Here's my excuse for not posting

We haven't posted any updates or pictures in a while. But here's my reasons/excuse:
-My mil arrived here last Monday (a week ago yesterday). She was here until Wednesday visiting.
-Right around the time she left, a breastfeeding issue developed into a full-blown Problem. It kept getting worse until on Saturday I started feeling very tired and flu-like. By the time Mom came on Sunday I was shaking with the chills, dealing with engorgement and tendernes, and a fever.
-Sunday night the ice storm came. Power went out by 3 am and we were up all night. I was feeling terrible. A tree BRANCH fell inches from the window where we were sitting. The temperature dropped. By morning I went over to the McIntyre's who offered to let me sleep while they took care of Emma. Mom was my hero and stayed at the house to take care of Joseph.

Right now, Mark is here too (he came up to take advantage of free firewood). Mom and Mark are staying at the Holiday Inn (hence my posting this), and Aaron and I are staying with the McIntyre's (whose power has been restored). Pray that my nursing issue gets better. Pray that we get power back at the house. And pray that we can persevere. :)

Sweet Emmaline...or Emmeline?

So, we're wondering about the spelling of Emma's name. If you remember, we're naming her after her (let's see...) Great-Great Grandmother, Violet Emmaline Graber. Or is it Violet Emmeline Graber?

This is Aaron's Dad's, Mom's, Mom. (Got it?) Aaron's grandma, Emma Kathleen, was named after her (who was her mother). My engagement ring was Violet's. So, I'm wearing Aaron's Great-Grandmother's engagement ring. And I want to give it to my Emma after I'm gone. I want her to know where she comes from. So, we're going to ask Aunt Kathryn if she might know the spelling. I suppose it's not crucial, but I'd like to at least know.

I guess we could just pick whatever we like. But I don't even know what I like. Emmeline has a nice look to it. Any other opinions?

Baby Emma

Emmaline Violet Payne was born Wednesday, November 28 at 7:18 pm. (That's 4 days early!) She weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces (!) and measured 19 1/2 inches long. She's a doll. :)

This was about 8:30 pm, an hour after she was born

I just gave birth, okay? At least I'm willing to share.


Emma's 4th day with us. She's resting. Ah.

Thanksgiving

But no one's really wanting to see pictures of Thanksgiving... :)

Does anyone check this at 4 in the morning??

Update - 11:50 am: Just got back from the Midwives. I'm dilated to 5cm and effaced 60%! WOOHOO! But I do have an irritable uterus and am ordered to get rest and drink TONS of water. They think that will help regulate my contractions more, and give my body the strength to make more effective contractions. Michelle (midwife) says she's expecting to see a baby today, or at least early tomorrow. YAY! Off I go to rest!

Update - 8:20 am: We've digressed a bit. I'm down to a contraction every 10 minutes. I don't know what happened! Aaron is staying home for now and Linda is getting Joseph. I'm counting on a baby, so I'm drinking my Red Raspberry Leaf tea and am going to call the midwives for any other help. Technically, this is called "Early Labor". I want to go back to the 5 minute contractions I had to breathe through! Hopefully we'll have a baby soon. :)

Well, if you do, then you might learn that I think I'm in labor. No joke. That is, I think.

I've been feeling funny all day. But I've been thinking, hey, that's what happens the day after you get food poisoning and are up all night throwing up and what not. Monday night Aaron got us Olive Garden (the same meal I had the night before I went into labor with Joseph - we were hoping that was the key...). :) But by 10:00 I was sick! And by 11:00 I was very sick - just me, my bowl and the toilet. I was up till 4:00 am with nausea and abdominal cramps. These cramps caused me to have continuous contractions (Braxton-Hicks I think).

But today they didn't stop.

I was thinking that it's probably because I was overtired, a bit dehydrated and still dealing with a sensitive stomach (all of those have caused contractions with me). I got out of the house with Joseph this afternoon to do some shopping. By the time we had shopped at Kohl's and Target I was having to breathe through a few of those Braxton-Hicks and was exhausted.

We went over to the McIntyre's to hang out and I felt relieved for company, but still icky and tired. Linda wowed at how low the baby had gotten the past week and declared she didn't think I'd be "late" at all this time - in fact, she believed the baby could come anytime. Since she's the one on call to take care of Joseph, she said she was going to start sleeping with her clothes at the foot of her bed in readiness.

