Adventures in Crunchy Christian Parenting

Goodbye Cruel Blogger

2007-05-16T15:55:00.000-05:00

I've moved.

Check out my new digs.

At least somebody is blogging...

2007-05-07T12:22:00.000-05:00

I may very well be a woefully neglectful blogger, but at least Caedmon has managed to update his blog!

Go check it out, yo.

http://captaincaedmon.blogspot.com

One Year Ago Today...sort of...oops!

2007-04-30T09:36:00.000-05:00

Apparently the second half of "One Year Ago Today" 3/30 didn't get posted and I never noticed! (can you tell how much I keep up with my blogger?)

Better late than never...

Birth Story Timeline

Presley Claire Leggett
10lbs 4oz

March 28^th:

Fairly consistent contractions from 5pm till 10pm.

March 29^th:

Fairly consistent contractions from 5pm till midnight when I stop timing them and go to sleep.

March 30^th:

7:30am: Wake up to the same regular contractions as the night before. Back is very, very achy and I’m full of energy.

9:30am: Have some bloody show, but not much. Take a shower and shave; I’m pretty sure this is it!!

11:30am: Leah comes and checks me. I’m dilated to a 3-4 and there’s LOTS of bloody show! THIS IS IT!!

Noon – 5pm: Make lots of calls, eat some pizza and try to get some rest. I tried to nap but I was much to excited to sleep, so I spent most of the afternoon knitting.

5:00pm: Took Caedmon to get his soccer pictures done and play in his Thursday make-up game. At this point the contractions still weren’t painful but I was getting very tired and annoyed. I didn’t really want people talking to me and I had an intense desire to just go home.

6:30pm: The soccer game finally ended and we headed home where my mom was waiting for us. We talked about going out to eat but at that point I was really not wanting to leave the house.

7:00pm: Leah gets to the house and we start setting up the birth tub. We don’t have a hose and Leah doesn’t have hose so Kevin calls Dann to see if we can borrow his. Dann brings the hose but it’s leaky so we send the guys to Wal-Mart to buy a new one. While they’re gone Leah checks me and I’m dilated to a 7-8!

8:30pm: Mom goes and gets us food from DQ. I pick at mine a little but was really not in the mood to eat. I did my last snuggle time (our bedtime routine) with Caedmon as an only child. And I cried. And I cried some more. And poor Caedmon just wanted to get off of the crazy crying woman’s lap and go to bed!

9:00pm: Caedmon’s in bed and my contractions are starting to get really annoying. They’re still not painful but they make my lower back ache, so I decide to get in the tub. Oh…my…gosh how I love the tub! Who needs an epidural when you have a birth tub?!

9:00pm-Midnight: I spent the good part of these three hours just relaxing in the tub and visiting with Leah, Lana, and Mom. Every once in a while I would have to stop talking through a contraction, but for the most part I was still doing fine.

Midnight-4:50am: Time basically stopped for me at midnight. Actually, when I found out that it was midnight I thought it was only 10 because time seemed to stand still from the time I got into the tub. Somewhere around 12 I had Leah check me again. As was expected, I was fully dilated and effaced. But, there was a cervical lip that was refusing to dilate. Leah asked me if I wanted her to hold the lip up to see if the baby would slide under it. Oh…My…Gosh that hurt. As soon as she held it up the baby flipped out! She started to squirm and push and kick and wiggle. She was bound and determined to get under that lip!

I was pretty panicky after that incident because it HURT and up to that point I hadn’t felt any pain at all. This scared me enough that I decided to lay down in the pool and keep the pushing phase of labor at bay. I’m not sure how long I stayed like that, but eventually I decided to have Leah break my bag of waters. I knew this would make the contractions harder, but I didn’t feel like it was going to break on its own anytime soon and I wanted the baby out before the sun came up.

Leah broke the water and the fluid was clear and perfect. It was a HUGE relief of pressure when she broke it, but as soon as the next contraction hit I knew I was in for some hard work.

The post water breaking contractions intensified quickly. I would feel one coming and would moan and sway through it. After it was over I felt fine, like nothing had happened at all. And, thankfully, they came in shifts. I would have a really hard one, a break, an easy one, a break, then a hard one, and so on and so forth.

Eventually the contractions became very painful. Leah asked me if I was feeling pressure or the urge to push. I didn’t think that I was. I felt like I needed to have a bowl movement, but didn’t feel any pressure in my cervix. That’s where I thought I was supposed to feel pressure. I tried pushing a few times with Leah holding up the lip, but it was just way too painful.

I remember laying there in between contractions thinking (and saying) “She’s never going to come out. I can’t push, so she’s not going to come out. You’ll have to take me to the hospital and they’ll have to give me a C-section. Leah, can she come out on her own even if I don’t push? Do I have to push?” This chorus was uttered in between each contraction during the last 2 hours or so.

During this time I would sort of lay down in between contractions and I could feel the baby’s head and shoulders moving rhythmically back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. At the time I was just in awe of being able to feel that, but after the birth I look back on it and feel really bad that she was working so hard and I wasn’t doing anything to help her out!

At one point, when the contractions had peaked, Leah turned off the lights. I sat Indian style at the edge of the birth tub and Leah sat on the birthing ball directly in front of me. During the contractions I would sort of pant and blow and sway. I didn’t know it at the time, but mom said that Leah would rock the birth tub in rhythm with my swaying. She also panted with me and spoke in a really calm, soft tone. She was telling me what my body was doing, why I was feeling like this that it was almost over, etc. I can’t say enough about how wonderful she was.

While I was sitting at the edge of the tub I was able to sleep in between the contractions. Leah tells me that she slept too, but I really didn’t have much ability to focus on anyone but me at that point.

Leah started encouraging me to try and push while I was sitting because she could tell through my breathing that everything was ready to go, I was just holding it back. I decided to get on my back again and let Leah hold the lip up while I tried to push through it. OUCH! That only lasted one contraction before I begged her to take her hand out.

