We're Home!

I know, it's been forever. Have a mentioned that I'm not a pleasant pregnant person? I tried to sequester myself as much as possible this last month so that I'd still have friends. The international community here isn't huge and I like my friends. Anyways, I'm no longer pregnant! Makenzie Elizabeth was born last Thursday at 8:24. :-) She's absolutely perfect! As she was releasing her from the hospital yesterday, the pediatrician told us that babies like Makenzie make her job easy and very enjoyable. There were several things of note that were very different from having a baby in the states and I know I'm going to forget them, so I'm putting them here.

The view from my hospital room - much nicer than the construction I had with the boys at Carle

Things that made me go hmm....
- The anesthesiologist was awful! It took him over 30 minutes and 4-5 pricks to get my spinal in. I have a huge bruise on my back that is causing me more pain than my incision!
- The delivery was incredibly smooth. My doctor had her out in less time than getting my spinal in and then I was in recovery within 3o minutes after that.
- I was not allowed to see Makenzie or Ulysses in recovery. I was told I had to move both legs before I could go upstairs and see them. Talk about motivation! I was moving within the hour. The nurses were surprised (they had told Ulysses at least 2 hours).
- I actually stood up and walked to the bathroom Thursday evening. I was even impressed by how well I was able to move around and my nurse was shocked.
- Pain control is a joke. I'm allowed to have paracetamol (Tylenol). It's not cutting it. Pray for fast healing please.
- I was ready to go home by Saturday, but didn't get to leave until Monday afternoon.
- Everyone told me how wonderful the food and service is at the hospital ("Like staying at a 5 star hotel"). They are probably right, but I hate fancy food. I lived on the contraband my friends brought me and the bread and butter that I requested with every meal. The spaghetti and meatballs that a friend brought us for dinner last night were the best things I'd eaten in a week!
- I miss having a TV. Even though I could only understand 3 of the 40 channels, it was wonderful.
- My hospital bracelet was cut off Friday afternoon. Ulysses never had one. I cut Makenzie's off last night when I got her ready for bed.
- We just walked out of the hospital. We weren't escorted and we didn't sign anything. We just took Makenzie out of the bassinet, strapped her into her car seat and walked out the door.
- I still have all my bandages on my incision. A home nurse is coming in every day for the next 15 days to change the dressing on it. (For reference, I had nothing on my incision after each boy by the day after birth.) The stupid sticker is driving me nuts. I'm dreading the next two weeks.
- I have been getting a very painful shot every night to prevent blood clots. I was really excited to leave the hospital and be done with them. The home nurse that's coming every day is still giving me this shot for the next week. :-(
- A mid-wife is coming to check on us tonight and I'm told she's going to be coming several times for the next couple of weeks.
- I don't see the doctor for 6 weeks
- Makenzie doesn't see the doctor until she's a month old
- Makenzie was the 500th baby born at the hospital this year. They gave me flowers. :-)

Baby Updates:
- Breast-feeding is not going well. She refuses to wake up to eat until she's starving and then is in such a panic that she can't latch on. Hopefully the midwife will be able to offer suggestions tonight.
- She is VERY laid back. Even when the pediatrician was doing all of her tests, she would open her eyes and glare, but as soon as the pediatrician let go of her, she was back asleep.
- She was wearing 50cm clothes at birth. I doubt she'll fit in them by Christmas.

The boys are obsessed with their baby sister. Xavier is constantly bringing blankets and Ezekiel is bringing toys. They are both trying to entertain her constantly. They were very upset by her crying last night.

I have amazing friends. They've taken care of the boys, brought meals, and prayed for us amongst many other favors. Thank you very much!

Busy, Busy!

Sorry I've been so bad about blogging. It's been pretty crazy around here. The boys had their school holidays and Ulysses worked some shifts, so our schedules have not been "normal". We had our final ultrasound (if I can find the picture, I'll post it). We've set the date for the c-section and I *think/hope* we've got insurance figured out. We got some big news regarding Ulysses's job and I ripped my only pair of comfy maternity jeans. So, I'll just update by person:

