The greatest big sister ever!

Now it's time to tribute Taylor and all of her talents as a big sister. She has the touch of comfort for the little ones. Yesterday she was helping to clean and she made the act of vacuming fun for Liam. All of the boys follow her lead in just about anything, except Austin when it comes to dressing up. She squabbles with them too but when it comes to defending them she's the first to come to their aid. She's also a HUGE help to me. She brings me tea and gives me pedicures. She's been helping to clean the house also (something I detest doing). We've had a buggy problem lately so that's been of assistance since we're having to clean more often.

I'm so grateful for my daughter and look forward to her continuing journey into womanhood. She's going to make a fantastic mother someday. Hopefully she won't have to kiss too many frogs to find her prince (like I did!).

Brotherly love

Here are a few pics of the boys with each other. Liam loves his baby brother (at least most of the time). He helps me burp and comb his hair. He's really cute. Austin love snuggling with him nightly and Dylan likes to hold him too. It looks like Gavin may have dark eyes which pleases Dylan so that the balance of power (light vs. dark eyed people) in our family.

He's starting to really put on weight and growing into his skin...which is good because now his a scrawny chicken boy. His nickname is Mr. Fiske.

Life is good. All of the children are healthy and we enjoy them very much.

More pictures of our exciting day.

Here are some pictures of the kids and I during my hospital stay. Liam couldn't wait to play with the helium balloons Bill bought and the kids couldn't wait to hold him. They were always arguing about my turn, my turn!

I had the easy job of laying in bed and taking care of the sleepy child. Bill had to hold down the fort. He told one of my friends that it's definitely easier to go to work than to stay home. Anyway, he said the kids did a marvelous job. He did, however, buy some satan pants because he hates cloth diapers....oh well, he needs to stay sane this week. It's only a small package though so I think we're safe from all the militants!

I'm home now from the hospital and feel great. I'm even ready to start some housework and schoolwork if you can believe that.

So far Gavin is nursing well, I think. The pediatrician appointment is tomorrow so we'll see for sure how he's doing then.

Gavin is here!

Well, after what seemed like a long wait Gavin is here. On Monday I was having some contractions but they were very far apart so I didn't think anything of it. The kids got excited and starting rubbing the accupressure points on my ankles and hands. I was even online with my friend Rachel who told me to pack my bags but I still didn't because I wanted something to do when I was really in labor (something I find rather funny now!)

About 4:30 I had regular contractions but they were still about 5 minutes apart. They were bad enough that I didn't want to talk nor did I want to go to the library as I had planned. It was Taylor's night to make dinner so I sat on my balance ball and directed her. By 5:30 I needed to take a hot shower. When I was in there my water broke. Usually I deliver about 2 hours after they break my water so I went upstairs to tell Bill and instantly everyone jumped up from the table. I had to tell them to calm down that I still had to call the doctor. The doctor said, "This is your fifth? Get here now!" Okay into the car we all went. By the time we got to the hospital the contractions were 2 minutes apart and the ride itself was fairly miserable.

The nurses asked me if I was sure that my water broke and I said yeah, as it was running down my leg. They had to ask me lots of annoying questions like Am I suicidal? Um...no....not until you started asking me these stupid questions. They checked me and I was 6 cm dialated. I knew it would be fast. We got cups of ice to placate Liam (he's an ice cube freak!) and I got down to business breathing. The nurses decided I needed an IV line in just in case I needed fluids. Unfortunately they kept blowing out my veins and I was getting really cranky. They took pity on me and brought in a nurse anesthetist to do it and worked like a charm. My hands look like I went to the boxing ring though.

Around 7:30 I had to lay down. This is usually a sign for me that the baby is coming very soon as I normally sit in a lotus position through labor. I told the nurse and she checked me and I was at a nine. "You will probably go quickly so I'll get the doc but she's delivering the lady next door. " The very next contraction I started to scream, "Help, help, help." Austin and Dylan ran out of the room with Liam in tow and Bill yelled for someone to come in and the nurse was insistent that she'd just checked and I was only at nine. Well, I felt the head and yelled for help. Since I was laying on my side I flipped over and the baby shot out onto the bed. All of the nurses were standing there in shock as if they couldn't believe he was actually there on the bed. Bill looked at them and said, "The baby's out." That seemed to break their shock and they went to work.

The doc came in and introduced herself to me. I'd never met her before as I'd always gone to my doc in the same practice.

