A Bit of Everything

I am nursing right now.. ya, sorry for the image, but, if there are any weird punctuation or whatever...just read on...

10 had a good little pizza party yesterday. i have to be careful not to direct too much attention to him--birthdays are hard for my younger kids because i think that all the individualized attention is too much for them to handle i guess. i remember when 4 fell apart when we sang her happy birthday. (Ok, I am able to use two hands now.) That threw us all for a loop when she did that. So I made sure not to have a birthdya cake or sing him happy birthday. I had to laugh really hard inside though, as 13 was playing "Happy Birthday" on the piano as he opened presents. Ha!!! I was also careful to only have three friends over, his best friend and two of his cousins. He got "Hannah Montana" the movie for his birthday present from us and we watched that after pizza. The kids had fun and we ate popcorn while we watched it. 10 was sure to bring out his microphone for the key songs of the movie. It was awesome!

Oh, ya, there was also the infamous $10 horse and rider shaped candy that 10 got from his aunt Jessie. I will definitely be posting pictures of that one! It was worth every surprising penny. (That's for you, Jessie.)

We have been waiting for the test results for Baby to come back so that we know if she has Fragile X or not. Well, after a long four weeks we found out that the testing center didn't have enough blood to perform the second test which would give us the results. The first test is not able to test CGG repeats above 30. Now to explain this part: to be a carrier you would have 55-100 CGG repeats on your X Chromosome, to have the full mutation you would have over 200 CGG repeats.

Anyway, we had to take Baby in to have her blood drawn again. She had to have 5 ml's drawn, which is a lot for a small baby. She had to have it drawn out of both arms in order to get enough. We said a prayer before we went, and I think that helped. She did really pretty well, considering. She was sucking on her pacifier pretty hard--poor thing.

So we have yet another month before we find out the results. I don't know that I am so anxious to get the answer. I don't even know how I will feel about it either way, I am kind of numb to that right now. I think I just want to get it over with.

Baby has grown so much, she is huge to me now. Instead of fitting in the crook of my arm when I feed her, she actually goes the length of my arm and her legs stretch out past my elbow. She has been awake more and it so fun to see her round little eyes. It really makes me laugh when she can't focus and her eyes cross—hilarious! She doesn't cry very often, she mostly grunts. She really has wanted to be held lately. She hardly lets me put her down. But, I must admit, her being my last one, I am not complaining. I love holding her every minute that I can. I just have to learn to be able to do things with a baby, oxygen, apnea monitor and a "hooter hider" in tow. Yes, I said "hooter hider." I got that term from a friend of mine--love it! And yes, I have to cover up because I have older kids around, and I don't want to embarrass them or myself. (smile)

I also forgot to mention that Marc's Dad and Sister have birthdays right before and after 10's and my brother Daniel shares a birthday with 10. Crazy because Baby shares my younger brother's birthday and Brighton shares Daniel's--go figure. So for both brothers I was able to call them early in the morning and tell them that they had a new nephew or niece sharing a birthday with them. Anyway, we had a triple birthday party with Gary, Amy and 10 on Sunday. My family joined in on it too. It was a fun time eating lots of great Mexican food.

OK, now for the pictures.

Just cute in blue... She is 4 weeks exactly in this picture

I had just bathed Baby and she was crying after we got out so I was comforting her.

Here is a few shots from the party on Sunday.

Chelsea and Baby—Chelsea just can't get enough of this girl.

Marc and his sister, Amy

Baby in her candy cane outfit—I think my mom got excited for Christmas... or candy canes...

Here's a good example of her cross-eyed look,
and 4's love for her baby sister

And... drum roll please....

The horse candy sucker thing!!!! yay!!! 10 would not take it out of his mouth long enough to get a good picture... tee hee!

Love this one... Jessie with 10... too cute!

Here they are coloring the gift that little M gave him.

The video below is 4 singing a song from preschool called "Special Me" I am singing with her in the background just to encourage her to keep going. She loves to wiggle when she sings too. So cute!