I've made it in life...

I am now a soccer mom! Well, I don't have a minivan yet, but with two kids and one on the way, I'll probably have one soon enough. Keith started spring soccer league with the YMCA today. How exciting! He looked so cute with his cleats and shin guards! My little boy is growing up :) It was WINDY though, and COLD. Poor Henry was miserable, I was miserable, Ed was, well Ed.... Keith played for about half of the game and then started complaining that his stomach hurt, so we came home a little early. Which was fortunate, because he promptly started throwing up. What a fun start to soccer! Anyways, check out my munchkin!

Packing... any volunteers?

So, it appears that we're moving! When, I'm not sure, because we're moving into my brother's house in Glen Mills and he won't quite divulge when HE is moving OUT. I think he's moving this week or next weekend - Ed's in charge of trying to get a straight answer out of the boy. So, anyone want to help move all our crap?!? We have A LOT of crap lol. Thank goodness for the dumpsters in Kennett, when are available next weekend. I guess I should get my act together now, though, instead of waiting until next Friday to figure out what goes to the dumpsters, huh? As soon as I can get over there once my brother is out I'll post pictures. The MOST exciting part? I'll have my very own office/classroom for my business!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

House, houses, and more houses...

So, the fam and I spent the day yesterday driving around looking at houses. My parents are hellbent on moving out of Kennett Borough, and Kennett is $$, so why stay. So around 11am my mom and I went to look at houses in Wilmington...

First we looked at this one. Not bad, cute red house, decent size. Needs some work, and there's NO parking around. I don't know about you, but lugging three kids and groceries a block or so does not sound like much fun to me.

So we went around the corner to this one. It was cute. That's about all it had going for it. The price was a giveaway lol. This house is one block away from a not so desirable neighborhood. My mother said that Ed and I were welcome to move there but she'd be damned if I was taking her grandkids. I'm guessing that's a veto.

So we went to look at this cute one. I'm NOT a fan of rowhomes/twins (remind me to tell you the story of the neighbors from hell, Gail and Jose), but it was so CUTE! Isn't it?!? Yeah. They can do WONDERS with digital photography in this day and age, I'm telling you.

So we gave up on Wilmington. Came home, mom went home, and Ed and the fam and I piled in the car to go look up towards Coatesville. First we went up the back roads to this house. We're driving up there and Ed's saying he can live in that area, away from everything... overlooking the Brandywine... then we turned the corner. Cute house, I'll give it that. Overlooking the Brandywine, definitely. Overlooking as in open a window and look down - there's the Brandywine. Overlooking as in you sure as hell better have GOOD flood insurance, because you're going to need it. And if we could overlook (ha ha) the close proximity of the Brandywine, I definitely was not overlooking the close proximity of the fire station. That first picture on the listing? I think the photographer had his back up against the fire truck when he took it. Having lived across the street from a fire siren in Kennett for a few years, I had to decline living across the street from the whole station.

So we went into the town (city?) of Coatesville. Saw a few that were not going to happen whatsoever. Then we saw this one. I like it. Needs a little work, but nothing too big (that we could see from the street, of course. Who knows though, there could be a swimming pool in the basement, and not the good kind of pool.) So that one went on the "haven't totally ruled it out" list.

Then we went over a couple of blocks to a really cute neighborhood and found this one. Definite fixer-upper. It's missing a window or two. But, I'm married to a guy who used to do windows for a living, so that's not a HUGE problem, just a on the larger side of medium problem. But it's in a nice area. Location, location, location. Who needs windows when you have location?? I think Ed said we do.

So we kept looking. Found some other houses, like the one on the busy road next door to Kingdom Hall, and then on our way home we drove by this one. I think I've stopped laughing. It was ok, we drove by, then turned around. HA! IT WAS MISSING HALF THE HOUSE! That was a big old hell no. Even Keith said "mom, that house is missing its wall!" Oh, and it was next door to the steel mill. Price - you can tell by the price (but I think 104,000 is too high for a house missing its right side).

So that was our weekend excitement. I think we're going to check out Lancaster next lol.

UBA4C

Update: She had her baby!

So I've been watching this thread on MDC, which has since been deleted. It's about a woman who is currently 40 weeks pregnant and has had 4 previous cesareans and now has her OBs all up in arms and is currently planning an unassisted birth. Interesting read.

