stepping over stepping stones

Casper took some steps all on his own on Saturday, and actually realized what he'd done. On three separate instances, he took three consecutive steps. New walkers are always fun to watch, but I was especially thrilled that Granny and Grandad were here to see it. I don't think Casper will give up crawling for a couple more weeks, but walking before 13 months of age?! A new record in our family.

tea time

Gwendolyn’s birthday party (which I’ve been stressed out about, even though pleasing a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds isn’t that hard) was a huge success. There were six little girls including Gwennie, and all were decked out in their tea party finest. Auntie Tiffany was here and Granny and Grandad arrived just as the festivities were getting under way.

I had a couple of children’s tables set up in the living room and as the girls arrived, they each made an “Autumn Fairy.” This was a fairly simple craft and the little dolls turned out quite well. I bought old-style wooden clothespins which Todd drilled a small hole in, right through the side where the arms would be. The girls inserted a 3 ½-inch piece of pipe cleaner for arms. Then a felt dress which I’d cut was pulled over the doll’s head, and the girls used needle and thread to sew the dress’ sleeves around the arms and the dress around the clothespin body. We used craft glue to attach little wooden beads to the ends of the pipe cleaner to make hands, and added a bit of wool roving to the doll’s head for hair. Of course, no Autumn Fairy would be complete without a little acorn cap to use as a hat (which we’d had to hunt down from last year’s acorns, looking through the humus under some oak trees in our neighborhood park to find the few caps which had been spared by the squirrels and composting).As soon as the fairies were complete, we went into the kitchen for the tea party proper. We had finger sandwiches, mini muffins, crackers and fruit. I had all sorts of plans for “tea,” but ran out of time, so the teapot contained apple juice. Todd also made a foamy pink “fairy brew,” which was a hit: pineapple juice mixed with ginger ale and sherbet.When lunch was through, we went out back to beat at the piñata. It was a cheap piñata (which wasn’t even paper mache – it was cardboard connected with masking tape; where are Stephen and Shawna when you need them?) and didn’t take long to crack, which Gwendolyn did with a massive blow, just after everyone had taken a turn.With bags of candy in tow, we went into the kitchen to sing happy birthday and enjoy the cupcakes Auntie Tiffany had made. As the girls were finishing up, they noticed little bits of paper stuck to the bottom of their plates – puzzle pieces which turned out to be the first clue in a series which led them on an elaborate treasure hunt. The treasure? The goody bags: Little purses I had sewn which contained flower seeds to plant, some stickers, handmade hairclips, bouncy balls (Linus’s contribution), and a ringpop.

The party ended right on time and I think everyone had a great time – I know the birthday girl was very pleased. Afterward, we opened presents (we had specified “no gifts, please” on the party invitations, so most of her friends brought lovely handmade cards). Gwendolyn got lots of new clothes, hair bands and clips, a new ensemble for ballet class, a jump rope, dress up jewelry, a tutu and her favorite gift – a rock tumbler. We all had a great time celebrating this sweet little girl.

party ready

We spent the day putting final touches on all the items needed for the big party. More details tomorrow.

sixth birthday crafts: letterpress cards

We're preparing for another birthday celebration this weekend and wanted to document the handmade side of the festivities before we document the actual festivities.

Gwendolyn has been busy hand-coloring her birthday tea party invitations: letterpress printed cards featuring an original linocut of teapots by Todd.

the mind of our three-year-old

Linus: I think we should name Mama Cat “Whiskey.”
Todd: Why, Linus?
Linus: Because she has the same name as whiskers.

Mama: Holy mackerel, that was a huge bite, Linus!
Linus, later in the meal: Daddy got a huge mackerel of chips!

Mama: We need to teach Casper not to bite.
Linus: Yeah, by throwing him on the ceiling.

Linus: Can you make this for us?
Mama: I’m sorry, I can’t. Daddy does that.
Linus: Only Daddy can?
Mama: Yep.
Linus: Just pretend you’re Daddy!

Linus, upset with Mama, threatens, "Then I'm never going to hurry to the potty ever again!"
He really has a sense of what's important to me, I'll give him that.

annual check-ups

Casper, who seems like a pretty big kid to me, is 31 ¼ inches tall (90-95^th percentile) and tips the scales at 22#, 12 ozs (50^th percentile). I don’t want to compare, but just to add a little perspective: at Linus’s 1 year check up, he was an inch and a half taller and nearly 4 ½ pounds heavier than Casper is now.

