Fishing

First one shot of Bohdin and another of Cora. I don't have the time to completely recreate the shot which tkes more subtle manipulation than I have the patience for at the moment. I think all I achieved was highlighting the differences.

 
 

Buddy had 10 days paternity leave. Thursday was his last day and he spent it with the older kids. In the morning they went to a nearby playground and splashpark. Nyla has been wanting to go but I don't know why. She abhors being wet with clothes on. She can't run around naked there so she chooses not to get wet. I think she did have fun at the playground portion. In the evening Buddy took the kids fishing in the neighborhood pond. Had Nyla been paying attention she would have caught a fish. They enjoyed the experience and look forward to going again.

 

The kids wanted to go to the zoo tomorrow but I was able to delay them until evening. It's cooler and members receive free tram rides Friday night. It worked out really well. We took the tram to the gorilla area and saw a few animals and then walked down the hill to the splash park. There are two slides which Bohdin really enjoyed our last visit. This time the lines were much much shorter and he was able to go down multiple times. He had such a great time. Nyla went to the playground briefly but came back to the water area. Surprisingly she played in the water a little. I took her shirt off but we managed to keep her pants on even though they became a little damp. I just had to take a break to console a crying Nyla. Bohdin got her wet and she came up into the bedroom crying and naked with her wet pants in her hands. He did come up and apologize.

Bohdin and Nyla enjoy doing things with Cora. The other day Bohdin was playing a game with her where she had to pick which lump of playdough contained a large jewel. I chose whichever one she seemed to be looking at. Surprisingly she was right every time. Nyla came up and wanted to play also so they started taking turns. Cora had to take a break to eat so Bohdin decided that she and Nyla would be a team. At one point Cora stretched her arm out toward Nyla just after Nyla answered one correctly. Nyla thought Cora was trying to give her a high five and slapped her hand.

Patience

Nyla sometimes looks at books before bed and "reads" them. Saturday night she wasn't tired due to a late nap so she was looking at books. I told her I needed to turn out the lights. Nyla responds, "I need you to be patient.". I reminded her that it was quite late and I was tired. She could go to a different room to look at books. With frustration in her voice she says, "I really need to you to be patient right now.". Nyla was up for another two hours after that. No more late naps for her.

It's only been a week but so far it hasn't been too difficult to add a third. Bohdin and Nyla keep each other company quite well which makes things easier for me. After a bath last night they came up with the rolling game. They were giggling so much. It was tough to break it up but it was getting really late.

 
 

Cora is continuing her activity level from before she was born. She has quiet days and active days. That translates into sleepy days and awake days now. She had a good stretch of awake time on Saturday and now she is in the midst of one again. She is awake right now and has been for about two hours. On her sleepy days she just sleeps the whole day. She is better about not waking up so much at night. She is able to sleep through the peeing at night. It still wakes her up during the day but she goes right back to sleep.

 
 

Birthday

Nyla's wish was for a pink birthday party and to the best of our ability we granted that wish. There were pink balloons, pink cake, pink cups, pink plates, and pink lemonade. The wrapping paper was pink and many of the presents were pink. Nyla says her favorite part of her birthday was kicking her balloons. I blew up 20 of them and I do think they were a hit. The kids played with those balloons for hours.

 
 
 

The other day I was vaccuming the basement when Buddy brought Cora down. I finished up the area I was doing before turning it off. Bohdin said, "Cora is a good baby. She didn't cry for the loud sound of the vacuum. One time I asked her to stick out her tongue if she is hungry. She asked, if I cry does it mean I'm hungry? And I said no. But she cried anyway. She wasn't a good baby on that.".

 

Nana left last night for her home. The kids loved having her here. Nyla says that Nana is going to miss her. That may be true but I bet she won't missing playing Zingo with Nyla.

Bohdin 2.0

So far Cora is a carbon copy of newborn Bohdin. They even look the same. What that means is that she hates diaper changes. She eats all of the time including at night. She likes to be held constantly. She has the same congestion Bohdin had as a newborn. We'll probably discover more in the next few days.

So far Bohdin and Nyla have adjusted really well to a baby in the house. I guess it helps that they have each other. It must be harder to go from being the only child to having a sibling. Having another sibling doesn't really affect them negatively at all.

 
 
 

We've had several eggs over the last few days but Bohdin has never been the one to discover them. Today Buddy found two and grabbed Bohdin and the camera. Bohdin was so excited to find the eggs.
 

