Just so you know...

I'm not in the hospital having this baby...yet. I really hope soon, like before Wednesday when I am scheduled to be induced...I know I am the one that agreed to the induction (my doc suggested it), and by Wednesday if baby sister hasn't decided to come on her own, I know I will be ready to give her eviction papers...but I am totally psyching myself out - after inducing all 3 previous labors, I no longer have the luxury of ignorance about the proceedings, I know too much about the process and am dwelling on the negatives instead of the positives of the past experiences...so prayers for the situation would be greatly appreciated, either for my peace of mind or for the baby to come on her own before we kick her out.

I don't know that I am progressing towards labor too much, but really who can predict when they will go into labor anyway? I have spent the day nesting I believe...cleaned out the flower bed in the front yard, swept, rearranged closets, organized all of the kids books, gathered up all of my maternity clothes - (those suckers will not last long in this house! - anybody need some?), got out some more baby things, did dishes, cooked a couple of meals for future eating, and cleaned the bathrooms...plus still had enough time to nap and hit Sonic happy hour with the boys. Pretty productive day anyway, even if its not official nesting. I want to rearrange my living room in a bad way - haven't gotten the courage to tell Steven though - he's the one that would have to do all the moving and it involves unhooking and rehooking electronic components - something I know nothing about!

Anyway, hope to be able to post some pictures of our new baby very soon...but probably after Wednesday.

Rocks and Water

The perfect combination really if you are a young boy - at least that's the belief of the Spellman household. Today was a beautiful spring day so we all went out for a walk this afternoon on a local trail. A walk is not only a good family exercise that will allow the boys to run off their energies at their own pace, but it could also help me convince baby girl that it's time to meet the outside world - so hopefully there was some benefit to everyone involved. Avery wanted to walk for awhile at first so Isaiah grabbed the stroller for me and he and Huston took off. They would run ahead and then sit on the side of the trail and wait on the pregnant lady and the toddler to catch up.

As you can see the stroller was quite handy - either for its intended use, or for its alternate use - as a chair to wait for the slow people...

Avery walked along really well - our pace was slow, which is what we both liked and he willingly held my hand so I could keep him out of the way of the other folks using the trail pretty easily. We stopped for some pictures sometimes.

Here are the boys posing for a picture together, one of the last group shots of just the guys before baby sister will enter the family picture...

Avery at one point decided he was tired I guess...he suddenly released my hand walked over to the middle of the trail (luckily no one was needing to pass by us at that particular moment) and laid himself down right in the middle of the road. I was laughing as I took this picture and asked him if he was tired, about that time a runner passed us and commented that Avery's idea looked pretty good to him...

Well, we walked probably a little over 1/2 a mile or so and came across the perfect spot for throwing rocks - now this activity out shines walking any ol' day so we all made our way to the creek bank and spent at least 45 minutes throwing rocks into the water...well, I spent the time taking pictures and sitting on a log, but it was nice to have the break and as you can see the boys sure enjoy it.

So that was our afternoon, we may just have to repeat it for tomorrow - or find a new activity to do outside, cause the weather man is going to be nice to us again...I love spring, especially after a long and cold winter.

A Nice Weekend

These last couple of days were pretty nice, the boys spent 2 nights with Steven's folks - grandma had Friday off of school (I swear our public school children never attend school anymore, I think they get twice the number of days off than I ever remember getting!)...and let me just say that the rotten smell of spoiled children was quite pungent this time around - but they are in detox and everything is fine - and they of course had a great time with grandma, which is what is important.

So what does a full-term pregnant lady do with a house empty of children for a whole Sat? Sleep! I lazed around most of the morning and then finally rallied myself to go out to do some comparison shopping at Sams on some baby essentials - and let me just say Sams on a spring-like Saturday afternoon is a madhouse! But I survived (cause I didn't have children to tag along). Later Steven went to pickup Avery - he had a one night with grandma limit - and so he dropped me off at the antique store to meet my good friend Tammy for one last girls night out before the baby comes. We shopped and ate and talked and had a great time. I got home in time to set my clock forward and get an hour or two of sleep before the contractions started coming every 5-7 minutes...but don't get your hopes up, they promptly quit when the light of day dawned. This is the second time she has done this to me - I say she's a stinker.