Finally at about 4:30-4:40am I decided that I was just going to do it. I was going to get over the fear of pushing and just get this baby out! I tried pushing through one contraction on my back and it did nothing. Mom and Leah suggested I get on my hands and knees (which I already knew I needed to do). I got up on my knees and as soon as I did the baby slid through the cervix. It felt like a 10 pound bowling ball had just dropped in my birth canal and I let out a big grunt and said “She’s coming!” I pushed once and her head crowned. OUCH!! Ring of fire!! Leah told me to reach down and feel her head but I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything but focus on getting her out. Leah told me not to push but to just breathe the baby’s head out. I’m not sure if I did that or not. I could feel Leah’s hand supporting my perineum but I honestly don’t know if I was pushing or not. All I knew was that it was hurting and I wanted it out. Finally I felt relief and said “The head’s out”. I don’t know why I said that as everyone was behind me and could see for themselves what was going on. Then Leah asked me to get on my back again. I said “no” and began to push the body out. I heard Leah say that the cord was around the neck and that she had unwound it. Then she said “Amanda, you have to get on your back the baby is trying to breath underwater.”

4:50am: I flipped over and Kevin grabbed my shoulders to support me. I lifted my pelvis up, trying to get it out of the water so she would be able to breath and I pushed her very big shoulders out! Leah caught her as the rest of her body came out and I grabbed her and brought her to my chest.

The first thing I said to Presley was “I can’t believe you’re out! I can’t believe you’re out! I didn’t think you were going to come out. I don’t ever want to do that again!” I also apologized repeatedly for making it take so long and for not pushing her out sooner.

We soon determined that even though this baby was a week past her due date, she was in fact early. She was completely covered from head to toe in vernix and had no eyebrows and no eyelashes. Leah assured me that my calculations weren’t wrong; some babies just take longer to “cook” than others do.

Leah put a wet towel over Presley and a wash cloth over her head to keep her warm. Because of the towel, I wasn’t able to see whether or not we actually had a Presley or an un-named boy! So, I felt around and announced with relief that she was, in fact, a girl. Kevin asked me about 20 times if I was sure and Leah said “Well of course she’s a girl. Look at her face, she’s beautiful!”

We sat in the tub like that for a few minutes and I had a few contractions as the last stage of labor began. Presley was getting REALLY eager to nurse and the placenta wasn’t going to come out with me sitting like that, so we decided to cut the cord and pass her off to Grammy and Daddy. Presley let us know that she didn’t like that idea too much as she grabbed on to my bathing suit and screamed for dear life!

I got back on my hands and knees to deliver the placenta. It took about 5 minutes, a couple of contractions, and two pushes to get it out. It slid out with ease and was completely in tact.

As soon as that was done I got out of the tub, wrapped up in a blanket, and sat down to nurse my little girl. She latched on with ease and nursed like a champ for half an hour!

Giving birth at home was truly the most awesome experience I’ve ever had in my life. I’m sad that I didn’t do it with Caedmon and I’m sad that I’ll probably never experience it again. There are no words to describe how awesome it is to sit back, relax, and let your body give birth the way God designed it to do.

One Year Ago Today...

2007-03-30T07:58:00.000-06:00

March 30th 10:43am

Contractions?... Anyone?... Hello?... Bueller?

So I've been having contractions. Four contractions per hour to be exact. They started at 5 yesterday afternoon and I timed them till midnight and then I went to bed. If they continued on through the night they weren't strong enough to wake me up, so they didn't get timed. I didn't start timing them again till 9 this morning and they've stayed pretty consistent at 4 per hour.

Dr. Google will tell you that it's only a real contraction if it hurts. Dr. Google is a dirty liar. If Caedmon's labor is any indication, I don't have painful contractions until WAY far into labor. In fact, I don't think my contractions with Caedmon became painful till I was dilated to a 7 or 8. These, of course, haven't been painful at all. They're just very tight and they knock the breath out of me.

My midwife is scheduled to make a visit this afternoon and hopefully she'll be able to tell if we're actually making any progress.

2:38pm

Let's Get This Show On The Road

Dilated to a 4.

70% effaced.

Baby will be here late tonight/early tomorrow morning.

7:59pm

Um...no clever title...just...um...Update

Just got back from Caedmon's soccer game about an hour ago. I'm dilated to a 7 now so it'll just be another few hours.

I'm tired.

Need sleep.

One Year Ago...Yesterday...

2007-03-26T14:58:00.000-06:00

Geez, I can't even manage to copy and paste an old blog entry in everyday! I'm a pathetic excuse for a blogger! :P

March 25, 2006

40 Weeks 1 Day

Notice how I'm not smiling? Yeah. That's because I'm so over this whole being pregnant thing. I could not possibly be more ready to get. this. kid. out.

Here are a few signs that you are, in fact, ready to give birth:

1. You become insanely jealous when you watch the screaming women writhing in pain on A Baby Story.

2. You haul your unreasonably large body up and down the stairs praying that the motion will somehow induce labor.

3. You're secretly excited when you trip and fall down those last two stairs for the 3rd time in 2 days because you think that maybe, just maybe, the jolt might cause your water to break.

4. You become ecstatic when you are struck with a sudden sharp pain in your abdomen and subsequently dissolve into tears when you realize it's just gas.

One Year Ago Today...

2007-03-24T22:14:00.000-06:00

In an attempt to prepare myself for the ever approaching milestone of Presley's one year birthday, I'm going to be revisiting what I was doing during those final days leading up to her birth. Since her due date was one year ago today, I thought that would be a good place to start.

March 24, 2006

Due Date

So, for those of you who are keeping score, today is the due date. Up until today I was under the impression that most people understood that a due date is nothing more than a day (calculated from the first day of your last menstrual cycle) in which one could possibly give birth, and that giving birth on any day of the two weeks on either side of ones due date is perfectly acceptable.

Apparently I give people too much credit.

People have already asked Kevin and I if we will be going to the hospital if I haven't had the baby by tomorrow! And if that wasn't ludicrous enough, when we say "no", they incredulously ask "Well how long are you going to let her go overdue?!". PEOPLE! Overdue is being 43+ weeks pregnant. I just hit 40 weeks today! People have actually expressed concern that we could be endangering the life of our child if we don't go have an induced labor within the next week. Let me please put everyone's mind at ease: I was born 1 month late. 1 month, that would be 4 weeks past the due date. That would make my mother 44 weeks pregnant. I didn't die, my mom didn't die...I'm sure she wanted to die, but she didn't.

