HELLO!

Ok before I start this post let me first say I am not one to brag about my kids accomplishments, don't get me wrong love them to pieces but I get bored to death when mothers start to compete and say "oh my baby walked at 9 months, said his first word at 5 months" and so on. But today I was talking to Luke while changing his diaper and he started to mumble back. Was really cute and I thought I wish I could get this on video. Well totally thinking I wouldn't be able to get anything I got 3 minutes worth.
On another note Noah and Caleb are headed to Rochester, New York to help Carlos' parents move to Florida. On their first leg out of Saint Louis there where only 2 seats available in the cabin. So the boys had to sit by themselves while Carlos sat in the jumpseat located in the cockpit. The boys didn't even sit with each other! I guess they were wonderful and slept for most of the flight, wow I may be teaching them how to be good young men after all (good grief they are only 5 and 3!). So Mommy is enjoying being the parent to just one baby, forgot how easy I had it when I just had Noah! But no rest here I have decided to give my house a good scrub down and I have to mow the lawn in this oppressive heat tomorrow...YUCK!

Noah swimming at the pool

Not the best video but it was kind of hard to get this one while holding Luke and watching Caleb!

His bark doesn't bite!

Mister Luke made it to the Doctor again today...blush, blush!! This time you could hear and see he wasn't well. His little nose was running like someone opened the floodgates, his eyes where glassy and his chest was rattling away. He woke up from his afternoon nap and was barking like a seal. I immediately called the Pediatrician and they got him in right away. He is on steroids and was much better about an hour after the steroid was given.
I just got off the phone with Carlos and he passed his oral and checkride...Yay!! Stress free for 6 more months (stress free what is that?)
Yesterday the boys and I went to the O'fallon pool with our neighbors Jenni and Kelsey. We had a good time, their pool is so much more fun. Noah got rescued by the lifeguards twice, once in the vortex where he totally went under and once in the lazy river, he just couldn't get the strength to get out of the current.
The boys had their last day of VBS today and they really liked it. Caleb I think really enjoyed it, he totally loves all the singing. I even got Noah to sing the song for me (shocking I know), I purposely stayed a little longer each time I dropped them off so I could learn the words and sing with them.

The ever elusive paci!

Here is Luke trying to get his paci once again.

Sprint stinks!

Those of you who talk to me on my phone know for the past 3 months I have been having issues with my cell phone. Usually the only place I can carry on somewhat of a conversation is in Luke's bedroom. Carlos and I have been stalking the people at the Sprint store to see what is wrong with my phone all of the sudden. Last night we went in there together (I tend to make somewhat of a big stink when it comes to lousy customer service). We told them that something has to be wrong with the phone. It worked fine for 9 months and now it doesn't work right. Our house sure hasn't moved so it is the phone. Well they did the diagnostic and said it is fine and there was nothing they could do, maybe it is because of all the power outages. Are you kidding me?! The power outages just happened last week my phone has been junk for the past 3 months! Anyhow the woman was absolutely useless and basically told us they couldn't replace our phone that is still under warranty. We called customer care and told them we wanted to cancel our service because they were unwilling to help, I guess they realized that we were serious and decided to replace my phone. I honestly think Sprint has the worst customer service in the world, we have had many issues with them but have been customers for 8 years!
In other news, Carlos is doing his recurrent this week, every 6 months I become a widow to constant studying and stress!! His oral is Thursday so please keep in your prayers that he does well! He also has an ear infection which he is taking antibiotics for and he should be well before his sim test.
Luke finally decided to sleep last night(9-2 and 2:30-5:15. 5:30-8:30). I introduced squash last night which he hated! He pitched the biggest fit that I would even think of messing with his yummy rice cereal. I took him to the Dr yesterday because he slept so awful the night before, up every hour and so fussy during the day! He was fine and had gained 11 ounces in one week. Dr. Dunn makes me feel so much better when I bring him and doesn't make me feel like an idiot.
Noah and Caleb are attending VBS at the Baptist Church in town. They were invited by Leigh Ann and I kind of had to get over the fact that I wasn't going to be helping in any way, I feel so darn guilty just dropping them off. Noah has also started another round of swimming lessons and has the same teacher as last time and she is amazed at how well he has progressed. There is only one other child with him so he has good one on one time with the teacher. He has to work on his front crawl and trusting his teacher.
We got a new Target closer to our house, it is great and I found a great diaper bag for me at a great price. I was so excited to have that search come to an end.

The countdown is on!