Note: don't read the thread unless you have an hour or two - the last time I checked it was at post #665 and no baby yet.

Second note: no mom, I'm not planning an unassisted birth. Not my cup of tea.

Update: So, I'm hooked. I need to do things like, say, clean my house, but oh no, I'm sitting here reading MDC. I found another thread about the same mom/birth/OBs here, and according to one poster (not the original poster), the original poster had a T incision with at least one of her cesareans. However, that was pointed out on page 6 right when name calling started and the thread got shut down, so I don't know for sure if it's just someone with their info messed up or for real. So I found some other threads (yes, you'll need a whole day to read all this!)

Her decision to not have a repeat cesarean

A bit about what her OB/midwife said about her scar tissue

AHA! I FOUND IT!

So yeah, that makes things more interesting. Risks of VBACs are higher with a vertical incision as opposed to a transverse incision. I don't have the actual numbers in front of me, but if you google something like VBAC transverse incision rate you'll probably find the transverse rates and likewise - just substitute vertical to get the vertical incision rates. Maybe if I get motivated later I'll look them up :)

Update #2: From Anne Frey's Holistic Midwifery:

As far as the type of incision goes, the mother who has a low transverse uterine incision is at the lowest risk for scar-related problems such as dehiscence and rupture. Those with classical or T-shaped incisions are at more risk for rupture, which tends to be more traumatic than the usually benign scar disruptions which occur in women with low transverse incisions. While some types of incisions pose more risk, the highest risk is still probably around 5% (some scars are more rare and limited data is available. From looking at the existing data, 5% seems to me a generous estimate of risk for all types of Cesarean scars, with the order of risk as follows: low transverse [0.5% Haq, 1988; to 2% Clark, 1988], low vertical [1.3% Enkin, 1989], classical and inverted T [probably about the same for both: 2.2% to 4%, depending on the study], upright T and J-incision [probably somewhat higher, but no specific data is available].). Women with an upright T, J-shaped, or classical incision or those who have experienced previous uterine rupture may want to birth in the hospital, although finding a practitioner that will assist them to have a VBAC will be more difficult.

Legos

So. Legos. Keith has discovered Legos, in more ways than one. A few months ago he was over at his grandparents and, being the good grandparents they are, they unloaded all of Uncle Adam's legos out of the basement for Keith to play with. I wish I had the picture - their dining room was CARPETED in legos. And, of course, being the slightly obsessive child that he is, Keith convinced Grandpa that they had to sort out all of the 1,000,000 legos into the original sets. Fortunately, he inherited that obsessive gene from his grandparents, because they still had all of the original paperwork from all of those sets. I think there were approximately 100,000 sets. So they sorted. And sorted. And sorted. Keith wouldn't come home, because they were having so much fun sorting. Eh, whatever floats the kid's boat. Anyways, all that sorting started a love affair with legos. Now, instead of Cars, every time we're at the store we have to check out the Lego aisle. And Keith keeps his different lego creations out on random surfaces and calls them his 'set ups' and God forbid you move one of his set ups.

He also has the toddler sized legos - I think they're called Duplex? I can't remember - it's been a while since I've looked at them in the store. He plays with those, religiously, too. Usually in his room. So a couple of weeks ago, Duplex legos were strewn all over his room, and he was building things (with his IMAGINATION, mom!) and creating things and not picking up the spare lego parts. Fast forward to that evening. Ed gave Keith a bath, wrapped him up in a towel (arms included - this is important), and sent him off into his room to get dressed. Keith walks into his room, trips on the edge of his rug, and with his arms wrapped up had no way to catch himself. So he landed chin first on.... you guessed it....

A LEGO.

Otherwise known as a damn expensive Lego. I hear all hell breaking loose upstairs and thought that Keith was just throwing a fit about having to get out of the bath. Then I hear Ed yelling "AMY! GET UP HERE!" and I run upstairs to see Keith hysterical and blood pouring out of his chin. So it was off to AI DuPont for stitches. 4 shots of lidocaine and 5 stitches later, Keith was mostly upset about missing his favorite cartoon.



(And can someone explain the 'injured Keith pose'? Every injury picture I have of the boy is the same pose!)

