Monday, April 23, 2007

"You take the moon out of the sky .."

One morning about a couple weeks ago, Colin was telling Bob this story. The story has been repeated many times since then, so I figured it is something to remember and share ...

Colin says, "You take the moon out of the sky and then the baby squishes the moon into the 'temp-can'. Then you take it outside and fire goes in it and it scratches the house." (Or some variation like that.)

It's very strange, and we can't figure out what the "temp-can" is.

April 15-20 trivia

This post is completely not related to the kids, but about stuff that happens between April 15-20. It's very bizarre, but this time frame is like the modern day Ides of March. All kinds of bad stuff. Here is a list:

April 15 (Tax Day)

1865 - Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by John Wilkes Booth.

1912 - The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic, causing the deaths of about 1,503 people.

1989 - Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, a football stadium in Sheffield, resulting in 96 deaths.

April 16

2007 - Virginia Tech massacre, the deadliest mass shooting in American history, leaves 33 dead, including the killer.

April 18

1880 - A F4 tornado strikes Marshfield, Missouri, killing 99 people and injuring 100.

1906 - An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.9, destroys much of San Francisco, California.

April 19

1993 - The 51-day siege of the Branch Davidian building outside Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Eighty-one people die.

1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168.

April 20

1889 - Born: Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born dictator who ruled Nazi Germany during the Second World War (d. 1945)

1914 - Seventeen men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a bitter Colorado coal-miner's strike.

1999 - Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves in the Columbine High School massacre.

Sorry for such a downer post.

Mom's Birthday


April 18th is my birthday so when Bob came home from work that day, he asked me to stay upstairs for a little bit. When I got downstairs there was an ice cream cake waiting! My favorite! So Colin and Nathan are sitting on my lap, they start singing "Happy Birthday", Colin really knows the words to that song, and Nathan is clapping like crazy! It was so sweet!

Monday, April 16, 2007

Road trip - Atlanta to Indiana

The very next weekend after Spring Break, we were on the road again. This time driving to Indiana to visit my Grandpa Davey, Uncle Tom, Aunt Laura and cousin Danielle.

We did the trip to Indiana in the middle of the night. We left Atlanta at 9:15pm Thursday night and got into Decatur at 6:15am Friday morning. It was pretty uneventful. Colin slept most of the night. However, Nathan woke up after we got gas at 3:ooam and just looked out the window the rest of the time, not fussing or anything, but not sleeping either. He did fall back asleep about 30 minutes before getting to the hotel.

The trip back was the one that I was really dreading. We drove back on Sunday and left just before noon. We got on the road, and Colin was a little chatterbox which soon turned into "I want to get out. I want to, I want to, I want to. I really want to. I do, I do, I do, I want to get out." Repeated about a hundred times. I really can't complain too much about it. It was pretty cute, and not too annoying. Although after a while Bob asked Colin why he wants to get out. Really glad he did, because Colin said, "I have to go to the bathroom." If we do more road trips, I really hope Colin doesn't figure out the golden excuse for getting us to stop!

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised about how well the trip back went. We were about 40 miles away from home when it got really really bad. Colin crying, Nathan wimpering, Bob and I at our wits end, praying for the last 40 miles to go quickly. Again, I can't complain about that.

Also, the trip was done without the help of a DVD player! Bob and I are so old fashioned. Which reminds me of the trips that I did when I was a kid. My sister, brother and I could roam around the car and lay down and do all kinds of things that kids can't do now because they are strapped into a car seat. Almost seems cruel to me, but there is nothing I can do about it.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Nathan's birth story - doula's version

Kristine’s first labor was long and arduous so she was due for a beak the second time around and she certainly got one!

She was expecting this little one on January 15th but as early as January 3rd the midwives were seeing changes in her cervix that indicated that she might go earlier. As of that appointment she was 50% effaced and a centimeter dilated. By Monday the 9th she was 2 cm. She was quite ready to go early and little Colin was ready too. “Mommy hurt?” he said when Kristine grunted and groaned her way through each day toward the end.

On Wednesday Jan 11 she was not too surprised to find her belly hardening a little more than before and had some pinkish discharge. At 2:30 in the afternoon she had a massage and Roxanne used the pressure points known to stimulate labor. At 5:30 that evening Kristine had her first ‘real’ contraction and wondered if this could be ‘it’.

By 11:30 she was still contracting and called me, the doula, to give me a heads up. At midnight she lost her mucous plug and by 1:30 am her contractions were 7 to 8 minutes apart.

At around 2:20 am, with Bobs hand on her big belly they both felt a ‘big movement’ as Kristine’s water broke. Time to head to the hospital!! The couple got things together and waited for Roxanne to arrive for Colin. They left home about 2:50 and called me to meet them at the hospital.

