Enjoying his Christmas present...
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Lombard Christmas 101: How to Make A Short Story Really Long
Sorry for my week-long absence – as you can tell from the title this is kind of long so you might want to fix yourself a sandwich before settling down to read this.
In the 5 years that Jacques and I have been married we have never done much for Christmas and no, we aren’t Mr. Grinch and Mrs. Scrooge. For one reason or another we just never decorated the house, hung stockings, baked Christmas cookies or did much in the gift exchange department. Last year I was determined we would change that and go all out for the holidays since it was Jadon’s first Christmas. Well, we ended up celebrating Christmas in California so we figured there was no need to decorate the house. This year we decided to stay home and since it was Nathan’s first Christmas and Jadon’s first Christmas at home, I was more than determined go at this with gusto. I hadn’t worked out the finer details but sometime in September I started to envision this wonderful just-like-the-movies Christmas… yeah, I was living in a fantasy world.
I was due with our second child December 5 and since I was scheduling a c-section chances were good I would have him a few days before that. I temporarily forgot what the recovery from surgery would be like, let alone the side effects of sleepless nights. And I also forgot that I am not superwoman and scheduled my last day of work to be the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Given my current state of denial about how fast the baby’s due date was approaching I had put off getting ready for the baby until the last minute. Needless to say those last few weeks in November were jam-packed with work and baby laundry so Christmas never entered my mind. I was excited about planning ‘the Lombard family Christmas traditions’ but by the time I really put some thought into it I had run out of time. I couldn’t drive for 2 weeks after the c-section but that was kind of a moot point since I physically didn’t feel like going anywhere for those first 2 weeks anyway. I wasn’t brave enough to venture out on my own with the two boys when I finally felt like getting out of the house (2 weeks to go until Christmas) so I had to wait for Jacques to get home from work or for my mom to come around and baby-sit. I didn’t want to torture Jacques and have him come with me – I dislike shopping and unless I know exactly what I want I take forever and a day to make up my mind. When we moved into our apartment in California he spent 40 minutes with me at Target waiting for me to make up my mind about shower curtains!
My mom and dad were great – they decided not decorate their house for Christmas so they offered me all their decorations. I really wanted a fresh tree but that wasn’t going to happen at the rate I was moving so I borrowed their artificial tree, nativity scene, outdoor lights and other various decorations which saved a lot of shopping time. I did venture out to get some ornaments, table decorations other things so overall I think the living room and dining room came out looking pretty nice. Since Jadon is into everything we only decorated the tree from his height up which looked kind of weird, but what can I say? I am the mom of a toddler. I bought Jadon his own small tree and threw on some colored lights and plastic ornaments... which came off the tree as soon as he got his hands on them but I didn’t mind too much since that was his tree to play with and it kept his hands off of our tree (for the most part). However, he still liked to play with his animal figures on the lower branches of the tree in the living room. Even if the house wasn’t going to come together just as I had hoped I was still going to bake Christmas cookies. What I didn’t get done in the house I more than made up for in the Christmas cookie department. I spent three days in a marathon baking session, which not only resulted in 10 different cookies and candies but also started my love affair with the food processor – I can’t wait to make cookies next year!
My parents decided at the last minute to head to California to spend Christmas with my brother and his wife. I was in the midst of a week long post-partum depression when I found out and that did quite a number on me, but if any of you are holding your breath to see if I survived you can breathe a sigh of relief. My parents came over the Sunday before Christmas to have their Christmas with us and give Jadon his gifts. Since I was up to my eyelashes in flour and chocolate from my baking marathon we decided to have a simple dinner. We made chicken parmesan – talk about a traditional Christmas dinner, but moving on… my parents brought over their gifts and my mom asked Jadon to put his presents under the tree. The little tyke had no idea what was going on and put them under the tree after he made sure to take off the bows. My parents and Jacques and I went in on Jadon’s big gift together, which was a rocking horse. My parents had assembled it and brought it with them. There was no way we were going to go through 15 rolls of wrapping paper trying to figure out how to wrap that sucker up to get it under the tree so Jacques and my dad had put it in the garage (though I didn’t know where it was at the time). While eating dinner my mom mentioned that if Jadon knew what presents were and what was about to happen after dinner he wouldn’t remain in his seat eating dinner like it was just another day. Upon that comment I asked where the horse was to which she replied it was in the garage. Apparently my little boy is smarter than I give him credit since he looked up from his dinner, climbed out of his booster seat and ran over to the garage door saying “horse, horse”. He kept running back to us and then the garage door trying to get us over the garage. Thus ended dinner and we pulled out his present from the garage to begin the gift fest.
I had every intention of doing something traditional for Christmas Eve and Christmas day but that was all it was – intentions. Our church has a Christmas Eve service but there is no childcare. Nathan wouldn’t be a problem but trying keep Jadon in his seat for an hour is just… well, I would rather get my eyebrows waxed and I hate pain. Jacques worked until almost 6:00 pm on Christmas Eve and I had yet to come up with any Lombard Christmas Eve meal or traditions so it was kind of a bust. I made a meatloaf dinner, cleaned the house, wrapped gifts and watched The Man Who Knew Too Little. ‘Going down a rabbit trail’ as my pastor is fond of saying, if you haven’t seen The Man Who Knew Too Little you have to watch it! I have seen it many times and each time it cracks me up. The movie is a funny, difficult to describe spy adventure where everyone knows just how deadly the stakes are except for Bill Murray's character. He mistakenly thinks everything that is happening around him is a type of performance art instead of real life. You can’t guess what is going to happen next and from the title sequence to the end you have to pay attention or you might miss something. Christmas was pretty laid back. We opened gifts, ate breakfast and Jadon played with toys while Jacques and I took naps (not at the same time lest you think we let the kids roam around unsupervised). By the end of the day Jacques wasn’t feeling well (I think he ate too much candy) so I made a turkey dinner and watched the boys while he slept it off.
So while it wasn’t the Christmas I had dreamed it would be, we were together as a family, the house was decorated and most importantly, we had Christmas cookies. I can’t wait for next Christmas!
In the 5 years that Jacques and I have been married we have never done much for Christmas and no, we aren’t Mr. Grinch and Mrs. Scrooge. For one reason or another we just never decorated the house, hung stockings, baked Christmas cookies or did much in the gift exchange department. Last year I was determined we would change that and go all out for the holidays since it was Jadon’s first Christmas. Well, we ended up celebrating Christmas in California so we figured there was no need to decorate the house. This year we decided to stay home and since it was Nathan’s first Christmas and Jadon’s first Christmas at home, I was more than determined go at this with gusto. I hadn’t worked out the finer details but sometime in September I started to envision this wonderful just-like-the-movies Christmas… yeah, I was living in a fantasy world.
I was due with our second child December 5 and since I was scheduling a c-section chances were good I would have him a few days before that. I temporarily forgot what the recovery from surgery would be like, let alone the side effects of sleepless nights. And I also forgot that I am not superwoman and scheduled my last day of work to be the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Given my current state of denial about how fast the baby’s due date was approaching I had put off getting ready for the baby until the last minute. Needless to say those last few weeks in November were jam-packed with work and baby laundry so Christmas never entered my mind. I was excited about planning ‘the Lombard family Christmas traditions’ but by the time I really put some thought into it I had run out of time. I couldn’t drive for 2 weeks after the c-section but that was kind of a moot point since I physically didn’t feel like going anywhere for those first 2 weeks anyway. I wasn’t brave enough to venture out on my own with the two boys when I finally felt like getting out of the house (2 weeks to go until Christmas) so I had to wait for Jacques to get home from work or for my mom to come around and baby-sit. I didn’t want to torture Jacques and have him come with me – I dislike shopping and unless I know exactly what I want I take forever and a day to make up my mind. When we moved into our apartment in California he spent 40 minutes with me at Target waiting for me to make up my mind about shower curtains!
