I'm FREEZING!

It was freezing cold out today. When I went to pick Nathan up from school, the van said 18. While 18 degrees is cold, that wasn't WITH the windchill. I don't know what that temp. was, but I can tell you right now it was freezing cold. I had some running around to do, so I decided that I'd stop by work so that my friend (and boss) Julie could meet Jack. I took all 3 kids, which I found out the hard way, is a little more than one person should do. Taking Claire wasn't easy. She walks well, but still isn't steady on her feet if that makes since. She wouldn't go down the stairs, so I carried her AND Jack. Fun! Then we went to see our friend Linda on the 2nd floor (we were in the basement). We took the elevator. I wasn't about to do all those flights of stairs. I would have turned 33 in that stairwell had I done that. After visiting it was time to come home.

I'd seen that Dairy Queen was advertising a pumpkin pie blizzard and wanted to try one. Last night Claire needed more diapers so I thought I'd swing by DQ to get a pumpkin pie blizzard after going to Pamida for diapers. It was delicious! So, today after visiting I decided that I'd get a blizzard to put in the freezer to have after supper. Well, I just ate it and now I'm even colder. Nobody EVER pegged me as a smart person. :)

I have to go to the doctor tomorrow. I was supposed to have my 4 week check on Monday, but the area around my incision is infected. I had this after Claire was born too. It was actually a yeast infection ON my incision. I know - yuck. Well, this time it's much worse. I had some of the medication left from last year and it hasn't helped at all, so I called the doctor today and they want to see me tomorrow. I think I have some open sores (YUCK), so I'm not sure what they'll do for me. I'll give you the pleasant details tomorrow.

I'm sorry I said the 'F word'

Yesterday when Nathan got home from school, we were sitting on the couch and he said "I'm sorry I said the F word". I asked him what the F word was. He told me that he didn't know. I asked how he could be sorry for saying it if he didn't know what it was. He told me he only knew it was bad, but didn't know the actual word. That was what I figured, but at least he's sorry I guess.

Today is November 28th. I say this because I can't believe that it's November 28 and we had a thunder storm go through last night. I woke up to thunder (and Jack crying) at about 2:45 this morning. A THUNDER STORM! It rained for a while too. We've had thunder snow in late November, but I don't recall ever having a thunder storm in late November. Very odd!

Jack slept like a rock during the evening hours last night. The two nights prior, Shannon and I kept him awake in the evening so that he'd sleep more though the night. Yeah, it didn't work last night. I tried to wake him up at about 9:30pm and he was dead to the world. Therefore he woke up at 2:45am and didn't go back to sleep until about 4ish. Then he was back up at 7:30. I liked the two nights prior much better. I'll do my best to keep him awake this evening.

We are anxiously awaiting for Tracy and Dawson to come over. I thought it might be nice for Dawson to come over and play with his pal for a while and Tracy decided that she'd come over for a visit too. I'm very excited to see them.

Claire is saying more and more words by the day. I should have recorded her saying Izzie. She would almost yell it. She'd say Izzie but not Evie. She tries to repeat much of what's being said. I sure hope she doesn't repeat her brothers potty mouth. LOL!

Flying solo

It's my first day alone with the kids. The first week we were home my mother-in-law was here to help. The second week Justin stayed home and this weekend, as I said before, my sister was here. Right now Natey is at school and Claire and Jack are sleeping. I should be sleeping too, but that would make sense and who on earth wants to do that, right? :)

I talked to Tracy today and she thinks they'll release her from the hospital. She's still not doing wonderful, but she's ready to be home. Hopefully she's on the road to recovery and will be better now. I hope she didn't go through all this for nothing. LOVE YOU TRAC! GET BETTER!

Ok, I have to tell you all a story. My sister and I about wet our pants over supper Saturday night. We were having fish sticks and we told Evie they were chicken so that she'd eat them. Natey was having a VERY hard time calling them chicken. Actually, that's not the whole truth. He was ok with calling Evie's chicken, but didn't seem to understand that if Evie's are chicken then everyone else's should be chicken too. He'd call his own fish sticks, but when regarding Evie's, they were chicken. It was a bit hard to keep up with. Anyway, we had mashed potatoes with them and thankfully Evie thought those were good and was eating potatoes like crazy. Shannon told her that she had to eat her lone 'chicken' stick so Evie took another bite. She had it in her mouth and told Shannon that her chicken tasted funny. Shannon asked what it tasted like and Evie paused and said...... "dish water". Shannon and I about lost it. It was SO funny. Well, not to be out done, Nathan tried to make things funny. He did say something that I thought was funny, unfortunately I hope it doesn't come out of his mouth again until he's an adult.

