Barking Baby Stories and other Mommy Tales

Reindeer Games

2012-01-17T15:09:00.001-08:00

This is NOT a Ridiculously Overdue Recap (ROR) post, this is actually current news -

For Christmas, SS got a small stuffed reindeer toy from his Aunt Shawna.

We opened it and SS saw it, smiled at it, grasped it between his two inexperienced hands and fumbled it towards his mouth while leaning forward, eager to make the two connect. Everything goes in the mouth. SS gummed the reindeer's face while we all joyfully watched and declared that he was giving the reindeer kisses.

SS seemed to especially like his stuffed reindeer - it's one of the first toys he has really connected with, and so we started taking it with us everywhere so SS always had his little friend to smile at. A couple of weeks after Christmas I took the boys on a walk around the neighborhood to the park - I put both boys in the double stroller and packed up snacks and a blanket and I stuck SS's reindeer in the seat with SS to play with in the grass. In an effort to turn the walk into some real exercise, I decided to power-walk every street in the neighborhood on the way to the park. BB played for a while and then I power-walked every street on the way home too. A full 30 minutes of exercise + playground time for BB + fresh air and sunshine = successful day!

I had to work the next day, and the day after was a Thursday - I remember thinking "SS's reindeer isn't in his crib, where is it?" but figuring it must be downstairs. On Friday when I put SS in his crib for his nap I realized I still hadn't seen his reindeer, so I started looking for it. I asked BB if he had seen SS's reindeer and he said "Yeah, upstairs!" I said "Where?" And he said "Upstairs!" again. I said "Show me!" and he jumped up with me excitedly following him - he brought me over to the staircase and pointed up the steps, like I was asking him where upstairs is. Cute. He wound up taking me to SS's crib, where of course I already knew it wasn't. After I really looked everywhere and couldn't find it, I decided it must in the car, but J had taken our "kid car" to work that day so I couldn't look yet. Once J got home, I sent him out to the garage to find the reindeer, sure that he would bring it inside, but J came back in empty-handed. Suddenly I was panicked. The last time I remembered having the reindeer for sure was when we took it to the park 3 days before, so I jumped in the car and drove down to the park, and then drove around the neighborhood searching for it in the dark, shining my headlights onto the sidewalks along each road, since I had, of course, power-walked every. single. street. Oh cruel irony. This was all to no avail - SS's reindeer was lost. Really lost. Possibly never to be found lost.

I was so sad, sadder than the practical side of me thought I really should be. I mournfully woed to J about how it was the first toy SS really connected to and I carelessly lost it and what kind of mommy am I? We only had it for two weeks!

I prayed and prayed that we would find our reindeer, and in hopes we could at least buy SS a replacement, J and I started combing through the baby section of Target, and then after 3 Targets we checked Ebay and the Carter's website, all while hoping the reindeer would turn up in some random location. But he didn't. We broke the news to J's family and joked about putting up "Missing" posters around the neighborhood.

A couple more days passed and I just couldn't let it go. I realized that if the reindeer had indeed fallen out of the stroller on our walk and someone had found it, they had nothing to work with, no way to return SS's beloved reindeer. And once again, the thought about Missing posters came to me, and I just couldn't shake the idea. So even though it seemed silly, I knew I had to do it, to feel like I had made every effort. I had to actually make and post little Missing posters around the neighborhood. At first I was going to print out pictures of SS with the reindeer to put on the posters, and then I realized that I needed to just get this done right then otherwise it was never going to happen, so even though it was BB's nap time and I was breastfeeding, I grabbed some markers and drew a picture of the reindeer for the posters. Then I threw the kids in the double stroller and we briskly walked around the neighborhood, taping up the fliers. I felt both silly and accomplished when we got home and I put the boys down for a nap. But I was finally at peace with my reindeer-recovery efforts.

A few hours later I was cleaning the house and my phone rang - it was a strange number and I was in the throes of frantically-cleaning-house-while-the-kids-nap so I didn't answer. But the mystery number left a voice mail, so I curiously checked it - I had completely forgotten about the posters. A huge smile stretched across my face as a woman said "Hi, I'm B, and I found your reindeer!" I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. THE POSTERS WORKED! Some snippets from B and I's conversation include "I have a 15-month-old, so I totally understand," and "My husband thought it was a school doing an experiment to see if someone would call" (apparently my artistic talents measure up to an elementary school level). I was totally spazzy on the phone, saying weirdish things half-explaining the story, because I was so elated. I know I sounded like an overly-caffeinated weirdo. (I jabber when I'm excited or nervous.) Later that evening, our reindeer was home, and we reunited SS with his special toy.

B and I ended up chatting about mommy stuff at our front door for a good 10-15 minutes (by then I had brought my excitement down a few notches to a level appropriate for a stranger (after squealing with various family members and making a big facebook proclamation)). And then B and I ended up running into each other at a different park the next day. So maybe I will even make a new friend out of our reindeer caper. When I ran into B, I remembered to ask her where she actually found the reindeer, since I had forgotten to ask that in my spastic, overly excited state. She said that she had seen the reindeer for a few days in a neighbor's yard, so when she saw the poster, she went and grabbed it out of their yard and called us. She is our Good Samaritan.

This is SS's thank you:

Ridiculously Overdue Recap Alert

2012-01-17T14:56:00.000-08:00

Between the holidays and New Year’s resolutions and a toddler trying to give up his nap and a cuddly baby filling my heart with every open-mouth grin, I’ve been so busy living life that I haven’t been blogging about life. So I’m going to try to catch up and post some Ridiculously Overdue Recaps alongside some current event posts.

I, like zillions of others, am attempting to use the new year to make some positive changes, including applying some structure of J and my’s daily schedule, as any semblance of structure that was previously there was destroyed by the survival-mode I go into over the holidays. I really want to get up before the kids, so that I can have time to read the Bible and set my heart right with God, get showered and dressed for the day, and run on some days – because J is also going to be working out bright and early before he heads into work, I will need to run even brighter and earlier, and if I do that, it means I will have some time I can set aside for blogging on those mornings before the kids are up, which excites me. Of course, this is all in an ideal world where I can actually get up when my alarm goes off, which I have yet to do since we set our new “family schedule”. I always think “If I could just not sleep, imagine how much I could get done!” but alas, sleep is essential to sanity. So we’ll see what happens – I might just be putting the kids into the gym childcare until it’s warm enough to run at the foreign hour I have designated to do so on the family schedule. That's actually what I tried out today - I used a guest pass to try the YMCA, as their childcare setting is more desirable than my current gym's (the workers are background checked, fingerprinted, CPR certified, etc.). All that to say, I MISS BLOGGING - it's my virtual family scrapbook, and I want/need to make time for it.

Anyway, some Ridiculously Overdue Recap posts to look forward to? A Crafty Thanksgiving, Completed (yes, I'm that behind), SS's dedication, Christmas, a random photo dump (doesn't that sound gross? What's a better way to say it? ) etc. - many of these are half-written drafts (the photo dump draft is titled December Dump, but that sounds so wrong), SO without further adieu, I'm going to try to actually write and complete an entire post!

Surprise Visitor

2011-12-23T14:15:00.000-08:00

A couple of mornings ago, SS had a visitor drop by unannounced.

It was actually quite a surprise to both J and I when we found BB had climbed himself into SS's crib and laid down right next to his baby brother.

BB was delighted. He gave SS some hugs.

And helped adjust his pacifier.

After BB would get close or touch him, SS would smile huge.

Happy big brother.

And then BB gave SS a sweet kiss.

And then another.

And once again, SS's whole face lit up with smiles because his big brother was so close to him (and also because SS loves kisses).

Brothers

You can see how SS feels about BB's surprise visit.

Here and Now

2011-12-09T21:37:00.000-08:00

In current, happening-here-and-now news, the freeze that left a thin layer of snow (yes, SNOW) in my backyard a few days ago finally finished off my garden. I just pulled up all the dead plants. Those were some crazy-hearty basil seeds (from Westwind Seeds at the Farmer's market for the Tucsonans out there). I would like to plant a winter garden and grow lettuce and other things, but I don't know that this is the year it will happen. We're hosting a Friendgivingmas party next week that I have been looking forward to for months - can't wait! Our Christmas tree is up, Christmas cards are in the mail, shopping has commenced, and family Christmas cookie decorating, yearly family ornament shopping, SS's dedication to the Lord, and a walk through the Christmas lights at Winterhaven are all on the calendar.

Today I committed to no longer allow myself to stress over any of it. It's embarrassing to admit that I am so easily entangled in trivial things and don't always step back to see the big, beautiful picture, but that's where I'm at, here and now. It is so easy for me to just be a stretched out rubber band ready to snap all December long, just moving from event to event until it's over, but today I am putting a stop to it. No more stressing this Christmas. Because I am blessed beyond my imagination. Beyond what I can really even believe and absorb in the day-to-day. Because it's all good things. Because I get to do it all. Because I get to do it all with J. Because there are people struggling with real problems in the world, and what I'm going to wear to a party is a joke (but if you see an understated, forgiving, dressy-but-casual holiday dress, please let me know :) ). Because He loves me, and He sent Jesus to earth for more than garland and gifts, more than tinsel and traditions. Because I have my own babies to gaze and wonder at how God came to Earth in this helpless, precious, fragile form. Because that's Christmas.

Days of Fun

2011-12-09T15:44:00.000-08:00

In between Washington and Thanksgiving, we squeezed in a trip to Phoenix to visit our best friends C and A (ahem, Dr. A, that is) and Little C and new little baby A, who's a few months older than SS. It was the kind of joyful and relaxing weekend you can only have with the kind of friends with who completely accept you, with whom you have innumerable inside jokes from years of friendship, and who are really family. We went to a kiddie amusement park (where Mama had several mini-heart-attacks watching her baby ride rides), another friend's engagement party, I got my hair cut (bangs! gasp!), we enjoyed their church, and wrapped up the weekend with a game of Cranium (We are all committed, competitive board-gamers and have an ongoing pastime of playing boys vs. girls....I can't remember who usually wins.....) All while watching BB and Little C run wild together. After we got home, I was putting BB down for a nap, and this is the conversation that followed:

BB: Sing a song bout Little C

K: (singing) Little C is our friend, he has red hair, he lives in Phoenix and we just went there.

After a few rounds of that, BB: Nudder song bout Little C?

K: (singing) Little C is our frieeeend, Friend till the eeeeeend, we love hiiiim, Little C is our friend. (Not my best work.)

BB: Nudder song bout Little C?

K: (singing to the tune of Old MacDonald) Little C and BB are best friends, B-B-B-B-B, Little C and BB are best friends, B-B-B-B-B, Little C loves BB, BB loves Little C, Little C loves BB, aaa-nd BB loves Little C.

Jonah: Little C. (nodding and very serious) We love him.

Keeley: Aw, yes, we do love Little C.

Jonah: (still nodding) Little C loves BB and BB loves Little C.

And then he snuggled into his pillow to sleep.

It's so gratifying to see the next generation of our families love each other as much as we do.

The carousel at Encanto Park

BB got firm talks about not standing up during any of the rides

Up, up and away!

I had to have the attendant stop the ride once BB's eyes started rolling around in his head

First roller-coaster
This was the main source of my aforementioned multiple heart attacks - I mean, it's a little intense for a 2-year-old. But once BB saw Little C smiling, he enjoyed it.

Taking after Captain GG

Oh Captain, My Captain

Preparing for takeoff

SS and Little A

Trick or Treat

2011-12-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

Nothing like a throwback to Halloween in the throes of Christmas preparation, right? Consider this post my Advent gift to you.

Seriously though, this Halloween with my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces was so much fun - it was the first year BB said "trick or treat"! After we got home, he called his candy "trick or treat" too. "Moe twick-oh-teat?"

But let's start with pumpkin carving. In the nick of time (seriously, we had already hollowed out our pumpkin!) I suddenly remembered I had seen a toddler-friendly pumpkin decorating activity online that I wanted to try and was able to throw it together, thanks to cousin M lending us some paint she had on hand.

Hollowing out our pumpkin before I remembered pumpkin painting

I used painters tape to make a face on the pumpkin

Then BB finger-painted away (in his diaper to minimize clothing casualities)

I tried to get him to make a handprint but it only sort of worked

And once he was all done, I removed the tape and this is what we had!

The half-handprint on the back

Then BB did some old-fashioned finger painting while everyone else continued carving

Daddy carved a Yo Gabba Gabba pumpkin design to surprise BB with - here BB is seeing it:

My fam was not messing around with our pumpkin carving - here are some of the others:

A wanted to do a ninja riding a unicorn, but settled for a pretty awesome ninja design Uncle J and M helped come up with (but A did all the carving)

Uncle A came up with this design, also very cool

Everyone with their pumpkins

All lit up

Another thing we did not mess around with were Halloween treats. These spooky witch fingers my sister and I shaped awesomely creeped me out!

That's homemade strawberry jam under those "nails" - I told you, we were NOT messing around

And here are the witch fingers (my sister made those crooked ones - CREEPY!) with candy corn rice crispy treats. We enjoyed these while my sister manned the trick-or-treaters at the door. Seriously, she had a whole system, including handing out a mix of warm nuts and candy corn in little Halloween muffin liners to keep the trick-or-treaters hands' warm, along with Halloween candy, of course. Don't you wish you lived in her neighborhood?

My sister in action

My sister is quite the Halloween enthusiast. We went out pretty early with BB and SS, since we knew they wouldn't go for very long (and certainly didn't need a huge bucketload of candy). As soon as my sister spotted crowds of trick-or-treaters on the street, she raced back to her house to arrange pumpkins and heat up the peanuts to be ready while we stayed out and went to a couple more houses. She even told her neighbors on the main road to be sure and send the kids down her cul-de-sac. If we hadn't visited during Halloween, I would never have known this about her, and it makes me smile a lot, so I'm extra-glad we got to celebrate this holiday together.

Here's the house with all the pumpkins lit, lining the way to the front door.

Awesome pumpkins

And now for my favoritest part of Halloween - the costumes:

Woody and Buzz Lightyear

I originally wanted to dress the boys as gnomes, in honor of our fun surprise gnomings this year, but once we decided to take this trip I knew I needed something easy to pack, warm, and easy to put together. BB has been a Toy Story 3 fan for a while now, and already had Woody jammies and cowboy boots. When I asked if he wanted to be a gnome or a cowboy, he voted cowboy, and voila! It was decided. I knew I wanted to dress the boys in a theme, so Buzz Lightyear was an obvious (and adorable) choice. And I knew SS would be comfortable in these Buzz Lightyear jammies too. BB's entire costume was free, and I just bought SS's with some coupons at the Disney store. Not our most creative year, but comfy, packable, and cute. Plus SS can wear the Buzz outfit for jammies, since that's what it actually is.

To infinity and beyond!

Bunny-bee and a jailbird

Cousins

Cousins

Trick or Treat!

Family pic

The cowboy galloping

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!

Beautiful girls. beautiful leaves

The grown-ups :)

After trick-or-treating, BB showing off his cat flasher light, courtesy of Auntie Jen. He still wears this around. And there's all his candy.

A went out for more serious trick-or-treating afterwards and here's her loot

Auntie pics

Happy Halloween-in-December!

Pony Rides & Petting Zoos & Pumpkins, Oh My! Fall in Washington

2011-11-29T21:08:00.000-08:00

SS took his first plane trip ever in October, to go meet his aunt, uncle, and cousins in Washington state. And GG got to come! J and I had free passenger tickets we could use, so all four of us (plus lap-baby SS) flew for the price of two!

Here we all are on SS's first airplane. J is putting the DSLR to good use.

BB excitedly spotted airplane after airplane, both in the sky and on the ground, and a pilot even gave BB and SS wings. This was the first plane trip that BB's really been tuned into and excited about everything and I loved watching his face light up over it all.

And then we got to my sister's house, where cousins and doggies and attention and secret sugary snacks abound. BB spent much of our time at the house like this:

He loved rolling on the floor with Lulu (and occasionally Simon, although he definitely preferred the bigger pup).

We got to go to A's soccer game on Saturday - she's 11 now and we could really see how much skill she has gained since we saw her play last, two year ago. It was supposed to rain, and instead it was beautiful outside.

BB showing us a leaf he found - the leaves were unreal the whole trip. Bright red, orange, yellow and green.

BB loved sliding down this grass hill. "BB slidin'!"

After the game

Proud aunt and uncle

That night was M's Homecoming dance, and I got to help do her hair. SO FUN!

Sweet 16

One of our favorite parts about the trip was visiting Lattin's, a farm my sister has mentioned for years, which had a pumpkin patch and other Fall-ish things. My sister and I had both been looking forward to taking BB here - actually, my sister had been thinking about how fun it would be to take him here in the Fall when he was 2 since he was born, so we were so happy we made it happen.