Noah officially starts kindergarten in 26 days! I really can't believe it, my boys are getting so big. He is not excited, but he was feeling the same way last year when he started preschool, and he LOVED preschool. We got our shopping list and the things the kids need for school these days is amazing!
Luke is officially back to being a newborn! He wakes up every hour and a half. Last night he just wanted to play. So there goes the idea that once you start solids babies sleep better, I absolutely hate when people say that because it is so false!!
Carlos had his last baseball game of the spring last night and they lost by one. He pulled another muscle in his leg and was hobbling all day but was well enough to go shooting with Eli and Nick this afternoon!
Can you believe it that people in Saint Louis are still without power? Luckily it is much cooler today, but holy smokes I can't imagine how uncomfortable it must be for them.
This week has been relatively quiet. I took the kids to the Science Center on Tuesday, which was probably the biggest mistake I could have possibly made on a day that was 100 degrees. Every YMCA and summer camp in the metropolitan St. Louis area was there. I could only handle so much with 4 kids and a baby that wanted to eat so badly but I couldn't find anywhere to sit to feed him..arghhh! Needless to say we went home after only an hour and a half!!

It is sooo Hot!!

I can't believe how hot it is here in Saint Louis. Yesterday I was at my friend, Leigh Ann's house and on the walk home (about 7 houses) I almost died! The heat index yesterday was 107! Then the sky just opened up around 6 pm. It was awful here in Wentzville but Saint Louis got hit even harder with winds in excess of 60 mph and lots of rain. 500,000 people are without power in Saint Louis which is just awful when the heat index is supposed to be 115 today!
I was scheduled for my foot surgery today in Saint Louis at 6 in the morning, not knowing the extent of the damage. When I got to the surgery center there was no power so that meant no surgery! It was frustrating because my schedule is so weird with Carlos being gone so much, and I had all my ducks in a row and now I have to reschedule for another time, but what are you gonna do? So Leigh Ann (she drove me) and I went to IHOP for breakfast which was nice without kids (just Luke he is so iffy with a bottle), I don't get to experience that usually.

Luke's first taste of food

Here is Luke enjoying his rice cereal...YUM!! Watch his little hands shake in excitement, he loved it so much I gave him 4 tablespoons of cereal.

4 Month checkup

Luke had his four month checkup today and he is still perfect...imagine that!? I waited this long to get his checkup because my favorite Doctor, Dr. Dunn was on vacation. Luke weighs 16 lbs. 1 oz (75th percentile), he is 26 inches long (85th percentile) and his head circumference is 44.0 cm (90th percentile). He is growing, that is for sure! Dr. Dunn also told me that if we wanted to we could start rice cereal. He really enjoyed his first go round tonight. I usually don't start food till about 6 months but he really has been showing great interest in food! Dr. Dunn also informed me (we got into a conversation about gas prices and the price of formula) that I will have saved over 2,000 dollars after a year of breastfeeding, kind of encouraging considering everything is so expensive.

How do I get this in my mouth??

Luke trying to get his paci in his mouth.

What song was number one when you were born?

I found this neat website that tells you just that, thought I would share!
http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/member/birthdayno1.php
Here are our songs:
Kendra: "How deep is your love" by The Bee Gee's
Carlos: "Me and Mrs. Jones" by Billy Paul
Noah: "Come on over Baby" by Christina Aguilera
Caleb: "Dilemma" by Nelle and Kelly Rowland
Luke: "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt (Love, Love this song!!)

Noah finally mastering his bike!

The background noise is Luke!!

Fun with Aunt Emily!

This week has been a dramatic week. Throw into the mix two hyper boys and a 13 year old Aunt and there is lots of yelling and tattling going on. The boys are so excited to have Aunt Emily here that they may be driving her nuts! They are typical boys who like to play rough and Emily just isn't used to it. We went to Saint Louis Mills on Monday which was pretty boring, I can only take so much with 3 boys at the mall. The rest of the week it has been so darn hot that we haven't done anything. I am afraid to take Luke out in the extreme heat because he doesn't handle it well and now there are heat advisories in affect till Wednesday. I figure today we will go to Target to get Emily some things, the fashion diva in me wants her to get some different things to wear.
Luke has had a good old 4 month old week, he is either rebelling on me for messing up his schedule the past 2 weeks or going through a big growth spurt. He hasn't been going to bed till 10 pm and he is waking up a ton in the middle of the night. He seems to be getting better though. Last night he slept from 9:45 to 4:45, which was so nice of him. He has officially become too big for his baby bathtub, which is so sad for me. It is so convenient to bathe him on the vanity, now I have to fill up the whole tub and bend over the tub, just isn't as comfortable. He loves it though, he splashes like the other two big boys in the house, which Caleb doesn't understand why he gets to splash and he can't. Luke is finally growing in his hair after he lost all of it at birth and is growing back his little rooster cone on the top of his head (his hair sticks up like a little mohawk, you can kind of tell in the picture).
I have had an eventful week trying to play referee with the threesome here and finally got the courage to resign as nursery director...pheww! I also seem to constantly have to explain my parenting styles to countless people here in good ol' Missouri! I had a conversation with two different people about sleeping babies. Now my children have always slept on their tummies against new studies that children should be put "back to sleep." I see the reasoning behind it and tried for weeks with Noah but he hated, gosh I hate to sleep on my back. I justify it in many ways. My boys always slept better on their tummies, had great head control from birth, and never spit up, NEVER! I have always been one of those over bearing Moms who is constantly watching her babies as they sleep. Well two different people have told me that sleeping on their backs reduces the risk of SIDS. Wow no way are you kidding me!? Insert major sarcasm!! I have probably read every book on child rearing and always look at what is best for them. Both these comments came from people who don't breastfeed and what do you know breastfeeding also reduces the risk of SIDS, amazing! OK I am done. Anyhow, God must have been sensing my tension with these unwanted comments and sent me this woman in Wal-mart who after talking with her for a while asked me whether I bottle fed or breastfed. I told her and she was amazed and told me her story about how she breastfed her kids way back when. She had such kind words for me at a time when I was just stumped with confusion at the way people just force unwanted comments down my throat. I asked her why breastfeeding is looked at so negatively in the Midwest and she started to hum Dixie and said it is just so country here (exactly what my Mother had told me).
Not much else is new. Carlos' company continues to furlough pilots which is stressing for me. Carlos always tells me things are OK but he wants me to not worry, so who know it could really be good or it could be really bad for us. It is amazing because there is so much flying out there and it seems Carlos is flying more than ever but his company has different plans I guess, we shall see.

