Wednesday, June 17, 2009

It's Been 3 Years

Yesterday we celebrated a life, not a life that we knew out of utero but a life non the less. Charlsie Grace has been gone for 3 years now, she was my daughter and my children's sister. It's funny I always imagine, every year, how we will celebrate her life, it never turns out how I imagine it, but every year it's perfect.

This past year has been easier in terms of her death, I don't cry quite as much, but I still do cry. Yesterday I thought I would have some time to look over her pictures, remember her birth, and think about the short 32 weeks I had her inside of me. Instead (and I smile as I write this) I was snuggling and nursing 2 teething babies who were a bit misserable and in need of mommy love. I finally made it to Wal Mart at about 6pm to get the necessary items for the celebration. Wasn't what I had planned but that's ok. We have added another member to our family since last year so Baby Charlsie has another brother. This yearly tradition of remembering our daughter and sister has turned into a really special family time. I want my children to remember their sister, she is still part of our family even though she is up in heaven.

Can you see the balloon? Every year we write a special message to baby Charlsie and send the balloons up up up and away!






The kids getting ready to send off their baloons.


Eating cream puffs!


Sweet Lainey not feeling so hot!


Having fun in the sun, it's a Celebration of life after all!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Belly laugh!!!


Couldn't resist adding this one....

Houston Children's Museum


NASA


Sweet Lainey...who is potty training btw!

Ok Lisa are ya happy now ? :)

Picture Post

My two handsome boys! Doesn't Josiah's face just crack you up!!!


We recently went to a party and someone gave the girls some "contraband" i.e. cheese balls! They never eat them at home so you can imagine how they scarfed them down!



The kids are so helpful with the baby :)


In case anyone questions where this little guy was born!
You know how we Texans can be....(whoops I'm not a Texan!) I guess it's rubbed off on me!

Sunday, May 31, 2009

My Most Polite Child

Peas, Peas, Peas, no she's not asking for a vegetable that's just her cute little way of saying "please". The "peas" are quickly turning into a full on Please though and I find myself missing her mispronunciation!
My other children are all pretty polite and know to say please and thank you but my 20mo, Lainey, was by far the youngest to learn these words. She started out by signing "more" when she was a baby, then she started saying the word "more". Eventually her daddy wanted me to teach her to sign the word "please" but from past experience with other children and the mess they make when this is signed I asked if I could wait on that one~ you see for "please" you place your flat palm on your chest and rub it around in a circular motion~ let me tell you this can get really messy when you are eating and when do kids use the word "please" the most?...you got it! So instead of signing it I started saying it to her every time she wanted something, then as soon as she learned to say it I started requiring her to say it for everything. Now the word "Peas" is an automatic response for her and she sounds so incredibly cute every time she says it! The hard part is when she really wants something and says it incessantly!!!! Seriously you can hardly get her to stop, but hey better that than screaming or throwing a fit right? :) Oh and the funny part is that sometime she will sign "more" while saying "peas" or if we try to get her to say "more please" she will say "mease". Oh and we have added "tank do" to the mix.

As an added note she is usually very smiley but these were the only recent pics I had of her so they had to do! Next post will be updated pics of the kids...those who know me IRL will not believe how big my little man is!


Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Now I'm THAT Mom

I recently had a new friend over. We had never met but had both gone to the same church in the town that we moved from. We had heard about one another through mutual friends and were finally able to get together. I really enjoyed our visit and look forward to getting together more! We have yet to meet many people in this new town so this was certainly a ray of sunshine!

After she left I got to thinking and realized that now I'm THAT mom. The mom with four kids that I used to look up to when I only had one or maybe two. The mom that homeschooled and still had a semblance of normalcy in her home. I remembered how I used to think "how does she do it" "I can barely do it with one" "wow her house looks pretty clean" "her kids are so well behaved." Then I started thinking that if I'm now THAT mom, well the fallacies should be revealed! You see now that I'm THAT mom I realize that the house is clean because you and two of your older children have run around like crazy people trying to clean up and get things in order! Now that I'm THAT mom I realize that it is only by God's grace that my children behave and that you missed the disrespectful attitude that the middle child displayed earlier that day. Now that I'm THAT mom I realize that having older kids to entertain and help with the younger children really makes having four almost easier than one. Now that I'm THAT mom I truly see that it is only through HIM that I am able to do all of this. Now that I'm THAT mom I also see the importance of being real with others and sharing my struggles so they realize that I'm not really THAT mom!