It absolutely amazes me how pregnancy/child birth has become a medical condition in our society. Most people assume that one can't maintain a pregnancy and give birth to a healthy child without the constant overseeing of doctors and lab workers and hospitals and nurses. It's insanity. I mean, I'm not one to tell anyone else how to have their baby. If you want to be in a hospital and have the epidural and all that good stuff, go for it. But, please don't assume that our bodies aren't perfectly capable of doing this on their own. Because they are. I promise.

And to answer the question once and for all: No. We will not be going to the hospital if I haven't had this baby by tomorrow, or by a week from today, or by two weeks from today. In fact, baring any complications, this baby and I won't be gracing the doors of a hospital for a very, very long time. Presumably that day will come when Caedmon's luck finally runs out and he breaks a bone while jumping off of the stairs. But that's entirely beside the point.

P.S. Very obviously pregnant women do not like to be asked the question "Have you not had that baby yet?!". Not only do we all see that I have not had this baby yet, but by the time you've asked that question, chances are it's already been asked a dozen times that very day. So please, for the sake of my sanity, just don't ask.

Filling Big Brothers shoes...and his underwear

2007-03-23T08:05:00.000-06:00

Recently Miss Priss has started hunting down Big Brothers shoes, bringing them to me and waving them in my face while holding her little feet up in the air, begging me to put them on. It's precious.

So, today while I was folding laundry I heared the familiar "EH! EH! EH!" and turned around to assist my youngest with her little game of dress up. However, this time she not only had Caedmon's soccer cleats, she also had a pair of his underwear...and she already had one leg in.

I tried to pry them away from her but she cried like she'd lost her best friend so I finally gave in. As I type this she's sitting in her rocking chair, happily eating her breakfast and very proud of her little outfit.

Just Call Me the Car Seat Nazi

2007-03-05T16:35:00.000-06:00

Today I was picking up my friends daughter from school when I saw a little girl (7 or 8 years old) carrying the cutest little baby. He looked to be about 6 months old..maybe younger.

As she's carrying him to the car I'm talking to Kevin about how cute he is then I realize that they're getting into a teeny, tiny Ford Ranger pick up that has no back seat. I sit there hoping that maybe they're just waiting for someone and that they won't actually drive off with the baby sitting on his sisters lap...in the front seat...with his head hanging out the window.

Unfortunately I was wrong. Fortunately I had the foresight to write down the licence plate number. I followed the car all the way across town to another elementary school. Once they finally stopped I confirmed the plate number and called the cops. They said they were sending an officer right away (the station is only have a block from the school). But, I didn't have time to wait around and see what happened.

What is wrong with people?!?! I mean, I don't expect everyone to be as obsessed with car seat safety as I am. I don't expect them to do months of research when they buy a car seat and I don't expect them to spend hundreds of dollars on a car seat. But for crap sake how hard is it to figure out that it's obscenely dangerous to let a tiny baby sit in someone's lap in the front seat of a pick up truck?!

Yeah, installing car seats can be a pain. Buckling your kids into them 100 times a day is annoying. But is your childs life not worth that little bit of extra time?

Spring is here...kind of.

2007-02-22T12:05:00.000-06:00

Ok, well maybe not. But it was here for a few days at least and we took full advantage of it at the Leggett household.

Good Times with Salmonella

2007-02-15T21:09:00.000-06:00

Does everyone remember a month or two back when Presley and I had a mystery stomach bug? No? Well, let me recap. A month or so ago Presley had a 2 day streak of projectile vomiting in which she couldn't keep anything down...not even breast milk. Prior to that I had suffered from a similar, yet less severe bug. We just assumed that I had caught something and passed it on to Presley. No biggie.

A few weeks later when I'm still being plagued by random bouts of nausea I go through a few boxes of pregnancy tests...ya know...just to be sure. All negative (Thank you God!). Then I realize that Caedmon had been sleeping a lot and complaining of stomach cramps here and there. Then, Presley started randomly puking again for no apparent reason. I assumed we had another minor bug. No biggie.

Fast forward to today. I hear of the recall of a batch of Peter Pan peanut butter do to a salmonella contamination. I decided to check the pantry just to be on the safe side and sure enough, we've got 2 jars from the contaminated lot. Not only do we have 2 jars but one of the jars is basically empty...only about a spoonful left in it. The other jar was about 2/3 full.

Well, that explains it.

Check your peanut butter peeps. Any jar of Peter Pan or Great Value that has the number 2111 on the lid needs to be tossed.

Hooked on Phonics Worked for Me!

2007-02-08T23:03:00.000-06:00

I decided to sit Caedmon down with our new Hooked on Phonics program yesterday. I assumed that we'd make it through the first lesson and he would walk away with a firm grasp on a few vowel/consonant combos.

Fast forward 1 hour and we've powered through 3 lessons, Caedmon is reading 50+ words and he's begging me to let him move on to lesson #4!!

I'd like to say that I can be credited for any of this but really I just sat in the chair next to him and fed Presley.

Either my kid is a genius or Hooked on Phonics is one heck of a program!!

Caedmon Goes Punk

2007-02-03T21:51:00.000-06:00

It's a good thing we homeschool because word on the street is that they don't allow mohawks in public school.

Two days in a row!

2007-01-17T11:34:00.000-06:00

Yep, that's right. I'm blogging two days in a row people. And I'm not even putting pictures of my kids in this post!

So, I've debated about whether or not to post this. I know that my son would be very upset if he ever found out that I put this story up on the internet for the world to see. However, at 5 years old he can't exactly log on to my blog and find out, so here goes.

Disclaimer: I don't normally find it funny when my children get hurt. But this was straight out of Americas Funniest Home Videos people!

Caedmon comes in from helping Kevin change the tire on our car and is covered in 15 layers of wet, dirty clothes. So, I instruct him to strip down before he goes upstairs to play. Caedmon, being Caedmon, can't just take the clothing off layer by layer. Nope, he has to try and take both of his shirts off at the same time.

