Thomas and I shopping in Saugatuck 

the view from the top 

These were steps built into the side of this mountain, I climbed it...holy cow! 

Well alas, the weekend was not what I had hoped for. We left Friday morning, despite the snow and went shopping which was very fun and freeing to be out and feel like a grown up. Even though Thomas was strapped to my chest :) He was so very good until we got to the camp. Then he decided that he did NOT like being away from home. He was very fussy all evening which made my quiet times impossible. God was on the move however and taught me things that I didn't see until later. Thomas cried for most of the night (my deepest apologies to those of you who were in our room!!) so Saturday was exhausting. He refused to let me put him down for more than 5 minutes at a time. So my personal times were spent just keeping him quiet so everyone else could commune with the Lord. The camp was beautiful though and we did have a wonderful time despite the obvious. Truly, there were times when I laughed harder than I think I ever have. Good memories.

Back to life though....here are some newer pics of Thomas....because I know you guys never get sick of those..lol.

Today is the 12th of October...the 12th. This means that my baby boy is one month old today. I can hardly believe it's been a month already, where does the time go???

We awoke to snow this morning, actually I awoke to the phone riniging. I answered groggily and heard Christmas music blaring through the phone. My family has this tradition of blaring Christmas music when it snows for the first time. Actually playing any Christmas music is absolutely forbidden until the first snow, according to my father. Too bad for him that it snowed on the 12th of October!!! The kids were convinced that it was a snow day and they needed to make snow angels in the .000125 inches that was on the car!! However,I must eat crow when Molli gets home as I told here that surely we wouldn't get enough for it to stick. Well we now have roughly 3 inches on the front lawn....ah well!

Tomorrow morning I get to escape. We're having a ladie's prayer retreat this weekend. We're going to a camp in Saugatuck, MI which is right on Lake Michigan. I'm so excited. We're leaving first thing in the morning and shopping all day before the retreat starts. Matt got the days off so I can go. I have such a sense of anticipation for this event. I think God has big things in store. PLus, this is the first time I've been away in quite a while. Although, Thomas is coming with me. But he just sleeps anyway. Think God will mind if I breastfeed while praying?? :)

Here comes Emma's bus so off I go.....

After my last depressing post, I decided we needed a little happiness. So here's some pics of our trip to the corn maze/ pumpkin patch last night. What a blast, definetly one of the best things about falL!!


Create Your Own!

Alright, will someone please tell me when it gets better??? When do my emotions go back to normal? When will he sleep for more than 1 1/2 hour stretches at night?? When will my boobs stop hurting??? (sorry, that was slightly graphic!) Sorry, just feeling slightly tired and it appears to be affecting many things.....

Yesterday was awful. I had braced myself for it and yet it still hit me like a ton of bricks. My brother left yesterday for Iraq. He's going to be there for 14 months. I thought I had dealt with it, however, I lost it. First, I missed his last call so I didn't even have a chance to say good-bye which broke my heart. Then he left me a message telling me he loved me and he would be in contact as soon as he could. I just wept. All I could think about was him getting on that bus, watching his wife and four children out of the window as he drove away, not knowing when he would see them again, knowing that he would miss a year and a half of their lives.....made my sadness seem obsolete. However, he's my brother. The one I grew up with. We're 14 months apart...even though there was a time where we didn't speak, he never stopped being my big, little brother. And thinking of his wonderful family, without him for so long. And they are so far away in Alaska, I can't even offer to help. So if you all think of it, will you remember my brother, Tigger? We're praying for his protection, not just physical, but emotional and spiritual as well. Iraq seems to be such a dark place spiritually and being away from accountability and Christian friends....also, having to deal with the fact that he might have to take someone else's life....I can't imagine wrapping my mind around that one. Plus he is a sergeant, so he has men underneath him. When I asked him if he was scared his answer was yes. He said he was most afraid of losing one of his men or a friend. I asked him if he was scared about not coming back, he replied no. He knew where he was headed so that was not fearful for him at all. Sorry, my thoughts are so jumbled right now...

