Ross

Yesterday our kitty Bum was acting funny and like he was in pain. I was watching him during the day and by night I knew he was going to die. I was going to take him to the vet today, but I'm sorry to say he didn't make it through the night. I don't know exactly what happened but I'm sure it was some kind of poison. We don't have a thing on our property that isn't stored how it's supposed to be so I'm assuming one of our neighbors hasn't been taking care of their stuff. Maybe he drank some antifreeze someone left out. I don't know, either way we are all very sad that Bum is gone. Ethan has been crying since I told the kids. I found Bum on his bed at 6 this morning and he was gone so it happened sometime during the night. I won't pretend I'm upset to lose the responsibility, but Bum was such a sweet cat. He always had purrs for me and was so good with the kids. He was an outside cat, since I hate inside animals, but we would let him in to play occasionally. Lauren loved to pick him up around the middle and carry him around like a teddy bear. Bum had more patience than me because he would just go floppy and let her do whatever she wanted, she was never ruff. Personally I would rather have lost Tuke. I'm more of a cat fan. They are so easy going and basically require no maintenance. Tuke is a pain in the butt and always needs attention. I love him, but he's annoying.
Well, I have a funeral to look forward to tonight. The kids and I are going to go bury Bum behind the baseball field at my parents school. I don't have the heart to move Bum so I called my dad and he's coming to load him up in a box to take to the school. Poor Bum! I feel so bad for how much he suffered. I said a few prayers for him last night asking that he die quickly so he didn't have to be so sick anymore and I guess my prayers were answered. I'm thankful for that anyway.

This year for Thanksgiving was very unique. I have never done it without tons of family and a huge dinner with turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, all the trimmings. However, this year Brett had only Thursday off so all three kids and I packed up and went to Middleton for more than a week. We loved it, loved being together, and while I was sad we didn't get to spend it with my extended family this year, it was perfect because my family was together. Brett, Ethan, Lauren, Lily and me. I'm most thankful this year that we could be together. We didn't do what is, in my mind at least, a traditional dinner, but it was awesome. Some of you may not know, but Brett loves to cook. And he's great at it! How lucky am I? He made a Prime Rib in the dutch oven and I made peach Bavarian and potatoes with carrots. Then we made Au jus with horseradish cream sauce. Then I did the Pendleton traditional Sprite with Grape juice, that I juiced myself. I'm so impressive. Oh! And Brett made butter horns that melted in my mouth! So yummy. I admit I was dubious of Brett's ability to make a good prime rib. I'm a prime rib addict and very picky. Brett, babe, I'll never doubt you again. It was as good as Jacker's and I won't admit how much I ate. Mmmmm.
So my list of things I'm grateful for, not necessarily in order:
1. Having a knowledge of the gospel, where would I be without it
2. My family, who are my world
3. Having Lily join our family, I was worried about having 3 children, but it is as natural as anything! Lily is so sweet and easy going that it feels like she's always been here. Maybe she always has been in a way. I'm so thankful that we have been able to have our children and without difficulty
4. Brett's promotion and getting to live by Mom and Dad Ross. This is an exciting development and I can't wait to see where it takes us
5. All of the comforts that we have. I sometimes forget how much I have and get sucked into thinking how much I want. Then I stop myself and take inventory of what I do have. I have a comfortable home with heat, air conditioning, running water, vehicles that run well, growing grass, a fenced yard, a garden, etc. Then there are the extra things we have that we certainly didn't NEED to buy like ipods, the computer, cable Internet access(Brett insisted), the flat screen mounted on my wall, more furniture than we need, toys, books, pictures, and on and on. I'm pretty spoiled actually and I'm so grateful to live here in the United States where we have so many material things, but also so many opportunities and privileges.
6.Education. Okay, so maybe my education is temporarily on hold, but I love to learn and go to school so I can't wait until my kids are all in school so I can go back! I'm very grateful for Brett's continued perseverance in finishing. It's hard and we don't get to spend as much time together, but completely worth it. I want to be a life long student and always strive to learn and grow.
7.Diapers! Can you imagine life without them? Yuck.
8.Billy Blanks and his Boot Camp series. Twenty-seven pounds down since Lily's birth, 20 more to go. Billy has helped me do it before and I know he can do it again! Hopefully before we go to Disneyland, I'd like to have some pants to wear before then and I've got some pounds to lose before I fit into any of my jeans. Wait, okay I can fit into one pair, but just because I can doesn't mean I should.
9. And probably the number one thing I'm grateful for are great parent-in-laws. I love my husband more than anything. He's everything I always told myself I wanted in a husband. I knew before we got married that he would be great, but he's exceeded even my expectations. Shoot, my own Grandma who's never liked me much suddenly loves me so she can have Brett privileges. Just today she asked me how I ever got him. Gee, thanks for the confidence grams. It's a good thing I have a sense of humor. That and I've always thought she was completely unbalanced. So who do I have to thank for this? The people who raised him and tamed him. It was a tough job, but they really couldn't have done better.

