Happy Birthday #4!

By the time you're pregnant with your fourth child you think you've got it all figured out. But leave it to pregnancy/children to make sure you know that you have nothing figured out.

When I first learned I was pregnant (let me tell you that was a shock) I calculated my due date at early November but when I went to my first prenatal appointment we learned that my due date was October 9th. I was already 4 weeks further along than I had ever dreamed!

So now I have #2 whose birthday is October 1st and I'm due October 9th. But I know my pregnancies and I have had all my babies 1 week early...that would be October 1. My plan back in March of that year was to go as long as I could toward the 9th...but let's face it, 9 months later I was ready as soon as the Dr. would go.

I had my appointment September 29th and the doctor told me to come to the hospital on her next "on call" day, October 2nd. All thoughts of going longer toward the 9th was out the window...lets deliver this baby!

The 2nd of October 2007 we made the trip to the hospital early in the morning and I again had that strange feeling of going to have a baby without being in labor. Dr. L came in and broke my water early that morning and I got ready to go into labor...sounds strange, doesn't it.

This time though I only felt like laying in bed. I didn't want to walk around, though I did a little. After a couple of hours of contractions but nothing worthy of having a baby...every nurse in the hall commented that I was still smiling, a clear sign I was not in strong enough labor. Dr. L decided to start me on pitocin. All my other labors I had been able to avoid pitocin but this time things just weren't moving along and it didn't seem like it could hurt.

Hurt it did! My contractions started right up and were two minutes apart. I tried walking, I tried sitting in the tub, I tried sitting, I tried standing, I tried swaying (it had always worked for me). The nurse checked me and I had barely dilated...I burst into tears. So miserable and so upset that all the pain and work hadn't produced anything. The nurse was supportive and sweet. Mr. Wiedz got right down to business. I walked for an hour and sat in the tub for 1/2 hour.

It all gets a little fuzzy after that...Mr. Wiedz, labor coach extraordinaire, and his prescription worked. My labor was fast and furious at that point. I asked for the swatting bar, thinking that would be the thing...it wasn't but it was great for doing calf presses against. Who knows how much longer but at 4 something in the afternoon October 2nd, 2007 we welcomed #4 into our family.

Today we celebrated #4 turning one. Although for this birthday all it meant was some streamers hung above his bed and the door frame. The party is tomorrow for both my birthday boys.

#4 is the easiest baby I've ever had. He does his own little thing and only comes around if he's hungry or tired. He even lets the other kids "play" with him. He's so sweet and our family is blessed by him.

Happy Birthday #4!

Happy Birthday #2

As I write this it is October 30th. Five years ago I had been working at my grandparents rock pit. Spending the days weighing trucks. It was a numbingly boring job. Mostly I read, crocheted, or scrapbooked. I had been filling in for the full time lady off and on since I was in high school. I spent the week working, taking #1 some days but the weigh shack was a 10x10 room...not the most awesome place to spend the day with a 2 year old.

On this October 30th Mr. Wiedz and #1 picked me up at the pit and took me to my prenatal appointment in town. I was 39 weeks pregnant with #2. Dr. L did all the regular prenatal appointment stuff. At the end of the appointment she nonchalantly said, "come in tomorrow and I'll break your water."

Whoa! You mean have the baby tomorrow? Okay, are we ready for this?! Okay! See you tomorrow.

Mr. Wiedz suggested that I not return to the rock pit that afternoon. I agreed that it was important to spend the day as our family of 3. We returned to the pit only to leave a note on the window for the trucks and to call Grandma and let her know. I don't remember what else we did that day...I'm sure it had something to do with packing a hospital bag and squeezing on my #1.

We had to be at the hospital at 6AM the next morning. I was having contractions but nothing remarkable. I remember commenting how interesting it felt to be driving to the hospital to have a baby without being in labor. #1 stayed with Grandma D.

I got to the hospital and got all settled into a room, all the monitors and answered all their questions. Dr. L came in, broke my water and sent me on my way to walk the halls of the labor floor to get my labor to go.

