Lucy's Birth

Lucy was born on Monday August 24th at 5:51pm.

Many have commented to me that they wanted to know how everything went, others I'm sure don't want all the gory details, so go ahead, feel free and turn away now.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:15am, my induction was scheduled for 7:30 but I was eager to get there. They immediately got me to my room and all set up. She checked me and my cervix was at 2cm. About 8:30 they started my pitocin drip. We sat there and just waited for the contractions to begin.

We told my nurse that I usually go fast (Myah - my first - was a 8 hour labor, Brett was 5 hours and Evie was 7) but all came within thirty minutes to an hour of my water breaking, so once I go I REALLY go. So about thirty minutes later the delivery team came in and set everything up early just so we were ready to go.

Mom and Ashley arrived at the hospital sometime that morning. The next time the nurse Amy (she was AWESOME by the way) checked me I was at a good 3-4cm. This was around 11:00am. She asked me about the epidural and I went ahead and said yes. The pain was not unbearable, but considering I went from 4cm to 10 with Evie in a matter of about 45 minutes, I didn't want to gamble going through pushing without an epidural.

They came in and gave me my epidural, then doc came in and broke my water. This was around noon.

We waited.

And waited...

And waited....

2pm I was STILL at 4cm, and contractions were all over the place. Nurse Amy helped me get things going by switching the position I was sitting in. We all start to take bets on the time she will be born and the weight of the baby. The nurse even gets her bet in.

About and hour later I was between 5-6cm. This lasted for a while. They upped the pitocin. During this time Aaron arrives at the hospital and we discuss them going to meet the kids at the house when they get off the bus. My cousin Treasure has Evie, so we don't need to worry about her for a while. A&A leave to go get the kids. The school calls Brett had missed the bus. So now we call A&A and have them go to the school and pick up Brett.

Myah calls a few minutes later from home (she has a house key) in a frantic panic that her brother got left at school. Daddy calms her down and lets her know we have it all under control.

During this time my contractions became regular and STRONGER. By stronger I mean pretty unbearable. I thought I had an epidural to avoid this? I found out later these are called "breakthrough" contractions meaning the pain is so intense they break through the epidural. Nice. Didn't know these existed.

The anesthesiologist comes in and gives me more epidural. By now I'm at a good 8cm. The kids get there and I get to give them hugs and kisses before I deliver Lucy. The doctor comes in and we send the kids out in the hall with Aunt Ashley and Uncle Aaron. Now I'm ready to push. I hit my epidural button one more time just to make sure I won't feel anything (I find out later this was QUITE unnecessary I was numb for HOURS into the night).

Lucy comes out without a hitch, two pushes later. She is gorgeous and totally healthy! Doc exclaims "she has more hair than her daddy!"

My ten hour labor. The longest of them all. Who would have guessed that? All things considered it went well, but it was definitely harder than any other one I had experienced. I am so glad though to have my little girl here with us. She is a total sweetie.

Oh, one last thing I forgot to mention. Jamin comes home to get the kids ready for bed that night and the dog (the suicidal one) is all bloody and scratched up again. Just couldn't be a Miser birth without a kid missing the bus and a doggie suicide attempt...

Craigslist

I don't know what it is with me and my luck on Craigslist, but I always have THE WORST experiences.

People jerk me around, never come to pick up when they say they will, they try and get me to give them things for free, and people are just downright rude to me. It's to the point where it is just not worth the hassle to make a little bit of money.

I recently tried to sell my broken TV on Craigslist. I didn't ask much but thought someone handy could fix it. That didn't work so I just offered it for free to get it out of my garage. Once you offer something for free, the offers start FLOODING in.

There was another TV I was selling and some guy wrote me saying he wanted it. I told him ok, come and get it. FOUR days pass by and I receive an email that goes something like this:

Thank you for your quick response. Please consider the item sold to me. I will be paying you via check. I will send my delivery man to come and pick up the item. Please send directions.

Obviously this was some kind of scam. If it wasn't he was just the biggest prick I've ever seen in my life.

Also, if I find something I want, I email someone about it. They NEVER email me back, or they write me back saying it's sold. If it is sold DELETE YOUR POSTING ALL READY. Geesh.

So this lady comes by last night to look at this vanity I'm selling. Her and I have been talking over the weekend, but with our wedding, and some of her family issues we were never able to get together. She decided to come by yesterday, no problem right? She was supposed to be here at 7pm. She shows up at 9:00 at night! 9:00! Her and her daughter stand in my living room looking at it for 15 minutes. She tries to talk the 7 year old precocious girl into it, but the 7 year old is finding ALL kinds of problems with it (it's not big enough, she has to bend over too much to write on it She can't open the drawer right). I mean, are you friggin serious? You are letting your 7 year old make this decision? I don't even let my ten year old make these decisions on furniture.

