My sis and grandparents were in town last week. We had a good visit with them all. I've been a little rundown and tried to be adventurous but ended up in bed twice with a fever when I over did things. Saturday we took a day trip up to Sedona to have a picnic lunch and let the kids swim in the creek. It was beautiful and we had a nice picnic but it was not really conducive to the kids' swimming there. It was more of a local teenager's hangout where they go cliff-diving. We packed up and left when a man showed up with two pitbulls and let one of them wander around without a leash, not taking any chances with that one....

Most everyone went and saw Pirates of the Carribean on Friday evening. I say most everyone because me and Matty opted out. Matty's just too young still, and I had to find something to wear for my baby shower this Saturday. I ended up getting a skirt and shirt for $18.

I wasn't so good on my diet last week, or this week for that matter. I'm not sure my body's quite ready for all I want to do just yet. It fooled me though. I felt great right after I had Hailey and those first 2 1/2 weeks. I mean I literally had to MAKE myself stay still and rest that first week when hubby was home. Now, I'm incredibly tired and rundown. Maybe I'll give myself another week or so and see how I feel. Becky, I'm still here for ya though! I'll be catching up as soon as I can!

Hailey is growing fast. She's about 8 1/2 lbs I think. Last week at her appt she was 7lbs 12 oz, UP 9 oz in one week! The Dr. was satisfied with that weighin. On another note, I AM going to be finding another Ped though. I've not felt quite right about this clinic the first time we went there. The nurses are borderline rude and the toys in the waiting room are dirty. I liked the Dr herself though so we stayed. But, last week as we were leaving, a nurse came running out, asked if I was Hailey's mom, then handed me some lab forms. I stared at her dumbfouded because the Dr. never said anything about labs. It was for all kinds of blood tests (allergies, blood count, etc). Anyways, I started the car and was about to leave and head for the lab when she ran back out and said, "Oops, I made mistake!". It was meant for another child. The form had all of Hailey's info filled out on it though. Not only would that have been an uneccesary blood draw for Hailey (which we and our insurance would have had to pay for) but the poor kid who really needed the tests done, would have not gotten them done. I understand that people make mistakes but in the medical field you REALLY gotta' pay attention to what you're doing! I was almost given an MMR (measles,mumps,rubella) vaccine in the hospital this last time because they said that my labs came back and I was not immune. Again, I stared at her dumbfounded. I clearly remember getting that booster at 15 years old. It was for another patient and luckily she realized it before giving me that shot. Anyways, anyone know a GOOD Peds clinic in Chandler Az??? LOL

I'm tossing up a somewhat crazy idea in my head. I'm thinking about working out of the home again. We have some bills looming over our heads that are just not going to get paid off unless a miracle happens. Hubby's comission checks are half of what they were this time last year. Their numbers are down signifigantly with no good outlook in the horizon. This led me to start thinking about a p/t job again, but with hubby down in Tucson 4 days a week it doesn't look possible to get a regular p/t job. Mom works alot of hours (and needs to) so she isn't available to watch the kids in the evenings. This leads to some kindof work-from-home job. One with very little startup but will pay pretty decent working weird hours. Babysitting and daycare are out of the question. Direct selling is no good for this shy introvert. Anyone got any other ideas?

Tomorrow my sister flies in from Wa. I'm excited to see her but I feel bad we're getting sick. Hopefully it'll be short-lived.

My grandparents and aunt are also coming over from Tx. We're hoping to be able to "go do something" while everyone is here. Not sure WHAT yet though...

Thursday Hailey has ANOTHER Dr. appointment. She was 1 oz. shy of her birthweight at her two week appointment so they wanted to see her back again this week to make sure I don't need to start supplementing with formula. The first month is always exciting...

I started back on my "diet". Not going too extreme or anything since it's only been 3 weeks and I'm nursing but I'm cutting out junk food (again!). Why oh WHY is it so easy to get back into that habit and so hard to break it??? I'm really going through serious soda withdrawels right now! Anyways, I'm going to log my "start weight" as 188, I'll be taking my measurements tomorrow as well as a photo. Not sure if I'll post them here on the sidebar or just do a monthly comparison blog post or something. Becky is back on board with me and she had a GREAT first day.

Looks like we've got another round of stomach bug. I've not felt "right" since Friday but no stomach problems just a low fever and headache. Two of the kids and hubby have the stomach version. I'm REALLY hoping that the baby does not get this! All of the kids have been holding her and such....argh.

Saturday we got Brandon's pics done at Sears. Here are the "good" ones...

Today was another decent day. It was overcast most of the day and fairly cool so we decided to go to the park. By the time I got everyone ready and the baby nursed the sun was out and shining and too hot to actually play at the park. We went to Mc D's instead and I got the kids an ice cream cone and let them play there. Oh well, at least we got out of the house (g).

