Guess Who's Smiling Now?

Something I've been looking forward to is Jasper's first real smiles and he obliged me this Saturday. I haven't been able to catch a great photo/video of it just yet but didn't want to forget the date, October 24. His already cute (and VERY chubby) face gets even cuter and brighter when he smiles. Mmmmmm...he's so yummy.

Whenever I tell people that we have 4 boys, they always remark at how "brave" we are. I know it's crazy and our life is busy, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE my family and know that we are so blessed to have all these beautiful boys gracing our lives. We are so lucky.

The Incident with the Gas

Hopefully, this video and sound come through. There is so much background noise from TV and other boys, but you may hear some "unwinding" sounds emanating from our latest spawn... Definitely his father's son - Ha. :)

Six Weeks

Jasper turned six weeks yesterday, October 13. Wow - time flies! Just a brief update on how everyone is doing these days...

Rodney is back at work (yuck!) and as busy as ever. Marissa still "harasses" him daily about coming home early. We definitely miss him being around!

Marissa has adopted a very bad sleep schedule, often not retiring to bed til the wee hours (3am???). Her Facebook game addiction, topped with the "free" time to do things like bills and handle all the silly little things like blogging do not help.

Ethan has adjusted really well to the sixth grade and has been getting really good grades in his classes. The standards-based grading system they use here is confusing, but he is getting As in most of his tests and is in the higher percentage of his classes. He started his "World Languages" class this week, where they are learning Spanish and French; he hit us up with a "grande" and "si" in conversation today. He's also enjoying the saxophone classes at school. I hope he wants to continue with it next year. Classes he's waiting for us to sign him up for include piano, swimming, and dance. DANCE! :) We're just so proud of him! Oh, another major milestone --- braces are gone and we are down to retainers - yayyyy!!!

Graeme has finally turned the corner when it comes to homework. He finally realized that whining and complaining instead of doing was not the best route - phew, our kindergartner is growing up! Soccer season's started and he's having a blast with his team, the Blue Dragons. He runs up and down that field like nobody's business! He has also spent a couple of Sundays hanging out with his Papa Tony in Pacifica and we have had a heck of a time trying to pry him away when it was time to go. For their next "grandpa date," Graeme asked if he could stay for "100 hours" so we may try to work in an overnighter there if Papa Tony is up for it. :) We wish Mommom and Poppop lived closer so he (and the other kids) could also get hangout time in.

Xavier's vocabulary is growing. He says hi (pronounced with a Southern drawl, too...as in "hah"), hat, hot, more (this one's new today). He can moo like a cow and growl like a dinosaur. For all other things he wants to say, though, he pretty much just grunts - hahahaha! He can also point to more and more parts of his body (nose, feet, belly, ears...). It's so cool to watch him learning so many new things. Especially because he's trying to keep up with his older brothers, he is growing up so quickly and wants to be in everything they are into. He and Graeme spend a lot of time together especially now that they share a room. They are thick as thieves and they are usually cracking each other up and laughing like fiends; when they're not fighting over toys that is.

I'm waiting on Jasper's first "real" smile...any day now. He is sleeping for longer stretches and I have to learn to take advantage of that. He's also spending more awake time, which is super cool. He also took his first bottle today and that's always such a relief. He and I have been pretty attached at the hip (okay, maybe at another body part that's a little higher up - hehehe!) and it's been so nice. He's asleep on Rodney's chest right now and it's just so precious when that happens. Ahhh... it's really just the little things that make me so happy.

A Birth Story...

When I first tried to post this blog, there was a very lengthy birth story that went along with it. After posting, I noticed that all my text had been deleted. Thanks, blogger.com!

Now I'm finding some time to rewrite, I want to save all the details for Jasper when he's old enough to want to know all the details...

Well, the main thing to start with is the fact that Jasper was late. Ethan and Xavier were 10 days early and Graeme was 5 days early. So I was a little eager to meet the little guy. We did EVERYTHING the day/night of August 31st to speed the process up, including thinning the membranes, loads of walking, etc. I wanted his birthday to be his own and not land too close to Graeme's. Sometimes I wonder when he would've actually come if we just let it all be. The way it all worked out though was just perfect.

August 31st was the first day of school for Ethan (going in to the 6th grade) and Graeme (going in to kindergarten), both of them going to new schools, and we didn't want to miss that so it was good that Jasper didn't come anytime before that date. His cousin, Jack, was born on August 31 (sharing a birthday with Uncle Luigi and his great-grandfather Manuel dos Santos) so these two boys have the closest birthdays among all the cousins.

So, during our evening walk around the neighbourhood, I could feel contactions, but they were really not bad and felt more like Braxton Hicks ones more than anything else. When we went to bed (late!) that night, nothing had changed so I had pretty much resolved myself to going to work the next day. But at around 2am or so, I was actually starting to feel uncomfortable and slightly painful contractions. I kinda was thinking at first that it was just me and wishful thinking so I didn't bug Rodney at first. When I finally woke him up, he helped me start timing the contractions and they were coming pretty steady and I was starting to feel really uncomfortable so we knew stuff was happening. We called Manolete to come by close to 6am so that he'd be here when the boys got up. I was pretty excited heading to the hospital, but still kind of dreading that they'd still tell me I wasn't ready and send me home (it's always a possibility!).

At the hospital, when they heard that this was my fourth pregnancy, they worked pretty fast. I get they just think that all fourth babies just fall out like it was nothing - hahahaha! By the time they checked me, I was already 4cm dilated so there was no turning back. For me, I was pretty surprised I was so far along; it had felt like an eternity getting to this point with the other boys. I had considered not getting the epidural for this one, but when they told me that both anesthesiologists would be in surgery for at least an hour and that I wouldn't get a chance to change my mind, I just went ahead and got one. Why suffer when technology can help, right?

The best part about the epidural was getting nap in. The contractions slowed down a bit after that and the nurse worried that I had stopped progressing so she got the pitocin (evil drug!) ready. Thankfully, I didn't actually need it. :)

Once I was ready to push, the nurse and Rodney helped me. It always feels like the pushing is not getting you anywhere, but this was the quickest experience yet. I think I only pushed for 15 minutes and there he was...our little Jasper. So perfect and just perfectly perfect.

And I can say it now, too. I KNEW he was going to be a boy. Hahahaha! I always wished to get old surrounded by men and now I am seeing my wish come true. Oh joy.