Huston came home from grandma's with a low grade fever and Isaiah came home with a grandparent hang-over. So Steven stayed home from church with Huston and in the afternoon all three boys laid down for a nap at once - which is a real rarity these days. I went to a baby shower for a church friend with my mom, then we drove around town in search of a cheap fountain Coke (long story) and finally I spent the evening at home marveling at how our children can seem to be so much bigger after just a couple of days of being away. When did Avery start to talk sooo much? Isaiah and Huston must have added an inch to their heights. Huston is fine, just exhaustion more than sickness and sorry, no pictures - they weren't home to capture, will try to make up for it this week. And very sorry, no baby - yet...hopefully soon though - the 19th for sure. So stay tuned!

Random Answers #4

Let me just say that I am really glad RK is doing this (thanks RK) cause it just gives me a topic to rattle on about - I love to talk to you all, just sometimes I'm at a loss as to what to tell you...so here are the questions of the hour - and remember that you too can respond to these questions - either in my comments area or on your own blog/email:

1. How many TVs are in your home? All hooked up to cable/dish/etc? Have you gone HD?

2. Do you have any VCRs in your house still or are you full DVD?

3. How many computers are in your house? All hooked up to the internet? How many video game systems (i.e. XBOX, Wii, etc.)?

4. What age is ok to have a TV/computer/game system in the child's bedroom?

5. Do you have DVD players in the car?

6. The big one.... Would you be able to take a media/technology break, like a day without? How long could you do it?

We have zero TVs in the house - it started before kids even, we were disgusted with what was being shown on the telly...especially commercials - you could more than likely find a descent program, but often times you didn't know what was going to flash before your eyes during the breaks. We had satellite at that time - sooo many channels and flip, flip, flip nothing to watch. It was actually my husband's idea to push it out and I said Ok. We had an adjustment period where the set was still in the house, but we just never turned it on (I do remember turning it on, checking out 9/11 coverage - that happened right before we booted the set).

I will combine some of the next few questions here...we have no VCR and only one desktop PC that is actually located in the living room. This PC can play dvds for us when we need some down time (more for the kids, than grown-ups at this point...but putting the boys in front of a movie is actually for my benefit most times :-) The pc obviously is internet capable (or I wouldn't be able to talk to you) and we did break down a little over a year ago and upgraded to dsl (I know, we are behind the times...still). We do not own any game systems. Just not anything Steven or myself have ever been into, but Isaiah will play the occasional computer game, but really not very often at all.

The kids, I don't believe, will ever have the TV or computer stuff in their rooms - just because I can only see things going south in the viewing aspect, not improving. We may do like a video monitor type thing that will allow us more control over what comes on the screen. And that really is the issue is with us - control - I just want to be able to protect and educate the kids as long as possible over what is appropriate and what kind of stuff we should be filling ourselves with. I think part of the issue is that I am hyper sensitive to imagery - stuff sticks with me way too long and I am afraid that those tendencies might be within my kids as well. I just don't want them to either continue to have issues over inappropriate things they have seen over the years nor do I want them to be so desensitized to it all that they don't even notice what they are seeing is inappropriate. Steven and I will rent movies on occasion - mostly documentary type stuff (that's Steven's thing, but really there are some really bizarre entertaining ones out there!) but even then 9 times out of 10 I totally regret sitting down to watch what Steven will bring, just because the storyline could be inspiring the acting could be stellar but there is always that inappropriate language or couple of scenes and when the movie is over, that is what is being flashed into my mind over and over again and it just makes me feel awful.

The spring/summer/fallish seasons are so much easier to do without the technology, though. We have struggled this winter with the lack of spring-like breaks in the weather that had been sprinkled among past winters. I was just commenting today that I regret what "tv heads" the kids have been this season - watching their movies while I rest mostly, but I think it was an unusual season for us - yucky weather, pregnant mom, rounds of sickness - all played together to make for a heavy viewing couple/few months. I think in the warmer weather we can go quite a few days and not even realize that we haven't played a movie. There are other things that we can do and more light to do them by. Avery will be the one that will be the hardest to break - Isaiah and Huston can play so independently and find things to busy themselves with. Avery just hasn't reached that developmentally yet, and with another baby entering the family very soon, my time to interact will be limited. The brothers always try to include him, but you know how well 2 year olds "play" - everything is fine as long as they have something that needs to be thrown around or destroyed!

