"Jessalyn Week" (part 1)

Did the mailman come yet??



So today is the first official day of April vacation. As it turns out..its a nice sunny, 70 degree day. Jessalyn and I had fun today just relaxing outside blowing bubbles:) The whole time we were out there Jessalyn was being silly asking if the mailman had come yet...in case she missed it while her back was turned to the street:) She is always eager for the mailman because she is the one that gets to go out to the box and get the mail..which is hardly ever for her, but exciting just the same.

Sure enough, as we were entertaining ourselves blowing bubbles and taking pictures of them, the mailman arrived. I had my camera in hand so I started taking pictures as she retrieved the mail. It turned out perfectly because the mail that was in the box was actually for her!

This is what it looks like when a 7 year old gets a letter in the mail...









(It was a sticker exchange chain letter from her friends Rachel and Abby!)

Here are some pictures of the bubble blowing..



..oops. Bubble in the eye.



"Everybody at the same time...1, 2, 3...blow!"



The perfect bubble..

Fun in the sun...

I don't have a specific story to share today. We've been busy enjoying the sunshine this week. Its funny because I can be a bit of a neat freak about my house...but absolutely LOVE the look of kids who have been playing outside in the summer! I love their dirty feet, dirty faces, dirty clothes. I love how tired they get after playing outside all day..and then having a nice bath in the evening and having them crash in their beds from exhaustion. Of course, bath time during the summer involves lots of the "Don't wash my boo-boo"...but we work that out:)

Yesterday felt like one of those days for all of us. I was busy raking and making the front yard at least a little bit better looking. There is still tons of work to do..but I try to take it one chunk of property at a time and hopefully then won't get overwhelmed. I'm almost done raking the front..and then will move onto the side...and then hopefully by then all the snow will be gone in the back.

Of course, the kids enjoy the time that I'm outside because then they are outside too. Ethan and Luke run around pretending they are super heroes or Transformers or something. They love the stone wall between our property and the neighbors...its proving for quite a few bumps and bruises, but they're boys so its just par for the course I suppose. Owen still hasn't figured out that he can move outside..which is quite nice for me right now. It won't be long and I will be chasing him all over trying to save his life before he jumps off the wall into the driveway or heads down the concrete steps. Until then I will get as much work done as possible..and then will have to save the work for his naps.



Trying to decide which "Mini-Con" to "pew" (for some reason instead of saying "shoot" my boys say "pew")



Its getting there..


The rocks are hard to clean up..there is SO much leaves and gunk in there.


Then we had a nice little "Pipmic" (as Luke calls it) for lunch..


So next week is school vacation. I think I'm gonna have "Jessalyn Week" on my blog...you know, like "Shark Week" on Discovery Channel. I think by reading this blog it might appear like I only have three kids. Poor Jessalyn is at school all day and often misses out on all these little "daily life" stories. Starting on Monday its going to be "Jessalyn Week" so look forward to entries specifically about her each day!

Its a miracle!

We were headed out the door to go meet my mom for lunch. I happened to grab my camera on the way out. The big boys were playing outside so I sat Owen down on the front step to take a picture and then suggested that Ethan and Luke come over and take a picture with Owen. I snapped two pictures real quick and was so pleased to get one that looks like this...



I look at this picture and just can't get over the fact that they are all not only looking at the camera, but all of their eyes are open, they have happy looks on their faces...there aren't any dirty faces or boogery noses. Its a miracle.

Its a good thing for pictures like these though. I can always go back and look at that picture during times like these....

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As this whole cereal fiasco was happening I was literally laughing. Both boys are crying over the spilled milk and although I was not thrilled with the idea of cleaning it all up I couldn't stop laughing at the situation. Of course, this led to an impromptu mopping of both the kitchen and dining room floor because I couldn't get out the mop and bucket and only do a portion of the room. If you include the mopping, that mess took atleast 45 minutes to clean up. Crazy boys.

My mom found a gem...