I hear him making a big commotion in the hallway and tell him to come in the livingroom if he needs my help.

Oops.

He turns around in a panic, wearing only boxers and both shirts wedged over his eyes with the sleeves flopping around on top of his head and starts running full speed ahead towards the livingroom. Before I can stop him he slams straight into the book shelf with his wee manhood taking the brunt of the collision. He falls to a screaming heap on the ground just as the wooden giraffe that was perched atop the bookshelf comes crashing down onto his head.

By the time I get Presley off my lap and scoop him up he has one hand on his bits and one on his head and the poor little guy is screaming "I'M SO SORRY I MADE THE GIRAFFE FALL!! IS IT BROKE!?!"

Finally Kevin comes down the stairs to find Caedmon writhing around in my lap, shirts still on his head while I'm trying not to laugh and Presley is screaming bloody murder on the floor. Apparently Presley doesn't like it when her brother cries.

Caedmon walked away from the incident without any lasting damage and the Giraffe, sadly, suffered a broken ear. Brad, you'll have to grab us another one next time you're in Africa.

But, has this knocked his spastic behavior down a notch? Not a chance.

Bad blogger. Bad, bad blogger.

2007-01-16T14:06:00.000-06:00

It's that time again! "What time?" you ask. Time for Amanda to apologize for being a woefully neglectful blogger, of course!

Ok, so I've once again let my blog slip into oblivion. But I have good excuses, honestly I do. I've even got cute excuses...two of them!

Ok, so that was just a shameless ploy to post some pictures of my adorable kids.

In all seriousness, life has been really hectic around here. We spent some time in New Mexico over the holidays, Kevin's been working 70+ hours a week, Presley is extremely mobile and vocal, and poor Caedmon has been left to his own devices most days. I'm trying to get things organized so we can really focus on home school for the next few months before Summer rolls around.

So, how was everyone's Christmas/New Years?

Say Cheese!

2006-12-03T23:07:00.002-06:00

I'm sure I've mentioned Jason before, right? And I'm quite sure I've gone on and on about how he's an extraordinarily talented photographer and that if you live anywhere near Plainview you simply must have him photograph you and your family. And I'm positive that I'm quoted on his site as saying:

"Jason is the most uber cool rockingest photographer ever! My child can be difficult at times, but Jason was able to work with that and capture him being himself. I was amazed at the fast turnaround time and the way he captured my son's personality." - Amanda Leggett

Alright, so anyone who's ever read the Leggett's blogs knows that we love Jason. That being said, we feel as though we've cheated on our favorite photog...

When we visited my family over Thanksgiving the 'rents decided that we needed a big family photo session so we stopped by Jennifer Duff's house to do just that. She was great to work with and we had an absolute blast! I think the pictures turned out wonderful so I thought I'd share a few of the proofs with y'all.

Whole family
(Presley, me, my little sister [Karli], my mom [Grammy], Kevin, Caedmon, my dad [Papa])

Let it snow!

2006-12-01T21:50:00.000-06:00

I lack the energy to submit an actual post. However, pictures of my kids are just as good right?

Presley's new tutu made by mommy:

Caedmon having all kinds of fun in the snow:
(Presley's not out there because everytime we walked out side she screamed and cried and flopped around like a maniac. Apparently Presley is not a fan of the snow)

The Gingerbread house Caedmon and I made. This is all Caedmon's design work, he just told me where to put the icing!

It's Been a Hard Day's Night

2006-11-18T20:46:00.000-06:00

Presley's been a little under the weather this past week and that all came to a head at 3am Friday morning. She woke up screaming and coughing and basically gasping for air. I ran down stairs to check her temperature which was 103.2.

I woke the rest of the fam up and we took a delightful little trip to the Lockney ER. When we got there her pulse ox. levels were at 96 (they should be 98 at the min.) and her temp was still holding strong at 103. They gave her a shot of steroids to open her lungs. It was her first shot ever, poor baby. :( They also gave her an oral steroid and set us up in a room w/a vaporizer. We stayed in there for about an hour and then they sent us home.

By the time we got home (6:30ish) she was sounding pretty bad so Kevin set up two vaporizers in the guest bedroom and Presley and I hung out in there for a few hours while the men folk took a nap.

I ended up taking her to PRHC because I was really not pleased w/the lack of diagnosis/medicine given to us in Lockney. The NP at PRHC gave her a breathing treatment and sent us home with 2 oral steroids, an antibiotic (she's got an ear infection too), and a heavy duty decongestant.

After spending 2 hours at Wal-Mart waiting for her medicine, we finally made it back home. My dear friend Liza picked up Caedmon and braved the park all alone with a 7 year old, two 5 year olds, a 3 year old and an 18 month old. She's my hero.

So finally at 3pm, after being awake for 12 hours, I took a nap...for an hour.

Everything after that is a blur. Having a kid on steroids sucks. I should know, I've had my fair share. There is no sleep, there is no down time, there isn't even any smiling. My poor kid is wired, exhausted, and miserable. Her eyes are dilated, her cheeks are red, and she's shaking like a crack addict who needs a fix.

Pray for her. And us.

Vogue

2006-11-16T23:40:00.000-06:00

The other day Miss Priss got called to be the model for the latest WBU Alumni wear. She looked adorable, as always, so I thought I'd share one of the photos.

Cake or Death? Death please. No! I meant Cake!

2006-11-09T23:30:00.000-06:00

You'd think that typing out a few sentences on my blog every few days wouldn't be beyond my realm of capabilities, but apparently you'd be wrong. You'd also think, do to my lack of posting, that I'm not on the computer much and you'd also be wrong. Her majesty has decided that the only appropriate nap time routine is for me to bounce her on my shoulder while sitting at the desk. I can't see how that could possibly be comfortable, but whatver. If she's sleeping, I'm happy.

I digress, all this extra computer time has, sadly, not resulted in anymore blog posting than usual. Mainly because I only have one free hand during the duration of the nap. I don't like typing one handed.

So, yes. When I lack a witty story to impart it becomes glaringly obvious that I'm not much of a writer, no?

