First Day of School......Sort of....

Last Tuesday was the first day of school for the girls. Alana was starting first grade and Anarosa is in third. We have them transferred to the next district over, which is a bit of a hassel every year, but we got all of our paperwork in and got them signed up and registered the week before. They both got their class assigments and were excited to get started.

Then we got a call the night before the first day of school. The principal called to say that Anarosa;s spot was given to a resident who had registered at the last minute. We were totally at a loss as to what to do! Alana started school the next day (and she did great! She knew the teacher and about 1/3 of the class was in her kindergarten class last year) but Anarosa couldn't go. She took it pretty well, but she's been out of school for the first week. We're 95% sure that we've got a spot for her at the next closest elementary school, but we're waiting to get the final okay.

Needless to say it's been quite nerve wracking to me! I felt sooo bad for her, sitting at home with her new back pack and school supplies, while all her friends were starting school. I also felt bad for Alana, we usually make a big deal out of the first day of school and take them out to lunch to celebrate. But it was hard to make a big deal for one child and not have Anarosa feel left out because she wasn't starting school yet.

The upside is that Alana didn't have any trouble this year, I think it helped that she knew her teacher (Anarosa had her for first grade as well) and she knew a lot of the other little girls in her class (they all got to sit together at the same table).

So hopefully tomorrow, I'll be able to report that Anarosa has a spot in school, and that everthing went great for her as well!!

The Logistics of 4

So I am officially the mother of FOUR kiddos now. Which, I am finding requires a new level of expertise.
I took the kids back to school clothes shopping last Monday. (by myself) So, we all bundled into the minivan and drove to Target. The first obstacle was getting our stroller into the car, but once I managed to wrestle it in, we got on our way. The first few minutes went fine. I was pushing the stroller and Anarosa was pushing the shopping cart. We managed to find a couple of outfits for both of our school girls. At that point little Mr. Jay decided that he was STARVING and wanted to eat NOW. Of cource Jacob decides that he has to go to the bathroom at the exact same time, and no he absolutely cannot wait. So off we go with a cart a stroller, a screaming baby and a dancing four year old to go find the bathroom.
Okay, so we get that over with and Jay absolultely does not want the bottle. (Since it's been sitting in the diaper bag for over an hour, I'm going to trust his judgement on that.) So we have enough clothes to cover us for the first part of school, although we haven't tried any of them on, so now we rush through the shoe department and try to get something that will fit everyone. Much to Anarosa's disappointment they did not have "furry boots" in her size. (Aparently it is impossible to go to third grade without furry boots). But we got tennis shoes for everone, in sizes that I'm pretty sure will fit.
So now we're running late to get back to the apartments so that Mark can start his maintence work, and no one has had lunch (Jay's still crying). And it's time to get in the check out line. Now we begin the realy fun game of let's ask mom for anything/everything. Mom can I have......? The answer is always no. I'm just trying to find the shortest check out line, and find my ATM card and hold fussing Jay and make sure that Anarosa doesn't run into anyone with the cart, and I don't have time to look at everything you happen to see on the way. NO!!! (seriously why would you WANT an electronic poker game?) So we finally get checked out and as I'm paying Alana walks up with a small hand held fan with candy in the bottom of it. No... Ten seconds later, umm, Mom......I think it's stuck in my hair. What??? Yes, indeed the fan and the candy are firmly affixed to my six-year-old's head. So now the check out lady is trying very hard not to laugh, because I have officially become THAT LADY. (you know the one who is holding the fussy baby pushing a cart, pulling a stroller and leading the child with a fan stuck to her head to the customer service desk to find a pair of scissors to cut the fan out with!)

Baby Jay!!

Hi Everyone, Sorry I've been absent from the blogging scene this summer, I was just miserable pregnant and then overwelmed with new baby, but I think I'm back in business now.

So to catch anyone interested up:

Short Version:

4th baby

Jay Collins Oakman

(yes we meant to spell Collins w/ an "s")

August 19th 2:23 pm

10 lbs 5 oz

20 inches long

Long Verson:

I went to see the doctor on Monday the 17th (a week after my due date) and we decided that it was time to induce. So, we started calling labor and delivery the next morning at 5am to see if they had room for me. Of course they didn't so we had to keep calling back every two hours to see if we could come in yet. Finally at about 12:00 they called and said that we could come in after lunch. Since we were already eating lunch out with the kids I immediately scarfed down half my lunch, told they kids that had about thirty seconds to eat, because I was DONE being pregnant and I did NOT want them to give my spot away! So, we dropped the kids off at home with my sister Sarah and off to the hospital we went.