Gwendolyn is 46 ¾ inches tall (between 75^th and 90^th percentile) and weighs 44 pounds (50^th percentile). The poor kid also had to get blood drawn for allergy testing (I’m hoping to be able to feed her mango and peanut butter one day). She was very, very brave, though she did cry when they stuck that big needle in her arm. I’m sure it made her feel better when she got a sucker and Linus didn’t.

one!

Oh my little Casper! I can’t believe you are one. ONE! How did you get so big? Those first few weeks of your life were pure chaos – packing and unpacking, moving, cleaning, painting, adjusting – and I feel I missed some of that new baby bonding and enjoying. It makes me a little sad, but we’ve made up for it. You are the first baby I’ve been able to stay home with full-time and I love it. I love being with you every moment of the day and because we are together so much, I feel I know you and understand you more than I did your brother and sister when they were babies.

You have so much passion in that little body of yours. Even at this young age, if you are upset about not getting your way or getting a toy swiped from your hands, you will often let the world know by wailing and arching your back and literally throwing your little body down on the floor. Now these tantrums don’t last long at all, but they worry me – you may be the child that finally teaches me how to be a parent. Your passion goes both ways -- you will also throw your body down in a fit of joy and excitement. At the same time, you are so easygoing. Relaxed and cheerful, happy and content to be dragged along for the ride.

You are also a bit of a clown. You love to laugh and giggle and play games. You like to do silly things to make your siblings laugh, a well as laugh at their antics. You always want to be right where the action is and truly believe you are one of the big kids. You aren’t afraid to jump right in and play with (or take toys from) your brother and sister. Linus has knocked you down a number of times, but you often will try to tackle him or yell at him and let your presence be known. You are also quite athletic. You are my earliest crawler and a very proficient crawler you are. You climb like a champ and I suspect you will be walking within the month (which is early for our family).

You love to cuddle and from birth, you’ve wanted to be held and rocked and nuzzled. You’re already growing up far too fast and are always on the move, so I rather enjoy the brief moments you still allow me to cuddle with you.

I love you, sweet Casper. What a joy and blessing you are to our family.

Casper's birth story

Dearest little Casper, it’s been a year, and I feel like I’m finally emotionally able to write your birth story, so on the eve of your first birthday, here is the story of your birth:I was very cocky going into this birth. Since this was my third labor and Linus’s birth was such a breeze and I was using the same group of midwives and hospital, I honestly believed that the baby would come within a day or two of his due date and my labor would last less than three hours. Casper had different plans for me.

The weeks around the birth were very stressful. Days before my due date, Todd left town to interview for his job at the university library. The due date, August 17^th, came and went. The week following the due date, Todd was offered the job and went through salary negotiations, and we started packing up our house in the city. The week after the due date came and went. I did everything I could think of to try to jump-start labor, but nothing. We continued packing and waiting, unable to go look for a house in our new town, fearing that I would go into labor as soon as we left the city limits.

Finally, the midwives started talking about induction. On Monday the 27^th I went into the hospital to receive a dose of the prostaglandin gel and leave a urine sample for a suspected urinary tract infection. Todd and I went to lunch later that morning and I began having regular and intense contractions, but they quickly petered out. My next appointment with the midwives was on Wednesday the 29^th and the prostaglandin gel had only caused me to dilate to three centimeters. I felt so confident that I would still go into labor on my own, but at almost 2 weeks past due, an induction needed to be scheduled. I would have been allowed to wait until I was 14 days late, but I really wanted to deliver with a midwife I knew and Titi Otunla, the midwife who assisted at Linus’s birth, was on call the next day, Thursday the 30^th.

Of course, with nerves and excitement, I didn’t sleep very well on Wednesday night. We were instructed to start calling the hospital at 5.30am Thursday to check for an empty L&D room. Our first call landed us 3^rd on the list, with instructions to call back in an hour. We called back and found that we had been bumped to 12^th on the list. The head nurse was certain we wouldn’t get a room before lunchtime, so we were told to call back then. The farther along in the day we went, the farther down the list we moved. The hospital nurse told me that there were a lot of “sick” babies who needed to be delivered, but when Titi called about 2.30 that afternoon, she had talked to a number of hospital nurses who reported that the doctors were lying to the hospital to get their patients in (likely so they could deliver on the Friday before the three day weekend). Titi was just as frustrated as we were and told us that our strategy was to play the game as well. So about 5pm, she called the hospital and told them I was in labor.

