Easter -- Part Two

After everyone dug into their baskets, Norah went behind them and took what she liked from the shrapnel on the floor.

Lu got nail polish. Their MUST be a real Easter Bunny because mom doesn't allow that stuff

Norah decided she wanted Jacob's balls.

Derek was showing Jacob where some candy was and look who decided to try and WALK over to help out. She only managed one step before she fell down, but I am still getting used to her standing.

Hunting for eggs outsides wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. My kids aren't really into candy and the idea of finding eggs with candy in them wasn't enough to motivate them at all. Finally, we turned it into a sibling war and be Cubby that he would find more than Lauren. They were OFF.

In the end, they only found about half of them and Derek and I had to go after them and clean up the rest (in fact, we found more candy this morning...). Next year, we are just going to cut to the chase and hide money.

It was such a beautiful day outside that day we just hung out. The big kids got into the hose and got soaking wet, Norah just tried to keep up. It was so nice to sit on our chairs in the backyard. I was holding the little one (who was only 4 days old and now seems SO MUCH BIGGER) and Derek studied. A house, a yard, the baby, healthy kids..there was much to be thankful for this Easter.

Easter -- Part One

The kids in their Easter outfits. Remember how I was the mom that had them in matching outfits all the time? I think that mom is on vacation.

I keep hearing everyone say how Easter snuck up on them this year. I knew I would be (possibly) having a baby right around then, so I shopped early. Then I moved and put everything in a "safe place". So safe it was never to be seen again. So, when Easter REALLY snuck up on me a few days after getting out of the hospital, I had to start all over again. I used my superhuman mom skills to make Lauren think it would be a good idea for the Easter Bunny to come during church in case I was up at night with the baby.... Here is the note she wrote. It is priceless.

Dear Easter Bunny (I corrected the spelling)

Please skip our house if mom is up with Grace and if not, hurry and do it quick before mom wakes up and if mom is up come back when mom is at the doctor and we are at church between 9:30 and 12:00 am. The almost eight sister (it was mom's idea), Lauren.

So, the Easter Bunny left this note on the door

Lu wanted to check and see if he ate the carrots she left

This is what they found (Jacob can make the greatest gasping sound...)

Lauren is a believer, I think

While the kids were at church, the Easter Bunny got cracking. I kept the two little girls home that day (we still have to take Gracie J in to the doc every day). Norah "helped" me.

The kids Easter baskets are these metal buckets I have had forever. During the rest of the year, they hold craft stuff, but they get to come out once a year and be Easter Baskets.

These plastic pinwheels were in the garden section of the dollar store, but they are pretty sturdy and haven't been destroyed yet. Plus, the matched the baskets, so I HAD to get them...

This year, Easter was brought to us by the Japanese dollar store that is next to my ped's office. Not kidding. I spent 30 dollars and had Easter DONE.

I also had some candy. I was very happily putting candy in the plastic eggs to hide. Norah was just as happily opening them up, tasting each piece and spitting them back in the egg. We make a good team. For the record, she likes jelly beans but isn't a fan of those marshmallow circus peanut things (these were Tigger shaped). I only had about 20 eggs because the kids found the eggs earlier in the week. They very carefully lined them up on the back deck and hit them with their golf clubs. Bye bye eggs. It is a good thing that our back fence is 12 feet tall and covered in spider vine. I can imagine that we will find ALL KINDS of good stuff in there when we finally get rid of it. Norah also got one of those Fur Real chickens. My MIL has one and she spends lots of time carefully feeding it the bottle so it will make sounds. I let her have it while I played Easter Bunny.

Photo Tapas....

My new favorite picture. Lu can always get her to wake up!!!

Derek's sister gave us this doll after she saw Gracie for the first time, twins! She also pinned what Grace looks like all swaddled up. A glowworm!

I am uploading more, but we have to go back to the doctor. This girl doesn't seem to want to gain weight. Little does she know that we have done this before--so it is full fat greek yogurt for this one soon.....

