It's been pretty hectic this week, so I'll catch everyone up on our Christmas. We had a pretty low -keyed holiday. We didn't have any family come, so it was all quiet with just us (and if you believe the 'quiet' part, I've got a bridge to sell you!). I guess I'll back up to the week before Christmas, when the kids were out of school and Deren was at work. We had a traffic jam of boxes in our front hallway, so I started opening (doing away with Rachael & Abby's playground in the process!). Rachael just loved the dress-up clothes she got from Grandma and Grandpa. Her favorite is a purple princess dress and matching hat. Jacob and Abby joined in on the fun. Jacob picked out a pair of heels that he is quite partial to. I'll say "Get your shoes so you can go outside, Jacob," and he'll come running with his pink & purple heels in hand! And for the record, I think it's really cute! If he was 20 yrs old and still partial to heels, I would be worried. But he's my big cutie for now.

We also finished putting together our "geo-dome" for the kids in the backyard, with Deren doing most the work. Jacob really enjoys climbing, so he likes it. The girls are still a bit little for it, but with daddy's boosting hand they are right there with big brother.

So on Christmas day we still had 2 boxes full of wrapped presents from Grandma and Grandpa, as well boxes from Mamaw and Papaw. Rachael got some more horses - about 15 in all. And, of course, she horded them all in a corner, and snarled at Abby every time she got in the vicinity. Deren & I got some neat electronic presents from his parents. I got a digital photo frame, which in theory is really nifty. But, so far Mr. Jacob refuses to let it cycle through the pictures and keeps turning it off. Deren got an ipod and a play station portable, so he's good to watch movies anytime anywhere. Just yesterday Jacob figured out that the small little ipod can play movies. Needless to say, it's currently hidden in my underwear drawer! That child would take it out for sure.

Soooooo, after all the unwrapping, Jacob figured out he didn't have any dvd's under the tree, and he started bawling and throwing fits. A pretty typical Christmas, all-in-all, wouldn't you say? With the kids tearing through their gifts and then crying because they didn't have more?! At least that's what I did when I was younger, and it's apparently coming back to haunt me!

Mr. Daniel update. Our little/big man turned 2 mos old 2 days ago!! Time sure is flying. He is turning into such a little cutie pie socialite. He smiles and cues quite a bit now. His other love (besides nursing) is his baby swing. The swing we have swings side to side or back and forth. He likes going side to side, with the music on and the mobile going - he's an all out kind of guy. The more noise the better, in fact. The other kids will be making such a ruckus, and Daniel will be asleep - happy as a clam. When the noise is gone and the swing stops, he is not happy. Speaking of which, the girls are down for a nap right now, and the boys are off watching movies, so it's quiet and Mr. Daniel is fussing at me, so that's all for now!

Presents?! Who wants presents?! The boxes will do!

I haven't been able to post pics in the past couple days. Maybe after Christmas.

We went to Christmas Eve services at the church this morning at 9:45. I had assumed that the nurseries would be closed, so we kept the girls with us. They had volunteers to watch the boys at the service, so they were fine. Can't say we got much out of the service. Abby was a wild woman. She wanted to run up and down the aisles. Deren finally took her out of the sanctuary, leaving me with Daniel and Rachael. Rachael collected all the pencils from the pew. I spent the rest of the services quieting Daniel and praying that Rachael wouldn't stab one of us with a sharp pencil. I nursed Daniel, and have a cover-up for when I'm in public. He's already getting fed up with it (no pun intended!). He will fling it off, or wiggle out of it. In another month or two I'm going to have to come up with another plan. Maybe he'll be the first to take a bottle, who knows.

I ran into a friend after the service. She was saying that her 4 yr old was acting up, so they left her in the nursery this a.m. What?? You mean the nursery was open? Whoops! Deren wasn't so thrilled with me. He was looking like he was going to pop and vessel trying to rein in Abby earlier. Again - "whoops!" Maybe next Christmas we'll get to pay attention - a lofty goal for parents with multiple toddlers, don't you think?

I'm supposed to be cooking dinner now, so I'll post more later. I'm roasting a chicken in the oven. Deren's mother taught me how to when she was here 2 mos ago. I was going to crock-pot it, but I forgot 3 mornings in a row! I have no attention span as of late. I put a bottle of ketchup in the cabinet with the dinner plates a couple days ago, and about lost my mind trying to find it. A bottle of ketchup is not something you can leave out and about with Abby and Joshua on the prowl!

The boys and Rachael are officially on Christmas break, until Jan 4th, so let the games begin. Deren called today about 3:30 to see how I was doing. He usually avoids calling me when the kids are all off school. He'll call and say "How's it going?" Response, "HOW DO YOU THINK IT'S GOING?!" So far today, though, I haven't hidden in the closet with some oreos yet (partly because we don't have any oreos in the house!). Besides, aren't they made with trans fats?? ..gotta go.. Little man is sooo intolerant of my computer time!

..just popping in to add a picture. Daniel is now 6 wks old. He has been colicky at night, so my computer time is limited. Well, come to think of it, he gets fussy whenever I'm on the computer. I think he and daddy got together and made a deal.. fuss whenever mommy tries to shop online.. Deren is quite pleased! I'm so in shock that Christmas is less than 2 wks away. I think I'm going to use the 'have a newborn' excuse, because I don't have anything done!

If you look close enough, Daniel has a little sleep grin on his face - precious boy!

We are passing around our next round of colds. We've had someone sick with a cold since mid October! ugh!

I'm trying to take off those pregnancy pounds. It looks like I have exercise buddies. The girls liked doing push ups, jumping jacks, and (pretend) jumping rope with me. Now if they could just swear off potato chips with me!

