More Halloween Parties!

Naomi cheesing like usual
BFF's!

Playing with the baby piano

They all played so nicely with one another.

Libby, Naomi, Jessika, JJ, Hollis, and Jessie. This has to be my fav one just because it is so chaotic! Kind of like us :P

We had a fun play date this morning! Jessica hosted a Halloween play date for members of the Texoma Moms Playgroup. Libby did not want to be Dorothy this morning, so she wore her Cinderella dress up dress instead. Naomi wore her red riding hood dress, although she still hates the hood for it. I brought a feathersword and pirate hat for her to accessorize with since the red riding hood dress looks kind of piratey. We had fun playing over at Jessie's house. Naomi was kissing all of the little baby boys like usual, and Libby and B were having a blast playing as usual. We went to eat at Chick-Fil-A afterwards with Jessika and JJ. We came home and I gave Naomi to Joel since it was her nap time and Libby and I went to Wal-Mart to buy snacks for her pre-k class.

Everyone is at dance class now, and I really should be worrying about dinner instead of sitting here on the computer! I am going to post some pictures from today first though.

Oh and btw, Dr A's office called today and said that they needed to talk to me ASAP. I assume that I failed my gestational diabetes test (for the third pregnancy in a row) and that I need to come back in for the 5 hour reading (for the third pregnancy in a row). I hate those tests! I wish they would make them more accurate because I don't have GD but, for some reason I always fail the first test. I called back the doctor office and I never heard back from them, and they aren't picking up the phones. What doctor office closes on Tuesday afternoons? Or just doesn't answer the phones all day? Weird.

What we did today.

After Naomi's nap today, we went to the pumpkin patch. I am so tired and need to do some laundry and catch up on some emails so instead of writing a long blog, I'll just post some pictures.

Sisters!

Family Pic. Yay, none of us are screaming or crying!

Love this one of Miss Ma'mm.

She thinks her uncle is silly.

Aunt Shirlee being funny as usual (and Casey trying not to laugh).

Mother's Night Out

I had so much fun last night. I am a member of Texoma Area Moms Playgroup. We get together at least a few times a month for playdates. This group is so wonderful, I'm telling you. Libby met her BFF through going to playdates with these other moms and children. I think it eased her transition into pre-k greatly since she has a friend in her class. About once a month or so, the group has a mother's night out. I am trying to take advantage of these before the new baby gets here, because it takes sooo much effort to get out of the house for even a few hours without baby in the early months. Last night we had a Halloween themed MNO (I guess that is obvious with these posted pictures!) We met at the La Quinta Inn banquet room to play Bunco and eat all kinds of snacks (of course). Bunco is soooo much fun! It's a dice game based on luck, and it is easy to learn. Everyone brought $5 and at the end, the winners won some of that money. I say winner(s) because the best and worst players "win". It is so much fun! I do not

know what I would do without this group. Being a SAHM this is just kind of essential for socialization for both the girls and I. Some of my best friends, I met through this group. You

ladies know who you are. Hey ya!

After Bunco, a couple of us went to Taco Cabana in Sherman to sing karaoke. Yes. Taco Cabana has karaoke on Thursday nights from 6-10pm. Isn't that just kind of odd? It is great though because it is restaurant and not a bar, plus it is non-smoking. So that means I can go have fun without being a pregnant woman in a smokey bar (which is just so disgusting). The karaoke was inside so the acoustics were pretty much horrible. It is not like we are some Mariah Carey's anyways, so I really should not be complaining. We were the only ones singing besides the Taco Cabana employees. They were telling us that they fight over who gets to work the Thursday night 2nd shift. We even got hooked up with some free tacos (yum) and quesadillas. I guess word has not gotten out about karaoke there because usually this town has some major karaoke nerds that would want to be all over that. I am not a karaoke nerd. Okay maybe I am. If you have not heard my singing voice, please do not feel like you are missing out on something. It is really quite disturbing. Even my speaking voice gets on my own nerves, so my singing one is like ten thousand times worse. What I have going for me, is that I don't care what the audience thinks of me, I am just there to have fun. My song list last night included: "Roxanne" by The Police, "Peaches" by the "Presidents of the United States of America", and "Hey Ya" by Outkast. The karaoke guy was supposed to close up at 10, but we

