Ms. Phyl

"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." James 4:17

It is embarrassing to admit how often I have known the things that I should do for people and think of ways to help and bless others and never follow through. I can blame the fact that I have little ones still at home, I can blame the obligations of work and home, but in reality most of the time, the things I think of are doable - its just getting out there to do them - carving out time in my day to think of the people around me.

Case in point, this weekend my husband received a call from an elderly lady from our church (I won't tell you how old she is yet) - he helps her with odd jobs and does her yard work when called upon. She needed some leaves raked up on Saturday and asked Steven if he was available for the job. Well, Ms. Phyl (her given name is Phillie) had not yet heard that Miss Lillie had arrived and so Steven filled her in on the details. After getting off the phone with her, he called me at my folks house - I had just returned from running errands and mom was watching Lillie for me - he told me he was heading to Phyl's and he suggested that I swing by for a visit and let Phyl meet Lillie. So many times I think of going to visit Phyl or even to just call her and check on her and I hardly ever follow through with the plan. Mom decided to come with us on the visit and here are a few shots of the two ladies together...



Ms. Phyl held onto Lillie for well over an hour! She kept cradling her in her arms and looking down at her and just smiling and almost giggling over her. She couldn't get over how "dainty" Lillie was and cooed over her long fingers and dark hair and just totally ate her up. That little visit did wonders for all involved. Lillie was totally relaxed and just slept peacefully in Ms. Phyl's arms, Ms. Phyl thoroughly enjoyed the baby fix, and I left feeling like that I helped give a little bit of a lift to her day - it was mostly Lillie's company that accomplished that though...

Ok, now I will tell you how old our Ms. Phyl is - do you want to take a guess first? I'll give you a moment.......are you ready? She's 101 - she'll be 102 in late October. She doesn't look a day over 80 does she? :-)

What a Novel Idea!!

The other day Huston, Avery, Lillie and I were getting ourselves ready to go do some errands. I didn't have my biggest helper, Isaiah, around, but Huston was taking on the role of helper quite well. The morning had him helping to calm Lillie, playing "go-fer" for mommy, and trying to help keep track of Avery. But the ultimate help came when we were loading up in the van...I had sent Huston and Avery on ahead while I finished up packing a few things away and getting Lillie strapped into her car seat. I get to the van with Lillie to find that Huston had gotten Avery clicked into his seat belt and was in the process of getting himself strapped in too. I commented what a great big help this was and how he was such a great big brother. To which he responded with his trademark Huston enthusiasm..."Hey Mom, you know what I am going to start doing?" I answered him, "No Huston, what are you starting to do?" He then replied, "I am going to start listening to you." It took all I could to totally not laugh in his face at this information. I tell you what, that is certainly a novel idea!

Life with Baby - Week One

Lillie ready for her first outing - going to Easter services...

I can't believe a week has passed already...isn't it funny how time seems to stand still when you are anxiously awaiting an event and then once it is here and gone, time just slips away from you. Lillie is doing really well - the boys are doing really well, a bit emotional (Huston's whining and crying is about to do me in) but all in all everyone is adjusting smoothly. Lillie spent her one week birthday in the drs office for her one week check-up. She is already back to birth weight, and everything else checked out perfectly. The dr. asked if we were getting any sleep at our house and I told him that we really aren't doing too bad. I was up more with Avery last night than I was with Lillie - Avery has never been a good sleeper. Lillie had a bottle at 9:00 then slept until 2:00 and then until almost 7:00 this morning. Pretty good, I am certainly not complaining! She no longer wants to have awake time during the night - she is heading down the right roads.

The boys have been super. The other question the dr asked me yesterday was if the boys still liked her. I told him that even Avery seems to really be glad that the "baby sister" is around. He thought that was quite amazing. Isaiah is still the very protective and sometimes an "overwhelming" big brother. He absolutely loves her, he loves her outfits, he loves to nuzzle her and talk to her and help her in anyway he can - sometimes he's on the verge of overstimulating her, it took a good portion of the first half of the week to convince him that babies this young do not want to be constantly touched and loved on. Huston is not as demonstrative in his affections toward her, but shows no ill will toward her either. He enjoys helping me too and is very proud of himself when he plays the big brother role. He speaks of her sweetly, and wants to hold her once in awhile, but basically he just goes on with his day and gives her some space. Avery comes to sit next to me when I am holding Lillie quite often and gently puts his cheek up against hers and then pops up to say "baby sister hug" - yesterday as I was getting her into her car seat and packing some things away for the the dr. visit, Lillie started to fuss. Avery went over to her and gently rocked the car seat and then patted her head and said to her "it ok, no cry" - I was shocked. I was pleased too, he was the one that I was most concerned for, but he seems to be ok with his new role. I have been trying to make special efforts to give some focused time to each big brother, and the boys also do a good job of loving on and taking care of each other too.

