And hey!

...get your guesses in now for the new baby's stats :D Liam had 15 guesses in his game...this poor baby only has six so far!

(and can I change my guess to boy? LOL)

And in other news...

...Dan found out today that his pay has just been cut by 30%, effective as of last Monday!

So we're re-evaluating our expenses, cutting out things like the newspaper and the house phone, getting quotes on insurance, etc.

It makes for a really fun pre-baby gift, that's for sure...but on the bright side, he still has a job and we're all healthy. Dan and I have always been "go with the flow" or "it all happens for a reason" folks, so we're trying to approach this in the same way. We are happy that this job brought us to Arizona, and figure that alone has made it worthwhile. Without this position, I would not have my amazing circle of friends; my birth networks; my midwifery apprenticeship; free Montessori education for the kids; no ice scraping.

We have also been lazy with budgeting and saving, so while we won't saving anything now, at least it will force the budget-keeping and true thriftiness to finally get put into play. See, there's a bright side to everything...right?

Sigh.

34 + 4

I actually took this picture to illustrate how I wear my SSC (baby carrier) when preggo...but since I haven't posted a belly shot in a while, figured I'd go ahead and share :)

Pic of the girls

My sis just sent some pictures she took at Christmas time...thought I'd share this one, taken at the Arizona Temple (LDS) Christmas Lights display (which, by the way, is AMAZING):

(click on the pic to see the whole thing)


See, we do have to wear coats in Arizona at times! :)

Smooth as Silk

I just got home from a quick, simple, peaceful water birth. Mama was a primip, 18 years old. Tiny, beautiful baby boy was born 17 minutes after we arrived, in the water and IN THE CAUL! He was 5lb 13 oz, 20 inches...which compared to that last baby (9-13!) was minuscule LOL.

Got a call at 5:30 from the midwife, was picked up maybe 20 minutes after that...we picked up the other student (N), and headed to the birth place (not the mama's home - the home of a very generous, wonderful doula and member of our extended birth team).

It was such a blessing to witness this calm, beautiful birth. Sadly the father of baby is in another country, and was not here to see his son's birth...

Three kids

Thought I'd share a few new pics. No big news in our lives right now...I'm at 32 weeks 2 days, baby is very active. Girls are back in school, taking dance once a week. C takes keyboards once a week as well. My apprenticeship keeps me busy...

HBA3C

That is, home birth after three c-sections!

Wednesday morning I went to the home of a wonderful woman in labor. Thursday morning around 6:45 her daughter was born...9 lb 13 oz! She was the first girl after three boys, the first vaginal birth after three C/S, the first born at home (obviously), and her biggest baby by over a pound and a half! This mama worked so hard for so long, and birthed this big baby like a true birth warrior...I was so amazed and in awe of the work she did and her dedication and commitment to this birth. I may share more later, but want her to have the chance to share her own story before I do so...

Congratulations to the entire family...

30 Weeks...and more pics

30 weeks (note C showing off her "belly" too):


Some miscellaneous fun from Christmas:

Surprise trip to San Diego

The girls were supposed to fly over to SD on Christmas Day to see my parents for a few days. We arranged for them to fly on Southwest as Unaccompanied Minors (UMs), and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to complete the appropriate paperwork. The plane was delayed 20 minutes according to the board, so we spent some time playing on the moving walkways and getting some energy out:



C took a picture of D and me...a rare sight around here LOL


We finally made our way to the gate, only to be paged and told that all UMs were being excluded from the flight due to a weather advisory! Now I will hold my tongue a little and just say, I have never had such rude service as we had there at the gate podium check-in thingy...

Beyond annoyed, we were told our choices were to put the girls on a flight to LAX (yeah, helpful when we're trying to get them to San Diego!), or rebook for the next day. On the spur of the moment, we decided that instead of ruining this fun Xmas trip and family Xmas dinner waiting on the other end, I would buy a ticket and just go with them! So out came the credit card and ID, the girls and I hopped on the plane, and D went home with Baby L.

So that is how I ended up spending a night in San Diego yesterday...I flew home this morning, as I'm actually on call for a mama who is 38.5 weeks pregnant right now, and I should not have been out of town in the first place!

So the girls are still there, and will get to visit with my cousin and his family (Hi D :)), and meet their second cousins. They will drive back here with my parents and sister on Monday.

Oh, speaking of sister - that is a lovely surprise I hadn't mentioned, as she returned home from India for the holidays as a surprise to the rest of the family.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas (or Solstice, or Hanukkah, or whatever holiday you celebrate).

