Simply, My Life

Valentine Craftyness

2012-02-11T15:05:00.000-05:00

So far in my married life I haven't gotten to crazy when it comes to decorating for holidays. I usually get a few gourds and pumpkins to have around the house for Fall. Christmas we get the tree, put up some lights around the house and hang a wreath on the door. No pilgrims. No Easter eggs. And usually no hearts.

It's not that I don't like decorating for holidays. I actually enjoy it a lot! I think my lack of it is partly because we have a small house, and don't have many places to put decorations or I just don't think about until it's too late. Then of course I didn't always have Pinterest to inspire me!

Valentines Day is one of those holidays that has so many cute decorating options, and I always wish I was able to decorate for. But it always creeps right up on me, and is over before I get the chance!

I was quickly browsing "Valentines Day" on Pinterest the other day to get an idea for Valentines Day cards for Will's preschool class, and came across this cute DIY Valentine's banner. I realized I had everything I needed to make it, so I figured, "Hey! Why not!" I worked on it bit by bit throughout the day, but really if I had been able to just sit and do it with no distractions it wouldn't have taken any longer then 20 minutes to make.

So here is my one and only contribution to Valentines Day this year!

As you can see it is NOT perfect. Burlap is a pain to cut evenly. But that's how homemade things should be; a perfectly imperfect one of a kind!

After looking at this picture I really noticed how colorless my little tan corner is. Maybe I will add some light pink hearts to my branches. Kind of like this:

Source

Here are some other ideas I would love to try someday; Maybe next year!

Source

Potty Training: Day 1 & 2

2012-02-07T14:16:00.000-05:00

Will has yet to show any interest in potty training. I kept waiting for a sign that he was ready before I dove into it. I didn't want all the time, effort and all the dirty messes to go to waste if he just wasn't ready. (Not even kidding. As I was writing this Will came up to me with dirty fingers and underwear full of poop. Nice.)

BUT he is coming up on 3.5 years, and well, the kid is huge. Size 6 diapers just barely fit him. Someone joked recently that if he isn't potty trained soon he'll have to start wearing Depends! So something must be done. Well, more like I've got to do something about it.

We got a portable potty since I think the big one scares him, (he freaks out whenever I've tried to have him sit on it) and I've told him I will give him "special surprise chocolate" if he goes pee on the potty.

So we started yesterday. I had him sit on his little potty that barely fits his butt while he watched Kipper.

He surprisingly sat there for almost 30 minutes! Not a drop of pee to be seen though, so I let him get up and he put on some Batman underwear.

He looked so stinkin' cute in his tight little underwear, so I called him over to take his picture. The very first picture I took is this one:

Yes. That is him peeing. Not 2 minutes had passed since getting off the potty, and he peed in his underwear. We were off to a great start!

I have been told to just let him run around in underwear or naked and he will hate the feeling of pee trickling down his leg. That it might motivate him NOT to do it again. But it didn't seem to phase him at all.

I put him in a diaper when we went out for the morning, and tried out the potty again when we got back.

Not sure what Sam was doing here. Trying to get my attention most likely!

Same thing happened. Sat there for 20+ minutes, and 2 minutes after putting his underwear back on he peed on the rug.

He wore a diaper the rest of the day.

So far today it has been: Sit on the potty. Put underwear on. Pee on floor. Except, as you read above, we've also had poop in the underwear. I have a feeling this is going to go on for awhile. Wish me luck!

Carrots

2012-01-31T11:37:00.000-05:00

Ever since Will started eating real food I have tried my best to feed him the best. I am a firm believer that eating well at a very young age makes all the difference in your future health. He really is a great eater. I mean, he will eat a salad. My 3 year old will eat a salad! Most of the time with no complaints. BUT the older he gets it is just not possible to control everything he puts in his mouth. Especially since he is just like I was when I was his age.

You see, I would sneak into the fridge, take a tub of Cool Whip, hide under the table and have at it. Will does the same thing! He is constantly going into the kitchen, getting food and either hiding under the table or shoving it into the couch when I walk in the room (I know, I know. We're working on this). The best is when it's a big hunk of cheese being stuffed into the abyss that is my couch. Gross.

But, unfortunately for Will, I don't tend to keep Cool Whip in my fridge. So, he resorts to the next best thing: Carrots!

He will easily eat 5 in a day. And these are no baby carrots. These are the real deal, big fat carrots.

You've got to be kidding me...

2012-01-25T18:32:00.001-05:00

*Disclaimer: I have a tendency to be, as my husband would say, blunt. ESPECIALLY when talking about something I am pretty passionate about. Soooo, be warned.*

While driving home from the gym today, I was listening to a Christian music radio station. The female DJ was talking about how busy life can get, and that more often than not her family eats frozen meals for dinner.

Now, if you know me at all, you already know about my disdain for frozen/packaged meals. So, at this point I am already quite irked by just hearing that.

But then she goes on to say that serving her family frozen meals is, and I quote, "Not cheating, but an efficient use of precious time." Say what!? Ok, now I am full on mad.

I am mad at how lazy our culture is when it comes to eating. Mad about the lack of knowledge we have when it comes to what we are putting into our bodies. Even more so, I am mad at the big food companies who claim that their sugar packed, MSG ridden and slathered in hydrogenated oil packaged food is actually HEALTHY!

Come on people! Put in a little effort when it comes to what you eat. Do your research. Your health is so important. Food Inc. is a great documentary, and a good place to start. I highly recommend it!

While still listening to the radio, and lady called in to comment saying something along the lines of, "I hear ya! We have hockey practice one night for this kid, and gymnastics for that one. My family would starve if it weren't for frozen meals. All hail frozen meals!" Ok, so maybe she didn't say that last part, but come on now.

I get it momma's! Life can be busy. I have two young boys, my husband works 65+ hrs, 6 days a week, and I know it will only get busier as the years go on. But it is SO important that we take the time to provide REAL healthy meals for our family.

Proverbs 31:15 says, "She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family..." The Proverbs 31 woman makes it a priority to make sure her family is fed nourishing food, and we should too! Even if it takes having to get up even earlier than we already do or perhaps cutting down on some of our social activities.

Now, I'm not talking gourmet meals here. All it takes is a little thought and preparation to provide a simple meal that is way above anything a frozen meal could ever hope to be!

Take advantage of that crockpot you've had sitting in the cupboard. Get together a list of easy crockpot recipes (there are literally hundreds out there!) throw in some ingredients in the morning, and bam! Dinner is served. Or how about scrambled eggs and toast for a last minute meal? It can be plain or you can toss in some veggies, cheese or good quality meat. (Lately, I've been liking mine with broccoli and kale!). So yummy, quick and easy, and way better for you then a frozen/boxed dinner!

So, if you don't already, please make an effort to bless your family with a good quality meal!

P.S. This applies to ALL meals! Not just dinner!

Gifts for Will

2012-01-19T17:26:00.000-05:00

This was the first Christmas (*Eye roll* Yes, I am still talking about Christmas. This is the last time, I promise) that Will really understood about the whole present thing. We always go over to my family's house Christmas morning, but I thought it would be fun to have some time with just us four opening gifts around our Christmas tree before heading over.

I didn't want to get carried away with piles of gifts. I knew Will would be plenty spoiled by his Grandma and Aunties (which he was), so I just got him a couple things.

First, I made a wooden block memory game. I absolutely love how they turned out!

I used some Jenga blocks I already had, and modged podged scrapbook paper onto it. Super cute right?

Will loves playing with balls, and has quite the arm on him. Even though he already has a plethora of balls around the house, most of them aren't very inside friendly. Like, actual adult sized soccer and baseballs. So, I wanted to make him a safe, softer ball. You know, one that wouldn't knock Sam out when it inevitably hit him. So, I crocheted him one. I know, I know. I am such a cool mom.

It turned out pretty well. I made it bigger than the pattern had it, and I messed up just a little. But thankfully it isn't very noticeable.

Will was very happy with his gifts! He immediately wanted to play catch with daddy after opening his football. We play his memory game almost every day, and Will is just awesome at it. I know I'm partial, but this kid is pretty smart. They also double as building blocks, and teething toys for Sam!

First Tooth!

2012-01-14T14:40:00.003-05:00

At 1 year Sam finally got his first tooth!

Burlap & Lace

2012-01-13T16:24:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in my last post that I had been super busy planning and making the decorations for a church event this past weekend. It was for our church's women ministry, Oasis. This was the second time I have exclusively been in charge of decorations for a shindig, the first being my sis-in-laws baby shower last Spring! It's a lot of work, but fun to do! Although, I find that I become a bit anal and a little OCD about everything being just right. Thankfully, I don't have a problem telling my helpers EXACTLY what to do (Ha, sorry mom and Val!), so everything worked out great.

We had the meeting in a beautiful lodge. All the decorations looked so pretty against the natural wood, dim lighting and the fireplace.

I wasn't able to get many decent pictures. The lighting was so dim, and I haven't figured out the best setting for it on my new camera yet. Here are a few to give those of you not there an idea: (Thanks to Val for taking some!)

(I took this one at home while testing out my camera)

SIGHHHHHHH

2012-01-11T15:53:00.000-05:00

I feel like letting out a big fat sigh. SIGHHHHHH. Ahh, that's better. Life has been SO busy for me the past 3 months. Between working on making over 200 paper snowflakes for our church's Christmas banquet (of which I have NO pictures of. Boo!), making almost every Christmas gift I gave, and then doing the decorations for another church event just this past weekend, I have had no spare time at all. I did love being able to let out some creativity, but all of it put together didn't leave time for much else!

Now that I have time to just sit and breath, I have a few things I want to blog about. Starting with...Christmas!

We had a great Christmas! Lots of time spent with lots of family. We drew names to give gifts between all of us siblings (and their spouses and fiance's.) Dean and I had my sisters, Jenny and Valerie, and I did manage to get a couple shots of some of their gifts I made:

For Val we have a pillow and legwarmers from a thrifted sweater, a crocheted ski band with detachable flower clips, and some pillow cases (which I did not make, but they were the exact match of one she already had. Score!) Then we have yarn bottles with some pretty coffee filter flowers.

And for Jenny we have, yes, another sweater pillow and legwarmers, a "bookpage" candle (although I used a sheet of Beethoven's 5th Symphony instead), and some crocheted earrings and a broomstick lace arm cuff.

I loved how everything turned out, and had to keep myself from just keeping it for myself! Although, I do admit, it all looks better than it sounds. For instance, when Dean wanted to know what he was giving Val for Christmas I told him, "Oh, well there is a pillow from an old sweater and I made the sleeves into legwarmers. Then I wrapped beer bottles with yarn, and...." And then I'd realize how silly it all sounded, and just said, "Don't worry, she'll like it. It looks better than it sounds." Ha!

Here are some pictures that my sister took from Christmas day (thankfully, since I took zero!):

My family Christmas morning. With me, apparently, wearing a sweatpant skirt.

Cute cousins

Do they not look so completely different from one another?

Ahh, Christmas...

2011-12-24T11:31:00.000-05:00

I think I love it even more the older I get. Don't get me wrong. We had great Christmas' growing up. My mom did a great job making it fun; baking the Christmas cookies, the house was filled with Christmas carols (even if they did start in September), decorating the tree, and driving around with dad looking at houses covered in lights. But the older I get I find that the focus less is on myself, and more on blessing others. As a child you go (or at least I did) into Christmas with one thought; what will I be getting? Which only led to disappointment. Not that the gifts weren't plentiful; they were. But there was always that person you thought got more then you or were given a gift you didn't quite love. Then when the day was too quickly over you are left with....emptiness. All that selfish anticipation left me with nothing. My focus was on myself. Not on blessing others, and certainly not on baby Jesus.

After seeing this video it really made me want to strive even harder to instill a grateful and giving heart into my children. It's a hard thing to do! I want Christmas to be fun for my children, and I find myself wanting to get Will excited about Christmas by telling him about getting presents. I try instead to get him excited about getting to see his uncles and aunties and Grandma and Papa, and being able to give presents to them! I, of course, talk about celebrating the birth of Jesus, but I think it still confuses him.

Anyways, it's Christmas Eve. The gifts are wrapped. There is some snow on the ground. Christmas tunes are playing. I am attempting to make cinnamon rolls for Christmas brunch with my family, but I'm not to sure how successful they will be. I made two separate batches to give myself that much more of a chance of it working. The second batch is looking more promising, but I'm not convinced yet. I seriously need a 101 on baking with yeast. I swear I followed the recipe exactly, but it just doesn't seem to rise as much as it should. It's a good thing my mom knows me, and has some back up pastries on hand.

Our church had a lovely Christmas Candlelight service the other night, and here is a typical family picture we had taken there...

Christmas morning we will have a little family time around the Christmas tree before heading over to my family's for a big brunch and exchanging gifts. The rest of the day will be spent at my Aunt and Uncles playing games, enjoying yummy food, and hopfully not getting into any fights during white elephant with my mom's side of the family. The following day will be spent at my brother and sis in laws house doing the same thing with my dad's side of the fam.

I hope you all have a blessed weekend, and a Merry Christmas too!

Happy 1st Birthday Sam!

2011-12-08T12:32:00.001-05:00

Sam is 1 YEARS OLD! Can you believe it?!?! In this post we are wrapping up our 12 months of Sam pictures. Every month it has continually gotten harder and harder to get a picture of him. I think the pictures I got of him for his 12 month old picture perfectly sums it up. Here were my 3 best options for his last one:

Option 1: He would not stay still. He kept lifting up his butt or rolling over. Notice the blurry legs.

Option 2: I finally got tired of him moving, so I gave him a bottle. Yes, he still takes a bottle. Just don't tell his pediatrician, and everyone will be happy.

Option 3: I took the bottle away.

So, those are it. I was leaning more towards the last one. I think it ties in pretty well with some of his previous pictures. Like this one or this one.

Sam had his 1 year check up last week. He weighs in at a wopping 17lbs 10oz and is 29 inches tall. We also found out that he is anemic. It's always hard to hear something is wrong with your child. You automatically blame yourself. Which I did. So, for now he is on a iron rich diet. We will go back to the doctors in 1 month and hopefully all will be well.

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this little guy. He is still very much a mama's boy, but will jet right to the door when he hears daddy walk in the door and greet him with the biggest smile.

Still no teeth, but the doctor said his 2 bottom ones are right there, ready to pop through at anytime! So maybe by Christmas...

This kid is all over the place and getting into everything. He cries every time I lay him down to get changed. Just like his brother did.

I just love this picture. His cute little profile and short little body. Makes me wanna squeeze him and never let go.

Look at that face!

Happy 1st Birthday Samuel. I love you like crazy!

Afternoon snuggles in mama's bed

2011-11-15T15:09:00.000-05:00

Eleven

2011-11-08T16:31:00.001-05:00

Sam is eleven months...and he doesn't look a day over 6.

Really. This kid is so small. I try not to worry about it, but then maybe I should? I mean, we're not starving him. He eats a lot. He can easily eat half an avocado mashed with an egg yolk, mixed with yogurt and an entire banana for lunch. He still nurses 6ish times a day (usually just quick snacks), and usually once at night. He seems satisfied when he's done. I've occasionally given him bottles of a homemade formula, and starting next week I will make it an effort to give him 2 bottles a day (on top of nursing regularly) to see if that makes a difference. Can babies just have really fast metabolisms? Is it just his genes? I just don't know.

He has been a little behind in his milestones. He's just started pulling himself up to stand the past few weeks. Will took his first step at 11 months, yet Sam can't stand unassisted on his own.

Regardless, he is still cute and sweet as ever. He LOVES peek a boo. I may have said that last month as well, but it's still true. He will sit on my lap for forever playing it.

He loves to play with blocks, knocking down towers, and has been showing an interest in books lately, which is so cute! He also likes to sit on his knees, which I find so funny.

He loves when Will and I sing songs, and will clap his hands along with us!

As I mentioned above he is pulling himself up to stand, which means he's getting into even more things.

These two will be the best of friends. It makes me happy.

Yes, he is still bald.

And still no teeth!

Update: I forgot! He is also saying Mama!

Happy Birthday Will!

2011-10-24T11:57:00.000-04:00

Today is Will's Birthday! I can't believe he is 3 already! I am sure I will say that every year, for every child, but it's true.

Lately he's been loving planes, cars and trucks (especially "Daddy's new big truck"). We drive past the airport every time we go to daddy's shop, and he's always on the lookout for some big planes.

We get such a kick out of hearing the new words or phrases he picks up. His latest ones are "Check it out!" or when he shows me something cool and I go, "No way!" he says, "Yes way!" Cracks me up!

He started going to a preschool class at "school church" this Fall, and he loves it! He was a little hesitant at first leaving me, but was always fine once he did. He has fun playing with his buddy's, and loves his teacher, "Mrs. trino!"

