Ethan David Balsmeier

He's here!! Ethan was born on September 23rd at 11:42am. He weighed in at a whopping 10lbs 7oz and was 22'' long. I know--he's huge!  Not my longest baby but definitely the heaviest, by more than a pound. Everything went well. I had a C-section, of course, but they had to do some manouvering to get him out. They were concerned about his blood sugar levels because of his size but both tests came back good. He nurses well and is utterly adorable. I am feeling as well as can be expected after major surgery, but as long as I stay on top of my pain killers, I am doing alright.

Thank you, by the way, for all of the name suggestions. Some of you might be wondering where we got Ethan from, well. . .I have always liked the name Ethan and kind of never really thought of it until last week. John and I were searching on the internet for names and we did a 'biblical name' search. Yes, people, Ethan is in the bible. . .who knew? Okay maybe a lot of you did, but I did not. The name is mentioned in 1 Chronicles. He is reffered to as a musician and in 1 Kings it's implied that he was a wise man. Although all the previous kids have biblical names-- we did not plan it that way. We liked Abigail, Jacob is my g-grandfather's name, and Isaac just went well with Drake. We decided to stick with that 'theme' and I liked the way Ethan went with the other kids' names--it was just very convenient that a name I love just happened to be mentioned in the bible. David, of course, is John's middle name and there you have it--Ethan David.

I so wish I had a picture of my pathetic looking little prince to post...

Jake fell out of one of the many little coupe cars that are around here and he, of course, had to land on his mouth, where else? He came in screaming and crying and bleeding all over the place which is to be expected. He scraped up his upper lip pretty badly and I noticed that he was also bleeding from the gumline on is upper front tooth. I couldn't tell if he had knocked it loose or not (mostly due to his histerycal screaming if I even came near his mouth for the rest of that day or the next). Today his lip is not three times it's normal size anymore, good sign. I thought he might let me check his tooth (it still is bothering him when he bites into something)--still a no go. So I ask my little boy, "Jake, if you won't let me try it, can you? Can you wiggle your tooth and see if it is loose?:"

You know what he does? He starts wiggling. . . wiggling his whole head and body!!! I could not stop laughing. Then he said, "See Mom, it wiggles." Of course, how could I have been so blind!!!

Some things. . .

Jake went to the other Optometrist today and surprise-- he is color blind. Not red/green or any specific 'kind' just color blind. The Optometrist actually said that it seems that Jake sees everything in varying shades of gray. He can see a difference in shade of the basic colors and will learn, with time, to correspond a certain shade he sees with the color-name someone assigns to it. He will not see differences in shades and tones of colors like most people do. This is similar to what my father has been able to explain to me that he sees. Although, my father does say that he sees colors--it' just that many of the paint chips in Home Depot, for example, all look the same. He can't distinguish many of the different shades or tones, they look the same. The Optometrist assumed today that Jake just sees in gray, and while I still have hope that maybe he does see color, just not all of the colors, he won't be able to communicate that until he gets older. We'll see.

On a more positive note. . .I got my maternity pictures today. I am so excited and so grateful to my dear friend Rachel in Longmont. I felt so bad during the shoot before we moved--Jake was being such a snot and Abbi didn't want to do anything other than play and Isaac wanted to just run around. Rachel was very patient and got many shots that were not set-up but show the true personality of my children. Rachel, you were amazing and I love so many of the shots. Thank you so much and if any of you need a photographer for anything contact her http://racheldemartinphotography.blogspot.com/.

The Princess and I

As promised, here is a picture of my beautiful princess in her new specks. She says she is excited about them but I think the most exciting thing for her is cleaning them with the spray and cloth that she got. She takes very good care of them and is adamant that no one else touches them. I am a little impressed with how responsible she has been with them.

As far as school goes. . .she is still struggling a little with the I miss Mommy syndrome (so weird) but she really likes school and her teacher. She tells me about her days and all the kids in her class. I am really thinking that with the crazy-ness in our family right now, we just need to be consistent and patient and she will be over it soon.

And this is me, of course. Who else's tummy gets this humongous? This is me with sixteen days left until the actual due date, but really I only have to wait nine days until the C-section. So close I can taste it!!!

