My Kids Ate Cookies for Dinner Tonight...

Yep. My kids ate cookies for dinner tonight. Oh, it wasn't on purpose - no, I actually forgot to feed them dinner. This, seriously, is 100% shocking to me as I've never even come close to forgetting to feed any of my children one of the three major meals. Forgotten a snack? Maybe. But not dinner. Especially not dinner.

It was only 2 months ago that I was talking to my mother on the phone, overwhelmed in the last stretch of pregnancy, when she joked, "Well, there's nothing wrong with serving cold cereal for dinner." I had never thought of such a thing before! And the freedom it gave me! Sure enough, not a week later, I convinced my kids that having cold cereal for dinner was about the coolest thing they could eat.

Yes - dinner is an important part of my life.

So I had to laugh at myself tonight after I'd coined the reason why my stomach was being a little disagreeable. A good friend called and, after laughing along, said "You know, I always say that sometimes, instead of eating something that's good for your body, you need to eat something that's good for your soul."

So, today we fed our souls sugar cookies with green frosting ... and ... well, it was good.

Leaving you in the dark...

Sorry all - I do realize I have abandoned you all to wonder about my sick little guy for far too long (it's okay to admit that you've thought of little else for over a week now...) He's doing great! Totally back to normal and he seems to have forgiven all involved - even after being jabbed EIGHT times before they were finally able to draw blood, and stabbed FIVE times in his back before they were finally able to get spinal fluid...in the charts it went down as a 'traumatic tap'. I should say it was traumatic! For him, of course...but also for his mother! The meningitis ended up being only a virus, and he got through it in a couple of days.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the concerned comments, e-mails, phone calls, prayers, visits, the perfectly melted milkshake, and the fantastic homemade bread - I have the best friends and family in the world. Thanks for your support.

Now, a question for mothers of three or more children: HOW IN THE DEVIL DO YOU FIND TIME TO BLOG?!?!? We are absolutely exhausted - this sweet little baby is killing us softly as we're going on over a week of 3-4 hours of sleep a night. See, it's the combination of him with the other kids that makes it so difficult. Miles likes to have some 'awake time' up until about 12 or 1 in the morning, then wakes up twice for food in the night, and then the other kids wake up at around 6:30 or 7:00. Problem: I have to be awake for ALL of it! No chance for naps during the day, either - when my other kids are down, Miles is awake. When Miles is awake, the other kids need to be attended to. Please, tell me this gets better! I am actually sitting here, bouncing Miles on the yoga ball and typing with one hand. My eyes are stinging from lack of sleep, and I have beautiful, dark circles under my eyes. So many things to blog about - and I can't find the time to do it!

Ah, well. At least we seem to have a lot of love in this house (usually). I often find myself smiling for no real reason, and I'm sure things will calm down relatively soon. For now, I'll just keep treading water. :)

Fearing Fevers

Do these pictures break anyone else's heart? My poor little Miles was admitted into the hospital yesterday with a fever. Tonight is our second night here, and we're hopeful they'll let us go tomorrow afternoon. They've found the source of his fever - enterovirus meningitis. Yes, meningitis is a scary word (inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord)...thankfully it's viral instead of bacterial. He'll hopefully be back to normal with a few days rest, but he sure gave us a scare yesterday. I'll fill you in on the details later, but now I need some sleep.

I will, however submit a humble, unashamed request for prayers... we hope he returns to normal quickly - with no setbacks along the way...

Our sweet little boy

A Beautiful Week

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Miles in the first week of his life. Exciting news: I think he has curly hair! There are a couple of pictures of it in the slideshow - it's so short and so fine at this point that I can't be sure...but, what do you think?!? It would be kind of fun to have a little Carson with curly hair. :)

(PS Mom and Dad - if you want to see the pictures bigger, you can click on 'View All Images' at the bottom of the slideshow, and then it will take you to a new page where you can click on a 'Full Screen' option on the right hand side of your screen.)

Brimming with Love

Miles is sleeping on my shoulder right now. His little head resting comfortably in the soft muscle just below my collarbone; his beautiful face turned toward my cheek - close enough to kiss the softness...close enough to smell the sweetness...close enough to hear the miracle as tiny puffs of air escape his lungs. Occasionally he'll stretch - occasionally he'll squeak - occasionally he'll lick his lips - and I am cherishing this moment.

Has it really already been five whole days?



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I kind of fibbed my way into the hospital.
Two days! Two and a half full days of steady contractions...coming every 10-15 minutes apart. Contractions that never ceased...that only hinted of pain...that never increased in intensity or frequency...that whispered promises of impending labor but failed, time and time again, to deliver...that kept me awake for 2 full nights watching the clock, recording their spacings in my mind... I was going batty, my friends! Brian's work schedule was becoming complicated, and so - I did it. I let Brian talk me into calling the on-call doctor Sunday night to say whatever it took to get into the hospital - hoping that once we were there, the doctors would keep me and 'help' my labor along. It was actually surprisingly easy.

Me: I think I'm in labor. (the fib)
Dr: Is this your first child?
Me: No, it's my third full-term delivery.
Dr: Oh! Well, then...if you think you're in labor, come on down and join the party! I'll let the nurses know you're coming.

So, instead of flying to the hospital in a frenzy of painful contractions praying to make it in time, Brian took the kids over to a friends house while I moseyed about in my own home packing a hospital bag, and trying to create a mentally positive 'zen' that might induce labor.