He is definitely all boy! He loves "wreshling" with Daddy and Sam before bed, building blocks and knocking them down, piling up all the couch cushions on the floor and jumping off the couch onto them (just like his daddy did!), jumping in puddles, making messes, and kicking and throwing balls. He got some toy guns for his birthday, and is loving them!

He's becoming quite the little singer too. It's the funniest thing hearing him try and sing along with his Veggie Tales cd in the car. He's such a little smarty! He knows all his letters and knows most of their sounds. We have an ever growing list of words he can read too. He can count to 10 and tries to count to 20, but usually misses a few. He loves puzzles, plays memory game (and is really good at it!), and loves his I Spy books.

He has grown into such a handsome little boy. Some days I can't get over how freakin' cute he is! I know I'm partial, but come on; look at him!

1 years old

2 years old

3 years old!!!!

It was quite the challenge getting these pictures at the pumpkin patch last week. It was SO windy and chilly, and on the list of things Will doesn't like is having his picture taken. But with a lot of work, persistence and having silly auntie's dancing in the background we got some pretty good ones!

Happy Birthday sweet Will. I am so happy and blessed that I get to be your mommy! Love you!

Pinterest Inspired

2011-10-22T11:41:00.000-04:00

If you haven't heard of or joined Pinterest, you should totally check it out. I'm in l o v e. I was that person who had a bookmark list a mile long of recipes, craft ideas, blogs, etc. It wasn't the most organized way of keeping track of things I liked, but it did the job. Until one day our computer crashed. We had to wipe it clean and I lost a l l of my bookmarks. Sad day. But Pinterest, oh how I love thee. It's an online site, so unless there is some crazy internet Armageddon that happens, all my stuff is safe!

Not only is it a great place to easily organize my likes, but more so a place to inspire! I have a ever growing board of DIY ideas, and I finally got around to doing a couple.

This first one is a wreath, inspired by this and this. I am pretty happy with how it came out. The only thing with using the plumbing foam is that it's on the thin side and not very firm. So having flowers on the bottom only kind of drags it down. I think it would be great though if you were doing a wreath like this one or this one.

I used some twine I had around the house from previous projects which I wrapped around the foam tube, and good old 25 cent felt and a glue gun for the flowers. Here's how it turned out!

Hi Will!

I also used straight pins to attach the flowers to the wreath. That way I can change them out with different colors when the season change!

As soon as I saw this next idea on Pinterest, I knew it was just what I needed to organize my earrings. So instead of being all mixed together in a jewelery box, they can hang all pretty on my dresser! Ignore the dark, grainy pictures. The lighting isn't that great in my room.

I used a cheap frame from Savers that I spray painted and lace trimming that I staple gunned onto the back of the frame.

I've also slowly been redecorating my room. I painted the base of those lamps a pretty yellow, and at some point will be adding some ruffles like I did here.

And here's a picture of snuggly Sam, who has been pretty crabby lately. He either has a cold or is teething, but either way all he wants is mommy.

Ten

2011-10-10T17:40:00.002-04:00

Sam is 10 months old! 10. MONTHS. OLD. PEOPLE! Can you believe it? I can't! No matter how much I try to savor him in the moment, time just goes by way to quickly.

Sam is crawling now, and is having fun exploring the house, and has learned to climb up our kitchen step! He can clap his hands too and does "so big!"

He still has no teeth and is still bald.

He is such a snuggly baby. I love our moments cuddling when he joins me in bed in the morning. He'll just lay with me forever, playing with my hands and smiling.

He loves to do anything with his big brother, and Will can ALWAYS make him laugh!

Their newest favorite thing is "wreshling".

And no Sam post is ever complete without a picture of him crying!

Kentucky Road Trip

2011-09-26T17:56:00.000-04:00

This past weekend Will, Sam and I went on a road trip with my mom and sisters to Kentucky to see my dad graduate from a men's ministry he has been at. We had such a good time! The boys did really great on the ride up and back. Especially considering it took close to 10 hours! We drove down Wednesday, spent the whole day there on Thursday and drove back all day Friday.

God really blessed us with the most beautiful day on Thursday. We spent the morning having my dad show us around the "ranch" that he had been staying at. We took a hike through the woods and walked the rolling hills.

Will woke up Thursday with a sore neck from sleeping on it wrong. It was the saddest thing ever seeing him walk around with his hand on his neck. Poor guy.

Sam was so tired he fell asleep while being jostled along the paths.

Hanging out on the balcony porch after dinner and being goofy!

My Little Corner: A before and after.

2011-09-18T15:21:00.000-04:00

Way back in March I posted about making use of a room whose only purpose at the time was collecting junk. Slowly, but surely, I have taken the room back! I still have a few finishing touches to make to complete the room, but here is a little peak!

We never used this space as an actual office. The desk was there because it fit. And there it sat. Getting covered with junk. I wanted to create a useful space for me to be crafty, and have my sewing machine easily accessible at all times. So, here is the before picture:

Yeah, I know. Gross. But trust me, it gets better! Here it is now:

Much better, right? I took off the top part of the desk, to give me more tabletop space to work with.

The lamp is the same. I just spray painted the black base and added some super cute white ruffles! I am in love with it! I plan to do the same thing with our nightstand lamps in our bedroom. It was easy enough to do, just a bit time consuming to make the ruffles. (And yes, that is sharpie all over the desk. Will can be thanked for that!)

I love, love, l o v e how the picture collage came out. This took the longest to finish. I had to collect enough frames, spray paint them all, figure out the layout and then hang them on the wall using a ruler and pencil markings. It's definitely not perfect if you look close, but it turned out better than I thought it would! I think next time I do this, I will invest in a level.

It's been great having my sewing machine set up at all times. Instead of having little sewing projects pile up, I can just quickly sit down and hem some pants or take in a sweater. It's great!

I still have a couple things that need to be done to complete this space; A cork board on the right wall, find a new home for the computer, and get a picture for the frame on the shelf. But overall it is 10 times better than it was!

Nine

2011-09-08T14:56:00.000-04:00

Another month, same story...

It is getting harder and harder to take these pictures every month! Mommy doing peek-a-boo no longer throws him into fits of giggles. He is really getting around now too, and he does not want to stay still! He is not officially crawling yet, but can get anywhere he wants to by army crawling.

He is still a tiny little guy weighing at 15lbs 3 oz and 27 1/4 inches long. A whopping 8 lbs less then his brother was at this age. Granted, Will was (and still is!) enormous. Contrary to his appearance, we don't starve him. He loves to eat! His newest foods this month have been yellow zucchini, kale & spinach!

His faces kill me!

Will Can Read!

2011-09-03T10:50:00.000-04:00

Will is ~~still~~ only 2 years away from starting Kindergarten; Yikes! I want to start getting into a "school" routine now though. He is such a smarty, and I really want to take advantage of it.

Kids are capable of learning so much more than we know at a young age. We just don't think to teach them to read at 2/3 years old. I mean, that's what Kindergarten is for, right? Wrong! I have been working on teaching Will to read some simple words by teaching him the sounds of the letters, and using big, bold letters. We go over them a few times a day. Usually at breakfast, lunch and dinner. We don't dwell to long on one word. If he's having trouble I will help him out, and never let him get frustrated. So far he loves reading his words, and is doing really well!

A Summer Picnic

2011-08-17T17:21:00.000-04:00

The sweet days of summer are dwindling quickly. I do love the coziness that Autumn brings; Apple cider & fresh donuts from Schutts, cardigan sweaters and sweatpants, getting warm by a backyard fire on a cool evening, and the pretty Fall colors. But it also brings winter. No need to expand on that! I'm not ready for Summer to be over. I have yet to spend the day at the beach. Still haven't had my fill of going out for ice cream. I'm barely even tan!

With the promise of Fall right around the corner, I am trying to soak up every last bit of Summer while it is still here.

Today is just beautiful! After Sam's morning nap, I packed up our picnic basket, grabbed my favorite quilt and took the boys down to our go to park for a picnic lunch!

Will wanted to go play right away, but I was making him eat first. He was none to happy about it.

While Will was pouting, Sam was more than ready to start eating. After prying Will's PB&J out of his fingers, twice, he quickly chowed down his carrots!

After some hemming and hawing, and thankfully NOT crying, Will ate up all his lunch, and was happy to go play!

The busyness of the morning playground rush had calmed, but there was still a group of about 8 neighborhood kids hanging about, a bit older then the typical preschool age. Something that always makes me a little cautious at first. For the most part the playground is pretty trouble free, although there have been some moments of tension, always brought on by a older crowd. These kids were good though. While we ate, we (and by that I mean I) watched them sing and dance to Michael Jackson songs, while standing on the edge of the sandbox. It was pretty entertaining! It made me realize that I am glad to have my children exposed to other cultures at a young age, and not be wary of someone simply based on their race. (Now, I'm not saying that I approve of my kids being exposed to anything Michael Jackson. That is besides the point.)

The kids eventually started up a game of hide & seek; Will's favorite game! He decided that he wanted to play too. Only problem was that they didn't know that. Will was hiding and running around thinking he was getting chased. It was so stinkin' cute!

I will leave you with this picture, taken by the talented William Dean Eaton III. His best picture yet (quality wise) and I had to go and pick carrot out of my teeth. Sheesh!

Behind the Camera

2011-08-11T14:35:00.000-04:00

While trying to catch some decent pictures of Sam for his monthly update, Will was being a cutie behind the camera.

He'd found an old cassette tape of mine, and thought it was a camera. So, as I was trying to keep Sam from rolling over and keep his hands out of his mouth without it resulting in him crying, Will was having his own photo shoot! "Mom, Cheeeeese!"

I sure am glad it wasn't a real camera or else he would have gotten some pretty goofy pictures of me trying to get Sam to smile!

I gave Sam a little break from having to be still (the poor guy), and Will got a turn to be photographed. He was ready and willing to make some silly faces for me; Dirty face and all!

Will is such a good big brother. Sam loves watching Will and LOVES to play with him.

As Will would say, "Oosh!"

I was having trouble getting Sam to smile for me. Will was off playing with his ball and hockey stick, having tired of the "camera". I asked him to come over and help make Sam smile. He didn't seem to happy about that idea. I told him if he helped me that I would give him a cookie. Now, Dean seems to think that that is bribing. I like to think of it more like paying him for his services. Anyways, it worked. Will came running over and started jumping up and down saying, "Peek a boo! 'Mile baby Ham! 'Mile!" It was hysterical. Sam was being a real stinker though, and would not give us a smile. After awhile Will was pretty much yelling at Sam to 'mile so he could get his cookie. Sam never did really smile, but Will had given it his all and definitely earned his cookie!

Eight

2011-08-09T12:18:00.000-04:00

Sam is 8 months now; This past month just flew by!

He has been sitting with no assistance for a couple weeks now, and gets up on his hands and knees rocking back and forth. It's so funny watching him scooch, roll and get stuck under the couch and tables, and then make this face when he can't get out...

Although the portions are a bit smaller, he still loves to eat just as much as his big brother did at this age. He is now eating 3 meals a day (and still nursing), and so far has eaten anything I give him. He has had: Carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, green beans, zucchini, avocado, egg yolk, banana's, apples, pears and (homemade) yogurt.

He is still very much a mama's boy. Whenever someone comes to talk to him he'll look around with a worried look to make sure I'm still there. He loves to snuggle with mommy and play with his big brother. He has become quite vocal lately, and very screechy. His daddy loves that. Still no teeth, but with all the biting he has been doing lately I am perfectly fine with that!

The Air Show!

2011-07-21T14:38:00.001-04:00

This past Sunday, we took Will (Sam tagged along too!) to the Rochester Air Show! Deans sister, Lydia, and our nephew Mo came as well. We were talking about it to Will all week, and he was very excited to go. With the Blue Angels practicing overhead a couple days beforehand we had some good practice ourselves covering our ears. They were so loud from inside our house, I could only imagine how loud they would be flying right over our heads! We brought along some ear protectors for the boys, which came in very handy.

It was such a hot day! The sun was blazing down all day, without much shade in site. We walked around for a bit, and the boys got to admire the planes, both big and small. Although, Will was equally impressed to see motorcycles and school buses there as well.

Here are the boys holding up the big C-47 Skytrain...or maybe it was the C-130 Hercules...(and yes, I googled that.) Or as I prefer to call them, the big jumbo Army cargo planes.

We attempted to sit out in the field right near the runway to get the best view we could of the air shows going on, but trying to keep 3 little boys happy in the hot sun was not an easy task. Sam was so tired, but could not fall asleep in the heat. After over an hour of trying to take care of a fussy baby while holding an umbrella with one hand to keep from frying, we eventually gave up and sought out some shade. The had one of those big jumbo Army cargo planes opened up in the front and back, which created a heavenly constant breeze throughout. I brought Sam inside to nurse, and he immediately fell asleep. Yay!

For the BIG show (the Blue Angels) we sat underneath the shade of an airplane hanger. We didn't quite get the full view, but it was still pretty cool and incredibly loud! I kept Sam's ears covered, and although he jumped every time they flew overhead, he slept through the whole thing!

I wish I was able to take more pictures, but I was pretty much holding Sam the whole time.

It was definitely an experience, that's for sure. Maybe when Will is a little bit older, and can really appreciate it all, I will have daddy take him and I will stay home.

Weekend Getaway

2011-07-19T11:44:00.003-04:00

Dean and I were able to get away (with some friends) to a friends lake house this past weekend (almost) childless; Sam came along. We had such a nice time! We got there around 7 on Friday night ate pizza, had a little sunset boat ride and then hung out by the fire drinking a little wine.

Sam had me up early on Saturday. It was quite nice though. I actually took a shower before 8am. I can't remember the last time I was able to do that! I usually have to get right to work when I wake up: Change diapers, make breakfast and clean up, get dressed, workout/run errands...you get the idea! After showering Sam and I sat out on the pier by the water just enjoying the sun shining and the cool breeze. It was such a beautiful morning!

Everyone else slowly got up, and we all ended up on the dock to do some fishing. I have never caught a fish before. Granted, the few times I have tried have not been in very prime locations (merky ponds, etc.) The fish were plentiful here though, and so regardless of the fact that I could have hung a worm in the water with my fingers and caught one, using a child sized Buzz Lightyear fishing pole I caught my first fish! It was the prettiest sunfish ever. Then the guys made me grab it with my hand and unhook it myself. The thought of having to do that is much grosser then actually doing it!

After we had our fill of fishing, us womenfolk went inside to make a simple breakfast of eggs, pancakes, banana bread and fresh fruit. We leisurely got the boat packed up, and then headed out for an afternoon on the water! We stopped at a couple wineries that were right on the lake, and enjoyed snacking on cheese, crackers and brownies.

On our way back we had a little problem with the boat; It stalled and wouldn't start! We weren't super far from the house, but we ended up sitting still in the blazing sun for at least 20 minutes. The men were persistent, and right when we were about to raise our white flag for help it started up! Everyone was on edge a little bit. I am so glad that Sam was such a great baby. He slept almost the whole time we were sitting there, and even when he did wake up he was content on mommy's lap. I think having a crying baby would have put everyone over the edge!

Once we were back Sam went down for a nap, the girls lounged around and the guys headed back out on the water for some water skiing, knee boarding and tubing. We grilled for dinner, had a yummy ice cream cake for dessert, and played our own version of The Game of Things. We couldn't hang around too long Sunday morning, since we had to get back for the Air Show! (I will post about that next!)

I am so glad we were able to get away, even if it was just a short amount of time. With 2 little kids and Dean so busy with work, it will be awhile before we can take a real vacation, just us two. Having little 2 day trips here and there is better than nothing!

Seven

2011-07-08T08:45:00.000-04:00

Sam was not having it today...

He'd be all happy and content...

Until you took his toy away...

Oh, oh, here it comes....

Ahh, that's better...

Sam is rolling everywhere now! Especially when he's getting his diaper changed. He loves to play with balls, and gets real frustrated when he can't eat them. He's still working on sitting alone, but he is getting very close. It's funny, Will was a late sitter too, and within 2 weeks of finally sitting he started to crawl! His current favorite thing is "eating" a pear in his mesh baby feeder. He loves it!

Fourth of July Family Fun

2011-07-05T17:12:00.000-04:00

We had such a nice, low key July 4th. Dean worked a half day, and got home at 2:30. While the boys were napping we had some lunch, watched random things on Netflix, and played a little Nintendo DS (yes, we're cool like that).

Hanging out with Daddy on the front porch

Once the boys were awake we packed up the car and headed out for some Fourth of July festivities. Our tradition of 6 years now (although we missed last year, boo) is going to Henrietta Town Park for fireworks. They have lots of activities for kids: Pony rides, bouncy house and slides, magic show, face painting, and a huge playground. Poor Will has impatient parents though, and didn't get to do any of that stuff (except for the playground). The lines were so long! We did not feel like standing in line for 30 minutes, so he could ride a pony for 30 seconds.