I don't remember much about the day...I walked, I sat in the bathtub, my mom, Mr. Wiedz's mom and one of my best friends came to visit, wait and be part of our special day. I do remember being afraid to push. It had taken a lot of pushing to get #1 to be born and I was so afraid it would be like that again. At one point Mr. Wiedz asked our audience to give us a minute alone. They cleared the room and I confided in Mr. Wiedz about my fear.

Shortly after everyone came back in my back hurt so bad so I asked the nurse for some ice. She thought that wouldn't really help but I insisted and she left to get something. While she was gone Dr. L came in to check on me and thought maybe if I should start pushing. The back pain stopped immediately as it took about 3 pushes to greet #2 into the world.

Mr. Wiedz tells it that it took forever for him to start breathing...but Mr. Wiedz says that about all the kids. I do remember Mr. Wiedz asking over and over if he was OK. Of course he was and started letting it wail in no time.

Our fabulous #2 was born 5 years ago October 1st at 4:10 PM. He's my big boy at 10 pounds!

Five years later, #2 is such a challenging joy! One minute he's so sweet and kind. The next he's smacking someone up the head or taking a toy from one of the little guys. I feel like I'm always saying, "#2, don't...stop...put that back...make right choices". But then there are the moments we walk hand and hand down the driveway and he talks up a blue streak about snakes or bees or whatever else is running around in his sweet head of his.

Happy Birthday to my "little" big guy!

some little changes...

I'm not too sure about the picture at the top...on my old computer running Firefox (and not too well at that) it looks weird. I'll talk to the small number of people who read my blog and see what they think. It is almost October so I thought a refreshing was in order...now that I know how to change my template it takes all the self-disciple I have not to change it often!

A family trip

Years ago my dad decided he wanted family photo of the whole group like we did on my grandpa's 60th birthday. We made all the plans to travel to my brothers in Washington for a family weekend. But as my grandma got sicker mom and dad decided that having the photo planned would not be a good idea, not being sure if mom would need to still be with grandma or if we'd be attending a funeral instead. Added to all of that was that my oldest brother would just be getting back from National Guard training over the weekend and didn't know if he and his family would be able to make it to Washington for a picture.

At grandma's funeral in August we all talked about going up to Washington anyway. We could still get together, still go to the Duck game and celebrate not only Dad's birthday but Aunt M's and cousin B's too. We bought tickets for the UO Duck game versus Washington State and all continued with plans to stay together at my brother's in Washington.

I waited to tell the kids until just a couple days before the trip...you can never be to sure what will happen that will change plans. But we were able to pack up and head out of town. We recently added a third seat to our Tahoe so our packing ability was limited but we packed everyone in and started off.

The plan was to pick #1 up from school after lunch on Thursday. But when Mr. Wiedz got up that morning he thought we could get going even earlier and she should just stay home. She was fine with that but it was difficult for me to change my list of things to get done to get out of the house any earlier. We did though...leaving about 10:00.

The trip to Eastern Washington is L O N G from our house but we stopped a couple of times and the little boys took some good naps. The drive is also very pretty, up The Gorge, with it's winding river, steep cliffs and beautiful trees. Mr. Wiedz always wants me to just sit and look at the scenery as we pass. I'm not so good at that, I need something to do...I take after Grammie N that way.

We arrived at my brother's just before dinner. The kids got to run around, we got pizza and got a place to sleep for everyone. After some playing and getting settled Mr. Wiedz and I got the kids to sleep and had a fun evening visiting.

Friday, cousin K had to go to school, much to his and #1's complaining. We tried to take all of our passport stuff to the application place but that didn't work out. But we had a nice lunch out together as a family. Uncle K, Grandpa N and Mr. Wiedz went to Uncle K's football game a couple of hours away so Aunt M, Grammie N, 6 kids and I made dinner, kept the peace and waited for the rest of the family to arrive. My sister and her 3 kids and my cousin and his 2 kids all got to the house and set up in their rooms. At this point we had a FULL house but the kids were so excited about being together. I put my kids to bed early but after a full day of playing they were wiped out.

Saturday was the day we'd all come for. Dad's birthday and the Duck game. Aunt M had hired a babysitter for #3 and #4 so after she arrived and we'd given the information she'd need we headed out for the 3 hour drive. Uncle K had arranged car assignments so the whole group fit into three SUV's. We arrived at the game and had to walk a long way first to get some cheese from the college creamery (and ice cream for the kids) and then to the stadium...Uncle K and Cousin J had the longest walk as they had to walk the cheese back to the cars first to be in the cooler. Dad, still recovering from his broken ribs, went straight to the stadium once we realized how long we'd be walking.

