Chris and Jenni

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a post on my Homemaking Blog, but I did one this morning about the beets we harvested from our garden a couple nights ago. So exciting, and they are so beautiful!

How often are you supposed to wash your books?

Aidan did tell me that there was a book in the washing machine. I was having the boys help me load the washer and he had mentioned that there was a book in the washing machine. I checked but didn’t see anything, I just thought he was mistaken about what he was seeing. I even moved the clothes around a bit. Well, this book along with all it’s little washed pieces, was right on top of the clothes when I opened up the washer after it’s cycle. The thing to the right is what the dryer caught :)

I’ve been posting much more frequently as of late, don’t count on this roll continuing, it could definitely stop as abruptly as it started so don’t get used to it ;) I thought I would type out a few of my thoughts while Chris is on an errand to Wal-mart to purchase the VERY much needed toilet seat.

Ours broke this weekend. Okay, so that is not completely true. Ours broke several weeks ago (oops while I was reading this to my husband he corrected me) 8 months ago, and my brilliant husband, encouraged by his money conscious wife, duct taped the toilet seat. It actually did the trick and I think he felt pretty proud of himself. Only this past weekend, the other side broke. Out of absolute need he went to the pantry and retrieved the duct tape once again, but this time was not nearly as successful in masking our toilet seat to near perfection like the first attempt. He did offer to put a piece of wood underneath the seat to stabalize it better, but I relented and handed him $6 to go and purchase a new toilet seat. I think the whole family, and any guests that we might have in the near future, will benefit from the purchase.

Have you ever reluctantly sent your husband out the door with a list? Tonight I had a list of things I needed at Wal-Mart. Bandaides, cheap ones for my son who is desperately trying to stop sucking his thumb, I put one on his thumb every night, so I want the cheap ones. Rubber gloves, size large, pink or a feminine color if they have them, I wash dishes by hand and have found rubber gloves really save my hands from cracking. Anyway, I had a few other things to buy,  am I crazy? It’s so hard for me to send him out the door with this list. I love my husband dearly, he’s amazing in so many ways but we are different. He is an opptomist, I tend to see the negative much easier. He is a spender, and I would rather wear holey jeans for two years than buy a new pair. And so consequently when I send him out the door with the list, the things that come back in his bag tend to look a little prettier than if I had brought them home ;) Well, he just got home and I’m anxious to see what he got!

Wow, I’m impressed! He was perfect, didn’t go over budget and he even found pink rubber gloves and they fit perfect, I like them even better than my other ones! So, now it’s my turn to return his wishes. He wants me to go to a bridal shower this week and my first thought has been (it’s an hour away), but what about the gas money?! So I will have fun shopping for a gift and will have a great time enjoying a night away with the ladies, while my very generous husband stays home to take care of our children. Thank you Lord for such a great husband!

Yesterday would not be one of those days that I would entitle, “I was a really good mom today” day. Well, at least part of the day wasn’t. Breakfast was finished (I had made my kids Mickey Mouse waffles, Aidan had been asking for them for several days), it was a cloudy morning and I had spent a good portion of the last two weeks outdoors, tending to my gardens. I had already declared, “today is a cleaning day kiddos!” So they knew. They knew, yes I am talking about my 5, 3, 2 and 1 year old. They knew that on cleaning day we clean all the house, the dining room, living room, kitchen, bathroom, hallway, and their bedroom. And they (the ones who have made about 95% of the mess that I’ve let accumulate over the past two weeks, but they still did it, not me) would be helping me clean-up all the mess. They’ve actually gotten really good at getting into the routine of doing most of the picking up and I just usually direct traffic, because if I don’t, they don’t do anything much more than playing with the toys I’ve told them to put away.

So, we were on a roll, and I was feeling pretty okay about our progress. But, we were not done, and I was starting to sense that the natives were getting restless because now I’m starting to see little messes where our just cleaned floor had been picked up! I’m wanting to get it all just right, once today, if even for just a few moments, “I WOULD LIKE TO SEE MY HOUSE CLEAN!” Cait is really not that much of a helper quite yet and we are working on the rest of them. But she committed “the sin” at just the wrong moment. If it had been an hour earlier, or even an hour later, it wouldn’t have mattered. I was trying to get the kitchen done when Aidan came into the kitchen to let me know that “Cait just dumped water on the rug.” This is her new thing. She demands likes to take a drink out of someone’s cup and then immediately dumps the rest on the floor.  Unfortunately we have this “rule” about taking drinks out of the kitchen, and Eamon had “forgotten” and left his 32 oz jug on the floor, in the livingroom. Of course, Cait delightedly found this treasure and took a little sip and then dumped the other 31.5 ounces on the rug.

