Procrastination

Those who know me, know that I am a total procrastinator. Anything can be used as an excuse to put off doing something else. Except where my kids are concerned and they just jump right to the front of the list and bam, their needs are taken care of. But as far as the house work, well, it does tend to slide to the back burner. And then there are the countless projects that I really need to get done. The list goes on and on. So last night, I did the ultimate procrastination of house work in order to produce the photo below. Instead of cleaning the dishes, folding the clothes, mopping the floor, and all those really boring house duties, I decided to put carving a pumpkin for Charlie at the top of my list. I mean Halloween is tomorrow, so it had to get done right. That is what I thought too!

Lipstick Bandit

My mother and my aunt have always teased me about getting into Now's, my great grandmother, lipstick. It was bright red and I came out of the bathroom with it all over my face. This weekend at the baby shower we were playing a game and this story came up. Of course all the girls got a huge rolling laugh about it. Coincidentally, that night history repeated itself. I would blame it on my mother or my aunt, but they had already headed home. You should always know something is happening when the kids get quiet. While changing Robb's diaper, my little thief snatched my lipstick. Here is the results of her experimentation.

This brings a whole new meaning of caught "red handed"!

Robb's Arrival

October 14, 2008 will be a day that is permanently etched into my heart. This is the day I saw my son for the first time. This is how that day came about. My weekly appointment for week 37 wasn't until 11 o'clock. I got there early, anxious to see if all the erratic contractions that I had on Sunday had moved me up the dialation ladder. I also had a small worry: only a few fetal movements since I went to bed the night before. At breakfast, I downed a glass of grape juice, just to see if I could get him jumping. There were a couple of little movements then, but nothing to get excited about. The doc checked me...only a 3.5 and that was a maybe .5. We heard his little heart just thumping away so I knew all was well. However, the doc thought we should have a stress test done. So off to the hospital I go. There were a few phone calls made, but I was assured that all was well. I must admit, I was scared to death. They hooked me up to the monitors and we waited. Of course, what do children do, they make you big fat liars. Either he was excited because I was nervous or he knew something I did not. About 15 minutes into the monitoring, I had what they call a Titanic contraction. That is a contraction that lasted 5 minutes long. When this happened his heartrate when a little crazy and then there was no fluctuation in the rhythm. He was not flatlined, he just was really worn out from the massive contraction. I was assured by the nurse that all was well, even though the one warning sign, the inactive heartline, was there. She then left the room and came back with my doc only a few minutes later. He walked in and said "today is the day". With that I was on my way to having my boy. Meanwhile, Charlie is at home with the girls, and I have the car seats.....it was just a routine check! While I am waiting at the hospital, he is getting a shower, getting a sitter and calling in the troups. What a crazy hour. By noon, the doc came in and broke my water, started me on the pitocin and ordered my epidural. The rest was hurry up and wait. Charlie arrived at the hospital not long afterwards. They started my epidural and more hurry up and wait. At 4 o'clock, the doc came back in and checked me. He warned me not to push or sneeze, that the baby was right there. He said he needed to go put up his coat and he would be right back. An hour and a half later, we thought maybe he was pulling our chain. Finally he comes back. What a nightmare he had just had. An emergency C-section, an emergency delivery and another delivery. How did I go from 1st in line to 4th? Well, its called an epidural. If I had not had that, then I would have stayed first. Did I mention it was a full moon? And since I tested positive on my Group B strep test, there was a 5 hour window of time before I had to start another round of antibiotics. So, we cut it pretty close. Two pushes later and baby Robb was here. 7 lbs, 2.8 ozs, 20.5 inches long. 5:47 pm. There are definate advantages to having a baby in the daytime and to being induced. I think this was the easiest of the three! We spent the next 3 hours just looking at him, taking pictures and visiting with family. Hattie just wants to hold him. Riley thinks he is a toy doll or something. After everyone left, Charlie went with the nurse to give Robb his first bath. I took a cat nap and waited on word from the Pedi. He is an Aggie, so we talked more about A&M's changes than we did the baby. Strange. Robb was in great health even though he was early and had his umbilical cord around his neck.

The next day, we got to leave after our 24 hour mark. We all loaded up and were heading down the hall to leave when one of the nurses remembers that I am to have a shot of Rhogam. WOO HOO! So I got to bend over at the reception desk and take it in the hip. That was fun. Hattie really wanted to watch me get a shot, which is only fair since I have seen her get a million of them. But we opted for her to go on down the hall. Now all of my children's birthdays are on even numbers, ending in 4.

Oktoberfest 2008

This past weekend we made our annual trip to De Kalb for Oktoberfest. We got there on Friday a little later than normal, but that is okay. On Saturday morning, we woke to rain and cold winds. We began to wonder if it was going to ruin the day. The firemen always make a pancake breakfast, this year was no exception. It runs from 6 am - 9 am. This year we almost missed it. We didn't mean to oversleep, but it happened. The entire family got up, got dressed and was out the door in a matter of 35 minutes. I think this is a record. But we made it none the less. Riley ate with Grandma. And Hattie had to sit by Jane and Landry. That is Papa with them. Joni always provides the girls with their "Oktoberfest T-shirts". We look forward to them every year.

After breakfast, we strolled downtown to wait for the parade. Since it was raining, they were not sure if it would start on time or be postponed. It began on time. Charlie and Dwight Wood Jr. always emcee during the parade. This year was no different. See him on the balcony? That is Joni behind him.The parade did begin on time and as you can see Hattie is all about the parade. She was not happy to have to sit and wait. Plus, it was super cold. Hattie could talk of nothing but the parade for 2 days. Her favorites are the Fire Trucks, Shriner cars, the De Kalb Band, and the horses. This year one of the firemen for De Kalb's Fire Dept. had a massive heart attack at age 36 and died just the week before. One of the most moving things that I have seen in a long time happened during the parade. As the fire trucks got to the stage, they stopped, turned off their engines and all exited the vehicles. They then asked for a moment of silence. It was so touching. After the moment of silence, they rang every siren long and loud, and the parade moved on. Due to the weather, the Shriner cars didn't attend, nor did the antique cars. There were many booths to see and various foods to be eaten. Yummy Fried Pies! However, we kept with our tradition of meeting friends at the Front Street Junction, where 3 of us split a large FSJ Special Pizza! YUM! The afternoon was filled with the Cabaret Show, which was one of the best in my opinion, the carnival, and the Cinderfella Beauty Pageant. And no, I didn't mispell it, is in fact a drag show. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

This was the first year for the festival to have the carnival rides. Hattie couldn't wait to get started. Riley pooped out after her train ride. Poor baby. It was nice that they had rides for little kids and a few for the non-pregnant bigger kids.

A blast was had by all, and by the time it got dark, it was bed for everyone!