Black Butte Trip with the Wellnitz Family

I wish I could say I had an amazing time in Black Butte. If you call breastfeeding and blowing your nose all day while breastfeeding and shaking with the chills all night amazing, then maybe it was. The kids had a blast at least.

My birthday. Don't I look awesome? I think this was the worst of my days with the flu.

Poppa trying out the hooter hider and breast friend. What a good wet nurse.

Oh, and now that I'm home I have a stye in my eye and a fever blister on my lip that is hideous. Can it get much better than that?

Loving her

First bath. Otherwise known as Chloe planning her world domination.
Snoozin. Thanks for the outfit auntie Shannon.

Hadley and Petie hamming it up.

Holding her (for about 5 seconds).

Snoozin with Dad. Can you tell she sleeps a lot during the day? Now if we can just switch that around to nights we will be "money in the house!"

Chloe Suzanne

So at about 12 o'clock on Sunday the 13th, after spending the night with a low dose of pitocin running on the IV, the contractions started to become not so funny anymore. The nurse anesthesist was called and the most perfect epidural was placed. Things after that were smooth sailing. I was dialated to 6, then 8, then ready to go by about 3:15pm. The nurse got everything ready, our doctor put scrubs on and we were ready for go time. At about 3:25 I was ready to push and after about 5 pushes at 3:39pm Chloe quietly made her appearance. She looked great right away and started crying shortly after being born. Kev cut the cord and we were all doing well. At 7 lbs and 10 oz and 21 1/2 inches she looked a lot like her brother (although head size much less bowling-ball like). Visitors including Petie came in to see her right away. Petie held her once, then focused his attention on a new toy from Aunt Jody and Uncle Jeff. He is proud to tell you he is the BIG brother.

We stayed 2 nights in the hospital, and now are home and doing very well. She is precious in every way. Her hair is brown in my opinion, with a little red coming through in the light. Kev claims to have seen a dimple in her left cheek, I haven't seen it yet. He's hoping one of the two might actually look like his kid. I think he may have a chance with this one, we'll see. She has been an eating and sleeping fool for now, not trying to jinx our luck with mellow babies by making any sort of prediction about her temprement.

We are truly in love. She is amazing and beautiful and perfect and I can't get enough of her.

Okay, so this is what Petie would rather be doing - puddle stomping with Dad while taking out the garbage!

She'll be comin' 'round the mountain...

Checked into the inn at 8 pm last night (9/12/9). Got admitted, signed my life away, and got settled in. They got the IV on the 3rd try, lucky for them I am so tough when it comes to the needle poking. It's what I do to people all day long, so I tried to suck it up for their sake. The IV ran Pitocin slowly, then opted for the Ambien at about 11 and slept on and off until about 6:30am. Surprisingly my OB/GYN was here bright and early at 7am and broke my water. The pitocin has now been upped from 2 to 4 to 6 in about 30 minute intervals. 20 units is the top number. We ate a light breakfast (ordered food really for Kev, way too healthy for what he wanted of course) and now Kev is showering while I wait patiently for things to really happen. Contractions are coming and are pretty regular, we just need them a little stronger and quicker to get things going. Let the party begin!

First Day of Preschool

Petie (okay, Kevin and I) survived our first day of preschool. According to all reports (from Petie and Mrs. Sarah, his new teacher) all went well at Sunshine School. He was a little sad right after Kevin left, but quickly settled into the routine. He ate, made handprints, slept on his little mat for an hour and a half, and did not have a single accident. I will try to also attach the video report from Petie himself and see if that works too.

(The picture and the video were both after school. I mean, who can tolerate a photo shoot at 7am?)

25 days and counting

Okay baby-to-be, here is the proof we are ready for you. You already saw the new room. I tell you everyday. But if you need more proof, here it is.


Exhibit A, the Bob the Builder underwear on an acutal road trip to Hood River. No diapers used! No accidents had! Petie is officially potty trained. We may acutally get a solid month in without diapers before it all starts again...


Exhibit B - the big boy bed. He is in it! I bribed him with a new firefighter blanket I made. He picked out the fabric (with some suggestion against a few prints that looked a little too Nascar for my taste). And with a new fancy nightlight from Target, we are in business. He relinquished the crib to the nursery without really caring at all (we of course were more worried than he was).

