Happy Birthday to Me

The older I get, the less I know what I want for my birthday. May be I'm just getting old and boring, or perhaps I have everything I need. Gabe has been busy with his senior project and work lately so he didn't have the opportunity to do any gift shopping. His solution was to take me shopping the day before my birthday and have me buy my own presents. It was fun, but at the same time a little disappointing because there was no element of surprise. Well, I take that back, he did surprise me on Friday with a bouquet of yellow roses, which was a pleasant and unexpected surprise.

On my birthday Gabe and the kids made a delicious french toast breakfast and brought it to me in bed. It was scrumptious and it was wonderful to not have to cook or clean up the after math. In the afternoon I took all 5 kids on a walk to the park, by myself, and it was nice to get out and enjoy the sun. Our weather has been jumping back and forth between Winter and Spring, so we take advantage of every sunny day we get. Gabe had to work on his project so he didn't get to go with us. Earlier in the day at church, Tucker walked down the halls telling everyone he passed, "It's my Mom's birthday, she's 33!" Dang, now I can't claim I'm only 29. In the evening I opened my presents, a new blender and the dvd "New Moon" and we celebrated with brownies and a delicious cheese cake made by my neighbor.

So although I may be getting old and boring, I did manage to have some fun and enjoy my birthday. And the best thing about the day after is all the yummy left-overs!

Brianna having fun on the slide

Hayden showing off his front teeth

Tucker prefers climbing on top of the tunnel slide

Mason's two favorite things, the park and eating snacks

Gage is filling out, although this sweater makes
him look wider than he really is.

Fitting right in

We are all adjusting well to having a new baby. The kids love to hold him and he is adapting quite nicely. He is beginning to have more awake time and is content to look around and soak up the scenery.

Gage age 8 days

Mason holding Gage 9 days old

Gage hanging out with the big kids 3/6/10

Tuck is a good big brother 3/6/10

Flowers from Mom and Dad Burt

Things are going...

Gage is one week old today and my stay in the hospital seems like eons ago. Carrie left this morning, so I feel like I am walking on egg shells just waiting for things to fall apart. It was so wonderful having her here and it really helped me to recover. Luckily this morning went well and I got Tucker off to school without a hitch. I don't feel bad that I've let the kids watch more t.v. and movies than could possibly be good for them, but otherwise I would never get to eat or shower. Gage has been such a good baby so far, and of course he likes to sleep more during the day than at night, but being sleep deprived is in a Mom's job description.

I haven't been good at taking pictures so far, but Elizabeth took some of my kids and I copied them from her blog. I should just have her come over once a week and take photos because she does such an awesome job and her pictures always turn out so well.

Brianna and Gage

Hayden

Tucker

Mason

Here at last

I delivered a healthy boy Monday afternoon at 1:49pm. He weighed 8 lb. 10 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. My delivery went pretty quick and I only had to push 2 times. It's funny to say that he is my smallest boy, but he's also our most unique with lots of dark hair and dimples. We went to the hospital considering a few different names and we have now decided on Gage Gabriel. At first we decided to spell it Gauge, but I am having second thoughts and I think I prefer spelling it Gage. But we'll see if Gabe let's me change it.

It was so nice to rest in the hospital and have all my meals served to me in bed, but now that we are home reality is beginning to set it. Luckily Carrie (my mother-in-law) is here helping and I know I wouldn't be surviving without her assistance. I am hoping to have Gage's schedule figured out by the time she leaves so I'm not trying to nurse, make lunches and get the kids out the door for school at the same time. The kids might be eating school lunches for awhile and hopefully the teachers will understand when they show up with clothes on backwards and their hair looking like it's never seen the likes of a comb.

The kids adore having a new brother and are doing well with the transition. Mason is having a little bit more trouble with all the changes, but that's to be expected. We are so grateful for this new little life in our family and we know we are blessed.

New Camera

So we finally have a new camera after being without one for 2 months. Per my mother's request, I'm including a picture of myself nearly 9 months pregnant. I took a few pictures of the kids while we were just hanging out with some family this evening, nothing spectacular, just a regular night in for us.

What a cutie pie!

One week to go!

Brianna- we are growing her hair out
after a couple years of short hair do's.

