Counting to Five

Every mother knows that it is impossible to use the restroom without children interrupting.  It's some sort innate magical power to know when Mom is taking care of her own business. Tonight I tried to provide myself an extra buffer zone of privacy by locking my bedroom door while I was in the restroom.  Matthew was quick to find that I was in the restroom, and quite unhappy that I locked the door.  After a bit of pounding on the door I heard, "Open this door right now!  I'm counting to five and this door better be open!" Then he actually proceeded to firmly count to 5!  I almost died laughing!  When his counting didn't work, he pounded on the door a couple more times and gave up!  That little stinker is so cute & so funny!  I'm so glad I get to be his Mommy!  :)

Lost Key

We keep a locking doorknob on our pantry.  We started this when Tyler was little in a effort to keep him from getting into food that isn't safe for him.  This morning Claire and Matthew found the key and removed it from its holder, then locked it into the pantry.  I'm no dummy, I keep a spare key so that situations like this don't occur.  Unfortunately, the little container that holds the spare keys is hidden away somewhere.  Could be in a random box somewhere or maybe even still in the cabinet at our old house (we brought the doorknob from the old house - we're cheapskates like that).  Now Claire and Matthew are in big trouble for their sneaky behavior.  I told them we can't go to Grandma's house until we get the pantry opened.  Claire really wants to get to Grandma's house so she's tearfully trying to find a solution.  One of her best solutions was that we need an ax and then we can buy a new pantry door!  But the winner is that we need to buy a new doorknob.  I told her that a new doorknob would cost $22 and she would need to get the money from her piggy bank.  She said ok and ran off to get the money.  I laughed and told her that she doesn't need to use her money to buy a doorknob.  She said, "Mommy, kids don't care about money!  We don't spend it."  Now her Rapunzel piggy bank is sitting next to my keyboard and she is begging me to just use her money to buy a new doorknob so we can go to Grandma's house.  I think I will have to give in and agree to look for the key when we get home from Grandma's house.  I hope all of the tears will make her remember that we do not lock the key in the pantry!!!!

Gotta Laugh

A good sense of humor is definitely a necessary character trait to survive as a mother of 4.  So far today I have a few things that had to make me laugh....

Tyler:  Mommmmmyyyyy!  Kate is covered in something yellow.  It's even on her arm.  I think it's poo!
*And it was definitely a big poo mess!  So fun!

Claire's behavior calendar from school was yellow today.  (Green is best.  Then it goes yellow, orange, red.)  Claire tried to scribble out her teacher's note explaining why she was yellow.  Lucky I'm skilled in reading messed up writing from my years as a teacher, so I could make out "Making inappropriate noises."  When I asked Claire to demonstrate what noises she was making, she put her forearm up to her mouth and made a nice loud fart sound.
*Yes that would be my adorable little 5 year old girl making  noisy fart sounds in 1st grade!

Matthew:  Mommy, check.  Did I get all the poo off my bum? (As he bends his full moon over for me to inspect his wiping skills.)

*This brings me great happiness because it sure beats wiping the poo myself.  :)

Me to Kate:  We don't eat dirty diapers.
*Don't need to say any more.

Matthew jumped into the air, pulled his arms in to his chest and made a full spin before he landed.
Then Matthew asked me:  Do you know what that was?
Me:  No
Matthew:  A tornado!
*That one made me laugh so hard.  :)

And the very best moment of my day goes to Claire.  We were watching a movie tonight.  Claire climbed up in my chair with me and ever so seriously and compassionately looked at me and said, "I'm sorry about your fat tummy."
*Gotta love her sincerity!

I'm sure there will be plenty more funny things.  But these were my favorite.  