Okay, more pictures. I can't take enough. So my water broke Saturday morning and we waited all day for labor to start. We went shopping, went for a walk on the canyon, went out for lunch. Nothing. So around 6 or 7 we decided we had better go to the hospital to keep an eye on how the baby was doing and make sure no infection had happened. The staff and my doctor really wanted to induce me and check me and all that stuff, but I said lets just wait and see how this goes. Around 11 I kicked Brett out and told him to go home to bed. He drives me crazy when he can't do anything. He sits there and fidgets and makes me want to smack him! Then I tried to sleep, in between the nurses coming in and out to check my temperature, blood pressure and the babies heart beat. We were perfect and I had no signs at all of going into labor. Sunday morning my doctor came in and asked me what I would let them do. I told him I wanted to wait a while longer and see if maybe I could get labor going myself. Normally I'm not the natural inductions kind, but I was going crazy and stuck in a hospital, one of my least favorite places to be. After Doctor Coleman left I tried a natural induction method and it worked. I was giving myself contractions that went from 10 to 8 to 6 and then to 5 and 6 minutes apart. I stopped and let my body take over after about an hour which was about 1 pm. Brett was their having fun timing my contractions on his ipod. He was driving me nuts with the clicking! Once I stopped forcing them, they started to putter out and get farther apart, but that kick start was all my body needed. At around 1:30 my body took over and I was in labor whether I wanted to be or not. Let me just say, I've never taken anything during labor. I've been 100% all natural up to this point and I couldn't believe how much worse these contractions hurt then with my other two children. I was in serious pain and on all fours having Brett rub my back as hard as he could. When the contractions got about 4 minutes apart I told Brett to tell the nurses they could check me now. I hadn't allowed any checks yet because my water had broken. I didn't want to be put on a time limit, but I knew this was it so there wasn't any need to worry. Doctor Coleman came in and was pleased I had gone into labor. He checked me and said I was 4 cm dilated and 90% effaced. About 10 minutes later I told Brett I was getting close and to have the nurse come check. I was at 6 cm and complete. She said I was doing great and to call if I needed help. About a minute later I knew I was at 7 or 8 cm because I wanted drugs bad!!! Like so bad I was ready to kill anyone who tried to stop me. I was whimpering to Brett to get the nurse so we could see what they could do to help. I just wanted something to take the edge off so I could finish. I really did not want to be there! She told me I could have an epidural or something through the IV. I asked what the risks were and she said the iv one could possibly cause breathing problems in the baby. NO WAY! Are you kidding me? Who would take something like that? So I said fine, an epidural, and I want it now because I'm pushing this baby out within the hour. She was really nice and very helpful, but I don't think she believed me. So a few minutes later they have the iv in and this crazy dude with a bandanna and a goatee came in and stuck this needle in my back that looked like it could kill me. That was the worst thing I've ever experienced. I was having contraction after contraction right on top of each other and I was being forced to sit up while shaking so bad I thought he was going to mess up. It was torture and I told them to get done because I needed to push. Up to this point I hadn't even had any relief. I laid down as soon as he was done and said time to push. The dubious nurse checked and said, "Get the doctor!" FINALLY I was getting some relief. I was so relieved to just not have the pain from the contractions any more. I could feel everything except my stomach and back pain which I was perfectly fine with. Dr. Coleman came in and Lily was born! The small dose of anesthesia they were able to get in just numbed right where I could feel contractions so it made my pushing not quite as effective as normal which made Lily my hardest baby to push out. But a few minutes and she was here. Brett just stood there kind of stunned and stared at the baby. Then the nurse said, "Well, are you going to tell her what it is?" and Brett said, "Oh! It's a girl!" 2:41 pm was her official birth time. She weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces and was 20 inches long, my shortest baby yet. I was very surprised to find out she was a girl, I totally thought it was a boy. She was put on my chest and latched right on and nursed for about 10 minutes. We came home the next morning and now we are leaning to nurse together. Lauren is in love with her little sister and Ethan is slowly getting used to the idea that it's not a boy. Hee, hee. He's started singing to her and taking lots of pictures though, so I think he secretly loves her.Then her daddy is so excited! He's the sweetest daddy ever and is loving his newest baby girl.