Hubby is home tonight! I can't stand when he's away. We all watched AI tonight and I really was quite shocked that Melissa got sent home. I thought it'd be her and Jordin.

We had spaghetti for dinner tonight. My family can't get enough spaghetti.

Hailey has her two week peds appt tomorrow. I'm hoping that she's back up to her birth weight. It's hard to tell how much she's grown since I'm with her everyday. Hubby said she's grown though. After her appt I've got to get her newborn blood screening done at the hospital. Hopefully that won't take too long since I'll have the kids with me.

Funny things heard in my house #2

One of the kids was putting in a Woody Woodpecker movie.

I asked what movie they were putting in.

One of the kids was heard saying,

"That hammerhead bird movie."

"No, I'm completely mixed up!"

"That hummingpecker movie."


Ya' really gotta' watch out for them hummingpeckers....kinda reminds me of when me and my sister went "Snipe" hunting in our backyard as kids. That's a story for another post though. Michelle, ask Dad about that one.

Hmmm, trying to think of some updates worth recording...

Friday, we broke down and hired a landscaper to come take care of our yard. We don't know a lick about taking care of desert landscaping. It was too overwhelming for us and it's now in the 100's and frankly we don't want to be outside LOL. They spent all day here and took care of everything that we needed done. We ended up buying them lunch and feeding them dinner as well. We felt bad that THEY were out in the heat. It is such a blessing though to have that burden off my hubby's shoulders. He works so many hours, it was depressing to come home and see the yard everyday.

Saturday, we took Jake to get his pics taken at Sears. We ended up with two cute ones.

This one is affectionately labeled "Cookie? What cookie??".





Sunday, we had an appointment after church to get Hailey's pics taken. She was a bit of a grump so it took a bit to get some decent ones. Oh, we went to JC Penney's instead of Sears to try them out. MUCH better customer service. We'll probably be going there from now on. I won't have those back for a week and a half so I can't post it here till then. After pictures we took Mom to TGI Friday's for lunch. After that we came home and watched a couple of rented movies, well actually I napped since I was tired, but everyone else watched movies.

Monday, my first day "solo" since the baby was born. Hubby also stayed that night in Tucson, we actually had a decent day. I thought my Gram was going to be here this week, so we didn't start school, but she's decided to wait until next week to come since my sister is coming down to visit us then. So, looks like we won't be starting school back up for two weeks. That will give me time to work out a daily schedule/routine for us.

Tuesday, Hailey had her first REAL bath. Pics to follow "sometime". Tuesday night we took Jake to spend the rest of his birthday money at Target. He bought Transformers (oh joy...). We missed AI last night. We caught the very end where Melissa sang the W-O-M-A-N song. I'm rooting for Jordin and have since the very very beginning when she auditioned in Seattle. She's the only one I can see "making it big" out in the real world of music. I hope the lifestyle doesn't ruin her though, she's a sweetie.

On another note, I've officially "lost" 20lbs since the baby's birth. I came home that first weekend and had *only* lost 10lbs. I was totally bummed because 7 of that was HER. Then about a week later I hopped on again and was down another 7 lbs. I stood there blinking my eyes and kept double checking to make sure, that put a smile on my face:) Then yesterday I hopped on again and have lost another 3 lbs. I gained a total of 35 during the pg so that's not too bad. I'm going to start eating/cooking healthier on Monday, not quite dieting yet, and I'm going to go for an evening walk on the nights that Michael is home until we can join the gym again. I'll also start my pilates videos again but not until at least the middle of June, if I can even do them then. Right now I have that "childbearing weary gut" as De'Etta once called it.

Well, that's all I can think of!

Jake's great putt-putt golf birthday adventure.

The flowers that Michael and the kids brought to me in the hospital.


Hailey, 1 day old in her hospital bassinett. She looked so gorgeous and I was bored to death in that room.....pictures were the result. LOL

Ok, here's some of the pics that I promised you all. Sorry it took me so long to get them up!


Matthew, finally deciding that Hailey was 'ok' enough to hold on Sunday.


My girls....


Jake holding Hailey the second day at the hospital. "She's so soft, Mom."


Brandon holding Hailey for the first time...Me in my fashionable hospital gown.


Me and Michael at hospital. Picture taken by our Pastor's wife when they came to visit us.

Let's see if I can do a daily update thing here...

Saturday, I pretty much slept most of the day. I had only gotten a total of 3 hours the day she was born and 5 hours on Friday and by Saturday it was catching up to me. Hubby took the olders out for a few hours running various errands.

Sunday, we went to church. Skipped SS but made it to worship service. I spent the whole time in nursery because I just wasn't sure if Hailey would make it through. I think as long as I nurse her right before she'll be fine. In a couple of weeks, she'll be the only baby in nursery, so I won't have to worry too much about her getting sick from someone else. We have some 2 year olds that are moving up to toddler church. Sunday night we finally went putt-putt golfing for Jake's birthday. It was a COOL 83F and we figured we'd better take advantage of that since we're not seeing those temps for 5-6 months. After putt-putt we went to TGI Friday's for dessert.