Youth in a Pill :)

Today Tyler told me that when he grows up he wants to be a scientist.  His plan is to invent a pill that people can take so that they won't get old.  The pill will make them young again.  And my favorite part.... Tyler said that the pill will make me just like I am now!  What a sweetie - he thinks his Mommy is just right the way she is, so much so that he wants to invent a pill to keep me this way!  :)

Waiting for Karma

My sanity is being stretched to its limit.  Just got home from Target with 4 kids.  All I had to do was grab some pictures from the 1 hr photo and let Claire pick a couple scrapbook items for her homework scrapbook page.  We were almost there when Claire noticed she was wearing her Hello Kitty Slippers instead of shoes.  Too bad - not turning around.  She just rode in the seat in the cart.  Kate rode in the basket.  Tyler & Matthew had to walk.  They were HORRIBLE!!!!  Tyler and Matthew just kept nagging each other.  I put them on opposite sides of the cart so they'd leave each other alone.  Matthew kept running in front of the cart and over to Tyler's side to bug him and I'd have to put him back on his side.  While looking at the scrapbook stuff, Matthew and Tyler were out of control loud and bothering each other.  The final straw was when Tyler pinched Matthew.  So then I had Matthew crying and trying to hit Tyler for pinching him and Kate screaming because someone took the pacifier off of the hookie thing in her car seat - AGAIN!  While we were at the check-out stand, I dug a spare pacifier out of the car seat.  What should have been a 5 minute trip into Target turned into a horrible experience and Tyler is now grounded.  I don't understand why my oldest child who is 8 years old is always the WORST when we go shopping.  I hope the Priesthood Preview does not last very long tonight because I really need Jeff to come home and help me with these children who are driving me insane.  Someday when I am a Grandma and my children complain to me about their naughty children I will laugh and laugh and laugh and say one word.....  "Karma!"  :)

Clean Colleen

Ever since I was a kid, no one could pronounce my name correctly.  I don't think it's that difficult... Co-lleen, with long o & long e.  As a kid, my friends would call me Chlorine, or C-leen (leaving out the long o).  Many people call me the more traditional Irish pronunciation of my name that sounds more like Call-een.  One of my teachers in Elementary School called me Corinne.  My gymnastics teacher called me Nicole all the time.  She said it was because she was reversing my name in her head.  I still don't quite understand that one because my name backward is Neelloc.  I guess if you reverse the end of my name to be "ne" and then add the beginning of my name "colle," my name could be "Necolle."  And some of my closest friends call me "Colleenie."  And the ones I truly love the most sometimes tease me with, "Colleenie-wienie."  But those are more nicknames than mispronunciations.

Now my children find it funny that Jeff and I have real names, not just Mommy and Daddy.  And of course they can't quite pronounce my name correctly.  The other night Matthew and I had this conversation:

Matthew:  Yours name is C-leen and Daddy is Jweff.

Me:  Yup my name is Colleen.

Matthew:  Ha-ha!  Yours name is C-lean!  You have to Clean!

Me:  Are you making fun of my name?

Matthew:  Uh-huh!  Clean, Clean,Clean!  

What a stinker!  3 years old and he's making fun of my name!

Late Night Blankies

The past few nights we've been putting Matthew to bed in underwear instead of Pull-ups. And the past few nights we've been up changing Matthew's sheets. Tuesday morning we woke to find wet sheets, so I washed & changed his sheets. Wednesday night, he had wet sheets during the night, so in the middle of the night I bathed Matthew while Jeff changed Matthew's sheets. Then again in the morning, I found Matthew was wet but it only wet the cute doggie blanket I made for him. That blanket was in the washer when we put everyone to bed. A little after 2 am, I finished nursing Kate, put her down in her cradle and went to check on my 3 sleeping kiddos. As soon as I walked into their bedroom, I was greeted by that all too familiar scent... Matthew needed another bath and a new set of sheets. Jeff was so nice to get out of bed when I woke him to ask for his help. Just like last night, he changed Matthew's sheets while I bathed Matthew. Poor Matthew, he's just not a fan of being pulled from his bed for a 2 am bath. He was so sad about it. And to make things worse, this nighttime accident put Matthew's dinosaur quilt out of commission, and his doggie blanket was clean, but still wet and sitting in the washer. After I switched the blanket to the dryer and got his sheets into the washer I went to find a solution to the no blanket problem. Tyler had his old Sesame Street quilt folded at the foot of his bed, so I offered it to Matthew. I told him I was pretty sure Tyler would want to share it with him. I wrapped him all up in the quilt and he kept saying something that I couldn't quite make out because his sad little voice was so quiet. I leaned down to hear him better and found that he was saying, "but now Tyler will be cold." That sweet little boy was concerned that I had just taken the blanket off of Tyler for him! I reassured him that Tyler still had a blanket and would be fine. Matthew nodded his head in understanding and closed his eyes to go to sleep. It's moments like these that bring joy to my heart. Matthew is a kind-hearted little boy and I will remember this peaceful late night experience with him the next time he's running wild, bouncing on the furniture, spilling Kool-Aid on the floor, or fighting with his brother and sister to remind me what an amazing little guy he is.