It took a while to get in and settled so they didn't start the induction until about 3:00 in the afternoon. They usually start you off on a low dose of petocin and then up the dose every half hour. But somewhere after the first few doses they got really busy and kept missing the half hour mark, so then they would up it by more. We were anxious to get going because my sister was flying back to Utah the next morning at 11:00. And so we really wanted the baby to be born before then. One so Sarah could see him, but also so that Mark could drive Sarah to the airport and take over watching the other kidos. Because of that I put off getting an epidural, because I didn't want to slow things down. As the afternoon evening progressed, the contractions started to get stronger, but nothing very exciting. By this time we had come up with a plan B for the kids. Sarah stayed with them overnight, and our friend Liz drove up from Hollister in the morning to watch them while Mark drove Sarah to the airport, and then Liz took them to Hollister for the night (THANKS!!! You were a life-saver). Once we got that all figured out I felt better about getting that epidural!!

That Epidural: I have had epidurals with all of my deliveries so this would be my fourth (so I know what they should feel like). When they were finally able to come in and do it (they had an emergency c-section across the hall so that pre-empted me). The anesthesiologist came in and did mine. But it hurt, and it only numbed part of my right leg and one spot on the side of my belly. Everytime I told them it didn't feel right, they would have me roll to the other side, and wait a while, or they would increase the medicine in the epidural which only numbed the two spots that were already numb even more. They kept saying they would be back in five minutes to check on me, and then no one would come for an hour or two. Mark had to leave during all this to get Sarah to the airport so I was alone. In retrospect I just needed to be more assertive and insist that they get someone else to re-insert the epidural since this one was obviously a partial block, but I just wasnt' able to. To top everything off, the monitor on my belly that was supposed to monitor my contractsions kept coming off, so they finally gave up trying to re-adjust it. By the time the shift changed, I was just beside myself, they had upped the petocin again so I has having hard contractions with about fifteen seconds in between each one, the epidural wasn't working, and I was not having fun! I finally insisted that I wanted to see the doctor in charge of the shift, and they sent in the new anesthesiologist, He came in and took one look at me and said "We can fix this" Which is exactly what I needed to hear (didn't care if he was lying just wanted to hear it). He re-did my epidural, the new nurse came in and she just sat with me for about twenty minutes to make sure that everything went okay, and that the monitor was picking up all the contractions, and within about three minutes of the new epidural, I wasn't feeling the contractions at all.

Once the new epidural was in things went much more smoothly. Little Jay was born, just before 2:30 that afternoon. The delivery went realy well. He was 10 lbs 5 oz which supprised all of us! (my other kidos were all over 8 lbs but we weren't expecting him to be so big!!) He was 20 inches long. We stayed in the hospital until the next afternoon. (I can't sleep in hospitals and would much rather be in my own bed).

Recovery was good, I was up and about the next day and back to almost normal in about a week.

It's been two weeks now, and I won't be running a marathon anytime soon, but everyhing is pretty much back to normal.

Jay is doing great, he just went in for his two week check up. He isn't quite back up to his birth weight, but he's only off by a few onces and they aren't worried about it. He's doing everything he's supposed to be doing at two weeks old, which is great!!

Thanks for all the support and love!!!

Life in the Express Lane

So I got home from work today. Spent an hour in the apartment office and then realized that I didn’t have spaghetti noodles for dinner tonight (rather essential for making spaghetti) So, I grabbed my purse and drove quickly to Safeway to pick up noodles for dinner.
Since I only needed a few things I didn’t bother to grab a cart, on my way through the produce section I grab a cantaloupe melon and a loaf of garlic bread to round out dinner, except that the cantaloupe is buy one get one free. Well, I don’t really need another cantaloupe but the last time I tried to get away with out my “free” produce item, they held up the whole line for five minutes while they found someone to run and get me a second container of moldy strawberries, much to the chagrin of the other customers behind me in line. And I certainly didn’t want to put us all through that again, so I just took the extra cantaloupe!
Now please keep in mind that I am eight months pregnant and I’m at the point where it’s uncomfortable to walk around, let alone carrying two cantaloupes, spaghetti noodles, and garlic bread. So, I head to the nearest express lane and gratefully drop my groceries onto the belt. That’s when I realize, that the lady in front of me has about two week’s worth of groceries in her cart!! (fifteen items or less……but who am I to judge) But it’s really not worth picking up all my groceries and getting into another line so I decide to wait it out – besides it would be rude of me to haul all of my stuff away, especially since I’m pretty sure I can’t do it without letting out a semi-exasperated sigh. So, I stay in the line and patiently wait for the checker to finish with the lady ahead of me.
Once he finishes scanning the items, he begins to bag them all (all the baggers work the non-express isles). Then she requests that he tie the plastic bags up (so they’re easier to carry), which he does. Then she can’t find her discount card, so he asks for her phone number to punch into the computer. Okay, now she needs to pay. So she rummages around in her purse for a while and pulls out her check book (good, she found it now we will get going!). She writes her check out while the checker finishes putting all the grocery bags in her cart. Then he asks for the check. She insists that she already gave it to him. He looks a little confused and starts looking around the check out area for the check. He doesn’t think she gave it to him. She insists that she did, they go back and forth for a while and then decide to untie all the grocery bags to look for the check!!! After searching through the bags she finally finds the check……..IN HER CHECKBOOK! Okay, NOW we can get going!!! But wait for it…. She needs her ID in order to pay with a check. Does she have an ID….no, of course not she shops here all the time WHY would she need an ID??? So off we go to find the manager, who thankfully, recognizes said customer and decides to authorize her check without the ID. Great!! Now, the little computer thingy needs her phone number. She insists that it is on the check. Only it’s not, so we go back and forth again about the phone number (one would assume that she knew her phone number, since she gave it to the checker earlier to get her discount….but I digress) The checker finally decides just to write “no phone” on the check. Now we finally have paid for the groceries!!! Woo Hoo! We can go now right??? Well, at our Safeway they always ask if you would like help out to your car, and you guessed it, as a matter of fact, she would like help out to her car! So now we have to find and extra courtesy clerk to help her out....

