Angela is having a boy!

After 3 beautiful girls, she's finally pregnant with a boy! I can't wait to see what a masculine Bywater looks like!

Pottytraining Part 1...

I'm starting to pottytrain the Peanut because she's dying to wear underwear. And she's already peed through 2 pairs BUT she's also gone pee in the toilet 4 times. I guess she'll learn eventually. The funny thing is that she can sit there and read for ages. She just loves to sit and read, even on the toilet!

Sleeping Beauty

Our little Chickadee just sleeps all of the time. Honestly. I have to put cold lemons on her poor toes to wake her every 3 hours at the minimum! She'd sleep for 5 hours if I didn't. My beautiful little girl!

For Aunt Leanna

Thank you for all of the wonderful goodies! Here is Bug's first ever watercolor. He's a regular Picasso!

A fun quote...

A friend of mine just posted this on her blog and I thought it was interesting. Now, I love to cook and I love my house clean ( I just don't do the cleaning as often as I ought!) but I still thought this was thought provoking for all of us housewives out there.

"But oh how dreadful it is, cooking, I mean. That oven -- Christian puts things in and says: 'Now you take it out in about a half an hour.' I don't dare tell him how terrified I am, and at the tend of half an hour I summon up all my courage and open the oven, and there is that awful hot blast hitting one in the face. I don't wonder people sometimes put their heads in and leave them out of sheer misery. Oh, dear, and I wish you could have seen the Hoover running away with me, it suddenly took the bit between its teeth and made for the lift shaft. How I shrieked -- Christian only just rescued me in time. I think housework is far more tiring and frightening than hunting is, no comparison, and yet after hunting we had eggs for tea and were made to rest for hours, but after housework people expect one to go on just as if nothing special had happened." She sighed.

From:

The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate: Two Novels

For Cole and Tay...

We send love from here to there!

Men and Babes

Who is going to convince me that our men don't love their babies? No one. We have darling children and wonderful men who can often calm them better than I can. And these are two cases in point. Chickadee was crying miserably and then come in Opa and Papa on their white horses to save the day. What would I do without them?

I cried....

Have you ever been so truly angry that you cried? And I realize that this is a level of furiosity that is almost uncomprehensible. Well, that happened to me today. Honerstly, I'd like to blame it on the whole after-giving-birth-horomone-thing, but really it's my sorry vanity and pride that led me to it.

Bug cut Peanut's hair...again. If you recall, he did it in March, too. In March I was just mad. He knew better and he disobeyed but I was just downright mad. But this time he outright defied my orders (do I sound like a sargent?) and he ruined my girl's gorgeous hair. Peanut is a pixie. She's cute and her hair was simply adorable. I mean ADORABLE!

And Bug cut it off at the pigtail at the top. Yes, he just snipped the whole thing off under the ponytail holder. Then he proceeded to cut the rest in like manner. On the way to the hair dresser's I cried in my car. Yes, I cried real alligator tears. And then I cried to my hubby. I know it's just hair. But it was beautiful hair. I mean it was gorgeous, blonde, curly hair. And she looked like a pixie. Now she looks like a pixie-boy.

My 3 Children...

Staging photos is truly hard work. I took loads of photos and still I didn't like any of them. My kids just don't smile well for the camera. I'll keep trying but this is as good as it gets for now.

Little Opa and Little Oma

I'm not ashamed to admit that my children's favorite activity of late is to pretend to be Oma and Opa...with cardigan sweater and all.

For Suzann...

Here is Kim's baby! He's got so much beautiful hair and we're all hoping it doesn't fall out. And he looks nothing like the twins or Dylan. Welcome, Baby Riley!

Oma and Chickadee

This is a great picture of pure love!

More Photos...

We all know that newborns are similar in looks to martians. Yes, I mean aliens from, say, Mars. And I look at them and think, "Wow, they are wrinkled and ugly little things, aren't they?". But when the creature is yours, it suddenly changes your perspective on the whole thing. I'm showing you these photos because I think she's the sweetest and cutest thing ever birthed by woman. And, sorry to say, you're obliged to agree! But her brother and sister sure do love her!

The Ultrasound...