My mom and dad were great – they decided not decorate their house for Christmas so they offered me all their decorations. I really wanted a fresh tree but that wasn’t going to happen at the rate I was moving so I borrowed their artificial tree, nativity scene, outdoor lights and other various decorations which saved a lot of shopping time. I did venture out to get some ornaments, table decorations other things so overall I think the living room and dining room came out looking pretty nice. Since Jadon is into everything we only decorated the tree from his height up which looked kind of weird, but what can I say? I am the mom of a toddler. I bought Jadon his own small tree and threw on some colored lights and plastic ornaments... which came off the tree as soon as he got his hands on them but I didn’t mind too much since that was his tree to play with and it kept his hands off of our tree (for the most part). However, he still liked to play with his animal figures on the lower branches of the tree in the living room. Even if the house wasn’t going to come together just as I had hoped I was still going to bake Christmas cookies. What I didn’t get done in the house I more than made up for in the Christmas cookie department. I spent three days in a marathon baking session, which not only resulted in 10 different cookies and candies but also started my love affair with the food processor – I can’t wait to make cookies next year!
My parents decided at the last minute to head to California to spend Christmas with my brother and his wife. I was in the midst of a week long post-partum depression when I found out and that did quite a number on me, but if any of you are holding your breath to see if I survived you can breathe a sigh of relief. My parents came over the Sunday before Christmas to have their Christmas with us and give Jadon his gifts. Since I was up to my eyelashes in flour and chocolate from my baking marathon we decided to have a simple dinner. We made chicken parmesan – talk about a traditional Christmas dinner, but moving on… my parents brought over their gifts and my mom asked Jadon to put his presents under the tree. The little tyke had no idea what was going on and put them under the tree after he made sure to take off the bows. My parents and Jacques and I went in on Jadon’s big gift together, which was a rocking horse. My parents had assembled it and brought it with them. There was no way we were going to go through 15 rolls of wrapping paper trying to figure out how to wrap that sucker up to get it under the tree so Jacques and my dad had put it in the garage (though I didn’t know where it was at the time). While eating dinner my mom mentioned that if Jadon knew what presents were and what was about to happen after dinner he wouldn’t remain in his seat eating dinner like it was just another day. Upon that comment I asked where the horse was to which she replied it was in the garage. Apparently my little boy is smarter than I give him credit since he looked up from his dinner, climbed out of his booster seat and ran over to the garage door saying “horse, horse”. He kept running back to us and then the garage door trying to get us over the garage. Thus ended dinner and we pulled out his present from the garage to begin the gift fest.
I had every intention of doing something traditional for Christmas Eve and Christmas day but that was all it was – intentions. Our church has a Christmas Eve service but there is no childcare. Nathan wouldn’t be a problem but trying keep Jadon in his seat for an hour is just… well, I would rather get my eyebrows waxed and I hate pain. Jacques worked until almost 6:00 pm on Christmas Eve and I had yet to come up with any Lombard Christmas Eve meal or traditions so it was kind of a bust. I made a meatloaf dinner, cleaned the house, wrapped gifts and watched The Man Who Knew Too Little. ‘Going down a rabbit trail’ as my pastor is fond of saying, if you haven’t seen The Man Who Knew Too Little you have to watch it! I have seen it many times and each time it cracks me up. The movie is a funny, difficult to describe spy adventure where everyone knows just how deadly the stakes are except for Bill Murray's character. He mistakenly thinks everything that is happening around him is a type of performance art instead of real life. You can’t guess what is going to happen next and from the title sequence to the end you have to pay attention or you might miss something. Christmas was pretty laid back. We opened gifts, ate breakfast and Jadon played with toys while Jacques and I took naps (not at the same time lest you think we let the kids roam around unsupervised). By the end of the day Jacques wasn’t feeling well (I think he ate too much candy) so I made a turkey dinner and watched the boys while he slept it off.
So while it wasn’t the Christmas I had dreamed it would be, we were together as a family, the house was decorated and most importantly, we had Christmas cookies. I can’t wait for next Christmas!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas Photos
Sorry for my absence lately - trying to get ready for Christmas while taking care of 2 boys has consumed my time. It has been a long day and I don't have the energy to write much but I want to share a few Christmas photos with you at the very least. I am hoping to write an actual entry tomorrow so check back soon!
Christmas morning - note that only the tree from Jadon's height and above is decorated
Riffling through the candy in his Christmas stocking
The spoils of Christmas
Sleeping through gifts
Looking for more candy...
What isn't a stocking stuffer these days...
Grandpa shows Jadon how to ride into the sunset
Fun With Bath Bubbles
We bought bubble bath for Jadon and he had a blast... I love his giggles!
P.S. This is a large file and it may take a moment to load
Thursday, December 11, 2008
New Pictures Have Been Posted!
New pictures from the month of November and Nathan's arrival are up on the gallery page (the first few pictures are not for the faint of heart) : http://gallery.me.com/dawnlombard
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
EXCITED!!
I know the guys won’t understand my excitement over this, but I hope the ladies will. When Dr. Anderson pulled Nathan out he said, “You sure hide your babies well. You will be going home in your old jeans.” Well, he was wrong about going home in my jeans but I have been trying them on the last few days to see if they will fit and this morning – 9 days after giving birth - I was able to zip up AND button my old jeans! Goodbye maternity clothes! Wahoo!!!
Adjusting
In some ways, this second time around has been much easier and more comfortable. Jadon was our introduction to baby boot camp and we had the typical first-time-parent anxiety wondering what we were doing right and what we were doing wrong. Jadon also rocked our world like nothing else. We knew that a baby would change our lives but we didn’t realize how much a baby would change our lives. We had lost so much ‘freedom’ which led to all kind of emotions and stress. We learned a lot from the first baby and this time things are so much better. We are more comfortable taking care of a newborn and Jacques and I are more in-tune to meeting each others needs.
So far Nathan and Jadon appear to be night and day from each other. From day one Jadon didn’t want to sleep – Nathan loves to sleep. Jadon was a piranha when it came to eating; he would attack with gusto and you could hear him nursing from the across the room – Nathan is a slow sipper who prefers snacking over full meals. Jadon let you know immediately how he felt about something and wouldn’t stop crying until his demands were met - Nathan is quiet and doesn’t cry too much. Jadon developed a love affair with his pacifier in the hospital – Nathan spits his out so we don’t use it anymore.
Nathan is waking up every 2-3 hours at night. It takes about 45 minutes to nurse him, change his diaper and get him back to sleep, which leaves me a little over an hour or 2 of sleep between each feeding.. Jadon is up and ready to go between 6:30 am – 7:00 am which has me exhausted! We have a pretty decent morning routine down but I am still struggling with how to divide my attention between the boys. I want to snuggle with Nathan and enjoy this newborn stage, but I also want to give Jadon some extra time so that he doesn’t feel like he has been replaced.
