Our alarm clock has three sounds to go to sleep to. Cameron really likes the sound of crickets, a repeated chirp-chirp-chirp-break-chirp-chirp-chirp-break, and last night asked me to put that one. All of a sudden he jumped up and said “It sounds like ‘sum, es, est, sum, es, est*’!” He was so excited. I guess he listens during Latin more than I thought.
(*sum=I am; es=you are; est=he, she, or it is)
Vita-Mix Demonstrator: Are you homeschooled?
Early Teenage Boy: (shakes head) No.
Vita-Mix Demonstrator: Oh, I figured you were because you’re so smart.
On his birthday, Fritz went for a walk with Cameron on the sidewalk in front of our house. Cameron tripped and fell on top of Fritz. The little guy ended up with two skinned knees, a skinned cheek, a skinned nose, and a bruise between his right eye and nose.
After three years of not having a TV we decided to get one again. We decided to get one partly because I can’t watch anything comfortably on the little eMac or MacBook monitors and partly because we’ve pretty much exhausted the educational content on iTunes that Cameron is interested in and partly because we just wanted to.
So yesterday the Verizon guy came and installed FiOS TV. When he left I called the big kids in and they asked if they could watch “real TV” now. I told them they could. They cheered and then asked if they could stay outside and play some more. Of course I told them they could. In the end they only ended up watching a couple things from the on demand menu.
I went through the channels and while there were several things I was interested in watching and almost watched an old episode of The Addams Family, but decided I didn’t really feel like watching TV so I called my mom instead and talked to her for a little while and then listened to my audiobook and worked on my cross stitch. We did end up watching Glenn Beck on Headline News later on and DVR’d a show about Sushi on Food Network and watched it later. During the time the show was actually on I read a book to the kids.
So far we like having TV again and really like having the DVR (skipping commercials is nice – I hate commercials). We’ll see what we think in a few months.
Fritz is one year old today. Hard to believe just one year ago he was only 7 pounds 13 ounces and 20″ long and looked like this:
And today he is 20 pounds 14 ounces and 30 1/4″ long and looks like this:
By the time Fritz was born 10 days past his due date I was convinced he was never going to be born. My midwife assured me that would not be the case but I didn’t really believe her. I had joked that I would go into labor at 10:02 pm on July 10th because that was the apex of the full moon last year. When the first strong contraction hit I looked at the clock and burst out laughing. It was 10:02 pm!
At some point we called the midwife and my parents. At some point my midwife and her assistant and my parents and my aunt arrived. Time really is meaningless when you are in labor. Memories of my labor with Fritz are forever intertwined with the theme song of Jake Long: American Dragon. Jamie bought the first season of that cartoon on iTunes the morning of July 10th and my big kids watched it all day long and a bit during the night as well after they woke up.
Fritz’s labor hurt. He had his head cocked to the left and he was face up. Back labor is something I would not wish on my worst enemy. Apparently when my mom was in labor with me I was face up as well. For that I am very sorry now that I know how much pain it causes the mom. When he entered the birth canal he rotated to be face down and so he was born the proper way. I really thought that was a pretty cruel trick at the time.
At some point in the morning I got in the shower. It didn’t really help. I’m a land birther. Water does not need to be around me when I am in labor. I got out of the shower at some point and soon after I decided it was time to push. I didn’t feel the urge to push but his head had entered the birth canal and I knew if I pushed the pain would be over sooner. So I pushed. I think I pushed for about 20 minutes.
I pushed sitting up. Then I pushed on my hands and knees. I think he made the most progress toward getting out in that position but it also hurt the worst. Finally, I pushed on my side and at 8:34 am on July 11, 2006 Fritz entered the world. Someone put him in my arms and I checked to be sure I was right that I had a second little girl. I was quite surprised to discover this baby was not a girl, but another little boy. I must say that the very best part of his birth was checking to see what sex he was. With Ani the doctor announced she was a girl. With Cameron the ultrasound tech at 30 weeks told us. Finding out for myself was definitely the best.
Upon thinking about it, it really was ridiculous how the bedroom was set up when he was born. There were chairs around two sides of the bed and my father, mother, daughter, son, and aunt were sitting like spectators at a ball game watching. By the time Fritz actually came out, Ani had left the room, my mother had followed her to be sure she was okay, and Cameron had gotten bored and wandered off. They were all back as soon as the baby was born. In laborland, however, the spectators were not absurd at all. I barely knew they were there.
And so a year has gone by and Fritz has blessed and enriched our lives in so many ways. I just love this little guy!
Cameron has decided what he thinks heaven is like. On Saturday he spent one on one time with his father and got his haircut, then went to see Ratatouille, and then went swimming with his parents, siblings, and friends. After we got out of the pool he sat down in a chair on the pool deck and happily said “This is just like heaven!”
Fritz went to see his first movie in a theater today. We took the kids to see Ratatouille. It was really cute. Cameron said it was his favorite movie ever. At first Fritz was a bit surprised by the loudness but quickly got used to it. He spent some time babbling to the cute little rats on the screen while eating some toddler cookies and part of a teething biscuit. Then he drank some water and nursed a little, and then fell asleep for an hour and a half, three-quarters of the movie.
Currently we have five kids at our house. A friend from church had to go to her brother’s wedding and only could take their youngest, so we agreed to watch their 5 year old son and 7 year old daughter. It works out nicely since we have a 5 year old son and a 7 year old daughter, too.
As it turns out having two extra kids is no big deal at all. The kids have been playing rather nicely together since the others arrived Wednesday morning. I’m actually surprised at how little girly drama there has been since both my daughter and my friend’s daughter have very strong personalities. Fritz absolutely adores my friend’s son.
The biggest thing about having two extra kids is the amount of food they eat. Or rather the amount of food they put on their plates to push around on their plates and pretend to eat. It just so happens that my friend’s kids are like my older two kids in that they eat very little at meal times and graze most of the day. Fritz is turning out to be the biggest eater of the whole lot of them.
The other night Ani was reading a Scooby Doo chapter book and she asked me “What’s a gooter?” I said “A what?” She said “A gooter.” I said I had never heard of that word and asked her to show me the word in her book. She pointed and I said “Oh! A guitar!” She replied, “Well, I know what a guitar is. I just couldn’t figure out what is was when I thought it said gooter!” Ah, the joys of phonics and the English language.
One year ago today Fritz was due. I had finally made it to July 1st and he was welcome to come any time. He held out on me for another 10 days. This year it seems like those ten days will fly by and my baby will be a year old before I know it. Last year the time between July 1st and July 11th were the longest ten days of my life. One year ago today Fritz was still a girl named Kati. I was totally convinced he was girl (mainly because my pregnancy was SO identical to Ani’s). When I was in labor, because so many things had gone so differently than expected, I said something about how it would be funny if the baby turned out to be a boy. My midwife said she was expecting that. Today I can’t imagine him being anything but the boy he is. It’s funny to think back to a year ago when we were full of anticipation for the baby girl that would be arriving soon. It seems like the baby boy we have has been with us so much longer than a year.
Smaller on the Outside 