Science and Pink

My older three sons go to a homeschool enrichment day once a week at a nearby church...and they LOVE it. This week they had to participate in their first ever science fair! Now, keep in mind that this mom does NOT like science very much (unless it is health/body science) and so it is nice to have a class where they can do fun science things...cause they ain't gettin' it at home.




My sweet Ethan! He did very well during his presentation. His project was on the effect of cigarette smoke on the lungs. We did some experiments using candle smoke and match smoke on a white towel. We also got some pictures of a normal healthy lung vs. lungs with cancer and emphysema. NASTY is all I have to say.



My Kell Mell. Poor little guy! He was SO nervous about public speaking that he was in the bathroom prior to his presentation about to throw up. (obviously he does NOT take after me...the gal who could talk a hind leg off a mule)He woke up this morning "sick" and wanting to stay home...crying, BEGGING me to stay home.
He told me later that he was shaking so bad while he was presenting that the kids in the front rows could see him...aaawww!!!!!
His project was on osmosis...we swabbed the inside of balloons with onion, garlic and tuna to see if we could smell it through the balloon membrane. We could! It was a great way to explain osmosis to kids.
Kellen ended up doing FANTASTIC and I am so proud of him!!!!! His science teacher was very happy with both the presentations and had never seen those experiments before.



Laz is going to look funny in this outfit, hu? HA! I got it for my little Hannah. I am going to see her in 1 week and 6 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But who is counting?!

I hope to see all my Georgia peeps there :)

Poll!!!

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Perhaps you have noticed my NEW poll?! I am quite excited to ask any sort of random question I want and see what my peeps REALLY think :) However, I did not know it would cut off my last sentence (blogger is gently trying to inform me that I talk to much)....the last sentence is supposed to say, "Who cares...either way I am moving to Costa Rica"

Which, of course, was MY vote :)

Easter

I took the younger 3 boys on Saturday to the Wildlife Experience (we have a family pass!) for their Easter Eggstravaganza...and the boys got to decorate cookies...as if they did not have enough sugar.
Josiah and the older boys were skiing all day...and they had a BLAST.






Moo-Ma and Poo-Pa with little Laz.



The kids ready to dig into Easter lunch. And no, we did not adopt another son...the boy in the front (Ryan) was our guest for the day, along with his mommy.








The whole Family....AFTER church, cooking, eating, cleaning. We were exhausted!

I love my Mac

Cause first thing in the morning Pres and I (and Laz) can have some bonding time with photo booth...it rocks!

It's Easter!

Happy Easter morning everyone! As I am getting kids ready, getting breakfast, finishing last minute preps for a big lunch after church and preparing to go worship my Lord......I look out my window, on this beautiful sunny day...to find....snow.

Everywhere.

Snow. On. Easter.

Welllll, looks like we are all going to freeze in our shorts sleeved shirts and my dress that I broke out for the occasion. Pictures later...

If he weren't so cute....

....I would have killed him!!!!! (not literally, you DFCS loving individuals!)

I was washing a load of clothes (see post below) and heard Laz in my room starting to cry. I quickened my pace so I could run upstairs and get the baby. Meanwhile, Presley went into my room to "talk" to Laz and keep him happy till Mommy could get there.

*or so I thought* (lesson #791,425 from having kids: NEVER take the word of a 4 year old)

I finished loading the clothes and ran upstairs. By now Laz was WAILING and my Mommy hormones were buzzing. I needed to get my baby!

I reached for the doorknob at about 20 miles and hour...and...it would not open. -puzzled- "Hummm...Pres? Are you in there"? I am talking to the door. No answer. "PRESLEY"? The pitch of my voice began to rise...matching the pitch of the baby.

"P-R-E-S-L-E-Y!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" His name has now taken on 3 syllables (and the thought is occurring to me that he is not in the room).

I hear a weak and eerily calm "Yes"? from THE OTHER ROOM DOWN THE HALL.

*this is where Mommy freaks out, kids*

Pres is in the other room. The door to my room -where little helpless crying baby is- LOCKED TIGHT.
At this point I am absorbing the fact that my adorable Presley has locked the door to my room and ran into another room to hide from me knowing that I am contemplating the worst possible punishment for him..my cute Pres! My little man! A MONSTER!!!!!

