Sunday, April 26, 2009

Ohhh, the craziness of it all...

Just some notable pics from this last month along with a short update...

The Infamous "torpedo belly." This is post 4-mile walk. Crazy big, huh?


This is Dave a week into the 'stache-growing contest at work that started Apr 6. It's a little more filled in now.





So the past few weeks really have been good to me:
I delivered a healthy baby boy and had wonderful friends help me through it all.
I have three other boys that enjoy him so much and want only to love him every second.
I haven't felt nearly the emotional toll this time around with all the hormonal changes.
And a husband who would do anything for me and the fam.

BUT I WANT MY DAVEY BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He really has been MIA these past few months. I don't get much time with him anyway, but I really have felt like the lone woman in the midst craziness. Once my Betsy left, I was afraid of what the day could bring and was pleasantly surprised that things weren't so hard after all - thanks to the older boys taking charge of their own responsibilities.

I thought that since those first two weeks were not emotionally straining I was totally in the clear for the emotional roller coaster that is childbirth; but I'm finding that although I'm not really emotional, I'm EXHAUSTED and can't really tolerate the whining and complaining that seems nonstop. Yesterday I took the initiative and "locked" the kids downstairs and let them have free access to the backyard and I had a couple of hours to myself (and Haefan) and it was WONDERFUL. Then the boys and I went to the park since it was so nice out and they LOVED it; but once we were all forced back inside from the thunderstorms, the whining picked up where it left off. I feel like I just can't win. It seems as though not everyone can be pleased. And since I'm the only parent, my psyche gets not even one moment of peace. So in other words, I'M GOING INSANE. Even as I sit here and attempt to ignore the incessant "MAMA"s, I can feel my insanity level rising. I hope that my mental health remains intact until June, when I think I should have a bit more help around me. If not, hopefully you'll still love me - crazy and all!

Things have been rather busy between just getting the kids to school and also doctors appointments, etc. We also had a several companies stop by the house to do a moving estimate. That was useful, but definitely NOT FUN. I can't stand having people over in my messy house right now, but it was a necessary evil. So now that the moving company is chosen and our move date is pretty much solidified, all I have to really do is throw out the trash and all things not being moved. That will take some time since that includes almost all toiletries and cleaning supplies. It will be difficult for me being the pack-rat that I am, but probably very cathartic and therapeutic for me, too. Oh the fun of moving!

This next week we have t-ball practices and the opening day on Saturday. Hopefully that won't be too traumatic for the big boys since they've missed all the practices this month since they are on Sunday, which we don't attend, and the Tuesday ones have been canceled due to rain.

In other news, Dave underwent some minor surgery this past week (I'll let him explain) and so that has contributed to my feelings of being alone because I've needed to allow him some recovery time and time for the drugs to wear off. Simply for the fact that I've had not much more than 5 minutes of respite time this past week or more has a large part in my path to insanity. I'm at least feeling very happy and optimistic, still, so depression is not the issue, I PROMISE. I'm just SO EXHAUSTED and really tired of hearing "MAMA!" all the time.

I hope that I have more fun pictures to post this next week and I'll work on looking toward our bright future to stave off the negativity.

Now a bit of a rewind of the past few weeks to explain the pics:

We had a wonderful Easter (sadly, without Dave, of course) with a fun Easter-egg hunt with Betsy and Max. The boys loved their sweet kid cereal in the many eggs we hid. We included Cookie Crisp, Lucky Charms, Trix, Reese's Peanut butter Cereal, and Fruit Loops. Betsy was kind enough to include a few chocolate treats, too.








We were able to celebrate JJs birthday the day after Easter with Sheila, Steven, and Trevor. They thoroughly enjoyed running around rampant and eating only a fraction of the HUGE cake.

This is JJ singing his favorite tune from Blues Clues (...sit down in your thinking chair and think, think, MMM mmm MMM, MM mm MMM mm MMM...); it's quite adorable to see in person.


A cake suitable for 30 people to be shared with 5. Nice.



What can I say? At least he's using a fork.

What's a party without the pinata??? We are Mexican, you know.





Poor Trevor has many food allergies, so he's always stuck with his own "cakes" and "treats" at my house while the rest of indulge in front of him.


It was so nice this day that Dad broke out the "pool"


Max and Betsy were so nice to live with us for 2+ weeks and so to surprise them for Betsy (and Adam's) birthday, I flew Adam out for a couple of days to spend with the family, but most especially to make the flight home a more bearable one ('cause nothing is worse than traveling solo).


We went out to Osaka (a Hibachi/sushi place) and had a wonderful time with everyone - Thanks guys!





Because of the nice weather, we spent our last night together with the Romneys at the beach, where JJ became very fond of the goose pellets and the lake water by ingesting them both. It took me some time to figure out why he was chewing so much, until I saw him grazing the sand and picking up something suspicious. Then he headed to the lake with a scooping shovel and proceeded to drink straight from the lake, simultaneously soaking his whole right side. I can laugh about it now, but it's still pretty darn disgusting.



Loving the Crazy Bread (I have to say that the LC's near Stoney Creek has the BEST Crazy Bread! It's like REAL italian bread vs. the normal greasy madness one can find everywhere else).


Peek-a-BOO!






I LOVE the warm weather and look forward to a fabulous Spring!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

A Few More...




Things have been hectic around here...as would be expected bringing a new baby home, selling a house, finishing up studying/traveling/taking national surgery boards, and planning for Easter along with a couple of birthdays here at home. Let me clarify that things - despite the stacked schedule - have been rather low key. Nothing big has been planned for any of the celebrations and baby Haefan is such a dream for a baby. He has the occasional fussy night, but overall, he sleeps, eats and poops like a champ. So the circumstances couldn't be better.