It's amazing to me that you can blink and days sweep past you. This never fails to hit me on the kid's birthdays....you stop and wonder when they stopped wearing diapers, stopped eating random non-food items, stopped needing you every second. but it's never more real to me than when I have an infant. The first weeks of their little lives fade together and before you know it they are two weeks old. The last two weeks I was pregnant lasted an eternity and yet, as soon as he was born, I blinked and now it's already been two weeks! His looks are already starting to change, from the newborn preciousness into the adorable infant. And somehow it's sad to me....a deep realization that time waits for no man.

Life continues to press on, we've gotten quite accustomed to getting everyone up and out of the door for school every day. Life seems to be settling into a pattern, which is somewhat comforting. I spent nine months waiting for this month to be here and now it's come and gone. Sunday it will be October.....good grief.

Here are a few more pics of my little man, you guys are going to get very tired of looking at pictures of my son, I can tell :)


Here's Syd...looking very bored by holding her brother



My sweet boy


Jonah, who still tells me every day how awesome it is to have a brother




And for something a little different, our kitties latest hang out spot, a gift bag!

All clean and snuggling with Daddy 

His first bath 

Thomas and his bink 

Emma building 

Emma at school 

Update: Thomas and I came home from the hospital late Sunday night and all is well. We went back to the doctor on Monday morning just to make sure his numbers were still coming back down and indeed they are. Thank you all so much for your notes and e-mails of encouragement. This was a rough time for me, I guess hormones and all. But he is well, thank the Lord.

Other news: We continue to adjust to having five children. It really hasn't been too big of an adjustment. The kids are fantastic with Thomas..they really adore him. I was worried about how Sydney in particular would adjust but for the most part she just ignores him. She does tend to be a little rough when trying to love on him, but that's fairly typical 2 year old thing I think. I was also worried about getting everyone to school, getting ready in the AM, etc. But that has gone well as well. Thomas is such a good baby and so sweet. I can hardly believe it's been a wek already. I spend so much time just snuggling on him, I just can't help it! Emma started school last Thursday and with all the baby drama, I neglected to post pics of that awesome day. but blogger won't let me so next time!

And last but not least I am an aunt again. Landon Kenneth Kurtz was born today at 3:04 AM. So Thomas is exactly one week older than his cousin, pretty cool.

Just a quick post as we are out the door again...

Thomas was admitted to the hospital again on Saturday afternoon for jaundice. I was a wreck emotionally....they took my new baby and put him in this box and I couldn't touch him. They let me nurse him every three hours still but I also had to let them give him formula too. It was a rough time. We got home last night around 10 PM and he is doing fairly well. We have to go back to the doc this AM to have his levels tested again and make sure he is doing well. So please keep him in your prayers that he will continue to improve and that we will not have to go back into the hospital. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!!

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HE'S HERE!!!!!

Thomas Michael Kurtz
September 12, 2006 1:21 AM
8 pounds, 19 1/2 inches long
Lots of dark hair!!!

No, I have not had this baby yet. I think he's setting up an apartment in there and he'll come out around the age of 18 or so....

My husband however is getting lots of practice. Yesterday afternoon, he ran out to the car to grab a book for me. As he was out there, he heard a woman across the street yelling for help. He ran over and peered into her house and she was on her hands and knees. He asked if she was ok. She rolled over onto her back and asked Matt to get her shorts off. Matt was really confused at this point. It was then he saw a little baby head crowning. He kneeled down just in time to catch this little boy as he entered the world. Matt sent the onlooker man (not sure his relationship to the woman) to get a clean towel. He rubbed the baby so he was fussing, cleaned out his mouth and spoke to the 911 woman who was on the phone. He held the baby till the ambulance arrived and the paramedic took over. He came home, covered in blood and on a total adrenaline rush. I decided(after I got over being angry that he was out delivering stranger's babies and I couldn't even go into labor)that that is definitely a creative way to meet your neighbors. So here's to Dr. Matt....our local hero.

