Surprise Visit Day 2 and 3

I guess I had better finish up about our surprise visit! I'm not doing very good about posting. I've been working on a cross stitching project, so that has been taking up my spare time. I have to work on it when ever I have the urge or it will never get done. Cross stitching isn't something I like to do for very long and I will go months or years without feeling like doing it. I got motivated to get this project done because I want to be able to hang it up in our addition.

We didn't do much on Tuesday at my parents house. Just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Little Miss Priss loved playing in this little red car. She would sit in there and make motor sounds and open and close the door. It was so cute.



She also had a lot of fun climbing on and off of these little chairs. She's really starting to be a climber.


Here's a picture of Mischievo, Little Miss Priss and Big Brother. They all had fun playing together.


So, I guess there isn't anything more to write about that was very interesting. It was just a relaxing day and we were still trying to catch up on our sleep after driving all night.

Surprise Visit

So, on August 3, a Friday we went over to Aberdeen again to visit Steve and Kim. Mischievo got to ride in a combine on Friday night. On Saturday we didn't do too much but Mischievo got to sit in some more tractors. Here's a picture of him on a John Deere tractor wearing Clark's John Deere hat.

And here's Little Miss Priss with her Aunt Kim up in a big John Deere tractor.

On Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. Aberdeen time, we left for my parents house down in Hemet, CA. That's southern California. It's about 13 hours from Aberdeen. We made it in 13 hours with two stops. We drove all night long and got to my parents house at 6:15 a.m. They had no idea we were coming! They thought we were in Aberdeen. When we got to their house the gate was shut of course and so my husband called and got my dad on the phone. My dad asked if we were on the road and my husband said "Kind of!" and then my husband said we were waiting for a gate to open and my dad's said "Oh really? Where?" and my husband said "We're sitting outside your gate!". My dad could hardly believe it! Here's Mischievo when we got there. He was still asleep

And Little Miss Priss was awake.

The weather was so nice at my parents. I was even cold at first! So, we had breakfast and then my dad went to work. My mom goes to swimming lessons with my sister, sister-in-law and their kids every morning so she said she would take Mischievo with her and he could swim. My husband and I stayed home to take a nap and so did Little Miss Priss. We were so exhausted. It felt so good to sleep. We probably slept a couple of hours but then I couldn't sleep very good anymore because it was so light and out. I was kind of excited, too, about being there.

Mischievo had so much fun playing outside at Nana's(that's what my mom wants to be called). Here's a picture of him riding around on a little battery powered motorcycle that she has.

Later that day my sister and sister-in-law came over and we all had a nice visit. I think everybody was at my parents house for supper, too. It was a very nice first day there. I'll have to do more posts for the rest of our visit.

One Year Old!

Little Miss Priss One Year Old
Mischievo One Year Old

I can't believe a whole year has gone by since I first held my little girl in my arms. I was so happy and excited! I couldn't believe I actually had my little girl. I was pretty sure I would be having a girl. We only had a girl's name picked out and we never had an ultrasound, so we didn't know what we were having. With Mischievo we were pretty sure we were having a boy and only had a boy's name picked out.
After 6 hours of labor I had this beautiful little girl.
Little Miss Priss a few hours old

I was 8 days overdue and so ready to have my baby. I had already felt overdue on my due date because Mischievo was two days early and I thought for sure I would have this one at least a week early. I felt so huge and tired of lugging around this big belly and having to bend over and pick up Mischievo's toys. That was so hard! I wasn't ready to be in labor, though, I was just ready to have it all behind me. I was kind of terrified because I had such a hard time with Mischievo, it was 30 hours of pain and all day and night. Also, my midwife was on a camping trip so she wouldn't be able to deliver my baby, I would have to have a midwife come from Tri-Cities, which is an hour away. Finally, Friday night (the night before I had Little Miss Priss), I told my husband that I was so ready to have this baby that I didn't care who delivered it!

