I need what??

Noah was watching some t.v. and a commercial for a birth control came on. Why there was a commercial for birth control on the Cartoon Network is beyond me. I noticed that he was intently watching the commercial and was bracing myself for the questions that were bound to come. When it was over he said "mom, you totally need that". "Oh really?" I tried to sound casual. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, because we spill a lot" he replied. I failed to see the connection. "So why do you think I need that?" I asked. "I don't really know what it is for, but I think it is for stress, and we stress you out when we spill stuff." I agreed that I do need some stress relief. Then we turned off the t.v.

Fly Catching

Yesterday I was putting something away in my bathroom with Eli in his usual place in his carrier attached to my chest when Ella started screaming from the bedroom that there was a bee in the house that was "buzzing"!! EEEEKK!! It turns out that it was a giant, dying, very slow moving fly. Of course Chief had to get in on the action and was trying to catch it. Chief usually can catch the flies and then eats them, which is gross, but I appreciate not having to dispose of them myself. This fly, however, was staying on the ceiling where Chief couldn't get him (he may have been slow, but he wasn't stupid).

I grabbed the first thing I could find, which happened to be a long rubber toy snake and started trying to hit the poor fly with it. I didn't want to kill it, I just wanted to move it down so Chief could get it. I feel like poor Chief has been getting the short end of the stick lately, so I wanted to put a little joy in his sad little cat life. Everytime I tried to hit the dumb fly I was afraid it was going to fall and hit Eli or I so I would move away quickly and sometimes gave a little squeal. Then Ella would scream and run around like a crazy lady. It was pretty humorous.

I finally ended up accidentally hitting the fly and killing it. Chief had to be pointed in the fly's direction, and without the thrill of the hunt, he lost interest. So I ended up flushing it down the toilet.

And then we were off to find another activity to occupy us for awhile.

Four weeks old

Eli has been with us for four whole weeks! The time has gone amazingly fast! I feel like I was just in the hospital a couple days ago. I love my time home with my little snuggle bug. Yesterday he gave me his first little baby smile and now I spend every of his waking seconds trying to get him to smile again.

Noah and Ella were able to give him a bottle for the first time a few days ago. It was nice to have a break from nursing for one feeding and I was able to unload the dishwasher and read the newspaper. They both love their new brother and love taking care of him.

Adjustments

I was so nervous about how the kids would adjust to having a new baby in the house and so far it has been fine. Ella has been a little more attention seeking than normal, but she's pretty attention seeking anyway, so it hasn't been that much of a difference.

The family member having the most difficulty is our cat Chief. Before Eli came Chief used to sleep at the foot of our bed at night. When we brought Eli home we had him in a bassinet in our room for the first week or so. I did not trust Chief to stay out of the bassinet, so he was shut out of our room and slept on the other side of our door.

I used to take a few minutes each day to throw a ball or toy for Chief to chase. Now, if I have a few minutes that aren't spent nursing, changing, burping, or holding the baby, helping the kids with something, doing laundry, dishes, or wiping up some mess, I sure as heck am not going to use that precious time to play with a cat. I might actually go to the bathroom by myself, or maybe brush my hair.

Chief has certainly noticed the lack of attention and has been going out of his way to try to find some. If I am putting laundry into the washing machine, he jumps in it. If I am emptying the dishwasher, he goes in there. If I am folding laundry, he is in the basket. He gallops around the house like a racehorse and then stops right in front of me when I am walking so that I almost trip (luckily I haven't yet, but it's just a matter of time).

After giving all of my attention to Eli, Ella, Noah, and Seth, I have exactly zero left for poor Chiefy. And zero patience. I do feel badly for him, and hope he can hold out for a little while until life settles down a little and we get into a better routine.

I promise I will throw your mouse around soon, buddy!

It's a Boy!

Elijah Michael is finally here! Seth and I went into the hospital on Wednesday, December 29th at 9:00 am so I could be induced. I was delivering at the new Methodist Women's Hospital and I was excited to check out the hospital, but I was also a nervous wreck because I had some idea of what was coming with the labor and delivery.

We were lucky to have a wonderful nurse who stayed with me all day and I was lucky to have a very short period of time that I was in actual pain before I was able to get my epidural. At about 3:00 I felt a strange sensation and thought the baby had just come out in the bed. I said, "um.... something's happening down there". The nurse checked me and said "Okay, don't push! If you feel like you need to push, just breathe like this 'hee, hee, hee'". She called my doctor who, luckily, was in her office in the next building, and she came literally running into the room.

I pushed three times and out he came. Seth and I saw he was a boy and we were in shock. We both really thought the baby was going to be a girl! Noah and Ella had been with Seth's parents and they were the first ones to come in and see him. They were both so excited. Noah is so proud, and Ella says on a daily basis "I love having a baby brother" and "he's so cute Mom!"

It's been a little of an adjustment getting used to having three kids at home, but, luckily we have parents who are willing to help out and tax season hasn't really hit yet, so I've had a lot of help.

I can't believe Eli has only been with us for a little over 2 weeks! It feels like we've known him forever. We all love him and he is a super sweet, snuggly baby.

Christmas 2010

I have been beyond behind in my blogging due to some major life developments..... which will be blogged very soon.



The kids had fun decorating a gingerbread house this year, they put so much candy on it that it caved the same night.

Noah was a cow in the church Christmas pageant. He was even more excited about being a cow than he was being Joseph last year.

The kids were excited about opening presents on Christmas Eve.

I took some photos to spell out "VanRoy" and my dad framed it for a gift for my brother.