One month old!

I can't believe that MJ is one month old already! She is finally starting to nurse better and because of that she is having more periods during the day where she is content and doesn't feel like she needs to be eating every hour of the day. I met with my midwife on Tuesday and she gave me some tips to try and get my milk supply back up and she also weighed MJ - she is finally back up to birth weight after losing over a pound and slowly gaining it back. I am still having to supplement some but things are going much better and I don't mind her being comfortable taking a bottle once or twice during the day so I can leave every once in a while to run errands and go places. MJ also does great at night. Once I get her to sleep around midnight she will sleep for about 4-5 hours and then wake up once for a few minutes to eat briefly and then she usually goes back to sleep for another two hours or so. MJ is starting to smile more and last night she even grinned and laughed at her dad when he was holding and talking to her. Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks:

First sewing project

M&M has expressed interest in learning how to sew and I thought that it might be a fun project for her to try and make her own skirt this summer before school started. A few weeks after MJ was born and after the elementary school kids were in school we finally managed to take a trip to the fabric store one morning. I had an idea on how she could make an easy skirt and so we just went there to look for fabric and hopefully buy some. M&M was initially looking for some fabric to match a purple skirt that she has, but we had a hard time finding anything that would match that she liked. As we were getting ready to leave empty-handed I saw a fabric that stood out to me and had a color of flower in it that I thought would match a shirt that she owned. I pointed it out to her and she liked it as well so we ended up buying it.

M&M just wanted a simple skirt that was gathered at the waist so we used a pattern piece from another pattern that we have and just cut out a front and back section that she then sewed together. Then she folded over the top to make a casing for elastic and then just hemmed it. The skirt turned out really cute and the fabric matches her shirt exactly. She finished it in just two days of working on it (I had to go back to the fabric store to buy elastic that I thought I had already). She was able to wear it to church on Sunday along with some new shoes that she just bought. When we get another chance we may go to another fabric store to look for some fabric for another skirt to match her purple shirt now.

Helping herself

On Wednesday morning Kay came downstairs to the family room with a whole bunch of grapes. She had grabbed them from a bag that was left on the kitchen counter and she was so proud of herself for getting them. She said to me, "Look Mommy! I've got grapes!" Then she started pulling them off the stem one at a time and eating them. She also offered me and Kitty some. She pulled them off and fed them to me! It's very interesting seeing how she takes care of herself when I am occupied with other things.

Hospital

This is a conservation that Luke had with a friend at school the other day:

Luke: I've been to the hospital (referring to the time he got stitches in his forehead).
Friend: Everybody's been to the hospital at least once - when they were born.
Luke: Not me. I was born at home and so were all of my sisters except M&M.

Luke is just starting to learn how different that is from what the general population does.

Kid talk

Luke: "Babies are much cuter when they're sleeping."

Kid talk

Today after I finished changing Kay's diaper, she got up and said, "Thank you very much!"

I said, "Thank you!"

Kay: "You're welcome!"

School starts for M&M

Yesterday was the first day of middle school for M&M. I can't believe we're at this stage in life already! As I mentioned in a previous post, she got her class schedule about a week and a half ago. While we were looking over the schedule, we noticed that she was put into the wrong math class - she was put in Math 7 when she should have been in Pre-Algebra. So last week I called the school to see if it was a mistake and how we could get it corrected. Her counselor looked up her placement test scores and said that we were correct and that he would need to adjust the schedule to get her in the correct class.

On Monday after dropping off Kitty at Kindergarten, we went to pick up M&M's new schedule at the school. There were tons of people at the school - students and parents walking around the hallways and trying out lockers. We didn't know that they allowed people to do this! So after getting her schedule we went and found M&M's locker and I taught her how to open it (luckily she had memorized the locker number and combination already). Then we walked around the school a little and found a few of her classes. We weren't able to stay too long because I hadn't planned on staying there to do this and MJ was not cooperating. I promised M&M that we would go back the next day and find all of her classes and try the locker again.

So on Tuesday we went back to the school again after dropping Kitty off at kindergarten. I walked with M&M to all of her classes and locker and then I stood off to the side and had her try it on her own. She did get turned around a few times but eventually she figured it all out - and it was good practice for her first day which was Wednesday.

Wednesday was her first day and it was just a short day for 7th graders only. The school is 7-9th grades and they do a short day just for the 7th graders to help ease the transition for them a little bit. It is a fairly big school with lots of students. The 7th graders have to share a locker - and they are tiny!

For the first day there was supposed to be a bus provided for those who got a bus pass in the mail, so M&M walked to the bus stop with plenty of time. Well she ended up waiting for quite a while and still no bus. A parent of one of her friends at the bus stop came by and offered to take a few of the kids to school - apparently the bus driver couldn't get the bus started that morning and ended up being about 30 minutes late. By then everyone had gotten a ride to school. She did get to ride the bus home though and she said that she only got lost once at school. A teacher was out in the hallway and asked if she needed help finding her class. She told him what class it was and it turned out that she was right in front of it and he was her teacher...