Please????

Just had this exchange with Matthew...

Matthew:  Mommy, wipe my bum!
Me:  Wipe my bum, what? (Trying to get him to say "please.")
Matthew:  Wipe my bum because I went poo and pee!

Is it bad that his response mad me laugh?

The Big Day

Katherine Lilly Cosme
April 23, 2012
7 pounds 2 ounces, 20 inches

Well, it's been a little over 2 weeks since Kate was born and I'm finally able to sit down at my computer to write about the day she was born.  Sorry if the details bore you - but I'm mostly writing this post for my own memory of the day.

Since Kate was so stubborn, not wanting to make her way out into the world, my induction was scheduled for 4:30 am on Monday, April 23, 2012.  I was so excited to meet my little girl, but I was incredibly nervous.  I was induced when Claire was born and I know how much more brutal labor is when you're induced.  I couldn't really sleep the night before the induction.  My alarm was set for 3 am so I could get up and get ready to leave for the hospital.  I woke up around 2:30, but I couldn't get back to sleep.  I gave up on sleep and got up about 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off and got in the shower. I had to call at 3:30 to confirm that there was a bed for me at the hospital.  Thank goodness there was a bed ready & waiting for me.  My grandparents got to my house a little before 4 am to stay with Tyler, Claire & Matthew.

Jeff & I arrived at the hospital just on time and walked through the drizzly rain into the hospital.  Too bad I woke up so early to make sure my hair looked nice since the drizzle completely destroyed any effort I made to have decent hair in the pictures.  My first nurse, Paula, met us in the hallway as we walked in & took me straight to my room.  She got me all settled in, placed my iv and got my antibiotics started.

My next nurse, Jovi, was as sweet as can be.  She took good care of me that day.  She wanted to make sure that the anesthesiologist was available for my epidural before she started my pitocin after the 2nd bag of antibiotics.  So she waited until about 9:45 to start the pitocin, but when she checked me she found that I was not dilated as far as the doctor said I was.  Instead of being 1-2 cm, I was only a fingertip!  She talked to the anesthesiologist & they decided it was better for me to start the pitocin and labor for a while before getting the epidural so I didn't run the risk of it wearing out before I delivered.  So Jovi started me at the lowest dose of pitocin and increased it in increments of 2 over the next few hours.  I labored for about 6 1/2 to 7 hours without the epidural and the pitocin was cranked up to 16 (the highest dose possible is 20).  I was pretty proud of myself for making it that long without the epidural.  If it wasn't for the fact that I was getting almost no break in between contractions, I would have been able to handle going longer without the epidural.  But I just couldn't do it anymore.  I was so tired after only 2 hours of sleep and laboring that long without rest.  So I asked Jovi for my epidural.  She got my fluids going and I waited for what seemed like an eternity for the epidural.

The charge nurse decided that she wanted a nurse in training to witness her first epidural.  So she switched my nurse from Jovi to Nikki and her trainee, Aubrey.  I was so bummed because I really liked Jovi.  But Nikki and Aubrey were nice too.  It was just a bit annoying because every time they checked me, Nikki would check me first and then Aubrey would check me.  It was like a test every time she checked me.  Nikki wouldn't say how far dilated I was, she'd wait for Aubrey to check me & then tell her what things to look for.  Then after the test, they'd finally tell me how I was progressing.  One time during this process, when Nikki was checking me, my water broke.  I ended up getting my epidural around 4:30 pm.  Unfortunately, it didn't work on the right side of my belly.  I still felt everything.  So the nurses had the anesthesiologist come back in.  He gave me more medicine in my epidural and it took about 10-15 more minutes for it to start to work.  But it made my epidural sooooo strong.  I couldn't feel ANYTHING!  I couldn't move my legs at all.