Mom to the rescue? Not quite. Maybe this is where Guenna derived the term “Mommy’s a  monster“? I was angry. Not at Cait, of course she still doesn’t know any better, but my 3 year old, now he’s “been told!” I proceeded to tell the children, remind them ONCE AGAIN, that they are “NEVER TO TAKE WATER OUT OF THE KITCHEN!!!” And this is why guys, do you see this water? Guenna, my precious two year-old-daughter says, “you screaming mommy?” I do have to add this disclaimer though, she accuses me of screaming when I barely raise my voice, I think she instinctively knows when I’m in the wrong and likes to point it out ;) I said, “I am angry Guenna, that my children are NOT OBEYING ME!” Okay, so what does that say about the last two hours of cleaning they just worked really hard to accomplish with me?

So, I knew I needed to calm down, and I knew I was in the wrong. I got them to the table and I finished getting their lunch ready and then after I had calmed down I asked them all to come into the room and I apologized and asked them to forgive me. I explained that it was wrong of me to get so angry and that I’m working on not doing that. They all had little smirks on their faces while they said, “I forgive you mommy.” Then Aidan said something to me that just blew me away. He told me, “When you ask someone to forgive you, it means you wont ever do it again.” Whoa, is that what he expects of me? Or is he just clarifying? So I responded, “Well, when you disobey me and you ask me to forgive you, does that mean you wont ever disobey me again?” “No.” And I said, “Well son, I’m a sinner just like you. And God is still helping me to not sin, I’m changing but it doesn’t mean that I wont do it again even though I don’t want to.” “Well, when you are old, you don’t sin anymore.” Hmmm, I can tell that I’m dealing with a real perfectionist here, “No, that’s not true Aidan, did you know that nana and papa still sin (sorry to uncover you guys like that!;)” Well, he didn’t and I think he was just a little disappointed, but that’s reality folks. We all have sinned, and we all still sin, that is why we need His grace and forgiveness, daily.

As this interchange with my children, especially my five-year-old son was taking place I was really beginning to grasp how extremely important it is that we confess our sins to our children. We have our children confess their sins to us all the time, and ask us for forgiveness and they do it with oneanother. But in order for them to really grasp the importance of confession they need to see it in us. Otherwise they will begin to believe that one day they will arrive to that age where confession is no longer necessary. Like, now I’m 18, I’m an adult and now I can do what I want and I don’t have to confess my sins anymore! Freedom. It’s almost as though this passage into adulthood gives them passage into freedom to do what they will, without guilt or the need for confession. No wonder why we have so many teens who fall by the wayside as soon as they get over to that greener grass. The other thing that I can see confession doing in my children, it connects us. They now feel that we are more on the same level, she’s a sinner, and I’m a sinner. I think that we parents are afraid to confess to our children that we were in the wrong becasue they will somehow lose respect for us. But really it does the opposite. When I’ve confessed my sins to my children, immediately afterward there is this feeling that I get from them like, “maybe I’m not doing so bad, even she messes up sometimes!”  I feel more connected to them and I actually feel that they respect me more. And they get a real understanding that this life is a process of becoming more like Christ, we never get to leave this process, but we live a life longing to be more like him no matter how long we’ve been a Christian.

So all of that to say. Have you sinned against your children? Admit it in your heart, confess your sins to your children. Humble yourself and ask their forgiveness. And then move on. Don’t beat yourself up, let them forgive you and let Him forgive you. He’s still working on all of us and He wants to use our children to refine us, refinement is not punishment. He refines us because He loves us. Those of us who have a lot of children must need much more refinement ;)

Well I better get going, I need to play fetch with Eamon’s dog, Curly (Aidan, and I’m Eamon’s mommy).  Oops, now I have two dogs and they both want to fetch. I love this life!

Here’s an update from Tam that she left in the comments. I thought I would post it just in case some of you missed it in the comments.

