Getting ready for Kindergarten

Alexander is going to start school in just a few months! I cant believe we have reached this point in his life! Im a little freaked out but I know he will do fine. Last night we got him all ready to go to Kindergarten round up. He was so disappointed when we got there and the parking lot was empty. Thank goodness it is really tonight and we didnt miss it. I let him go play on the play ground to try and cheer him up a little. Boy did it work! He ran 3/4 of the way across the field so he could go watch some little boys playing baseball. Once we got there he was bored with that and was quickly distracted by a dog playing fetch with a frisbee. I glad that he is finally over coming his fear of dogs. He watched the dog for a little bit and then headed back to the play ground. He went right for the slides and took a few rides down those. He climbed every thing there was to climb. He did the monkey bars(with mommy's help) We went to the swings last where I taught him how to pump his legs. He understands how to do it but not how to make it work to his benefit. I then taught him to swing on his tummy which was his favorite of all. We headed home after that with the promise that we will go back today.

Over the last few months I have been working a lot more to get him academically ready for school. We have been working on recognizing and writing his letters. This has been a slow moving process but we finally found something that works for him. If I write the letter and tell him what it is and how to make it he can do it and it sticks in his mind. He is a very hands on learner. He loves the show Word World and it has been teaching him about letter sounds. A lot of times he will say a word but make the sound for the first letter a few time before finishing the rest of the word. IE: sh sh sh shoes. I am not sure if I am ready to send him to school and it should be interesting since he will be starting about 6 weeks after I have Leena. I am hoping for AM kindergarten although it will be hard getting him from the bus since that will be right about nap time. Any way we are so excited at the thought of this new huge chapter in our little mans life!

The natural caesarean: a woman-centred technique

A glimmer of hope!

I know I just blogged this morning but I just found out some thing that I cant wait to blog about. I learned today about something called a natural c-section. Essentially a natural c-section is done slower and more personally. This first part I am not interested in but this is how it goes, after the incision is made and baby's head is out the drape is dropped so mom can see baby(I do want the drape dropped so I can see my baby's birth) wriggle its way out on its own. This helps the baby get squeezed more in turn helping clear fluid from the lungs like in a vaginal birth. This in the part that I am not interested in. After baby is out and the cord is cut the are immediately placed skin to skin on moms chest. Every thing can happen from there and your surgery can continue as normal. As long as every thing looks good with mom and baby the baby can stay right there skin to skin with mom until its time to move from the OR table to the recovery bed. This is huge for me. The thing that has always been the hardest for me about having my babies via c-section is not getting those first moments of life and bonding with my baby. I feel like everyone sees and hold my baby before me. I watched the youtube video above of this done in the UK and it was amazing. It was like a light bulb turned on. Why shouldn't I be able to hold my baby when she is born. Why cant I have the skin to skin contact that is so good for babies and moms. Why not!? I am excited for my next dr appointment next month when I will talk to my dr about doing this. Cross your fingers she is on board and will let us have this magical birth with our daughter!

Just a few of the reasons I think my husband is a rock star.

8 years ago I met a boy. He was super shy and a little crazy. I never thought I would date him much less marry him and have 4 sweet babies together. He is really the most amazing man I have even known. He does so much for our family every day. For example, this morning he woke up at 3:30 so he could be at work 2 hours early. Nobody else in his group went in early this morning. Now this is pretty awesome, but what makes it so much more then that is that he will get home from work today just to turn around and go to school until until 9:30 tonight. He does this on a pretty regular basis. He is working as much overtime as he can in the next few months so we can safe money for when Leena is born. Jeff is going to take a week off of work to help me out with the boys since I will be having a c-section. Hence the over time. Last night he helped the boys pick up all the toys and clothes that managed to get spread all over the house. Then he swept and mopped the dinning room, living room and hall way. Then he did his homework! This man is amazing! I really cant say it enough, he really is more then I could ever ask for.

The proof is in the picture!

