Last night we went and looked at a house from the outside, just in case we are so blessed to be able to buy a house soon. I actually had a list of a few houses, but we only drove by two. The first was a neat little house with a big yard and a nice enclosed porch. The second house was in the Marion version of the Ghetto. I looked at the picture on line and who ever took the picture should get an award. Why? Because they made that house look very cute and cozy. When we drove by, it had a nasty old couch on the porch, which wasn’t covered enough to protect the couch. The frence out front was falling down and there was debris all over the yard. Not a good place.

After that bit of disappointment, we went to pick up our Christmas tree. It is set up in our living room, awaiting decorations, which we will do on Christmas Eve. I can’t imagine right now Karol’s excitement to have it actually decorated. Last night he kept thanking Joshua for “Christmas”. He loves the tree as it is and was so happy with it.

It is a nice little tree, I will try to get a picture of it on here soon. We did get it from the place by Joshua’s work and they are so nice and friendly. Joshua and Margaret picked it out as Karol had fallen asleep in the van and Caecilia was also asleep.

And on to sleeping. Joshua and I went to bed at a normal hour last night. 1030. We read for a little bit then prayed and fell asleep in the middle of the second decade. Caecilia decided that we weren’t going to have a restful night of sleep. She was awake every two hours and very fussy. Joshua ended up on the couch so I could nurse her and supplement with the light on. I think part of the problem was with the light off, she would fall asleep again before eating all that she needed. So she ate and ate. Between 1030 p and 730 a, she had 8 oz of formula in addition to what ever milk she got from me. Yikes, that is a lot.

At 930, she woke up and was FUSSY. A diaper change fixed that. I was fussy too, so Joshua sent me back to bed. I slept on and off until just about one, waking to nurse and that was it. That was nice. Joshua said Caecilia had a good morning, so I guess she was just being fussy for me. Now she has been sleeping soundly for two hours.

Off to clean the kitchen.

The past two nights, J and I have been very bad at going to bed on time. Both nights, I think we were shutting our eyes at 1 am. Of course, when K gets up at 630 each morning, it doesn’t make for lots of sleep. Of course there is Caecilia who will need a feeding at some point between then and 630. With her, I can sleep through most of the feeding, so feedings don’t really affect my sleep.

However, I think Caecilia is hitting a growth spurt. My internet research shows that they hit one at 2-3 weeks. She is two weeks today. So yesterday she spent a lot of time sleeping and today she ate for like 5 hours straight. She would eat then watch things for a half hour, then eat again. Now she is sleeping and she really needs it.

On to other things. Today we are going to get our Christmas Tree. We learned a long time ago, that our plan for buying  a tree on Christmas Eve probably won’t happen as most tree lots are closed by then. At least in Lafayette they were. The first year we were married, we tried to buy one and there wasn’t a single lot open, but St. John Lutheran Church down the street from St. Boniface has some left over from their tree sale and a call to the church office got us a free tree. What was supposed to be a Charlie Brown tree turned out to be Big Butt Bertha. (It was bundled so we couldn’t see what we were getting).

So on to this year, there is a home and garden store right by church. Joshua checked it out yesterday and they have trees for $20, so we are going to pick one up today. Last night I had to go buy a tree stand. Fortunately, Meijer had an old fashioned stand for only $9.99. Yippee.

I bought cranberries and plan on popping popcorn to decorate the tree with. We also have a ton of ornaments that we can’t wait to hang on the tree. We will probably decorate the tree on Christmas Eve though.

Speaking of ornaments, I have to say my sister Krissy is awesome. A while ago she gave me ornaments that once hung on my Grandma Kress’ tree. As I have a great love for my Grandma and Grandpa Kress and try to honor their memory in any way I can, I love to have the ornaments on the tree.

So that is our day. Tomorrow Joshua has a short day at work, praise God. I look forward to having him home for a good part of the day, so I can rest a little bit more. Hopefully Caecilia’s birth announcements come in the mail tomorrow, so I can send out cards (yes, her birth announcement is going in our Christmas card) and send out the gifts to our families.