Hello, all. Because I have to pump at 1 a.m., half and hour from now, I’m going to post an update here. :-) Talk to the nursery about what tomorrow holds. They said he would definitely not be checking out at 11 a.m., the anticipated check out time. Our nurse said she is going to post us as a late check out. So, unless they have extra rooms and we can stay longer, we will be checking out at 3 p.m. Friday, without our son. Eian needs to have been outside of the incubator for 24 hours, room oxygen, at normal respiration rate. He’s basically breathing normal now, at only 2% higher than room oxygen. Another added feature is that he was coming kind of jaundice, so they have him under a UV light. It’s doing the trick. He’d only been under for maybe 3 hours and he was already looking better and he made really good doodoo while I was feeding him. :-) First diaper change was a doozy! With all the wires and the incubator, I was glad San could hold one leg on the other side while I held a hand and leg in one hand and cleaned him up with the other. Ha! I wish we’d gotten a recording of that! He just laid there and watched us clean him up. He was so cute! My sister is right he is a strong boy and he’ll be out of there in no time. God is our healer! Amen!? Give me a witness!
He has given us much grace to deal with all of this. An incredible diversion from my plans for postpartum bonding. But, I’m doing what I can to make sure he gets as much contact with us as we can. I’ve started pumping and I’m able pump exactly what he needs each time. I was warned, “Don’t be discouraged if you only get a few drips to start out with.” I thought to myself, “Whatever. I’ll get what my son needs.” Sure enough, God is good and has helped my body to be ready. . . and what he needs right now is his mama’s liquid gold and contact with San and I coming down to feed him every 3 hours. Speaking of which, it’s time to shut my eyes for 20 minutes, before I attach the torture contraption. :) God bless you all!!! And thank you for your love and prayers!!! Give God glory!
More updates to come! Thank you, Sis, for helping the rest of the world keep updated! You are wonderful! Aloha! Call me tomorrow.

I’ll just add my own two cents worth (that must be where Aidan gets it ;) It’s got to be so hard to think of not taking your baby home with you, but, these days will fly by so quickly and he will be home so soon and will have all the bonding he needs. I know God has given them a good perspective and patience as their little one is getting all better. I think that my sister is handling it all much better than I would have :) I don’t know though, I’ve never been in a situation where my baby needed to be in the hospital right after birth.

Another side-note, my kids keep looking at the pictures of Eian and whenever they see them they get excited, they want to hold him and see him so bad! Yesterday when Cait saw him she said excitedly, “BABY!” She loves babies. The hardest part for me is knowing that I wont get to hold him until he’s about 9 months old so I will miss out on those precious newborn days. But, that’s life right? I am thankful that we get to see them in March, they have been so good about coming to visit us even though plane tickets can be quite costly. Well, I better get going now, I need to eat something before the heartburn takes a hold!

Update to my update:
Tam said that Eian is doing really well and thinks he’s on schedule to leave tomorrow. She sounds like she’s recovering quickly and is really excited about getting to hold Eian without any wires or tubes! She got to nurse Eian today and he did really well! Yeah! So we are praying that their evening with driving back and forth to nurse the baby wont be too long, and that he will be stable all day so they can take him home tomorrow and adjust to a “normal” life with a newborn. Thanks again for your prayers! Please stop by their site, they have posted a video of the cute little guy, he is so beautiful!

Yesterday we had the privilege of spending the afternoon playing in one of the local park with the Searles family. Sue and most of her troops were camping this week and they went out of their way to come spend the day with us, what a fun day! Aidan, who is pretty shy around new people, was so bummed when we had to leave and he keeps telling me that he wants to meet them there again really soon! We all had a great time spending the day with you, and we do hope to see you again soon!

Guenna and Lily especially had a lot of fun playing together, they were so cute playing together. And the boys had lots of fun playing with the “big” boys, and Cait had tons of fun dragging Ezekiel all over the park :) Thanks again you guys! We love you, and hope you have a safe trip back home. You have such a beautiful family! Blessings!

Talked to Tam this morning. She said that Eian is doing better today but still not 100% so he is still in the nursery. They had him on 25% oxygen in the little incubator and are weaning him down to room level which is only 21% so he’s almost there. Tam is anxious to get him out of there and to get him in her room so she can be with him at all times. It’s so hard to not be able to be with him so please pray with us that he will be completely stable today and she can take him to her room and then home tomorrow. In my humble opinion, the baby will recover much quicker when he’s close to his mama, like he’s used to.

Tam is doing really well, feeling much better today. Must have been that night of sleeping without contractions every 3 minutes! That will do it every time :) Thanks for all your prayers for Tam, and San, and baby Eian. I know they really appreciate it!

Welcome to the world baby Eian! He was born at 4:27pm (Hawai’i time) and weighed 8 lbs 4 oz. You are such a beautiful little guy! We are so proud of your mama and papa, they’ve worked really hard to bring you here. Can’t wait to meet you sweetie!

