Though Ted had planned to take the first full week of Mom and Dad's visit off work, he ended up not being able to because of some major responsibilities that he had to attend to that kept him hopping all week, right up until Friday afternoon of the holiday weekend (Columbus Day). Knowing that he was going to have to work on the first day of our planned trip to Rome, we decided to make the most of the little time we WOULD have in Rome that evening and bought tickets for seeing the Vatican Museums at night--I had learned that they were open from 7-11pm on Fridays through October, and since we figured we wouldn't be rolling in until after 7:00, we figured that would be about right!
Our friends Brian and Joy L and their kids Ian and Ellie had flown from Germany to Rome on Wednesday of that week, and we were due to meet up with them at the museums. Getting all of us out of the house was a tad bit stressful, although part of that stress was packing up Zaden and Lucan and getting them to a friend's house for the weekend so we wouldn't have to deal with two- and four-year-olds while doing the tourist thing! We were able to leave around the time we had hoped, which allowed us to check into the bungalows we had rented and then make our way downtown at a reasonable time. We didn't have time for dinner so threw together sandwiches from the food supplies I had brought with us. We managed to find the parking garage we had located online that put us near the Vatican, but unfortunately we didn't know the most direct route to get to the museum and spent a lot of time wandering around on foot.
By the time we entered the museum, the guards were about to close things up, so we made it just in time! Seanin chose that time to demand a feeding, so the first part of my museum experience was spent hiking around while nursing him under my nursing shawl, hustling up the ramp and corridors to start seeing things after the kids all hit the bathrooms! Joy had texted me that they were already in the Sistine Chapel, so we knew we'd meet up with them eventually. They had sections blocked off so there was only one route to take; I guess with limited time it helps with the flow of traffic. But it WAS a bit annoying that we constantly seemed to be chased from one room to the other, with the guards locking things up immediately behind us. Art and cultural appreciation on the run!
So, all things considered, the first part of the tour was decent in a flying-through-the-rooms sort of way. Hopefully we can return sometime to browse properly...although, I think the pace suited Tobin and Arden just fine, LOL.
Finally the main event: the Sistine Chapel! It was everything I could have hoped and imagined it to be. Of course we weren't allowed to take pictures, which is probably just as well...it allowed more time to focus on actually being there and trying to take it all in. We probably were able to spend close to 45 minutes there before the guards began shooing us all away. I do wish I had had time to read about the various scenes beforehand, but I did listen to the Rick Steves guide (partly while in the chapel and partly after the fact), and we bought a 1000-piece puzzle so we are beginning to study it in great detail, LOL! (It will take quite awhile to finish, methinks!)
By this time we had joined up with the L family, so we all left together. Brian and Ted made the hike to get the Suburban, and we drove Italian style (i.e. all 13 of us) in the Suburban back to the bungalows, where we crashed and had a pretty decent night of sleep--Seanin slept 6 hours straight!
October 30, 2013
October 26, 2013
Fun with Grandma & Grandpa
The first week Mom and Dad were here it rained every day. So no sightseeing for us then, but it worked out just fine because Ted ended up having to work a pretty crazy, stressful schedule instead of taking leave as he had planned. (We DID take them to the NATO Oktoberfest, and that was fun!) Mom and Dad had plenty of time to deal with jet lag, and the kids managed to get through a few days' worth of school activities before we ended up taking the next week or two completely off. The little boys and Kenna were in heaven with extra grown-ups around who had plenty of time to read stories or play games--hooray for entertainment and cuddles!
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| They wore Lucan out! He fell asleep like this on the couch for a much-needed nap one day! |
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| Grandma was always up for a game of Bananagrams, even if she had to play one-handed! |
October 21, 2013
Grandma & Grandpa in Italy!
Once again I'm behind in blogging, but this time I have a reason that's different from the usual "I've been busy with 7 kids" excuse: my parents arrived on October 3 for a three-week visit! We weren't sure we would get my dad on an airplane to come visit us during our tour here in Naples, and the joke now is that it takes us having a new grandbaby to make that happen!
December 29, 2012, was Mom and Dad's 40th anniversary. Mom's twin sister, Iola, cooked up a scheme to send notes out to friends and family ahead of time to collect cards and donations toward a trip to Italy for their anniversary gift. Between that and the news of our pregnancy earlier this year, Mom and Dad agreed to begin planning an international trip--a big deal for them both, as neither had been overseas for decades! (Dad served in Berlin with the army in the late 60s, and Mom served as a missionary nurse in UAE for a year.)
So, a neat story/testimony about all of this...my dad has not flown on an airplane since 1971. No matter where we have been stationed, he has always driven to see us. While he enjoys road trips and prefers to see the countryside, part of the reason for his not hopping on a plane has been a longtime anxiety of flying. Knowing this, my wonderful husband began praying early on during the trip preparations that God would give Dad peace about the journey. (Meanwhile, I'm almost ashamed to admit, I recommended that Dad ask his doctor for some medication if he thought it would help.)
Fast forward to October 3, 2013, when a joyous reunion took place in our driveway. (Ted took our small car to pick up Mom and Dad from the airport so he wouldn't have to maneuver the Suburban in the parking garage.) The kids had made signs for the gate and were eagerly dancing around the driveway, waiting to see Grandma and Grandpa, having said goodbye to them about 15 months before. Once the welcoming flurry had died down a bit, Dad pulled me aside and showed me a little bottle of medication prescribed by his doctor. The doc had given him 8 pills, and Dad dumped out the contents onto his hand to show me...8 pills. He hadn't taken any of them! He said once he got into his seat on the airplane, he asked himself, Do I trust God, or not?? And he chose right then to completely trust God with the journey. What a great testimony! I'm so thankful I have a husband who faithfully prayed over his father-in-law--both the kids AND the wife now have a concrete example of God's faithfulness in answering prayers!
December 29, 2012, was Mom and Dad's 40th anniversary. Mom's twin sister, Iola, cooked up a scheme to send notes out to friends and family ahead of time to collect cards and donations toward a trip to Italy for their anniversary gift. Between that and the news of our pregnancy earlier this year, Mom and Dad agreed to begin planning an international trip--a big deal for them both, as neither had been overseas for decades! (Dad served in Berlin with the army in the late 60s, and Mom served as a missionary nurse in UAE for a year.)
So, a neat story/testimony about all of this...my dad has not flown on an airplane since 1971. No matter where we have been stationed, he has always driven to see us. While he enjoys road trips and prefers to see the countryside, part of the reason for his not hopping on a plane has been a longtime anxiety of flying. Knowing this, my wonderful husband began praying early on during the trip preparations that God would give Dad peace about the journey. (Meanwhile, I'm almost ashamed to admit, I recommended that Dad ask his doctor for some medication if he thought it would help.)
Fast forward to October 3, 2013, when a joyous reunion took place in our driveway. (Ted took our small car to pick up Mom and Dad from the airport so he wouldn't have to maneuver the Suburban in the parking garage.) The kids had made signs for the gate and were eagerly dancing around the driveway, waiting to see Grandma and Grandpa, having said goodbye to them about 15 months before. Once the welcoming flurry had died down a bit, Dad pulled me aside and showed me a little bottle of medication prescribed by his doctor. The doc had given him 8 pills, and Dad dumped out the contents onto his hand to show me...8 pills. He hadn't taken any of them! He said once he got into his seat on the airplane, he asked himself, Do I trust God, or not?? And he chose right then to completely trust God with the journey. What a great testimony! I'm so thankful I have a husband who faithfully prayed over his father-in-law--both the kids AND the wife now have a concrete example of God's faithfulness in answering prayers!
