Toren's Birth Story

Toren Hinz Urwin 4/12/10

It had been a really long pregnancy for me; constant hip pain that made sleeping difficult at best, contractions for months that led to nothing and, a bout with kidney stones that led to a night in the hospital. I was so ready to be done and meet our newest bundle. I had gotten to the point of thinking I was going to be pregnant forever over a month before he decided to make his grand entrance.
Finally on Saturday the 10th of April I decided to research natural induction methods. I ate most of a pineapple and ingested some prostaglandins. Sunday night Tony had to work. After he got off work at 1:00 am he called me to let me know he was going to his sister’s house to help her with her computer. I said I didn’t care and I would call him if I went into labor. Not that I thought I would, I was only joking. So I went to bed.
Tony got home and came to bed at about 4:00 am. At a little after 5:00 I had the first contraction. I glanced at the clock and went back to sleep. Then again at 5:30 I was awakened by another contraction I knew that this was it. I woke Tony, he really didn’t want to get up since he’d only been in bed for an hour, and we started filling the horse tank we were using for a birth tub.
As soon as there was enough water I got in. The contractions were crazy strong with no breaks in between. I sent Tony to wake up Dria and Tristan. Then I went into a time warp, at some point Kaia and Nahlia came into the bedroom and the four olders were on our bed. I think we yelled at them to stop bouncing but I’m not sure.
I felt like that cartoon character that gets run over by something and is stuck to the wheel. I was getting run over every time I had a contraction. Normally during labor I can kind of ride out the contractions and joke and laugh in between. This time it was crazy. I told Tony that I had already given birth to 5 kids and that it was his turn, I wasn’t joking this time, I wanted to be done. He said that he would be glad to trade me places. I said that was easy for him to say since there was no way that he could.
At some point I started pushing and Tony said what he always says, “don’t force it, don’t push too soon.” And I told him what I always tell him, “I will do what I need to do.” I found that I really didn’t have enough room to squat like I wanted to. Now I realize that I should have turned the other way in the tank so that I was facing the side but at the time I had no idea what to do so I struggled to find a good position to birth. I ended up in some wonky almost squat position with my left hand on the bottom of the tank to support me. I asked Tony if he wanted to feel the baby’s head since this was his last chance to feel a baby before it was born. He did for the first time in 6 births and agreed that it was pretty awesome. Then when I started pushing I told Tony that I didn’t really feel that I could catch because of the position I was in so Tony got to help catch.
I never did feel my water break. When I was pushing I kept expecting the sac to break and relieve some pressure. The pressure was immense and I felt like he was going to come out my butt rather than my vagina. Of course he didn’t, though, and after pushing for only a short while he was born. Tony helped me get him to my chest and we covered him with a towel for warmth. We looked at the clock and it was 7:10 am. Tavis got to announce the sex and said, “It’s a boy, he has a penis.” Toren sounded quite phlegmy so we sucked out his nose and mouth quite a bit. I held him with his head down for a while and his breathing kept getting better.
After about 20ish minutes I handed Toren to Dria and Tony helped me get into a squat and birth the placenta. The cord was really long; I think it was the longest cord I have ever seen. Toren and I hung out in the tank for a while longer before Nahlia cut the cord and we got out and moved to the bed.
Toren Hinz Urwin was born on April 12, 2010, weighing about 9 ½ lbs, approximately 20 inches long, and his head was 15 inches. So he was one of my bigger babies.
The children are madly in love with him and fight over whose turn it is to hold him. Toren is settling in to our family like he has always been here.

Dria's Story

Dria's story is currently missing because Dria saved over it on the computer. So when I find it it will be posted here.

This is what is currently saved under Dria's story.

The Green King and Queen lived in a big castle. They had a thousand knights to protect them. The knights rode horses. They had servants and ladies in waiting and cooks that lived in the castle. The king’s little nephew helped the knights get ready. The cooks made yummy food. The Royal Food taster made sure the food wasn’t poisoned or too salty. The horses were fed hay, oats, and all kinds of good stuff. The knights had parties after they got rid of the enemies. They had canons. They had hunters. They had dogs that could help fight the enemy. Even the good guys had cheetahs.