I don't know what on earth he was even talking about, but I thought he might have said the F word - that rhymes with Tucker. Shannon and I started to laugh (I'm no good not laughing - IT WAS FUNNY!). Anyway, I asked him what he said and he acted as if he had no clue what I was talking about - and I'm not sure that he did know what I was talking about. I was going to drop it until he said it again. I had a TOTAL knee jerk reaction and hit him. I mean, I didn't punch him or anything, but he was sitting right next to me and I back handed him in the arm/chest area. Do you know what I mean? You know how you'd do it with your friend or husband if they said something that was out of line? Well, that set me off too. The look on Nathan's poor little (now horrified) face was priceless. He couldn't believe that I'd just 'HIT HIM'. Oh lordy it was funny!!!! As I was laughing hysterically, I told him never to say that word again because it was very naughty. (This is the best part. Are you ready for it?) He said "Because if I do, you'll hit me again?" NICE! I thought my sister and I were going to pee our pants. It was so funny. I wonder how much money I spent in future therapy in that moment?

I'll leave you with this photo. Do you find it offensive?You shouldn't. It's only a picture of Nathan's knees/legs that he took himself. :)

Visitors

My sister and her two girls are here helping out. They got here Friday. Do you think you have a good idea of what a weapon of mass destruction looks like? I'm sure you don't. Lucky for you, I have a picture. Meet Izzie! She's hell on wheels. When she got here Friday, it was like a whirl wind had hit our house. We should send her to Iraq. She'd kick ass and take names. She was in to everything and I do mean everything. After a night of 'exploring' it got better. She likes to feel out the rules, that's for sure. She has a new love in her life. His name is Jack.Anytime Shannon held him, Izzie wanted to hold him too. Izzie knew the rules for holding Jack. You have to sit down. How lucky for Izzie! It didn't matter where in the house you'd be - she'd sit to hold Jack; the kitchen floor for example, the floor in the computer room. It didn't matter to her. If she wanted to hold him, she'd just sit down. It was adorable.Evie was here too. We can't forget her! This is a pose she gave Nathan while he was taking pictures of .....mostly nothing. Out of 21 pictures, he had 4 with something 'normal' in them.Izzie had Natey's work goggles on last night and I was trying to get a picture of her, but I wasn't fast enough. I got this one, but as you can see, it's blurry. Here is one with her eyes closed. She looked so darn funny.I wish I could have gotten her with her eyes open. It was SO funny!

How was your Thanksgiving?

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. We went to my Mom's house in Milbank. For some reason, if I'm going to Milbank then the wind is going to blow and it's either going to try to blow me off the road or try to blow me backwards (meaning that I'm driving right into it). Yesterday wasn't any different. I thought Justin was going to drive off the road a couple of times trying to battle the wind. It was nuts! The wind wasn't as obvious in Milbank as it was out in the country, thankfully. After we ate, the big kids (the 4 year olds) were able to play in the back yard.

I talked to Tracy today and she's still in quite a bit of pain. She said that she has no idea how I went through 3 c-sections. I remember when I had Nathan, Tracy came to see me and told me that she thought I took the easy way out - the easy way being not having to labor. She's since changed her mind. Surgery isn't easy, that's for sure. She hasn't gotten the green light to eat yet, so she's not all to happy about that and who can blame her? Kari and Barb, I passed on your well wishes and Tracy appreciated them. She hopes to be out by Monday. I'll keep you all informed.

Justin left today to finish deer hunting. My sister is coming to stay a few days, so that will be fun. I still can't lift Claire, so her help is welcomed.

Did any of you go shopping today? I know people say your crazy to go, but sometimes you can get really great deals, especially if you're looking for something in particular. I did a little shopping today....from my computer. Did you know that you can get all those great deals at Wal-Mart at your house on your computer? Yep, that's right. Of coarse you have to pay shipping, but for me it's MUCH better than being ANY WHERE at 5am.

Anywho, that's all I have for today. Have a good weekend!

You're in! You're out (I'm what?) YOU'RE IN!

Yesterday was a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. Jack had his first check up at 9:15 with Dr. Henry. My doctors nurse called and said that I had an appointment with the Neurologist at 10:45. I was VERY happy to have that appointment because 9 days of a headache was ENOUGH! We took Jack to see the doctor and he's doing so well. He's up to 7 pounds - that's his birth weight plus 5 ounces (YEA ME!). I KNEW he didn't need that stinky formula (toot toot - that was my own horn).

After seeing Dr. Henry, we just wasted time until I was to see the Neurologist. I'd turned my phone off during Jack's appointment and forgot to turn it back on. I got a chime saying that I had missed a call. I looked and didn't recognize the number. I listened to the voice mail (as we were pulling into the neurologists parking lot) and it was the neurologists office saying that they had to cancel my appointment and they'd see me on December 4th. DECEMBER 4th?? I've had this headache for 9 days now and now they can't see me until December 4th? I called them back to see what on earth I was going to do now. The receptionist was of no help. She said that my doctor wanted me to have a consultation and nobody had time for that so that's why I was being pushed back to the 4th. I told her over and over that I've had this horrible headache for 9 days and she really could have cared less. It was horrible. We hung up and I stared bawling. I could hardly contain myself I was so sad. I called Dr. Hassebroeks nurse back to find out what I was going to do. I couldn't continue like this!

