I take it all back

or at least that's what anybody that thinks I'm a good husband prior to reading this blog will say. I forgot it was my anniversary tommorrow. Pretty bad huh? But it's not like i just forgot it was tomorrow, I forgot the day. But I have an excuse (as if it matters). I thought that our anniversary was on D-Day, June 6th. In reality, it's June 1st which is Marilyn Monroe's birthday. Ok, well believe it or not my wife hasn't flayed (sp?) the skin off of me. I do admit that I have a wonderful wife. And I'm not just saying that because I'm still alive. Sometimes I think it's a little trite how people say wonderful things about their spouse (or whoever) only to get divorced a short while later and start tearing them to pieces. I think that the worst thing that I could say about Rebekah is that she's a lot like me. Of course, not too much cause that would be weird and scary.

Anyway, I've been watching the babies and the boys while Rebekah gets a coupld hours of hopefully uninterrupted sack time. The babies have finally calmed down after two hours of constant feedings. Trinity spit up all over forrest (he was helping early on) and some more on me. What's worse: your kid not eating or puking it all back up because he (she) ate too fast? Right now Baby Clell appears to be asleep in the swing. I say "appears" cause he's a sneaky bugger. Once you let your guard down he pounces. Well, he fusses anyway. Trinity is laying in the bassinet staring out in space. Very alert and thankfully not fussy. Why are the boys up? Cause they wouldn't sleep! Hard to keep spanking kids when you got a couple fussy babies to watch. Oh, and Forrest was helping out until Trinity erupted.

ok, wall-e is over. I'm sending the kids to bed now. hopefully they'll sleep in. Happy anniversary to me! oh, and my wonderful wife :)

What's my age again?

Well, all our "help" is gone. I've been staying home in the morning until about 10 and working remotely so Rebekah can sleep. I leave the girls upstairs and then I just have to yell at the boys. It seems like that's all I ever do. So far my boss is fine with that although I dislike doing it. But, if it keeps my wife from going all post-partum and burning my waffles (I'm joking. I don't eat breakfast) then I'm willing to make that sacrifice. That was a joke honey! Hopefully Rebekah can find some sort of routine with the babies that will enable her to be only slightly catatonic as she goes through the day. Right now I'm watching the fam while Rebekah sleeps. Amazingly the girls seem quiet as well as the boys. The babies are mildly fussy, but nothing too big. Anyway, today was rough on Rebekah. I knew things weren't going her way when I got a text message with attitude. At that point I backed away from the phone and handed over my wallet. Well, not quite, but I did know that she was serious and if I valued my spleen then I'd better not mess with her. Come to find out she's realized that she can't potty train two two year olds while feeding and burping two 1 month old babies while trying to keep an eye on a 5 year old and a 4 year old who try to kill each other (or irritate our neighbors) at every opportunity. I told her that I don't care if I have to get another job in order to afford diapers, I don't want her to keep trying to potty train the girls. When you have 6 kids like we have, you absolutely have to prioritize. Most of the things mothers busy themselves with Rebekah doesn't have time to do. I've even offered to do laundry. I did do my own laundry for four years at college. Of course, it was all washed in cold water and then dumped unceremoniously in my drawers. One day--just take it one day at a time.

Whew!

Just got news from the boss lady that most of the company is under or on budget. Two of our most dire sites have hit either cash flow neutral or slightly positive. A couple divisions are still struggling. I think they're related to new housing, so I'd hope that would pick up soon. Business is down 50% compared to the peak. All we're hoping for right now is for things to level off. Taking things month by month.

Holy California Batman!

The California Supreme court upheld the ban on gay marriage in California. If you remember (pretend if you don't), the voters CHANGED THEIR CONSTITUTION so that they could ban gay "marriage."

The Supreme court stated that they were "limited to interpreting and applying the principles and rules embodied in the California Constitution, setting aside our own personal beliefs and values."

Did Hell get chilly? I thought that era of the judicial branch of government interpreting (and only interpreting) the law was over. I might have to re-evaluate now.


BTW, Rebekah is having a rough day. Prayers would be appreciated.

