Sunday, May 25, 2008

She's Here!

So, better late than never - please welcome Chloe Louise Butler, born into the world at 6:34 pm on May 20,2008. Weighing in at 7lbs, 9oz; 20 inches long. More posts later, but suffice to say that she is lovely, perfect, and everything we could have hoped for!






Sunday, May 18, 2008

Hot days...finally!

We've had a pretty yucky spring around here, to say the least. Even our few nice days have been chilly - but this week made up for it in full effect. Normally I would be welcoming a few 90-degree days, but being seriously 39 weeks pregnant makes it a little harder to appreciate! Here's how the end of our week went. Wednesday my OB doc mercifully offered to induce me on Friday. I didn't kiss him, but I thought about it. Then I decided it might be a little awkward. Then they called back and said it would have to be Saturday. No problem. Thursday afternoon we decided to play a little hooky and head out to Pacific City - we figured we probably wouldn't get back out there for a while and it was HOT in town. We had a beautiful afternoon - 80 and sunny, light wind. Except for that we had to come home. Where we realized two things. One, even though I had put sunscreen on, my shins and knees had gotten a wicked sunburn in about 2 hours. LOVE pregnancy. Two - our air conditioning was not working. The thermostat in our house said 80. Yes, 80.
Not. Acceptable.
The forecast for Friday was 100 degrees.
Also. not. acceptable.
I spent Thursday evening laying on my bed with the fan going, wet towels on my legs, and a really bad attitude. (Which, in my mind, seemed perfectly logical and reasonable!) Luckily, God took pity and sent a wonderful air-conditioner fixing man out at 8:30 a.m. friday morning, and by 10 my AC was running and my house was cooling down. Again, I thought about kissing him, but didn't. He was a little dirty.

Anyhow, that led to us being able to take advantage of the weather and invite the Brewer boys over to play on our new "racing" slip & slide. It's amazing how much entertainment a $14 piece of plastic can provide. They had so much fun, while Amy and I got to sit in the shade and drink iced tea. Those are the kind of 90 degree days I like.





We had a great dinner with my parents Friday night, and left the kids there to spend the night as we assumed we would be going to the hospital at 6 a.m. the next morning. Ha. This is where the weeked o'waiting begins. When we called at 5, they said they were full. Like, full to bursting, no bed for me. Call back at noon. Guess what? Still no room. So, after spending a long, hot day at the baseball field and being forced into wearing maternity shorts in public, we left the kids at my parents again, went and saw the new Narnia movie, and headed home to get some sleep before our (hopefully) early morning today. Guess what. No such luck. Still full, and someone called in sick. Apparently before they will bring you in to induce you they want to make sure you have a nurse. And a bed. But call back at noon -we're pretty sure you'll be coming in then. At this point I paged my doctor, and he reassured me that it looked really good for this afternoon, and barring anything major he'd see me at the hospital. Really? Don't count your chickens. When I called at noon, they told me that UNFORTUNATELY they'd just had an emergency c-section come thru the door. Could I call back tomorrow morning at 5 a.m.?

Apparently 90-100 degree weather and a full moon make for a very, very busy birthing center. So, I'm just trying to remember that everything happens for a reason, and that God does have a plan, and that a person cannot physically stay pregnant forever. Also, that you just don't want to make the nurses mad, so you have to suck it up. :) We'll keep everyone posted if we ever do have this baby. In fact, maybe we'll call you. At 5 a.m. :)

Mother's Day

Mother's day is usually a mellow day at the Butler/Wertz compound - we don't really like to go out because there are SO MANY OTHER PEOPLE OUT! Plus, we've decided that the most relaxing way to celebrate is to make the guys cook for us at home, where they can also oversee the kids (who are not strapped into high chairs waiting for food), do the dishes, and we can lounge around drinking wine (or iced-tea this year!) and reading gardening magazines. Seriously, we couldn't ask for a better Mother's Day. However, this year we got an extra little testosterone boost on Mother's Day. Some of you may have seen my previous post about the cool zipline that my dad rigged up for the boys. The 3-6 year old crowd is seriously jealous, I'm telling you. But last Sunday, on the whim of a 6 year old, all the boys decided that they could do better. Like, for instance, they could rig up a NEW zipline that went from the TOP OF THE HOUSE, through the trees (yes, they did have to trim back quite a few branches), all the way to the clubhouse. Now, I'm pretty sure that this is not what normal families do at their family get-togethers. But after some figuring, and another rope, and a few more pulleys, this is what they came up with. (by the way, you can always click on a photo to get a bigger, super-sized version. That way you can see how completely nuts we are REALLY close up!)



I know.

