I'm alive, regardless of how I smell...

Thursday July 30th: wake up, feed Max. Feed and dress kids. Throw some clothes on and my contacts in, tie up hair and hit the door for swimming lessons. Return home, change kids, feed baby, hit the door again. Go to the library to get Anna her first library card (which to her is pretty much like getting her drivers license!) and a bag of books. Walk to ice cream shop nearby for a treat. Send bad thoughts to the inventor of bubble gum ice cream for the blue stains Izzy's cute shirt will inevitably have. Wipe down kids, go home. Feed kids, put Izzy down for a nap, fold a load of laundry and wash another. Feed baby, visit with Anna's newly adopted B.C. Grandma. Bake birthday cake for Anna who's 6 today. Dinner at Taco Time per Anna's request, she's quite fancy. Trip to Walmart, home to finish cake which ends up looking like a mudslide but tastes darn good. Read some Junie B. Jones, say prayers with kids, discuss highs and lows, and get kids in bed. Sit at the computer realizing that even though I skipped my shower today and I smell like butt, and even though two people quite obviously gawked at my 4 month pregnant looking ponch, I made it through my third week as a mother of four, Anna had a great birthday, I have one terrific husband, four dirty messy sweet sassy kids, and one blessed life, what more could I ask for...okay, well, a bath would be good.

The Sweetest Thing

Announcing Baby Max

Here is Maxwell James "baby Max". He was born July 10th at 7:59 am a healthy 7lb 8oz baby boy, 20 1/2" long of baby goodness.

Here is Wendy happy to be done with the ordeal of birth, holding her youngest and oldest.

Daddy with his two youngest. Izzy eventually warmed up to Max, but it took a bit of time.

Quinner loves his "cute brudder". His kissing was not staged. He was happy to have his new room mate in his arms, although his attention span is quite short. Luckily Dad was there to catch the baby when he was finished with him.

Since Wendy is a bit subdued with the burden of birthing this little guy, the extremely proud and happy father is reporting the good news. Late last night around 10:30 Wendys water broke, which started a domino effect of actions that led to a beautiful baby boy. There were many firsts for us, first time Wendys water broke, first time for labor pains and first time that I had no idea how to ease Wendys pains. But, early in the morning, the good person came with the epidural and Wendys pains were subdued and the surgery progressed. All went to plan and now we have a perfectly healthy boy and a healthy recovering mother.

I will let Wendy tell the story as she saw it through her eyes, I just wanted to let everyone know the current status and exclaim my happiness and joy from today's activities.

P.S. I know that fathers always send out the least aesthetically appealing photo's of their wives, so I tried to do my best for Wendy, but no guarantees. Enjoy.

Nesting

The other day I told Anna about how Momma birds prepare for laying their eggs by building a nest, working strenuously and providing a comfy soft place for their young to stay. I then explained that we needed to work on our home to make it ready for our new baby. About halfway through the day we'd cleaned up one room and messed up another and Anna asked, "Can we be done with the nesting already?" My sentiments exactly.

Really, I gave nesting a go, not because I've had a sudden burst of energy like some pregnant women get, but because I don't imagine another time when I'll get around to doing some of the cleaning that needs to be done around here. The only problem is, once I get down on my knees and scrub the floor, someone inevitably dumps an entire bowl of cereal on it and I get cranky. I'm cranky enough as it is people! So, I've decided that my "nesting" will come in the form of randomly cleaning out an infrequently used closet, stocking up on snack foods and cereal, which is the equivalent for me of filling the freezer with casseroles because it's less work and I'm pretty sure the kids won't object to having crackers with peanut butter for every meal. Also, I'm stocked up on diapers, maxi pads, toilet paper and Dr. Pepper, AND I have coupons for Papa Murphys in my middle junk drawer-what else do I really need to do??? Oh yeah, we're out of ice cream, I'll put that on my list for tomorrow!