Grandpa Schlatter's Coyote

Sunday morning Grandpa Schlatter informed us that he had shot a coyote hanging around the calving cows at his place. Later that afternoon, he brought the coyote over for the kids to see...here are some pics of them:

Baby Chicks 2010

Well, as is our custom in the spring (though this year I think we are quite early in getting them) we got some baby chicks to help replace those that are too old to lay or have died through the year.

This year Marion is raising 6 for a family friend who requested some New Hampshire Reds so we have a different breed than our previous Buff Orphaningtons and Americanas! We will see how they turn out in about 6 months!

Marion has been throwing around the idea in his head of getting the incubator from Aunt Sharolyn and trying his hand at some home grown chicks since we have a rooster but I don't know if he will actually do that with the baby and all or not! I'll have to keep you posted if he does!

The kids LOVE the baby chicks and though they have been a source of much temptation for them, we let the kids visit them every day at least once or twice (they are afterall on the porch right now). Nathan and Abigail have grown very brave and can now reach in and pick a chick up with no problems...as you can imagine we had to lay down some rules!

Here are some pics of the kids with the baby chicks on the first day:

A Dress Project...and more

I know, I have a ton of things that I SHOULD be doing…but I’m looking for something fun!  Therefore, I looked online and found some dress patterns that would be awesome for Abi!  It is so hard for us to find dresses that we feel are appropriate in style and length that don’t also cost a million children dollars! 

 

Anyway, I found a couple of dresses that say they are ‘make in an hour’ dresses.  I thought…why not try it!  They seem very simple…mostly two seams and a hem...but we will see how they actually turn out.  Now, I am sure some of you are rolling your eyes at the ‘project’ girl…with tons of projects and 18 days away from a baby…but I have to come up with something to do that doesn’t require a lot of energy…sewing seemed to be a good one!  Too much activity and the contractions start, so things like renovating the baby’s room or purging the closets are just not really feasible right now…I need something low impact like sitting at a sewing machine…or at least that is my hope!

 

I’ve also been looking at baby announcement ideas…that would possibly be another low impact project I can take on right now.  I’m thinking of doing a digital creation this time around but haven’t completely committed to that…I have another idea that is similar to the other ones too!  Oh the fun that one can have when they are restricted in activities.  (I haven’t been restricted by the doctor yet…but I’d like to keep it that way by using precautions of my own!)

 

The kids have been doing great helping lately.  The house would not look half as put together as it does if the kids’ weren’t being so helpful.  I am so thankful God gave me a girl first...cuz she is SUCH a big helper, and then Nathan follows suit!  (and of course Jonny wants to do everything the big kids are doing though his helpfulness is limited)  We’ve been getting into a great routine with the dishes and picking up the toys.  I hope we can keep it up after the baby is born, it will be so nice if we can.  Now if I could only get Abi to clean the toilets :0)  (actually, she probably could, but I don’t like the idea of her ‘playing’ in all those chemicals…so I don’t have her do those types of things right now.)

 

Well, I better go check on the cleaning process of the kids…I also have some filing to do before I start getting into the dress project!

Another tooth gone...

Well, today was the day Abi lost her second tooth. 

 

The one that is coming in behind it is rather far back, and we hope it moves forward some now that the baby tooth is gone.  The dentist said that until her mouth grows and she loses her eye teeth, the front four teeth on the bottom may be crooked. 

 

I’ll try to get a picture of her with the gap and missing tooth…maybe I can get that posted yet this week.

 

Eye Appointments

Well, we decided it was just time to get all these routine appointments started and out of the way....so today we took the kids to get their eyes checked. There is a program called See to Learn and gives free screenings to children 3-5. Fortunately for us, the doctor in Smith Center participates in the program and would do screenings for all three kids FREE! YAY!

They all checked out okay for now. Abi will need to start yearly exams especially since poor eye sight runs in the family! Jonny doesn't have to go back for probably 2 years and Nate should return right before he starts Kindergarten, which will probably be a year and half to two away!

The kids were extra excited because they each got a free 1 topping personal pan pizza too...we haven't cashed in on that yet but they are excited that they each get their own pizza some day!

First Dentist Appointment

Well, Abi had her first dentist appointment today!  One of her bottom middle teeth is coming in behind the baby tooth and we thought we’d better just check things out! Fortunately, the dentist said this was a fairly common occurrence and as her mouth grows and her eye teeth come out, the teeth will adjust some on their own.  She has plenty of room on the top for her big ones to come in and he even said they were starting to get loose up there too! 

