friday funny

I am sitting at the computer checking email and stuff when Toby says, "Mom, can I sit on your lap? You don't have that Big Blump (traces a pregnant belly on his tummy) on your lap anymore!"

Big #5!

Happy Birthday dear Toby!

Yesterday was the big #5 for our not-so-little Toby. He had a birthday weekend really, because we had a party for him at Gram's house on Sunday night and then birthday fun all yesterday and more cake and presents at my parents last night.

Unfortunately, we had 2 appointments for Sydney yesterday which sucked up too much of the day. We all got dressed and out the door before 10 which is not usual for a holiday. Sydney had to get blood drawn at the lab to test her bilirubin level (again) first thing. I took her into the lab while Dave entertained the kids in the car. Just as they were getting out of the car to get some air I came out of the lab. We took Toby to a birthday breakfast since we were all super hungry. It is a transition carting 4 kids around in our small minivan. It got about 2 seats too small as soon as we added the baby carseat. We now occupy all but one middle seatbelt and have to constantly put one seat up to let the kids out of the back. Our little van has been good to us though, so no more complaints for fear that it will hear me out in the parking lot and decide to act up.

Anyway, after breakfast at Country Way (yum!) we went to Toy R Us to exchange Toby's Batman and Robin gift that was broken. He picked out the same thing and bought some swords/guns with Christmas money. Those swords and guns turned out to be a lifesaver for Dave because our next stop was a Dr. appointment for Sydney. She had to be "seen" by the Doctor so we could get the results of her bilirubin/jaundice level. The hospital Doc was still concerned that her level wasn't coming down enough with the Coombs blood problem. The appointment was at 12 noon and we didn't drive away from there until 1:15. I waited in the front room for an entire hour so that Doc. could look her over, weigh her, listen to her heart, and try to tell me something new that I hadn't already learned with 3 other babies. Pointless. Now I know why I don't bother with Doctor's appointments, especially when Dave can do everything they do during a well-check. I was tempted to cancel the appointment from the waiting room and tell the Doc. to just call me with the results, but then I would just have to go back if Syd wasn't getting better. I felt bad that Toby and the family were stuck outside going on nature walks while I was waiting. They had fun being with Dad though and the weapons with sound modulators and lights made the time go faster.

When we got home from the morning events, Dad rolled out Toby's present from the family. Jessie and Toby had their eye on this remote control car since before Christmas, but they were too pricey. When Dave found them at Walmart on clearance it was a given that he snatched one up for Toby. Jessie bought the other one with her own money. They are pretty cool- they even run in the water. All the kids had fun with them. It took 5+ hours to charge 'em up and less than 30 minutes to run 'em dead.

Last stop on Toby's birthday was Family Night at Naylor's house with spaghetti dinner, a humongous cake, and presents, of course. Toby didn't even eat a piece of cake until it was time to go home because he was so excited about playing with his new toys. We spent the evening playing with toys and Uncle's Tom and Dan (one of the kids favorite things to do!) and snuggling sweet Sydney. Tom and Kristy hadn't seen her yet, so they snuggled her for awhile. She even showed everyone what a master of her bodily functions she is already. I won't elaborate any further as that story gets a little messy.

Our baby girl is here!!

Sydney Lynn was born last Tuesday, 1/15 at 8:19 AM
She weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. and measured 19 in. long




































I was ready to go home the same day she was delivered, but Syd's tiny body had different plans. We had to spend 3 days in the hospital because of baby's blood/jaundice problems which included a trip to the Bahamas under the photo-therapy lights. It turned out to be a forced vacation for me. Dave had to go back to work the day after Sydney was born and I was stuck in the hospital with Syd while her body worked things out. We couldn't have done things without our parents and Gram. Thank you so much to all Grammy's and Grampy's for watching our other chillies last week. All I have to say is I never want to spend another night in the hospital. The food was terrible, the periodic blood pressure/temp checks by the roaming nurse just as I fell asleep were enough to throw her machine-on-wheels across the room, and poor little Syd had her blood taken so many times on each heel that they are bruised and sore.

Now that we are home everything is awesome! Jessie adores her little sister and wants to hold her all the time. Toby is happy that baby Sydney is here, but he is unaffected otherwise. Logan is the big surprise and is always concerned about baby Sydney. He is always asking where baby is and making sure Mom is feeding her. He will come peek at her while I am nursing on the couch, rub her little head, and then go on with playing. I am getting used to having a newborn in the house again. It is definitely a transition to have this tiny person in the house and make sure that she is not run over, smothered, or stepped on during the course of a normal day.

Sydney at almost a week old is sleeping a 5 hour stretch at night. She spoils me so. We rarely see her eyes, but when she is awake it is for at least 45 minutes and she is very alert. We barely hear her cry and she loves to snuggle. I put her to bed in her crib at night and she will become restless and wake up within the hour. If she goes to bed with Daddy or I leave her in bed with me after feeding her at 1 AM she will sleep until 6. This newborn time goes so fast I am trying to savor every moment. I love her sweet smelling breath and the little whimpers and sounds she makes when she is asleep. Late at night after the older chillies have gone to sleep Dave and I usually veg together in the living room. After I feed Sydney I pass her to Dave to burp and snuggle her. That is one of the cutest things about our newborns to me- watching Daddy snuggle and talk to them. Both Dave and I call her "beebs" which confuses the kids.