I had my 22 week OB appointment today. Since at my Ultrasound 2 weeks ago the tech forgot to give my pictures of my little one my Dr said she would do a quick one for me today. She got several very good views to reassure me that I am indeed having a girl! She check all the angles she could to make sure nothing was hiding or in a shadow. I can comfortable say now that I am having a girl! The last 2 weeks have been full of emotion. I have been very excited but at the same time still a little afraid accept that this baby is a girl. I was having dreams that when my baby came our during my c-section that my dr announced to everyone "its a boy!" Its been freaking me out and making me a little scared to get excited. Now I know though! Leena Noël is coming! YAY! Also today I got to pick her birthday! She will have her own day! I was a little worried that she would be born on the 4th of July or on one of the many birthdays on either side of the family. She will be born July 1st, 2011! This will be my first baby who's birthday is not a multiple of 12. I know that's silly but its true! Alex:2/24/06 Graysen:11/12/07 Colton:6/12/09 I thought I would be fun to have her on the 6th but my dr wants to make sure to take her a little bit early to insure that I don't go into labor. At this point with all the c-sections Ive had and the thin spot where the scar is on my uterus its really not save for me to labor at all. So safety first! We are so excited to welcome a little girl into our family!!!

Craft crazy momma!

Since I found out we are having a baby girl I have been going crazy trying to find new and fun crafty things to do. So far I have:

• sewed a pin cushion




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• sewed a stuffed owl




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• made yo yo flowers



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• decorated a white onesie with said yo yo flowers


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and last but not least!

• I made a new headboard start to finish!!

I have a million things I want to do still and still feel like there are so many more thinks that are out there that I have no idea about! I have really fallen in love with crafting. It really surprised me when I got started into it how much I loved it. Ive never really though of myself as a crafty or creative person but this has been such a joy for me! I find myself wanting to make EVERY THING! Why buy it when I can just make it!!!

Now I ask a favor of anyone who is reading this. Please leave me a comment of your very favorite craft you've done or wanted to do! I need more ideas people!!!

I need to change the name of my blog!

A few weeks ago my Dr. did a quick ultrasound in her office and told me she thought the baby was a girl. She couldn't tell for sure though. So this left me wondering for 2 week if I was really getting my little girl. It was hard not to buy cute little girl things, especially since my friend had a baby girl the day after my quick ultrasound. I did buy a FEW little things but really not a lot. The night before my ultrasound I couldn't sleep and when I could I was having crazy dreams. I Got up and ready for my big morning! I left early to go get my friend Nicole who went with me since Jeff couldn't. I went and go my peppermint hot coco from Starbucks to make sure my bladder was topped off. (they told me not to go to the bathroom after 8:30, and at 8:31 I had to pee so bad there was no holding it so I needed a top off!) We go there and waited for what seemed like forever! My stomach was in knots and I was nervous. I hadn't felt the baby all morning which made me more nervous. My cute little ultrasound tech came out and got me and started my ultrasound. For how tiny she was she managed to hurt me a lot through out my ultrasound! My baby was hanging out right under the scar from my c-sections so she had to do a lot of pushing and twisting and pulling on my scar with the little probe thing. As most of my kids have done this baby was hard to ultrasound. As soon as I laid down baby started rolling and kicking and pushing. It was a little sigh of relief for me since I really hadn't felt the baby at all that morning. So first things first she checked out baby's heart rate which was 146. That has been right where the baby seems to be most of the time. Then for all the technical stuff like how big is baby's head and what does the heart look like and blah blah blah. Every thing looked good, baby is measuring one week behind on size but that's not really a big deal. So then for the fun stuff! I watch very intently when they are looking at feet and legs. That's normally when I can get a good view of who my baby is. I saw....nothing. I couldn't even really tell where I needed to be looking. I am normally pretty good at spotting this stuff. The tech kept looking at all the things she needed to and after a while she said "Well....I looked and I cant tell for sure girl or boy." I asked her if she had to guess what she thought and she said "Girl" I was not really thrilled with the maybe kind of sort of answer. I asked her if when she was all done looking at every thing she needed to if she could go look again to see if baby had moved into a better spot. She said she would and had me turn from side to side to shake baby up. She still needed to see baby's lips and nose to be sure they looked ok. She did get a good view and then looked at a few more things. The moment of true came on our second look. One of the most clear as day ultrasound view of a little baby girl I have ever seen! And yes I know I only have boys but I have done my research. I googled ultrasound so I could get an idea of what we were looking for with a girl. I know I'm crazy but what else was I going to do over the 2 weeks I had to wait!? My tech said "100% a girl!" I cried just a little bit...and left happy as a clam to tell the world(Jeff first of course) that I was having a girl! I forgot to ask for ultrasound pictures so I will ask my dr for some at my next appointment in 2 weeks. Our little girls name will be Leena Noël Peck. And YES the dots are that important! ALT0235 will make them show up on the computer. :) So now my dilemma is what to change my blog name to?!?!? Im open to your ideas so let me know!