 

Overall, she did great!  We had talked about all the things a dentist’s office does and the tools that they have.  However, I forgot to talk to her about the polishing and that terrified her…they decided to not do it this time around since this was her first visit!  She had big crocodile tears and the assistant just couldn’t put her through a traumatic experience!  :0)

 

On a side note, Daddy and Nathan stayed home since Nathan had been up all night throwing up!  Jonny went to Grandma’s house and after the appointment, Abi stayed there too!  Mommy came home and slept!  It has been a LONG night!  Fortunately, Nathan is feeling much better and has been able to keep down a banana and some crackers and hasn’t thrown up since 6:45 this morning!  I’m feeling pretty queasy and have already chatted with the doctor’s office once…so hopefully we can keep me from throwing up too!

 

A Good Visit...

Well, we had our regular doctor’s visit today and everything looks good!  My weight has stayed steady over the last three weeks and I’m holding at 9 lbs. gain so far in this pregnancy!  YAY!  My blood pressure was good and the baby’s heartbeat was strong and clearly heard!  The doctor was even pleased with my sugar numbers and felt that everything was going very well!  He did go ahead and check me again to make sure the contractions I am having are still not producing anything and we had a good report there too!  No dilation! 

 

SO, we are now on weekly visits with 4 weeks or 27 days till delivery and as long as the contractions don’t intensify we are good!

 

Thank you to all who have been praying for us and supporting us through this last week…and beyond!  We love and appreciate you all! 

Thank you!

Whomever it was that sent the two blue cradle sheets and the two changing pad covers:  Thank you very much! 

 

The gift arrived yesterday but had no indication as to who it was from, but I still wanted to say Thank you!  The cradle looks a lot more welcoming with the new sheet and Marion really liked the dots on the changing table :0)

 

It’s starting to look a lot more like a baby will be arriving around here…only 4 weeks to the scheduled section date!

A very Long Day...

Well, today was the day I was supposed to go in and repeat my glucose test for the doctor. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. To start off with, I started having contractions last night around 4ish and they got fairly intense over supper time, so I went to lay down and they seemed to lighten up. All night I dreamt that I was having contractions but was too tired to actual check them out for very long. When I awoke this morning, they were still there AND when I got up they seemed to intensify! So, I called in to the doctor's office to see what they wanted me to do.

I went straight to the doctor's office instead of the lab and they checked my blood pressure, urine, and weight to see where I was at and then sent me to the hospital for fetal monitoring. Everything looked good, but I was having contractions. The doctor ordered that I be observed for two hours and to drink as much as possible to see if I needed rehydrated. About 11:30 am they also started my glucose test!

By 12:30 the contractions were lessoning and spreading out but they were still there. Dr. Overmiller at that time determined that he wanted to have an ultrasound down again to check the placenta and cervix but didn't want to wait until Friday when the technicians came to Smith Center. SO, after my last glucose blood draw at 2:30, I was to head to Hastings to get an ultrasound. He wanted me to wait there until the ultrasound could be checked and then if everything was okay I could come home. And, if there was a problem, then I'd be at a bigger hospital to handle it. Well, it turned out that the ultrasound was okay and we got to come home.

However, I am still having contractions and feeling rather uncomfortable. I'm also fairly tired at the moment and am about to go crash in bed! Basically, the contractions aren't producing anything and the baby is fine, so we wait. As long as they don't intensify or start producing I am simply to bare with them and go on. I have another appointment with the doctor next Tuesday and we'll see how things are going at that point. I never heard what the glucose results were, but I assume they weren't bad cuz I haven't heard anything yet.

Well, just thought I'd share the update since it was a rather interesting day and I know some of you got wind of the situation but no details. Have a blessed and restful night!

Funny Colored Hands...

Well, my morning got totally rearranged from what I was hoping it would produce, but the good news is the kids now have a lot of new play dough to keep them entertained for days to come.  For whatever reason, our play dough doesn’t last as long as Grandma’s does but fortunately it is easy to make.  Abigail had gotten some play dough tools for Christmas and it had come with six small jars of ‘real’ play dough that lasted like a week!  The kids have been asking for a while for more but I just haven’t made it. 

 

This morning, they asked again and I decided I might as well do it!  The funny thing is this time I decided to try to use my Wilton coloring paste!  It worked AWESOME…the colors are very vibrant and other than trying to mix purple came out so much better than the food coloring ones I’ve done previous. HOWEVER, my hands are now a very nice cherry color!  I find this totally humorous because I made blue, green, yellow, orange, brown, black, purple, AND red…but only the red stained my hands…isn’t that hilarious!  The other totally hilarious thing is that I had a band aide on, and when I took it off…there was a very stark line where the color did not penetrate so I look like a red zebra!  HA!  Oh well, it was totally worth it to see the kids’ enjoyment in playing with all the colors and fun tools!