The Qualls Family

Monday, September 7, 2009

One Month: The Reader's Digest Version

Pretend with me that we are currently in the middle of August....Hey Everybody, we're moving to TN!!!

There are several factors involved in the decision to move, but, mainly, Ben will be attending Crown Seminary to get his Masters of Ministry degree. We went to TN for a long weekend to find a place to live, and we found a house to rent - no lease, no deposit: Praise the Lord! We will be moving on August 21....

We did it! We are Tennesseans again! Now the big job of unpacking, organizing and getting used to this new place. The house wasn't exactly ready for us to move into, but we did anyway (not that we had much of a choice). The bathroom needs some work, one bedroom needs painted and various other little things need to be done. But let me just say: I love this house! 'Why?', you ask. NO STAIRS!!! No more little people (and me) tumbling down the stairs; no more running up and down the stairs because I forgot something (that happened often...too often)....

OK. Back to the present. We have been here for about 3 weeks (wow!) now, and I think we are finally getting our things settled. We are still getting used to the new place and the new pace, but I think we will be ok. The boys bedroom is painted. The bathroom is repaired, but needs new paint (let me just say: red and gold is an ugly color scheme for any room). And most of the minor repairs have been made. The landlord started painting the outside of the house (suprise) so now instead of a dirty yellow, it is becoming a nice shade of blue....

Yesterday was labor, and we had a great time - though Lucas may disagree with that statement. He got sick. Several times. But I think he's getting better. We (along with Andy, Mary and Cathy) went to Nick and Sarah's house and grilled out, played Wii and discovered that we were much older than we thought we were - except me, I'm still 29!
Whew! Now we're all caught up.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Do You Think They Know How Cute They Are?!!!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

More Diaper Fun!

Here's some of my latest work:

Ok, well, actually, we bought this one - isn't it cute?!

This is a fleece diaper cover

A fitted diaper - I made it from a shirt that didn't fit right. I have found that for the fitted diapers, I prefer knit fabric because it holds up in the wash better than flannel and the stretchiness makes it fit longer.

A fluffy diaper cover - I bought this fabric on clearance months ago just hoping I would have a girl so I could use it :-P

Sunday, July 26, 2009

It's been a MONTH??!!!

Well, time passes quickly when you're having fun!! I can't believe a month has gone by already!

In spite of being very busy, the first five weeks of having 3 children have been great! Lacey is such a good baby. She likes to eat...a lot...can you tell?:

This is Lacey at a week old:

And this is Lacey at a month old:

See what I mean?

Birth weight: 7 lb 5 oz; Weight at one month: 9lb 10 oz

:-O

We have also determined that Lance looks a lot like Ben...

Don't you think he has his daddy's cute smile?!

And look at this big boy: Lucas (finally) has potty power!! (except for those occassional accidents, of course)

And Lacey loves her daddy! At least I think that's what the look on her face means...

Friday, June 26, 2009

A Quick Birth Story

Well here it is...and I am not being brief because of time constraints - it's just a brief story - I'll add lots of details to make it seem longer.

I had been having random contractions for a few weeks before Lacey was born, but on Wednesday, June 17, I started having more frequent contractions. They were between 10-20 mins apart and not at all painful most of the day. By evening, they were still 10-20 mins apart, but they were starting to get stronger. I still didn't know if this was 'it', but we decided to go ahead and call the babysitter and drop the boys off just in case. While we were driving the boys to meet the babysitter, the contractions were 15-20 mins apart and were 'ouch-worthy' - but still not 'I'm-definitely-in-labor' painful. We got home around 10pm, ate a snack and went to bed around 11:30pm. I tried to sleep, but the contractions were getting too strong (and I was getting too excited) to sleep, so I went downstairs to lay on the couch. At about 12:30am the contractions were definitely painful - but still about 10 mins apart - I wondered, "if they are getting stronger but not closer together, is it still labor??". About the time I decided to call the hospital, I felt a contraction coming on that I knew was going to be really bad, so I got on my hands and knees and reminded myself that it would be over soon and the next one wouldn't happen for another 10 mins. Then my water broke (12:50am). After that the contractions were very close together and pretty painful. Let me pause to say that with Lance, once my water broke - it was over - time to push. With this in mind, I woke Ben and told him we have to leave NOW! All the way to the hospital (15 mins) I just knew I was going to have the baby in the car, but somehow we made it. When we got into L&D, they started to take me into triage to 'check my progress', but, knowning the baby was about to come and I really didn't want to give birth in a tiny cubicle, I said, "I totally have to push", so they decided to go ahead and get me into a room. So, at 1:15am they got me into the room. They checked me - I had an 'anterior rim' (I was more than 9cm, but not quite 'complete'). They checked the baby's heartbeat - it was good. They said something about starting an IV - at which point I almost started laughing - but then I really had to push. I might have pushed twice - it happened really fast - and Lacey was born at 1:23am. Woohoo!! A completely natural and unmedicated childbirth - I didn't even get an IV! And only 30 minutes of hard labor...is that cheating?? ;)

Oh, and I learned something: you know you are progressing as the contractions get worse. For me: when they start to hurt...GO!