What a week!

So Avery is 9 days old- we've been home from the hospital for 1 week. This is what's been going on:

This is our gargantuan caterpillar we found on one of our tomato plants. So gross. Cory stuck it in a box and the kids enjoyed watching it. Spencer kept saying "ew." The thing was as thick around as my thumb!

(Censor added due to the graphic content of this photo)

Ainslee (and the others) are loving holding Avery. Spencer has figured out that his index finger fits exactly into Avery's nostrils. Oh great.

The weather has been great so the kids are shunned outside for some exercise. They've discovered a game called "muddy pigs." Can you just guess what that game does to my loads of laundry!

Here is our sweet angel, "lil Missy"

Spencer, being so creative and naughty, decided to make a necklace out of things around the house. Too bad we haven't replaced this movie with the DVD yet!

And the name is....

Well, we finally decided on a name. Our fifth child will be known as Avery Melissa Rice.

The race was between Avery Megan or Allie Mae. Then it changed to Avery Megan vs. Allie Marie. Allie just didn't seem to fit. So we decided to go with Avery, but for the whole time we were there, we kept referring to the new baby as Lil Missy. So we changed the name from Avery Megan to Avery Melissa and signed on the dotted line with that one.

Who knows, we may still may get use of Allie Marie down the line. :-O Just kidding?

The package has been delivered!

The new little angel came into the world at 12:24 PM PDT on September 16, 2008, creating the full straight of 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.

We called in at 5:45 AM at they said to come on in. So we got ready, went in and showed up right behind another woman in active labor. I thought we would be turned away. But they checked us in. The other mom was a first time mom 10 days overdue. They would not induce her on the first baby. They went to their room and we went to ours.

The nurses checked Jessie in and got her IV started. There was a full time nurse and then a nursing student. The nursing student was very nervous and would not talk. The full time nurse left the student in the room to do some other check-in items. She didn't know how to work the computer and so would just walk out to ask questions and walk back in. She didn't chit chat or anything. We felt so bad for her. We explained that this was our fifth child and so she didn't need to stress about messing up.

She let the whole first bag of IV empty into Jessie even though the full time nurse told her to slow it down when there when it got to 300. When the full time nurse came back in and saw the bag was empty, she said "well, a little liquid in you is a good thing." Yeah, if a full bag of saline is a little.

As the full time nurse proceeded to ask Jessie questions, she had me step outside for a few minutes so she could ask Jessie some other questions. As I was standing outside, the couple that had arrived 5 minutes before us that morning were walking past. The husband said, "Best of luck" with a slight sneer. They were leaving because her contractions were not close enough. So a mom 10 days overdue with her first is leaving while a mom 3 days overdue is getting to be electivly induced. It was their first baby. This is our fifth, I believe we have earned it.

Anyway, back to the timeline. She got her Pitocin at 9:30 AM PDT and began contractions immediately. She got an epidural at 10:00 AM. She was starting to progress, but we wanted Jessie's mom there as well. She was picking up Ainslee at school. So I rushed home, we dropped the three youngest at a friend's house (thanks so much!), and rushed back to the hospital. It is about 3 miles from the house, so I thought we would have plenty of time. As I was about to turn into the hospital, Jessie called saying we should probably hurry, it was time. Aw man!

So we parked in the 30 min "mother in labor" parking and ran in. The nurse checked Jessie and said she was at a 10 and was ready to have the baby. The nurse said that she was required to have Jessie push once because the doctor wouldn't come unless the nurse did that. The doctor told us that he was going to be doing an operation from Noon to 1:30 so she couldn't have the baby during that window. Well, it was 12:15 PM and the nurse said she needed to get the doctor down there immediately. He had already prepared the person for surgery. The nurse said he needed to get down to the delivery room. "If she sneezes, this baby is coming out." That is how close Jessie was to delivering. He left the person who was prepped for surgery and came down. Jessie pushed a couple times and out came baby number 5 (to be named later). It was a great experience. We have attached some pictures for your viewing pleasure. WARNING: Oohs, Aws, and other baby talk may inadvertantly slip from your mouths when viewing these pictures. Viewer discretion advised!