Today the kids were watching a Veggie Tales about baby Moses and Miriam. The theme was about having compassion for the new baby in the family (we've had this dvd for quite awhile, the theme was just a coincidence). At one point in the show the Miriam character said that she wanted a dog, but she got a baby instead and that was pretty disappointing to her. Isaiah heard that and said, "Are you kidding, a baby is more fun than a dog!" I think that is pretty high praise coming from a six year old boy!

Random Answers #6

Here they are...and the theme is random :-)

1. How's your closet? Do you use all the same kind of hangers? Wire, plastic, or wood? Do you hang everything in the same direction, like all shirts facing the same way?

2. Are you a channel flipper or a commercial watcher? OR do you get up and do a quick task during commercials? OR are you a DVR addict who never watches a commercial because you never watch shows as they actually air?

3. Have you ever looked at your house after a holiday and truly debated just packing a suitcase and walking away?

4. How do you keep your kids, especially the under 2 crowd, calm during long road trips? Ever considered a "travel nanny"?

5. Do you notice typos in other blogs, articles, or even handwritten notes or cards? Or let your brain skim the text for the concept and skip the details of spelling and grammar?

My closet is hodgepodge - I used to try to keep everything organized on color coded plastic hangers but...well as we have added children and as the husband has taken over the wash the hanger coordination has fallen apart...now we have wire and plastic and cheapo and whatever Steven can find to hang stuff on. He line dries all of the clothes and especially in the winter that means that everything is stuck on a hanger and hung downstairs to dry...so you never know what your going to find or what it will be stuck on.

I tend to sit fixated to the commercials when I am at the folks houses...I don't know why that is. If I have control of the remote I tend to flip around at times...but I think for the most part I just sit and watch or go get a drink and stuff. At home it's all dvd viewing and of course I skip the previews and all the junk at the beginning!

After a holiday? I look at my house like that almost everyday :-) Seriously, I have to really motivate myself to get through all the dishes and junk and little toys and papers and crayons and laundry, etc. that this crew can generate in a few days...but the funny thing is, after I get going and get everything sorted and straightened, more and more with the help of the boys, I sit down after its all done and realize that it doesn't take that much time to "de-clutter" everything again. It is the mounds of it staring you in the face that makes me think the task in impossible, but the mounds usually are pretty manageable in the long run. Now the deep cleaning part - that's a totally different subject!

Frequent breaks in travel help the kids during the long trips - even if it's just getting out to run in a park or get a drink at a gas station. The under 2 crowd is the hardest to entertain for sure - because they really can't do many things for themselves and they are strapped down for so long...movies help, but even then they can get boring after a time. Snacks help, but then there is always a mess to deal with afterwards. Traveling with grandparents help in this category too, but the downside is that you have to travel with grandparents :-) meaning that the grandma-itis is constantly rearing its ugly head. So the answer is to drug them with benedryl - just kidding!

I notice typos at times - I do tend to notice mistakes in my own stuff more than I notice it in somebody else's, but there are many times I will read a paragraph of my writing after several proofs and notice a misspelled word or something that I totally didn't see before. So I guess I'm not a very good proofer after all...

Lessons Learned

***Before you get started be forewarned that this might be a long story. Some people are interested in all the details of your "labor experience" while others just want to see that everyone survived...this post in somewhere in the middle - I won't go into gory detail, but I might go a little longer than some would prefer! :-) *** We are truly adjusting quite well with baby Lillie coming into the family. I haven't really had the experience of being all on my own with all of the children as of yet - the closest I have come to that was Sat. morning when Steven had a morning meeting that pretty much ended up taking all morning...he didn't get home until a bit after lunch and by that time I was about ready to cry along with the baby. But we made it and it really wasn't that bad, just a bit stressful when I was still so sore after the delivery.