After getting to the hospital, the doctor let me labor for 5 hours before coming to the conclusion that I was not progressing. (Really? Oh, gee...I thought I was in labor, Doc...) at this point he gave me three options:
1) "You could go home." To this option, I mustered up the saddest puppy-dog eyes I could and tried to send a clear message to him: 'please don't send me home...'
2) "I could rupture your membranes and see if that gets something started." Yes, yes...I liked the sound of that one.
3) "I could start you on pitocin to really get things started." Umm....well, I've heard a lot of horror stories about pitocin, so..... I choose number 2!!!

So, at 1:00 in the morning, the doctor broke my water, sealing Miles's fate of being born within the next several hours. After he left, I looked at Brian and loved him more than ever - - - he had convinced me to end my own misery by fibbing. What a guy. :)

I learned that I am, unashamedly, an 'epidural-girl'. This had been a point of confusion for me for many months. After a half-way failed attempt at an epidural last time with Carson, I was scared to do it again. But after 4 hours of painful contractions (boy did they start coming after my water was broken!) and discovering that I still hadn't progressed much, I decided I was too mentally exhausted to continue 'handling' it. It was 5:00 in the morning on the third night of little to no sleep, after all, and all I wanted was to relax. So, in came the anesthesiologist and, after a few minor complications, the medicine started flowing. "WHAT was I thinking!?!?!" I thought as I drifted into the land of painlessness. "I should have done this hours ago. This is so. much. better!" I even got 2 hours of sleep after that. :)

When Miles was born, they put him up on my all-the-sudden flabby tummy and I felt as if millions of tiny threads were shooting out of my heart and wrapping themselves around his...forming a bond that was almost tangible. I stroked his furrowed little eyebrow and stared into his open eyes - - - my son.

Brian scooted closer and rubbed my arm. I looked up at him and he beamed at me. "I can't believe how much he looks like Carson," he said as he looked back into Miles's face. "Here, why don't you hold him," I said. He stood up and gently gathered the little bundle into his arms... what is it about seeing him as a brand new daddy? So excited, so proud, so unreserved - those mental pictures are some of the most treasured that I have.

Minutes after Miles was born

The next day

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He's so tiny - so beautiful - so perfect.

Five days? ... Really? ... How do I slow the time... ?

Freeeeeeedom!

Sunday Afternoon:

Sunday Night:

Monday Morning:

Oh, is it wrong to admit how much more I love this little guy now that he's out!?!?! I love, love, LOVE this feeling! The feeling of not being pregnant, that is. Not so much the feeling of I-just-barely-barely-finished-being-pregnant. That feeling is not so great, the details of which I will leave to the memories of those who have experienced it, and to the imaginations of those who have not.

Everyone, I would like you to meet our newest little addition:

Miles Conrad Alder
8 lbs. 12 oz.
21.7 inches long

(the appropriateness of inserting a picture
of him alone here is extreme -
however, in my haze of very
little sleep over the last 3 nights,
I seem to have neglected to take one,
and hence, only have a million
pictures of him with other people.
Do not fear, though...
...this fact will soon be changed.)

I would really like to delve into the whole story, but my eyes are finding it difficult to stay open (almost impossible). So, I'll leave you with some of my favorite pictures instead.

Big Sister

Big Brother

McKenzie is saying, "Why is he making those grunting noises?" I love Brian's face in this one - does he just adore her, or what?

My Boys

One happy lady surrounded by the meaning of life, and who absolutely loves being a mom

Family of Five - it's getting harder and harder to get us all looking decent in the same photo...we tried about 7 times - and this is as good as we could get.

Yes, yes, you may have noticed. My hair and my makeup are two days old now - but there are some times where the moment that is captured doesn't necessarily depend on the beauty of the subjects involved.

Welcome to our family, little Miles.

I LOVE Water!

I'm hot. And, it's humid today - which doesn't help. So, I'm going to blog about water. Nice, cool, refreshing water. It's actually not that hot of a day...but for whatever reason, I'd love to go jump in a nice, cool pool. :)

It's been raining quite a bit here over the past few days (so much so that I'm concerned about the status of my clay-soil garden that has a hard time draining itself. I fear all of my plants are drowning to death...) and I couldn't resist taking the camera out underneath the safety of an umbrella to capture a little cuteness from my kiddies. They LOVE playing in the rain! I would let them do it more often but for the fact that as soon as they've decided they're done we have about 1.8 seconds before major meltdown occurs and shrieks of "I'm freezing!!" and "My undough-weaw is ticky! (my underwear is sticky)" fill my impatient ears and make me want to call off the rain playing forever. Ah, but they have such fun for the 10 minutes or so before that point...so, on especially brave days when I'm not super-tired, I let them go out. (I sure hope my tired-level returns to normal after this baby is born and doesn't stay depleted with the addition of a third child!)















If you can't tell, Carson is trying to copy McKenzie's stance...and I think it's hilarious that he's wearing my flip-flops! McKenzie just came in, saw this picture and with a huge smile said, "Hey, that's me! I'm stickin' my booty out."

I know this isn't a fantastic picture, but I just love it because of that perfect little round cheek. That little backwards 'C' that stays for such a short while before time takes it away - - - why do they have to grow up?!?

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On the days it's not raining, we find our own rain. One of our favorite spots is at the mall, where they have big fountains that the kids (and adults!) can run through and play in.
We also love that we have a hose. :) Simple, I know, but it's pretty fun to see how magical it can be to hook up a little sprinkler to the end of it and watch the children play. I definitely need to get pictures of that!

Anyway - my goal this season is to not let the hot summer sun keep us indoors the whole time!