Yes, I'm a slacker

What else is new? So I figured I'd post a couple of recipes to make up for it.

One is the amazingly easy and amazingly delicious blackberry cobbler by the Pioneer Woman. That lady can cook! And who can resist the pictures?!? Her cinnamon rolls are pretty good, too. Trust me :)

And the other is...

crap. I forgot which one I was going to post. Damn pregnancy brain! And then after I posted it I was going to go make it, but no, now I have to try to remember what I was craving all of 10 minutes ago. Ugh. Stay tune for the update once I remember....

Oops, I forgot to post!

Yeah, really, what else is new? Things have been pretty boring around here.... Christmas was, well, Christmas - fun but busy. Keith went back to school on the 2nd, and I never thought I'd be as happy as I was that day! What am I going to do for a WHOLE summer?!? School is a wonderful thing! Add in lunch bunch, and I can actually get something done around this place! I decided I should go back to work for a few months, and I start teaching classes in 12 days (OH. MY. GOD.), and I have a client due early April. So, I'll be working again. At least for a little bit, because then I'll be having my own baby in early August. Yeah, you could have knocked me over with a feather! What am I going to do with 2 kids under two??? So think of me this time next year when I'm pulling my hair out!

Watch out for lions!

Or else you might end up looking like this...



Please ignore the peanut butter mouth. He was eating when I insisted I needed to take a picture RIGHT NOW! So, Keith and Henry were at the babysitter's on Thursday. Actually, they were with the babysitter but at someone else's house, but they were happy about that because the someone else had a big ole slide in the living room. You know, THOSE cool parents. So, Keith, being a five year old boy, decided that he had to go UP the slide the wrong way. Babysitter says 'you know Keith, that's not such a good idea,' Keith looks at her like 'yeah, well, I'm 5 and I'm invincible,' and proceeds to fall off the slide somehow, land in a closet (yeah, I don't know either), and damn near poke his eye out. So the babysitter called me, as I was pulling up to work. I, caring mother I am, ask if she'd take HER kid to the ER, she says no, I talk to Keith to try, unsuccessfully, to calm him down, and tell the babysitter I'll call Ed to get him. I did care, really!!!

So Friday, I take Keith to school. He gets in line, says hi to his teacher, and she says "KEITH!!! What happened to your face???" Keith's answer?



"I was attacked by a lion."



Said with a straight face even. Gotta love the imagination.

How did I forget?!? Henry's one!

Yes, Keith, make a little mark in that bad mother record book you're keeping. I forgot to post about Henry's birthday. I've already upset Keith because I didn't have a birthday party for Henry - you know I've scarred him for life, right?!? So, he had a birthday a week and a half ago. Just the family - me, Ed, Keith and Henry. Grandma and grandpa had work to do, and Adam, well, Adam probably wasn't up yet. So we had steak (you know, that's Henry's FAVORITE dinner, right?!?) and I made a chocolate cake. We all sang Happy Birthday, and Henry got to have his cake.

Boy, did he enjoy it...


Then it was present time. I learned my lesson with Keith - one year olds are not impressed by the number of presents. AT ALL. So Henry got three presents - one from me & Ed, one from Keith, and a pair of pjs since it's COLD now, especially in Henry's room.

Henry opened up the presents with a little help from the big brother....


The pjs weren't exactly a hit. Big surprise there. I guess pjs for your birthday is a gift right up there with underwear for Christmas. The caterpillar Ed and I gave him was an ok hit.


However, Keith's present was the favorite by far...


Now Henry can be just like mommy and talk on the phone ALL DAY LONG! He insists on taking it to Harrington's, even though there's a no cell phone rule there. Gotta love my little rule breaker!

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!!!

So, after stuffing ourselves yesterday at the first annual make-Thanksgiving-dinner-and-then-pack-it-into-the-Sequoia-and-take-it-to-Adam's-house-because-Adam-wants-to-host-Thanksgiving-but-doesn't-cook Thanksgiving dinner, the Borrelli family was SO EXCITED that Santa was coming to town! Tonight was Kennett Square's Christmas parade, which is the start of the Christmas season here in Kennett. For the kids it means Santa is coming to town, for the grown ups it means FREE PARKING until Christmas. Such joy! So anyways, we went to the parade. It was pretty darn cold. According to my trusty weather doohickey, it's currently 33 degrees. Of course, it couldn't be the 60+ degrees it was yesterday, huh?? So, of course, we got ourselves bundled up...