Pics

Cora Penelope Bright

Being the end of pregnancy I woke up multiple times during the night to pee. Tuesday night was no exception. I was up at 2:18 to pee. I came back to bed and may or may not have fallen back asleep. I'm not sure but I probably did. At 2:46 I had a sharp pain in my lower belly. It didn't feel like a contraction and I have no idea what it was. I got out of bed to go lay with Buddy in the other room. A few minutes later I had a painful Braxton Hicks contraction but it didn't feel strong enough to be real labor. I had been having pains like that for days before hand so I wasn't sure what was going on yet. After another one came I decided to just get up and let Buddy sleep just in case it was labor. Plus the previous few days I would have more painful Braxton Hicks when laying as opposed to standing. I went downstairs and started a load of laundry. I was going to prepare lunches for the kids since we were going on the steamboat in the morning but I wasn't comfortable. The baby had moved really low the previous few days and the pressure on my bladder made it painful to stand. I gave up on the sandwich idea and went upstairs to take a bath. I brought a book and my phone so I could time the contractions. By this point I thought I might be in labor but still wasn't 100% certain. I didn't end up timing it but the contractions were coming every few minutes. They didn't last very long. Definitely less than a minute. I wasn't feeling very comfortable in the bath so I got out. I realized the bathtub was more comfortable than not being in the bathtub quickly. The baby was definitely coming. Buddy was up and getting things ready. Bohdin and Nyla were sleeping. Bohdin had said last week that if the baby came in the middle of the night he would rather stay home and sleep. Nyla said she would like to come. I wanted her to get as much sleep as possible. I laid down next to her. The contractions were getting really really painful by this point and I thought it was time to go. This was by far the most painful of the three labors and I wanted an epidural as soon as possible. I didn't even want to try to go natural this labor even though that had been the original intent. We woke Nyla up and Buddy loaded everything up in the car. The contractions were just so painful. I was doing my best but things weren't going like I thought they would. I went downstairs and saw there was 6 minutes left on the 59 minute washing machine cycle. I very briefly debated waiting for the cycle to finish so the clothes could go in the dryer before we left. It only took a moment to realize that was a dumb idea. By this time it was probably around 4am. On the way to car I had two contractions. Buddy had to hold me through them. The ride to the hospital was long. I had so many contractions. I had warned Nyla before hand that I might make noise and stuff. I should have warned Buddy also. I focused on low moans during contractions. It's not something I had done in prior labors and not something I would have guessed I would use this time around. It felt like the right thing to do. I tried my best to focus on the sound on my voice during each contraction. I don't know how many contractions I had in the car. By the time we arrived they were maybe a minute apart. I knew the baby was coming fast. Buddy parked near the ER entrance. I think he unbuckled Nyla and came to take me out. I had a hard time getting out of the car and once I was out it was impossible to move. I thought we would have the baby in the parking lot. Buddy didn't know what to do. Luckily an employee had brought somebody out in a wheelchair. He came over and with extreme difficulty I sort of reclined in it. I was wheeled in to the ER where they called labor and delivery. Just as we entered the hospital a deluge of rain came down. We barely missed getting soaked. At this point I was starting to push and those low moans had become high pitched yelling. We made it into the room and they told me to stop pushing so I could get in the bed. That was a ridiculous thing to ask. I told them to cut my underwear (luckily I was wearing a skirt). I had just been holding it to the side prior to that. The head was almost out. They cut the crotch and the baby came out shortly. Buddy said there was a doctor in the room but the nurse said she delivered the baby. I don't know or care. This was by far my most painful labor. It was a painful delivery also resulting in a second degree tear. She was born at 5:08am about two hours after labor started. As I'm holding her in my arm now smelling her sweet head and kissing her soft cheek how she arrived doesn't matter.
Everything went smoothly after that. No hemorrhage this time. The nurses were confused about when the water broke. I think they ended up charting unknown. It didn't break prior to me entering the room. There was no dramatic pop as I had with Nyla during delivery though. Buddy and Nyla left just after 6am. Nyla seemed to have handled the delivery quite well. She needed to go back to sleep though. We had tickets for the local steamboat the Belle of Louisville that morning. The kids had been looking forward to the cruise and I didn't want them to miss it. They came by afterward for a little while. Bohdin said she was cute and Nyla was just really excited.



The baby slept most of the day but night was rougher. She was congested and was unhappy with being unable to breathe. It was the first time she really fussed. She has a soft whiny cry. I was exhausted and was only able to get short naps with her. Now that we're home she seems completely better. Buddy came by today to pick us up. The only problem is we couldn't leave the hospital without a name. After several hours we just had to pick something. The kids were getting stir crazy, hungry, and tired. Welcome Cora Penelope. 7 pounds 5 ounces. 20 inches long. Born 5:08am July 20. One Tuesday later than expected.





Nyla is begging to hold the baby now. She tried playing ball with her earlier. She is completely infatuated for now.