Apparently it was a pretty wild ride as Bob zoomed around an unsuspecting driver waiting at a red light. He raced to the hospital while Kristine tried desperately NOT to push.

When they arrived at Northside Bob began filling out the myriad of paperwork while Kristine sat nearby making fairly loud noises. She noticed that the security guard seemed to be trying his hardest NOT to look at her! Finally a nurse arrived with a wheelchair saying “We’ll take it from here.”

By 3:24 Kristine was in her room. All the nurses were trying to get Kristine not to push. She was, as she called it “tree frogging’ as Colin does, repeating over and over, “why,why,why” (why can’t I push??) The answer, no one was authorized to catch the baby; they were still waiting for the midwife.

Finally, the midwife was there and the pushing could begin. The baby’s head was already crowning. Apparently Kristine was pushing anyway! It only took about 5-6 pushing sessions, and at 3:37am a boy was born!

At 3:45 I walked into the room to a wailing baby and a shaking mother. “Things happened so fast” she said, and, of course, the one midwife who was her least favorite was the one on call. Kristine could hardly wait for the suturing to be done and the midwife to move on.

I got some blankets from the warmer, which helped with the shaking but not as much as finally getting her baby into her arms. It began to subside as she held little Nathan, or was it Kade, or maybe Kyle????? At least she and Bob were sure of the middle name, Martin, as they looked at their new son and tried each of the first names one by one.

He nursed well then had his first bath around 5 am, crying heartily while Kristine ate a much deserved but not too great sandwich. At least breakfast would be served soon!

By 5:30 or so he was back in his mothers arms and it only took one glance for his parents to be sure…his name would be Nathan!

So with Gush in one arm and Nathan tucked safely in the other Kristine was ready to move to her post partum room and wait for Colin to come meet his new brother.


It was an honor to serve you during this pregnancy and birth.
Blessings to you all
Guina Bixler, CLD

Nathan's birth story

Since I recorded Colin's birth story, I have to keep things equal so here goes Nathan's story!

I was due the 15th, which was a Sunday. That means the Friday before is Friday the 13th. I'm not super superstitious but I really would prefer not to have my second born on Friday the 13th, bad vibes I guess. So Wednesday the 11th, my sister-in-law Roxanne offers to give me a massage, she is a message therapist. She is aware of my desire to have the baby prior to Friday the 13th and during the massage is working the labor inducing points. During the massage, I am also working my natural birth mantras. My goal is a natural, unmedicated birth. I was not able to accomplish this goal with Colin because it was so long -- I had an epidural.

Well, that was at 3pm. At 5pm I had my first contraction, but I didn't know for sure if it was. Colin's labor started with my water breaking, so I never experienced the contractions coming first. For the next five hours, the contractions are coming every 20-30 minutes with no regularity at all. I'm still not sure. By 11pm the contractions are more regular, and we are pretty sure a baby is on the way. However, last time it took 30 hours, so we figured we'd call the doula to give her a heads up, go to bed and try to get some sleep. Thought we had plenty of time.

From 11pm until 2am, we are laying in bed and I'm visualizing the pain leaving through Bob's hand. (Pretty bizzare, huh!) I didn't plan on doing this, it just happened. At 2:20am, the contractions are about 6-7 minutes apart and then Whamo!, a big kick or something and a big gush. My water broke and soaked me and Bob! Instantly the contractions go to 2-3 minutes apart and the baby is coming! We have to call Roxanne (she's going to watch Colin), call the doula and pack the remaining stuff for the hospital. We figure that there's a mid-wife at the hospital on call, so we didn't call them.

So we get to the hospital, breaking many traffic laws including flying around a car at a red light. During the ride the urge to push becomes uncontrollable, and I tell Bob "I'm pushing". He later tells me that he thought I was doing it on purpose! So as we are checking into the hospital a nurse hears me (the whole hospital probably heard me!) and wheels me back while Bob finishes the paperwork. Then they keep telling me not to push. We had to wait for the mid-wife, (who would've been ready if we would've called first!). Turns out the mid-wife is the one that I don't like. As I say, it's the bad one. She calls me Jennifer the whole time in the delivery room.

Thirteen minutes after checking in, a baby boy is born! Bob and I are shocked. We thought it was going to be a girl. The pregnancy was so different than Colin's. But we are not disappointed in the slightest, he is beautiful! My first impression of him, is that he is screaming and I told Bob to go comfort him. And Bob starts talking to him and instantly he is better. They had him under a light to warm him up, he was a little cool when born.

Then I'm shaking uncontrollably, and the doula shows up and convinces them to put him on me. My shaking instantly goes away! Silly hospital, why use a warming light when you have the mommy's body heat to warm him up!