First Boo-Boo

While I was feeding Luke this afternoon he managed to gouge his cheek with his sharpened nails that I just cut. I felt so bad because I usually pay close attention to him because he likes to stroke his face while he nurses and I usually stop him before he hurts himself. I was distracted by my bouncing 3 year old at the time who was "flying" off the couch...go figure! My boys have never wore those goofy mits that they have for babies because I think they are silly but I think he has done pretty good in being scratchless for this long.

4 Cubans on a raft!

Carlos thought of the title, not me! These are pictures from the beach!

4,000 miles later!

And we are back home! I have come to the conclusion that I never want to travel again in my life! My excursion started on July 4th. I originally had planned to leave on the 5th but the flight was very early in the morning and decided with 3 kids I was gonna be stressed to the max. So there was a flight to Pittsburgh on the 4th and I could meet up with Carlos there. So I quickly got our stuff together and drove to the airport, parked the car at the employee parking lot and everything went smoothly from there. The kids were great except for the complaint that they were hungry. I got us a pizza from California pizza kitchen (their favorite) and we quickly ate it. Our flight left on time and we arrived in Pittsburgh at around 7:30 (I think). The boys were great on the plane, I was really proud of them. We met Carlos at his flight to Raleigh Durham, North Carolina a few gates down from were we arrived. That flight left on time and we arrived in RDU at about 10:30. The boys got to go in the cockpit (after the flight was over) and we got to fly on one of Carlos' flights for the first time. We stayed in the hotel in Raleigh Durham and this would be the last nights sleep we would get for a couple of days. On the 5th our flight out of Raleigh Durham was supposed to leave at 12:30 and because of weather in Newark the plane didn't get there until 2:30. So we cooled our heals at RDU for a while, this woman came up to me and complimented me on how well behaved my boys were so that made it all worth while. We arrived in Pittsburgh (Carlos' last leg of his flight) late so we couldn't grab our connection to Florida as originally planned. So we had to change our plans and fly to Chicago to get a connection on United (we were flying Usairways) which was in a totally different concourse and Chicago is a huge airport. We warned the boys before we got off the plane that they would have to walk very fast. We deplaned and started walking supper fast. Now I didn't have a stroller for Luke and was just carrying him and wearing the most uncomfortable shoes in the world. I was ready to cry I was so stressed but I wanted to get to our gate. The boys were awesome in keeping up with us and were just being excellent. We get to the gate with 10 minutes to spare and they haven't even begun to board the plane and actually the plane isn't even there! So at this point I am sweating (I never sweat!), Luke is screaming (he has a dirty diaper and is hungry) and Noah and Caleb are hungry (we haven't eaten anything since 11 am). Now I am standing here with a dilema, Carlos went to get something to eat leaving me with the bags and the kids and I need to change Luke's diaper. I can't leave the bags and I sure can't take them with me to the bathroom. The gate area was packed there was 3 flights leaving out of the same area. I look around for a secluded area to change him and there wasn't one empty seat, all the meanwhile he is screaming at the top of his lungs. So I just plopped him down on the ground and started to change him in the open, something I said I would never do (I guess after 3 kids I have done well). So he had clean pants but still was hungry so I sat on the ground and fed him, at this point I am just about in tears and Noah and Caleb are hungry so they are starting to get on my nerves! Our flight out of Chicago didn't leave for another 3 hours!! It was awful, nothing good about being delayed in an airport with 2 boys who just wanted to get this over with! We arrive in Orlando at 12:30 am on the 6th! We proceeded to get a rental car but the computers were down at Budget and it took Carlos an hour to stand in line to get a car. Noah fell asleep on a chair but Caleb was so whinny and tired. When we got the car it smelled like cigarette smoke really bad but at that point we just took the car and dealt with it. We had another hour drive ahead of us till we got to Carlos' parents house in Deltona. An hour is what it should have taken but Carlos was so tired he missed the exit and we didn't get to their house till 3 am! When we got there we had to set everything up and didn't get to bed till 3:30. We woke up at 9 (the boys did) and Carlos cut the grass at his parents house, adjusted the sprinkler system. By the time we got everything done it was noon before we left the house to go to the beach. Now Deltona is on the east coast but we decided to go the west coast to go the beach. The waves are much calmer and I always like the west coast better. We arrived at Anna Maria island at 3:00 and stayed at the beach for about 2 1/2 hours. We had a great time it was actually relaxing! Since we were near Tampa we decided to go and see Brenda and Flavio and their two kids. We met up with them at 8, had some dinner and saw their new home. It was nice to see them and by the time we left their house it was 11:15 pm. I drove back to Deltona because Carlos' contacts were bothering him and he couldn't see, which was fine but I was soooo tired! We got to Deltona at around 12:45, packed up everything and went to bed at around 1:15 on the 7th. We woke up at 4 so we could drive back to Orlando to catch our flight to Charlotte so we could pick up my sister Emily and bring her back to St. Louis. Our flight from Charlotte to St. Louis was delayed but we got home at around 1:30.
I don't think I have ever been so happy to be back home. I have never been so tired either. Poor Luke hadn't had a good nights sleep in 4 days or a good nap. Overall the boys were good (as good as they could be considering the circumstances).