So, Saturday morning, August 12, 2006, I woke up feeling like I was going to have a baby. My mom had been there since Monday and we thought we would go to Macy's since they were having a sale and I had a gift card from my friend Shelah that she gave me for my birthday. Anyway, while we were there I started having some contractions and all of a sudden I didn't feel like shopping anymore. My mom went ahead and got the things she wanted and when we got to the car I told her I thought she should drive. I was having some pretty good contractions so I didn't think I should drive.

When we got home I told my husband that I thought I was in labor. He asked if I wanted to call the midwife, Ginger in Tri-Cities or the assistant, Kathy, that my midwife had said I could call if I went into labor and needed someone to come and check me. I said I didn't want to bother anyone yet and I would take a bath and see if the contractions kept up. So, I took my bath and my contractions didn't let up. I decided I should just get out and call Kathy.

So, we called her and she said she would come over. In the meantime, my hip was really acting up. With both of my pregnancies I had a lot of trouble with my right hip, it would start hurting as soon as I was pregnant and nothing really ever seemed to relieve it, even though I went to the chiropractor a lot. My chiropractor actually lives right next door. Since it was Saturday he was home and my husband told him I was in labor and that my hip was really bothering me. He said I could come over and he would adjust me. So, I went over there and he adjusted me in between contractions. It was kind of weird to be getting adjusted while I was in labor. He said that was the first time he had adjusted anyone in labor. It gave me a little bit of relief but didn't help me much later.

We went back to our house and then Kathy came and checked me. I think it was about 1:00 p.m. She said I was at 3 cm. That was kind of discouraging to me. I was hoping I was farther along. I was imagining a long drawn out labor like I had with Mischievo. She also thought I was leaking amniotic fluid, so I must have had a very slow leak. Kathy was such a big help, besides being an assistant she is also a doula and a lactation consultant. She was going to school to be a midwife, so she knew a lot about labor and delivery. She had so many good suggestions to help me through each contraction and also to help speed things up.

I think I tried to eat a little bit of soup that my chiropractor's wife sent over, but it didn't taste very good to me. I was just wanting to get on with having this baby. I wish I had written things down so I would remember exactly what time everything happened at. Things get so blurry when you're in labor. Time just fades into the background. You're so busy concentrating on getting through each contraction that you don't even notice the time. At some point my husband got the pool all set up that I was going to have the baby in and started filling it up with warm water. My midwife provides a pool that you can have a waterbirth in. It looks pretty much like a kids pool, but deeper and it has a soft bottom. We also had called the midwife and told her that she had better come. So, she was on her way.

At about 4:00 I had the worst contraction yet and I was starting to panic think I had a long way to go still. Kathy checked me and I was dilated to 8 cm, so she said I could get in the pool. So, I did and right away I felt like pushing, but Kathy didn't want me to, since the midwife wasn't there yet. With Mischievo I never felt like pushing, it took all my strength and will power to get him out, so this was new to me, to feel like pushing. My husband was talking to the midwife on her cell phone because she had gotten lost and need directions. So, she was still over a half an hour away and I felt like pushing!!! Kathy didn't feel like she was ready to deliver a baby by herself so she told me not to push. That was awful! It was so painful, with each contraction my body was wanting me to push but I wasn't supposed to. That was definitely the hardest part of my labor. Finally, at about 5:00 p.m., the midwife got there and as soon as she was in the door she told me I could push. I was so relieved. Finally, I could push!!! It felt so good, to push, much better than holding it back. At, 5:20 p.m., Little Miss Priss was born. She came out quietly and nursed right away. Much different then Mischievo! As soon as he was out he started screaming and when I held him he threw his head back and kept on screaming. Plus, I was so exhausted I felt like I was going to drop him so I didn't even try to nurse him. So, except for that terrible hour where I had to hold back from pushing, Little Miss Priss's labor was very easy. It was definitely a piece of cake compared to Mishievo. That was such a happy moment when I held Little Miss Priss in my arms. My own little girl!