Memorial day meme

some lame alliteration there. anywho, I am alone w/ the wee babes (just the two weeest). Baby Clell is almost always famished. I fed him about 6 ozs and then gave him some gas-x stuff and now he seems content. Trinity hadn't eaten in six hours so I finally woke her up and fed her. She's a messy eater and tends to spit it back up, but I finally got about 3 ounces in her and burped her. Oh, and I did diaper changes too. Actually pretty peaceful. Where's the rest of the fam? good question, apparently they went over to Tim and Kerens. We got invited over for breakfast which Rebekah turned down because she forgot that I didn't have to work. So, since I'm anti-social Rebekah decided to accomodate me (versus nagging me... as if that's going to help) and leave me here. Because I'm a nice guy, I agreed to watch the babies. In the meantime, I'm watching a backlog of Heroe's episodes on my media center since most of the regular TV has hit the end of their season. I was upset that Terminator, the Unit, and Reaper all got cancelled. I guess that frees up more of my time to do something useful... not.

As far as the feds are concerened (the ones that were outside the window), I'm not sure exactly who got arrested for what. I asked Kelly to find out but he probably forgot and I have forgotten to follow-up. After I first blogged about it, a cop-ish person came in and pulled out his badge (hidden beneath his shirt on a chain) and asked for help. So, an individual took him to the HR head and I guess he hooked him (them) up w/ the perp. I know they hauled somebody off in cuffs but that's about it. It was a factory-type person, so I didn't know him. I figured it'd be public record, but I couldn't find anything on google. If it ain't on google either the government is nailing somebody under the patriot act or I got the search terms wrong. Probably the latter :)

I resist the urge to say "Peace, Out" because that is rather naive/hippyish but "War, Out" would probably be confusing and appear bloodthirsty. I would like to point out on this memorial day, that it has been almost 8 years (okay fine, 7 and change) since we've had an attack on American soil. If Gitmo has really mobilized the terrorists like our President asserts, then they're amazingly ineffective (like the Republicans these days). I'm just sayin' ya know? BTW, although I abhor many of President Obama (and company)'s policies, I will still respect him and the office. I think it's important that we recognize our very first "Mocha" president. Hey, that's a joke but not disrespectful ok? Class dismissed.

P.S. I've found a way to make my blog "suscribable" so you can get an e-mail when I post. If this is interesting to anybody, please post a note in the comments. Or write it on the sky. Or send a message by homing pigeon. Or smoke signal. Or telegram... wait, they don't do those anymore. The point is, let me know.

Babysitting five boys while the women dine. And tonight I have to migrate one of our aging DB servers to vmware.

stuff and things

Rebekah is doing good. she's very mobile and it's weird as I feel like I have my wife back for the first time in months. Her incision still hurts (there's a story behind that) and her "insides" still hurt, but she's doing pretty well. The babies were weighed today and they are doing pretty well. I don't remember the exact weights but they are well past their birth weight. The babies are pretty healthy. Clell has some sort of sinus thing apparently, so we're watching it closely to see if we need to take him to the Dr. Speaking of Doctors, we tried to get appointments to see a ped (pediatriciation) but apparently they're so booked up we were talking June. Give me a break. So, we're not sure what we're going to do there.

well, i was gonna blather some more but baby Clell is fussing, but I spose that's appropriate.

A Wandering Nomad

Since somebody asked, and I'm sitting here bored with Clell on my chest I thought I write a little about my sleeping challenges. Every mom out there knows what Rebekah is going through regarding midnight, 2am, 4am, etc. feedings. But I'll bet most Dad's haven't quite had the experience that I have.

After the babies came home from the hospital, I slept in the bedroom with my wife like normal. I figured that even though I'm not very good help, Rebekah might need me sometime in the middle of the night. I think that lasted two nights. The extreme temperatures (the babies were cold) combined with my wife's desire to utilize the bulk of the bed to feed the wee babes motivated me to seek sleeping accommodations elsewhere. My wife did not kick me out, although I know she was relieved when I left. So, I wandered upstairs to sleep with my four year old. As anybody with active children knows, four year olds can kick! I tried that for a few nights until I decided that I needed to be more accessible to my wife. So, I slept on the couch for a few nights. Not too bad, except it's got recliner chairs on each end so my hips land straight on the metal mechanism. Although said mechanism is greatly padded, my ample body compacts the padding until it feels like I'm laying on a metal bar. After a couple of nights, my wife decided that if she needed help, she'd call 911 and so I was able to go wander upstairs again. This time though, my sleep wasn't quite so restful as before. I would wake up repeatedly whether kicked or not. Going to sleep at all became very difficult and sleeping the whole night was pointless. Part of the problem is related to the temperature as it gets stifling upstairs when the temperature climbs. I think part is comfort as the bed doesn't fit quite right and the boys won't leave the sheets on. Part of it is probably psychological as I don't even have a clock to look at to figure out what time. Don't underestimate the value of having a bed that is yours. I feel like I've been sleeping at really uncomfortable motels without maid service and where you have to worry about someone stealing your stuff all the time. So, it's been 3 weeks and no bed for me. I made the mistake of laying down on my long lost bed to talk to Rebekah the other night and it was glorious! The next night I had a nightmare and sought solace in my own bed. I slept for 2.5 hours and Rebekah slept not at all. Yeah, well, I put 2 and 2 together and figured out that she wasn't used to my snoring anymore. So, even though I can put up with the temperature and Rebekah doesn't need the whole bed anymore I'm still stuck sleeping with a four year old. The upside is he's cute and doesn't kick me on purpose. I've pondered making a bed in the attic or in the basement with the spiders, but I doubt that it'd be much of an improvement. But dry your eyes, I shall sleep again--if only in my dreams.

