Winter is here....

I know this is long overdue but life has been a bit crazy for the last 3 weeks. The baby has arrived in all her splendor and glory. Being a grandma is "all that and a slice of pizza!"

So here's the story of the birth, I want to write it down because it's only been 15 days and already the details are blurring together. It started... the labor pains on Tuesday morning May 13, Justin took her ot the hospital and they sent her home because the contraction were regular at 5 minutes apart but not making progress. I got home later that afternoon and I walked her little legs off. She went back at 10pm that night the contractions were stronger and once again was sent home because now she was at 2 cm but that's it.

Wednesday at noon I left work because she was having the strong contraction but not regular anymore and was doing her "suzanne" thing, which translated means sleeping. No baby if you sleep all the time so off we went to walk around Target. The car was a good thing, I think we bounced a few things loose in there! She was having some very strong and close contraction and when they checked her at the hospital, she was 3cm and the contraction were very close...like 3 minutes apart. They finally decided to keep her! Yea!

The night wore on and by 7am the next morning still having contractions, still strong she was STILL 3cm. We were cheering "bring on the pitocin" at that point and the Suz was very tired and cranky. She was doing a great job with meds and breathing but heck it had been so long!

The doc gave her pit at 6:30am Thursday morning, at that point she had been in early labor for so long that she was tired and sleeping between contractions. The first doses were not much and she made no progress until around 10:30 they gave her a significant amount and an epidural. She was very happy and sleepy after that! She started to twirl her hair on her finger...that's how I knew the epi was working!

around 11am on Thursday they checked her and she had made it to 7cm and it was going good. At1pm she was 10cm according to the doc. The nurses started to prep the room for delivery and checked her at 2pm and she had gone back to a 7cm! Also around 11;00am shortly after they broke her water, the baby started to decel with each contraction, I forgot to mention that and so they tried putting water back in the sac but that slowed down the progress....

Anyway, once the nurses checked her, both of them, thy called the doc in and surprise surprise she said the best option for baby was a c-section. I figured it was coming as soon as they said she was 7cm again. it happened rather quickly and fortunately I was able to go in with them.

Winter was born at 2:55pm, she was very quiet coming into the world and had very bright alert eyes... and looked so very much like Justin did as a new born. The hair is amazing!

So that's the story...... and now my blog will probably be all about the amazing little girl who the Lord has seen fit to bless my life with.....!

A child of the 80's?

Take a look at this list. If you can identify with more than half of them, you are a child of the 80's like me!

You know what "Sike" means.
You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, Wax off".
You know that another name for a keyboard is a "Synthesizer".
You were only cool if you hung out at the Roller Rink and actually knew how to skate.
You can sing the McDonald's Big Mack Filet-o-fish, quarter pounder, French Fry song while jump roping.
You wore 3-8 different colored socks in layers and thought that the more you could wear the cooler you were.
You know who Mr. T is.
You actually believed for a minute that K.I.T. (The night rider) actually was real.
You know who Fat Albert is.
You wore fluorescent, neon clothing.
You could break dance, or wish you could.
You wanted to be The Incredible Hulk for Halloween.
You believed that "By the power of Greyskull, you HAD the power!"
Partying "like it's 1999" seemed SO far away.
You thought that Transformers were more than meets the eye.
You wanted to be on Star Search.
You can remember Michael Jackson when he was black.
You wore a banana clip at some point during your youth.
You remember the garbage pail kids, and owned some.
You knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout."
You HAD to have your MTV.
You always wondered why Tootie always wore those skates.
You actually thought "Dirty Dancing" was a REALLY good movie.
You watched Purple Rain over and over again.
Your all time favorite movie was Footloose and you actually thought that Kevin Baconwas HOT in it!!!
You remember the episode of Good Times when Flo broke down after James' funeral.
You remember when ATARI was a state of the art video game system.
You own any cassettes.
You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living on the moon.
You remember and/or owned any of the Care Bear Glass collection from Pizza Hut or any other stupid collection they came out with.
Poltergeist freaked you out.
You carried your lunch to school in a Gremlins or an ET lunch box.
You have pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female smurf.
You know what leg warmers are and probably had a pair.
You wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish.
You had a Swatch Watch with the Swatch Guard.
You thought UTFOs "Roxanne, Roxanne" song was the bomb!
You remember when Saturday Night Live was funny.
You had Wonder Woman or Superman underoos.
You know what a "Push Up" ice cream is.
You had to come in the house when the street lights came on.