So, on Monday, my last pre-natal appointment with Dana, she asked me if I would be disappointed if I had a girl. I should have known that was an omen. The standard answer applies, of course we wouldn't be upset at all and since we actually had a girl's name all ready and no boy's name, yet. So, that part would be easier---she'll pop out already named. The only real "problem" would be getting girly clothing out and putting away all the boys things I had washed and hanging in the closet (which my fabulous mother-in-law did for me as soon as she arrived at my house).

She then tells me that the last 2 births she attended were girls when, in fact, she had thought they would be boys. Something about seeing a tailbone and not a penis. Yet another omen I failed to see and understand.

As soon as she was born I asked her gender. No, not if she was healthy or all the proper appendages--her gender was most important. Dana wouldn't tell me but wanted me to look for myself. It wasn't until she was out and laying in front of me that I removed the towel and...no penis. I literally laughed out loud. My mom ran to the baby's room to find something for HER to wear. The super cute boy pjs just wouldn't cut it.

I lost 12" in 24 hours and you can, too!

There is no dieting involved, in fact, you can almost eat anything you want! Just give birth to a healthy baby girl! Yes, I did say GIRL. And all this time we thought it was a boy. The nice thing about a girl is that we've known what to name a girl all this time we just never actually thought it would be a little femme. And here is Bug, with a second sister. His first one keeps him on his toes so I'm interested to see what a second one will do. So far, both Peanut and Bug love their little Chickadee. And they will until she starts to steal their toys! :)

The Noon Update...

So at about 4:00am I went walking because I was tired of cleaning and I didn't think I could sleep. By the time I got home I was ready to lay down for a while until...I realized I was locked out! Yes, the battery for the keyless entry on the garage door died. Thankfully, I had my cell phone and called hubby at 5:00am to let me in the house. He didn't even know I'd left nor had had any contractions at all! He was still in happy dreamland.

Long story short, I had my last contraction at 5:30am and fell asleep shortly afterwards. Needless to say, I was so bummed that the labor didn't labor long enough to get a baby out. However (AND MEN, DON'T READ PAST THIS POINT!), I'm still bleeding, my cerivx is still softening and doing whatever they do, and I'm still contracting but very infrequently (a few times an hour). The contractions do hurt, unfortunately. Maybe more later!

The 4:00am Update...

Can you tell that I'm bored? I've mopped the kitchen floor, done several loads (3, I think) of laundry, and taken a nice, long shower. The house is totally quiet and I'm about to go for a walk. The good news is that walking usually pushes me over the edge so I should be able to call Dana and have her come over (along with waking Steve and phoning my parents) by the time I get home. We shall see.

I called the midwife...

For the record, I'm officially in labor. It is 1:15am on Monday morning and I've been "barely" laboring since around 5:00pm yesterday. In fact, I'm still barely laboring but I have called Dana and at least put her on notice. I haven't told Steve or my parents, yet, because they won't sleep and they need it. They'll be watching the children while I sleep the happy after hours away with new baby in arms.

Don't get your hopes too high too early! Remember that I tend to labor for HOURS...some would call it days. I promise to keep you updated as to my condition! :)

Pray for Ted and Gayle Haggard...

How would you like it if your husband gave you the most devastating news of your entire life ("Yes, Honey, I've been having an affair for the past 3 years...with a male prostitute") then having it be national fodder for the media, comedians and anyone else with the desire to make all Christiandom look horrible? Well, that is exactly what happened to Gayle Haggard, wife of New Life Church pastor Ted Haggard, Wednesday night. I will say that I wouldn't have wanted to be a fly on the wall during that converstation for anything in the world. You can read the story for yourself at The Gazette (http://gazette.com/display.php?id=1326111). You can also read the statements given by both the Haggards at New Life's web site, http://www.newlifechurch.org/. They are located on the upper right corner of the web page.

For those of you who know our town and this church, please pray! Pray for:

• Gayle Haggard, her children, and her marriage;
• the Christians at New Life that they would come out of this stronger in the faith;
• the local pastors here that they would not be arrogant or judgemental from the pulpit but rather take it as a warning of their own vulnerabilities;
• and a host of other things that I'm sure you can think of and I can't.

Snugglers

Well, I did raise them to snuggle with me at every opportunity, but suffice it to say, they don't snuggle together very often. The surprising thing is that I was in the kitchen not even paying attention when Bug wanted me to see them. This was too cute to resist!