The fam, checking out this guy

And we didn't make it too far into Lattin's before we saw this:

They had pony rides!
BB watched a while while J and Uncle Aaron went to find tickets. By the time they returned, BB was beyond ready to mount up for his very first pony ride!

His auntie Jen spotted him

Joyfully petting the pony

Look how peaceful he looks here.

And then just plain happy.

I love the colors here.
I didn't edit any of these (as the sheer volume of the trip photos was overwhelming) but this one came out perfectly.

Happy boy.

Letting out his excitement and joy, post-pony ride.

Family shot (with SS in the Ergo) in front of BB's first pony ride corral

My mom and sister outside the corral

Bird-watching

Then we got to go into the petting zoo!

The combined sense of peace and excitement on BB's face when they first put the bunny on his lap was priceless

This duckling had J and I singing "The phone, the phone is ringing..."

Beautiful A in the petting zoo

The light was beautiful by the cow pasture

moooooo

The big attraction for the men was an apple slingshot, aiming for a target across a field off in the distance.

The light was so pretty across this field. The target is that red dot on the left.

J actually hit the target! He was only the second person so far this season to hit the target, and he won $25!

Even Aubrey tried!

See the red sign off in the distance? That's the target J hit!

GG trying out the Ergo carrier

Uncle Aaron and BB - Aaron and Jen treated BB to an iced cider

Loving his iced cider

Enjoying fresh, still-warm apple fritters paid for with Justin's slingshot victory winnings

BB was done with pictures

And that was the end of our Lattin's visit.

M and A were both super-cousins and were all about playing with the boys - they even helped with diaper changes!

On Halloween day we played at a park in my sister's neighborhood.

We saw these Mario-Brothers-mushrooms in the neighborhood.

BB loved having Daddy help him "walk" up this tree

Later that day, BB helped Auntie Jen and A make candy corn rice crispy treats for Halloween

Beautiful boy on Halloween night, right before he rolled over for the first time

BB playing with Uncle Aaron's childhood blocks

And finally, the cutest thing we've ever seen. M and BB sleeping cuddled in her bed. She had BB-proofed her whole room in preparation for BB's visit.

Stay tuned for pumpkin carving and trick-or-treat details.....

Happy 4 Months!

2011-11-29T10:22:00.001-08:00

At 4 months, SS is even more smiley and even more chatty. He has these long, eager coos and sounds that are like purrs or when you roll your tongue and earnest eyes that reflect how much he wants to talk back to us. And he does, in his own precious way. He smiles when he sees Mama, and now when he sees BB too. He is starting to really watch BB.

He has also found his hands. Or rather, his hands have found his mouth. He's frequently sucking on his fingers (or whatever part of his hand he can cram in), a mix of drool and spit up sliming up his knuckle-dimples. Occasionally he also uses his hands to grab and bat at a toy, especially his little felt ducky, who makes him smile. He also smiles at his musical-sun toy.

He is still the Spit Up King. Right after he eats with burping. Midway through eating. An hour later after he's already been thoroughly burped and expectorated. Whatever. The night before Thanksgiving I was feeding him in our bed and he spit up all over me, soaking my shirt, bra, and chest, and then he looked at me and smiled huge and did a little chuckle, one of his first. J and I could tell that SS thought it was just hilarious. He's lucky his smiles are so disarming. We laughed and laughed.

SS is rolling over more now too. He has never liked tummy time, and now he has an escape route.

And he's becoming really drooly, just like BB did at this age.

And SS remains very cuddly - he loves physical attention. Kisses, hugs, being held, tickles, stroking his head - whatever it is, he's all for it. Especially those kisses. He opens his mouth up and smiles for kisses. And he is also a fan of the deep, long eye contact - I love the moments when I know that we are really communicating through those looks.

And that's our 4-month old. We absolutely cherish him.

I will edit this in a couple days (after his 4 month appointment) to add his newest measurements, so stay tuned!

SS weighs 13 lbs - 10th percentile

and is 25 " long - 50th percentile

Quack Quack

2011-11-22T09:09:00.000-08:00

our little ducklings

A Crafty Thanksgiving Continued

2011-11-21T22:20:00.000-08:00

Crafty Thanksgiving Day 2:

We made pictures of the Mayflower crossing the ocean - the kids' handprints were the ship and we glued on sails, painted the ocean and sky, and added cotton ball clouds and glittery suns.

Crafty Thanksgiving Day 3:
We made dough and formed it into Plymouth Rock cookies, imprinting 1620 on them to signify the year the Pilgrims landed. We read Psalm 100 aloud together, just like the pilgrims did when they saw land.

BB's rocks were a little flat

Forming our Plymouth rocks

Ready for the oven

While the Plymouth Rock cookies were baking and then cooling, we made Native American headdresses and talked about Squanto, who cousin B was learning about it school, who interpreted between the pilgrims and other Native Americans. I tried to really emphasize how the Native Americans helped the pilgrims in their unexpected circumstances and that helping people in need and being thankful for help received is part of what we celebrate at Thanksgiving. While I do think that Thanksgiving's origins are surrounded by complex issues in our nation's history ("Hey, I discovered your front porch, and it's mine now!", as J says), I think the "helping people in need" and "gratefulness" lessons are good ones we can pull out for the toddler-preschool-elementary set.

My new favorite picture, modeling our headresses (I'm wearing SS's)

Crafty Thanksgiving Day #4:

We put the glaze on our Plymouth Rock cookies. We had fun making the glaze gray using red, blue, and green food coloring.

One of the finished products

Of course, then we had to eat some of the cookies. Once the kids finished their cookies (I tasted them, they were kind of okay, kind of grossly sweet with the glaze), then we talked about how the Native Americans taught the pilgrims to farm the new land and also to fish in order to get food, and we made fish using toilet paper rolls for the body, buttons for scales, and tissue paper for tails. BB decided to do his crafts in his duck costume wearing his Auntie's sunglasses - with his headdress on, it was a pretty entertaining look.

Once we were done with our fish, I of course forced the kids to line up for a photo shoot with their Mayflower paintings, headdresses, and fish.

Smiles from SS!!
SS is holding BB's fish, so you can get a better idea of what the fish looked like.

We have one more craft to go, which we are going to do on Thanksgiving day, and if you think of what obvious Thanksgiving-y thing you haven't seen yet, you can probably guess what the craft is making...gobble gobble.

Happy almost-Thanksgiving! I'm getting ready to make my grandma's cranberry salad, Memaw's (candied) yams (it's my friend's Memaw, I just got the recipe from her), and corn pudding - those are my Thanksgiving-dinner contributions. What are you guys making?

A Crafty Thanksgiving

2011-11-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is a week away - how did that happen?

Inspired by this post on Passionate Homemaking in the beginning of November, I decided that I wanted to craft our way through the Thanksgiving story with BB and his cousins. I thought it would be a way for BB to start learning about the (albeit controversial) origins of Thanksgiving, get into the holiday spirit (because usually the holidays all sneak up on me and then they're instantly over and I'm left wistfully wishing I had done more to enjoy the season), spend time with my nieces, and also could be something the kids could all present at our big Thanksgiving family dinner. (As a kid, my cousin Jacqui and I did innumerable amounts of performances for our parents - we thought it was the most fun ever to make costumes, write a "script", and block it all out. Often our performances included musical numbers. I have been really excited for BB and my nieces to "present" the story of the first Thanksgiving at dinner using all of their crafts and I think it might be because now I can perform once again, just vicariously through them. I mean, I guess I could do it myself, but, I don't know, I guess some people might think a grown woman donning a paper pilgrim bonnet and displaying paper-bag-turkeys and cookies shaped like Plymouth Rock is weird. I guess. I'll let the kids do this one. Anyway,)

I am mainly just following along this blog's crafts.

http://frymanfour.blogspot.com/2010/11/story-of-thanksgiving-in-crafts.html

Except for the first one - instead of just coloring pictures of pilgrims and gluing them to popsicle sticks, we made pilgrim hats and bonnets, which I found tutorials to here and here.

Of course, since the BB's cousins both chose to make bonnets and not hats, BB wanted to make a bonnet too, just like his cousins, but you know, you have to put your foot down sometimes. I mean, he wears my high heels around and is no stranger to B and K's pink toys, but a bonnet? Nope. So I made him do the "boy" thing and make a pilgrim hat. And of course we had to make one for SS too.

The hats

The bonnets

Auntie Seen told BB, "Make a pilgrim face!" and this is what he did. What does that even mean?

The littlest pilgrim

And I haven't forgotten about or bypassed Halloween, I have all kinds of posts and photos in the works, but in the interest of staying seasonal, I wanted to get this posted!

Always Be

2011-11-06T21:56:00.000-08:00

There is a combined sense of joy and wistfulness that comes with knowing that I am actively living the happiest days of my life. I am instantly nostalgic for moments as they happen and pass. First smiles. The edge of laughter. Licks with kisses. Tiny hands holding each other. W's and b's instead of l's and g's. Uninhibited dancing. I am pressing these things into my mind, willing them to always be.

3 months

2 years & 5 months

Aren't these the most beautiful sets of lips you've ever seen?

Three Months

2011-10-30T15:23:00.001-07:00

SS turned three months old in Washington state, taking his first airplane ride to visit his aunt and uncle and cousins, where we celebrating Fall and Halloween. More on that later.

At three months old,

SS is sleeping through the night consistently. He started doing this consistently at 11 weeks old, and J and I are very happy and relieved to be getting full nights sleep once again.

He has developed a little bald spot on the back of his head, just like BB had.

SS is sooooo smiley and coo-ey. When he smiles he moves his head back and forth like the smile is just bursting out of him and flowing through his whole body, it's so enthusiastic.

He had his first cold this past month - it was so sad to hear him sneeze and cough. His own coughing startled him.

SS is starting to use his hands more - he is playing with a little ducky toy hanging on his bouncy seat, and will bat at it, and he seems to like holding our hands. He also reaches up to his pacifier.

He loves his yellow light-up sun, and smiles at it while he lays on the playmat. He also smiles at the ducky toy.

SS is starting to laugh - he laughed at his Auntie Seen at Apple Annie's, and has since tried to laugh at Mama a couple of times.

When J's Grandma Kaye came to meet SS, he fell asleep in her arms and while he slept we saw him make a sucking movement with his mouth. We've seen him do it a couple other times now and we're thinking we might have another tongue-sucker, just like BB!

SS rolled over for the first time in Washington on Halloween night - apparently all that trick or treating got him excited! (Or maybe he snuck some of BB's candy?) He was laying on the ottoman with his auntie, doing some tummy time, and he rolled himself right over. We saw him getting into position, and I grabbed the camera and was even able to get it on video!

Mama went back to work - we are very blessed that Daddy is on duty while I go to work just one day a week. (Work went good - sweet patients, learning the new computer system with help from my co-workers, and I was able to pump, and SS was happy with his Daddy).

SS showing his support for Mama by wearing his scrubs on Mama's first day back at work

Strengthening those neck muscles with some tummy time at about 2 1/2 months

Just a couple of weeks after the picture above - his neck is getting really strong and he had good head control now, just a little bobbly now and then.
This was taken right after he rolled over!

Smiles!! (It's tough to get a good smiling picture because I can't see where I'm pointing the camera when I'm talking to him to make him smile! But this will do.)

Meeting and visiting with great-Grandma Kaye

Sleeperin'

Happy 3 months Boo-boo! We love you!

Apple Annie's

2011-10-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to check out Apple Annie's Orchard in Willcox, about an hour and a half away, where in addition to the apple orchard there is a pumpkin patch, corn fields and other produce, as well as an advertised "Fall Pumpkin Celebration". While the "Celebration" left something to be desired, J's whole family went together and we made a celebration of our own!

We all decided to meet at the orchard at 8:30 am, when the pancake breakfast at the orchard opened. This meant we all needed to leave Tucson between 6:30 and 7, and unbelievably, we were all on time. More than on time, we were a few minutes early, and pulled in like a caravan - J and I parked, and saw J's older sister's family and then his younger sister pull in and park right in a row next to us, and we hadn't even seen each other on the drive! For a family in which tardiness is practically part of the genetic code (and I can say that because I fit right in!), this sparked a lot of amazement and laughter.

Our day at the orchard started with a pumpkin pancake breakfast at the apple orchard - they served apple cider syrup with the pancakes and it was delicious enough that I keep thinking we need to drive back to Willcox just to buy some. No other reason necessary. We ate at picnic tables in the trees, and it was lovely.

I was simultaneously nursing SS and taking this picture.

My cowboy

After breakfast, we headed into the orchard, where we spent the next couple of hours searching for apples - due to a big freeze, their crop wasn't very good this year (for apples and other produce) which was a bummer for the produce shopping, but gave us a fun challenge in trying to spot the few good apples still in the trees. We threw the rotten apples lying on the ground, and the boys played lacrosse with their apple-getting-stick-tools (those things must have a real name, but I have no idea what it is).

Running

The "lacrosse" I mentioned. Matt and J discovered this, and then of course J had to teach BB

Serene found a beehive

Here she is showing it to BB

The whole family apple-hunting and fetching

More apple fetching

Swinging with Daddy and Nacky

Me and SS getting in on the fun

Shortly after these pics were taken, I felt like SS had peed through his diaper onto me so it was time for a diaper change and a trip to the bathroom for Mama. We plopped SS right down in the apple cart, and J and his mom took over while I went to wash the pee out of my shirt. It turned out to be a good diaper change to miss, from what I was told :)

How do you like them apples?

After we were fresh and clean again (turned out SS hadn't leaked, I had just felt the warmth from the full diaper, score), we snapped this picture. SS started getting really fussy. We realized the rest of the family had disappeared. We decided to go find everyone else. SS continued fussing. We realized he had been perfectly happy in the apple cart. So we put him back, as an experiment. No fussing. Picked him back up, crabby baby. So back in the apple cart he went, and that's how he rode around the orchard while we searched for our family.

Loving being pulled in the apple wagon

Turns out the rest of the fam had found a donkey and were trying to feed him apples! We were reading a Christmas book a few days ago, and BB saw the donkey, which he usually calls a horse, and he said, "Donkey....donkey eat apples," and it took me a minute to realize that he was remembering the orchard donkey!

After we had our fill of the orchard, we bought our apples, I bought a freshly-baked apple crumb pie from the shop, and then we drove down the bumpy dirt rode a few miles to the produce and pumpkin farm. The advertised "kids area" was pretty sparse, but BB didn't notice because he was fully engrossed with the one attraction - bins full of corn kernels for the kids to play in.

I heard his Nacky picked him up by his feet after this and kernels poured from his pockets.
I found corn kernels in his diaper later that day.
(Those pictures were courtesy of Nacky, since SS was eating his lunch with mama in the (air-conditioned) car - did I mention the temperature got up to the 90s?)

BB climbed all over this pumpkin display

All boy

Like father, like son

The Produce and Pumpkin farm also had a hayride to the pumpkin patch and a corn maze, but by this time we were ready to pick our pumpkins and get out of town. We camped out at a picnic table while BB climbed on the pumpkin display, enjoyed some shaved ice courtesy of J's dad (root beer flavored, yum), fought off the many fearless bees that wanted to share our shaved ice - J's dad sustained a sting on the elbow, and then J was convinced he got stung on the tongue when he took a big bite of the shaved ice and then got a weird stinging sensation. I couldn't really see anything on his tongue other than a little redness, but we all remember J's last episode of pumpkin-patch-induced-hypochondria. :) Just kidding. J is actually the one who remembered that, when we were driving home discussing the possible-tongue-bee-sting.

Anyway, once we were done with the roasted corn, shaved ice, and bee-swatting, we skipped the hayride in favor of just hiking out into the patch. BB picked a big orange pumpkin and a little white one, and the we headed home with some apple butter.

Of course, you know we snuck in some family photos along the way - I just saved them for last:

Decked out in plaid and boots with SS in overalls for a day at the farm

Our family of four in the apple orchard

BB adores his cousins and auntie and uncle, and often when I ask him what he dreamed about, he lists off "Bewel, Tada, Auntie Seen, and Mattttt." Uncle Matt taught BB how to flip on his cowboy hat fancily when we got to Apple Annie's, which BB turned into more of a hat spin on his head trick.

J's sister's beautiful family,
taken after our pancake breakfast

Cousins in the apple cart

Papa and Nacky with all of their grandkids

(Somehow Shawna escaped the family portraits, but you can find her in the group shots!)

Sleep-playing?

2011-10-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

So today BB was mid-nap and he started crying, which happens sometimes if he has a bad dream. I went into his room and found him sitting in a fabric bin that he likes to play in, sleepy and crying. His hamper was out and the dirty clothes were emptied onto the floor, which is something else he likes to do when he's playing. When I walked in, he stood up in the fabric bin and reached for me; I didn't know why he was crying and since it looked like he'd been playing, I asked him if he hurt himself. He said "Yeah" but looked so sleepy, I laid him back down and he went right back to sleep, just like he does when he wakes up crying during a nap.