And just so you know we are not a total "no moving pictures" type family. When we go to the folks' houses we sit in front of the TV too - (I still cringe at the commercials!). I would say that it is still easy to "waste time" without a TV. I still procrastinate on stuff, I still piddle with things and avoid what I should be doing. It doesn't eliminate that temptation from our lives, we just find other ways to dawdle.

We do have the dvd players for the car by the way - or did have, they just recently died, but they will be replaced! I know that generations past survived without them, but they weren't legally doomed to be strapped in their chairs for hours on end either...so it just makes for a smoother ride often times and I am all in favor of that!

No Matter...

No matter the day we have had, the punishments that have transpired, the disappointments in the behaviors in either of us, this is the conversation that occurs every night between Huston and myself as I am tucking him into bed...

Me: Good night Huston
Huston: Good night Mommy
Me: I love you...
Huston: I love you too Mommy....Mommy?
Me: Yes Huston?
Huston: You're a nice mommy. Good night.
Me: Thank you - your a nice boy, good night honey, see you in the morning.

Then as I close the door he tells me he loves me again. Now you know just one of the reasons he is called sweet Huston. It's almost embarrassing, cause I can't tell you how many times I don't feel like a nice mommy at the end of the day - I feel more like someone who is trying to tear down her own house. But in spite of that...

Isaiah cannot leave my side without giving me a hug and telling me that he loves me - he wants to help me in so many ways and does very often. I know I can count on him to watch over his younger brothers - if one of them gets hurt, Isaiah is crying right along side of them simply because they are crying. Right now as I discipline Avery more often during the natural testing of the waters that happens around the age of 2-3, Isaiah implores him to do what mom says and I think feels the hurt more than Avery does when a punishment is handed down. Isaiah has often begged me not to punish one of his brothers for a "crime" they have committed...and I can specifically think of one time where he even offered to take the punishment instead.

Avery is his own person, has never really been a snuggler - even as an infant he was not one that you could cuddle with and nap along side...but he has always been so social - very happy to see everyone, talking to them in full conversations before he had a real "word" to say - and I have yet to see him really have stranger anxiety like his brothers have had. He is almost like a loyal pup that will greet you every time you come through the door, no matter how many times you come and go. He always shines a huge smile and gives you that signature Avery "Hi mommy!" And as he goes throughout his day he will suddenly stop what he is in the middle of come over to me and say "Mommy, hug?" I will stoop down and snap him up and he will momentarily bury his little head in my shoulder and then he is off and running again. He also is concerned for his brothers when they are hurt and crying, often times going over to stroke their head and say, "you ok?"

What have I done to reap such good fruit in the lives of my kids? I would say many times, very little...I can be a terrible example in the area of empathy and compassion, my temper can be short and my impatience can also be very quick to rear its ugly head - many times speaking harshly before I know the background of the frustrating situation, and this almost always results in my foot needing to be removed from my mouth. So I learned very early as a parent to pray - one of the first consistent parent prayers that I would mumble over Isaiah as I rocked him to sleep or comforted him after something upsetting, and the one that I continue to be reminded to pray almost every single day - "Lord, supplement my parenting - fill in the gaps, teach them in spite of my own behavior...No matter what I do, pick up the areas I forget, and let them see the consistency that comes only from You." Cause I know that I am going to screw up, and I hate the idea that my screw ups could also lead them to make the same mistakes. So Lord, continue to supplement my parenting and let more of this sweet stuff grow in their lives because I allow You to be their Gardener.

