Matthias Scott Geer

Matthias came Monday night at 8:56p after only 3 hours of labor. He weighed 8lb 10.5oz and is 20in long. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect labor and delivery. I didn't post much about my journey these last 9months with deciding on having Matthias at a birthing center, but I can definately say I'd do it again that way in a heartbeat....well maybe not that soon ;).

This is Matthias's arrival story...

Sunday, November 28 (a week past my due date) I began having early labor contractions. They stopped after 6hrs. On Monday morning I had a sonogram to make sure the baby and placenta were still healthy, and they were. Both the baby and the placenta indicacted that Matthias might not arrive for another couple of days. All day Monday I had very irregular contractions but by the time we sat down for dinner at 6p I started having contractions every 5 minutes that I could not longer just sit through. I swayed my hips at the kitchen counter or in a doorway through the next 30 minutes of contractions. We hopped in the car at 7:30p and for the 30 minute ride to the birthing center I labored on my hands and knees singing praise music in the backseat of the Explorer. We came to one stop light just as a contraction was ending and I told Scotty that you never know what's going on in the car next to you. ;)

We pulled up to the birthing center at 8p and my contractions were every 4minutes. I sang and swayed my way up to the front door. I spent about 30minutes in the shower working through contractions and then moved to a clawfoot tub to work my way through the next bit of labor. By this point singing through contractions was out the door and we were now groaning through them. Scott gets 5 stars for his performance as he counterpressured every contraction on my lower back with his hands and moaned his way through the contractions with me. Every word that came out of his mouth was what I needed to hear, especially when it came time to push. The midwife never had to tell me to "push," my body was telling us when to push. Scott reminded me over and over that my body was created by God to do exactly what I was doing and I could have sworn he was moaning a low "ooooppppeeennnn" as I was pushing, but he says he wasn't. I'm chalking that one up to a God intervention.

Lots more details of course but I'll leave that up to personal conversations for those of you who care to know ;). This labor and birth was much less chaotic than the first two. My midwife described me as joyous and I cherish that thought. Would I do it again? Definately.

41wks pregnant

Still waiting...

God is REAL

Does God ever just pop up and prove His realness to you? He has done that for us this week as we prepare to leave for the States.
First some pics of the kids. Adeline can write her name now.Darton LOVES to draw tiny tiny scribbles. He pretends to draw letters and more often chicken. He'll ask if you want hamburger or chicken and then draw it for you. D has an ear infection right now, but as long has I keep IBProfen in his system he acts normal. Scott's bday is tomorrow and we've been celebrating for the past 5 days since we are leaving him on his bday.

So how have we experienced the realness of God this past week? Our church gave us a shower Sunday night and prayed for us from the pulpit as well as during the shower. Many of the older women came up to me to give me their blessing, which consisted of "having a happy birth" (un parto feliz). My girlfriends Heydi and Ana Maria organized the shower. It was exactly what we needed as a family. The shower was also proof that the church really does consider us a part of their family. When you are trying to become part of a family that doesn't speak your same language, it has it's challenges. Our residency cards were lost but God intervened and they showed up in a country where lost items NEVER show up...ESPECIALLY government documents. Reminds me of last Novermber when my wallet was found. Wow, God you do want to take care of your children.

I found out this morning a good friend will be on our same flight to Miami! So if we can't get help from AA for the long walk to immigration and getting our luggage, then we will have them. Thank you God.

Needless to say all of these events have brought a tremendous peace.

Christmas & Pregnancy in the DR

I'm thinking I must have been 33wks in the pic. No one told me my shirt was pulling like that! Horse riding in the fair grounds.

As soon as October hits, the stores break out the Christmas supplies and this fellow living here thought it was time to display his Christmas lights! Guess when you don't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving, might as well throw up the Christmas decor 2 months in advance.

There is ample pregnancy parking and family parking in the DR. Crazy, huh? When you are pregnant here you don't have to wait in line either! Even Krispy Kremes was going to let me jump ahead in line. I love it and hate it. Most people waiting in a line here don't have a pleasant look on their face, so I hate to jump in line ahead of them.

The kids love stacking boxes and making houses out of them.