What takes place in the following moments is, in a nutshell, a hysterical mother screaming to her hysterically crying infant -through the locked door- "Mommy is here!!! (Presley you are in SUCH big trouble!) Mommy is coming to get you Laz!!! (Pres, when your dad gets home you are dead meat!)It's okay honey!!!! (Presley you are not coming out of your room for a year!!)Mommy loves you sweet baby boy!!!"
All the while trying to BREAK THE DOOR DOWN and thinking how much her hubby is going to want to KILL HER for doing so. Well, the door would not break down. Piece of crap.(mental note to self: increase weight on hand weights and do more shoulder reps) I called hubby -at work- and tried to convey the situation to him without bursting into tears and making him question the sanity of his little wife. He is so awesome. He calmly talks me into a calm, sane person and sweetly tells me where to find the toolbox, screw driver (Phillips), how to unscrew the screws without the whole knob falling off, how to turn the innards of the doorknob (who knew it would be so complicated?) and open the door.

AAAHHH!!! -singing angels, light shining from above-

I hang up the phone, rush into the room, lean over the co-sleeper, reach to grab up my infant son...and my eyes fall upon....a peacefully sleeping baby. This being the first and only time he has cried himself to sleep, poor thing. I had not noticed in my hysteria to open the door that he had stopped crying (which is good because had I noticed I probably would have been convinced he was struggling to breathe and I *might* have gotten an ax -firefighter style- to chop in the door).

I need a vacation.

Best Shopping Day EVER

All this for....ONE dollar?! Yeah baby!




Ummm....the "Home Grown" baby stuff just captured me with it's all natural cuteness. Maybe I overdid it.






So yeah, I love to shop. No surprise there. Retail therapy is highly under rated.

What REALLY gets me going is when I find good deals. I feel....powerful, like somehow I am beating the system...that "they" couldn't rob me blind this time.

Yesterday I went to Macy's to exchange some Easter shirts that GGmom got the boys. I returned 3 shirts (got a $37 store credit) and went to look for other sizes. The sales were fantastic! Example: 50% off...take and EXTRA 40% off and an EXTRA 15% off if you use your Macy's card. Basically they are paying ME to take these clothes home.

I came up to the register with 7 shirts, a sleeper for Laz and an outfit for Laz.

I still had $7 left of the store credit.

SCORE.

Then I headed to the Gap...a wonderland of suburbia attire. I had a $25 store credit to spend and I wanted to find something cute to wear Easter. Well, since I am a fat cow still from baby #5 I found nothing that would compliment my figure in any way. What to do? Head to the baby department, of course!!!

I grabbed several outfits and onesies and went to the register to see what added up to $25. (I am broke and did not want to spend any "real" money)
The outfit I so desperately wanted was just to expensive...$30. No way I am going to spend that much on one outfit for one kid that he will wear for another 2 months or so.
I ended up putting a dollar towards the 2 outfits and 1 onesie that I bought...and told the sales lady to TAKE AWAY the cute little outfit I loved..."Take it far, far away"!!! I said. (all the while trying to scheme how I could possibly get it...credit? No. Future paycheck? Unlikely).
I was finished checking out...my heart aching from the pain of leaving this adorable little outfit behind. I was asking the lady how long they would hold it for me (after asking her to hide it and she refusing me)and the lady behind me (with about $500 worth of SHORTS for her kid) stepped up and said, "Here, I will buy it for you".

Now.................I was in NO WAY fishing for a freebie. Did not even cross my mind. There are times when females can get freebies by using our feminine wiles, but this was NOT one of those times.

"Oh no!" I said, truly shocked and humbled by her offer.

"Please. Allow me to get this for your baby! I WANT to...really, it is NOT A BIG DEAL"....the sweet angel from Heaven stated.

After a few moments of her insisting and me refusing, she bought it. $30!!! On a strangers slobbery baby!!! She did not want my thanks, she said she just wanted to do something for me. She would not give me her name (finally I got a weak "Cindy" out of her as she was leaving...after stalking her through the store) she just wanted to be kind.

K-I-N-D-N-E-S-S

There is apparently kindness still in the world!!!!!!!