Then on day two M&M was getting ready to leave for the bus stop and few minutes early when we heard the bus coming down the street (it passes our house on the way to the bus stop). So M&M quickly grabbed her backpack and ran to the bus stop - just making it there as the last of the kids were getting on the bus. The bus was about 5 minutes early from the schedule we were mailed. What a way to start out the week!! Hopefully next week will go better!

a first...

I think today was the first time since MJ was born that she was awake the whole time I was showering and didn't cry once!

Unexpected blessing

We live about 2 miles from the middle school that M&M will be attending this year. Unfortunately, the cut-off for bus rider eligibility is also 2 miles and according to the school we are about 2 houses inside of that 2 mile boundary. So we have been discussing on and off how M&M would get to and from school and if we could possibly work out some carpooling with some other neighbors. Then last week M&M got her school schedule in the mail and included with it was a schedule of the bus route along with a little orange laminated piece of paper attached to it that had M&M's name and the bus number on it. There was no other explanation beyond that. Also included with her schedule was a paper that said if you want to find out if you qualify for the bus, go to a certain website and enter in your street address and the website will let you know where the bus stops are. If you don't qualify, the website will not give you any bus info. When we go to the website it indicates that we do not qualify for a bus.

I then ran into a neighbor that has some older kids a day or two later and asked her about the buses for the middle school. She said that the little orange piece of paper we got in the mail is a ticket to ride the bus and that they must have had some extra spaces on the bus that they gave out to those that live near the 2-mile boundary. This neighbor said that her kids also don't normally qualify for the bus but this year they also received a bus ticket. So we are excited that that is one less thing that I will have to work into my schedule this year! Also the daughter of my friend that I was looking at carpooling with also received a bus ticket for this year so M&M will have a couple of her friends on the bus with her.

Delirious

Apparently I am suffering from a lack of sleep. Surprised??? One morning just over a week ago I had one of the most vivid dreams that I have ever had. It took me a couple of minutes to really convince myself that it hadn't really happened. This is how it went:

That morning Luke and Blondie were up getting ready for school and were being very noisy. Kitty was also up with them. I was in bed with the baby trying to get a few extra minutes of sleep and DH was getting ready for work. M&M and Kay were also still sleeping. DH and I both told them to be quiet and they listened for a few minutes. Then after DH left for work, I could hear them getting noisy again down in the family room. So I went downstairs and told them that they had to turn off the Wii and finish getting ready for school. I then went back to bed and I drifted off to sleep again. When I woke up I remembered that I was really mad at Luke and Blondie because they had missed the bus again because of all of their goofing off that morning. I had gotten up out of bed and told them to start walking to school and I would be along in about 10 minutes in the car to pick them up and drive them the rest of the way to school.

Well, now it was after 9:00 (school starts at 9) and I couldn't remember if Luke and Blondie had really missed the bus or if that was just a dream that I had had. I sat there for a few minutes really wondering if I had sent my kids off walking to school. I went into the next room where Kitty was playing and asked her if Luke and Blondie had missed the bus. She was a little confused by the question and finally answered that no, they had not missed the bus. Then when I thought a little longer I remembered hearing the kids leave for the bus stop because I was a little annoyed that we hadn't said a family prayer together before they left. That was definitely a weird experience for me...

Stay-at-home moms

This is an article that one of my friends sent to me. I loved it and thought that I should post it to my blog. This was printed in the Washington Post back in May of 2007 in a feature by Carolyn Hax. If you click on it it will bring up a bigger copy.

Baby hair

One more picture that I forgot to post:
This is a picture of MJ's hair on the day she was born. She has very dark brown, almost black hair. All of our kids have been born with dark hair, but we think that hers is a little darker than the others and she seems to have a little more of it. We will have to see if it falls out like the other kids' did and then we will have to see what color it ends up being...

Family Reunion

So the week that MJ was born was the same week that my family had their family reunion planned for. I was hoping that MJ would be about 2 weeks old by the time the reunion came around, not 2 days old... Because of that, DH ended up attending a lot of the reunion with the older kids and without me.

Wednesday evening they went to a reunion at a park for my mom's extended family. Then on Thursday my parents took the oldest 4 kids swimming with their cousins and then DH took Kay over to my parents' house for dinner and then they all tie-dyed T-shirts. Friday for the reunion they went to Mirror Lake in the Uintahs for a picnic lunch and a hike. I met up with them at my parents' for dinner and a family talent show. On Saturday we met up at my parents' for lunch, a few outdoor activities and then a family picture. The only family members missing from the picture (and reunion) this year were my oldest sister and her four kids. We definitely missed them! M&M especially had a lot of fun playing with my sister's kids when we saw them last summer. Then on Sunday we met up after church for dinner at my parents' again. All in all it was a lot of work for my husband to take the kids and keep track of 5 of them on his own! I'm grateful that he was willing to do it. This is the third family get-together that my family has had in recent years where I had a newborn! Hopefully for the next reunion I will be able to help out and participate more...

