audio help!

i am an the hunt for some audio stories/books on cd for nate to listen to while falling asleep, in the car or just for him to have some quiet time on the couch!  does anyone know of any great appropriate kids audios and even better where i can pick them up?

for fun last week i threw in the "nathaniel the grublet" story that my sis gave to him when he was born. he loves listening to the stories with out the dvd/t.v

i have noticed that his questions have gone way up.  his vocab has gone up at least 2 new words a day and  his grasp on new concepts have exploded as well as his ability to close his eyes and use his mind to see the picture

so....anyone have a story audip they would recommend?  in box me! 4 comments

Posted by mel at 4:03 PM

lions! tigers!sheep!

yesterday we went on a hunt. for lions and tigers and sheep for supper. nate lead the way

over and around and all over the place

then we would stop and nate would open his bag and show me everything he packed. every item had a job

the 2 plastic containers were our face masks

2 hats for our head protection

stick with red on it, was the blood of the animal. haha

seriously the whole hunt cracked me right up. i love a creative kid!

0 comments

Posted by mel at 2:17 PM

WE HAVE A DATE!

saw this yesterday, while i was baking cookies. thought it was funny and ever so true. not that i have EVER said 'wait nate, i'm blogging or i'm busy or just a sec! or i'm almost done or i'll read you another book later'.....

bawahhhhh


SO!  we are booked for july 18, 6 am for our  cesarean section.  3 wks from today! 2 wks early!  wheeeee!  this is of course if nothing goes wrong, my blood pressure is low, protein  is low etc...

it's nice to have a date and feel that this is real
that it's actually happening
that we ARE having another child!

so exciting

and back to the couch i go. ha!

3 comments

Posted by mel at 3:37 PM

rainy tues and prenatal

how to start a down pour rainy day! hot choc!  nate went and got these mitts to help him drink, cause it was too hot to hold. sigh

while i baked 6 doz cookies, yum, nate made god soup. what is that? you put all the bad ppl in the water and pour god on them and they turn good. god soup!

while waiting for the prenatal, nate kept himself busy by exploring the house. sigh. all dressed up

we got home to some nate mail, which he loved. thanks quinn for the picture, i am saving it! 

prenatal update. we had out appoint today.  my blood pressure did go up, from it's normal 110 to 120, we we are watching that, i get my protein results tomorrow. we met with the dr who i am going to have the scheduled section with.  she's great!  anyways, i will get the call this week for the date! i know it will be the week of july 16. the gyno would rather do it on the 16th but already has 2 s/c booked that day, so she has added my name to the bump list and i will know by fri our little girls' birthday date!  this is if everything goes good for the next 2-3 weeks!  i am so ready for this baby!

and that's how we spent our rainy tues.  how about you? 1 comments

Posted by mel at 6:15 PM

mondayness!

our new peach tree! just needs to be planted.  there are peaches on it already!  i am going to use the pot to plant this bad boy!

my most coveted rose tree! i finally treated myself to one last week.  love it! it smells so delish. i am keeping in the gazebo for the summer and bringing it into the house for the winter. why? bec it blooms all year round!!!! so worth the money!  happy mother's day to me!

nate kept himself busy in the sandbox after our school session this am.  i asked him what he was doing which lead to the best convo

me 'what are you doing?'

n' i am a slave working in the fields in egypt. i am making bricks from straws and my back hurts a lot from all this hard work! then i take the straw and put it in the bucket to make it into bricks'

see. the bucket with the straw, the planter container to form the bricks

he did take a few breaks from his job site and visited me

ha. funny kid

tonight to celebrate life, we went to the park and bbq'd and picnic. it was such a perfect night for it, not to hot, not to cold. no bugs. we had a great time

bare belly shot

played some intense ball

so focused

nate is so not afraid to meet ppl. i love this about him. we went and found a friend to play with. they got along great!  i told nate we will pray for a friend for him close to home

all in all it was a great day!