were having a blast past 10:30 when we decided it was time to go home. My absolute favorite performance of the night was Jessika and Tara singing "Spice Up Your Life" by the Spice Girls. Seriously, Jessika gets way into it. I laughed so much I thought I was going to pee. I could just blame that on being pregnant though, right? Tiffani had never sang before and she sang Peaches with me, and then a country song that I'd never heard of (but she did do really well), followed by "Air Force Ones" by Nelly. Fabulous. Tara sang "Hand in My Pocket" by Alanis Morisette and I just love that song!

In other news, I had my appointment with Dr. A. yesterday. He said that he could not allow VBACs anymore but that I could schedule a repeat c-section for 42 weeks if that is what I want to do. For those that don't know I grow babies for a long time and I would rather have the baby closer to my "real" due date than the standard 39 weeks for repeat sections. In my experience, the longer they cook, the more likely they won't have jaundice and feeding issues. 42 weeks is still within normal range so I think I am going to go with that. I might cut it down to 41 weeks if I just get incredibly antsy. OR I might go into labor on my own accord and show up at the hospital too late to give me a section. It is not in my hands. Are you there God? It's me Rachel. If you are listening please let me have a safe VBAC! We want more children and I do not want to keep on having these surgeries.

More Halloween Pictures Have Surfaced!

"Love You Forever"

Sometimes when we are bored and need to kill time, I'll take the girls to Hastings to look at books. We go to the library on a pretty regular basis, but sometimes we like to actually go shopping! Anyways, one of the days on my quest to find good books at a decent price I came across a book I had never heard of before. What caught my eye at first was the price, I must admit ($2.50). It was a used book, which is just as good in my opinion. I opened it up and read the inscription:

Mom-

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
My Mommy you'll be.

Love Shirley
"1991"

Well goodness gracious. I HAD to get it. This book was given as a gift to someone's mother and love oozed from that inscription. I started to think about why this book was in the used section. Why a mother would sell this book to a store, why it was not in her special place of mom stuff, or at least on the family bookshelf. I did not have time to read the book there, Libby and Naomi were being crazy. Libby was taking down all of the Disney Princess books that she could find, and Naomi was playing with the big display of personalized name cups. That night when I was reading books to Libby before bedtime, I remembered to find this book from my shopping bag and include it in our nighttime ritual. The book is called Love You Forever by Robert Munsch.

And capital OMG it is a tearjerker. It is one of those children's books that is as much for the parent as it is for the child. It is a 'circle of life' kind of book, that begins with a young boy. It ends with that young boy becoming a man, losing his mother and becoming a father to a daughter of his own. It is very heartwarming, and I know it might sound depressing but it is very good. Libby likes it a lot, and will "read" it when she sees it scattered on the floor amongst her other books.

If you know me, you know that I rarely watch television. It is hardly ever on at our home, unless it's Barney at snack time, or Libby watching a princess movie during Naomi's nap. The other day I was bored so I turned on the converter box and Friends was on. I love that show. Phoebe is my favorite character just in case any of you were wondering :P. The episode was of Rachel and Ross's daughter Emma's first birthday party. Joey being his usual absent minded self, did not bring a gift for Emma. He decided that he would perform a dramatic reading of one of Emma's books. He picks up a book not knowing what it is and reads it. Watch what happens, seriously it is too funny and cute.





Needless to say, I highly recommend this book. It is wonderful, and will always hold a special place in my heart. It reminds me to tell my girls every day that "I love them forever, and like them for always". <3.

I can only imagine why the book winded up on the bookshelves at Hastings. I have my own idea, but I'll never know for sure.