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

We hope everyone has had a great 4th of July! The boys and I (Carlos is working) went to the Wentzville parade. The boys loved it, except when 3 F-16s flew over us, did I forget to mention that they are quite chicken when it comes to loud noises! The boys behaved so well and waved to all the parade participants in hopes of getting candy. The pictures were taken today so I am not sure why the date is wrong...it is correct on my camera.
Tonight I am going to meet Carlos in Pittsburgh and then we are going to head down to Florida for a few days. I am having anxiety attacks about traveling with the 3 boys. Just getting from the employee parking lot to the airport is the thing I am most worried about everything else whould be OK. We shall see!

Slip n slide

VBAC research

I was looking at a study about the risks involved with VBAC and was pleased to find that the USA today published this article. It is very reassuring to see this in the mainstream now, since so many physicians shy away from allowing woman to VBAC when in actuality a repeat cesarean poses more risk to a woman than a VBAC. I will copy and paste the article:

Study backs natural birth after C-section
Posted 6/29/2006 9:28 PM ET



By Rita Rubin, USA TODAY
A study out today could lead to an increase in the number of pregnant women who try for a vaginal birth after a cesarean section, a type of delivery called a VBAC.
The study, published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, involved 17,890 women with a prior C-section who delivered at one of 19 academic U.S. medical centers from 1999 through 2002.
It found that those who'd had multiple C-sections were no more likely to have a uterine tear, or rupture, than those who'd had only one C-section. Ruptures occurred in nine of 975 women with multiple previous C-sections, or 0.9%, and 115 of 16,915 women with just one prior C-section, or 0.7%. Women with multiple C-sections were more likely to need a blood transfusion or a hysterectomy if they tried for a VBAC, but their actual risk was just 3.2% and 0.6% respectively.
"I think most practitioners have with time shied away from offering VBAC to women with multiple prior cesareans because of a perceived risk of uterine rupture," says lead author Mark Landon, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The Ohio State University in Columbus. If such women have an increased risk of rupture, it must be quite small, Landon said.
Gary Hankins, chairman of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' obstetrics practice committee, said he expects his group will now revise its VBAC advice for women who've had multiple C-sections.
In 2004, Hankins' committee said that the only women with multiple C-sections who are candidates for a VBAC are those with a prior vaginal delivery. The new study found that having a prior vaginal delivery made no difference.
VBAC has become one of the most hotly debated topics in obstetrics. In 1999, the obstetricians and gynecologists group advised that it only be allowed in hospitals with an "immediately available" surgical team. That guideline stemmed from concerns about the risk of a potentially catastrophic rupture in laboring women with a C-section scar on their uterus.
By 2004, the VBAC rate had dropped to 9.2%. Many hospitals and doctors would not allow any woman to attempt one.
"I think the important message from Landon's paper, and from our work, is that VBAC in women with multiple prior C-sections is very reasonable," says George Macones, chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University in St. Louis and author of a study last year that found only a small increased rupture risk in such women.