Family Picture in Barcelona

Baby - She still doesn't have a name. We think we've got it narrowed down to two, but we (I) don't like how one is spelled and we're (I'm) not sure about the other. And middle names are still up in the air. No, we're not telling. It's taken us over 5 years to get this close to coming up with a girl's name that we liked. I'm not risking anyone ruining it! At our final scan (32 weeks) she was measuring 2 weeks big. They do not adjust due dates beyond the first 12 week scan here, but since she's going to be a c-section, my doctor did move up when he wants to take her. She's already head down and I think I've been having some contractions. Much more progress in 34 weeks than the boys did in 40! The doctor does not want to risk me going into labor and having to pull together an emergency c-section. So, she's coming December 3! Yikes! That's 3 weeks! I will not see my doctor again until the surgery which seems a little weird, but I'm happy not to wait in his office for another hour or more. I'm also excited that I get to check into the hospital the night before. Now we don't have to worry about how we're going to get to the hospital early before the buses are running full schedule. The surgery will be sometime between 8 and 12 and then I'll be in the hospital 5-7 days. They keep you longer the more kids you're going home to. With the boys in school, we're good while I'm in the hospital, but my parents are coming the following week to help once I get home. Once Ulysses reads this, I'm sure he'll find the picture from our ultrasound and I'll post that.

I knew Ulysses would find the picture. Poor third child, she doesn't get pictures posted of her and she's not even born! I don't know how well you can tell, but she seems to have a ton of hair already!

Ezekiel is going to school all day! We talked about it during the school holidays that after break, he was going back. He was okay with it and Xavier practically forced the issue. Xavier did not like the idea that Ezekiel was getting to spend every afternoon alone with mommy. It didn't matter that all we were doing was sleeping. He seems to be getting more excited about a baby coming. He loves to put his head on my belly and listen to the baby "swimming." Unfortunately Ezekiel still has not started gymnastics. Last spring, his coach got hurt and he only had 1 class in May and June. His coach was supposed to be fine to start again in September, but he wasn't. They told us November, but it's now been changed to April. We're pretty irritated. Especially since we just found out and all of our other affordable options are long filled. Hopefully we'll be able to find something soon, but until then he's enjoying making dinner with me on Thursday nights when Xavier goes to gym.

Ezekiel with his apple choice from the market. It was almost as big as his head and took three people to eat it all!

Xavier is learning how to read and write. He is mostly learning at school, but he is bringing home what he's learning and making the transition to English. I have no idea how common that is, but I'm impressed. He still loves school and is enjoying birthday parties most every weekend. He's quite the social butterfly. He's got a page long list of kids that he wants to come to his party and is not happy that he's going to have to cut it down. He tells me that he isn't inviting any of the crazy kids because Grandma can't handle that. (Grandma is doing his birthday party for me since I'm going to be recovering.) Xavier loves gymnastics. He has a mini-meet, but we're not sure he's going to be able to do it. It's four hours on the Sunday afternoon that I'm going to be in the hospital.

Xavier at gymnastics

Ulysses is actually looking forward to his next set of overnight shifts. Beam is half-way around the LHC and he's hoping there will be collisions in time for his next shift. I can't explain anything else, but it's a good step for the LHC and eventually his career.

On top of the Columbus statue in Barcelona

I am just biding my time until the baby comes. I have not accomplished anything on my list of to dos. :-( The boys still do not have baby albums which makes me very sad. I have not sewn the curtains. They are still sitting in the IKEA bag on our floor. There's a slim possibility of getting something done in the next three weeks, but probably not. Oh well. Hopefully we'll have a happy, healthy baby and nothing else will matter. Right? Also, I refuse to buy a new pair of maternity jeans for only three weeks, but what I've got is not comfortable for walking back and forth to school in three times a day. Erg. Why couldn't they hold out one more month?

On my birthday - enjoying an American football game on a friend's TV

Happy Halloween!

Blogger isn't publishing how I want it, but I'm too tired to care.

So we discovered Halloween in France this year. Last year, one of our neighbors told me that trick or treating was American and not done in France. Apparently, just not in the apartment complexes. But, in the neighborhoods there's Halloween! So, Xavier's best friend invited us over for a night of fun.

We made ghosts from paper, bread, and cookies!

The boys got to go trick or treating!

During the day we decorated and carved pumpkins. The boys weren't so sure about the gunk inside of the pumpkins.


































I made a project too that I found on one of my friend's facebook page. It's oranges that were filled with fruit salad. A big hit! Thanks Julie!

I know I haven't posted Barcelona stuff. It's probably not going to happen. I hope you all had a great Halloween!

Funny Story

So, I know I'm way behind, but if I don't type this tonight I'm going to forget. The boys autumn break starts today so they brought home their artwork and papers from the first term. Before bed tonight, the boys were showing and explaining to us everything they'd done. This is one of Xavier's pictures. When I asked where mommy and daddy were, he told me we were inside the house. Then he said we had thrown him and Ezekiel out the window. Apparently the boys were old in the picture.