In other news. . .Isaac is in need of some speech therapy. He is 'normal' in every other way, he just won't use words to communicate. I am grateful that we can get it taken care of early and to hopefully reduce the yelling and screaming very soon. I love the boy, but I can not handle his frustration level lately. Jake actually goes to another optometrist appointment, one that I have heard will do the color blind test. We will update on that after the appointment and hopefully I know one way or the other about my wonderful genes being passed on to my son.

random

We have had a lot of things going on these past couple of weeks...

First, Abbi started school. Kindergarten at the ripe old age of 4. Sigh. I already posted about what she thought of her first day. She really seems to enjoy it but she goes through a little separation anxiety every morning. Which, really is weird for her. I feel a little guilty quite honestly. Our poor kids have been through so much the past few months, more than most four and three year olds go through in their entire lives. On top of all that, they don't see their dad more than one or two days a week. No, we are not separated, or anything of the sort, just trying to save on gas for his job that is an hour away from where we currently live. I am not sure which/any or all of these is contributing to her sadness every morning, but her teacher assures me that she does well at school except for an occasional, "I miss my Mom." Wow, even more sad, my poor baby!

A week after Abbi started, Jake started preschool. My handsome little man is so excited and he loves it, especially that he got a Spider Man back pack. Jake is doing well. Like I said, he really enjoys preschool. "We played on the park inside and the one in the backyard!" he tells me. I am relieved the he is really enjoying it, I was worried about him and the separation-- not abbi-- ironic, huh? We visited the optometrist the other day and I discovered that my two oldest children need glasses--poor kids. Abbi will get hers next week when the pink ones she ordered come in. Jake actually has poorer vision than she, but he is a little young for glasses and their vision can change quite a bit still at that age--so no glasses for the little man. . .yet. He was highly disappointed when his older sister 'got to' pick out glasses and he did not. It was a little amusing (and relieving at this point) that they think glasses are fun and cool, they don't realize the pain that they actually are.

To my disappointment, they both need glasses, and more disappointment. . . the optometrist wouldn't give Jake the color blind test. Color blindness runs in my family (my father and other relatives are) and we have suspected for a long while that Jake might be. He has always done really well recognizing shapes and numbers and even letters--not colors. He knows black and white and pretty much nothing in between. The doc wouldn't test him. My sis-in-law found a couple of sights on-line and had her three year old try it and he got every one of them. Then Jake tried. . .Poor kid. He had no clue there was anything in all those dots. He got the ones that everyone should get, the ones color blind individuals can't see, he couldn't see. It's definitely not a professional diagnosis but my suspicions are confirmed--the kid is color blind-- poor thing. So with his glasses (at some point in the future) and the color issue. . .well, I just feel a little bad for the kid.

A week and a half after Abbi started school, she had a birthday!! She is now the big 5. Her birthday was on a Friday and she was very excited to bring her special treat to class. We drove down to Manhattan to meet John to go out to eat for her big day. She chose Chili's and she did get to open some gifts given that her party wasn't until the following weekend. She was very excited about the Thumbelina barbie sent from Grandma Love. Her party was on the 29th and she had a big bouncy castle, a pinata and a BBQ in the backyard. All the kids had a good time and a new friend from school came--very exciting. Thank you to everyone who helped and came! Mommy and Daddy got her a new "big girl" bike so her knees are no longer in her mouth when she rides. Today, Daddy took off the training wheels and started teaching her to ride a "two-wheel bike". She did well, we will practice more tomorrow or Monday.

Isaac is here. . .and that's pretty much it. He is so super cute, but definitely trying my patience lately. He refuses to talk so he just screams and yells about everything. I can not handle all the noise!!!! He actually get evaluated to see if he needs speech therapy next week. We'll see how that goes.

My C-section is the 23rd now and I am feeling terrible. Just the normal-- tired, huge, hot, impatient and really ready to not be preggo anymore!!

Why is this so hard?

Names, people, I need names. Our (our? why do I say "our", I am the one having surgery, right? I mean, I know John has a hard time with blood and needles and all that, but let's face it--he's got it pretty easy for my c-section) C-section is scheduled for Sept.24, for now that is. . .