Poor Justin didn't know what to say to me. I just sat in the seat next to him sobbing. We had other things to do in Sioux Falls, so we went on with what needed to be done. Justin went into Menard's and I stayed in the van. While he was in the store, I got a call from another number I didn't know. I was still crying at this point. My head hurt so bad and I didn't bring my medication with me because I thought I was going to get to see the doctor. Life wasn't so great for me at that moment. I answered the phone and it was the neurologists office again. She said "are you sick of us yet?". I told her I wasn't, but that I was very sad (as I sat there crying). She said they had someone cancel and that I could be seen at 1:15 if I still wanted to come. UM - YES PLEASE......DUH!!!

So we did some of our other running around and Dr. Hassebroek's office called and asked what was going on. I told the nurse that they were going to see me now and she asked what happened. She told me that she didn't think they understood her this morning either - the urgency. She said that she told them that I was having a hard time taking care of Jack because of this headache which still didn't seem to make a difference. Anyway, she was glad that I was going to be seen and told me to call if I needed anything else.

By one o'clock I was in horrible pain. My head felt as if it were going to explode. I went to my appointment and found out that this had been a migraine. I didn't realize that there were different kinds of migraines. I thought people with migraines were throwing up and couldn't function. I could function, not well, but I could function. I got 2 shots in my neck and either 2 or 4 in my head. I couldn't tell how many went into my head because the pain was so intense. I know I got two for sure, but there seemed to be other poking going on. I'll figure it out when I get the bill I guess.

The doctor let me sit in her office for about 25 minutes until the medication kicked in. It was clear that after 25 minutes the shots hadn't worked as well as they did last time. I was still in quite a bit of pain. She wanted me to go to the hospital for some kind of infusion. I think it was some kind of medication concoction. It was about 2:30 by then and I didn't have time to do that because we'd left Nathan and Claire at Pam's. She gave me a prescription for some pain medication, another for physical therapy (which Justin thinks is a HUGE rip off because it's basically for a message), and told me that if I had any pain at all today that I needed to call back and she's schedule the infusion.

I think my headache was worse after the shots. My shoulders were tight and it felt as though I'd been tense for two weeks. Not as much fun as one would think. ;)

I took the medication that she gave me and it knocked me out. I had a very hard time getting up with Jack because I could hardly keep my eyes open. It's hard enough getting up two or three times a night, but I felt as though I might not be able to hold Jack because I was so tired. Thankfully when Justin got up he took care of Jack for as long as he could until he needed to be fed again. I was still tired though. I don't know that I'll be taking that medication again any time soon.

Ok, so as you could guess, I woke up with the headache. Jack had to go to the hospital to have his blood drawn again (poor sweet little guy) and I needed to speak to the Neurologist to see if I should go to Sioux Falls for the infusion or not. Justin took Jack while I waited for the call from Sioux Falls. Finally at 2:15 they called and said that I needed to be there at 3:30 for the infusion. Nothing like a last minute deal! Justin and Natey were doing some running around and Claire was sleeping. I'd just sat down to feed Jack when I got that call. I called Justin's cell quick and told him that we needed to go - and quickly. He rushed home, got Claire ready and we were off. They told me that I'd need someone to drive me home, so that's why Justin had to come as well. So the end of the long story is that I got the infusion and my headache is gone after 10 long days. What a sigh of relief - literally!

Today my BFF, Tracy, had surgery to have her spleen taken out. This was in hopes of helping her blood disease that I've talked about on here before. I told her that I'd come to see her if I came to Sioux Falls, but when I talked to her she wasn't doing very well and I didn't want to take all the kids in there with me for a visit. She said that she was in the most pain that she's ever been in and that she'd been dry-heaving. Poor thing. Hopefully this will all be worth it and she'll be better when I talk to her tomorrow. Please keep her in your prayers.

A post wouldn't be a post without pictures, right? I took these of Claire today. She cracks me up. She knows no boundaries. If Natey can do it then so can Claire. She might not be able to do it as well, but she's SURE as heck going to try. Put her in coach - she's ready for the Powder Puff! The funny part about her wearing this thing is that she doesn't HAVE to have it on correctly to enjoy it. Today she was looking out of the circle in the side of helment. VERY funny to her mother - very - funny!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. It's my all time favorite holiday. We'll be spending ours in Milbank with my family. I have SO much to be thankful for. I hope you do as well.

"Are you ready to have your baby?"

This was said to me last Thursday night. Natey and I went to Conoco to pick up some subs for supper and a lady working there asked me that very question. When I told her that I had him on Friday you could tell that she was embarrassed. I felt bad for her. It's not her fault - I do still look somewhat pregnant. My stomach gets better day by day so it's not like I can really blame her. I wanted to hug her and tell her that it was ok. Poor thing. So....thank you Amber for such a kind comment on my previous post. The lady at Conoco might not agree with you though. (giggle)


Jack had his first bath in a bath tub tonight. He screamed the whole time. This picture looks like he's kicked back enjoying it which couldn't be farther from the truth. He didn't like it at all. It lasted less than 3 minutes probably.

This afternoon Justin and I took the kids to have their pictures taken. It didn't go very well. I'm not overly impressed with the picture that we got, but it will do. They got one really good one of Jack that I loved.


