House Update(s)

This post is about the house, because people ask "how's the house?".  And, since I work on the house and forget to take pictures, I decided to take pictures and not work today :)

In case you missed the Facebook post, J and I finally got the tiles up in the kids bathroom.  Up, grouted, sealed, caulked, cleaned, everything.  They'll be taking their first showers there tomorrow night (tonight is pizza and movie night)!!!  Woo hoo, no more kids in my shower :)  Didn't J do a good job with the niche??? Shampoo bottles on the window drive me nuts.  Then, it occurred to me yesterday while I took a shower, that having 5 teenage kids (because they'll be there one day) in one shower will probably require more than the two bottles of "stuff" they use now... we'll cross that bridge later *sigh*.

Pictures dark, sorry, I forgot to change the setting on the camera, and I don't feel like going outside to fix it :)  These are my Mother's Day flowers (there are 5). I "tilled" all this weedy earth by hand and then the planted the new plants, which will, in time, cover the ground in cute, purpley/blue flowers :) 

The chicks are growing!  They spent some time outside today while I cleaned their garage pen (messy birds)!  We saw a hawk flying with a baby bird the other day while the mama bird squealed after it... I won't be leaving the chicks outside for very long just yet!!!

This is one of the blue cochins.  She's mad at me for taking her picture, but her feet are soooooo fluuuuffffyyy!!!

"Our" cabinet guy brought our new cabinets.  J still has to cut down the counter top and we have to put in the drawer pull... but the kitchen is no longer gap-toothed.  P.S.  Those are the new ovens in case you haven't seen them!  They work great... unless you put your chicken wings in the oven that has been preheated for the fries and the fries in the chickens preheat oven... then you might have an issue or two... not that I would know anything about that.

The carpenters also cut down two cabinets.  The one above the microwave used to be double the size.  Now, next rainy day, I suppose J will be at the wall with a sledge hammer making the opening bigger :)

Well, I ran out of pictures.  J and TW are taking a load of junk that has overrun the trailer to the junk yard so that we can then use the trailer to return the 2 extra sheets of backer board we didn't need for the shower and pick up the floor tile.  It turns out cleaning "accidents" up off a concrete floor is almost as difficult as cleaning them up off of carpet.  With 5 kids in one house, someone has an accident at least once a day, usually small, or localized to the toilet seat, but on the big days -

In Other News:  You can see the bottom of the pool, apparently sand likes to hang out down there, it's almost like being at the beach and swimming in the ocean (okay, not really that bad) :)

Birthday Plus

I meant to do a post right after TW's birthday, but, for a myriad of reasons, never got around to it... until today (actually, yesterday, because that's when I loaded the pictures)!!!

Last time we chatted, I shared how I got my first born (baby) boy.  Since then, his 7th (YIKES) birthday has come and gone.  To celebrate, he picked, baked and decorated his own cake.  I supervised, helped stir, did the oven placement/removal, and insured that our traditional Curious George was in place.  In case you were wondering, that big "glob" of white icing is a pyramid.  Have I mentioned that he really likes Egypt right now???

TW's present from J and me was a .22 rifle.  He loves it and said this was the best birthday ever!!!  And just an FYI, this gun is not loaded in the picture, is never loaded in the house, is not loaded by him, is stored in a gun safe (I don't even know where the key is) and TW must recite 4 safety rules before he can even handle it :)

Though we did not get to go to the zoo on his actual birthday, we did go a week(ish) later.  And we visited the much anticipated DynoTrek!!!  Pretty Girl did not like the moving/roaring dino displays, but everyone else did ;)

Alright, I take it back- she liked the little jungle gym in the middle of the trek and the dino dig at the end... my bad!

Last week, J was promoted.  We all went to help "pin" his new rank on and see Daddy's work.  On the way out, all the kids squeezed into one turn stile. The idea was good, however, the follow through needs a little work!