Jadon’s world was pretty comfy – he had both his parents and grandparents full attention without competition so Nathan’s arrival has obviously flipped his life around. There are some sweet moments when he will stop what he’s doing, say “baby’ and run over to Nathan to give him a kiss and stroke his hair. But for the most part he either ignores Nathan or gets mad at us when we give Nathan attention. Jadon doesn’t understand why I can’t wrestle with or hold him but I can hold Nathan – how can I explain surgery to an almost 2-year old boy? I am very grateful to have Jacques and the grandparents around to give extra attention to Jadon but it is still wears on me. This is uncharted territory for me so I welcome any suggestions from the moms who have been there, done that!
Meeting Nathan for the first time
So far Nathan and Jadon appear to be night and day from each other. From day one Jadon didn’t want to sleep – Nathan loves to sleep. Jadon was a piranha when it came to eating; he would attack with gusto and you could hear him nursing from the across the room – Nathan is a slow sipper who prefers snacking over full meals. Jadon let you know immediately how he felt about something and wouldn’t stop crying until his demands were met - Nathan is quiet and doesn’t cry too much. Jadon developed a love affair with his pacifier in the hospital – Nathan spits his out so we don’t use it anymore.
Nathan is waking up every 2-3 hours at night. It takes about 45 minutes to nurse him, change his diaper and get him back to sleep, which leaves me a little over an hour or 2 of sleep between each feeding.. Jadon is up and ready to go between 6:30 am – 7:00 am which has me exhausted! We have a pretty decent morning routine down but I am still struggling with how to divide my attention between the boys. I want to snuggle with Nathan and enjoy this newborn stage, but I also want to give Jadon some extra time so that he doesn’t feel like he has been replaced.
Jadon’s world was pretty comfy – he had both his parents and grandparents full attention without competition so Nathan’s arrival has obviously flipped his life around. There are some sweet moments when he will stop what he’s doing, say “baby’ and run over to Nathan to give him a kiss and stroke his hair. But for the most part he either ignores Nathan or gets mad at us when we give Nathan attention. Jadon doesn’t understand why I can’t wrestle with or hold him but I can hold Nathan – how can I explain surgery to an almost 2-year old boy? I am very grateful to have Jacques and the grandparents around to give extra attention to Jadon but it is still wears on me. This is uncharted territory for me so I welcome any suggestions from the moms who have been there, done that!
Meeting Nathan for the first time
Welcome Nathan Merrill Lombard
This is the birth story of Nathan… the good, the bad and the ugly (I won’t show too many graphic pictures). Jadon arrived two days before his due date so I figured that Nathan wouldn’t arrive an earlier than his scheduled c-section, leaving me plenty of time to procrastinate.
Two days before his birth (Saturday) we finally chose a name and the day before he was born I packed the hospital bag and my mom and dad installed the car seats in my car (Jacques and I can never figure those things out). That night the washing machine broke down so I called a repair guy and left my sob story of a message (having a baby at 1:00 pm, can you come before 10:00 am?). Jacques mom, Ann, and my mom and dad came over Sunday evening to help. They sent Jacques and I out to dinner and watched Jadon while they took our last load of laundry to Andy’s house (he only lives 5 minutes away), installed the car seats and cleaned up Jadon’s room. Jacques and I had dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant and then stopped by Kroger to pick up some groceries. On our way home we stopped by Lowe’s and Home Depot looking for rock salt but they didn’t have any. The generous who designed our house placed the rain gutter in front of the steps leading up to the door so when it is cold enough we get ice - more than one person (including yours truly) has slipped. Snow flurries were scheduled for that night and in case of ice we wanted the rock salt. Just as well that they didn’t have it since there wasn’t any ice Monday morning.
It was strange going to bed knowing that I would have a baby the next day. Surprisingly I slept pretty well and as I was getting ready Monday morning the repair guy called and said he would get to our house before 10:00 am. Turns out the motor on the washing machine broke (it wasn’t even 2 ½ years old). The cost of a new motor was just slightly less than a buying a new washing machine so on Wednesday we bought a new washing machine. My parents and Ann came by to pack up Jadon’s stuff and load his mattress in their van (he was going to be spending the next few nights with them). I was told to be at the hospital around 11:00 am but with all the chaos of getting Jadon ready and the repair man coming and going we left our house a few minutes after 11:00 am. We checked in to the hospital, headed up to the maternity ward and settled into our labor & delivery room. The nurse was very sweet. She hooked me up to several monitors, put the IV in and asked a million and one questions about my medical and pregnancy history. I was told that the anesthesiologist would be in around 12:45 am to get me and if our family wanted to see the baby in the nursery window they should arrive around 1:15 pm – 1:30 pm. Then she left – and I started to panic.
With Jadon’s labor nearly 32 hours had passed from the start of the contractions to the time the doctor decided on a c-section. At that point I was exhausted and everything seemed to be kind of a blur. This time around I hadn’t gone through labor, jus a few contractions here and there but nothing consistent, and I was much more alert. The thought of a spinal without the pain of contractions to offset it and knowing what the surgery and recover ahead of me was going to be like started to sink in. For the briefest of moments I thought about changing my mind and trying for a normal delivery. But the contractions were painful and I hated being strapped to a bed so I decided against it. I was out of delivery options and nothing looked good. Jacques held my hand the whole time which helped calm me down a lot. About 20 minutes later when it was time for the nurse to get me I was mentally ready. But 12:45 pm came and went…1:00 pm came and went… still no nurse. I was grateful for the delay because by the time they did come I was more than ready for the c-section. Something must be in the Clarksville water because there are so many babies! There were 7 people in labor and 6 of them were with Premier Medical (that is the group my doctor has his practice). Since my doctor was the one on call that day he had 6 babies to deliver and every woman wanted an epidural, which he had to approve and therefore, kept the anesthesiologist busy and pushed back my surgery. The anesthesiologist, Melanie, was very sweet – she gave me my epidural with Jadon… you just don’t forget the wonderful people that give you pain relieving drugs! She explained how a spinal worked, the procedure, blah, blah, blah. The nurses gave Jacques a set of scrubs and then wheeled us off to the operating room. It was 1:30 pm and on our way to the OR I could see our family in the maternity waiting area through the windows on the doors as we were going by. I asked if we could stop for a second so that Jacques could run out and tell them the c-section running a little late. The nurse and anesthesiologist said they would take the long route to the OR and wheel us through the maternity waiting area to see them, which I thought was very nice of them. Jadon saw us and started crying (a fearful scared cry) – he wasn’t used to seeing Jacques in scrubs or seeing me hooked up to monitors in a bed being wheeled around. I gave him a hug and a kiss but he chased after us crying, “mama”. I felt horrible for Jadon - even the anesthesiologist started to well up when Jadon was crying for me.
