and baby makes 6!

Overwhelmed

I feel so scattered and out of control.  Like I can’t do one thing right. 

I want to be a wonderful mother, loving wife, and a competent RN…. an angel of mercy.

Instead I find myself yelling at my kids, feeling annoyed at my husband, and inadequate as a nurse.

And then there is this blog.  I am amazed when I check my stats and find that you are all still reading, and then some. 

Please hang in there and I promise I will have something juicy to post about in a day or two.  Life just keeps closing in on us.  All is fine, just over-the-top busy.

And my laptop is dying…………….shall we all burn a candle for it tonight?

Watching the potter at work

Do you know how very fragile life is?  The miracle of how a human body forms, takes its firt breath, cries and begins the process of being alive is so damn unreal.

I could attend one million births and it will never cease to amaze me how miraculous it all is.

As humans, we just will never be able to fathom how all of the mechanics of birth fall together to allow for a living, breathing human being to come into existence.

Folks, God is so amazing.  When life is spinning out of control, he is there in the shadows, extending his hand, working his miracles and I was so blessed to take part in one yesterday.

To make a very long story short, the baby was in severe distress, had an initial apgar of 4, we had to bag and resuscitate it, and its O2 sats were in the 70’s.  It was a stress filled 1 1/2 hours after the delivery.

When I called this morning to check on the baby, it was on room air, in its mothers arms and was fine.

I cannot go into specifics, but I can say that several factors came into play in the 30 minutes prior to delivery that if they hadn’t, the baby would not have survived.  The hand of God, ladies, the hand of God.  It was so humbling.

I….love….my……job!!!!

You turn things upside down,

as if the potter were thought to be the clay!!

Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,

“He did not make me”?

Can the pot say of the potter,

“He knows nothing”?

Isaiah 29:16

Yet, O Lord, you are the Father.

We are the clay, you are the potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 64:8

Snakes and snails and puppy dog tails

That’s what little boys bring home to my house.

Colorful snakes

(No, not a coral.  Remember….Red on yellow, kill a fellow, red on black, venom lack.)

Isn’t my life interesting?

Mommy’s home

I made it until 2pm, and couldn’t stand to wait another second.  I had to call Bill and see how the morning went with me gone.  Mia had had a rough night, and had acted like her throat was hurting, so heading off to my first day of work was stressful.

Me:  Hi hon.  I just have a second, but wanted to see how the kids did this morning.

Bill:  Everyone did great.  How is work?

Me:  Well, we started an induction on someone at 7, and she delivered at 10.  It reminded me of those stories you hear about the women out picking cotton….they squat down, have the baby, and continue on picking cotton.  Very surreal and cool. 

Bill:  I have never heard stories like that.  Why are you talking about cotton?

Me:  Whatevah. I’ll talk to you about it later.   How is Mia?  Did her throat hurt when she woke up?

Bill:  Well, she woke up, looked at me and said “Where’s my mommy?”

Tears sprung to my eyes, I ripped my shirt in half, threw dirt on myself and started screaming “Ey, ey ey, ey ey ey ey ey ey ey ey ey ey ey ey…..

Me:  Gee thanks.  Hang on for a second while I slit my wrist.”

Bill:  Can I finish?  She said that, and then I told her you were at work and she said “Well, let’s wake up the boys!”

Me:  Wow….. I can’t decide now which is worse…..her missing me or not missing me!”

When I came home, I slipped in the back door to quickly change (dirty scrubs are not allowed near my kids) before anyone knew I was home. Then Cory discovered me and said “Mommys home!!!”  Mia, still damp and nekkid from her bath, came running out of the bathroom to the back door, only to discover I was not there. She burst out crying, and I came from our room and scooped her up. 

It was the kind of hug I will never forget.  Like someone had removed a part of me, and now I was whole again.

Just a couple of photo faves from this weekend

We took a day trip to Port A on Sunday.  It was a gorgeous day, complete with some little waves. 

Heading to the beach

Sunkissed face

My middle man

My little man

Skimming for fish

My man, heading for the water. He was not posing….he was looking up the beach and was pissed at something Cory was doing to his brother. Lean, mean surfing machine!  LOL!

Now, go get your kids and show them the next picture.  I want a kid to ID this fish.  They can use any means available, including the internet, but they must give me the Genus and species of this fish!  Any child that answers correct will get a prize. 

HINT:  The fisherman on the beach called it a “lookdown” fish.

Captain Morgan

Dear Captain Morgan,

We love you blended with ice and Bacardi Real Lime Mixer………..even if you aren’t a real Captain. 

Love,

Bill and Jody

First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school.  On August 10th. The peak of summer, and my kids were going to school.  I think that should be against the law.  Heck, it didn’t even feel like back to school.  No fall colors.  No leaves on the ground.  Only a temperature of 98 and cicadas screeching in the trees.  It felt like taking them to summer camp…like they should have had bathing suits and towels in their backpacks instead of notebooks and paper

They felt the same, as evidenced here:

and here:

That would be Quinn, not very impressed with his first day of Kindergarten.

They came spilling in the backdoor this afternoon, radiating sweaty, little boy smell.  Bill promptly loaded eveyone into the truck and took them to the swimming pool.

What the hell is up with the people who decide the start date for school????  It used to be that we had 3 full months off.  Now we are lucky if we have 2. 

The upside is, they have all the Holy Days of Obligation off, and since we are not Catholic, we have no obligations!  Yeah, Dr. Luther!

School…..it should not start until after Labor Day.  Can I have some “Hell ya’s”?

