Bye-Bye Kitty

Josh's sister April took one of the kitties home tonight. Now we have just two left.........

Blessing Gracie

Tonight we had a small family gathering and blessed Gracie. Josh, his dad, my dad, my grandfather, my cousin's husband and my uncle participated in the blessing. It was a wonderful blessing with a great spirit felt. (Sorry my camera didn't take great pictures!) Josh's mom (Meemaw) made her dress.

Josh and Gracie

Josh, His Dad (Pawpaw) and Gracie
Us three (I'm lookin' a little rough)
And one of my sweet boy

Happy Earth Day! (yesterday)

To celebrate Earth Day we went the entire day without electricity. (no TV, no computer, no lights, no washing machine and no dishwasher) We did, however, use the fridge and the running water.

Here is a picture of Rae washing dishes by hand.
And here is Jack helping Raelyn.
We washed a load of clothes in the bathtub - here is the load 'agitating'.
And this is during the 'rinse cycle'.


For dinner we cooked over a fire. Everyone made their own tinfoil dinner.

Read to me....

Just had to share a website we're loving right now. www.storynory.com They have recorded fairytales and other stories for the kiddos. My girls will gladly sit for 20 minutes for a story- and listening without having pictures is very good for children. Normally after the story is over we discuss but sometimes we don't. We listen at least once a day (sometimes during breakfast or sometimes during chores) at a time where I can't read aloud because I'm busy as well.

There is also http://librivox.org/. It has some my children enjoy but also some for adults.

Both of these websites allow download on your computer (or to your Ipod or the like).

Take a break and relax while listening to a good story. Enjoy!

72 Hour Kits

I've had several folks ask me about my 72hour kits. So here's a post...........

Everyone in the family has a backpack that we use for their 72 hour kit. Most of the backpacks I purchased at clearance sales after the back-to-school time at Target.

Each backpack has a laminated tag with the 'owner's' name on it and some reminders. Josh's says: Have shoes?, Turn off utilites?, Get camping gear?.....I would also be getting my midwifery stuff- if it really is a HUGE disaster many women will go into labor from the stress.
And here they all are in their cozy little home in the hall closet. (Thrown on top of each other very sloppily.) The lack of organization here drives me crazy but I don't know how else to do it.

So here is a list of what's in them. (well, there are a few more misc. things in MINE that aren't on the list- a dog leash, and a sewing kit)

*Bag to hold it all – backpack works well
*Water
*Adequate Food-I recommend MREs- they're pricey but it's nice not to worry for 7 years
*Pocket Knife
*Insect Repellant
*Sunscreen
*Money –bills and coins
*Phone Card
*Coloring Book/Crayons
*Permanent Marker
*Paper/Pen
*Mini First Aid Kit- I have a list for what to go in this if you need it
*Eating Utensils
*Poncho
*Emergency Blanket
*Batteries
*Copies of SS Cards, Birth Certificates, Insurance Info
*Current pictures of everyone in family
*Plan list of who to call (NOT in state) if something happens AND where to meet – have two places- one local and one not- depending on why needed
*Map of Winston-Salem –or other local city
*Latex Household Gloves
*Duct Tape
*Toiletries Kit- toothbrush, soap, toothpaste, brush, lotion, etc.
*Tampons/Pads for mama or teen girls
*Diapers for kiddos- I suggest cheap cloth- washes easily and can be used for longer than 72hrs if needed
*Matches
*Whistle
*Toilet Paper – with the roll taken out and smushed down – store in Ziploc bag
*Flashlight
*Trashbags
*Ziploc Bags
*Emergency Stove
*Mini-Shovel
*Radio
*Nylon Rope
*Clothespins
*Hatchet
*Change of Clothes/Undies/Socks
*Scriptures


Update clothes/food/insurance info,etc. 2 times a year. (April & Oct)

Girl's Night In

The boys (Josh and Jack) went camping last night so us girls hung out. We went to Target, got smoothies and bought a few goodies. We came home after that and hung out. Looks like we partied too hard because this is where I found Raelyn when I went up to give them kisses at 2am.

Just a few pictures from today

One of our Gracie girl......

and one of her smiling....it's superhard to get her to smile AND take the picture at the same time- plus she has a thing where she closes her eyes while smiling!
And for those loyal readers wondering about the kittens.....here is Pumpkin.
And as a size reference- here is Raelyn bending over Pumpkin.
And this is to show off my fashionista daughter (Raelyn) who informed me today that it was 'way cool' to wear a dress/long shirt over capris.

Without further ado........Gracie's birth story

(Undedited - actually I'm just too lazy to re-read what I wrote to make it all make sense)
Oh yeah- and if the thought of placentas and such grosses you out, then don't read on......