We walked around a bit, and ate some hamburgers, pizza and ice cream. We got some kettle corn as well, and then plopped ourselves down on our blankets.

Stuffing his face with Kettle Corn

It was fun watching people steadily stream in and pack the park. Everyone just sits there, content to wait a couple hours for the big show to start. You've gotta get there early if you want a good spot!

Will feed's daddy kettle corn while Sam takes a little snooze

We tried to get a family picture...

But didn't quite succeed.

At 9:40 the lights were turned off. The National Anthem played, and the fireworks began! We were pretty close to where they were shooting them off, so they were pretty darn loud. Will wasn't to sure about them. He snuggled up close to daddy, who covered his ears for him, and held his blanket tight. I had Sam in the wrap and he was completely mesmerized. I had to sit sideways so he could see them without completely straining his neck, and it was a struggle keeping his ears covered. He loved it! I remember Will's first time seeing fireworks, and he was more into the glow of peoples phones then he was the fireworks; It didn't faze him at all!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

5 years

2011-06-24T16:23:00.000-04:00

I'm a bit late in writing this. It is so hard to find time these days to sit down and write!

Dean and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary last week on the 17th of June. I am so blessed to have him as mine. I don't think I let him know that as much as I should. We have definitely had our rough patches, but we truly are happy and continue to choose to love each other more than ever before.

He is a great father. He loves to go on little outings with Will. It is the sweetest thing ever watching him walk away with Will up on his daddy's shoulders to go get a slice of pizza. Spur of the moment, 20 minute outings together will make such an impact on our children. I am grateful for that. He loves his boys so much, and he would be a happy, happy man if I gave him 5 more sons. Although I am pretty certain he'd fall madly in love with a little girl too.

He is such a hard worker, you don't even know. Working (at least) 12 hour days, 6 days a week, trying to grow his business. It's not the fancy cars, jet ski's or a human catapult that he's striving for. It's wanting to provide a great life for his family that drives him.

I love that he thinks I'm hot wearing a flannel shirt and baggy sweatpants, with no make up on and my hair all a mess. Which is good, because that was a common look over the winter after having Sam!

I love that he is still super attracted to me, even after birthing two kids, and he tells me that daily.

I love having him home, and I look forward to the day that it happens more often. It makes doing the dishes or sweeping the floor so much more enjoyable just knowing he's in the other room.

We had talked earlier in the year about trying to get away for a couple days, but Sam still won't take a bottle so he couldn't be left for long. A girl from a blog I follow was celebrating her and her husbands 5 year anniversary on the same day, and they were spending it...in Paris! I told this to Dean, and he felt pretty bummy that we weren't doing anything fancy. But you know what? I didn't care! The day was about us. We had nothing to prove. Although fancy restaurants are fun on rare occasions, that isn't us. It never will be.

He took a half day, getting home around 1pm. We went out to lunch at Highland Diner with the boys, and played some Nintendo DS while the boys napped. Aunt Lydia came over to baby sit, and we went out to Sticky Lips BBQ for dinner. We stopped back home so I could nurse Sam and get the boys in bed. Then we went back out to Magnolia's on Park Ave for some dessert (some freakin' delicious desserts I might add). We were back home by 10pm, and enjoyed the rest of the night in bed. You know, snuggling. Our day was perfect.

On our honeymoon, 5 years ago. Bahamas.

Six

2011-06-09T08:26:00.006-04:00

Sam is 6 months old today. I can't believe it's been half a year already! He's a tiny little thing (compared to his brother, at least!) weighing 14lbs. 3oz. He is just about 50% for both height and weight though, so no worries.

He loves to play with his feet, blow raspberries, play patty cake, and he has become such a mama's boy too! I love how he reaches for me when I come near, and grabs my face when I hold him. Although I could do without the crying every time I leave the room!

He is starting to pivot around when laying on his tummy, and comes real close to rolling from his back to tummy. I remember being so anxious wanting Will to accomplish his next milestone. I am so much more relaxed this time around, and it's so much fun to take in every little progression Sam is making.

He started eating solid foods 2 weeks ago now. He kept grabbing my spoon and shoving in in his mouth while I was eating, and was enjoying it. I figured it was time! We've only been doing one meal a day for now. With Will I totally fed him way too often to start out with (again, anxious), and he had a tough time when it came time to pushing it out. Poor guy didn't know what was going on; He actually seemed like he was scared! One of the many things that warrants an "I'm sorry, but this is my first time doing this" apology. So far Sam has had banana's, avacado, egg yolk and sweet potatoes. Sometimes I will add in some flax or coconut oil for some added (good) fatty nutrition. He loves it!

No signs of any teeth yet, but he is chewing on everything, and drooling up a storm!

Sleeping is going much better! No more sleeping in the swing. Instead he's in his bassinet in our room for naps (where it's quieter for when Will's awake and playing hockey or jumping off the couch), and then in his crib in the same room as Will for nighttime.

I still get up with Sam 2-3 times a night, and usually around 5:30am I'll bring him in bed with me. Most mornings he'll continue to sleep when I get up with Will, and I'm telling you it's the most adorable thing ever when he wakes up all happy and snuggly in my bed. It gets me every time!

Gettin' Crafty

2011-06-04T12:24:00.003-04:00

I've been meaning to post this since April, but it totally slipped my mind!

I have experimented with sewing since I was about 12. I'd hand sew outfits for my Barbie dolls, refashion pants into skirts (and wear them! Oy), and make pillows. Lots and lots of boring, square pillows made from pants of t-shirts. Although I have improved greatly since my childhood days, I am still far from being considered a skilled sewer.

I've recently become quite obsessed with looking at crafty blogs. (Making me wish I knew my way around my sewing machine better!) Despite my lack of skilled sewing history, I was inspired to give a couple sewing projects a try. My mom's birthday was in April, and who better to experiment on then family!

My mom had recently re-painted her bedroom and gotten a new bed set. She mentioned wanting to make a couple pillows from some leftover fabric that I'd used to wrap Christmas gifts, and I knew right away what the perfect birthday gift would be.

After using some old sheets and brand new pillow inserts I had found at thrift stores for just a few dollars, and studying tutorials from here and here, I was pleasantly surprised with the end result. Here they are!

Candida Diet Update: Week 2

2011-05-16T12:17:00.001-04:00

It has been 2 weeks now since I cut sugar, grains and (most) dairy from my diet. My second day into it I experienced what is called candida "die off." Since I wasn't eating anything the candida could eat, it began to die. Which can create a whole host of problems, including:

- poor concentration
- heart palpitations
- fatigue
- headaches
- anxiety
- depression
- irritability
- crankiness
- itching
- constipation
- gas and/or other gastrointestinal distress
- nausea
- intense cravings for sweets and carbohydrates

In my case? On my 2nd day, I woke up early with stomach pains; Feeling like I was very hungry. Laying in bed, I began to shake. I felt like I was going to pass out even though I was laying down! I got out of bed, grabbed an apple and some water, and sat down on the bathroom floor. I drank the water, ate some of the apple and went back into bed to care for crying Sam. Shortly after, I began to feel nauseous, and had to rush back into the bathroom to throw up what I had just eaten.

I experienced the die off when I first did the candida diet 2 years ago, so I knew that it would most likely happen again. But I was only 1 day into it, and the first time around it took 2 weeks! Which is why at first I thought it might be a stomach bug; I didn't think I would be having those symptoms so quickly! How did I know it wasn't a bug? I ate a piece of toast. If I continued to feel bad, and throw that up it was most likely a bug. But I ate it, and I felt fine. The bread fed the candida. That whole fiasco lasted a few hours. After eating that toast, I went right back into eating right, and, thankfully, haven't had to deal with it again yet.

That first week continued to be super tough. I had jumped into this diet pretty quickly, and wasn't as prepared as I should have been. One of the hardest things about eating this way is the amount of time it takes to prepare food. I'll admit, I did not eat hardly enough that first week. Especially for being a nursing mom. But I hated it. I wanted to eat! My reason for doing this is to clear up my skin (which really is just a sign that something isn't right in my insides). I am not doing this to lose weight.

Sure, I have some baby weight left. But my baby is only 5 months old! It took me a good 8 months to lose all my baby weight from Will, so I'm not expecting anything less this time around. In fact, if it took longer I wouldn't be surprised. I have a lot less time these days being a mom of 2, and some days working out just doesn't make it on my list! Since I started this diet I have only worked out once, and it was just a walk/jog around my neighborhood. I'd like to workout more though. I know how important exercise is to help sustain a healthy lifestyle. Once I have a good grip on my eating I will add working out back into my routine.

So, the first week my skin continued to get worse and worse. By day 6 it was the worst it has ever been. I knew that it was normal for symptoms to get worse before getting better, but it was still a bit depressing. Going into week 2, I finally began to see some changes! Everyday it was a little less red. A little less sore. A little less dry. By this past Saturday it was looking great! I was very excited to see results, especially since that was the day of the baby shower I had been planning for my sister in law, Anna! After eating great for almost 2 weeks, I thought I could handle cheating a little bit. I was wrong.

Just a few hours after treating myself to a taste of some of the fabulous desserts a red, dry spot appeared on the corner of my eye. By the end of that night it had all come back. I was so mad at myself! As delicious as the food was, I realized it wasn't worth it.

So, here we are. I jumped right back into eating well, and my face has calmed down a bit. For now I will continue to eat this way, and with the help of my MIL I am looking into some more options to try and get to the bottom of this. I'm trying to stay positive, although some days are harder then others. I would appreciate your continued prayers and words of encouragement! And if you have any tasty food ideas, please share!

Five

2011-05-08T12:22:00.002-04:00

Sam is 5 months old today! He continues to be a sweet and happy baby. He loves playing and chewing on his toys, and along with all of the drooling and fussing he has been doing lately my guess is that he he is teething. Although I haven't spotted anything yet! He is working on his sitting, and loves to be in his Bumbo chair. He loves to be rocked and nursed to sleep, and LOVES snuggling in bed with his mommy!

Baby, you've gone and growed up on me!

2011-05-03T15:58:00.000-04:00

So there we were. Sam was nursing, and I was eating my bowl of mashed up pinto beans. Just minding my own business. When all of a sudden my little baby (who was just born yesterday, right?) grabs my spoon and shoves it into his mouth!

It was his first ever taste of real food, and he seemed to really enjoy it. At just a tad bit shy of 5 months, I was planning on waiting a bit longer before introducing food to him. But I guess he has plans of his own!

Fed Up!

2011-05-02T12:47:00.000-04:00

2 years ago I started getting small, red, dry spots on my arm and hand. Over the course of just a couple weeks it spread all over both my forearms and on my hands and finger. It stung when it got wet, and itched like crazy. I tried some creams, but nothing was helping. As annoying as it was I wasn't being to pro-active about finding something that worked. Until, that is, it started showing up on my face. My forehead was dry as can be, and under my eyes became red and dry. It looked terrible, and it stung as well.

After doing some research I decided to give a candida diet/cleanse a try. So began a 10 week journey of eating no sugar (not even fruit with the exception of berries), carbs (includes ALL types of grains) or (some) dairy, along with taking (nursing friendly!) supplements 5 times a day. This was summer of '09. My face cleared up within a couple weeks, which was great! So maybe it was diet related; An allergy of some sort? By then end of those 10 weeks, the rash on my arm and hands had gotten much better, but it wasn't completely gone.

Eating that strictly was hard. In fact, it really sucked. Having to bring my own cooked up veggies and plain ol' piece of chicken cooked in lemon juice to BBQ's, and watch everyone partake in burgers slathered in ketchup and pasta salads with chunks of cheese. And let's not forget the smorgasbord of desserts that followed.

After eating almost perfectly for 10 weeks, I gradually began incorporating carbs, sugar and dairy back into my diet. My skin problems gradually started coming back. Over the next 6 months or so, still eating "normal", they came and went. I tried many different kinds of creams, salves, and oils. Nothing I used topically helped. Not even a little. I saw an herbalist who did a high tech analysis of my body, and started taking a bunch of supplements, focusing mainly on healing and strengthening my liver/small intestines. Although they did help with other things, I didn't notice any change in my skin. I began to realize that it seemed to flare up whenever I was stressed, and was particularly bad during that time of the month. So maybe it was stress and hormonal?

Then Spring of 2010, I got pregnant. I was sick for most of April and May, and my skin cleared up almost perfectly. Sure, I was hardly eating anything, yet my body had never been more stressed or hormonal than it was then! So was it food related or hormonal? Throughout my pregnancy with Sam my skin flare ups would still come and go, mainly on my face. I had a great pregnancy though! I contribute a lot of that to having a healthier liver. Although all of those supplements I was taking didn't seem to help my skin, by healing my liver I had almost no heartburn, no swelling and didn't suffer from Cholestasis like I did while pregnant with Will!

I have still been struggling with flare ups on my face since Sam was born, but it never got too bad. I was usually able to cover it up pretty well with some makeup. I tried to limit the amount of sugar and carbs I ate, but was still eating them.

Which brings us to the present. A week ago (just in time for Easter, yay!) my face started to get bad again, and within this past week it has gotten worse then it has ever been before. It is red, dry and stings all under both my eyes. Make up does nothing to cover it. I am so fed up with this! I hate having to go out and talk to people when I look like this. So, starting today I am going back to the candida diet. There are so many fun events this month that involve food too! Mother's Day brunch, baby shower, cookout with friends, a wedding, my Birthday! It is going to be very hard to stick with it, but I also would rather not look like death during all of those events.

I would love some words of encouragement, prayers for healing, and please, oh please, don't tempt me!

Four

2011-04-08T15:35:00.003-04:00

I love this guy.

Three

2011-03-08T14:38:00.003-05:00

Sam is 3 months old today! He has been such a perfect baby. He will just happily sit in his bouncy chair, slurping away on his hand or sucking his binky. He sleeps well, although it's almost always either in his swing or with me in bed. I know it will make the transfer into his own room and crib all that more difficult, but it just works so great for now! Poor daddy is still sleeping on the couch :-/ It's not that he isn't welcome in bed with us. In fact, I would love it if he did join us. But he just can't get past the clicking of the swing and the slurping of Sam nursing all night long.

Here's my little 3 month cutie...(he is usually more than ready to give a smile, but of course when mommy wants to take his picture it's a whole other story!)

Ah, I wish I could just SQUEEZE him! Oh wait, I can :-P

Making the Most of What We've Got

2011-03-04T15:11:00.000-05:00

Our home isn't huge by any means. Our kitchen snuggly fits a round card table that (barely) seats the 3 of us. I look forward to the day where our home is big enough to host fancy dinner parties. For now we make the most of what we've got, and resort to informal, easy, more intimate meals shared over our living room coffee table.

Our living room, which doubles as a playroom, can get crowded easily. I really have to stay on top of the amount of toys we have, otherwise they completely take over. But with the coffee table pushed to the side it is a great space for block building, ball rolling, and nighttime wrestles with daddy.

We have 2 bedrooms, one of which will eventually sleep both the boys. It is definitely considered small, with a lot of the wall space taken up by a window, (our only) closet door, double doors, and 2 built in shelves. But I make the most of it by using the shelves to store the boys clothes, stuffed animals and ever growing collection of books. Placed the right way we can fit a full sized crib, toddler sized bed, glider rocker, changing table and a small nightstand to hold a lamp.

Then there is the "middle room". This is the room you step into when you enter our house, and is between the living room and kitchen (hence the name). We're not quite sure what this room is supposed to be used as. Herein lies the problem. It has never had a specific purpose. As a result of that it has become the place we keep the random things, and over time has become quite ~~messy~~ neglected.

I have had quite the itch lately to be crafty. I'd love to get back into making my flowers, have many sewing projects I would like to try, and would love to finish WILL'S baby scrapbook, not to mention get one started for Sam! I was day dreaming the other day about having our own house where I could have my own sewing/craft space/room. Somewhere to keep my sewing machine out at all times, instead of having to store it away after every use (and not have to use it on the floor!), and have all my supplies organized in one area. But then I was like, Ah ha! In the middle room we have a desk. That desk is meant to be our office area. It holds some books, stores the tacks, tape, and glue, and mostly collects piles of mail, magazines, and other random papers. But we really have no need for an in home office. Dean keeps all his business items at his shop, and we have a filing cabinet that can easily hold a few more supplies. So, I decided to make this nice little space my space. I am so excited about it! I also want to make a space for Will. His Grandma Eaton got him a nice little table and chair set for him to do his "school work" at, but we have yet to find a spot for it.

So, I have decided I am going to give purpose to this odd little room. Here are the before pictures and my re-arrangement/decorating ideas:

That picture has got to go, and I want to get those shoes off the floor! I would also like to find a coat rack eventually. As you will see in another picture, we need one.