In addition to Christmas that we are awaiting, we also are having visitors after Christmas and we are going to visit Kelly Baker the day after Christmas. She will be at her parents house in Southern Michigan, so we are going to Trek up there and see her. Yippee. And she has been nice enough to say yes when I asked her if she could pick up Margaret’s Epiphany present at a store in Chicago. Who doesn’t LOVE Kelly?

Happy Advent to All!

Who would have thought that I would ever miss Lafayette? I didn’t think I would. I am more missing St. Boniface and the Schola right now. I am listening to a sort of Advent Station on Pandora right now and the music is so very pretty and reminds me of the St. Boniface Schola.

We are staying here for Christmas this year. That isn’t a big deal for us, but the parish we go to is a little weak in the music department. We have songs that are just plain bad most of the time. I am sorry to say that, I really wish it were different, but it isn’t. The rest of the parish is good, so I can’t complain,  but when there are SO many good songs to sing in Advent and we sing something about circling around God , I want to barf. With that being said, the Handbell Chior is “doing” the Midnight Mass here. I WILL NOT sit through a Handbell anything, let alone mass. So we are trying to figure out where we want to go. I really want to go to St. Patrick. J wants to go to Holy Family. I also wouldn’t mind going to St. Mary in Deleware or St. Michael in Worthington, but we have to see.

I started this post last night, but I didn’t finish it, so here is the ending of it now! Caecilia was up from 230 to about 5 this morning, eating and staring. Fun. I didn’t mind too much. Margaret got up at about 430 to “snuggle” with me on the couch. After a while I sent her to “snuggle” with Joshua. That is about it. Not too much else to report.

the time we were in Kohls, walking past the bra section when Karol piped up “That’s where the baby eats from”. Joshua and I both thought it was too funny.

So, Caecilia is a week old now. She is doing well. She is almost back to her birth weight and doing just fine. She is a good eater and likes to snuggle. She seldom fusses, unless she is hungry or getting a diaper change. She likes to explore the room with her eyes and look at the lamp. We have lots of fun together at 4 in the morning, when she needs a supplemented feeding, so I need to be awake awake to give it to her. We sit up on the couch and she eats while I talk to her or surf the internet. Then we go back to sleep until Joshua has to leave for work.

Karol and Margaret are doing a great job of adjusting. Margaret is a big help. She likes to help change diapers and makes sure the baby has lots of blankets to keep her warm.  Karol has been making sure he behaves and only has major meltdowns when Joshua is home. They have both been very very good about naps too. M goes down at about 1230 and K at about 1. M will play for a while by herself, so she doesn’t actually go to sleep until probably 115 or so. Karol will lay in our bed and read books for a while.

I have to come up with a lunch idea for today. I think mac and cheese would be good. What for a veggie? We have lettuce and the kids love lettuce, so perhaps that.

Margaret is now trying to sit on my lap, so I have to end this post now! I don’t want to leave without wishing everyone a Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Yesterday, the 7th, Caecilia was baptised. It was a small ceremony here in Marion. We like to have the babies baptised as soon as possible after birth, so quite a bit of the time, people aren’t able to make it. That isn’t a big deal for us, though we would like to have our families with us, we know that baptising the baby is more important.

Back to the baptism. Father Schalk came up from his parish down the road to baptise Caecilia for us. He is a good friend of ours and we were happy and thankful that he was available! Caecilia’s Godparents, Mary and Jeremy Sheiko live in Lafayette so they weren’t able to be there, but the wonderful Logue Couple stood in for them. Father Mike, our Pastor, was there also. So that was it. A small group. It was awesome. I will post pictures soon. I have never gotten weepy during a baptism before but I was yesterday. Caecilia quickly made my weepys go away when she tooted while Father said “I baptise you in the….” with each pour of water, Caecilia tooted.

After the baptism, we came back to our house and had carrot cake and drinks. Father Schalk joined us for a little bit before he had to head back. The Logues stayed for a while then Father Wagner joined us. There is a man who can keep a person laughing all night.

After the kids went to bed, we talked so more with Father then Joshua went to go pick up an easy chair that Father was looking to get rid of. It is nice stuff. Comfy. Comfy. Comfy. Thanks Father!!

