Baby!

Thanking God for:

- Loving to give good gifts to His children
- LOTS of extra fluid which allowed our baby to flip after 40 weeks
- LOTS of extra fluid which kept a scrawny umbilical cord floating and safe
- An awesome physician who agreed to deliver our breech baby (!!!!)
- An awesome physician who agreed to attempt a version on a post-dates woman (!!!!)
- A God who can turn the hearts of Kings...and physicians
- A vertex presentation after a night of contractions
- A delivery that did not turn out to be a c-section
- The blessing of children
- Another GIRL (!!!!)
- Sweet Polly Jane, all 8 lbs and 11 ounces of her!

Where's My Baby?

Today I am 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant. I have an overabundance of amniotic fluid (as in, more than 33% extra). And, I have a breech baby - a complete breech. (That means my baby is sitting Indian-style in my belly instead of being head down.) For liability reasons, very few obstetricians will deliver a breech baby.

So...our options at this point:
1. The baby will spontaneously flip and we'll continue with our planned homebirth.
2. I'll locate an obstetrician who will agree to attempt a version on my overdue (but fluid-filled!) self.
3. If the version is successful, I'll jump right into an induction. No reason to risk the baby turning breech again.
4. The version will not be successful or I'll go into labor before one can be attempted and have a c-section.

This pregnancy has been full of surprising challenges from the very beginning. This latest turn of events seems to fit right into the mental chaos I have been battling the last nine months. I am ready to look back on 2010 and *see* all the things God has been working for my good. For now, I'll seek to see God's good hand in this moment.

We are so very thankful to have been able to carry this baby to full term, to have recognized the breech position prior to labor beginning, and to have a healthy (as far as we know) baby who still has enough room to swim! God has been gracious throughout the pregnancy - especially in this last month - to remind me of truth and to provide peace when I allow anxiety to consume me. So, right now I am feeling very thankful to still feel baby movements and to still be pregnant. We are praying for a healthy baby and, secondarily, a vaginal delivery. Hopefully I will have happy news to post in just a few short days. Today I will continue to rejoice at my large blessing, remind myself of truth (God is good; God is in control; Children are a blessing...), and hope my water doesn't break in public~:-) Because, if it does folks, you better hope you are sporting your galoshes!

Visiting Daddy

*I'm not sure how there are NO PICTURES of this, but Eric and I went ziplining on Saturday, 4.17.2010. It was great and surprisingly scary! I was just happy my expanding belly fit nicely into the harness...without any noticing I was 17 weeks along! Just imagine lots of shrieking from me and lots of Superman-like movements from Eric.*

And then Monday came... 4.19.2010

The Monkey's Treehouse

We spent the morning running errands with Flat Stanley. Look how big my little Haven is getting!After naptime we headed to The Monkey's Treehouse in Bellevue to celebrate our friend Lily's third birthday. This place was so much fun! I was a little overwhelmed with trying to feed two kiddos myself and then keep track of them playing, but I really enjoyed watching them explore the huge playplace. Elijah - never very adventurous at first - didn't really appreciate the treehouse. He did, however, LOVE the digging area. This, of course, because he is a pro at using a wheelbarrow (Thanks, Mombo!)!

Haven - always adventurous - had a great time exploring the area for little ones. She did her fair share of playing in the big kid's area as well!
Happy Birthday Lily! Thanks for having us to your fun party!
4.16.2010

Eat! Eat!

A few shots from a quick trip to the zoo with Grammie & Grampa.4.14.2010

We have been blessed with good little eaters. Haven is even more passionate about eating than Elijah was at this age; this might seem unbelievable to those who know Elijah's proclivity for eating! Haven's first words in the morning (or upon waking anytime) are usually "Eat! Eat!!!!" She will never let you forget that mealtime has arrived. As soon as you put food on her tray, she is absolutely silent as she slowly gobbles up her food. It isn't so much that she even eats large quantities of food all the time, the amazing thing is her passion for the food. Although a bit trying at times (how would it be to have a child who would play through mealtimes?), I am so thankful for chubby children who willingly eat!4.15.2010

From Tadpoles to Frogs

We went on a field trip to Shelby Bottoms Nature Center to learn about frogs. Thanks to Mombo, Elijah even had a special t-shirt to wear which showed the life cycle of a frog. (It's cool to wear stuff like that, right? Because Elijah and I love to talk about that shirt.) We had the good company of our friends, the Sadlers & the Jacksons. The Sadler girls wore butterfly wings, because that is how cool their Mom is. We walked to one of the ponds to look for tadpoles.
Elijah and Matney held hands~:-)
They RAN and Ran and ran!
We headed back to the Nature Center for a puppet show.
Haven was fascinated with the puppets.

Can you spot her? She slowly worked her way right up to the puppeteer, probably in hopes of grabbing the frog.

In an attempt to counteract the absence of God in the program, Elijah and I spent the morning talking about how God made frogs. It was stark and shocking to me how the Creator was never mentioned, particularly when the children were being shown a chart of all the various types of frogs. The Ranger was explaining all the different types of camouflage the frogs have. When the children asked, "Why are the frogs different?", she averted the question by saying "The frogs have to blend in with their surrounding." I took the opportunity to tell Elijah that God had made the frogs with their own special colors so that they could live in the place God put them. Our little trip made me realize how empty and short-sighted education is when you force God out of every conversation. It keeps you from answering the real "why" questions.
This huge park is great. We often go there to walk some of the eight mile paved greenway along the Cumberland River. During these walks I have opportunity to remind myself what a blessing it is to be able to train up these children!
4.13.2010

Time Constraints

Sometimes the bad guys just can't wait for your Momma to help you get dressed. It's times like these you skip the clothes, put your shoes on the wrong feet, and grab your sword. Someone has to protect the women!