Back at the ranch or is it a plantation, since we're in the south ...

J changed out our water heaters.  We ditched the calcium filled, 1983, 50 gallon yellow one, for a 80 gallon, 2013, digital display, stainless steel version.  Apparently families of 5+ use more hot water... go figure!

We had some massive rain right after my last post (or during, I can't remember now).  Our septic backed up (again).  So, our Saturday night showers became Saturday afternoon runs in the rain followed up by a warm rinse and hair wash in the garage.

So, upon further inspection we (as in our local plumber) found the dozer tank pump to be bad (the brand new one) and our drain field pipes full of roots and sand.  Earlier this week, the plumber, his sidekick (pictured here) and his dad all came to replace our hill!  We were so blessed to have men from church who we knew and trusted to do the work.  This fine man has three kids of his own and very graciously let mine help him out!!!

TW and I tried out the grit and fire ant theory (sprinkle plain grits around your ant hill, add more if needed (I did, three times), ants swallow grits, grits expand in ant bellies, no more ants).  I was a bit skeptical, but grits are cheap.  It worked!!!  The crack in front of our door is devoid of ants ;)

TW decided that the chicks needed some entertainment, so he "built" them a ramp and a toy thingy :)

Our pool, chemically, is ready to go... there are still a few leaves and some algae which is very slowly going away (it should be, we're on our 4th filter).  We decided to go ahead and use the thing, even if the water is still a bit cool for my taste :)  The kids didn't seem to care what the temperature was.  Pretty Girl ran and jumped in with no fear.  Berry just played on the steps and the edge (and screamed if anyone, Daddy included, enticed her further) and Mr. E tried to jump in, misjudged, hit his bottom, slid into the pool, bobbed sideways in his floater and refused to kick until I eventually gave in and hauled him out.  He spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the edge of the pool, splashing with his feet and hands :)

In Other News:  While the plumbing was backed up, I had to get creative with clothes washing (funny how a family of 7 manages to run out of underwear (me), pants (kids) and black t-shirts (J) :)  I drained the washer into a bin and then carted it out a bucket full at a time.  Anyway, I set my (3 1/2 year old) iPad on the washer, forgetting that J had not balanced the washer since we moved.  The rinse cycle threw my poor friend into a bucket full of water, which I didn't notice right away.  I tried drying it out for days in rice, but alas, it is gone.  I got a new iPad2 last week and a water proof, kid proof, me proof, "Life Proof"case!

Empty Camera!!!

It's been a few weeks since I emptied my camera :)

TW had an abscessed tooth that needed to be removed.   He thought that the treasure box the dental office put his tooth is was really cool!  He also likes the spacer that they installed until his grown up tooth comes through!

We have been studying Egypt all year, but just got to King Tut.  He has really enjoyed King Tut!

Last Monday (almost 2 weeks ago), our chickens arrived.  We got 11 total... 3 blue cochins (2 girls, 1 rooster!), 2 brahmas, 2 barred rocks, 2 rhode island reds, and 2 buff orpingtons ;)  We have been amazed at how quickly they are growing... and they're pretty fun to watch.  You can see that my treadmill is right behind the "brooder", so I get to watch them when I walk!

J made a really big bon fire one evening.  Smaug saw the bigger boys carting sticks to the fire and tried joining them by carrying whatever he could find and throwing it in the general direction of the fire.  He started off several feet away, and then kept getting braver and braver, I had to cut him off eventually :)

Since the boys' bedroom has two french doors that face the toy room, which has two french doors that face the hallway by the back door, curtains became a necessity.  That, or sneaking around in the dark first thing in the morning so I didn't wake anyone.  I found some rocket ship fabric :)  The boys have since broken the rods a few times... 

This picture is for Grandpa Mac.  TW picked the baggie of black berries that are dead center. He wants to save enough to make black berry  jam!