The enemies had the same thing only they didn’t have horses. The bad guys were the Red Guys. They were the worst guys on all earth. They didn’t have horses but, they had dragons that they could ride. The dragons even knew how to breathe fire. The bad guys had slingshots. The bad guys’ dragon got fed meat. The bad guys didn’t have dogs but they had tigers. The bad guys had lions.

Then there was a war between the bad guys and the good guys and the bad guys just wanted to fight to get the Green King and Queen’s money and their daughter. The Red Guys King and Queen had a son and they wanted him to be the king of the good guys’ castle. The war was big. The good guys won. But as the bad guys were retreating they said “we’ll be back. No matter how much harder you try we will have a bigger army than you guys.”


by Dria

Tristan's Birth

Tristan's Birth Story

When we first discovered we were pregnant we decided that we would have our baby at a free standing birth center, but when we were 6 months a long I convinced Tony that we should have our baby at home.

I was due May 26, 2001 although I was hoping to go early, I knew that I would probably go late, even though I had been having contractions that would sometimes get quite regular since the middle of May.

On my due date I had contractions 2-3 mins apart for 2 hours when they
completely stopped. That was Sat the 26th on Tues the 29th I went to my yoga class still hugely pregnant. We all got a good laugh about all of the things that were impossible for me to do. While doing a squat pose I felt the baby's head suddenly get much lower but, I had decided that he wasn't going to be born any time before June 6 which was the next full moon, so I didn't get too excited.

Thurs May 31st I had an appointment with Nancy my midwife at 2:45. I had to pick Tony up from work on the way to my appointment since he didn't have time to come home since Nancy's office is 45 mins away from home and Tony works between home and her office. I had not had any contractions all morning and Dria and I had to leave home at 1:30. At 1:00 Nancy called and suggested that I not come for my appointment because it was storming and she didn't want me to drive in the rain. I told her that I would just as soon come because I couldn't get a hold of Tony to tell him about the change.

Dria and I got out of the house on time, which was quite a surprise, and at 1:35 I had a whopper of a contraction and then every two mins all the way to pick up Tony. We had to wait 20 mins for Tony in the parking lot where he works because he didn't get off work on time. When he finally came out to the car he got in and asked me how I was and I told him to be quiet as I was having a contraction.


I drove the rest of the way to Nancy's office and Tony timed my contractions and they were still coming every 2 mins. When we got to Nancy's they slowed down a lot but were still quite intense and only Dria was allowed to talk through contractions everyone else had to be completely silent. Nancy offered to check me and maybe sweep my membranes. I agreed to the check and to everyone's surprise was at 3-4. I didn't want to have my membranes swept for fear of breaking my waters but agreed because his head was well engaged. Nancy swept my membranes and, surprisingly; it didn't hurt near as much as it had before I had Dria. We waited 10 mins and Nancy checked me again and I was at 4-5. I still wasn't sure I was in labor ,what was I thinking, but Nancy told me I might be staying at the birth center after all and I told Nancy that I wasn't going to have this baby until I got home.

Nancy told us to go home and call her when we got there to let her know what was going on and then she would come. We called my mom from the birth center because she was to be at the birth for Dria and she said she would meet us at home. We couldn't get a hold of Janiece who was to be like a doula for me and decided to call her when we got home. Luckily my sister was at my mom's house that day and would ride with her.

On the way home we had to stop at Hardees because Dria was hungry and I wanted a strawberry shake. We decided to leave Tony's car at work because I wasn't driving anywhere at that point. The contractions were back to 2 mins apart and getting stronger.

We arrived home at 4:30 and I called Nancy while Tony started filling the horse tank that we were going to use for the birth. I asked Nancy if it was too early to get in the tub and she said to go ahead.

At 5:00 I had been in the tub for 15 mins and the contractions were coming one on top of another, they weren't painful just intense and they took all of my concentration and Tony had to be using counter pressure on my back. At this point we were still home alone and had been unable to reach Janiece and her machine wouldn't take messages. We called my mom and she had just left home she had about another 30 mins before she would get there.