The Baby Police

We should be getting ready for storytime at the library but I can't resist...must blog. Last night was our monthly LLL meeting. I have so much fun talking with the other mothers. We had a great meeting last night. I think the best meetings are when I don't have to talk much. I throw an idea out there, and the mothers go back and forth talking about their experiences, what worked for them, etc. As a Leader I'm not there to offer personal experience. I lead the discussion and refer to LLL's philosophy when needed. We talked about adjusting to motherhood, processing the birth and how breastfeeding helps a mom recover (emotionally, physically, and sometimes spiritually). Many more things were discussed but, I guess you should have been there to know the details. lol.

Afterwards, a few of us went to the new Braum's to eat. Libby and Naomi were at home with Joel and I am seizing every opportunity to have fun out before the new baby gets here. While we were eating, one of my friend's 8 month old started to be pretty loud. You know, not crying upset screaming...but the loud playful scream that they have when they want to hear their voice in a large echoing room. Of course we as mothers did not care. Unless one of our children are upset and crying, we tend to just talk louder over the joyful baby sounds :). This was at 9pm at night so the place was not crowded at all. Just as we were in discussion about how disgusting Splenda is, and how some of us have stopped giving our children fruit juice (and how our pediatrician's actually recommend this), an older couple with their preteen granddaughter began to stare. Not in a nice, "Oh how cute, your baby is singing a song" type of way. The old man was staring the way my grandpa used to when we'd run in the house, or when we were being incredibly bad...just waiting for grandma to come in to intervene. Baby J is still being 'loud' this whole time, blabbing away. After about 3 minutes of stares, the grandmother gets our attention and says "Excuse me, but can you please distract him. We can't hear ourselves think over here". Well of course ALL of our mouths dropped open. Some of us mumbled, "He's just a baby", and I said loudly, "Well THAT's a first". We of course didn't distract him right away but eventually his mama did give him some ice and a straw to play with. It really would not have been that bad but the girl that was sitting with her grandparents kept looking back and egging baby J along whenever her grandparents were not looking. All of us moms were extremely ticked over the situation and we continued to carry on discussing how rude it is to ask to shut up a perfectly happy baby, etc. I mean seriously...it wasn't that distracting. He's just a baby. And we were at Braum's for goodness sake...not the movies.

Okay well better go get us ready for storytime! I hope the baby police don't show up there b/c my girls are in a feisty mood this morning.

Halloween Party!

Tonight was the Halloween party for members at the Texoma Children's Museum. Libby was of course Dorothy. "New" Dorothy to be exact. She has three dresses but this one is sparkly and the newest of the three. Naomi was Little Red Riding Hood. She doesn't like the hood so much, so for most of the night she was a pirate girl. Libby had tons of fun playing with her BFF.

Can't wait until Halloween rolls around and we actually get to go trick-or-treating. I really do hope that people give out more than just candy this year. One or two pieces are okay but a whole bag of it is just not healthy at all. I like that there are more options like Goldfish crackers, or stickers, or little things of Play-Doh.
Saying cheese while eating pizza.



Naomi likes playing with the train set.

Oh, and in case you are wondering...the increase in blog posts is due to me deleting my Facebook account. I've got to have SOME kind of internet outlet!

Women Battle Health Insurance Industry, Demand Equal Benefits and Premiums - ABC News

Women Battle Health Insurance Industry, Demand Equal Benefits and Premiums - ABC News

Shared via AddThis

Amanda, I thought of you when I read this. You posted about a health insurance company denying coverage to a 4 month old baby because the child weighed 20 pounds.
R-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s.
This story is equally disturbing for me. Women are getting denied health coverage for having a c-section from a previous birth. Health insurance companies are viewing it as a 'preexisting condition'. Since most moms who have one c-section end up having their babies by c-section in the future, the companies just don't want to pay for it. This is not fair on so many levels!!!