More pictures and stories by the end of the day, I promise (and this is mostly for my family that have only managed to see the ones on the blog.... ).

Right as I took this picture, Jacob was reaching over to touch her face and I heard him say "oh, cute Santa". He calls her Santa, still. :-)

Welcome!!!!

Grace Jane Bingham made her debut today, March 19, 2008, at 4:15 p.m! She weighed in at 7 lbs. 11 oz. (big for a downs baby, but small for a kinsel one...!) She was able to breathe on her own right away and last we heard, she was working on nursing. So, things look really good so far! Bek is also doing well, and my guess is that she is enjoying a diet coke right about now. If all continues to go well, Bek will be home on friday.

***Update

bek sent this email last night with the above photo:

"No nursing yet and haven't seen baby since about six pm. She was not able to hold her body temp up or maintain oxgn levels. No one is too worried yet. But we hope she gets it soon."

News is news...

I am happy to say that playing the odds FINALLY worked in our favor. We got a call back from the Neurologist tonight (how great is that? She called us this evening...) and there is no mass. That is the good news. Pretty much rulering out anything in her little noggin besides what is supposed to be there is good news. The bad news (if you can even call it that) is that it doesn't explain the behavior that made them think it was there in the first place. It also doesn't give us an "easy" answer for the delays. But, we will keep looking.

I have seen some great progress in the peaknuckle over the last few weeks. She will now point to (and recognize) her nose on a semi consistent basis, she decided to stand up all by herself last night (she just got on her knees and stood up...but she hasn't done it since), and she is pretty much constantly yelling "Jacob, NO". She may only have 8 words, but she puts them together..so that is something. She also is acting more and more toddler like each day; getting into mischief, dumping out boxes of things, playing in the toilet, getting into the shoes (and pretty much always going for the Gucci first, so she IS a smart girl) and throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way. Totally normal (and in the tantrum department, might I even say ADVANCED) behavior.

I'll take it.

I am too tired to put a picture up, so this is another boring word post. I have stopped having contractions despite all the running around I have been doing. The house is mostly packed and what I don't get to, the packers will do. By Saturday it will all be moved to the new house. All the utilities are ready to go, we signed the papers on the house today and close on Friday, the cleaners are all lined up and I even managed to weed out unneeded books/papers and clothes. I am on FIRE.

How much do you want to bet I have this baby Sunday once everything is done? My OB is already down for 100$.... any takers?

The word of the day is prayer..

*** Update. We got the MRI and it all went smoothly. N didn't have any reactions to the meds.. in fact, I have never seen her SO animated. She was singing like a drunken sailor. I have a good idea of what she would be like drunk (the best part? She kept taking a toy car and would push it in wobbly circles on the bed with a very loud, very wet "vrrroooomm"). Even when she was going under, the nurses warned that some kids get very agitated. Norah just laughed like an evil genius. Coming out, she just sang and sang. I guess all the prayers worked. We should have results on Thursday. THANK YOU for all your prayers and thoughts. It worked!! ****

Even if you aren't a "prayer" please keep our little Norah in your thoughts. Tomorrow is the big day, the MRI. This is what we have been waiting for since we heard the words "we suspect there may be a mass in your daughters brain" over two months ago.

We have had many appointments leading up this with all kinds of experts trying to pin down exactly what is causing the delays (my vote is still on "stubborn diva with an attitude" but that is another story). The MRI will tell us, or rule out, tumors, cancer, etc, etc. That is the big one.

The test is at 1:00 pm PST..... keep your fingers crossed that she doesn't suddenly get a cold (they won't do it if she is sick) and that everything goes smoothly. I was in early labor all weekend and have been on official bed rest.... so my goal was to make it to Monday. At this point, after the test, the baby can come any time as far as I am concerned, though it would be nice for her to wait until after the weekend so we can move...

I'll let you all know....