Praying for The Himmels

This is Drew and his parents Dan and Andrea, they are friends of ours. Drew just had his 3rd open heart surgery at the age of 4. There is a link to thier blog here on my blog where you can read all about why Drew needed the srugery and how everythign is going. The short version is that he is doing well, this is an awesome answer to prayer!

Take a minute to read the story and please keep the whole family in your prayers!

Monday Meanderings.....

I'm not sure I get to meander at all this week... life is full of happenings! I woke up this morning and realized I have a ton of stuff to do before the baby comes. I've spent so much time focusing on other things that I didn't clean my own house. I've also decided that no matter when the baby comes, I'll take my vacation days next week. The update on Winter Elizabeth's arrival is an induction on May 18th if she hasn't seen fit to arrive on her own by then. This means working long days this week to get everything done so I can relax next week.

Bible Study/ Devotions: This Tuesday marks the final time I get together with my Pastor of Disaster and the two lovely ladies she is mentoring along with myself! I've been reflecting on this journey and how I've opened my heart and life to God in the past 18 months... it's scary and joyful all at the same time. The Lord has definitely seen fit to bless me with these three women. Journaling is also something new that I'm enjoying so much, even when I read back and find I"m not liking what is coming out onto the paper... some pain I need to deal with.

Must-do List:
Go to Home depot and get compost and some kind of liner to finish the back yard by Wednesday.
Put an outfit in my car just in case I get "the call" from the kids and need to go directly to the hospital.

Find a new internist within 3 miles of home and make an appointment by Friday!


Homekeeping: I want to get the bed set up in what we currently refer to as the "office" in the upstairs. My mom is coming to visit next Monday(5/19) and she doesn't care for the terrible "Barking Blue Dog" that lives downstairs... A bed is a must. Plus we never use the desk in there excpet to pile our mail on! Hummm need strong men to move things...should have put that on my Must do column...find strong men!

Menu Planning: My plan for meals this week are to find whatever food is available and try not to eat out to many time! No time or energy left for meal planning. Thank the Lord for putting Amy in my life on Thursdays!

Personal Health: I'm happy to report that I have reached my goal weight of 120lbs. I'm a solid size 4 now and very happy with it. Decided this morning that the surgeon, no matter how wonderful she is, isnt' really the right person to help me stabilize my life/health issues. So as you read in the must do column I will be using Lori's advice & direction and finding a good internist this week. One closer to home, read not in Elk Grove and not just a GP but someone who understands the delicate balance and issues of a post gastric bypass patient.

Blessings to All!

Mother's Day 2008

I looked up the word "mother" on Dictionary.com and found 35 results for this word...go figure! I think mom's have at least 35 job descriptions but that's a post for a different time.

So here we go.....

moth·er1
Audio Help /ˈmʌðər/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[muhth-er] –noun
1. A female parent; especially, one of the human race; a woman who has borne a child.
2. a person or thing that is very large, powerful, or impressive.
3. a term of address for a female parent or a woman having or regarded as having the status, function, or authority of a female parent.
4. a kind of game at cards played by several persons.
5. a stringy, mucilaginous substance consisting of various bacteria, esp. Mycoderma aceti, that forms on the surface of a fermenting liquid and causes fermentation when added to other liquids, as in changing wine or cider to vinegar.
Also called mother of vinegar.

Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother. ~Oprah Winfrey

One of the very few reasons I had any respect for my mother when I was thirteen was because she would reach into the sink with her bare hands - bare hands - and pick up that lethal gunk and drop it into the garbage. To top that, I saw her reach into the wet garbage bag and fish around in there looking for a lost teaspoon. Bare hands - a kind of mad courage. ~Robert Fulghum

It's not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it. ~From the television show The Golden Girls

My mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune. ~Graycie Harmon

The phrase "working mother" is redundant. ~Jane Sellman


We do make the world go round. We are the glue that holds it together. There is no harder job although there are better paying ones, unless you count those moments when you look into the sleeping face of your child.... that feeling never changes no matter how old they get. After 23 years all my children still look sweet and peaceful like they did that very first time I stood over their bassinet and just watched in awe at the beauty and wonder of the life I been given to raise.