I mean, I've heard of sleep-walking, but sleep-playing? Too funny!

After posting this on facebook, my brother-in-law reminded me that my niece Aubrey has done similar things, and then BB's auntie (J's sister) told me that both her and my niece Belle have also sleep-played - who knew? With all of this sleep activity on both sides of the family tree, I guess it was only a matter of time before BB joined in on the fun.

Man-cub

2011-10-13T16:38:00.000-07:00

We (meaning BB) are on a Jungle Book kick lately, and so I've been calling BB "man-cub" here and there, because it's adorable and he's wild and my boys deserve good nicknames. But this post is about my other man-cub, the littlest cub. And some other cubs too.

A current Tucson attraction are three new lion cubs at the zoo, just placed on exhibit on September 27th. We took our little family to meet them last week, going first thing in the morning to see them at their most active. We got there at just the right time and got to see the three little cubs romping and rolling with each other, and we even got to see the Mama lion, Kaya, pick up one of the cubs by his scruff with her mouth!

The Mama lion with her cubs (they are a little hard to spot)

But the best part of meeting the lion cubs was when I noticed this sign on the exhibit window:

These cubs were born here in Tucson on July 28th, just the day before SS!

When I realized that SS and these three cubs were nearly exactly the same age, I was moved. I immediately pictured watching these cubs grow over the years, comparing their growth and changes with SS's development, and someday being able to tell SS that he shares something special with them, that these are his lions.

With my eyes full of tears, I remarked to the docents standing outside the exhibit that my son was born just the day after the cubs. The docents were delighted and asked SS's name. When I told them, they said, "He's an 'A' too!" Because do you know what those lion cubs' names are?

Ayotunde, Azizi, and Abuto.

All 'A' names. Just like SS.

Even more magic.

In and out of the Ergo carrier

Of course, some of the magic dissolved when the docents told me that the cubs will be moved to other zoos once they turn two, so that the genetics are mixed up and the lion cubs have a chance to start their own families (I learned that the siblings know instinctively not to mate with each other, it's called "sibling syndrome"). It makes sense, but I was sad to hear that we will have to say goodbye to SS's lion-brothers after just two years (although as the mom of a strong-willed two-year-old, I think Kaya might be onto something...just kidding :) ) and that we won't be able to follow them their whole lives like I had fantasized (granted, for a whole 90 seconds). Who knows though, maybe our zoo will wind up keeping one! Either way, me and J and our man-cubs will enjoy watching SS's lion cubs grow and change with him over the next two years.

Two Smart

2011-10-13T16:33:00.001-07:00

BB: "BB wants to be all duh-un."

J: "Okay BB, You need to eat three more bites, and then you can be all done."

BB: "Two more bites."

J: "No, I said three more bites."

BB: "Two more bites."

Who taught the kid to negotiate?

BB has also started saying "Yup" and "Nope" instead of "Yeah" and "No". As in,

K: "I love you BB."

BB: "Yuuup."

Word to the Mothers: Potty Training

2011-10-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

So a friend from my church just started a mommy blog where fellow church-mommies can share questions, advice, and encouragement - fun, right? Of course I love this idea.

I thought I would share my post over here too, since, you know, you're my peeps. OG style. Keepin' it real. Word.

(I wonder how long before they kick me off the blog?)

Anyway.....

Right now I am learning that it's not just the toddler that needs to be potty-trained, it's the parents too. Meaning, I need to remember to ask my toddler if he needs to go potty. But I'm not used to all this potty-prompting yet and so I often forget. And then there's a puddle on the floor and wet undies in the hamper. I wish someone was around to prompt me to prompt my toddler to go potty - that would really eliminate a lot of the elimination in my life.

Snapshots of September

2011-10-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

Good news about me: my follow-up glucose screen (that I had to do because of the gestational diabetes) came back normal. Woohoo! Bring on the carbs! (Not like I've been waiting on that at all, but it's nice to know that my body is processing them normally again.)
The boys are keeping us busy for sure - they really are both so much fun.
SS just started smiling and cooing back at us when we talk to him.
And BB is a topic chock full of funny.

A few times this month when I put BB down for his nap and said something like "It's time to sleep" he would tell me "Tyrone sleeping" - I was like, huh? And he would clarify, telling me what Tyrone was doing, and then laugh and laugh. Who's Tyrone? J later told me that Tyrone is a character on Backyardigans. Ohhhhhh. Tyrone jumped off the screen and into BB's imagination - BB brought him up a few times, and it was cute hearing about what his little imaginary friend was up to (usually whatever BB was up to).

E's birthday tea party!
BB got to dress up and SS wore his first party hat.

To BB, everything right now is "big" or "tiny", or "Daddy" and "Mama". We were reading a dinosaur book and he pointed to two dinosaurs that looked the same but were different sizes, and said "[deep voice] BIG Daddy dinosaur, [high voice] Tiny BB dinosaur," and then he studied the page for a minute, found another similar looking medium-sized dinosaur and said "Big tiny mama dinosaur!" I like that I am somewhere in the middle. :) And now he adds in SS too, finding the smallest thing in a grouping. Oh, and he also starting saying "biraffe" for "giraffe".

BB's blanket, his lovey, doubling as a pirate hat

Found these guys passed out after dinner

BB helped Mama bake for the first time - here he is stirring the zucchini-carrot muffin batter.

When BB wants to tell J something but J doesn't tune in right away, BB grabs J's face with one hand on each cheek, turns J's head, and puts his little face right up close to J's to ensure he has Daddy's rapt attention while he talks.

Cheering on the Bears with the boys decked out in new welcome-SS-Bears gear from Team K!

Lately I walk into the living room and find that BB has carried the wooden step stool from the bathroom sink over to where we store the DVDs and is pulling a movie out himself, often after I have told him that we're not going to watch a movie. Now that's problem-solving. This kid is so independent and determined and smart. Two smart.

Blackmail.
What can I say, the boy loves to wear shoes. Any shoes.

GG came to visit!

And so did my cousin, who got to meet SS

And those are some snapshots of our September. Now it's time for pumpkins, cranberries, chai, and cinnamon, lots and lots of cinnamon - oh how I love the flavors of Fall. Bring on October!

My Beautiful Two-Month Old

2011-09-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

I spend a lot of time staring at my baby thinking about how perfectly beautiful he is. How deep blue his eyes are, how beautiful his full top lip is, how tiny his feet and toes still are, and how perfectly perfect he is. SS is such a beautiful baby.

BB and SS's baby pictures are similar when their eyes are closed, but with open eyes, BB's nose was wider and BB's eyes were slightly wider-set than SS's. It's sweet and surreal to look back at photos of BB at this same age, and remember that once, not that long ago, BB was a tiny baby just like SS.

At 2-months old, SS is sleeping in his crib for naps and at night. We made the change from bassinet in mama and daddy's room to the crib in his own room at 6 weeks old. Our Squeaky Son is still squeaky and as such is a noisy sleeper, and I think we all sleep more solidly with this arrangement. A couple of nights he has slept from when we put him down around 9 pm to 5 am, allowing me to get some 7-hour stretches of sleep and after many weeks without continuous sleep, these stretches are very much appreciated. Otherwise, he wakes up 1-2 times at night, with the occasional every-3-hour-wake-up night thrown in here and there. But even when he does wake up, I nurse him and then he falls back asleep nursing and stays asleep when I transfer him from curled-up-on-mama-in-the-glider back to the crib. (I usually unswaddle and change him before I feed him, and then I re-swaddle him before I feed him.)

He has begun smiling consistently - at toys, the black-and-white stripes on his bouncy seat, the airplanes on his crib bumper (which I removed this week as a precaution), and at people. The other night every time I kissed his mouth he would smile back at me, like 5 times in a row. I love that he is reacting now! So now I know that he likes kisses.

He remains very cuddly - if he's having trouble falling asleep at naptime, sometimes he just wants to be held and will falls asleep within minutes of being picked up and cuddled. He gets frustrated if he's in the bouncy seat or on the playmat for too long. He doesn't mind checking out the scenery for a bit, but then he starts fussing - sometimes I can just change his position so he has a new view, but other times he just wants to be picked up, thankyouverymuch. We love how cuddly he is.

His head control is improving, but he still needs just-in-case support. I love the look in his eyes when he has been holding his head up for a long time - a combo of pride, like "Are you seeing this?", and nervousness, as his head bobbles around.

He is still a great eater, and is looking really filled out, with little wrist lines and knuckle dimples, moderately chubby thighs, full cheeks and a hint of a double chin. He eats about every 3 hours during the day. I weigh him (by weighing myself holding him and not holding him) for fun - at 6 weeks he was 10 pounds, and at 7 1/2 weeks he was 11.8 pounds. He has already grown out of some of his newborn clothes!

SS is a spitter-upper. BB rarely ever spit up, and SS is making up for it. I barely get him up to my shoulder to pat his back before he burps, and a few times a day that is followed by an outpouring. Sometimes it comes out of his little nose too (which the doctor says is normal).

If he is sleepy, sometimes he fusses and kicks his legs until we give him his pacifier and swaddle him. And he falls asleep in minutes in his car seat - I think he feels all cuddled up in there.

Today, at 2 months old, he weighed in right at 11 pounds on the "official" scale at the doctor's office, which puts him in the 25th percentile. And he was 23 1/2 inches long, which puts him in the 75th percentile for length.
He got his first vaccines today - cried with the pokes, calmed easily, and has been sleeping ever since.

Happy 2-month birthday SS!

Potty Training

2011-09-27T16:25:00.001-07:00

We have had kiddie potties in BB's bathroom and the downstairs bathroom for months and have encouraged BB to use them here and there, but we finally went into full-force potty-training mode a couple of weeks ago. It started when I marked on the calendar that September 14th was officially Potty Training Day. As in, we wouldn't plan on doing anything other than pushing fluids and taking BB potty all day long. J was home the first day too, so we could tackle it together. In preparation for PTD, we bought plastic drop cloths, took BB to pick out big boy undies, bought pull-ups, and got a new and improved toilet seat with a built-in magnetic kiddie seat for the downstairs bath (since BB prefers the toilet over the kiddie potty - we've moved the kiddie potty now since he didn't use it). (You can check out our new toilet seat here.) The plan was to put BB in his undies, push fluids all day, and take him to potty every 15 minutes (or when he told us he needed to go). I was planning to do this with BB naked, and then someone pointed out that the undies might catch some of the pee if he started to go, and alert both him and us that he was peeing and needed to get to the bathroom. In case of accidents, we put the plastic drop cloths on our rug and couch. Kind of drastic, I know, but I'd rather lay down the $5 plastic than attempt to clean pee out of our rug or couch upholstery.

To prepare BB for the big event, we tried to hype up everything about potty training and big boy underwear to BB in the approaching days. We also had a book called "No More Diapers for Ducky" from the library that we read and talked about in the preceding days - after a few days BB would announce smiling "No more diapers for BB!"

So on Potty Training Day, we ceremoniously had BB pick out and put on his big boy undies and took him to potty in the big potty. We gave him a sticker each time he used the big boy potty - I wanted to collect his stickers at the end of each day and display them on a sticker chart in his room, but on day 2 BB peeled the stickers off the paper from day one and he plays with them all over the house. I'm not really sure where all the stickers end up, but they become un-sticky enough after he plays with them for me to peel off of anything. So I gave up on the sticker-chart idea. Anyway, on the first day BB didn't have an accident all day! I couldn't believe it. He only wore one pair of undies all day! We put him in a pull-up for his nap and when we went grocery shopping (which he did wet) but otherwise he went in the potty with us prompting him (it ended up being about every 30 minutes), and even told us he had to go once!

Since day one, we have had days with no accidents and days that runneth over with pee. For some reason he seems to always pee at least a little in his high chair. We discovered that the pull-ups do not hold very much, and so we are using them more as undies (like when he's in his high chair or for short trips) and are still using diapers for long trips out of the house, naps, and nighttime. He does really well in his undies most of the time, telling us he has to pee and is able to pee when we prompt him, but when we put a diaper on he tends to soak it. I still take this as a good sign since it shows that he has control and knows not to pee in his undies. And we're definitely using and changing a lot less diapers.

The best accident story so far is when, immediately after J took BB to potty, BB stood outside the bathroom door and peed right on the floor next to the console table. When J came out, BB looked up at him and said "Sticker?"

And one other thing worth mentioning - BB can now open the baby-proofed toilet in his bathroom with ease, the toilet that his auntie refers to as the "space toilet" because she still isn't quite sure how to get it open. We put a lock on it because it's directly off of BB's room and we wanted to be extra-safe, and well, I guess now we just have to hope that if he's smart enough to figure out how to open this lock at two years old, then he's smart enough to know to pull his head out of the toilet water if he's drowning in there.

So that's how we're doing it so far. We still have the plastic down on the rug and couch. It gives me peace of mind when BB is running around in his t-shirt and undies, which is what he wears at home these days. Hopefully I will have more progress to report sometime soon!

Leche

2011-09-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we were driving home from Target where BB had just picked out his first big boy underwear to prepare for the upcoming official Potty Training Day. He picked Yo Gabba Gabba and Toy Story undies. Yo Gabba Gabba is this crazy kids show (you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_Gabba_Gabba) - the host is this guy DJ Lance Rock, who, upon first look, immediately reminded me and J's sisters (totally separately) of J.

J now jokes that DJ Lance Rock is his photo negative. Anyway, J was more than pleased when BB picked the Yo Gabba Gabba undies over Mickey, Cars, or Sponge Bob (even though I was a little apprehensive about BB having a non-fictional adult man featured on his undies).

So we were driving home after we stopped at Home Depot after Target, and something made me think about how BB's friend Little C has already learned some Spanish words. I realized that I could be teaching BB some Spanish too, especially since BB's such a little word-sponge right now.

"BB, Spanish is another language. Do you want to learn how to say 'milk' in another language?"

BB confirmed his linguistic curiosity.

"The way that you say 'milk' in Spanish is 'leche'. Can you say 'leche'?"

BB: "Leche."

Me: "Leche."

BB: "Leche."

"Very good BB! And if you want to say 'I want milk' you say 'Yo quiero leche'. Can you say 'Yo quiero leche'?"

"Yo.....gabba gabba...leche?"

Too funny.

Hooters

2011-09-14T22:20:00.001-07:00

Not that Hooters - although they do have delicious buffalo chicken wings. But don't be ridiculous, that would be inappropriate....obviously BB and SS are too young to eat buffalo wings.

I just finished decorating the Jack and Jill bathroom between BB and SS's rooms. I didn't want to paint so I challenged myself to make it colorful in a way that makes the white walls look intentional and not like I just didn't want to paint. I wanted it to be kid-like, sweet and bright, but not obnoxious. And gender-neutral (in case a little lady ever comes along to share this bathroom). I also didn't want to spend a lot of money. I love how it came out.

It started with a shower curtain I saw at Target when J and I were picking new washcloths for SS - the shower curtain had trees and owls on it and I liked the color scheme. The kids blank white bathroom flashed through my mind. Owls are sweet, and gender-neutral. I had thought about putting owls in a nursery at one point (before I was even pregnant with SS) and I had a few ideas from brainstorming that fictional hooter-filled nursery. Later J ended up finding another owl curtain online that we liked even more, and after way too much obsessive consideration, I whipped out a Target gift card and pulled the trigger on decorating the boys bathroom. Here's what we ended up with!

The vanity area - metal cup and soap dispenser (from Marshalls) and wooden owls (from Home Goods, thanks to a birthday gift card from Hannah), all chosen because they won't break if dropped or thrown by a toddler.

"Owl you need is love" art painted by me - inspired by one seen at Home Goods. (I already had paint and canvases from old bedroom art).

After shopping for wooden stepstools and not finding them for cheaper than $30 (and we wanted two!), J built this step stool with supplies leftover from the media unit project (using plans from www.ana-white.com), and I painted and distressed it (with leftover paint). Completely free. (There's another in the downstairs bathroom).

The "water closet"

More free art by mama - Inspired by Katie Bower's print from her son's woodsy-owl nursery seen here:
http://www.bowerpowerblog.com/2010/09/nursery-reveal/
This owl-tweak on the Love You Forever verse was one of my biggest inspirations to create an owl-filled bathroom (and originally a nursery).

Cute $7.50 bin from Target for easy-to-grab washcloths - it even has a chalkboard on the side which is fun for secret notes for BB and SS to see from the tub

I still want to add a couple of baby bathtub photos of BB and SS to the wall (which will a. be adorable and b. tie in with the "As long as I'm living, my babies you'll be" line from the painting), but otherwise, all done! Pretty simple, but colorful, sweet, and fun for my two boys. Okay, and for me too. It took me a couple days to stop going in there just to bask in the owls and yellow.