Sweet!

We have a bunch of plain clothes cops outside. I guess one (or more) are feds.

It's only been two weeks?

ok, time is going really slow. I'm trying to rush things along because I want the babies to get bigger and get pass the 6 week meningitis concern. For those of you who don't remember, if your baby has a fever within the first 4-6 weeks (and even 8) then they pretty much are going to the hospital. Forrest (big Forrest) just had to go through that ordeal with his newbie. Thankfully, it wasn't meningitis but it was a big ordeal and it always costs $$ to go the hospital.

It's been a busy day, but Tyler's wife Amy has been here to help so that's been nice.

What do I know

Well, rebekah feels a bit better. she's not eating much and i'm tired of nagging her but I guess i'll keep it up anyway. I'm trying to make sure she's getting enough sleep @ least and she's doing better there. My sister-in-law Amy is coming down sometime tomorrow so hopefully she can watch the kids in the morning so I can go to work and Rebekah can sleep. She said that she'd stay until Rebekah's mom gets here next wednesday. well, she'll probably go home before she gets here, but you get the idea.

I am currently sleeping on the couch as the babies and my wife have taken over the bed. I was sleeping upstairs with Titus who has a big bed, but have decided to be more accessible for my wife by sleeping downstairs on an uncomfortable couch. Yes, yes, I know I am a scholar and a gentlemen. Heck, I just know that if my wife has a nervous breakdown then I'm stuck watching these kids 24/7 and that, my friends, would put me in the nuthouse. And not some pretty little sanitarium like Hugo on the tv show "Lost" goes to, I'm talking about a full-blow Arkham Asylum place (for the unitiated--that's where they put the bad guy nutjobs in Batman).

yeah, yeah, yeah, I still need to get pictures on here.

status update

Rebekah's stomach is doing better. The babies are pretty good. The nursing is going well. Rebekah doesn't feel well right now though. It may be allergies or she may have some virus. I hope it's a virus. She has a fever so there's some possibility of infection.

Yeah, I still need to get some pictures on here.

Pain

Rebekah is in a lot of pain. I think that her meds (darvocet and 800 mg of ibuprofen) are irritating her stomach. The pain is at the top of the stomach, rather than at the incision. The pain has been increasing throughout the week, but it wasn't until tonight that I started grilling her on it. I'm not sure if medicine like this causes stomach acid or what so I don't know if regular antacids can do anything. I told Rebekah to take some tums and use her discretion on cutting back. Maybe ditching the ibuprofen is a good first step? I don't think stopping the darvocet is wise, but maybe cutting back? I don't know. I told her to call the Dr. in the morning and if they won't give her a good answer to call me and I'll call them.

Any prayers are appreciated.

Clubbing baby seals is therapeutic

I'm speculating anyway....