Monday, Hailey had her first ped visit this morning. She's lost some weight so we have to go back tomorrow to make sure that that would be her lowest and she'd be on the upswing. Nursing has been going very well during the day but she absolutely refused to nurse at night Saturday and Sunday. Today I've been pumping after nursing her and then bottle feeding the rest to her to get her weight back up. Ahhh, the early weeks of nursing. Always fun:)

The ladies at our church set up for people to bring dinners all this week. That was such an unexpected blessing! That will make life so much easier for hubby this week. I'm feeling really great but he was refusing to let me cook this week while he is off.

The kids are still "over the moon" with the new baby. Brandon is literally walking around with a smitten look on his face. Saturday while me and Hailey were napping on my bed, I woke up and he was sitting on my bed just staring at us with his smitten look. Very sweet, but I sent him off to play, kinda creepy to wake up to someone just sitting there staring at you. Hannah is absolutely loving having a real life baby doll. Jake thinks she's so cute and loves rubbing her soft cheeks. Matthew thinks she's cute but has only held her twice. He's still keeping his distance. No jealousy so far. I'm making sure to give him attention since he's the "former baby".

I'll make a concentrated effort to try and get pics up tomorrow. I'll have hubby try an help me get the computer fixed.

Well, that's all folks!

What a difference 2 hours makes!

Ha, I just got done posting on Wednesday night at 10:30pm that there was no baby yet.

Two hours later at 12:30am I was still on the internet, when my water broke.

THEN, another two hours later at 2:42am I was holding Hailey Marie!

Can you believe it?!? I had the fastest, craziest labor I could ever have imagined. They literally ran me (on the bed) through the hospital from triage to L & D telling me the whole way NOT to push (like I had any choice in the matter!) and the nurse in L & D literally caught her when we got there. I had been crying because no one in triage was believing me she that was coming, they had just checked me and I was *only* 6 cm. They hadn't even gotten my I.V. in yet. I had really wanted an epidural this time and they were over at the desk talking about what sweetners they wanted for their coffees and I got really, really angry that they were ignoring me. Guess, I ruined their coffee plans making them run me to the other end of the hospital.....

Anyways, here's a picture of our new princess.

Hailey Marie

5/3/07
2:42 am

7 lbs 4 oz

20 in

Ok, now that I've updated and shared our big news, I'm off to bed.

Nope, no baby yet!

Today I woke up feeling really good. Took my temp and my fever had gone away. Me and the kids got some of the house picked up, then we headed to mall to "walk" and hopefully put me in labor. We got about 1/3 the way through the mall and I started feeling ill again. We stopped and ate dinner and waited for daddy to meet us. Then we walked the rest of the mall. I was in search of some sandals, specific type ones, so I wanted to finish. Never found the sandals I wanted but we ended up getting some books from Borders with a giftcard we had gotten for Christmas. Got home, got the kids in bed, and now I'm in bed. Just took my temp and it's up to 101.5F now. The last few days it's only been 100.4F. Please pray with/for me that I'll kick this and feel better soon. Also, that I'll have wisdom to discern if this is the same "bug" that some of the kids have gotten or if I have an infection somewhere (amnio fluid???). I'll continue taking tylenol to keep it down to a reasonable level, but will head to the Dr. this weekend if I'm not feeling better by then. Until then, I GUESS I'll continue to "take it easy". I've BEEN taking it easy since like 31-32 weeks now, and I'm D-O-N-E.

Thanks!

Ugh, I'm so frustrated! Had my appointment today I'm a GOOD 3 1/2 cm not posterior anymore and she REALLY stripped my membranes today. I guess last week she only kinda did as I was still posterior and she really couldn't reach. Anyways, I had somewhat painful contractions about 8 mins apart for 3 hours, then 3-5 mins apart for another 3 hours, now they've tapered off. They're running about 10-15 mins now. Wah, wah, wah, I thought tonight was the night! I even had Mom on "baby alert". I'm still kindof crampy but I'm not holding my breath that anythings gonna happen. Michael is in town tonight and will be working in Tempe tomorrow so tonight wouldn've been a good night as well. Oh, well.

On another note, tonight was the AWANA closing ceremony. Didn't get very good pictures. I'm so proud of my kids though. Jake stole the show when the "Cubbies" were singing their song. They put the microphone up towards him so that the audience could hear better, he grabbed it and basically everyone heard Jake do a solo since the other kids were so quiet. Everyone was laughing....

We've all been sick off and on for over a week now. Jake was sick on his birthday and just got better yesterday and Hannah's been sick yesterday and today, running a pretty good fever. I'm running a slight fever as well 100.4F and just feeling pretty tired. Guess it's good baby isn't coming yet since I don't want her to get sick from us.

Well, that's all. Off to check blogs...