The bookshelf will probably stay although I am thinking I might like to paint it. My plan was to store the boys wagon in the basement until Spring, but it never quite made it there. Now, with Spring right around the corner, I figure we might as well not bother. I can't wait to use it for walks to the park!

First things first: Take down Christmas decorations! Gee whiz, Stacey. This really is a pretty window seat, although it doesn't have much of a view. I would love to make some pretty throw pillows for it, and have thought about re-upholstering the cushions. It would be a nice spot to sit and read in the afternoon sun. If I ever had time to just sit and read. It has storage underneath which comes in handy (this is where my sewing machine is kept along with some other crafty items.) The rocking horse is great fun, but just takes up to much room. It will have to go out to the garage to be used when the nice weather is here.

And here is the "office". I will probably take the top part off the desk, and would like to eventually paint the bottom part. I will keep my sewing machine here, and probably get some storage that fits underneath it. Maybe even paint the walls of this nook area? It all depends on how much money I am able to set aside for it. All the junk that has been collected needs to go.

So those are my ideas. I plan on gradually getting it done throughout the Spring. Especially if I decided to paint things I will need to wait for nicer, warmer weather. I am very excited about it all. Hopefully I will have to gumption to actually complete it!

Life

2011-02-11T15:04:00.001-05:00

I have been wanting to post for days now, and just haven't had the time. But, the dishwasher is loaded and running, the house is....not that messy, and both boys are sleeping (which could change at any second), so I will try to get something written down while I have the chance.

Will, Dean and I all got the flu. Will got it first, and I could tell my body was trying to fight it off. I was trying the best I could to stay well, but after one night of no sleep from being up all night with sick Will and a hungry baby I was down for the count. It's so tough being a sick mom, especially when your child is sick as well! Dean was a great help though, getting up with Will when his coughing woke him up countless times a night. I knew it was only a matter of time before Dean got it too. Which he did. I thank the Lord we at least weren't sick at the same time! Sam seems to have escaped it, having only gotten a little bit of a cough and runny nose.

Will is FINALLY starting to talk more, and it is so much fun! He is quite a smart little boy too. His Grandma Eaton loves doing "school work" with him. Puzzles, picture matching, shape boxes and learning his numbers. She is very impressed with him! I finally brought up his potty seat from the basement, with the intent of working on potty training. So far, he hasn't used it for anything other then as a toy to push around the house.

Sam had his 2 month check up yesterday, and is looking great! He is in the 60% for both height (23 inches or so) and weight (12lbs). The doctor was amazed at what a strong core he has too! He has become very smiley and talkative this past week, and is a joy to be around.


Samuel @ 2 months

My apologies that this post as turned out to be quite boring (aside from the cute picture of Sam). I find that, every now and then, this blog is a great way to keep track of simple family moments that otherwise would be forgotten.

About To Get My Butt Kicked...

2011-01-24T14:12:00.001-05:00

Kicked into shape, that is! Along with my stomach, thighs and the lovely post-pregnancy back fat. I got the go ahead from my midwife to start working out, if I wanted, and boy do I want to! In general, I am a pretty active person. I feel so blah when I am not able to workout. Between being sick the last couple weeks of being pregnant, and then having a baby....well, its been awhile.

My focus for now will not be weight loss. My body does still need to be makin' milk for this sweet baby of mine. If anything, I will have to eat more! It will be more getting back my strength and flexibility.

Sam is still a bit young to leave in childwatch at the YMCA (in my opinion, although he technically can now), so my workout of choice for now will be good ol' Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I know I will not be able to do it 30 days straight, but my goal is to keep track of the 30 times I do it. 3 levels 10 times each.

Today was day 1. It went better then I thought it would, but I can tell am I going to feel it tomorrow! I sure wish I had the video camera out to tape Will working out with me. He was hysterical!

On another note: Sam had a bath today!

Sam @ almost 7 weeks

A New Look For A New Year

2011-01-10T08:50:00.000-05:00

I have been sitting here for 10 minutes trying to think of what to write first. So there. Problem solved.

You like the new look? I do. I love the bright colors of my old background, but it just didn't seem to be fitting for winter. Plus, I was ready for a change. I am sure in a few months I will be bored with this, and ready for a different look yet again!

I had it in my mind to do a post for Christmas, but life got the best of me. I didn't even take any pictures! Despite my many efforts, I wasn't even able to get a picture of my two boys together. I ended up sending out two separate pictures. Oy!

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful Christmas! Christmas morning we headed out to my parents for gift giving and breakfast, and then spent the afternoon at my Aunt and Uncles house with my mom's side of the family. Sunday my brother and his wife hosted Christmas for my Dad's side.

On another note: Samuel is one month old! He has been such a great baby so far. Sleeping is going ok. He's gotten onto a bit of a schedule during the day, which when followed, has been great! So far, 75% of the time I can get him to sleep on his own at the same time Will naps. It is nice to be able to take a shower, and not have him scream the whole time. He is spending a lot more time awake during the day which is fun! His favorite things to do are suck on my thumb and stare off into space.

Sam @ 1 Month Old

A Home Birth Story

2010-12-20T17:41:00.000-05:00

Sunday, December 5th. My due date. We were all a little under the weather, so we stayed home from church and went out to breakfast instead!

Will and Daddy

It was a very relaxing day at home, ending with a lovely dinner at a good friends house. The day came and went with no baby. Besides a bit of a cold and having no voice, I was feeling great!

Due Date Belly

Tuesday, Dec. 7th. It was a cold and snowy day. I was finally over my cold, and really itching to get out of the house to do some walking. But, my car was covered and surrounded by snow, so I decided to just stay home. I was being super attentive to my body throughout the day, hoping for some sort of sign that labor might be in the near future. Although they didn't feel any different, I thought I was getting more "braxton hick" contractions, while just sitting still, then I normally do.

By about 7pm, whenever I would get one it began to feel...weird...in my butt. Like a nerve sensation. I figured that could be something! We went about our night as usual. Hanging out in the living room while Daddy and Will wrestled. Will running around naked, and thinking it was the funniest thing ever. We finally settle into bed at 11pm. I was pretty tired, and it felt so good to lay down. But not for long.....

Within minutes of laying down contractions started. Feeling a bit achy in my lower back, but mostly feeling it in my lower belly. I was getting them 5 minutes apart or less right off the bat. The last thing I wanted was to start labor already exhausted! I continued to lay in bed for the next hour trying desperately to fall asleep, but they just kept getting more uncomfortable and closer together. I got up to go to the bathroom and drink some water around 12am, hoping that might calm things down. I went back to bed, and told Dean what was going on. We stayed in bed for the next hour or so. Neither of us were able to fall asleep.

Dean got out his contraction counter app on his phone. 1am Contractions were 2 - 3min apart, lasting 20 - 40 seconds, and getting pretty painful. After over 2 hours of laying in bed, we decided to get up. (Time had just flown by! I couldn't believe I had been laying there for over 2 hours!) In between contractions I felt just fine, so we started to get everything ready. I called my midwife at 1:50am, and Dean called my mom (and 2 sisters), and sis in-law and told them they should come on over. They were all there by 2:30am, with the exception of my midwifes assistant, who lives over an hour away. She had her backup there though.

I continued to labor standing up; leaning on my dresser, the bed or coffee table during contractions. They were now 1 - 2 min apart, and very painful. Feeling pain in my upper legs too.

Just about 3am my water broke. Within 5 minutes I had the urge to push. I got up on the bed, on my hands and knees, leaning on some pillows. I had a few contractions in that position and it was not good. He was coming way to fast on his own. The last thing he needed was the help of gravity, and the last thing I wanted was to tear. My midwife suggested I get on my left side. Unlike with Will, I was not having bad back labor, so that position worked great.

This is the point where things became drastically different then they were during Will's birth. With Will, it was very intense. I ~~screamed my head off~~ was very loud. The midwife was just telling me to "push, push, push" all I could during a contraction. I pushed for 30 minutes (which for my first, and how big he was, was pretty quick). I was not in tune with my body. I tore. Even though I was able to have the natural birth I wanted, it was pretty traumatic.

This time, I was a lot more calm. Even silent at times. My midwife (a different one) encouraged small, gentle pushes. To work with my body. I could feel him moving down the birth canal. Between contractions I was able to completely relax and rest. I pushed for 30 minutes. I didn't tear.

Samuel Leonard Eaton was born at 3:34am. 7lbs. 4oz. 21 inches long, after 4 1/2 hours of labor. He is absolutely perfect!

Pregnancy Diary: Week 1 Postpartum

2010-12-16T14:54:00.000-05:00

(This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but the day just got away from me!)

I know this is a cliche' thing to say, but I can't believe Sam is one week old already! He has been the perfect baby so far. I am so in love with him! I didn't think it was possible to have another baby as cute as Will, but he has proved me wrong! I've gotta say, we do a pretty good job making us some baby boys.

I know he is only a week old, but at this point I don't think Sam looks at all like Will did. He even has dimples already! (He gets those from his daddy!)

I am feeling pretty well. Still a bit achy, so I am trying to take it easy. Not easy to do with a 2 year old running around. As hard as it is to make myself just sit all day while the crumbs pile up on the kitchen floor, it really has been a very relaxing week. Dean has been awesome at keeping up on housework in the evenings after working long days, and I am blessed with some wonderful women in my life who have been providing some delicious home cooked meals. I am anxious to get back to normal life though!

Samuel: 1 Week Old

Sweet Baby Days

2010-12-11T15:57:00.001-05:00

Sam is fed and sleeping, and Will is off at Grandma and Papa Dana's until tomorrow. So, I figured I should take some time, and share a bit about my sweet new baby boy. I will eventually write out Sam's birth story. Although, it was not quite as exciting as his big brothers, the end result was just as wonderful!

We are all adjusting pretty well. Sam's arrival hasn't seemed to effect Will at all in negative way. He loves holding baby Sam, and pretty much just goes about his day like normal. He spent some time with Dean's family yesterday, and, like I said, is with my family today until tomorrow. I love having him around, but little doses are all I want to handle right now.

Sleeping at night has been just fine so far, although I know it will eventually get harder. I am feeling much better then I was after having Will. My insides are still a bit achy, so I am trying to take it easy. It is very tempting to get stuff done around the house though.

Dean has been a wonderful help with housework and taking care of Will, on top of being back at work.

Samuel is doing great. He is a tiny little thing compared to Will, and I love it! Sleeps all the time, and is nursing pretty well.

Adjusting to having a second baby is definitely easier, so far, then it was having the first. With your first, your whole life is turned upside down. No longer can you do whatever you want, whenever you want. Everything is new: Nursing, not sleeping, planning your day around their schedule, and the worst.....hearing them cry. Today I took a shower with Sam in the bathroom screaming the whole time, Will running in and out peeking behind the curtain, and I just went with it. When Will was a newborn, I would have skipped the leg shaving, and possibly gotten out with shampoo in my hair to calm him down.

It has been a wonderful week to just stay home, watch the pretty snow fall from inside, and cuddle with my husband, my big boy Will and sweet baby Sam.

Pregnancy Diary: Week 40

2010-12-05T09:45:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are! My due date has come, and if I had to guess it will pass just the same as yesterday did. We are all fighting colds over here. I've had mine for over a week now, and regardless of all the pills and icky tasting supplements I have drank, it is still lingering. I'm all stuffy, have a bit of a cough and sore throat, and I still don't have much of a voice. Other then that I am feeling great! I am still enjoying being pregnant, and don't feel anxious at all. He will come when he is good and ready.

We had our tree delivered to us the other day by a couple of elves; one of which was very hairy. I love being able to decorate my tree however I want! Every year I do something different, and every year it is my new favorite. This year I did white and gold, and it is just perfect!

We are enjoying a relaxing Sunday morning at home, and plan on heading out for some breakfast in this winter wonderland as soon as everyone *coughDEANcough* is up. Although for me and Will it will be second breakfast.

This may very well be the last Pregnancy Diary I post. I wouldn't mind at all if it was. As fine as I am continuing being pregnant, I really am super excited about meeting this new little one!

40 Weeks Pregnant With Samuel

Pregnancy Diary: Week 39

2010-11-27T15:07:00.000-05:00

Only one more week until people start freaking out when they find out when I'm due, and look at me like I am crazy for not being induced yet. Ok, so that only happened once before, but still. People expect you to be laid up on the couch all day, and God forbid you actually...lift something. There is no reason to not keep living as normal, if you are able to. Sure, I may waddle instead of walk, and look very silly trying to get up off the floor. But the laundry still needs to be carried down to the basement, groceries need to be brought into the house and my 33lb+ 2 year old occasionally needs to be held by mommy.

I am feeling pretty well still, although I woke up yesterday with a sore throat. I was out late Wednesday night, and only got 6 hours of sleep. I think my body just got run down. Hopefully it won't last too long.

I had an appointment last Wednesday with my midwife. Everything is looking good, but it seems like this boy isn't quite sure where he wants to be. We are both pretty certain the head is down, but he seems to be rotating between Right Occiput Posterior (his back on my right side, which is what Will was), to Posterior (his back is laying on my back, which makes for harder labor). The past couple of days he seemed to be back in the ROC position, but as I write this he feels more posterior to me. I go back this Wednesday (assuming he doesn't come before then) and she will check me to make sure his head is down.

I have really been trying lately to savor every moment as it is. I find myself living for the next day; for the next fun event. Always wishing that nap time would just hurry up and get here, instead of cherishing the moments I have being alone with Will. Thinking that if I just get through these next couple of days, the weekend will be here. I was so excited about being pregnant again (not that I'm not anymore), loving my pregnant belly, and feeling the baby move. Now it's almost over. When Will was born I was constantly, anxiously, looking forward to his next milestone: Rolling over, sitting, crawling, etc. Instead of just completely savoring the sweet newborn stage.

So, for now, I will love, cherish and be grateful to feel my sweet baby move inside my womb. Regardless of where he decides to kick his little legs....

39 Weeks Pregnant With Samuel

Pregnancy Diary: Week 38

2010-11-19T17:21:00.000-05:00

It just hit me. I will be having this baby in just about 2 weeks.....maybe even less! He will be here in no time at all! I have been thinking so much about the labor part; Making sure I have everything I need, and trying my best to have everything in its place for Baby Day. Thinking about Christmas and trying to get all the buying/making and wrapping of as many gifts as I can before baby comes. I have had no time to dwell on the fact that after all this planning goes into effect, there will be a baby, My baby, and the whole cycle will start again....

Being up all night with a baby who just won't stop crying, and becoming slightly delirious from lack of sleep. Wearing baby spit up stained clothes for days on end, and smelling like it to. Rushing to take a shower while baby sleeps, only to have him wake up screaming while you still have shampoo in your hair and only one leg is shaved. Lugging around that heavy car seat, and forgetting to pack enough diapers in the diaper bag. Thinking you can get all your errands done before baby wants to eat again, which, of course, always results in having to nurse in the car. But you know what I have to say to that?

Bring it on, Baby. Bring. It. On.

38 Weeks

Pregnancy Diary: Week 37

2010-11-13T16:01:00.000-05:00

I take back what I said last week about being fine with going past my due date. Oy. That pretty much describes how I am feeling these days. Tomorrow (the 14th) officially marks my 37th week, and I give my full permission to this babe to come as soon as he wants after that. I am so much more uncomfortable this time around, it's ridiculous! I look, feel and sound like a giant pig when it comes to getting out of bed in the morning. Using only my upper body (because my abs are MIA) to push myself up to a sort of side sitting position, I slowly scootch my way towards the edge of the bed. All the while I am grunting and groaning, and my pelvis is making these popping noises. Now that can't be good.

Once I am up and ~~running~~ waddling it gets a bit easier to maneuver myself around. Although, picking up toys has turned into kicking toys in the general direction of where they belong.

Aside from the achyness, I am feeling pretty well. I really would like to make it past Thanksgiving. That way I can eat all I want, let my stomach hang out, and no one would be of the wiser. Doesn't get much better then that!

37 Weeks Pregnant with Samuel

Pregnancy Diary: Week 36

2010-11-05T16:30:00.000-04:00

Getting down to the wire here! One more week I will officially be full term, and will have the go ahead for a home birth. Everything still looking good at my appointment this week. Measuring a little small, but I have been continually growing and gaining weight. That's all that really matters. I had my first little taste of heartburn (for this pregnancy) last week. Almost made it through with none! (We had some friends over, and I was eating yummy food too late. That's what did it!) By this time with Will my shoes were a bit snug, and my wedding rings were stuck. But so far, I have had no noticeable swelling. My rings still slip right off!

Sam is quite the active little guy! Hopefully he will calm down once he is out here. His head is down, down, down and causing his mama quite the discomfort. These past couple of days have been pretty tough dealing with even more than normal lower abdominal/pelvic pain. My midwife was saying it is typical to be achier earlier the second pregnancy. Praying it subsides soon. Going to take a hot bath, and hopefully that will help!