I was so glad my mom was able to be there. She pretty much helped me through most of my contractions. My husband was getting sick and he was also trying to talk to the midwife on the phone a lot, so he didn't help me as much as he did with Mischievo. Also, Mischievo was taking a nap through the worst of my labor and when he woke up my mom just took him over to my neighbor, the chiropractor and they were so happy to watch him. Little Miss Priss was probably born about 45 minutes after he woke up from his nap. When he came back and got to see her he was so excited! Here was the baby that we were always talking about in mommy's tummy! He loved her so much. He was always kissing her and wanting to hold her.

It felt so good to crawl in to bed with my little girl next to me. I was looking forward to be able to lie on my back. For some reason while I was pregnant I wanted to lay on my back so bad! But, you're not supposed to because it puts too much weight on your organs. She was so good that night, too. She slept for 5 hours and then she nursed and went right back to sleep. I felt so good the next day, I couldn't believe it. I didn't even feel like I had just had a baby. With Mischievo I was just so exhausted and sore, plus I had stitches with him. I didn't tear at all with Little Miss Priss and her head was bigger! 14 1/4 inches.

Well, I hope I didn't bore everybody with my birth story. I love hearing other people's birth story's, so I thought someone would want to hear mine.

Little Miss Priss got to have her birthday party at my parents house down in Hemet. She really liked her cake.



I had a lot of fun making her cake, too. I used fondant which I've never done before. It was pretty easy to do. Here she is enjoying her cake.



Here she is opening her presents with a little bit of help.

I have some cute video clips of her birthday, too, but I think I'll have to save those for another post. This post is getting way too long! I have so much to write about right now. We actually surprised my parents by going down there, so I will have to do another post about that.

11 months old

Little Miss Priss at 11 months old

Mischievo at 11 months old

Well, I'm not too late with the 11 month post. She was 11 months old on the 12th. She's a fast little crawler now and she's really starting to pull herself up a lot. She has eight teeth and looks like she's working on a couple more. Thankfully it doesn't seem to bother her too much.

This is going to be a catch up post also. I have lots of things to catch up on! Last weekend we went to Moses Lake to visit Nathan and Vi. We had a very nice time and Mischievo had lots of fun playing with their black lab puppy. We finally got another family picture taken while we were there, too.

And here's a picture of Nathan and Vi.

Also, Mischievo go a bad cut on his head while we were there. Here's the picture.

He was standing up on a footstool trying to catch a ball and he fell over backwards onto the brick hearth. It bled so much. I felt so terrible for him. It made me want to cry. He recovered pretty fast and didn't even cry when we washed it out. He's such a tough kid.

Also, I'm getting motivated to get organized! I was reading Anna's blog and she was talking about the FlyLady and how she can help you get organized and actually stay on top of everything. So, anyway the first step is to shine your sink. So I did that and this is how it looks.

It made me feel so good! You're supposed to keep it like that all the time so you never have to do all that work to make it shine again. You dry it out with a dish towel every time you use it so water spots don't build up. And you're not supposed to let your dishes sit in there and air dry. I do that all that time! For the last three days I've kept it shiny. We'll see if I can keep it up. The neat thing is it's motivated me to get the rest of my kitchen sparkly clean. It makes me feel so happy to see my shiny, clean sink when I wake up in the morning. The rest of my house should follow. We'll see! I'm probably one of the most disorganized people in the world. Organizing just overwhelms me. I've slowly been learning to do better and hopefully the Flylady will help me even more.

I've got another busy weekend ahead of me. My husband's brother Ken and his wife Amy with their two children Austin and Karissa are coming to visit on Sunday. They'll be here two nights. So, I'm looking forward to that.

I forgot to mention that I got new glasses. I don't know if anyone will notice that in the family picture or not. I've worn the same glasses for 7 years, so I figured it was time for a change.

Random pictures and a video

Here's a video of Little Miss Priss saying "Happy Day". She's also making the goofiest facessas she watches Mischievo run back and forth in front of her! She is the biggest cheese ball girl you ever saw.
(The video is not working for some reason. I can't seem to get videos to work on Photobucket. Anybody have any ideas?) Here's the link so you can see it.
http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u55/mnmleland/?action=view¤t=DSCN1529.flv
And here's some random pictures of my kids.