It's a girl! Brett told me after he got over the shock. We are so happy she's here and perfect. We were both kind of thinking boy so we were pretty surprised. Brett is so happy because he wanted another girl pretty bad. I'll post my birth story later because I'm about to pass out from sleep deprivation right now, but here are some pictures of my new family of five!

This is for Ashley.
Unfortunattly I've been in a kind of stalled labor all week. I'll have contractions, they'll get promising, and then they stop and laugh at me. So this morning I woke up and BAM! It didn't full out brake until just a few minutes ago, but I can officially say my water has broken for the first time before my kids heads have been coming out. I was answering my door for a lady who lost her little yorkie dog and it broke all over. She was a little surprised when I suddenly said, "Oh my gosh! My water just broke everywhere!"
Well, now all we have to do is wait for labor to start. I just took a nap so I think I'll make a run to the store and get a french silk pie to celebrate! I hope labor starts before soon, I'd like to have this kid out before bed time. I suppose I could go check into the hosptial when I get ready for bed so I'm there if I go into labor during the night. That way I won't have to get up and go anywhere.
Yeah! So excited this is finally over! I told Ethan and Lauren this morning that the baby was coming today. They got really excited because they know Grandma is coming to stay the night with them. Ethan wanted to know what it means to have my water break so I showed him a picture of the bag of waters and told him it poped kind of like a balloon and the liquid came out. He's been pretending to be a poping balloon now. Then he remembered when he watched a horse have a baby and he thought it came out of it's butt. So he asked me if the baby was coming out of my butt yet. Ha! Okay Ethan, the horses baby didn't come out of it's butt! What do you say to this??? I just told him it comes out kind of where I go pee. He's a smart kid and I've never met a 4 year old so interested in anatomy. He knows where all his basic insides are and his favorite is his bladder because it fills up like a balloon when it has pee in it. I tried to just tell him that baby will come out of my tummy, but he instantly said that wasn't possible because there arn't any holes in my tummy so it had to come out of my butt. Wow. I can't wait for the more fun questions to come! I'll be back posting pictures of the latest Ross Rat in a day or two. Wish me luck!

to a pregnant woman that is. I got this in my weekly email from Babycenter and it made me laugh so I thought I'd share.
• "Mooooo!"
• "Ouch — a paper cut. I wonder if this is what labor feels like."
• "Is that a watermelon under your shirt or are you just glad to see me?"
• "My father called again to ask about your cervix."
• "Is that your underwear or did a parachute land on your butt?"

