Bar cookies are the way to go

I have been winging it alone this week.  My mom left us after being here for 2 1/2 weeks last Friday and Kenneth left Sunday morning for Germany for work.  I had very low expectations for myself this week.  I didn't try to unpack anything.  I didn't try to hang pictures or organizing the many things that need organizing.  My main goal was to feed the children and keep them alive (I also wanted to keep up on Emma's school work, but keeping the baby happy was first priority).  I have succeeded!  Hooray! 
Many things have helped us to be happy this week, but these bar cookies were a definite sanity-saver for me.  That and going to bed at 8:30 pm.  And this rice pudding.  Yum.  (Thanks, Mel!  You are a gem!)  There are a few reasons why bar cookies are the way to go.  First, they are easier to make.  Second, you don't have to feel guilty about how many you have eaten- you just keep cutting off little pieces- no problem!  What's a little piece?  No big deal.  Third. . . okay maybe just 2 reasons but they sure have made my week.  I don't know what the deal is, but I have wanted to eat everything bad for me this last little while.  It's horrible!  I don't usually allow myself to make such treats anymore because I don't need to eat them.  But, I guess I needed a little comfort food this week, so I let myself. 
The baby carrier has also been a life-saver.  I guess after being in the womb for so long, being in the baby carrier reminds the babies of being back in their watery home.  I wore Kate in the carrier today while I went out in the snow for over 2 hours. I swept 6 inches of snow off the trampoline and the glass-covered wells to the basement windows.  She was happy as a clam sleeping away the entire time in there.  I can even get on my hands and knees and sweep the floor under the table without her even batting an eye!  It's great.
I planned on not leaving the house this week and that was a very good thing especially with the snow yesterday and today.  I don't know if I could drive anywhere even if I wanted to.  They don't so much know how to clear the roads around here.  New York has that down pat and that is what we were used to.  Not so here. So, the car hasn't been driven since Saturday.  Playing out in the snow has helped with any cabin fever we may have developed.  Our neighbors must really think we are fruity Californians out clearing snow with bucket lids and a broom.  I can't seem to find that snow shovel we used to own when we lived in New York. 

Boy, this is hard work! Arianna taking a break.

Here is our backyard this morning.

Arianna is obsessed with eating the snow.  I even found her licking a puddle off the mud room floor hours after we had come inside.  Oh, child!

Such fun!

Anything is more fun if wheels are involved!

Also, before the snow came we had a nice walk on our neighborhood walking trail that passes by a small hobby farm that has five horses.  The kids love to say hello and feed them carrots. 
Speaking of Kansas- it is fabulous!  Well, the people are anyway.  Kansas itself if kind of just flat plains. We have had 5 neighbors bring us baked goods and gifts to welcome us to the neighborhood.  Another neighbor that I don't even know plowed my driveway yesterday and today.  We got a personal letter of welcome from the Mayor of North Newton (I guess you can do that when there are only 1,765 people who live here, 500 or so of whom attend the college located here).  We have felt very welcomed.  We live in the kind of neighborhood where the people who drive by you when you are out for a walk all wave.  I love it. 

Some more points of interest for the week:

Why do babies always look so different on different days and in different positions?  If I didn't know better, I wouldn't know this was even the same baby!

Little Kate

So sweet

Sleep is good.  Look at those little lips!

We are a little unconventional around here:

My five year old daughter sleeps with a 6-foot-long stuffed snake:

It is so funny to me when I go in to check on her at night and she is lovingly curled up with this thing!

The piano has turned into a parking lot:

Grant loves to find new places to play with his cars and his marbles, too.

Arianna is a horse pulling a carriage, which her brother is driving:

I have a future project on my hands changing the wall color in that dining room.  Some day I'll do that!

The kids decided it would be fun to play doctor with the 'living doll':

Oh, children!

 

 

 

Checking the knee reflex

Dr. Emma says she is healthy as a horse!

So, only one more day to go 'til Daddy comes home.  I think we'll make it.  Hopefully without making another pan of bar cookies!

It's a. . .

GIRL!!!!!