WHAT?! Was she serious? I've got at least a week, I was thinking! I haven't been resting up (which she encouraged me to do right away), we haven't prepped the bed, I hadn't made my post-partum menu or labor grocery list, or finished practicing my Hypnobirthing. At least Aaron got the Grapefruit Oil today. Mmmm...(We did all the above when we got home, by the way. Aaron insisted.)

So, the contractions continued and I noticed that the "Braxton-Hicks" (I'm putting quotations now since I'm not so sure they're just practice contractions!), were coming at a semi-pattern: just about every 10-14 minutes. Some I had to stop for.

So, we went to bed and at 1:45 I woke up because a contraction was so strong. I went to the bathroom to shake it off, but they kept coming, this time closer to 8-10 minutes apart. If you remember from Joseph's birth, in order to handle labor, I stood up nearly the entire time. For some reason, this was the only position I found comfortable enough. So, I'm laying in bed thinking, am I in labor? I need to stand up. These are uncomfortable. I tried to rest some more. Tried sitting up in bed, which helped some. But finally I gave up sleep and am watching Animal Planet and learning how two tigers, Ron and Julie, are learning to live in the wild.

My contractions are now 6-10 minutes apart. Crazy. Will I have a baby today? Or is it a fluke thing from my illness yesterday? I have an appointment with the midwives tomorrow at 4:00 pm, but I think I'll call to see if they have something earlier so they can help confirm or deny real labor. The earliest I could even hypothetically get in is 10:00 am. Funny if I didn't even make it to that... ;)

Fall

Unfortunately, I don't have beautiful pictures of fall foliage like Miss Chrystal does over at her blog. But it has been beautiful here, and (true to the season) we're gearing up for change.

Last month, Aaron and I planted a bed (rather, fixed a bed) in front of the house. The walkway is much more pleasant now. :)

I'm also VERY pregnant and getting ready to welcome our new baby! (That's why I honestly haven't felt like updating this blog.) I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow. We were originally planning on staying here in Norman for both holidays, but being the risk-takers we are, we're heading to FTW on Wednesday to celebrate Thanksgiving. Aaron is praying I don't go into labor. ;)

Here are a few pictures for you:

Joseph is my toddling toddler - a proficient walker, well sort of. :) He's still only got 6 teeth (but seems to be fighting many). He signs "more", "all done", "food", "please", "book" and more. He SAYS food, please, all done, book, dada (not mama!), down, don't touch (hehe), sock/shoe (hard to tell which he's saying!), and more. :)

He is a DADDY'S BOY. :) Within the last month no one can bring him greater joy than "Dada". He looks and asks for him all day. He runs to the glass door to watch for him when it's time for Aaron to get home. When Aaron is home, Joseph ONLY wants to be held by him. He loves his Daddy. I can understand. :) It probably comes at a good time. In a few weeks I'll be very distracted with another Baby, and unable to hold him as much.

He is a very delightful boy, for those of you who are unsure. :) We've worked on teaching him manners, not to be whiny, and to do what he's asked with a pleasant attitude (okay, this is MOST of the time). :) God has also given him such a calm, sweet disposition that he's happy to be happy. :)

Right now, he loves his hammer and books. He reads and reads and reads some more. He'll yabber away when he's looking at the pictures. I wonder what he's thinking?

You know, when Joseph was littler (younger than 3 months), it seemed that he changed dramatically each week. In fact, I updated each week then, because he was so different each time. I feel like we've come back to that. Just when I've finished giggling over something new and cute he's done, or awing over a new skill he's developed, there comes another one. Don't you think that makes him tired? I suppose that's why he's been a bit "sensitive" lately. :)

So, in his first year of life, Joseph got sick ONE time (this past January). But since he's turned one, he has been sick 3 times now! I am still claiming that 2/3 of those times was teething gone awry, but right now he's fighting some sort of stomach bug. Poor Aaron, that's all I have to say. :(

Please pray that Aaron and I continue to love Joseph as Jesus loves us. That we can be the kind of parents that look only to his best interest and not our own. Please pray, too, that Joseph's heart would be molded to be godly and soft toward God Himself. And please pray that Joseph naps better during the day. ; )

Long Lost Update

Hello family and friends. I'm a terrible blogger. Here are some pics for you though; and perhaps an actual entry will come in a day or so. :)

Two weeks ago: J practicing stacking and banging. He's especially good at banging.