The beauty of nursing your child

I just don’t get it. This article states that 25% of all BabyTalk readers were offended by the cover picture of a boob and a baby nursing on it. It is called “BabyTalk” for crying out loud. What the hell do you think is going to be on the cover? Strategic missiles? Nursing is what some babies do. I found the picture gorgeous and it made me wistful and sad that my nursing experience was coming to an end (or so I thought….Miss Mimi has been on a 60 hour binge that has reestablished my supply and now I am not sure what is happening?)

The blogshpere, in its usual flair, has taken it and run with it! Go bloggers! Kateri has a hilarious entry about it here in which she says; “Want to make a statement? Leave this indecency where your children might see it. Want to be a real rebel? Post your own indiscreet nursing picture.”

So, I will.

If 25% of BabyTalk readers are offended by seeing an infant and a boobie, then I will take it one step farther and post todays photos of my 2 1/2 year old, nursing toddler in all her glory. Behold America, the boobie and **gasp** a toddler nursing on it:

Is that not a beautiful thing? I thank God for giving me the opportunity to nurse all 4 of my children. It has been a pleasure and every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be.

Italiano

In the midst of paying bills and fretting…

I heard crying and my daughter came running in.

She said “I fell down. Whhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”

I hugged her and kissed her, and she stopped crying.

I wiped the tears from her eyes and she said in an adorable, pouty voice, with an expression that brought to mind pink frosted, angel food cake: “Mommy, the ground pushed me”.

My heart skipped a beat, and began fluttering and I grabbed her face between my hands and kissed her sweet cheek. Then I popped her in my mouth and ate her whole right then and there. She was delicious!

It might be the lack of eeestrogeeen

Since I have been a menstruating adult, I have had to go to the salon, turn over my husbands paycheck and our firstborn child, to get the blond that I so desire.

Yes, the summer sun would give it a glimmer here, and a glimmer there, but nothing substantial. I always had to go for the gusto and break out the bottle blond.

But…but….this summer!!!! The summer of obsessive beach trips and surfing until your arms fall off from paddling? The sun finally has decided to reach down its lovely rays and !!!!ZAP!!! my hair into a more attractive color than poop brown with a hint of wiry gray.

I present to you a first in my adult life……I present, unbottled, blondish, sortof-ish hair

I mean, what is up with that? Maybe when it all fell out and I nearly went bald after Mia, it grew back in with different pigment. Or maybe I am getting so gray that it looks lighter?

I am thinking it is some kind of hormonal thing……lurking, eminent, menopause maybe?

Whatevah! Bring it on and then some!

In other news, my biopsy came back (cover your eyes gentile ladies) F***ING NEGATIVE!!!!!! RIGHTflippingEOUS!!!!

Dear Dr. T.
Next time, please don’t offer a commentary on my grotesque lesions that involve “I will be surprised if this is not cancer”. Because , SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was NOT CANCER! And I went through hell waiting for the biopsy. Next time say “My, a fleshy pink lesion. Lets biopsy this and make sure it is nothing for you to worry about.”

Love,
Jody, your employees pain in the ass wife who has had 2 cancers removed already at the age of 39.

Be free!

Last year, for Cody’s 8th birthday, one of his best friends found the perfect gift to give to him. He had caught, at his house, a green tree frog, and was totally jazzed about presenting it to Cody. He knew that Cody was a tree frog fanatic. Talk about the gift of giving! It pleases me to see kids so happy about the act of giving and pleasing others.

It was THE HIT of the party. Cody almost exploded with joy.

We built a terrarium for Friggity, and he has lived there ever since. He ate like there was no tomorrow, and the kids were able to hold him and the frog really seemed to enjoy the attention, turning its head this way and that, watching them.

Yesterday we decided that it was time to set him free. Cody had successfully kept this wild frog for one month shy of a year. Crazy.

Having this little creature was such a great learning experience for the kids. They learned so much about amphibians and their habits. Friggity would frequently serenade us with his frog croaks in the morning and evening. While we still had the red eyed tree frogs (they succumbed to some kid of froggy AIDS) a chorus of frogs would errupt at sunset every evening, with Friggity leading in bass.

I was just like my boys when I was a child. I was constantly bringing home this or that creature to care for. My father would say “Hey look at that! Isn’t it pretty. What do they eat? ” and would help me make a temporary home for my newest find. I would keep it for several days, then Dad would say “It looks kinda lonesome. I think its time to let it go, girl” and we would wander outside and find a suitable habitat to release it.

I have a letter from my father, written to me while I was at camp. It is a CHERISHED letter, as it refers to one of those interactions mentioned above and is full of his teasing wit. I had a hermit crab, and we had released it in the backyard garden. The letter, dated July 25th, 1978 reads “The creatures in the house are ok! However, I have not seen that crab creature you let go in the backyard. I expect it will surface when it becomes colder. Then, we can eat him!”

With joy, I went with my children, as my father had many times before gone with me, and we released Friggity to his home in the wild.

Saying goodbye

We found a shady, quiet place at a city park full of tree frogs…

….and released him on the muddy banks

He came alive with energy, and quickly hopped into the branches of a small tree.

The kids were so excited.

Then he climbed up the little tree monkey style, and ascended into the branches of a huge pecan tree. He stopped, cleaned himself, then hunched down to sleep until dark.

When we arrived home, Cody told Bill all about it. He said “I feel so happy for him. Now he can find a mate and have babies and a family of his own!”

My kids learned the best lesson of all yesterday. Giving an animal its freedom and watching it wander away, happy, is the best feeling in the world.