We all arrived at our seats and settled in for a great game against Washington State. The Ducks killed them...actually the Cougar fans started leaving at half time and after the first half a wave of fans would leave after each Duck touchdown. The kids had fun...mostly with the candied apples, popcorn and duck calls. In hopes of saving dad a long walk Mr. Wiedz, Cousin J and Uncle K went to the cars and drove them closer to the stadium to pick us up.

After a long drive back and hauling all the sleeping kids to their beds we sang Happy Birthday to dad and cut his lemon cake with lemon frosting (most people passed on that combination at 9:30 at night!) and gave him his presents.

Sunday we packed up and got ready to celebrate Cousin B's 4th birthday. Aunt M and Uncle K had rented a bounce house for the kids to play in and made a delicious birthday lunch. After presents and cake most everyone got in the cars and started the long drive home. Again we tried to make the drive a pleasant as possible for the kids. We had a good stop for a snack and a new movie for the computer in the back.

We'd decided since Mr. Wiedz's next trip would leave so early the Monday morning we'd stay at Grammie N's. Dinner, some games on the Wii and running around making chaos at Grammie's then we got some nests built and kids to sleep. #4 had a hard time in another house and another bed so he was up and couldn't get settled so I finally had to just hold him and try to get as much sleep as I could. Mr. Wiedz headed out SO early after only hours of sleep himself. I was forced out of bed by 3 kids who had slept fine and thought nothing of it being 7:30AM. Grammie took #2 and #3 to get doughnuts while Grandpa N was returning the camper they'd used in Washington. After breaky, Wii and getting dressed we headed for home.

We were too late to make it to school for an worthwhile portion so we came home, ate lunch and since #3 and #4 had slept the whole way home they were not going to lay down again, had play time. The kids, having been gone from their own home for 4 days had so much fun together. I got to have some computer time and some time to adjust my attitude for the days without Mr. Wiedz.

Being home. Tucked into our own beds (which was really great for #4). Being home is great but being with the family is worth all the work, I still remember how frazzled and worked up I was trying to get out of the house. I'm so glad we take the time to get our kids in the same place. Having all of our kids so close together gives them the fantastic time of being cousins, it was hard in the baby and toddler days to get together but we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, how well they're getting along, how we can let them play while we visit. The memories of this wonderful weekend together will last a long time.

Can't wait for the next time.

Wedding Gift

Mr. Wiedz's cousin got married this summer. A beautiful wedding on the Oregon coast. Filled with family and love. Before the wedding I started a quilt to give to them as their present. I even started with the ability to get it done. But I didn't get it done in time.

I hand quilt the quilts I make. This one I went around some of the squares in the log cabin blocks and then did circles in the corners where the blocks meet. In the borders I did feather-y vines. It is the most quilting I've done on a quilt and I loved the way the vines came out.

The week before our trip I finished quilting and binding it. Then on our drive to Washington I finished the tag for the back identifying who made in for who and when. One evening in Washington while we visited I appliqued the tag onto the back and it was FINISHED!

We had already made plans with Mr. Wiedz's cousins to stop a their house and give them their gift on our way home from our trip. So after the kids were asleep at Grandpa and Grammie N's we went to their house. Cousin R was excited, she squealed that she'd hoped I was making a quilt for her. It matched their living room well and will be well used as a cozy wrap up blanket while watching TV.

Pirate Day

In case you missed it National Talk Like a Pirate Day was a couple of weeks ago. At school they had pirate dress up day that day as part of "Spirit Week".

Dressing like a pirate seemed a bit difficult but I pulled out the face paint and figured that would go a long way.

The kids thought it was great...add a head wrap and a hat and we've got it!

I've been missing...but I'm too tired

Lots of wonderful time spent with family, both our small Wiedz group and my extended family.

Course all the driving it takes and energy makes me only want to sit on the couch, drink a Pepsi, and watch all the TV I've got on DVR.

All the gory details later.