6th annual summer road trip

I am blogging on my phone, in the car, somewhere in the middle of beautiful Pennsylvania. Technology is amazing! 

Auggie had an early 2 month appointment at 7 weeks since we were going to be gone all summer. A week ago he weighed in at 12 lbs 4 oz and he is 24 inches long. Big boy! 

He has done ok on the road, although yesterday we went to Gettysburg and had to cut our 2 hr audio tour short because he just cried and cried. We will have to go back again when the kids are all a little older. 

Anyway, I'm jumping ahead. We dropped Joe off in Washington D.C. for a conference, picked up my dad (who drove down to meet us), and then drove to Fenwick Island, DE, where we stayed at my aunt's beach house. 

Our first day there we went to Assateague Island, where there are lots of wild horses. They didn't seem too wild, but it was fun seeing them on the beach. The kids read Misty of Chincoteague as preparation. 

Everyone but Auggie had fun on the beach. 

Grant got lots of sand in his shorts and my aunt taught us how to do a "sand evacuation." 

Logan got pretty good at the boogy board. Those waves were quite strong and even I got knocked down more than once. 

Logan. I found it on my phone just now. (I was reading up on puberty and boys and was relieved to learn that muscle obsession is normal for adolescent boys. I'm not ready for teenagers!!!) 

He really is a happy boy most of the time. 

The kids loved kayaking and were able to go out on the water every day that we were there. 

Grant's arms weren't quite long enough. 

Madi and Logan got pretty good at kayaking and even went out to the bay a few times. 

We went to the local beach our second day (pics mixed in above), and on the third day packed up to meet Joe in Gettysburg. Everyone told us it was a bunch of fields and not very exciting to drive through, so we tried to prep the kids as much as possible by learning about the battle of Gettysburg as we drove across the country. I highly recommend the book, What Was the Battle of Gettysburg? We bought a self-guided audio tour, which would have been fantastic if Auggie hadn't been screaming. Our trip coincided with the 152 anniversary of the battle, which was neat. 

Little Round Top

Pickett's Charge 

We ate a late dinner at a random pizza place; good pizza, nasty bathrooms. 

We stayed the night in Harrisburg, PA, and then visited Hershey, PA this morning. I wish we had studied up on the history of the man and the town before we went. We took the free tour, which was lame, but at least we got miniature kit kats at the end. There is a lot to do right there if you want to spend money, but as a family of seven, that means a good chunk of money and the kids kept saying they wanted to go to Grandma and Grandpa's, so we skipped out of Hershey after an hour of being there. Maybe next time.....

Now we are on our way to the farm, where the high today is 72 degrees. The kids are excited to ride four wheelers, gather eggs, pick wild berries, and play with the dog and cat. Grandpa even told Grant that he could be as loud and crazy as he wanted (outside). Yay summer!! 

monday monday, summer monday

First of all, I put August to bed at 10 pm last night and he didn't wake up to eat until 4:30 am this morning. That's 6 1/2 hours, people, and let me tell you: amazing. I can't remember the last time I got that much uninterrupted sleep! I know it might not happen again tonight, but it gives me hope that someday soon I will once again know what it feels like to not be totally and completely exhausted all day. 

I didn't get a picture of Joe with all the kids, unfortunately, but we had a good Father's Day. I took the kids shopping to pick out cards and gifts on the first day of summer vacation. Usually I have the kids make cards (cheaper and more meaningful), but it turns out that The Dollar Store has some really cute cards, and it is actually pretty meaningful to let them pick out their own cards because they manage to find cards that fit their personality--serious or funny or with a dog on it! They each wrote their own messages to Dad, and he said the cards were his favorite of the gift-giving part of Father's Day. It is also interesting to see what the kids pick out for their dad. Logan got him a picture frame, Madi a #1 Dad mug, Grant a pad of paper and pens, and Ammon got him water balloons and silly string. The funniest part was when Joe was about to open Ammon's present and Ammon leaned over excitedly and said, "You're really going to like it!" I was almost crying with laughter and love. I got Joe a watch (that he picked out and is wearing so it's not in the picture). We are so grateful for our wonderful dad and granddads! 