A little before 7:00 pm, my back started hurting really bad, just above the the line where I was numb from my epidural, and I was super nauseous.  I had the nurses try to put me in a different position a few times and they gave me some zofran in my iv.  That really helped with the nausea.  But my back was still really bothering me.  Aubrey and Nikki checked me right before they left, a little after 7:00 pm and I was 8-9 cm.  They called my doctor to tell him I would be ready soon, but there was no need to rush.  My new nurse Michelle came in to check me and I had her turn me.  But as soon as she left the room, my back was hurting so intensely that I made Jeff go get her to turn me over again.  When she turned me, she couldn't find Kate's heartbeat.  I asked her if she thought Kate was sunny-side up and she explained to me why that causes a problem in delivery and assured me that my doctor is very good at turning babies for delivery.  She said he uses the vacuum to turn them and get them out.

So I had resigned myself to the fact that he'd probably use the vacuum to get Kate out and I would have a very painful recovery.  But after spending what seemed like 10 minutes trying to find the Kate's heartbeat, I asked Michelle if she thought Kate should have an internal monitor and she left the room to get one.  When she came back with the monitor, I had Jeff come over to help lift my leg while Michelle put the monitor on Kate's head.  But as soon as Michelle moved the pillow that was  between my knees she started to panic.  She hit the call button and started yelling, "Emergency!  Emergency!  I need help!"  Then she said, "Oh shoot!"  (Except she didn't say shoot.)  And Jeff said, "Is that the head?"  Within a few seconds, there were about 10 nurses rushing around in my room, getting everything ready for Kate's birth.  There was no holding Kate in to wait for the doctor.  Her head was already out about to her eyes.  My mom said when she stood up to see what was going on, Kate's head was out about to her mouth!   I didn't even push, but Kate just kind of flew out!  At 7:40 pm, with Wheel of Fortune on in the background, Michelle delivered Kate and handed her off to another nurse to check her.  Kate was fine (her Apgar scores were 9 and 9).  My doctor arrived just in time to deliver the placenta and to check me.  I didn't need any stitches.  For a baby who took her sweet time deciding to come out, she sure rushed out at the end!  I will never forget the excitement of Kate's arrival into the world!  I wish I had been able to have the mirror to see the craziness, but I will just be grateful that I didn't have to push at all!

Kate's first picture - right after the nurses whisked her away.

Here's Kate! 

 Here's Kate as they weigh her - 7 pounds 2 ounces!

My first time holding my baby girl!

Jeff's first time holding Kate! 

Grandma Karen got to hold Kate next. 

Then Great-Grandma & Great-Papa got a turn to hold Kate! 

Here's Michelle, the nurse who delivered Kate.

Uncle Ken & Aunt Penny came to visit Kate! 

 Papa came to visit Kate too!

 Claire was so happy when she finally got to hold her baby sister!

Tyler was so happy that Kate finally arrived!

Kate is all dressed & ready to go home! 

Mommy & Kate are excited to go home!