I got all things baby/birth related finished on time. Now focusing on getting all things Christmas done before baby comes! I have a feeling that this guy is going to surprise us early. Not that I am getting my hopes up or anything. I was 4 days late with Will, and was perfectly fine with it.

I am kind of sad that this pregnancy is almost over. It all went by too fast. I am trying to enjoy every moment he stays safe inside my womb, yet it is sometimes hard when it gets so uncomfortable. I am very much looking forward to meeting this little one though. Wondering if he'll have his daddy's pretty blue eyes or if he will match his brother and mama with big brown ones. Wondering if he will come out looking huge like his big brother did or if he will be a bit tinier. That day will come soon enough though. For now, I will try to savor these last few moments as a family of 3.

36 Weeks Pregnant with Samuel

And His Name Shall Be Called...

2010-11-03T15:03:00.000-04:00

This is the first time I (we) really had to think about what to name this second son of ours. Will was easy. It was a "Wanna do the 3rd?" "Yeah, sounds good." kind of thing.

We'd had an idea of a couple boys names we liked, even before I was expecting. But when we got prophesied over back in January of this year, we new exactly which name we would choose for our next son. I'd like to share a little bit of the transcript from our presbytery:

"Do you guys have any kids? One kid? Get ready for more! Because the Lord says, “I'm going to bless your household with multiple children.” Multiple children. Particularly, do you have a son? Well, there’s another one coming, and this one’s going to be a real daddy’s boy. He’s going to be attached to you, brother, like (white on rice?). So, get ready for this one. And he’s going to follow in his father’s footsteps, and God’s going to raise up this young man to be a prophet in the house of the Lord. So, be ready. I don’t know when. It’s your timing or God’s timing. But it’s going to happen, and he’s going to be a prophet so be ready for this one."

It was just amazing hearing those words from God! This child hadn't even been conceived, yet we were getting a glimpse at Gods wonderful plan for his life. I got teary eyed hearing it. Which, for me (not pregnant) is big.

Now, no one (but us) knew at the time that we were already planning on trying to conceive the very next month, and just about 2 months after those words were spoken I got pregnant! Although he didn't specify that our next child would be this son he spoke about, I was never very doubtful that it wasn't.

One of the names we liked for a boy was Samuel. Once we heard those prophetic words, it was a no brainer that Samuel would be the name for this second son of ours.

It took us a bit longer to choose a middle name. I love the idea of using family names, especially surnames. I've never been the type to just search through a baby name book, and pick a name that sounds good with no personal meaning to it. Many people had their opinions about what name to use, but I never let that sway me. As long as Dean and I agree on a name, that's all that mattered. There were some good options mentioned, but none really stood out to us. But, we have finally come to an agreement on a name for our son, due to arrive in just a few short weeks! And his name shall be called....

Samuel Leonard Eaton! (Samuel meaning "His Name Is God." Leonard meaning "Brave As A Lion" and is also Dean's mothers maiden name.)

Birthday Boy!

2010-10-24T13:18:00.001-04:00

I can't believe my baby boy is 2 today! Although he does have many moments of being whiny and stubborn, I wouldn't say it is terrible. This is such an adorable age! I have definitely become one of those moms who thinks that everyone loves hearing about all the cute things my child has done as much as I love talking about them. For that, I am sorry. I just can't help it!

As I have mentioned before, I have failed miserably at keeping up with Will's baby book. So, I will take some time now to document what he is up to these days!

He loves to play at the park; The big slides, swinging high, hanging on the monkey bars and dropping into your arms. He loves kicking and throwing balls in the backyard and in the house. He loves to stack anything and knock it down. He loves jumping off the couch into a pile of pillows (or onto daddy)! He loves watching videos of things crashing and exploding. He loves doggies and kitties, cars and trucks. Veggie Tales.

He still doesn't have a huge vocabulary, but it's the cutest thing hearing him talk when he does! He knows where a lot of his body parts are, and Dean claims he knows the colors blue and green.

Still doing great on the sleeping front. He has his little routine at night: He will go into his room, turn on his sound machine, turn off the light, and come out to say goodnight to Bob, all his toys, and kiss daddy goodnight. I'll sit in the rocking chair, and he'll climb onto my lap. Resting his head on my chest, belly to belly. He still has his binky's. He will mostly just hold on to them, but sometime will have one in his mouth. He has never been one for lullaby's; It would just distract him. He will usually figit for about 5 to 10 minutes, trying to get comfortable. If possible, he prefers to have his cheek resting on my bare skin, and will pull at my shirt to try and accomplish that. Sometime he will zonk right out, but I usually end up laying him down in his bed awake, put on his blanky's, kiss him on the head and tell him I love him. He'll respond with a "yeah" and the sweetest "bye" you'll ever hear. He sleeps right through the night until about 7:30am, and still takes a great nap.

He hasn't showed any signs of wanting to potty train. I used to say that I would never have two in diapers. Yet here we are! But actually, I am glad I didn't put in all that effort to train him, because his time in the cast would have just shot that all out the window.

He had his 2 year check up this week. Measuring in at 35 1/2 inches (70th percentile) and 33 lbs (90+ percentile). The doctor called him overweight. Ha! Maybe I am blind to it, but he just doesn't look fat to me! He is even losing his buddha belly. I say it's all the muscle he has. Doc said he looks great! She wasn't worried about his lack of talking at all.

It is so much fun looking back at his 1 year photo's we took, and seeing how much he has grown! Here are some cute comparisons:

I remember having a tough time getting him to crack a smile at 1 year old, but this time all we had to say was, "Smile Will!" and we'd get this winner of a face.....

And yes, that is a black eye you see. His first day walking on his own after getting his cast off, he got his feet all twisted up while at the park and smashed into a metal railing. He was quite the site limping around with his swollen, purple eye. Such a tough guy!

I love my little man so much! Happy 2nd Birthday, Will!

Pregnancy Diary: Week 34

2010-10-22T12:26:00.000-04:00

I am just loving these Autumn days! As much fun as Summer was, I am not missing it. I am having a tougher time with the heat this time around, and this cool, crisp weather is perfect! Usually by this time the furnace would be up and running all day. At bedtime the knee socks would be pulled out along with long pants, and a sweatshirt. Occasionally warming up the sheets with a blow dryer before creeping in. But now? The socks are off. Tank top is on, and pants are an option. I sometimes wake up sweating! I don't remember this being the case while pregnant with Will. But, I am notorious for being cold, so I am enjoying this while it last.

I really have no complaints. Getting a bit more achy these days, but nothing I can't handle. The babe is in good position; Head in my bladder, feet in my ribs. I reached my cringe weight this week :-/ It's been nice getting back to the gym after having 6 weeks of nothing while Will was in his cast. I workout at the YMCA where I used to work (and occasionally still do) in their Childwatch. One lady is adamant that I have "dropped" since she saw me last week.

"Oh no, I was just never up to begin with."

"No, you've dropped."

"Ok, if you say so."

The lady janitor (who knows me) is pretty certain I am much smaller then I was with Will.

"You are much smaller then you were with Will."

"Oh no. I've gained just about the same, and am measuring right on track."

"No, you're definitely smaller."

"Ok, if you say so. I mean, you do know best."

Oy. I need to learn to just smile and nod.

My sister and I had a lot of fun doing a little amateur maternity shoot a couple weeks ago. Here are some of my favorites!

Pregnancy Diary: Week 32

2010-10-08T16:46:00.001-04:00

Not too much going on over here these days. At an appointment with my midwife this week she asked how I was doing, and I had to stop and really think about it for a second. "Hmm, I'm doing pretty well. I think." Mentally going over the checklist: Achy? No, not right now. Gotta pee? Well, yeah. Hungry? Nope, I'm good. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm doing well." Everything looked great. Belly's growing on right on target. Weight is being gained. Baby's moving. Heart rates were good. Definitely a low risk pregnancy.

The first time being pregnant you are aware of everything! It's all so new. Scary. Exciting! This time is so different. Time has flown by! It's kind of a going with the flow, been there done that mentality. Not that I am any less excited about this new baby of mine. If anything, I am more excited! Much more relaxed knowing what to expect. Isn't it amazing how you forget about how labor really felt? In the throws of laboring and pushing out Will I was convinced that we would only have one child. But now I am actually looking forward to labor! I look at it like a challenge against myself. Try to do it even better then last time. Maybe not scream as much.....

Slowly, but surely, I am getting my house in order. Really trying to plan ahead, and would like to have all baby/birth related items taken care by then end of this month; leaving November to complete all Christmas related things before baby comes. Google searching "hospital sized sanitary pads" and "waterproof plastic mattress cover" is the extent of excitement around here.

Thankful to have some sunny weather, so we can take walks and go to the park. Looking forward to getting back to the gym once Will is up and walking. When he was in his cast I got so achy from carrying him around, that the last thing I could do was workout. Don't worry mom. I won't be running marathons or jumping lunges. Just a nice ride on a stationary bike, and some light weight training will do me good.

So here we are at 32 weeks. Ignore my face. I was concentrating.

Aaaand It's Off! Alternately titled: Aaaand He's Off!

2010-10-04T16:53:00.000-04:00

Yay! 5 weeks to the day that he broke his leg, Will's cast was able to come off. It is such a relief to have that whole ordeal over with. Oh, sure he had adjusted just fine. Just went on livin' his (almost!) 2 year old life as if it was no big deal. But it sure was tough on his pregnant mama! It feels so good to hug and squeeze him again!

I wish I was able to get a video of his cast coming off. When I first lay him on the bed, he wasn't very happy. But I was able to stay right there with him, and hold his hands. He cried a bit when they were getting things situated, but as soon as the loud, hand held circular saw started up he was quite intrigued. Whenever they would turn it off for a minute he would clap, say "Yay!"and then sign for more. They cut along his fully casted leg first, and when they finally pried it open along his hip he let out the biggest sigh. It was great!

My family all wanted me to keep part of/all of his cast, but I think they will thank me for NOT doing just that. Will had gradually ripped up the plastic lining on the inside over his belly, which then exposed the layer of cotton, which then absorbed...well, everything. I warned the two men that would be doing the cutting about the smells that ~~might~~ would most definitely be lingering in and around his cast. They were all macho, "Oh, we've smelled it all." They hadn't even opened it up yet when one of the guys backs away, and was like "Whoa". The other man responded that he must not have kids. The whole inside front of his cast was this nice bright yellow. Oh, and there was only one lone crumb down his back.

The doctor said it could take a few days for him to even try to start walking, and even then he could be walking with a limp for a good 2 to 3 months. We are just letting him go at his own pace, and he'll figure things out on his own. It has been very funny watching him today though. He is still army crawling around, and will lay there on his tummy, legs parted in a perfect V formation, with his one little foot bouncing up and down at the knee. I sat him up to play with toys, and every so often he would just topple over not quite sure how to get back up.

He had lots of fun in his much needed bath! Usually I have to tell him every 10 seconds to sit back down, but he happily just sat there playing with his toys.

This boy needs a haircut!

One thing I have realize in these past 5 weeks is that he sure isn't like his mama when it comes to change. His life was turned upside down, and he hardly batted an eye. Plus, in the midst of this I was able to stop nursing him, cold turkey AND transition him into his big boy bed. Which he has been sleeping in for both naps and all through the night for a week now. Only, somehow, managing to get out of bed 3 times......without me knowing! Even then he would just fall back asleep on the floor! Ahhh, I love that kid. I sure did miss this, too.....

The end.

Pregnancy Diary: Week 30

2010-09-25T09:53:00.000-04:00

I am so excited! We have decided to have our sweet baby boy #2 at home! I know it's a bit late to be making this decision. I would have liked for it to have happened sooner. But things had to be finalized, and minds had to be set on the decision. The midwife I am using is great to work with, and I am completely comfortable with her. She was our birthing class (Bradley Method) teacher when I was pregnant with Will. Within the past 1 1/2 years she became a certified midwife, and started her own clinic doing home births! There is only one other home birth midwife in the area, but she lives 1 1/2 hrs away from us. That wasn't something I was very comfortable with. My current midwife lives 10 minutes away!

I am beyond thrilled about having a home birth! Especially since having to spend a couple nights at the hospital just a few weeks ago with Will, I was reminded even more how much I dislike them.

It's not that I had an awful birthing experience having my first at the hospital. Minus a couple things, I was pretty satisfied with the ~~labor and~~ delivery part. Of course, the fact that I waited forever to get to the hospital helped that. There was no time for them to intervene. But who is to say I would be so lucky this time around? We just watched a documentary last night, "Pregnant in America". Not the best documentary I have seen, quality wise, but the facts are there. Over 50% induced labors turn into c-sections. Even with all of our technology we (the USA) are 28th on the list of infant deaths at birth. Out of ALL countries in the world! Only 2% of births in the US are home births!

Having a baby in the comfort of my own home sounds so appealing. Being able to just settle into my own bed with my new baby in my arms, and Will cuddled up next to me. No constant barging in of nurses at all hours of the night. I can't wait!

So, now I must get my butt into gear, and get my house organized. It seems that every day I am adding something new to my to do list. Some may say I am "nesting". There is nothing real crazy on it. It's not like I MUST organize my silverware drawer. (Ha, sorry mom.) Really I am just doing things that have needed to get done for awhile now. Knowing that you will be giving birth in 2 months at home really motivates you, let me tell ya. So far I have organized the boys room and all of their clothes. Next is tackling our room. It has been taken over by clothes. Summer clothes are still lingering, yet the fall/winter stuff has made it's way up from the basement. It's not a pretty site.

I am so glad the cool weather has returned. I had a real tough time for a few days there when it got warm again. I have had a hard time catching my breath. My heart just pounds, and it makes me so tired. I remember the same thing happening just around this time in my pregnancy with Will too. Other then that, I am feeling great! I have been really trying to limit the amount I have to carry Will around, and my achyness has gone away.

Here I am at 30 weeks! This was taken earlier in the day. I feel twice this size by the evening!

Weaning: The Beginning of the End (But not really)

2010-09-19T15:27:00.000-04:00

The once dreaded, now desperately needed process has begun. Weaning, that is. As uncomfortable as nursing has been at times, I always looked past that to see the joy and comfort it brought my baby to "eat eat" with mommy. It was something that only I could give him. It wasn't all for his enjoyment either. I loved the snuggles, and how it was an instant boo boo soother when a kiss from mommy wasn't enough. Even in the aftermath of breaking his leg, he was calmed by it. It is an amazing gift from God, that is for sure. But the time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things. Of shoes and ships an.....oh, sorry. I got carried away. That has nothing to do with this. In fact, what the heck does it have to do with.....anything?

Anyways, as I was saying. The time...has come. I want it. I need it! I can't take the weight of a 32 lb+, half body casted child resting on my 6 1/2 month pregnant belly anymore. And my nipples! Oh my poor nipples! They have been so sore for months now. I have to hold my breath and bite my lip every time he latches on. The water in the shower hurts them. I can feel them when I get a chill. With him nursing at least 3 times a day, they have had no relief from his 16 chompers. Not to mention the fact that I will be starting the nursing process all over again in less than 3 months.

I. Am. Ready.

Here is how it is going so far...

Sunday, September 12th, 2010. Aprox. 7:30am. I nurse Will for what will hopefully be the last time. He is clueless. We leave that morning for 2 nights/3 days, and we ship him off to grandma and papa's house.

Tuesday, September 14th. Aprox. 8pm. He never napped for grandma, and he is completely exhausted. He falls asleep almost instantly. He still has a binky. No nursing!

Wednesday, September 15th. Aprox. 6:45am. He wakes up too early. I can tell he is still sleepy. Typically I would nurse him back to sleep, but this time we just rocked. He wanted it, but didn't put up a fight when I said no. He goes back down until 7:30am. At which point he usually comes into bed with me and nurses for a good 20 minutes. This is the only part I will miss. The extra time in bed. He wants to nurse, but we watch videos of himself on my phone instead. He laughs.

2pm. We rock. He falls asleep, and goes down fine. No nursing.

I was planning on keeping this week long record of how the weaning was going, so I could have it to read for future reference. But he has been perfectly fine without it! Every once in awhile he will point and ask for it, but I say no and that's that.

So, I would say it has been a total success! No tears were shed. We still have snuggle time, and you know what? Even without nursing there is still that certain something that only I can give him.

Now, onto the next challenge.....

Getting him to sleep in his new big boy bed! I decided the other day that it would be best to get Will accustomed to a big boy bed before the baby comes in about 2 months. So, I looked up toddler beds on Craigs List, saw one I liked (for a decent price in a good location), e-mails were sent, and the bed was picked up the next day! I spent the day yesterday cleaning and organizing what will be both of the boys bedroom, and we will set it up tonight (somehow, someway we will make it fit)! I am thinking it might be a good idea to start him in it asap (at least for naps) while he is still in his cast, and can't climb out. Then maybe once his cast is off in about 2 weeks, he will be comfortable in it.