They leave, said they will let me know today if they want it. I think she is going to try and talk her daughter into buying it. At this point I don't care if they take it or not. It's not worth it. I'm only selling the thing for $30. My time is MUCH more valuable than that.

I think I'll just call Goodwill and have them pick up my stuff from now on. It totally isn't worth the hassle.

The Wedding Day

So this past weekend was my brother in law's wedding. Now, normally you expect wedding days to be a little bit complicated and have some issues, but nothing major usually happens.

Unless you are part of our family.

My morning started out with my sister in law, her kids, my kids, and our hubby's sitting around the breakfast area by our arcadia door. All of a sudden a duck flew into our back yard. What are the chances? One in a million if you are anyone else on the planet, but if you are the family that owns a beagle chances are pretty high that the duck will wind up in your yard.

Of course the dog started howling at the duck. The duck laid down flat on the ground like it was dead. Finally we were taking bets on wether the duck was dead or just playing dead. I brought the beagle in the house and I went out to go poke the duck to see if it was alive. I got about 10 feet from it and it started flapping. Me, being scared of birds screamed and ran back into the house.

About half an hour later the duck was still in the yard, but I needed to let the dog out. So, there we are and all of a sudden WHACK. The duck hits the arcadia door with a HUGE thud. All the kids and girls scream, my sister in law dumps her coffee everywhere because of the fright.

So, this should have been an omen to me as to how my day was going to go.

Here is a short list of the other wacky events that happened that day:

My daughter took her diaper off like ten times today. She ended up peeing on the kitchen floor.

The dog (our beagle) was vomiting all over the house.

The family members that were decorating the church accidentally locked themselves out of the room that had all the tables in it for the wedding.

We forgot the sash to the brides dress at home and had to stall the wedding while I came back home to get the sash.

The AC in the sanctuary got turned off to avoid the candles from blowing out: caused PROFUSE sweating.

The dog (the beagle, of course) comes downstairs eating a dirty diaper.

My niece poops her pants.

My other dog (the normally well behaved one) jumps up and grabs a chicken leg out of my sister in law's hand and eats it.

Now for the icing on the cake, the part of the story you have all been waiting for.

My son floods the church during the reception. Yes, let me repeat that again, MY SON FLOODED THE CHURCH.

Let me tell you one of the worst possible noises in the world that someone can hear is the sound of GUSHING water where there should be NO gushing water.

Come to find out my son was in the handicap stall in the church. In that stall they have the toilet and a sink attached to the wall. In the next stall over is my nephew. I don't know what happens to my son when these two get together but trouble just seems to find them, and my son absolutely looses his mind. Typical boy, he decides to stand on the sink and peek over into the next stall to be funny and irritate his cousin.

This causes the pipe in the wall to break, the sink to fall off the wall and hundreds of gallons of water to begin gushing out of the pipe. I don't ever think I'll forget the look of terror on my pastors face while this event unfolded. I'm certain at this point we are going to have to find another church to start attending (ok not really, our pastor is a SUPER cool guy and we have an AWESOME church).

This is the point in time where I melt down. The shear embarrassment of the entire situation just broke me down. Luckily the water got shut off, and the men did an excellent job of cleaning up the water disaster, and a plumber came out and fixed the pipe before service tomorrow. It COULD have been much worse.

I swear to you that this is the complete truth about my day. I can't possibly make this stuff up. I have witnesses that can account that this is my "normal" life.

One day of drama in our household is equivalent of what some people only get in a lifetime.

Honest Scrap

I must say that I'm completely flattered that another blogger friend of mine would pass along this Honest Scrap award to me. I think personally she is one of the funniest bloggers that I've ever read, and I look forward daily to checking her blog to see any new posts that I can totally relate to as a wife/woman/mother and chuckle at her humor.

Ok, so I guess this is one of those "tagged" things. The rules are that I list ten absolutely true statements about myself and then tag ten other bloggers that I find worthy (hopefully I have ten I can tag if not I'll tag as many as I can, and all are worthy...)

So here goes: The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God:

1. Since I have been pregnant (especially over the past month) I've been watching the Food Network. A lot. A WHOLE lot. Not that there is anything wrong with watching this channel under normal circumstances, but lately I've been watching it like a lion would watch a gazelle, sitting they preying on it, drooling over it.