Dria wanted to get in the tub with me so I let her but; the water was so deep she kept trying to drown herself by sitting on the bottom of the tub. At this point I lose track of time but suddenly my mom and sister arrived and shortly after Nancy and her nurse Chemaine. My sister, Jolene went to Janiece's house to see what was wrong with her machine. It had been shut off by a power blip because of the storm. Jolene turned it back on and left a message on it saying," Jess is in labor, hurry." A few minutes later Janiece called my house and said she was on her way but it would take her 45 mins to an hour to get there. It was about 6:00.

My mom got Dria out of the tub and took her into the other room as I was starting to vocalize through contractions and Dria was a little scared. Dria kept saying,” Mommy owie?" and my mom didn't know what to tell her.

At about 6:30 I announced that my water broke and I reached down to feel because I thought I felt the baby and I felt part of my cervix. Because of his rapid descent part of my cervix had caught on his head and was pulled down with it, Nancy told me that she had to push it up over his head and I can honestly say that was the most painful and possibly the only painful part of my labor.

I felt like I might need to push but concentrated on letting my body do the work and in the middle of a pushing contraction I joked that I decided that I wasn't going to have the baby I would just stay pregnant forever. We all laughed about how much easier teenagers would be inside of mom.

Shortly after that I had no choice I had to push and his head came out and then with one more push his shoulders and I lifted him to my chest.

I had asked that no one tell me the sex as I wanted to find out for myself but in the excitement someone said that it was a boy. I wasn't upset though because in lifting him to my chest I had felt that he was a boy.

Nancy and Chemaine were a bit worried about the way he was breathing and had me hold his head lower than his body so the fluid could drain out of his nose and mouth so I didn't nurse him right away but, after we got out of the tub and into bed about 10 mins later he latched right on and nursed like a pro.

Tristan Raine was born at 6:54 pm on May 31st 2001.

He weighed 9 lbs 7 1/2 oz and was 22 1/2 in long.

Kaia Shay's Birth

On Sat March 1st Kaia Shay decided it was time to make her arrival, and she was in a hurry.

I had been having contractions which were timeable on and off since 2/10, I had gotten to the point of believing she was never going to come at all. So, Fri night I made Tony take me to a movie, and again my contractions stopped. It was so nice to get out and not think about “when is this baby going to come.”

Sat. morning I woke up and nothing, not a single contraction. I decided to go to the chiropractor (he has been my best friend the last couple of weeks) I had been going to him twice a week for hip pain. Just as Dria, Tris and I were leaving my dad called asking if he could have Dria for a couple of days, I was planning to have her adjusted because she has had a cold the last couple of days, but I had a contraction just then and decided to drop her off at my dad's on the way to town.

Tris and I arrived at the Chiropractor's office at about noon and I was having occasional contractions. I remember thinking," oh yes, this is what real contractions feel like, now I remember." As soon as I was adjusted my contractions jumped to less than 1 min. apart. I chatted with the chiro's wife for a few mins, and after putting Tris in the van I wasn't sure if I could drive the 15 mins back home. I couldn't get a hold of my friend who was planning to come to the birth to drive me home so I figured I could do it, but I called home and told Tony and my sister "this is it."

When I got home I just honked the horn and Tony and my sister came out to get us. We called Janiece, my dad's SO, Mary Pat, my friend, and Joanne, our back-up midwife (our midwife went on vacation for a week at 5 am that very day.)

My sister had to go get Janiece and Dria since my dad had just left for town with Janiece's car. Tony was trying to get the birth tub full and hot.

Soon everyone but Joanne was here (now we know why they always boil water on TV) boiling water for the birth tub.

Tony was great at supporting me through contractions. At about 1:30 (that's right only an hour and a half had passed) I decided to feel and see if the baby was coming down at all, just to encourage myself, and I felt my waters bulging at my perineum. I really, really wanted to have the baby in the water so I decided not to squat again until I could get in the water. At some point I tried to get in the water and it was just too cold, Tony tried pointing the hose of hot water on me and I asked him," why would you do that to me?"

We got out of the water and I decided that's enough of that, and I told Tony that when my water breaks this baby will be here (I found out later that he really didn't understand what I meant) and he said OK. I then squatted through a few contractions at this point Joanne's assistant arrived and came into the birth room I snapped," don't watch me" and she left.