September 22, 2013
The Littles
Some random tidbits about current life with the littles...
SEANIN
Seanin had his lip tie clipped on September 11 and has done beautifully with nursing ever since! I'm so glad we had the procedure done. He was fussy that day (understandable), but was back to his normal self the next day, and we noticed a big difference with his eating and sleeping habits. And I felt as if he were milking the breast much more efficiently. Praise God!
We did start putting Seanin to sleep on his tummy a few days ago with fantastic results. He really had not been a great sleeper at all--ever. Trying to get some sort of predictability to his daily routine was impossible, and you can imagine how difficult that made our school days (not to mention nights--oy!). I wondered aloud if sleeping on his tummy would help, since he seemed to prefer cuddling on someone's chest while sleeping. Ted tried putting him down that way, and lo and behold! It was like MAGIC! He goes 3.5-4 hours or so at night and has a fairly predictable 3-hour schedule during the day. He rarely wakes up in the middle of a nap cycle anymore, and I am SO THANKFUL God pressed that on our hearts to try!
ZADEN
Zaden is adding to his vocabulary daily, and it is so fun to hear him chattering away! One of my favorite things to hear him say is, "Bess-oo, Mommy!" whenever I sneeze. He will stop what he is doing, run into wherever I am, and say that if he hears me! Melts my heart!
Like Lucan, he went through a huge bus obsession. When he first started talking, "bus" was easy for him to say, and so EVERYTHING on wheels was a BUSSSSS! This led to great exclaiming in the car as he realized the power he had to name every. single. vehicle that we passed. "Bussss!" he would shriek. "Actually, that's a car." "No, bussss!"
Similarly, all liquid is "milk." If we are reading a book that has pictures of water, such as his Flashing Fire Engines story book that depicts a hose spraying water at a fire, he pronounces it "milk." "Actually, that's water, honey." "No, MILK!"
He is an amazing eater--pretty much anything he sees us eating, he wants to eat himself. Heaven forbid that we should scoop it up to cool onto his plate before we sit down to pray...no, he wants us to scoop from the pan just like all the big people!
Zaden's eyes are as big as ever and look even more so since Ted buzzed his hair. It was looking pretty ratty, since he twirled it while sucking his thumb, resulting in various bald patches where it got knotted up so badly that it either fell out of its own accord or had to be snipped. I almost cried when I saw his near-bald head, but we're getting used to it (and it's growing back!), and I do love how his eyes look bigger than ever!
He still loves "Baby Say-nin" and "holds" him frequently: that is, he holds out his arms, we hold Seanin out so Zaden THINKS he is holding the baby, and Zaden smiles, coos over him, kisses him, and then runs away. He also likes stealing Seanin's blankets and running around wearing them like kingly robes.
When Zaden goes down for a nap or for the night, he settles himself into his crib with his stuffed buddies arranged just so around him, lies down on his tummy, indicates that we are to put his blanket over him, pops his thumb in his mouth, goes to twirl his hair but remembers there is nothing left to twirl, removes his thumb, and says, "Daddy (or Mommy or Charis, whoever is with him), song!" and then we sing "Jesus Loves Me," just as we've sung with all the kids. It will never get old!
LUCAN
Lucan is taking on more of a big brother role now that he has officially moved into Zaden's bedroom! (That noise you heard was the cheering of Tobin and Arden who no longer have to share their space with a 4-year-old!) The two little boys shrieked with giggles and delight the first few nights but seem to have settled down and are used to sharing now. We kept Zaden in his crib since he doesn't seem to mind, and he is such a good napper...why mess with a good thing?!
Lucan still loves to build, anything from puzzles to train tracks to magnet structures to Legos to Math-U-See blocks. He's quite protective of his creations and gets extremely upset when Zaden messes things up. He will cry pitifully, covering his mouth in his distress. It's hard not to laugh at the drama, but it does show Lucan's passionate, sensitive personality! He even asks at times, "Mommy, will you please put Zaden to bed?!" because he knows that nap time is the best time for him to play without interruptions. Although...then he often has to fight his big brother Arden, who enjoys building with the same play sets Lucan is working with while I do our afternoon school reading!
Speaking of school, we have not officially started any school-ish activities with Lucan. I may start working with him on some writing. He has begun showing a lot more interest in coloring and drawing than he has in the past and enjoys creating elaborate picture scenes on the white board when I let him! The drawing below shows mountains with an orange tree and a blueberry tree on top and a person in between. There is a small crooked tree in front of the mountain with the fruit trees on it. To the right of that is Split Mountain (which we went to on Labor Day) with the Leaning Tower of Pisa in between the halves of Split Mountain. Love it! (Note that the green scribbles in the top left corner were NOT Lucan's doing and have nothing to do with his masterpiece, LOL.)
Lucan may be on his way to becoming a vegetarian; for some reason, he resists eating chicken in almost any form. (Chicken spaghetti? Hello? Kid-friendly meal...he wouldn't even touch the noodles.) On the other hand, he adores salad or veggies with Ranch dip and will often fill up on veggies and fruit, bypassing the main course altogether. Thankfully he does like cottage cheese, cheese, eggs, sausage, and other forms of protein, and of course good ol' PBJs!
A food funny from tonight's dinner...as I mentioned, Lucan really loves salad. Tonight I made a Caprese salad--fresh tomatoes and basil from our favorite farm stand, mozzarella di buffalo, plus some olives. Not all the kids appreciate this kind of salad, so we had carrot sticks on the table as well. Lucan decided to have some salad. He got halfway through eating it and then lamented, "Awwwww! There are LEAVES in my salad!" (Referring to the basil!)
Lucan has continued to do well with using the potty, although he still wears pull-ups at night. He still feels the need to proudly announce his bowel movements...since the weather has been nice and all the windows are open in the house, we can hear him wherever we are as he shouts, "I DID go poopy on the potty!" And he will continue to holler that over...and over...and over...until someone reaffirms him, "Good job, Lucan!" Lord willing, the announcements will stop before he graduates...
SEANIN
Seanin had his lip tie clipped on September 11 and has done beautifully with nursing ever since! I'm so glad we had the procedure done. He was fussy that day (understandable), but was back to his normal self the next day, and we noticed a big difference with his eating and sleeping habits. And I felt as if he were milking the breast much more efficiently. Praise God!
We did start putting Seanin to sleep on his tummy a few days ago with fantastic results. He really had not been a great sleeper at all--ever. Trying to get some sort of predictability to his daily routine was impossible, and you can imagine how difficult that made our school days (not to mention nights--oy!). I wondered aloud if sleeping on his tummy would help, since he seemed to prefer cuddling on someone's chest while sleeping. Ted tried putting him down that way, and lo and behold! It was like MAGIC! He goes 3.5-4 hours or so at night and has a fairly predictable 3-hour schedule during the day. He rarely wakes up in the middle of a nap cycle anymore, and I am SO THANKFUL God pressed that on our hearts to try!
ZADEN
Zaden is adding to his vocabulary daily, and it is so fun to hear him chattering away! One of my favorite things to hear him say is, "Bess-oo, Mommy!" whenever I sneeze. He will stop what he is doing, run into wherever I am, and say that if he hears me! Melts my heart!