Yesterday, I saw the mailman coming. I raced (ok, well maybe not raced exactly..but waddled fastly) to meet him and gasped as I looked through the pile. There they were...oh how we had waited and waited. So last night, we tucked the children into bed and took our precious package to the DVD player. LOST season 2. We had avoided the TV every Wednesday last year so that we wouldn't get ANY hints as to what was happening. Matt had to go to bed early, but I stayed up till 11 watching, drinking it all in. WHO KNEW?!?!??! It's so good. I can't wait to watch the rest....

Life in general is still forging on...I get bigger by the second and have given up trying to sleep at all. I've tried every position, the couch, the recliner...you name it, I've tried it. I give Thomas pep talks every day encouraging him to come out, I've even bribed him with all sorts of things....alas, he remains in his warm bubble, away from the world. Now I've taken to begging the Lord to let me go into labor. I've even promised such crazy things as not using any drugs. Do you think he'll hold me to that?????

I must admit that it is nice having the children back in school. Molli and Jonah are settling into the routine nicely. It's awfully quiet around here, especially when Sydney goes down for her nap and it's just Emma and I. Emma starts school next week and then it'll really be quiet around here. Makes it nice for little cat naps though :)

I'll keep you all posted, as soon as anything changes...you'll be, well maybe not the first, but at least the third and fourth ones to know :)

Seems so weird that I have been talking about the kids going to school for months and then, all of a sudden, it was today! We did pretty good getting up and out of the door. Of course I had to hike all over the school to find out where they went as they rearranged everything! So after our third lap around the school, as I am breathing heavily and having contractions, we finally located the appropriate places for everyone and they were off on their school adventures. Today was only a half day so tomorrow will be a little more telling after a full day. And Emma doesn't start till the 21st. But here are some pics of the first day...


Tried 4 times to get them to take a serious one...ah well!


My big kindergarten girl


My goofy second grader!

My birthday was as success, I turned 27 without major fanfare and too much drama. It was a wonderful day actually....I was awoken by my husband and son who had awakened at 5:30 to drive the 25 miles to a Krispy Kreme store to fetch me fresh donuts for breakfast. That's the best way to wake up I am no convinced and have told Matt that this is now my birthday tradition!

So instead of whining about how miserably pregnant I am, I decided to make a list of all the "normal" things I miss about my life....

1. Bending over to put on shoes and socks without passing out
2. Having more than two things that fit
3. Real jeans
4. Being able to quick run upstairs and fetch something without dying
5. Doing laundry
6. Getting out of a chair without a crane
7. Knowing that everywhere I go, people aren't staring at my stomach going, "Holy cow, she must be having triplets!"
8. Picking up Sydney
9. Sex (Sorry, but you know...it's just one of those things)
10. Fitting behind the steering wheel
11. Chasing after my kids
12. Being able to hold my bladder until I want to get out of bed, as opposed to it making my uterus as hard as a rock
13. And the things I miss the most....just the feeling of being a normal human again....normal emotions and proportions!

There you have it...things I am looking forward to and here's a dew more things I am anxious for...

1. Meeting this little boy
2. Smelling that new baby smell that cannot be duplicated anywhere
3. Breastfeeding
4. Watching my children with their new brother
5. Seeing Matt discover how much he really loves being a dad all over again
6. Staying in the hospital and having visitors :)

I could go on and on...

Kittens, showers, and birthdays....whew!

First of all, we adopted yet another kitten into the Kurtz clan...meet Dory.


As we already had a Nemo, it seemed only fitting that Dory be her name.