AND for those of you who are completely confused.... Yes, we changed her name. She came out and the top 3 names that we liked either didn't seem to fit her or we couldn't agree on one. After most of that first day deciding, we settled on Kacey Lynn. I guess the 2 extra days in the hospital were for the best because we didn't fill out the birth certificate paperwork until after we realized her name wasn't Kacey. The hospital records lady kept coming in to collect the paperwork and I kept putting her off because I wasn't sure. I would call Dave to say goodnight or check in during the day and we both found it hard to call her Kacey and kept calling her Syd by mistake. Kacey just didn't fit and we ended up naming her the first name we liked way back when we found out we were pregnant. The kids like Sydney better too, so they were fine with the change. When we told Jessie that we decided on Sydney she said, "But Dad, I just told my class her name is Kacey. It's okay if we don't name her Sydney (Jessie really wanted to name the baby Sydney before she came out)." Dave told her to just tell the class that her Mom and Dad were silly. After we assured her that Sydney was the right name she was on board. Baby was born on Great-great Grandpa Lynn Bennett's birthday so it fit perfectly that Lynn was one of the middle names we liked.

timing is everything

I should have written about Dave's birthday weekend before the last post. Happy Birthday to my dear Dave on the 29th! My friend had her baby that day too. We joked about having our baby on Daddy's birthday as well and it almost happened. I started having contractions mid-afternoon. We had planned to go out to an early dinner and movie that night with Jen & Tom, and by the time we were sitting down at Red Robin my contractions were every 8-10 minutes. I really started to panic when we got into the movie though. I leaned over to Dave after the previews and asked to borrow his watch. I was distracted most of the movie because my contractions were every 5 minutes for the entire 2 hours. We talked about how nice it would be to have this baby early but this was too early! I was thinking I can't have this baby tonight! The house isn't ready, I still have to put Christmas decorations away, and I don't even have a bag packed yet. Dave kept looking at me with every deep breath I took to ask if we needed to go yet. I knew he didn't want to leave. As soon as the panic set in that this might really be it the movie was over. We got up to leave and the contractions promptly stopped. It was a heck of a scare.

Daddy with his chillies on his birthday. Kids and I went to the mall right before this to pick up a few gifts for Daddy. The kids were okay, except Coop was tired and should have been sleeping. I was having quiet a few contractions at this point and starting to wonder if this baby was coming 2+ weeks early. As soon as we got home from the mall the kids wanted to wrap their presents. We wrapped them up, sang Happy Birthday and gave gifts to Daddy. Daddy is wearing the shirt that Toby picked out for him in the picture. All the chillies got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house right after this while Mom and Dad went on a date, so they were excited.

Sunday was the last Sabbath day that I was busy with Christmas stuff. One of the reasons I was panicking about going into labor the night before was that I was scheduled to give a 15 minute talk in church, then sing a duet right after, and then travel to Palo Alto to sing in a concert with Mom and Heidi as a trio. It was such a relief to have all those commitments over with, especially 9 months pregnant and tired. I'm glad I don't have to get dressed up or put on nylons again for a long time!

New Years Eve we planned to party at Dave's parents. We ate dinner with them and some friends and played games and watched movies until midnight. The kids had fun with their friends watching Happy Feet and Ninja Turtles and playing Mancala. Our Jessie is an accomplished Mancala player. She holds her own with the adults and beats her friends soundly. They were still friends afterwards which was a happy thing, especially at 11 PM. I don't think Jessie would have been as gracious at losing. Jessie and Logan made it to midnight, but Toby zonked out on the floor about 10:30. That kids doesn't believe in naps and when he is tired he crashes hard, so it was not surprise.

My Mom works every New Years Eve. She decided to stop by on her way home and walked in the door with 1 minute to spare before the new year. We banged pots and pans outside and had a family toast with our many varieties of sparkling fruit juices. It was then off to home and sleep in until past 9 am which was the best new year's present the kids could give us!

home improvement

So it's a day late but Happy New Year to all! We were busy all day yesterday rearranging our bedroom, purging and cleaning. It seemed to be a theme with all our family in town. Dave went up to help his Dad move furniture and replace a saw blade so he could lay new floor in their living room. We borrowed Arnold from his painting project with Denise so he could help Dave move our heavy desk to the other side of our bedroom. And even though we didn't see them, I know my Dad and brother Tom were busy working on their house remodel.

Mom and I had tentative plans to go to Half Moon Bay to buy crab for our traditional crab feed. We've tried to go get crab 3 times but the fisherman weren't selling it because of the oil spill in the Bay or bad weather. After waking up late in the morning and having lots of projects looming before the baby gets here we didn't go. Jessie wants crab as bad as I do. She would drive there by herself if she could. We could always go buy it from the store, but it's not as fun as bringing home live ones straight off the boat. The kids love everything about the day- except cleaning them. Hopefully we can sneak a day in to go soon.

There is so much on my to-do list before this baby comes. I have an evil battle going in my head that goes something like this.

Clean the house
Reorganize my room, the kids room, the living room
I can't take it any longer- this baby needs to come now
But first I want to take the kids to the zoo, the Jungle, spend time with each one