In the interest of fairness, here is one of Ezekiel's artworks. The top says its a snowman, but Xavier's page like this he told us was a self-portrait. Ezekiel told us it's a race track. Sounds like a self-portrait to me!

Brotherly Love

Brothers make the best pillows

Where does the time go?

So, the boys have been in school for almost two weeks and I've accomplished nothing. Ugh. I'd like to blame it on my twisted ankle, and that has been a lot of it, but so has the internet. The computer is a terrible thing. I've mostly kept up on laundry and we finally got to the bottom of our kitchen sink this week. But, there's still over 100 messages in my inbox waiting on me to respond to and I've still got 10 VBS cds to deliver. So, in the hopes of getting a little commitment on my part and some encouragement (guilt?) from from friends, I'm going to post my goals for this semester while the boys are at school. The baby should be here sometime during the last week of school before Christmas, so I've got until then.

1. Sew the curtains that my mom ironed and pinned for me
2. Finish Xavier's baby album
3. Start and hopefully complete Ezekiel's baby album
4. Get the last box of Crocodile Dock stuff out of the house!
5. Resort and organize the toy/art buckets and shelves with baby toys in mind
6. Get our room clean and organized so the Moses basket can fit and the baby has somewhere to sleep.
7. Keep on top of laundry especially before the radiators turn on so I have maternity clothes to wear (last week was not fun - it takes at least two days for things to dry with the current weather and I discovered one morning ALL of my maternity clothes were in the laundry.)

I think those are the main things. If you see me on Facebook, feel free to ask me how any of them are going.

School Update!

Xavier is still loving it! He's gotten over losing two of his good friends to the International school this year and is making new friends. Every day he points out a new friend. He doesn't know their names, but at least he's got playmates. He's a little disappointed about all of the extra classroom time that he has this year. He gets less time outside and no rest time after lunch. They are preparing him for Primary school next year, but he's a little jealous of Ezekiel's nap time.

Ezekiel is still having a rough time, but I think it's getting better. The highlight of his day is getting to play with Xavier and Aidan (Xavier's best friend) on the playground. All of the kids are outside together for part of the morning and part of the afternoon. Xavier heads inside before Ezekiel and it seems Ezekiel just stands and the fence watching for me after that happens. In the mornings, Ezekiel has a good friend from church that is in his class. They stick together like glue. I'm happy they have each other, but I hope Ezekiel makes some friends for the afternoons soon.

Monday was a turning a point day for Ezekiel. I had my first French lesson at CERN so Ulysses was in charge. After lunch, Ezekiel wanted to stay with me, but Ulysses took him to school. He was dropped off crying and proceeded to cry the entire afternoon to the point where he made himself sick as we were heading home. Of course, as soon as we got home, he was perfectly normal jumping and flipping off of everything in sight. He was sent back to school on Tuesday and has had no tears. We think he just needed to know he wasn't getting out of going to school, no matter what tricks he tried.

There is something going on his poor, sweet mind though because he's starting having accidents overnight again and refuses to sleep in his own bed. At bedtime every night, he asks Xavier if he can sleep in his bed and Xavier always lets him (Xavier tells me he likes to be nice). This morning when he woke up wet, he told Ulysses he had his accident on his end of Xavier's bed. It took Xavier about a month last year to get used to school, so we're hoping Ezekiel will be doing better by October.

I haven't really taken many pictures. Our camera is on the fritz again and there really isn't a lot "picture-worthy" going on. We're just getting back into a normal routine. It's very nice. We are letting the boys help in the kitchen some more. Ezekiel helped me cook dinner last night while Xavier was at gymnastics and Xavier makes his PB&J on the weekends.

Baby Girl!

With all of the excitement of visitors for the month of August, I forgot to post that we're having a girl! We're not really that surprised. This has been a VERY different pregnancy than the first two, but I was hoping it was just because of the new lifestyle and diet. In the US (and Switzerland), my due date would be the 21st of December with a c-section around the 7th. In France, my due date is the 28th. I have a French doctor, but will be having the c-section in Switzerland, so the birth day will probably be somewhere in between. I will have another scan in November around 32 weeks and the surgery date will be scheduled shortly after that.

But, right now we need names! We found out so early with the boys that they were going to be boys, we've never come up with a girl's name that we like. So, what do you got for me?

First Day of School!