THe kids all got to hold him and then they left. As for me I couldn't sleep all night as I was so excited. That's the birth story. I'll post more pics later.

The gospel of entertainment?

He never sought to amuse them!(Archibald Brown, "The Devil's Mission of Amusement")

Jesus pitied sinners, pleaded with them, sighed over them, warned them, and wept over them; but He never sought to amuse them!When many of His disciples turned away, because of the searching nature of His preaching--I do not find there was any attempt to bring them back, by resorting to something more pleasant to the flesh. I do not hear Him saying, "We must keep up the gatherings at any cost! So run after the people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow! Something very short and attractive, with little, if any, preaching. Today was a service for God--but tomorrow we will have a pleasant evening for the people! Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it, and have a pleasant time. Be quick, Peter! We must get the people somehow; if not by Gospel--then by entertainment!"
No, this was not how He argued. Gazing in sorrow on those who would not hear the Word--He simply turns to the twelve, and asks, "Will you go away also?"

What a convicting sermon. This is especially contrary to today's sermons where the services tend more towards entertainment than education. We set people up to expect the Christian life to be full of thrills and amusement. When it is not they run away discouraged. May Christians boldly preach the gospel in love and may others hear with open ears.
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Liam's no good, rotten, terrible day.

I should have known when I woke up peacefully that I was going to pay for that later. Seriously, Liam had slept all night without a peep. He slept until 6:45 and then was happy to play instead of crying to get out. Breakfast went well! Then after breakfast I took Liam into my room to play while I put laundry away. We have this game where he stands on my bed and then I say, "No standing," and push him down back onto the pillows. He squeels with delight at this. Today we had done this a few times. Then, when my back was turned, he stood and ran off the bed and landed on his head on the hard wood floor. He cried and cried and I held him. No more bed fun for him!

Then I told the kids to be careful with Liam since I was already on concussion watch (my second mistake). Apparently when I say be careful the children interpret this to mean the opposite. Within a half hour Austin had tackled him on his bed and then Liam screamed bloody murder. Taylor brought him downstairs and Liam couldn't put any weight on his legs. He couldn't walk either. So it was on to the doctor for us. Fortunately he started to take some steps while we were there but we still had to go to the urgent care center to get xrays.

Since I'm pregnant they let Taylor stay in the room but I had to leave. He started screaming again when they laid him on the table. He had been chewing on a cracker and inhaled it and started choking. The tech sat him back up and tried to get him to spit it out but he refused. I had to go back there again to calm him down and then start the process all over again.

The xrays didn't show anything serious so we were allowed to go home. By the time we got home he was walking better but he still stumbles a little. He's tired from all the crying too. I'm thankful it wasn't worse but I'm praying for a more peaceful afternoon!

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

I don't think time seems to move slower than when you're waiting to have a baby. Unless, of course, you're waiting for medical test results. Both of which I've done in recent days. The night's are long and rest is rather elusive which I'm sure tends to exaggerate the problem. I've been praying to be patient and to wait on the Lord for His timing. I'm so grateful to be having another child. I know that there are many women who would love to be waiting for the birth of their own babies right now and I don't take that lightly.

For the time being though I'm trying to get the rest of my to do list done. I'm almost done with making my diaper bag, I finished a shrug for Taylor and her dress is finished. I need to do the shorts for the boys but that takes hardly any time. I finished a maternity outfit but then forgot to wear it for church! Oops!

Incidentally, a woman at church yesterday said, "You are always so happy looking. You always have a smile on your face." It was so nice to have someone comment on something other than my physical size. I do try to be happy and positive and it was so nice for someone to notice that.

Update on skin infections

Well it turns out we don't have MRSA. Instead Dylan has psuedonoma aeruginosa. It's not as bad as MRSA and you can get it from swimming pools or hot tubs. It's good news that we don't have MRSA as that would be quite the ordeal. I'm thankful for all the people that called and said they were praying for me. A lot of people said they thought I must be having the baby (I wish) but no I was just tired and a little emotional not knowing what all of this was. It's so comforting knowing that the Holy Spirit was prompting people to lift up our family in prayer.

A typical breakfast.

This is what I deal with every morning. I don't dress Liam until after breakfast because he's such a messy eater. You can tell he's quite pleased with himself. He hates to be clean. I call it wiping torture because when I clean him up he is so resistant. Such a boy! It's a good thing he's so cute huh?