A Long Wasted Day

So this morning, I woke up around 5:15 with a horrible migraine.  It was awful and I was so nauseous because of it.  I dragged myself out of bed to take my thyroid medicine.  I'm supposed to wait an hour after taking it before taking any other medicine or eating anything.  I made it about 15 minutes before I was ready to cry and asked Jeff to bring me a Pepsi and some Tylenol before he left for work.  It took me about an hour to get back to sleep.  I had to wake up about 7:00 to get my kids ready for school.  I got everyone out the door and was planning to come home & just lie on the couch while Matthew watched movies.  But I remembered that on Monday, when I tried to schedule an earlier appointment with my OBGYN, they told me to call back on Wednesday morning to check if he had any cancellations.  So at 8:35 I found out that my doctor had an opening at 9:50 in his Chino Hills office.  I fought through feeling nauseous and got myself showered and ready, put the last few items I want in my suitcase (just in case), dressed Matthew, dropped him off at my grandparents house & started driving like crazy to get to the appointment.  While I was driving, I was having some contractions and Kate was moving around a ton.  She was stretching her legs out, kicking toward my ribs and pushing her head straight down.  Then I had a gush of fluid & I was pretty sure my water broke.  So I called the doctor's office & told them I'd just go to the hospital instead.
I went home, grabbed a few things, and drove back to my grandparents house.  Jeff left work to meet me at the hospital and my Grandma drove me over to the hospital.  When I got there, they did 2 different tests to check if my water actually broke and they decided that my water did not break.  I guess Kate just stretched herself hard enough on my bladder to cause the gush.  When the nurse checked me I was still only 1 cm and 80% effaced, just like last Friday.  All of the contractions I've been having haven't done a darn thing!  Kate didn't have enough variation in her heartbeat, so they made me lie there forever trying to "wake her up."  Once they realized that her heart rate was fine, they talked to my doctor and he said to send me home.  The nurse said that I couldn't just stay to be induced because I have to go to an appointment with the doctor and fill out paperwork in his office.  She said to go to my next appointment and then come back to be induced.
The only problem with that is when I got the new appointment with my doctor this morning, they cancelled my Friday appointment and gave it to someone else.   So I didn't have an appointment with my doctor.  Of course this was 10 minutes after the doctor's office closed for lunch.  So I had to wait until they opened again to try to get a new appointment.  Jeff drove back to work in Buena Park for a meeting he needed to attend.  My grandma & I went to meet my Grandpa at McDonald's because he took Matthew & Claire there for lunch.  When we got the kids loaded into the car, I called the doctor's office and got an appointment for 3:40 in his Upland office.  We went back to get my bag that holds Tyler's epi-pens from my grandparents house, then picked Tyler up from school.  My grandparents met me at my house.  My Grandpa stayed with my kids while my Grandma drove me to Upland.  When we got to the Upland office, the girl at the front desk proceeded to tell me, "Um, I don't know if the doctor left before or after we made your appointment, but he isn't here.  He had to go do a C-Section and won't be coming back into the office.  You can see the nurse practitioner instead or we can reschedule you."  But after asking if the nurse can write orders for an induction, and the front office girls going to find out the answer to my question - it was determined that the orders need to be written by the doctor.  There was no point seeing the nurse, so they rescheduled me to see the doctor tomorrow morning at 9 am.  I am so sick of dealing with this doctor's office.  They are such a pain!  So Grandma & I had to turn around and drive back home.  We will try again tomorrow morning.
I still feel yucky.  I am still pregnant.  And I'm really hoping that tomorrow the doctor will take pity on me & schedule an induction for me.  Everyone keeps telling me, "Don't worry.  You won't be pregnant forever.  She will be here soon."  But it seems like if it's up to my doctor, he'd like to see me stay pregnant for another week or two.  I think I'm ready for a good night's rest now.  I'm exhausted and I don't think I can stay awake much longer.
Here's to hoping for a better tomorrow!

Waiting and Waiting and Waiting....

Well, here it is - the day I've been waiting for since August..... April 17, 2012.  I'm supposed to be at the hospital, welcoming my new baby into the world.  But apparently Baby Kate has other plans for us today.  She's still happy as can be to just stay right where she is.  My doctor is a big meanie and is making me wait to decide if I can be induced at my next appointment on Friday.  I just do not have the patience to keep waiting and waiting and waiting.  At my appointment last Friday I was dilated 1 cm and 80% effaced.  I really wish I could have him check me, because I've been having contractions off and on and I'm sure I've progressed a little more.  I'm so completely bored.  I've reached the point where I'm too pregnant and tired to keep doing things around my house.  So, I'm just sitting around waiting.  I'm so ready to get my labor going so I can meet Kate.  Hopefully I won't have to wait too much longer.