First School Pictures :D

Libby's pre-k pictures were in my parent outbox this morning. And my oh my they are adorable. I can't believe that my big girl is 3 already and going to school. She only goes MWF in the mornings and that seems to be great for her. I wish public schools had the same schedule. I am dreading when she is 5 and goes M-F from 8:30-3:30. I still flirt with the idea of homeschooling and will check out books from the library on the subject as I run across them. Libby is such a social person and benefits from the classroom setting but at this point I am just scared to death from sending her to public school. I wish that we had enough money to send her to private school. At least that way they wouldn't be teaching for the TAKS test and she'd get to pray to God with her friends like she does now. I wish that she could go to Waples forever!

Kool Smiles

Makes me frown. The search for a great pediatric dentist continues. I might be picky but I want the best treatment for children. Is that too much to ask for??? The dentist told me that Libby has 4 cavities and needs 4 amalgam fillings. She also told me that all that they have for pain management is nitrous and if that doesn't work they can put her in a papoose board to keep her from freaking out. Ugh. We had a HORRIBLE experience with the papoose thingie this past Saturday when she had stitches put in her forehead. I can just imagine how traumatic it would be for her to go to the dentist and have that experience. I asked about numbing her mouth and the dentist doesn't like to do that because children tend to bite their cheeks really hard and can cause damage. I made an appointment for her with a group on Loy Lake in Sherman who will allow me to come back with her, and has adequate pain management for children. The receptionist on the phone said that Kool Smiles isn't certified to give anything more than nitrous. Not that I WANT my daughter to be higher than Slater in Dazed and Confused. But c'mon she is three and can't be expected to sit there still not crying in pain for however long it takes to do a filling. Not that fillings are extremely painful, but it can be awfully scary for a child to be in that situation. And if there is anything that I learned in my Bradley childbirth classes (that I had while pregnant with Naomi) is that fear=pain and it's best to just relax. I want a second opinion anyways so that's another reason why I am taking her to the dentist on Loy Lake. 3rd time a charm maybe? We shall see. Appointment is the first week of November.

Oh and speaking of habitually changing docs, I switched OBGYNs. My mom says I'm never satisfied with anyone. I say that being picky isn't always a bad thing. Choosy moms choose TMC? I figure this is my last switcharoo since I'm 21 weeks now. I'm really not a looney toon, just a very picky mama when it comes to who is handling my lady business, and my baby's birth. Can you blame me?

Saving details on new doc and birth plan for another post...

LLL booth at the fair

Besides the 3 hours of Libby getting hurt and then stitches at the fair, I really had a good time hanging out with some friends at the LLL booth. Rest assured Libby was okay and in good hands with her Grammy for the remainder of the afternoon.
We handed out breastfeeding information bags, had a babysling giveaway, and tried to sell some books. I had brought some chairs and taped the international breastfeeding symbol on them to set up a nursing station for moms. We have group goals to purchase an actual tent like structure and have a baby changing station/nursing station and have it set up at local fairs and festivals. Maybe we could get free booth space in there since we would be providing a service. We have new business cards that Lydia made up. It's fancy to see my name on card stock, lol. Lydia also did a great job making the poster board. Her son helped decorate it, too!

Jessika and JJ

It was fun to hear stories of women who had been helped by LLL in the past. Quite a few women knew who we were and talked about how a Leader had helped them through their early breastfeeding days. Some grandmas even came by to tell us how much LLL helped their daughters. I'm so happy that the group is getting bigger and we are setting goals and actually reaching some of them.

Better go, the girls have dentist appointments in the morning and I should start getting ready for that (even though it's 9pm in the night before). I can't just wait until the morning to get things ready or we will never be on time! We are trying out Kool Smiles tomorrow. Let's hope we have better experience there than we did with the place on 1417.

Libby's not so fun time at the Grayson County Fair.

What was supposed to be a fun day at the fair for the girls ended up in a trip to the E.R....Libby tripped over an extension cord for a carnival ride while trying to keep up with her friends. Poor girl never got to ride the trucks :(. She got two cuts on her forehead which required 6 stitches total. Dr. L removed the stitches this afternoon and she is healing up fine. I saved the stitches to put into her baby book. They'll go right beside her umbilical cord stub. :D I better go...it's book time. After they go to bed I'm going to post some pictures of the LLL booth at the fair.

Poor baby.
:(