Exhibit C -I finally took the cousins on the tram ride I've been promising for over 2 years, so now we're all set. Hear that kid, you can join us any time! Signed, your loving yet rather uncomfortable mom.

And the newest Wellnitz is...

Grace Ann was born on 8/20/09. Weighing in at 7'10'' 19 and 3/4inches. She is a sweet little thing with chubby cheeks and dark skin and hair. Drew is attempting to contain himself (or mark and sarah are attempting to contain him) as he is excited beyond belief! So happy Chloe will have a little girl cousin playmate so close to her own age.

I support our troops, I swear

Is it unpatriotic that I haven't had the heart to tell Petie that these are soldiers and not "skateboarding guys" as he likes to call them?

A proper little room

We are officially ready!

We remodeled part of the attic off our bedroom to make a quaint little peaked room of love. The light purple wall color compromise with Kevin turned out to be a little more on the pink side than I was expecting, but not enough to repaint.

The vinyl monogram and dandelion (very subtle) turned out great, a little more difficult than expected to get up on the walls. My future career in wallpaper installation will have to be rethought. I truly do not have the patience for that kind of thing.



Kev’s estate sale find of the 4 little pictures around the window I think turned out very sweet.


The cubbies are lined with 4 different fabrics, in Kevin’s words, “you are bringing out your inner clown side.” Whatever that means, I took it as a compliment regardless.


This is the little chandelier I painted. Laurelhurst garage sale find.

This is the view from our bedroom.

And even though I almost fired the jerks at Marion’s carpets before it was even installed, I am happy now about the carpet. The crib is ready to house it’s 5th baby (Jake, Sean, Molly, and Pete previously) and the dresser is mine from childhood (made by my Dad’s Dad I’m pretty sure). Still need a window covering and to finish the little doors to the closet and attic, but the room is finished enough for me to do some proper nesting and less stressing. Thanks to an amazing husband who has the strongest work ethic and the most passion for decorating than any straight man I know.

This is getting ridiculous

We tied a record of 103 degrees for yesterday and today and tomorrow are supposed to be even hotter. Native Oregonians do not fare well in this heat. Our typical weather pattern is one of the major reasons we are still Oregonians. 8 month pregnant native Oregonian pale redheads especially do not fare well in this heat. Thank god for window AC units and basements.

Platt (where Kevin works) is too cheap to have AC in their storefronts and warehouses. I think it is against some kind of labor law to subject their employees to that kind of abuse. I mean really, 105? No AC? Kevin had to go to Staples to buy his own clip on fan for his desk yesterday. Again, ridiculous.

Is there any chance you could be retarded?

So I went last night to Bouffant to have Sarah get my rapidly growing hair back under control. She gave me a great and much needed cut and I got up from her chair feeling like a new woman. Until I went to check out. One of the two women at the counter was being very sweet, asking if I knew the gender, name, etc, of the baby-to-be. The other women upon hearing that the due date is 2 months away, asks, "is there any chance it could be twins?" I just looked at her with my best look of death and disbelief and let out a big "ughh" type sigh of disgust. This is the first idiot comment I have had with this pregnancy and I was totally unprepared. Obviously people have no idea what they are really saying and to whom. What she meant was that she was not used to what a 32 week belly should look like. What she ended up saying esentially was, wow, you look really huge. Saying this to a woman, nonetheless, a very pregnant woman, is about the most annoying comment you could ever make. She followed up with "well, I'm a twin myself" as if that made me not want to hit her in the face any less. Too little too late as she could tell I was not amused. So I drove home trying to think of the best possible comeback for these types of comments. I want something that shows I am not amused, but doesn't come off as too terribly rude. Any ideas?

Happy Independence Day

We spent the 4th of July weekend in the fancy resort town of I - ron - da - lay, Washington. It's about 7 miles south of Port Townsend on the beautiful Port Townsend Bay waters of the Puget Sound. Okay, so it's really just Irondale, and barely considered a town, but it's been our forth of July destination going on the past 5 or so years. Kev's grandma Sylvia has a place there and Kev's aunt Barbara and uncle Ron have permanent residence (a beautiful new home) just one cabin down the street. We traditionally set up "tent city" in Grandma's backyard and call it home. Ron's sister and bro-in-law also have a place next to grandmas so quite a few of us take over the place and try to stay out of too much trouble.