Nesting

I think I should have a baby more often. This nesting phase is getting a lot of things done around my house. Here is how nesting works.... (and yes, you can laugh at me - especially if you've been through this & can relate) I need to clean my kids' bathroom. I do the standard cleaning, but before I sweep the floor, the spots where the paint has chipped off of the vanity and the door catch my eye. So I decide that it only makes sense to sand those spots down before I sweep. I sand, sweep and mop, but then I realize I can't leave the raw wood because the kids will spill on it & it will be ruined. So I head to the garage for the quart of touch up paint that's been waiting for me to repair the spot with water damage from when Claire flooded the bathroom in November. I paint the vanity, door & water damaged door frame, but figure that while I have the paint out, I should make sure that there's no other trim needing some touch-up paint. I walk around my house with my paint & brush and now, not only do I have a nice clean bathroom - I have paint touched up in both of the kids' bedrooms, the hallway, the front door, the kitchen and the laundry room. Crazy? Yes. Does this painting NEED to be done before I bring my baby home? Not really. But my house is looking really nice. This is why getting my house cleaned up while I'm nesting takes so long. If only I had this psychotic compulsive need to clean and organize my house all of the time.

Childbirth According to Matthew

Well, I'm 3 weeks away from my due date.  Baby Katherine could arrive at any time!  Good thing Matthew explained how to get her out of my tummy to me this morning.  Here's how the conversation went....

Matthew:  Mommy, yours tummy is getting even bigger!
Me:  Yup, it is.  That's because Baby Kate is getting even bigger.
Matthew:  Yours tummy is going to pop.  You need to drink somefing and yours tummy will pop and she will come out.  But you need a barf bowl.
Me:  I need a barf bowl?  Why... to catch Baby Kate in it?
Matthew:  You need a barf bowl to catch all of the blood.
Me:  You think there will be blood.
Matthew:  Baby Kate's blood.

Well alrighty then.  Childbirth explained by a 3 year old.  I'm glad I'm giving birth in a hospital & I won't need a barf bowl to catch the blood.

Spherical

Today while we were shopping - yes, the shopping trip I just wrote about in my previous post - Tyler made a comment that made me smile.  He came up and rubbed my baby belly and said, "Mommy, if I rub your tummy so gently, it almost feels spherical.  That's a real word right, spherical?"  Yes Tyler, that's a real word.  And you are right, my belly does feel spherical - just like I swallowed a basketball!  Gotta love that kids will say exactly what they are thinking.  :)

Beginning and Ending of Shopping Trip - What a Difference!

Walking into Target with all of my kids today, a woman passed us and said, "You have the cutest family!" I thanked her and as we continued into the store, I couldn't help but wonder, "Would that lady ever make that same comment if she saw us coming out of the store instead of going in?" Now that our shopping is done, I know she absolutely would not! After Matthew running away at least 10 times in the store, Matthew knocking things off of the shelves and Matthew knocking Tyler and Claire over like dominoes (which brought a great many tears from Claire since Tyler landed on her leg and knocked her shoe off) - Matthew did not get his own Icee at the end of our shopping trip. He was so upset by this that he began wailing at the top of his lungs. Since I'm not completely heartless, I decided to buy an Icee that he could share with me.  But he wanted his own!  As he saw Tyler & Claire enjoying their Icees, he got so mad that he began in with the "I hate you Mommy!" Then when he hit me, I decided that he wasn't going to have any of the Icee I intended to share with him. I think the man getting into the truck next to me put it perfectly when he said, "Wow, that boy has a healthy set of lungs on him!" We've been home for 45 minutes. Matthew is still in his room screaming and crying saying he doesn't want a nap. But that is one little boy in desperate need of nap! Aaaah, the joys of being a mother! :)

I Don't Feel Good

Claire just tried a new trick in the getting ready for school battle.  Quick & simple....

Claire: I don't feel good.
Me:  Why, what's wrong?
Claire:  It's because I don't want to go to school.  That's why I don't feel good.
Me:  Well too bad, you're going to school.

Gotta love the complete honesty in her answer.