I'm back :)

So I kind of deserted this blog for my picture a day blog. Since we are now in 2011, I am now working on getting back to this one. I am trying to get some things updated, so please bear with me. I hope you be back to see what I'm posting.

So, I've been doing a terrible job of keeping up this blog. Part of the reason is I started another blog, http://picaday-erika.blogspot.com/. So that is where I've been blogging lately. I'll try to get back to this one soon. Probably with some pictures from our zoo trip tomorrow.

Autumn

The daytime temperatures are not getting as high, the days are getting shorter, the leaves are starting to change color and soon there won't be any flowers left blooming. I like the crispness in the air that fall brings and the colors that are revealed in the trees leaves as the chlorophyll fades now that it's job is done for the year. Dogwoods, Sugar Maples, Ash & Sumac are some of my favorites for fall color.

Here the flowers that were still blooming in my yard just before and after autumn officially rolled in on Sept 22. The majority of these were taken on Sept 17th & the last three on Sept 30th.


Autumn is a great time to do some hiking. We recently went to a Nature Center about a 45 minute drive from us and took a short hike to enjoy the sights and sounds of fall. Many of the plants have traded their flowers in for berries. My kids and I also went on a nature walk in a field near our house to search for some of autumns treasures. Last few photos were taken in my yard.


If you live in a place where the leaves change colors I hope you have or will go out to enjoy them. Here the wind and rain have brought most of the leaves down. Now it's time to rake them up and compost them ;)

Baby #4

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I was expecting baby #4. He arrived on Aug 26. Things have been a bit busy around here since then.
Here is his birth story:

On Tuesday Aug 25th, I started to have mild contractions around 1am, about 1 every hour or so. I didn’t think much about them, since I’d had some here & there for the past few weeks. They continued through the morning about one every 45 min to an hour. About 1pm I laid down to rest and the contractions started to increase in intensity and were coming closer together. They continued to get a bit stronger and closer together. I called my mom around 4:30pm to see if she could pick up Et... and El..., figuring this was going to continue. I also called my mother-in-law to see if she could pick up Ev... Mom arrived about 45 min later and left with Et... & El... and instructions to call her when the baby arrived no matter what time it was. So I continued with my daily activities, packed Ev..’s bag and then made dinner. Eric had arrived home by this time. When we were eating Eric’s parents arrived & Eric said he’d bring Ev.. by later, he had something he wanted to do with him yet. After dinner Eric & Ev.. did some things in the garage then headed to Home Depot before going to his parents house. I started to get things ready for the birth & did some cleaning. The contractions continued to increase in intensity and frequency. I was randomly timing them with contraction master on the computer.
At 8:49pm I called my midwife, G....., saying the contractions had been coming about 5 min apart for about an hour. She said she’d get her things together and come on over. I called Eric to tell him to hurry home and get the birth pool set up.
Eric returned home and added some more air to the pool and put it in place in our room and got the hose hooked up for filling it. I continued getting things ready like the camera, clothes and towels. I am now getting on all fours during contractions.
G..... arrives at 9:25pm and gets her things ready. We go downstairs to grab a few more needed items, along with something to drink. We talk in between contractions. Eric is on the bed sleeping.
10:44pm I have Eric start to fill the pool. We run out of hot water before it’s full and have to wait for the boiler to heat up some more water. 10:58 I drink something and am breathing harder through the contractions.
11:00pm J.., G.....’s assistant, arrives. She takes over note taking for a while. The 3 of us talk and Eric runs out for coffee and then goes on the computer. 11:53pm G..... checks the babies heart rate, 136, and then I get into the pool for the 1st time. The contractions at first seem to slow just a bit and decrease in intensity but not for long. They are easier to deal with in the water. On my knees, hanging on the side of the pool seems to be the best way to deal with them. J.. occasionally applies counter pressure during the contractions.
At 1:00am I get out of the pool to use the bathroom. My belly feels so much heavier out of the water and the contractions seem stronger. The contractions are coming every 3-5 minutes and lasting 1-2 minutes. I am also more vocal during the contractions now.
At 2:15am I once again get out to use the bathroom. G..... checks the baby’s heart rate which was 148. I have G..... get Eric upstairs to apply counter pressure during contractions. He has a tendency to walk away after the contraction is over & I have to keep calling him back. At some point I get a leg cramp in my right leg behind my knee. Eric & I massage it and then I get one on my left leg in the same spot. After we massage them out a bit I try to stretch my legs out every once in a while in between contractions. I also have started to feel a little pushy during the contractions & start giving little warm up pushes during the contractions.
3:40am once again leave the pool to use the bathroom. G..... checks my pulse, 116 and the baby’s heart rate which is now up to 180. She says can not go back in the pool. They get the bed ready and I then go onto it. 3:50am another check of my pulse, 60 and the baby’s heart rate, 172. She does the first dilation check and I’m a bit disappointed to hear her say I’m at 9 ¾ & not 10. I have just a bit of a lip left. I switch between lying on left & right sides and hands & knees positions. She continues to monitor the baby’s heart rate. I really am getting discouraged and hoping I can get my water to break soon. Thoughts of not having the strength to push this baby out are entering my head and I’m hoping I won’t have to make an emergency transfer. The pain is so intense and concentrated just above my pubic bone. I push on my stomach there during the contractions and tend to roll onto my back during the contraction from my side lying position.
At 4:27 G..... breaks my water (I thought I broke it) while I’m pushing, just by scratching it with her finger and the fluid is clear. It gives me hope for a little while that I can do this. At 4:40 the serious, get the baby out, pushing begins. The pain continues to be so intense that I’m am starting to say it hurts and sobbing just a little. They all are saying encouraging words. Eric helps to hold my leg up while I push.
5:06am the head shows, Eric wants to jump up & take pictures, knowing I had wanted someone there to take some, I say not now. It hurts but I know I have to keep pushing. 5:08am the baby crowns! I reach down to feel his head. Goldie loosens the cord from around the baby’s head once it’s out and I push some more to get the shoulders out. Eric jumps up to take pictures. At 5:09am he is out! I help bring him up onto my body after Goldie gets the cord off of him. (He was posterior which is what made the pain so intense and made him hard to push out.) At 5:10 he takes his first breath. Eric checks to see if it is a boy or girl and says it’s a boy. (I am not surprised; at some point during the labor I just knew it was a boy.) I am so happy! With some help I did it! He’s out and he’s healthy. He is just beautiful. His apgars are 9 at 1 min & 10 at 5 min. We spend some time cuddling on the bed. Eric cuts the cord after it stops pulsing. He gets weighed and is 8lbs 12oz! He is 21 ¾” long.
I start to feel a little crampy and push the placenta out at 5:26am. He nurses for the 1st time at 5:49. We take an herbal bath together and then snuggle into bed. J.. leaves. Eric has already fallen asleep on the bed during this time, so G..... runs up to the corner to get me some breakfast. Then we are alone to sleep.