I try to keep things real, and I have not made it a secret that I was kind of dreading summer. I made a CHOICE that we were going to have a great summer, and I have a new testimony that my ATTITUDE really makes a difference--good or bad.  

Just because everyone is home does not mean my house has to be in a state of constant disaster. In fact, having everyone home means I have a lot of helpers. The amazing thing is that they have, for the most part, been very happy to help. The kids have been doing most of the cooking (with my help) and cleaning up after meals. We have had some interesting meals! For instance, today Madison decided to make chocolate milk whole-wheat waffles. They actually didn't taste any different than regular waffles, so it was a waste of perfectly good chocolate milk, but not a waste because now we know! Big kids really are so much fun! 

I continue to become more and more like my parents every year (which is ok; I can think of worse people to be like 😉). I put up a bulletin and white board right by our garage door entrance (they have one by their front door), mainly so that I can write down what the kids need to do each day before they can turn on the tv (also what my parents used the white board for). The kids find satisfaction in rubbing out their responsibilities when they are done. 

The house doesn't have to be a disaster, but it doesn't have to be spotless, either. That is another decision I have to make (every day). Creating and playing can be messy! 

My sister Rene taught the kids how to make wands when she visited in March. Grant and Ammon's wand broke, so Logan decided to make them new ones. He took 90 cents to Walmart and searched the craft aisles for wand bases. I really didn't think he could do it, but he has been making wands all weekend, and they are pretty awesome! 

His wand-making station 

A few of his creations. They are getting fancier and fancier! 

Some friends came over last week and were so impressed by the wands that he has decided to become an entrepreneur and sell them. He has had some great and encouraging feedback (thanks Facebook!), now we just need to figure out how to make a webpage so he can actually sell them. Maybe a blog to begin? I'm not sure. 

Speaking of wands--Grant finished Harry Potter 1 this morning. He was so excited and did this crazy happy dance while he pulled out the Harry Potter movie and the next book. He started reading it a few weeks ago and at first wanted to take turns reading it with me or with Logan and Madi, but once he got into it he figured out it was faster to read it by himself on his own time. I am so proud of him! 

A few years ago I bought this side table for $5 from a garage sale site. I have been intending to paint it for years but have never had the motivation to do so. When Logan was looking at the craft aisles in Walmart I noticed a small jar of gray chalk paint. I bought it, and last Saturday Madison and I spent an hour painting it. It looks good--much better than before--and Madison loved painting so much that she decided she wants to paint stuff (first up is a fun bright color for that picture frame). When she realized Logan just might make some money with his wands, she decided she wanted to figure out something she could do to make money. So be on the lookout for Madi's creations in the near future! 

surviving summer

So far so good in the summer department. Here's what's been going on: 

Cousin Maggie came to visit! 

 

Tummy-time!

Pool with friends. Every single day. 

Pizza night! 

Madison's hair-doing skills are getting pretty good. I am very happy to let her practice on my hair. 

The kids and I read Because of Winn Dixie together and decided to have a book/movie party with friends. We made the food that they ate in the book. Logan made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Madi made egg salad sandwiches, and Grant made punch. I tend to get stressed out about things easily, but I put the kids in charge and we kept things very simple, so it really wasn't stressful, but it was a lot of fun and we will definitely be doing more book/movie parties this summer. Book suggestions welcome!

They got the living room ready. 

Madison made signs to hang on the front door.

Grant swept the kitchen without being asked. 

Madi's signs. 

The party! I think I am missing a few kids in the picture. We had a great turn out!  

I should have taken a picture of the stairs. Logan taped them off early this morning to prevent kids from going upstairs (where all the toys are). It worked! 

summer kick-off

Sometimes I love summer and sometimes summer frightens me. Five demanding, begging, fighting, mess-making, noise-making, in-my-face kiddos. 24/7. There really is no escape and no personal time. This summer I am fighting against feeling frightened. We are going to celebrate summer and celebrate learning and celebrate time together.  

