our mellow yellow fellow

Our little man has jaundice. We've been taking him into the lab every morning since his birth to get his bilirubin level checked. The poor little guy has 6 little pricks on his heels from blood draws. He has been living on the "bili-blanket", a pad that emits UV rays, to lower his bili level and kick this jaundice in the rear. Just yesterday things turned the corner and his bili level is finally coming down. We are so relieved! He was on the brink of being admitted to the hospital. But he's doing great!Now we are just trying to figure out who he looks like! He definitely doesn't have much hair like Destroy did,

Or Search's.We think he got Search's lips... (this is Search)

But overall he looks more like Destroy. (This is Destroy)

But he definitely has a look of his own. Search and Destroy absolutely adore him and want to hold him all the time. Unfortunately, the have both been sick, so they haven't gotten to hold him much.

He must really like Search because he's smiling here :) Or maybe it's just gas.

He's remarkably calm around them even when they are acting crazy.

Seriously, can't they take normal picture?

Maybe just one or two.

I haven't taken many pictures because, well, now I have three kids. And because he's so, uh, orange. So I'll take some later when he doesn't resemble a carrot so much.

Dodge seems like a very mellow little kid, but who knows how much the jaundice is speaking for that. He's only awake a couple hours a day but isn't one for crying much. Yet. We'll see. I can't imagine having a calm baby. He cries when he's getting changed and that's about it. He's been sleeping great at night, only getting up twice and going right back to sleep after eating and pooping. The last two nights I've even gotten 4 hours of straight sleep in a row!

The labor and delivery were much harder than the last time. This is the first time that I've had my water break and it was a much different experience. My contractions were much slower in coming after my water broke (well, started leaking, really). When things weren't progressing much, they started me on a small pitocin drip. I really didn't want them to because it's much more painful with pitocin, but oh well. They did. The contractions were starting to get very painful and I was sure that I was dialated to a 7 or so, but I was only at a 5. I was stuck at a 6 for an hour or so and I decided to get some Nu-Bane (sp?) to take the edge off because of the pain and because I figured that I still had at least two more hours of these painful contractions. It was not like this with Search! But, it didn't matter because 8 minutes after the nurse put the drug in my IV, he was born. I went from a 6-10 in about 5 minutes. A couple of pushes and he was out. And then of course I was stuck with the narcotic after he was born and couldn't even keep my head up straight.

Recovery has been a breeze. I'm feeling great, just anxious to lose this gut so that I actually have clothes to wear. I'm living in pajamas seeing as how I refuse to wear maternity clothes. Aaron is putting me back on a cross-fit regimine starting tomorrow. That's going to be fun :) Maybe in two months I'll be able to do a pull-up again. Go me.

Blake Michael Madsen

Blake showed up a little earlier than expected, but both he and Meg are doing great and should be coming home tomorrow. Despite being only 37 weeks, Blake weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz and was 20 and 3/4 inches long. Meg was a rock star. I don't know how she does it. She did it cave-woman style and passed on the epidural. I'm sure Meg will give everyone a play-by-play when she gets home. We consider ourselves so lucky and so blessed to have him as a part of our family and appreciate all the thoughts and prayers.

See you on the other side

It's 6:30 am.

I've been up since 4:30 packing my hospital bag and doing laundry.

Woke up to a leak. Not so much of the household variety as much as an amniotic fluid leak. So I guess that's it. The deal is sealed. WE'RE HAVING A BABY!

Too bad I'm only 37.5 weeks. Too bad my mom's not here yet. Too bad Aaron has a mandatory conference tomorrow (one of three days the entire year that he's required to be somewhere). Too bad I couldn't go back to sleep (but Aaron had no problem). Too bad we have to hand the kids over to our friends. Too bad we can't agree on a baby name. Too bad.

But not too bad that we're about to have cute little boy #3! I can't wait to meet him!

Wish us luck!

Check, check.

BABY'S ROOM = DONE. Somehow the crib bedding that my mom and I made before Destroy was born has lasted pretty dang well. Little did I know at the time I made them that I could have done blue or green instead of neutral! Well, I still think they're cute and calming for baby.We found a lovely little changing table on craigslist which I made a pad and two covers for. I just had to make another basket liner for the shelf to complete the ensemble. I had saved all the baskets and liners that match the crib bedding from the first changing table we had.



