Hannah's Turning 6!

Tomorrow my eldest will be 6 years old. Hard to believe. It's been a long, hard road, but I waited 37 years for her to be born. I have always wanted to be a parent. My mom says my first word was "baby".

Hannah was born at 37 and a half weeks by Caesarean section. My labor was doing virtually nothing and my water had broken hours ago when labor started. She was frank breech, with her feet on her face, and face up, if I recall. None of it good for getting her birthed. One C-section later, they whisked her away into the NICU for observation (many things can be very wrong with a baby born to a mom with lupus, but having her in the NICU they could find it and treat anything they found). She was the giant of the NICU, weighing in at 7 lbs 7oz, with her legs sticking straight up in the air. (They only thing they did find was that she was born with no hip sockets. She wore a special harness, brace thing for much of her first year, but now has healthy well formed hip sockets. Who knew?)
I never got to see her in the NICU. In the recovery room I reacted to the DuraMorph and proceeded to throw up for the next 24 hours. (Note: this is so much fun when you have a zipper of fresh staples across your lower abdomen!) I awoke the following night, in my room, to this unearthly high-pitched siren. David and I were scrambling around in the dark to find out what the hell that noise was, when one of our nurses Chris popped in, and said "Oh, you have a little girl! That's what that noise is!" and giggled. By this time we had a light on and sure enough, there was a red-faced, squalling Hannah. David just looked at each other and said "Oh, what have we done?" Thus began life with Dear Daughter, Hannah...

Cool, Clear Water

David helped me lay out the pool Sunday morning when he got home from work, and the kids and I proceeded to fill it and smooth out the bottom as he slept. Silly little seals, flipped and flopped around in a half inch of water, then an inch, and so on until it was about half full and they were blue.

We went inside to wrap up in blankets and warm up, to let the pool finish filling. Imagine my surprise on going back out for an afternoon swim that the pool had mysteriously turned into a wading pool! Last year the pool was a good depth for a 4- and 5-year-old. This year it hits them both at the tops of their thighs! Yikes, how much they've grown! It's still a good depth for them to seal around in, but we may have to upgrade next year. Watch those summer clearances! (We got our current 12 foot pool for $20 on clearance a couple of years ago - including the pump, filter and all.)

Milan Fair

Took the kids to their first-ever fair yesterday. They had a ball. Every time we had ever passed a fair or carnival, it was at the worst possible time and we couldn't stop. But since I have been combing the local activities for cool things to do on Mom&Kids days, I found this little community fair in Milan. We got there about 5pm, on heels of a thunderstorm, so it was pretty deserted. :) We walked around and tried to figure out how many ride tickets we needed to buy ($$ oooh, ouch!), and then let them ride all the little kid rides. David even took them on the Ferris wheel and the kid version of the Tilt-A-Whirl. Momma can't handle the movement, bleah! They got cotton candy and popcorn, and we all shared a lemonade. The kids were grinning from ear to ear.

On the way home we stopped at Kentucky Fried Taco Pizza Bell, and ate a quick dinner. Jordan even ate some potato wedges! Big step for him!

Witching Hour

What is it about the witching hour of midnight that intensifies coughs and fevers? Jordan has had a kid virus for a few days, runny nose and cough. I can set my clock by him. At midnight he starts coughing and can't stop. Rub him down with Vicks, and give him a drink, and wait. Sometimes that works, but last night I had to resort to sudafed to quell it. (Poor kid could not breathe through his nose consistently, and just can't breathe through his mouth when he sleeps.) He even managed to stay in his own bed all night.

I love my kids to pieces, and I love to snuggle with them, but I can't sleep if they are in bed with me. I lay there and listen to them breathe. If I do manage to sleep (exhaustion helps here...) the inevitable elbows, knees and feet make sure I don't stay that way. lol