Mason's pretty enthralled playing with Elizabeth's
phone. Hayden just wants some snuggle time.

Tucker showing us his muscles

Hanging out with Aunt Elizabeth

"If you were dead..."

One of our house rules is that we don't let the kids play Wii on Sunday, I've told them that one day a week we spend time just with the family and not with friends and video games and Sunday is the day that we've picked to rest from Wii. So usually on Saturday they get to play for hours as long as they have done all of their chores. Lately I have also been limiting how much they play during the week because it's all they want to do and they do bicker quite a bit when playing. So with that as a prelude, I want to share a conversation Tucker and I had this morning. He said, "Mom, if you were dead, could we pick a different day to not play Wii"? "You want me to die so you can have more time on the Wii?" I stammered in surprise. He responded, "If you were dead then we could pick a different day to not play Wii". I calmly answered, "I think you would really miss me if I did die." He confidently replied, "Ya, but you would come down from heaven when Jesus comes back".

As you can imagine I was a little jostled from his comments, but I suppose I should be glad that he has faith in Jesus Christ and an understanding of the resurrection. But still, I think I am a little traumatized.

Ouch!

On Wednesday night I started having contractions every 3 minutes for 45 minutes. I wasn't too worried because my body did this before with Hayden and it went on for a week before I was induced. But I have more than a week to go before my inducement date and I've been having contractions every day on an off. Most people wouldn't mind going into labor early, but I'm a little panicky because I wouldn't have any help and my doctor is out of town until the day before I'm scheduled to deliver. But if this baby needs to come early so that he will fit, then I will trust the Lord's timing.

Do you want some whine with your cheese?

So I'm big and sore and tired and I'm ready to be done! I thought it would be good to just get all of whine out now instead of just mumbling under my breath all day, so here goes. My hips hurt, my pelvis feels like it's cracking, a couple of my ribs are out so just breathing can be painful. I can't sleep well at night and my sinuses are constantly clogged. I can't sneeze without crossing my legs or else it's time for another shower. I can't chase after the kids and they take advantage of that. I can't cut my own toenails. I have to wear slip on shoes in the dead of Winter. My fingers are swollen and my rings are stuck. When it's time to make dinner nothing sounds good, so the kids get to eat frozen pizza again. I am still car less and feel bad having to ask my neighbors for favors all the time. My house is a mess, but I can't bend over and pick anything up. We are never going to find a name for this baby, and I have to go pee again!

Now that I have gotten that out of my system I feel a little better and I can "keep on keeping on".

Creative Outlets

We have all been going a little stir crazy being cooped up inside this Winter, but lately the kids have found a new hobby, making movies. I pulled out our old video camera that we haven't used in years and let them have at it. They have had so much fun and have involved a lot of their neighbor friends in their productions. Brianna is the main instigator and does most of the filming. The boys have acted out Star Wars, and Pirates of the Caribbean so far. Mason loves to join in, especially when he gets to wield a sword and take some jabs at his brothers. Brianna and her friends have made a few news shows, and they cannot stop laughing when they watch themselves after wards. Unfortunately our camera is too old to upload video onto the computer, but I hope to transfer some of their movies onto dvd so we can send them to the grandparents.

Waiting... with a side of Chex

Life has slowed down a bit since Christmas break, which has been nice. But now I feel like I'm in limbo, just waiting for this baby to come. Of course there is not a shortage of things to keep me busy, I just don't have quite the physical stamina I need to keep up on everything. Mason makes sure I do get in a few hours of cleaning a day and is happy to oblige (for example) by dumping out an entire large box of Chex cereal on the kitchen floor, table and chairs, then getting some cleaners out from under the sink (non toxic) and spraying them all over the chex and trying to clean them up on his own. There were some other things he found to spray with the cleaners, the kitchen cupboards, the dishwasher and the counters. When I came down stairs to see what he was up to, I found the kitchen dripping from all the cleaners he had sprayed and my bottles were near empty. At least he was thorough. I think we will have to invest in a wall harness seeing as gates and locks cannot keep this boy contained. I am very much looking forward to warm weather, then Mason can keep his "creative destruction" contained to the back yard.