Now the naming decision, we had a girl's name picked out, and brought a list of boy's names. We knew that the middle name was going to be Martin, after my dad. I can't even remember some of the options, but I knew that Bob really liked Nathan. The more I looked at him, the more he looked like a Nathan to me.

So Thursday, January 12, 2006, Nathan Martin was born weighing 9 lbs 8 oz and 22 inches long.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

"I need some space"

Yesterday Colin went into the bathroom and closed the door, which is a new development because usually he leaves the door wide open. I wasn't concerned so I went about doing what I was doing.

After a while, I thought I should check on him, make sure he didn't need any help or anything. So I knocked and tried to open the door; it was locked. I called into the bathroom "Do you need any help?".

All I can hear is "I need ...", and I can't understand what else he is saying.

So I tell him that I can't help him if the door is locked. He comes to the door, unlocks it, opens it up and says, "I need some space."

Colin's flying friend

Flying home from Spring Break, Colin met an 8 year old girl named Ally who sat across the aisle from us. Ally was so sweet to play with Colin, who is only 3 years old. After we deplaned and were getting on the underground train to go to baggage claim, Colin shouted "Ally are you here?" because we had told him that we might see Ally at the train. She wasn't there, but she was at baggage claim. Colin was so excited! As we were leaving the airport, Colin said, "Next time, I want to go to Ally's house!"

Monday, April 9, 2007

Nathan walks!!

Nathan has been cruising (that's walking along the furniture and walls, always holding onto something) for ... I don't know, it seems like 4 months or so. We thought he would be walking at Christmas, but that didn't happen. So we kept waiting and waiting and waiting.

Well, last Monday we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was late, but we were still up and talking and hanging out with the kids. All of a sudden, Nathan starts walking, like all the way across the floor. Grandma and Grandpa were so thrilled that Nathan waited until a trip to Omaha to make his big debut! Just for the record, Nathan is 14 1/2 months old.

Cold spring breaks


So I mentioned that we went on a trip to Omaha for Colin's Spring Break. You would would think that April in Omaha would be nice. And it usually is! However, this year Omaha was lows of 20's and highs of 40's, and that's not taking into account the wind chill! Bob said that it was warmer during our trip to Omaha at Christmas time.

So here is a picture of Colin during our little excursion up to Ames, Iowa to visit mom and dad's college, Iowa State. I think it was colder there. Or maybe it was because we had lots of outdoor plans that didn't work out. I mean what's visiting a college campus without walking around like you used to do. In the picture above, Colin is wearing a borrowed coat, and we bought new hats and mittens for the boys.

So Bob also mentions that the last Spring Break that we took together. It was to Arizona, the Grand Canyon and San Diego, California back when Bob and I just met and were still undergrads at Iowa State. During that trip, Arizona had one of the worst cold snaps on record. All the people who lived there were wearing heavy winter coats, and Bob and I had shorts and t-shirts.

There must be something jinxed about Spring Breaks and us. I say the next Spring Break we do, should be somewhere where we can ski!

Multi-age classrooms

I just wanted to plug the multi-age classroom experience here. Maybe I'm biased, but Colin goes to a Montessori school where he has kids from 3-6 in the classroom.

With it getting warmer outside, we have been taking more walks and going to various playgrounds. On one walk, we ended up in another preschool playground. There were a couple of other older kids there, and I was appalled by how the kids were talking to Colin, like how he didn't talk very good for being three.

Anyway, on another walk, we went to Springvale Park playground (Colin's favorite!), and one of the older girls from his school was there. She was playing with a couple younger boys, younger than Colin. So Colin just joined in with their game. She was so good with them.

Could be just a coincidence, but I really feel that when kids are exposed to multi-age classrooms, they have more of an appreciation for what other kids, regardless of their age can contribute. So there is my plug.

Road trip - Kansas City to Omaha

Last week was spring break, so we took a trip back to Omaha to see the Grandmas and Grandpas, and sneak in a short trip to Iowa State where Bob and I went to school.

When we go to Omaha we usually fly, but it's very expensive to fly to Omaha. It's much cheaper to fly to Kansas City and bum a ride or rent a car. This time we were making the trek to Omaha from Kansas City in a rented car, and Colin was just a little chatterbox. The good kind of chatterbox where he says all kinds of funny things and is telling amazing stories.

So let's start with the elephants. Apparently he saw some cows and thought they were elephants (the cows in the Midwest must be bigger than the ones in Georgia!)

Then there was a Taco Bell commercial on the radio, and Colin heard the "bong" and asked what that sound was. I said, it's the Taco Bell bell. Taco Bell bell? He thought that was pretty funny!

Up in the sky was a big vapor trail from an airplane, and Colin said that a great big finger made a scratch in the sky.

Next time I want to have the camcorder handy and record all of the things that he says, because I just can't remember it all!