There isn't anything much sweeter than a sleeping baby. I'm such a sucker for them. I can't get over how much Nathan and Jack look a like when they are asleep. When Jack is awake, his eyes look like Claire's, but while he sleeps I think he looks like Nathan's 'Mini-Me'.

The nurse called this evening while we were having the kids pictures taken. We were told to take Jack off the bili blanket and to re-test him tomorrow. They didn't tell us what his number was for today. I'd be very interested to know. The last number was 13.7 on Friday, so I can't imagine that it's much of anything now. We have his first check up tomorrow, so we'll see how things are going.

I also spoke to Dr. Hassebroek's nurse today about my headache. She is going to call the Neurologist first thing in the morning to see if they can't get me in tomorrow. I sure hope they can. This headache has gone on long enough! I don't look forward to having shots in my head, but at this point it would feel better than the headache.

Well, that's it for now. It's time for me to hit the sack! TTFN!

I need some relief

I'm not sure what's going on, but I've had a headache since Sunday.....LAST Sunday. The only thing that will help it go away is 3 Ibuprofen and 1 Darvocet. I don't have much pain in my abdomen and wouldn't need that medication if it weren't for this dang headache. I'm not sure if it's a side effect of the spinal or what, but it's gotta stop. I'm going to call the neurologist tomorrow to see if they can get me in on Tuesday. Jack has a check up on Tuesday so hopefully we can do it all in one trip.

Jack is doing well. His biliruben number is dropping which is good. Thursday it was at 15.1 and Friday it was down to 13.7. Dr. Henry said to keep him on the blanket over the weekend since we'll have it anyway. I wasn't too thrilled about that because it's so clumsy, but if that's the best thing for Jack then we'll obviously do it.

Justin left for Aberdeen on Thursday to hunt deer. He'll be home sometime tonight. Sharelle and I took the kids to Sioux Falls so I could get some clothes for Jack. I don't know what happened to all of Nathan's 0-3 month clothes that he had. I've either put them in an unmarked tote that I'm not looking at or possibly even a mismarked tote. We made it a pretty quick trip.

Last night Natey was invited by his best pal Dawson to see Flushed Away with him. He was SO excited to go. He LOVES going to the show. He had a great time. THANK YOU TRACY FOR TAKING HIM!!!

So....you wanna see some pictures? I thought so! :) Here is Baby Jack. I think he looks like a little Nathan with Claire's eyes.Sharelle took this of us before we went to Sioux Falls.Look at this super cute picture of Claire and Sharelle. I'm not sure if I took it or if Nathan took it. Doesn't matter - it's cute! How adorable is this picture? I swear he's the sweetest baby. I hope that he doesn't turn into a monster after he gets off the bili light. I think he's going to be pretty easy going. He's been waking up more on his own to eat which is a great sign.

Here is a picture of Miss. Thang in her new outfit that Grandma Sharelle bought her. I'm not sure what we're going to do today since Grandma is leaving. We know that Claire isn't going to be in favor of that - none of us are. :(And last but not least, here is Natey ready for the last NASCAR race of the season. He's asked me a gazillion times when it will be one o'clock so that we can watch the race together. OY!

Our friend Judy Thompson made supper for us on Friday night and brought it over. It was roast with potatoes and carrots. It was DELICIOUS! Natey was starving and kept wanting to eat before Judy could get supper to us. He's been snacking too much before supper the past few weeks and then of coarse won't eat supper. Well, this time I didn't let him have anything and he was famished. While eating supper, Nathan announced that Judy was the best cook EVER! He said "This is the best ham I've ever had!" HA! It cracked me up. I had to call Judy after supper to give her the review. She thought it was funny too!

Our little glow worm

Yesterday Jack was finally given a bili blanket. We noticed him turning yellow sometime Saturday and talked to the nurse about it. She agreed and they tested his bilirubin early Sunday morning. His first test result was 11.1. Then they tested him again Monday morning early and he was at 13.1. Dr. Henry said that since it wasn't a big jump, he didn't think that Jack needed a blanket just yet. He asked about nursing and him pooping/peeing and such and decided we'd just have him tested on Tuesday and go from there. We did just that and he tested 15.5. It was then that I would have liked for him to have a blanket, but I'm not the doctor so he didn't. We tested again this morning and he was at 16.5. Dr. Henry was out of the office so another doctor decided it was time that we put him on the blanket. I'd normally been feeding him about every 3 hours or so and they said that I needed to feed him every 2 hours and supplement with formula. Well, I wasn't happy about the formula part and really don't think that me nursing him is the problem. I'm making enough milk - he's just not awake enough to drink it all. They gave me the ok not to supplement and that's when she said that I need to get him up every 2 hours to nurse. I think he just needs the extra little help from the blanket. I guess we'll see. We'll have him tested again this morning. He's only been on the blanket since about 8 last night. I'm not sure if that will be enough, but as I said, we'll see.