Mom: future teacher, maybe? :)

Okay, it's not as bad as it looks! They're homeopathic teething tablets. I just can't figure out how he twisted the lid off...


Karina wanted her hair rolled like I do mine. :)

Isn't she just daaaahling?

Taken the day before Karina went home. Why is it so little?

This past weekend, we went to FTW to celebrate Meme's b-day. :)

He's trying to impress his Meme. :)

Joseph found this stem of asparagus fern, crawled over to the plant, and tried to put it back on. :)

Bad family photo. Those aren't pillows in my belly; Aaron's eyes are normally open; J does not brood in real life! :)

For the last 3 months, Joseph has been desperate to look out the window like Karina does. Yesterday, he discovered that where's there's a will, there's a way (or a box).

For Karina

Hi Karina!

We miss you very much here in Norman. Baby Joseph wants to know where his roommate went! And, of course, the chickens miss their mama. We love you and hope you have a great time in Fort Worth and seeing your mommy!

Love,
Uncle Aaron, Aunt Kelly, Baby Joseph and Baby Payne#2 (and the Chickens) :)

This is Joseph and Aaron after Meme, Papa and Karina left last Sunday. Poor Joseph.

This is the strange egg we found! That means that all 5 hens are laying now. But look how tiny it is!

1st Birthday Day

A few highlights from Joseph's first day as a one-year-old: He says "drink, please" at breakfast.

Doesn't he look smug? I'll just call it a "smirk". ;)

Typical Joseph in the car. We were on our way to the Farmer's Market!

Waking up (happy!) from his morning nap. Yes, naps are still required on a birthday. :)

I should teach him a sign for "milk", because sometimes he'll say "drink" when he really means "milk" - because he won't take water!

Joseph enjoyed playing on his birthday, and was so happy that he was able to spend it with Karina.

For dinner, I actually planned on making Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas. I didn't quite get that far, so we had a "treat": macaroni and cheese with smoked sausage. Pretty much a terrible meal nutritionally, but a Payne favorite! It was Joseph's first pasta dish and (of course) he gulped down every bite! Maybe it'll be a birthday tradition for him?

For dessert, we had some of those Oklahoma peaches we bought at the Farmers' Market. We put a candle in the peaches for Joseph, who is a pyro by birth and LOVED the flame. We couldn't get him to blow the candle out, though, so we helped. :)

He's never had free reign over a plate of food. Can you tell?

Two favorite things to attempt with birthday peaches: put them in cupholder; put them on floor. I encouraged the first.

And this morning, J was playing in his new favorite place. I wanted to document it!

Happy Birthday to You

Chicken Tractor

Built by just about every member of the Payne household, but most especially the Mr. :)

By the way, it's a chicken tractor because it's completely portable and intended to be moved daily or nearly that so that the chickens graze our grass and their "presents" are evenly distributed over the lawn, providing better fertilizer than any chemical can try to mimic.

It's 8'x4' and 3' high. The roost and nesting area is the covered part in the back, with the open area for their food/water and recreational purposes. Technically, we could lock them in there and they'd be happy for days b/c of the grass, feed and water. But we let them roam the yard. :)

Aaron built a door in the front that swings out. This is the nesting area, seen from a "secret" door that Aaron built so that we could just grab eggs from above. It's been working wonderfully! They're actually laying in the nest boxes!

This looks down through the nest door into a nest box and further, to the ground. You can see the roost (a stick hung above the ground where they sleep) and the divider between the roost/nest area and the open area.
The Happy Payne Hens!

Much-Needed Update

Here's an update of our lives (mostly in pictures) the past two months:

Last week of May

Trip to Missouri for Grandpa and Grandma Payne's 60th Anniversary

We stopped for a picnic on the way

Joseph found a basketball to play with on our picnic!

Karina swinging on Grandpa's 50-year-old wood swing

Middle of June

Karina found some treasure at a garage sale!

Beginning of July - Our Trip to visit Meme in Fort Worth

We also got to visit Kristy, my sister and Karina's mommy!

Karina tried on her graduation outfit from her HeadStart school

Joseph got his first haircut while we were in FTW. Here's pre-haircut.

Post haircut! A little boy now!

End of July

Yesterday Karina baked us "mud cakes".

This morning they were ready! Yummy!

Each morning, Karina is responsible for taking care of the chickens before breakfast. As she was feeding them today, she found their first egg!!!! Yay chickens!