Please pray for our friends, Trish and Adam, whose unborn child has passed away. Specifically pray for Trish, as she has not yet miscarried the baby.
We covet your prayers right now for our dear friends.


Please pray for our friends, Trish and Adam, whose unborn child has passed away. Specifically pray for Trish, as she has not yet miscarried the baby.
We covet your prayers right now for our dear friends.

There are times when I wonder, what in the world is my child doing? And this is one of those times:
Punky decided to teach Bunky how to plant “girlfriends.”
“Girlfriends??” I asked him.
“Yes, Mom, girlfriends,” Punky replied
Step One: Gather the “eggs” of the “girlfriends”
Step Two: Plant the “eggs” of “a lot of girls”
Step Three: “They drink all the water and grow as big as” Punky
Step Four: After you reap them, you feed them Milk and Orange juice because “that’s all the only like”
Step Five: When the “girlfriends” grow up, make sure you have them “play with trains and listen” to you.
** If your baby brother starts fussing while you are planting your “girlfriends”, just tell him “It’ll be ALL the girls.”
The baby will calm down right away.
**And if your mother tells you to
“take all of your girlfriends up to you bedroom,”
don’t expect to ever hear that again.

We are still in NY. My hubby left yesterday for a business trip to London. Our wonderful friends are house/dog sitting for us while we are away, so I have nothing to worry about in that department.
But I just can’t get caught up with reading all of your wonderful blogs!
My sister was kind enough to let me borrow her computer, so I have been able to schedule some posts and spend time today attempting to read some blogs… but then I discovered some amazing post-Thanksgiving sales online and was diverted for a long time.
Just let me say that I will be back at some point. Please don’t think I’ve given up reading your blog if I haven’t commented recently.
Oh! And don’t forget about the GIVEAWAY!!

I only have one word to describe all of the wonderful products that Newman’s Own Organics sent to me: incredible!
We are officially in love with Newman’s Own Organics!
A little bit about the company: Newman’s Own Organics was established as a division of Newman’s Own in 1993, and became a separate company in late 2001. Paul Newman has given over $200 million to thousands of charities worldwide since 1982.
A little bit about their products: “Great tasting food that happens to be organic.” They focus on the kinds of products they loved as kids, but take them one step further by using the highest quality of available organic ingredients.
My Favorite: Cinnamon Hermits!
My Mom’s Favorite: Creme Chocolate Creme Newman-O’s (I’ve gotten her hooked!) By the way, as I was typing this, my mom just grabbed two more from the pantry. How funny is that?!
The Kids’ Favorite: Dried Apples and Mighty Mini Pretzels.
Why I Love Most About NOO: I love that their products not only taste good, but they are good for you. Many are low in fat and calories and contains lots of fiber. Even better, they are made of organic ingredients! I love that I don’t have to feel guilty about giving some of their goodies to my children because, compared to other brands, they are lower in sugar and made of much healthier ingredients.
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We enjoyed sharing these products with friends and family,
and now I want to share some with you!
Giveaway includes the following:
You have until midnight on Sunday night to enter this contest.
Receive an extra entry for posting about this giveaway on your blog.
(Leave a second comment saying that you did.)
The winner will be announced on Monday morning!