Sweet Huston

My sweet Huston, the middle boy (FYI: his name is pronounced like the city Houston, he is named for my favorite great-Aunt Gwendolyn Huston) has now been bit with the yucky sickness that seems to be waylaying the countryside...high fever, very lethargic, no appetite, and occasional urpies...not fun for anyone. He even fell asleep soon after choosing a movie to watch. (that is a strawberry slush from Sonic peeking out next to him...Sonic happy hour is our friend)


Avery on the other hand is suffering from complete orneriness! He must sense his opportunity to wreak havoc on his crippled family unit, cause he has started from the word "go" this morning...throwing fits, climbing the furniture, spraying his drink through 2 1/2 rooms of our house, playing in the toilet, screaming for attention, laughing and playing much louder and more rambunctious than usual - of course on the day that big brother needs some quiet. Here is a pic of him sitting and having his very early dinner right next to brother as he had just dozed off - luckily Huston is pretty much dead to the world around him at this point. Notice he won't even stay still for the picture...


But the piece de resistance was this little activity that he decided to try while I was busy elsewhere. Isaiah has busied himself with coloring ALL day - he has been a real trooper. Avery wanted to color too at one point and Isaiah volunteered to get him started. I said fine and in my mind Isaiah knew to station Avery at the vinyl tablecloth covered table where he too was working. About 10 minutes later I here Isaiah exclaim, "Oh Avery, you don't write on there!" I walk in to this loverly picture from Avery the artist...










Seems that Isaiah had put him at the tall counter - which as you can see is right next to the kitchen wall. You think putting a 6 year old in charge of the situation would have ended with good results...hmmm. So remember the endorsement of the Slick Stix from yesterday's entry, just so there is full disclosure, this is the wall after a bit of scrubbing but not using any chemicals as of yet...


I will tackle it a bit more tonight. Luckily my parents have swept in to save me from the 2 year old factor and have taken the brothers out of the home to hopefully keep me from losing my mind and to protect them from getting whatever it is that has a hold on Huston. By the way, I'm not that mad/sad about the wall - I have never been satisfied with the paint color in the kitchen anyway - so now I might have an excuse to try a new color!

A Mommy Testimonial

Ok, I really don't find things very often that I think are just so great that everyone should try them...but I really like these new kind of crayons that Crayola is putting out. They are called Slick Stix and they are great for little hands learning to write. My mom got some for Avery at Christmas. They are very bright and they glide onto the page so easily, no matter how much pressure the kiddo puts onto the page - so success in making a mark on the paper is guaranteed - that isn't the case with other types of crayons the kids have tried. They are a little messy - but much less messy than markers, and really easy to clean up after. Here are some pics of Avery using his this afternoon.

After awhile of working on the paper, he decided to do his nails...

Here are his finished projects...the hand and the paper...but the hand art wiped off with just a warm washcloth - no soap needed, and no residue left behind to wear off later...

So if you have a little person in your life that needs practice with those fine motor skills and you need something that might perk their interest, give these a try...they really are fun, just ask Avery.

Random Answers #3

The saga continues...
This installment is centered on home life...warning - our lives are not that interesting :-) Here are the questions RK put forth -

1. What happens at your house in a given weekday evening? Who’s doing what? (Mom, Dad, and kids--together or separate.)

2. How are the chores divided up in your house? Who does what when it comes to laundry, cooking, cleaning, yard work?

3. How often do you have time with you just you and a spouse, even just a little time here or there? What do you do with that time--talk, work, plan, read, etc? (PG rated, please. HA!)

4. Compared to what you thought it would be like 10 years ago, would you say life in your home is...

~Nothing like you thought it would be.

~Kind of like you thought it would be.

~Exactly like you thought it would be.

~Better than you thought it would be.

Ok, let's get started. First of all, we really don't have a routine here at home. Steven gets home about 6ish - usually a bit before - and we sit down to dinner. We don't necessarily fall into the traditional sit around at the same table - the older boys like to sit at the "tall chairs" at the counter, but we are all in the same room. When dinner is done the boys are encouraged to take their plates to the sink and then they basically ask for the activity of the evening - usually involves some type of wrestling downstairs. That is daddy's job, not mine so I usually find something to do upstairs so I don't witness the carnage of the fights. Sometimes we put a movie on the computer for the kids to watch (we don't have TV), and other times we do "quiet" things like play-doh, reading, or something like that. Occasionally we go somewhere - but Steven is pretty much a homebody so we usually just stick around the house. The kids usually head to bed about 8ish so really its only a couple of hours of family activity.