Birth of Gracen Carole Long
According to my last period my due date was January 30, 2008 and according to an ultrasound at 13 weeks of pregnancy my due date was February 6, 2008 so when both of those dates came and went I started getting a little impatient waiting for our baby. Amy, my midwife, stripped my membranes three times and tried to talk me into taking castor oil for weeks. (I was dilated 3cm at all my vaginal exams.) With my history of big babies, long labors and being a VBAC mom she wanted this baby out. On top of all of that I was measuring 42 centimeters and personally I felt this was a good sized baby. For some reason, however, I didn’t feel it was the right time to ‘evict’ this little one. So I waited and waited and waited….. I was contracting pretty strongly and regularly for the last month of my pregnancy and I even had a week and a half straight of icky blood tinged mucous plug, but still no baby…….

On Friday, February 15th Josh and I talked and he felt like it was time for me to try to encourage things along. We decided that if I didn’t go into labor that night I would take castor oil the next day. Honestly, I didn’t even think castor oil would work- I had taken a LARGE dose when I was postdates with Morgan and it didn’t do anything. I respect what Josh has to say though, so I agreed. Didn’t go into labor that night and the next morning I had a Primary activity so I went and helped at that. About 1pm on Saturday, February 16th I took 2 ounces of castor oil and went to lay down for a nap. I experienced the negative side effects of castor oil (upset stomach) for several hours but still no change in my contractions. Finally at 9pm I decided I was going to try something in addition to the castor oil- I was going to walk and try to get the contractions to pick up. I put a movie in the laptop and hopped on the treadmill- I only walked for 25 minutes. I didn’t get off because of contractions though- I got off because I was lazy and decided I liked watching movies laying down better. So I finished the movie and at 10:45pm Josh and I went to bed.

At 11pm I felt a small ‘pop’ and a very small amount of liquid came out. I thought I had peed in my pants at first because I’ve never had my water break before labor (or even on its own before!) but once I smelled my pants I knew exactly what it was. (ok, I know that’s a little too much information- but I work around the smell of amniotic fluid all the time and can recognize it very quickly) I told Josh but told him to stay in the bed and rest- I was planning on hanging in for the long haul. My last two labors had been over 30 hours so I was expecting on not having a baby for a few more days. After 30 minutes I realized it was the real deal and had Josh get up and help me put a waterproof sheet on the bed along with another set of sheets over top. He also helped me get out my birth kit and set it all out. At about 12:20am on the 17th I was having contractions that were very strong and reminded me of transition contractions I had at the end of my labor with Raelyn. Josh encouraged me to go check myself and all I felt was a bulging bag of water- apparently I had a high rupture earlier and there was still some water left. So I had Josh check just to be sure and in his ‘professional opinion’ I was dilated to 9cm. I decided to call Amy and at 12:30 she assured me she’d be on her way shortly.

Amy arrived at 1:30am while I was in the shower (I didn’t like the feeling of amniotic fluid running down my legs and the only place I didn’t feel it was in the shower.) I quickly got out and had her check me. I was complete with that bulging bag I felt earlier, yet when she checked me the rest of the water ruptured. There sure was a lot of water. The baby was still very high though so I didn’t want to start pushing. I wanted to labor the baby down and let my body/uterus do most of the work. So for the next half hour I just walked around, leaned on Josh, sat on the birth ball and laid on the bed. While working through those contractions Vicki arrived. At 2am I started feeling an urge to push with contractions- yippee!!!! The baby had finally gotten lower. Josh ran upstairs to get Morgan- we had promised her she could be there. I started pushing when I wanted during the contractions. Sometimes it was only for a second but then the urge got stronger and stronger. Once the baby’s head started to crown I realized that after a c-section, a hospital VBAC and a homebirth transport I was finally getting the homebirth I wanted! I was pushing with everything I had in me-the baby was coming down pretty slowly. Amy kept saying that the baby had a lot of dark hair. Finally her head was out! (Later Amy would tell me that as soon as her head was out she KNEW she was a girl because of how cute and dainty her features were!) With my other babies, once the head was out I only had to give a tiny push and the shoulders and the body followed. With this baby it was total opposite- I had to keep pushing with all my might to get her shoulders out, then her chest was so thick I had to keep pushing hard, then I had to push her abdomen out and finally the rest just slid on out. It was a girl! We were elated. She didn’t quite take to breathing quickly so we talked with her and rubbed her down while Amy and Vicki got the resp. bag to force some air into her lungs. Luckily, it didn’t take to too long and she was wailing. We waited for the cord to quit pulsing and then Morgan got to cut it! What a cool experience. Ten minutes after Gracen was born I felt the need to push again and I knew the placenta was coming. That was easy enough to push out. I had a fairly large placenta. By this time, Morgan had run upstairs and woken up Raelyn to come see the new little one. My mom arrived shortly after this as well. (Josh called over there as soon as Gracen was born.) While doing the baby exam we found out she was 10lbs even and 21 ½ inches long. My biggest baby yet and no
tears! J By all the ‘signs’ (placenta, vernix, creasing on feet, etc) we dated Gracen to be about 41 ½ weeks. Amy and Vicki stayed a couple more hours to make sure things were going well, help me take a shower and clean up. Morgan and Raelyn slept on the floor in our room that night and Jack got to meet his little sister in the morning.