Is that wishful thinking? Perhaps. Time will tell. I'll keep you posted!

It's business, it's business time....

2010-09-15T17:18:00.002-04:00

Ahh, we had a great 2 nights away at a stunning hotel in Connecticut. It was for a first ever business trip for Dean.

*He has recently joined a new buying group, in which he his able to get new appliances for his store. They have 2 business "conventions" a year, in which most all brands of appliances and electronics are there giving great deals, and wanting you to buy their stuff.*

The hotel it was held in is, supposedly, the 2nd biggest gaming casino hotel in the world (1st is in China). The place is enormous! I didn't even try to take a picture it with my phone camera. It wouldn't do it justice. It has a total of 3 huge hotels, all connected. We were staying in the newest one, the MGM Grand. There are restaurants galore, jewelery, Rolex, purse and clothing shops.....for when you win all that money playing slots. (Because, you know, you are bound to make money if you sit there all night long pressing that "Bet Again" button over and over again.)

Our meals were all provided at no cost to us, and let me tell you. I have never eaten so well in my life. The meals during the convention (on Monday) were all buffet style. Pastries, muffins, bagels, fruit for breakfast. Lunch had tossed salad, greek pasta salad, garlic potatoes, free-range oven roasted chicken with a butter sauce and artichokes, pork tenderloins, swordfish. Dinner was hor d'oeuvre style. They had so much to choose from that there was no way I could taste all of it, and will hardly remember all that there was. Yummy cheeses and crackers, oven fried chicken, lamb chops, stuffed potatoes, brie with a raspberry sauce and pecans wrapped in phyllo, crab dip, freshly carved roast beef, mashed potatoes, cooked veggies, shrimp and sushi....that is all I can think of right now. Desserts were all bite sized and fancy. Apple cheesecake, coconut cream pie, lemon meringue pie (my favorite one), chocolate mousse truffle, peach walnut caramel truffle, and a few more I cant remember.

Dean had to spend most of the day on Monday doing his business. I joined him for breakfast and lunch, but was on my own for most of the day until dinner. Oh, I had high hopes the night before of getting down to the gym to get in a workout, but I decided it was best to lay around my room watching tv, and play....the slots. I probably would have gotten lost anyways trying to find the gym.

Anyways, back to....the slots. What an interesting experience that was! Oh, they had the black jack tables, 3 different poker game tables, a dice game and this spinning wheel too. As you can tell by my great knowledge of the world of gambling, I felt right at home. I was hardly brave enough, and way to frugal to do any of that stuff. So, I settled myself down at the 1 cent slots, put in my $5 dollar bill (only because it didn't take $1's), made my wager, ~~pulled the lever~~ pushed a button, crossed my fingers and put all my hope of making a profit in the hands of a machine designed to take my money.

I, personally, don't have anything against gambling. I've played many a hand of Texas Hold 'em in my day. I definitely see the danger of it though. So many people squander their money away at the slight chance of winning, and get lost in that unrealistic idea. The majority of the players on the slots were 50 - 60 yr old + women, most could be seen wearing a fanny pack, some smoking and all had depressing looks on their faces. They looked like they'd been sitting for hours. I don't think I ever saw someone get up from a machine. It was a sad sight to see. Dean and I, on the other hand, must have looked quite out of place. We wouldn't sit at one machine for more then 2 minutes, before getting up and moving to another. If we were losing too much on a certain machine ($1....) or if we won something, we would move. In the end, we lost $11 bucks. I figured that was $11 towards our entertainment. We could easily spend $20 on a movie for 2 hours of entertainment also.

All in all, it was a wonderful time. It was great to have some quality time away with my husband. These are some pictures of our room/view and my growing, achy, belly.

Pregnancy Diary: Week 28

2010-09-09T10:16:00.007-04:00

I can't believe I am in my last trimester already! This pregnancy has flown by! I was feeling surprisingly well throughout the whole hospital ordeal, but the stressful crazyness of the past week has finally caught up to me. The past couple of days I have been dealing with some bad ligament pains. Due to (1) My belly growing and (2) The stress that carrying Will around has put on my body. I had it with my first pregnancy too. I played tennis when I was 5/6months, and paid for it later.

God is so good! We just found out this week that our insurance application was accepted! All of Will's hospital bills will be taken care of, and if we decide to go with a home birth it covers that also!

Dean has his first ever, all expenses paid, business trip this Sunday - Tuesday at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort & Casino. We get to go pretend to be rich grown ups! We are very excited about it. I wasn't sure after Will broke his leg if I would still be able to go. But he has adjusted just fine, and I sure can use the break! He will be staying with my family, and be utterly and completely spoiled.

Here I am at 28 weeks. I really need to get some pics from a real camera. I am much bigger in real life. My cell camera makes me look a lot smaller. I swear! I've gained 20 lbs for goodness sake.

A Will update: He is doing just great! Naps have been a little iffy, but for the most part he is sleeping through the night. He is starting to move around on his own. He can flip one direction, from his tummy to back, then gets stuck, and is starting to pull himself forward. He is best described as a very whiny, opinionated, 32lb+ 6 month old.

He started off on his tummy, on the middle of the blanket.

His next doctors appointment is Oct. 4th, where we will see if the cast can be taken off entirely or at least part of it can be.

William and the Big, Red Cast.

2010-09-03T10:33:00.011-04:00

Wow, what a week it has been! Definitely one for the ~~books~~ blog. For those of you still wondering what happened exactly, here is the story.

Monday was normal enough. Got to the YMCA for a workout while Will played in Childwatch. Went to Wegmans to do some grocery shopping, and then headed home for some lunch and naptime.

Will woke up from his nap at 5pm. As he always does, as soon as he got up he went straight to the fridge to get something to eat. I followed him, and let him get his peach out of the fridge. We started walking back to the living room. I was in front of him when I heard him fall. While trying to go up it, he had fallen back off of this step:

To give you an idea of the height of the step, that is a typical 12 oz glass bottle.

He started crying. I turned back to see him, and he was down on his side grabbing his right leg with both hands. I went over to him, thinking it was nothing a kiss from mommy wouldn't fix. I noticed that his right knee was red, and I assumed that that was what was hurting. I picked him up in cradle position, and kissed his knee. He wasn't calming down, so I continued to comfort him. I eventually carried him into the living room, and sat down on the couch to nurse him. After some crying and nursing he fell back asleep. Being as how he has just woken up from a decent nap, I knew something was off. Never did the thought that something was broken cross my mind. It was such a small fall!

For the next 1 1/2 hrs I held him as he was in and out of sleeping, nursing and crying. I texted Dean that Will had hurt his knee (so I thought), that he was miserable, and asked if he could get home from work any sooner then the expected time of 7:30pm. I eventually lay Will down on the couch with his legs propped up on a pillow, put some ice on it, and put on a video for him. Dean was home by 7pm, examined his leg, and said that his right thigh looked swollen. Every time he touched it Will would cry out and started shaking. I called the pediatrician, told her what happened, and she said to go to the ER. So, off we went. They got us right into a room, and after being examined we waited to be sent to get x-rays. The results of those were that he had a spiral fracture in his right femur.

It was heartbreaking seeing him in so much pain. He was very tired, and kept drifting off to sleep, only to wake up screaming every time he moved slightly. They had to try both hands before getting in the IV. Sometime around 1am-2am they gave him some morphine, and got him in a temporary cast. It was 3:30am by the time we got in our room, and were able to get some sleep. After about 4 hours of interrupted sleep we were up for the day. We spent the day just waiting for his time to come for getting the cast on. They finally took him in by 1:50pm. He had to go under general anesthesia. I wasn't happy about that, but I felt at peace about it knowing it was for his own good. He was only in the OR for 30 minutes, and we were able to see him by 2:40pm.

During the "surgery", as they referred to it, he threw up a bit. A side effect of the anesthesia. They were worried that he may have inhaled some, but x-rays came out clear. They still wanted to keep him overnight though, just to make sure. We were not happy about that, but it was for the best. It took awhile for him to fully come off the anesthesia. He had a rough time for awhile that evening. His heart rate was pretty high. Rising up to 199 at one point. We got some Motrin in him, and he fell asleep by 10pm. We had no more issues with high heart rates after that. He was up by 4:30am, and didn't go back to sleep until 11am! God's grace was definitely upon me. After 2 nights straight of only getting a few hours of uncomfortable sleep, and being 6 months pregnant, I felt surprisingly well.

We got the go ahead to leave that day (Wednesday). Because of the largeness of his special spica cast he is not able to fit in a normal carseat. So, he had to be transported home in a Medicab van. I rode with him, and he seemed to really enjoy being somewhere other then a hospital bed. We are still on the search for a suitable way to transport him in the car. They do make special "spica" carseats, but they are hard to come by, and very expensive.

So, here we are. It is Saturday (although I started writing this 2 days ago). He seems to finally be adjusting to having to wear the cast. For the first couple days he seemed scared of it, and would freak out whenever we had to move him. His sleeping has been all over the place. The first night home was rough. Thursday he took a great nap, and was much better at night. Yesterday he took no nap at all, and then last night slept horribly. He was up every hour from 12:30am until he came in bed with me at 7:30am. Hoping for a good nap from him today. I can use some rest!

All in all, we are doing ok. Trying to stay focused on the positive. Since Will can't get around and make messes every 5 minutes, my house is staying pretty clean!

Pregnancy Diary: Week 24

2010-08-14T14:57:00.008-04:00

Nothing very exciting has happened since I wrote last, so I suspect this will be a pretty boring post.....

I am feeling great! No complaints other than (then? than? I always forget) the whole peeing when I sneeze suddenly. Which is even more prevalent this time around. Oh, the glamorous life of pregnancy. I have gotten back into a workout routine (I use that word loosely). Getting to the gym at least a couple days a week, and taking walks whenever the heat permits. It feels wonderful. No heartburn to speak of so far....fingers crossed....which is something I had everyday (til the end) by this point with Will.

My eating preferences are pretty much the same as with my first. Lots of fresh fruit, salads, cheese and crackers, peanut butter and whatever sandwiches, milk. Simple, easy stuff. Only trouble with it, is that Will eats what I eat, and now that is all he wants to eat. Breads, crackers, cheese, and most of all...fruit. The kid is obsessed, I tell ya. I have plans to break him of it though. Evil, mean plans. We'll see how that goes.

The baby is moving around tons now. Almost always when I am going to bed or whenever I am nursing Will. Yes, still nursing. Even though my body stopped producing milk a few months ago, he still loves to go at it. I plan to have him weaned by the time he is two. Which will give me about a 1 1/2 month break from nursing. I also plan to have him potty trained by the time the baby comes. Lots of planning going on over here. I like to have things planned. It is easy to plan. It's the whole taking the initiative and actually doing something about it that is the hard part.

So, that is pretty much all that is going on here these days. Here I am at 24 weeks. I swear I look a lot bigger in real life.

Pregnancy Diary: Week 20 - Vacation Edition!

2010-07-08T15:54:00.026-04:00

Oh man, where to start! It has been 5 weeks since I last wrote in my "diary", and life has been very busy. I will try to remember it all with this pregnancy brain of mine (which I will talk more about later)!

June 26th my older brother married his beautiful bride, Anna! It was a wonderful ceremony and awesome reception.

~The 4 Amigos and their ladies~

We were able to go to Sea Breeze a couple times this summer, and Will had a blast! He had no reservations going on all the kiddie rides. At the end of every ride, he would make a confused look and put his hands in the air as to say "Uh, what's going on here?"

We have also had fun at the beach, graduations parties, boat rides and hanging out at a lake house, and 4th of July festivities.

I had my 19 week ultrasound, and found out we are expecting another boy! Everything looked great. He measured perfectly, to the day! We have a first name, but no middle yet. Once we have decided on that, we will absolutely share it!

Last, but not least, we just got home from a great week long vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC! A very gracious long time friend of the family opened up his beautiful home to us and my whole family. We had a great time! We (as in we, I mean mostly Dean) drove through the night, there and back. Will did ok, considering. We had safe travels, and made great time even when the GPS would poop out on us, leaving us lost in D.C. for awhile at 4am. The weather was lovely. A few showers here and there, but nothing that threw a wrench into our plans. There was always a nice breeze which made the heat bearable. We managed to not get burned, but still got some nice color. Our days were lazy. We spent them at the beautiful (private community) pool, at the beach playing in the oceans waves, or just hanging out at home playing Pictionary, Chinese Checkers and Euchre. Dean was able to get in some golf, and went out jet skiing with my little sis, Camryn.

Dean and I were able to go out on a date night together. We went to the Market Commons, had a great dinner at Gordon Biersch Brewery, walked around a bit window shopping, and I finally got to go into Anthropologie. I pretty much died and went to wish-I was-rich-heaven. We stopped at Dairy Queen for a quick ice cream cone, and then we went back to the pool for a relaxing night swim. It was a wonderful night!

We had a couple nights just spent at home having yummy cookouts and playing cornhole. We went to Broadway at the Beach one afternoon, and had a couples date night at Barefoot Landing where we had dinner at Wild Wings Cafe. I completely stuffed myself with the most delicious wings.

As fun as it was, we are glad to be back home. We still have so many more fun things planned for the summer; another wedding, annual family party, and Family Camp!

As for the pregnancy, I am feeling pretty well. I get a bit lightheaded sometimes, and just have to take it easy. The heat has been tough. I almost passed out in the checkout line at Goodwill...again. I actually did pass out there when I was pregnant with Will. I was able to sit down in time, this time around. I am feeling the baby move around some, which is always fun. My Braxton Hicks have started already. A few weeks earlier then with my first. My hormones seem to have settled a bit, and I haven't had any over emotional outburst for awhile now. I have had quite the pregnancy brain though, resulting in some moments where I just have to laugh at myself. Here are the ones I have remembered:

~ I pulled into the gas station, and for the life of me I couldn't remember what side my gas tank was on...in the same car I have been driving for almost 4 years now. I sat there for a good 30 seconds before remembering, and that is a long time in gas station time.

~ I was in line at Wegmans, behind another woman. You know how it goes. As the conveyor belt opens up, you fill it with your groceries. Oh, but not me. I'm just standing there, yawning, waiting patiently, taking candy bars out of Will hands, and not putting one thing on there. The other lady leaves, the cashier says "Hi." I say "Hi." A couple seconds go by before "Oh my goodness! I am so sorry." Doih.

~ I was pulled over for having a brake light out. The State Trooper ask for my license. I give him my HSBC Debit card. Enough said.

~ One night, a couple days before we left for vacation (which I clearly needed) I was going over in my head what I needed to do the next day. Public Market, bank, doctors, Wegmans, etc. etc. It was a busy day. The next morning, I even made a list of what I needed to do....blah blah, BANK, blah, blah blah, etc. etc. So, Public Market, check! Doctors, check! I pull into the bank, start to pull up to the ATM, and I stop. I think "what did I need to do at the bank?" No one was behind me so I just sit there. Eyes squinted, forehead wrinkled, thinking. "Withdrawal? No, I did that a few days ago. Deposit? Nope, no checks." Turns out there was absolutely nothing I needed to do at the bank.

~Also, I stubbed my toe at least 10 times within a 2 week period.

20 Weeks

"Da" Day

2010-06-20T21:31:00.007-04:00

In honor of Fathers Day Will learned the sign for "Daddy" this week, and shortly after finally started to say "Da"! We have been trying to get him to say mama or dada for so long now, and he just, all of a sudden, did it on his own. (The dada part at least. Still working on mama.) It's the cutest thing seeing and hearing him do it! The sign for "daddy" is putting your thumb to your forehead with all of your fingers out. He prefers to put his pointer finger on the side of his head. Good enough for me. It's pretty funny.

For Father's Day we went out to breakfast (after church), and after Will's nap we went the Red Wings baseball game. Dean's dad, sister, and our nephew were there too. We showed up at the 7th inning (they let you in for free then!), sat through a little baseball, and then after the game they opened up the field for the dad's to play catch with their kids. The little boys had lots of fun. Some ball throwing was done, but mostly wrestling....

Here are 3 generations of William Dean Eaton's

Happy Father's Day!

Anniversary

2010-06-18T15:48:00.008-04:00

Dean and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary yesterday! My FIL asked, "Can you believe it's been 4 years already?" So, we were talking about it, and ya know what? Yes, we can. It fact, we can't believe it has only been 4 years. We have changed, our life has changed, so much in that short amount of time!

We have had our share of relationship ups and downs, and have definitely grown and learned from them.

Dean's business has gone from him only doing in-house repairs, to manning a store front, selling new and used appliances, for 1 1/2 years now, and having 1 employee (and 2 apprentices) while still doing all of the on the road repairs.
I got pregnant, and gave birth to our now 19 month old son. Now, am pregnant again.

