Cinnamon Rolls!
Thank you for your patience with the WWII while I have been recovering and adjusting. The next WWII will be posted next Wednesday.
June 27, 2012
June 21, 2012
Pinterest Made Me Do It
You know Pinterest right? You can follow me here.
Pinterest is a really great place where you can compartmentalize and save web sites and blog posts. Because of Pinterest I no longer have to email myself lists of websites for knitting techniques, kids activities, clothes I will never wear, and items for a house I will never own. Beware, Pinterest is great, but it can be a crazy internet time suck vortex.
Remember when I made baked s'mores? Pinterest made me do it.
When I say Pinterest 'made' me do it, I mean 'made' in the Saipan sense. You know, made as in allowed, let, permitted, guided, helped, etc. When someone from Saipan says made/make, it may not be as harsh as it sounds.
Well, Pinterest made me do this too:
It's summer on Saipan (when is it not?) and I want to make sure my daughter doesn't lose all that she learned in the first grade and I also want my son to be ready for Kindergarten in the fall. Also, I need some quiet activities they can do in the house. So I created these write and wipe worksheet binders.
And every weekday we do home study where each kid has a certain number of worksheets to complete. When they're finished, we just wipe the sheets clean. Every Sunday I switch out the worksheets so they get a new set each week.
(Pinspiration from here.)
Pinterest is a really great place where you can compartmentalize and save web sites and blog posts. Because of Pinterest I no longer have to email myself lists of websites for knitting techniques, kids activities, clothes I will never wear, and items for a house I will never own. Beware, Pinterest is great, but it can be a crazy internet time suck vortex.
Remember when I made baked s'mores? Pinterest made me do it.
When I say Pinterest 'made' me do it, I mean 'made' in the Saipan sense. You know, made as in allowed, let, permitted, guided, helped, etc. When someone from Saipan says made/make, it may not be as harsh as it sounds.
Can you make me smoke? (Can I have a cigarette?)
I made him sleep. (I put him down for his nap.)
She made me follow her. (She let me go along for the ride.)
Well, Pinterest made me do this too:
It's summer on Saipan (when is it not?) and I want to make sure my daughter doesn't lose all that she learned in the first grade and I also want my son to be ready for Kindergarten in the fall. Also, I need some quiet activities they can do in the house. So I created these write and wipe worksheet binders.
I bought two half-inch binders (I think they are half inch) and let the kids decorate a page for their front and back covers. Then I printed out a bunch of worksheets for each kid - cursive, math, writing, grammar, etc.
I put 10 crystal clear sheet protectors in each binder and put numbered tabs on each page so that each binder holds 20 total worksheets.
And every weekday we do home study where each kid has a certain number of worksheets to complete. When they're finished, we just wipe the sheets clean. Every Sunday I switch out the worksheets so they get a new set each week.
(Pinspiration from here.)
June 13, 2012
Family of Five
I started seeing a new doctor only two weeks before my scheduled c-section. I was happy with my doctor at CHC, but due to an emergency, she left island in mid-May and the only other OB had just left for her scheduled vacation and the temporary OB had not yet been signed on. What a conundrum.
10 days old
Jacob and Francesca, 11 days old
Katelyn and Francesca, 11 days old
My cousin Maecy is a nurse in the operating room and when I asked for her advice, she recommended that I see Dr. Taro. Great call. Dr. Taro took me on with only two weeks until my c-section. She is kind, gentle, competent, professional, and funny. I like her a lot. If only I'd seen her from the beginning of my pregnancy.
~~~~~
I packed our hospital bags the night before my 6 a.m. check-in. I didn't even remember what all I was supposed to pack for baby. I didn't do any research or reading during my third pregnancy; there were no complications, so I just went with it.
James and I prayed with the kids before we left for the hospital. We checked in at about 6:15 a.m. My room was ready and the two nurses on the floor soon started prepping me for surgery. And let me tell you, prepping for an emergency c-section goes a whole faster than prepping for a scheduled one. I prefer the rush of the emergency scenario. You hardly know what's happening - a team of nurses descends upon you and suddenly you're in the OR. For a scheduled c-section, you feel every poke, prod, and wipe. Then the contractions started. They came every five minutes. They hurt. It was as if the c-section prep had triggered labor.