She was going through some old stuff when she found a poster that I made when I was in third grade. It was poison prevention week at school and we had to enter a poster indicating some ideas for poison prevention into a contest. I remember this quite clearly and I specifically remember winning the competition. I got to go with my mom to a banquet at the local hospital and it was quite a big deal.

We had a real good laugh while looking at the poster that I won with.

I took pictures of each part of the poster. I hope that this will do it justice..


(Bathroom: "Keep cabinet doors locked")


(Living Room: "Do not leave cigarets out on a table" with pictures labeled "cigarats" and "ashtray")


(Kitchen: "Do not leave detergent out" with a pictured labeled "ALL")


(Bedroom: "Don't leave purfume or lipstick out on a desk" With pictures labeled "purfume" and a mirror with drawings labeled "pictures" on the corners.)

And I save the BEST for last.


(Kitchen: "Do not leave boose or things on the table")

Funny how times have changed. I actually WON with this poster!

I have some fun things to blog about...

a couple of funny stories and such...but I just don't have time to sit down and do it right now.

Until then, I will leave you all with a picture I couldn't help but take yesterday while we were at Walmart.

This is my view while shopping...and this was MINUS a kid (who was at school at the time).



No wonder I can't seem to find the "good deals". I can hardly see passed my cart!

My friend Karen and I were having this discussion about how she went grocery shopping without her kids and swears to have saved at least $50. I completely believe that. Josh gives me a hard time about how I practically run down the isle and grab the first thing that remotely resembles what I need. I am notorious for getting the wrong thing...like grabbing the sodium free Ritz (which just don't taste like regular Ritz!) or getting SEEDED rye bread rather than SEEDLESS (which we prefer). The thing is that when you shop with 3 or 4 (or any really) kids your time is quite limited and at ANY moment the meltdowns can begin. Its best to get in and out as quickly as possible..and if that means spending an extra $100 on the WRONG stuff then SO BE IT!

Birthday Party!

We finally had Owens party today. It was actually a very nice little party. We kept it very simple. Its so easy for us to go crazy with inviting people...because there are so many people that are 'key' in our lives, especially the lives of our kids! I have been finding that the I enjoy parties much more when we keep them simple. It makes it possible for me to focus more of my time on the birthday kid rather than entertaining a bunch of other people. I figure..at some point they are going to insist on having their friends and until then I am going to make it nice and easy on myself!

Owen could care less about opening his gifts. The highlight of his party for him was most definitely the cake! We knew it would be. Owen eats like crazy and we just knew he would devour the cake. He didn't let us down. It was fun to watch him, he enjoyed every bite of it. He let very little go to waste.

He loves it when you sing happy birthday to him. He will stop what he's doing and laugh and dance and try to sing along. It was too cute. He knew it was special and he got right into it!

I have pictures...and video.

Paul and Dona-Lynn got him the little Cars chair..and Paul made him the birthday poster. It was too cute.



Josh and Owen both got cool Red Sox hats (to match the ones that Ethan, Luke and Jessalyn already have!)...here is Owen checking out Josh's hat..






Video of gift opening...

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Video of cake eating...

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Happy Birthday Owen!!! (...and Josh)

Poor Josh...his birthday has forever been over-taken! I suppose, since he is turning that terribly old age of 30, its probably a good thing. He loves that Owen was born on his birthday! They have a really really cool thing to share with each other.

So yeah. I am terribly hormonal today...and last night...as I think back to the events of this time last year.

I was 5 days beyond my due date which apparently is a theme for me. I like to think that its a good thing that I went passed my due date with all four kids. It was a Tuesday night and after having days of sporadic contractions I had a feeling that it was going to happen very soon. My feelings were being more and more confirmed as we watched American Idol and I found myself becoming increasingly more uncomfortable..but, I still wasn't completely convinced.