He is now 2 months old & just a delightful little boy. He smiles & laughs easily. Likes hanging out w/ the rest of the family & is starting to sleep better. Now if I could just figure out what makes him spit up alot some days & not others things would be even better.

Molly’s Money-Saving Digests

The special feature for August is:
Organization for Busy Families

I don't know about you but I need help with getting organized and with 3 kids between 1 3/4 and 5 1/4 and #4 due in a couple of weeks, I consider myself busy. I also plan on homeschooling my children & the oldest will begin kindergarten in the fall, so I will be getting even busier. So this digest sounds like it would be very helpful. Here are some of the things covered: Learn how to organize a dozen different aspects of your life and home. Gain control of “the dirty dozen” working step-by-step through problem areas in an average home.
Here are the 12:

* Closets --How to Clean Out a Closet
* Garage --Clearing the Clutter From a Garage can become a reality!
* Recipes --Kudos to the Cook. Benefit from and follow a clear description of just how to categorize it all.
* Kitchen --Come Into my Kitchen! And discover welcoming ways to store and better utilize all your kitchen gadgets and necessities!
* Mail --The Mail Monster. Tame it with easy to implement changes in your home.
* Photos --Organizing Photos. Digital or physical --it is time to do something!
* Toys --The Trouble with Toys. Give yourself a little R&R by learning the acronym ROR.
* Clothing --Organizing Clothing. Take into account your lifestyle, do a little planning, and follow through with some purging!
* Finances --Organizing Finances. A few practical tips for you to stick to!
* School papers --Papers, Papers Everywhere! Get them under control and keep them that way.
* Bathrooms --Bathroom Organization. Tricks to quickly organize your bathroom and make daily tasks easier.
* E-Books --E-Books Everywhere! Learn of the options for E-Book storage.

Plus there is a lot of other great sounding advice, sounds like I need to pick one up.
Super-size the organization in your home for less than a super-sized, drive-thru meal, and enjoy super fast meals all year long with new mixes in your kitchen!

