Corner Kerri: February 2012

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Science Fair Madness

February was science fair month at our house.

Rachel did a project looking at the effect of soda on eggshells as a surrogate for teeth because eggshells consist of the same material as teeth. It was a great project and took first place at her regional science fair. She will go on to compete in the state competition.

Of course, all the kids wanted to participate in the elementary school science fair this year. I told Paul if they signed up, he would be in charge of helping them because I have my hands full with the babies. He agreed. It was quite a big job to help kids with three projects at the same time.

Spencer's project focused on propulsion. It was a complicated project and required lots of persistence in order to make it work. He demonstrated propulsion on a balloon-propelled airplane connected to a fishing line. They tried different types of airplanes and different things to connect it to the fishing line. After several failures, they were able to get the airplane to propel all the way across the yard. In addition, they built a raingutter in order to do the same thing with a balloon-propelled boat. Ultimately, they were successful. Paul and Spencer had a great time working together.

Caitlin learned about the solar system and made a model of our solar system.

Courtney observed ice cream melting in order to determine which ice cream melted faster. She discovered that orange sherbet melted the slowest while chocolate melted the fastest.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Welcome to our new babies, Jacob and Joshua Madsen!

We have welcomed two new little boys into our family. As we drove into the hospital parking lot the day of the delivery, the song "It is the end of the world as we know it" came on and I thought it was so apropos! Our newest additions were born on January 26, 2012 at 1:36 pm and 1:40 pm. Jacob Thomas Madsen (baby A) was born first and weighed 6 lbs. 8 oz. and was 18 1/2 inches. Joshua Mark Madsen (baby B) was born second and weighed in at 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches. It was an uncomplicated delivery. When I got to the hospital I was already dilated 6 cm so they immediately gave me my epidural and the rest was very easy. Aside from throwing up a few times, I felt better than I had in months, having been in agonizing pain and unable to sit or lie down comfortably since November because Josh was so high in my belly. I thought it was ironic that I felt so good while being in labor. When it came time to push, my doctor had three patients ready for delivery at 10 cm so he held me off since my labor would take longer because of twins (or so he thought). Finally, they were ready for us. Once in the operating room, they prepped me for a C-section (just in case) and I began pushing. It didn't take long for Jacob to come out and Josh followed four minutes later. The babies were both healthy and perfect. All in all, it was a wonderful day. The anaesthesiologist resident told me it was the first vaginal delivery of both twins he had ever seen and the attending anaesthesiologist told me she had only seen two vaginal twin deliveries in her entire career. I didn't realize it was so unusual but I have had two successful vaginal twin deliveries so I feel blessed because that makes recovery so much easier.

We brought our new babies home a couple of days later and now I am the human milking machine. I spend my days and nights nursing, nursing, diaper changing, nursing and more nursing. I am exhausted but doing okay. Paul seems more tired than I am. All the older kids are helpful and love holding the babies. We're so happy to have our new boys in the family. They are so adorable. We love watching their every expression, even when they are sleeping.