Today we went to Mass at Noon for the Holy Day. Karol had to be taken out mid way through the Liturgy of the Word because he was being a not good kid. Then M started acting up. I was trying to keep C from crying. It was fun times. I nursed her in the back when Joshua returned from Karol Duty and she was fine for the rest of Mass. And, the best part, after Mass, people kept coming up to us and telling us how wonderful our family is. Okay….sure.

After Mass, we hit the Post Office then Chinese Buffet. The kids were surprisingly good during lunch. It was a surprisingly good buffet too! Then we headed to Meijer to pick up a few sleepers for C. I don’t think we clothed M when she was a baby as we can’t seem to put our hands on any newborn things for her!

One more thing that J and I have commented on with regard to Caecilia and how things are different with her. When the other kids were newborns, we lived a block from St. Boniface, we never drove to Mass so we never had the carseat. Now we drive to Mass and have the car seat. I don’t feel comfortable leaving the carseat in the car during Mass, as it will get cold, but I don’t want to take it in to a pew so that it will take up so much space. We leave it in the back of the church (where one of us almost always is, with one of our kids.) However, it is just so funny how things have changed!!

Finally, some of you may know or remember that I have nursing issues. I haaave low milk supply and have to supplement breast milk with formula. I was hoping things might be different with this baby and it looked hopeful, but today we supplemented one of her feedings. She was crying for food and I didn’t have anything else to give her. I have to say, as hard as it is to have to supplement, I know when I see her full and looking around the room, exploring with her eyes, that it is okay that I have to supplement.

That is all for now. Joshua is working on getting the pictures from the baptism on the computer, so look out for them!

We have a little girl, Caecilia Rosa! She was born yesterday, December 4th at 3:08 pm. Labor started on Tuesday around 5 or 6 pm. The midwife came over, a “backup” one because my midwife was attending another birth. Andrea came over to watch the kids and things got underway. Uh, for a while. My contractions were strong and six minutes apart for a few hours and I was dialating, but things weren’t progressing quickly. So, needless to say, it was a long night.

The midwives left around six, when I hadn’t contracted for about 45 minutes. Karol and Margaret were picked up by Andrea’s husband Brian. They were so helpful with the kids! So off the kids went and J and I tried to sleep. I started contracting again, but they were 20 minutes apart and while they HURT like nothing else, I didn’t think it was “real”. So we spent the day with me sleeping between contractions and watching MacGyver and Star Trek: Enterprise episodes.

Around 130, we made arrangements for Brian to bring the kids back and to have a cowoker of J’s take the kids for a while, thinking that they would spend the night with her. Brian dropped the kids off at 215 and Mary picked them up around 220. My contractions were getting a bit stronger at that point and probably 15 minutes apart. J came back in the house after he helped Mary with the carseats.

At this point I was so tired, I was thinking hospital. They could give me drugs to take the edge off, right? Well, that little thought was the beginning of transition. However, I was clueless. Long story short, I had another contraction and felt the urge to push. We called the midwife at that point and I got back in the pool.

I had two more contractions and told Joshua I was going to die and yelled at him for daring to tell me how to breathe. I was in pain and doing my best darn it! At about 3 I felt the urge to push. The midwife was on her way but not here yet. Joshua was trying to support me but check to see what was going on with the baby too.

Well, sparing more details, we will just say that Caecilia Rosa made debut at 308, about 3 minutes before the midwife came in. Joshua and I were amazed and awed by her. We sat there for a few seconds trying to figure out what we were supposed to do next. We made sure she was breathing and then covered her up with a towel and I held her against my chest. The midwife arrived to the sound of a crying baby! She helped us with the post delivery incidentals. Joshua went to call Mary and have her bring the kids back. Jaime, sweet wonderful Jaime arrived about a 20 minutes later.

So there you go. She is wonderful and beautiful and darling. She looks just like a little Karol!

Happy Birthday, Daddy! 56 years ago today, you were born! Yea!
So here I sit, with a 22 pound turkey in the oven, baking for 5 people to eat. Oh, 2 of those 5 are toddlers. The plan is to have leftovers. And at 29 cents a pound, how could I pass up such a deal and not get the biggest bird out there.