The "chores" are not quite officially designated, but they have fallen into patterns. I am the straightener and deep cleaner - for example, Steven will put the dishes in the dishwasher but will never clean the sink or run the garbage disposal, so he helps quite a bit, but I usually need to finish it off with the chemicals and the elbow grease. Steven does the laundry - this all started cause he likes his clothes line dried and I don't/won't take the time to do that, so he took it over and I said "great!"...and other than the occasional lack of stain removal treatment to particular garments, he pretty much does a decent job. All of our clothes are still their original colors anyway. I'm the cook - I am afraid of Steven's meal combinations...and Steven is the yard guy - I don't touch it except for the occasional flower planting (and subsequent killing).

Steven and I get the majority of our "couple" time after the boys are in bed. But we don't do things together usually - just in the same room - Steven usually has his nose in a newspaper or boring informational magazine...sometimes he is looking stuff up on the computer. I piddle around on the computer or get things together for the next day or I might tackle some stuff from work. Some (most) weekends one of the grandparents will take anywhere from one to all three of the boys for a night and we might rent a movie or if I ask sweetly enough Steven will take us to dinner (he HATES going out to dinner usually - he's getting better about it though). We do talk, but I think we lack good discussion topics at times - he really doesn't care to hear about what mundane things the boys have done during the day or what kid programs at church I am working on and I don't understand (or maybe even care - that sounds terrible) about what he does at work (he works with an investment and trust dept at a local bank)...so we might listen politely to each other, but we don't really add to the conversations to keep them going sometimes.

I think everything is "kind of like I thought it would be"...I don't think to some extent I realized how very different Steven and I can be with our interests before we were married - so I think I anticipated that we would do more fun stuff together - but I also think that kids throw a monkey wrench into that a lot of times and we will probably do more stuff together when the kids are starting to do more on their own. I also don't think I knew our family would be so "large" - I didn't have a plan in that area really and it has been very interesting (and exciting) to see the roads God takes you down (I guarantee that Steven did NOT anticipate 4 children! but I didn't sneak them in on him!) Anyway, I sometimes wish that we all put a little more effort into family upkeep, but I also know that we have control over that, and we get out of something what we put into it...when I find myself wishing that some other family member put "more in" I am immediately reminded of how I slack things off too and how I can only change my own behaviors. It's easier to let things slide for sure...that's quite unfortunate that I could be so lazy with something so important, but we're all learning through things together and for the most part we come out with our heads above water anyway.

So if you stuck around and read all of this you deserve a treat - go get a soda or something.

Quite Shocking!

Saw this on another site and thought I would give it a whirl...

Considering I didn't even study (the teacher hadn't handed out a study guide) and that I consider myself knowing really very little about science I think the outcome was quite amazing! Must be all those times I've watched the Discovery channel at my folks house...

Finally!

The weather has finally turned spring like - ok, I think I can make it now - the days of cold temps and blah cloudy days were getting pretty old, pretty fast (I won't mention that by Monday they are predicting we will be back into the 30s for a high - what do "they" know anyway, right?). But with the warm temperatures comes the opportunity to finally enjoy them. Here are some pics of the boys playing outside....I did this photo shoot in black and white - the ground was brown and muddy anyway and the lighting at that time of day made for some fun photography experiments.


































Also, our family friend from Costa Rica was finally able to come for his anticipated visit. He comes about once a year for different reasons. The purpose of this trip was to buy a new vehicle (guess the taxes and cost of vehicles in Costa Rica are so outrageous that it is actually more cost effective to come to the states to buy one and drive it down). He will be driving his new truck and a trailer full of housing supplies and goodies back home next week. He will actually be stopping to meet my brother-in-law in Honduras to relay some supplies for his housing project as well. We got to know Arturo through my brother-in-law, Daniel - they worked together in Costa Rica when Daniel was doing missions work there. Arturo will be officiating Daniel's upcoming wedding to his sweet Carol later this month (in Honduras). We spent the evening with Arturo at the in-laws house this evening...

Planning and educating us on his route home...

Isaiah taking dessert orders...

Having fun with grandma - ice cream in hand ;-)