Awesome!

I just came across this great tool for putting in my fall garden...

urg

Third migraine this week.

And now I have Noah's cold.

And Post-partum stinks (think wah!!!!! over everything)

Still have the best baby ever :)

Comparisons

Left: Kev Right: Noah both newborn

Left: Noah Right: Kev both five days old
Kasen 4 days

Kasen 4 days

This is his little folded ear. Cute, huh? We don't know yet if it will be permanent. I think it's pretty darn cute. And, yes, his hearing is fine :)

Kasen

I'll post more later-- very tired...

My Crazy Chicken

This is 'Fluffy Feet', our mutt chick that we hatched in our incubator about two weeks ago. Right now this is my favorite chick, because it is SOOOO bizarre looking. It's a frizzle, which means the feathers curl up all over, and I think it may have Turken blood too as it is NEKKID on its neck and back, though it has plenty of feathers on its feet. I want this one to be a pullet so bad, because it is so funny looking and cute.

We currently have seven chicks and three older chicks that we got at the feed store. The older ones are living in the garden structure (garden is dead) and the younger ones are in a kiddie pool in the garage with their heat lamp. I think they're ready to move out as soon as we make them a spot. We have two Americaunas, one New Hampshire Red, 1 buff orpington, 2 white Pymouth rocks, one silver laced Wyandotte, and then three mutts. It means waiting a loooong time for eggs, and there's no guarantee that all of these are pullets, but it was fun to hatch (7 chicks out of 80 EGGS????? THAT STANK!)



I love how you can see Pepsi in the background :)

This is a weird pregnancy. I've been having some strong contractions, but it's usually only one or two spread over an hour. I've had bloody show (I know, TMI) for the last week. I'm sure there's progress going on, but, of course, it's hard to know what.

The last few days-- esp. since Friday, I have been extremely uncomfortable. I'm crampy and achy and swollen. I'm miserable, to the point where Keith even noticed (LOL).

And we've been talking about the baby's name. We think we're going to name him Elijah Kasen and call him Eli, but it's hard, because we've been calling him Kasen this whole time, and it's a hard habit to break. I don't want to call him by his middle name. I want to name him what we'll call him. Keith has put it in my hands to make the final decision, which is... nice (?) of him, considering what a control freak he is :).

I'm just really uncomfortable and tired. And, frankly, I'm not looking forward to this labor and delivery. My last two were somewhat tramatic. I want to meet this baby so badly though.

I'm not complaining-- I'm kinda thinking 'out loud'.

Kevin's birthday was an adventure. We spent the day doing one on one time with him. We took him to the toy store to pick out a present (he got some in the morning), and then to his favorite place to eat (Gandhi) for lunch time. He got to play with his new trains with Daddy for a while and then we made a cake for his birthday together.

The party is today. Keith and I made a train cake and decorated it with M & Ms. It could be cuter :). The boys are getting their gifts from us that are the same at the party. It should be fun.

Yadda yadda. Blah blah blah. :)

That's exactly how I feel right now... BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! :)

August is an Inconvenient Time to Have a Baby...

At least in our family, August is such a packed month that it's hard to find a time where it would actually be a good time to have this baby. Most Augusts that's true for us. This August it's more explicitly true.

So far we have fortunately missed Kev's first day of school, his school birthday (today). Over the next few days he'll have his Mom and Dad birthday and his joint birthday party with his brother. Then we have Noah's birthday, which he will have one on one time with Mom and Dad. AFTER all of that seems like it would be the best time to have this baby.

Of course, we don't get to pick and choose :).

I know that this baby will come when he's ready and that he'll decide when that is. I really don't want to miss the coming birthdays, which, esp. for Kevin are realllly important events for us. So, I'm just sitting tight and letting what happens happen... and I stink at that :).

BUT... I look at my seven little hatchling chickens. And the one with whom I interfered is the one that doesn't act quite right-- doesn't run as fast, has slower reflexes, sleeps more... So I have this reminder that interfering too much isn't necessarily a good thing. Of course, MY baby is healthy, and this chick was one who wasn't strong enough to hatch, so different story completely, I guess.

