Kids Say the Darnedest Things!

It's a special treat for Sydney when we take a bath together in the big bath downstairs. Sometimes we get out the beauty products and turn it into a real girlie fest. Last night she was tired and needed to get clean, so I suggested a bath. So, we were in the big bath with mud masks on and in walked Jake. The conversation went like this -
Jake: "What's THAT?"
Sydney: "Mud mask"
Jake: "What does it do?"
Me: "Well it's supposed to help get your face really clean..." - even as the words were coming out, I was trying to anticipate his next question or comment and figure out how it made sense to me, much less to an 8-year-old boy, to slather yourself in mud in order to get clean.

To my surprise, his next comment was nothing that I anticipated as he said... "And keep you single!" HA - where does an 8-year-old get something like that?

Kids today are wise beyond their years and it's a funny time when they start to understand more grown-up things and to give you glimpses of the young adults they will be. Jake is in that transition period where one minute we will have a really grown up conversation about his feelings and observations he's made or opinions he has - and the next he's whining about the toy he wants and hasn't gotten.

Anyway, this week has been SO much better than last. We had a good weekend. On Sunday we took the kids to Schlitterbahn and, even though Martin and I weren't initially thrilled about the prospect of spending our Sunday in the crowds, we ended up having a blast. The kids are loving Magic Camp and I'm making good progress with work and getting caught up on some things I had hoped to complete last week. Martin is enjoying being home and catching up on yardwork and rest, and we got to have a date night tonight!

What a Week...

Martin's been out of town for work this week and, let me just say that life in general and parenting specifically is more fun and much easier with my wonderful husband in town! Here were some highlights from the week:
-- Tuesday morning about 2 a.m. Sydney came crying into my room saying her tummy hurt. She was soon vomiting (thankfully, into the toilet!!), but then she was able to go back to sleep, while I was up for the night.
-- Tuesday night, Jake fell off his electric scooter and scraped his face up on the sidewalk. He has some pretty good battle scars, but thankfully no need for stitches. Sydney was very sweet and worried about her brother. His face was bleeding pretty badly when it happened and I think it scared them both.
-- Wednesday morning, I dropped the kids at the bus for camp and then got an email on my phone on the way to my client in S. Austin from the camp director telling me that Jake isn't mature enough for the new camp (Camp on the Move) that they started this week. She basically made a snap judgement based on one incident on Tuesday when he couldn't find his shirt on the bus and got embarrassed. I had given her a heads up that Jake has ADHD and would benefit from a patient counselor and some help/reminders keeping up with his stuff. When I called her Wednesday morning after reading the email, she asked me if he is emotionally disturbed and suggested that since they have a ratio of 1 counselor for 5 kids and can't give him the one-on-one attention he would get in special education that a different setting would work better for him. I kept my cool, but told her I was meeting the bus to get my kids off, pulling them from the camp, and expecting a refund from them. She told me if I needed them to, they would take the kids this week. I told her if she didn't want my kid then I didn't want him there with her. So, I canceled on my big client for the 2nd time this week (Tuesday because of Syd throwing up and Wednesday because of Jake being kicked out of camp), and pulled the kids off of the bus.
-- Thankfully, the rest of Wednesday was pretty uneventful and the kids were actually nice to each other and got along, which makes such a difference in the day. The lack of sleep from Tuesday night caught up with me, and the kids let me nap while Syd napped with me and Jake had a water gun fight with the boys down the street. On Wednesday afternoon, I was also able to get them into Magic Camp - I had to pay for the whole week and it is in East Austin, which is a haul, but I am grateful to them for their willingness to take the kids and the fact that they make the kids feel really welcome and happy.
-- So Thursday, I was able to finally make it to my client and resolve a technical issue I had been struggling with all week, when I'd had time to work. When I picked up the kids, they were awful to each other - back into full fighting mode. I came very close to sending them to bed around 6 p.m., and they finally got the point and settled down. In the end, we had a fun night. We put on the Camp Rock cd, turned out the lights and danced with glow sticks for awhile before bed.
-- When they went to bed on Thursday, Jake shut my door (I let them sleep downstairs this week on the couches in the living room) and two of the dogs were in the room with me. I guess one of them had an upset stomach, so I woke up at 4 a.m. to the overwhelming stench of poop and had to clean out my closet. Again, I was up for the night.
All in all, I have (mostly) kept my sense of humor, but I was thinking this morning that I wouldn't mind a do-over on this week :). I'm definitely ready to start a new week - hopefully one with MUCH fewer bodily functions and fluids, and with my husband home with me!