We arrived at the hospital at 6pm and though I was dilated 5cm, I was not in labor – no contractions, no pain. I again told the nurses that I had a UTI, so once again, they took a urine sample. Titi arrived about 8pm and had us do some walking and squatting and nipple stimulation. Still nothing. We decided to “induce” labor by breaking my bag of waters, believing that full-blown labor would immediately follow and we would have little Casper in our arms before the night was through.

Little Casper had other plans. Though breaking the amniotic sac at 10pm did send me into active labor, the baby’s head never dropped. I squatted and walked and breathed through intense contractions for hours and hours, got in and out of the tub, on and off the birthing ball, threw up a couple of times.

My body finally got to 8 ½ cm and then labor stalled . . . for about 3 hours. I was in intense pain because the baby’s head was pushing right on my bladder and we learned that none of the urine samples I had given throughout the week had been sent for testing. We started antibiotics in an IV, but it didn’t help much. We began pitocin in an effort to help the baby move lower and past my bladder. The pain from the UTI mixed with the intensity of the contractions mixed with my complete and utter exhaustion was just too much for me. So at 9am on the morning of August 31^st, after being awake for more than 29 hours and being in active labor for 11 hours, I decided to get an epidural.

It was a very hard decision for me, very humbling and certainly something I never want to have to do again. Due to hospital policy, Todd was forced to leave the room during the administration of the epidural. But thankfully, the epidural did help. I still had pain from the bladder infection, but without the pain from the contractions, I was able to rest some. The pitocin was put on max, and after half and hour of rest, I was at 10cm.

I felt the pushing stage of this labor was my most difficult (even with Linus’s big head and huge body). Although the medication from the epidural was turned off, I still had to push the baby down before I could push him out (the pitocin hadn’t helped him drop very much). Finally, after about half an hour of hard pushing, we welcomed Casper George into this world at 10.04am on August 31st.

Titi went above and beyond the call of duty. She also thought this birth would be a walk in the park, but even though it kept dragging on (and she delivered two other babies while I was in labor), she stuck right there with me. She stayed four full hours past the time that her 24 hour shift ended, just for me. How I love and respect that woman.

Todd was an amazing coach through the whole thing. It’s like he knew what I needed before I could speak the words. This birth was easily the hardest thing I’ve ever done and it was such a comfort to look over and see my best friend sitting next to me the entire time.

Here is the email Todd sent out to announce the news:

Parlance seems gorgeous

You can imagine my anxiety as Jennifer's labor, active for eleven hours, stalled due to excruciating pain from a bladder infection. Because I knew that the name we'd chosen for the baby was an anagram for "Cesarean's Gruesome Glop" and -- even more terrifying -- "Cesarean's Morgue Gospel," I imagined that the worst was coming to pass. Jennifer, who had been awake for twenty-nine hours at this point, was entirely incapacitated by the onset of this exponential degree of discomfort. Fortunately, blessedly, after some pitocin and an unanticipated epidural -- and just another hour of labor -- Jen was able to move past the pain, and succeeded in delivering our little boy. He may be belated (a full two weeks past due), but he's charming, handsome, and healthy. Jen's recovery is also coming along.

Here are the much-anticipated details: Casper George Samuelson was born
shortly after 10 a.m. on the morning of Friday, 31 August. (The "George" is a family name, taken from Jen's maternal Grandfather, who was born -- as we found out on Friday afternoon, after the name was decided -- also on August 31; the "Casper" is the name which fits him best. Both, please note, are cartoon characters. Feel free to continue to refer to him as "Gargamel," and we'll see if the nickname sticks.) At 9 pounds, 9 ounces, he's exactly a pound lighter than Linus, but is still referred to as "giant" and "massive" and "how did you do that?" by all the postpartum nurses. At 20 inches, he looks relatively lanky.