After American Idol I decided that I should probably go lay down in bed to try to get some rest before the 'real deal' starts happening. I laid down in bed and had one contraction that told me "THIS IS the real deal". Up until this point I hadn't had one that was convincing like this so I got back up and went to the living room. I had another contraction that Josh witnessed and he said to me "You have that look on your face. I think we should call my mom.". I agreed..hesitantly, since I had only had 2 painful contractions. Josh has been with me through this a few times so I take his word for it!

Somewhere between 9 and 10 pm Granny arrives. I think I had one more contraction at home before we headed to the hospital. I call them on the way to let them know I was coming. We left for the hospital at about 10:30 (Josh was half way through an episode of Law and Order at this point).

We were in our room at the hospital by 11:15..and still I wasn't convinced this was real labor. The nurse checked me and I was still 3 cm (I had been walking around for the last 3 weeks at 3 cm). She didn't want to admit me just yet because she wasn't convinced either. She said she would come back in and check me at 1 am..and if I was making progress they would admit me. I started worrying that we were gonna be in for a looong night. I was already very tired..just from the normal daily routine of being pregnant and having three kids.

The contractions were quite regular and I was getting very uncomfortable at this time. I kept apologizing for being such a whimp, but for some reason I just couldn't get on top of them. I didn't feel in control of them and that was bothering me. I have gone through this 3 times before and always felt in control.

Finally I looked at Josh and said.."I need the nurse to come back and check me because I am feeling pressure and the urge to push". (This was somewhere after midnight..only an hour or so after she initially checked me).

I am so glad I recognized the feelings I was having because sure enough she came back and checked me and I was 9 cm!! I went from 3 to 9 in about an hour. No wonder I couldn't get control of them! It was intense. So at this point the nurse is running around frantically trying to call the doc and get everything else ready. (meanwhile, I am still not officially admitted!).

The doc comes quickly and I am at 10cm. I didn't start pushing...but proclaimed the fact that the baby was coming...like NOW. The doc wasn't ready yet so the nurse (Abby) was literally holding his head in....I remember that feeling quite well. NOT FUN. I'm trying not to push..but it didn't matter. Pushing or not..he was coming. Finally the doc was ready and I gave one push and he was out!

I couldn't believe how fast it was. I mean..Ethan and Luke were pretty fast..but not THAT fast! I was just so relieved and excited and saying over and over again "I can't believe he is out already". It felt like we had JUST gotten there. It was awesome.

After he was born they finally admitted me..and I had to sign all these papers that you would normally fill out before the baby was born. You know..the "in an event of emergency I allow whatever to happen" type stuff. It was funny. I signed away..especially knowing that he was already born and perfect.

He was screaming and pink and got perfect scores on his apgars. He was pretty mad though. He screamed for quite some time..even when I was holding him. He just didn't want to settle down right away. He had a hard time latching on as well..he was just too worked up.

We called my mom who was surprised to hear that he was already born..she thought I was calling to tell her that we were headed to the hospital! Owen was our only baby born in the middle of the night. We actually enjoyed this. It was so quiet and we really had quite a bit of time with just the three of us to make a final decision on his name and to just enjoy him. It was very relaxing after. We were in our PP room by 3:30am and I was out like a light by 4! I LOVE sleeping after just having a baby. I am so comfortable without my huge belly!

We got up bright and early the next morning and started making all the phone calls (to the people who didn't get texts in the middle of the night!).

Nana and Granny brought the kids over in the morning to visit. Poor Luke was sick so he had to keep his distance..but they were all very excited. Papa was also sick so he wasn't able to make it to the hospital to visit. Kirsten, Shara and Ben came to visit at different points during the day and then we went home on Thursday.

Overall it was an amazing birth experience. As everyone is well aware..I would do it again in a second!

Of course...lots of pictures!!

Owen Matthew
4/11/07
8 lbs 1 oz
19.5 inches...I think. (yes..4th kid..I'm not 100% sure on the length!)

Holding him right after he came out..




















Since Luke was so sick he had to keep his distance...