And now for an open letter to Mr. Olan Mills photo dude.

Mr. Olan Mills Photo Dude,

I realize it's your job to sell me pictures. And I realize that you don't make any money off of me when I just bring my family in to get a free church directory photo taken. But, can I be honest with you Mr. Olan Mills Photo Dude? You're pictures? They're not so good. My family doesn't look attractive lined up in a row in front of a blue marbled background with fake smiles plastered on their faces. I wish we did, but we don't. Ok, now I've lied to you, I don't wish we did. And also, Mr. Olan Mills Photo Dude, it's ok if Presley wants to put her fingers in her mouth when you take the picture. She's a baby, that's what she does. It's actually considered a good thing to capture her personality in the photo. It's not, however, considered a good thing when she's screaming her head off because you keep pulling her fingers out of her mouth in attempts to make us look like the Cleavers. Just a friendly tip. I mean, I'm not a photographer or anything. :)

In closing, I'd like to apologize for cutting our photo session short and, in doing so, preventing you from taking loads of pictures that I have no inclination to purchase. I can see that you were more than a little irked about that. But, to be honest Mr. Olan Mills Photo Dude, I'm more than a little irked that our staff got Jason photos and we didnt. So ;p.

Good day,
Mrs. Amanda Leggett

Proof that my Mailman is, indeed, on Crack

2006-11-02T23:40:00.000-06:00

Exhibit A:
After eagerly awaiting a package* I gather the mail and find that it's not there. Not a big deal, slightly disappointed. 2 hours later I leave the house and the package is in my mailbox.

Exhibit B:
While awaiting another package* I delay leaving town to wait for the mail. The mailman comes, personally puts the mail in my hand, no package. I leave town. Two hours later Kevin calls to tell me the package was in the mailbox when he got home.

Exhibit C:
Yesterday, while eagerly awaiting yet another package*, I watch the mailman walk through my front lawn and throw an empty chip bag on the ground. As he leaves he brushes more trash out of his truck onto my driveway. No package.

Exhibit D (read:Undeniable Proof):
Today, while still eagerly awaiting the same package from yesterday...

9:30am: I take some mail out to the box to be sent out. My neighbors happen to be doing the same.

10:30am: I go check the box even though I know full well the mail never comes before 11:30. The mail I was sending is gone, my box is full of mail. The neighbors mail is still waiting to be taken.

11:00am: I check again to see if he swung back by to get the neighbors mail and, hopefully, drop off my package. Neighbors mail is gone. No package.

1:30pm: We leave the house to run errands. My much anticipated package is in the mailbox.

3:30pm: We return home. No change in the mailbox.

6:00pm: Kevin leaves for work. Comes back in the door moments later carrying a handful of mail from the box.

7.5 hours and 4 trips to deliver mail to one house? Obviously we're dealing with some heavy duty drug use here people.

*Yes, I know I get an inordinate amount of packages in the mail. Cloth diapers, the good ones anyway, are only available online so I'm usually getting a fairly steady stream of "fluffy mail". Sadly, this is the highlight of my life, therefore my mailman is always under my close scrutiny.*

On an unrelated note, here's some pics of the kiddos on halloween. You can also see Caedmon's trip to the Johnson's house here: www.xanga.com/JJPHOTO

Brownfield Citizens Rest Assured, Your Streets Are Safe

2006-10-06T09:25:00.000-05:00

The kids and I just got back from a mini vacay in New Mexico. We spent a few days at Grammy and PaPa's house, visited old friends, etc. After a fun, yet exhausting visit, we were ready to return home on Wednesday.

The trip was going along swimmingly (read: both kids were sleeping) for the first 2 hours. I was thinking as we approached Brownfield that we would probably need to stop as Presley hadn't eaten in 3 or 4 hours and Caedmon hadn't used the potty in 2 hours. As expected both kids woke up when we hit town and we made a short stop at the local McD's.

When we left Caedmon asked if we could go through the drive-thru and get him a happy meal. I'm really not sure why he wanted to go through the drive-thru instead of just getting it while we were inside, but whatever. We got his happy meal and I started passing the food back as I pulled out of the parking lot.

After getting all the food situated, turning on the JoJo's Circus soundtrack for the millionth time, and speed-dialing Kevin to update him on our whereabouts, we were on our way. However, a few seconds into our conversation I checked the mirror to change lanes and noticed that I was, um, getting pulled over. I hung up on Kevin w/o explanation because, honestly, I thought my cellphone might have something to do with my visit from the officer.

I waited for what seemed like an unusually long time for the cop to exit his car and when he finally did I noticed that he was creeping slowly down the side of my van, peering in all the windows, and had his hand on his gun!! Now, I could be wrong, but I don't think a cute little mini-van loaded down with carseats and diapers really fits the M.O. of a dangerous vehicle.

Finally he makes his way to my window and slowly peeks around before initiating this gem of a conversation...

Cop: Brownfield Police Force, Ma'am. Please remain in your vehicle. Do you know why you've been contacted this afternoon?

Me: *contacted?* Um...no sir, actually I don't.

Cop: You were traveling 43 in a 35 Ma'am.

Me: Oh, ok. Um...sorry?

Cop: Who does this vehicle belong to?

(We have NM plate)

Me: Well, my parents own it but they bought it for me. It's registered in NM because that's where they live.

Cop: I'm going to need to see your license, registration, and proof of insurance. Please remain in your vehicle.

Me: Ok

At this point I realize that the diaper pail (roughly the size of a kitchen trash can) is occupying the front seat. So I obviously have little to no access to the glove compartments. I fumble with all that for a minute before he finally tells me to forget about the proof of insurance and whatnot and to just give him my license.

Cop: Do you have any outstanding tickets, Ma'am?

Me: Um...no.

Cop: Suspended license?

Me: Um...no.

Cop: Is there anything I need to know before I call in your license?

Me: Huh?

Cop: I'll be right back. Please remain in your vehicle.

Dude, chill. I'm not getting out of my vehicle.

This begins the portion of our adventure in which we sit around for an eternity while I presume my name is being run through the FBI list of most wanted soccer mom's.