Anyway, by my obvious blubbering I am still in shock...and so humbled by the generosity of this kind stranger.

Presley...

Presley....as we are pulling out of the gas station...

"Mom, can you smoke the tires"?



Apparently he has been hanging around Granddaddy.

12 weeks

Laz is 12 weeks old today...*sniff sniff-wiping tears*...so here is the low down:

He is 14 pounds. A big guy to most, but on the small side for my kids. Yeah, crazy. He is laughing out loud...and if I knew how I would post the video I took with my camera. Adorable. Take my word for it. He also tries to sit up and roll over...although since this is strictly forbidden we are not encouraging this behavior. His hair looks like a light brownish/blondish/reddish color, and his eyes have not decided what color they will be. I am going for blue since we have 2 brown, one green, one hazel...and a blue would complete the package and prove we are nothing but mutts around here. No purebreds.
Enjoy the pictures! I have taken a million today but only wanted to bore you with a few.
And check out a few that my cousin took...her site on the right (www.dawnsparks.com) click on "blog" to see me VERY pregnant (about 3 days before I gave birth) and a few of Laz when he was 10 days old. And do not believe a word of what she says about me on her blog...it is all a facade!!! :)














Good morning sunshine! Actually, I call him my little monkey. I am prophesying, I know. In this picture he is totally milk drunk. Smashed. Sloshed. And enjoying life.











Just adorable!!!













Mommy and her baby.........looooove.
















Laz and the ole Mom.....soooo in looooove!

A Quick Story...

...quick because I am not the one telling it :)

http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-your-back-please.html



New favorite motto...

(up there with "It is not the same birth, different location...it is an completely different birth DEPENDING on the location")

..."Stand and Deliver! Don't Give Birth Lying Down"!!!!

A Few Random Pictures

Just a few shots from the past week...mostly consisting of Laz, of course!




Smiley Baby boy!



Ethan making funny faces so Laz will laugh.



Josiah and Pres



Tarin, attacking the bowling ball....he WON the game! Out of us all! No kidding! He throws the ball SO HARD that it sounds like it is going to put a hole through the alley...but it doesn't, it just knocks down all the pins.



My sweet Ethan



Cutie Pie Kell



Laz in one of his many hats. I LOVE hats on babies!!! It may be 70 degrees outside, but he will have on a hat...until he gets older and rips it off his head...



My life is good....REAL GOOD.
(said with a slight Mexican accent Nacho Libre style)

the Grocery Game

I am trying something new to save money....
the Grocery Game!

Go to this website to read about how it works www.thegrocerygame.com...but in a nutshell ("Help! I'm in a nutshell"!!!)the site tells you all of the sales on for that week at stores in your area...you can look through your paper for the coupons and you can print them off the site to save money. The "list" tells you the best deals and even what will be FREE that week with the coupons! Yeah! I said FREE!

With 5 sons and a hubby that eat like ravenous wolves I needed a way to easily take advantage of the discounts offered at different stores.

The other good news...if YOU sign up for a membership (4 weeks for $1 to start) then I can get weeks free as well!!! So if you join, please enter my email address as your referral and help me also get discounts on my discounts :)

Out of the mouths of babes

The other morning I passed Tarin in the hall and he said, "Mom. I am as cold as hell".

I picked my chin off the floor and tried to compute what exactly he was saying...other than what he was saying. He doesn't watch bad TV, we do not talk that way around here at all, his friends seem very innocent of such things....WHERE???????

He then went on to say, "Not the hell like the lake of fire, but the hail that falls from the sky".

OH.

I said I was sorry he was so cold...and perhaps next time he should say he is cold like ICE instead of hail.

My 5 Sons

Josiah and I are just so blessed...I praise the Lord for all His goodness and His mercy towards us!!!
I have about 3,971 pictures to post...but blogspot is taking forever right now so I am going to wait till later...however, here is one from earlier today!




Presley, Kellen, Tarin, Laz and Ethan
Feb 21, 2008

FOUND!!!!!!!!

I found it......the camera cord!!!!!!! This is big news around here! But first, a report I also found......