We have moved once already in order to accommodate our growing family, and now look forward to taking a somewhat scary step, sometime in the hopefully near future, in buying our own home.

We have also changed in how we look! I can't believe how young we both look when we were first courting (@ 19 and 21 years old)!

We had a wonderful day together yesterday. It was such a beautiful day too! Dean surprised me by taking the day off. We spent the morning at home with Will. Took a walk to the park and went on a bike ride. My sister came over after lunch to watch Will, so we could spend the rest of the day just us two! I didn't want to do anything fancy. No dressing up. No expensive dinner. (Although, at times, I do enjoy doing just that). We saw a double feature at Movies 10, had some yummy diner food (I ordered meatloaf. At a diner. Can you tell I'm pregnant?), we got some Cheesecake Factory cheesecake to-go, and headed to a park where we had our dessert picnic style. Then we set up our, totally awesome best purchase ever, hammock and just.....relaxed. It was so wonderful. We were home by 9pm. No late night partying for this mama. Got to kiss my baby, and rock him to sleep. Then headed to bed with my hott and handsome husband. The perfect end, to a perfect day :)

Pregnancy Diary: Week 15

2010-06-11T15:12:00.005-04:00

I find myself being excited it's the weekend, but I'm not sure why. Nothing too spectacular is happening. My work doesn't end. Dean is working all day today. Perhaps he'll be home early enough for us to do something fun before my body gives out. We have a vow renewal ceremony to go to tomorrow morning for a short time, which will be nice, but then Dean is back to work all day leaving Sunday as our only full day together as a family. I'll be getting my haircut tomorrow too, which I always have mixed feelings about. I am excited at the prospect of having it turn out how I want, but I have had too many bad haircuts to know that there is always a chance it won't. Fingers crossed I suppose.

Today has been quite lovely. Had breakfast with 4 great girls (and Will), at a local diner..... Ahhh, Diner food: My new love. *Guilty confession: I have eaten at a diner 4 times this week. Twice for dinner. Twice for breakfast. I only sort of feel bad about that. I'll do better next week, I promise.* I had an appointment with the midwife, and that went well. I got to hear the heartbeat again, which always makes my day :) I gained roughly 4 lbs in 4 weeks. Wonder why. Almost back up to my pre-pregnancy-morning-sickness weight, which I suppose is a good thing.

I have been feeling good these past couple of days. Haven't felt the need to take a nap, and have been able to get some stuff done while Will naps. Hoping to get back into a workout routine of some sort now that my energy is coming back. It's tough getting back into it after going so long without it! It's amazing how quickly you can lose your muscle mass too! Right before I got pregnant, I was in the best shape I have ever been. Now I feel fat and blah. I know mom, I know. It's a good thing. Eat, eat, get fat, and eat.

So, you may have heard of pregnancy dreams before (Yes, random change of subject). A normal occurrence of crazy, whacked out dreams during pregnancy. Well, I have crazy, whacked out dreams anyways, so that's nothing new. What I have been doing is talking in my sleep. Now, after my spiel has been said and in my half awakeness, I either a) Try to explain to Dean why what I said makes complete sense or b) Start to defend myself. It has been rather amusing. I of course can't remember anything specific that was said, so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it. Or ask Dean.

I will leave you with a shoddy cell phone shot of my 15 week baby belly. Taken in my messy room.

Oh, and I just downed a peach and about 16 oz of cottage cheese. And I bought dill pickles today.

Pregnancy Diary: Week 14

2010-06-04T13:45:00.004-04:00

Hello 2nd trimester, good riddance morning sickness! I can't believe I am already heading into my 2nd trimester. I am feeling close to normal now. Smells still get to me, but no longer make me very nauseas. Still waiting. Hoping. Desperately praying for my energy to come back. I'm pretty much cooked by 9pm, and that's with an afternoon nap. My belly seems to be popping out a bit quicker this time around, which I actually very much enjoy. It took forever with Will! I didn't feel like I looked pregnant until around 20 weeks. I'm at the point now where I don't look big at all in the morning, but by the end of the day, and multiple bowls of cereal later, there's no holding it in.

I have been so hormonally emotional, it's driving me crazy! Not to mention my poor husband! I get all worked up over silly things, and I even tear up/cry at tv shows. TV SHOWS!!! I had yet to cry at even the saddest of movies before now. I wasn't like this at all with my first pregnancy either. Oy.

I thought I may have felt the baby move yesterday. It's so hard to tell the difference this early between baby movement and well....gas, and lets face it, gas happens a lot while pregnant. My pregnancy burps have officially started. I just don't burp un-pregnant, but gee whiz I can't help it now. I don't even realize I'm doing it!

I am so excited for this summer! Even though it was super tough being sick for so long, and hard to see the positive side of things I am thankful that, if it had to happen, it at least happened when it did. We have such a crazy busy and fun summer planned with multiple weddings, graduation parties, bridal showers, family picnics, birthday parties, Seabreeze, VACATION!!!!!, family camp, and that's just what is planned already! I would be so bummed if I were to be dealing with morning sickness during all of that, and I thank the Lord often that I won't be!

Well, I am off to try and take a nap now while Will sleeps, so I am happy by the time my man comes home!

A Bunch of Nonsense

2010-05-26T08:02:00.008-04:00

It's 8am. Will is still sleeping, and I have been awake since 7am. We took Will down to the playground last night before bedtime, and it completely wiped him out. We'll have to do that more often. He is very independent, going wherever he pleased. Although I am pretty sure if we just left him, he would have noticed very quickly. He really has little, to no fear at the playground. He climbs everywhere, leans his body way out over the edge, and will go down all the slides with no hesitation. He usually isn't very spooked by other the parents or children around, and really quite enjoys watching them. Last night was different. He was just minding his own business, on his way up to the slide for the umpteenth time, when a bigger 2 year old boy started talking to him. His firsts words were pleasant enough "Hi baby." Will just stood there in silence, completely still. "Baby, be quiet!!!" Still silent. Still frozen. "Stop baby, be quiet!" Will wasn't sure what to do. He really wanted to go down the big slide, but he would have to walk past the boy to get there. He decided it wasn't worth the risk, and turned around to go down the small slide. Turns out it was a good decision. Just a few minutes later he did come in contact with the boy. Will tripped, and the boy tried to sit on him like he was a horse. Daddy came to the rescue then, of course.

Will is starting to stir. Although it would have been nice to sleep a bit longer, I really have enjoyed this cool, quiet house to myself while it lasted. I am very much looking forward to this day. My sister is coming over this afternoon to watch Will, so I can do some casual shopping on my own. Looking for a dress for my brothers upcoming wedding, and hopefully get some new, fun summer clothes that my soon to be growing belly can fit into. Not quite looking forward to driving a car with no ac in 90 degree weather, but I suppose I will survive. As of now, Dean plans on being home relatively early (5pm or so) and we may head up to the beach for a bit. ~~Maybe get some ice cream~~ Yes get some ice cream!

Well, Will is now definitely awake, and pounding away in his crib. Time for me to go. I hope you all have a pleasant day!

Pregnancy Diary: 11 weeks and 3 days

2010-05-17T14:07:00.006-04:00

I can't help but laugh after writing out this blog posts title. Before experiencing pregnancy myself, I never understood why when asking a pregnant woman how far along she was she would always respond "Oh, I'm 27 weeks." Um, ok. So (in my head), take 27......and divide that by 4.5....and you get...??? Instead of just saying "I'm 6 months." But I find myself doing just that! You see, when you're pregnant, every week completed is such a milestone! Whether it is one week closer to the end of morning sickness. One week closer to being able to find out the sex of the baby. One week closer to your due date! It's all so exciting! Plus, you feel so much more...accomplished by saying a big number apposed to a smaller one.

Well, where was I. Oh yes, 11 weeks, 3 days. Woohoo! I had my first appointment with my midwife (group) today. Ya know, the one with the whole kit and kaboodle. Fun stuff. It was all worth it though, because at the end we were able to hear the heartbeat!!!! It has to be one of the best sounds ever! Coming close to a tie with hearing your baby's cry for the 1st time. It's amazing how we are able to hear a strong, clear heartbeat from my 2 inch long, 1 oz baby tucked away in my womb.

I went into the appointment telling myself not to get worried if we couldn't find the heartbeat today. We tried at 11 weeks for the first time with Will, and she wasn't able to find it. She (a different midwife then the lovely one who saw me today) immediately goes into talking about ectopic pregnancies and setting up an ultrasound asap to make sure everything was alright. Needless to say, it being my first pregnancy and all, I freaked out! I couldn't sleep that night. Every little cramp I felt scared the bejeeburrs out of me. We ended up being able to go into Compass Care for an ultrasound, and saw that everything was just fine.

Although every due date calculator I've used online has said Dec 3rd, the official due date given to me from my Doc's was Dec. 5th.

I am feeling very grateful today! I have one healthy and happy son. Another precious life growing safe in my womb. A hardworking husband who loves his family. I am feeling so much better now! Plus, I was able to stop at the store, so now I can have my chocolate milk! Life is good.

Pregnancy Diary: Week 10

2010-05-07T12:43:00.008-04:00

The End Is Near. Of morning sickness, that is! After almost 3 weeks of feeling nauseous day and night, throwing up all day, every day, horrible headaches, all my energy gone, and having any smell put me over the edge, I am finally starting to remember how it felt to feel normal. This week has been a recovery week for me. Having lost 10lbs in 2 weeks from not being able to keep anything down, I was so weak and nutrient deficient. I couldn't stand up for 30 seconds without becoming lightheaded, dizzy and have my heart start pounding like crazy. I still get dizzy if I am walking around/standing for too long, but my appetite for food is slowly coming back. I am feeling a little stronger every day.

But then there is my kitchen. I used to love my kitchen. Will and I spent the majority of our day in there. Now, it is my enemy. My constant fear. Smells are a big deal for me when I am pregnant. I still can't go in there and not become sick to my stomach. That's just stepping foot in there, lets not even get into having to open the fridge. Oy.

This whole experience has been so emotionally draining too. I have never felt so useless in my life. It's an awful feeling. From the outside it looks like I have it made. Perhaps I do. Someone always there to watch and care for my kid. Feed him, change diapers, entertain him. My house being cleaned and laundry being done for me while I get to sleep in, lay on the couch all day watch movies, and take naps. My whole purpose in life is to be a wife, a mother, and I couldn't fulfill either of those. I love caring for my son. Getting him dressed, changing diapers, preparing healthy food for him, teaching him right from wrong. All of which I had to put in the hands of other people. Not easy to do at all. Will has hardly been here at all for 3 weeks now. He has been going back and forth between grandparents houses and spending time with daddy at his store. It helps that he has been such a good boy.

Then there is my husband. He has been absolutely wonderful. So far beyond anything words could express. He has been completely selfless. On top of being crazy busy with work and dealing with the stress owning your own business brings, he has also had to step into the role of caregiver, housekeeper, cook and daddy mommy. He gets up extra early to bring Will to his grandparent of the day, changes dirty diapers (big deal!), packs up Will's diaper bag remembering even the little things like the binky and socks. He has been working long days, and comes right home to care for me. Does the laundry, dishes, fends for himself for food. I don't know what I'd do without him. I love you so much baby!

So, here I am. 10 weeks pregnant. The worst is over. I am finally getting excited again about this pregnancy. Happy to have been able to have 2 planned pregnancies, and no early "surprises". I have a thing about planning things out. I have my first midwife appointment in a couple weeks, and I can't wait to hear the heartbeat for the first time! I plan on doing a much better job of documenting my growing belly then I did with my first. Don't worry, I won't bore you with a belly pic every week, especially this early on, but I just wanted a starting "before" picture. I'm really not showing at all yet. That little bump is just the stubborn leftovers from baby #1!

Pregnancy Diary: Week 7

2010-04-18T17:40:00.007-04:00

First, thanks to everyone for the words of congratulations and encouragement. I really appreciate it!

I am 7 weeks into my second pregnancy. Unofficial due date is Dec 3rd. To be honest with ya, I have been feeling completely horrible. I was so hopeful going into this pregnancy that the 1st trimester wouldn't be as bad as it was with my first, which was completely horrible. But, unfortunately, that hasn't been the case.

We found out I was pregnant on Deans birthday, so that was fun! It was hard keeping it a secret that whole weekend between a birthday get together for Dean, and then Easter Sunday with the family.

My first week of knowing I was pregnant was quite different then it was for my first. With Will, as soon as I took the test I immediately became very tired, and my desire to eat quickly decreased leading up to complete nausea and disgust for anything to do with food. This one started off with me being very hungry, and completely moody, emotional, and almost bursting into tears at a store because I was 2 days late on their return policy, leading up to complete nausea and disgust for almost anything to do with food.

Although it was super hard dealing with ~~morning sickness~~ 24/7 sickness with my first, it is even harder this time having to take care of my 17 month old. Thank goodness for mothers though! She came and saved Will on Friday morning, and he stayed there for the weekend. It's a hard thing to admit that you aren't the one best fit to care for your child, but I just couldn't do it. The poor kid was pretty much living on crackers and water. I missed him SO MUCH! He is back with us now though, and I pray for the strength to care for him on my own tomorrow!

After a few day of eating almost nothing at all, I have been able to keep some select foods down. This whole thing is just so strange! One day I was able to eat crackers throughout the day and keep them down, and the next I barely get down two crackers only to throw them up 5 minutes later.

We are very excited for this new little one growing in me, and I look forward to documenting this wonderful journey of life!

Happy Boy

2010-04-05T14:26:00.010-04:00

Will is one happy boy!

Why is that, do you ask?

Yes, he is getting to be a big boy, but that's not why!

Well, what could it be that is making my sweet little man so darn happy?

Why, he is going to be a Big Brother, that's why!

:-)

Wonderful

2010-04-04T21:43:00.003-04:00

Ahh, what a wonderful weekend this has been! So wonderful I just have to document it.

I started out Thursday like I have every Thursday for awhile now.....with our weekly trip to the Public Market! It was a perfect day for it. I am so happy we made it through the winter, and never missed a week! I let Will out of his stroller to walk around for a bit, and he had fun going up and down the curb and waving bye to the cars driving by. We met up with a good friend too, which was lovely. I had my second appointment with a local herbalist, to try and get my skin problem under control. It has been a rough road dealing with it for almost a year now. I have pretty much cut out ALL grains and sugar from my diet, minus some special occasions: Date nights, Holidays, etc. We made some good progress, and I am very hopeful for the healing of my skin. My sister was nice enough to watch Will a bit longer, and I was able to do a little leisurely shopping. I also sold my first Simply Stacey flower at Thread! If this day wasn't perfect enough, my newest niece, Mya Grace, decided to enter the world 15 days early via Deans oldest sister, Tabitha!

Friday, April 2nd. My husbands birthday! Another beautiful day. Dean took half the day off, and we were able to spend some time together, just us 3. We went up to the park, and Will enjoyed watching the doggies, and putting acorns in his mouth. That evening we got together with a great group of friends. Had dinner at Dinosaur BBQ, went bowling, and then a fire and dessert back at our place. Couldn't have asked for a more perfect night!

Saturday Dean was back to work, so it was just Will and I together all day. We got out for a run, and then stopped at the playground for some playtime. Will loves the playground! I am pretty sure if we let him outside, he could make his way there himself. He got all sweaty and rosy cheeked. It was the cutest thing.

Easter Sunday was lovely. The church small group we have at our house put on an Easter breakfast for the church. It was crazy, but turned out well. Had a nice church service. I shall always marvel at the goodness of our God, and the wondrous gift his Son gave for us. After Will napped, we spent the rest of the day with my family at my Aunt and Uncles house. Played some games, had yummy food, and had good chats.

I was trying to get a nice picture of Will all dressed up, but he wouldn't have it. That's the best shot I got.

So now, it brings us to the present. Will is sound asleep. I am enjoying the peace and quiet, a warm cup of tea, and looking forward to whatever adventures come our way this week. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend of your own.

Business Adventure

2010-03-27T14:22:00.006-04:00

As you may recall from a previous post, this past Christmas I made these ski bands as gifts for my sisters:

They all seemed to really like them, which was great! My future sister-in-law, Anna, thought that they would be able to sell them at a local high end clothing store, Thread, where she works. She showed her ski band to her boss, and her boss was interested! So, I met with her to chat about details (they would do 50/50 consignment). After thinking it over and talking to my main man, I decided that at this time, it wouldn't be worth the time and stress. But, perhaps I could take my time making them over the next 6 months, and then have them to sell come Fall 2010. So, those plans are still to be determined!

For now though, I decided to just make the felt flowers, and make them into hair clips to sell. I thought about selling them on Etsy. The upside to that would be more profit. The downside is that there are so many other people selling similar things that I feel like my stuff would just get lost in the mix. Plus, the idea of having to make multiple trips to the Post Office does not appeal to me. I met with one of the owners at Thread this past week, and she is cool with me trying to sell them there!

