Bookworm #5

Since he was born, #5 has breathed faster than he should. And no one really thought much of it. His respiratory rate was the upper level of what is considered normal. So, the pediatrician ordered some labs and a chest x-ray just to see if there was a problem. The labs were fine, and the chest films were inconclusive. So he ordered an echo, but we miscommunicated about who was calling who about what. So, the echo didn't happen until this afternoon.

The echo was at 3:30pm, and it showed fluid around his heart. Our favorite pediatric cardiologist was on-call, and he came in immediately. He admitted #5 to PICU at St. Francis in order to drain the fluid in a simple procedure.

But, it wasn’t simple. In the process, his heart started bleeding, and he wound up having heart surgery in the PICU room. Now he is stabilizing in the PICU on many, many drugs. And it’s going to be a long night.

In the process of all this, we learned that his heart looks just like Bookworm #1's. So we will be starting the process of genetic diagnosis. It is possible that he has defied our good odds of having only healthy children after Bookworm #1. He may have COX-2 deficiency.

We'll just have to wait and see. Please pray.

Today, I cleaned my kitchen (twice), picked up other people's crap off the floor (numerous times), taught school (copywork, grammar, math, history, botany, piano), finished a book (Lessons from Blackberry Inn), started another (Creative Correction), snuggled with various needy children at appropriate times, fixed my husband his Father's Day dinner (steak and roasted veggies with pasta), and made sure that everyone was where they needed to be when they needed to be there (doctor's appointments, swimming lessons...).

Today, I spent TWO HOURS at a doctor's appointment for which we were FIVE MINUTES LATE even thought we left FORTY minutes early for a FIFTEEN minute trip. I'd have everything packed up for hours. All we had to do was put on shoes, potty, and get in the van. And then there was traffic. And construction. And a cop with a lane blocked while he wrote some idiot a ticket. And #3 fell asleep in the van. So, when my mom met me to be my spare hands, she wound up bringing a whiny, cranky kid with who took a 10 minute nap back home. So, I had the Great Ball of Energy (#2), and #4, and #5 at the doctor's office by myself. That was interesting. They really did very well, but oh-my-they-were-not-created-to-wait-long. And as for why it took so long - well, that's what you get when you combine my new insurance with our pediatrician's office's new computerized record-keeping system and a two-year old who needs some vaccinations - but we don't know which ones because his chart has gone AWOL and a one-month old who is likely to have silent reflux and needs some labwork and a x-ray to rule out other problems in order to receive medication to make him stop refluxing. Poor baby. Plus, on the way out, it took forever to pay and get future appointments made (one seven-year-old well-child exam, one two-month old well-child exam, and a third attempt at a nurse visit to get the shots for the two-year-old who isn't going to appreciate such a thing.)

Today, I wore flip-flops. My poor toes were rolled over with roller skates, stepped on several times, jumped on once, and caught under a door at the doctor's office. Tomorrow, I'm wearing Keens. I want my poor toes to be well-protected until they recover. I wear flip-flops all the time - I don't know what was up today.

I'm tired now. I'm going to take care of a little business and then sleep.

Heard in our living room....

(#2 to #5)

"You aren't big enough to eat yet - just to drink milk.  But soon you'll be able to eat squished food, and then you'll grow teeth and get to try chicken fingers!  They are so tasty!"

(a few moments later)

"Are you wondering how I'm talking?  That red thing that you breathe though is called a mouth, and after you learn to use it, you'll be able to talk too."

Be a Book Buddy

School Library Journal posted the Top 100 Picture Book Poll of 2009. (Thank you SLJ!) From that fabulous list, I have created some more fun for all of us! Here's the scoop:
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Below is a list of the top 30 Picture Books according to School Library Journal. Copy and paste this post and create a post of your own with it. Then, go back and highlight the books you and your children have read! After you post, leave a comment at The Bookworm's Booklist to let me and others know that your post is up. I can't wait to see who's read what! I have highlighted the books we've read in green. And I just placed the ones we haven't discovered yet on hold at the library.

#1: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1963)   A BACKYARD BOOKWORM FAVORITE
#2: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (1947)
#3: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (1979)
#4: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (1962)
#5: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems (2003)
#6: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (1941)
#7: Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (1955)   A BACKYARD BOOKWORM FAVORITE
#8: Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (1939)
#9: Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag (1928)
#10: Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems (2004)
#11: The Story of Ferdinand by Monroe Leaf, ill. Robert Lawson (1936)
#12: Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann (1994)
#13: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (1948)
#14: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, ill. Lane Smith(1989)
#15: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes (1996)
#16: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (1987)
#17: Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina (1947)
#18: In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak (1970)
#19: Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (1982)
#20: George and Martha by James Marshall (1972)
#21: Bark, George by Jules Feiffer (1999)  A BACKYARD BOOKWORM FAVORITE
#22: The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone, ill. by Mike Smollin (1971)   A BACKYARD BOOKWORM FAVORITE
#23: Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban (1964)
#24: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, ill. Lois Ehlert (1989)  A BACKYARD BOOKWORM FAVORITE
#25: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton (1942)
#26: Corduroy by Donald Freeman (1976)
#27: The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (1902)
#28: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, ill. Ray Cruz(1972)
#29: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (1969)
#30: Brown, Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin Jr., ill. Eric Carle (1967)

And he has arrived....