Now that I'm THAT mom I have found myself looking up to THOSE moms, you know, the ones with 7,8,9-18 kids! Their lives seem so orderly and together while I feel like mine has much chaos and messyness!!! The ones who make all their own food, have their own garden, milk their own cow, homeschool, and lead a Bible study. But you know what, now that I have realized that I have become THAT mom, THOSE moms don't intimidate me quite so much anymore because I bet that when I get there I'll realize that they are just like me!

Now for a family update. Josiah is now 4mo. We are having so much fun with him. Everyone enjoys him and he brings so many smiles to our family. We are continuing to adjust to our new home and contnue our search for a new church family. (why oh why does this have to be so hard!) We are doing some fun experiments in our homeschool with red cabage and acidic foods as well as reading some fun book like In Grandma's Attic and Hudson Taylor. I'm contnuing to learn more about healthy eating and natural living and I love it!
Till next time,
Charlsie

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Josiah's birth!

Since I know so many of you(well at least one of you) are clamoring for my birth story I will indulge you and divulge! Actually if truth be told I am a sucker for your wonderful comments and this story is sure to make you come out of the woodwork! I mean who can resist a good birth story. I personally love to hear them! Plus the little guy is a month old and we all know that if I don't get this written out soon I will forget some of the important details.

The whole thing started Friday morning. Lainey (my 15mo) woke up and had an unusually long nursing session. As she nursed my contractions started to get closer together and a bit more intense. I was really excited and started to think that this was it! Well about 30 minutes after she stopped nursing the contractions tapered off and started being much more irregular. They did stay fairly intense though. I had a midwife appointment that day and since the contractions were not regular we decided to go see her just in case I did not go into labor for a few more days. We went to San Antonio where she practices and had a nice family day. We ate at Chick-fil-a which the kids love and did a little shopping. We even bought our car seat, yes a little last minute I know!

All that time I was having contractions anywhere from an hour apart to about 10 minutes apart and they were all fairly intense, some of them made me pause and concentrate my way through them. When we got home and got the kids in bed Michael and I watched a movie I think and then went to bed about 10. By this point I was pretty sure I was in labor but I decided that I needed to get any rest I could so I didn't really mention it. Oh and I lost some of my mucus plug right before bed. I kept getting up to use the restroom about every hour and officially woke up at 2am knowing I was in full blown labor. I didn't know how far along I was so I decided to let Michael sleep for awhile longer. At this point I found myself hanging out in the bathroom on the throne if you know what I mean...for some reason this was the most comfortable place for me to be. At 3am the dog woke Michael up and I decided it was a good time to tell him I was in labor. He started running around getting things ready. We turned up the hot water heater so there would be plenty of water for my birthing tub (aka the big inflatable pool). I am still hanging out on the throne having to relax and concentrate my way through contractions now. I kept wondering if I was in transition because I kept having the self doubt thoughts that normally come at that time...I just kept quoting "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!" I can't tell you how much peace that gave me.

Somehow I found my way back to our bedroom, I think I was checking on Michael's progress with getting the birthing tub set up. I was needing some relief from my contractions. It was set up in a corner and he was filling it up with water. I looked over at the floor and said "babe is there water on the floor or am I just seeing things." No the pool had not leaked it turned out that because we had turned up the hot water heater, per the instructions of the birthing pool, it had started to overflow. Well it overflowed from the next room, through the wall and onto the brand new laminate wood flooring that had been installed just 2 days before. My dear hubby was freaking out a bit! So yes poor dh was franticly trying to dry the floor, and get the pool ready for me. I am trying to help in between contractions and not doing a very good job of it and am told to stop and go concentrate. Well by this time it is 3:30am and hubby says he thinks we should call the midwife. Well I feel bad calling at this time of night so I say why don't we wait a bit longer and see if this is really it. I would hate for her to come all this way for nothing! Well praise God that my hubby knows me so well because he insists on calling her and tells her to come on because I am in labor. After that I decide he is probably right and call my parents to come too. I called my friend GFG but unfortunatly she was not by her phone and missed it!(we were both pretty bummed about that)