To all the mom's out there, enjoy your day of celebration.

What's the point? I give up........

Trust

Today is not a good day... this is all that is holding it together for me.......

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will direct your paths.
Proverbs 3, 5-6

Old and free.....

It very weird for me to have such freedom.....

Friday night on the spur of the moment, we ended up with some friends at 58 degrees had a glass of wine or two and then made it to bed by midnight.

Saturday we woke up a bit late... 8am okay i know but that's late for us... and then rode our bikes to breakfast down town, dropped off the dry cleaning on the way. Back home we sat around and read for a bit... just relaxed you know. Then it was off to a BBQ with friends from 1pm to 8... spent some time talking to a couple from Brussels, very interesting people. Had Mint juleps in honor of the Kentucky derby... it was a lot of fun.

Sunday we headed off to church and then decided right after to head to Napa and come home the back way to find this camping spot we looked at last spring, when we did all that driving to take my mind off how sick I was. We found it, booked a premium site for the weekend of June 13Th and headed home. We did at that point have to be slightly responsible and do a little grocery shopping and house cleaning for the work week but hey it took maybe 3 hours. Then Doug came over and the kids joined us for BBQ turkey breast...so yummy in an Asian ginger marinade... more wine and lots of laughter. Oscar is very loose with a few drinks under his belt... heck I'm more loose with a few drinks if you can imagine that!

My point in all this... it hit me that we are basically like a young married couple. No kids to worry about, just make decisions/plans and go. I was talking to my brother in law Otto explaining that we wanted him to go camping with us in June but that we weren't' asking other family because they had kids and we wanted a kid free weekend. He laughed at me and how I've changed over the years... I was so kid oriented and now I'm all about no kids.

Which isn't exactly true but being completely honest I've never had a time in my life when I've been old enough to drink and party and do things like run off and have fun spontaneously..... until now. While I love children.. little kids and babies are just so sweet and wonderful... I'm also liking my non-kid space.

So if you are friends/family with kids reading this post and you didn't recieve an invite to go camping in June please dont take offense! We are going again in August and you can totally go then! I'll even watch the little ones while you take a break and hike and commune with nature!

Life has so many seasons and I'm really enjoying this one!

Time flies when you are having fun....

This has been a busy week. My great nephew Oliko has been in the hospital with possible RSV so please pray for him and his parents. My niece Laura is always amazing to me, she seems to never panic and take things in stride, she needs sleep so pray for that please.

Still no baby for Suzanne.... She is so ready to have Winter, she tells us on an hourly basis just how ready she is! Honestly she is a trooper, still going to class and getting the school work done, even if she does feel "Like a planet"...her words not mine.

Work is interesting...experienced a bit of discrimination for the first time...female in the male world of construction... I guess I'll leave that one alone since I'm still rather ticked off about it. I'll blog later when I'm more reasonable on the subject.

My daughter is going on 4 weeks of no smoking... I'm so proud of her. She is already looking a bit healthier to my bias maternal eye...

Last night we spent a few hours at 58 degrees a wine bar downtown and embarrassingly I admit that just 6 ounces if wine is enough for a nice buzz. After gastric bypass the alcohol hits you must faster because you no longer have a stomach to buffer the release into the blood stream. Upside...I feel it very quickly, so I'm a cheap date.... down side is it fades almost as fast but I guess that's good since I can drive sooner.

Fun times on Wednesday night when I went with a couple of friends to 31 flavors ice cream. They had a fund raiser going on that was a scoop for .31 cents. We stood in line for an hour and twenty minutes....in 3 inch heels! I dont' even eat ice cream! It was great to spend that time just visiting and catching up with my friends and my kids were very thankful for the ice cream so it was a good thing for everyone.

This week everything seems right with the world... things are moving forward with Oscar's job, I got a raise and an extra week of vacation from my job, our church family is still grieving the loss of our pastor and his family but we are moving forward, any day now we will be grandparents and I am loved by many...... the list seems long on the plus side!

Happy Saturday to all... it appears that this week was a blessed one!