Life with 4!

Alright, so I sat down to look at all the pictures we've taken in the last couple of weeks. This might be a long post! But at least most of it will be pictures...

Cloudburst had Kindergarten graduation towards the end of May. In fact, it was the day after the baby was born, so I didn't get to go. Cloudburst was sick and had already missed the rest of the week, but she really wanted to go to graduation, so we loaded her up on ibuprofen and let her go for most of it. We found out after 10 days of fever and 3 trips to the hospital lab for tests that she had pneumonia. Poor girl!

After being waited on hand and foot in the hospital, it was time to come back to reality at home. I really missed my kiddos there! Poor Cloudburst was still sick, and had to get blood drawn. She FREAKED OUT, completely out of her mind with screaming and crying. I felt so bad because I could only listen to it over the phone while Thunder was trying to help her. As for our coming-home day, the baby was not so excited to be undressed, and then dressed. But he actually liked most of the car ride home.

I was told that Cloudburst spent all morning making this banner for us.

And a great story! On Thursday, the day after the baby was born, Thunder was visiting with Sunshine, fiddling with the camcorder. Then a nurse came in and said, "Dr. Schweitser is here to see you." This didn't sound familiar, and usually doctors don't get announced, so I asked if he was here to see me or the baby. "Oh, it's for you," she replied. Then in came a man dressed in a doctor's coat, broken glasses, a blood-stained cap and holding a clipboard up to his face. Then he started talking in a german accent... and I recognized my dad's voice! He explained that the baby had a case of OCBD- that's obsessive compulsive baseball disorder- and proceeded to give me a signed baseball for the baby.

He stayed for a few days. He completely surprised everyone, including my mom! He also got gloves for the Cloudburst and Tornado (Sunshine already had one) and they had a ball outside (pun intended).

This is the baby at about 1 week of age. What color will his eyes be?!?
Will we really get a blue-eyed child?

Poor Cloudburst couldn't hold the baby until he was almost 2 weeks old, due to her illness. She was so excited when it was finally her turn.

Here he is at 2 weeks! He is working steadily on his fat rolls and double chin. He also had to already go to the doctor for an eye infection (he also has a blocked tear duct).

And here are the 4 rugrats now! They all love this little guy so much, actually a little too much sometimes. Well, we all do. He is a pretty calm guy. Most of the time I can figure out what's bothering him, which is great at this age. It is so fun to have a baby in the house!

I have to give a shout-out to an awesome baby gift I received from my neighbor. It's called The Carseat Canopy and I just love it!

Thunder has really taken to the little guy. Which is good, since he'll have to give the baby shoe advice as he grows up. Thunder wears a size 13-14, and the baby is already in size 9 months socks!

My mom left last Sunday, and we're managing on our own. And I couldn't find any pics of my mom with the baby, so hopefully she has some that she can email me. The house is dirty and the laundry is piling up and I've gotten sick too (sinus infection) but we're managing! We've been so spoiled with dinners and baby gifts from so many friends and family. We feel so blessed to have this beautiful boy in our family and to feel the support of so many great people!

Happy Birthday little guy!

We are now "a 6 family" according to Cloudburst! This morning was my scheduled induction. I was 3 days overdue, and even though I really wanted to go into labor on my own, I really didn't want to wait any more! We came into the hospital around 7:15 this morning and something about the hospital put my body into gear- I started contracting before I was even hooked up to anything!
The Doctor broke my water (I was 4 cm dilated) around 8:30 and the pitocin was started. By 9 AM the contractions were 2-5 minutes apart and starting to hurt a lot. I asked for an epidural.... but the anesthesiologist was busy with a C-section, and then another patient had asked for an epidural ahead of me, meaning it would probably be an hour before I could get mine. The nurse turned down the pitocin drip... but by then my body was in full labor. I ain't gonna lie... it was horrible. I could barely breathe, started crying and was shaking from the pain. I have never felt pain like that before and wasn't prepared to handle it. Thunder tried many things to help, but man, that hurt bad. He kept telling me to just get mad at the pain, and actually got me to laugh a few times, don't ask me how. Props to the ladies who do natural births out there!!
Around 10 AM, the angel, er, anesthesiologist came in and I got the blessed relief of modern medicine. Ahhhhhh, that's some good stuff. I was dilated to 6-7 cm at that point, and a little over an hour later I was ready to push. I couldn't feel too much at that point, but with 3 pushes he was born! He was born at 11:20 AM and is 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 20.5 inches tall. What a cutie! He looks so much like his older brothers, and his hair even has a slight reddish tint to it.
He's so cute and mellow! He had apgar scores of 9 and 9, and he's a good eater.
At one point the baby was a little fussy... at least until Thunder started to hold him and talk to him. The baby definitely recognizes his daddy's voice and calmed right down. They hung out for a long time and the baby just looked up adoringly at daddy's face and listed to his voice. Too bad I couldn't reach the camera.