Aidan, Eamon, Guenna and Cait were all huddled around the computer looking at the picture of baby Eian. Guenna said, “Baby Eian belly button?” Eamon wanted to know what the blue thing to the left was and was asking if we could go to Hawai’i now because he wants to hold him, Aidan was confused because he was naked and then said, “he looks like a Japanese guy!” :) And Cait I think just wished she were there so she could poke him in the eye, or belly button, or whatever body part she could reach. We love you baby Eian and wish we were there so we could see you in person, you are a sweet little baby and will bring many many joys and laughter and sunshine into your mommy and daddy’s life. Bless you all!

UPDATE:
Just talked to Tam, they are all doing pretty well but Tam has a bit of a fever and her heart rate is up. Think she just needs some food and a good few days of rest. But Eian aspirated some meconium and is in the nursery on oxygen right now. He’s got a bubble thing over his head so he can breathe without having the tube on his face, I bet he looks like a little astronaut :) Please pray for him to recover quickly and for peace. Tam wants to nurse him right away but he has to be breathing stable first.

Another update:
I talked to Tam again and they said he would be in the nursery for at least 24 hours, possibly 48. They did a chest x-ray and he’s got a lot of fluid in there. I know they are anxious to just hold him and be with him so please pray for grace and a quick recovery for little Eian. And that nursing wont be a problem once he’s breathing stable and has the fluid out of his lungs. He looks like a strong little guy so I’m sure he will be just fine, it’s just hard for a mama who’s worked so hard to not be able to be with her baby right away. Hang in there sis, hopefully tomorrow!

Baby Eian Makana Watanabe, arrived at 4:27pm-Hawai’i time. Congratulations you guys!!! Tam, you rock! Hopefully they will send us a picture soon!

Just got a message from San, she’s at 9cm dilated and getting ready to push! I will post the news as soon as I hear. For her sake I’m soooo thankful she’s almost done!

Just talked to my sister, and she’s still laboring at home. She’s doing really well. San’s sleeping right now and she tries to sleep between contractions, so more like resting :) It’s so hard being here and not being able to help very much, now I know how she has felt my last three births, waiting and wondering how I’m doing in the middle of it (although my last three births were much quicker than the first one). She’s been laboring for over 24 hours now, still with contractions 2-3 minutes apart and at least a minute long, that is a LOT of contractions! I’m so proud of you sister, you are such a strong woman. I know this is hard but you are doing so well. I’m so proud of both of you, how you take care of one another and lean on oneanother. God is shinning down on you today with His sweet grace and you will recieve the ultimate gift of His approval, a son.

Love you!

Well, Tam and San spent the morning at the hospital and now they are heading back home to labor at home for awhile. She is only dilated to 1.5 but her contractions are still coming every couple minutes. She’s doing really well though and is in really good spirits. I gave her some suggestions about getting her labor going a little better, but sometimes with that first little stinker they just take a long time, so I’m really feeling for her. But I was encouraged to talk to her because she seemed like she was doing really well and not discouraged about them sending her home. Please pray that the Lord will give her strength and grace to endure these next hours as she awaits their little one.

Doesn’t that just say it all? How can you resist those sweet little slobbery cheeks? Cait loves watermelon, as do the rest of the kids so we try to eat at least one a week. We can eat one big watermelon in almost one sitting. Anyway, these are some of the really fun days just being outside hanging out together. Speaking of which, I can hear that I should be outside instead of inside :) Still waiting to hear more from Tam, trying hard not to bug her but it’s so hard!

Contractions are now 3 minutes apart, and really intense. They are heading to the hospital (I guess they wont need to go to their 3:00 doctor’s appointment!) Please pray for a quick and safe delivery. Can’t wait to see my new little nephew! I’m heading out so I wont be posting for a couple hours but will as soon as I can.

I just got off the phone with my sister, she’s been having strong contractions that are about 5-8 minutes apart. She’s not completely convinced that today is the day but I think from how she sounded on the phone that things are definitely moving that way. Last night when I talked to her they sounded much more like, “wow, these really hurt” and today while she was talking on the phone with me she sounded more like, “okay, this is pretty intense and not very fun any more!” So without really knowing, I’m guessing that she’s going to end up in the hospital with a baby sometime today or tomorrow (that’s just my guess, her labor could totally stop and start again tomorrow, you just never know!) Anyhow, she’s really close and all these contractions are definitely doing something!

I guess they don’t have wi-fi at their hospital, so no updates from the hospital when they get there, but I will do my best to keep you posted. I know that there are a few of her friends who are anxious to hear how she’s doing :)