And finally, the pictures of our backyard with grass. It actually looks pretty good in the pictures. We had a lot of weeds come up with the grass, though.

Belated 10 Months Old Post

Little Miss Priss 10 months old
Mischievo 10 months old

Well, here's Little Miss Priss's and Mischievo's 10 month pictures. I'm very late, I know. She'll be 11 months old on Thursday! Only one more month of being a baby. I can't believe how fast time has flown by!

I'm very much enjoying my kids right now. Little Miss Priss is learning so many new things and so is Mischievo. Little Miss Priss just started pulling herself up. She's a very cautious little girl. I think she's going to be more advanced in the talking department than Mischievo. She already says several words (at least we like to think they're words!). It sounds like she says "Happy Day", which is Mischievo's favorite Sunday School hymn, so she probably hears those words a lot. She'll say "ba" for bottle or ball or her baby. She says "mama" and dada". She's been saying "dada" since she was 6 months old and I don't think Mischievo started saying that until he was 8 months or older. Mischievo is more advance in the physical department. He was crawling up and down the stairs and cruising around holding on to things by 10 months old.

Mischievo is saying new words all the time. He's growing up so fast! Every day it seems like he's talking better. He pretty much gets himself completely dressed. Some mornings he'll come into the kitchen all dressed before I even realized he was awake. He doesn't always have his shirt or shorts on the right way. He loves to play ball. I think he has just about every kind of ball you can find. He has good arm, too. He can throw it far and hard. At 7 months old he could play ball by rolling it to you.

Well, I hope I can start doing a little better with posting now. Hopefully, things have slowed down around here. I'll try to post more pictures, too. I guess I don't always have to say anything, do I? I can just post pictures. You guys probably enjoy the pictures of the kids more than what I say, anyway! They're a lot cuter, that's for sure!

Sad times

This is my nephew, Caleb Charles Leland. He passed away one week ago today. He's the son of my husband's brother. This is a very hard thing to post about, but I think it would be good for me to write about it. I have tears in my eyes as I write this. He is greatly missed by his older brother Clark, his mother Kim and his father, Steve. He has many aunts and uncles that miss him, too.

We just got back from Aberdeen last night, where Steve and Kim live. We left last Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. and got there at 10:00 their time. I was really dreading having to see them grieving so much, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm so glad we could be there with them in their grief. They really are holding up pretty well. They have really been feeling the comfort of the Lord in all this. Its really going to be hard once every one has left and they have to get back to life and Caleb is not there. Its going to leave such a big hole in their little family. It was so hard to leave them. I wanted so bad to make it all better. I feel so much for Clark, he's going to be so lonely without his little brother. They were best friends.

We're all so thankful that Caleb passed away without any pain. He basically just fell over and was gone. He and his mother where riding their bikes over to a retirement home where they maintain the landscaping. When they got there and got off of their bikes Caleb fell and Kim thought he was having a seizure. The paramedics were called but they couldn't revive him in spite of much effort.

It's very comforting to know that he is with the Lord Jesus and he is happier than anybody could be here on earth. He was a happy little boy and often spoke of heaven and what it must be like to be there. Well, now he knows what it is like and wouldn't want to come back here if he could.

Next to the coffin they had printed this verse, "If any man ask you, Why.......Because the Lord hath need of him." Luke 19:31.

The past month has been just crazy around here. First Aunt Susan looked like she would be going home to be with the Lord and we had the Read's here at our house for a couple of days, then Aunt Susan passed away and her funeral was three weeks ago. Then we went to Seattle again. Then Caleb passed away a week ago and we left for Aberdeen after that. Now I'm home again and I have to get ready for our conference this weekend. I just took a break to post this and update everyone on what's going on in my life. I hardly had time to do this! I don't know when I'll get another chance to post anything more. My mom and sister are coming a week from tomorrow and will be here for a little over a week.