The house has had many tweaks since I last wrote.   I took this picture after spending several hours wiping down walls, and floor boards, and cupboards.  It's still a mess, but cleaner.

I got the rest of the wallpaper down in here (and we put up another towel bar).  The wallpaper is still up in the toilet room, but I'll get to that later!

Our dryer vent was cleaned out (all that water came out of the vent).  And then rerouted.  We have to put a cap on this old vent, but it's covered in septic water right now (again).  And, the vent already came undone in the attic, which J discovered while moving a junction box for my new oven (which works!!!), sorry I forgot to take a picture of that.

I got the dark wallpaper down in the kids bathroom, and J has gotten half the tiles up :)

And, just this morning we got the leaf-on-top, pink-on-bottom two layers of wallpaper down in the school room.

In other News:  Our toilet wouldn't flush this morning.  J started digging a trench in the pouring down rain, while trying to find if it was a clog.  It turns out our brand new septic pump is not working and we are currently waiting on the repair man... hopefully he won't charge us anything since it's his pump that broke... cross your fingers!!!

Motherhood Part I

I have decided to chronicle the very surface of my married life, for those of you have seen it, and for those of you who we have just met, or barely know :)  Mostly, I am chronicling my mother hood journey :)   When we first got pregnant, I knew very few people around me going through similar events... actually, I take that back.  I knew no one experiencing what I was experiencing... just those getting pregnant right and left with very few problems.  However, I am now finding that more people are experiencing or did experience very similar things.  So, I am hoping, that by sharing my adventure, it would help others who may just be starting their trip, or who may be smack dab in the middle of it!

I know I have some friends who are yet to be married (or Mama's), but, in the interest of time, I'll skip that little story for another day.  Here is me, right about the same time I met J and probably about a year before we got married.  Yes, I know, I was cute ;)

Me, 1999

As young newlyweds, I thought the thing you were supposed to do was a wait a little while before having kids.  So, responsibly (because I didn't know about things like natural family planning), I began birth control pills.  We married in November, J deployed in April for 7 months and returned home the following November.  By the next summer, we decided to start on the family journey.  I stopped my pills, and for some reason "Aunt Flo" (just in case I have male readers, I won't go into any details, girls, you'll know who I mean) never showed up.  This got me quickly into a fertility specialist, who's only goal if life was to help me get pregnant!  

Tests were inconclusive, everything, they said, should be working.  We started our first round of treatments using clomid,  an oral medication that was supposed to help my eggs grow into mature, baby making ladies.  For several months we worked on adjusting the medication, which, fyi, is harrowing on the emotional system.  Then finally, we got one month that worked (but no pregnancy)... and then, the following month, we were pregnant!!!

J and I, Christmas, 2003

We told everyone our exciting news right away!  My doctor had me come in on a Saturday during week 5 and I saw our little blob (J was at work that day).  We had a follow up 7 week appointment and then a 9 week appointment.  And then a 14 week appointment (it took a while to get through the military system and into an OB clinic instead of the fertility clinic).  The corpsman (military equivalent of a nurses aide) came in with her doppler machine and started hunting around for a little heartbeat.  No luck.  She didn't seem surprised, she said she sometimes had problems when the babies were small.  So, then they brought in the ultrasound and the doctor.  He found the baby, but did not find a heart beat.  Little Bit had made it to 9 1/2 weeks, but no further. 

We were devastated.  For some reason the idea of a miscarriage had never crossed my mind.  Add to that, I had no idea that you could have a miscarriage without actually bleeding or something.  I'd felt sick right up to 12 weeks, my pants didn't fit, I was ready to move into lose pants, we'd bought a few, gender neutral onsies.  I cried, a lot, and was scheduled for surgery 2 days later (J had duty the very next day or they would have done it then).  

