I am an Aunt...Again!

It seemed like it would never happen...being an Aunt again. The past year and a half has been tough on my sister & her hubby Trav. They suffered 2 miscarriages back to back, which made for a tough first trimester with this pregnancy. We were all on eggshells. Trying to be positive. Knowing that if not for those losses that this pregnancy would not have happened.

They were due on Feb 22nd and to be honest, we were all expecting her to go late again (like she did with Olivia). Not so much the case. I got a call around 4pm that she was going to the hospital after her doctor appointment that afternoon....TO HAVE A BABY. I waited for Kurt to get home, ate dinner and packed a bag and headed out to the hospital about an hour away. I got there around 8:30 or so and we hung out, watched some of the Olympics, talked about the random stuff. Not focusing on the task at hand. Around midnight things started to pick up, she got an epidural, started to push 2 1/2 hours later and after about 15 min of pushing, Fletcher was born!

I was there in the thick of it. I was actually a little apprehensive about the birth. Last time, I was pregnant myself and Lib had a hard time. I didn't want to go through that again. She was a trooper this time and did a great job. Made me feel a little inadequate with my odd shaped pelvis and 2 CSections. But there are no medals or awards given in childbirth. Just get it done.

The Happy Family

Grammie & Fletcher
Fletcher James
2.16.10
2:52am
7 Pounds, 6 oz.
19.5 Inches long


Proud Aunt Kate

Nothing sweeter than a newborn baby in your arms and in your life. Welcome to the family baby Flash. Your Uncle Kurt and cousins can't wait to meet you. I can't wait to love on you a little more. We are so happy God sent you to us.

Random Thoughts for Today.

I am full of random thoughts today...so I decided to jot them down here.

As I was picking up the house for the 4th or 5th time this MORNING, thinking to myself, why do I even bother? It occurred to me that is why so many more women have that hunched up back. It's because they are always bending over picking up stuff. Perhaps that is why my waist stays small and my curves are kickin (A nod to Sir Mix A Lot)

I mopped the kitchen floor today. Again, wondering why I bother. But I still like to look at it all shiny and smooth. Will it stay like that for even 8 hours? Doubt it

The kids have 2 new favorite toys. A box from Amazon that delivered me some precious Raspberry Iced Tea Mix (1st ingredient is High Fructose Corn Syrup, so you know that it is good) and a Nike Shoe box. The kids decorated the Amazon Box the other day when we had a snow day and called it their dog cage and insisted they put all of their dog stuffed animals in it. Hey I am cool with that kind of dog, no dog hair. The Nike Box, Kurt made into a Monster Truck Garage for Jimmy. I think they need to get rid of all of their toys and apparently they do too, since after cleaning up the basement the other day, the kids had taken everything so meticulously organized and place it all random in the middle of the room, strewn about. They told me that they had a store and were selling things.

They should have tasers for little kids. Not to knock them out, but to keep them still for more than 5 minutes. Because maybe...just maybe they will stay still long enough to fall asleep. Hey, I may even taser myself once in a while. Just as an excuse to sit down.

I wonder at what point I will ever catch up on all the stuff I have to do around here? I am a list maker, but the lists don't ever get all crossed off. I am going to start to add stuff that I know will get crossed off, like Yell at kids to stop fighting or Walk downstairs to turn off the TV that was left on. My personal favorite would be Try to find all of the clothes that Julia was wearing before she changed into costume. The key to that one is to stop on all 3 floors. Anyway, I think I will feel more productive if I see more stuff crossed off my list.

And on a positive note, i have a few things that are not negative (because I am a glass half full kind of gal):

• We did the 3 days in a row of underwear thing for like the 4th month in a row trying to see if Jimmy would ever get the hang of it. Well, I am proud to say that in the 3 days, we only had 5 pairs of underwear TOTAL. Not bad my little guy...not bad. The thought of being completely out of diapers/Pull-ups has me sort of delirious. I need to make sure that Kurt visits the doctor in the near future.


• After scolding Julia this morning for waking her brother up at 6:30am...he is now fast asleep for a much needed nap and a much needed break for Mom. I will have to remember to tell her "Thanks, for not listening to mom...for once it was actually a good thing."


• I am glad that I am able to roll with the punches that day to day life as a housewife/SAHM throws at me. I am thankful that my day doesn't go to pot when all of the above happens and I thought that I'd get to go out and run errands before "quiet time." I am just thankful that I have my warm (depends on who you ask, 64 is perfectly warm for me) house and a great husband that pretty much gives me whatever I want and lets me live this little life where the list above are the things that I have to worry about on a Friday afternoon.

Making Valentines

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and the kids in Julia's class will be exchanging Valentines next Friday. I told her we should just make our own valentines this year, since she loves to draw. Of course we found some pink paper and I scored them to make them into cards. That's all I did to help her make her valentines. I did give her a few stamps that had hearts on them to use, but that's it. She's on her own. She is very creative and would use several "techniques" on each card. A few times she'd do something on a card she really liked and would say, "I'm going to do one like this again!" She warms my creative, paper crafting heart. When I am in my craft room, she likes to come in and set up her own little station. She has her own supplies and "scrapbooks" with me. I love to watch her be creative. Sure, i could make her Valentines for her and make them super cute....but really, would a 5 year old care if they got a fancy valentine? No. I care more that my daughter takes pride in making them herself and will beam with pride when she takes them to school.

Need Any Cars?

Last week in efforts to direct Jimmy's energy elsewhere, i asked him to put all of his cars on the train table and line them up. I really just wanted to keep him busy, but then I thought it would be a good way to see how many matchbox cars he really did have. Well, as you can see, I don't think he is missing too many.