We got Jen and Casper home early this afternoon. The latter, in particular, is basking in the affection of two adoring older siblings (for a little visual proof, see the attached photos.) We're all thrilled to have him with us after our long wait, and are excited to get to know him a little better. We hope to be able to talk to each of you in more detail over the next few weeks.

this is what misery looks like

August 29th, 2007
41 weeks, 5 days pregnant

imaginary

Nougat the bear, Linus's lovey, has his own imaginary friends. There are three of them. I'm not sure if they are also bears or what their names are, but lately they go everywhere with us and Linus simply refers to them as, "Nougat's friends."

waterfight

Mama: Not right now, guys.
Linus: We’re not guys, we’re children!

While shopping earlier this week, Linus was not following the rules of the store, so he had to ride in the back of the cart instead of walk. Very loudly, he protested, “I don’t like the way I’m being treated!” When we got up to the check-out line, the cashier asked him, “Are you the child who was being mistreated?”

Linus: What’s for dinner tonight?
Daddy: Fricasseed tomatoes.
Gwendolyn: Ew, fricasseed tomatoes! Disgusting!
Linus: Yeah, ew, frickin’ seed tomatoes!

flowering in August

While Todd was mowing the lawn on Saturday, he saw Gwennie lurking near the corner of the house. He stopped the mower and walked to her, noticing that she was holding a cup filled with a milky liquid. She said, “I made you a magic potion because I thought you might be hot. I put I don’t know how many cups of sugar in it.”

Joining the superhero Madette and her sidekick Soupnut (the sneaky monkey), Gwennie has named a new character: Dr. Ingenious, their nemesis (Todd). Linus – who usually isn’t the one who worries about his little brother feeling left out – also named Casper “the Science Kid,” apparently based on something he saw on PBS.

Gwendolyn: “Linus – I mean, Daddy.”
Todd: “Yes, Mama – I mean, Gwennie.”
Gwendolyn: “I’m getting old.”
Todd: “Yes, your birthday is very close.”
Gwendolyn: “No, I forget which names to use. You do that, and Granny does it all the time.”

bedtime stories

Linus has always loved books, but it seems his passion has picked up lately. He really enjoys our weekly library visits, where he always gets books about things he’s interested in: trucks, tools, and bears. He’s also able to sit and concentrate on longer stories and is proud of his very own “chapter books,” as he calls them (including one rather long Russian alphabet book). Other recent favorites include Richard Scarry's books, Three Tales of My Father’s Dragon, and the Paddington Bear books. We have a designated “reading time” everyday after lunch and Todd reads to them before bed every night. If the kids had their way, we would spend our entire day reading books.

casper's big week

A few nights ago, we went to a dinner for new faculty members where all the kids received little light-up hand held fans. It’s become a favorite with all three kids, but watching Casper play with/bite his fan made the late bedtime worth it.

Casper knows and uses the sign for “more,” and when we pray, he clasps his little hands together and hugs his arms into his chest.

Casper says “stop” (to Gwendolyn who is hugging him) and shouts “bang!” as he claps his hands (one of the actions in a circle time song we sing).

This week Casper’s been standing on his own a lot more. Today he actually took a step (from one side of his crib to the other), but didn’t realize what he’d done.

put on your dancing shoes

Today was Gwendolyn’s first day of dance class. I’ve signed her up for a beginning ballet class just for homeschoolers. She was thrilled, excited about wearing her “leotart” and showing off her moves (not a lot of poise or grace in that lanky little body). After class, she called Granny to tell her about it and announced, “I did beautifully.”

bearly sleeping

Linus loves bears. During yesterday’s trip to the library we checked out a Paddington Bear audiobook for him to listen to during quiet time. He loves it. He loves it so much that he fell asleep tonight with one disk playing in the cd player and the other disk on his finger.

Mama: Linus, will you come in here and put your sleepers on?
Linus: Yeah, sure, if I want to.

under the sink

One evening our new cat, the yet-to-be-named "Mama Cat," curled up under the bathroom sink. Gwennie decided to join her there and nearly fell asleep before we found her and pulled her out.