Like Lucan, he went through a huge bus obsession. When he first started talking, "bus" was easy for him to say, and so EVERYTHING on wheels was a BUSSSSS! This led to great exclaiming in the car as he realized the power he had to name every. single. vehicle that we passed. "Bussss!" he would shriek. "Actually, that's a car." "No, bussss!"
Similarly, all liquid is "milk." If we are reading a book that has pictures of water, such as his Flashing Fire Engines story book that depicts a hose spraying water at a fire, he pronounces it "milk." "Actually, that's water, honey." "No, MILK!"
He is an amazing eater--pretty much anything he sees us eating, he wants to eat himself. Heaven forbid that we should scoop it up to cool onto his plate before we sit down to pray...no, he wants us to scoop from the pan just like all the big people!
Zaden's eyes are as big as ever and look even more so since Ted buzzed his hair. It was looking pretty ratty, since he twirled it while sucking his thumb, resulting in various bald patches where it got knotted up so badly that it either fell out of its own accord or had to be snipped. I almost cried when I saw his near-bald head, but we're getting used to it (and it's growing back!), and I do love how his eyes look bigger than ever!
He still loves "Baby Say-nin" and "holds" him frequently: that is, he holds out his arms, we hold Seanin out so Zaden THINKS he is holding the baby, and Zaden smiles, coos over him, kisses him, and then runs away. He also likes stealing Seanin's blankets and running around wearing them like kingly robes.
When Zaden goes down for a nap or for the night, he settles himself into his crib with his stuffed buddies arranged just so around him, lies down on his tummy, indicates that we are to put his blanket over him, pops his thumb in his mouth, goes to twirl his hair but remembers there is nothing left to twirl, removes his thumb, and says, "Daddy (or Mommy or Charis, whoever is with him), song!" and then we sing "Jesus Loves Me," just as we've sung with all the kids. It will never get old!
LUCAN
Lucan is taking on more of a big brother role now that he has officially moved into Zaden's bedroom! (That noise you heard was the cheering of Tobin and Arden who no longer have to share their space with a 4-year-old!) The two little boys shrieked with giggles and delight the first few nights but seem to have settled down and are used to sharing now. We kept Zaden in his crib since he doesn't seem to mind, and he is such a good napper...why mess with a good thing?!
Lucan still loves to build, anything from puzzles to train tracks to magnet structures to Legos to Math-U-See blocks. He's quite protective of his creations and gets extremely upset when Zaden messes things up. He will cry pitifully, covering his mouth in his distress. It's hard not to laugh at the drama, but it does show Lucan's passionate, sensitive personality! He even asks at times, "Mommy, will you please put Zaden to bed?!" because he knows that nap time is the best time for him to play without interruptions. Although...then he often has to fight his big brother Arden, who enjoys building with the same play sets Lucan is working with while I do our afternoon school reading!
Speaking of school, we have not officially started any school-ish activities with Lucan. I may start working with him on some writing. He has begun showing a lot more interest in coloring and drawing than he has in the past and enjoys creating elaborate picture scenes on the white board when I let him! The drawing below shows mountains with an orange tree and a blueberry tree on top and a person in between. There is a small crooked tree in front of the mountain with the fruit trees on it. To the right of that is Split Mountain (which we went to on Labor Day) with the Leaning Tower of Pisa in between the halves of Split Mountain. Love it! (Note that the green scribbles in the top left corner were NOT Lucan's doing and have nothing to do with his masterpiece, LOL.)
Lucan may be on his way to becoming a vegetarian; for some reason, he resists eating chicken in almost any form. (Chicken spaghetti? Hello? Kid-friendly meal...he wouldn't even touch the noodles.) On the other hand, he adores salad or veggies with Ranch dip and will often fill up on veggies and fruit, bypassing the main course altogether. Thankfully he does like cottage cheese, cheese, eggs, sausage, and other forms of protein, and of course good ol' PBJs!
A food funny from tonight's dinner...as I mentioned, Lucan really loves salad. Tonight I made a Caprese salad--fresh tomatoes and basil from our favorite farm stand, mozzarella di buffalo, plus some olives. Not all the kids appreciate this kind of salad, so we had carrot sticks on the table as well. Lucan decided to have some salad. He got halfway through eating it and then lamented, "Awwwww! There are LEAVES in my salad!" (Referring to the basil!)
Lucan has continued to do well with using the potty, although he still wears pull-ups at night. He still feels the need to proudly announce his bowel movements...since the weather has been nice and all the windows are open in the house, we can hear him wherever we are as he shouts, "I DID go poopy on the potty!" And he will continue to holler that over...and over...and over...until someone reaffirms him, "Good job, Lucan!" Lord willing, the announcements will stop before he graduates...
September 20, 2013
Back to School: Chunking It!
Ready or not, here we go...
That was how I felt as Labor Day weekend approached! My goal was to begin school again after Labor Day. The lack of routine and structure for the older kids especially was really wearing on all of us. After an extended break, I felt as if we were dealing with more squabbles and bickering than usual and general wild (though fairly harmless) behavior especially with the older boys, whose energy really needs more of a release than our house-bound, schedule-less summer allowed for.
On Labor Day itself we wanted to get out of the house and do something different, so we drove to Gaeta to Split Mountain--I'll have to blog about that later with pics. That evening I was a bit in a panic, because I knew our "usual" school schedule needed to be thrown out the window now that we had a newborn in the house! I didn't have time or energy to figure out HOW to do school; I just knew that we HAD to start for my sanity as well as for the kids' education, ha!
God mercifully gave me a brain burst that evening...instead of scheduling every little thing (which really does help us focus and get a lot done as a general rule), we are in a season during which "chunking" our time is going to be the best approach. The older kids are far enough along that they can do a lot more independent work; plus, we need to give them opportunities to practice good time management skills (don't we all need to work on that?!) plus prove they can be responsible.
So our school days generally look something like this:
8:00 - 9:00 Breakfast, devotions, clean-up, morning chores, "hygiene time" (Laugh if you must, but the boys needed "Put on deodorant" and "Brush teeth" ON THEIR CHECKLIST!! They shower at night, but with the heat we were having when school began, they were already smelling ripe by the time mid-morning arrived!)
9:00 - 11:00 While I work with Kenna (reading lesson, math, handwriting) and do some reading aloud with her and the little boys, the older kids work on their quiet time (Bible reading, AWANA review, memory verses) math, language arts, to include their current reader, grammar, vocab, and a writing assignment each week (sometimes I still need to be involved with this--we just juggle), Rosetta Stone (Italian lessons), and independent reading (sometimes history, sometimes science).
11:00 - 1:00 The older kids are supposed to be practicing piano/violin during this time while I get lunch ready, but so far none of them has shown much initiative! They seem to be more interested in free time--it probably doesn't help that I allow them to have free time when they finish their 9-11 block activities, so it's hard for them to keep track of that. I don't really want anyone to begin practicing music until everyone else is finished with their work, since the piano is right in the middle of our work area, so I'm not sure how to work this other than encouraging them to be mindful of the time and take responsibility for their activities...much easier said than done, sigh. Usually it dawns on me in the middle of the afternoon or even later that I never did hear any music, and then I do try to make the kids do their practicing then so they aren't completely getting away with not practicing at all...but there are days when it just doesn't happen. So this needs improvement...
Anyway, we have lunch and clean up during this time as well, plus get Zaden ready for his nap. I try to get some quiet activities ready for Lucan and Zaden (half the time Arden ends up playing with them too, LOL) for the next block of our day.