Then this afternoon was my baby shower. Now I know most of you are scratching your heads going, "Um, this is her FIFTH baby...why in heaven's name is she having a baby shower?!?!" My thoughts exactly. But it's our first baby born to this congregation so they wanted to throw one. My girlfriend is due about a week and a half ahead of me so it was a "Two for One" baby shower. It was made even more fun due to the fact that I am having a boy and she is having a girl. So we had pink and blue teams....it was a hoot. My mom did such a great job on it! So here are some pics from that...



Yes, even Thomas had to wear a name tag!


Kimberly and I with the duel cake :)


Thomas and Gracie's first picture together

Very eventful. And tomorrow is my birthday so it doesn't slow down I guess....

Who knew you could be so tired from a day of doing nothing??

My day started out so typical, Sydney crying next to my bed at 6AM...the girls sleeping in my bed already. So i crawled out of bed to start the day. As I was on the phone with my girlfriend, I had to pee. (Now don't tell me that none of you have friends that you haven't used the bathroom while on the phone with them!) As I was finishing, I noticed some blood. I tried not to panic and checked again and there was more. I casually mention this to my friend who orders me to call the doctor. I hemmed and hawed and then agreed. So I call, and they order me to go to Labor and Delivery. Ugh. So I scramble around, organize my kids, try and call Matt, and drop kids off at the aforementioned girlfriend's house. (by the way Mindy, you are my hero!) I head into L&D. Then I sit there for the next 12 hours as they check and re-check me, tell me I am contracting regularly and I am dialated. Then nothing. I pulled up to the house at 8 PM, after leaving it at 9 AM this morning. What a day. And I can only imagine that Thomas is in there, chuckling to himself at getting his mother all riled up for nothing. Punk kid.

It's been a somewhat eventful week at the Kurtz home.

Wednesday was Matt and I's anniversary. I can hardly believe it's been 8 years....man, where does the time go? I had mentally prepared myself that it would just be a nothing day as we really didn't have any extra money for anything. However, Matt came home from work with flowers, a card, and orders for me to get ready. He readied our children and whisked them away to my girlfriend's house and we went out for a lovely dinner. Afterwards we walked through the mall, what a treat without children!! After an ice-cream cone on the way home, we settled in for the night. It was s wonderful surprise and a refreshing time for the two of us.

On Thursday, I had thawed out some chicken that really needed to be cooked. (Don't worry, this is not another maggot story!) So I decided to throw it on the grill for lunch. As I am out back grilling, I notice some smoke. I wasn't startled because our neighbor burns things all the time. However, I noticed that it was coming from our neighbors garage (not the neighbor that usually has fires) The smoke was getting thicker and blacker. I yelled for Jonah to get me the phone and I ran (well as best a eight 1/2 month pregnant woman can) to get our neighbor. She comes flying out her house and yells over her shoulder to me that there are two gas grills and cans of gasoline in the garage! We share a driveway and our houses and garages are extremely close together. So again I ran to the house, this time to gather my children and get out! I was babysitting my brother as well so I hauled him as fast as I could to his wheelchair, all the while yelling for my kids to get in our car as fast as they can. Now they can see the smoke and are panicking. I finally get everyone loaded and we head over to the church (which is behind our church). We watched as the fire trucks arrived and they drug out their hoses and gear. The kids thought this was all very fascinating except for Molli who was crying that our house was going to burn down. I must confess that I was praying that God would not allow that to happen myself! After a while, we were cleared to return home. Our neighbors garage is pretty totaled, but thank the Lord, our garage and home are safe! Very exciting!

Noah and Nemo 

Curious Nemo 

Emma and Nemo 

Thanks to all of you who listened to me whine...I'm over it now. It's a cool 71 right now and it feels like heaven. Even when we had a killer storm and lost power this morning, I was just so thankful that it wasn't hot! I finally gave up last night and had Matt take our unit up to the kid's bedroom so they could sleep upstairs. I guess I never really realized how much I treasure my alone time!

Well some of you didn't believe how big I would get...here's some proof and I still have 6 weeks to go!!





And here are some other random pics of our summer...


