Adalae Reese Gradke

Born 4-22 at 11:14 am

6 lbs 6 oz 18 inches

Thade's birthday

We had Thade's 11 birthday party at Skate Town yesterday. The kid ended up with $380 in cash and gift cards. This doesn't include the random array of actual gifts he got from us, his uncle, grandmother and aunt. $380?? That is nuts to me. I can remember being his age and hoping for $50 so that I could buy a pair of Nikes. So Thade bought a new cell phone and new IPOD nano. Mind you, he JUST bought a nano with his birthday money last year. But that was before the new nano came out and the old boring black and white one just doesn't do it for him anymore.

Anyhow, back to the party. The party was scheduled from 3-5. At 4, I was already complaining that I should have ended it at 4:30. I was so ready to go. Reed was everywhere, but thanks to my mother, my brother, Rustin and his brother Ryan, I didn't have to do much waddling-chasing. About 5:15, there are still 3 kids left and they are telling me they are staying until 6pm and their parents have all said it's OK. Who does that?? I then get to call all their parents to verify they know I AM NOT staying until 6pm and their kids will be there unsupervised. Although by the time that fiasco was over, it was pretty close anyway.

I'll try to post some pictures later.

We then said goodbye to the left over children and left without paying for the party.

Sickly

I am inducing tomorrow morning and have bronchitis. Lovely.

Need another reason to induce?

This is an email I just got from my brother-in-law Regan.

"Natalie and I have been at the hospital since 11 last night. they made us walk around the hospital for an hour before admitting her. She was given the epidural around 2am and has just now fallen asleep. she is EXHAUSTED. I slept for about 3 hours. They put her on a drug that starts with a p (I'm sure you all know what it is) and then broke her water about 20 minutes ago. Pray that she can get some sleep for an hour or two before the baby comes. I'll let you know more later."

Going into labor is for the birds! (God, please do not strike random labor down on me for saying that.)

However, let me tell you, I hope this baby waits until next Tuesday. It really doesn't fit into my schedule to have a baby this week. I have a manicure and pedicure scheduled for Friday. Thade's birthday at Skate Town on Sunday. Dinner with Leslie on Wednesday.
Plus, I'd much rather go in at 7, have a baby 6-7 hours later and have a nice hospital dinner. There will plenty of time for sleepless nights after our little angel arrives.

Good luck Natalie, I feel for you girl! We can't wait to meet baby Haven!

God Bless Texas

If you have not ever gotten your kids out of bed at 3am to hide in the bathroom because the tornado sirens were going off, I highly recommend it. The best part is trying for another 2 hours to get the baby back to sleep. Then, you wake up 1 hour late for work and get to iron clothes for your 5th graders dance competition at school, (I NEVER iron my clothes) only to find out 30 minutes later as you try to drop him off, the schools are closed because of power outages. Then we argue for another 30 minutes because he doesn't want to come to work with me and would rather sit at home by himself and fry his brain on Youtube.
So, here we sit at my office while he fries his brain on youtube.

At least we don't have earthquakes in Texas.

I turned off the filter that only allows registered users to comment. I'm sure this is the reason that only Biddy leaves me comments, and it's not because no one but her is reading my blog!
Sooo, if you need a stronger hint, leave me comments!

YAY for puppies

Did I ever tell you how much Reed LOVES animals? Particularly cats and dogs. Here is Reed at my Mimi's with her dog Jack. Yes, that would be a Jack Russell Terrier named Jack. Original, right?

Adalae Reese update

Adalae Reese should make her official appearance April 22. This date is more than a week before my due date so I don't expect her to come before we plan to induce. I have the best Dr. I know many of you out there will say, "let nature take it's course, she'll come when she's ready, blah, blah, blah". Well, if I let nature take it's course, I would surely have 11 children by now. Let's just say I'm not that "natural woman". I want the labor drugs. I want the processed baby food. I want the disposable diapers that take 100 years to disintegrate in the land fills. I want the good ole Butt paste or Desitin diaper rash cream. And, I want to know what day my baby will be born so I can adjust my work and schedule accordingly.

Is Sex a Dirty Word?

Look at what my brain child toddler learned to do on Mommy's laptop:







Cool trick huh? Especially when it's 5:30, you are on the phone with a client, cooking dinner and have a crying 13 month old trying to climb your swollen 9 month pregnant leg.



I had lunch with Thade recently. I really think Thade likes for me to eat lunch with him just so he can have his own little social hour. When I get there, he already has 1 friend sitting at the "parent's eat lunch with their kids table". Within 5 minutes, he had 3 friends sitting with him and was trying to invite more! It really is sad how fat kids are these days. And I can see why. I would guess that more than 85% of the kids in that lunch room were eating ice cream. This, added to the fried chicken and chocolate milk on the menu must equal more than the amount of calories these kids should eat in a meal. I have to admit, I'm not one of those moms that makes her kids lunch everyday (or ever for that), but I do not let him have the "extras". If he wants something else, he can take a pre-approved snack from home. Not that is would matter much if I did make his lunch. One of the 3 boys sitting with us had his lunch that his mommy makes everyday. It consisted of a sandwich, chips, apple and Gatorade. Sound nutritious? Guess what he actually ate for lunch? The chips and 2 snickers ice cream bars from the lunch line. Thade ate his sandwich for him. Like his mother, he could eat a turkey sandwich for every meal of the day.

Now, I want to take a quick poll. How many of your husbands will change a poopy diaper? Fortunately, I have a husband that, for the most part, changes his fair share of diapers. However, yesterday at church Reed had a dirty diaper and it was Rustin's turn. He was too embarrassed to be caught in a public men's restroom changing a poopy diaper. Now, he apparently will change a pee diaper anytime of the day in a public restroom but according to Rustin, "It's unexpected to find a man in a public restroom changing a poopy diaper." Considering I only hang out in the men's restroom on special occasions, I'm not sure of the protocol. Is this true or did I get conned into changing a poopy diaper when it wasn't my turn?

We attended a seminar at church yesterday entitled, "Sex, it's not a dirty word." It was targeted at parents, kids, etc. Thade attended the last session with us at 1pm. Thankfully, they sat the kids separately from us as I think Thade and Rustin were about tied on the scale of awkardness. Anytime we mentioned the word sex around Thade, his response was "Ewwww." Apparently, sex IS a dirty word still to my almost 11 year old (THANK GOD).
Anyhow, here is her website. She is really great and has written some books. One item you will find is a coloring book for the younger kids about inappropriate touching, etc.