Introducing Persephone Jade (PJ)

The last picture of me before induction began. 39 weeks.

I was induced October 27th at about 10am. They broke my water and let my body take it from there. I was confident labor would progress on its own, and it did! There were a few points that the nurses were miffed that I wasn't in enough pain they said, and talked about using Pitocin. I said no way! Just because I'm on the computer and laughing and joking doesn't mean things aren't progressing! I just have a higher pain tolerance for labor.

I had the laptop in front of me and updated constantly.

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Anastasia  Okie dokie... I'm leaving for realz this time. Its late, and I gotta get up early. After I shower and shave everything tomorrow, the hopsital better let me come and have a baby or I'm gonna be pretty angry... LOL

October 27 at 12:14am 

AnastasiaBirthing center is making me call them back at 9:30. Figures! Actually got up and showered and everything is set here at home. Bah.

AnastasiaWhoohooo! I got the laptop working here! All is well on the labor and delivery floor. They broke my water and contractions are picking up. Its all a waiting game now. I'll keep ya posted!

October 27 at 1:39pm

Anastasia Things are still going well. No baby yet. Fish chowder was good though! LOL

October 27 at 4:56pm

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Anastasia 3 cm's left to go. Come on baby! I ordered room service before they closed at 7 just so I'd have something to eat later... cause I'm good like that. LOL

October 27 at 6:48pm

Anastasia  My husband is having a hard time with things tonight. LOL I feel bad for him actually. He's tired, in pain, and just seems to be a bit fuzzy in the brain. I ♥ him so very much though. :)

October 27 at 8:50pm

Anastasia  8 cms! Making good progress. I feel like I have facebook fans cheering me on. LOL

October 27 at 9:14pm

Anastasia Alright... taking a POLL people! Will this baby be born in the next two hours and be here on October 27th, or after midnight and on October 28th??? Voting starts... NOW!

October 27 at 10:15pm

Anastasia Why is narcotic pain relief considered pain relief? It doesn't take away any pain at all. It just turns me into the chick that had a few beers at the hospital. LOL this birthing stuff is funny

October 27 at 11:07pm

Anastasia gonna try out the tub for a few minutes. Baby should be here soon.

October 27 at 11:35pm

Anastasia Persephone Jade was born October 27th at 11:48pm. We are doing great :)

October 28 at 12:28am

 

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Anastasia Persephone is 19.5 inches long and 8 lbs 11 oz with a 14 3/8th inch head size.

October 28 at 1:14am

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Anastasia  Pediatrician came, all is good with the baby. Eating my breakfast now.

October 28 at 8:51am

Anastasia  Persephone Jade. My blurry cellphone picture. LOL

October 28 at 10:41am

Anastasia 

Persephone Jade

October 28 at 11:25am

Anastasia I slept past lunch?! Oh I don't think so! I'm having that turkey club sandwhich!

October 28 at 2:50pm

Anastasia  Internet went down for awhile. That was a bummer. Staying here for the night so they can do the PKU testing on the baby. We'll be going home early in the morning cause I miss my other babies! :) waiting for dinner now.

October 28 at 6:30pm

Anastasia  My hubby is taking a shower, and I'm watching Ghost Hunters and thinking about re-heating my dinner and eating it. Beautiful baby girl is sleeping on the bed. Much better mood she's been in today. I ♥ her.

October 28 at 8:06pm

Anastasia  Chris is sleeping, and so is the baby. I have to wake her up and feed her so they can do her hearing test again. She keeps failing in one ear. They're doing vitals at 11 tonight, so its pointless to go to sleep before then. But man... 3 hours of sleep for the past 72 hours doesn't feel that great...

October 28 at 10:17pm

Anastasia Baby girl sucks her thumb! The first one to do that. ♥ I'm gonna have to wake Chris up so he can put her to sleep for the hearing test. She wants nothing to do with sleep as long as food is nearby. (me) Boy am I tired..

October 28 at 11:39pm

Anastasia We're home and settling in. The kids are meeting their new baby sister ♥

October 29 at 3:03pm

I never did make the jacuzzi.  Look at the time stamp from the last update on facebook to her time of birth. Literally my entire labor I was on the computer. LOL It was a good distraction. But boy did it make the nurses mad.

