Future daughter-in-law saved!

Today Hunter's friends were over as they have been almost every day since we've moved in. When I say Hunter's friends I mean Avril and Christopher. They live two doors down. Avril is in 1st grade like Hunter (different class though) and Christopher is in K5. Apparently Avril is a self-proclaimed monkey and loves climbing trees. We have some pine trees that are awesome for climbing in our yard. Their most recent activity of choice is to try and climb them. Avril climbs up SUPER high. Well, today they were out back climbing and John, Greyson and I were inside. Christopher came in and was telling us very animatedly, "Someone has to come and look at Avril! She is WAY high up and stuck up in a tree! We need help!" Well, Christopher is somewhat dramatic and so we didn't jump and run immediately, thinking that all was probably okay. But John did decide after a few minutes to go and check (I was nursing). After about 10 minutes John came inside panting and told me he had to climb up 30 feet into the tree (in his socks) and save Avril! She had been suspended with her hands on a branch but her legs dangling mid-air. On his way up to get her she was saying, "My hands are slipping!" YIKES!!! Thank goodness he reached her in time. She would've been seriously injured had she fallen. Later John told me that Hunter came up to him and said, "Dad, thanks for saving the life of the only girl I'm gonna marry."

Family visit

Yesterday early evening the family came to visit Greyson and I in the hospital. John's parents brought the boys and it was total chaos. I got a glimpse of how my life with four boys will be and then took promptly took a nap after they all left. It started out really sweet though with the boys very interested in Greyson, especially Tyler. He has a little baby doll at home that he loves to care for and I think it was a real treat for him to see and hear a real baby. We inherited the doll from a friend during a playdate that he just couldn't part with when we were leaving. He loves to take the baby for walks with the play stroller she also gave us, tuck the baby in to go night night, give kisses and hugs to the baby, change the baby's diaper, even give the baby time outs! He straps her into the time out chair and when I ask him what baby did wrong he says, "Climbing" or whatever offense he has most recently committed. It's really sweet to watch his compassionate side grow as he learns how to properly care for someone else and I thought it great practice for when Greyson would be in our household; however, he has recently taken to jumping on the baby which of course concerns me greatly. I make crying sounds for the baby when this happens and tell Ty that it hurts baby. He then picks her up, gives her kisses and hugs and then jumps on her again. EEEK!!!

Getting back to the visit, Ty barely left Greyson's side the whole time. He was pointing to all of his parts and saying, "Baby eyes" and "Baby nose." Everyone thought it was really cute when he asked, "Baby toes?" and was looking under the blanket for his toes. He also (unasked) gave Greyson lots of kisses and hugs. He patted Greyson's head a lot too and kept saying, "See! See!" if I was holding him so that he wasn't able to see him well. Brody was more interested in turning on and off the lights in the room, opening drawers and jumping on the bed. Hunter was very sweet also. He immediately saw him when he walked in and said, "Awwww...he's so cute!" He insisted on putting Greyson's hat on and showing him off to everyone in the room with his new look. When they all left he said, "See you later Harvey!" (What he insists on calling him.) They stayed for about half an hour and managed to set off two emergency alarms in the room and the nurses came running for nothing. Boy is it hard to watch four kids at once. I'm getting nervous...

What a week!!!

This week has been easily the busiest in our lives. We moved on Friday to our new house, closed on Monday and had a baby on Wednesday (yesterday). First topic...the move! We kept Hunter home from school on Friday so that he could be a part of the action. He was such a helper! He probably carried 20 boxes all by himself out to the moving truck. One of the movers even commented, "Wow...Hunter's puttin' me to shame. I've gotta pick up the pace here!" It was really cute. We were thankfully able to move in a few days before closing because the previous owners of our new house allowed it. The closing on our house in Milwaukee kept getting pushed off because of some minor paperwork issue with the buyers. It was a mess but it all worked out. We absolutely LOVE our new community and our neighbors are awesome! There are a lot of kids in our neighborhood for Hunter to play with. It's everything we wanted and more!

Monday's closing went off without a hitch! I was over at the house on 39th Street for the last time that morning to pick up one last thing and it was bittersweet walking through those doors for the last time. We made some really great memories in that house. We brought our babies home there and watched them take their first steps, eat their first foods, and smile their first smiles. We really did love that house and will miss it. But our new house is even better and we have plenty of memories to make there! We'll be taking home our new baby there which brings me to our final topic...