Sneak peek of BB in his big boy undies - potty training is underway!!

Samson

2011-08-31T12:40:00.000-07:00

Before:

After:

And when we add a little styling product (because otherwise his hair just falls straight forward):

Happy 1-Month Birthday!

2011-08-29T14:31:00.001-07:00

My favorite family photo so far, taken yesterday

So in honor of our littlest man's one month birthday, I have decided on his blog moniker - he will heretoforth be known as........our Squeaky Son, or SS. (Unrelated to the WWII SS - just try to forget about them, okay?) Squeaky Son in honor of the loud squeaking he has done since he was born, which his pediatrician says is totally normal, and he does because his airways are still soft. He used to squeak the most when lying down, but that's mostly resolved, and now his main squeaks are while he eats, especially on the right side. It's very noticeable, and people comment on it all the time. So we have a Barking Baby and a Squeaky Son.

Newborn photoshoot at 10 days old

When I was thinking about this post, I wasn't sure what or how much I would write - and then as soon as I started, I realized he has so many little facts and nuances, some pretty standard for a one-month-old newborn, and some unique to him.

One week old

For example, SS falls asleep much easier with noise than in silence, probably due to all the noise his big brother (okay, and his mama and daddy) made while he was in utero. He will fuss fuss while it's silent in his bassinet, and then I will take him downstairs figuring he's just not ready to nap yet, and then I will glance at him on my chest or in his bouncy seat and with either music or TV or BB playing in the background he will be fast asleep. SS also loves to be held, and falls and stays asleep much better cuddled on J or I's chest or snuggled in Mama and Daddy's bed (which, by the way, BB calls "Mama and Daddy's Big Boy Bed).

Passed out on the playmat in the living room a few days ago

SS is eating great (breastfeeding is going totally smoothly after just a few days struggling to latch on the left side in the very beginning) and goes about 3-4 hours between feedings at night right now. During a growth spurt he might eat every 1 1/2 - 2 hours (and he sometimes cluster feeds like this at night too), and if he's not growing it's about every 3- 3 1/2 hours between feedings right now. Sometimes in the middle of the night after he eats he wants to stay up and have party time - he's spent some quality middle of the night time with J a few nights (apparently he's already been introduced to Deadliest Warrior). But the past week he is starting to seem like he has a little more of a routine and is going back to sleep at night pretty well - swaddling, his pacifier, and playing classical music (part of the bassinet) seems to help him relax and go back to sleep (as long as the pacifier doesn't fall out too early). He is still sleeping in the bassinet in our room, but has taken a few naps in his crib.

Newborn photoshoot

SS is definitely a comfort sucker, just like BB, and loves to suckle to help with tummy troubles and falling asleep. He got a pacifier on his second night home when he just wanted to suckle and be awake all night long.

Newborn photoshoot

SS loves to be cuddled and held. My homemade Moby wrap is great right now, because I can "cuddle" him and still have my hands free to prep food or water the garden - SS falls asleep in the Moby pretty quickly, all cozy on Mama.

His umbilical cord fell off after just 1 week! At his 2 1/2 week check up, SS weighed 7 lbs 12 oz (25th percentile) and was 21 inches long (75th percentile). Last week it seemed like he looked bigger (especially longer) every morning, so I'm guessing he's around 8 1/2 lbs now? He got circumcised at that appointment and was completely healed up within a week.

First bath together, after SS is completely healed from his circ (although I censored the goods)

He has started kicking his legs and moving his arms, and he cooed for the first time (just one little coo) yesterday. He's starting to hold his head up every once in a while - it surprises us when it happens. We have mostly been doing tummy time just with him lying on J or I's chest in bed or on the couch, but today I did a more official tummy time on the play mat and after a few minutes he decided he was not a fan. Poor boy got so worked up, he was crying and breathing really fast when I picked him up! And his newborn cry has definitely been replaced by a louder, more frustrated and insistent cry.

Newborn photoshoot

Newborn photoshoot

We have seen some gassy smiles, but last week SS gave me a little half smile when I was smiling at him. I talked to him and then smiled again, and he gave me another little half smile that really seemed responsive. And then on Friday evening our friend Hannah was over and he gave her some bigger smiles that really seemed responsive too, although he did a big poop afterwards.

Newborn photoshoot

Speaking of poop, the first week he pooped more times than I could believe. I kept saying that there was no way BB pooped this much. I even called him "my poo poo boy" once, and J quickly told me "Yeah, that can't be his nickname." Luckily (for us and his nickname potential), the poo poos slowed down to a more normal rate after a couple weeks.

Newborn photoshoot

SS has been to church and Target and the grocery store and even went to playgroup this morning! That's one thing that's very different this time around - with BB I tried not to go anywhere for 6 weeks, but that's just not really an option or very appealing this time around, partially because I have been feeling pretty much all healed up since SS was about 3 weeks old, which is such a different experience than with BB. I guess a fourth-degree tear versus a second-degree tear will do that to you. I am so thankful for how much more quickly I feel like I have bounced back after this delivery.

Our first family walk, to the park in our neighborhood, at 5 days old

So now you know a little bit about our precious one-month old Squeaky Son. We are in love with the newest member of our family and are trying to savor every aspect of his tiny-ness while it lasts. I know I'm going to blink and he'll be sitting up, crawling, walking, talking, just like BB. Cuddles and more cuddles until then.

Happy 1-month Birthday SS!

Tonight

Bendy

2011-08-25T00:33:00.001-07:00

They're so bendy in the beginning!
(taken yesterday, at 3 1/2 weeks old)

Bowflys & Ell-foos

2011-08-24T23:44:00.000-07:00

Just some memories...

The first few days after Baby Brother's was born, when J put BB to bed BB would want to pray for Daddy and Mama and BB, and J would ask BB if he wanted to pray for his brother and he would say "Nooo....". And then one night BB wanted to pray for Daddy and Mama and BB and Baby Boy (using his name) and we knew that BB knew that Baby Boy was a part of our family.

BB has been an amazing big brother so far - he wakes up in the morning asking where his brother is, and gently pats or kisses his baby's brother's head without prompting from J or I, and has tried to help put his pacifier back in his mouth. He hasn't shown any aggression towards the baby at all (which for some reason I am surprised by). BB doesn't completely understand how fragile the baby is , but does a great job of being gentle with him. The biggest change we've seen in BB's behavior is that he is throwing more fits, and screaming a lot more. Apparently becoming a big brother encouraged him to explore his vocal range - since Baby Boy was born we've heard octaves that we didn't know existed in his register.

Counting Baby Brother's toes

While J was on his 2-week long paternity leave we were able to take BB to library story time a few times and made a trip to the zoo, and last weekend we took BB to the movies, or as he calls it, the "big TV", to see the Winnie the Pooh movie. (He used to call movies "moo-moos".) At the zoo we saw an "ell-foo" (that's how BB says elephant) that relieved herself, and of course, that's the part of the zoo trip that he talked about the whole ride home.

The elephant was splashing herself with mud, using her trunk, and was really active.

When we walked up to the zoo entrance, BB listed off all the animals we were going to see, remembering them from our zoo trip from about a month before that (we have annual passes).

I feel remiss that it's taken me this long to show you something that has been such a huge part of our daily life with BB...Behold, the fuzzhead:

Ever since he was a baby, BB has had an area on the back of his head that gets super fuzzy when he sleeps. I figured he would grow out of it once he was able to move in his sleep and wasn't just sleeping on his back. Then I thought it would go away after his first haircut. But here it is, two years later, and the fuzzhead has only become bigger and better.

One more BB story:

While J and I were staying at the hospital getting to know our precious new baby, GG stayed at our house and took care of BB. Turns out our oldest son is quite the opportunist. When GG offered him breakfast, she offered him cereal and milk, which he doesn't usually eat (because I don't want to clean up that mess!) but loves to take bites of. Even though J is not a big breakfast eater, he does like to have the occasional bowl of Captain Crunch with Crunchberries as a treat - we don't think BB has ever even seen J eat this cereal though, because usually J treats himself during naptime or for dessert, when BB is already tucked into bed. Well, I had some (generic) cinnamon Life in the pantry as well, and my mom, seeing that was clearly the healthiest of the two options, offered him the Life. But BB told her "No, yellow cereal, yellow cereal", so my mom figured that if he knows the box, we must give him that kind, and that's how BB ended up getting Captain Crunch for breakfast the whole time we were in the hospital!! What a hustler! We don't even know how he knew what it was! But he knew...oh, he knew.

Welcome Gnome Baby!

2011-08-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

J opened the front door Sunday evening, and what did he find?

A closer look, you ask?

That's right, the gnomes are BACK!

GNO WAY! Yes, yes, yes, yes!!

We love it. And the curiosity is killing us.

We have no idea who is behind this or either of our other gnomings, but we love you for bringing joy and surprise into our life, especially in celebration of our new little man!

Introducing.....

2011-08-02T18:05:00.001-07:00

Born July 29, 2011 at 6:27 pm

7 pounds, 19 3/4 inches

The verdict is still out on what our littlest man's blog moniker will be, but Squeaky Mouse and Little Mouse are both in the running, as he is quite the squeaker!

We left the hospital Sunday morning and have been settling in and adjusting to life with two kids, with help from GG. Someday I will write the whole birth story, but the epilogue is that we are home and healthy after a peaceful post-birth experience, with no NICUs, no baby boxing-glove-IVs, no baby monitors (all after no epidural!), and lots and lots of bonding and cuddles.

8:38 pm

2011-07-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

39 weeks 1 day at 8:38 pm...

I'm just saying, officially late

(at least, according to his excited-to-meet-him-mama's expectations)

:)

Also, turns out that this

was a melon after all!

It looked and tasted suspiciously like a cantaloupe.....

Bumpdate: 39 weeks

2011-07-25T17:24:00.001-07:00

39 weeks.....still pregnant.....despite the fact that my water broke on this day when I was pregnant with BB.....doesn't this little man know he is supposed to come sooner than his big brother did? (Isn't that one of the rules of the second pregnancy?)

I guess technically he has until tomorrow evening at 8:38 pm (39 weeks and 1 day) when his big brother was actually born - if he's not here by then, then I declare him officially late. And since J and I (and subsequently BB) are always running late, I guess that makes him officially part of our family.

Ooey, gooey birth stuff:

At my appointment on Thursday, I had to wait for over an hour wearing my wet bathing suit under a t-shirt and workout shorts after rushing to the doctor from BB's last ISR lesson. Thankfully, BB was amazingly well-behaved. Finally, I saw the doctor for about 5 minutes - she said I was measuring 35 1/2 cm, but I firmly reminded her that last week she measured me at 36 1/2 cm and the ultrasound said that he was measuring normally so I think it's just positional. She said that yes, it may just be positional. His heartbeat was normal. She then checked me, and said my cervix is soft and I was dilated 1-2 cm and was 50% effaced, and she told me that she stripped my membranes a little. I was really surprised that she didn't ask or at least tell me that she was going to strip my membranes! By the time I got in the car I was already having lower abdominal cramping - when I got home I googled it, and saw that cramping for a day or so after your membranes are stripped is totally normal, and I thought, "Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have had to google that - maybe my doctor should have, I don't know, TOLD ME that!" Either way, I was super uncomfortable and emotional all day Thursday, but Friday I was feeling better again, and lo and behold, here I am, still with child.

I feel ready to do this thing! Not like I'm totally prepared or know what to expect or anything like that, but I'm ready to stop talking about it and do the work. It's just my personality, I'm a do-er. I guess that's how I got into this in the first place! (Insert drum and cymbals here to accent my cheesy joke) hahaha....K out. (Unlike my unborn child.)

Sprouts 2011

2011-07-22T17:22:00.001-07:00

So we did do a garden again this year, despite the lack of blogging about it thus far. But posting it all now is more fun, because you can see the development over the months all at once, right? (Click here & here to see my gardening adventure last year.)

For me, gardening is an area of my life that is all freestyle - I am lucky to have my own personal gardening guru, my friend Jenny, who is in the midst of blogging her Bountiful and Bountifail gardening series right now, and who gives me detailed, well-researched responses and action plans to all my gardening questions, even though she knows I will only do about 1/4 of what she recommends. Emailing Jenny is generally the extent of my research. I bought my seeds from her seed lady at the Farmer's Market this year (Westwind Seeds - when you live in Southern Arizona, you have to make sure you have breeds that are designed for our climate) and then Jenny also gave me a bunch of seeds she had leftover from her garden. I tried to follow Jenny's instructions to sprout my seeds indoors in a warm, damp area, I really did - we had egg cartons on our master bathroom counter and a couple of pots in our stairwell for weeks (although later Jenny pointed out that I was supposed to do that for a couple months - I had totally missed that in the instructions, even though it was there in black and white when I went back and reread). Somehow I still found myself dumping the egg carton, sans any sprouts, into an empty area of the garden come late March and shrugging my shoulders. I'm still not sure exactly what's growing in that little plot (it's front and center) - I remember some eggplant, some sugar baby watermelons and maybe some squash in the mix I think. But I kind of like it this way. It's all a surprise!

Some things that I do know are growing are our mint and parsley plants that survived from last year. Other than those plants and one tomato plant, everything else in the main garden plot is grown from seed. We did a lot of tomato seeds, some persian melon seeds (recommended by the seed lady) and some basil seeds. We also got some parsley and cilantro transplants that we potted, but the cilantro didn't live very long, and when you see the latest parsley picture, well, it's not in the prime of life anymore either (although neither is the one from last year, so I'm hoping the parsley's sad appearance is weather/heat-related and not accidental plant-slaughter.) We did a bell pepper plant in a pot again this year, also from seeds (instead of a transplant like last year) and right now there are 9 or 10 bell peppers growing on it! Can't wait for them to get bigger so we can eat them.

BB loves to help us water in the mornings, and is getting better about not just pointing the spray at the empty soil but at the actual plants. He tells me "BB's turn, BB's turn." Yesterday he dropped the hose on the ground spraying straight up and I had set it to stay on so that he just has to point it, and we both got soaked by the spray. I was annoyed for a second and then I realized how perfect it was and I laughed (and peeled our soaked clothes off in the privacy of our kitchen). Usually BB just ends up a little damp because he loves to stick his hands in the spray when I'm watering. I tell him when we're eating tomatoes that we grew from seeds and watered in our own garden (we are finally starting to get a lot of tomatoes at once). I hope he keeps these memories.

April

This is after things had started sprouting a little bit - the front left is the parsley from last year, and the front right is the mint from last year. The back left big plant is our tomato transplant, and all the sprouts around it are tomato seed sprouts. I think the back right sprouts are what I thought were the persian melons...

The parsley and cilantro plants in their heyday

May

Tomatoes from our transplant, ready to go in our salad

June

Seeds sprouted, everything looking lush but not overgrown

The potted plant is the bell pepper plants that finally sprouted and grew (it took a while)

The flat-leaf parsley, still looking good

A basil plant I bought at Trader Joe's before my basil seeds sprouted, and then planted. It looked awesome for a while, but now it is getting really dried out. I think I wasn't supposed to let it flower like that.

July

Our garden, looking overgrown, but this is actually after we put up the trellis, weeded, and thinned out some mint

Our cherry tomato plants on the trellis

Our bell pepper plants, with tons of peppers - the red one was the first. Hoping a few other also turn red!

My sad parsley plant - I have vague memories of someone telling me not to let your herbs stalk, and I have to assume this is what they meant? Still hoping it's just too hot for parsley, not that I did something wrong.

What I thought was a persian melon until I saw this post - guess I will have to just cut it open and see!

Another squash I found growing the other day - the squash vine has spread out amongst the mint (which is almost weed-like!)

Cherry tomatoes ripening on the counter, yum.

Mint leaves drying in the oven - J requested some dried mint leaves to make tea, so today (spurred by a burst of manic energy - and yes, I am definitely wondering if this is an indication of impending labor?) I tried two different drying techniques, as well as read that we can just use the fresh mint directly for tea. I also started making some mint syrup that Jenny had mentioned, which I hope to put in lemonade, iced tea, or maybe even coffee. Jenny puts it in her water, which sounds so refreshing in this heat! I'm really hoping the syrup comes out because I've gotta find a use for all of this mint!

So that's the tour of this year's garden!

Bumpdate: 38 weeks

2011-07-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

First things first, thank you to everyone who prayed for our ultrasound last Thursday. God answered our prayers in a direct and obvious manner when the ultrasound tech actually said after measuring him, "Not too big, not too small, just right!" Just like my Goldilocks prayer. I feel like God was showing off a little by answering my prayer so exactly, by giving the ultrasound tech those exact words to say - He makes me smile. And my amniotic fluid levels were also normal. His hand is on us, on this child.