This is how Natey spends a lot of his day. He LOVES to look at Jack and give me updates on what he's doing. I think it really makes him feel as though he's helping out. Natey's been acting very goofy lately and I'm sure we have Jack to thank for that. We know it will pass and try to be patient, but we also have to put the kabosh on behavior that's less than favorable. He does a lot of showing off which drives me crazy. Doesn't matter if it's my child or someone else's, when kids Natey's age or a little older show off, it gets on my nerves for some reason. This too shall pass though - and I know it.

Last evening Nathan went with me to run a few errands. I had to run to Lewis drug after picking up the bili blanket. The lady freaked me out that gave me the blanket. She talked about making sure Jack didn't get sun burned and taking his temp every 4 hours. YIKES! Claire was on a bili blanket and nobody ever said anything like that to me. I called Tracy because Caymen came home with a blanket as well and she'd never been told these things either. I was freaked out that I was going to cook my poor new baby! Anyway, we some how lost our thermometer so I was going to get a new one at Lewis when I stopped there to pick up some pictures for Sharelle. We passed by some NASCAR chapstick that I pointed out to Nathan. I wouldn't have pointed it out had he not needed 'lipstick' before school today. After seeing the chapstick he HAD to have it. It was about a dollar so I got it for him. He was so excited. He'd "been looking for that for about a hundred years!" he told me. He kept calling it lipstick and I thought I better try to change that before his dad heard him talking about needing some lipstick. I told him that boys use chapstick. Thankfully he was fine with that and couldn't wait to use it. He was beside himself with joy trying to open the package to use "what did you call the boy lipstick mom?" (giggle) He wanted to sleep with it but I told him no. He put it on the table so he could put it right in his pocket today when he gets dressed. Sometimes it's just the little things that matter I guess.

I've got the whole world in my hands

Did you read the title of this post? I really feel as though I've got everything in life I was supposed to have - and I feel it - I really feel it. When I found out I was pregnant with Jack I FREAKED! F*R*E*A*K*E*D! I was very disappointed in myself that I 'let' that happen. We didn't really have the money to have another child and we were very satisfied with having two children - now 3? As you all well know, I think I was in denial until I saw him Friday morning. I mean, I knew I was pregnant and all that jazz, but I think my brain thought that the baby would maybe live somewhere else - I don't know. However, now that we're home and our lives are adjusting to what our new normal is going to be, I feel that my life is really complete.

I don't know how it happened, but I've been blessed with some of the best friends in the world. When you're in high school and college (in my case beauty school), you make friends and then shuffle. By that I mean you find yourself fighting over boys, other friends, dumb things really. When you're an adult you don't really have to worry about that. You can just be the best friend you can be and that's usually enough. I'm still friends with people I hung out with in high school AND beauty school and I wouldn't trade those people for the world, but there are MANY that I've left behind or who've left me behind and I've managed fine.

I started this very early this morning and now it's almost 3pm. It's almost time to get Natey from school and soon it will be time to get supper started. I just wanted to tell you all that I really feel your love and support and that it's VERY appreciated and important to me.

Tracy and Mark came over last night to bring a little something for the kids and also to bring this picture that we had taken of the kids at Halloween. I have to run, but I wanted to show you all this picture. The kids look so cute!!!!

We're home!

Hi everyone. It's 2am and I'm going to do a quick post. This will probably happen often now with my lack of time. I wanted to let everyone know how we're doing.

First of all, thank you all for sending us your well wishes. Tracy, thank you for the perfect post introducing Jack. It was done exactly the way I would have done it. You're the best!

Ok, get ready for all the pictures. :) This first one is of me just before we left for the hospital. I've had Justin take my picture prior to leaving the house to have each baby, so that's the reason for this picture. It was 4am and I'd only had an hour and a half of sleep. I started feeling quite nauseas about 11pm the night before, so I hadn't been feeling well for a while. Only getting 1.5 hours of sleep didn't help me at all.

In this one I'm done being prepped for surgery and we're about to head down to the OR. Check out that belly! I was having a hard time breathing that morning - now we know why. :) Poor little Jack just didn't have any room left. By the way, he still wasn't named in this picture.After Justin snapped this one of me, the nurse ordered him to stand by me to have his picture taken - and he did! Look how cute he is in his scrubs!!Justin was asked to stay in the room until they came to get him. When we had Nathan, he walked right into the OR with me. However, the past two times he was asked to wait. They took me in and gave me my spinal. With Natey and Claire, after getting my spinal I would get sick. The doctors told me it was due to my blood pressure dropping. The doctor told me this time that he would do his best to make sure that I don't get sick, but also in not so many words added but don't hold your breath. Well, unfortunately I got very sick. I was shaking and felt as though I couldn't get my breath. Laying down while getting sick isn't the best thing to have happen to you. I won't dwell on this, but you're all aware of how gravity works, right? Yeah, throwing UP (talking direction now) isn't easy. Ok, moving on.

After getting sick 3 times in the OR compared to my normal once, I was ready to move on. Justin and I were still at a stand still on our child's name when he was born. While I was up not sleeping the night before, I was on the hunt for the perfect name. I came across 'Pierce' and loved it. Justin said it was ok, but liked Jack or Lane better. On our drive to the hospital, I begged that we name him Pierce. We still couldn't agree. Finally we stopped talking about it and just went with the flow.