Yesterday morning I had a doctor's appointment and learned that I was dilated 5-6 cm, 70% effaced and my doctor mentioned that all I needed was for my water to break and that baby "would just fall out!" We made plans that if I didn't go into labor naturally by next week, she would admit me to the hospital and break my water and make it happen. The reason being that now we live further from the hospital and need to wait an hour before even leaving for John's parents to arrive from Madison to take care of the kids. Since I was already dilated so much she feared I wouldn't make it to the hospital. I agreed that it was a good plan. I did not want to end up delivering at home or on the freeway, especially given that I wanted a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) which is already somewhat risky. The rest of the day I spent unpacking boxes and chasing after two toddlers as normal. By the time we walked down to the bus stop to get Hunter I was feeling somewhat regular contractions and decided to start recording them when I returned home. They started about 20 mins apart, moved to 10 pretty quickly and were about 6-7 when I called John at about 4:45 p.m. to alert him to hurry home. He was already on his way and called his parents to come on over. John's mom's best friend Laurie lives in Hartland, which is much closer and she asked her to come to cover the interim between when we left for the hospital and when they arrived. Laurie and her husband arrived about 10 mins later and we were off. By the time we got to the hospital the contractions were about 3-5 mins apart but not too intense. I was still 5-6 cm dilated a few hours after arriving and at 8 p.m. my nurse said that Dr. Schell's orders were to allow me two more hours to progress naturally and if there was no change in my cervix by 10 p.m. we could return home. She also gave me the option of breaking my water to send me into more active labor. I opted to hop in the whirlpool tub and let things progress naturally. And they did. After an hour of the whirlpool my contractions picked up and were much more intense. By 10 p.m. I had progressed to 6-7 cm and 100% effaced. They told me I was staying. Dr. Schell was finishing up a few more charts in her office and would head over to the hospital afterwards to break my water (upon my request). When she got there I was at 8 cm and was having what I think were pretty violent and super unpleasant contractions every 2 mins. She broke my water and went to change into her scrubs. My contractions became even more intense and less than ten minutes later Greyson was born. I had the urge to push even before she made it back into the delivery room. I thought for a second that the nurse was going to catch the baby. I told the nurse that I needed to push and she said that I could bear down but "don't push the baby out." I said, "How do I do that?" I tried my hardest to control the urge until Dr. Schell returned, which seemed like an eternity but was really only about two contractions more. When she got there I told her I had to push and she said, "Well, let's check to see if you're ready." I WAS READY, believe me!!! She said I was at 9 cm but I didn't care. I was pushing no matter what. She said she wanted me to contract which she was checking me to see if I could push past that last centimeter. That was super uncomfortable but worth it because she said, "Yep...One good push and she should be able to do it! Let's get her ready!" I pushed twice and he was born. Greyson Pierce Collins was born at 11:13 p.m. and weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. We are all so relieved that the VBAC went well, no ruptured uterus and that he is healthy. I am especially thankful that I will never have to experience childbirth again. Not fun. But the end-result is soooo worth it! He is so precious!

Box hunt

The other day we ran out of boxes so I called around to Target, Wal-Mart, and some grocery stores to see if they had any and they said they either crush them immediately in their compactors or I should come back late at night to see if I could get some. Neither option worked for me because I had two friends coming over to help me pack that evening and no boxes. So I loaded up Tyler and Brody and drove around to the backs of stores to check dumpsters for boxes. I was desperate! Luckily a bunch of the dumpsters were labeled "cardboard only." Unfortunately most of them were either locked or empty. I checked one behind a craft store and to my surprise found all these crafts that had just been thrown away! I couldn't believe that this store would throw away perfectly fine merchandise for no reason at all. Why not donate it? So, being the resourceful teacher that I am, I collected some things that I could give away as prizes in my classroom. Afterall, they were in original packaging and clean. I also grabbed a few things for Hunter. I feel that if I can save a few things from ending up in a landfill and make some kids happy in the meantime it's win-win! When I picked him up from school that day and gave them to him he was very excited and asked to see the dumpster. I took him over there and he was elated! That evening when my friends came over he was thoroughly thrilled to tell them of our adventures at what he called "the magical dumpster." I couldn't stop laughing at that one. The next morning and every day since then he has asked, "Mom...can we go back to the magical dumpster today?"

Learning to pronounce

Tyler and Brody are talking so much that it's really hard to even keep up with them! They learn and say lots of words every day and it's so fun to finally be able to peek into their little brains to see what interests them. Some of the pronunciation of their words are very cute and I just had to document how they say some of their common words.
"Me-mow" is Mater (one of their favorite characters even though they've never seen the movie)
"Yehbow" is yellow (and every color is yellow to them at this point)
"Beh-mmm" is basement
"Unc-unc" is uncle
"Wowow" is water
"Biko" is blankie
"Neh-Neh" is Hunter
"Scee-wee" is scary
"Dee-oows" is stairs
"Nuggy" is snuggly
"Owiy" is owie
"Garbige" is garbage
"Bee-oow" is bear
"Doo" is two
And speaking of "two" they are learning how to count! They will repeat all numbers to ten when Hunter asks them to repeat after him but they know one and two by heart. The other day Tyler was walking down the stairs and saying, "one, doo, one, doo, one, doo" over and over until he got to the bottom. This is the way they count! So cute.