RANDOM SEWING PROJECT = DONE.

It's a diaper-changing pad-pocket-thingy. I haven't been able to try it out yet (no baby to try it out on) but I'll let you know when I do.


I made one for my sis-in-law too. I think hers turned out cuter.

I put some of that clear wipe-able plastic on the inside to catch all the blow-out excess. Yum.

Remember the hideous wall-paper border in the master bedroom? The border was all things beach and other manner of sea-related items. And it was ripped too. So I convinced our landlord to let me change it, and he paid for it. I still don't like wall-paper in the least, but this looks MUCH better. My mom and I did that project too while she was here.

BABY BLESSING OUTFIT = DONE.

Dodge's is the one on the closest end. I used the same pattern as I did for Search's (middle). It turned out pretty cute! I'm just hoping it will fit him because we won't be blessing him until July. My mom has helped me make all three of these little outfits. We also did one for my nephew born in Jan.

DECORATING GUEST ROOM = DONE.

My mom is really good at decorating... while I stink. So, when she came out we went to TJ Maxx Homegoods (love that store) and Marshalls and came up with this. Cute, huh?

GIFTS FOR OTHER MOMS WITH NEW BABIES = DONE.

I still have a couple more to do, but I'm getting there. Check, check!

Recurring theme: my mom helps me with everything! I love her to death. She and my dad are coming out for the baby's birth for a week, and then my mom will stay for another week or so. She's the best! I told them to bring their gardening gloves because our yard is seriously suffering from lack of care on my part. But, just thinking of getting on my hands and knees right now makes me tired.

I shouldn't have to be doing this...

But I am.

Scrubbing the garage with 409... 8 months pregnant.

Putting the first primer coat on the garage... 8 months pregnant.

Putting the second primer coat on the garage... 8 months pregnant.

Hoping the hooligans who did this drive by and see me doing all of this... 8 months pregnant.

I've been in project mode lately, but this is NOT what I had in mind.

Be glad I spared you the pleasure of viewing the profanity that came with it.

GRRR!!!

Thanks for clearing that up

"Oh, I just can't finish my dinner because I'm so full".

We've all heard it from the kids.

"But, I'm ready for desert. I definitely have room for that".

Uh huh. There's either room in your tummy or there's not.

Well, that's what I thought too. But, luckily Destroy cleared that issue up for us tonight.

"Well, you see," in his most persuasive tone, "there is a separate section of your belly for desert. There's the part you put your dinner in, and there's the part you put your desert in. My dinner section is all full, but my desert section isn't."

Aaron's response: "Wow, they didn't teach us that in my anatomy class."

Me: "Wow, so much makes sense to me now!"

I'm done.

WHAT IS IT WITH BOYS AND POTTY TALK? I swear to you, every time we sit down for a meal, it always ends up in conversations about bodily excrement. I'm SOOOO tired of it and it SOOO ruins my appetite.

Remember when you got your mouth washed out with soap when you were a kid? My mom reminded me of the time when I was 5 or 6 when she fed me some bar soap because my mouth was "dirty" and needed to be washed. I completely remember the incident and defiantly pretended that I liked the taste of soap. I mean, I didn't want her to win.

So I decided to implement the strategy at our house.

A few nights ago at dinner when the tides in the conversation turned where they shouldn't, I told the boys that the next kid who used bathroom words would get a mouthful of soap. Destroy stepped up to the plate to challenge me with one simple word. "Poo" he said, looking me square in the face. You can figure out where he ended up. With assistance from Daddy (strong arms, no large belly in the way), I squirted some foaming hand soap into his mouth. He immediately started freaking out, spitting, scratching and scraping at his tongue to get that icky taste out. Now, I've never tasted foaming hand soap, but by the looks of it, I'm thinking it doesn't taste very good. Must be worse than bar soap.

He continued to spit and drool and claw at his tongue until, alas.

He puked.

Saw that one coming.

Now fast forward to dinner the next night. Where did the conversation turn?

Not hard to guess.

Do they ever learn?