Then as I had said my waters broke and with the first gush of water out came her head. I caught her head and felt her chin up. Then I told Tony that I couldn't reach to catch the rest of her. I saw the midwife's assistant reaching for her and said "no! Tony! Don’t touch her."(I meant that the assistant shouldn’t touch her but, Tony thought I meant him.) And with the second gush of water Kaia was born onto the floor. Tony handed her to me and we sat down just as Joanne arrived at our house.

Kaia is perfect and I am doing great I'm just a bit tired, as to be expected.

So here are the details:

Kaia Shay Urwin, 9 lbs 6 ozs, 21.5 inches long was born into her parents' hands at 2:02 pm on Sat. March 1st 2003, before the midwife arrived and so the unassisted birth I really wanted.

Nahli's Story unedited

This is the original unedited version

Nahlia Roe

I woke Wednesday March 16, with contractions. I lay in bed through a few but, didn’t pay any attention to how long or far apart they were. To be honest I was trying to fall back to sleep. At 7:00 I needed to go to the bathroom so I got up and realized that “today is probably the day.”
I tried to call Tony at work at a little after 7:00 and, the lady who answered the phone asked, “Is this an emergency?” I could only answer, “Uhuh,” as I was having another contraction. So she put me on hold and paged Tony who of course didn’t hear the page. She asked if she could give him a message, I told her that he needed to call home ASAP.
Then I waited, and waited. During the time that I waited I felt my labor slow down. I wanted an unassisted birth but, I really, really wanted Tony to be there. I was afraid that he wouldn’t make it because Kaia’s labor was only a little over 2 hours from first contraction to baby.
While I waited I started filling the tub and posted to my groups that I had changed my mind about being pregnant forever. My body also took care of some house cleaning at this point. Finally, at a little before 8:00 I called back and said that I really needed to talk to Tony. She told me that his supervisor had just gone to give him a message. “WHAT?” I couldn’t wait any longer so I decided to get in the tub.
Finally Tony called me back and I told him, “Haul butt!” He didn’t get it so after finishing that contraction I explained that he needed to get home NOW! I also told him to call me back on his cell so I wouldn’t be alone. When he called me back on his cell phone he asked me if he should stop at my dad’s and get the horse tank/ birth tub. I thought about it fleetingly with longing but, then I got real and told him that we didn’t have time to clean it and set it up and I was already in our bathtub. We talked for a while then I hung up so I could concentrate on the contractions.
At some point here Tristan woke up and came into the bathroom to see what was going on and I sent him upstairs to wake up Dria since I had promised her she could be there when the baby was born. Kaia also got up sometime in here. Tristan and Kaia put a movie in and Dria hung out with me.
When Tony got home it was hard for him to split his attention between me and the kids so he got pretty stressed but, he was great about getting things for me and generally setting up things. I lost all track of time once Tony got home. The contractions were intense but bearable and I got out of the tub several times to pee. Going pee was a very precise operation. I absolutely cannot stand to have a contraction on the toilet so I had to wait until I was just getting over a contraction then jump(Lol “jump” I was 9 months pg and in labor “jump” ha, snort) out and run to the toilet and hope that I was done and off before the next one started. Several times Tony had to rescue me from the toilet.
Dria was so great, she would hold my hand during contractions and she felt that it was her personal duty to get me anything I asked for. I was alternating between kneeling and squatting facing sideways in the tub. Between contractions I would lay my head on the side of the tub and doze.
At this point my legs were really cramping up from being bent for so long so I tried side lying in the tub and that was not a great position, so I went back to my squatting/kneeling.
For some reason during this labor I was really thinking about pooping during pushing, it was something I was wasting a lot of energy on. I really did not want to poop in the tub so I kept getting out and trying to go on the toilet but, nothing was happening so I had Tony get me a chux pad to squat on and I tried pushing there so if I pooped it wouldn’t be in the water, to no avail. And contractions on land were much worse than in the water so I finally decided I would just deal with whatever happened.
After I got back in the water, I checked my cervix to see what was going on. I could only feel one side of my cervix and the bag of waters was bulging at the cervix, I could also feel the baby’s head through the bag. I remembered the first time I felt during Kaia’s birth her head was barely one knuckle in and I felt a bit discouraged that it was all the way up by my cervix.
I tried pushing a bit and all of a sudden I no longer had a choice about pushing. I was in a really funny position, my legs would no longer hold me in a squat so I was kind of kneeling but leaning off to one side. I was worried about getting too high because I didn’t want the baby’s head to be out of the water at any point and then I would have to get out of the water to finish delivering him. Tony said something to me about not banging his head on the bottom of the tub. So we each had our own worries.
We called the kids into the bathroom and I vaguely remember them standing around Tony at the side of the tub. Tony kept telling me to slow down so I wouldn’t tear and I just didn’t have any choice. I was rubbing the baby’s head through it all, which really helped me to concentrate and ride through the contractions. My body was doing it all and I had the irresistible urge to push.
Finally my water broke and I could feel his head at my perineum, I also felt the ring of fire, ouch. Then his head was born and I felt his face and could feel these incredibly chubby cheeks and then I felt him turn to face my right thigh and then the rest of him slid out. I pulled him to my chest and leaned back on the end of the tub.
We called Tristan over to check the sex; he said “It’s a boy!” Then I moved the cord out of the way and asked him if he was sure and he just said “oh” in a disappointed tone and walked out of the room. Poor Tristan he so wanted a brother since he all ready had two sisters.
Tony announced that it was 11:13 and shortly after I got into a squat and pushed and out came the placenta and I sort of pulled the bits of membrane out after it. Kaia freaked out when she saw the placenta, she wanted to know what was wrong with the baby so I hid the placenta under my leg and Tony tried to explain that “mommy has the baby.” She was beyond consoling so Tony just held her and we made sure that Kaia didn’t see the placenta again. She still says “the baby came out you tummy two times.” So I am not sure what she thought the placenta was, maybe another baby?
We were just sure through the whole pregnancy that the baby was a boy so we had no name for this little girl baby.
Tony went and boiled the scissors to cut the cord and I was not in a hurry to cut the cord but Tony was. He asked me how short to cut the cord and I told him that it didn’t matter to just cut it so he cut it about six inches from the baby. Then Tony took the baby and wiped her off while I had a quick shower and kind of cleaned out the tub. Then I took our newest baby back and went to relax in the living room.
It wasn’t until the next morning that we came up with a name for this surprise baby girl and, amazingly enough Tony suggested Nahlia. His usual job when thinking of a name for our babies is to just say no to everything I suggest. So Nahlia Roe she is. We didn’t weigh or measure her that first day but on Thursday we took her to the pediatrician and she was 8 pounds 13 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She was one of my smallest babies.
We had a wonderful birth experience and it was great not having to worry about anyone, except Tony, making it on time to the birth. It was so peaceful and cozy to just have our immediate family present. The whole experience was perfectly normal and completely miraculous at the same time. It was the (unassisted) birth of my dreams.