Day one of summer: Harry Potter party. 

The kids are planning and cooking most of the meals this summer. And they are getting better at cleaning up. These really are things to celebrate! (Logan made oatmeal for breakfast while I took a shower. It was a LOT of oatmeal!)

Madison has been practicing her fishtail braid on me while I read to the kids. (They know that if they play with my hair I will keep reading and reading and reading.) We just finished reading Because of Winn Dixie together and we are planning a movie party with our friends next week. Also, I sat down to read Harry Potter with Grant yesterday and he was almost 100 pages into the book. He explained that Madison had been reading it with/to him, and that really made my day. There is hope for sibling friendships! Yay for summer!! 

Happy 5 week birthday August! One of our favorite things is when we hear you start talking after you wake up in the morning. Everyone runs in to crowd around you. They make the silliest sounds and faces just so that you will smile for them. They also take turns picking out your clothes and getting you dressed each morning.

one month old, what?

I knew this would happen. It always does. The days/week/months just fly away and the kids grow up in a blink.

August is happy for about 15 minutes after he eats. He smiles and kicks his legs... and then he cries and fusses until we get him to fall asleep. I'm

hoping the crying tapers off as we reach the 6 week mark because honestly, it's exhausting! Luckily, everyone around here loves him and we have some great helpers. 

He has some baby acne, which is always sad. I just tell him to be glad he's not a teenager yet, because right now it doesn't bother him at all. 

Nights are going better. He has been sleeping between 4-6 hours, which is actually--believe it or not--a lot better than 2-3 hours. 

These stayed on for about 30 seconds. 

Grant took this picture. We played around with some of the filters--there are some really crazy ones that make us look really scary- like we are zombies or from the Dust Bowl. The things we do to amuse ourselves around here! 

And finally. Today is Fast Sunday and we have afternoon church, so we have some hungry kids when we get home. Today Logan prepared his break-the-fast snack before he left for church. It's a pretty random assortment. He even buttered his toast before he left. Logan was our crankiest baby, and he is turning out to be a pretty good guy, so I have high hopes for little Auggie. 

2 weeks

8 lbs 9 oz--not quite up to his birth weight, but he isn't quite so....bendy....so it's crazy to think that he was bigger than this when he came out of my belly. 

He is pretty consistent about eating every 2-3 hours, then he is awake for about an hour, and then he's back to sleep again! He usually wakes up twice to eat at night, and he has been getting better about going back to sleep--but it's still exhausting. My good husband lets me sleep in while he gets the kids ready for school. He has also been working from home and picking the kids up every day from school, so I am almost always able to take a nap during the day.  Love that man! 

I'm not sure if I am excited about school ending in 2 weeks or overwhelmed at the thought of having FIVE kids home with me all day, every day. Crazy!! 

Those lips! 

one week

Here's to perfection. He is such a sweet baby. I want to stare at him and smell him and hold him and take pictures of him all day long. 

He takes wonderful naps and he sleeps ok during the night (this is not to say that we are used to getting up with a baby, only that he doesn't scream inconsolably all night like one of our other kids did). 

He chews on his fist, takes a pacifier, and eats like a champ (once he latches on--there's definitely a learning curve). He loves to be swaddled tight like a burrito. If he starts crying (and I know he's been fed and changed) we wrap him up tight, give him a pacifier, and he sleeps for....until I wake him up to eat (except at night...he somehow manages to wake himself up every 3 hours at night). 

He doesn't seem to mind the after-school noise level in our home or the kids constantly in his face (it drives me crazy though) or being smooshed together as they try to figure out how to hold a brand new baby. 

He's everyone's favorite, and that's ok. 

I always feel bittersweet when a baby is born. I miss the kicking and stretching life in my belly, but Yay! I have my body back! Oh wait, nothing fits and the hard baby belly has turned to mush. Yay!--I can bend over! But...it was kinda' nice when everyone rushed over to help the pregnant woman. 