Purchase Molly's Money-Saving Digest E-BookOnly $4.95 --Order Now!
www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=166&products_id=11767
Join Molly daily and follow her adventures in fiscally-responsible homemaking at
www.Econobusters.com

Summer

Summer- the days are longer and hotter, the crickets sing at night and the cicadas during the day. The trees are now fully leafed out and in their summer colors and the plants have filled in too. This is when many people's gardens really get going but not mine. Spring is when my garden has to most going on. I do have plants blooming in the summer just not as many as I'd like. Something I hope to change in the coming years.
This year near the end of spring as I was starting to make some progress on weeding & mulching I sprained both my ankles which put the weeding & mulching at a screeching halt. The weeds on the other hand didn't stop their growing and my yard is a mess. Now that my ankles have almost completely healed I've started slowly to attack the weeding again but w/ 3 little kids and #4 due the end of August it's been slow going. I'll do what I can and hope that next year things go better. If I'm up to it in September I'm hopefully going to divide some plants and do a little rearranging but I know most of that will have to wait until next spring also.

Here are some of the flowers that have bloomed or are blooming in my garden this summer:

above were blooming or in bud on 7-11


in bloom or bud on 7-26 and 8-3

Breastfeeding

Since I am a mom who has breastfed all my children, I just felt the need to share this:
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=109702556242&h=4fi3Q&u=ovCt0&ref=mf

Spring .... part 2

Spring is a very welcome season after a cold winter. I know spring is on it's way when in the morning I start to hear the birds sing. Sure they "talk" to each other in the winter but in the spring they really start to sing. It is such a welcome sound. Another thing I start to look for is the male Red-Winged Blackbird. We can usually expect to still see some snow after there arrival but I know it's near the end when they return to town.

Then I love to watch things start to come up out of the ground, the landscape turn many shades of green as trees start to leaf out and grass starts to grow again. There are the wonderful soaking rains that water all these plants and if your lucky the sun will peek out while it's still raining and create a rainbow. As spring nears its end the temperature starts to rise and the heat needs to kick on less and less. We may even see days here & there of the higher temperatures of summer.

Here are some of the plants blooming in my garden as spring nears its end and summer approaches.



This is a time of year that in my garden I don't have as much in bloom. I hope to work in a few more things for this time of year and rework the bones of the garden so it looks good without a lot of blooms.

Stay tuned for summer photos.

Spring

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Spring is one of the four temperate seasons. Spring marks the transition from winter into summer. Its days are nearly twelve hours long with increasing day length, as it occurs near the time of an equinox. Annuals bloom in the spring. In the Northern Hemisphere, holidays such as Easter and Earth Day occur during the spring, which runs from March into June."

One of the things I love about spring is watching all the changes taking place outdoors. It starts with a decrease in the amount of snow falling, the melting of the snow on the ground. It can be kind of ugly at first. Then slowly plants start to poke out of the ground.



Depending on the weather things can move along slowly or with amazing speed. I am amazed at times by how quickly the plants can grow. And savor the times when it stays cool enough for the flowers to last a while.

Some of the first to bloom are the snowdrops and crocus:


Then about a month later, in my garden, things really pick up steam:


By May 11th even more is in bloom and growing:



to be continued.....

contest

Just thought I'd let any homeschooling readers know about a contest:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kristenph/696907/?#c1305974

I thought some of my readers might find this useful. Enjoy :)

Well summer is getting near & summer reading contests are getting started or about to.
We are actually going to do two this year. One our library does, which we did last year and we enjoyed, especially my oldest. This year we are also adding this one.
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/SummerReadingSplash.
I love to read and hope my children will also. That fact that they can earn prizes from the library contest and have a chance to win prizes from the other is a neat extra incentive for them.

So, it's been a while since I my last entry. A house, a husband, 3 kids & being pregnant is keeping me pretty busy. And since I have kept my blogs from being to detailed about my family, that hasn't left me with that much to say. Being pregnant again has lead me to being on website's that sell pregnancy and baby stuff, etc. One of my favorites I like to visit is Mom4Life.com and I wanted to let everyone know about this great giveaway they are having.






So, if you already have little ones running around or are expecting, head on over and enter for your chance to win some great prizes. Then check out all the great products they have for sale.