The moment of truth came and our baby was born. The cord was wrapped around his neck and his feet. THANK GOD everything turned out well. When asked what his name was, Justin paused and said "Pierce Allen". I turned to him and asked if that was ok. Just by looking at him I could tell it wasn't and I started to cry. To think that Justin loved me so much that he'd give our baby a name that I wanted to make me happy was more than I could handle. They cleaned Pierce up and brought him so that I could see him. I looked directly at Justin and said "Um....he doesn't look like a Pierce. He looks like a Jack." I never thought that would have happened to me. I've never once looked at a baby and thought that their name didn't fit them. In my opinion, babies just grow into their name. Well, this baby was for sure not a Pierce to me and quickly became Jack. Take a look at the proud daddy.Here is a picture of us in the OR. Mommy, Daddy and JACK!I have a picture like this next one of me and each of the kids. I love it. Even though I might not look 'pretty' - the picture is beautiful to me.

Here is my mom (Grandma Suze) holding Jack.

Here is Papa Roger holding Jack.

Here is Natey holding his baby brother who he adores! Notice Natey's NEW Dallas Cowboys hat. He's quite proud of that too.Here is Justin's side of the family. Nathan, Jack, Gary, Sharelle, Claire and Spencer.Here is my side of the family. Nathan, Justin, Roger, Sharelle holding Claire so that Claire will appear in the picture (smile), Mom (Sue) and Jack.And last but obviously not least - JACK! This was taken as we were getting ready to leave the hospital to start our REAL lives together. Now is when the fun REALLY begins! This concludes my 'quick' update. You all really should have known that it wouldn't be quick. ;)

LOVE TO ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WELCOME BABY MEYER!

Jack Allen Meyer

Born: November 10, 2006

at 7:22am

6lbs 11 oz.

19 inches long

"BRRR! Cover me back up women!"

"That is sooo much better...Thanks!"

"I am so DONE with this place!"

"BRIGHT LIGHT, BRIGHT LIGHT"

"So this is my new brother?" "I am sooo NOT going to look at him!"

"I DO NOT HAVE TO LOOK AT THE CAMERA!" Maybe upside down will work...

Hopefully these pictures will give you a glance at this precious new baby boy! He FINALLY has a name! WAHOO! Kerrie is doing okay. She was a little nauseous when I visited but doing well. She is VERY TIRED so we didn't stay too long. Nathan was SOOO proud of his new little brother and very SAD when he had to leave mommy, daddy and Jack to return to Madison. Claire walked around the hospital room like she worked there. She is so laid back and easy going! Justin is a proud daddy even though he probably wouldn't admit it. I think it has FINALLY hit Kerrie that indeed this baby is here to stay! Hee hee! These pictures of course do not do this little guy any justice as he is absolutely ADORABLE!!

Take care all...

Sincerely written by: Tracy

I've got it!!!!

You thought I was going to say that I had a name for the baby - didn't you? Nope! Still no name, but I DID get the new Keith Urban CD!!!!! :) Natey and I were so excited to get it open and get it in the CD player. He said he'd like a copy of it for his room too. He's such a smart boy. (giggle) There is a song that Keith sings with Ronnie Dunn of Brooks and Dunn that is great. You'll have to watch for that one at some point on the charts. I loved it.

So yeah, still no name for the baby. Justin and I tried to settle on something last night, but everything I liked he didn't and vise versa. I realize that he'd like you all to believe this is all my fault, but it's just not. He wants to put names in a hat and draw one. Has he lost his lovin' mind? There is no way I'm agreeing to that.

Today we had conferences at Natey's school. He's doing very well. Mrs. Poncelet said that he's friendly to all the kids and that he gets along with others well. Last year Mrs. Poncelet was the teachers aid and this year she's the regular teacher. She's done a GREAT job. Had the other teacher been his teacher again this year, I probably would have moved him to a different pre-school. She had the personality of a goat. I swore that none of my other kids would go to St. Thomas for pre-school, but as long as Mrs. Poncelet is there - my other kids will be there too.

When Claire was born 'she' got Nathan his first Jeff Gordon race car. He LOVED it and loved her for getting it for him. He thought his baby brother might get him something as well. He was right. He got his race car at the hospital when he saw Claire for the first time. This time around we couldn't bring his gift to the hospital. As you can see, it's a toy gun. He saw it a few months ago when he was at a store with Justin and it was love at first sight I guess. Justin told me about it and we decided it was the perfect gift from the baby. When Justin gave it to him today, he came and gave the baby a hug and almost started crying. Justin and I got teary too. Now, there are three things you need to notice about that picture. 1) The gun (obviously). Natey is SO proud of it. He's been shooting deer all morning long. 2) You don't smile and you must look serious when there is a gun in the picture. 3) I guess it's hard to see, but Natey has a belt on which in his mind makes him EXACTLY like his dad. Natey was beside himself with excitement when Justin also had a white shirt on today. Natey really wanted to put his shoes on for the picture because his dad would have shoes on, but I didn't want to take the time.