The tech guessed that he weighs around 6 lbs 14 oz, but after my last couple of friends had ultrasound-based-weight-estimates that turned out to be completely wrong when the baby was born, I don't really put any stock in that. He had his hands over his forehead and eyes in a dramatic pose for most of the ultrasound, but we were able to see his nose and chin, which looks like it has a cleft or dimple. I think this was the most exciting ultrasound I've had - it was so fun to see him this late in pregnancy, because I feel like I already know him so well. Seeing glimpses of his very formed little nose and cheeks and chin was just so much fun. And he is definitely still male. Very, very male.

38 weeks
= Heartburn. Heartburn so bad that it wakes me up in the middle of the night, only curable by chewing some Tums and trying to fall back asleep propped upright with pillows. But that's not the only time I get heartburn, it's just the worst time. I have been having heartburn after every meal the last few days. I'm thankful that this severe heartburn has not afflicted me until now, when I know that I only have, max, a couple more weeks that I will have to endure it.

I'm having strong Braxton Hicks inconsistently and the last couple of days I've been feeling crampy in my lower abdomen again. It's hard to tell if it's impending-labor-cramping or just cramping from Baby Boy playing jump rope with my intestines in his limited-square-footage studio apartment.

The last few days I have also started to feel some minor swelling in my hands and feet, mostly just positional. I have been gaining a couple of pounds a week the last few weeks, making up for the weight I didn't gain and even lost a month before that I guess. I am nowhere near as big or swollen as I was at this point with BB though.

I still feel like he'll be coming early, but that's really my only experience since with BB my water broke at 39 weeks - really, you just never know until you know. I am still making plans like normal, although in the back of my mind I wonder if some of these plans will actually happen! J and I feel as ready as we're going to and peaceful about whenever he decides to come on out and join us (and we are definitely doing our part to help facilitate it :) ).

First Freckles

2011-07-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

My mom has always been able to point out my first freckle. I remember feeling amazed the first time she told me she knew exactly which freckle was my very first, amazed that she could know such a small detail about someone else, be so aware of such a tiny change. When I expressed my surprise, she explained to me that you know everything about your baby and their body because you are with them all the time from the very beginning and you have an intimacy with your child.

The first time I spotted BB's first freckle I remembered that conversation, and took joy in the intimacy of the motherhood role.

I finally (many months later) snapped some photos of BB's first freckles.
Freckle #1:

The next freckles:
BB has a freckle on his left upper back that I didn't get a photo of, and another on his inner left foot.

Bumpdate: 37 1/2 weeks, Nursery is FINALLY done!

2011-07-13T18:55:00.001-07:00

At 37 weeks I am not feeling tired of being pregnant, but I am feeling tired of going to the doctor every single week. Today at my appointment I measured normally, even though last week a different doctor said I measured small and because of that I have an ultrasound tomorrow morning to make sure my amniotic fluid is normal and check the baby's growth. The ultrasound is kind of fun when I think about getting a peek at the little man, but I am mostly nervous they are going to find some excuse to induce me at the ultrasound, which I really, really, really don't want. If he measures too small or too large, they are going to want to induce, because of the gestational diabetes - blah blah blah. So we are praying for a Goldilocks ultrasound - that the baby will measure just right.

Speaking of labor talk, that's all that's on my mind now that I am officially "term". I am having Braxton Hicks that are definitely stronger and longer, especially at night or when I am active, and are sometimes accompanied by that menstrual-crampy feeling (which is what my contractions felt like when I labored with BB). I have a friend from work who offered to be my doula, and we met this week and talked all about pain management techniques and my birth plan - I am very excited to have a doula this time around! I really want my labor to start naturally, when the baby's ready - I believe that my body knows what it is doing. And I am so tired of hearing "Even though you're diet-controlled and your blood sugars are well-controlled, blah blah blah gestational diabetes blah blah blah." The doctor I saw today was very supportive of that and recommended walking and some *cough* other activities to get things moving. That's right, it's that time already. I can't believe that we could potentially meet our baby boy any day now. Since this weekend, both J and I feel emotionally prepared, and we have the carseat the in car and my hospital bag packed, and as of this evening, I finally finished my final nursery project -recovering BB's old crib bumper. That project was a bit overly ambitious of me and I am "sew" glad to be done with it (especially since we won't even be using it in the beginning due to the increased risk of SIDS with crib bumper use - I just wanted it to look pretty and add some pizazz to the crib). I told J that if we have a daughter, she's not getting a crib bumper - they're too much work, and it probably would have been easier to make one from scratch rather than recover BB's old one. Of course, I made that declaration mid-project when my sewing machine kept malfunctioning on the last couple of steps and I may or may not have been mildly swearing at both the machine and the minky dot fabric (which was a nightmare to use - my machine and minky dot apparently hate each other). Anyway, now the nursery is DONE!

Which means (in my mind) that baby can come anytime he's ready. I won't mind a few more days of quality time with BB though, since I've mostly been focused on my to-do list since I've been off work. Other exciting things that have gotten "done" in the last couple of days are an unexpected replacement of our refrigerator (which is really a saga in and of itself), a new cell phone for J that actually transmits my phone calls to him which the old one wasn't doing and well, at 9 months pregnant that just won't do, and a new laptop battery because the laptop is just a very skinny desktop computer right now (we have bad luck with laptop batteries). Oh, and J cleaned up the tool-strewn obstacle course that was our garage today. And in the last few weeks I have compulsively washed every piece of fabric that isn't nailed down in our home, and got the carpet and couch cleaned.

BB just chats away about everything, including his baby brother, and pulls up my shirt and rubs my belly when we ask where his baby brother is. He loves to play in the baby's room. He has become very affectionate this past month, and runs up and hugs our legs all the time and is generous with hugs and kisses. He requests "Mama hold BB? Daddy hold BB?" He's also expressing his likes and dislikes - a few weeks ago I made omelets and he announced "BB likes these eggs." It was an impressive, complete sentence, and I was so happy that the first food he announced he liked was something I made for him, and since then he has continued to tell us more about what he's thinking and feeling. BB's in the third week of his ISR refresher course right now, so he's swimming every morning at 9 am. It's been good but it has put a cramp in our morning and I am definitely ready for it to be over and to enjoy a more leisurely morning - thankfully our last lesson is Friday.
Here's BB being a total ham (mid-meal) earlier this week:

If you're thinking his hair looks a little long, don't worry, I gave it a trim tonight.

Okay, time for the great nursery reveal!

(Yesterday I ordered photos to fill the empty frames)

J built the airplane shelf!

I made the "A" out of a cardboard box and a piece of scrapbook paper!

The crib with the crib skirt and bumper that I recovered

Trying to show a better shot of the crib bumper

Aaaand a shot of the closet with all of the little clothes, just for fun.

We already had all of the furniture we put in the nursery, so all we bought was paint, fabric, and a few accessories and new linens. J's mom and sisters bought our baby boy the wooden airplane suspended from the ceiling at an antique fair, and I got the map off of amazon for about $2 (I actually bought several because I used the maps as decoration for Han's world-traveler-themed baby shower, and that's what I used the map bunting for that I hung over the window). And we are so glad that we could keep the pull-out couch in the nursery so we still have guest quarters.

So this is going to be a bump-less bumpdate post, but I wanted to get up the nursery photos. Only a couple more Bumpdates to go!

Happy 4th!

2011-07-04T22:08:00.001-07:00

We celebrated our 4th of July with an early evening rainstorm instead of fireworks - to our thirsty desert, and our water-lovin' boy, it was just as spectacular of a show.

Bumpdate: 36 weeks

2011-07-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

36 weeks. As in, almost term. As in, my friend due just two weeks before me had her baby very early this morning, at 12:01 am on the 4th of July (We can't wait to meet you, little firecracker!)

Which means that these will be our last belly photos together, taken at her world-traveler themed baby shower at the end of May:

There's Baby E's momma on the right - they welcomed Baby Boy Z days after this photo was taken. And next is Han, who's baby was born first thing today! See who's next in line?
Just to recap, the two on the right: babies born.
Next in line: Me.

I have to admit, I'm starting to freak out a little.

Which means I spend a lot of time trying to get J freaked out, so that I can feel like the calm, rational one.

My last day of work was this past Saturday - I am now off for "Summer Leave" until out little man makes his appearance, and then my maternity leave starts. No more 12-hour shifts while giant pregnant - I am so thankful. Pregnancy-wise, I am still having the same sleeping troubles, achey legs and tossing and turning. I can tell that the Little Mister's days and nights are going to be confused when he comes out - he is SO BUSY all night long. But I love feeling and watching him move in my belly - it's so fascinating having someone along for my ride all the time. And as challenging as anything physical is right now, I am reminding myself that it's so much easier to care for him now while he's inside my belly, so enjoy the (relative) freedom. At my last appointment the doctor remarked, Wow, his head is really low, isn't it? Which explains the periods of intense pressure I definitely feel at times, especially when he gets really active. And I am still having lots of Braxton Hicks, especially when I bend forward to do something. She actually checked me at my last appointment (since she was doing some other investigating) and she said that my cervix is still very far back (it will come forward with more contractions).

I am so curious about what he will look like, and in what ways he and BB will be similar and different. BB talks about him all the time - his room, my belly, his car seat, his bouncy seat. He seems happy to relinquish all of his equipment to his baby brother (especially when we point out that he's a big boy with a big boy carseat and a big boy bed, etc.). I have been taking fish oil for a while now, recommended by my doctor to ward off any post-partum depression, and I have been feeling very emotionally stable since I started taking it, praise God.

The Gestational Diabetes update is that my weight plateued for a couple of weeks, and then I actually lost weight, but I am still measuring normally so they weren't concerned (although one doc did start to give me the anorexic pregnant girl tone of voice telling me "Weeeellll, we do want you to gain about 30 pounds...." and I quickly told her "Look, I had no problem gaining weight with my first pregnancy. I'm pretty sure it's the 1800 calorie limited carbohydrate diet you put me on for the Gestational Diabetes." Maybe I said it a little nicer. But not too much. Come on.) The next week, after reviewing my blood sugars and discussing the weight issue (I had gained no weight again that week) the doc said that I can eat more calories, and I gained 2 pounds the past week. Because yes, since 30 weeks I have seen the doctor every single week. I am so tired of it! I am not sick, my blood sugars actually tend to run low, I am completely "diet-controlled" - I am a healthy pregnant person! The upside is that because I am diet-controlled and they have now agreed that I am borderline Gestational Diabetic, I have not had to do any additional monitoring, which would mean even more appointments every week.

In an effort to "exercise" J and I have started taking family walks after dinner a few nights a week, and BB loves it. As soon as you mention a walk, he races to the garage door and waits. We also let him play at the parks in our neighborhood sometimes, since it's too hot to go any other time of day. We have been working on the nursery, and, after just last night mounting a shelf that J built, I just have a few finishing touches to go, projects I plan to work on in these last few weeks. I absolutely love his nursery, we all do, and have been spending time in there quite a bit. It will be hard to decide how to combine their rooms when they are a little older and it's time to share a room.

And now for the bump - a friend from college is starting up a photography business, and asked if we would be willing to do a maternity photoshoot to help build her portfolio - oh, and she would do it for FREE! Of course we said yes, and I am so, so happy with how the photos turned out. I can't wait to print and frame these - in our entry, our nursery, and a gallery wall I am hoping to do in the stairwell (a project I have wanted to do for years). These were taken just last Wednesday, when I was 35 weeks and 2 days pregnant.

Aaaaand our favoritest photo of the entire shoot:

Two!!

2011-06-21T17:35:00.001-07:00

We celebrated BB's 2nd birthday with a Mumbey Pampate breakfast, in honor of his current love of Curious George Makes Pancakes.

J and I sent out these digital invitations to family and a few of BB's favorite people.

We had a pancake bar with different mix-ins for guests to fill a bowl with and then Professor Flapjack (J demanded to go by this moniker during the party) would mix them into some batter and griddle up custom pancakes for our guests.

Mumbey decor

The pancake mix-in bar

Professor Flapjack at work

BB ready for his pancakes - I filled his mix-in bowl with every mix-in we had! This is how our conversation went:
"Do you want blueberries?"
"Yah"
"Do you want bananas?"
"Yah"
"Do you want strawberries?"
"Yah"
Etc.

BB pancaking it up!

GG took over on the griddle for her own pancake - it didn't go so well :)

Ready to sing Happy Birthday and open gifts!
We sang Happy Birthday and BB was totally stone-faced, and then at the end he clapped and smiled and said "Moe", so we had to sing it again :)

Opening gifts

Strong Face makes an appearance during gift time

BB also got a couple of early birthday gifts that were enjoyed at the party - a sand and water table from GG and a tricycle from Nacky and Papa!

Playing "This is the way the gentleman rides" with Jon

Mumbey Cupcakes for "dessert" (yes, after pancakes...)

J said that BB said "Mumbey has blue eyes"

BB had lots of loved ones at his birthday party, including people from far-away-lands like friends from Chicago, cousins from Las Vegas, Uncle Kyle who is at sea for several months at a time (and therefore has to live his life four times as fast as other people, as he informed us while he was here :) ), and, of course, his GG.

Some of BB's little friends playing with bubbles

Cousins and GG at the post-party dinner

Cute cousins

Playing with Nacky

Happy and full of mumbeys, pampates, presents, friends, and family

Turning two, BB is forming complete three-word sentences, with subjects and verbs, like "Mama blow nose" and "BB throw cup". He loves when we are all home together and gleefully pronounces "Daddy home, Mama home, BB home!" He counts 1...2...3, especially when he's about to jump onto/into something. (And this week we learned he knows 4 is next!). He knows his colors and loves scribbling with crayons - Daddy draws pictures of dogs and cows and Mama makes alphabet worksheets and BB loves to fill them all in, and actually tries to stay within the lines. His birthday gift from Mama and Daddy was his first coloring book. He had been swimming a few times this year and loves splashing in the water and jumping in to Mama or Daddy, counting "1...2...3!" before he leaps off the edge, and this is how we spent his actual birthday morning at a community pool in town. He loves to play outside - bubbles, exploring, his grandparent's sandbox, his new sand-and-water table, and his new tricycle. He continues to love to read and was gifted several new Curious George stories, including a special recorded story from his Auntie, Uncle and cousins in Washington. Curious George (who he is now requesting by name) and Dr. Seuss' Hop and Pop and Cat in the Hat are favorites, and he also loves Goodnight Gorilla and Goodnight Moon. BB recently starting experimenting with the different sounds he can make and now has a fierce growl, which he uses for dinosaurs and lions. He remains a very passionate little boy - his feelings and frustrations are right at the surface all the time. It's fascinating seeing someone so honest with their emotions. He is in a hitting stage when he's frustrated right now, and walks to the time out corner and stands there on his own, and then comes over for a hug and a "sowee mama" when time out is over (sometimes the "sowee" takes a few tries though, and it's back to time out we go).

At his two-year check up, BB weighed 29 pounds, which puts him in the 50th percentile, and is 35 1/2 inches long, which puts him in the 75th percentile. People (still) always comment on how tall he is.

Happy 2nd Birthday BB!

(I know this pic is shadowy, but I love how happy BB is)

Big Boy Bed in a Big Boy Room

2011-06-13T13:58:00.001-07:00

BB's room was transformed into a Big Boy room this weekend, complete with a Big Boy bed! BB was so excited about his Big Boy room - it was so sweet to see how much he genuinely liked it. And now that his toys are on display on the bookshelf instead of hidden in the bins, he is excited to play in his room (which he didn't really do before), and he is obsessed with playing with toys he's never been into before, like his cars.

So I forgot to take Before Pictures of his room, but you've all seen it here and there. Here are some empty room Before Pictures:

Aaaand the Afters:

Thanks to a pre-owned bookshelf and twin mattress (stored in our garage), a curbside chair (from our neighbors, so we know it's clean!), and finding a comforter in the PERFECT color scheme for $12!!! at Ross, and reusing our former media console from the living room as a "dresser" in BB's closet, we hardly spent anything! (Oh, we did get him a new basket for his blocks - I think it was $8, also at Ross.) We would still like to get him some new sheets, but we had these on hand for now.

Celebrating his new room at bedtime

Chairs for storytime

Putting Monkey to bed

This is what he did when we told him to lay down in his bed - I don't know why he is so stiff, but I think it's hilarious.

Big boy bed trials have been...tricky. The first day I think he was just too excited about his new room to stay in the bed (which is kinda sweet). After a lot of laying in bed next to him reading him books, and then when we finally thought he was asleep sneaking out and then finding him in his room playing with his cars at 10:45 pm or opening and closing the door repeatedly, we have instigated the one-strike-and-you're-out rule (starting last night at bedtime), which means he gets one chance to lay in the big boy bed, and if he gets up then he has to sleep in the pack and play. Luckily, he wants to sleep in his big boy bed and not the pack and play, so we're hoping he will get motivated to stay in the bed quickly.