4.11.2010

Mule Day

Sometimes I let myself bring the surprises inside.We hit Mule Day with Dad while Eric slaved away at work.One highlight was when the Community Center wouldn't let me take Elijah into a bathroom. "We have some port-a-potties set up outside." I looked at the lady and said, "There is no way I can fit into a port-a-pottie with my son. He has to go to the bathroom!" I suppose I could have clarified, "There is no way Elijah and I can go into a port-a-potty and me ensure that no part of our bodies or clothing touches a single thing in there" because that is actually what I meant. So we walked several blocks to Subway during which I repeated "Don't go pee-pee in your pants! Did you go pee-pee in your pants? Good job, Bud! OK, let's walk fast!" For your information, the liquor store in downtown Columbia does NOT have public restrooms.
Haven looks really tore up here, but she loved seeing all the mules. The girl goes crazy for animals - primarily by pointing and shrieking.We got home in time to play with the cats, Cheesy & Smoky. Smoky is the black one. Elijah named them. When he chose Smoky I said, "Well Mombo's cat is Smoky. Let's think of another name." Elijah responded, "But he looks like Smoky. His name should be Smoky!"Here is Cheesy. Aunt Ab and Elijah cooked this name up together. "I want an orange cat so I can call him Cheesy, like cheese."

Two Things

1. Ebates
You can go through Ebates before doing any online shopping. If your store participates (over 1,000 stores do), you'll get between 1-6% cash back on your purchase total just for linking to the store through Ebates. They send you a "Big Fat Check" every three months provided your earnings are over $5.01. If not, they just roll your earnings over to the next quarter. I just got my first "Big Fat Check" in the mail. I mean, it was only for $15.95, but still. As a bonus, right now you can get a $5 credit just for signing up with Ebates. So, go check it out!

2. Swagbucks
Install the Swagbucks toolbar on your computer and then use Swagbucks as your search engine. You'll earn Swagbucks for every few searches you do. Once you get enough, you can trade them in for gift cards, prizes, or cash. 450 Swagbucks gets you a $5 Amazon.com gift card; 700 Swagbucks gets you $5 in your PayPal account. I've been using this for a couple of years now; I usually redeem my Swagbucks for gift cards right around Christmas time.

Happy Internetting!

Out of the Mouth of Babes

{Listening to Praise the God Who Saves by Caedmon's Call just before naptime}

...Praise the God Who was nailed to a tree...
E: {popping up from his bed} "Yeah! Mom! That's Jesus! It means the cross. I have that song on my guitar." (referring to his Christmas present from MawMaw & PawPaw)
L: "Oh?!"
E: "Yeah. I have Holy Holy, Jesus,...and other songs."
L: "What other songs do you have?"
E: "(indiscernible titles)...Toy Story...and Book Story. Yeah. I have those on my guitar. I'll play them for you sometime."

9.3.2010

PawPaw Visits

Dad came for a quick visit with the goal of getting us set up with kittens. The visits was preceded, in true Hamilton fashion, with approximately 47 conversations about needing the cats, caring for the cats, getting the cats, children-cat interaction, and other cat matters. To kick the adventure off, I took Dad to a performance of Llama, Llama Red Pajama at the main library.

(Review: We like the book Llama, Llama Red Pajama; I do not like the book Llama, Llama Mad at Mama. They performed both, creating a grand display of the baby llama's bad attitude. I realized that my reading & interpretation of the former book at home gave a much different slant to little llama's attitude than the performing crew took. This made me very thankful that I have the privilege of being the primary reader to my children.) Elijah was a little nervous to be so close to the llamas. Alexis wasn't shy at all~;-)

After the show we headed to the Metro Animal Care & Control center. A few decades ago in South Carolina, picking up a pet from the local animal shelter involved about $40 and a few shots. You drove buy, found what you wanted, paid, and left. Hilda made our time at the Metro Animal Shelter a bit more involved. First, there was a pile of paperwork to complete.
We were able to look into the *locked!* room where the kittens were kept, but we could not enter until permission had been granted.
After Dad paid almost $200 for the stray kittens, we were able to enter the kitten room. Elijah was so excited to see the cats - as was Haven - but Hilda yelled! at all of us to sit on the little bench in the cat's room. I'm not really sure exactly why, but I think she was evaluating how the cats were reacting to us. It was ridiculous. Hilda sleeps with over fifty cats in her bed so I shouldn't have been surprised at her psycho-ness. (Can someone make that a word?)

Pictures of our pics of the litter coming later...we weren't allowed to take the cats home until the next morning. It's kind of like having a waiting period before you are allowed to take home the gun you just purchased, in a word - ridiculous!

4.8.2010

Flower Surprises

There will be a lot of pictures of Flat Stanley popping up in the next few posts. We did a project for our 2nd grade friend in Georgia which involved showing Flat Stanley the sites around Nashville. (And I use "sites" in the loosest sense of the word, as you shall see.) Enjoying the harvest of previous owner's gardening work is one major benefit to living in a house that is over a century old. This spring was fabulously exciting for me as I watched tulips and various others flowers pop up and bloom. When we would drive away from home Elijah and I would say "Look! Spring is here! And God gave us TULIPS!!!"

Bass Pro Shop

Sometimes you just have to get out of the house...even if you are dressed are in camo.




Duck decoys and large catfish made for an excellent morning out.
4.5.2010