Just thought I would mention again what lane it was…… THE EXPRESS LANE.

the First Day of Summer

Okay technically it's not the first day of summer, but Friday was a right of passage. The apartment pool opens on Memorial Day, but Friday was the first day I took the kids down to the "big pool." After all it was a balmy 65 degrees outside, and they have been waiting a whole year. So we all trooped down to the pool (which was empty....go figure) and they had a blast! Of course we did have to obey the time-honored rule "When Alana's lips turn blue, everyone has to get out of the pool"

For all the Hannah Montana Fans out there!

Back to School Night

So yesterday was back to school night. Mark took the night off of work but had to go to a stake meeting, so I took the girls to their school. (Mark took Jacob with him to his meeting - which turned out to be a life-saver since Alana was soooo excited she was literally bouncing off the walls).

Both classrooms were really nice. And both of the girl's teachers said they were doing great!!



Anarosa has been studying life cycles in her classroom and we finally got to see the tadpoles and lady bugs, and quail eggs that they have been observing.



In Alana's classroom they had writing samples up on the walls and I noticed some of the parents giggling as they read through them. (that should have been my first clue) When we got up to that part of the classroom I saw that the kids each had a baby picture at the top of their page, and then they were supposed to write a before/after phrase on their papers (when I was a baby I....Now I......) Here's a picture of Alana's:

Just in case you can't read it:

When I was little I used to dig in the gargage for chicken bones.

Now I don't like chicken

Nice..... (so that's what the other parents were enjoying)

Hate to admit it, but she's right, once Alana learned to crawl we had to keep the kitchen garbage can on top of the counter (especially when we had chicken!)

Memorial Day Program

Last Friday was Anarosa and Alana's Memorial Day program at school. They had been practicing their songs for weeks! I took the day off to come. The kids had done crafts and decorated the whole courtyard outside the school it was really great!

Anarosa sang "God Bless the USA" with all of the second grade classes. They did fantastic of course!!

They had the kindergarten kids almost last on the program (really???) So they had been sitting in the sun for over an hour listening to the other kids sing and talk and the band/orchestra perform, so we were a little worried when the first walked up and Alana was in the front row and not looking too happy.......

The kindergarteners were supposed to sing "It's a Grand Old Flag" and do little dance motions that went along with the words. And about half-way through the song Ms. Alana decides that if she has to be up there singing, she might as well make it worth while. So she really starts to ham it up! She had the whole audiece laughing at her exagerated dancing....

It was cute, in the car on the way home she said: "Mom, did you hear all the people laughing??" (yes) "They weren't laughing to be mean, they were laughing 'cause I was FUNNY!"

Anarosa's Baptism

Well, I can hardly believe that Anarosa turned 8 years old!! Last Saturday was her birthday and her baptism.

We started the day early with a 10 am baptism. We had a lot of family and a lot of people from the ward. Everything went really well. Anarosa had hand picked who she wanted to give talks and prayers and play the piano several weeks ago, which was really nice, since everyone who participated was special to her.

After her baptism, everyone came to our house for lunch and a birthday party. We had a pinata for the kids, even though it had been raining earlier, (we ended up doing it under the car port). We had cake and food and tons of people came. Thankfully I had Sunday and then that Monday was a holiday from work, so I had some time to put the house together again!

We're so proud of you Anarosa!!

of lunch ladies and life

So Anarosa has been helping to serve the lunch in the cafeteria (everyone in the class gets a turn for two weeks). She has fun because her best friend in the class is doing it with her.
She came home yesterday and related that the lunch lady was getting frustrated because she didn't know the right way to wipe off the lunch tables (she was supposed to wipe all the food into a little pile and then throw it in the garbage) Apparently the lunch lady made a comment something like:
"Don't you know how to wipe off a table the right way, don't you help your mom do it at home."
Anarosa (in her innocient little voice) replied:
"In our house we keep our food on our plates"

I thought that was exactly the right thing to say to the grumpy lunch lady.
(good thing the lunch lady can't actually see our table after we've all "kept our food on our plates" though!)