Well all - I'm sorry but you probably won't know the name of this baby until Tracy posts it tomorrow. I guess maybe it will give you one more thing to look forward to. Take care and we'll talk to you all very soon!!!

A Nathan funny

I had to kick off the day with a Nathan funny that I was going to put in here last night but forgot. Last night Justin got called away from supper. While he was gone, Nathan asked me if I knew who his favorite was in our family. I told him that I didn't. He said "You are....and dad....and Claire." I told him that I thought that was nice. Then he said "Do you know who my biggest fan is in Pierre?" I obviously didn't so I said no. He said "It's Grandma - she's my biggest fan. Do you know who is even a bigger fan of mine than Grandma?" This was so cute that I just had to go along. I told him I didn't know. He said "It's Grandpa (as he rolls his eyes a bit and shakes his head - for a dramatic effect I'm sure). He just (now putting his hands out to make things more dramatic) loves me so much." It CRACKED me up! It was one of the cutest things he's done in a while. I said "What does that mean exactly - to have a fan?" He said "I don't know!" HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How funny is this?

Today Claire found a new place to......be. She needed help getting out, but I wouldn't help her until I got a picture of her. Nice mom, huh? I thought it was so funny. She always looks in there - we keep chips and cereal in there - and this time she walked right in. She did it 3 more times tonight. Today was such a beautiful day. I don't think it got to 70 as was forecasted, but it was all of 65. We had to take advantage of it. Here is a picture of Claire. She stopped chasing Nathan long enough for me to snap this one of her.
In the picture above, Claire is eating her snack. She made this face that I thought was cute. She likes to look at the picture after you take it. Isn't it crazy that she'll never know a 35mm (only because I don't own one)? This next one is of Natey riding Lightning. What else would he do on a nice day?I wanted to get a picture of him 'saying the prayer' (trying to say the National Anthem) but he wouldn't have it. He took his hat off and put it over his heart. (I sometimes wonder what people going through the McDonald's drive thru must think about us.) Today he was racing in "The NASCAR Bush Series". Boy - kids really pay attention to things, don't they!Move over Brother, it's time for Peach to lay down some rubber! :) She'd like to do nothing more, but she isn't big enough just yet.

Doctor visit

Today I had my last appointment. I had an ultrasound first which took 15 minutes. The babies face was pushed up against my uterus so there are no good pictures to show. After the ultrasound I had to wait 45 minutes for my appointment. My appointment time came and I had to wait an HOUR to see the doctor. For future notice, 2pm isn't a good time to schedule a doctors appointment. It's not Dr. Hassebroek's fault, it's like having a 11am appointment - they are already way behind by then.

Everything looked good with the baby and with me. I measured 38cm this time - which is +2 from last week. The baby has plenty amniotic fluid, so that made me happy to hear. They think he weighs 7 lb 1 oz. It will be interesting to see how close they are this time. Nathan was 6 lb 13 oz and Claire was 6 lb 8 oz. I doubt this baby is going to be 7 pounds especially since he's 2 weeks early, but we'll see.

It was so nice not to have to go to work last night. I was obviously on a high (or something) because I didn't go to bed until well after midnight. Claire was up at 7:10 which is early for her. I was happy to get 7 hours of sleep compared to my usual accumulative 4.

Anywho, I'm a bit tired today and don't have much to say - so that's it!

Star of the week!

Nathan came home beaming from school on Monday and announced that he was the Star of the Week! He was so excited. They had this last year too - and he earned the honor last year as well. All the kids at some point get to be the star of the week. Natey was star of the week because "Nathan has really worked hard to learn to write his name". He really has too. He'll even practice at home from time to time. He got this certificate and a coupon for a free kids buffet at Pizza Ranch - which he CAN NOT wait to use. I made it really big so you could read it. :) He really thinks that he's the shizz because of this - which I think is funny.

Today is my last day of work. It's funny - knowing it was my last day of work, I didn't even hit snooze. I got right out of bed, ate a bowl of cereal, took a shower, got dressed and came to work. I'm so glad I don't have to work tonight I can hardly stand myself!

Natey asked me his standard Sunday morning question, "Mommy, why do you have to work so much?" I have tried to tell him that I'm going to be off work for a long time, but he doesn't seem to understand it. Maybe he just doesn't believe it - who knows? As much as I like my job, and I really do, I'm ready for some time off. Someone at work asked how much time I was taking off and when I told them they said "So instead of taking vacations, you take maternity leave". How right she was!

I don't know if I've said this on here, but I'm not having my tubes tied - I'm having them taken out. I talked it over with my doctor, and she and I feel that I might be at a higher risk of having a tubal if we just tie the tubes. I realize that this means that I'll never have more kids no matter what, but Justin and I are fine with the decision. The doctor said that she won't know what she's able to do until she gets in there, but the plan is to take the tubes out as of now. That's probably more information that you wanted, but hey.....

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow with an ultrasound. Hopefully I'll be inspired to give the baby a name after I see him again. I, however, will NOT be holding my breath.