1:00 - ?? This is the time when we gather to do the rest of the older kids' schedule. We read and discuss a Bible passage, pray for missionaries, sometimes read from a book highlighting 100 cities with prayer points, and go over our history and science. I check any independent work that I didn't get to check during the morning as well. It's a fun time of engaging with Charis, Tobin, and Arden, hearing them process ideas and pray out loud, and discussing things that make me delight in the privilege of being such an integral part of their growth. Some days we don't finish until 3 or 3:30 (usually when our last chunk of time starts later than 1:00 for whatever reason). Other days I hurry us up so that I can attempt to get a nap in while Zaden is still asleep.
We just completed our third week using the "chunked" time schedule, and I have to say that overall, it has been pretty successful. Charis has figured out that she can maximize her free time by getting out of bed earlier instead of dragging down to breakfast at the last minute...also by happily setting about her work instead of moping her way through the less-favored assignments. Her attitude has been positively sparkly! And the boys are s-l-o-w-l-y learning to take more responsibility without me nagging...but this will be a work in progress with all of us!
That was how I felt as Labor Day weekend approached! My goal was to begin school again after Labor Day. The lack of routine and structure for the older kids especially was really wearing on all of us. After an extended break, I felt as if we were dealing with more squabbles and bickering than usual and general wild (though fairly harmless) behavior especially with the older boys, whose energy really needs more of a release than our house-bound, schedule-less summer allowed for.
On Labor Day itself we wanted to get out of the house and do something different, so we drove to Gaeta to Split Mountain--I'll have to blog about that later with pics. That evening I was a bit in a panic, because I knew our "usual" school schedule needed to be thrown out the window now that we had a newborn in the house! I didn't have time or energy to figure out HOW to do school; I just knew that we HAD to start for my sanity as well as for the kids' education, ha!
God mercifully gave me a brain burst that evening...instead of scheduling every little thing (which really does help us focus and get a lot done as a general rule), we are in a season during which "chunking" our time is going to be the best approach. The older kids are far enough along that they can do a lot more independent work; plus, we need to give them opportunities to practice good time management skills (don't we all need to work on that?!) plus prove they can be responsible.
So our school days generally look something like this:
8:00 - 9:00 Breakfast, devotions, clean-up, morning chores, "hygiene time" (Laugh if you must, but the boys needed "Put on deodorant" and "Brush teeth" ON THEIR CHECKLIST!! They shower at night, but with the heat we were having when school began, they were already smelling ripe by the time mid-morning arrived!)
9:00 - 11:00 While I work with Kenna (reading lesson, math, handwriting) and do some reading aloud with her and the little boys, the older kids work on their quiet time (Bible reading, AWANA review, memory verses) math, language arts, to include their current reader, grammar, vocab, and a writing assignment each week (sometimes I still need to be involved with this--we just juggle), Rosetta Stone (Italian lessons), and independent reading (sometimes history, sometimes science).
11:00 - 1:00 The older kids are supposed to be practicing piano/violin during this time while I get lunch ready, but so far none of them has shown much initiative! They seem to be more interested in free time--it probably doesn't help that I allow them to have free time when they finish their 9-11 block activities, so it's hard for them to keep track of that. I don't really want anyone to begin practicing music until everyone else is finished with their work, since the piano is right in the middle of our work area, so I'm not sure how to work this other than encouraging them to be mindful of the time and take responsibility for their activities...much easier said than done, sigh. Usually it dawns on me in the middle of the afternoon or even later that I never did hear any music, and then I do try to make the kids do their practicing then so they aren't completely getting away with not practicing at all...but there are days when it just doesn't happen. So this needs improvement...
Anyway, we have lunch and clean up during this time as well, plus get Zaden ready for his nap. I try to get some quiet activities ready for Lucan and Zaden (half the time Arden ends up playing with them too, LOL) for the next block of our day.
1:00 - ?? This is the time when we gather to do the rest of the older kids' schedule. We read and discuss a Bible passage, pray for missionaries, sometimes read from a book highlighting 100 cities with prayer points, and go over our history and science. I check any independent work that I didn't get to check during the morning as well. It's a fun time of engaging with Charis, Tobin, and Arden, hearing them process ideas and pray out loud, and discussing things that make me delight in the privilege of being such an integral part of their growth. Some days we don't finish until 3 or 3:30 (usually when our last chunk of time starts later than 1:00 for whatever reason). Other days I hurry us up so that I can attempt to get a nap in while Zaden is still asleep.
We just completed our third week using the "chunked" time schedule, and I have to say that overall, it has been pretty successful. Charis has figured out that she can maximize her free time by getting out of bed earlier instead of dragging down to breakfast at the last minute...also by happily setting about her work instead of moping her way through the less-favored assignments. Her attitude has been positively sparkly! And the boys are s-l-o-w-l-y learning to take more responsibility without me nagging...but this will be a work in progress with all of us!
September 12, 2013
Random Notes about Life in Naples
* August 16 marked our one-year-in-Italy anniversary! That was also the day we brought Seanin home from the hospital! If you had told us we'd add another family member a year after we walked off the plane, I wonder what we would have thought then?!
* One funny thing about it being summer and people having windows open...we get a real taste of Italian family life vicariously! Wow, they are loud! Makes me feel better about my boys shouting and thumping and our littles screaming or crying!
* Speaking of loud neighbors, karaoke parties seem to be very popular here. You know they are finally winding down when you hear the fireworks.
* We have recently learned about the dreaded tiger mosquito, determining that these are in fact what we have called "mutant mosquitoes," which are the bane of our existence here in Napoli. Mosquitoes in general are horrific here. Unfortunately, our landlord has only arranged for our yard to be landscaped ONCE in the 11 months we have lived in this house (it was done in April), so the jungle-like quality of our yard has undoubtedly contributed to the problem. We are working with the housing office to get this taken care of, but there are also other house issues that need to be taken care of; I feel bad complaining about a junky-looking yard, but it HAS been frustrating to not feel like we are able to enjoy the beautiful area outside the house. The kids don't want to play outside because of the mosquitoes, and we have kids who wouldn't be able to see over the weeds!!
* While it has been a very hot and humid summer, more noticeable because of the lack of central air in our house (we do have units on the main floor, in our bedroom, and on the third floor--the latter of which is very inefficient because of the large space and tremendous amount of heat up there), we were so relieved and thankful to have the heat break a bit in August. Opening the house up in the early mornings has helped us be able to not use the A/C units much at all during the day, though Ted and I still turn ours on in the evenings to cool our room down so we can sleep comfortably.
* When I'm not too pressed for time, I generally try to hang our laundry out to dry. I love the smell of clothes dried in the sunshine! I figure since we're paying extra for using air conditioning, the least I can do to offset the cost is try not to use the dryer--PLUS it really heats up the 3rd floor even more!
* They weren't kidding when they told us life pretty much stops around here during the month of August. Most Italians take their vacation then. Stores/shops are completely closed. One of our fruit stands closed up shop for at least 2 weeks. Things are dead...unless you're on a road that leads to a beach. Then you get to sit in traffic for upwards of an hour or more. We had just started to figure out better times and routes for our own activities when September arrived and brought about more normalcy!
* An Italian cleaning lady really is a must. I was desperate for Stella to return from her August vacation! I just can't keep up with these tile floors! Of course, having a baby in the middle of the month didn't help, LOL. We were so excited to hear from Stella, not only to learn that we are getting back to our regular cleaning schedule (which involves having her grandson Salvatore over to play and work on English), but also because she told us the news that her daughter, Salvatore's mom, is pregnant with twins!! This was delightful news, as we knew she had been trying to have another child for years. We had actually joined with them in prayer about this...now we need to pray for a healthy pregnancy and healthy babies! So fun!