10 days til TX! Did I tell you Scott called AA and asked all the right questions to get us upgraded to business & first class for a whopping $17/person/flight? Of course $17 wasn't the AA employee's first answer. You just have to make sure to ask the right questions.

We've also found out that about a 1/2c of white vinegar to our dishwasher load keeps the hard water spots off of the dishes and our machine white as snow.

Where has September Gone???

I'm not quite sure where September went, but when you are expecting a baby you don't mind when the "time flies." Here are pics from the past month in backwards order.
Yesterday I was blessed with a baby shower. It is wonderful to get to celebrate each pregnancy and not just the first! I'm 33wks this week. Our good friends Olivia and Mark have returned for the month from England and they stayed with us the 20-23th and then we went up to Cabarete to be with them and other friends last weekend.Darton asked to ride horses the whole 3 hour drive to Cabarete, so Scott took them for a ride on the beach. Seriously Adeline??Just in case I haven't ever shown you, mangos are the size of pinas here and during this season we pay about US$.50-$1 for one.

The 10-12th we spent up in the mountains with friends who live in Cabarete. Here I am at 29 years old and 30wks pregnant. It's amazing how differently I am carrying this baby from the other two - much more belly and less in the hips. I know I could have spared you this pic of Darton on a potty on the side of the mountain road, but I'm so very proud and he's so very cute! When we go on road trips he now asks to poop on the rocks.

many of you asked about my hand after seeing the disgusting picture. Here it is healing week 2. It peeled like a sunburn but the skin was thick like a scab on a wound. The area is know a fain pink and my freckles are slowly reappearing.

We will be in TX 3 weeks from now. I'll try to get in a post before we head out.

Shocker Week

Yes, they could be twins. They have the same size hand and foot right now! Darton's classroom. Montessori style.

Darton's WONDERFUL professora.

Adeline's classroom. Quite content after day #1. Poor thing has learned to cock his head to the side for pics. It's quite adorable, but a little girly.

It's been a shocking week here in the Geer house. School (outside the home) started up for Adeline this week. We have her in 2 days a week to learn Spanish. Darton will also attend when I have a morning function to go to (International Woman's Club, Bible study).

Shocker #1 - He didn't cry on day number one and then let the gaurd take him from the car on day number two. This is the same child who still cries each week when dropped off at Sunday School. hmmmm. What element about ss is he not enjoying?

I know that the main reason D didn't cry at school was because we went to the school twice in the last two weeks and his teacher purposefully spoke to him and to make him feel comfortable. Both of my kids need to feel safe before they will interact with others.

Shocker #2 - Darton decided on Wednesday, my bday, that he wanted to wear underware all the time. ALL THE TIME. He's even sleeping in underware! There are small night accidents, but none during the day! My Adeline still struggles with this...what's the deal???!!! Doesn't matter. I'm thankful.

Shocker #3 - Both kids are easily going to bed for naps and nighttime. They started this last week and have continued this week. By easy I mean, the kids crawl into bed, you turn on music, give them a book (if they want), and kiss them goodnight. I've told Scott that I will purposefully remember these good nights and NOT complain when we have a hard night here and there going to bed.

Shocker #4 - Darton started dressing himself last week. His request is ALWAYS for the nice clothes and especially the pink ones. Last week we endured him dressing himself in screaming fits of about 10 minutes. He INSISTED on putting on his clothes without ANY help. He'd get it accomplished, although most of the time at least one peice of clothing was backwards. We are past the daily screaming fits of frustration. Adeline is a very compliant child. She never even considered dressing herself, let alone picking out her clothes.

Shocker #5 - I haven't posted about the beloved ba-ba (bottle), but D has been off of it for about 6wks now. This continues to create shocker moments because he still asks for it daily. DAILY. We have NEVER had screaming fits about it - shocker!

We are off to the mtns this weekend for a vacation with friends (my favorite kind [as opposed to only us 4]). My goal is to take a pic of me at 30wks pregnant and 29yrs old ;)

Lime Burn

Something you don't want to find out the hard way...lime juice and exposure to the sun create this beauty. Don't run out and try it...IT HURTS!