Tavis' Story

In reverse order so they will end up the right way.

Tavis’ birth

Tavis’ pregnancy was a complete surprise as we were using condoms. We were also completely unsure when he was conceived because of a late and odd period in April. We knew that I’d had a period in March but didn’t know if my April period was a real period or break through bleeding. So we went through his pregnancy not knowing if he was due in Jan. or Feb.

I had a completely unassisted pregnancy with Tavis, the only time I saw a Dr. was when I went for my allergies in Sept. At that visit they made it all about my pregnancy which made me very angry since I was having an asthma attack that had been going on for about 18 hours at that point. The Dr. told me that day that my dates had to be off and instead of being 20 or 25 weeks that I was only 16 weeks based on fundal height. Tavis was lying transverse that day and I had measured 20 weeks a few days before so I ignored the Dr. ( I should maybe point out now that the Dr. I ended up seeing that day is the Dr. I call Dr. A-hole). I don’t ignore all Drs.

So we went on through the pregnancy and I dropped in Nov. so we were sure that I was due at the beginning of Jan. Tavis kept getting lower and lower but, he was in no hurry so we kept patiently waiting (well I was waiting patiently, Tony was getting crazier and more paranoid with every day that passed). It was well past the middle of Jan before I admitted that I was probably not due until Feb.