Sydney "snuggling" Nemo...


Blogger won't let me post anymore...have to do it later!

Oh what to write that doesn't sound like whining????

This heat, oh this heat. It severely alters me. I knew it was coming and I was prepared...until Matt broke our air conditioner. Then I just snapped....like I knew that I couldn't survive without it. The implications are far reaching. He ruined the one that was in the living room. Therefore, we either sacrifice our bedroom one (NOT) or we take the one from the kid's room. Doesn't sound like a hard decision. But that means that now the children must sleep in the living room, which would be ok if it weren't for Sydney. She will not fall asleep without a closed door. Therefore she ends up in our bed which means that the precious little sleep I do get is now gone. I have to sleep in the middle to keep her feet away from Matt so he can sleep. Yeah, ok there's a mental picture for you...an eight month pregnant woman squishing herself between her husband and her two year old. Ugh. Not to mention that I have to get up four times a night....if I thought that was hard to do from the side of the bed, it's now impossible from the middle of the bed. Add to all of this the mother of all tension headaches (apologies to those of you who suffer from migranes. I know I have no idea what you suffer regularly, but this destroys me) So I just don't know what to do. I know the heat will break, but will I still be living? Will my family?

How many of you will come to my funeral? Amy, will you sing? Mindy and Misty will you take pics?

My deepest apologies to everyone, there was a virus embedded into the background I was using....I think I've contained it now and fixed it. I am sorry for those of you who were blocked from viewing it due to that.

Not too much going on around here, summer keeps moving on. Jonah has stopped going to summer school. I discovered that the "academic" programming was a joke. I do more with him at home than they were doing there. Not to mention loading everyone into the car at 7:15 AM to take him and then having to go back at 11:15 and drag everyone into the school with me....ugh! So he's back home and we're doing school stuff in the morning which seems to be going well. At least he'll have something when he goes back. Our days are spent here at home and the pool. The kids are getting so great at swimming. Jonah and Molli have perfected their diving (thanks Aunt Carol!) Emma is jumping in and swimming with no tube or goggles and even Syd runs to the deep end and throws her little body into the pool.

As for Thomas and I, we're hanging in there. I have gotten rather large and am SOOOO tired of people asking me if I am having twins or if I am due tomorrow. Listen up people, this is my FIFTH child...your body stretches out farther quicker with each baby. This baby is not a giant nor am I having twins. Get over it! *deep breath* I am feeling pretty lousy today, can you tell? I have not been sleeping well, I'm enormous, not to mention my allergies. I prayed and prayed that this summer would not be miserably hot and so far God has been faithful. Unfortunately the trade off must have been that my allergies have been out of control ALL summer! The other day I would have done almost anything to be able to take one Advil Cold and Sinus. All I can say is the next 7 weeks better go quickly or I may lose my mind!!!

Yet another ode.....

A few months back we had to say goodbye to Bob....our beloved kitty. It was awful for me, I cried for days. (of course being pregnant had nothing to do with it) So we just had Larry. He was never the same. We went on vacation and came home and he was sick. We just decided to watch him and see what happened. Then we got Nemo thinking he would help Larry pull out of his depression. It seemed to help at first, but then he just got worse. Finally, yesterday I coulnd't take it anymore. Off we went to the vet. It turns out that Larry had Feline Leukemia for which there is no cure and he was dying. So once again, I ushered the kids in to kiss Larry goodbye and we all watched as they carried our other precious kitty away. We brought him home and buried him next to his brother. So now Nemo is alone and I am so sad. I realize that we didn't kill Larry or Bob as they were, most likely, born with this disease. But it sure makes me feel like a bad pet owner when we've buried two cats in 4 months!

So here is my ode to Larry....we will miss you...

Here's the summer pic of the kids and one of Sydney....she's the only one I didn't have a picture of by herself....poor child. Can you tell she's number 4????