I was wheeled into the OR and transferred from the bed to the operating table. The OR was freezing!! The scrub tech was behind me counting instruments and Melanie was getting her stuff ready for the spinal. The spinal packs quite a punch in comparison to an epidural. When the decision was made to do a c-section with Jadon I was given medicine through the epidural, which took about 20 minutes to take effect and while I couldn’t feel any pain, I could feel more of what the doctor was doing during the surgery. With the spinal, I lost all feeling from my chest down within 3 minutes, my blood pressure dropped quite a bit, I felt light headed, it was hard to breath and I wanted to throw up. They elevated me somewhat, gave me medicine to bring my blood pressure up and make me feel less nauseous and gave me oxygen. Within a few minutes I was feeling fine and Dr. Anderson came in to prep for the c-section. When he was ready they brought Jacques in and then started the surgery. Melanie told me what the doctor was doing so I was ‘in the loop’ so to speak. She wanted Jacques to be able to see the birth without being distracted by taking pictures so she took over with the camera when Dr. Anderson told Jacques he could stand up and watch them pull Nathan out. Dr. Anderson quickly showed Nathan to me over the blue curtain before handing him off to the nurses. As awful as this might sound, I thought Nathan looked terrible – all purple and covered in blood. He hardly cried until he was being cleaned by the nurses.
Two days before his birth (Saturday) we finally chose a name and the day before he was born I packed the hospital bag and my mom and dad installed the car seats in my car (Jacques and I can never figure those things out). That night the washing machine broke down so I called a repair guy and left my sob story of a message (having a baby at 1:00 pm, can you come before 10:00 am?). Jacques mom, Ann, and my mom and dad came over Sunday evening to help. They sent Jacques and I out to dinner and watched Jadon while they took our last load of laundry to Andy’s house (he only lives 5 minutes away), installed the car seats and cleaned up Jadon’s room. Jacques and I had dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant and then stopped by Kroger to pick up some groceries. On our way home we stopped by Lowe’s and Home Depot looking for rock salt but they didn’t have any. The generous who designed our house placed the rain gutter in front of the steps leading up to the door so when it is cold enough we get ice - more than one person (including yours truly) has slipped. Snow flurries were scheduled for that night and in case of ice we wanted the rock salt. Just as well that they didn’t have it since there wasn’t any ice Monday morning.
It was strange going to bed knowing that I would have a baby the next day. Surprisingly I slept pretty well and as I was getting ready Monday morning the repair guy called and said he would get to our house before 10:00 am. Turns out the motor on the washing machine broke (it wasn’t even 2 ½ years old). The cost of a new motor was just slightly less than a buying a new washing machine so on Wednesday we bought a new washing machine. My parents and Ann came by to pack up Jadon’s stuff and load his mattress in their van (he was going to be spending the next few nights with them). I was told to be at the hospital around 11:00 am but with all the chaos of getting Jadon ready and the repair man coming and going we left our house a few minutes after 11:00 am. We checked in to the hospital, headed up to the maternity ward and settled into our labor & delivery room. The nurse was very sweet. She hooked me up to several monitors, put the IV in and asked a million and one questions about my medical and pregnancy history. I was told that the anesthesiologist would be in around 12:45 am to get me and if our family wanted to see the baby in the nursery window they should arrive around 1:15 pm – 1:30 pm. Then she left – and I started to panic.
With Jadon’s labor nearly 32 hours had passed from the start of the contractions to the time the doctor decided on a c-section. At that point I was exhausted and everything seemed to be kind of a blur. This time around I hadn’t gone through labor, jus a few contractions here and there but nothing consistent, and I was much more alert. The thought of a spinal without the pain of contractions to offset it and knowing what the surgery and recover ahead of me was going to be like started to sink in. For the briefest of moments I thought about changing my mind and trying for a normal delivery. But the contractions were painful and I hated being strapped to a bed so I decided against it. I was out of delivery options and nothing looked good. Jacques held my hand the whole time which helped calm me down a lot. About 20 minutes later when it was time for the nurse to get me I was mentally ready. But 12:45 pm came and went…1:00 pm came and went… still no nurse. I was grateful for the delay because by the time they did come I was more than ready for the c-section. Something must be in the Clarksville water because there are so many babies! There were 7 people in labor and 6 of them were with Premier Medical (that is the group my doctor has his practice). Since my doctor was the one on call that day he had 6 babies to deliver and every woman wanted an epidural, which he had to approve and therefore, kept the anesthesiologist busy and pushed back my surgery. The anesthesiologist, Melanie, was very sweet – she gave me my epidural with Jadon… you just don’t forget the wonderful people that give you pain relieving drugs! She explained how a spinal worked, the procedure, blah, blah, blah. The nurses gave Jacques a set of scrubs and then wheeled us off to the operating room. It was 1:30 pm and on our way to the OR I could see our family in the maternity waiting area through the windows on the doors as we were going by. I asked if we could stop for a second so that Jacques could run out and tell them the c-section running a little late. The nurse and anesthesiologist said they would take the long route to the OR and wheel us through the maternity waiting area to see them, which I thought was very nice of them. Jadon saw us and started crying (a fearful scared cry) – he wasn’t used to seeing Jacques in scrubs or seeing me hooked up to monitors in a bed being wheeled around. I gave him a hug and a kiss but he chased after us crying, “mama”. I felt horrible for Jadon - even the anesthesiologist started to well up when Jadon was crying for me.
I was wheeled into the OR and transferred from the bed to the operating table. The OR was freezing!! The scrub tech was behind me counting instruments and Melanie was getting her stuff ready for the spinal. The spinal packs quite a punch in comparison to an epidural. When the decision was made to do a c-section with Jadon I was given medicine through the epidural, which took about 20 minutes to take effect and while I couldn’t feel any pain, I could feel more of what the doctor was doing during the surgery. With the spinal, I lost all feeling from my chest down within 3 minutes, my blood pressure dropped quite a bit, I felt light headed, it was hard to breath and I wanted to throw up. They elevated me somewhat, gave me medicine to bring my blood pressure up and make me feel less nauseous and gave me oxygen. Within a few minutes I was feeling fine and Dr. Anderson came in to prep for the c-section. When he was ready they brought Jacques in and then started the surgery. Melanie told me what the doctor was doing so I was ‘in the loop’ so to speak. She wanted Jacques to be able to see the birth without being distracted by taking pictures so she took over with the camera when Dr. Anderson told Jacques he could stand up and watch them pull Nathan out. Dr. Anderson quickly showed Nathan to me over the blue curtain before handing him off to the nurses. As awful as this might sound, I thought Nathan looked terrible – all purple and covered in blood. He hardly cried until he was being cleaned by the nurses.
A few seconds old
Dr. Anderson shows Nathan to me for the first time
Jacques is trimming the cord
Our first family photo
Melanie continued her role of commentator as they were cleaning Nathan so that I knew what was happening and within a few minutes they brought him over for me to hold. He looked so different all cleaned up and I just feel in love with him. I got to see him for a minute or two before Jacques and Nathan headed to the nursery so that Nathan could be examined and the family could see him. While the doctor was finishing the surgery the nursery called to let us know that Nathan was 8 pounds, 5 ounces and 20 inches long. After the c-section I was taken back to my room and within 30 minutes they brought Nathan to me. I was about to try nursing him when my IV came out (don’t ask me how) so I couldn’t hold him until they put a new IV in. Ann and my mom were in the room at the time so they held Nathan while I was getting a new IV. Our hospital stay was like Grand Central Station…. everyone was coming and going all hours of the day and night so Jacques and I got no rest. Nathan also needed some extra tests since he was breathing pretty fast. His tests came back normal but his chest scan showed fluid in the lungs. The neo-natal doctor looked over him and said it was amniotic fluid, which is pretty common in c-section babies and as long as he improved each day (which he was), he could go home with us when I was discharged. We came home Wednesday afternoon, after 2 nights in the hospital. Nathan is a beautiful, healthy baby and we are very blessed to have this newest addition to the family!