I had several nights where I had timeable contractions that petered out when I went to bed and I was starting to have that “I’m going to be pregnant forever,” feeling. My sister was planning to come live with us starting on Feb. 4 and until Tavis arrived, so I told him to wait until after she arrived. My sister, Jolene, was only living an hour away but planning to move 6 hours away after Tavis was born. So I really wanted her to stay with us for a while because we are so close and I knew that I would only see her rarely after the move.

Lots of contractions continued and Feb. 4 I got up and we had no water, it was frozen. I panicked a bit because we were planning a water birth at home and with no water that would be impossible not to mention the fact that even if I had a land birth I wouldn’t even be able to shower after. Ick. Tony and our land lord got the water going and a couple hours later it froze again so poor Tony had to go out in the freezing cold (it was 20 below with the wind chill) and thaw it out again. We decided then to leave the water running until after the birth.

Tues. Feb 6 at 3:22 AM I was awakened by a real, labor contraction. Then two minutes later another one, Tony asked if I was ok, and I told him, “This is it.” He didn’t believe me, but, then he never does. LOL. My labors always start that way, contractions two minutes apart and HARD.

Dria had been having a sleepover with Nahli in our bedroom that night so we moved both girls to the couches in the living room so they would not be awakened too early. I sent him to wake up Jolene, with the warning that he had two minutes. I find that I must have Tony with me when I have a contraction, even if he is not touching me, I can only ground myself with him nearby.

I started to hook up the hose to fill the birth tub a.k.a. horse tank but, instead only managed to unscrew the adapter from the sink, Ooops. Tony came back and fixed the adapter and got the tub filling. And Jolene started making my labor tea, which was a very strong Red Raspberry Leaf tea. It is supposed to make your labor and birth shorter and easier. I wonder what would have happened if I had actually drank the tea, LOL.

As soon as there was enough water in the tub I jumped in and entered a time warp. What felt like 5 or maybe 10 minutes to me was really about an hour and at around 5 AM I told Tony that he needed to go wake up the kids. He told me that it was too early and we should wait. Why oh why does he never believe that I know what is going on??? I had to insist and he went to wake them up. He only got Dria before I was yelling for him to come back. So Jolene had to wake up Kaia and Tristan. I told them to let Nahli sleep because if she is awakened she really needs me and I was quite busy at that time.

Minutes after the kids all came in and made themselves comfy on our bed where they had a good view of the tub, I felt my water bulging just inside me. And with a gush he was crowning and I felt the ring of fire, “Slow down baby, slowly, slowly.” His head was born facing towards my left thigh, and then I was done so I pushed and his shoulders were born and I pulled him out and up to my chest. It was 5:16 AM.

Kaia was to announce the sex so Dria, Tristan, and Kaia came running over to check him out and Kaia announced, “Boy, it’s a boy!” Tony tells me that Tristan’s face lit up and he was all but coming out of his skin he was so happy, I couldn’t see him because they were all standing behind my shoulder so they could see Tavis. I know he was excited though because he started jumping on the bed and really just bouncing off the wall.

Tavis started nursing a few minutes after he was born and continued to nurse for about an hour. When he stopped nursing I started to work on getting the placenta out. His placenta took a bit longer to come than the others’ did and, it was weird because it came about half out and then seemed to be stuck. It turns out that my bladder was really full and after I peed it plopped out into the water and I scooped it up and put it in the bowl. Tony started to get antsy about getting Tavis and me out of the tub and the cord cut so I got out of the tub and into bed. But, I was in no hurry to cut the cord so I sent him to sterilize the scissors while Jolene braided some embroidery floss to use as a cord tie.

We finally cut the cord at about 6:30 and then Tony herded the kids out so that Tavis and I could take a nap, I told him though that he had to let Nahli come in when she woke up so that she could meet her new brother.

Nahli woke up at about 9:30 and came in to wake me up and she instantly fell in love with Tavis. She has to kiss him, on the mouth, about 800 times a day and she says to him over an over, “I love you too much, baby Tavis.” All of the children adore him and Dria tells me that I am hogging him, “when are you going to let me hold him, mom?” Tristan glows when we refer to Tavis as his baby brother. And Kaia loves to hug and kiss him as well. Kaia is the only one who has shown any jealousy at all she asked me yesterday why I only hold Tavis all of the time and never play with her anymore. Which is a bit weird because I still sit and read to her and color with her and I‘ve never really been one to sit on the floor and play with toys. A little extra attention and telling Tavis that he has to wait so I can help his sister has helped her feel better all ready.

