Oh the Joys...

Baby number 3 and I still find this hilarious....and SOOOOO true!

How to Prepare for Nursing

Forget that old advice about "gently rubbing your nipples with a towel."

If you REALLY want to feel ready to breastfeed, here's what to do:

Day 1: Gently rub your nipples with sandpaper.

Day 2: At bedtime, set your alarm clock to go off every two hours.  Each time it rings, spend 20 minutes sitting in a rocking chair with your nipples clamped in a pair of chip clips.

Day 3: Draw branching lines all over your chest with a blue-green marker, then stand in front of your bathroom mirror and sing "I Feel Pretty."

Day 4: Open your already-crowded freezer and make room for five dozen plastic milk bags.

Day 5: Fit the hose of a vacuum cleaner over one breast and set on "medium pile." Turn off vacuum when nipple is three inches long. Switch breasts.

Day 6: Obtain "DO NOT CROSS" tape from your local police station, then wrap firmly around your chest. When your spouse asks about it, say, "Get used to it."

Day 7: Tape a water balloon to each breast and squeeze into a maternity bra. Repeatedly hook and unhook the nursing flaps with one hand while using the other to balance a sack of squirming puppies on your lap.

Day 8: Dine in the fanciest, snootiest restaurant you can afford, making sure to arrive with a big wet spot directly over each nipple.

Day 9: Record your mother proclaiming, "Just give the baby some cereal like God intended, and she'll sleep right through the night." Play in an endless loop at 1 am, 3 am, and 5 am.

Day 10: Slather your breasts with peanut butter, top with birdseed, and stand very still in your backyard.

Day 11: Go somplace public - a museum, a courthouse, the steps of your office building - and stuff a lifelike baby doll under your shirt. Use the doll's arm to suddenly hike the shirt up past your collar bone. Lower shirt. Feign nonchalant smile.

Day 12: Suckle a wolverine.

Congratulations! You are now ready to nurse a baby. Maybe.

By Melissa Balmain. Found in the October 2005 issue of Babytalk

The "new' normal...

We've been home for a week now and have been trying to adjust to the "new" normal...

having a third little dude in the house that needs just a little bit more attention than the other two...

Ready to go home...

Chilling after a good feeding

Hanging out with Cousin Luke and my beautiful sisters, Camille (in the blue) and Meredith (Luke's mom)...pretty soon those 4 months difference in age won't make a difference 

Molly loves her little brother and gives him lots of love and like to help take care of him

Even Sir Thomas does his job of looking after the baby...

Baby Max

Wow, where to begin...

Ok, so it wasn't HOURS of excruciating pain, (see Pregnancy Post), it was only about 45 minutes.

I'd ben having contractions on and off for several days and on Thursday July 26th, I had my 38 week appointment.  My doctor sent me over to the hospital to have some lab work done and to be monitored (I had high blood pressure again after several weeks of normal blood pressure) and at 9:00 pm he told the nurse to tell us to go home because everything was normal and I was only dilated to a 3 maybe 4.  Luckily Steve, and the nurse, convinced me to hang out for a while to "see what would happen" because the contractions were getting stronger.  At 9:30 the nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 5 1/2 and I was having a hard time talking through the contractions...good thing too because no sooner than that my water broke and then it all went on fast forward...or so it seemed.

Luckily the dr was on call, so he was close and able to make it in time (unlike Molly's speedy delivery).  First thing he said when he walked in the room was, "You weren't kidding, you do go fast!"  I asked for an epidural...both the dr and Steve said that I might as well push because it would take longer to get one than it would for the baby to come out...needless to say, Max was born at 10:18 pm after an intense 45 minutes of craziness...

   

Max was having problems keeping his glucose levels up, so he had to go to the NICU.   It was hard to see him hooked up to all the monitors and IV's. 

 It made both Steve and I cry. 

Welcome Max Oliver Duncan!

Thursday July 26th, 10:18 pm

5 lbs. 15 ounces, 19.75 inches 

We are so excited that you are here!

The Last Couple of Months...

...have been really busy for us...

...We've been out adventuring: getting the kids out biking, hiking, and camping.  The kids have been taking swimming lessons and learning to ride their bikes.  James is a pro at his two wheel bike and Molly is almost ready to have her training wheels taken off.  

They are awesome little adventure buddies!

In April, both Steve and I had the opportunity, through work, to visit Philadelphia, PA.  Steve got to see all sorts of cool historical sites and this is the closest I ever got to anything historical...that's the Liberty Bell as seen through the OUTSIDE window.

The "meth lab" has been decontaminated...woohoo! I have to admit, it was kinda fun to have this sign on the house...now we have to deal with cleaning up after the decontamination...will this ever end??

Steve has really taken to running.  He ran his second half marathon, the Riverton Half Marathon, in April and the Ragnar Relay with his work team "4Life for Life"in June.  He says he's not ready to do a marathon, but give him time...he won't be able to resist the challenge   :)

Hope you are all enjoying your summer as much as we are!

Pregnancy...

You know you’re 9 months pregnant when…

1 .     Elastic-wasted pants are all you will consider wearing.
2.     You lean up against the kitchen counter and accidentally turn on the dishwasher.
3.     Your 4-year-old daughter calls you a pregnant watermelon and you laugh because you know it’s true.
4.     You consider it a compliment when the same 4 year old gives you a side hug and says you have a small butt and a big belly.
5.     You get stuck in the half bathroom off the kitchen because the kids left the stepstool in the way and you can’t maneuver around the door to get out.
6.     Shaving your legs in the stand up stall shower takes more twists, turns, and creative positioning than a gymnastics meet.
7.     Despite your VERY competitive nature, you’re ok with the skinny brunette, who is wearing practically nothing, passing you on your morning walk/runs and you console yourself by thinking “I am participating in my own private race where I will win…so there…and just wait until I get back into shape!  I’ll show you who is queen of the road at 4:30 in the morning!”
8.     You consider varicose veins and stretch marks well earned badges of honor.
9.     You’re willing to let your kids do anything if they’ll just let you lay down and close your eyes for just a minute.
10. You are more than excited to endure who knows how many hours of excruciating pain in order to meet the little guy who’s been rooming with you for the past 9 months.  

Humble Pie

During down times, and to take my mind off other things, I often jump on blogger to read about what's going on in other people's lives.  Great distraction!  And of course I get a little frustrated that no one has updated their blogs recently.  Hello?  Don't you guys know that I need something to read?  Then I look at the last time I updated my blog....uh 3 months ago...uh yeah....eating a little humble pie...yes everyone else is just as busy (probably even busier) that I am and sometimes blogging just has to take a back seat for a while...

Almost Forgot...

I almost forgot to mention the newest member of our family...

Meet Sir Thomas...