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Posted by mel at 8:10 PM

35 weeks!

the belly, this am

sigh. i am so wanting to have this baby. sigh.  it's the most different pregnancy!  i've enjoyed it (as much as i can with all the things going on around it) but i just want to have her and be done with it. ha. 

i am up another pound!  making the grand total 37ish pounds.  not too bad.  i am sore, my tummy/skin hurts. it's like she's out of room and is pushing everything around, the upper rib cage area is quite painful.  BUT the very coolest thing happened this week. i was playing with her, at night i rub my belly and poke her. i felt her FOOT!!! the bottom of her foot, it was like she was kicking her way out! i called chris up stat and he felt it too! then last night, i felt her elbow!!!  i first thought it was her hand but then felt the point of the elbow and 2 arms!  i never got to feel that with nate!  very cool!  then this am, during church she got her arm stuck and after a good 10 tries she freed it. it was cool and painful all at the same time!

i am also surprised with my appetite. i have none!  i eat 2-3 bits and i am full. like my stomach is squished up.  for cravings, i want pita bread with hummus on it. and bread with butter. lots of butter.  even better when dipped in a soup...mmmmmmmm SO good.  and oranges. i still want oranges and plums....kinda boring! 

so. there ya go! another week. another pound and another few more to go!  0 comments

Posted by mel at 5:14 PM

thankful suprises!!!

oh how thankful i am for such thoughtful surprises!  my door bell rang at 5:30 last night, there was my bro and his wife, they came in and we chatted, chris came home with nate who was thrilled to see jon!  then i was surprised with the best gift ever!  j&j came over for the night to babysit nate and treat us to a movie!  i was gobsmacked, stunned! after i recovered, it took me all about 6 mins to pick the movie we were going to (men in black 3) get dressed and put nate's clothing out....i was out the door before 6. ha.  chris and i went to dinner at this great italian restaurant, went to canadian tire to pick up a new tree! a peach tree! and off to the movies! with popcorn and pop. a total treat!!!

seriously! this gift of their time was so nice, so thoughtful and so unexpected. i am so thankful for a night off.  with out paying a babysitter!  these are the gifts that yell my love language

thank you j&j!!!  i owe you big time!!! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 4:45 PM

thurs already?!

my poor, poor bug. he's sick. can you see his puffy eyes? i thought it was allergies but after some nasty fluid removal from his body, tummy pain and asking for a nap. i am thinking it's something else

i went to get the garbage and came back to this. nate put him self to bed. ha.  then  had to run to the bathroom, then he asked me to carry him to bed, tuck him in and sing him the songs i use to sing to him when he was a baby...i did! 

this am we ran errands and i noticed that he was not himself, very cranky, sensitive and a pain. ha. now  i know why!

we went to the park.  and nate saw a man tie a rope between the 2 trees. he wanted to know why this man would do such a thing. and being the typical unsocial, shy, sheltered  and socially awkward home schooled child (come on now! don;t you think that all home schooled kids are not social?! or lack the skills to survive in the real world???!)

he walked across the park, by himself to talk to this man. 

man! he's such a socially deprived boy. haha

seriously, thou, teasing aside how many school kids would do that? or better how many schooled kids are socially awkward????

ok. back to the story!

nate went over, intro'd himself, asked his questions.and got his answers

came back and shared them with us.  then nate gathered sticks and brought them back to the guy.  the guy thanked him. ha
nate told me on the way home his convo with this guy who shared with nate how important it is to use parks, to keep them clean and not destroy nature because of we dont take care of it, we will lose it.
cute eh?! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 3:05 PM

prenatal update!

i had my appointment today. it was LONG and expensive. sigh.  i had to send chris out to feed my meter 3 times, then his car cost more parking and finally, the parking ticket (missed the meter by 6 mins!) ended up costing 30! so we spent over 40 bucks today in PARKING! i was SO annoyed!