Well if you've been to Misty's blog then you already have a taste of what Wednesday was like around here! At about 12:45, Amy, Mindy, and Misty arrived at my house for an afternoon of fun and play. All total we had 11 children in my little blue house. What a riot! The kids got along really well. Here they are having some mac and cheese....



Then we headed to the pool which was so funny! Here are a few of my favorite moments...






A good time was had by all, I think. Three cheers for mini- reunions and tons of kids :)

I've written several posts over the last few days, but have erased them all. I've been in a very childish, petty mood and the littlest things have been bugging me. guess it's a combination of getting more and more pregnant and the heat...not a good combo, I'm discovering :)

Jonah started summer school this morning. I was still wrestling with the decision as I drove him there. It helped that he jumped out of bed and got all ready this morning. I think he is craving a little structure. He walked right into his classroom without even saying goodbye so I took that as a good sign. Plus, I pick him up at 11:30....so he'll be fine. (I'm writing this more for myself than you all)

My family comes home today so I am so excited about that. I can't wait to see the pictures and hear all the details of their trip. It's just been weird around here without them.

Plus, even more good news.....my friends from Howell are coming!!!! At first there was just one friend and her kids, but now they are all coming!!! And of course bringing their kids so total we will have 10 kids in my little blue house! What a blast!! We're praying for good weather so we can hit my mom's pool, a.k.a tiring them out :) I'll take pics and post them of our little friend/blogging reunion!

Well time to get some stuff done.....

** CAUTION **** If you have a weak stomach, DO NOT READ this! Although, I have a weak stomach and I am writing it.

So last week, I got the nesting bug. I was scrubbing everything. I cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom, using Soft Scrub on almost every surface. (Love that stuff!)So we went to my mom's for a few days and came home to an odd smell in the kitchen. We blamed it on the kitty litter which was promptly changed. However, the smell lingered. I found a bowl that had some bad chicken juices in it, which we thought was it as well. Still, there was the smell. So tonight, my Aunt Carol had just returned home from a trip and we invited her over to dinner. As I started the water for potatoes, I noticed the smell was particularly bad by the stove. I shrugged it off and walked away. When I came back to check the water, I noticed something on the stove that had not been there a few minutes prior. To my absolute horror, I realized they were MAGGOTS! I started to vomit and ran from the room. Matt came dashing in and then the hunt began. Where on earth had they come from???? I remained out of the room (which now smelled so disgusting.....) while Matt searched. I insisted that I had just scrubbed the entire kitchen. However, I had forgotten that the day after I had scrubbed the kitchen down I had set some chicken out on the stove to thaw. Well some of the juice had dripped down into the big pan underneath the burners. When Matt lifted that he screamed and declared, "Um yeah....found out where they came from!!" I remained far away as he scrubbed and cleaned it all up. The children of course had to watch everything, even though they were completely disgusted. My stomach is still churning and the thought of going back into the kitchen makes my skin crawl. They are so vile. So I just wanted you all to know that I am a horrible housewife. Who has maggots living in their stove?!!?!?!?!?!?!
The kitchen smells infinitely better now and I will NEVER thaw chicken that way again!!!!

Thanks to all of you for your comments on the kitten. He is turning out to be quite the pistol, especially at night while I am attempting to sleep! He attacks my toes under the cover and bats at my hair. We have started shutting our bedroom door :) Larry is coming around very nicely, spending more and more time out from under the bed. He is very patient with Nemo, unless Nemo takes it a tad too far and Larry has had enough. Comical and somewhat ironic since it used to be Larry who was the antagonizer!!

We are having a nice holiday weekend. Matt ended up having Sunday through Tuesday off which is a much needed break for him. We are camping out at mom and dad's house as they are in Alaska. The kids are having fun swimming and just being here. Also they are loving having "channels" as my parents have cable and we do not :) We had a nice firework display last night in the back yard and tonight we go to the big display in town. But now it is time to vacuum the pool and get read for another day of laziness! Happy Fourth everyone!