We are so happy to introduce the newest member of the Larchar family!  Katherine Belle Larchar was born Sunday, February 3rd. (5 days after her due date.)  (We'll call her Kate).  She weighed 6 lbs. 5.4 oz. and was 19 inches long.   She was born in Wichita, Kansas.  Her sisters couldn't be more delighted.  Although Grant kind of wanted a brother, he has taken quite a liking to his little sister.
I'll give the full labor and delivery report after the pictures, so if you're interested stay with me until then!  Here are some pictures of our newest little princess and her adventures in coming into this world:

Here I am 2 nights before the birth.  We figured we better get a picture of me at the very end!

Here is Mom and Baby Girl right after she was born.  (She didn't have a name until right before we left the hospital)

Sucking her thumb already.  Uh-oh.  Look at all that dark hair!

She did NOT like her first bath.  She was even gripping the side of the tub to try to pull herself out!  Strong girl!

Here are the kids (and my mom) meeting the baby for the first time.  The kids were so interested in her tiny toes and little fingers and the umbilical cord stump.  

Of course, they all wanted their own turn at holding her:

Here's Emma with baby Kate.

Arianna's turn

Grant loves his sister!  (He is wearing an eye patch for a few weeks to strengthen a weak eye.)

Checking out her little toes!

The monkeys must climb!

Daddy and the kids decorated for our arrival.  Daddy even bought be beautiful flowers.  There's little Kate in the bottom right corner snoozing in the swing.

Here's Kate a couple of days after coming home.

Here's my attempt at a photo shoot.

We have been so thankful to have my mom here with us.  She has kept the house clean, helped with unpacking and breaking down boxes, done projects and helped the kids with their school work, laundry, sewing and mending and so many other things that I am sure I won't recognize until she is gone.  She has almost read the entire novel Heidi to them.  Many times, Emma holds Kate while Grandma reads.  Arianna sometimes brushes Grandma's hair while she reads, or else, in pure Arianna style, rumbles and rolls around nearby listening, but unable to sit still.

Reading Heidi

Reading Heidi again, just this morning.

Arianna 'listening' to Heidi

One thing's for sure, everyone loves to snuggle this baby!

And with a face like this, who could resist?

Daddy has been so busy with 2 jobs and a lot of responsibility at the new job, but he still likes to take the time to hold and talk to his sweet new baby Kate.

Kate likes Grandma to hold her on her belly.

I call this the Grandma hold.  She never lets me hold her like this.  She sleeps so contentedly on Grandma's lap like this.

See that face?  Don't you want to snuggle her, too?!

One day we saw her sleeping in her swing like this.  So. . .

We gathered the kids around and asked, "Who loves Mommy?"  It's unanimous!

And now as to what the big kids are up to (besides snuggling Kate and spending time with Grandma):

Building amazing structures with Magnatiles.  Grant got a small set for Christmas and we gave Arianna a set for her Birthday and Emma a set for when Kate was born, so now they have lots and are making amazing things!  Check out that horse barn with attached stables!

Here are the kids tobogganing down the stairs.  If you think it is fast when they are together, you should see them do it separately- they really fly (much to mom's fright).  That's uncle Bryan's voice in the background in case you wondered.  He had business here in Kansas and came to see us a couple of night's ago!

So, as for the birth story.  I have never had a baby go past their due date and I certainly didn't think this baby would be any different.  After all, at my first appointment with the doctor here in Kansas at the very beginning of January, the Doctor said to me that I was already somewhat effaced and dilated to 1 cm and that she would see me next week at my appointment if not sooner!  I put a back up plan in place with our new Relief Society President (who happens to be Kenneth's cousin's wife), in case I went into labor while we still lived in temporary housing 30 minutes away from our new home.  At each subsequent appointment, I was a little further effaced and more dilated.  But, still no baby.  And I was thankful she hadn't come yet.  We closed on our house on January 18th- 10 days before the due date and were able to get moved in and somewhat settled before she finally decided to come 2 weeks later.