Praying

2011-06-06T21:33:00.001-07:00

At dinnertime we say a prayer to give thanks to God for our food, our day, and whatever else comes up in that moment. BB is learning about this time as we do it, and will sometimes fold his hands and lower his head with us, declaring "Paying!". One of the first times he was praying with us, I peeked and had to stifle my giggles as I watched him keep his head bowed and keep one hand curled under his chin, while the other hand reached out and grabbed a bite of dinner to start munching on. It just cracked me up that he didn't just stop "praying" altogether to start eating, but rather kept up the posture until we said Amen.

A few weeks ago in church, BB was sitting on J's lap during the music worship in the service before we took him to the nursery. The congregation all bowed our heads to pray together and a few moments into the prayer I felt a little body drape itself across my lap. BB leaned over, grabbed my clasped hands and, smiling, announced "Paying!" into the relative quiet. I think this was one of my proudest parenting moments so far.

At dinner a few nights ago, we let BB sit at the big boy table in a big boy chair (or in our case, ottoman) with Mama and Daddy, and before dinner, BB requested to pray. After our prayer, BB said "Da-din?" (again?). So J said another prayer, this time giving thanks for Mama and praying for me. When we said Amen, BB still wanted "moe pay?" and we said "You say a prayer! You pray!". BB bowed his head, folded his hands, smiled and looked at me and said, "Mama...Amen."

You know, the time surrounding age two so far has been full of challenges - J and I are getting hit with little hands, kicked against, managing fits all day long, monitoring time outs for all of the above, and saying "No" over and over and over. As the parent you have to win - every time. It's exhausting. And sometimes, especially when BB turns his head and scowls when you try to give him kisses, you wonder if your kid even likes you anymore.

Hearing that little "Mama...Amen," prayer at the dinner table, well let's just say that it was just the affirmation I needed from my boy to recharge my Mama-battery.

I couldn't hold back my tears.

Bumpdate: 31 weeks+

2011-06-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

Friday night we were finally, finally prepping to paint the nursery (and I of course wanted a commemorative belly shot with the paint and other room inspiration). J was all ready to paint on Saturday while I worked and BB went off to Nacky's house.....and then poor BB was up all night with a fever, and while I went to take care of sick people at work, J took care of sick BB at home. (I hated that.)

The nursery mid-prep - yes, those are stripes, just like on the inspiration-bookcover!

So today Mama is back on duty, and J is donning his coveralls and wielding roller brushes - IF IT KILLS US. Seriously, I'm 32 weeks tomorrow. It's TIME to get the nursery together. We painted BB's nursery at 30 weeks and I felt like that was WAY too late to finally be getting the nursery together and vowed that we would never do that again. (Awkward pause.....) Especially because this time around we have a lot to do in BB's room too, adding a big boy bed (aka a mattress on the floor with a faux headboard to make me feel less like he's sleeping on a matress on the floor) and adjusting his clothing and toy storage (since his dresser is part of the changing table). But here we are. The good news is that other than paint and new baby linens and a few accessories (just for fun), we aren't really buying anything for the nursery, so it is an economically-friendly redo. And while I say that we haven't done anything, that's not true, because we have cleared the room out, which means that we have found new storage for a lot of stuff. My favorite is the dresser we redid - other than the hardware (for which I need to do some serious googling), it has been complete and fully functional for a couple of weeks now.

I can't wait to accesorize the top (ignore the stuff piled up there right now) - I already have a few books and a picture and an idea for a painting I want to do in mind. And yes, the drawers are the same color that the office is painted. I love that color and was a little sad we are painting over it, so now it lives on in the hallway. Plus, it was free (leftover) paint!

Other good news is that so far I love all of the changes - I love the dresser in the hall, I love the desk in our bedroom, I love how convenient the storage in the linen closet is. Our home feels cozier with those empty spaces filled in.

And now for the pregnancy update - not so good news is that Friday they called to tell me that my 3-hour glucose tolerance test came back abnormal, which I guess means I have gestational diabetes. Two of my three blood draws were elevated, but both were elevated only 2 measly points above the cutoff. And I did the 3-hour test the day before BB's birthday party, so I had some added stress, which makes your blood glucose go up, and I think that is part of the reason. 2 measly points seem so ridiculous to worry about. But the logical side of me recognizes that if I had come in 2 measly points under the cutoff instead of over, I would still have been at the very high end of normal, which isn't ideal. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow so I know we'll be discussing it there, but in the meantime BFF Dr. A assures me that because my numbers are so low I will just be diet-controlled (rather than adding a medication). I am going to have to go in for some kind of Gestational Diabetes education appointment - I was like, I'm a Cardiac ICU nurse, I think I know the drill (I'm bratty when I'm grumpy). But actually now I have some questions - like am I supposed to eat NO sugar, or just limited sugar? Day One of Gestational Diabetes was yesterday when I successfully did not eat any dessert all day - or night. I think I will be totally fine during the day, it's just those late night after dinner treats that are going to stretch my willpower to the max - I LOVE dessert - specifically, chocolate. I must have it. And I have CRAVED sweets this pregnancy, which I totally didn't when I was pregnant with BB. Ironic. So this is where you send me all of your best sugar-free-but-you'd-never-know-it-splendarific dessert recipes so that I survive the next 8 weeks. More serious googling ahead.

Otherwise, our littlest is very active, more active than I remember BB being, and I feel like he's bigger than BB was too. I am still having leg cramps and good and bad nights sleeping. I am having contractions pretty frequently the last few weeks, and they are getting harder to just walk through (even though they're not painful yet, just tight). I am SO looking forward to being off in July - Have I told you all that I am going to be off in July? It doesn't affect my maternity leave, I will still have 12 weeks off with Baby Boy, and this way I will have a whole month to nest and just spend quality time with BB. I am hoping to dedicate a few days to potty training, but otherwise I just want to spend some special time with him. And do a few fun projects for the nursery while BB naps.

Okay, I hear a little man stirring...hopefully I will be posting a picture of the painted nursery soon!

Strong Face

2011-06-03T20:50:00.000-07:00

BB's 2nd birthday party pictures are soon to come, but in the meantime, I wanted to show you his "strong face":

The facial strain is accompanied by shaking fists and body tension - one of these days he's going to pop an eye out doing this face! (Probably after his parents beg and plead with him to do it as a party trick for visitors.)

Bumpdate: 28 weeks...

2011-05-13T19:24:00.001-07:00

...and totally obsessed with my new toy.

For Mother's Day (and my birthday, and Christmas, and all other gift-giving occasions for the rest of the year) J bought me a Canon Rebel DSLR. It took until today for me to get up the guts to even get it out of the box. But once I did, I had so much fun.

My Mother's Day surprises - J made me a monkey pancake to match the card BB picked out, and there's my SLR all wrapped up.

I am planning to learn about my camera using Pioneer Woman's Photography blog (which I started reading some tutorials on months ago) and a friend recommended Online Photo Resource which has a 28 Days with an SLR tutorial that I am excited to go through.

Part of me wanted to just return the camera as soon as I opened it, as I hate the idea of spending so much money on a camera when I am not a "real" photographer. Well, I hate the idea of spending so much money on anything, really. Especially right before our budget takes a drastic hit with the addition of a new baby and me cutting back at work. But the longer I stared at the box sitting on the media unit shelf, the more I wanted to try the camera out, and today I finally said give. I hope I become a photography expert by the time our littlest man comes out so I can get some great shots of BB and his little brother.

Pregnancy wise:

Leg cramps in the middle of the night are new - never had them with BB.

I feel giant - like I couldn't possibly get any bigger. And there is so much more bigger still to come.

Our littlest continues to be very active, and the last week I feel like he is trying to burst out of my belly with his squirms and kicks. It's fun to actually feel that he is growing.

Appointments are every two weeks now - I couldn't believe it at my last appointment when the doctor told me to come back in 2 weeks. (I stretched it out to 3 weeks though, because really, I don't need to be there that often yet.....I think this illustrates why they say that nurses (and doctors) make the worst patients).

Office-clean-out and dresser-to-be-linen-closet refinishing are still in progress.

BB climbed/fell out of his crib last week by stacking two of his pillow pets (yes, he has TWO) and using them to raise himself up - we think he was trying to grab his changing table to knock it off like he had that morning. J had moved the changing table farther away from the crib, and we think BB reached for it and ended up falling out. He was totally fine, and we are looking at it as another step towards the big boy bed. Other BB updates are that he peed in the potty for the first time on Mother's Day, he is forming complete, 3-word sentences like "BB threw cup", we read Cat in the Hat at least once a day, and he is standing in time out on his own (without us holding him there like we had been doing). Such a big boy. (Almost two!)

*Note: the photo in this post was taken with my point-and-shoot and I didn't adjust my ISO - sorry about the graininess! (Do I sound like a real photographer? :) )

Bumpdate: 26 weeks

2011-04-28T07:12:00.001-07:00

Easter Sunday

(1 day before I "turned" 26 weeks)

Like I said in the last Bumpdate, my joints have loosened up, which means all day I'm dropping things that I then have to bend over (read: pregnant torture) to pick up. It also means that at night my legs just ache, and ache, and ache from collapsing in on each other. Some nights the pillows help, and some nights I just toss and turn. If it was a really achey night, I have a super-cool limp for a while after I wake up.

My back and my belly were both getting really achey and uncomfortable midway through work and by the end of 12 1/2 hour shift, it was pretty painful. I told my doctor and she recommended trying a support band, as my abdominal muscles are pre-stretched from my pregnancy with BB and don't provide the same support to my belly that I had the first time around, and that puts strain on my back. I was a little skeptical, but I bought one and it has made a really big difference, thankfully. I am much more comfortable at work now - still a little achey by the end of the day, but so much better than before.

I am finally eating more than normal amounts - and I have to say, I'm enjoying the extra calories. I'm sure the scales will reflect that at my next appointment, as I am also noticing my thighs becoming more thunderous (just like the did with BB).

The name-search-sabbatical was effective and as a result, I think we have finally named this little man!

The office is in the process of being cleaned out to become a nursery - we've already relocated our books (to above our kitchen cabinets) and our desk (to our bedroom), and yesterday I finally found the perfect dresser for the top of our stairs on Craigslist. Right now it's sitting in our garage waiting to be sanded and restained and painted, and then it will act as our linen closet, and our linen closet will act as more storage (for craft supplies, our printer and mailing supplies, etc.). We worked on that switch yesterday, so until the dresser is refinished, if you are at our house and you need sheets or a towel, you will find them on the floor of our bedroom. All of this, even the linens on the floor, is so, so exciting to me!

The sporadic hormone-fueled emotional outbursts continue...Every once in a while I just feel so anxious about all of the changes to come - changes at work, a new baby, a toddler who is quickly turning more and more into a boy. Who needs a big boy bed. We need to basically take BB's room apart to create the new nursery, because the crib, the changing table, and the glider are all in BB's room. I feel guilty that I'm leaving BB in an empty box...granted, it is a zebra-striped box. And I do have plans for his room too. But still - change. My heads spins. And I cry. Sometimes I feel like I can't keep up. J says I felt this way when I was pregnant with BB too, facing the unknown. I told my boss that I am planning to go per diem and work one day a week after I have the baby. Making it official makes me anxious. All the looming paperwork really makes me anxious. After lots of "therapy" time with J yesterday (where I unloaded all of my insecurities about work, not working, and our childcare choices), I am trying to remind myself that this is not change that we just imagined up ourselves, but rather it is change that God is pointing us towards and is graciously providing financially for, and I just need to trust in that (and not worry about what anyone else might think about it). He has been so faithful to us, and objectively I know that's not going to change anytime soon. He has good plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, a la Jeremiah 29:11. When I remember that, I relax, about all of it really. I just wish I lived there all the time. And that's when I remember that this life is a process of sanctification - I'm learning, and stretching, and growing (both spiritually and physically right now!). And He loves me before and during it all.

"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8

Thank the Lord that I don't have to pass some kind of quality control for him to love me.

Okay let's look at (quickly-snapped) in-progress photos of the office clean out!

The office-soon-to-be-nursery as it looks this morning

The books live above the kitchen cabinets now
(I am too short to use that space for kitchen storage, so this works perfectly for us)

The desk is in our bedroom

Neither of us works from home or anything, so we don't need a real office.
Ignore the unmade bed (I am blogging from that unmade bed right now)

And here's where we're going to put the rest of the stuff

Shelves moved from the office closet to the laundry room (okay, laundry closet), and the linen closet, where you can see our infrequently-used-and-so-relegated-to-the-closet printer (it should be easy enough to plug in the printer and laptop once in a while when we actually print something). The stuff next to the printer is our mailing stuff for a newsletter we help print a few times a year. The gift wrap is what's piled on the bottom. More craft stuff to go in here.

Our new linen "closet"

The Craigslist dresser we will refinish/paint (I'm hoping for turquoise drawers with a wood frame!) and put at the top of our stairs to store our linens.

"She's Taking Nesting to a Whole New Level"

2011-04-18T14:37:00.001-07:00

*Amendment: J informed me after he read this that it was actually J, not S, who said I was taking nesting to a whole new level. Either way...

That's what J said when our friend S came over to help J paint the living room and hallway* while BB and I were here:

(at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs)

visiting these wonderful people:

seeing this:

(Pike's Peak)

And this:

(Kissing Camels)

And this:

(Garden of the Gods)

and eating this:

(Cinnamon roll french toast - we basically poured syrup all over a cinnamon roll - it was incredible)

here:

And running into these guys:

(Bighorn sheep at Glen Eyrie)

So while BB and I were playing here:

(BB playing at the Focus on the Family center)

J completed this:

Isn't it amazing?

J built that with his bare hands - I am so in love with it, and impressed with him.

And it looks just like this:

The piece we used free plans to build ourselves

(We may add those TV concealing bi-fold doors eventually)

We have reclaimed our living room!

Well okay, we've reclaimed it during after hours (aka bedtime). To snap that photo I actually just shoved all the toys to the middle of the room (as you can see in the pictures below).

I still have some accessorizing and storage-basket-buying to do for the media-slash-toy unit (all of that is stuff that we already had on hand), but most of it came out of the Office-Soon-To-Be-Nursery (the exodus of books and furniture begins! I am excited!)

J also decided that, because BB and I and In-Utero Baby Boy were all out of town in Colorado Springs and wouldn't be home to inhale any paint fumes, it was the best time to go ahead and repaint the living room and hallways the cool gray I have been wanting to replace our warm mocha walls with. (Before you all think I'm a total slave driver, I did tell J that painting was a fun idea but was definitely lowest on the priority list but he really thought that it was the best time to do it since we would be out of town.) It was a bigger project than expected, and our friend S and J's mom helped finish the job, which is when J delivered this post's title*. What can I say? Mama bird wanted new twigs and some storage for the nest.

I was initially apprehensive about the new paint color but after a few days of adjusting I absolutely love it. It was a shock to come home to such big changes - it didn't even feel like our house at first! The gray came out a little different than I expected, I think partly because we color-matched the shade of gray I was going for (so we could use VOC-free paint) and because this room has different lighting than our bathroom, where we also have the gray. But now we both love it - we feel like the living room looks a little more modern and now we feel more free to accessorize with other colors, and it's just a nice change after four+ years with our original mocha wall color. And the media unit is just beautiful, both in it's own right and against the gray walls. And the storage...oh, the closed storage. I can't adequately express my love for the closed storage.

Now that we're done with these projects, the office-clean-out-nursery-nesting begins on Wednesday!

Progress, Regress

2011-04-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

Progress

J, hard at work

And just a few days later...time for paint and hardware!

I am so thankful that my husband is so handy. And talented. And smart. And artistic. And a lot more stuff too.

Regress

Okay, I don't know if these things are exactly regressions, but they really feel like it.

Here's a list of a few things that have come up in the last 36 hours.....

-the garbage disposal quit working

-BB fell out of the cart at Lowe's, landing flat on his back on the cement floor after an almost full rotation in the air (absolutely terrifying, but God protected him and he is completely himself with not even a bump or bruise to show for it.

-Upon arriving home from that Lowe's trip completely stressed and frazzled, the refrigerator had quit working (which it does every year around this time - it was SUPPOSED to have been completely fixed last year) and we had to toss a bunch of food. J got it temporarily working again (Handy Husband strikes again!)

-the laptop is only working when plugged in - the battery isn't charging for some reason

-And then this morning at playgroup I heard about this:

http://www.aircargoworld.com/News/Southwest-Boeing-737-depressurizes-makes-emergency-landing

and guess what airline BB and I are flying on Wednesday?

J and I both agree that it will probably be the safest time to fly, since all the planes are getting extra-inspected, but still, it's enough to shake me up a little.

Okay, okay, enough whining. I realize these are mostly luxury items (other than BB's safety and health).

I'm tired tonight.

BB just came over and pointed at my nose and earrings and then climbed on my lap to read a book. I feel better.