Disclaimer: This may be a little too much information for some, so I am warning you ahead of time. Read at your own risk ![]()
The day before Bunky’s birth, I visited my midwife, Nancy, for my 38 week check-up. I was 4cm dilated and 70% effaced. Nancy had discussed stripping my membranes the week before. I did a little research and decided to go ahead with it. (I had my membranes stripped with Spunky, but all it did was cause a week of contractions. Even though I didn’t want that to happen again, I thought it was work the risk since my family had arrived in town the day before and I had their help and support.)
With my membranes stripped, I headed home with the hopes that I would go into labor. As the day progressed, I began to wonder if anything really was going to happen that day. By bedtime, I had had very few contractions. I figured that it hadn’t worked again and that I would have the baby in a couple of weeks.
At about 2:30am, I started having very regular contractions that lasted about a minute and were 3-4 minutes apart. Since my other labors had been fast, three and a half hours each, my hubby insisted we leave for the hospital. We woke up my mom, grabbed our things and called my midwife, who headed to the hospital.
Of course, as soon as I checked in to the hospital everything slowed down. By 9am, I had barely progressed more than a centimeter, so we decided to break my water. Nancy said that she knew I would have the baby today, but didn’t want to send me home just to have me turn around and come back again. By breaking my water, we hoped it would cause labor to speed up.
My water was broken mid-morning and I slowly progressed. I walked around a lot, did squats, and even rested a little bit in between contractions. By early afternoon, my contractions were getting harder, but I was still progressing but at an achingly slow speed compared to my previous two deliveries.
I labored quite differently than I did with my previous two children because I was not hooked up to an IV. I was able to move around as much as I liked. I found what worked best for me was to sit on a stool and then lean against my hubby during contractions. My secret to getting through them was to say to my hubby, in my head, over and over again, “I love you.” It distracted me from the pain and made the experience of childbirth so intimate and beautiful for me.
Nancy had already delivered several babies of women who had come in after me, and I, her first patient, still had not delivered my little man. At around 3:30pm (almost twelve hours after I had arrived at the hospital) the contractions were increasing in pain, but for some reason I got stuck at 9cm. I was there for a while, and finally Nancy suggested that a little bit of pitocin would probably be enough just to get me ready to deliver.
The nurse hooked me up to pitocin. My contractions were intense and constant with no breaks in between. But within 18 minutes, Bunky was born. After the first push, I heard my hubby say, “There’s the head!” Which I thought meant the baby was crowning. But, no. The head was out! The cord was wrapped once around Bunky’s neck. Once that was untangled, I pushed again, and out came our little boy. I heard my mom saying, “listen: he’s crying.” Apparently, according to my mom, I looked a little bit in shock, but hearing my little boy’s cries brought me to reality. I did not expect him to be born in just two pushes; so I think I was in a little bit of shock at that moment. Bunky was born at 4:05pm on Saturday, August 22, 2009.
The nurse immediately placed him up on my chest while they wiped him off. A little while later, my hubby cut the cord and a while after that the placenta came out. I only needed one stitch, which I chose to have done without pain meds (it barely hurt). The nurses checked out Bunky and everything looked great. He weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces and measured 19 1/4 inches long.
Punky was 6 pounds 13 ounces and 20 inches long- three weeks early.
Spunky was 7 pounds 11 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long- one week late.

Daddy with his new son & Grammy with her third grandchild
After Bunky was measured and weighed, he nursed for a while. Then, my husband, mother and I were able to spend a while admiring our handsome guy. As soon as he got the call, my dad brought the kids over to meet their little brother. It was a wonderful time that we all spent together.

Papa and Baby Bunky & The Boys
Although I can’t consider my birth completely “natural”, it was much closer to that than my previous two deliveries. Once again, I was able to manage the pain naturally through breathing. It might sound strange, but I actually enjoyed my labor with Bunky. I was able to relax some and, even during transition, I had breaks between contractions. Overall, it was a very positive experience for me. And it brought my beautiful baby boy into the world, for which I am forever thankful. We are truly blessed with three beautiful, heathly children.
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I recently took The Birth Survey and shared my birth experience so that others may use this knowledge to decide with whom and where to deliver a baby. I had a very positive experience at the hospital that I used with both Spunky and Bunky. I moved from using an OBGYN to a midwife this time around and was very pleased. If you would like to share your experiences, I encourage you to follow the link below. You never know who you may help in the process.

This is hubby writing. We’re at the hospital and Michelle has been having contractions since 2am. Labor is progressing slowly but the midwife has decided to break her water, so we’ll be meeting baby Bunky sometime later today…

Wet Ones® Antibacterial Hands & Face Wipes
Our best clean for hands and faces kills 99.99% of germs.
Quick Facts:
To Win a Full Size Sample of Wet Ones in Fresh Scent, you can
The Wet Ones Giveaway end on Thursday, August 6th!
Even if you don’t win, you can go here to get a $1 off coupon.

I was sent two Hot Wheels Color Shifters to give away as a belated Father’s Day gift to one lucky dad and his child or children.
Kids’ imaginations can run all spectrums of the rainbow with new Hot Wheels® Color Shifters™ – die-cast cars that change color in warm and icy water. Color Shifters™ color memory technology allows the cars to hold their color at room temperature. With 60 different vehicles and various paint schemes – classic to flames, off-road to camo, city to rescue and much more – the color shifting never ends!
ARP: $2.99 each Age: 3+ Available: Now