Update: Sorry, I forgot to update how the boys did. Xavier's doing great. Ezekiel told me this morning that he's "not a fan of school." But, I was able to drop him off this morning with no tears! Unfortunately this afternoon he was taken away from me screaming again. The petites take an afternoon nap and yesterday I took him to the sleeping room and he walked right in and jumped into his bed without so much as a whine. Today, the teacher told me I had to drop him off in her classroom and she would take him to the sleeping room. Change does not go over well with my son. Hopefully we'll have two days the same soon and he'll get used to the new routine. The past two days, the boys have gotten to play together outside and that has been a big highlight in their days.

Original Post:
So, I have about 30 more minutes of my first morning alone. I wish I could say I was super productive, but I am listening to my French Immersion CDs since I'm going to be expected to communicate in French again. Here's the pictures from this morning!

Ulysses rode his bike with the boys to school


Outside of the school. Xavier can't wait to get inside, Ezekiel is still saying he's coming home with me.


Xavier was pretty nervous in the hall because of all of the people (~100 kids plus all their parents and no one knowing there they're going) but, once he got inside he was perfectly happy to play with his friends.


Ezekiel would only take his picture with me, but you can tell we're being scammed about him not wanting to go to school


He's just not too sure about this. I'm not too sure about his little sister sticking out of my belly...


Ulysses is much stronger than I am, so I left the classroom in hopes that Ezekiel would stay and calm down. It didn't go well.

Eventually, Ulysses brought him out in the hall to calm down and we marched back in with our brave faces on. I told his teacher he was very scared of all the French, but would be fine as soon as I was gone. She pried him off of me and I walked out of the school to the sound of him screaming. I'll update this evening on how the rest of the morning went.

I did much better this year though. Not even one kleenex for mommy! I figured with all of the pregnancy hormones, I'd be even worse than last year, but I was able to stay strong for Ezekiel. :-) We'll see how Monday goes...

Visitors!

We've finally gotten some more visitors! (We have a sofa bed and we'd love to have more visitors - hint,hint!) ANYWAYS, my parents are in Europe for the month of August and started with us so they could be pack mules with all of our necessities they bought from Sam's for us. We had a very busy week. Since they were here for a whole week, we did a lot of the sightseeing stuff around town. I'm getting tired of writing my catch-up posts (this is number 3) so it's mostly just pictures.

We went to Voltaire's Chateau that's only open in the summer. Grandma really wanted the boys picture with this fountain.

I was coming down the stairs, so I don't know the full account, but after this was taken my dad came in towards Ezekiel. Ezekiel stepped back and fell into this nasty, stagnant water. Thankfully the water was not deep and he only got wet to his chest. But, when I pulled him out he was covered with muck and bugs and I don't even want to think about what else. Our day was over and it was home for a bath.

We took grandma and grandpa to the Meyrin pool. Since we finally had more adults than kids, there is actually picture proof that we've been to this pool!

Grandma played catch with Ezekiel for about 3 hours


Grandpa helped keep Xavier warm after his 30 minutes of fun

Xavier is really into games right now and was excited to have a willing opponent

Xavier wanted to read to grandpa

We didn't think my parents were going to be here for the final night of the Fete de Geneve and the big fireworks display, so we went down and explored during the week. Grandma took the boys on the rollercoaster since I'm pregnant.

We saw the Reformation Museum and the Archelogical dig under Saint Peter's Cathedral. The boys enjoyed the audio guides and searching for bones like Dora's mami.

We climbed up Saint Peter's South Tower

We were still house sitting while my parents were here and had a car. (Thank you Antonia and Stephen!) So, we went up into the Jura mountains to check out the view.

Where we were

View of Mont Blanc from the Jura's and a view of the valley where we live

Having fun on the mountain

Enjoying the view from the telecabine

This is a four-seasons luge that I can't wait to do when I'm not pregnant!

The boys learned a new trick! They can now open and close our shades. It's going to be nice on Saturday mornings. Usually they wake us up to open them for some light and then let us go back to bed. We've eliminated the waking mommy and daddy up step!

My parents try to let us go out on a date whenever they visit. We were supposed to go to Paris for our anniversary, but Ulysses had to do a DOE review and the schedules weren't working out. We did get to go to "China" for a dinner alone. (The boys call this Chinese restaurant in town "China". We're not sure why, but the name seems to be stuck.)

I don't know what I did, but somehow I've had it in my head for a year that my parents were going to miss the final night of the Fete de Geneve and the huge fireworks display. Luckily, mom checked her ticket and we didn't take them to the airport a day early!

What's becoming a tradition.

Enjoying the show


This is not even close to the finale. 55 minutes of amazing fireworks set to music. I'd recommend visiting during the Fete.

How Ezekiel ended the evening. The fireworks started at 10 and we had a busy day before that.