There is some confusion as to my actual due date (the 30th). Changing docs in the middle of a pregnancy is not a whole lot of fun. I really loved my doc in Longmont, I do like the one I have here, it's just weird changing doctors. Anyway, my cycle and my due date don't align. In CO they did an early U/S to get a really accurate date and it put me two weeks back (the 30th), remember? Now I am measuring exactly what the cycle date (15th) was--weird. And our last U/S had the baby right at the cycle date too. Well, she is going with the ultrasound date and hopefully I don't go into labor on my own before that.

The thing is. . . John and I can not think of any names we both like. He wants to use some weird ones and I am not going there. I do have some really amazing girl names I want to use. . . too bad. I want a name that "goes" with the other three but not old man-ish or dorky. Any ideas?

Busy Life

I was kind of waiting until I had pictures ready before I posted, but not having my own computer to use slows that down tremendously.

I bought school supplies with (and for) Abbi before we left town. It was actually pretty fun, she really cracks me up. She was so excited to do it and she had to get everything off the shelf and put it in the cart--I was not permitted to help.

We left town Wed the 22nd and the concert was on the 23rd (I think that's right). Amanda and I had so much fun!! Last time I went to Cheyenne Frontier Days it was all drunkards and crazy. This time it was all teenage girls and their parents. I understand her music is geared to that audience but I have to say that I love her music and really admire her talent. It was a lot of fun. When I told Abbi that I went to the "Juliet" concert (that's what she calls Taylor Swift because of her one song "Love Story") she was actually a little upset that she didn't get to go. One reason I like her music--I can listen to it in the car with my kids!! They actually know some of her songs.

We hung out the rest of the next week at my Mom's house. We went out on the boat, we visited Grandma at work and we visited some friends. It was nice to relax at Grandma's. Then cousins came into town also and we prepared for the Lake Powell trip.

The Lake was a lot of fun, it always is. I have to say it was a lot different with non family members there and about a bazillion kids under the age of 9. It wasn't quite as relaxing as usual, but still lots of fun. On the way back, the boat trailer blew a tire. Of course my dad wasn't there, he had just headed back up to Roy, UT straight from the lake. We got that taken care of and finally make it back to Longmont. I found out the next morning that the keys to my van were still in the glove box of my parent's car, you know, the one that my dad drove home with. Genius, Clara, genius. So after four hours and almost four hundred dollars...we were on our way home-to KS.

Abbi started school last Wed. She was so excited. We picked out her clothes and she got all ready, John made her pancakes (per her request), we took some pictures and off we went. The boys and I walked her in and we waited in the Gym for all the kids to arrive and sit in line with their class. ( We had actually gone the night before to the school's Sneak Peak where we saw her classroom and met her teacher) Then we walked with the class down to their room and we left her. She was fine, with me leaving her, that is. She was a little apprehensive in line at the gym but we walked down, she gave us all a hug and kiss and she was good. When I went to pick her up, well, she wasn't there. Her cousin had come and gotten her, so we waited for them to come back to her classroom. She told me that "it was so boring. We didn't even play with play-do. It was just so boring. We just sat and listened and walked around and sat some more-so boring, Mom." I have never heard the word boring so many times in one conversation. I tried to appease her by explaining that the teacher had to go through all of the rules and all that boring stuff on the first day, but it will be a lot more fun tomorrow. She would hear none of it, "You said it was going to be fun and it was boring."

You will be happy to know the next few days went a lot better. They didn't have to sit and listen to rules and regulations and procedures all day. They did get to play with play-do, thank goodness. She is having a good time, she says she is making friends in her class but she can't remember their names.

The summer was absolutely nuts but it has drawn to an end. My oldest has started Kindergarten and I survived. It's just a little saddening and weird to only have two kids at home all day. Jake starts Preschool this Wed, which leaves us with one-for the mornings anyway. John found a manager position with Best Buy, it's just that the position is in Manhattan, KS. About an hour drive. He stays down there at his Mother's for two to three days in a row to help save on gas. The raise is helpful , I just don't like being a single mom most of the time. Right now though, we will take what we can get.