Ready to go home!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
My Little Chef
Anytime I pull a mixing bowl, skillet or pot out of the cupboard Jadon runs to the dining room table and drags a chair across the floor to where I am getting ready to cook. He stands on the chair and I let him dump in the ingredients, crack eggs, mix, stir… you name it. So far he has helped me make spaghetti sauce, pasta, soup, French toast, pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, cookies, cake, pie and pudding. Ah… my little chef!
Sampling the craisins and white chocolate chips before mixing
Cracking the eggs for our Thanksgiving pumpkin pie
Mixing the pumpkin pie filling
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Coming Down To The Wire
Where has the time gone? The newest Lombard is set to arrive no later than this coming Monday (Dec. 1) and I have been busy trying to get everything done before he arrives. I am feeling pretty accomplished since I was able to get all my work done before the Thanksgiving holiday and have just about everything ready to go for the baby. I pulled out all of Jadon’s baby clothes, the swing, car seat, pack n’ play, activity mat, bath tub, etc and bought new bottles, burp clothes, diapers and all that other jazz. Everything has been washed and and the house has been thoroughly cleaned so now I only have to organize the kid’s room, buy a few groceries and get a hospital bag to packed before we are all set. If only things like dishes and laundry could be done once and for all I would be a really happy camper!
Jacques’ mom is flying in this afternoon so I am hoping to have these last few things done by the time she gets here so that I can relax for the rest of the weekend and enjoy our last bit of family time before the baby arrives. Jadon knows something is going on and he has been acting out quite a bit lately. We have told him about the baby coming and being able to play with him, blah, blah, blah but I don’t know how much he understands. I am grateful that I have a support system here – between Jacques, my mom and dad, Jacques’ mom and me, he should have enough attention so that he doesn’t feel like last year’s model that’s been tossed in the closet for a newer edition.
It is now time to start working on a few things with Jadon since he is almost 2 - like getting him moved out of his crib, getting rid of the pacifier and potty training. We had gotten rid of the pacifier for three weeks back in September and Jadon had adjusted pretty well with the exception of naptime. He would cry and cry and cry. At first I thought he would get over it in a week or so but the cries at naptime only increased until he was crying for 4 hours before sleeping, only to sleep for an hour and then cry for another hour after waking up. This made it hard to not only get work done but to keep my sanity in check. So I caved and bought him a new pacifier. All is quiet on the Southern Front again! He never got attached to a blanket or stuffed animal like most kids do so his ‘security blanket’ is the pacifier. I know he will have to give this up soon but I think this will the last thing we work on. I believe he is about ready for potty training – he tells me when he is about to ‘go’ so I hope this won’t be too hard. I gave it a half of a half-hearted attempt a month or so ago but I wasn’t fully committed to it since I didn’t have all the time in the world to watch him sit on the toilet. Plus, I have heard from many moms that when a new baby comes home they regress back so I figured I would wait until Jadon had adjusted to the baby before really trying. I am hoping in the next few months we will be potty trained or almost there. We knew that getting Jadon out of the crib would be the easiest of the three so we tried that a little over a month ago. We bought him a mattress at Sam’s Club and he has really enjoyed his freedom of being able to get out of bed whenever he want – he has enjoyed this freedom a bit too much! We had to put a baby gate up in his room to keep him from running to our room in the middle of the night. He is doing much better now and will sleep through the night in his own bed. The only downside is that we have to fight him to fall asleep on his own. Many times we have caved and will lie next to him to get him to sleep. I am afraid this monster we have created will rear its ugly head once the baby is born; I have no clue how we can do this once the baby comes… I welcome any suggestions!
I hope everything had a great Thanksgiving. We spent the day with family and friends. I know this sounds selfish but since it wasn’t at my house and I only had to make pumpkin pie, this was the easiest Thanksgiving I have had since moving out on my own. And just as well, since I have been busy working/ preparing for a baby and my energy level hovers near basement level by the end of the day. Overall it was a nice Thanksgiving – a lot of good food and good company.
Till next time….
Jacques’ mom is flying in this afternoon so I am hoping to have these last few things done by the time she gets here so that I can relax for the rest of the weekend and enjoy our last bit of family time before the baby arrives. Jadon knows something is going on and he has been acting out quite a bit lately. We have told him about the baby coming and being able to play with him, blah, blah, blah but I don’t know how much he understands. I am grateful that I have a support system here – between Jacques, my mom and dad, Jacques’ mom and me, he should have enough attention so that he doesn’t feel like last year’s model that’s been tossed in the closet for a newer edition.
It is now time to start working on a few things with Jadon since he is almost 2 - like getting him moved out of his crib, getting rid of the pacifier and potty training. We had gotten rid of the pacifier for three weeks back in September and Jadon had adjusted pretty well with the exception of naptime. He would cry and cry and cry. At first I thought he would get over it in a week or so but the cries at naptime only increased until he was crying for 4 hours before sleeping, only to sleep for an hour and then cry for another hour after waking up. This made it hard to not only get work done but to keep my sanity in check. So I caved and bought him a new pacifier. All is quiet on the Southern Front again! He never got attached to a blanket or stuffed animal like most kids do so his ‘security blanket’ is the pacifier. I know he will have to give this up soon but I think this will the last thing we work on. I believe he is about ready for potty training – he tells me when he is about to ‘go’ so I hope this won’t be too hard. I gave it a half of a half-hearted attempt a month or so ago but I wasn’t fully committed to it since I didn’t have all the time in the world to watch him sit on the toilet. Plus, I have heard from many moms that when a new baby comes home they regress back so I figured I would wait until Jadon had adjusted to the baby before really trying. I am hoping in the next few months we will be potty trained or almost there. We knew that getting Jadon out of the crib would be the easiest of the three so we tried that a little over a month ago. We bought him a mattress at Sam’s Club and he has really enjoyed his freedom of being able to get out of bed whenever he want – he has enjoyed this freedom a bit too much! We had to put a baby gate up in his room to keep him from running to our room in the middle of the night. He is doing much better now and will sleep through the night in his own bed. The only downside is that we have to fight him to fall asleep on his own. Many times we have caved and will lie next to him to get him to sleep. I am afraid this monster we have created will rear its ugly head once the baby is born; I have no clue how we can do this once the baby comes… I welcome any suggestions!
I hope everything had a great Thanksgiving. We spent the day with family and friends. I know this sounds selfish but since it wasn’t at my house and I only had to make pumpkin pie, this was the easiest Thanksgiving I have had since moving out on my own. And just as well, since I have been busy working/ preparing for a baby and my energy level hovers near basement level by the end of the day. Overall it was a nice Thanksgiving – a lot of good food and good company.
Till next time….
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Voting & Scheduling A Birthday
I stood in line for over an hour to vote yesterday (and with Jadon it seemed to last a lot longer than an hour). I kind of felt that my vote never counted when I lived in California because California always votes for the Democrats but that was not the case in Tennessee. For the first time it felt like my vote counted since the state voted Republican. That was the best part of the election… I won’t shirk away from a political discussion, but I also don’t make a point of telling everyone I know how I feel about the election/choices our government makes. We are all entitled to our own opinion and I know that not everyone will agree with me but since this my blog and I feel really passionate about what happened, I’m going to speak my mind.