I finally figured out his due date on Wed the 7th and found that Tavis was due on Feb. 7 going by when I probably ovulated, so he was 1 day early. We didn’t have a scale to weigh Tavis at birth but Jolene and I weighed ourselves with and without him and both came up with less than 8 pounds.

So, Tavis Aslan Urwin was born at 5:16 AM on Tues Feb. 6 weighing <8 lbs and 20 ish inches long and his head was about 14inches.

On Thurs the 8th we took him to the pediatrician and he was 8lbs 1oz, 20inches long, with a 13.9 inch head.

I don't understand Tony

Wow, Tony, I just don't get him. Today when I was at work he rearranged the living room. When I called him on my break he told me that he had and said, "you aren't going to like it, you'll want to change it as soon as you see it." OK then, why did you do it???????

I need some opinions. Here it is now.

Tony's chair (notice how well it is situated for TV watching)



View from next to the TV



And.............. the view from my spot wait if I crane my neck allllllllllll the way to the left I can sort of see the TV (with binoculars)


Now before we had the TV where it is and the blue couch swung around so the end closest to the TV was basically where it is now but the whole couch was towards the TV. The table that you can see all the way down there by the window was next to the other end with the chair on the other side of the table. Monkey's Geo Trax were behind the couch and the other couch was in the kids TV room (aka the room with the annoying kid movies). Tony considered the space (with the Geo Trax) wasted space and had to fix it.

Now I don't watch that much TV or many movies, but I'd like to have that option. And if he knew I was going to hate it....................... Why? Just Why??

Crunch Quiz

I think this is a fun little quiz and I'm surprised about how crunchy I am.

How Crunchy Are you, Mamas?

I scored 170 - Crunchier Than Grapenuts

What's Your Granola Factor?------*~*------

1. Do you have homebirths? 15 points for "yes" (unassisted) 10 points for "yes" (midwife in attendance) 5 points for alternative birthing left 2 points for "thinking about/would like home birth"0 for "no" (wouldn't consider it)------

2. Will you circumcise future sons? 5 points for "no" 0 points for "yes"------

3. Do you use cloth diapers?20 point if you do Elimination Communication (no diapers) 15 points if "yes" (wash and make your own) 10 points if "yes" (wash your own) 5 points if "yes" (diaper service) 2 points if "thinking about it" 0 points if "no" (wouldn't consider it)------

4. Do you observe your fertility signals using Natural Family Planning/Fertility Awareness and use that for birth control/trying to conceive?10 points for "yes" (observe and use for birth control/ttc) or you use ecological breastfeeding/lactational amnorrhea 5 points for "yes" (observe for trying to conceive)2 points "thinking about it" 0 points for "no" (wouldn't consider it)------

5. Do you co-sleep?10 points for "yes" (all night every night) 5 points for "yes" (part/all of most nights) 2 points for "thinking about it" 0 points for "no".------

6. Do you use a sling/soft carrier?5 points for "yes" 2 points for "thinking about it" 0 points for "no" (wouldn't consider it)------

7. Do you breastfeed exclusively for the first 6+ months?10 points if "yes" 5 points for "no" (use occasional bottles of expressed breastmilk) 2 points for "no" (use occasional bottles of formula) 0 for "no" (don't breastfeed by choice)------

8. Do you believe in/practice child-led weaning (even if that means breastfeeding for several years)?15 points for "yes" (complete child-led weaning) 10 points for "yes" (up to 3 years) 5 points for "yes" (up to 2 years) 2 points for "thinking about it" 0 points for "no" (you'll wean the baby at 1 year or earlier)------

9. Do you tandem nurse/nurse during your pregnancy? 10 points for "yes" (nurse during pgcy and tandem nurse) 5 points for "yes" (nurse during pgcy, but wean before birth) 2 points for "thinking about it" 0 points for "no"(wouldn't consider it)------