Post Script: Since posting this, J has already fixed the garbage disposal AND the laptop. And BB has given us no reason to worry, he remains totally himself. Praise God.

Bumpdate: 22 (1/2) weeks and 22 months

2011-04-01T08:30:00.002-07:00

Bumpdate

The last few weeks I have started to feel like I'm going to explode after I eat a full meal. It's also gotten very hard to tell when I'm actually hungry, since I feel full all the time, even though I am just full of baby and not nutrition. I feel like I'm eating a normal amount of food, not really any more than that, because really, even a normal amount of food makes me feel like my abdomen may spontaneously burst.

I can also feel that my joints are loosening up - along with the characteristic pregnant clumsiness, I notice it when I'm sleeping because my hips feel like they don't stay lined up when I'm on my side. Sleeping with a pillow to curl up on has helped me feel more stable.

I had a couple of really emotional (hormonal) weeks, one of them falling over J's trip to Stanford for a conference - not the best timing. I had so much nesting energy with nothing to spend it on, since the media unit was (is) still in progress. Thankfully, those weeks passed, I feel more like myself again, and I have found ways to redirect that nesting energy (like by going through BB's clothes, putting away the too-small items, and shopping for some summer clothes. Knowing that I would be pulling all of these clothes back out in a couple of years made this a fun event, rather than a tear-filled one).

The Little Mister is very active, especially after I eat a meal. J has felt him kick many times now, and I can see him kicking as well as feel it now too. Baby Boy is still yet-to-be-named, which is making me feel totally crazy (and a little guilty, since BB was named minutes after finding out he was a boy). But I think J and I have assembled a short list, even though our favorites are not totally lined up yet. A few days ago, J told me that I have been asking him about my favorite every single day (which I initially denied and then realized that I probably do mention the name daily even if I'm not directly asking him about it) and that he can't even tell how he feels about it or if it's growing on him because my obsession with it is making him not want it just because I am so fixated. So he asked me not to bring it up until April 15th, and I agreed. I have decided since then that I am putting the whole name-hunt on hold during that time too, so we have been actually talking about other things at night in bed, which has been nice.

BBUpdate

And BB is 22 months old, just 2 months short of his 2nd birthday, which I can't even believe. His language is developing so quickly right now - he repeats everything we say, adding "please" when he asks for something ("Moe pease"), and saying other two-word phrases. He has been drinking juice (water with about an inch of juice added to the cup) for a couple of weeks now, since a bout of diarrhea when I was worried he was getting dehydrated. (I knew the juice days would come, I just tried to put it off as long as possible.) So the cries we used to hear for "Mok! Mok!" are now "Juice, pease." If we tell him we're giving him milk or water, he corrects us saying "juice" after we tell him milk or water, over and over. At the grocery store he points and announces the items he recognizes as we walk down the aisles, which I love. "Eggs! Juice! Abblesauce!" And he calls all fruit "abbles", even though I know he knows when he sees a real apple. On his changing table, he thinks it's hilarious to say "Poo poo blech!", and for us to repeat it - he starts to say it really fast so it comes out "Pooblah!" During the bout with diarrhea, J went in to get him in the morning, and BB regretfully told him "Bad poopoos. Bad poo poos." He says "Whoa!" when he falls down or trips, and J and I subsequently realized that we say whoa way too much.

He remains totally obsessed with shoes and is actually pretty good on putting them on himself (even though his heels don't always make it into the shoe). He takes showers with both of us and copies our actions, rubbing soap on his legs or his head after watching one of us do it. On mornings when we're both home, he gets in bed with us to cuddle and read a book, and then loves to get the "shlashlight" from Daddy's nightstand and shine it across the room. He still loves Horton Hears A Who, pointing at the TV saying "Ho, Ho" to make his request known. His favorite toys right now are his stacking buckets, his Joey doll (with magnetic wooden clothes he can switch), and books, books, books. His favorite book right now is Curious George Makes Pancakes. One of the first times we read this book was one of those mornings we were all in bed, and when we got to the part about George making pancakes, BB suddenly sat straight up mid-story and announced, "Pampates...Pampates! PAMPATES!" like, People! Why aren't we eating pampates right now? and climbed out of bed and ran towards the stairs. Of course we had a pancake breakfast that morning. And since then, we daily hear requests for "Mumbey, pampates." In fact, yesterday morning J made us a special Mumbey Pampate Breakfast, and BB's monkey doll joined us in his own high chair with his own pancake - BB couldn't have had more fun.

Pushing and Shoving

2011-04-01T08:30:00.001-07:00

So yesterday I was at Rock'n Babies, a children's clothing resale shop, looking for some summer clothes for BB. The store has a little play area where BB had been sitting watching two slightly older kids, a boy and a girl, fight over toys. The little girl's dad was refereeing while his wife shopped. When I was ready to pay for my little pair of denim cargo shorts, I rounded up BB and he stood near me while I waited in line at the register, which is right by the front door of the small shop. The little girl and her dad were standing next to us, directly between me and the door.

I told BB, "I just have to pay for these and then we can go," and BB said "Home," and ran right out the front door.

"BB! NO! NO!" I shouted as he took a couple steps onto the sidewalk between the door and the parking lot. And suddenly the Mommy-instincts kicked in in full force - all I could see was my small son two steps away from the parking lot, and the little girl's dad was fumbling, not sure which direction to move out of my path to the door. I just didn't have time to do that polite dance, especially since BB's brother's bump makes me much less quick on my feet, and the mommy-instincts took over - I put my hand on the man's shoulder and firmly pushed him out of my way, separating him from his daughter, and ran through the new space between them. The force of my shove surprised even me. I raced out the door and grabbed BB before he made it any further towards the parking lot.

When I came back in the store I rambled an apology, trying to explain.

"I'm sorry, it's just that he was heading towards the parking lot - I wasn't trying to push you but I needed to get to him, I'm sorry," and the dad just looked taken aback and kind of mumbled an "It's okay." I think he was really surprised by how I (literally) man-handled him - and I can't really blame him, I surprised myself too. I paid for the shorts and left the store, and as I got in the car I realized that my actions had been totally instinctual, not at all thought-out or planned. It's amazing what those Mommy-instincts can make us Mamas capable of in an urgent moment - for me it was super-human strength even in a compromised physical state, and a total disregard for social etiquette. The Mommy-instincts pushed and shoved me into action. And if me and the little girl's dad had to get a little pushed around to spare BB some roughing up, well, I wouldn't change a thing.

March Madness

2011-03-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

Cheering on the Wildcats during the Elite 8 basketball game

Glasses from Gigi

Walking to our neighbors for a St. Patrick's Day Barbeque

Two Straight Minutes

2011-03-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to Miss Kendra and Lil H for the Fridge Farm toy that provides the soundtrack to BB's dancing!!

Fun in Flag

2011-03-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in February we were invited to visit Flagstaff with friends, to stay in a luxurious "cabin" and play in the snow.

The first day the big boys went snowboarding, and we brought them lunch on the mountain. Then the pregnants and the little boys all went back and took naps (after BB had a complete meltdown at the grocery store - I really pushed him past his naptime limit!)

The little boys had the best time playing all weekend - after this weekend BB spent days saying "Tade? Tade?" asking for Little C.

This was our view when we woke up Sunday morning - it had snowed overnight!

It was time to take the boys out into the snow! Here's BB's first step into the snow:

Not sure how he felt about being waist-deep in snow. He said "Shoe! Shoe!" and when J pulled him up, he had lost a shoe in the snow - whoops! Luckily our cheap solution for not having snow boots was plastic bags tied around our ankles, and the shoe stayed in the bag.

Daddy carved out the way for BB to walk in the snow:

It was picturesque. And it wasn't that cold when we were all bundled up, so we could really enjoy how beautiful it was.

We took the boys sledding! We started just pulling them, which BB loved.

Then we found a hill - BB reached his cold limit after just a couple runs.

I love this picture of Han sledding on a plastic storage bin lid:

J, BB, and I headed back to the cabin once BB got too cold. Everyone else came back later and the little boys laid down for a nap. Once BB was sound asleep, I was ready to build a snowman, and J agreed to come with me because he wanted to build an igloo, even though everyone else didn't want to bundle back up. We left them all reading in the living room. J quickly realized the igloo was a big job, and joined me in snowman-making.

J and I had so much fun that we slowly lured everyone back outside with us.
First, S, who couldn't resist the idea of building an igloo.

Then Han came out, bringing a carrot for our snowman's nose.

Then C had to join the igloo making.

And finally, A joined us while the little boys napped inside.

The boys spent the rest of the afternoon working on their igloo - this is where it was when the girls went back inside for hot cocoa.

J, BB, and I drove home that afternoon once BB woke up from his nap, with our desire for snow-time and friend-time satisfied. Thanks for inviting us Team P!

First Haircut

2011-03-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

Before:

J had started referring to BB's hair as a "lady cop" hairdo. And then a kind friend of ours called it a mullet, and when I protested, he explained to me what a mullet was, like I didn't know and that's obviously why I was disagreeing.
And, truth be told, it was getting looooong in the back.
So I watched a couple of youtube videos on how to cut a boy's hair, but I wasn't sure if I was up to the task.
Then on Friday afternoon I had a tear-filled meltdown from feeling overwhelmed and helpless and terrified of how I was going to take care of two kids (oh, the joys of pregnancy hormones - it's been an emotional last week for me and our in-utero banana-sized baby). After J came home and we had dinner, I had re-achieved emotional stability, and I decided it was time to go for the haircut. We actually kept BB up late for the haircut, but he didn't mind since our sit-still-and-stare-straight-ahead tactic was Horton. I quickly reviewed the youtube videos while J strapped BB into the portable high chair in front of the TV.
Here's his hair wet and combed out, ready to cut:

The first cut (gasp!):

In process:

(Note the open mouth - that's exactly what J does when watching TV or sleeping)

After:

I definitely planned for the back to come out longer than this, but cutting hair is tricky! We are really happy with how it turned out!

In addition to the haircut, BB has done a couple of other "firsts" recently - he has put on his own shoes a couple of times, and on Friday we were at a book fair where set up was in progress, and he was invited to come on in and play on their big puzzle-piece foam mats. BB walked in, pointed at the squares and, totally unprompted, correctly announced "Yellow! Blue!" We think he knows his colors!! Of course after that we tried to get him to do it over and over, but he would just give us impish grins and point all over the place.

Fashion Statement

2011-03-11T20:01:00.001-08:00

This is how I found BB in his crib first thing yesterday morning:

Is the off the shoulder look the next big toddler jammie trend? Or did he just get bored while he waited for me to come get him?
Either way, he sure made his mama laugh.

Bumpdate: 19 weeks - It's a .........!!!!!!!

2011-03-09T20:43:00.001-08:00

Our little family at 19 weeks, on our way out the door to find out if BB is going to have a little brother or a little sister!

This is admittedly not the best picture of the bump, but here are some outtakes:

Sucking his tongue (which means ready for a nap), shoving my face while playing (trying to get him smiling), not in focus

So I fully embrace the lack of bump in exchange for the smiling, still toddler.

Okay, on to what you really want to know:

It's a BOY! BB is going to have a little brother!

Warning: boy parts pictured

Baby Boy looks healthy and measured just a couple of days ahead of my due date (which by the way is actually August 1st, even though I've been saying the 3rd, whoopsies!) And since BB was born a week early, we are definitely expecting this baby at the end of July now, just in case he follows in his big brother's footsteps. And this little boy did not stop moving the entire ultrasound, so we are guessing on another active little man.

Speaking of brothers....BROTHERS! How cute will they be? I hope they love playing together. I asked J that night "They'll be best friends when they're grown ups, right?" I really hope so. I hope BB doesn't feel displaced. I think that is just a mommy bug worry though - I don't even remember life without my little brother. We don't have a name for this little man yet, but don't worry, I've been anxiously obsessing over it pretty much constantly. With BB, we knew exactly what we would name him and we both agreed and loved it. With this baby, we have both gotten a little attached to different names, so today we devoted some time to laying in the hammock and going over our name list. I foresee many hours being spent this way before we draw a conclusion.

Pregnancy-wise, I am starting to feel breathless going up the stairs or with brisk walking, and sometimes even just standing up I feel a little dizzy. I reported all of this to my doctor today and she was unimpressed. She told me that it's common for third trimester symptoms to show up much earlier in your second pregnancy, and that that breathless feeling usually peaks around 20 weeks with the second, so I'm right on schedule. I'm starting to realize that physical activities that seem like they should be doable, like digging up the garden bed to prepare the soil for planting, are much tougher than I expect. J took over pretty quickly on the garden bed when, while convincing him I was fine, I almost fell into my little trench. I also started digging a compost hole and got quickly worn out, even though BB thought it was the greatest thing that ever happened. He stood next to me excitedly bobbing his knees, pointing at the shovel and yelling "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" every time I pierced the dirt. It was very encouraging. I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm totally tough and awesome now.) I had a backache for a couple of days after all of that shoveling. And other big news, I can definitely feel the baby move from the outside now too. I can't wait until we find the right moment and J and BB get to feel it too.

Brothers!

Who Gnows?

2011-03-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

WE'VE BEEN GNOMED AGAIN!!

This morning I was coming down the stairs and I peeked out the window and saw a foreign bright sign on a stake in our yard - I rushed to the front door, flung it open, and discovered more gnomes!!

Several tiny gnomes just a few inches tall were on the corners of our front walkway, perched on a rock in the yard, and atop our car, and they were looking right at me! A gnome Welcome sign on a stake was under our tree, and a lounging gnome with a frog was next to the front door.

I ran to the garage to get J.

We love it.

We're so curious.

Who is gnoming us?

I have some suspicions,

but the mystery continues...

Our front yard post-gnoming

We highlighted all of the dome-capped foreigners for easier spotting

Close-ups
(Just ignore the dead bush, okay? Clearly, that's what we do)

BB likes his new roommates!

Bumpdate: 18 weeks

2011-02-28T20:14:00.001-08:00

Triple Bumpdate!

This was taken yesterday, on vacation in Flagstaff with Han and An, and yup, we are all pregnant together. It's so fun being pregnant with my closest friends.
My baby bump turned 18 weeks today; Han is 20 weeks along, and An is 29 weeks along.

And here's what my baby belly looks like as a snowman belly.

At 18 weeks, I am feeling energetic throughout the day, as long as I can sneak in a nap. By the end of the day I am pretty wiped out, but I do have occasional days where I am energetic even into the evening. I get indigestion if I don't eat often enough, or if I eat something weird (especially most fast food). I am very aware of my uterus, especially after I eat lunch - the belly definitely grows and gets harder to move and work around. I have been feeling the baby move for a couple of weeks now, just little wiggles, nothing you can see or feel from the outside quite yet. I love feeling those little wiggles and being reminded of the new life inside of me, the new member of our family. I am so curious about whether this baby is a boy or girl, what our family will look like in 5 more months, and how BB will respond to this new little person. I'm excited to finish media/toy unit so that we can start preparing the nursery. Right now there is so much unknown - we don't know whether baby is a boy or girl (and we even wonder if it could be twins (!!!!) since we haven't had an ultrasound yet!), we don't know what our childcare arrangement or my work situation will be after baby is born, we don't know how BB will handle all of these changes, and we have no idea what it will be like to take care of two kids rather than one. I am very blessed that J is an active and involved father, and there's a strong possibility that J will be teaching a class at the U of A next year in addition to his normal job, which will inevitably change the current balance in our parenting. I am trying to just take things step by step and not worry about every detail before it's time, and I have been mostly successful (which is unlike me), but it's all still swirling around in the back of my mind.

And that's what I'm thinking and feeling 18 weeks along with this precious new person.

Echup

2011-02-28T10:52:00.001-08:00

J, BB, and I are sitting in a booth at In N Out on the way home from Flagstaff last night, and because BB has been strapped in his car seat for a couple of hours and we still have a couple more to go, I am letting him sit in the booth like a big boy rather than strapping him into a high chair.

J goes and grabs some napkins and I ask for some ketchup too, so that when the food comes I won't have to wait one extra second to start enjoying it. J returns and places the napkins and three little cups of ketchup on the table. BB points to the ketchup and declares "Echup!"

I think in my head Did he just say ketchup? No...he's never even had ketchup.

After a pause, J says exactly what I just thought. "Did he just say ketchup?"
"I know, I thought the same thing, but he's never had ketchup before, how would he know what it is?" We chalked it up to coincidence.

Our food came and we gave BB his grilled cheese sandwich whole, to see if he could hold it and eat it like a sandwich. We giggled as he tried to bite it perpendicularly, and I tore off some pieces for him to eat. J and I hadn't started in on our fries yet, so the ketchup cups were still in front of BB on the table, and I watched as he took a piece of his sandwich, reached his little arm over the table, dipped the grilled cheese in the ketchup cup, and then took a bite. He didn't get ketchup on his fingers or totally soak the bread, just dipped it delicately to apply an appropriate amount of ketchup and then enjoyed his saucy bite.

