June baby

Having a baby in June is great for so many reasons. Warm weather (well, warm-ish weather in Oregon so far this summer) makes it okay for baby's wardrobe to consist solely of onesies and bare feet. Baby doesn't have to be quarantined in the house for fear of catching terrible viruses that are all around in the winter months, and I daresay sunshine and summer can definitely chase away any post-baby blues that might creep up here and there.

But one reason that it might not be so great? When older brothers come to mom wanting her to ride bikes, play basketball, and jump on the new trampoline they just earned after saving up since January and her postpartum body causes her, sadly, to say no over and over and over again.

These older brothers think that baby is pretty great, but also just think all their mom ever does anymore is sit on the couch and nurse him. And they're mostly right.

Garden 2011: part 3

So the good news is, the spot outside my kitchen window is a perfect location for a garden. I originally thought it wouldn't be hot enough for tomatoes, but I think I was wrong. It gets plenty of southern exposure sun, which is the best and warmest kind.

• The snap peas which were planted right up against my house took forever to sprout, but now are finally big enough to be covered in blossoms and producing little peas. I picked 5 the other day, which was just enough to make me want more. They might be one of my most favorite vegetables of all time.
• You can see the tomato plants in the second picture down, in the left bed to the right of the blue hula hoops. I am pruning and staking my tomato plants again, with the hope that they will produce early and well. So far they are thriving and have lots of blossoms and even one small green tomato.
• My dad was here a couple of weeks ago when Thomas was born and he generously agreed to help me install drip irrigation for my beds. I am thrilled to finally have a watering system that isn't just me standing outside with a watering can, or wasting water with an ineffective sprinkler. Here you can see the little tubing nestled into the carrot bed. Incidentally, we picked our first carrot yesterday and it was sweet and delicious. It was a part of the first planting, which was done in March, and the others should be ready any minute now.
• I picked the broccoli a bit too late--lesson learned that it should be picked when the buds are tight and not flowering--but it is still delicious, and I feel proud of my very first four heads of broccoli. I look forward to another fall planting of broccoli.
• And lastly, I am also very proud of my cabbage heads. Although the outside leaves have been nibbled on by snails, once you peel those away, the cabbage is like a work of art and the texture is soft and tender. Cabbage, like snap peas, is one vegetable I can never get enough of, so I am thrilled to finally harvest and eat my very own.

Baby

Here I sit, a little over one week postpartum feeling happy, content & peaceful, and unbelievably thrilled that finally this pregnancy is over.

Thomas Waldemar joined our family on Sunday night, June 12 at 8:29 p.m. Of the four boys, he was our shortest and most medium-sized baby, weighing in at 7 lbs. 9 ounce and almost 20 inches long.

Thomas's birth ended up being very similar to Henry's, and I feel thankful that there were no complications, and that the experience was another intensely spiritual, painful & peaceful one.

My goal at the beginning of the pregnancy was to let my body go into labor naturally--no induction, but when I found out my doctor was going to Europe on June 14, four days after my due date, I had to decide if it was worth it to sacrifice him being there for the delivery just to fulfill this desire. As it turns out, just like with all my other pregnancies, my body was dilating and showing signs of being ready to deliver even two weeks before the due date, but didn't want to make the final jump into active labor. So we decided that having doctor there was more important, and went to the hospital on Sunday evening, two days after the due date, for him to break my water. I was certain that my body would do the rest, without any other induction methods, namely pitocin, which I really didn't want. Dr. Cooper delivered Owen and Henry, and his calm, relaxed and encouraging presence in the delivery room is just amazing and I really wanted him and not a stranger there for my final birth.

So, we arrived at the hospital at 4 p.m., dr. broke my water at 5:25, regular contractions were happening about 20-30 mins later, and painful ones about 1 hour after that. My body did cooperate, and I really think my desire and my will to not have pitocin was strong enough to make those contractions strong and regular. I was able to labor in the jacuzzi tub, on the ball, walking around, and only had to get in the bed twice, once at about 7:15 where the nurse checked and found I was about 6 cm, and then once again around 8:00 when dr. checked and I was 8-9 cm. He stayed and talked me through the final contractions, which were amazingly painful but also very cool. Since I was able to labor these last contractions while standing up, I could really feel gravity helping baby's head drop little by little into the birth canal. When I had a final, unbelievably painful, intense one, I and the nurses and dr. knew that it was time to get back in bed and push. The 15 minutes of pushing was crazy intense, but thrilling and fulfilling. I feel thankful that it was so quick, and I never, ever want to do it again.

We were so fortunate to have nurses that supported my desire for a natural birth. They were patient, calm, encouraging, and facilitated every desire we had. While pushing, when I had several moments of "I cannot do this", the nurse who was holding my left leg kept saying to me, "but you are doing it" and that helped so much. She was also the one who, when the painful contractions really kicked in, said to me, "you do whatever your body tells you to do and whatever feels good. If you want to be in the bath during one contraction and on the ball the very next one, you do that." I really appreciated that suggestion, and found that in the last hour when the contractions were intense and close together and very painful, I really did just what she said. Sometimes I was using the handheld shower head to relieve the pain, sometimes I was leaning on the bed, sometimes I was bouncing on the ball. It was a relief to know that being fickle and changing positions every 5 minutes or less was okay with everyone, and they all supported whatever helped me to get through the pain.