Happy 5th birthday, E!

Christmas Kids

I kind of like the funny face here:


I'll try for more soon...oh, for comparison, here's last year's version:

This year, L is wearing the PJs E wore last year, and E is wearing the ones that C wore! I love hand-me-downs :)

Family photo...kind of

Since I'm always the one behind the lens, here we have the Bass gang minus mama:


Maybe this weekend I can get a good kid pic...and we'll see, if the stars are right, maybe even a whole family shot. What a thought.

And how could I not share this little gem? Monkey see, monkey do...



I almost forgot: I got some erythromycin eye ointment, and it seems as if my skin is improving! It's definitely not as "angry" looking as it was last week, and my eyes don't seem nearly as red. I have also switched to California Baby calendula cream, and it seems to be good as well. I'm hoping it's for real, and not just wishful thinking...we'll see.

28 weeks

OK, it's been a while since I posted any pics of poor Baby4. This is mainly due to a lovely case of perioral dermatitis (warning: ugly pics there) I'm fighting - I really don't want it recorded for all ages! You can actually see back at my 18+4 picture that my chin looks all broken out. This was sadly not pregnancy acne, but the start of this dermatitis thing. I have these ugly red patches all over my chin, up the sides of my nose, and perhaps most ugly: around my eyes. So yes, for the last 10 weeks it has been getting worse...I'm beyond frustrated with it, and as you can imagine, very self-conscious too. My lame attempts at cover up are rather pathetic, but I do what I can without using toxic thick make-up. Currently I'm treating it with TTO and coconut oil as moisturizer.

Anyhoo...without further ado, here I am today, at 28 weeks from LMP.





Please notice the quick-fix we (being D) made for the fireplace...a mantle! Cute huh?

National Bankruptcy Day?

Have you all heard of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Improvement Act? Those of you who are making and selling kids' items, listen up! If you ever buy handmade gifts, read on!

The Act requires ALL manufacturers - including small business owners who sew their products by hand and artisans who sell to help support their art - to submit each piece of their product for cost-prohibitive government-approved testing. Each component - buttons, threads, fabrics, padding, etc. would need to be tested independently for lead content. The cost and extent of this lead testing would be impossible for any small business to afford.

Info on the Act

(CPSCIA)

National Bankruptcy Day

An article...

The Handmade Toy Alliance

Petition

More thoughts from a WAHM

*and by the way, it sounds as if resale would also be illegal...so good-bye thrift, consignment, FSOT on boards, etc...*


A not-so-funny:

New CPSIA slogan:

"CPSIA: Throwing the Babies Out With the Bathwater, and the Bathtub, Too. Oh, and All the Little Bath Toys. Better Throw Out the Sponge As Well. Just to Be Safe"

A whole new life for Barbie...

Saw these on a forum I happen to frequent...they've taken Barbie to a whole new level:

That's right. Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS Barbie, complete with attacking birds!


Um....

Water birth pictures

A friend just passed this website on to me - the birth pictures are amazing! Probably not work-friendly though :)

Enjoy!

Destruction Days Chez Bass

Oops! To start, our laptop just stopped working. No lights, nothing. Then my sweet, wonderful friend (hi M!) shattered the coffee pot, then I somehow jammed the headphone adapter for the keyboard into the hole so the keyboard won't play...then I went to open a drawer in the kitchen, and the whole thing fell apart! Geez, what's next??

Happy Birthday to my little sister!

My sister turns 23 today! Happy Birthday - hope it's a great one!

Some recent pictures she's sent from India (click on them to see the uncropped version - important for monkey-viewing!):




(notice the monkeys!)

Maybe it's a boy...

I've been thinking Baby4 is a girl all along - until last night. I had the most vivid dream (which of course I now can't remember), and woke up certain that baby is a boy!

Only time will tell of course...

ZooLights!

We went to ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo last night - good thing we went then, as it's now pouring rain with a thunder storm! The school is supposed to have a talent show today on the basketball court - guess that'll be inside now...

Here's a family pic from the zoo (one of those that they take and charge a gazillion dollars if you want to buy):


Yes, we have actually been known to use a stroller LOL It carried all the cold-weather gear for us (which for the first time we didn't have to use!). Previous years it has been SO.COLD. at ZooLights, but last night remained a balmy mid-70s. The kids got to ride the carousel and touch the sting rays...free last night as part of member preview!

Off to school now. Happy Thanksgiving to all.