Yeah, he definitely has dad's long feet.

Now, Grandma, why are you steeling my chocolate covered almonds? You think I didn't see you?
The other kids have all been running fevers earlier this week, so we had them wear masks and not hold the baby. They were good sports. Speaking of the baby... we're still searching for a good blog name, so we'll keep ya posted. We're all doing well!

Ready to pop

This is me on Sunday, my due date. You may have noticed that Sunday was 2 days ago. Why am I still pregnant?!? ***Warning: next picture not for faint of heart***

Yes, I have an "outie." How could I not? This poor kid is definitely running out of room. My hips hurt, I can't sleep, can't walk for very long, have swollen ankles, have vericose veins, feel nauseous again and won't have any contractions that stick!! I was really hoping to go into labor on my own. But I'm only crazy enough to wait 3 days past my due date... I'll be induced tomorrow. Wish me luck! Any predictions??

Oh well, enough griping. Grandma is here now! She arrived a couple days ago and we've been having fun.

Tornado was having fun messing around with the older kids' tangrams. Little bugger.

Yesterday was unusually hot, about 90, so we got out the slip-n-slide.

Everyone had a good time, although they all had fevers by the evening! They were a little sick earlier and I thought they would be OK... but Cloudburst ended up missing school today. Ooooops.

Happy Mother's Day / Birthday to me!

So I must admit I have been spoiled these last few days. I had my birthday today, and Mother's Day yesterday. Sunshine asked me today at dinner if it was going to be my birthday every Monday, and I just said that would sure be nice!
Most Sundays, Thunder is gone the whole day. But yesterday, we all slept in, we ate breakfast together, and then Thunder casually mentioned that he had canceled all meetings for the morning. What a nice surprise.

The kids helped Daddy pick out what every preggo lady needs- some fat clothes. I've never had a baby in the spring/summer, so all my post-baby stuff is for the winter.

And a small addition to my Valentine's gift.... Thunder totally surprised me with the wedding band to match my ring. Love it!

After breakfast yesterday, Thunder had me sit down in our big cushy chair... and gave me a Chinese foot massage! Yes, in a home depot bucket :-) He rubbed and soaked and pressed and poked and scrubbed and lotioned up my feet for nearly an hour. Wow, that was the highlight of my day. I darn near fell asleep. After church, Thunder grilled some delicious steaks and took care of everything after dinner. What a fulfilling day.

And then this morning, it started again! We were all awake early enough before school that we did presents then. I was excited to open up a blender! Ours broke a while ago, and I have missed making smoothies. I also got some more clothes and a ring sling for the baby (who should be here any day now!!).

As a present to me, Cloudburst got up, got dressed and checked in her backpack for homework, all without me bugging her. And I got so many hugs from Sunshine and Tornado.

We enjoyed another of Thunder's divine grill offerings... BBQ chicken. He does such a good job. It's what I wanted more than anything else. He also made potatoes, rolls and cut up strawberries. The poor guy was worn out by the time bedtime rolled around tonight! I got many phone calls and messages online... it's so nice to be remembered!

Don't you just love this time of year?

And oh yes... a funny story. We were eating Friday night and Thunder happened to look in Cloudburst's mouth, and notice that a tooth was missing! The poor girl lost her 2nd tooth and didn't even know it. She was a bit distraught that the tooth fairy might miss her pillow that night, so she wrote this note, complete with an explanatory drawing. And even though the tooth fairy was very tired that night, Cloudburst received her bounty :-)

First race!

Last Saturday, Cloudburst participated in her first official timed running race. We've run off and on since last summer, and she enjoys it. When we got the flyer about her school sponsoring its first annual 5k/1 mile race, she asked right away to sign up for it.


The day of the race was not so pretty- cold and rainy. I had stowed my jogging stroller and roller blades in the back to go out with her, but just did not feel like it when it came time to line up. I was a little nervous that she would be able to follow the course, but we drove around it and I assured her that there would be lots of people to follow.


We were there a bit early, and everyone was having a good time.


Lining up for the race, Cloudburst found a few friends from class.


Look at these two cheerleaders! They clapped and yelled for everyone who came down the home stretch.

Here she comes- almost finished!


Here she is at the end! She ran the whole time and finished with a time of 11:33. She finished second in her age group (if you check out this site, subtract 3 minutes from all times). We all enjoyed several of the snacks they have for runners afterwords, talked to Nana, Grandma, and Aunt Jenny. Even though I could just hobble around trying to catch a few pics, it was a fun morning for all of us while Thunder was in China.