Here are some pictures from the reunion:

Mirror Lake hike
Water balloons
Sponge bucket relay
Someone got their clothes all wet...Fun with cousins!
MJ sporting her tie-dyed onesie
The all-girls table
There were plenty of family members willing to hold MJ for me!!
Thanks everyone for the fun memories!

Skateboard

M&M received a clipboard for her birthday and not too long after opening it Kay had taken it, put it on the floor and was standing on it. I asked her what she was doing and she said that she was riding the skateboard. Then she picked it up, turned it over and asked where the wheels were!

M&M turns the big 1-2

M&M has reached the next milestone in our church - turning 12 and joining Young Women's! I can't believe that I have a daughter in YW already - I'm starting to feel old! Her birthday was the last day of YW camp so they let her go this year. She went to a church camp in Tremonton with the ward from July 26th-July 30th and she had a blast! They went to a ropes course offered at Utah State and even though it was very hard and challenging, she was able to do it. She is the 17th Beehive in our ward and a couple of them are her close friends that are just a month or two older than her. I'm glad that she was able to go to camp this year and I heard lots of compliments from leaders and other girls in the ward about M&M at camp. Now M&M gets to go to the weekly youth activities as well as youth firesides. Things are gradually going to get busier here for our family!

More baby pics

While MJ is sleeping here on my chest, I will try and put up a few more pictures of her first few weeks of life:One day old - check out those cheeks! Unfortunately she lost most of that chubbiness after a few days. Once again I have struggled with having enough of a milk supply for my baby - I went through the same thing with Kitty and Kay. My midwife thinks it may have to do with the fact that MJ has a small mouth and so she is having a hard time effectively nursing. So unfortunately I am currently having to supplement her again in-between nursing her to get enough food in her system. She will most likely be back up to her birth weight by the end of the week. She seems to be hungry all of the time which is why I haven't been able to do much blogging since she was born.

Her siblings love holding her! (1 day old)
3 days old
4 days old
Not too crazy about the water! - 6 days old
I love her periods of alert observation! Sometimes when she looks at you she seems much older than a newborn - something about those big eyes! (6 days old)
This is a cute onesie that Blondie and I found at the store the week before MJ was born. (9 days old)
MJ is a very impatient baby and gets herself very worked up if she isn't fed immediately when she wants to be. She gets to the point where she causes herself to gag on her own spit because she gets so worked up. MJ also startles very easily and will almost always wake up as soon as she is set down and she hates having her diaper changed. Whenever she is laid down her arms immediately fling out to either side and she startles herself. The last two days she has finally seemed to hit a more content faze and we hope she stays this way - otherwise I will be staying very close to home for the next few weeks.

Perspective

It's amazing how huge and heavy your two-year-old appears after having a newborn!

Kay with MJ at 3 days old

Productive day... finally!

My biggest problem lately is being able to get anything done during the day. MJ (who is 3 weeks old today) just seems to want to eat all of the time and she startles very easily - which means that I very rarely am able to put her down and have her stay asleep. Lately I have taken to carrying her around in a sling so that I can at least get something done while she is sleeping.

Today I was actually able to get a few things done besides feeding and holding MJ all day. MJ slept for 5 hours straight last night, I made a lunch for DH before he left for work, I showered before the kids left for school this morning (at 8:30 a.m.), Kay and MJ both took naps at the same time, I was able to put MJ down and have her stay asleep for about an hour, I cleaned two bathrooms, took out some trash, and was able to tidy up the kitchen a little. Also today, M&M swept and mopped the kitchen and then she baked some awesome chocolate chip cookies without any help from me! It's nice having her at home to help out. I will be sad when she starts school at the end of the month.

Kid talk

This morning I was trying to get Kay to come to me so that I could change her diaper. She kept telling me "just a minute" after calling her several times. Finally I had had enough so I stormed into the room she was in, grabbed her around the middle and started hauling her into the next room so I could change her. Just after I picked her up she said to me, "What on earth are you doing?!?"

Milk obsession

Kay loves milk! She will drink several cups of it throughout the day and she needs at least one cup of it at bedtime. Today though I think her obsession went a little too far. She was sitting at the table eating breakfast this morning and there was a milk carton sitting on the table right next to her. She reached over to the milk carton and put her arms around it and said, "Oh, I love you!"

Kitty starts kindergarten!

Today was Kitty's first day of kindergarten. She had a super hard time waiting around all morning until it was time to leave for school - she was so excited to go! Starting around 9:30 this morning she kept asking me if it was lunchtime yet because I told her that she would go to school after lunch.