The biggest lesson I have learned through this major life transition is that I am not alone! Thank the Lord. It has been so comforting and so affirming to hear of all the people that had been praying for us, especially on Wed. morning when I was induced. I was pretty anxious about the whole process. I mentioned this before, but I totally knew too much about it - I knew what would hurt, what was just plain gross, and how much all of these things just added up to an experience I would rather avoid. I am not a medical person, really pretty much want to stay away from yucky bodily stuff so knowing what was coming was hard for me to put out of my mind.

The morning started out kind of rough - I didn't get a wink of sleep the night before. I did begin contractions that night; they were never that hard, a few were, but they were consistent. So that kept me awake to just stew and go over things in my mind over and over. I of course just tried to relax and pray things through, but for the most part I was just restless. Then I didn't eat any breakfast because my stomach was tied up in knots with anxiety so I walked into the hospital exhausted and they said the baby was "sleepy" because I hadn't had breakfast they determined. The nurse tried to put my IV in and it was a difficult stick (I almost fainted on that one) and I thought "great, this is not the way I had hoped this morning would go" - at about 8:00 that morning they broke my water and I started the pitosin process. (I have no idea how you spell that drug, I just know that it is nasty stuff!)

Well it took about an hour or so but the pain really started to become strong and then stronger...no real breaks from it to rest through - felt like I had to breathe through some of the "down time" as well as the contractions. It took a lot of concentration and focus and I was just too tired. I really didn't want the epidural, and the reason is? Well I didn't need it with Isaiah and the labor was not difficult - I was able to handle it. I didn't get one with Huston (based on the Isaiah experience) and I was in total mind-blowing pain at the end (although it was still fast). Then with Avery all I could think of was the mind-blowing pain and opted for the epidural, well based on my experience this time around, I must have gotten Avery's epidural too late - cause I still felt stuff and I still hurt! So with those past experiences weighed, I laid there and suddenly remembered something my friend Pam said (an experienced mother of 5) - she said she got the epidural simply so she could rest...well that was definitely what I needed so I told the nurse to bring it on.

The nurse checked me after the epidural and I was at a 6. So I laid back and waited. Slowly I felt less and less pain until I didn't even know when a contraction was happening. The nurse eventually comes in and says "It's been almost and hour, let me check you to see how far we have to go..." She checks, then looks at me and says, "let's have this baby" I thought "What! You've got to be kidding me." I felt nothing! So they quickly got the room transformed and the dr was paged and we waited for him. And we waited...the nurse discovers the page had not gone through and paged a second time - he was there in no time, but let me tell you - if I didn't have those drugs that "in no time" would have turned into FOREVER! While we were waiting the scrub nurse asked the labor and delivery nurse if they should go ahead and have me push through a couple of contractions while we were waiting for the dr. to make it. The nurse said no...in hindsight that was God too, cause when the dr came he got ready and sat down to help me through the next contraction and that's all it took. Lillie came out in 1 1/2 pushes. She came out with the cord wrapped around her neck twice! and had shown no signs of distress on the monitors - her heart rate was always good and some of the other signs that babies give that they are in distress never occurred. They were all pretty surprised (God again I am positive). She rated well and was strong and crying the moment she came out. Looking back, I wonder if that is one of the reasons why she looked "a little sleepy" - it still could have been my lack of breakfast.

Since she has arrived we have been checked on and congratulated by so many. We don't have to cook any meals this week due to caring church folks and luckily the church office is closed the Monday after easter to give the ministers a bit of a refresher after the busy church holiday, so my mom came over this morning to lend a hand and cleaned my badly neglected floors and then took a couple of the kids so I could catch a nap this afternoon. It is so comforting to know that I am not alone in this life experience and to realize that I would not be alone in any major life happening that came our way. God is good, he totally showed me that once again through all of this. It just increases my faith that much more for the next thing that might pop around the corner....but let me just tell you that "next thing" - if it's up to me - will not be a baby! :-)

Introducing...

Lillie Frances Spellman

8 lbs. 20 1/2 in. long

born March 19, 2008 at 11:48am

She's got hair!! and the longest eyelashes you have ever seen!!

Here We Go...

Feels like I'm on that part of the roller coaster when you are climbing the hill slowly and your feeling all the little chinks in the tracks as it pulls you to the top and tomorrow morning when we crest the hill, all I can do is throw my hands up in the air (or hold on with white knuckles) and try to enjoy the ride.