Algorithm Error

Just an FYI. The Baby Counter widget to the right has a programming error I believe. It does not show days past the due date, but begins to count back up. So they must have used an absolute value formula or something. Anyways, what I am trying to say is that when you look at the widget, it is telling you how many days past due Jessie is, if you have it in the "Days to Go" mode (click on the countdown until it shows days to go).

We called in today at 5:30 AM to see if there were any beds available. None. Then at 9:00 AM, then they said they would call at 10 AM. They called back at around 9:50 AM saying that there was a bed available and that they were about to call her, but then another woman showed up in active labor. "Sorry Ms. Rice, you almost got to have your baby." Yeah, thanks for nothin'.

So now we have to call in tomorrow and she is the first one on the list and "guaranteed a spot." We will keep everyone posted.

At least now we have the chance to have a "birthday straight." The kids b-day's will be 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Pretty cool.

Ashley, Jan 13th; Andi, Aug 14th; Spencer, Jan 15th; TBD, Sep 16th; and Ainslee, Feb 17th.

No Baby Yet!!!!

Andi's a preschooler now!

Our little Andi is in preschool now. How fast they grow up. Granted, it's only 2 times a week for 2 hours, but it's a big deal! She was so excited the past week and she laid her clothes out like her sisters do and wanted to wear her new tennis shoes. Of course when we got there, she got all nervous and wimpery. But for heaven's sakes, she just turned 3! It's probably really scary for a 3 year old!

One of "those" days

So the other day the kids were on a roll. They did everything naughty they're not supposed to do. At the end of the day I thought to myself "I don't remember signing up for this! Hugs and kisses and sweet angels singing- yes. But this? Not so fun." So let me explain what happened.

I was laying down with Spencer. I truly was awake- resting my eyes- but awake. Ainslee and Andi were coloring with crayons and markers. I despise markers but I thought they (meaning Ainslee the kindergartener) could handle it this one time as a treat. All was going good. No screaming, crying, or naughty whispering. It was time to get ready to pick up Ashley so I got up and this is what I found:


Ainslee had colored ALL over Andi's body with markers- unwashable markers. I mean front of the body with big numbers, up and down her legs like Frankenstein stitches, and a target on her back. What in the world were they thinking? So we jumped in the car without clothes on because we were late getting Ashley at this time. The line to pick up at the school was so long it took us 7 minutes just to drive down our road. So I parked the car back in the garage, threw clothes on the kids and shoes on me, with Andi still colored on, and we walked. I was freaking out becuase we're now 15 minutes late to pick up Ashley and she gets nervous really easy about stuff like that. I ran to the school with the double stroller and it's 100 degrees outside. We got Ashley (she was fine) walked home and I made Ainslee scrub the living daylight out of Andi's body. The face marker came off but the rest is still shinging through. Geez!




Then a few hours later I was teaching 1 piano lesson- just 1! 30 minutes, that's all. Spencer decided to go into our bathroom by himself, get into the drawer all by himself and open the jar of vaseline all by himself. He then proceeded to rub A LOT of vaseline all over his face, hands, and arms. He came into the piano room to show me his great work. He was so proud. Yeah, well for the rest of the day I found furniture, walls, and toys with vaseline on them. What fun. You have to click on the picture to get the full effect of the grease.


So needless to say, that night I could have given up being a mom- great timing since I'm having ANOTHER one really soon. But I think back today and have to laugh. I love my kids.

Happy Labor Day!

No, no baby yet, in case you were wondering.

So for our Labor Day festivities the girls had a campout with dad in the backyard Sunday night. We had been promising them a backyard campout for the whole summer and it finally came to be. They played Go Fish in the tent once the sun started going down. Then they ALL slept on the full size air mattress. Cory said they were all scared and layed straight with their eyes wide open. But once they fell asleep they were pretty okay. Cory just didn't get the best sleep, of course.

They woke up bright and early at 6:45. Cory made them hot chocolate just like real camping. I stayed in the house and actually slept the whole night without an interuption. I think that only happens maybe once every 5 or so months! Yeah for me!

Then we went up to Apple Hill to enjoy the fresh air in the mountains and grab tons of fresh fruit. We have a lot of apple pies to make!