Zingo

I bought the kids some games for after the baby was born. I decided to introduce them before the birth so they could pull it out and play it themselves afterward. Since Bohdin and Nyla were both born at 39 weeks 2 days I sort of assumed the same would happen this time. It would also give me a Thursday baby, Wednesday baby, and now Tuesday baby. This baby has other plans which seem to include staying in my belly forever. So I showed the kids the games way prematurely. The biggest hit was a bingo game called Zingo. Nana and I are completely over the game since we have played it a million times. Actually she has probably played four million. Nyla loves the game.

Bohdin keeps a stash of books in his nightstands but Nyla doesn't have any in her room. Nyla is the one who actually looks at the books more. A year ago she didn't care about reading at all but now I read to her more than Bohdin. We went to Target last night and she picked out a pink cube bookcase for her room. This morning she wanted to help me put it together. We went down to the garage to get the screwdriver and the hammer. As we neared the stairs she said, "I'll carry the screwdriver so you don't get screwed. I don't want a mommy bookcase." Nyla is quite pleased with her pink bookcase. She has books that I brought up from the basement and her wide assortment of stuffed friends. Well she did earlier. Now her friends are on my bed to attend a birthday party and there are lots of books here as well.

Nana and Buddy took the kids to Toy Story 3 today. I suppose Bohdin and Nyla liked it but they haven't talked about it much. I went to several stores without kids which was really nice. I can't remember the last time I had so much time without the kids.

Try #3

I haven't taken any pictures recently. I ought to at least take pictures of our new chickens. Hopefully third time is a charm. They've survived at least one night so far. I'm too scared to check so I haven't seen them yet today. We have three full grown hens so we should start getting eggs as soon as they are settled. Maybe there are some today. When I get over the thought of finding dead chickens I'll go out and check.

Nana arrived Friday evening. We haven't done too much since her arrival. Saturday we went blueberry picking. Nyla complained of the heat the whole time. It was hot but that didn't prevent the rest of us from picking. She did enjoy the fruits of our labor in the car. The only time the kids eat a lot of blueberries is the day we pick them. I baked with some on Monday and some are in the freezer.

Today we went to the interactive area of the art museum. The kids had a good time there. Nyla painted two pictures and drew another. Bohdin loved a room that would video tape him and project his image on the screen in various artistic ways. He spent the majority of the time in that room. I should have brought my camera because I know my description is not very good. Next time. Throughout the summer they have free admission for military so that's great. We'll try to go again soon.

I also dropped off the blankets to be quilted. I didn't take any pictures of the finished fronts or backs. We'll get them back in two to three weeks and I'll take a picture then. I'm not in love with the place I took it to get quilted but it will be done and probably fine if not spectacular. I know they could have turned out neater somewhere else but this person answered the phone this morning and that was pretty big on the criteria list. I am feeling some regret but hopefully that goes away once I see the finished product. I know it will be a lot cheaper than the custom quilting I was probably envisioning.

Bowling

I met a new mom at playgroup on Tuesday whose husband is also in the military. They just arrived from Ft. Leavenworth. We hit it off and decided to meet the following day at the science museum. The kids always love going there so even though we had been twice the week before they couldn't wait. They did have to wait though since I have a midwife appointment first. Bohdin said the appointment was boring and I couldn't agree more. Hopefully it's the last one. I next one is scheduled for next Friday.

The science museum was packed with kids. Those day camp kids get around. There were at least five groups there. The kids still had a good time. Bohdin liked the obstacle course that was part of the new exhibit and did it 30 times. After over an hour of playing I had to drag the kids out of there. Nyla was actually kicking and screaming. My time was running out on the parking meter and I wasn't willing to get a ticket so she could do one more thing for who knows how long.

Yesterday I took the kids bowling. It was their first time. Nyla said she loved the game but Bohdin didn't appear to love it as much. He became frustrated and sad that he couldn't get a strike. At one point as I was consoling him Nyla had a spare. Luckily Bohdin didn't notice. Nyla was using the ramp while Bohdin did his best to throw the ball. Nyla stopped using the ramp at one point but she had so little force behind it that it would take about one minute for the ball to reach the pins. The ball even stopped rolling at one point halfway down the lane and needed to be rescued. Bohdin did a lot better the second game than the first but it didn't matter to him. He just wanted a strike. I don't know when we'll go back. Free bowling lasts throughout the summer.

Weeds

Our garden is doing pretty well especially the weeds. So far we have harvested green beans, carrots, lettuce, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, squash, pepper, and cucumbers. I feel like I'm forgetting things though. Our first corn should be ready soon. Melons and tomatoes are growing. This is our first time growing corn and it's been fun to watch it grow because it will grow inches in one day. It's the only thing that grows faster than the weeds. We do have huge weed issues that we are trying to deal with. It's a huge garden though and they grow faster than we can pick them.