I finally get it

When I was this pregnant with Nathan, I'd ask Justin if he was nervous about having a baby. He'd tell me that he wasn't nervous and just wanted to move on to the next step. For the life of me I couldn't understand how he felt. I was scared to death to have a baby. He was the same way when I was pregnant with Claire. I was ready to be done being pregnant with Claire, but after I was taken off work, that went away for the most part. I felt much better being at home taking care of Nathan and not having to do the two flights of stairs and walking the long hallway to the bathroom (at work).

I get it now. I'm ready to be done being pregnant. I'm ready to do the next chapter. I realized on Thursday when I came to work that four and a half years later I finally understood what Justin was feeling. I have such a hard time doing *anything*. On the days I work (and even the ones I don't), by the time I get supper on the table I'm spent. I haven't been able to take Nathan to bed much because stairs are just not my friend. I have a hard time even going down the two flights of stairs at work. By the time I park and walk down the stairs I'm out of breath. I'm glad tomorrow is my last day.

People keep asking so I'll keep responding - no, this baby still doesn't have a name. We'd like his middle name to be Allen, but that's as far as we've gotten. Some of you think that he's named and we're just not telling. I assure you that's not true.

From what I hear it's very nice out today. It's supposed to be even nicer tomorrow. I looked at the extended forecast and it says rain on Thursday and snow on Friday. Wonderful (sigh). I realize there is plenty of time for it to change, but still - come on.

School Pictures

Here is Natey's school picture. It's not my favorite, but he makes that face so often that I MUST keep them. It's not that I don't like them as much as it is that I thought last years were so much better. I'll look back at them when he's 15 and remember that devilish little grin of his.
We had Peach's taken too. I thought they turned out well. She sat very well for them. We were pleased with the way they turned out.

I wanted to get this out sooner, but my computer was taken over at work by people trying to fix something on it. Any way, I just wanted you all to see my cute children again. :)

The Loot!

We had such a fun Halloween yesterday! First, I must show you this. Natey got himself ready by 2:30. We were to pick up the Ferber's at 3:30 to go downtown at 4. At 2:45 I wanted to call my friend, Linda, to see if she was going to be at work. This was going to be my deciding factor if we went trick-or-treating at the court house or not. Anyway, I got off the phone with her and Claire came out of the bathroom looking like this. WHAT THE HECK IS THAT??? It took me a few seconds, but I soon realized that she'd gotten into a tube of my lipstick. Lucky for me it was some cheap stuff and rubbed right off with a wipe. It was a mess though.

After cleaning Claire up I got her in her costume - well part of her costume. Tracy and I decided it was too cold to take the girls downtown with us, so we left the girls at home with Grandma Sandy. Claire doesn't like strangers and Grandma Sandy, for whatever reason, still falls into the stranger category. Tracy was holding Claire so I slipped out. Then Tracy put up her baby gate and left Claire with Sandy - which was NOT a hit with Claire. She doesn't usually cry for long, but it's a bit hard knowing that she isn't comfortable with what's happening.

We got downtown and the boys were beside themselves with excitement.Aren't they cute? Look at the excitement on their faces! I love it! It was so much faster and easier leaving the girls behind. It was cold and they would have froze! Everyone loved the boy's costumes - and their treat buckets. We were pretty impressed with them too. :) Dawson was cracking us up. If someone would say "Oh, there is Jeff Gordon" then Dawson would say "AND Dale Earnhart Jr." - he wasn't about to be left out. However, at never a loss for words, if someone said "There is Dale Earnhart Jr." then he'd say "...and this is Jeff Gordon". He didn't want Natey to be left out.

It was also very interesting to see the boys, Dawson more so than Nathan, see a scary mask and talk it out. For example, there was a boy that was dressed up as an army guy, but he had this hideous skull mask on. Dawson would say "I'm not afraid of that army guy with that skull mask on because he's just pretend" or something of the sort. It was interesting to hear him work it out for himself.

After we went downtown we decided to go to the court house afterall. We were going to just go to my work, but did the whole thing. Afterwards, we went and got the girls. Caymen was a flower.....ADORABLE - right? SO cute! Claire had to have a melt down when we got to Tracy's, but I was able to get her costume on and some face paint.
This is the best picture you'll see of Claire for Halloween 2006. She had several melt downs. After picking up the girls, we went to have the kids pictures taken. I think Claire thought she was going to be left again and bawled.....screamed though it. I hope they got a good picture of the rest of the kids.

We went to a few houses and then stopped to have supper at Pizza Hut. After Pizza Hut we went to the nursing home. The kids really seemed to enjoy this. They get a TON of candy and the best part is that it's inside. Peach would take the candy from the elderly person, put it in her bag, then stick her hand out for more. It was funny.

After the wrinkle ranch...er...nursing home we were off to Grandma Sandy's which caused Claire to have another melt down. See!My guess is that she thought she was going to be left with Grandma Sandy again. She started crying the second she saw her. I don't know who to feel more sorry for, Claire or Sandy. :(

Well, this post has taken me all day long. My pictures wouldn't load and I've had my fill of BLOGGER. OH - I'll leave you with a picture of Natey's loot!