Our first picture together. The OB took it.

 Persephone nursing for the first time.

Hanging out in the isolate for a few. 

One of the hospital pictures.

A few days old at home. PJ has the most wonderful disposition even now at almost two months old. Even after our bout and hospitalization with H1N1. But thats another post! Hopefully I'll write a better birth story soon. Things are kinda crazy with FIVE kids. Whew.

Merry Yule! Happy Solstice!

Welcome to the family Persephone Jade!

 

Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookie Icing
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This is the best icing I've found. I love it!

Ingredients

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• assorted food coloring

Directions

1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.

Sugar Cookies


The best sugar cookies of all time!
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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Persephone's First Month

Ivy and Persephone

My Baby Shower. Sort Of.

I considered writing this post a few times, and even did it once having omitted names. However I feel this is my blog and my blog has my feelings. I don't link to this thing anywhere, so no one should have it or know it. If they snoop for it, oh well. Their fault.

I didn't want a baby shower, but I got one anyway. Shannon insisted I have one. I told her no one would come. She insisted they would. No one that I invited came. Only family showed up. (not my family, Chris's family) I do believe I told her that would happen.

There are a lot of things that went wrong, starting with who didn't show up.. but I held it all in. Smiled through my teeth and willed the next few hours to pass quickly. Luckily they did. The only redeeming value was that Dave got us a pack of diapers, and the cake looked pretty. It didn't taste too great, but hey.. I took pictures of it so we can remember how PRETTY it was, not how it tasted. LOL

I was given a lot of used stuff by Shannon, which would have been fine if it had been in good condition. But it smelled like cigarette smoke and mildew. Two things I just can't have my newborn stuff smelling like. I tried to wash and fabreeze things but it didn't do any good. When Tonya let me know that Shannons dog had peed all over everything, and she kept it a secret and just wrapped it all up anyway.... well, eventually I just threw it all away because it was depressing me to look at it in my living room. To give someone used things is one thing. To give them used things that your dog peed on is another. It was like a slap in the face, but hey.. who am I to ask for clean usable things? Thats above me. I'm the poor little orphan girl that no one wants, I can make due right?

So I still need to get a bassinet, but it will have to wait until after the baby is born because we don't have the money to buy it now.

After the so called baby shower, I lapsed into a bit of a funk. Of course, having it rubbed in my face basically that I don't have any family or friends by insisting I invite people I KNOW will never come to my shower... its not surprising that I got depressed. I was sad. I still am.

Though there are only 3 more days and a bowl of cheerios until we meet this little one, so its understandable why my emotions might be a bit on the surface.

More later..

Its October..

Time really flies doesn't it? I know I haven't updated, and I'm trying really hard to feel guilty about that but I just can't muster it up. I blog when I can yanno? Some of us have a life. And four kids to parent on top of it! (really thats my only life, who am I kidding? LOL)

So we'll be meeting baby #5 in three weeks. I'll be induced sometime around the 27th I believe. They don't want me laboring on my own since it takes about 5 minutes. Apparently they were not impressed with my last baby being practically born on 295. Honestly I thought it was pretty cool.

So we found out it was a girl. Not sure if I mentioned it last time or not. Her name will be Persephone Jade. I think Persephone is a wonderful addition.

Sierra Morgan, Ivy Keriana, Piper Anastasia, Odin Christopher, and Persephone Jade. Beautiful names. My only hope is that my children turn out to be just as beautiful on the inside when they're adults as their names are right now.

Its odd going back and reading this blog. Its been five years since I started it. Five years is a long time for anything, but especially long for raising kids. So many changes. So many things are different now. I mean, I have nearly 3 more children than I did then. Sierra is back and living with me and has been for two years now. We've moved. We've gotten married. .... so many changes that its mindboggling really.

And now I'm looking at another change. Adding our 5th and quite possibly last child to our family. This baby wasn't planned. Not unwanted, but not planned. And feelings are so different with a surprise pregnancy I've found. I haven't felt emotionally the same feelings as I did the others. A lot of ambivalence this time around. A lot of confusion. I want to be happy. I really do! And I am. But I think this pregnancy just came so close to Odins birth that I have the BTDT feeling. Nothing is new or exciting. And it should be. Every child should be special even before they're born. I feel like I'm already not treating her right. Guilt comes in big doses when you're a mother...

