That Nasty Furnace

A little background...a few months ago Alex and I were woken up at 2am with a terrible noise. It sounded like a train was going through the house. And when we went down to the basement to check out the furnace that is older than I am and I was afraid it was going to explode or something. Not a fun night since the radiators would make the noise every time the furnace would turn on. And for a couple days after that they would make that terrible noise. Then one day, it stopped. We were so happy that the noise stopped and we could finally sleep! However, we soon found out that the upstairs radiators were not heating up at all. This is not good since it was getting down in the 20's at night, and we were expecting a newborn and had six other small children that needed to stay warm.

Well, we bled the radiators many times over the next few months. It helped a little to warm the upstairs. And since the weather was staying in the 30s and 40s at night, I didn't worry too much about it. Then this morning. It was 10 degrees outside. Inside it was 60. Now that might seem warm, but it wasn't. It was just plain cold. And this afternoon it was 59 inside our house. So, instead of getting warmer, like it was outside, it got colder. So, I called in the professionals to come and fix the furnace. Turned out that part of the motor broke and was a quick and fairly cheap fix. Now we are warm again! I am so ecstatic! Even the radiator that has NEVER worked before is working now. One little fix! If I had know it wouldn't take too much to fix it, I would have done it a long time ago!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today I turn 30. The big three zero. I thought I wouldn't like it much, turning thirty. But I actually like being older. I like how my life has progressed and I am happy with all the years that I now have 'under my belt.' I certainly don't like how close I am to 40, but 30 is not bad at all. Of course life hasn't been easy by any means, but having the Lord to rely on during the hard times has made things much easier. I am so grateful for all of my blessings. I have a wonderful and loving husband. I have seven awesome children that are very patient with me. They bring me such sorrow and such joy. I have two sets of wonderful and understanding parents that always give the best advice when I need it. And I have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life to help and guide me through my ups and downs. Now all I need is a good night's sleep.

James' Birthday

James Carl Thomas turned six years old on December 10. He is such a cute little man! He keeps telling everyone all about stuff he did when he was 3. Even if it didn't happen when he was 3. And he was so excited to turn 6. Now maybe he will have more good memories of when he was 6. lol He is also very active and has kept me on my toes for the last six years, and probably will for another 96. But even with all his inquisitiveness and mischievousness he has the biggest heart. He is always trying to help and give everyone hugs. I hope that he can always have such a big heart towards everyone and every circumstance that comes his way in his life. We love you James! Happy Birthday!

Tough babies

My little guy is just not having a very good week. We had to take him back in a couple more times to drain the sore. Then today while we were headed into the office, he fell down and scratched his nose. So he is looking pretty beat up. But he is still smiling and laughing. Babies are so resilient.

And miss Sarah turned one month this week. It seems like I just had her a few weeks ago. She is already holding her head up really well and looking around a lot. Just taking everything in. And she is so mellow. The younger kids just pick her up all the time and carry her around and squeeze her with hugs and kisses. She just sits through it and doesn't make a sound. She just loves all the attention. :)

Busy Day

I finally got a few hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. So I finally had the energy to do something today. First I tackled a couple loads of laundry. One of which was a load of dirty diapers that were about to mold over. Then Abigail got tired of waiting for me to cut her hair and took the scissors to it. She wasn't as bad as Julie, she just cut a little bit and showed it to me. When Julie cuts her hair, she would hide away and cut the whole thing, and then show me. So, I finished cutting Abigail's hair and I have to say that it looks really good short.
And then I was crazy enough to take ALL the kids to the pediatrician tonight. Benjamin had a pimple on his collarbone that popped and got infected. I had to take him in as soon as I could get an appointment and couldn't get a sitter that short notice. And since Alex couldn't get off work in time to watch the kids, they all came with me to the doctor's office. I remember laughing at one point and thinking that they are just kids and they really are trying to behave. But you know, that chair on wheels is SOO much fun! and Sarah is really hungry so she has to scream. and Alex is just not used to keeping her voice down. and that table/bed just has to be jumped on because that is what beds were made for and it is even COOLER when the paper on it makes so much noise! It just got a little difficult when they didn't get the stickers they wanted and the doctor wouldn't let them go looking in all the drawers to find them. Poor Benjamin though, the doctor took him in another room to poke the sore to get a culture from it and I couldn't be there to hold him. I could hear him screaming the whole time and cried too because I couldn't be there. I sure hope that he heals up soon.
Anyway, I wasn't finished with my day after all that. I still had to go to Activity Days for Church and take Michael to Cub Scouts. That wasn't too bad and gave me some time to relax. After that we headed to the pharmacy before returning home. I got the two antibiotics that Benjamin will need and two boxes of bandaids since the kids come up with imaginary ouchies the minute they see the bandaids.
My days are usually not busy at all, so today was a lot for all of us. It is now almost 10pm and my bedtime. I just hope and pray that I can get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep again.

Tree Ornaments

Our Christmas tree was pretty sad because it was looking pretty bare. So, for Family Home Evening last night we made Christmas tree ornaments. I made some clay dough ornaments the other day and we all painted them last night. It was a blast!

Alexis takes her art very seriously.

Super thrilled to show off his ornaments.

It's hard to see Abigail's star because she painted it white. And James is watching the glob of paint on the brush to make sure that it doesn't drip on the floor as he takes it to wash it off.

Christmas Tree

We were able to put our Christmas tree up this last weekend. It is a tradition of ours to put up our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving. We try to do it the day after, but sometimes it ends up being the Saturday after because of Alex's crazy work schedule. Thankfully, this year Alex got home early enough that we got to put it up the day after Thanksgiving. However, we are still working on getting ornaments on it because all of our others have been broken and we need to make more. So, it is still a work in progress. ;)

WARNING: For those who are so fond of going out and cutting your own tree...we have a fake tree that works best for us right now.