On Wednesday I made freshly squeezed limeade (limonada) and then went swimming with the kids. Thursday afternoon the affected area on my hand was red and sore, and Friday morning there were two pintop blisters. By noon on Friday, I had large blisters and by this afternoon the large ones increased even more in size! It is a burning sensation and very tender to the touch. I only knew what was going on once the blisters appeared because Anastasia's daughter Hartleigh had this on her back after Anastasia squeezed a lime into her coke and then picked up Hartleigh while they were on the beach.

We thought limes and the beach were like honey and bees. They just go together. Obviously not.

Nonnie will be Proud

Notice Darton has caught on as well although he doesn't fully participate in the first letters. I'll get another video uploaded of D.

Abraham

This week we enjoyed learning about Abraham and continuing with the sounds of a, c, d, & f.
Adeline pretending to be Abraham and serving the 3 guests.

Reinforcing the letters a & c by driving cars on the masking tape. The key is to drive the car in the way you would write them.

Walking the shape of the letter

I have been reading through Creative Curriculm which is a preschool teacher guide on activities/classroom setup/etc. I'm taking from it what applies to us and since we don't have the large cardboard building blocks, I've been saving almost any box we have so the kids can construct as they please. Their choice, actually Darton's choice, is always to "make a house." Darton builds barriers out of ANYTHING, puts himself inside, and calls it his house.

Darton's New Trick

Saturday Night on the Town

Typically we spend at least one weekend out of the month on a beach vacation. However, this month we've stayed her in the capital every weekend. The crowds and city life become draining for us, but we made the most of this last weekend by going to a kids play at a theater in the Colonial Zone. The performance was Maria Monito, El Lobo Y Los Cerditos (3 Little Pigs essentially). The kids had a blast and are still talking about it. Darton enjoys walking around the house saying he's the "woof" (wolf). It was amazing how much they (and us) understood since it was performed in Spanish.

After the performance D insisted on touching the piggies, so we went backstage to his delight! After the play we went to China Town (yes, we have one too!). We went on a search for a mosquito killer in the shape of a tennis racket. We found it and are finding true satisfaction in electricuting mosquitos! Update on our phonics work -

We started letter sounds and formations today. I was very pleased with A's work.

FYI Phonics: (because I assume most of you are like me and just aren't aware of what makes phonics different from what's being taught in mainstread ed)

I show the card with the letter a and the student responds with the sound(s) that letter makes.

A makes 3 sounds: a (as in can), a (paper), a (want). I then hold up the c card and Adeline responds with c (as in cat) & c (as in cent).

We will drill a, c, d, & f sounds this week and work on the formation of each as well. It's a lot of fun listening to Darton make the sounds too!

Last week we got ahead of ourselves and since we were working on letter C with Little Hands to Heaven, Adeline learned the two sounds of c as she was gluing cottonballs to paper to form c. We will do hands-on activities like this a lot and not just pen and paper.

Darton can swim SOLO!

Adeline Can Swim!

6th Anniversary

Scott and I met the summer of 2002 and decided to stop trying the "let's just be friends" thing that Fall.

Dating Fall 2003 and he proposed Nov 2003 August 7, 2004 - we're just a little happy :)

A part of our ceremony I forget too often...

2005 6mth anniversary - Elko, NV
2005 We had an awesome 1st anniversary in Napa Valley, CA but I can't find the photos on the computer. Hoping for another wine anniversary trip to Europe or South America

2006 Adeline was born a week after our 2nd anniversary. December of 2006 2007 3rd Anniversary - camping Jarbridge, NV

2008 - 4th anniversary is lost somewhere between packing for the DR and visiting Jenny & Brad in Sandpoint, ID

Flight to Sandpoint. This was D's 3rd airplane ride and he was just under 4mths. Taken shortly after move to DRMan, they were sooo little!

5th Anniversary - Puerta Plata, DR....kidless!!

On August 7 Scott & I celebrated our 6th anniversary. It was a wonderful evening spent at an Italian restaurant with a garden setting (not the best idea in August being pregnant...aka heat brings on swollen feet). Ana came over Friday night to keep the kids and stayed Saturday morning so we could go for brunch at a French cafe. Marvelous! The morning date was my favorite!