An OR nurse came in and wheeled me into the surgical wing where my cousin Maecy came and stayed by my side through my tears and contractions. James joined us just before Maecy left to get scrubbed up and he goofed around taking pictures of the two of us as I breathed out the pain of the contractions. My sister and my Aunt also joined us before the surgery. This Aunt has been present for the birth of all three of my children. I'm very glad she could be there that day too. She had four c-sections herself. Four!
Dr. Hart (Heart? Hardt?), the anesthesiologist, came over and asked me some questions and talked to me about what was going to happen. He was really great. I've found that the anesthesiologist sets the tone for the surgery. My anesthesiologist when Katelyn was born was very good, but the whole thing was such a rushed affair that we didn't have the the time to establish ourselves as doctor and patient before the surgery. But he was certainly very competent and he was very calming and reassuring to me as he was the only one in the OR who was not focused on the baby. My anesthesiologist when Jacob was born was kind of a jerk- I did not have a good experience and he ended up putting me to sleep after the epidural didn't fully work.
The whole team was great. Dr. Taro (OB), Dr. Hart (anesthesiologist), Maecy (nurse), Romy (nurse), and Jun (nurse). James was allowed to stay with me during the surgery, which was a first for us. Husbands are not allowed in the OR during emergency c-sections, which is what my first two were. James held my hand and talked with me. And when the doctor called out, "what do you want", we were both silent.
"It's a girl!"
Francesca Emeline was born on May 30, 2012, at 8 lbs 12 oz. My fairest baby of all with the darkest and fullest head of hair at birth.
James cut the cord for the first time. He carried our daughter from the OR to the nursery. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. God is good.
In the end, I really enjoyed not knowing the baby's sex until birth. I liked having that small connection to what pregnancy was like years ago, full of wonder and surprise. Unfortunately, the gender neutral clothes I bought made her look like a boy. Thankfully, I only bought a few things and I am very grateful for the girly clothes that were recently passed on to us.
Dr. Hart (Heart? Hardt?), the anesthesiologist, came over and asked me some questions and talked to me about what was going to happen. He was really great. I've found that the anesthesiologist sets the tone for the surgery. My anesthesiologist when Katelyn was born was very good, but the whole thing was such a rushed affair that we didn't have the the time to establish ourselves as doctor and patient before the surgery. But he was certainly very competent and he was very calming and reassuring to me as he was the only one in the OR who was not focused on the baby. My anesthesiologist when Jacob was born was kind of a jerk- I did not have a good experience and he ended up putting me to sleep after the epidural didn't fully work.
The whole team was great. Dr. Taro (OB), Dr. Hart (anesthesiologist), Maecy (nurse), Romy (nurse), and Jun (nurse). James was allowed to stay with me during the surgery, which was a first for us. Husbands are not allowed in the OR during emergency c-sections, which is what my first two were. James held my hand and talked with me. And when the doctor called out, "what do you want", we were both silent.
"It's a girl!"
Francesca Emeline was born on May 30, 2012, at 8 lbs 12 oz. My fairest baby of all with the darkest and fullest head of hair at birth.
James cut the cord for the first time. He carried our daughter from the OR to the nursery. I couldn't have asked for a better experience. God is good.
In the end, I really enjoyed not knowing the baby's sex until birth. I liked having that small connection to what pregnancy was like years ago, full of wonder and surprise. Unfortunately, the gender neutral clothes I bought made her look like a boy. Thankfully, I only bought a few things and I am very grateful for the girly clothes that were recently passed on to us.
10 days old
Jacob and Francesca, 11 days old
Katelyn and Francesca, 11 days old
June 06, 2012
We had a baby!
Hello friends. We had a baby last Wednesday! I didn't mean to be away from this blog for this long, but I've been recovering from my third c-section. And let me tell you, c-sections are not one of those things that get easier with practice. Each subsequent recovery has been more painful than the last.
I'll post a birth story soon. Or something to that effect.
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