I still have a baby in the belly. I would like to have him/her, soon, but if I go in to labor today, it will have to be after 6, so we can eat dinner and visit with Father.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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As I type, there is a guy working on putting a gutter up. Yea! The front porch is a slick of ice right by the door. This should help. The landlord also apologized to J for he behavior on the phone the other night. What a nice guy. I am still counting the days til we can get our own place.

No baby news today. I can tell you the baptism gown is done, with much help from my mother in law. I just have to sew on some buttons, which I am doing by hand (loops and buttons). It makes the gown look very old fashioned and almost like it is an antique!

The baby has shifted some what, so my leg is killing me. I tried to do the exercises recommended to me by my first midwife, but they don’t help! Oh well.

According to NPR, the Auto Company Bailout is probably not going to happen. I may get lots of comments for this, but I say “Good”. And I grew up in the Detroit area.

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Have you ever wished you picked a different place to live? I do right now. Our landlord is a totally and complete lying idiot.

We were refrerred to him by a person at the parish. We thought we would give him a chance as he was just starting out in the rental business. (We were told he was a good kid though.) That was a dumb mistake.

He told us, as we were looking at the house, that he was working on waterproofing the basement, putting a gutter up over the door (so we don’t get rained on), having the carpets cleaned, and cleaning the garbage left on the deck by the previous occupants. Also, he said that he was going to put a washer and dryer in the basement. This was all in early August. We said we needed to talk about it and we would get back to him.

We called him the next day and told him we would take it. He offered it to us for $100 less per month then he had it listed for and we thanked him. J offered to take care of the lawn in exchange for the lower rent and we also said, don’t worry about the washer and dryer, we were planning on buying a set anyway.

A week later we got a call from him. “Are you still interested in the apartment?” Uh, yes, we told you that a week ago. Agreed to terms and told you our move in date. (Bells going off in my head but I just chalked it up to him being busy with work or something.)

Fast forward to move in date. We call him and to let him know when we will be arriving. He meets us at the house and we sign the lease. I wrote him a check for the first months rent and the deposit (and he seemed surprised that we had it!!). However, we were told that that carpet cleaner person canceled on him. Uh, you knew we were moving in for two weeks and you scheduled the cleaner to come the day we moved in? We told him we needed to return the van and not to worry, not the smartest move, but we couldn’t afford a hotel or to keep the van for an extra day.

The garbage was still on the deck and stunk to high heaven (he did take care of that though, as we were moving things in). The basement hadn’t been touched since the day we looked at the place. He didn’t want us to put a washer/dryer down there until he finished the basement. Oh and no gutter.

We got things moved in. Dealt with the lousy plummer that he uses for some bathroom issues and just tried to deal with it all. Oh, did I mention that he decided to paint the porch the day we moved in? Yep!

J met the girls upstairs and found out that the landlord PROMISED them a washer and dryer in the basement when they moved in six months ago. Of course, J called the him and said that we weren’t going to put a washer/dryer in if he has already promised to do so. Landlord gives a song and dance story about something. J put his foot down and said it needed to be in by the end of the week. They were installed a few days later.

About the lawn mowing. J asked landlord where the lawnmower was. Landlord showed him and said that he would bring a gas can over that week so J could mow the lawn. Two months later, that can finally showed up. AFTER the landlord accused J of not looking for it, or saying that someone stole it out of the garage. Right.

So that pretty much left the gutter issue. Every time it rains and we leave the house, we get soaked. Leaving isn’t as bad as coming back in when we have to stand there and unlock the door. J was told by landlord that the gutter would be up by last week. It wasn’t.

Well, it snowed yesterday, melted and snowed again. The spot in front of our door is sure to become an ice rink in just a matter of time. J called landlord and said, we need the gutter. Landlord said “I am looking to have a new roof put on, so the gutter will have to wait”. At that point J starts (nicely) telling him that we are tired of the lies and the broken promises. Landlord LAUGHED at J. J goes on to say that I am pregnant and I can’t afford to take a spill on the deck. Also, that said baby is due in just a few days and we will have to carry him/her through the icy deck or the drippings off the roof. Landlord laughed.

I would really like to move out, but that isn’t an option right now.