I understand that Bush wasn’t a popular president (and goodness knows I haven’t been happy with all his decisions) so it was an uphill battle for McCain and the Republicans running for election in the House and Senate, but I am REALLY disappointed in the results from this election. I wasn’t thrilled with either McCain or Obama but I believe McCain would have done a better job in keeping this country’s morals (and tax increases) in check. That said, I believe we are getting the President/Congress we deserve – and let me explain. I am a Bible believing Christian and my beliefs are based on God’s Word and my relationship with Him. As a nation we have turned our back on God – we want Him out of our government, our communities, our schools, our churches, our families and our lives. We have decided to go our own way and as a result we are reaping what we have sown. Our greed and selfishness have gotten us into the moral and economic mess we are in. So many people are voting based on a ‘what is best for me’ attitude when they really need to be voting with a ‘what is best for this country’ attitude. Another government funded program isn’t the answer, raising taxes to spread the wealth isn’t the answer and trying to become popular with the rest of the world isn’t the answer. We need to get on our knees, repent before the Lord for what we have done and change our ways. It is time to bring God back into our lives and families. When we do this, the change this country needs will start to filter upwards into the communities and government (and might I add, save quite a few tax payer dollars on programs that would no longer be needed). Until we do this, the country will continue to sink and no amount of endless promises from the politicians will do any good. Okay – enough said on the subject and I am moving on…
I had a doctor’s appointment at 9:40 am so I arrived at the polling place at 8:00 am – I thought I had plenty of time to vote, drop Jadon off at mom’s (as you can imagine, taking him to the doctor with me is a whole other story) and run to the doctor’s office. The office had changed locations within the past few weeks (they are literally steps to the new hospital) and instead of being a few minutes from my mom’s house they are a few minutes from my house. It takes me 20 minutes to get to my mom and then another 20 minutes to get to the new office. I called the doctor at 9:00 am to let him know I was running late so they wouldn’t cancel my appointment - I didn’t leave the polling place until 9:30 am so I’m glad I called. My doctor is part of a group practice with 3 other doctors and they rotate being on-call at the hospital. I am scheduling another c-section for this baby and wanted to pick a day my doctor was on-call, so we scheduled delivery for Monday, Dec. 1, assuming this baby doesn’t come early.
I know a lot of people have strong opinions on c-sections (boy, this is really an opinionated blog post isn’t it?) so not everyone agrees with my decision but I really did think this over. My labor with Jadon was long and miserable – I was in labor for 31 hours and had to go through forceps before being told Jadon was too big and that I needed a c-section. My doctor supports a VBAC and if this baby is smaller than Jadon was, I might attempt it but there is no way to know for sure. Ultrasounds can be off by a pound at this stage of the game and my doctor is no help. He thought for sure Jadon would be no bigger than 7 pounds and he was 8 pounds 10 ounces – boy was he was way off! If this baby is too big for me to push out - and the odds are good he will be about the same size as Jadon - I don’t want to go through a repeat of my last labor. If I schedule a c-section I can eat a decent meal the night before, try a get some sleep and take a shower (all of which I didn’t get for 3 days between being in labor and recovering from surgery).
For fun, I have included a belly picture taken today (35 weeks, 5 days):
I understand that Bush wasn’t a popular president (and goodness knows I haven’t been happy with all his decisions) so it was an uphill battle for McCain and the Republicans running for election in the House and Senate, but I am REALLY disappointed in the results from this election. I wasn’t thrilled with either McCain or Obama but I believe McCain would have done a better job in keeping this country’s morals (and tax increases) in check. That said, I believe we are getting the President/Congress we deserve – and let me explain. I am a Bible believing Christian and my beliefs are based on God’s Word and my relationship with Him. As a nation we have turned our back on God – we want Him out of our government, our communities, our schools, our churches, our families and our lives. We have decided to go our own way and as a result we are reaping what we have sown. Our greed and selfishness have gotten us into the moral and economic mess we are in. So many people are voting based on a ‘what is best for me’ attitude when they really need to be voting with a ‘what is best for this country’ attitude. Another government funded program isn’t the answer, raising taxes to spread the wealth isn’t the answer and trying to become popular with the rest of the world isn’t the answer. We need to get on our knees, repent before the Lord for what we have done and change our ways. It is time to bring God back into our lives and families. When we do this, the change this country needs will start to filter upwards into the communities and government (and might I add, save quite a few tax payer dollars on programs that would no longer be needed). Until we do this, the country will continue to sink and no amount of endless promises from the politicians will do any good. Okay – enough said on the subject and I am moving on…
I had a doctor’s appointment at 9:40 am so I arrived at the polling place at 8:00 am – I thought I had plenty of time to vote, drop Jadon off at mom’s (as you can imagine, taking him to the doctor with me is a whole other story) and run to the doctor’s office. The office had changed locations within the past few weeks (they are literally steps to the new hospital) and instead of being a few minutes from my mom’s house they are a few minutes from my house. It takes me 20 minutes to get to my mom and then another 20 minutes to get to the new office. I called the doctor at 9:00 am to let him know I was running late so they wouldn’t cancel my appointment - I didn’t leave the polling place until 9:30 am so I’m glad I called. My doctor is part of a group practice with 3 other doctors and they rotate being on-call at the hospital. I am scheduling another c-section for this baby and wanted to pick a day my doctor was on-call, so we scheduled delivery for Monday, Dec. 1, assuming this baby doesn’t come early.
I know a lot of people have strong opinions on c-sections (boy, this is really an opinionated blog post isn’t it?) so not everyone agrees with my decision but I really did think this over. My labor with Jadon was long and miserable – I was in labor for 31 hours and had to go through forceps before being told Jadon was too big and that I needed a c-section. My doctor supports a VBAC and if this baby is smaller than Jadon was, I might attempt it but there is no way to know for sure. Ultrasounds can be off by a pound at this stage of the game and my doctor is no help. He thought for sure Jadon would be no bigger than 7 pounds and he was 8 pounds 10 ounces – boy was he was way off! If this baby is too big for me to push out - and the odds are good he will be about the same size as Jadon - I don’t want to go through a repeat of my last labor. If I schedule a c-section I can eat a decent meal the night before, try a get some sleep and take a shower (all of which I didn’t get for 3 days between being in labor and recovering from surgery).
For fun, I have included a belly picture taken today (35 weeks, 5 days):
Dunbar Cave
Dunbar Cave is a state park about 15 minutes from our house. You can take tours of the caves (have not done that yet), feed the ducks and geese in the lake or go for a hike. It is very petty now since the leaves are at their most intense color. We are at the peak of Fall when there are still a good amount of leaves on the trees and most leaves are red, orange and yellow with a sprinkling of green here and there. My mom and dad wanted to take Jadon for a hike, so we went on a mile long hike and he surprise me by walking most of it. He conked out for almost 2 ½ hours afterwards so I now I know how to get him to take a nice, long nap! Here are some pictures from the hike:
A Pretty Nice Weekend
Fall is beautiful here in Tennessee but it can also mean a rollercoaster ride of weather. One day we have highs in the low 50’s and two days later we will have high’s in the mid 70’s. I really enjoy these unusually warmer days because it will be quite some time until we see them again. Our weekends are usually filled with boring activities like cleaning and running errands… that kind of thing. But these past few days have been really nice so I have tried to make the most of them.