Ahh, Bill Cosby. And yes, in case your wondering, these words did come out of my husbands mouth while I was pushing Ethan out. That and,"Honey, it looks like you're having a dog." He will deny these charges, but I have a very good memory. I swear just because Ethan had tons of long black hair...
Anyway, I woke up this morning having contractions about 5 to 8 minutes apart for around 3 hours. They started making my back hurt and crampy just like it always does when I go into labor so I called Brett in Nampa and said be prepared because today might be the day.
So I went to my appointment with Dr. Astin and he confirmed what I already knew. He says any minute now I can go into labor. Warning:If you don't like talking about cervix's, leave now, because I have no problems with it. My sis-in-law Cori tells me I need to be censored by Brett more often. I'm soft and at least 50% effaced. Yeah, the turtle neck is coming off! And I'm dilated to 2-3 cm. I honestly forgot to ask what station the baby's head is at so I can't tell you that. He was really surprised at the change since last Tuesday and he said he was sure I'd go any time. Can you tell I'm excited!!!!! I can't wait to not be pregnant anymore. The veil of death shall rise and I'll see La Vie En Rose once again. I just can't wait for the nausea to be gone. For the first time in 9 1/2 months I will exist without constant nausea. It always completely disappears within 5 minutes of the baby getting out of there.
So if you get bored, send some labor vibes my way. I've got a date with my labor ball.

Some Sundays by the end of Sacrament meeting I'm thinking that every person in the chapel thinks I'm the worst parent ever and my kids are animals. I can't wait for the closing prayer so the torture can be over! Kids can be so trying and my patience runs out fast when I'm 9 1/2 months pregnant, so today I was totally at the end of my last nerve. Anyway, we got home and I'm ready for food and naps so I can take some mommy time. Ethan ran in the door, got an empty box I had just taken baby things out of this morning and ran into his room. I went to see what the heck he was doing and he said, "Mom I'm going through my toys to pick out some for the DI. That's serving isn't it?" Proud mommy moment! Brett walked in and was trying not to laugh and Lauren got into it and got a few things out of her room. I okayed it and now I've got a box of toys to DI tomorrow. The kids wanted to go today but I explained that the DI isn't open on Sundays. I was actually kind of surprised at the toys they picked. I can see why they picked them, but they also play with them still, just not as much as they did. I also went through baby blankets and decided to get rid of a few bags worth. I've still got tons and I thought someone might actually use them this way. When I had Ethan, I had a legion of LDS elderly who thought it was their sole purpose in life to give me a thousand blankets for each child I have, ever. I love them and appreciate each and every blanket made on my behalf, but then again, I can only swaddle a baby so many times a day. Evan now, baby number 3, I get asked what I need and I say no blankets for sure! So far I think I've been given about 5 gender neutral new blankets. "Oh, gee, thanks. Again." Brett and I laugh. All I say I want are diapers. Mountains of diapers. Honestly that's the only thing I need. I'm a human milk machine and I don't require maintenance. Speaking of that, yuck! I just got my order from Motherhood Maternity in the mail yesterday. I'm officially ready for baby. My new nursing bras have come, they even fit, and I didn't know they made bras in that particular letter size. I learn something new every day. I was a little nervous about the size I ordered because NOBODY carries my size in store so I had no reference. I also got my new nursing pj's! Oh so comfortable. I'm wearing them now and I'm not afraid to admit it. They are pink and Lauren looked at me like I was a goddess when she saw me in them. Apparently my usual colors aren't "pretty" enough for her. She got so excited at how "pretty you look, mommy!" that she couldn't stop rubbing the belly. Then she had to run into her room and frantically put her own "pretty" jammies on. Yeah, I'm an instant celebrity to my girl. On a side note, I heeded the advice on the church site as to what size nursing garment top to buy. Big mistake. They say to measure yourself around that point that sticks out the most and use those inches to determine the right size. HA, ha, ha, ha ,ha! Okay, I don't think I need an extra large. So I went a few number sizes smaller and ordered. Weeeeell, a few days later I got the package and I was relieved because I needed them before the baby came. I tried them on and just started laughing, somewhat hysterically. I apparently ordered a dress! Wow, I don't think they take women of my proportions into consideration when deciding on these rules for sizing. Anyway, I took a trip to Boise and after buying some tops about 7 sizes smaller than the suggested size, I've got tops that fit!!! Mission accomplished.