Our Week in Review (August 5th-11th)

It was a very busy week!  And a huge blessing arrived this week!


My mom and dad flew in on Sunday.  Monday Chelsea had some pre-op stuff she needed to do at the hospital in Hot Springs and wanted all of us to come along so we could go to the museum first before my passes expired.  They had some new exhibits in there including a room decorated to look like 1969 with a recording of the speech JFK gave about the US getting to the moon and a video of the launch of Apollo 11 and a whole section of stuff on the human body that was really cool.  The children though that it was really neat that Liam did an ultrasound just two days before his sister arrived.

Tuesday Lily and Emmie had a 4 H Healthy Snacks workshops.  Alex and Nick both helped with it.

Liam arrived that afternoon to stay with us for a few days while his mama and daddy were in Hot Springs to have his little sister.

Wednesday morning Art and I went to the hospital early to wait on the arrival of Willow.  The c-section was scheduled for 10 am.  It was a very strange set up at the hospital this time.  They no longer have a nursery for babies.  They are 100 percent roomed in with the mother unless there is a problem.  Then there will be a NICU but it was under construction.  They had Chelsea in a triage room waiting for her C-section to start with a neighbor on the other side of the curtain that had just had a baby.  She had received special permission from the doctor for me to be in the recovery room with the baby as soon as she was born but the nurses wouldn't let me go in.  We had to wait in the triage room.  Her doctor is very sweet and came in to do the C-section on her vacation and did come back to talk to me after she had finished.  The baby swallowed amniotic fluid on the way out and had to be suctioned. but in oxygen, and have an IV started.  Chelsea only got to see her for a minute.  Since there was no nursery we couldn't even look in a window at her, she stayed in the recovery room.  They moved Chelsea back to the triage room until her spinal wore off and then they moved her to her regular room.  They brought the baby to her for about 5 minutes so she could hold her before they moved her then they took her back.  Thankfully she did better then Liam and didn't run fever or have other problems and they were able to wean her off the oxygen and remove the IV.  She got to move into her mamas room around 3:30 that afternoon and was able to stay!

She was 7 lbs 10 oz and 19.5 inches long.

Big Brother , Nana and Papa and all of the aunts and uncles were able to meet her that evening.

The next day Chelsea was missing Liam and wanted us to bring him up there so we loaded up and went back to Hot Springs.

After a short visit Nana and Papa treated us to a movie.  We went to see Aladdin.  The children were very impressed with the theater's reclining chairs!

That night was open house for Nick at his school.


Friday morning Willow and Chelsea got the OK to be discharged by the doctors.  It took more then 4 hours for their paperwork to be processed and they were actually released.  While we waited I threw together a couple of meals to send home with them.  She was in a lot of pain from the car ride so they only stayed long enough to grab Liam and head home.

Some Liam cuteness 

We had to run to town to run some errands and sign Emmie up for a new year of dance.  Have I mentioned lately that I can't believe how fast this summer has gone?

Before we new about Willow's arrival date, we committed to participating in a pig/goat show on the 10th of August in Hot Springs.  Art, Nick, Alex, Christian, and I got up really early Saturday morning to load animals and head for Hot Springs (again.)  There were two pig shows one at 10 and another at 8 pm and a goat show after the conclusion of the morning pig show.  The evening pig show was our county 4 H fundraiser.  It was the pig's first show and it didn't go at all well.  Like I can't imagine it being able to be any worse unless she would've died or we lost her completely.  He came in last for both shows and then took another person's pig in for showmanship because we didn't want to attempt to get her out of the pen again.  He came in 11th.  Getting her back on the trailer was a nightmare.  He has three weeks to work with her before the County Fair.  Oh yeah and it was miserably hot. 

Christian and Alex placed 5th and 6th in their show and were disappointed but they know what they need to do to work with them and get them better before the fair. 

The boys and I helped with the second show since it was our fundraiser.  They ran the gates and the hog panels in the ring and I handed out prizes.  After the show they took down the pens and cleaned up all the trash.  We didn't get home til 12:30 am.

Mom and dad brought the other three children up for the first pig show and then went to visit Chelsea.  That night mom and Lily with Emmie's help worked on a table runner.  Lily did a great job!

Mom and dad left Sunday morning and the rest of us didn't do much but take care of what had to be done and rest.

School starts this week.  I am not ready.

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!