This past weekend kicked off with Halloween. I didn’t grow up celebrating Halloween (it was too creepy for me) and Jacques didn’t celebrate Halloween in South Africa so instead of being the grumpy neighbors who turn off the lights and don’t pass out candy, we opt to participate in the church’s alternative to the night. It is laid back and really fun – the church provides hot dogs and drinks and people sign up to bring soup, chili and dessert. The tables and chairs are in the middle of the room and the games are along the walls. The kids dress up, run around and play games to get candy (everyone gets something just for trying regardless of how they do) while the adults hang out with friends and keep an eye on the kids - it is a safe place and everyone has a good time. I was going to get Jadon a costume but in the end he went as himself. I costume hunting a few days before Halloween so all that was left were costumes from Star Wars, the Hulk or Superman. None of these were costumes I would buy. Jadon loves animals and I ended up finding some cute animal costumes at a Halloween store but they were $40, and call me cheap if you want, but I cannot possibly justify spending $40 on an outfit he will only wear once for a few hours. And I really don’t think Jadon noticed that he wasn’t wearing a costume so no tears were shed over it. He didn’t care too much for the games but he was all about the candy! He spent most of the night hanging around the ‘duck pond’. It is a small plastic pool filled with water and rubber ducks (the ducks had stars on their bottoms). The kids were supposed to take a fish net, scoop up a fish and would get candy based on the number of stars on the duck. Jadon could have cared less about the catching ducks with the net but he had a grand time playing with the ducks in the water. The lady in charge of the game didn’t mind him hanging around so he played until you could wring water out of his sleeves.
Playing the duck pond game
This is the best part - the candy!
Saturday was another gorgeous day and I started the day out by cleaning the house (really exciting stuff, I know). Around noon I decided to ditch the cleaning and took Jadon to the park instead. Jacques was working so he couldn’t come but it was nice just to get out of the house (sometimes I feel like a prisoner working at home). Jadon ran all over the place and I ran after him – he sure is quick for someone so small! Afterwards I took him to Baskin Robbins for a clown cone. It’s an upside down ice cream cone with frosting for the face and an Oreo cookie for the neck. It was a mess but it was fun watching him eat it. That evening we went a birthday party for a little girl down the street who turned 2. A few of the neighbors get together for play dates so we had a play date birthday party with pizza and cake and of course, lots of play time.
I had a bunch of crocus, daffodil and tulip bulbs that I had been meaning to plant and time was getting away from me. I really needed to get those bulbs in the ground soon or it would be too late. So Sunday after church Jacques dug hold using this neat bulb digging device – he got 150 holes dug in a little over 30 minutes. I tried planting the bulbs with Jadon running around I admit it, I lost my temper. He trampled through the plants, threw rocks, tried to spread fertilizer all over place, switched the bulbs around and in general tried to destroy everything. I ended up putting him in his room for a time out while I finished everything up. That night I pulled my bread machine out and made cinnamon rolls. Jadon was fascinated watching the dough spin around!
Watching the dough spin around and around...
This past weekend kicked off with Halloween. I didn’t grow up celebrating Halloween (it was too creepy for me) and Jacques didn’t celebrate Halloween in South Africa so instead of being the grumpy neighbors who turn off the lights and don’t pass out candy, we opt to participate in the church’s alternative to the night. It is laid back and really fun – the church provides hot dogs and drinks and people sign up to bring soup, chili and dessert. The tables and chairs are in the middle of the room and the games are along the walls. The kids dress up, run around and play games to get candy (everyone gets something just for trying regardless of how they do) while the adults hang out with friends and keep an eye on the kids - it is a safe place and everyone has a good time. I was going to get Jadon a costume but in the end he went as himself. I costume hunting a few days before Halloween so all that was left were costumes from Star Wars, the Hulk or Superman. None of these were costumes I would buy. Jadon loves animals and I ended up finding some cute animal costumes at a Halloween store but they were $40, and call me cheap if you want, but I cannot possibly justify spending $40 on an outfit he will only wear once for a few hours. And I really don’t think Jadon noticed that he wasn’t wearing a costume so no tears were shed over it. He didn’t care too much for the games but he was all about the candy! He spent most of the night hanging around the ‘duck pond’. It is a small plastic pool filled with water and rubber ducks (the ducks had stars on their bottoms). The kids were supposed to take a fish net, scoop up a fish and would get candy based on the number of stars on the duck. Jadon could have cared less about the catching ducks with the net but he had a grand time playing with the ducks in the water. The lady in charge of the game didn’t mind him hanging around so he played until you could wring water out of his sleeves.
Playing the duck pond game
This is the best part - the candy!
Saturday was another gorgeous day and I started the day out by cleaning the house (really exciting stuff, I know). Around noon I decided to ditch the cleaning and took Jadon to the park instead. Jacques was working so he couldn’t come but it was nice just to get out of the house (sometimes I feel like a prisoner working at home). Jadon ran all over the place and I ran after him – he sure is quick for someone so small! Afterwards I took him to Baskin Robbins for a clown cone. It’s an upside down ice cream cone with frosting for the face and an Oreo cookie for the neck. It was a mess but it was fun watching him eat it. That evening we went a birthday party for a little girl down the street who turned 2. A few of the neighbors get together for play dates so we had a play date birthday party with pizza and cake and of course, lots of play time.
I had a bunch of crocus, daffodil and tulip bulbs that I had been meaning to plant and time was getting away from me. I really needed to get those bulbs in the ground soon or it would be too late. So Sunday after church Jacques dug hold using this neat bulb digging device – he got 150 holes dug in a little over 30 minutes. I tried planting the bulbs with Jadon running around I admit it, I lost my temper. He trampled through the plants, threw rocks, tried to spread fertilizer all over place, switched the bulbs around and in general tried to destroy everything. I ended up putting him in his room for a time out while I finished everything up. That night I pulled my bread machine out and made cinnamon rolls. Jadon was fascinated watching the dough spin around!
Watching the dough spin around and around...
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Anniversaries, Colds and Fall Festivals
Jacques and I celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss today (October 18) and much like our anniversary last year, it will be remembered fondly for illness. Our 4 year anniversary was marked with storms, tornado warnings, power outages, take-out Mexican food and a child with strep throat. This year Jacques brought home a cold and was nice enough to pass it around. The three of us decided to celebrate the occasion with a box of Kleenex and a trip to Christianway Farms in Hospkinsville, KY with some friends.
I never experienced Fall in southern California so I really enjoy the seasons here. The air is cool and crisp and the leaves are falling off the trees in all shades of reds, oranges, yellows and greens. Christianway Farms is family owned and they make a big event of Fall on the weekends from Sept – Oct. They have corn mazes, hay rides, pick-your-own-pumpkin fields, farm animals to feed and pet, an old corn grinder to grind corn to animal feed, a hay castle, sand boxes with corn kernels instead of sand, playgrounds, picnic tables, a general store, produce stand, puppet shows for the kids, live music, food and lots more stuff I can’t remember. Since Jadon was having too much fun with the animals and other kid-related things we didn’t do the hay ride to the pumpkin fields (we bought an already picked pumpkin instead) or corn maze.
