Rescheduled!

Well, I got a call yesterday late in the afternoon from Children's Hospital. They rescheduled Simon's appointment for next Tuesday March 6th. Grrr. I guess the good part about that is they don't see this as an emergency situation that has to be dealt with immediately. I hate waiting.

I am going to take my unplanned day and meet Misty at Costco. We are out of some of our staples. I gotta tell ya though, the kids weren't happy that they had to go to school today. Stella and Greg were going to do something fun with Hannah today. She was quite mad about her canceled day of fun. Can't blame her. I don't think she realized how unfair it was to Simon that he would have gone off to the doctor while she sat in a movie theater. Don't worry, Simon was gonna get some one on one time with them too. Hannah sees Simon missing school in a different light. Silly girl. I'd much rather he was at school with his boring teacher than getting MRI's and such. I know Hannah likes school so I need to figure out a way to help her understand that Simon isn't getting fun special treatment. That this is serious and keeping her on a normal schedule is important.... do you think she'd really get that? No. She'd hear the words and say, "But, MOM!"

Birthday boys

We had a nice party yesterday for the birthday boys. There were a lot of people here. It's nice to bring a lot of friends with you to another state. Acclimating is much easier with friends. Seth liked his messy cake and all his wonderful presents. Daniel is going to be frequenting Starbucks a lot over the next few weeks to use up all his gift cards. Note to self- Buy stock in Starbucks! Here are a few pictures just to let you know how it went. I did indeed get a hockey cake for them. I figured that Dan would like the hockey aspect of it and Seth won't remember what it looked like anyway!

My posting might be a bit spotty for the next week or two. Dan's mom and Greg are in town for a while and they are camping out in my office/sewing room. That sadly means that I won't be able to do much quilting but it is a fair trade. It's very nice to see them. My fabric won't get to lonely... I think....

I will post with the updates on Simon's appointment Tuesday. I hope we don't get to much snow since we have to drive all the way to Philadelphia which is about 1 1/2 hours away.

Birthday

I am reminded today of Seth's birth and thought I'd share his birth story. He came to us on his due date and as you know his daddy's birthday. We had a beautiful home birth with our midwife Tracy, her assistant Maren, my mom, Hannah, and Simon. It was so perfect at home in my own environment. I really wish more women knew the power and fulfillment of giving birth at home. Dan kept the mood light while I labored. He made me laugh and smile. My mom just knew what to do. How is it that moms are so incredibly smart?

Not long after I took Simon to school in the afternoon I realized the contractions I'd been having off and on might be the real thing. I called Dan and he headed home. I think this was around 1:30. I called Tracy too and she decided that instead of me going to see her for my check up that she'd come to my house in the evening. I was to call her if things picked up because my contractions were still like 7 minutes apart but my last two labors were only about 6 hours. I also called mom so she could head down from Cheyenne which would take at least an hour and a half.

Dan and I started setting up the birthing tub together. He had to go get Simon from school so between contractions I finished setting it up. Hannah was already home since she was running a low fever so she had come home with me when I dropped Simon off for his half day of preschool. I can't tell you exactly what order all the things happened in but at some point I called Tracy and told her things were picking up. My contractions were about 4 minutes apart then. I don't know who got there first but mom, Tracy, and Maren were all there. The first time I was checked I was dilated to 6-7 so I relaxed on the bed while they worked on getting the tub filled with enough hot water. Things went on around me like the midwives setting up, mom cooking a delicious soup for Hannah and Simon's dinner, and the phone ringing with well wishes for Dan's 32nd birthday. Once the tub was ready I think I was starting transition. I got in the tub and it felt nice but I didn't think it made the contractions easier. There comes a point where not much makes them better! I started to lose my ability to let them happen and wanted to stop them. I had to stop them! So I started pushing. It didn't take very many pushes to get him out. We were so excited to met this little person since we didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. Here he was, Seth Daniel Grisinger. So perfect. We'd done it again. He was born at 6:17 pm weighing in at 8 lbs.

I know I bled a lot after he came out but Tracy knew what she was doing and helped me through it. It was a fantastic birth. Seth is a wonderful addition to our family and this last year has been nothing less than a whirlwind of excitement and changes. I expect nothing less for the rest of our lives.

Happy Birthday Seth and Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband.

Dan's little clones

I posted some pictures of Hannah and Seth a few days ago to show how much they look alike. Well, they didn't get it from me! I just grow little clone babies for Dan. At least Simon looks like me.

Seth and I have done a lot of running around today. We had a Moms Club meeting and Gymboree. Plus I needed to go get a present for Dan. Thankfully we had another beautiful day and I was able to walk the kids to and from school. Hannah and Simon were rather wet when we got home from sloshing through all the yucky melting snow. Tonight I get to go see Music and Lyrics. I totally love fun chic flicks. I am hoping this one will be cute.

The house is coming along well

Our house in Denver seems to be almost back to normal! What a miracle that is. Susan sent me some pictures of the new color on the walls. I think it looks nice. The whole house looks bigger. We talked about painting the upstairs too but we just can't swing it right now.

The new hardwood floors are sitting there acclimating for a while before they are put in. I am not sure how much longer they need to finish up the house but I am pleased with the progress so far.