Went and watched the parade (yes, it consists of tow trucks, fire trucks, and pickup trucks)...


And then got to go see the big man himself (and his 'old lady' as Ed put it... the Mrs.), SANTA CLAUS...


And yes, my son was the one who had to take the Walmart Toy Book to show Santa EXACTLY what he wanted...


I overheard Santa whisper to Mrs. Claus "My goodness, he has everything circled and he assured me it's all on sale!" Well, the boy is organized, I'll give him that much. So, be sure to check out Thursday's edition of The Kennett Paper, because Keith's picture will probably be in it as "the boy who gets down to business with Santa Claus"

Oh, and how could I forget... the most important part.... the candy cane coma!

T shirts

So, my mom got a catalog in the mail the other day with t shirts with random sayings. I love t shirts with random sayings, even though I don't wear them. However, my husband does, so it's really tempting to get him this one. If you know my husband, you'll see how appropriate that is. And, why not ask him to do the lollypop guild dance next time you see him?!?

Hot Feta Artichoke Dip

Yeah... it's good.


1 can (14oz) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
8oz crumbled Feta cheese
1 cup mayo
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
optional: 2oz diced pimentos, drained
(I just chop up some black olives. But, do whatever you want)


1. Mix all ingredients
2. Spoon into 9in. pie plate or 3cup shallow baking dish
3. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes


I TOLD you it was easy!

The Business of Being Born

So, the Rising Moon Birth Fund hosted a screening of The Business of Being Born last night. I think I would say it was a success. We sold approximately 100 tickets, raised over $1000 for the birth fund, and had a great time! The movie was wonderful (of course, I missed bits and pieces because Ed came with Henry and Henry wasn't really that into the movie... gee, I wonder why? ), the Q&A session afterwards was a good discussion, and, the best part....

WE GOT SOME MORE VOLUNTEERS!!!!!!!!!


WHOO HOO!!!!! I just love volunteers! We also got some information about a new movie called Pregnant in America, so I emailed them to find out something about screenings. Cross your fingers! I also hear that there's pictures floating around, at least I noticed a flash every once in a while. So if I get some, I'll post them!

Chicken Pox!

We have chicken pox! How exciting! So I picked Keith up from school on Friday (yeah, about a week ago) and he was complaining that his tummy hurt. Being the good mom that I am, I said "You're hungry, c'mon, we have to go to the babysitters." He often complains that his stomach hurts when he doesn't want to do something, so I figured it was one of those days. So Ed picked him up and the babysitter said he wasn't looking too hot. Dontcha know, he gets home, lays on the couch for a bit, then starts throwing up. So I promptly reschedule his birthday party which was supposed to be the next day to Sunday (11/4). So all of Friday night he's sick, then Saturday we notice a couple of spots on his tummy and back. Yeah. Monday I take him to the doctor (gotta get this stuff documented, you know!) and it's official, it's chicken pox. So we're quarantined at the moment. Well, we did go trick or treating last night to a few houses, but we didn't get too close. And besides, everyone around here is vaccinated. (insert evil laugh here). So that's the fun here lately. Now we wait to see if the Hen gets it too. Cross your fingers! Oh, and the quote of the disease? "Mom, why do these chickens keep biting me???"

Happy Birthday to Keith!

Or, we are NOT going to the emergency room today! Keith is now 5 years old, and of course there were some presents involved. He got the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie, some Cars games, some books, and Heelys. In case you don't know, Heelys are those shoes with the wheels in the heel (hence the name!) with which kids speed around the stores trying to run people over. I know you know what I'm talking about. Anyways, so he got a pair of Heelys. Put them on, inched along the counter, let go, and BOOM landed on his butt. But he laughed, so all is good. But, this was the first pair of shoes I have seen that had a WARNING sticker on the sole. A warning, which among other info, said "By peeling this sticker, you agree to waive the right to sue Heeling Sports Limited and their owners, directors, employees and/or representatives for any injury, death, property damage, or incidental or consequential damages arising from the use of this product." And like a good mother, I peeled the sticker. MY mother is going to kill me!