Oh, yawn, I'm sleepy and not making sense. I'm going to eat something, finish the last ten pages of the book I'm reading and cuddle for a few hours with Noah before getting Kev from school. I SHOULD be cleaning house. I'm NOT going to. I'm going to rest while I can... and NOT throw up my morning medication :).

False Labor... Again...

With Noah, I went through eight hours of false labor.

This morning I was wakened at 3 am with contractions, pretty strong, until about 6:30, when they stalled. About fifteen minutes later I started bleeding bright blood, but not lots of it, so I ended up having to go into the women's center where they decided that it was normal bleeding from tiny capillaries rupturing as my cervix dialates. They gave us the option to stay there and see if we made progress, or go home.

We went home and tried walking. When I walk I get regular contractions, but they don't sustain themselves when I'm not moving.

As of now, Keith is going back to work. Noah is at the office with Grandma Leah and I'm here feeling very... deflated. I'm crampy and uncomfortable and I know I should try to nap, but it takes me a really long time to fall asleep under the best circumstances. I know I should sleep and I know I should eat something, but right now I'm just bummed out and I feel like the boy who cried wolf.

My Kindergartner

This Morning...

Noah and I have been having a blast together today. I've been letting him be 'in charge'-- telling me how to get dressed and what we're going to eat, etc. We were gifted with some lovely clothes for the boys last night from a couple in the ward and he's prancing around in SpongeBob pajamas (I HATE Spongebob! But Noah does look cute :))

He was sitting down to eat his noodles when he suddenly turned and said, matter-of-factly, "My baby is coming out today. I'm going to push."

My BABY!

No, not the one I'm still carrying... but Kevin!

He starts kindergarten tomorrow.

I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing-- I like his school and his teacher OK. It's just the thought of not having him around anymore than bugs me-- that and the fact that I *hated* school. Kevin is intense and I worry that that and his shyness will make school a difficult thing for him.

I also have so many worries and self-doubts that I will let him down. I know that I need to be in there volunteering as much as possible, but it's just not going to happen. I can barely face driving to school tomorrow to pick him up. In fact, thinking about that, alone, makes me stress out.

This is my *Kevin*-- my little baby who didn't want to thrive, my creative, impulsive, organized, driven, son. He isn't a cuddly child, but once in a while he'll show real affection for me. Lately he's been asking for 'Mommy Only' time in the night time and we just go to my room and talk about random things. I *love* it, and it's never long enough because Daddy gets distracted and Noah shows up, grinning, to say 'that's my spot, Kev!'

What if he's overlooked because he's so quiet? What if he refuses to show his teacher what he already knows and she lables him, without realizing that he already knows how to read, that he knows it all, but he's unlikely to show it to her, because he just doesn't like being put on the spot. Even with us he'll play dumb if he's put on the spot or feels pressured...

I do want him socialized. I want him to know his peers and be able to play and get along with them well. I want him to learn social skills that I never learned, and to have a learning environment where, perhaps, he won't challenge everything the teacher says like he does with me. I am SO worried that the opposite will happen. I'm scared that school will feel to him like it did to me, and that he'll be so stressed out and scared to go that he'll do anything not to.

I've already decided that if he doesn't thrive this year, and love it, that I'm homeschooling him next year. I don't want him to think we can just quit things mid-stream, and I've been accused of teaching him that as it is, because of situations like the goats, etc. that have not worked out well.

But, you know what? We looked at the curriculum and it's all going to be review until December at the earliest for him. He knows so much about the world around him through all the things we've done together, and we've read together so much, and done numbers... I hope he walks in there and is filled with confidence when he realizes how ahead he is...

I'm going to miss him so much!

In which Noah spends $150 on ebay...

Apparently even my two year old can figure out ebay. I found out today that he bought (Buy it now option) a HUGE BEEHIVE on ebay. He only had to get to ebay, log in as me (semi-self-filling form) click Buy It Now and then confirm the purchase...

ARGH!!!! This is taking precocious too far!

Hopefully the seller will understand/believe me...