How grateful we are that Heavenly Father entrusted us with such a sweet little spirit. I feel humbled everyday.

**Gracen Carole Long is her full name. Gracen was just a name we liked (also toyed with the idea of Grace, Olivia or Maya for a girl.) Carole is after Josh’s grandmother whom we love dearly. She is such a great example to our family.

What a sweetie....

Isn't she precious?? Not an hour after this picture was taken this morning Raelyn pinched her cheeks and made boo-boos. :( Raelyn said she just had to pinch because they were 'so cute!'
I've been making hairbows galore recently (now that I have another little girl with hair!) and I made these for a baby shower today. Aren't they cute?

A Great Spring Day

Here are a few pictures from playing outside in the warm weather today. Excuse some of the long grass- Josh mowed but didn't weed-eat yet. (is it weed-eat or weed-eed?)

Confessions

I don't particularly love TV. I wouldn't say I hate it, but I've definitely come a long way. When we were first married we had basic cable but as soon as we could afford it we got digital cable. We had (I think) 200 some channels. There were shows to watch at any hour of the day. We eventually cancelled it and went to nothing (just a TV and DVD player- not hooked up to any kind of bunny ears even) and I LOVE it! I will confess that I used to let my kids watch TV anytime they wanted- it was on during the day. Since our TV is in the great room (family room,breakfast area and kitchen combo) it permeated our life. It got to where I would automatically turn it on during breakfast or while I was cooking dinner. The TV 'schedule' made life challenging- couln't do girl's night out on certain nights because of the shows that were on- didn't want to miss 'em! We've been cable free for almost 2 years now and I'm lovin' it! Yes, it takes a bit more planning to set the kids up with the play-doh while I cook dinner, and yes it does require more cleaning up on everyone's part, but it's SO worth it. My kids play more, are more imaginative and as an added bonus, they're not exposed to things I don't want them to be (in particular commercials).



So.......here is the confession part of the post.........












I had never watched 24 before December 2007. For Christmas my mom gave us the first and second seasons to 24. Let's just say- we've watched 5 full seasons of 24 (plus 4 episodes of the sixth) since Christmas. Yes folks, if you do your math that's 124 hours of 24 in not even 4 months. Ok, so it's out in the open- I've been a TV addict since Christmas. I don't watch during the day or when the kids are awake, but once they're in bed- all bets are off. Josh and I will sometimes watch 3 or 4 shows in a row- staying up until 1am! Ok, now that you know my secret-shhh don't tell!

Kittens

The kittens are 3 weeks and 1 day old now! I think we have 3 boys (apparently it CAN be challenging to tell the difference when they're so new). They're all three orange tabbys. Two of them have little eye infections so I'm constantly wiping teabags on their eyes and treating with a homeopathic eye drop solution. (yes, I have spoiled kitties) The girls have named them Pumpkin, Garfield and Grilled Cheese. (although if you're taking one you can name it whatever you want!) Pumpkin is the fat one. They're all learning to walk now and will soon start weaning (I would be so sad if my little ones weaned at 4 weeks old!)

And yes, for those who are wondering, we DID know we were having kittens just didn't know when they were coming. She started birthing on Josh's hunting vest on the second shelf of the shelving unit in the garage. She had already had 3 kitties when we came home from Josh's grandparent's house three Sundays ago. Two kittens were on the shelf with her and one had fallen off!!!!! One of the two on the shelf with her, however, had not been removed from it's sac so it had already died. The other two were alive and wailing. She had taken their sacs off but had not removed the placentas so I had to cut the cords. You're technically not supposed to move them when they're having their babies, but since one had already fallen off I thought it might be better for her to be on the ground. I moved her and the two already out kitties into a towel lined laundry basket in the laundry room. She proceeded to have one more kitten and then was finished birthing.

Kittens are just one more thing for me to worry about but we're loving them and what a great science lessons for the kids! They're learning all about the animals opening their eyes and their ears, learning to walk, weaning, etc.

I'll have more pictures of the kitties later.