The Thursday before she was born, I was dilated to a 3-4 and almost completely effaced.  We set up a time to go to the hospital on Monday morning for the Doctor to break the bag of waters to get things moving.  Friday and Saturday, I vacuumed the house, was up and down the stairs unpacking and taking care of things and we even went on a pretty good walk.  Saturday night when I sent to bed I told Kenneth I was feeling a little something happening, but no real contractions.  (At this point my mom was already with us and so it could happen anytime and we had her to take care of the other kids should I go into labor.)  He had to stay up late that night to work for his California job and then, he figured I was going to go into labor, so he might as well stay up, he watched a half hour of Hulu before coming upstairs to bed.  Sure enough, when he came up a little after 1 am, I had just awakened with contractions.  I told him I thought this was it.  He wanted to wait just a little while to be sure so we didn't drive the half and hour to the hospital in vain.  We prepared to go and the contractions continued to be regular, so at 2 am we left for the hospital.  The contractions at this point were definitely regular, but no big deal.  I just closed my eyes and visualized what my body was doing in preparation to bring this baby into the world.
We got all settled into the hospital by 3 am and the nurse had to fill out all kinds of paperwork and enter in a ton of information into the computer.  When they checked me I was dialted to a 4 and fully effaced.  I told Kenneth he might as well go to sleep (since he hadn't slept at all yet) since I was just answering questions.  He slept for 3 hours and then got up to see how I was- I was doing great- resting between contractions and answering questions.  No big deal.  So, he went back to sleep and I told him I would wake him up when I needed him.  At 7:15 am the contractions were still regular, but nothing difficult, so I figured I should call my mom and let her know that I was doing great, but had no idea when the baby would be born, since I was perfectly comfortable and even though contractions were still pretty regular, they were not intense at all.  Just about a half an hour after that, all of the sudden,  I had a real change in contractions, it was intense!  I called the nurse and called Kenneth and told them things were moving forward.  I had a couple of contractions like that and then I started to feel like pushing!  Bam!  It came out of nowhere!  I pushed, oh I don't know, maybe 7 times or so and at 8:36 am she was born!!!  My doctor was not on call since it was a weekend and the other doctor who was covering for her from the practice, barely made it there.  In fact, the resident, said to me a couple of times, "if you can breathe through this one and not push, do that".  And I thought, "I don't know this man from Adam and couldn't give a rat's behind if the doctor is here or not, so I am going to push when I feel like I need to push!"  Luckily I remained calm and serene and didn't say this out loud.  I really concentrated on completely relaxing between contractions and I had a GREAT nurse, who talked me though each one of those contractions and the birth was amazing! Yes, it is very intense, but I focused and I could have asked for it to have gone any smoother!  Kenneth was very supportive and kept me fanned off and cool.  I am always so thankful to have him right with me through labor.  (He didn't even feel faint this time!!  fourth time's a charm I guess!)  After it was over, I just thought, I did it!, I did it!!!  And Kate was so beautiful.  She was 7 pounds 5.4 ounces and 19 inches long.  This hospital let me hold her straight out of the womb for an hour before they weigh her or clean her or anything, which was so great.  

My recovery has been fantastic.  I feel great!  Nursing has been hard and very painful (with cracking and bleeding), but at 12 days old,  I can tell I am already getting over the hump.  Kate had her first checkup 2 days ago with the doctor and she is already 7 pounds 14.6 ounces and 20 inches long.  She is a great little nurser!

It is amazing when I look at her, I feel as though I have known her much longer than just 12 days.  I am so thankful the chance to be a mother.  I still can't believe I have 4 children!  My how the time flies!

Well, there you go.  I am sorry this took me so long to write.  I meant to do this everyday and somehow it didn't happen til now.  My mom leaves in a matter of minutes.  Wish me luck as I wing it on my own!!! 

Happy Fifth Birthday, Arianna, Part 2

After painting the triceratops the kids had fun outside jumping on the trampoline.  It got up to 70 degrees yesterday!  It was a beautiful day, albeit a little windy.  Then we went grocery shopping and Arianna brought her Birthday money and picked out a couple of little toys.  She was delighted.  Thanks, Grandma!

Fun on the trampoline.  The previous owners left it for us at our request.  It is great!

We had lunch out on the picnic table and the kids had more fun outside.  Arianna chose to have sandwiches for lunch (no surprise there), which they made themselves.  The girls want to make their own sandwiches every time we eat them now.  I think they are enjoying the space in the kitchen where we can easily work together as much as I am! 

Lunch out under the trees in our backyard.