A wonderful little video report from CNN about c-sections on the rise and how to avoid one...I am impressed!!!






http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2008/02/18/cohen.csections.cnn






I FOUND THE CORD TO THE CAMERA!!!!!!! (have I mentioned that and how excited I am?!)

I can finally post some pictures of my beautiful baby Laz...when I get home from the field trip I am taking the boys on. ("Music Man" at the Christian Youth Theater!!!)

But for now....a little look at two of my boys last night....

Quick Update and Birth Story

A neat birth story from a fellow doula here in Paradise!



http://health.msn.com/pregnancy/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100194329


I know it has been a while since I posted...but I am still needing the wire to transfer my camera pictures to the computer so I can post them.
Update:
Laz is 8 weeks old!!! He is the BESTEST baby ever...never fussy. He is smiling and laughing all the time and we all love him to death!
We are moving Saturday...so I am extrememly overwhelmed at the moment! We are moving just down the road to another (cheaper) house. I am sad to leave this house becasue I love it...however, it is for the best in the long run.
My little niece Hannah (link to their blog on the right) is turning 1 already! It seems like yesterday I was in Georgia to be a part of her wonderful birth. My sister-in-law and brother were SO fantastic during the labor of 3 days...wow! And the midwife, Claudia (my midwife with the first 4 boys) was also amazing. *sigh* Such good times! :)

A Proud Moment

Last night was fun. We watched a movie for Kell's birthday (they are getting older so we have been picking out movies they have never seen before for movie night).....and for the first time, the boys saw The Princess Bride!!! The remainder of the evening was spent listening to them quote the movie (something Josiah and I have done for MANY years) and "play" the movie. Kell was the man in black (Westley....which, by the way, we almost named Ethan....yes, after the movie....), Tarin was Indigo, Ethan was the giant Fezic (sp?)......and I hear this from my room..."Guys!!!! I am the 6 fingered man!!!!" from Presley. It was hysterical.
Such a proud moment.







The family I mentioned in the last post had the baby's funeral on Saturday. I did not go...for two reasons:

I do not think I could handle a baby's funeral right now. Hormones are still raging from the birth. I would be ushered out of the building for hysterically sobbing.

I did not feel it was a good idea to bring the baby...in case he cried or the mom saw him and it made her sad. Laz and Larson would be the same age.

Some of my good friends went and told me all about it...over lunch...at Cheesecake Factory. We were all three weeping for about 20 minutes while speaking of it and looking at the pictures of the baby Larson and his family. (the waitress probably though we were nuts) Our pastor (Ken) told about knowing the Dad, Steve, since he was a baby...they grew up together and Ken remembers when the Lord saved Steve and how his life changed. He told of never having seen Steve cry in all those years...and when Ken walked into the hospital room and saw Steve holding his tiny baby boy...Larson's head in Steve's hands...and Steve weeping over his son. Ken asked Steve what the family wanted him to speak about at the funeral, and Steve said "Peace. Tell them about the peace that the Lord has given".
What hope! Only the Lord can put hope and peace into the hearts of a mom and dad who have lost their newborn son!

So, thanks for your prayers. Please continue to keep the O'Brien family in your hearts and prayers over the next weeks/months.

Below is the link to the photography studio that did their pictures. This not-for-profit ministry comes to the hospital and takes beautiful pictures of babys that have been born still or that are not expected to live. The pictures include the whole family...mom, dad, siblings, etc. As a mom, if I were faced with the death of a baby I would find this a WONDERFUL ministry and would want to have these pictures. Go to the site and see the pictures of these beautiful babies and their families.
www.NowILayMeDownToSleep.org

4 weeks old!!!

Can you believe it? Laz is 4 weeks old! AH!!!! It has flown by so fast...and I have enjoyed every minute. Pictures coming as soon as I find the cable to download them to the computer!

I am posting to ask for prayer for a friend of mine from church...

She had her 5th child this morning via c-section. They knew prior to the birth that the baby would not live very long...his brain stem never developed and he has no lungs....however, that does not mean that this is not a great loss. I have been grieving all day for this sweet family, and I wanted to let you all know so that you can keep them in your prayers. Ask the Lord to give them grace...and the ability to trust in Him and His plan for their family. This is the O'Brien family.

Thanks so much...

Laz

One week and one day old......


I cannot believe it!!!!!!