Quick Update

All was well at my Dr.'s appointment this week. My blood sugar was well within the range it needed to be in, as was my iron. The baby is so extremely active and the Dr. told me again that is a good sign. He said active babies are usually very healthy. He said it might be difficult to monitor the contractions I am having because there have been a number of days already where they have been frequent enough that he would typically send me to the hospital for monitoring. But, some women just have them more than others and so he said to consider what I've had to be the norm for me and to raise a flag if they increase or I have any other symptoms. He will check my cervix at our regular appointments ongoing just to make sure it stays closed until baby Kiley is ready to join us!
We have a bunch of photos on the camera that have been there for the past couple of months, but will get them off soon. I found this self-portrait (those are always great, right? :) from around Mother's Day, and will post more pics soon.

Baby News

We just got back from the hospital for our 2nd visit to the labor & delivery unit in just over a week - and let me start by saying that everything is perfectly fine with the baby (we're naming her Kiley - not sure of the spelling) and with me. I started having repetitive cramping last Wednesday and called the doctor to be told to go to the hospital for monitoring. They didn't track any contractions on the monitor, my cervix was closed, and they said I was slightly dehydrated, which can cause contractions. They sent me home pretty quickly. The cramping continued a little bit that night and then the next day, but stopped after that.
A couple of days ago, it started again, but this time were the contractions I remembered from my pregnancy with Jake and not just a cramping feeling. They have continued for a couple of days and so today I called the doctor and he sent me to the hospital again. They did register the contractions on the monitor, but they were not severe and not regular in their timing. They ran a few tests that all came back with 'perfect' results according to the nurse, and she gave us a 0% chance of going into labor in the next two weeks. So, we went home with a clean bill of health and no restrictions. That is a HUGE relief, as I was very anxious at the prospect of 10 weeks of bedrest, and then scared for the baby when they told us they were running a test to check the odds of going into labor in the next two weeks.
The history is that, with Jake, I started having the Braxton-Hicks (also called 'practice') contractions but they got more intense and regular, and at 34 weeks I went to the hospital for this same monitoring and was determined to be in pre-term labor. They put me on medicine to stop the contractions and on bedrest for two weeks. Once I got off of bedrest, I carried Jake for another 5 weeks to just past 41 weeks of pregnancy. I think the doctor thought that after he let me off of bedrest with Jake that I would go into labor soon but I carried my babies high and, since they never really dropped, I never dilated or showed any other signs of being ready for labor. I had both of them 8 days after my due date with the help of being induced. For that reason, I wasn't really worried about having the baby early, but more about the prospect of bedrest and what that would mean for our family. Anyway, it's a good night tonight and we are very relieved.
We see the Dr. tomorrow for a regular visit, the diabetes test, and a Rhogam shot since I am Rh-. It should be pretty uneventful. I promise to soon write a light-hearted blog entry - as we are having a fun summer!!