Upon his return Mr. Cop repeats the sneaking along the van, peering in the windows, holding his gun routine.

Cop: Ok Ma'am, it seems like everything checks out. Did you realize I was following you just now?

Me: *dude* Uh, yeah. I mean...that's why I pulled over and all.

Cop: Ma'am, I followed you for 6 blocks before turning my sirens on. Now would you like to tell me why you decided not to pull over immediately?

Me: *oh crap* Um...because I have 2 kids in here whom I've been traveling with all day and I was busy throwing happy meal toys into the backseat and talking to my husband and putting on music so Caedmon would just for the love of all things holy and pure stop talking for just 5 minutes and oh my freaking gosh if we sit here any longer Presley is going to start crying and I'll be forced to run you over and I'll get off as long as my jury is full of women who've traveled with young children.

Ok...maybe I didn't say that.

Cop: Ok Ma'am watch your speed. And pay attention to who's behind you. Oh, and put your insurance card where it's easily accessible.

Like I always travel with a trash can in my front seat?

Me: Yes sir.

And for the remainder of our ride home I was privy to a running stream of comments from my overly concerned 5 year old. "Mom! I think you're going to fast. Mom? How fast are you going? Mom? Are you sure you should go that fast? MOM!"

So if you're ever traveling through Brownfield you can put aside any lingering fears of soccer mom's in mini-vans because by golly the Brownfield Police Force is all over that!

When Good Babies Go Bad

2006-09-17T22:35:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I've been a pitiful excuse of a blogger for the past...um...3.75 weeks. But I've got good reasons, I swear I do.

Reason #1: We started homeschool on the 5th and I gotta tell ya peeps, homeschool takes up a lot of my time! It's going really well considering the woeful lack of curriculum I'm working with and the fact that we're dealing with a classroom of 1. Caedmon and I have hooked up with 2 active homeschool groups so things are looking up!

Reason #2 (and the story behind the title): Presley's got teeth and she knows how to use them! Last Saturday at approximately 4am Presley was nursing, I was sleeping, and something went horribly wrong. I'm not sure if she had a gas bubble, or if her teeth were hurting, or what but that child bit me like I've never been bitten before! The bite actually wouldn't have been that bad if I was awake, unfortunately I was asleep and I immediately jerked back which apparently told her she needed to bite down harder. I can't begin to tell you how much havoc can be caused by one tiny little bite. Not only did she make me bleed, but she broke blood vessels and ultimately caused an infection. Needless to say, this has been an insanely hard week. I managed to make it through the ordeal without giving into the ever growing temptation to stick a bottle in her mouth, and I'm more than a little proud of that.

Other than that, not much is happening around here. Well, we are going to Harvest now and that has caused a lot of changes in our family. I can't put into words the huge impact that our new church family has made in our lives. I hate that it took us 6+ years to find our way to Harvest but I know God put us there in His timing, not ours.

That's all for now. I'll see y'all in another 3 weeks or so.

I'm A Big Kid Now!

2006-08-22T09:32:00.000-05:00

Yep, that's right. I'm the big 25 today! Presley decided to be cute and wake up at 4:30 this morning and play until 7:00. I mean, seriously, this kid has slept through the night for like 3 months now and gets up at 7am on the dot. But not today, noooooooo.

In other news, Kevin forgot my birthday...again. I knew that he was totally clueless that today was the 22nd. So, in an attempt to entertain myself I decided to keep my mouth shut about it so that I could see the look of horror on his face when he realized what day it is. However, I got some cool stuff from mi familia in the mail yesterday and I just couldn't resist showing Kevin. So, it went something like this...

Me: Hey honey look what Mom, Dad, and Karli got for me.

Kevin: Yeah, that's nice.

Me: For my birthday *glare*

Kevin: Um...ok.

Me: You know...My BIRTH-DAY

Kevin: Yeah...your birthday. Your Birthday? YOUR BIRHTDAY! TOMORROW! TOMORROW IS YOUR BIRTHDAY OH MY GOSH!!!

The look on his face was all the birthday present I needed. Is that sick?

If you wonder where I've been...

2006-08-14T16:02:00.000-05:00

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. Well...not all the way off anyway.

I've just fallen this far.

And I don't think I'll be coming back anytime soon. :)

Dear Family, Happy Combo Day!

2006-08-08T01:03:00.000-05:00

5 years...I can't believe it's been 5 years.

I love you little guy. Happy Birthday!

Caedmon 3 days old

Caedmon 5 years old

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy Anniversary Honey! I can't believe it's been 6 years! Are we really that old? Do we really have two kids?!?!

4 Months Old

2006-08-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been 4 months since she joined us.

In some ways it seems like she just got here and in other ways it's hard to remember life without her.

Happy 4 months Miss Priss!

2 days old

4 months old

Inappropriate? Perhaps. Cute? Definitely. ::EDITED::

2006-07-29T09:17:00.000-05:00

This morning I came downstairs to find Caedmon watching TV...naked. Of course, Caedmon is almost always naked so I really wasn't surprised. I could act like I'm bewildered by his tendencies towards nakedness but I'm sure my mom would take the time to comment and rat me out. So I'll just come out and tell you that my parents had an extremely difficult time keeping me clothed as a child also. I did, however, wear underwear on my head...a lot.

Ok, back to the point of this post. I set Presley down on the floor to change her diaper and Caedmon begged me to let her watch TV with him. So, I stripped her down and went to the other room to grab a onesie. When I came back the scene was just too cute to disturb.

[In an effort to keep my kids privates, um, private I have placed pink hearts over the boy and girl bits]

::EDIT:: Caedmon complained that pink hearts are for girls and requested that his be changed to a green triangle. Daddy requested that more of the wee one's behinds be covered.

I'll take "Amazing Moments" for $500, Alex.

2006-07-18T22:43:00.000-05:00

I went to pick Caedmon up from KC Summer Blast at Harvest and one of the teachers grabbed me and said "Oh good you're here early, we need to talk to you about Caedmon." I immediatly began to panic because that obviously meant that Caedmon had done something terrible and they were never going to let him come back to church, right?