* One funny thing about it being summer and people having windows open...we get a real taste of Italian family life vicariously! Wow, they are loud! Makes me feel better about my boys shouting and thumping and our littles screaming or crying!
* Speaking of loud neighbors, karaoke parties seem to be very popular here. You know they are finally winding down when you hear the fireworks.
* We have recently learned about the dreaded tiger mosquito, determining that these are in fact what we have called "mutant mosquitoes," which are the bane of our existence here in Napoli. Mosquitoes in general are horrific here. Unfortunately, our landlord has only arranged for our yard to be landscaped ONCE in the 11 months we have lived in this house (it was done in April), so the jungle-like quality of our yard has undoubtedly contributed to the problem. We are working with the housing office to get this taken care of, but there are also other house issues that need to be taken care of; I feel bad complaining about a junky-looking yard, but it HAS been frustrating to not feel like we are able to enjoy the beautiful area outside the house. The kids don't want to play outside because of the mosquitoes, and we have kids who wouldn't be able to see over the weeds!!
* While it has been a very hot and humid summer, more noticeable because of the lack of central air in our house (we do have units on the main floor, in our bedroom, and on the third floor--the latter of which is very inefficient because of the large space and tremendous amount of heat up there), we were so relieved and thankful to have the heat break a bit in August. Opening the house up in the early mornings has helped us be able to not use the A/C units much at all during the day, though Ted and I still turn ours on in the evenings to cool our room down so we can sleep comfortably.
* When I'm not too pressed for time, I generally try to hang our laundry out to dry. I love the smell of clothes dried in the sunshine! I figure since we're paying extra for using air conditioning, the least I can do to offset the cost is try not to use the dryer--PLUS it really heats up the 3rd floor even more!
* They weren't kidding when they told us life pretty much stops around here during the month of August. Most Italians take their vacation then. Stores/shops are completely closed. One of our fruit stands closed up shop for at least 2 weeks. Things are dead...unless you're on a road that leads to a beach. Then you get to sit in traffic for upwards of an hour or more. We had just started to figure out better times and routes for our own activities when September arrived and brought about more normalcy!
* An Italian cleaning lady really is a must. I was desperate for Stella to return from her August vacation! I just can't keep up with these tile floors! Of course, having a baby in the middle of the month didn't help, LOL. We were so excited to hear from Stella, not only to learn that we are getting back to our regular cleaning schedule (which involves having her grandson Salvatore over to play and work on English), but also because she told us the news that her daughter, Salvatore's mom, is pregnant with twins!! This was delightful news, as we knew she had been trying to have another child for years. We had actually joined with them in prayer about this...now we need to pray for a healthy pregnancy and healthy babies! So fun!
August 26, 2013
Seanin's Nursing Saga
Those who prayed us through Ted's deployment are undoubtedly familiar with all the nursing/feeding woes we experienced with Zaden--starting with his drastic weight loss in the first two weeks, followed by a supplemental nursing system for 4 weeks, followed by recurring blocks and infections. (For a timeline, view this post, although we had issues probably another 2 months AFTER this was written, culminating with me visiting a specialist in Cincinnati.)
Anyway. After that traumatic year, you can well imagine that throughout this pregnancy I often had to wrestle with some fear demons that reared their ugly head, taunting me that things would be no different with Seanin--I was doomed to nursing failure. I spent much time in prayer combating this, over and over giving my body and our baby to the Lord's hands and reaffirming His strength and power and my trust in Him.
I was delighted when Seanin seemed to nurse so well right off the bat, but our second day in the hospital found me with a very sore blister on my right side (the side with all the troubles during Zaden's nursing days) because his latch wasn't deep enough. At home a couple of days later, the blister had toughened to the point that it was blocking the escape of milk, and I was fighting a rising panic that threatened to totally consume me. Even though this blister was different from what had kicked off all my troubles with Zaden, the results were seemingly similar. Much prayer and an SOS to some fellow nursing moms ensued. I gritted my teeth and sloughed off the blister, hoping and praying for quick healing once the milk was able to flow freely again. And we continued to work on Seanin's latch, which somehow seemed pretty decent on the left side but just wasn't working on the right. (I couldn't even nurse him in the cross-cradle hold until just a few days ago--we had to do the football hold.)
I was in touch with the lactation consultant, who is wonderful, but I hadn't been able to reach her at the early part of this because she wasn't on duty. It was during that time that one of my mom friends sent me some links to check out tongue and lip ties. I had heard of tongue ties before, but never lip ties! I looked at the pictures and checked Seanin's mouth. Lo and behold--a very pronounced lip tie!
Now I was curious. I checked all of my children. Amazingly...and yet not...Kenna and Zaden have major lip ties, too! The two children I had the most nursing difficulties with! Zaden's troubles were epic, but Kenna's story, in a nutshell, involves an almost-total refusal to nurse for about 8 days after my milk came in (I'm not sure to this day how we kept the child alive, because she wouldn't take a bottle either--feeding sessions were total meltdowns for all of us involved), followed by yeast/thrush, followed by her quitting my right side at 8 months and finally pushing me away for good by 10.5 months. She never was a great nurser, and I felt lucky that we even made it that long, honestly.
I am so grateful for this new information! There is such a sense of freedom in knowing that there was a BIG physical contributing factor to the trials I had experienced with nursing these precious souls! I had always assumed stress was the biggest factor in Zaden's troubles, since Ted was in Afghanistan the first 9 months of Zaden's life, and it wasn't until after his return that things finally seemed to resolve. I'm sure stress WAS a factor, but oh! It was so good to know that the lip tie must have heavily influenced things, too!
Check out this list of problems Baby and Mom may have when a lip tie is present (my comments in brackets):
We were at the doctor's for his exam within an hour. At first Dr. O wanted me to see the lactation consultant and see what SHE thought--THEN give me a referral. I asked if there was any reason we couldn't just get a referral right away. I told him the LC and I had been communicating and she was aware of the issue; furthermore, we had observed that my 6-year-old has a gap in her front teeth BECAUSE OF the lip tie--you can see the frenulum connecting her upper lip and where her teeth split! So he did end up giving me the referral to ENT.
Unfortunately, when I walked over to ENT to schedule the appointment, we found out that the referral was a general one, which means they could only give me a "first-available" appointment slot, as opposed to an acute referral which could have gotten us in earlier. As it stands now, we go in on September 9, but that doesn't guarantee us a lip tie snip that day--there is a good chance the ENT doc will examine him and then schedule the procedure for a separate time. Sigh.
Thankfully, Seanin's latch issues all of a sudden seemed to get better...his lower jaw is relaxing more, he is opening wider, and he really must not be taking in extra air, as he isn't gassy or pukey at all. So while I still think we need to deal with the lip tie, it's more for the sake of his future dental health and language skills (lip ties can cause lisps as well) than for nursing, although since I have Zaden's nursing history as a reference, I think it certainly would be beneficial to make sure Seanin can continue a good latch all throughout his nursing career so that I NEVER have to deal with a blocked duct or breast infection again!