10. Would you/have you ever breastfeed/fed someone else's baby or have someone else bf your child?10 points if yes (have or someone has bf your baby) 5 points if yes (would) 2 points if maybe 0 if no (wouldn't consider it)------

11. Do you eat organic/whole/natural foods and limit your meat? 15 points for "yes" (grow own/buy organic, shop only at health food store, grind own wheat, vegetarian, etc.) 10 points for "yes" (grow some of own food, buy organic, use whole wheat flour, bake own bread, eat some meat occasionally)5 points for "yes" (try to buy natural, whole grain foods, etc.) 2 points for "thinking about it" 0 points for "no" (wouldn't consider it)------

12. Do you use herbal/homeopathic remedies?10 points if "yes" (very rarely see a regular doctor) 5 points if "yes" (but use a doctor occasionally) 2 points if "thinking about it" (see a doc for now) 0 points for "no" (wouldn't consider it)------

13. Do you home school?10 points if "yes" (currently homeschool) 5 points for "yes" (will homeschool) 2 points for "thinking about it" 0 points for "no" (wouldn't consider it)------

14. What's your take on childhood vaccinations?15 points for no vaccines 10 for delayed, selective vaccination 5 points for selective, on schedule vaccination 2 points for thinking about not vaccinating 0 points for vaxing on schedule------

15. Do you use cloth/re-usable products for mom?10 points if yes (make own)5 points if yes (buy own) 2 points if thinking about it 0 points if no------

16. Do you wear makeup?10 points if never5 points is sometimes/rarely (or use natural makeup/lightly)0 points if yes------

17. Do you shave?10 points if never5 points if sometimes/rarely (or some parts, like armpits but not legs)0 pints if yes------

18. Whats you shoe style?10 points if barefoot all the time5 points if sandals when going out0 points if any or toed/socks------

19. Do you use natural cleaning product/etc?10 points if yes (make own)5 points if yes (buy)0 points if no------

Ratings:
140 - 170 WOW...Crunchier than Grape Nuts.
120 - 139 Super Nutty, Ultra-Crunchy Granola Earth Mama.
90 - 119 Mmm! Love that whole-grain crunch!
60 - 89 Pretty Crispy.
20 - 59 Sprinkled with Granola
.5 - 19 Instant Oatmeal.
0 - 4 Jell-O

Holy Crap My Baby is 2

Wow, just wow. I have never before had a 2 yo without having a newborn in my arms or soon to be.

All it takes is two years to go from this



to this.

Not a good night

Last night Tony was working and came home for supper, when he was leaving he slid backwards into his trucking causing damage to the squad car. So he came out later and asked me if I'd ride with him into town so that I could drive the van to the body shop where he needed to leave the car. I went with him and on the way to the body shop I was following him, and slid into the back of the squad car at a stop sign. I hit it in exactly the same spot as he'd damaged it earlier.

It was terrifying watching him slide into the intersection in front of a semi after I hit him. Luckily the semi was turning and so did not hit him. I shook for hours afterwords. We are both fine or will be after a trip to see our favorite chiropractor.

Out of the mouthes of babes

Tavis will be 2 before we know it. He is unusual among our children in that he still doesn't have much of a vocabulary. He understands everything but doesn't have much to say. Just within the last week or so he has been saying 3 word phrases. Most notably, "Sorry, mean to." (sorry I didn't mean to.)

Just a few minutes ago we had the funniest conversation.

Tavis was playing with his sister's fairy wand while going potty and he kept dropping it on the floor.

Tavis: Uh oh, whachew
Me: did you drop your wand?
Tavis: nononono whachew
Me: (pointing to the wand) What is this?
Tavis: Whachew
Me: It's a whachew?
Tavis: (holding the wand up) Whachew dooowing
Me: (pointing to the wand) This is a whachew dooowing?
Tavis: Iunknow (I don't know)
Me: Tavi, what is this
Tavis: whachew dooowing
Tavis then was trying to hold the wand with his toe
My sister: He's trying to monkey toe it
Tavis: Toe Monkey
Me: It's a toe monkey? Are you monkey toeing your whachew?
Tavis: Monkey Toe