I washed the infant clothes yesterday and folded them. I'm trying to get into the mood. Less than a month from now I'll be pushing her our, so I'd better comes to terms with this addition. The kids are more used to the idea of having another baby than I am!

Chris has been great. He really has. The other pregnancies he wasn't there for me much, but this time... I owe a lot to Ritalin. No really. LOL Since he started taking it, he's been a new person. He's helpful and does everything around the house. Hell he does more than I do! (I tell him he's got 7 years to make it up to me LOL)

I have a lot of pictures to add. Hopefully I'll get to in the next few days. If not.. just remember... I've got a life yo.

Piper, Fall of 2008

I took this picture with my cellphone camera. It came out remarkably well.

Surprise Photo Shoot Part 2

This picture is cute, except I hate pictures with the flash on. Its so harsh. Perhaps I can edit it and change it with the photo editor and mute it somehow.

This is my favorite. Getting Odin to sit still and look at the camera at the same time is rare. Only natural light was used, as you can see its not really enough lighting to do the picture justice. My camera is much better than it appears in this picture. The graininess comes from the poor lighting conditions. Live and learn! Still, I love this picture. I don't have professional pictures of all the kids together, so I'm really loving this one.

Yep I made her pose alone. She hated every minute of it, but at least I have a picture of her. ;-)

The lighting in the bedroom isn't very good, and my backdrop definitely has to be secured up better. But for deciding on a whim to catch a picture of all of them, its not half bad. If anyone knows Sierra, you know how difficult it is to get her in a picture at all! So I'm really glad I decided to subject us all to the very hot bedroom and snap a few.

Next time, different room. Better lighting, better backdrop adjustments, and I'll wash the girls feet. LOL

Surprise Photo Shoot

On a whim I threw up a sheet and snapped a few pictures today. I didn't even bother to wash Pipers feet as you can see. And ya know what? I don't really care. This picture came out great!

Ivy- Four days shy of turning 6 years old.
Piper- 3.5 years old
Odin- 17 months old
(in the other picture) Sierra- 11 years and 1 month old.

Its been a rainy June and goodbye Michael Jackson

Sierras 11th birthday. (obviously) We got her some clothes, a hair straightener, earrings, some big thick purple bath towels, and a new purple BMX freestyle bike with pegs on it. The exact kind she wanted. I wasn't going to get it for her because when I asked what she wanted she didn't say a bike until a few days before her birthday. But Chris couldn't resist a moment to do something daddyish. ;-) She had a party but not many friends came. I think it was just poor planning on her part and late inviting. She had a sleepover with Skye, Ashley, and Danielle was there for the party.

We've been babysitting for a friend this summer and its been interesting to say the least. Two autistic children don't always get along well. Thats all I'm gonna say about that. LOL

We've been cooped up inside a lot this summer because its rained most of June. There have been a few semi-nice days but not many.

Its been an odd week in history. Farrah Fawcet died of cancer. Ed Mcmahon died. Billy Mays died. And Michael Jackson died. So many people in the public eye, it stopped the world for a few seconds. The internet traffic was so heavy after the news of MJ, that it almost ceased to work altogether. The cause of death is still unknown. Some people are happy, having pegged him a pedophile. Others are moarning and in grief. The black community has lost an icon. The music industry has lost an influencial singer, dancer and coreographer. MTV and all the channels have been running tribute shows that show his songs and music videos. So my children got a chance to watch them last night, having never seen them before.

Ivy is now infatuated with his "Thriller" video and both girls made me tape the show and so far today its played 6 times. Ivy dances in MJ style and they both gasp and giggle about the zombies. I find it so odd that my children are seeing this video for the first time because of his death. In his death, my children are experiencing joy at watching him dance and sing.

My thoughts are with the Jackson family as they sort through this tragedy. As they are with all the families of the other public figures that passed away this week. May they find peace in the afterlife that they were not able to find here on earth..