate the pudding (more for me…yippee!).  As you can see, Liam got a lot out of the tactile letter writing and made a guy.  With a sword. 

Josiah made a river and mountains.

I think we’ll just stick with the whiteboard and paper from here on out.

Ceili Rain thought it’d be fun to just smash her hand in it.  And lick.  I wholeheartedly agreed with her.

And Bryant, well, he still prefers a morning power nap and was down for the count when all the mess occurred.

Now that that is done.  Let’s see if I can catch a thirty minute snooze before time to get up and go.

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We Like to Rock!

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Occasionally, we’ll turn on some good Christian praise music and have at it.  And this is what the kids do:

He’s four ya’ll.  I’m no guitar expert but at four, I didn’t know how to hold a guitar…and he even plays chords on it and strums up and down.  Do they make guitars small enough for a four year old?

Ceili Rain getting down!

And Bryant just thinks we all flipped our lid.

This rockin’ out session was provided by NeedtoBreathe who’s music we’ve been enjoying on their website (and they didn’t pay me to say that and I have no idea why NeedtoBreathe is all one word but it is.  I’m goingtostartrightinglikethat  Okayit’slate.).  I will also say that our favorite songs are “Slumber” and “The Outsiders.”

Speaking of Rockin’ Out.  Mark caught Josiah on tape doing Just Dance Kids!  Let’s just say it’s fun-ny!

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Happy Birthday Ace!

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Ace got to celebrate his birthday a week early when his cousins came to visit with Ge and Granddaddy.  Granddaddy and Ge totally knocked the birthday gift out of the park.  They got Ace a pair of real walkie talkies.  They were in heaven for over a week.

Now, Ace’s birthday party was the same day as Bryant’s birthday.  That may seem cruel but Bryant didn’t seem to mind (or even realize).  Ace’s birthday is three days after Bryant’s thus the thought to double up for a little while.  I was not pregnant when we planned his party but it just so happened that I was.  Several months before his birthday, our local daily deal site ran a deal with Putt-Putt.  It was much like Liam’s bowling party in that it included stuff for up to six people.  So, we grabbed two of them.  For as long as they could stand it Ace, his siblings, his daddy, and his friends had a blast in the game area (20 tokens for each kid), putt putt (in 100+ degree weather), bumper boats, and laser tag.  It was awesome!  And cheap!  I was happy about the cheap part.  Basically, we spent about an 1/8th of the cost of actually renting a party room and doing it through Putt-Putt.  I know that is cheap but it so worked!  After not finding some friends for an hour, everyone gathered together and had a good time.  They even outlasted the parents and we ran the Crimson Caravan Commuter after the kids were all pooped out.

Ace requested a carrot cake.  I found these cute laser tag printouts for cheap on etsy.  Yeah, I could have made them, but the baby in my growing belly said to just buy them.  So I did.  And luckily for us, none of the kids liked the “spicy” birthday cake…so it was all ours…and yummy!

 The laser tag teams.  Papa’s team lost but all the kids could talk about for a long time was Papa playing laser tag with them.  They thought that was pretty awesome!
He had such a good time!  And that was our goal.
I have no idea what it was but it was worth catching flies over!
Thanks Papa and Grandmere!  Our new car trip family favorite (and rest time too)…Jonathan Park!  We love it!
Mark’s Buddy!  Just ignore the food in Mark’s mouth.  He was chowing down.

Bumper Boats!  They shot water which was perfect for finishing up Extreme Heat Putt Putt.
 Bryant got to watch from the sidelines.  Upside down.  (Not really…sorry about that).
Any guesses how old Ace is now?
On Ace’s actual birthday, he got to skip school, open gifts from family, have pj day, and watch a movie.  I didn’t get a picture of what we actually gave him but I will at some point.
Happy Birthday my sweet Ace-Man.  Our gift from God!
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Happy Birthday Bryant!

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So, Bryant turned one last month and we celebrated!  First the prep:

We went simple…chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  And chocolate cupcakes for the guests!

We got this adorable fondant topper from KidsCakes on Etsy.  I got Ceili Rain’s and Josiah’s cake decorations from the same place!  I loved it! And it was so worth it.

Now to the Birthday boy’s main attraction:

“May I have the cake please?”
 Now, he actually went face first into it, so we cut off a piece and he was very happy.
“Can you believe they’re letting me eat the whole cake?!”
Sugar.  High.
Pause for a bit of liquid refreshment

And then he couldn’t resist the fondant.

Needless to say, he  loved it!  He didn’t eat and grab the whole cake and only ate a couple of bites, but he enjoyed every bit of it.
Ceili Rain enjoyed the cupcakes.
And then it was bathtime.
Please don’t think we’re cruel.  He had fun shortly after this was taken. It does hold a bit of a “what in the world are they doing to me” caption though.
Ceili Rain enjoyed making baby Maggie cry and then laugh.
 Present time.  This boy loves balls.   About as much as big brother Josiah!  He also can throw them.  Hard and far!
Happy birthday to our sweet baby boy Bryant! 
He’s been so much fun this first year of his life.  From teeth at two months to crawling at five months to walking at eleven months (forgot to post on that…sorry).  He’s a trip all the way around.  He loves his brothers and sisters, getting into everything and climbing all over everyone.  His brothers and sisters are equally enthralled with him.  They love to carry him everywhere, “wrestle” with him, and have him chase them around.  He can laugh in a quick minute and usually when he knows he’s doing something he shouldn’t.  He says several words including, “uh oh,”  “ba” for ball, “dada,” “hi,” “bye bye,” “mama” when prompted, “Papa” when prompted, and he tries to make some different distinct sounds for each of his brothers and sisters when we say their names.  Regardless, he’s constantly making noise whether it’s babbling (loudly) or banging a toy on furniture.  We never lose track of him for long!  He is a light and joy and we praise God for each day we are given with him.
Here are his stats at one year:
20 lbs.  20% (at least he’s twenty pounds…the boy eats ya’ll…and he was getting mama’s milk from the freezer two to three times a day for about a month)
30 1/2 inches tall 75%
19 inches head 95%
And now you know the “after” of a one year old’s haircut.
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How to Cut a One Year Old’s Hair