Moving on to other things. Rebekah, the babies, Forrest and I just got back from the doc. We had a timing conflict so I saw the Pediatrician while Rebekah went and saw the OB doc. I'm sure that poor Ped. doc will have some stories after a visit with me. She was nice and managed to deal with my ill temper quite well (if you consider calling security "well"). She said no public appearances for the babies for at least a month and I was supposed to be mean in order to enforce that (or sickies visiting the babies). I replied that being mean was my forte and smiled menacingly. At that point she ran screaming from the room. I jest. But back to the story. Good news: the babies are doing well. They are almost back to their birthweight and baby Clell no longer has to use the jaundice light. I was very happy to hear that. Oh, and that 4 circle full of blood test that they do for newborns actually went pretty well. I stuck pacifiers in their mouths while the lab techs did their thing. It was a balancing act trying to reach both of them from the angle I was at, but I was able to accomplish the goal while providing comic relief for the lab tech ladies. We need to find a Pediatrician for the twins. I am reluctant to go to Caldwell, but they were good whereas the Peds in Ontario don't know how to tell time let alone treat children. Ok, maybe that's libelous (the last part). I stand by the first part though. We spent hours (i'm not joking) waiting to see the Dr. on 3 separate occasions with the girls. We are not doing that again. Anyway, when all was done there I went to meet rebekah hauling 2 baby seats (with babies thankfully) a diaper bag and a clipboard full of papers and my chicken scratch. Rebekah stated that she didn't have an infection and that she was just seeing things because she'd been taking double the recommended dosage of darvocet. Ok, not really. something to do with her stiches and steri(sp?) strips. So, she's good to go. Which is good cause Mom leaves monday and her replacement can't come yet because she has to watch kittens. yes, kittens (not kids). That combined with her Mother not having a ride to Chicago from Boyne City (8 hour drive) is somewhat discouraging. It's times like that this that Rebekah is happy she has such a supportive husband. clarification: it's times like this that Rebekah is happy that she has more darvocet.

Baby Clell still needs the glow light, but we got it fixed without leaving home. Oh and rebekah bought me a fancy watch for father's day of all things. I actually had to read the manual tofigure out how to set it.

Rebekah is feeling somewhat human today. We warmed up the house and the babies slept until around 4 AM. Then I helped transport them to the couch where they slept on her

Me so tired

last night was the first for me with the new arrivals. And the first at home for Rebekah. Neither of us got much sleep (her less so). The babies kept fussing and the current working theory is that it was too cold. Once Rebekah moved into the other room where it was warmer and put the babies on her chest to sleep, they did pretty good. So, from 11:00 PM to 3:30 AM we didn't get much sleep. Thankfully Mom is here so she was able to deal with Forrest when he got up. Titus had a bad dream and was trying to sleep with us but the girls were keeping him awake to. So he didn't get to sleep until after 3:30 either. Thankfully he slept in about an hour longer. That'll teach the little bugger to sleep in our bed! Sometime last night the anti-jaundice light (which was a pain) quit working. I'm hoping that's a blessing in disguise because that thing was a pain. Hopefully he won't need it anymore. We went in today and got their heels poked. Not fun. they had to get a lot of blood out of a little foot. But the ladies that did it were nice and didn't enjoy it like most of the sadists in hospitals (like you Lisa!).

When we got to the hospital, I had to carry the babies, but I didn't want Rebekah to walk. So, I drafted my five year old to push her. Strong kid. He pushed her up the small hill to the door and around the hospital. It worked out that he got some breaks while we checked in and the babies got tortured. He also did a pretty good job around Sam's club, but I think he was getting tired as he was starting to weave like a drunk driver.

For anybody who's missing rebekah's updates or emails, she hasn't even looked at the computer. All of her energy is going to just recovering and taking care of the babies.

Oh, and I guess the nursing is going pretty well considering everything.

I'm going to try to work a half day tomorrow. Pray that my sister-in-law Amy (my brother Tyler's wife) can come down to help out next week when we lose Mom. Otherwise, it's gonna be a crazy rough week and a half until her Mom gets here.

What I'm listening to right now (because I think it's funny): Secret Squirrel by Marcy Playground (via my awesome Slacker Portable - G1 2gig)

So far, so good.

The babies are adjusting (sometimes loudly) to their new surroundings. Rebekah is being a real trooper (the Dr. even said so) and although her back hurts really bad (as well as her incision) she's toughing it out. Mom is doing a good job helping out and generally keeping a lot of the bad stress away. The boys are doing ok, but feeling a little out of sorts with the new additions. The girls are still oblivious as they are at a friend's house (thank the good Lord for that) but they're coming home tomorrow. I had to make a late wal-mart run to get all sorts of new mom stuff as well as liquid zantac.

A special shout-out to the Varins for their *very* thoughtful card and gift. (psst cindy. I don't send thank you cards so this is probably all you'll get :-)

I'd also like to thank Kathie and Kelly for watching the girls (and the boys one night) without nary a word of complaint.

Also thanks to everybody else for their well-wishes and prayers. We still need baby Clell's jaundice to go away so we can stop using that stinking light and of course pray for Rebekah getting enough sleep.

The babies have left the hospital

but they've got two more shows. One tomorrow and one on Friday. translation: we have the babies home but have to go back tomorrow and Friday.

Rebekah is really tired and sore but happy to be home.