Cooper Graduates ~

Cooper graduated from preschool today, it was a cute program; they sang a few songs, had a video montage, diploma presentation, and a cookies and punch reception followed. Cooper did an awesome job...we're so proud of you Cooper! Off to Kindergarten he goes! I posted more pictures on his website:

http://cooperflynn.aboutmybaby.com/

Um yeah, about Saturday ~

Want to know how to make a pregnant woman maniacal? Tell her she's being bumped from her induction and will have to wait 4 more days to meet her baby. I happened to run into my midwife at work last night and she told me I wasn't going to be able to be induced on Saturday, she offered today, but I would have had to miss Cooper's graduation. The next day available was Wednesday June 4th, so they penciled me in. UGH, talk about frustrating!

I woke up at 4am this morning to one wicked contraction. I continued having random contractions, low back pain, and abdominal cramping, so I got up and took a bath. I figured I'd better shave my legs, just in case. Let me tell you, that's hard enough when you're 9 months pregnant, add contractions in there and it makes it downright taxing! So, I laid back down sometime after 6am, woke up around 8ish...and nothing. I feel like a Weeble Wobble, but for the fact, they can't fall down...and well, I can't get up. :P

So send me any kind of labor dust you've got, this little girl is teasing me!

Saturday ~

I'm heading to the hospital Saturday morning at 8, finally there's an end in sight! I'm so excited to meet this little girl and see what she looks like. I went from 10 hours of labor with Riley, to 8 with Cooper, 6 with Camdyn, and now I'm under the gun to hit 4 with this little one. I have to have antibiotics since I was GB + again, she'll start the pitocin, and then break my water after my first round of antibiotics.

I have to admit that as excited I am about meeting this baby, it's a little bittersweet, as I know she'll be our last one. I'll never be pregnant again, never feel that little life kicking me, hiccuping, pushing on my bladder, making getting out of bed at night an accomplishment in itself. Can you tell I'm a hormonal mess? :P

Riley's Graduation ~

Riley had her graduation program last night, she did an awesome job and we are SO proud of her and all she's accomplished this past year. WTG Riley Breck!

The Flashlight ~

While I was cooking lunch, my son the rocket scientist, decided it would be fun to take apart one of the flashlights in the house. He chose one that doesn't require a battery, it instead, has a magnet and coil that you shake to make it work. When I called him and Camdyn for lunch, he came out and asked me what the big purple dot was on the television...can you see where this is going? Sure enough, the little turd used the magnet on our tv. I think, perhaps, I'll have them admit me to the psych ward once I pop this kid out.

Contraction, traction, I need more action ~
(yeah cheesy title, but remember Schoolhouse Rock and Conjunction Junction :P )

I saw Joyce today and I've finally had some progress! I'm dilated to 2 and 80% effaced. She seems to think I'll be having this baby in the next week, but I'm not holding my breath. I do think I'll pack my hospital bag, just to err on the side of caution. ;)

Bye-Bye Binky? ~

The last two binkies Camdyn had were accidently left at my parents house on Wednesday, she went to sleep without a problem that night. She went all day today without a bink, and at bedtime asked for one, so we told her we'd look for one. She fell right to sleep shortly thereafter. Fingers crossed that this is it, no more binkies! Bottles gone, binkies gone, now she just needs to keep her pants dry consistently!

More Baby Names ~

I still like Rowyn Camille, but some others on my list for the day...

Teagan
Maisen/Maisyn/Mason/Masyn (or some spelling)
Ellery (could I get past Ellery Celery?)