By this time the pool is almost ready and I gratefully get in it. Because of the hot water heater mishap Michael has been alternating between using the hose and boiling water to put in the birthing tub. The water helps me deal with my contractions a little bit and then I notice that I have entered into the phase of labor where I get pretty serious and intense. My parents arrive, mom comes in with me and dad hangs out in the living room. Now it is probably around 4:30. I begine to feel the urge to push but am not totally sure so I sort of dismiss it. I feel like this is much to soon for that. At about 4:45 the midwives arrive and begin to set up. I tell them that I would like my cervix checked because I have the urge to push but am not sure...well she checks it and says "Yep he is right there I can feel his head". Boy does that give me some hope!!! I am almost done. Soon after that I start pushing. I decided to stay in the birthing tub to see what delivery is like in there. Someone goes and gets Micah and Maddie because they wanted to see their brother being born. The pushing is intense and as soon as I start I wish I could stop. I can relax and concentrate my way through contractions but pushing is something I really dislike!!! I backed way up against the side of the pool sort of trying to escape the pain. I am still in control though and don't freak out. I make low groaning noises through the pushing to try to help. With the first push my water breaks. After his head is out I ask them if they can't just pull the rest of him out and of course they tell me they can't! Then I pushed his chest out and decide I really don't like seeing him there underwater. It is a bit strange and he looked almost dead to me which is just not something I can deal with. Finally I pushed all of him out and Michael caught him. I immediatly took him and held him close to me. Then I had to put his body underwater so he would stay warm. It was such a relief to get him out and be done with the pushing! After he was born we found out that he was posterior and although I did not have back labor my contractions were still a little harder than normal to manage and that must be why. We waited till the cord stopped pulsing and Micah, my 5 yo, cut the cord. Since he was born at 4:57 the midwives had arrived with just about 10min. to spare. The kids were so glad that they got to see their little brother be born! It was such a special labor and I was so blessed to be able to do it in the comfort of my own home! I loved that the kids got to be there and experience it. .

I'm sorry that was so long...I hope you were able to get through it. There is even more to be told but for space sake and your time I am leaving it out. I hope you enjoyed my story though and if you can any questions about homebirth or midwives please e-mail me!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

And baby makes 6

Here is the newest addition to our family. Sweet baby Josiah was born at home, daddy caught him, and big brother Micah cut the cord! Thank you to my good friend GfG for making this cute announcement. I will share the birth story soon!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Diluted Weewee

Several of you have been after me to write a new post....well boy have I got a story for you!

This weekend we were all headed to Target for some shopping, Michael got the kids loaded in the car while I locked up the apartment. As I got in the car I saw him spitting out some water, he quickly asked "how long has that water been in here?" As soon as I saw the bottle he was asking about I started laughing so hard that I had tears streaming down my face. I could not get the words out to explain to him what had happened. Part of me felt horrible for what I was going to explain to him, part of me was a little scared about his reaction, and part of me wanted to stop laughing so I could show proper remorse. Well as all of these parts of me waged inside I was pointing at Micah and trying to explain. Finally I got the words out "Micah peed in that bottle."

You see the previous day he had been desperate for the potty and that was my solution. (yes I am that kind of mom, sorry to disappoint you) Obviously I should have disposed of said bottle at the earliest convenience but to be honest when unloading the car bottles with pee in them are not at the top of my list. Diaper bag, baby, groceries, and other things are much much higher on that list!

Oh and you know how I said that part of me was a little scared at what his reaction might be...well I have such a wonderful sweet hubby that after he finished giving me a couple of annoyed looks over how much I was laughing he actually said "It really didn't taste all that bad."

Hubby says,"Thank God it was watered down!"