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Tools:
Three adults, well, four if you count the one wielding the camera
Squirt bottle so little hairs don’t fly into baby’s face (and for the “fun factor”)
Scissors for two adults
Patience
Lots of Patience

Directions:
First, in the throes of morning sickness, forget to take before pictures until after you’ve sprayed the water and the one year old’s hair looks all scraggely.

“Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun!”
Next, position an adult over the baby, one adult on one side and one on the other.  Adult over baby holds head down.

*Lastly, have a free for all and try to get hair as even as possible!  It’s basically a cut-let go and relax-cut again cycle.
For the record, Bryant desperately needed a haircut and on the eve of his first birthday Grandmere and Papa were visiting so having a skilled adult with this still unskilled mama was a bonus…plus we had two extra adults for pictures and head control.  Bryant’s the first of the bunch that does not have a cowlick in front.  That means he has to have a bowl cut, no-doubt-about-it.  And he looks adorable!  Even if I cut around his ears too short…I always do that.  I’m just starting him off with it early!
Check back tomorrow for the results of the cut and a celebration of all things Bryant as he turns one!
*No babies were harmed in this process.  Not even on accident!
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Baby Update

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We had a second doctor’s appointment today.  And since this is the chronicles of our life, I’ll put what all is going on (and mainly to help me remember in years down the road).  My first appointment was at 6 weeks.  And this is what the baby looked like:

That arrow was pointing the baby.  Now look to the left of the baby.  See that dark squash looking thing?  It actually went up and over the baby.  Pretty much surrounding the sac.  That’s called “fluid.”  It’s called fluid because, well, we’re not sure what kind of fluid it is.  The main thought is that it’s a clot like last time.  So, with that and a progesterone level, we were sent home for three weeks of “restricted activity.”  This time I was a bit more prepared.  Especially when I saw her doing the ultrasound and the big blob beside the baby.  I knew it shouldn’t be there.  Dr. J. even showed me how it went all the way around the sac.

My progesterone levels were taken that day too.  And they came back at 6.8.  That’s low folks.  That’s really low.  So, on progesterone supplements I go.  We’ve been this route before.

Fast forward to yesterday, and my now nine week appointment.  We praise God for seeing this:

Although it looks like a kidney bean with skinny legs, it’s a baby.  We also saw the baby kick his/her legs and when she went to him, and then back to him, he was in a different position so he/she is floating around nicely in there.

The fluid/clot…well, it’s still there too.  But a ton smaller.  Even the tech commented on how small it was.  I think she was a bit overjoyed to see that I was not having any problems either.  And I haven’t had a single problem…unless you count extreme hunger, extreme nasuea, and extreme exhaustion.

So, we were ready for questions for Dr. J when we sat down with him.  Why is this happening again?  Why the low progesterone?  Is there anything we can do about it?  What’s causing it?  Etc.   He was very good and patient answering the questions.  Here’s the answers:

Turns out it’s kind of just hit and miss about this happening.  It’s not because I’ve had a bunch of babies in a short amount of time or because I’m not eating right or any of that.  Mainly it boils down to two things…the blood vessels in that area are pretty  sensitive and if there was a bit of trauma to the area (a strain or something) then they could burst and cause a clot.  Also, it could be a clotting disorder…nothing serious…just something that could cause these hematomas.  Now, we could go through testing and pay a bunch of money to see if it’s the clotting disorder, but it still wouldn’t change the outcome.  It’d still be there and we’d still have to watch for a clot and if it was there then we’d still have to treat it the way we were, etc.  Mark and I agreed that testing just wasn’t really necessary.

The progesterone, turns out, can be low for two reasons.  The obvious one:  the baby is not healthy and will die in utero causing a miscarriage.  The placenta doesn’t kick in etc  In that instance, you could pump as much progesterone as you would like into someone and they would still not have a “successful” pregnancy.  We were in that boat with our second pregnancy and understand that plain as day.  Or two:  the clot can interfere with the levels causing the placenta and such to not be able to put out the progesterone needed for my body.  In which case, if you give progesterone supplements, it helps stabilize the pregnancy and keeps the clot from messing with the baby!

The second one, of course, makes the most sense since we’ve seen a healthy, right-on-schedule baby, and there was a big clot in the first ultrasound and a smaller one in the second and I’ve had zero problems.

It was nice to have those questions answered and to understand that there is nothing I could have or can really do to change what we have to do for this first trimester.

Dr. J is fully confident (and given my history, we are too) that after the first trimester, everything will stabilize and I’m back on track for a fun, healthy pregnancy…because having a baby in the spring is awesome!  Feeling good through holidays and not being hot and big!  I love it!

So, two more weeks of progesterone.  Three more weeks of “restricted activity” and we’re set!  I pray!

We’ve been blessed by people in our church and dear friends who have been providing meals, child watching services, and compaionship during these weeks.  It has been really nice to have some loads taken off of us.

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