It's been so interesting to learn all of this with child number seven! God forbid I would ever think I know it all, LOL! I do have to wonder how many moms who wanted to nurse their babies but felt they couldn't maybe actually COULD have if their doctors/nurses/midwives would have simply checked for tongue and lip ties immediately after birth?! From what I understand, a quick snip at that point is virtually painless and would allow better chances of nursing success right from the start. At least I have the information myself and can share with moms as the opportunity arises.
So, currently, I am pleased to report that Seanin is nursing like a pro now, peeing and pooping like crazy and already growing like a weed. (When we saw the doc on Thursday, he was 8 days old and had grown one inch and was up to 8 pounds, 14 ounces, having left the hospital at 8 pounds, 5 ounces!) Unlike my sleepy Zaden, whom I had to wake through the night to nurse in the early weeks, Seanin will NOT miss a feeding, ha! Every three hours at night he wakes me up! Now and then I wake him during the day, but usually he is ready to feed on his own.
I will never again take for granted the privilege of nursing my baby and thank God for allowing us to leap through these early nursing hurdles so well...aside from a few days of a sore right nipple, this has honestly been the easiest nursing transition I think we've ever had! Praise the Lord!
Anyway. After that traumatic year, you can well imagine that throughout this pregnancy I often had to wrestle with some fear demons that reared their ugly head, taunting me that things would be no different with Seanin--I was doomed to nursing failure. I spent much time in prayer combating this, over and over giving my body and our baby to the Lord's hands and reaffirming His strength and power and my trust in Him.
I was delighted when Seanin seemed to nurse so well right off the bat, but our second day in the hospital found me with a very sore blister on my right side (the side with all the troubles during Zaden's nursing days) because his latch wasn't deep enough. At home a couple of days later, the blister had toughened to the point that it was blocking the escape of milk, and I was fighting a rising panic that threatened to totally consume me. Even though this blister was different from what had kicked off all my troubles with Zaden, the results were seemingly similar. Much prayer and an SOS to some fellow nursing moms ensued. I gritted my teeth and sloughed off the blister, hoping and praying for quick healing once the milk was able to flow freely again. And we continued to work on Seanin's latch, which somehow seemed pretty decent on the left side but just wasn't working on the right. (I couldn't even nurse him in the cross-cradle hold until just a few days ago--we had to do the football hold.)
I was in touch with the lactation consultant, who is wonderful, but I hadn't been able to reach her at the early part of this because she wasn't on duty. It was during that time that one of my mom friends sent me some links to check out tongue and lip ties. I had heard of tongue ties before, but never lip ties! I looked at the pictures and checked Seanin's mouth. Lo and behold--a very pronounced lip tie!
Now I was curious. I checked all of my children. Amazingly...and yet not...Kenna and Zaden have major lip ties, too! The two children I had the most nursing difficulties with! Zaden's troubles were epic, but Kenna's story, in a nutshell, involves an almost-total refusal to nurse for about 8 days after my milk came in (I'm not sure to this day how we kept the child alive, because she wouldn't take a bottle either--feeding sessions were total meltdowns for all of us involved), followed by yeast/thrush, followed by her quitting my right side at 8 months and finally pushing me away for good by 10.5 months. She never was a great nurser, and I felt lucky that we even made it that long, honestly.
I am so grateful for this new information! There is such a sense of freedom in knowing that there was a BIG physical contributing factor to the trials I had experienced with nursing these precious souls! I had always assumed stress was the biggest factor in Zaden's troubles, since Ted was in Afghanistan the first 9 months of Zaden's life, and it wasn't until after his return that things finally seemed to resolve. I'm sure stress WAS a factor, but oh! It was so good to know that the lip tie must have heavily influenced things, too!
Check out this list of problems Baby and Mom may have when a lip tie is present (my comments in brackets):
Baby’s Symptoms:
- Difficulty latching on or falls off the breast easily [Zaden's difficulties led to his weight loss the first two weeks]
- Gumming our chewing the nipple while nursing [I don't remember this specifically]
- Unable to hold a paci or bottle [Zaden never would take a pacifier; he's still a thumb-sucker!]
- Gassy (babies with ties often swallow a lot of air because they cannot maintain suction properly) [CHECK!! This was one of our pukiest kids!]
- Poor weight gain [Referenced above...we had weight check after weight check...]
- Excessive drooling [Hmmm, not really so much on this one.]
- Baby is not able to fully drain breast [YES--that was what led to the blocked duct problems.]
Mama’s Symptoms [I had EVERY SINGLE ONE of these, although the discomfort during nursing tapered off]:
- Creased/flat/blanched nipple after feedings
- Cracked/blistered/bleeding nipples
- Discomfort while nursing
- Plugged ducts
- Thrush/mastitis
We were at the doctor's for his exam within an hour. At first Dr. O wanted me to see the lactation consultant and see what SHE thought--THEN give me a referral. I asked if there was any reason we couldn't just get a referral right away. I told him the LC and I had been communicating and she was aware of the issue; furthermore, we had observed that my 6-year-old has a gap in her front teeth BECAUSE OF the lip tie--you can see the frenulum connecting her upper lip and where her teeth split! So he did end up giving me the referral to ENT.
Unfortunately, when I walked over to ENT to schedule the appointment, we found out that the referral was a general one, which means they could only give me a "first-available" appointment slot, as opposed to an acute referral which could have gotten us in earlier. As it stands now, we go in on September 9, but that doesn't guarantee us a lip tie snip that day--there is a good chance the ENT doc will examine him and then schedule the procedure for a separate time. Sigh.
Thankfully, Seanin's latch issues all of a sudden seemed to get better...his lower jaw is relaxing more, he is opening wider, and he really must not be taking in extra air, as he isn't gassy or pukey at all. So while I still think we need to deal with the lip tie, it's more for the sake of his future dental health and language skills (lip ties can cause lisps as well) than for nursing, although since I have Zaden's nursing history as a reference, I think it certainly would be beneficial to make sure Seanin can continue a good latch all throughout his nursing career so that I NEVER have to deal with a blocked duct or breast infection again!
It's been so interesting to learn all of this with child number seven! God forbid I would ever think I know it all, LOL! I do have to wonder how many moms who wanted to nurse their babies but felt they couldn't maybe actually COULD have if their doctors/nurses/midwives would have simply checked for tongue and lip ties immediately after birth?! From what I understand, a quick snip at that point is virtually painless and would allow better chances of nursing success right from the start. At least I have the information myself and can share with moms as the opportunity arises.
So, currently, I am pleased to report that Seanin is nursing like a pro now, peeing and pooping like crazy and already growing like a weed. (When we saw the doc on Thursday, he was 8 days old and had grown one inch and was up to 8 pounds, 14 ounces, having left the hospital at 8 pounds, 5 ounces!) Unlike my sleepy Zaden, whom I had to wake through the night to nurse in the early weeks, Seanin will NOT miss a feeding, ha! Every three hours at night he wakes me up! Now and then I wake him during the day, but usually he is ready to feed on his own.
I will never again take for granted the privilege of nursing my baby and thank God for allowing us to leap through these early nursing hurdles so well...aside from a few days of a sore right nipple, this has honestly been the easiest nursing transition I think we've ever had! Praise the Lord!
August 19, 2013
The Birth Story
It should be no surprise that Seanin's labor & delivery story begins with a series of contractions that kept us wondering whether or not this was the real deal! Tuesday morning, August 13, I had an OB appointment. My regular doc is in the States on vacation, so I saw a shorter, less green and rather nicer version of Shrek instead. (Seriously! Dr. N is very Shrek-like!) When he checked me, I asked him to strip my membranes...but Seanin was so far up that he couldn't get the job done, and I told him not to push it...obviously things just weren't ready. I was still only dilated 3 cm, which was a bit depressing after all the "fake" contractions I had been experiencing.