This year we invested in new self-inflating air mattresses from REI that are seriously the best thing since spray-on sun block. (Okay, so I know spray-on sun block hasn't been around long, but do I ever love the stuff). Petie still fits in his port-a-crib so that left Kev and I to a lovely bed on the ground. Sheets from home and our down comforter instead of stupid sleeping bags. I swear it was as comfortable as our mattress at home. I slept like a baby. Like a 9 month old baby who has been properly sleep trained, that is. Did I mention I am worried about the lack of sleep that is creeping up upon us in the next 2 months? Afraid, very afraid. Trying to block it out and enjoy the next 2 months!

Anyway, a great time in Irondale. The usual family drama mixed with great firework displays, tasty food, and great times for the kids to enjoy their cousins. Thanks to Grandma and Barbara and Ron for the use of their facilities and to Marissa for organizing the "general fund" this year.

Looking forward to many more. As usual all of the photos are here. Password: wellnitz.

Where's the beef? Or was it chicken?

The good news is that I don't have gestational diabetes, I can continue eating as I please! In other very breaking news, Petie ate a corn dog 2 nights ago. An entire corn dog. This is big people. The self appointed vegetarian may be changing his 2 year old ways. We'll see...

Aunt Shannon's Day Care is Closing

Sad times at the Wellnitz house. Shannon has decided to stop watching Petie (and subsequently Chloe). I can't say that I blame her. Her own kids will now be in school full time in the fall (I can't believe Molly is that old!) and she is looking to get some of her own life back. I can't blame her and yet as I told her, we still get to be sad about it for at least a few weeks, if not longer. I plan on being bummed about this all summer. Thank god Petie's sense of time and permanence isn't quite fully developed and I don't really have to tell him yet. I don't even want to know how Jake will react. I've already cried and could barely eat last night after getting the news (that is big for me!). Kev is of course being the the strong one. We'll see.

I just couldn't have asked for a better situation for the past 2 1/2 years. Shannon has been amazing, not to mention the interaction Petie has had with his cousins. Just the best.

Anyway, are hoping to get Petie into Wee Works in the fall which would be a perfect fit. He already knows everyone there from picking up Molly with Shannon one day a week for his entire life and he loves it there. Let's just pray they have the room to squeeze him in. As for Chloe, we are on the hunt for the perfect day care situation for our yet to be born perfect daughter. Petie was spoiled with private school and Chloe will have to be our public school infant. They turn out okay too right? I know it will all work out, just bear with me for the next few weeks as I freak out.

Fingers Crossed

Let's hope this doesn't have to be my next freezer paper t-shirt project.

I just returned from the lab over my lunch hour to have my initial glucose screening test. This is the routine screening blood draw to test for gestational diabetes. I had to drink a 10 oz bottle of glucola. Mine was clear, not orange like I remembered with Petie. The taste, however, still left something to be desired. You have to drink it within 5 mintues. That was not the problem (I can pound pop with the best of them). The problem was going in to do a repair (sutures on a guys face) right after in a room with one of the worst urine smells in recent recollection. We had the door open and everything, but still. I haven't felt this bad since about week 10! Hopefully the knot in my gut will fade after a little lunch.

I'll be holding my breath for the results. From all I hear, gestational diabetes would not mesh while with my current diet of "whatever I want at any given moment."

The Keitges Sunriver Adventure

Sunriver Keitges style 2009. Crag Lane #2 turned out to be a perfect location for Pete, Fay, Jody, Jeff, Andrew, Mike, Brenda, Jim, Kristen, Elliot, Gunnar, Monica, Hailey, Lily, Kevin, Petie, and myself. We spent Monday on bikes, at the stable, the river, and the pool. Tuesday was fishing at East Lake and putt-putt. Petie had a blast with his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. He'll be sad to be home and just with us again! We missed a few members this year, but can't wait to do it again in 2010!


Hailey cruising.

Lily speeding away.

Is that sunblock I see?

Hellooo river.

Croquet with Grandpa.

Petie's pony ride.

Fishing trip - the boat at the dock.

Where's the sun?

Gunnar and Jody

Being patient for the big German Brown.

Brenda and Petie

Cheers!

Loving the sand with Gunnar.

The DVD fort.

Petie said, "Mike, are you my cousin?"

The group shot. Jeff mysteriously was no where to be found!

The reason we're all here!
Here's the obligatory belly shot!