Crazy Pregnancy Happenings

This is going to make me sound a little crazy or careless at best but is interesting if a little scary... I have fallen twice in the past week and a half. Not little 'stumble and catch myself' kind of falls but huge, total 'wipe-out flat on the ground' kind of falls. The first time was at family reunion on the 28th. We go to Blanco, TX the last weekend of June every year to get together with family from all over. The boys camped out at the state park and Sydney and I shared a room with my Mom. Saturday morning, she and I jumped in the shower. She was standing behind me in the water and she slipped. She grabbed onto me and I lost my balance. I had my eyes closed but started falling forward, fell out of the tub, pushed off the wall on the way down and flipped myself onto my back so that I basically fell against the toilet and slid down it with my back and landed on the floor outside the tub. I was so surprised to find myself suddenly on the floor of a motel bathroom that I started laughing HARD. My back hurt a little, but I had protected the baby. Sydney had fallen in the tub but she was ok. I told the kids my balance is a little off and I can't support them right now - especially when it's not expected.

Tonight we went to a backyard Bible club for the kids at a friend's house. When we got there, Jake got self-conscious about wearing his swimsuit. He hadn't changed from camp and I had told him he could wear it - it was raining outside anyway and I thought it was no big deal. But, when he got there and saw how many kids from school were there he wanted to go home and change. Sometimes when he feels really urgent about going somewhere, he'll grab my arm and pull me and he started to do that. So he's in front of me pulling me out the door with my arm over his shoulder and both his hands on my arm pulling. The problem came when we ran into something of a traffic jam with people coming in the door. He stopped short on the porch, but kept pulling on my arm - hard. It had been raining and the porch was wet. I was losing my balance and the last thing I am really sure of is me saying 'Jake stop pulling on me' and I was trying not to fall forward onto him and then honestly the next thing I knew I was flat on my back on the sidewalk. There were about five moms around me and they were all freaking out - some knew me pretty well - some didn't. But here is a very pregnant woman who has just, for all intents and purposes, been flipped kung fu style over her son's head. I think I initially was still fussing at Jake a little but then I looked at him and he looked dazed and a little hurt and was starting to cry and look really embarrassed or ashamed and I quickly shut up. I also had the moms descending on me with great concern asking if I was ok. I was actually pretty shaken up once we got in the car. I started crying a little bit from minor scrapes but mostly I think just from being disoriented and scared. Jake felt awful - he said multiple times that he didn't mean to hurt me, he wished I'd just fallen on him; mostly he wanted to make sure I was ok, but he had fallen also and hit his head hard on the concrete. Later, he told me he made a fool of himself and didn't want to go back. We skipped tonight (left Sydney there and she had fun with her friends), but I'm hoping he'll go back at least one night this week. He's worried that his friends will make fun of him. I told him it was an accident, that we all have them and yes, sometimes we come out looking a little foolish, but that accidents happen to everyone. He's had a couple of things lately where he's been pretty hard on himself and it bothers me. Last week, he walked out without his lunch for camp one day and I realized it before we were too far down the road, but he said on the way back home to get it, 'I'm so dumb...' I don't want him to have those voices in his head telling him anything remotely like that. It's a fine balance with kids (or at least it is with ours) - teaching them responsibility and accountability - without them beating up on themselves.

Anyway, I am amazingly fine - AGAIN. I can't believe I landed flat on my back on a concrete sidewalk without hitting my head or getting hurt really at all. The baby is moving just as much as ever, and the internet research I did on falls during pregnancy was reassuring. I'm so glad I didn't take out anyone's kid but mine - and he's just fine except for a little lump on his thankfully extremely hard head. I am truly amazed at the extent of the instinct to protect the baby. I did not have any time at all to think either time but managed to flip my entire, rather large body both times so that I landed on my back. I gently reminded the kids again that my center of gravity is off right now so my balance is not what it would be normally. I am hoping that we'll have no more of that kind of excitement - surely I must be pushing my luck at this point :) And, I've missed two really good opportunities to make easy money on America's Funniest Videos!!

We're way behind in posting pictures - it's been a busy summer... Here are a couple from Mother's Day. After church, we met at Pappadeaux's (our Mother's and Father's Day tradition since before my Dad died) for lunch. Then, we went to my Mom's house and had dessert and gifts and goofed in the yard. My Mom got out and played modified soccer (by Sydney's ever-changing rules :) - she'll be 78 this year and she's amazing!