Well. Maybe the check itself started things in motion, because by lunch time I was feeling DEFINITE pains. They weren't close together...maybe every 15-20 minutes. I tried resting; I walked on the treadmill; I paced the house. I debated about throwing in the last few items into the hospital bag. I alerted Ted and my L&D back-up team (Carla and Joyce, both of whom live close by and were eager and willing to help watch kids when the time FINALLY came).
Not much happened, other than the contractions continuing, sometimes every 10 minutes, sometimes 7-8 minutes apart, sometimes back to 15 minutes apart. Sigh. Ted came home early, but nothing of note was happening. We ate dinner together as a family, and I got back on the treadmill while Ted read aloud from The Fellowship of the Ring. (Which, incidentally, is the book I was reading the night I went into labor with Tobin!)
Finally it seemed that the contractions were coming closer together and feeling more intense--but not horrifically so. Still, I remembered that the contractions with Zaden just never really got that bad at all. Plus, everyone kept telling me that we'd better scoot to the hospital SOON because otherwise I might deliver on the side of an Italian highway. You'd think so, right, after delivering 6 babies already?!
But no! It was indeed getting close to show time, but Seanin proved his mommy right over the doctor (who wanted me to move in across the street from the hospital) and took his sweet time coming. I just don't have quick and speedy deliveries!
At any rate, Carla came over around 8:30ish to stay with the kids. The little boys were already in bed, and the older boys and Kenna followed not too long after, so Carla's job was fairly easy, thank goodness, and we were so glad we didn't have to call her in the middle of the night! Charis, Ted, and I headed out the door, and I called the L&D ward on base to alert them that we were coming in.
Dr. O, the doc who saw me the night I came in with the beginnings of pre-term labor, was on call that night. What a BLESSING! He was a great match for our family! (I found out later that "Dr. Shrek" had been out to dinner and had had too much wine...so he declined to drive in for my delivery. No offense to him, but I'm thankful, ha!) Lt. G, the nurse, also had been on duty that night, and she was there as well. Perfect! It was like having a ready-made cheering section, LOL, as they got to see the end of the story!
I was only dilated 4-5 cm, and he was still at -3. Sigh! Still, at least it was obvious that I was in real labor and didn't have to go home. After a bit of monitoring, they let me get up to walk laps around the nurses' station, which helped bring the contractions' intensity level up enough to make me feel like they were actually doing something.
To this point, the worst part was getting my left hand stuck with the IV needle shortly after we arrived. I didn't really want an IV so soon (I didn't really want one at all), but I didn't have much choice--with the hospital being so small, and with me having had "so many" kids already, they didn't want to take chances with the risk of me bleeding and not being able to stop after delivery (which, remember, was supposed to happen in the blink of an eye according to everyone's predictions!). The tech who did the IV did not have success with it in my hand--poor Charis nearly fainted when she watched the whole ordeal (my hand is still a bit bruised). They moved it farther up my left arm where it was tolerable.
After some walking they wanted to check me again. This time I was at 6 cm, but his head was still high. I was getting pretty exhausted--going on 12 hours of contractions. And while I had hopes for a drug-free delivery, I was honestly getting rather afraid of how much of an ordeal it was going to be to endure not only seemingly endless contractions, but also pushing a large baby out--I didn't know how big he was going to be, but in my head I had the words "9-pounder" stuck and playing like a broken record, just based on the assessments doctors had given during the pre-term labor ordeal. ("Grande bimbo," the Italian doctor informed me, or something like that!) Remembering how difficult I had found it to push 8 pound, 3 ounce Zaden out, I finally opted to get an epidural.
In some ways I felt like a failure. I have so many friends who pop babies (even 9-10 pounders!) out with no pain meds. And I felt proud (justifiably so, I think!) of my two drug-free deliveries. I liked feeling like I could get up and move around more quickly than with the others. Then again...the more I thought about it...Kenna and Zaden were my natural delivery babies, and they were also the ones who gave me the most issues with nursing! Ha! They were also born while Ted was deployed...so, interesting case studies, perhaps!
But then, in the delivery room while I was later relaxing and listening to Ted snore while Charis snoozed in a chair, I spent some time praying, and I clearly felt God's Spirit whispering words of freedom to my heart. In the scheme of things, I felt Him saying, He really didn't mind one way or the other what I chose for this delivery experience. So I let myself quit stewing about it and instead thanked the Lord for the fact that I continued to have contractions and never really felt them!
Every 30 minutes or so the nurses would come in and tilt me to one side or the other. At 3:30am when they did this, my water broke! WOOHOO!!
Sure enough, it was show time! Ted and Charis woke up and things started happening. Not as quickly as they might have if I hadn't been numb though, LOL! It took awhile before I figured out how to push effectively, and I'm quite sure Seanin would have been born before 4:38am if I hadn't had any pain medicine! Still, I must say it was WONDERFUL to push out a 9-pound boy and not feel any pain at all!
There were no problems, so I was able to hold him on my chest right away. I so enjoyed being able to do that while the nurses wiped him down and doc did whatever he needed to do...again, hooray for not feeling any pain and being able to enjoy those precious first moments with our new son! Charis cut the cord, though she offered to let Daddy do it since Ted was gone for Zaden's birth. Ted later cut the cord closer, so they both got to cut it.
Our first nursing session was quite a success. Ted headed home to relieve Carla of kid duty, shower, have breakfast, and get the kids ready to come to the hospital to meet their new baby brother! Charis stayed with me and was quite a help. (Read: She held Seanin pretty much constantly while the nurses poked and prodded and helped me up to the bathroom after I got feeling back in my legs.)
The kids arrived in a whirlwind of excitement! It was so much fun to see their reaction and to announce the name, Seanin Gabriel, which was hailed after months of anticipation and guesswork! Tobin and I were a bit disappointed that Seanin hadn't arrived before midnight, giving him an August 13 birthday--Tobin's birthday is April 13, and we were hoping he would have a birthday buddy! However, we agreed that if Seanin had been born in the USA, he WOULD have been an August 13 baby, since he was born so early in the morning here in Italy! As I mentioned above, there is also the common factor of the reading of a Tolkien work, LOL, plus the fact that both Tobin and Seanin have middle names of biblical angels: Michael and Gabriel, respectively. Ah, well. August 14 is a great birth date, too!
The kids all had a chance to hold Seanin, and then Ted whisked everyone away so I could rest. Seanin and I stayed in the hospital for two full days; I had tested positive for Group B Strep, so they always want to monitor babies 48 hours in that case. There were no problems at all, and I must say I was thankful for the extra time in the hospital, as much as I hated trying to rest in that bed...it helped with having peace and quiet for feeding times (which was a blessing, as I quickly realized that Seanin's shallow latch was going to take some working on--I got a blister almost right away, sigh, and we're still working to overcome that, although I am praising God that Seanin is starting to open wider and do better).
However, it was WONDERFUL to come HOME!!! Ted has 2 weeks of leave...10 days of paternity leave and some use-or-lose leave days, so we are taking it easy, working on establishing good nursing habits/patterns, and generally getting used to life with a newborn again. I have to confess that one thought I've had over and over is, "I'm SO glad Ted is HERE this time!" He missed all this precious time with Zaden. I can hardly believe that Zaden was 9 months old by the time Daddy was home for good...they had 2 weeks together during Ted's R&R leave. Thank you, Lord, that those days are behind us!