Hardest of all is the realization that this time in our life is coming to a close. When Logan was born I wondered why we wouldn't have as many as we could--and he was my crier! Joe says he'll take as many as I'll give him. But the reality is that I feel like I'm at my limit! (Ok, truthfully don't we feel like that at 1, then 2, and so on--and somehow we stretch to become more than we ever thought we could be.) 

There are the regrets. I didn't take enough pictures. I wish I had insisted that they not use pitocin. Things like that. 

But this is our story, and I can't go back, so we'll embrace the story and take more pictures. It's silly to spend my seconds thinking about what I would do differently--and yet, I have some kind of regret for every birth story (and after five you'd think I'd have it figured out). 

Really, though, we are all doing marvelously. After 5 kids, I can truly say that I know a little bit more about newborns, and that makes the transition a million times easier. (Knock on wood.) Also, having older kids who are pretty self-sufficient and also great helpers makes a huge difference. 

Of course, one of our favorite topics of conversation these days is who August looks most like and how he compares to each of the kids at this age. (I'm posting pictures below. Who do you think?) Of course this meant that we needed to pull the baby pictures out. The kids love looking at them and hearing all their baby stories. 

Logan cried a lot and never slept. New mom or cranky baby? 

Madi slept all night from day 1, but getting her to sleep was a nightmare. She also pooped a lot. All over everyone. 

Grant whimpered, and 2 yr old Madi dropped him while trying to console him (I was in the basement switching laundry). 

Ammon was delightful as well. 

August on his first day home. Also, as is customary, August peed on Dad during his (Joe's) first diaper change. The kids just happened to be at the hospital to witness it, and we (minus Joe) laughed and laughed.

Getting ready to leave the hospital. Seriously, he's gorgeous. 

August, today. (Ok, so the month/name thing might get confusing.)

Ammon 

Grant 

Madi (this is like 12 hrs after birth. So. Perfect. Also the only baby picture I have of her on Facebook). 

Logan (his pictures are all old-school pre-digital, pre-Facebook pictures). He was pretty beat up from a traumatic forceps birth. 

Everytime we looked through one child's pictures we'd say August looks just like that child. After making it through all four kids--we have come to the conclusion that they all look very similar. Siblings. Go figure! 

August Benjamin McGregor

part one 

I woke up around 2:00 am Tuesday morning having contractions that were about 7 minutes apart. I watched the clock for about an hour and decided that if I was going to have a baby I better get the laundry done. 

So I got up, did some laundry, tidied up the house, took a shower, and went back to bed. When Joe's alarm went off and I told him my sob contraction story he let me stay in bed while he got the kids up and ready for school. He even made pancakes--which I didn't eat, because I had a dr appt that morning, and he suggested that he, Ammon, and I go out for breakfast. By this time the contractions had slowed down to a few an hour (sad face). So we went out for breakfast and then I went to my appt. while he and Ammon watched a movie in the van. 

I explained my previous night to my OB and told her, "Those contractions better have been working because they ruined my night!" Sure enough, I was dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced. Yay! Progress! While she was checking me she said she was going to give me an "aggressive exam." Ok! 

The contractions started up again almost immediately and lasted the entire day. I called Joe around 1:00 pm and told

him I was packing my bag, taking a pregnant "speed" walk with Ammon, and that he should probably come home soon in case things got more intense. 

He picked up the kids and came home, but when it was about 3:30 we decided that it was too late to hope for a baby that day--it would be more convenient to wait until the next morning. Joe told me to take a nap (hoping that would slow down or stop the contractions) so I napped on and off for a few hours while he worked and made dinner (what a good man I have!). 

The contractions were still about 7 minutes apart but they were getting stonger, so I started texting our neighbor to make plans with her in case she needed to stay with the kids in the middle of the night. 

Around 10:30 I decided to take a shower and get ready for bed. My contractions were about 5-6 min by then, and I was pretty sure we were going to need to make a trip to the hospital. 

While showering, my contractions seemed right on top of each other. When I got out to time them they were about 2-3 minutes apart. I threw on some clothes, called my neighbor, and told Joe we better go! 

