The New Year

Have you ever looked at the plans you made for the previous years and say "I haven't done anything constructive!?!" That is where I am now...redirecting my life back to where I wanted to be last year and the year before that and the year before that. As a matter of fact I reminded myself of a conversation I had with my spiritual father about my then 5yodd. The conversation went something like this...
Me "I feel like I am loosing touch with my daughter, I know I don't spend the quality time with her I need to. I just don't know what to say or do"
Him "It is not too late, she is only 5"
Me "riigghht, she is young I can start now" I leave with renewed hope that all is not lost.
Fast forward to today and she is 17 and now I have 6 more kids than I did then. SO not only do I not spend time with her I don't spend time with them either. Don't get me wrong I am not upset just shocked at how time marches on and I still have the same goals.
We are working on perfection, not perfect.
One of my favorite sayings is 'if you fall a thousand times a day get up a thousand times.'
So here we are January 2, 2010 and my goals are a cut and paste from last year:
Spend more one on time with each on my ten blessings from God.
Be more patient with each of them including but not limited to answering all their questions.
Keep a more organized home.
This is not an exhausted list just the ones I feel I always need help on. I do want to paint my house room by room, get passports for everyone and get out of debt this year. But those things aren't as important to me as the things that are a part of my character. So here I go into the new year, enthusiastic about what is ahead, not looking behind but forward with my eyes on Christ.

HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL!!

I was reminded of another classic...
Caleb talking to his dad on the phone while Dan is on his way home from work: "Dad there are three guys in mommy's room.
Dan: "WHAT!"
Caleb: "yeah dad, there is a black guy, a white guy and a little horny guy"
Dan, pulling over to collect himself" WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!"
Caleb: "You know the StarWars movie box."
Dan still pulled over because he is laughing so hard "OOHH!!"
It was the videos of the triology, on the outside of each movie box was a different picture, one had
darth vader, another a storm trooper and the third yoda.

Famous Kid Quotes

Has anyone ever told you to right down the clever things your kids do or say? Tons of people have told me, they even have tried to talk me into scrapbook paraphernalia to make it more memorable. But alas I don't do it. So here is my simple attempt to "write" them down so I won't forget. If you remember something my kids have said or done please write them here or maybe something clever YOUR kid has said or done.
Dan: Quit running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.
3yr old Rachel: Why do they run around with their heads cut off?
Dan: Because that is how they kill them.
Rachel: Maybe they should cut off thems feet first.

While looking at pictures of himself as a baby and commenting on his baldness Jimmy says. "When I was born I said I'm gonna shave my head and get outa here!"

3yr old Katie: I've gotta watch but I don't know what time is it.
Dan correcting her: What time it IS.
Katie's response: I DON'T KNOW!!

When asked why he wasn't eating his dinner Caleb, while striking a pose and staring out into space without blinking, said "I'm a toy" He was also three.

After getting into trouble Photini says with tears in her eyes "You no like children"

Michael gets onto Caleb's back and starts to kick him. Caleb says "what are you doing?"
Michael says "you my horsey"
Caleb: "I'm not a horsey"
Michael: Truly confused and surprised says "You're NOT?!"

While I was taking a shower Rebekah comes into the bathroom to tell me something. After 3 failed attempts to try to understand her I yell "just get out of here" She replies sarcastically "O.K. psychopath" And this wasn't just yesterday it was when she was less than 18months old.

I am getting the impression here that 3yr olds are pretty clever. I will try to come up with some more but this is a start.

I was thinking about my children and how my actions as their mother effects them and I had an epiphany. First let me give you a progression of my thoughts. Every morning I thank God for the new day and I think "Today I will say kind words and/or I will stop what I am doing and do something with this child or that." Then every night I pray God forgive me, I failed again. Often times I think "Oh Boy they will be in therapy for that one." I think about my mother and the things she said and did or the things she didn't say or do. I know I could blame my mom for a lot but I don't. Why should I? She did the best she could. I have been responsible for my actions for more years of my life now than when she was responsible for me. With that in mind I realized that as long as I do the best I can, all will be O.K. I don't make my mom responsible for my adult actions therefore my kids, hopefully, won't hold me accountable for theirs. I say they are God's He made them and I am starting to believe that. I am only a steward. Whether I am a good or bad steward I will ultimately be held accountable for but who they become will be their responsibilities. I am not, of course, going to shrink from this awesome task at hand. I am just realizing that I can't take what they become personal. Good or bad. So I will continue to wake up every morning, thank God for the new day and ask for His help in caring for these most precious of gifts. And I am certain I will go to bed every night asking Him for His forgiveness.

Birth Story for #10

Here is the short version...went to ER with severe stomach pains, got a c-section-baby weighing 6lbs 2oz and was 18 1/2" long, stayed in hospital for 4 days, at home slowly recovering.