Sure enough, it was show time! Ted and Charis woke up and things started happening. Not as quickly as they might have if I hadn't been numb though, LOL! It took awhile before I figured out how to push effectively, and I'm quite sure Seanin would have been born before 4:38am if I hadn't had any pain medicine! Still, I must say it was WONDERFUL to push out a 9-pound boy and not feel any pain at all!
There were no problems, so I was able to hold him on my chest right away. I so enjoyed being able to do that while the nurses wiped him down and doc did whatever he needed to do...again, hooray for not feeling any pain and being able to enjoy those precious first moments with our new son! Charis cut the cord, though she offered to let Daddy do it since Ted was gone for Zaden's birth. Ted later cut the cord closer, so they both got to cut it.
Our first nursing session was quite a success. Ted headed home to relieve Carla of kid duty, shower, have breakfast, and get the kids ready to come to the hospital to meet their new baby brother! Charis stayed with me and was quite a help. (Read: She held Seanin pretty much constantly while the nurses poked and prodded and helped me up to the bathroom after I got feeling back in my legs.)
The kids arrived in a whirlwind of excitement! It was so much fun to see their reaction and to announce the name, Seanin Gabriel, which was hailed after months of anticipation and guesswork! Tobin and I were a bit disappointed that Seanin hadn't arrived before midnight, giving him an August 13 birthday--Tobin's birthday is April 13, and we were hoping he would have a birthday buddy! However, we agreed that if Seanin had been born in the USA, he WOULD have been an August 13 baby, since he was born so early in the morning here in Italy! As I mentioned above, there is also the common factor of the reading of a Tolkien work, LOL, plus the fact that both Tobin and Seanin have middle names of biblical angels: Michael and Gabriel, respectively. Ah, well. August 14 is a great birth date, too!
The kids all had a chance to hold Seanin, and then Ted whisked everyone away so I could rest. Seanin and I stayed in the hospital for two full days; I had tested positive for Group B Strep, so they always want to monitor babies 48 hours in that case. There were no problems at all, and I must say I was thankful for the extra time in the hospital, as much as I hated trying to rest in that bed...it helped with having peace and quiet for feeding times (which was a blessing, as I quickly realized that Seanin's shallow latch was going to take some working on--I got a blister almost right away, sigh, and we're still working to overcome that, although I am praising God that Seanin is starting to open wider and do better).
However, it was WONDERFUL to come HOME!!! Ted has 2 weeks of leave...10 days of paternity leave and some use-or-lose leave days, so we are taking it easy, working on establishing good nursing habits/patterns, and generally getting used to life with a newborn again. I have to confess that one thought I've had over and over is, "I'm SO glad Ted is HERE this time!" He missed all this precious time with Zaden. I can hardly believe that Zaden was 9 months old by the time Daddy was home for good...they had 2 weeks together during Ted's R&R leave. Thank you, Lord, that those days are behind us!
He's Here!
Introducing Seanin Gabriel...
Seanin (SHANE-in), an Irish form of John, "God is gracious"
Gabriel, Hebrew, "God is mighty"
Born Wednesday, 14 August, 04:38, at the Naval Support Site hospital in Gricignano di Aversa, Italy
9 pounds, 21 inches
August 10, 2013
38 Weeks and Counting
I suppose the "no news is good news" will have to be my excuse for not writing an update sooner. Septimus is still hanging out, and all is well with the pregnancy--aside from the typical close-to-delivery woes like an aching back, swollen legs and ankles, heartburn, and other sundry discomforts. But today I received a reminder to be thankful no matter what my circumstances...two friends are having difficulties with their pregnancies, a sobering reality check that makes me reaffirm God's sovereignty whether or not events coincide with our human expectations.
(If you have a moment, would you please lift up A in your prayers? She is delivering her baby at 34 weeks because of complications. A couple of years ago she gave birth at 36 weeks knowing her little one had just entered God's kingdom. I can't even imagine that heartbreak, but A and her husband K have a beautiful testimony of God's grace and are a strong, godly young couple whom I admire very much, even though I have spent next to no time at all with them in person. And my friend T is experiencing bleeding in her 10th week of pregnancy with her 13th child, so prayers for her would be appreciated as well.)
So with those prayer requests in mind, I'm simply thankful that our little guy is still kicking around inside of me, even though I grow weary of waiting and wondering when he will make his appearance. As happened with Zaden...and with Lucan...I have had several false alarms, with strong contractions coming anywhere from 5-10 minutes apart, getting stronger, preventing sleep, etc., going on for several hours at a time. Any doctor would tell me to get to the hospital, but since this has happened with my previous boys, I've been loathe to run to the delivery ward only to have to be monitored and whatnot and then sent home. It's exhausting mentally and emotionally, not to mention physically. And one day this past week I met with the uncertainty of thinking my water had possibly broken--it hadn't, but it took a trip to the ward to get tested to make sure.
My prayer has been that we would KNOW for sure beyond any doubt when my labor really HAS begun, that God would graciously allow it to happen at a time when we can make necessary arrangements for the children and get to the hospital in a timely manner. Since I had had several false alarms or "practice sessions" with Zaden, by the time labor really WAS progressing, the contractions really were not that bad, and I arrived at the hospital already dilated to almost 9. So I'm slightly concerned that I won't really know when to take things seriously!!
My next appointment is Tuesday, the day before we hit 39 weeks. I'm trying to mentally prepare for 41 weeks of pregnancy because it's too hard to get my hopes up thinking it's time when my body stops a few hours later and laughs at me for getting all worked up!
(If you have a moment, would you please lift up A in your prayers? She is delivering her baby at 34 weeks because of complications. A couple of years ago she gave birth at 36 weeks knowing her little one had just entered God's kingdom. I can't even imagine that heartbreak, but A and her husband K have a beautiful testimony of God's grace and are a strong, godly young couple whom I admire very much, even though I have spent next to no time at all with them in person. And my friend T is experiencing bleeding in her 10th week of pregnancy with her 13th child, so prayers for her would be appreciated as well.)
So with those prayer requests in mind, I'm simply thankful that our little guy is still kicking around inside of me, even though I grow weary of waiting and wondering when he will make his appearance. As happened with Zaden...and with Lucan...I have had several false alarms, with strong contractions coming anywhere from 5-10 minutes apart, getting stronger, preventing sleep, etc., going on for several hours at a time. Any doctor would tell me to get to the hospital, but since this has happened with my previous boys, I've been loathe to run to the delivery ward only to have to be monitored and whatnot and then sent home. It's exhausting mentally and emotionally, not to mention physically. And one day this past week I met with the uncertainty of thinking my water had possibly broken--it hadn't, but it took a trip to the ward to get tested to make sure.
My prayer has been that we would KNOW for sure beyond any doubt when my labor really HAS begun, that God would graciously allow it to happen at a time when we can make necessary arrangements for the children and get to the hospital in a timely manner. Since I had had several false alarms or "practice sessions" with Zaden, by the time labor really WAS progressing, the contractions really were not that bad, and I arrived at the hospital already dilated to almost 9. So I'm slightly concerned that I won't really know when to take things seriously!!
My next appointment is Tuesday, the day before we hit 39 weeks. I'm trying to mentally prepare for 41 weeks of pregnancy because it's too hard to get my hopes up thinking it's time when my body stops a few hours later and laughs at me for getting all worked up!
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