I was kept hopping all afternoon making the cake and dinner.  Arianna had originally wanted a fire-breathing dragon cake (yeah- she's an interesting one).  But, I did not want to construct one from cake and frosting and didn't find the right figurine in my searching over the last couple of weeks, so I took her to the store last week and had her pick out one of those Schleich animals that I then kept hidden for the week to up the suspense a little.  She chose an elephant so I went with a jungle sort of theme.  (She had an elephant on her 3rd Birthday cake as well!)  She loved it! 

Getting ready to eat dinner.  Arianna is joining the rest of the family is choosing Swedish Meatballs for her Birthday dinner.  And salad.  She wanted salad to go with it. Here I am 1 day before the due date.

Here is the pound cake with a jungle theme.  I bought some little animal crackers for around the bottom and used Pepperidge Farm Pirouettes for the trunks of the palm trees.  Good old cream cheese was the glue to stick stuff together and the green is all construction paper.



Checking out the cake.

It wouldn't be Arianna if she didn't think of something creative to do with her new animal.  Here is Ellie carrying a load of blueberries.

Now he's juggling them!

All afternoon Arianna could hardly wait for Dad to come home so that she could open the final Birthday gift.  When she finally got to, I don't know who was more excited, Arianna or Grant.  We got her some more Magna-tiles.  We gave a set of 32 to Grant for Christmas and ever since they have fought over them every morning (and at various other times in the day) because there just weren't enough for them all to play with.  They were all delighted.  In fact, as I write this the morning after, they are all downstairs playing with them!

Daddy making Arianna guess what the gift it.

Happy as can be!

The Magna-tiles!

We got the kids to bed too late after all the festivites, but I think Arianna felt special and had a great day.  We are so thankful to have her as part of our family. 

Happy Fifth Birthday, Arianna!

Kenneth and I both said to each other this morning that it seemed like just a few days ago that we were celebrating Arianna's fourth birthday.  My, how time flies!  I am thankful that the baby is being considerate enough to wait to come so that we can celebrate this day with Arianna.  (The due date is tomorrow!)  Arianna was delighted when she got up this morning and saw 'the' Brithday sign, which has become tradition in our house.  She requested pancakes for breakfast with whipped cream (about which Grant whooped for joy) among other things.  We had a mighty band of octopi visit the breakfast table as well.  Arianna thought they were cool, but she hasn't so much been digging bananas lately so she didn't even eat hers.  But, she loves animals, so the effect was good enough.
Here are some pictures of the morning (another post to come this evening of the rest of the day's festivities):


Here are Arianna and Grant at o'dark thirty finding the Birthday gifts

 

We let her open one gift at each meal  Here is the Breakfast gift opening- a painting kit with a wooden triceratops to paint

 

The mighty band of octopi

  

Arianna and her Octopus

 

They picked them up off the plate and according to the children, they transformed into squids- 2 in 1- way to go, Mom!

  

Arianna's horsehead pancake

Morning activity: painting the triceratops

 

After painting, she was reminded that there was a card from Grandma Pilz waiting for her to open.  She was delighted with the $5 bill.  She's excited to go to the store and "buy things".

  Here is her Birthday Interview:

How old are you today? four
What?  Oh, five!
Do you have a nick name? Anna

What is your favorite animal? dinosaur

What is your favorite color? yellow

What is your favorite treat? icecream

What kind of icecream?  What's that yummy, yummy kind? 
Emma: Butter Brittle. 
Arianna: Yeah, Butter Brittle

What is your favorite food? sandwich 
What kind of sandwich?  Peanut butter and honey

What is your favorite song? ABC

What is your favorite movie or show?  Dinosaur Train and The Land Before Time

Who is your best friend?  Hmmm. . . My best friend in California?  Marcie's kid, Natalie

What is your favorite book? a big book. 

Which big book?  The big one that's all blue on the outside. (Grant supplied her with the title)  Ready, Set, Read

What do you want to be when you grow up? a farmer

Who loves you the most? Mom and Dad

What is your favorite thing to do?  Help mom, actually, paint

Where is your favorite place to go?  pet shop

What is your favorite toy?  dinosaurs

What is your favorite time of the day? afternoon.  Why?  Because Emma reads us books

Arianna, is there anything you would like to say on your Brithday?  Well, there is: my favorite day is my Birthday.  Anything else you'd like to say?  Nope, that's all.