Much to my relief, and pure joy, that was not the case. The exact opposite, in fact. Caedmon prayed and asked Jesus into his heart last night!!! When the teacher told me this I, quite unexpectedly, burst into tears. I mean, I wasn't really surprised as Caedmon talks about Jesus all the time and tells everyone he knows that they can't go to Heaven unless they know Jesus, etc. But still, knowing that my son had taken the biggest and most important step in his life brought on the water works. Thankfully the teacher and the other mother I was talking to cried right along with me!

Now I know that some of you may think that a 5 year old doesn't have the ability to really ask Jesus into his heart and mean it. And I'm sure some 5 year olds can't, but I know my son and I know he gets it. Besides, I was the same age when I made this decision and it seems to have stuck! ;)

On a slightly less important, yet still exciting, note: Presley is rolling over from belly to back AND from back to belly. Actually, she's been doing this for a little over 2 weeks now. She's also scooting and turning and twisting and doing anything she possibly can to move around the room. Are 3 month olds supposed to be this mobile? I don't remember Caedmon moving this much till he was about 5 months old. Fellow mothers, is this normal?

Some Days Are Really Rewarding

2006-07-10T10:51:00.000-05:00

Presley didn't sleep at all last night. At. All. She spent the whole night screaming and nursing and then screaming some more. I'm not sure why, but that's not the point of this story.

So, at about 9 o'clock this morning Presley and I were sleeping soundly in the recliner as we had been doing since about 7 o'clock. At promptly 9am I was startled awake by the sound of the toilet lid slamming and Caedmon singing a little song as he went potty: "Mooooooommy, you've been a sleep for so long. Moooooooommy don't you want to get up. MoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOmmmmmmmmyyyyyyy." This serenade went on for a good 3 minutes.

When Caedmon finally emerged from the bathroom I explained to him that Mommy and Presley needed a little extra sleep today. I was expecting a fight but instead he bounded over to his coloring table with out a word.

A few minutes later he plopped a perfectly folded piece of computer paper in my lap. The outside had a big pink heart drawn on it (a shape he learned how to draw yesterday) and the back had my name (Momy). The inside had two M&M's (I don't know why) and Caedmon's name written in his "fancy" writing. The cutest thing I've ever seen.

Without waiting around for a response he bounded off to the kitchen and started making a major ruckus. After a few minutes of that he came back to the living room with a honey sandwich and a glass of OJ and ceremoniously handed them to me heralding them as my Valentines Day breakfast!

After marveling over the fact that he managed to make a sandwich and glass of juice on his own, I did inform him that it isn't, in fact, Valentines Day. "Mommy's Day?", he asked. Nope. "Oh, well...it's a special day...I know it is...OH! It's Family Clean Up, No Play Day!!", he said.

So today Caedmon has proclaimed that he will be cleaning and helping all day and won't play or watch TV at all. I don't understand it, but I'm not going to waste time questioning it. I'm just along for the ride!

So, being that I've spent the last three months smelling like baby barf and willing myself awake at all hours of the night, today was a very big payoff for me...even if it doesn't seem like much to anyone else.

Good Times With Caedom Continued

2006-07-05T09:58:00.000-05:00

::WARNING::
There is a fair amount of boob talk in this edition of "Good Times With Caedom" so if you're at all squeemish about boob talk, feel free to scroll down and look at the picture of my daughters fauxhawk.

While sitting at a stop sign across the street from our church...

Caedmon: That's my church.

Me: Yep.

Caedmon: See that cross on top?

Me: Yep.

Caedmon: That's the real cross that Jesus died on.

Me: Oh yeah?

Caedmon: Yep. It was bigger when he died on it but they shrunk it to put it on top of my church.

While playing with the manual air pump that still hasn't been put away from setting up his pool...

Caedmon: This thing never runs out of air. Just like your boob!

Amanda: Pardon?!

Caedmon: Ya know...with the milk.

While watching an "8 Minute Abs" commercial...

Caedmon: That guy has big boobs because he works out a lot. Is daddy gonna get big boobs like that?

And now for Presley's fauxhawk. Believe me, this is all God given. I don't think I could do this to her hair if I tried!

The Wonderful, The Marvelous, The Bumbo Seat!

2006-07-01T22:38:00.000-05:00

Pelkeys, Lamberts, and Dysons*. This post is for you!

This, my friends, is the Bumbo Seat. Every baby needs one. Trust me.

This seat is from South Africa of all places and is one of the best things we've purchased for Miss Priss. This is the only product in the world (and trust me, I have searched. the. world.) that allows an infant under the age of 6 months to sit up w/o assistance. This may not mean much to some of you, but if you have a baby who wants to be sitting up 24 hours a day, this is a huge deal! This seat will pay for itself simply by eliminating all the chiropractor visits I would face if I had to continue to hold my wobbly 3 month old in a sitting position all day! There's all kinds of fun engineering that went into the invention of this seat, but I lack the energy to tell you all about it, so just go the the website if you actually care.

In other news, we (and by "we", I mean Kevin) need to find a job in Lubbock. If we don't we'll certainly be spending a fortune in gas to go play Apples to Apples with Emily and Matt (Matt, you need a blog) every weekend! So y'all be praying for that, K? Because, seriously, I can't do this whole 60+ hour work week thing anymore. I'm starting to feel like a single mom people!

*(Emily, ignore the fact that you watched my daughter scream her ever lovin' head off while we tried out the Bumbo seat at Stella's, K? Thanks)

China Doll

2006-06-27T09:26:00.000-05:00

Some friends of ours (who are from China but are currently living in Plainview) gave Presley a gift yesterday. I'm not sure what the actual word for it is, but I know the english translation is "tummy warmer". It's so beautiful that I certainly don't want to let my excessively pukey little girl wear it, but they assure me that all the babies in China wear them.

These pictures really don't do the tummy warmer justice. The embroidery work is amazing!

2006-06-21T09:11:00.000-05:00

New pictures have been posted here.

Amanda's Horrible, Awful, No Good, Very Bad Week

2006-06-18T20:25:00.000-05:00

Ok, so Kevin is walking Presley back and forth in the Library right now trying to afford me some time to post. So this will likely be short, sweet, and less than humorous.