We arrived at the hospital around midnight, got checked in, and the whole time I was worried that they were going to send me home; my water has broken 3 times and I've never experienced spontaneous labor! By that point I had bloody show, was dilated between a 5-6 and fully effaced, and my contractions were between 4-5 minutes apart. They told me I was staying. Whew! 

Around 3:00 am I was only at a 6 so they told me they were going to start pitocin so that we could speed up the labor. I had previously warned my dr that my body reacted very quickly to pitocin. I explained it again to the nurse and she said that every pregnancy was different and that they'd start me on the slowest amount and check me in a few hours. At this point I was thinking, "Hmm. I don't think it will take that long." I need to be more assertive!! I know my body and my experiences--why don't people believe me?! 

About 15 minutes later the nurse rushed into the room, shut off the pitocin, rolled me onto my side, and put an oxygen mask on me. I was a little alarmed! I have never needed oxygen during labor! She said that my blood pressure was too low (I was feeling light-headed and dizzy) and the baby's heart rate was too low. I explained to her that the epidural wasn't working and she asked me to stop pushing the epidural button because she thought that might be affecting my blood pressure. 

I told her I felt a lot of perennial pressure and right then my water broke. I hate to call Joe out here, but he had been sleeping through all of this, so I called out to him to wake up!!! 

She decided to check me then, and of course I was dilated to a 10 and the baby was crowning. (It took less than 20 minutes of pitocin to take me from a 6 to a 10. People should listen to me!) She tried very hard not to show panic, but she started calling for back up nurses and NICU because there was meconium in my water and they were not ready for the baby. They assured me that although my dr might not make it in time, they had delivered plenty of babies. I was told to not push. 

Thank goodness for that epidural! 

My dr arrived about 10 minutes later and after 4-5 pushes little August was born at 4:01 am. I say little, but as I watched them pull him from my body all I could think was, "How did that fit into my body!!" 

He was 8 lbs 12 oz and 21" of perfection. More hair than Logan and Grant, but less than Madi and Ammon.  His face is round like Madison's was, but he looks like Grant to me. 

His birth was a little traumatic for him--he swallowed A LOT of poop! They spent a good amount of time trying to suction it out so that he could breathe. He descended through my body in about 20 minutes--much faster than he was supposed to! For the last 24 hours they have been monitoring his blood sugar  (he failed only once) and oxygen levels, but he is looking and sounding great now, and we are ready to go home tomorrow! 

To remember to write about:

*hospital stay

*sibling visit

*24 hr old Auggie

*thoughts and feelings

*namesake

thoughts

Every day I wake up and think, "Today could be the day!" And then I go to bed and think, "Welp, I'm still here. Tonight?"

Every time my tummy cramps and tightens I wonder if it's the beginning of the beginning of the end. 

I'm dilated at a 1. (Those cramps aren't doing anything!) I have a long ways to go. My OB assures me that it could happen any time--and that it will most likely happen quickly. 

I'm still here. I'm still crossing things off of my to-do list. I cut all the boys' hair this morning. I zoomed through their thick hair--maybe 5-10 minutes per boy, and you know what? They look pretty good. I guess that's what happens when you have a bunch of boys to practice on.  

I'm caught in the middle between wanting this baby to come--today. But then again, tomorrow would be fine, too. Because even though this big belly is getting in my way and my ankles are swollen and I feel down right miserable sometimes--I know I'm going to miss it. The movement, the belly, the experience. (The sleep, the {relative} quiet, the independence.) Am I crazy? If you ask Joe, he might say yes. I've been able to do this 5 times: what an amazing privilege. 

So I told him he needed to take a ton of pictures over the next few days because I want to have something to remind me of this body and this experience. 

If I wake up tomorrow and I go to bed tomorrow still carrying a basketball in my shirt, I will savor every single second. 

But no matter what, I will hold a baby on Thursday. (Due to size, experience, and--yes--convenience, we have decided that a womb eviction is probably in order.)  And that is both exciting and terrifying.