Gwendolyn’s riddle:
I’m something that’s white.
I walk in the night.
And no one can see me in the morning.
Answer: a star

Gwendolyn: Jesus loves everyone, even bad guys – and monsters – and wasps.

peachy

peach halves, peach jam, peach syrup

Fifteen pounds of peaches + three hours in a hot kitchen = 5 quarts of peach halves, 4 pints of jam, 4 pints of syrup.

lesson on obedience

Gwendolyn brought this gem home from Primary today. Pictured is a giraffe, the giraffe's food, and our home. Please note that we do not have a giraffe.

three kids and a wooden spoon

While we’re stuck inside due to rain, Gwennie invents a game called “Thunder Under.” When you hear thunder, you have to run around singing, “Thunder Under, Thunder Under, Go Away For Now.” There are variations, such as, “Go Away For Mouse” and the ever-classic “Thunder Butter,” but they’re less coherent than the original.

silhouette

Linus asks Gwennie to teach him to pluck sometime.
“Well, you take your thumb and this finger . . . .”

Gwennie: “Mustard, disgustard. Listen, a rhyme! : Mustard, disgustard.”
Todd: “Pretty funny.”
Gwennie: “It’s not funny, it’s real.”

dancin' in the rain

We had plans to go to a splash pad at a local park this morning, but had torrential rains instead. I let the kids dance around outside in the rain in their sleepers, which totally made their day.

post-dinner

questions from a three-year old

Linus, with Bluey, the plush fish Todd brought back from his conference in Charlottesville: “Did you get Bluey at a far-away land, where you had to ride three airplanes to get there?”

Linus, with a pretty bad case of bed-head: “Daddy, can you make my hair not look like a chicken?”

On Friday night, Linus asks Todd, “And tomorrow can you not totally go to work?”

Linus: “Hey! Public and Lilac rhyme!” Pretty good for a three year old, I’d say.

peek-a-boo

Earlier this week, Mason was blocking the path between rooms and Casper started whimpering at me to rescue him. I told him to hiss at Mason and then demonstrated hissing. Casper looked right at Mason and hissed! Mason was unfazed, of course, so I still had to rescue the boy. I’m proud of Casper though; around here you’ve got to learn how to deal with that grouchy cat at an early age.

Casper says “Gwennie.”

When you ask him where his ears are, Casper covers his ears with his hands.

four years ago today

pox on you

So far this year, we’ve had two opportunities to catch the Chicken Pox and have passed them both up because of Casper’s young age. I’m a tiny bit obsessed with it, and even though I haven’t talked about this with the children, they’ve apparently picked up enough to be a tiny bit obsessed as well:

Todd: Gwennie, are you going to have children when you’re older?
Gwennie: Maybe – if I don’t have chicken pox when I’m a grown-up.
Linus: Can you only have chicken pox one time?

[and a completely separate incident:]

Linus: We’ll all die one day, won’t we?
Mama: Yes, we sure will.
Linus: And we’ll get the Chicken Pox.

all on the floor

Gwendolyn: Daddy, you and I are a lot alike. Both of our toenails fall off a lot and we’re both collectors.
Todd: What do you collect?
Gwendolyn: All kinds of things.
Todd: For example what?
Gwendolyn: Things that people don’t need. Like stuff I find on the floor.
(Really, she pilfers stuff from other family members and adds them to the "craft drawer" in her bedroom vanity which is full of paper clips, cotton balls, ribbon and yarn scraps, buttons, used greeting cards and the like.)

oh brother

Linus is at a stage where he wants to construct elaborate buildings and stage complex games with every single toy truck or car in the house. Casper is at a stage where he wants to destroy everything in his path. So these two boys have a lot of tense moments throughout the day. Earlier, as Casper bulldozed his way through a line of Linus's cars, I heard Linus mumble, "You stupid little Rito." ("Stupid" is, of course, prohibited language in our house, but "Rito" is one of our many nicknames for Casper -- as in Casperito -- though the kids usually call him Casper.)

Check out those ears.

church lesson by letterpress

laughing bear

Nougat the bear doesn't say much, but occasionally Linus will try to increase popular support for his positions by playing the ventriloquist and speaking for his bear in a squeaky little voice. More often, Nougat just laughs, as Linus wiggles him back and forth while saying "Heeheeheeheehee!" Last night before I went to bed, I checked on Linus, who was sleeping soundly. While I turned off his night light, I heard Nougat laughing and looked over, expecting to see Linus awake. Instead, he was wiggling that bear in his sleep. I was laughing so hard I could hardly tell Todd about it.