I was weeding the tomatoes the other night and Nyla was next to me weeding for a while. She became bored and was looking for a bug to play with. She ran inside the house to get a small plastic container. She came back out and yelled at the ant to get inside. Of course the ant didn't so she kept yelling, "Go inside your home!". It made me think of Happy Gilmore. She gave up on the ant and tried to get a beetle and then a spider. She was really disappointed that no creature out there would play with her. She just couldn't understand it.

Weeded strawberries


Strawberries before weeding. They're in there hiding among the grass.



We stopped to get beef at the farm store yesterday after playgroup. Nyla really wanted to see the cows but they were all hiding in the shade. I told her they were sleeping in the shade. She said "I'll wake them up with my scary face.". Who wouldn't like that?

Lesson learned

Nyla is looking over my shoulder at these pictures. She says she wants to see the one where she stepped on the hot firework. Last night she dropped her mostly used sparkler on the ground and then stepped on it. I didn't actually get a picture of that. Her foot was okay but she cried about it for quite some time. We went upstairs to take a cool bath and then I had to put a bandaid on her foot even though there was nothing visibly wrong. Bohdin stayed outside with Buddy and watched some of the neighborhood fireworks. All we had were sparklers because I didn't want to spend the money on big fireworks.




Earlier in the day we went to the science museum. We were just going to go to the grocery store but once we were all buckled I remembered they were having something special about fireworks there that I thought Bohdin might like. The kids didn't have to be asked twice. We saw a demonstration of several different metals burning and heard the loud pops from hydrogen exploding. Bohdin learned a little bit. He also had fun a the new special exhibit and was sad that we didn't explore the whole thing before leaving. He felt better after I told him it would be there for several months.

I've been meaning to talk and post pictures of our garden for quite some time. That will have to wait a little longer. Nyla is dressed and ready to go to the fabric store to pick out the fabric for the back of her blanket. I haven't quite finished the front but I should today. There is about 15 more minutes of work. I'm not done with the back of Bohdin's big blanket yet either. If I'm really lucky I'll do that today as well. I made good progress over the weekend.

Busy Week

We've been out every morning this week. Monday after the midwife appointment Nyla wanted to go to the science museum. It is really close to the office so we went. First we had to stop at a restaurant. Bohdin accidentally spilled his food and was really hungry. We went to a Mexican restaurant near the museum since Bohdin had been craving chips and salsa. The kids had fun as usual at the museum.

Tuesday was playgroup. It was a very nice playgroup since the weather was finally cooler. This June was the hottest June on record. There were a ridiculous number of days over 90 degrees when the average high is in the low to mid 80s. It was a miserable time to be pregnant and a miserable time to not have air conditioning in most of the house. Tuesday was still above average but cooler than it had been in quite some time.

Wednesday was Nyla's dentist appointment. I thought the chances of success were less than 1% but she actually did okay. She will need some cavities filled and we will explore the OR route. Nyla's front fillings have fallen out and the back cavities are getting much larger. It sucks that both kids have my terrible teeth. When Nyla was in the back Bohdin wanted to check on her numerous times. Nyla was the same way when Bohdin was back there. At one point Bohdin walks out with Nyla. He told me he asked if it was okay but he lied about that. He just wanted to see her and she followed him out. She was done anyway so it was okay.

Thursday was the last beautiful day before the weather would start heating up again. In addition to the lower temperatures the humidity was low. We decided to finally check out the zoo. Everybody else in town seemed to have the same idea. Most of the park wasn't actually that crowded. The splash park was packed though. I'm not a big fan of zoos but this one was pleasant. Maybe we'll be able to go back one more time before the baby is born. Bohdin liked the splash park and the playground nearby but his absolute favorite part was the miniature train. There was a button to press to make it go forward. I don't know why he liked it so much but we came back to it four times. If it''s not obvious by the pictures both kids pick out their own outfits 99% of the time.







Today we stopped at the fabric store to get fabric for the back of Bohdin's blankets. I made a back but we decided it was too nice and it will become its own blanket. I'm done with the front of Bohdin's blankets and I'm getting close to finished with the front of Nyla's blanket. I want to take it in to be quilted next week. I also stopped at the consignment store that was having a half off sale. I picked up a lot of summer shirts for Nyla next year. When I told Buddy how many 4T shirts I picked up he wanted to know why I bought size four. I did it because there was just a lot of selection in size 4 but when he asked I also realized that Nyla will turn four next summer. Buddy said that's not possible. She is supposed to stay a baby. It's a good thing we have a baby coming so Nyla can grow up.