Visiting the farm with friends
I never experienced Fall in southern California so I really enjoy the seasons here. The air is cool and crisp and the leaves are falling off the trees in all shades of reds, oranges, yellows and greens. Christianway Farms is family owned and they make a big event of Fall on the weekends from Sept – Oct. They have corn mazes, hay rides, pick-your-own-pumpkin fields, farm animals to feed and pet, an old corn grinder to grind corn to animal feed, a hay castle, sand boxes with corn kernels instead of sand, playgrounds, picnic tables, a general store, produce stand, puppet shows for the kids, live music, food and lots more stuff I can’t remember. Since Jadon was having too much fun with the animals and other kid-related things we didn’t do the hay ride to the pumpkin fields (we bought an already picked pumpkin instead) or corn maze.
Visiting the farm with friends
Petting the donkeys
I just loved these touches everywhere!
Playing in the sandbod of corn kernels
Jadon is an animal lover! He loves animal documentaries, books about animals, petting animals… you name it. If animals are not part of the movie or book, you might as well forget it. He can say quite a few animal names and can imitate most animal sounds. So he just had a ball running all over the place to pet and feed the animals. He also loves music and likes to dance to all kinds of music and songs. He was really enthralled with the singing puppets once the show started but trying to keep him still before the show was an entirely different story. I found that a bag of M&M’s can do wonders in distracting a child so I bought a bag of candy and that did the trick.
All in all it was a fun day but I have to admit it would have been a whole lot nicer without runny noses. Jacques and I will celebrate our anniversary later this week or next weekend. We decided there really was no point going to a nice restaurant (Jadon free too!) if we spent the whole time blowing our noses and can’t taste the food. Maybe next year we can celebrate an illness-free anniversary…
All in all it was a fun day but I have to admit it would have been a whole lot nicer without runny noses. Jacques and I will celebrate our anniversary later this week or next weekend. We decided there really was no point going to a nice restaurant (Jadon free too!) if we spent the whole time blowing our noses and can’t taste the food. Maybe next year we can celebrate an illness-free anniversary…
Until next time,
The Lombard Family
The Blog Has Moved
I have really slacked off on updating Jadon’s website and the family blog so in a new attempt to stay on top of things I am switching formats. The website and blog were created on my MAC in a program called iweb and while it is simple enough to use, it is a bit time consuming and not very convenient for my schedule. I have a PC and MAC, one modem and no router – and since I work on the PC I can’t switch my internet connection to the MAC during business hours so that leaves the evening to update the website and blog. Between work and taking care of a family I don’t have the luxury of donating several hours at a time to update everything so I have just been putting it off. By moving the blog and web photos to the PC, it is much more convenient and doesn’t take as long to maintain. Here is to hoping, anyway! Instead of the web page format I had been using, I have created a new photo webpage: http://gallery.me.com/dawnlombard. This was created on the PC using mobileme from mac.com so if you are on a PC and a screen appears that advises you to use Firefox or Safari, just ignore that and click on the button that lets you use your curent settings. Let me know if that doesn't work. Anyway, now you can see what we have been up to the last few months but I’ll try and give you the highlights as best I can remember.
July: We took a trip with my parents to Chattanooga and that was quite an adventure. The motorhome had several issues which altered quite a few things on our vacation but we still got to see the Chattanooga Aquarium and the Deep Sea Adventure. The Chattanooga Aquarium was lots of fun and I really like the city. The Deep Sea Adventure was okay – I have been to Carlsbad Caverns and any underground cavern just pales in comparison. But what made this place stand out was a natural underground lake that is 40 feet deep. It is one of the few places in the world that has and underground lake and we got to take a boat ride around it. Jadon had an ear infection and was teething around this time so that only added to the fun… ha, ha.
The motorhome
In front of the Aquarium
Cooling off in the fountains and pools in front of the Aquarium
We found a new place to go camping!
August & September: August and September were really busy times for me work-wise so I can tell you about work-related highlights but the personal life was rather boring. I took a business trip to Asheville, NC at the end of August. I was a rep (read “babysitter”) for a group at the Bristol 500 NASCAR race. I have done this race 5 or 6 times or it was pretty easy and the whole weekend went by in a blur. The day after I got home from the race weekend, Jacques headed out to California to help his mom and stepfather flip a house. He came home a week and a half later and I left the next day for the Richmond to baby-sit another group for the NASCAR Richmond 400 race. Tropical Storm Hanna came through and did a number on the race weekend, causing me to stay an extra day for postponed races. I came home on a Monday and 4 days later Jacques and I left for Indianapolis to baby-sit another group for the Indy MotoGP race - just in time for Hurricane Ike to pass through! I really like Indianapolis so I look forward to all my races in that city. Jacques and I took a little work related vacation – and while it was more work than vacation – we had a great time being Jadon-free for a few days. Thus ended my jet-setting days and life returned to normal. Also, Andy came home for his two week R&R, which went by way too fast!
The inagural Indy MotoGP race
Monument Circle, downtown Indy
In other news (and this is way over-due) I am pregnant with our second child! We are having another boy, who is still nameless because Jacques and I can’t decide on a name, and I am due December 5. I will be scheduling a repeat c-section within a few days of Thanksgiving so I only have 6 weeks to go until this one arrives.
Well, I think this takes care of the first entry for now – hope to be back on here with new stories and pictures soon!
July: We took a trip with my parents to Chattanooga and that was quite an adventure. The motorhome had several issues which altered quite a few things on our vacation but we still got to see the Chattanooga Aquarium and the Deep Sea Adventure. The Chattanooga Aquarium was lots of fun and I really like the city. The Deep Sea Adventure was okay – I have been to Carlsbad Caverns and any underground cavern just pales in comparison. But what made this place stand out was a natural underground lake that is 40 feet deep. It is one of the few places in the world that has and underground lake and we got to take a boat ride around it. Jadon had an ear infection and was teething around this time so that only added to the fun… ha, ha.
The motorhome
In front of the Aquarium
Cooling off in the fountains and pools in front of the Aquarium
We found a new place to go camping!
August & September: August and September were really busy times for me work-wise so I can tell you about work-related highlights but the personal life was rather boring. I took a business trip to Asheville, NC at the end of August. I was a rep (read “babysitter”) for a group at the Bristol 500 NASCAR race. I have done this race 5 or 6 times or it was pretty easy and the whole weekend went by in a blur. The day after I got home from the race weekend, Jacques headed out to California to help his mom and stepfather flip a house. He came home a week and a half later and I left the next day for the Richmond to baby-sit another group for the NASCAR Richmond 400 race. Tropical Storm Hanna came through and did a number on the race weekend, causing me to stay an extra day for postponed races. I came home on a Monday and 4 days later Jacques and I left for Indianapolis to baby-sit another group for the Indy MotoGP race - just in time for Hurricane Ike to pass through! I really like Indianapolis so I look forward to all my races in that city. Jacques and I took a little work related vacation – and while it was more work than vacation – we had a great time being Jadon-free for a few days. Thus ended my jet-setting days and life returned to normal. Also, Andy came home for his two week R&R, which went by way too fast!
The inagural Indy MotoGP race
Monument Circle, downtown Indy
In other news (and this is way over-due) I am pregnant with our second child! We are having another boy, who is still nameless because Jacques and I can’t decide on a name, and I am due December 5. I will be scheduling a repeat c-section within a few days of Thanksgiving so I only have 6 weeks to go until this one arrives.
Well, I think this takes care of the first entry for now – hope to be back on here with new stories and pictures soon!
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