Come on people, brainstorm with me! :P

Chronicles of Camdyn ~

Life is never boring with Camdyn around. While at my parents house tonight, Camdyn and the kids were playing hide-and-seek. Camdyn went and hid behind a huge, old tree in my parents backyard. My Mom said she watched her run from there to behind the garage. After a minute, my dad peeked behind the garage to make sure she wasn't getting into trouble---nope, she was just standing there. Another few minutes pass and Lumpy emerges from behind the garage, missing her pull-up, pants down to her ankles...soaking wet. My mom asked her what she was doing, to which Camdyn responds, "I pee outside, like Poopah (Cooper)." Yep, my 2-year-old dropped trow, and in an attempt to pee standing up, peed all over her pants, shoes, and socks...but hey, her pull-up was dry!

I have no idea when she would have seen Cooper peeing outside, we certainly don't condone it. Lovely.

My Clowns ~

Daddy took the kids to the circus last night, and since he couldn't figure out the camera, I had to take a picture of them the next day. He said they did really well, although Camdyn was getting pretty antsy by intermission. The goofy hats they're wearing are what their cotton candy came in. Mom got to stay at home and veg out with Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra and a movie.

Never a Dull Moment ~
My husband called me at work tonight to tell me I'd never guess where he had just found my son. I asked, "Inside or out?" He responded, "Outside, but inside." Ok, I'm completely stumped. Apparently, Riley was outside screaming, "Cooper come out, Cooper come out!" and she was visibly upset. Clyde found Cooper and the neighbor boy in the street standing under the grate in the SEWER! I guess there is a culvert down past the bike trail that leads up into the sewer, and apparently, my son thought it would be great fun to be a sewer rat. Two days ago we had to call poison control, for the second time mind you, because Camdyn got into my aunt's purse and was apparently sampling some medication. Lucky for her, the pills were extremely bitter and she didn't care for them. The poison control woman did call back 2 times to check on her...I thought that was pretty nice. How these two haven't put me into pre-term labor is beyond me.

Baby Names ~

I keep going back and forth, but here are my faves today...keep in mind that my husband doesn't like any of them...imagine that.


Briggs Genevieve
Rowyn Camille
Maddyx/Maddox Amelia

Gas ~

As if gas prices weren't bad enough, having to fill up a tank twice, because someone stole the first tank is straight up ridiculous. Yep, that's right, someone siphoned the diesel out of Clyde's dump truck right at the job site. Thieves suck. Get a job, loser.

Lumptastic ~

Visit Lumptastic City, move in, buy a dog...

http://lumptastic.myminicity.com/

Wons a Pone a Time ~

Riley came home from school with a story she had written for me during center time. After reading it, I feel like Cinderella's wicked step-mother. Hopefully her teacher doesn't think I really lock them in their rooms. (Although, that isn't a half bad idea) :P

Leittlee kids for good niss sacs

By Riley

to my mom

Wons a pone a time thar was three litle kids. thar names wre Riley camdyn and cooper. Thay were notey litle kids for one day util tare dad came home. thar mom was mad so she lokt them in thar rooms. thay falt soreey for thar mom. wan she herd thay were sorry she lafe thom out. Thay pict up thar rooms befor thar frands came out. Thar frands got to stay untel midnite. the end.

Mascara ~

I'm on a mission to find the perfect mascara; something that plumps, extends, doesn't clump, and doesn't dry out lashes. My current favorite, Avon Super Shock Mascara. I was a little apprehensive after seeing the size of the applicator, it's monstrous! After trying it, I was impressed. It really defines and plumps my lashes, which seem to be dwindling each year. It doesn't seem to dry out my lashes and comes off easily with baby oil.

It's Wednesday ~

...and in honor of Hump Day *swoons*

Love Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz), in fact, I tried suggesting Boothe for this baby girl. Clyde promptly vetoed.