We go in at 6:00am to start the labor process...a little history...started labor on my own a bit with my firstborn the night before scheduled induction - walked in at 7:00am and had him at 11:27am...did not have any signs of labor with my second born, went to be induced and they had a bit of trouble getting the ball rolling with him - walked in at 7:00am and had him by 1:14pm...had no signs of labor with the third one - walked in to be induced at 7:00 am and had him by 12:12pm. So of course I am praying for similar results with this labor - like a morning only labor and then an afternoon of getting to know Miss Lillie. We will see - I am trying not to think about it too much - I don't want to go in with huge expectations that will lead to disappointments, and I also don't want to go in dwelling on the pain and the negatives of the past and psych myself out during the labor process...so -

Please pray if you read this in time -
-for a clear and focused mind on my part
-for a safe and healthy delivery with no complications
-for the boys to be excited and well side-tracked/entertained during the anxious times of their mom being in the hospital
-that we are all able to handle whatever comes before us tomorrow morning...

I will talk to you on the other side of delivery - and hopefully armed with pictures of our easter Lillie...

The Final Stretch...

Hard to believe that by this time next week we should have a new little one in our house...the countdown is on - Wednesday morning for sure, I've given up hope that it could be sooner. Which really is fine, cause I have too many loose ends to tie up. Ever work ahead to get yourself prepared for something and think that everything is pretty much on track, only to realize that really time is slipping away and your pace turned out to be a little slower than it should have been? Well, I'm kind of at that spot now - I say "kind of" cause it isn't really anything major, just a lot of little things - and if they have to wait, they can wait.

My husband willingly moved stuff around (my mom helped him with some of the bigger furniture) to where I preferred it to go - freeing up some space in the living room for some baby essentials - like that magical swing! That makes my mind feel at ease now about baby sisters arrival - no major things to be done when we get back from the hospital. Here is a picture of kooky Avery crawling into the empty drawers of one of the cabinets that I was having moved...if you click on the one on the right you can see the cheezy smile that Avery if giving for his "pitcher" -











The boys seem to be getting more and more excited and less anxious which is very nice to see. We are trying to keep them busy, keep them in their routine plus some fun play dates and such while I am in the hospital. We've farmed them out some, Steven will take some work time off to keep them some, they will stay with family some...a little bit of everything. Isaiah is very excited, drawing his sister pictures and wanting to help me with everything. He is very sensitive to the needs of his family members - he is a great big brother.

My brother-in-law will be married by this time next week too. My in-laws will be able to spend a few hours with their new granddaughter on Wednesday before they need to head to the city to catch the plane to Honduras - they are very excited of course, we all are...and Tio Daniel and Tia Carol will be able to come stateside to see all of us in early April. We have a reception for them, a birthday party for Huston, a baby shower for Lillie, and a wedding shower for one of my good friends all coming up in April - it should be a fun and busy month! So I am slowly plugging away at all of these upcoming events (really not many of the responsibilities fall on me, so it's do-able) and before I know it April will be over.

So we will continue to keep you posted...should have some fun pictures for you soon. It may be quiet here for a few days, but we will catch you up very soon - maybe I can post some pictures from the hospital using my folks' laptop - or assign someone to do it for me - we will see.

Ahhh, Spring

Yet another beautiful day today...makes the roller coasters of temps and weather a lot more bearable when you have days like today scattered in there more often. The boys and I went outside this afternoon and it was really so very nice. We all pretty much stayed right there together...sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and the most fun of all - digging for worms out of the flower bed. Here are some pictures and a little film of Avery and the worms - he loves creepy crawlies of any kind - he will be my no fear outside adventurer I think. Maybe he will give Bear Grylls on Man vs. Wild a run for his money - or maybe not...

Disclaimer **no worms were injured in the filming of this movie - although it seems like Avery is about to stretch the life out of one as I stop the camera, be assured the worm was saved in the last and is now living happily in the dirt once again**




And yes, Avery and Huston are playing in their pajamas in the middle of the afternoon...they had no where to go this morning (a sitter came to watch them as Isaiah and I went out to a play date) so they had a pajama day - and let me just tell you that those jammies had never seen the level of dirt that they ended up acquiring today...but who will ever notice after a good cycle in the laundry, right?

