A day in my life

Notice how much Ruby is like her mama. She is talking on the cell phone and even has her nursing cover on. My friend Alison surprised me with a beautiful Bebe au Lait nursing cover. I will post a picture of it soon. It is wonderful, especially with all the boys around here it offers some level of modesty. It just cracks me up to see how much our children imitate us.
If anyone has any suggestions on how to read, hold a book, nurse your newborn and cram 6 kids and an adult on a regular size couch comfortably I would love to hear them.

Syndi called and offered to take my boys for a much needed walk when the rain stopped for a minute. I said that I needed to get out of the house too and could Libby and I join them? Of course Syndi is wonderful and did not mind a bit that it took me an hour longer than I told her to get ready to go and that I walked at the pace of a slug. She even intercepted the nasty dog that bit her coat. What a woman! I had Liberty bundled up against the cold and tucked into my coat but it was really cold!! The wind literally takes your breath away. The walk did me some good and I guess it tuckered Liberty out as well. She slept from 12:30am to 4:15am!! praise God for 3 hours and 45minutes of consecutive sleep. I needed it. She has been really consistent eating every 3 hours but boy that extra 45 minutes makes a huge difference. She is already above birth weight, today she was 9 pounds 7 ounces. I guess we better hurry up and use the rest of the newborn size diapers that I bought.

Erik loves his things. The funny thing about that is that Sean loves his things too. For Christmas Sean got a new nail set and has carried it around with him in his pocket ever since. The very things that drive us crazy about our children can often be traced back to us. Hmmmm. Anyway, we were at Goodwill and Erik found this chicken that when you squeeze it a fluid filled bubble pops out it's behind, it is supposed to look like a raw egg. Like many things that Erik has he loves a little too much. He squeezed it one too many times, or too hard and it popped! He started to cry hysterically but then stopped and said, "Hey! my chicken had a baby it's bag burst!" I had to laugh because during the last few weeks of my pregnancy he had an obsession with my bag bursting and was convinced that since the baby was in the amniotic sac she must have gills like a fish to breath. Anyway I went in the bathroom later and found this in my sink. I called Erik in and he informed me that the chicken was giving birth to a boy. I guess we still have some anatomy to work on.

My friend Jessica came over with her boys and I just couldn't resist taking a photo of Honor, Liberty and Justice! I guess we need to dress them in red, white and blue and we will have the most patriotic children in America.

For some more super cute photos of Liberty check out Renee's Blog at www.bakersdozen.typepad.com Renee is doing a fabulous job at photography and generously offered to come to my house and take pictures of my baby. Libby almost did not fit in some of the props because she is so big!

Conversations

Today I was nursing Liberty and Ian sat down beside me and said, "You have milk in your body?"
"Yes." I answered.
He replied, "It comes out of those big brown things?"
stifling a laugh I said,"yes."
"When will milk come out of mine?" he asked
"Milk only comes out when you are a mama" I told him
"Can I marry Liberty when she's a mama and has milk?"
"No, Liberty is your sister and you have to marry a woman before she becomes a mama."
Ian said, "OK"
Ian has become the new hand washing police. He makes sure that nobody touches his new baby sister until they have washed their hands. He even brushes his hair and puts on a nice shirt before he holds her. He wore his favorite woody shirt (from toy story) and a blazer to the hospital to meet his new baby sister. What a handsome guy.

We were reading a book about Creation and Erik asked,"What would have happened if Adam and Eve did not sin?"

I answered, "Then we would all still live in the Garden of Eden and there would be no sin or death. We would eat fruit and veggies and nuts and beans because we wouldn't kill the animals."

Erik replied, "Well it's a good thing they sinned, because I like to eat chicken."

Sean took the children ice skating today. They had a great time. For photos and more of the story see Tami's Blog http://www.simplymadeathome.blogspot.com/.

Liberty Florence Slocum

Praise God Liberty is Here!! Sean and I went for a walk on New Year's Eve and we were a mile and a half from the car when my water broke! It was a cold wet walk back to the van. We went home cleaned up ate something and headed to the hospital. My contractions were not bad at all but when we were walking the halls the nurse said, "You look flushed we better check you." So we headed back to the room and I was at 9 1/2 cm!! I was so excited I couldn't believe it. Seriously the calmest labor ever. That was at about 9:30pm we thought we would get the tax write-off for 2008 but I will spare you the details she wasn't born until 2:24am on January 1, 2009. The longest, most difficult frustrating 5 hours of my life.

I am so thankful that she is here and arrived safely and is healthy (a wee bit of jaundice). We had great labor and delivery nurses and Jessica was there for much needed encouragement and shared joy!

Liberty was our heaviest girl at 9 pounds 6 ounces and just under 22 inches long. She came out fist first and definitely not missing any meals. She did not have any vernix and was dry and wrinkly. We missed being the first baby of the new year by about 20 minutes.

Proud papa with little Libby.