The Creature ~

My dad affectionately calls her, The Creature, but she's also been referred to as, Lumpy, Lumptastic, Cam, Baby Cakes. The newest addition to her bevy of names, Houdini. Camdyn has proved to put even the great Houdini to shame, she seems to literally escape, scale, conquer anything she puts her mind to. As my mom likes to point out, she's all brain without an ounce of common sense. I honestly think a childproofing company should hire her as a subcontractor to test their products. The biggest challenge for us are the outside doors. We started with the doorknob covers, but that was short lived as she figured out she could simply break them apart, we then resorted to duct taping the door knob covers so she couldn't snap them off. Well, now she's figured out how to roll them with her forearms until she catches the right spot and the door opens. She's sneaky about it too, on Saturday, Clyde and I were in the kitchen, the older two were outside, and Camdyn had been playing in Cooper's room. Suddenly, we heard Riley say, "Does Daddy know you're out here?", followed by Camdyn running past the kitchen window wearing Cooper's windpants, sweatshirt, baseball hat, and crocs (on the wrong feet, of course). She had opened up the front door and escaped, all without making so much as a peep!

So, that leads us to our next level of security, the fliplock. We have steel doors, so it has presented a problem trying to find something that won't destroy the doors. We found these at safebeginnings.com after looking all over town for them. They attach to the door frame, rather than the door itself. With a pond 100 feet from our front door, I'm a nervous wreck, so hopefully these do the trick!

Polliwalks ~

Some seriously cute footwear for the kidlets; functional, well made, and so stinkin cute! They're available in frog, croc, lady bug, and duck.

http://www.polliwalks.com/polliwalks_products.html

ThinkGeek-USB Pregnancy Tests ~

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/pteq.html?cpg=70T

Where were these things when I was testing? Ingenious and I love that they indicate baby, no baby, or multiples...cause everyone needs early heart failure by seeing the little baby head with a + sign come up! When the time comes, one of my computer geek siblings have to try these...and yes Brendan, I realize these would be for your spouse, not you. :P

One line or two. Yes or no. Pregnancy tests are binary by their very nature. So when we found p-Teq's USB Pregnancy Test Kit that's chock full of extra scientific information, we knew we had to get this geeky goodness to our potentially spawning fans.
The process starts off like most pregnancy tests. You pee on a stick, specifically the absorbent test strip at one end. But everything's different after that first step. Remove the cap from the other end of the stick (cleverly provided to keep you from accidentally contaminating the wrong end) to reveal the USB connector. Pop it in your computer. The power from your USB port starts the electrospray ionization process, creating a spectrograph of the various masses for your analysis. Get it? Your analysis? Urinalysis? *rimshot* Moving on.

You don't actually get to see the spectrograph yourself. The mass analysis happens inside the device. And p-Teq's device only analyzes for specific chemical makeups, so you don't have to worry about this thing busting you for that "poppy seed bagel" you had yesterday. The mass spectrometry software on the device comes with several sequenced hormones, including hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotropin), hCG-H (hyperglycosylated hCG - for detection before your first missed period), and LH (luteinizing hormone - for detection of your most fertile days). We like the fact that it does all three. After all, if you're not pregnant and you wanna be, you need to know if now's the time to be gettin' it on.

While most home tests can detect a level of 15-50 mIU/mL of hCG, the enhanced methodology of the USB Pregnancy Test Kit can detect 5-50 mIU/mL, and will show you the exact concentration via its friendly onscreen interface. In addition, the LCD display on the device itself will light up and show you the symbol of a baby, no baby, or multiples and your Estimated Delivery Date based on the concentration of hCG, hCG-H, and LH in your urine. So you can clear your calendar in advance.
After you're done reviewing your test results, just pop the device out of your computer and change the test strip. The display will remain lit for five minutes and then automatically power off. Note: We recommend the use of horizontal USB drives for this product to prevent accidental moisture transference.
No batteries required - draws power from USB
USB 2.0 compatible
Plug and play, easy operation
Operating Systems: Win 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, Linux 2.4 or higher, Mac OS 8.6 or higher
20 test strips included
99% accuracy*
* 99% accurate in detecting hCG, hCG-H and LH. However, these hormones do not necessarily indicate pregnancy or ovulation, respectively. Extenuating circumstances can affect levels of these hormones in your body.