Pregnancy and moving

At my 37 week appointment three days ago I was told I am now 3-4 cm dilated and 60% effaced. I'm having contractions that I wasn't feeling then but am feeling now. I also have had a persistent back ache the last day or so but I attribute that to bending over while packing a million boxes. I will forever be grateful for the friends and family who have come over to help us prepare for our move. They have been such a tremendous help. My in-laws were here on Sunday to help with the basement. Then Shelly, my close friend and rock-star Realtor, came over on Monday to help with the kitchen. On Monday night my dear friend Sara came over and helped put the boys to bed, then packed more of the kitchen and some of our bedroom. Finally, last night two of my closest friends Becky and Keem came over and helped empty the storage off our master and bring down all those boxes as well as helped me pack up a bunch of miscellaneous stuff in various rooms throughout the house. I always hate asking for help but feel so good when I do. It's so nice to know that your friends and family are there for you when you need them most. I could cry! It also made the process a lot more fun! It is very, very hard to get anything done during the day with Tyler and Brody digging through boxes and pulling out everything you've just done or getting into trouble elsewhere in the house. The only time I really have is while they're napping and I have other things to do during that time that pull me away (like blog, ha ha!). Seriously though, I haven't taken much time to myself and I just had to update my blog today. Not even counting the work involved with packing, there is SO MUCH that has to be done when you buy and sell at the same time. There is ridiculous amounts of paperwork and forms that need to be signed and forwarded to appropriate parties, the coordination of the movers, changing your address with dozens of companies, canceling and setting up new service with utilities/phone, etc. I will be so relieved when this is all over and we are cozy in our new home. I'm so grateful that Greyson is staying put for now. I am very much hoping that he waits until after the 16th (closing/moving day) to arrive.

Brody's gagoos

These are my gagoos. I love them so much! They used to be my big brother's but he never used them. As you can see I wear them all the time! I love them while I am eating, taking a bath, even sleeping (but Mom & Dad don't let me do that anymore for fear of choking on the strap). I always ask for my gagoos. Sometimes when we're driving in the car I want them but they're at home. Then I'm a little bit sad. Lots of times I wear them for most of the day. My gagoos are the best!

Hunter's a First-grader!

There has been a lot of anxiety leading up to this first day of school for Hunter. Something came up on the appraisal of our house that led to a delay of a week in the processing of the buyer's loan. We were anxious enough to think that this move may not happen at all so we didn't know where we should enroll Hunter in school. In the end we ended up moving forward as planned and Hunter started at his new school this morning. He told me on several occasions that he was scared and nervous and I told him it was perfectly normal for him to feel that way and that many other kids feel the exact same way right before school starts. We went to the school's open house on Tuesday night, which eased a lot of his fears because he was able to see his classroom, meet his teacher and tour the school. He was very excited to have his own desk for the first time. By his reaction, it was as if I was performing some kind of magic trick when I showed him how it opened up so he could store his belongings inside. He said, "Wow! And it stays up all by itself!"

This morning he woke up early all on his own. When he came into our room all dressed and ready to go I knew that he was excited about school. Sure enough when I kissed him goodbye he ran to John's truck in anticipation of the day.

When I picked him up he looked pretty tired. It didn't help that it was 90 degrees and humid today. He was waiting outside the school in the hot sun in a line of other first-graders who were waiting to be picked up. He will eventually ride the bus when we move into our new house but for the first couple of weeks we will commute him. I asked him to pose for one picture in front of the school since John dropped him off and I was unable to get this shot. His reply was, "No...because then you'll just want to take like 10 of them because they'll be blurry or whatever." I convinced him that I would take JUST ONE and he complied. He told me his day was "good" and that he met two new friends. One friend was named Olivia and the other was a boy but he forgot his name. He told me he has a job, which is paper. He gets to pass out and collect all papers in the classroom for two weeks. Not everyone gets a job and in Kindergarten the jobs lasted only one week. When he told me he gets to do it for TWO weeks he was excited. When I asked him what his favorite part of the day was he said, "Just sitting in my desk doing nothing." He complained that there was no "lounge." I wasn't sure what this meant but after some prying I now understand that in Kindergarten he got "lounge time" on the carpet when the kids could just lie down and read or rest. He also mentioned that his teacher "took forever" to go over the rules. I know it may not sound like it but I think he does really like his new school. It's just tough being a first-grader!