update- blood work, urine done.  get the results tomorrow. my blood pressure is back to my normal (95-100) fetal movement....hahahaha.....she's active!  ultrasound, everything is perfect. her fluid levels are great!  she's good to come out anytime!  i am swelling, have spots and awful headaches that come at night and that horrid rib pain, so the signs are still there

the plan is to check back in next week for another assessment with another gyno, that way i would have met all of them and i can pick the one who will deliver baby girl e!!! yeah!

i have a tentative appoint for july 9 as my last pre-natal!!!!!!!!!  the plan would be to book the section at that appointment!!! can you believe it!?!?!  4 weeks away!

so all in all i am good.  i am tired but good

i am feeling waves of being overwhelmed.  they come and go....they come mostly when i look around the house and see things i let go, i know, i know but it bothers me. i want to be up on the house work and i know i am not.  i also think it's bec it's been a really busy month and starting thurs it's going to slow down a bit. i was hoping to have meals made and frozen but that didn't work out. actually i did make 1 and it was so good we ate it that day. haha

i can't wait to meet this girl, my little swiss soccer player...my internal organs are permanently bruised. har!

and that's today's wrap!

p.s nate was getting antsy at the 3 hour mark (chris had to leave to go to work) so he went and layed on the bed and started singing a song he made up, it went something like this

'please god bring the dr. i am hungry. i want food
please god i want to go home, bring the dr
god, god, god are you there? bring the dr i want to go home
i am tired
i want to go home
mommy's tired
i want to go home
bring the dr
i want a timbit
bring the dr'

it made me laugh
i did get him a timbit 1 comments

Posted by mel at 6:37 PM

all over the place!

this post is a mush of everything the last few days!

i took nate to the park yesterday, he spent an HOUR building this house out of rocks, sticks, flowers (weeds) and grass. kids don't need play structures! ha.  he found another singleton boy his age and they spent the almost 3 hours playing together

just as i slipped out the door last night to meet a hali friend for a coffee, nate put the hat on and called "mom! look cat and the hat but blue!" i love him!

late afternoon today, after a redic long and busy day, i caved and put the sprinklers on for nate. he built a road

the jumped over them. gotta love the looks i get from ppl driving by....sprinklers out of the driveway? ha! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 6:24 PM

34 weeks!

34 weeks baby!  up another pound, not to bad.  i am totally carrying higher than nate, bigger too.  i am so ready to have this baby, not bec i am tired of being pregnant but bec i can;t wait to meet her and add to our family!

close up shot of the baby gut

happy father's day!  we celebrated by going to home depot so chris could get a new saw  that he had to have and i got a gift for me. flowers. ha. i am not doing a garden this yr so this one flower pot will be it.  i know i won't have the time this summer!

we had a surprisingly restful weekend.  our church had a conference and mom and dad came up for it and to have a little visit. the conf was awesome.  fri night we had a movie, we didn't  get home until after 10. nate did great! then sat am, mom and i went to the ladies breaky. came home for a nap. then back out for the concert. we left early, 9:30! because nate's teacher came to get us, nate was really tired and wanted to come home to bed. ha.  nate did great and i am glad we brought him instead of ponying up the flowage for a babysitter.  i think mom and dad had a good time too!  i didn't take any pics, we were either at the church or napping, a perfect weekend combo!

and mow we are off to another week!  when all i want to do is Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 2 comments

Posted by mel at 5:09 PM

happy b-day charlie girl!

teeny, tiny, twinkle toes. 2 mins old!

mommy and charlie, 1 day old!

aunty the baby hogger, 1 day old!

me and charlie 1 month old

sigh. where has the time gone???? 2?? already??? this is crazy! 

i love, love, love you charlottle grace and i think god that you came into our lives.  such a tiny baby, such amazing love, such wonderful healing.  god sent you to us, god used you to help aunty heal at such a hard time in my life. i love you charlotte and i can't wait to watch you grow and bloom into the princess kick boxer that you were created to be. 

nee (nate) wanted to to tell you "HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLIE!" 

we love you!!!!

2 comments

Posted by mel at 4:36 PM

movement

just to give ya an idea of how much she moves.

the solid lines represent 60 seconds
the short black dots are the moves i feel, the larger black line are the movements the machine picks up

on average she moves every 30 seconds, during this session she moved every 5 seconds....

yep! she's active!