I'm sitting in my comfy chair at home with a tiny boy asleep on top of me.  He's absolutely precious.

And very much adored

We're taking the week off from school.  The King has been home all week, but he goes to work tomorrow.  We'll see how that goes.

The time has come, and I'm a tad nervous....

Bookworm #5 will be joining us tomorrow.

Yep, you heard it right.  

I've been three centimeters all week and having lots of contractions.  Neither my OB nor I want this baby to come on the weekend because hospital rules don't allow for weekend VBACs, and I refuse to have a c-section for someone else's convenience - if it's medically necessary, than sure - but not just because someone else said I have to.)  So, tomorrow it is.  I'm contracting quite a bit, though things aren't organized.  Hopefully it will pick up a bit though the night because I would really, really like to be in labor when I arrive at the hospital in the morning.  It just seems easier that way.  All the little Bookworms will be well-cared for while we are gone because all the grandparents are on deck tomorrow.  There is nothing at all to worry about concerning them, so I can just go birth this baby.

Tonight, I need to dump the pictures that are on the camera to the King's computer and to our back-up drive.  And I need to charge the batteries in the camera.  But, aside from a few loads of laundry, that is about it.  Amazing.  Everything is finally done, as if it were all orchestrated by God, so that I feel ready to do this in one sense.  And in another, I know that once he's here, my world's going to be turned upside-down.... again.... until we find our new normal in a few weeks.  

On other fronts: #3 is daily amusing me with his conversations - particularly those he has with other children.  #2 just had his first case of true bookwormishness.  He was listening to an audiobook of The Wizard of Oz that we borrowed from the library - and he sat still with the CD player for TWO AND A HALF HOURS.  (This from a boy that isn't even still when he is asleep.)  But he HAD to know how it ended.  Then he wanted to know if it had been made into a movie.  He was deeply disappointed to hear that it has, but that the movie is really quite different from the book.  I've promised to get it from the library in the near future.  We shall see what he thinks.  In the meantime, he's determined to listen to the whole book again.  #4's vocabulary is exploding and we're thrilled to be hearing new words from him on a daily basis.

And that's about all.  I'm being paged by children who are too excited to sleep.  Guess I'd better go read a bit more of a book in order to keep them quiet.

In case you are curious....

as to my lastest large reason for not blogging now that my long list of household projects is almost all checked off.

My computer died.  I mean it really died.  It's seen several-times-a-day use for five years, and it has all the symptoms of memory trouble, but my Bookworm King hasn't found a way to make it work without spending a lot of money. And we can't replace it at the moment because we have a baby coming and need our funds for that.  SO.... no computer for me means very little time to do anything more than check email and facebook and bloglines.  We are completely screen free in our house from the time the King leaves for work until the time he comes home, and then after the kids are in bed, he's usually back to work on his laptop, so I'm having to find new ways to amuse myself.  

But since I have a minute - I'll report on what's up:

The King and #2 have taken a large interest in botany and gardening.  They have veggies growing in several areas of the yard, and #3 and #4 love to "help."  Today, they were all out messing with the compost pile, and when I checked on them, #4 said, "Compost, Mama.  Compost." And pointed lest I not understand what the great pile of ever-blackening food and yard waste was. #2 took me on  a tour declaring emphatically that "There's LIFE, Mama! LIFE is everywhere!  Just look at all the green!" And #3 ran over to report on the TWO HUGE WORMS he had been studying, that were reported as being at least two foot long.  That's not a worm, I'm thinking - that's a garden snake.  And I hate snakes.  But the King was quick to inform me that it really was a worm, but the size was slightly exaggerated.  I'm not sure if he was telling the truth or not - if there are snakes in my yard.....

#5 is growing in my ever-widening belly and is swelling up my feet and ankles.  I think I have officially reached the cankle stage - there is no difference between my calf and my ankle.  

SO as for my list - 

the house is mostly finished - some trim to put up and some touchups to do

next years homeschooling is planned and the curriculum is purchased

the freezer is nearly full of meals for the post-baby period

the boys are very excited about meeting their new brother

the King is almost done with his semester at the seminary

and #4's birthday is on Sunday, and that is the last major event before #5's arrival.

So I've blogged a bit.  And there are no pictures because they are on my computer. But they exist, yes they do.