2. I've been making dessert almost every night. This would account for the extra 10-20 pounds I've gained with this baby. That being said though I've been making these wonderful brownies, then you take them out of the pan hot, put vanilla ice cream on top then smother it in caramel syrup. OMG it's the best thing I've ever tasted. A moment on the lips is TOTALLY worth it on the hips.

3. I hate dogs. I mean, REALLY hate dogs. I think it is because they are so "needy". With a cat you put out food once a week, stick a litter box in the garage and they basically take care of themselves. Dogs are a completely different story. Also because they smell and are pretty much disgusting. The funny thing is that I always have at least TWO dogs at a time, and I always seem to have the most dog drama of anyone I know. I can't seem to ever get rid of them.

4. I have identity issues. I used to be a person who wasn't into brands, and would snub my nose at the girl who would go pay an astronomical amount for a handbag. After all it's just a handbag. Then I moved to this neighborhood and school district and all of a sudden I feel like I have to live up to this certain standard and I start to conform to it. I am now the girl who has THAT handbag. Of course I NEVER pay full price. I refuse. So here I am torn between to lifestyles, the frugal one that I strive to embrace, and the other part of me that wants an extravagant lifestyle. I am working though to find a good balance and impart that into my children.

5. I am haunted by the fact I never sent out thank you cards for my wedding presents. I know I'm an AWFUL AWFUL person. Someone told me I had up to a year to send them out as far as etiquette goes, so I took this to mean I could procrastinate. Then we moved out of state, and things just got lost in the shuffle and it never got done. I still feel horrible about it to this day. I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for it.

6. I love labor, hate pregnancy. I LOATHE being pregnant. I'm not one of those women who feel like they bond with their baby or adore being pregnant. I personally think those women who say they love being pregnant are total liars. I like labor not because I'm some kind of freak who likes pain, I like it because it's my own personal version of "A Baby Story." It's the most exciting part of all of it, getting there, being in the hospital, being the center of attention, and finally seeing your little baby. Also I have pretty easy labors, so I'm lucky there.

7. I wish I was closer with God. I'm just never where I want to be with him. I'm a Christian and I love Christ, I just know that I need to be better, but then again who doesn't feel that way.

8. Also being raised charismatic/Pentecostal and having all these emotions attached to God is very different than being in more of a Baptist like atmosphere, where those emotions are missing. I don't get that "church camp high" that comes along with the charismatic lifestyle. I'm having to totally learn who Christ really is, and it is difficult, and heartbreaking because I feel sometimes as if I've had him ALL wrong. I'm not saying either is right or wrong, they are just both very different.

9. I have a pretty shady past. I have a hard time shaking the feeling that I'm still THAT girl. It constantly makes me feel unworthy of friends, relationships or leading at a church. I know in my head that Christ forgives, I just think I haven't forgiven myself yet.

10. End it on a funny note (since I got so serious). I'm a hypochondriac. My husband pointed this out to me a few weeks ago. Here is how that conversation went down:

Him: You need to stay of WebMd. You are a total hypochondriac.

ME: I certainly am NOT. I am just informed and cautious about our health.

Him: How many diseases have you thought we have had in the past six months?

Me: (sit there and ponder this for a moment)

Him: Diabetes? Swine Flu?

Me: Yes (sigh) and yes. And Lupus, Lyme disease, Pancreatic Cancer, and Spinal meningitis.

Ok so he has a point. I need to stay off WebMd.

Ok, so I'm "tagging" the following people on this.

1. Ginger (because she is HILARIOUS and only has one blog written and I need more)

2. Treasure

3. Mom

4. My hubby (because he is HILARIOUS and needs to blog. I'm in withdrawal)

5. Melissa

6. Erica

I don't have ten people to tag on blogs because not everyone writes them that needs to have them (ahem Lanie, Sarah and my brother to name a few).

There you go. You know WAY more about me than you should. Now go and confess something yourself.

I need an organization intervention.

I'm on day four, yes FOUR of sorting through bags and boxes of children's clothing. I know, I can feel your eyes rolling and all the sighs coming from my friends who are sitting in a cubicle right now, but seriously I think at this moment I would trade places with ANY of you.

I'm TERRIBLE at organization. Positively terrible.

Side note:Now, don't get me wrong, I'm totally and completely thankful for my friends, neighbors and family who have given us clothing. Thanks to all of you, are needs are totally met and we have to buy practically nothing. That being said, read on.

My previous method of organization was to just throw it all into a plastic sack, label it with a sharpie and toss it into the garage/attic. This method was not working well for several factors, pets, and kids both would rip open the bags that had not yet made it into the attic, and the clothes would get filthy, also thus by being in a not so accessible bag in the attic, I'd forget about them.