2 comments

Posted by mel at 2:13 PM

update!

 we spent some time in the prenatal unit again. the nurses know who were are. i should say they know nate. ha.  nate is so good during these long appointments. so proud!  he helped me monitor his sister's movements by pressing the buzzer and he took this job eigenheer serious. haha

then nate told me my belly "was bigger than big" and we compared belly shots. i think it's a tie. haha

ok. update.  met with a new gyno and went over yesterdays results. great news!  baby girl e is a wonderful-big size! her organs are well formed and there is no problems with her placenta.  if she had to be delivered next week, she would be fine (minus the longer hospital stay and what not) there is still protein in my urine, higher than ok normal but still lower than sat. 

so. the game plan is this, i am now on weekly appointments, blood/urine/fetal movement/stress test etc...and at each appointment the future will be decided for that week. ha.  we are not booking a section but will take it week by week.  which is fine with me. the goal awesome perfect plan would be to have her at 38 wks.  so we will have another update next week

i am to take it easy, stay off the feet (to help with the swelling/water) keep my blood pressure monitored and low and relax

i am feeling better, i think the cold has passed but poor chris. he has it now :(  on top of his redic busy schedule he's run off his feet.  i feel for him

so that's the update!  good news! 

*note that my protein levels started to go down after we prayed.... 5 comments

Posted by mel at 9:58 PM

update on baby girl eig!

we had our ultrasound this afternoon to check on the little miss. she's one busy, active gal!

anyways!  her measurements are

head was right on at 33w4d

belly was at 32w2d
femur of her leg was at 35w1d....long legs!!!
estimated to weigh 4127g = 4¾ lbs which is really good! 

we go tomorrow to meet with the dr to go over today's blood/urine work.  nate funny- nate helped the lady take my blood!  he held the tubes, then helped tie my arm with the band and found a vein, then handed the tubes to the girls and took the rubber band off...he even got me a band aid and a kiss for being so brave. he was so focused the whole time. it was cute to watch!





4 comments

Posted by mel at 2:37 PM

sun=splashpark!

we finally had some nice weather today,after nate's dentist appointy he asked to go to the splash park with a picnic lunch

just for fun i told him he can pack the lunch and he did!  he choose pita bread, apples, orange, kiwi, carrots and raisins!  i was impressed!

then he took a nap

while i started this book. it's wonderful good! and requires a whole blog post on it's own! someday...

then he had another nap after playing in the other park....just like his dad

nate took this one of me. not bad!

chris caught what ever ickyness i have and stayed home today, after the park i took advantage of it and got my hair cut!  i got 6" taken off the layers and 3" off the length. i love it. it's much sassier!

tomorrow i have the ultrasound scheduled for baby girls weight and measurements, then i go to have more tests taken. wed i am meeting with they gyno to go over the results and make a plan of some sort. which i think will help me deal with the stress i feel. i am trying not to let it get to me but it does. i have prayed and do not want the baby born before 36 weeks. that's my earliest. ha.  i also refuse to be admitted. haha.  seriously.....i don't want that....BUT i have to focus on good things, pure things! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 4:26 PM

33 weeks!

this am before heading out the door. i am up 2 pounds this week, so the count would be almost 30 in total? or something like that...

nate in his superman cap.  it's not a real superman cape but he doesn't need to know that. ha

my little man. he's growing so fast!

nate cuteness-he was having dreams last night, i blame it on the sugar overload that he was given when we were out last night at friend's.  anyways. he told chris he had a good and a bad dream (or something like that) he was not allowed to kill all the bugs, but i did. haha

then he asked me at 3 am, of fish can swim in salt water, i said the majority do, very little fish swim in salt free water. then he asked why there was no fish in the salt (mineral) pool that we swam in last week (we crashed my parents hotel room for the night and swam in the pool) get it?  he knew we swam in salt/mineral water and wanted to know where the fish were. haha

it's a rainy, quiet sunday around here. we all just had naps, chilling and enjoying the quiet

thanks for the emails and words of encouragement i've gotten the last few days. esp offering to watch nate. i know if there was a stat emergency i have lots of ppl i can pawn nate off on. haha. seriously, your support is encouraging to have! 0 comments