Jeff was a champion coach and partner through the whole thing. He was also calm, patient and encouraging and found a massage technique for my lower back that really, really helped the pain.

When Thomas was finally born, when that final push was done, I have never felt such relief and joy and elation. They put him on my chest, skin-to-skin, and the lights were low and it was pouring rain outside and it was just peaceful and emotional and wonderful. He was a bit fussy and pooped all over me, but just to know he was out of my body, and healthy and completing our family filled me with such joy.

And now, being home, watching the three big brothers with their new little brother has been such fun. I love that school is out, that we have no schedule to follow and we can get to know Thomas and love him all together. My parents were here for a week and did so much to help and support us, and now friends have taken over, bringing food and love and more joy into our home.

Babies are so special and I feel so blessed to have this little guy to snuggle and feed and smell and hold. He is a very important part of our family, and we couldn't be more happy to have him here with us.

***If you're interested, you can see some better pictures than we were able to take of Thomas's first days in the hospital here. The password is 504801361282318, last four of my name is Full.

The final countdown

Two weeks(ish) to go before this Fuller baby arrives and today I'm feeling the feeling to fill up the freezer with food for later. I'm starting small, with some whole wheat bagels, bran muffins and chicken to shred for later meals. But I'm hoping my energy will keep me going to have a few casseroles and some chicken chimichangas to add by the end of the week.

End-of-the-year teacher gifts

Like many, I always like to give a small gift of appreciation to my children's teachers at the end of the school year. I prefer a handmade gift, and bookmarked this tutorial last year as an idea for something to give. I loved it for two reasons:

1) It can be made up entirely of fabric scraps

2) The embroidered name written in the student's handwriting includes the child in this gift in a special way

Just wanted to share in case someone else is looking for something simple, handmade and special for a teacher gift this year.

Parenting is always a learning process

Just had to give a little shout-out to this book, which I'm currently reading. I've read a lot of parenting books in my eight short years as a parent, but have found that many of them give these systems that are too difficult to implement, or that the books themselves are simply too overwhelming to read after the first 30 pages or so. This one is clear, to the point and exactly what I have been needing.

It is no surprise to anyone who knows my oldest boy that the bold red words "STRONG-WILLED CHILD" on the front cover were the only encouragement I needed to check it out at the library in the first place. Second was the promise to eliminate conflict. Lately I have felt like all I have with this soon-to-be 8-year-old is conflict, contention, arguing and frustration. Our home was not a peaceful place, and I honestly felt like I really did not know how to change it.

The suggestions given in this book have helped me realize more than anything, that I had just become lax in my setting of limits. I think this happened in the natural process of this oldest child growing up, combined with my inability to reconcile how to give him some deserved independence while still commanding respect and making myself the in-charge parent. It felt like a loss of control, and in fact, it was.

The author doesn't give any new or earth-shattering suggestions, in fact, just the opposite, which is why the book is so readable and easy-to-implement. His ideas are basic and simple and stated with clear, real-life examples of children and their parents. I just needed to remind myself how to be in charge, but, like it also says on the cover, by establishing CLEAR, firm and RESPECTFUL boundaries.

I think that all children are strong-willed in their own right, but he has another version of the book, simply called: Setting Limits: How to Raise Responsible, Independent Children by Providing Clear Boundaries, which I would guess presents similar ideas but perhaps without all the comparisons made between extremely strong-willed children vs. compliant children. My second child is definitely compliant, so those comparisons were not lost on me.

Garden 2011: part 3

1) This year I discovered garden cloth. I think and hope this will change my gardening yield forever more. I made a little greenhouse with a hula hoop and covered the broccoli and cabbage plants and they have been soaking up the sun and warmth the cloth provides and growing like crazy. I also covered my carrot and snap pea seeds while waiting for them to sprout and am certain it made the process several days quicker.

2)This picture gives a little peek into what's underneath the cloth. We have had some warmer days and nights, and even since this picture was taken 5 days ago, the plants are larger and more healthy. I am in love with this cloth and can't wait to use it on my warm weather crops in the next couple of weeks--tomatoes, cucumbers and bush beans.

3) Italian parsley in the front, snap peas in the back.

4) Spinach in the front, romaine in the back. I am already eating the spinach and it is so perfect. Some of the larger lettuce heads should be ready in the next week or so. I can't wait!

It seemed like May was so far away, but now it is here and everything can be planted and these cold weather crops can be enjoyed while waiting for the warm weather crops to grow and produce.

***POST EDIT: I called this garden cloth, but now I just went back and checked and the official name for what I'm using is plant and seed blanket. Here is the link to the one I have. It is a little pricey, at $13-14/roll but I would say worth every penny. I plan to use it to speed up the growth of my tomatoes & cucumbers by creating a little hothouse until it is hot enough outside to remove it and let the sun do its job. Here in Oregon that doesn't usually happen until late June/early July which makes for a late tomato harvest. I'm an impatient tomato gardener. I want them sooner than that!***