After that, we took a break, I didn't want to go through another loss.  But, eventually, we started up again with treatments (still no Aunt Flo).  This time, we were sent to a civilian doctor.  She insisted we do a procedure called an IUI.  In very simple words, J puts his "donation" in a cup, they clean it up, and insert them into me at the perfect moment.  All this after I did 2 months of birth control (to "clean things out").  We had one failed attempt and then, we were pregnant!!!

Our very first check up was at 6 1/2 weeks or so.  It was so nice to see a little tiny, flickery heart beat.  By now, I had left the Navy and was working at a hospital.  We decided to keep our news quiet this time.  That was hard, I was more nauseous and I remember sneaking crackers at my desk, just to keep me from having a constant sour face :)  Around 12 weeks, I had my first appointment with the OB office.  I really don't remember the visit, at all, I don't even know if J was there or not (although, I'm pretty sure he was).  I remember the doctor, she'd done my first surgery and follow up appointments.  She was just doing OB rounds, on loan from the fertility clinic.  I remember going back to work and one of the resident doctors looking at my, most likely red and swollen face, and telling me things would be okay (though he had no clue what had happend).  I remember telling my boss I was having surgery in a few days.  We were offered the option to wait, but we were headed to Alaska for my sisters wedding, so surgery was the safest way to go with travel plans in the future.  I remember waking up from surgery crying for my baby.  I remember we went to McDonald's afterwards because J was starving.  I remember we then called home to tell them we'd had another loss.

In Anchorage for the wedding

Dry your eyes- the story gets better here!!!  We immediately went back to treatments.  I don't remember who my doctor was.  I do remember that we did not have an IUI, just "strategically timed intercourse" ;)  I wasn't sure if things were going to work; but I got dizzy in the Wal-Mart one day, and hoped.  And then, my pregnancy test was positive.  Just after my 7 week mark, I woke up in the middle night with these searing pains in my groin.  I woke J and we headed to the ER.  I was convinced that I had an ectopic pregnancy.  But, when they did an ultrasound, there was a heartbeat, in the right spot!  It turned out I was popping ovary cysts right and left (due to the meds I had been taking).  It was a rough couple weeks after that, but it helped me through my all-day nauseousness.

This time, I got assigned to a civilian OB doctor.  He was Korean, didn't speak very good English and was "old school", but at 14 weeks, he confirmed we still had a baby and I loved him for it! 

Me (and my Mama) at my honorary sister's wedding

I quit my job at the end of March, attended a wedding in Illinois, and then waited for TW to show up.  It took that kid forever.  My doctor (warning, he was old school) scheduled my induction for the day after TW's due date.  I didn't want this.  I walked and walked and walked, every where.  Come out kid!  I had braxton hicks starting at 18 weeks, so I knew my body knew what to do.  The contractions came daily from 36 weeks on, so I was hopeful he'd be early.  Nothing.  I was going to school full time and dreaded going to class each day (it was the end of the semester anyway) because I knew someone would ask me why I was there.  I dreaded going to church and being asked the same thing.  Some how, I made it to the day before his due date.  And, when I woke up that morning, I felt different!  By the time J got home from work, I was hoping that the weird feeling would keep me from being induced.  Our good friends came over around 7 with a welcome baby basket, and I was then having contractions.  I called my mom around 8 and had a short conversation with her saying I'd call the next day.  We went to bed.   I woke J around 11:30, it took us 30 minutes to get downstairs and another 30 minutes to get to the hospital (we ran one red light) :)  And, at 1:05, I became a Mama.  My 7 pound 1 oz bundle of non-stop energy entered the world, one hour late, on May 3, 2006.  Happy Birthday "Little Man"!!!

Only a few hours old

Visiting home, just before he turned 2

On Grandpa's motorcycle

Iowa State Fair

Hanging Out

Trains!!!

And, of course, there is more story then this, because, if you know me at all, you know I have more than one bundle of joy!  But, that too will have to wait until another day.  For now, I'm going to go put in a Thomas show, TW requested it, and tomorrow, after all, is his birthday :)