This-n-that.....

Callie Grace is doing great. She is wakes up once during the night and I think last night was my best night of sleep since she was born. Kami is doing great and recovering very well and a lot faster than she did after she had Silas! We praise the Lord for this answered prayer! Callie is one week old today!

-The kids finished school today!!!! Yea!!! We were striving for a May 6th deadline but with Callie being born, school was put back a week. Momma started crying this afternoon when Josh told her, "Hey, I'm officially in High School!!!!" Yikes! A high-schooler! I sure am glad that we home school!

Everyone passed their classes for this year and it was a good first year using ACE material. There are strong points with ACE and there are some things that we weren't thrilled about as well. However, overall, it was a good school year and the kids did great. We will continue to use the ACE material next year while making a few modifications to our school day and how the kids complete their work.

-Grandma comes Friday!!! She was originally supposed to be here to help take care of Kami and the kids during the birth of Callie. But Callie decided to come earlier than expected and Kami especially is thrilled to not have to be pregnant any longer! (I think she was ready to give birth and be done with the last month of pregnancy....)

We are all excited about Grandma being here. We are planning on having some Quebecoise Food for when she gets here and we have lots of activities planned for her. When Kami is able, we want to take Grandma on the nature trail for some walks and we want to take her to the Mall to ride the roller coaster. The kids also want to take her to Old Quebec to see the Chateau Frontenac and the old city. Joshua, Silas and I got out of the house this afternoon to get some milk and even bought a couple of items for a welcome basket for Grandma......(pretend you didn't read this Grandma!).

-Our classes have started back up yesterday and we are back into the full swing of French. Madame Claire brought a gift for Callie yesterday as well. Some beautiful pink dresses! She was so thrilled to finally buy something pink after raising 3 boys! I do have to admit, after 2 hours of working on French, I get very sleepy! I am looking for the day that Callie sleeps through the entire night and Silas doesn't wake up at 5:30! (By the way Grandma, you are sleeping in the same room with Silas so please take care of him at 5:30 so he doesn't wake up the rest of us!!!)

Trying to get back on track.....

Things are going great this week with Callie Grace. She has been getting up one time through the night for a feeding and letting her very tired mommy and daddy get some sleep.

Silas on the other hand has been getting up everyday at 5:30. How do you keep a child from getting up so early every morning? We have also noticed that he keeps telling us to "go take a walk". We finally figured out that this is his way of saying "your welcome"! It's more like "Yo take-a-walk-um"........At least we realized that he really isn't being disrespectful! He also has it in his head that all foods are now "hot". When we give him his food (it may be cold fruit) he takes a bite and then opens his mouth and eyes real wide and says "HOT!" Then he spits out his food. How do you teach a child that ice cream and yogurt is not hot???

Kami is doing well and recovery very nicely. The kids and I have been pitching in and taking care of everything for her to allow her time to rest and make the fastest recovery possible. I, for one, am ready to give her back all of her duties and responsibilities. She told me yesterday, "You don't get the fulfillment and joy like I do from taking care of the house, laundry, and kids do you?" I just don't understand where mothers get the energy. All I do is cook, clean, pick-up after the children, and then starts it all over again at lunch time!!!! Somedays I just feel like going out to dinner!

We start our french classes again today (Tuesday). Madame Claire is coming to our house this week to conduct our classes. She is such a blessing and I hope that I can stay awake for our classes....Did I mention that Silas was up at 5:30 again this morning???

Everyone is doing great!

Callie and Kami and both doing great.....both sleeping most of the day, but doing great! We have had great meals provided by great Christian friends. Last night, fellow missionaries (the Burdettes) brought us some chili and cornbread. Madame Estelle and her sister, Madame Lucie (Pictured below) brought us lunch yesterday, lunch today, and dinner tonight. The meals have been such a blessing to us and we appreciate the love and care! (not to mention the home-made donuts!!!)

(Hey Mom, did who notice the blanket in the picture below?????...That's right, that was my baby blanket from 1975!)

The midwife came last night and checked out momma and baby, both are fine and sleepy. We filled out the paperwork on the birth of Callie. So it is official, Callie Grace Gimenez (at least we hope I spelled it all correctly!) What is strange is choosing what our baby's last name will be. It could have been Kami's maiden name (Willoughby) or our name. What is also sad is the fact that there is a place on the form to list as the child's mother or father, a "homosexual partner".
(Just for the record: It takes a mother and father [male & female] to be a child's mother and father!)

Anyway, after chasing that rabbit down the trail; Silas loves to touch his new sister. He was a bit rough at first but soon learned he is not allowed to poke at his new sister's eyes or stick his finger in her nose! By the end of the day, he was rubbing her head and giving her kisses!

Callie's older sisters and brothers have been doing a great job at taking care of her and helping out with meals, dishes and chores.

I will have to admit, I am ready for momma to get on her feet again. I am not made to be a momma! When momma gets back on her feet, I think daddy will be ready to sleep for several days!

Introducing.....Callie Grace !!!

After Kami's water broke this morning and 3 very soft contractions nothing happened all day long. We walked around the neighborhood over and over and still nothing. Our mid-wife recommended some "home remedies" to get labor started and still nothing. At around 10:30, we heard a knock on the door and our mid-wife showed up with her bags and said that she was going to spend the night with us.

She checked Kami out and there was no progress at 11:52 PM. We all went to bed and we slept until 12:15 AM when Kami got her first contraction. 1 Hour later at 1:20 AM, Callie Grace was born into the world! (We have a Canadian in our family!)
For you women out there: 7lbs 8 oz and 20.5 inches long.

Joshua cut the cord as he did with Silas. If you are wondering about the name, this is the earliest after one of our babies were born that we named them. (Brenna was 8 days old before we named her!)

The name Callie comes from I don't know where.....we just liked the name!

We named her middle name Grace, after Mrs. Grace Selby, our church secratary who led Kami to the Lord over 27 years ago! (We love you Mrs. Grace!)

Kami and baby our fine and there are no complications whatsoever. Thank you to all of you who prayer on our behalf!