J and I looked at each other. "UM, I think he's had ketchup somewhere before!" and we burst into laughter.

Gnome Sweet Gnome

2011-02-28T08:56:00.001-08:00

This is what our front doorstep looked like last week.

Everything's normal.....except THIS guy!

This little gnome randomly appeared on our doorstep last week. We don't know where he came from or who put him here on our doorstep. Part of me feels like I should pass him on to someone else's doorstep, just like he appeared on ours. All of this makes me very happy. It's just so fun. And I'm not the only one who enjoys our new little friend welcoming us gnome sweet gnome. BB loves to pet the gnome's hat and swing his lantern.

Smorgasbord

2011-02-18T12:31:00.001-08:00

The pinkeye is back.

The antibiotics had kicked in almost immediately and BB was seemingly recovered (other than a lingering cough) from the pinkeye, ear infection, and cold symptoms, until yesterday morning when I went in to get him out of his crib and the eye goop was back, along with a rosy tone coloring his whole left eye. As the day went on, goop oozed out of his right eye too. After a call to the pediatrician, we have a stronger antibiotic eye drop to try. Oh joy, another 5 days of eye drops three times a day. Administering eye drops to a non-compliant, wriggling 20-month-old is no small feat. But I really am thankful that we leave in a country where I make a call to the pediatrician, who makes a call to the pharmacy down the street, where I go through the drive-through (aka, no need for removal from the car-seat) pharmacy and pick up medication that makes my son's life more comfortable and healthy. It's ridiculously convenient.

I almost had a panic attack the other night when I walked in the garage and saw what appeared to be a monstrously large just-built cabinet, one of two that would flank the TV console, and was convinced that wouldn't possibly fit in our living room, despite J's assurance that they were the measurements we had painstakingly spent hours planning and adjusting and taping to the wall and floor. To calm my anxiety, the next day while I worked J built the second cabinet and then moved the whole set up into the living room so we could see how they fit.
(Yes, he is Super-Husband.)
Turns out the size is just what I had been hoping for. :) So I snapped a picture before it all went back out to the workshop (garage).

Here I am with my Valentine, celebrating with dinner at the Melting Pot. J and I's first date was on Valentine's Day 10 years ago, just as friends. It was the night that changed the way I looked at him, and we have been each other's Valentines every year since.

Notice how the bump grows in the after dinner picture :)
(This dress, which I think is so beautiful, doesn't usually fit quite right, but I can never bring myself to get rid of it - I tried it on for Valentine's and it turns out it makes a great early maternity dress! Woohoo!)

Picnic with Daddy at the U of A fish and turtle pond last week

BB threw the fish and turtles our leftover bread

Speaking of bread, I made real bread, bread that used yeast and had to rise, using this recipe. The dough and the clean up were actually really simple, no kneading necessary. I photo-chronicled my very first loaf of bread's journey from creation to consumption.

The dough resting at room temperature on the counter

Baking

Fresh out of the oven

Sliced, slathered with butter and garlic, and toasted for a pasta dinner with friends.

These are the days of our lives....

Little Buddy

2011-02-16T14:54:00.000-08:00

I burst out laughing when J combed BB's hair out after a bath and pointed out that BB's hair bears a striking resemblance to the menacing villain Buddy from The Incredibles.

I think BB looks a little diabolical here:

J says he combed BB's hair out like this to emphasize how long BB's hair has gotten, and that it's probably time for a haircut.....to which I reply, "Pssshhhhhhh".

(I just can't bear to cut it yet! How can I possibly want to change anything about this cutest-ever mister?)

Bumpdate: 15 weeks

2011-02-09T14:20:00.001-08:00

Oh, the bump. Here it is at 15 weeks. Baby is approximately the size of an apple

(despite the balloon-like appearance of my belly).

Pregnancy-wise, once I crossed the 12-week mark (and got over that cold that just 3 weeks later I now have again), I felt much more like myself again. During the first trimester, I felt like sloth. No energy. I would lay on the couch and watch BB run around the living room and feel like the lamest mom alive. I was terrified thinking that these could be some of BB's first permanent memories of me, a sloth-like couch-dweller who lacked the energy to do anything other than the absolutely necessary. I was heartburny and nauseous, pausing between bites during meals to try and determine if yes, this was now the moment that I would break my no-actual-vomiting-during-pregnancy streak and would have to make a run for the bathroom. Week 7 was the worst, nausea-wise. I actually remember thinking "Did I feel this way with BB? How did I ever think I could do this again? This is so horrible, I don't think I can ever be pregnant again!" But no, I never actually threw up (I have an iron stomach, just like my mom - Outside of pregnancy I rarely ever feel nauseous, and the one time J and I ate somewhere and I was like "Ooh, I kind of don't feel good from that", poor J was hanging over the toilet with food poisoning.) And the nausea improved after that horrible 7th week.

And then the glorious second trimester began, and all of the sudden the energy I had had for just a couple of hours in the morning extended into midday, and I had motivation again! And desire to leave the house! I took BB to the park, and the zoo with friends, and we have been going to a playgroup once a week. I feel so much better. I am blessed to be able to nap during BB's nap most days (other than when I'm at work, of course), and although I don't always feel energetic in the afternoons and evenings, I am usually able to rally when needed and always feel better once I'm up and about. While I do have most of the classic pregnant symptoms, they are all pretty mild, and (other than when the insomnia strikes) I actually feel great. I forget that I'm pregnant sometimes, especially in the beginning of the day, and then I walk by the mirror and am surprised with a bulbous protruding belly.

This pregnancy has felt just as I remember BB's, right down to the 7th week being the hardest. Some people take that to mean we are having another boy. But while I feel the same physically, my food cravings have been totally different this time around - I want chocolate, cake with rich filling, key lime pie, milkshakes, sweets, sweets, and more sweets, which J takes to mean we are having a girl. With BB I craved fresh fruit and vegetables, lots of raw, unprepared foods and dessert? I could take it or leave it (which is so not like me).

BB seems pretty oblivious to the pregnancy so far. I like to tell him that he is going to have a baby in a little while, we are going to have a baby. I know he is going to change so much in the next few months and will understand more and more what it means to become a big brother.

With BB having pinkeye and an ear infection, we have been encouraging him to watch a movie as a way to get him to sit still and rest a bit here and there throughout the day. Otherwise he just wants to play, play, play. We have Horton Hears a Who saved on the DVR from last weekend and have been showing it to him the last couple days. He paid attention here and there but didn't seem too into it the first couple of days (he doesn't watch TV unless he's sick or at Granacky's house). This morning once breakfast was over, I sat down on the couch and BB ran up to me, climbed on the couch, saying "Ho...ho...ho..." - at first I was like, huh? and then I realized, oh, you want Horton! How cute is it that he requested it? I turned it right on for him and he laughed and squealed, pointed at Horton and said "Ho!", and said "hat" when Horton turns his ears into a swim cap. And he sat still for FIFTEEN MINUTES watching Ho. That Dr. Seuss knows what he's doing. Plus, Horton is teaching BB a lesson now that will only become more important when he becomes a big brother:

"A person's a person, no matter how small." - Horton

Playroom vs. Living Room

2011-02-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

So we started building a media unit, using plans from here, which is this amazing website (that used to be called Knock-Off Wood, which was a much cuter name) that posts plans for furniture from places like West Elm and Pottery Barn. I had been wanting to start this project for a while, and I am so excited we are actually doing it. While we are calling this piece of furniture a media unit, in actuality it will be a toy unit, as we are in desperate need of living room toy storage, as while we call the living room a living room, in actuality it is a playroom. :)

Here's the Pottery Barn unit we (and when I say we, I mean J) are trying to build:

We will be adding a couple of extra doors onto this piece, for extra closed storage.
(And for the record, I have offered to help several times and been told that whatever step J's on is a one-person job) :)

But before we could get started, we needed to customize the measurements to our living room, which we did using painter's tape that we adjusted until we found the right height and depth for our space.

This tape has been up on our walls ever since, mainly because it reminds me that soon, very soon, the toys will all be behind closed doors, and during nap times and bedtime we can at least pretend that this room is, in fact, just a living room.

Our garage has been converted into a sawdust-covered, tool-strewn workshop, but one of the contingencies of J hosting a Superbowl party on Sunday was that he sweep up the garage, so when I snapped a picture of the unit so far this morning the garage was still in this pristine state.

Doesn't it look great so far?

Unfortunately, the project is getting put on hold this week, as J and I have colds and I took BB to the pediatrician yesterday because he had a runny nose, a cough, and I was pretty sure he had pinkeye. Dr. Bean confirmed that yes, he indeed has pinkeye, as well as his first ear infection. So we started him on antibiotics last night, and hopefully we all feel better again soon.

Aye-by

2011-01-27T13:10:00.001-08:00

Ever since meeting Baby Lydi and being babysat with Baby Jack, BB stares at Lydi's birth announcement in the kitchen and points to pictures of babies in books, declaring, "Aye-by! Aye-by!"

Yes, BB, that's a baby! You're going to have a baby in a little while!

BB has also been carrying around an "Aye-by" doll in the nursery at church the last few weeks - I am amazed and relieved that he seems to be warming up to babies all on his own, and I know that Baby Lydi and Baby Jack have been big helpers with his newfound baby-love.

Meeting R's sweet baby Lydi

Here's a picture of the Aye-by Bump at 13 weeks:

I am hoping to take a photography class sometime during this pregnancy - J and I agreed it would be a good time since I am benched from soccer due to the people-growing. I don't know if you can tell or not, but this picture has been slightly edited - cropped, brightened. For Christmas my sweet husband bought me Photoshop so that I can edit my photos, and I am trying to learn how to use the program. Actually, our current computer wouldn't run Photoshop, so J found us a new laptop, and, to tailor it just for me, he found one that is made of bamboo and completely recyclable when, years down the road, we are done with it.

I think I'll keep him.

Oh, Christmas Tree

2011-01-15T21:47:00.001-08:00

O Christmas tree. Ooooooooh Christmas tree.

Let me start at the beginning. I grew up with real, living (I guess really dying) Christmas trees, trees that you strapped to the roof of your car and filled the air with pine and dropped needles everywhere and precariously balanced between the screws in the little red and green rusted Christmas-tree-holder where you had to keep refilling the water. J grew up with fake Christmas trees that you store in a bin all year and pop up willy-nilly at a moment's notice. Each December I make my annual request to try a real, living tree, and each year J puts his foot down on this issue. He does not want to deal with the needles, and the sap, and the (alleged) fire hazard. J is not usually a put-his-foot-down kind of husband, but he makes it clear that this issue is not up for further discussion (until next December, in my book).

So this is what I came home to one night in early December after work. My sweet husband had remembered a picture I'd admired online of a Christmas tree set in a wood stump, and decided to surprise me! He went and bought a stump and drilled the hole and had the tree set up, lit, and ready to decorate, with Christmas music playing in the background when I got home. I absolutely loved it, and we called it our hybrid (part-real, part-fake) Christmas tree, a wonderful compromise.

We, of course, put up our ornaments, and Christmas morning, the tree looked like this, nary a stump in sight due to the abundance of gifts, but it was there, I promise.

Well, two days after Christmas I looked around at all of the toys and clothes and gift bags and plastic wrap strewn all over the living room, and decided CHRISTMAS IS OVER, and it's time to put away this stuff, and as long as I had this little spurt of energy we better put away the Christmas decorations too. My mom was a little sad as J and I energetically took everything down and put it back into storage, but I just felt relieved to reclaim my living room.
Christmas - Check!

And then, once all of the ornaments and other seasonal decor was put away, J took down the tree and moved the stump, and what did we find? A not-so-merry surprise:

See that gray stuff? That gray stuff on my grandmother's handmade tree skirt, one of my most treasured possessions? That gray stuff is MILDEW.
MILDEW.
NOT MERRY.
In fact, I'd say it's a MIL-DON'T. (I can't help it.)

And then, when we lifted up the tree skirt, we saw this:

The mildew had soaked through the tree skirt into our rug. Our huge, plush, 100% wool rug. Our giant-splurge-from-Anthropologie-because-after-looking-at-3000+-rugs-online-I-didn't-like-one-half-as-much rug.

Surprisingly, I did not panic. Probably because J was so upset. We're like that - one of us can always stay calm and keep the big-picture perspective when the other is freaking out. 99% of the time it's J with the steady wisdom, so during the 1% of time it's me I feel pretty pleased with myself.

I wasn't too worried about the tree skirt, since I think I can just cut out the center, which already had rust stains from the aforementioned red-and-green-rusted-Christmas-tree-holder of my childhood (so really, I wanted to do that anyway) and then add a little red felt where needed to turn it into a wrap-around tree skirt.

So I set to work on the rug with my "natural" disinfectants - Let's try some vinegar! That's not helping. Let's try some baking soda to absorb it! Hm, maybe I should've waited until the vinegar dried. Let's try to vacuum the baking soda up! But now it's some kind of weird paste that won't vacuum up. Let's look up some mildew remedies online!

J called rug places and carpet places and all of them said "We don't do that." They didn't even want us to bring the rug in to look at it. We were like "We will pay you money to fix our rug!" and they were like "Don't bother. We don't deal with mildew. We mil-don't." (Okay, they didn't say that last sentence. But I would have.) Hmmm...not the best sign.

So after much online research the conclusion we have come to is that we need to kill the mildew. Sunlight is the best bet. So both the rug and the tree skirt have been sunbathing in the backyard for...an embarassing number of days because the rug weighs roughly the amount of two obese elephants and I can't move it myself, like, can't even move one corner of it, and I've had a cold the last week and sick, pregnant me has zero energy. The next step is Borax. Borax is supposed to be some kind of "natural" cleaner, and apparently, according to the internets, it kills mildew - we are supposed to sprinkle it on and then vacuum it up a little bit later. Once we get it out of the yard (and de-grassified from the attempt I did make at moving it which ended up with it rolled off the table and chairs J had set it up on into the dead grass in our lawn) we will Borax it. Everything we've read online says we can't really do anything about the discoloration (which is dingier and worse than it looks in the photo), so once we are sure the mildew is dead, we will try to strategically place the rug to hide the mildew. Worse comes to worse, we take it to a rug restoration place and hope it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to cut off a foot of mildew-ed edge of the rug. I suggested trying to cut it myself and J said absolutely not. Hopefully our strategic placement plan works.

So that's how our hybrid Christmas tree has kept us in the holiday spirit all the way into January.
J's right - live trees, even hybrids, are trouble. Bah humbug.

Just Prayers

2011-01-15T20:40:00.000-08:00

I wish I had something profound to say in regards to the mass shooting here in Tucson last Saturday, as I do want to recognize it. The Safeway is 4 miles up the street from our house - I drive by there on my way to the grocery store, and eat lunch at the Beyond Bread that opened in that plaza a couple of months ago. My sister-in-law sometimes grocery shops there with my nieces, since she lives one minute away, and actually heard the gunshots from her house that morning. J and I had planned our anniversary dinner that night at one of our favorite special-occasion-only restaurants Wildflower, right across the street. So the shooting definitely hit very close to home.

Some of the first patients were actually transferred to my hospital before they started sending people to UMC. When I got the call from work that we were in External Disaster mode and they needed to know if I could come in if needed, I asked "Is this a drill?" No, it most certainly was not a drill.

Since then, J and I have been processing. Processing how we can engage with our city during this time of tragedy. Processing the recognition and support Tucson has received from our nation and our President. Processing the lives lost and damaged, and the fear and sadness the shooting has provoked. Processing when and how to point to hope. And processing how thankful we were that we took BB to the U of A campus, far from Ina and Oracle, for a storybook and character reading that morning.

I don't have any wise words to share. Prayers though, I have those.

A Case Study

2011-01-08T22:48:00.000-08:00

Symptoms:

intermittent nausea

overwhelming fatigue

intermittent insomnia

heartburn

sudden dairy intolerance

simultaneous intense craving for and bodily rejection of kalamata olives and pepperocinis

Can you diagnose me?

If your analysis of the data has led to a diagnosis that includes me growing a person, then I concur! (Dang it, I should've concurred.....Catch Me If You Can, anyone?)

That's right! BB's going to become a BIG BROTHER on (or at least around) August 3rd!

Praise God that this week we heard the rapid boom-boom-boom that is our brand-new baby's healthy heartbeat! Tonight, over our 6-year anniversary dinner, J and I talked about how real hearing the heartbeat suddenly made this pregnancy (although the heartburn and exhaustion has kept it pretty real for me).

Here's our first belly pic, taken on Christmas day:

And here we are earlier tonight celebrating six blessed years of marriage:

Here's to 60 more and to what (and who!) is ahead! The prognosis is looking good...