We have a few birthdays to celebrate this week. My little brother Karl (who isn't very little anymore) turned 20 yesterday! Also, Happy Birthday to Alex, Russ, and Karl who are also on the 19th (Yup, two Karl's with the same bday! Pretty cool!!). Then it's Dan and Seth's turn on the 22nd. Dan's grandpa is on the 23rd. Phew, that's a lot of birthdays for one week! Of course, my birthday is just around the corner. The 5th of March for those of you who don't know! ;-) Hopefully this birthday will be more fun than last years when I was 11 days postpartum!

In quilt related news, I got the binding finished last night on Misty's quilt while watching Hero's and Studio 60.

Progress

I have made a lot of progress on my current quilt projects this week. I finished the last row on Ben and Susan's quilt. Yippy!!! Now for the borders. I am also working on the binding of Misty's baby quilt. I am so excited to be so close to done with them! Then I can start on something new and have actually completed a few projects.

Well, we finally made a decision about Taz. He is going back to the SPCA tomorrow. It was a very hard decision for us to make but I think it will be for the best. He needs so much more than we bargained for. We thought we'd bring home this older dog and all he'd need was a diet, long walks, and some love. It turns out he needs Thyroid medicine, serious antibiotics for the Lyme disease, and someone to wipe his butt for him daily. Oh, and he still needs to lose weight because he hasn't lost any since we got him AND that may not take care of his joints problem. I hope a new family will give him a good home. He is just more than we can take care of right now.

I was reading my mom's blog and I realized I forgot to tell you all about the ice that disguises itself as snow! I knew that they were warning us about the ice but I figured how bad can ice be.... Well, as my mom put it, it's like concrete. I went out to my car on Friday and went to clear the snow from the windshield only to discover that it isn't snow at all. It was solid ice and it was about 4 inches thick! Thankfully the kids were in the car so they couldn't hear all the obscenities I uttered. AND when I backed out of the drive way my car didn't even sink at all in the snow/ice! Amazing! The only really cool thing is how the trees look all covered in ice. They sparkle. Now, if you even tried to go look at them you'd slip and breal something but it's quite lovely. Ok, now I was reminded of a movie qoute, "...well, I am not saying I want to build a summer home here, but the trees are actually quite lovely." Name that movie....

Like daughter, like son

Here is a picture of Hannah at one year old....
This is Seth at almost one...

Do you think they look alike?

Simon's MRI....

showed something not so good. He has fluid build up in his spine, a condition called syrinx. His MRI was early this morning. We had to be there at 7:15 am. Not long after they started it one of the doctors that over sees the procedures came out and asked me if it would be ok to do the MRI with contrast because he saw what looked like the cerebellum as it comes down into the spinal cavity is to big and it causes the fluid to not flow as well in the spine. This might be the direct cause of the scoliosis but that has been put on the back burner for now. Simon was sedated for almost 2 hours. Poor kid. He had a really hard time waking up.

Simon's orthopedic doctor called me about an hour ago and told us we need to go see a pediatric neurosurgeon to talk about what our treatment options are. We have to go all the way to Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. The appointment is in 2 weeks. I really don't fully understand what all this means quite yet. I am sure once I understand this more things will make more sense to me and it will be a little easier to process.

A quiet Saturday monring

Ah, the sound of quiet..... How long will it last?

Hannah and Simon decided that is was warm enough to go outside and play. It's only mid 30's out there. Seth is taking his morning nap and Dan is sleeping in. His favorite weekend activity! Ok, napping is Dan's favorite, sleeping in is probably second.

I've managed to get a few more blocks done on Susan's quilt today and Misty's quilt is almost done. I just need to do a bit more hand quilting and put on the binding. I'll give her the quilt at her baby shower on March 3rd and then I can post a picture of it. I hate not being able to share it. I think it is a wonderfully bright quilt.

Speaking of Susan, she is such a great sister to have! Ben and Susan have been helping us with our house in Denver. I cannot say thank you enough for that. She went yesterday and picked out my new hardwood floors, kitchen tiles, kitchen counter tops, and basement carpet. Yes, I trust Susan and her good taste so much that I let her pick!

I spent a lot of time this morning reading a blog that I found recently. I love her posts about being a lactivist. As many of you know I am a crunchy breast feeding-home birthing-sling wearing mama! I can't help it.... it just makes sense. I haven't fallen all the way into being granola. We don't eat all organic (it's so darn expensive!) and I don't cloth diaper even though I wish I did sometimes.

Anyway, I hope everyone out there has a fantastic weekend. The quiet just ended with Simon running in the house yelling, "Brrrr!!!"

The Fair at Yankee Poo

Yes, it's a strange title for a post. Hannah's play they performed at the end of Theater Week was The Fair at Yankee Poo. It was very cute too. All the kids learned the songs and their lines in 4 days and did the play on Friday. Hannah was one of the princesses, of course! That is one of Hannah's friends Claire. She is also a neighbor and her mom is a great lady.

On to quilting news.... I actually managed to get quite a bit done on Susan's quilt! Hurray for me! I got an entire row done and a few more blocks. I am almost done with the 7th row. Usually I wouldn't do a quilt row by row but I am fading the colors from light to dark and it's so darn big I can't just make a ton of blocks and lay it out.