The dirt adventures....


The prizes that awaited....

Sitting and visiting....


Sidewalk chalk....



Bubbles....

Almost makes you wish everyday was a spring day huh - but then we wouldn't appreciate the magic of them would we. What fickle people we are! :-)

Random Answers #5

Here's the line-up for this round...

Round 5--Travel! It's almost springtime, and we're all thinking about where we'd like to go for a little R & R.

1. Do you prefer traveling by car, train, plane, or boat?

2. Are family vacations or yearly vacations of some kind a part of your regular schedule? Where are some places you've gone?

3. What's your favorite travel memory? Maybe a trip as a kid, road trip in college, honeymoon? Could be good OR bad...

4. Have you ever traveled in the back seat of a station wagon, like the old kind that faced backward?

5. Where to you hope to go this year or the next chance you get?

We love to take family vacations - and really haven't stopped as we have added children...both Steven and I love to travel around - even if its just short trips and we usually try to take the roads less traveled - avoiding the superhighways that bypass the countryside when the time will allow it. The major mode of transportation is by car - and for the most part I don't mind the car rides - the thing I do mind is the piles and piles of junk and trash that accumulate in the vehicle as you log on the miles. No matter how well I think I have packed all the stuff it eventually all gets pulled out and thrown around or stuffed in other places. When Isaiah was still a free plane ticket we traveled by plane a couple of times for our vacation and I didn't mind it a bit - but right now the price is just too high, although if the gas prices continue in this trend it may end up being a wash!

We usually go on a pretty good sized trip in the fall - around Sept. when the summer vacationers have returned to school and work and the touristy areas are not so touristy. These past couple of years the trips have involved a little bit of everything - tent camping, motel staying of various rates and luxuries, etc. it's a way to save some money and get lots of different experiences at the same time - when you spend $15 for a night's stay at a campground and average that with $100 bucks somewhere else for a night, it really comes out to be pretty reasonable. The last couple of years we have explored the "northern/mid-west regions of the US - Wisconsin (absolutely beautiful country) and South Dakota this last fall - went to the Black Hills and saw beautiful areas there as well as Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands and of course Wall Drugstore.
We also sometimes try to take a short trip at the Feb/March time to break up the winter blahs - this trip is a little more hit or miss though...

My favorite trip memory from when I was younger was probably the month long haul we took as a family in '85 (traveling to the NACC, RK!). We went south from IL, hit along the coastline into TX, then into CA for a convention up to WA to see friends and then over through some of the northern states to get to WI to see some more family and head back south to home...I remember spam sandwiches eaten too many times in rest areas, my parents drugging me so I wouldn't get car sick and puke all over the back seat (again), I also remember some of the major US sites we saw...Carlsbad Caverns, the redwoods of CA, the beaches, the white sands of New Mexico, the Grand Canyon (I'm not in many of the family pictures of this experience though cause I was in a drug induced sleep in the back of the car), Mt. Rainier, the Las Vegas strip and being so terribly hot at Hoover Dam that the bottoms of my feet were burning through the soles of my shoes...the list really goes on and on. I think this is really one of the first family vacations that I can really remember well too - like I can remember more than just a visual snippet, I can remember experiencing things...

Another memory I have is the trip that Steven and I made to Costa Rica to visit his brother who was living down there at the time. It was before kids, and my first international travel experience and we basically had our own personal tour guide to take us around and show us the country (a native friend of my brother-in-law). It is an absolutely gorgeous country and we would love to return there someday - sooo much to see there.

We never had a station wagon - one of my friends had the kind your talking about though and I remember thinking it was pretty cool, but I didn't have to endure it for any lengthy trip either! We did have a little subaru hatchback and there were a few times that I was put in the back cargo area to make room for other passengers, but again I remember it being for short durations and it being kind of a fun adventure at the time....

It's funny, cause Steven and I were just talking about traveling and throwing out ideas for the upcoming year or two...I think we will lay low and explore MO a little bit more this year since we will have a young baby -- probably head to the Elephant Rock and Johnson Shut-ins area...but maybe in the winter of 2009 we might try an extended Amtrak trip just to say we've done the train thing. Some of the trips look pretty reasonably priced, so it may work. Its fun to plan anyway.

So happy traveling everyone and let me know if you stumble upon any great "must-see" places or "can't beat it" travel deals!