Posted by mel at 4:21 PM

sigh

not how i wanted to spend my saturday :(

back story

i had some pain on tues that continued, progressively getting worse since sat, so i called the prenatal unit and was told to come in right away. we went in go checked out, blood pressure was good,had some tests done and went home to rest.  i got a call around 4:30 with the tests results, i had a higher than ok level of protein in my urine, so i was booked for more tests on fri and to rest on thurs.

fri i went in had the tests done and got a call around 4 from the dr with the results, my levels were even higher than wed and i was to go in today  to be assessed by the gyno and have more tests done

we had company last night, so i was relaxed and really enjoyed chatting, i was well rested and we prayed

today we went in, baby is good! very active. my blood pressure is low and my test results came back a bit higher than normal but lower than the last 2 tests. which is good

i was then ubber pleased to be sent home after 1 instead on being admitted, which was talked about!

the game plan is this. i go back on wed to have more tests and to chat with the gyno about what the bet road is to take.  there are many, many options and i know all of them. i don't want to focus on the negative and upset myself so i will just share the best game plan...

i will have an ultrasound this week to size the baby, take her measurements and see how well she's developing. depending on those results, if i continue on with the protein, swelling, black spots, headaches and chest pain, the worst case scenario will be jacking little miss e up on some steroid type medicine to speed her growth up to deliver her sooner than later...this is a scary but very exciting thought

scary because no one wants their baby to be born this early

exciting! because it will all be over and i will FINALLY have her in my arms, where she will be safe and cuddled

so we wait and see

i rest and try to feel better

baby girls's heart and fetal movement. very active one she is...i wonder who she takes after....hummm

dr nate checking me out!
nate was with me today. i had him with me on wed for 2.5 hrs and yesterday for another hour and 1/3...he has spent 8ish hours this week with me in the hospital and i am so PROUD of him and how he acted
after the gyno was done sharing her thoughts with me this am, she said to me how surprised she was with nathaniel's behavior and that she has a son his age and there is no way he would have been as well behaved as nate, the other dr also agreed and said how well behaved he was all morning, that they couldn't tell there was a kid in the room with us.  i was SO proud!  it totally made my day to hear strangers comment on how good he was. and he was so good!!!  yeah for nate! yeah for god's grace!

and that's today's wrap. back to the couch i go to watch tv with my kid. 

1 comments

Posted by mel at 1:46 PM

crazyness!

we had mom, dad, charlie, quinn and cry (when she wasn't working) visit us from sun-tues. some how i was kept so busy i took 1 pic. of the entire visit!  it was a crazy visit. monday was the most redic day!  have you ever had a day where everything was off?!?  well monday everything was off! and so many things went down! it was almost like a train wreck!  but we made it through!

yesterday morning, cause it's been raining for 3 days now! the boys stayed busy making me food! 

now that the house is empty i am trying to clean it back up, that and trying to rid of this cold i have, which i can't take anything for :(  boo for me! 

i am calling today a total t.v day! this mama needs a rest! 
0 comments

Posted by mel at 10:54 AM

32 weeks!

ignore the hair. just came in from outside where a mini wind storm

there's the belly. i am up another pound. yeah for steady and smooth weight gain!  i had my 32 wk appointy last week and all is well. i will book the section next week, starting next week i have to have some extra tests done :(  time wasters. ha.  i need to have a stress test, fetal movement and blood work from now to the end.  i am also being watched for the pre-clampsia seeing as the symptoms have already started, water weight gain, swelling, black dots in the eyes and horrid rib pain i would not put on my worst enemy!

all in all everything is well!  can't wait to meet little miss e!  6 more wks to go!

(that is a shadow on my pants!) 1 comments

Posted by mel at 8:12 PM