I'll end my Friday ramblings with a "Kids say the funniest things" segment, featuring Rachael Mae.

(yelling at the top of her lungs from her room) "MOMMY, I HAVE A POOPY. A STINKY, MOMMMY! GROSS! CHANGE MY POOPY DIAPER, MOMMY!"

(after putting up the Christmas tree) "Look Daniel, it's Christmas!"

(Wednesday and Thursday morning) "No school today, Mommy. Bus go to bed. Rachael stay home and watch movies!"

My new born is not so newly born anymore! I'm in shock that Daniel is already 1 month old! We're slowly easing into our routine - well, as much of a routine as you can have with a 1 month old calling the shots. He walks in the steps of his siblings, so to speak, in that he can HOWL when he is upset - none of that wimpering - it's for wimps! When little man cries we all have our tails between our legs, and wimper some ourselves (just call me wimpy!). So the new ruler of the house has been established.

For the most part, the rest of us are adjusting to our new roles. Rachael babies the baby. Abby was being a bit rough with Daniel earlier today, and Rachael punched her. She's being a little zealous protecting Daniel, I think. Abby takes advantage of the times when I nurse Daniel, and runs around the house like a maniac, getting into as much stuff as she can. Joshua still ignores Daniel. Hey, can't expect too much, he still ignores Abby. Jacob, well, Jacob is Jacob. He has taken mental notes on the new situation, and knows that when mommy is nursing or trying to pacify fussy Daniel, it's prime time for acting up. So we are seeing a lot of aggression, tantrums, etc. He is making his point: "Get me what I want right now, or you'll regret it!" So it's not been the picture of peace and calm, to say the least.

Over the weekend we banned Jacob from movies because he was acting out so bad. He proceeded to pee in his pants every 15 or so minutes. He would look at me or Deren, scream, then pee (repeat process for the next 6-8 hrs). ((sigh))

Well, the girls are waking up from their nap, and the boys will be home from school soon, so let the games begin!

Just popping in to post some pics (below). I had a greasy hamburger for lunch, and a brownie for dessert after dinner, so I've been pacing around the house with poor little Daniel and his upset tummy - BAD MOMMY!

My mother is still here. We're passing around bugs. Jacob, Deren, Joshua, Abby, and my mom are all sick with a cold. Rachael had the croup last week. I hope she doesn't get the new bug on top of that. It all makes sense, though.. after all, next week is a holiday, and the kids are off school until the following week. And you know how we spend our holidays around here!

Indian Princess, our little Pixie, and waking up with a streeeeeeeeetch..

I had a baby BOY! His name is Daniel Grant. He was born at 4:53 a.m. on Saturday October 28^th. He weighed 10 lbs, 9 oz and was 21 ¼” long.
My official due date was October 26^th. I had an OB appt that day. It was the same story – hardly dilated and a little effaced. We talked about inducing on the 31^st, because Deren was starting his new job the next day. Dr. Bass hooked me up to the monitor for 30 mins. The baby was fine, and Deren pointed out that I was having contractions. By the time my appt was over and I registered at the hospital, I had to race home to take my 5 yr old to have a MRI. I was having contractions all the way home to pick him up, but they stopped after we arrived at the imaging place. Traditionally, my contractions have come to a screeching halt when I’m stressed out. And my 5 yr old was manic and hard to control before the procedure, and beside himself when he woke up 2 hrs later. I don’t know how I let my husband talk me into taking my son for a MRI on my due date! Anyway, that was the end of my contractions.

The next day, Friday, I did not have any contractions during the day, and planned to run errands the following day. About 1:00 a.m. Saturday morning my 3 yr old daughter called for me to come lay down with her in her room. I settled down on the couch in her room, hoping to go back to sleep. But I noticed I was having contractions again. I laid there for awhile, trying not to get too excited, because I figured the contractions would stop again. After about ½ hour of pretty regular, but not painful, contractions, I woke Deren up – I thought I should wait and let him sleep, but I was too excited after all! I went and laid down in our bedroom, and Deren started timing the contractions. They wore about 4 mins apart, and picking up in intensity. I called my doula, Sherry. I decided to stay in bed while Deren got ready and packed the car, which I figured would take about an hour – Deren has one speed. He brushed his teeth, he coordinated his belt and shoes, he styled his hair. At the end of the hour I told him he had minutes to go before I started throwing things at him! I had called Dr. Bass. She said to come to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 3 a.m. I was 5-6 cm dilated and 100% effaced. Dr. Bass and my doula got there about the same time – shortly before 4 a.m. Dr. Bass stayed in the room the whole time - she had went downstairs to eat lunch at the last birth and I had the baby before she could get back to the 2nd floor! She had the nurse bring in the delivery table/equipment soon after I arrived. Meanwhile, the longest contraction I was having was about 45 sec (Sherry was timing it. She kept saying they weren't long enough. I was about ready to get nasty because they were hurting so much - 45 secs or not!). I told Dr. Bass I was started to feel pressure (like needing to go to the bathroom). She checked me. I was 9 cm, and my bag of water was still intact. Another couple contractions and I was fully dilated. Dr. Bass broke my water and I started to push. I figured I was really tired at that point, because I've never had such a hard time pushing. I didn't push long - about 10 mins. But it HURT, and everyone was telling me to push harder (I thought I was pushing plenty hard). I was totally shocked when they weighed him and he was 10 lbs, 9 oz. Even the dr had thought maybe 9 lbs, and my husband and I were thinking smaller, based on my prior babies.

In closing, he looks like such a BOY! I had become used to petite girl babies. This little guy looks like he needs a pair of overalls and a new name of Bubba!