Now for those of you who wonder "WHAT? Gen, a very outspoken opponent to cesareans, got a cesarean?" I need to know more.

Here is the long version...
It all started around Christmas when I started having swelling in my feet and legs. About a month later my blood pressure went up to an average of 150/100. A week before I went to the ER my OB put me on modified bed rest. So I did the best I could being a mother of 9.

On Friday, February 20th, I started having abdominal cramps and I thought was the stomach flu. However, it kept getting worse throughout the day and I started seeing spots in my vision. I called my midwife and she suggested we go to the ER and not to expect to go home. The ER is a different post altogether.

Once we were in Labor and Delivery they took my blood pressure. It was a whopping 217/116! I wasn't going anywhere. They also checked me and I was only at 1cm, with a hard cervix and the baby was floating at -2 station. There was a ton of protein in my urine and the pain behind my ribs was horrid.

For those of you who have labored before, you know the pain you feel at the peek of a contraction- well, that is what I was already feeling - with no relief of the contraction ending. It was incredible!!! On top of that my head was exploding with pain. I couldn't breathe or talk. The L/D nurses called my doc and they put a magnesium drip in my IV to keep me from having seizures.

Once my doc showed up she said my liver enzymes didn't match the pain I said I was in and suggested we induce labor and try to have this baby as natural as possible (via pitocin and an epidural). I said there was no way I could live through contractions on top off the pain in my ribs.

I said to everyone there, "I can't believe these words are coming out of my mouth, but I WANT a cesarean" Dan was in total agreement.

I got prepped for OR, entered the room at 10:34pm and #10 was born at 10:53. The epidural they gave me masked the pain in my ribs. Once the baby was born and they were sewing me up, the headache climaxed and went away after I closed my eyes for a few minutes. It was the fastest delivery I ever experienced.

I have to tell you that when they started the surgery the baby started running on my ribs. It felt like she was trying to run away from the doctor. Really cute.

While everything was taking place I was saying the Jesus Prayer. There was a faint song being chanted in the background. You know how that is. You don't realize there is a song in your head until you pull it up front.

It was the hymn to the Theotokos, Greater in honor, but it was in Greek. I also thought I heard, O Champion General, also in Greek. Later our oldest told Dan that the Abbess at St. Paraskevi told her that the Panagia (Mother of God, the Ever Virgin Mary) was with me in surgery. I believe that with my whole heart, without her help I would not be here.

The poor baby screamed from the minute the cool air touched her. Which is probably a good thing considering the problems some newborns delivered by C/S have with fluid on their lungs. She cleared them right out. Dan went over and held her hand and said her name and she stopped screaming.

I stayed on the mag-drip for the entire next day. My enzyme levels matched my pain before surgery when they drew my blood again a few hours later. I cannot stress the amount of pain I was in when I made the decision to have major surgery to deliver my baby. I would have tried pitocin and the epidural had it not been for the terrible pain I was already experiencing.

I got to stay in the hospital until Tuesday thanks to my BP not going down to an acceptable level. They put me on BP meds to get it to go down and they suspect it will within a few weeks. It general does in these sort of situations. As quickly as it appeared, it should go back down. The funny thing is, I kept asking ifthe meds were safe for the baby if I breastfeed. "Oh yes of course," was their answer, but when it was time to be discharged I was advised to stay clear of caffeine and alcohol because whatever I consume goes to the baby through breast milk.

The meds are o.k. but stay clear of coffee?

It was determined that I had preeclampsia. Which ironically is more common in first-time moms. The doc also discovered the cord wrapped around the baby's body and looped over the top of her head in front of the cervix with the potential of becoming a prolapsed cord.

No, this is not God's way of telling us it is time to stop having babies. We will prayerfully consider what our future holds and continue to give God the glory for the miracle of a new baby. We are blessed and our life is full of immeasurable treasures through these beautiful gifts from Him.

Introduction

This blog is being set up for all of our friends and family who might like to know what is going on in our lives. As you all know we just had our 10th child. Hence, the name of the blog. We will be married for 18 years this July. Our oldest daughter is 16 and is currently preparing to take her SAT's. Our oldest son is 15 and a Freshman doing Senior Math so he is not far behind her. Of course we home school but our kids can take much of the credit for keeping on track. We use the Robinson's Curriculum which we would highly recommend seeing the results it produces. We have 5 more being schooled at home right now. Each one is doing well for their grade level. We have a 2 year old and a 4 year old who ransack the house while the rest of the kids do their schoolwork but we prefer that to having them sit in front of the television :) On nice days the two of them go out back to play on the swingset where we can view them and can only imagine what they are saying. Our newest edition, pictured above was born on Feb 20th. The birth story will follow shortly.