Life goes on...and on...and on!

(This is Benjamin's first outfit. Thanks to my friends and their creative talents, he looked extra adorable coming home from the hospital!)

October was an eventful month. The funny thing about bringing home our 5th child is that life is still going on at super warp speed. In the past it seemed like my life would sort of freeze for a few weeks when I'd bring a baby home from the hospital. Not this time!

The week before Benjamin was born the whole family (minus Mom) came down with a stomach virus that caused intense vomiting. We were sanitizing everything in the house like crazy, because we heard this bug could stay around for a week or two.

The day Benjamin was born, DJ was honored at the Kendall Elementary Knighting Ceremony for his good behavior. He was so excited, but unfortunately his parents couldn't be there! I was being induced at the exact same hour. Thankfully two grandmas were in town and attended. The pictures show how thrilled he was. Later in the day DJ lost his first tooth! What a day for a kindergartner.

(DJ earned a free ticket to the Wild West Day when he was honored at the Knighting Ceremony. He enjoyed this outing with daddy on Oct. 24th.)

The day after Benjamin was born, DJ came down with a very high fever. He was taken to Urgent Care and put on antibiotics, but we had to keep him away from Benjamin, which was heartbreaking!

Here is how we spent our first two weeks with Benjamin, which explains how "life goes on..."

• We had plenty of concerns over Benjamin. He broke his clavicle during childbirth, so we had to be a little careful with his right arm. He was also jaundiced with a borderline biliruben level and we prayed he wouldn't have to go back to the hospital for lights. He was born with a heart murmer, so we had to get an EKG. After the cardiologist received and reviewed the test, his heart appears normal. He started losing weight and spitting up a lot on his second week. On his two week birthday he threw up some old blood which was scary! He had gone down in weight to 8lbs. 10oz. (about 1.5 lbs less than birth weight.) The Dr. is concerned that he could have pyloric stenosis, but we are hoping it is a case of acid reflux. He is taking medication and seems to be doing much, much better!

• Things started breaking all around the house. First the washing machine stopped agitating and we hired a repairman to fix it. Then the toilet was overflowing and needed to be completely replaced. Steve wanted to do it himself on his "free time." So, he started working on it, but was missing a part so he left a big open hole in the bathroom and promised to get to it after work. Of course, that was the day we were doing catch up laundry (remember the washer was broken) and the drain water from the laundry started shooting up through the open hole in the bathroom. Something about water flow and lowest points...don't ask me--I'm not a plumber. Several friends had suggested we contact Roto-rooter when this happened as my shower and toilet started "burping" gunk. Well, when Roto-rooter came, there was no blockage. He said our septic tank was full. Thankfully, the next morning we were able to get our septic tank pumped out, but we were given bad news. Our septic system is on its last leg and will probably need to be replaced ($10 thousand smackers!)
  

• As if this news wasn't depressing enough, our T.V. broke! Now, I'm not a big television watcher, but I couldn't handle one more thing being broken, so I just about cried! We had enjoyed our t.v. for 15 years, so I guess it was time. I just don't know why it happened at the same time as everything else. Early in October all four of my tires had to be replaced, then there's the baby bills, and now all of these household expenses. Yikes! When it rains it pours. I really do have to laugh about the T.V. breaking. Nobody needs to worry about that though, because I think Steve was thrilled to replace it. He's wanted a new T.V. for years. :)

• Halloween Costumes also kept me busy. Since my old sewing machine broke in September, I got a new one and have enjoyed using it. Steve brought home fabrics and patterns early in October. I plugged away at sewing the costumes over the course of the month: a little here, a little there. Of course, there were a few things that were reserved for the last minute, just to make sure we had a sufficient level of stress around the house.

With all of that stated...

Life Goes On
&
Life is Good!