Rocky Mountain National Park

http://picasaweb.google.com/eeschick/RockyMountainNationalPark#
Back in November, my husband & I took a little trip without our children. We missed them but had a great time. I've already shared some of my photos from our trip to the aquarium in Long Beach, CA. Now I'll share some of my photos from Rocky Mountain National Park. We had a wonderful time there. We had great weather, the sun was shining most of the time & it was warm enough to wear turtlenecks with sweaters most of the time. Here & there we needed to pull out our jackets but not to often during the day. The scenery was just beautiful and I feel like my photos do not really do it justice. I was treated to seeling lots of elk in the late afternoon and early evening ours. I was bummed that I didn't see any of the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, maybe next time. I definetly want to visit this park again many times and in the different seasons.

Now, if only I could remember how to add in my slide show, lol

Aquarium of the Pacific

We recently took a trip to California, while my husband was off doing his own thing I went to the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was a nice aquarium w/ several touch tanks spread throughout the aquarium. They had great displays and information about the different areas in the ocean. They also had a Lorikeet fly zone where you walked thru and the Lorikeets flew all around you. You could also buy some necter to feed them & they would land on your hands to drink it. I would recommend a visit if your in the area.

View Album

Get your own

Your it!

So Kristina over at http://momtionary.blogspot.com/tagged me. From what I understand, I must now share 6 things about myself that no one else from my blog community knows.

1. I once desired to become an entomologist, until I found out they also study spiders. I still find insects fascinating and photograph them on occasion (as I've sure you noticed).

2. For a few years my girlfriend & I had a landscaping company, designing and installing perennial gardens.

3. When my husband and I were first married neither of us wanted children. Then we came to our senses and the Lord has blessed us with 3 here on earth and 1 in heaven.

4. I used to have recurring dreams about losing my teeth. Which I've heard is common for those of us with TMJ.

5. I don't like watermelon or any other melon as a matter of fact.

6. I've worked on and off for my husband since we've been dating. That's about 18yrs. My jobs, while working for him, have included receptionist, biller, title clerk, accounts payables & receivables and landscaper.

I hope you've enjoyed learning a little bit more about me.

Now I shall tag:
Ruth @ http://hope46.blogspot.com/

Insects

Insects:

-There are more insects in 2 square miles of rural land than humans on Earth

-Insects account for 8 out of 10 of all know species.

-They are found everywhere on the Astronaut's Globe, even Antarctica.

-Over 900,000 species have been identified.

-The weight of the Earth's insect population is 12 times greater than the weight of all the people.

-Only 1% of insects are harmful to humans.

(Info from A Crewmember's Guide supplement to The Astronaut's Globe by Earth Seeds Project http://www.earthseeds.net/)

Here are some photos of the wonderful, interesting insects you can find in Michigan.

Now before you get to creeped out don't forget insects include beautiful butterflies which help to pollinate plants and bees which are also useful pollinators. Without them we wouldn't have most of the flowers, fruits and vegetables that we do.

They are varied in shape, size and color

Some blend in with their environment

In some cases, such as the Praying Mantis the female will eat the male after mating.

Some are destructive like the non-native Japanese Beetle

Homeschooling

I am getting ready to embark on another leg of the journey, homeschooling. It actually something we all do from the time our children are born and then most turn over a large portion of teaching their children to public or private schools. We've decided to keep our children at home and continue their education ourselves. We will be starting DS#1 in preschool this year. So I have been busy doing lots of research on the internet, taking books from the library and searching out local support groups, co-ops, etc. In doing so I've come across homeschool blogs which has led me to this contest:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/BChsMamaof3/575002/?#c1126593

Check it out and enter if your also a homeschooler!

Sunflowers

from Wikipedia: The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant native to the Americas in the family Asteraceae, with a large flowering head (inflorescence). The stem of the flower can grow as high as 3 metres tall, with the flower head reaching up to 30 cm in diameter with the "large" seeds. The term "sunflower" is also used to refer to all plants of the genus Helianthus, many of which are perennial plants.

They are beautiful flowers that come in different colors and a variety of heights and sizes. They also do something really cool.

"Sunflowers in the bud stage exhibit heliotropism. At sunrise, the faces of most sunflowers are turned towards the east. Over the course of the day, they follow the sun from east to west, while at night they return to an eastward orientation. This motion is performed by motor cells in the pulvinus, a flexible segment of the stem just below the bud. As the bud stage ends, the stem stiffens and the blooming stage is reached." (from Wikipedia)

They are a fun flower to have in the yard but be warned if you have deer they love to eat them.

For those of you with babies or expecting one, here is a nice website that has a good blog and great products in there web store.
http://blog.mom4life.com/
http://mom4life.com/