Putting the tree together.

Fluffing the tree.

The star broke!

Helping with the lights.

This stuffed reindeer plays music and the kids love playing with it.

Tasty light, but does it work?

Playing in the tree box.

Sarah's first year putting the tree up. Big sister Alexis is helping her see the tree, but she just ended up crying.

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday. I love sitting together with family and expressing what I am thankful for and listening to what my children and husband are thankful for. I think it is the perfect time of the year to remember all of our many blessings. We get to thank the Lord for what He has blessed us with. I think that is a perfect way of welcoming in the Christmas season and helping us to focus on the Lord and the sacrifices He made for us. I also really like all the food we get to eat! mmmm turkey, cranberries, potatoes, stuffing.......

We couldn't share Thanksgiving with all of our family, but we shared with our children. And hopefully we were able to build traditions that will be remembered and continued in the future. And since we couldn't be with family this year, here are a few pictures to enjoy.

Benjamin's Birthday

Benjamin Matthew Thomas celebrated his First birthday on Nov 22, though his actual birthday was on the 20th. He is such a joy to me and the whole family. He is always smiling and exploring new things and loves playing with all his brothers and sisters. So here are a few pictures of our birthday celebration.

Sarah's Birth

SARAH HARTZELL THOMAS
Born 11/4/08 at 8:30am
7lbs 10oz; 20in

At 12:30am, after turning over for the third time that night to get comfortable, I felt my water break. Quickly I jump out of bed and ran to the adjacent bathroom before I could ruin my bedding and the carpet. I could feel the fluids running down my pant legs and fervently hoped that I make it to the bathroom before anything escaped my clothing. Luckily I made it to the toilet before the next gush. Sitting on the toilet, I was wondering how this labor was going to progress since previous labors have been more painful after my water breaks. I was also a little worried that I was only 37 weeks along. This would be the earliest I had ever delivered. After feeling a bit more confident that I wouldn't gush all over the room, I went back to the bedroom and got out my birthing supplies (this was a planned home birth). I laid a path of chux pads on the floor leading from my bed to the bathroom. Then I laid one on the bed so I could try to rest. Still no contractions. I woke Alex to let him know that my water broke. Gladly he called work to let them know he wouldn't be coming in at 4am. It was cold and I was worried that I would get my blankets messy if I got under them, but I'm not wearing pants anymore so I try. Finally I had a contraction. Not too bad. I waited for the next one, but it didn't come for another 30 minutes. So, I put a towel between my legs and went downstairs to get a few things-the camera, a drink and tp (we hadn't brought the tp upstairs yet ;p). I also took extra red raspberry leaf to try and get some contractions going and to keep the pain down, then headed back upstairs. I labored for a few hours while Alex went in and out of sleep, checking to see how things were going. By 2am I felt like calling our sitter to let her know that we will probably need her in the morning. I have no idea why I called her so early, and feel kinda bad that I did. I just hope that she got some sleep that night. A few more hours, I just go back and forth from the bed to the bathroom. The contractions keep the pattern of one or two with about 20 to 30 minutes in between. And with each contraction I feel like pushing a little-enough to bring the baby down a little further. By 5am the contractions got a little stronger and I was VERY tired and VERY cold. I just wanted to lay down and sleep-to have it all done with. So, I got into the shower to relax and warm up. Alex got up to call work again around this time and decided to take a shower downstairs before all the hot water was gone. Since he was using up the hot water downstairs, I figured it might be good to put the plug in the tub. The hot water was soon gone and Alex came back around the time I gave up on the shower. I was so upset that I can't use the shower anymore and battled within myself. I knew it won't be good to labor in the bath since my water was already broken and chances were good that I was GBS+. But comfort won out and I sat in the tub to labor in the warm water. The next two hours are just a blur of waiting for contractions and moving around in the bath trying to find a comfortable position to deal with the pain. Alex was so considerate and started boiling water after the hot water gave out so I would have hot water if my bath got cold. By 7am Alex's focus was getting the other children fed and dressed as they slowly woke up for the day. I was perfectly content to have no one in the room while I labored. Every time Alex was in there I felt like a watched pot. So he called the sitter to come and pick up the kids while making sure they were fed and stayed out of 'my' bathroom. By 7:45 he had all the children off to the sitters and came up to help me out in any way. I had finally hit transition at this point even with the contractions only coming every 15-20 minutes. At 8am I couldn't stand being in the tub anymore. So I moved to the bed. Alex moved the blankets out of the way while I demanded to have a towel under me. At first, I started pushing like I had been with each contraction. I couldn't tolerate the pain, so I yelled with it "IT HURTS, IT HURTS, OWWWW." For three contractions I did this, and then I could feel the baby starting to descend. Then the real pushing started. It hurt and took more pushing than most of my children. But she took her time and came down slowly. Once she crowned I put my hand down to feel her head and make sure my perineum was stretching and not tearing as she came out. Slowly it stretched over her head and she came out in one last push. She had spun as she came out and ended up landing on her back, looking up, and screaming. It was 'love at first sight.' After dealing with some hemorrhaging and retained placenta, things settled down and we were able to get to know our little Sarah better. She is a quiet and patient little girl and is loved by all her brothers and sisters. No one could be more loved than she is right now.

Welcome!

We are just starting out this new blog site. I am so excited to finally have my own blog site! After visiting so many others, I just had to make my own so I could share the craziness of the Thomas family with everyone. Most days are just usual stuff that I don't really see much in commenting about, but I will try to make an effort to post something often. So, I hope you enjoy reading and seeing how are family is doing in this crazy life of ours.