The other day I ripped open a bag FULL of adorable 24 month and 2T dresses from my cousin Treasure. I didn't even KNOW I had these. I was sure I had gone through everything that she had given me but obviously not. Now I'm frantically washing clothes hoping to get Evie into these dresses before summer ends. I think literally there are enough dresses that she could wear one a day for the next month and never repeat. It's so sad I will never get through all these adorable clothes.

Another issue I have is not all clothes are the same size. They may SAY 3T on them, but as any mother knows not all 3T's are the same. So then it is my job to evaluate these sizes and determine if she will indeed wear them this winter or not. Do I keep them down for winter so I don't forget about them, or put them in a box? If I put them in a box I will surely forget about them, but if I leave them out I'm creating clutter. I'm supposed to "judge" how much she will grow between now and fall/winter? Then do I sort by size only or by size and by season? The problem with that is we have bi-polar weather in Oklahoma that can be warm until November, with a few cold days mixed in. Oh, and don't even get me started on March weather here...so if I pack all the winter clothes up I could be shooting myself in the foot.

It's enough to make a normal woman go insane, for me, it's putting me in a state of helplessness. You remember, I'm the girl who can't even decide on what size macaroni to get, much less figure this crap out. Here I am, sitting on the floor pregnant and pitiful with piles and piles of clothes around me, unable to make a decision at all as to how to organize these.

So, finally I came up with a plan and created a "staging area". I now have two dressers in the girls room. One in the actual room for clothes they wear now, and one in the walk in closet that is "staging" for winter/fall and the next size up. That way they are accessible, but yet put away somewhat. Everything else is going in labeled boxes, NOT plastic sacks. (this was my husband's doing).

So I just went through my last bag of clothes from my cousin and I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Then I realized I have about six, yes SIX boxes of clothes in my garage from our friends who just moved to Nebraska. SIX BOXES.

Dear God, I'm going to be in the looney bin when this is all over.

Charlie Suicide Attempt #6

So, my beagle, Charlie had yet ANOTHER suicide attempt the other day.

If you haven't read about the other five you can get a recap here.

The hubby was painting the girls room and had the window slightly open to let out the fumes. He noticed the dog sniffing around the window area and closed it enough that he thought the dog couldn't get out of.

He was wrong.

About two minutes later our dog Charlie had jumped out the window and was walking around on the three foot landing outside our daughters window sniffing the gutters, inches away from a 9 foot decent to death.

My husband calmly called him over within arms reach, grabbed his collar and pulled him in, once again saving our dog from death.

Thanks Sweetie

I've been doing all these wonderful Facebook posts that say things like the following:

• Julie is washing boxes full of baby clothes by size, and scouring Craigslist for a double stroller. If I feel adventurous today I may tape off Myah's room to prep it for painting.
• Julie Got the girls room painted, furniture moved in, and baby clothes down from storage and sorted! I'm finally starting to feel prepared for another baby!

But, I have a confession to make. I'm not the one who has been doing all these things and doing the "nesting". It's been my wonderful husband. Without him I wouldn't have any of this done. Seriously.

Thursday night after went into a bout of false labor, hubby began moving furniture, changing outlets and light fixtures, taping the room off and painting until 10:30 at night. Saturday morning, he got up and painted ALL day. Then even after painting he moved all the furniture in while I sat on my butt and tried to decide where I wanted the furniture (and was quite bossy during the process I may add. I'm lucky he puts up with me).

Then to my surprise yesterday he got into the attic and pulled down all the bags of baby clothes, car seats, baby toys etc that have been in storage. Him and the kids sorted them by size into individual boxes that he picked up. It would have taken me days to figure out how to sort them: by size? by season? Lately I've been completely incapable of making any sort of decision. I have no idea what is wrong with me (I'm not kidding about this decision making thing. When I went grocery shopping on Saturday I stood in the pasta aisle for about five minutes staring at elbow macaroni trying to just decide if I wanted regular or jumbo size It's pretty pathetic).

If it wasn't for him I'd be sitting in an empty half painted room right now feeling pretty helpless. He is the best husband in the world and I can't believe how much he got done this weekend. He worked his butt off.

Now, I really am washing the clothes, the ones he sorted. I did go grocery shopping on Saturday while he painted the room, so I have done my fair share (especially for being as ginormous pregnant as I am). I just have to get this off my chest that without him, I wouldn't get much accomplished. He is my rock, and I am so thankful that God blessed me with such a wonderful husband.