So this week rocked. First off, it's become apparent that being pregnant with/giving birth to Presley has damaged my sciatic nerve. It's been bothering me off and on since she was born but this week the sciatica reached fever pitch. I've lost most of the strength in my right arm and leg and sitting in my recliner offers the most excrusiating pain imaginable. This is unfortunate as I'm confined to my recliner most of the day nursing Presley and, as an added bonus, I still sleep in my recliner due to the fact that my pelvis has not healed from the pregnancy. And that's why we call her Pelvis Presley.

Moving on.

After a day of gut wrenching sciatica, I awoke to find that I had come down with a nasty, nasty case of the stomach flu. We all took a fun trip to the Dr. to be given some meds that did nothing but make me drowsy which REALLY complicates the process of taking care of an infant.

It took 2 days for the flu to pass and I was down to just the knife in my sciatic nerve. But really, that's no fun right? I mean, that just makes life too easy. So, I awoke Saturday morning (the day I was supposed to attend not one, but two weddings) and my eye was completely swollen shut. Of course it was. I mean, that's what eyes are for right?

I thought maybe letting my eye rest for a day would make it better. How does one rest ones eye? I have no idea. So basically I ignored it on Saturday and it got worse. Duh.

So here we sit on Father's Day. We've been to the Family Health place that, thank God, was open today. I have some sort of nasty infection for which I was given drops. They said it could be TWO FLIPPING WEEKS before it clears up!

Good times.

Well, this was neither short, nor sweet. To make up for that I'll leave you with a picture of the super cool gift the kids and I made for Kevin:

And here's some pictures of Presley's uber cool Elivs diaper. An Elvis diaper people! Doesn't it make you all want to cloth diaper?! No? ok:

She's A Brick...House

2006-06-09T15:24:00.000-05:00

Presley Claire Leggett - 10lbs 4oz

This week on "A Baby Story" :

Twins -
baby #1: 5lbs 3oz
baby #2: 5lbs 1oz
baby 1 + baby 2 = Presley

Triplets -
baby #1: 4lbs
baby #2: 4lbs
baby #3: 2lbs
baby 1 + baby 2 + baby 3 = Presley

Geez.

And now our "little" 2 month old is 16+lbs and is wearing a size 6/9 months!

To Clarify A Point Of Possible Confusion

2006-06-07T12:22:00.000-05:00

In my previous post, I wasn't calling "them" Conservative Republican Christians, I was calling myself one. And, in doing so, was stereotyping no one. What I AM doing is giving an accurate representation of how my fellow Conservative Republican Christians treat me.

I have been told by my fellow Conservative Republican Christians that I have no right to call myself one. That they don't accept "hippies" into their fold. That I am, in fact, going against God (and, of lesser importance, the republican party) because I don't blindly follow the norms of society.

I've been called a hippy, a communist, a lunatic, and most revoltingly a democrat . Simply because I live outside the box. And all of this from the group of people I have chosen to align myself with.

So, am I blaming the Conservative Republican Christians for anything? No, I'm simply saying "Hey, I'm one of you. I'm on your team. Could you try not to be so judgemental of me, please?"

It's Not Easy Being Crunchy

2006-06-04T00:25:00.000-05:00

Everyone, at some point in life, should come to West Texas and say "We don't vaccinate our kids." It's good times, really it is. The looks you receive are akin to what you would expect had you said "I'm going to burn my kids on the stake tomorrow, wanna come?"

It's indescribabley lonely being the only weirdo in a small town of "normal" people. Heaven forbid you go against the flow, or question the word of the almighty doctor, or throw a little money towards the small health food store instead of marching with the herd down to Wal*Mart.

And for some reason Hubby gets a lot less flack for all of this. Why is that? Do people think that I'm the only one making the lifestyle decisions in our house?

So I have no friends. Because all of the stay-at-home-moms think I'm weird and all the working moms think I'm totally nuts.

And then there's our church friends. You'd think they'd give us a little slack, since we're all on the same team and whatnot. But, oddly enough, they're the most critical of anyone. Because, of course, if you're a Conservative Republican Christian you must cut all ties with anything that might smack of "tree hugging" or "dirty hippies". Shudder.

Bleh.

Could I BE a little more whiney? Did anyone hear Christ complaining about how rough his life was while he was hanging on the cross? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Tune in next time when Amanda stops throwing her own personal pitty party.

Could My Kids BE Any More Precious?!

2006-05-31T14:56:00.000-05:00

Good Times With Caedmon: Part Duex

2006-05-28T13:28:00.000-05:00

This conversation took place directly after Caedmon excitedly tells the ladies at my mom's office that he found a dead fish in the fish pond:

Office Lady: "Well, I guess that fish is in heaven now."

Caedmon: "Um...no. Fish don't go to heaven."

Office Lady: "Oh? Well where do they go then."

Caedmon: "They go in the ground, the same place that dogs go."

Office Lady: "Oh...why do you think that?"

Caedmon: "Because they don't know Jesus."

Home Sweet Home Away From Home?

2006-05-22T09:24:00.000-05:00

For those of you wondering (and I know there's a lot of you, right?), the kids and I have been camped out in Artesia since Friday morning. I must admit I was a little scared (read:terrified) to make the 3.5 hour drive with a 4 year old and a 6 week old. However, Presley weathered the trip just fine. She was asleep when we hit the road and managed to stay that way for THREE HOURS!! I had to stop and feed her at that point. However, she ate, passed out, and didn't wake up till half an hour AFTER we got to my parents house!

I'd continue on with this story, but seriously, I put myself to sleep with that last paragraph. Obviously having the second kid knocked my blogging down a notch.

Perhaps we should rerun a good post. Evil Cashier Lady? Stupid, Stupid Wal-Mart Pharmacist? No?

Wow, this is pathetic.

I've Arrived!

2006-05-19T15:06:00.000-05:00

Hallelujah I finally have a "real" blog!

I didn't know that blogger offered a free blog account, so I've been meandering around the "sub par" blogging land of Xanga for the past 18 months or so.

So...here I am. Join me as I stumble my way down the sparsely populated road of the crunchy, conservative mom!