It seems a little crazy to put your kid on the railing of a deck (hello, there's a reason for the railing!) and then push him off, but really you should have seen the sheer joy on his face.
Here's a few more...







All this time, Aidan was napping. So the real question for everyone was would he want to zip off the railing of the deck also? Or would this be just a little TOO big an adventure for him. (Personally, I KNEW he'd be all over it. The kid's a maniac!) Here's your answer....






Like I said, I realize this is not normal. But it is super fun. And the boys are pretty sure they have the coolest family in town. So that pretty much makes it worth it for us!

Jackson's first T-Ball game!

T-ball really is one of the best forms of entertainment around. There's nothing quite like a large group of 6-year-olds standing around a field to make you laugh. We spent our first few practices learning to hit the ball, then run (to each base), not to chase the ball into the outfield. Fielding is a whole different ballgame altogether (literally, no pun intended.) So we finally had our first game on the 10th, and Jackson had a great time. He basically told us that this is way better than soccer since there's not so much running back and forth the whole time. Truly, this is a child after my own heart. I like a sport where you can stand there for a while! :) Their team did great - lots of hits, even a few catches here and there, and one big dogpile out in the field. We keep trying to remind them that when you're playing third base, or shortstop, you don't run into right field and try to steal the ball from your own first baseman. I'm sure it's a lesson we'll learn eventually....







watch out ladies - those eyes will getcha every time!

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Horrible little beasts

I've realized why you're supposed to slow down and stop going places when you're this pregnant. It's because your other children start to behave like horrible little beasts in public. It's like they can sense weakness, you know?

We had to go to the garden store the other day to pick out some herbs for a gift. The boys, who are normally REASONABLY well behaved in public, turned into monsters. Aidan was trying to push the giant flatbed cart into a display of fish (real fish, in tanks) while the nice lady helped me get a bag of potting soil that I could never have lifted by myself. Jackson was in the background going "WOOO HOOO!" as Aidan hijacked the cart and laughing hysterically. After two attempts to make them stop nicely, I excused myself for a moment, grabbed them both by the shoulder with the death pinch (as Aidan yells "OWWW!YOU"RE PINCHING MY NECK" and lined them up against the counter so I could pay. I warned them that if their backs left the counter, they would both get a nice spanking when we got to the car. Of course, the second I turned my back, they made for the cart again. I was SO DONE with the garden store and the looks of pity by this time. So I nicely hissed in Jackson's ear "That's it. That's a spanking when we get to the car." What was his response? He tried to buy me off! "Mom, no, please! I'll give you a dollar!"

Seriously, a dollar? He' thinks I'm that easy? Needless to say, he learned that a dollar doesn't buy you much these days! :)

"Bebe" Shower

Forgot to put up the pictures of the baby shower...did I mention it was lovely and perfect? :)

Sorry....

Yes, I know, I've been shamefully lax on updating our blog. Pregnancy is starting to catch up with me, in the most unflattering ways! I'm about 2-3 weeks out from d-day at this point, so we've been running around like crazy people trying to finish everything we've been putting off for the last 6 months! (see previous posts) We've had weddings, baby showers (mine and others), MOPS, birthday parties, visits with Nana, and all kinds of fun stuff. I'll include a few slide shows to keep you all up to date!

My dear friends threw me the prettiest baby shower - so girly and JUST what I would have chosen for myself. It was tons of fun and the FOOD was fantastic. The cakes were SO pretty! We were lucky enough to have nana Carol here for the weekend, to join us for the shower and to celebrate Aidan's 3rd birthday. I can't believe he's 3! He loved the attention (of course) and got some pretty sweet gifts - between Nana & Mimi & Pa, he pretty much scored.


pirate ship courtesy of nana


quad courtesy of mimi & pa

We got to spend Aidan's real birthday with just the fam, dinner at Mimi & Pa's, with Nana, and the new ZIPLINE that Pa rigged up from the little treefort in their backyard. The boys had so much fun. Best quote of the night by far was Aidan yelling "I"M DIEGO!!!" as he whizzed down the line, with sheer JOY written all over his face. We followed up with presents, cake, and a campfire outside.

This weekend, we did a birthday party with his buddies - all he wanted was a surfing party like his brother had. Unfortunately we weren't in Cali for his birthday, so we had to make do. We watched part of the "Surf's Up" movie, did a surfing cake and had Hawaiian pizza. Good enough for Aidan! The hit of the day was a gift he actually got twice - our friends know him way too well. It was the "Superhero Starter Kit" - a book that comes with it's own cape, plus all kinds of pop-out masks, wristbands, and tips on becoming a superhero. Way too cool.

 

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