So needless to say, recovering from delivery and trying to hold down the fort while Daddy Dave is away working, etc., has taken much of my energy and sucked the life from me mostly, so not much to add to the previous pictures we posted earlier. But in an attempt to add something new, I found a couple worth sharing, but really nothing more recent than the first few days of Haefan's homecoming.

Other than that, I thought I would post some of the details of it all...
So I knew when I first found out about this latest pregnancy that I wouldn't have the luxury of having Dave's parents come into town to help out the first week or so, like they have in the past since they were itching to go and serve an 18-month mission. So I thought of the various options I had and asked my BFF Betsy to come out and help me during that time. She was so good to accept the proposition. The problem was since I couldn't afford to buy a last-minute ticket for her, I had to guess when I would need her to be here for the big event. I know that I've always been shy of the 40 weeks when I deliver, but JJ was only shy by 4 days and Kaelan was shy by 3 weeks. So with trying to avoid making Betsy cover all the bases and stay for a whopping whole month to be SURE, I just guessed and booked her arrival for the 2nd of April (back in October sometime or so), since Dave would be leaving the next morning for his Chicago boards. Well, as you know, it turned out that our Heavenly Father was looking out for us all (especially me!) and answered many heartfelt prayers and allowed the whole thing to take place on the 1st (not my idea of a great birthday day). So Dave got to see his little peanut before he left, I had my baby early, and Betsy was able to come at the EXACT perfect time - just as I was ready to leave the hospital.

Now for the Baby Story...
Dave moonlights at a downtown-ish hospital on Tuesdays, so after watching my American Idol and staying up late to catch up on the Biggest Loser that I recorded, I headed to bed. It was probably around 1am when I finally made it under the sheets and I remember thinking, boy what a dumb thing for me to do (stay up late for no good reason) if I really go into labor since I will have little opportunity to catch up on some valuable sleep after that begins. Then about 4am I felt a small gush in bed that I knew wasn't pee. So I quickly exited the bed and rushed to the bathroom. Thankfully all the gushing decided to finish up on the tile floor in there. So then I paged Dave with the "special code" and I got no response after 10 minutes. So I tried again and again. No response still. So then I called my good friend Sheila. Told her that today was the day, but that I couldn't get a hold of Dave. So I was getting more and more nervous. She told me that since her husband was out of town (for only that night!!!) at a trade show in Canada, she would have to get her mom to come over before she could make it to my house. Well, she also couldn't get a hold of her mom, so she lugged her two boys out of bed and brought them over at 6am. OH MY GOODNESS!!! I can't believe I have such wonderful friends. I'm the luckiest person in the world, REALLY. Anyway, I finally got a hold of Dave, who was also lacking a lot of sleep (hence, the missed pages he slept through) and he headed home and took me to the hospital. That's only happened one other time. It was nice to be driven instead of driving myself, I've got to admit. Anyway, they hooked me up to the IV, which STILL is sore BTW and "locked" it so I didn't have to be hooked up to anything. I was having mellow contractions and only dilated to a 2-3, so I decided to start taking laps around the OB floor. Well, 4 miles later, still not much progression and I was getting SO tired, that I finally gave in and let them hook up the "pit." Well, things started moving along nicely at that point and 2.5 hours later I was ready to push. It was less than 10 minutes of pushing when Haefan made his grand appearance. What a cutie. I can happily say that I've made it to the other side now. I was able to make it here with 4 healthy boys all delivered without the dreaded needle in the back. Boy, I don't know how you other ladies do that. But good for you, really. It's never been about pride, just the fear.

This is his brother that he chose from Heaven according to the boys; so there couldn't a brother more proud or happy for him to finally be here.


Proud Papa singing his lullaby to his little man


Not happy about coming home in an awkward carseat.




So there was no real drama leaving the hospital this time (JJ was A LOT of drama); but then when we went in for the check-up a few days later, the doc said she wanted his blood drawn to check the bilirubin since he looked a bit too yellow. Well, the results showed that his levels were a bit high - but still nothing too crazy - so she ordered the UV blanket for him and another blood draw the next day. We did the blood draws every day of last week, but one and the photo-blanket everyday. That's an awkward device and a blinding one! I finally was getting sick of his levels not dropping, so we went to the park and let him soak in some REAL UV rays, only to find that later that night, I was too negligent and let half his face become sunburned...yikes. I never said I was good at this newborn thing...obviously. But, really, what is worse? Jaundice or mild sunburn? I don't know, but we're finally in the clear and there will be no more pricks for the little guy.


Soaking in some sun to help the jaundice.


Being the angel he is.

I have a handful of cute Easter photos that I will post another day. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!!! I know that my Redeemer lives. Love to you all.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Haefan Michael Gonzalez Skeehan

So, baby Haefan was born today at 5:51 pm and weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and measured 20.5 inches. Both he and Griselda are doing well and are expected home in about 24 hours. I have a few pictures to post along with the first video ever of baby Haefan.

Baby Haefan's first few seconds.....



A big yawn....
His first bath....

























His post bath pictures...




































He is definitely a keeper. He was born under 10 minutes once Griselda was completely dilated; however, the complete dilation part took about 12 hours to achieve. She was a trooper. Completely natural. What an amazing mom / woman.

Dave

It finally is Happening!!!

Griselda's water broke about twenty minutes ago. So, we are off to the hospital. I'll let you know when we have a new baby.

Dave