So, this past week has been filled with trips to Joann Fabrics, some fails, but many successes as I cultivate my creative juices to come up with some products I am happy with. My husband helped me create a logo too! Here are some examples of what I will be selling:

Simply Stacey.....

I am very excited about this opportunity! I don't have my hopes set too high right now. If they don't sell, then hey! I have plenty of gifts to give next Christmas!

Fried Zucchini Cakes.

2010-03-18T14:30:00.005-04:00

When it comes to cooking, I am more of a "creator". Not much for following recipes. Which, I confess, has had its ups and downs. One creation that turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself, are what I call Fried Zucchini Cake. I am a big fan of Zucchini. Very tasty, versatile, and is so cheap too! All throughout the winter I have bought zucchini at the market, 3 for $1.00. Can't beat that!

I am sure something similar to these have been made before, this is just my take on it. Because I winged it when making these, I don't have the exact amounts. It's pretty fool proof though. Here it is!

Fried Zucchini Cakes
1 Zucchini, shredded
1 c grated cheese
1 egg
2 tbls milk
3/4c flour (or enough to make a pancake like batter)
Seasoning: Salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion powder
Oil

Stir all ingredients (except oil) together. Add milk/flour until consistency is right. The batter should be equal amounts batter/zucchini.
Heat up enough oil to cover the bottom of your fry pan. Drop a spoonful of batter, and flatten slightly. Fry each side until golden brown. Add more oil as you go, if needed. Best when eaten right away!

*From my experience the first batch tends to fail. I think the oil just wasn't hot enough.

If you are like me, you have a plethora of zucchini in your fridge. That is why next I will post my absolutely yummy Zucchini Bread Recipe.

Baba Ghanoush!

2010-03-03T14:32:00.019-05:00

Monday evening I had my sister over to join me in watching the finale of our...ahem..."guilty pleasure", and the night would not have been complete without a slew of yummy food; Chili, Fried Zucchini Cakes, and for the first time I tried my hand at making Baba Gan oush! It turned out OK. I've only had it once before (store bought from Wegmans) and it didn't quite taste the same as that. Wasn't bad, just different.

I'm not really a fan of using recipes when it comes to cooking, but here is the recipe I kind of followed:

Baba Ghanoush

Ingredients:

1 eggplant
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini
2 tablespoons sesame seeds (I just used sesame tahini)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used roasted garlic instead)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
Place eggplant on baking sheet, and make holes in the skin with a fork. Roast it for 30 to 40 minutes, turning occasionally, or until soft. Remove from oven, and let cool.
Remove skin from eggplant, and most of seeds.
Place eggplant, lemon juice, tahini, sesame seeds, cumin and garlic in an electric blender, and puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer eggplant mixture to a medium size mixing bowl, and slowly mix in olive oil. Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

Next I will be posting the recipe for my Fried Zucchini Cakes!

Enjoy!

Modern Day Baby Book

2010-02-18T22:11:00.007-05:00

I confess. I have not done the best job at keeping up with Williams baby book. Or this blog, for that matter. The first child is supposed to have the perfect baby book, down to the very last detail; first poopy diaper (how exciting!), first ~~gassy~~ smile (aw, so cute!), first lock of hair from first haircut, saved (he'll be so happy you kept that).

I have every intention of being that perfect mom, but am far from it. I have his ankle bracelet from the hospital...somewhere. I think. Papers from (most) doctors visits with his measurements, crumpled together in pile. I figured I would kill two birds with one stone here, and actually write a blog about what Will is up to these days.

He is coming up on 16 months. I love, love, love this age! He is so much fun to play and interact with. Every day he learns something new. Here are some of his favorite things:

- Playing on the bed, throwing pillows, being thrown on pillows.

- Wrestling with his daddy.

- Veggie Tales.

- Eating! This little guy can really put it away. A typical day? Breakfast, snack, lunch, (nap), 2nd lunch, snack, first dinner, second dinner. He stores it all in his belly. Not to mention nursing 3 times, and cups of milk throughout the day.

He has the cutest laugh ever! He thinks it's the funniest thing when you say God bless you when he sneezes. Laughs hysterically when you "accidentally" make something fall, and claps his hands, laughs, and dances when daddy plays music from his phone.

He runs for the hills when its time to put his coat on, cries like the dickens when he gets his diaper changed, and can whine with the best of them when he doesn't get his way.

He doesn't have much of a vocabulary yet. Back in the summer he made the noises dada and mama, but since then has stopped saying it. His first official he knows-what-it-means- when-he-says-it-word is.......yeah. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

He has 12 teeth, and is working on his canines. Not fun!

Although he doesn't say much, he understands alot. We've been teaching him body parts. He know his belly, hands, toes and head. We're working on spleen, ankle, and collarbone.

He spends most of his time going from one thing he can't touch to the next, and just loves hanging out with his mommy!

Our Merry Christmas!

2009-12-28T20:56:00.004-05:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! Although Will did celebrate his first Christmas last year (at 2 months old) I keep thinking that this was his first Christmas. He definitely seemed to enjoy this one a lot more!

~Will playing with the gift I made him~

This is the first year I have had time at home to make lots of yummy Christmas desserts! Within the 2 weeks before Christmas I made: Baklava, Chocolate Fudge, Cream Cheese Brownies, Oatmeal Scotchies, Biscotti, Cookies and Cream Fudge, Peanut Butter Balls, Galaktoboureko, Cinnamon Rolls, and Soda Cracker Toffee. Phew. I think that is everything!

~Some of the desserts I made~

I love Christmas, but never liked the stress of gift shopping. Not knowing what to get, and getting something just to have something to give. This year with money being tight, we went real lite on the gift giving, and I made all of my gifts.

~Gifts I made for my sisters~

Our church had a very nice Christmas Candlelight service. I loved getting us all dressed up!

~My Little Family~

We went over to my family's house Christmas morning for gift sharing and a GREAT breakfast (thanks mom!).

~Christmas Morning Family Picture~

Red Kitchen

2009-12-06T13:12:00.005-05:00

I spend a lot of time in my kitchen: Eating, cooking, cleaning, eating again. I enjoy spending time in there too. I wasn't happy with how it looked though, so I decided to paint it....RED!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I LOVE my new kitchen!

Lions, and Tigers and...Dinosaurs? Oh my!

2009-10-30T21:00:00.001-04:00

Growing up in my family we never celebrated Halloween, and we will continue that tradition with our children. I was given a couple hand me down costumes though, and couldn't pass up the opportunity to put them on Will!

My Little Man

2009-10-24T15:17:00.001-04:00

One year ago today my sweet, energetic, beautiful baby boy was born! I always regretted not writing out his wonderful birth story, so in honor of his first Birthday.....here it is!

Let me preface this with a few facts. I got Braxton Hicks contractions ALL THE TIME. No lie. Starting at about 5 months. Some days, a bit later in the pregnancy (30wks or so), I got them 3 min apart. All. Day. Long. Scary, oh yeah. So, me and B. Hicks became pretty good friends. Sometimes I didn't even notice him hanging around. You could say we were pretty tight. (Haha. Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

A month or so before my due date, I started getting very itchy on my hands, feet, belly. A condition called Cholestasis, that potentially could be harmful to the baby. My mom had it while pregnant with me, which gave me a higher risk of having it myself. Not fun at all. A week or so before my due date my midwife took a blood sample to see what was going on.

Even before I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to try and have a safe, natural and, most of all, healthy birth experience. We took Bradley Method birthing classes where we learned all about interventions, ways to naturally progress labor, and how to best prepare yourself for a natural, drug free birth. A goal of mine was to wait as long as I could to go to the hospital.

Monday, October 20th 2008. My due date. The day that had been in the front of my mind for quite some time now. The day I kept on telling myself, over and over, most likely would not be "the day". The day that, lo and behold, came and went like any other days past with nary a sign. Disappointing, yes, but I didn't let it get me down. Even though my back was achy, my bladder always full, and I couldn't put on my socks or stand up or sit down without shooting pain in my pelvis, the fact that one more day had passed meant I was only that much closer to seeing my son.

I kept on ~~waddling~~ chugging along. Still working at the Y. Everyone looking at me wide eyed and convinced that I was going to pop right there and ruin the new carpet, and stating "What?! They haven't induced you yet??" No sir! Not me.

Friday, October 24th. I woke up feeling the same old, same old. I didn't have work that day, so I was lazily lounging around the house. My Uncle G. stopped by with a baby gift, and then around 1pm I headed off to my scheduled doctors appointment. The nurse did her ritual: checking vitals, weight (eek!), and asked if I had been feeling any signs of labor. I said no. Oh sure, I had been getting my good ol' "Braxton Hicks" all day, but what else was new. My midwife came in, and measured me. Said he felt on the small side. About 7 lbs. Hey, sounds good to me!

She went on to tell me that my blood test had come back negatively, but that in pregnancy that certain test always came out that way. Oh ok. Makes sense. So, she wanted to get another, different, blood test done. Also, because I was sooooooo late, a whole 4 days, and because of this whole blood fiasco, she wanted to me have a non-stress test done, and if possible an ultra sound. Just to make sure that everything was peachy. Having been to Bradley classes and learned all about (early) interventions, I weighed my options. In my heart I felt that my baby was going to be absolutely fine. In my head, I didn't want to be stupid, so I agreed to do the non-stress test. I got there at 3pm, got all hooked up, and my husband, Dean, met me there. I was having "contractions" every 3 minutes lasting 20 sec, and my back was starting to ache a bit during them. I thought It was because I had been laying on my back that whole hour. I passed the test with flying colors, and although the doctors were skeptical, we went home.

At 5pm my midwife calls to say that they won't be able to get the results of the blood test back for a whole week (she was hoping to have them by that night), and she and the head doctor thought it would be best to come in right away to be induced. Seriously?! I did NOT like that options. That would ruin my plans for the evening. A barn dance at the Beinettis!

5:30pm. At this point, I finally convinced myself that I was, in fact, in early labor. I decided against being induced (tough decision!) and began getting ready for some dancing!

6:30pm. Progressing along quicker then I thought I would. Contractions become very uncomfortable, and I have to stop and breath through them. I was still getting them 3 minutes apart, as I had been for most of the day. It being my first pregnancy and all, I figured I would be laboring for quite some time, and decided instead of pacing around the house I would go on to the barn dance. That time would pass quicker if I had a distraction. We picked up my good friend, Hannah, who would be at the birth, and off we went!

Around 7:30pm we get to the dance. (I was still having contractions about every 3 min while in the car, laying in the backseat.) All the mothers, including my own, took one look at me swaying back and forth with my head down, and told Dean we were crazy for being there.

Times get a bit fuzzy here. I had other stuff to concentrate on other then the time. I'd say around 8:30pm, my contractions were now 2 minutes apart and extremely intense. I was having a lot of back labor also. I decided it was about time we left. I went to the bathroom, my dad prayed over me. I started feeling nauseous as I got in the car. My mom, who was at the dance, came with us.

The three other non-pregnant-and-not-in-labor-people in the car figured we would swing by the house to get the bags, and go right to the hospital (which was one block from our house). Sounds logical to me.....now. But then, I just wanted to be in my own bed. So, in we went. To my bed. I was having contractions every 1 minute. I began to get very emotional, and was able to recognize this as transition. After 10 min or so, It was decided by all that we should go to the hospital. Between contractions I was able to get out of bed and stand at the dresser before another one hit. At that point I felt an extreme urge to push. Oooh boy. I was getting them every 30 sec now as we made our way to the car. As we pulled up to the hospital my water breaks while in the car. I get in the wheelchair, and have a contraction while in the elevator. We come up to the lovely lady in triage who just stares at us....wait for it, wait for it......3, 2, 1 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! (That was me trying to scream into the pillow, but not being successful). Doors fly open. I get rushed into the first room. Get "checked" for the first time, and was fully complete. It was 9:30pm, and I started pushing right away. At 10:05pm William Dean Eaton III was born, all 8lbs 11oz of him (what happened to my 7lb baby??), and what a wonderful feeling that was!

Oh, how much my life, our life, has changed in this past year. In what seems like a blink of an eye, my little baby has grown into a strong, smart and oh so handsome "little man" as I like to call him.

Happy 1st Birthday William. I love you.

"Not Me" Monday

2009-10-19T23:04:00.002-04:00

During a car trip over the weekend I did not just continually feed Will for the whole 2 1/2 hours there to keep him quiet and happy.

Yesterday, I most certainly did not put on a load of wash containing some dirty cloth diapers, only to find out when I went to put it in the dryer that they were, in fact, still very dirty. So, I did not have to re-wash it 2 more times, just in case.

To keep Will occupied while I am busy in the kitchen I most certainly do not let him stand at the fridge, with the door open, and turn the light on and off. Nope. Not Me!

I am completely green and would never waste energy like that!

Last, but not least, my baby did not take his first 2 steps last night!

Grandma Genevieve Eaton

2009-10-09T23:14:00.010-04:00

I knew Grandma Eaton for only 4 short years. She lived over 3 hours away, so we unfortunately didn't get to see her much, but she was still everything a grandma could be to me. Whenever we went to visit we would go to Old Country Buffet for lunch. Upon returning back to her house, although stuffed as can be, she would immediately offer us multiple sweets; Ice cream sandwiches, cookies and everyone's favorite: homemade by her and fellow church members, chocolate peanut butter and coconut balls, that she kept nice and cold in the fridge. She would show us her photo albums, with some new, but mostly old, seen-before-pictures. It made her happy to have us look through them, so we gladly did. She always had some sort of trinkets set aside that she thought we might like to take home with us. We would talk about the goings-on of other family members, watch a little t.v., sign her guest book and then head on back home. She was great about staying in touch. Calling on special occasions, and writing letters on her old typewriter. She would write about this and that, and always remembered the littlest of things: wondering how Deans work van was doing or if we had health insurance yet. She cared for her sick husband for years all on her own, before he passed last year. She was selfless, thoughtful, and caring.

Grandma Genevieve Eaton passed away suddenly, yesterday, at the age of 89. I will miss her dearly.

William only met his Great-Grandma Eaton once, but we will make sure he knows all about her!

Her Arms are Strong...

2009-09-17T12:18:00.025-04:00

Proverbs 31:17, 25

She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

Exercise. A lot of people cringe at just at the thought of it. It can be very hard sometimes to find the motivation you need to get up and start moving. I am very thankful that I actually enjoy working out.....now. I have been working out on a regular basis for a good 6 years, but it hasn't always been that way. I was not a very active child. I played with dolly's instead of sports, and struggled with weight issues into my teens. I had low self-esteem, and was often sick. When I was 17, I decided to start running. It was very hard at first. I couldn't even make it 1/4 mile before having to stop from cramps and being out of breath. It would have been much easier to just quit, but the more I pushed the easier it became and the farther I was able to go. It took patience and perseverance, blood, sweat and tears, (well, I don't know about the blood and tears part, but there most certainly was a lot of sweating!) and it has definitely paid off! I have been able to maintain a healthy weight, (before, during and after my pregnancy), my self-confidence is high, and besides an occasional stuffy nose, I almost never get sick. Exercising has become a part of me.

My workout routine has definitely changed since I had a baby. Before baby, I was able to sleep through the night, and feel refreshed in the morning. I was on my own schedule. Only had me to worry about. Life was a lot more flexible. Now I live on baby time. Sleep is interrupted and over way to quickly. You wake up still tired, and find it hard to get motivated to do your daily chores, let alone exercise! One moment baby is happy as a clam, and the next just won't stop crying. I have found that having a scheduled and structured workout routine just does not work. I have had to become creative and spontaneous with my exercising.

I love that I am able to have a gym membership, but some of you may not have one. Going to the gym is not the only way to get a workout. I am very thankful to have gotten a jogging stroller (off Craigs List! Thanks honey!), which I highly recommend getting if you are able to do so. It is so easy to just go outside and run or walk when you find that you have some free time! It really doesn't take any planning. You can do it anytime that works for you and baby. You are always close to home if baby decides he needs something. It might even help calm a crabby baby. I know it did for mine!

If you have more then one child try to make it a priority to have a baby sitter or have daddy watch the kids.

Another easy way to get a workout in is to just do it in your living room. You can do it with baby awake or sleeping. You can do it with one, two, or ten kids. "But Stacey", you say, "I'm not a personal trainer. What on earth would I do? I would have no clue where to begin!" Oh, I am glad you asked that! I, myself, am no expert, but there are countless workout videos out there; From beginner to advanced, kickboxing to pilates, that you can follow along with. "But Stacey", you say, "I can't afford to buy an expensive workout dvd set!" Oh but you don't need to buy them! You can borrow them from your local library! Yep, that's right. I have found that my local library system has a huge variety of exercise videos. Every week you can do a different workout! My personal favorite so far? The biggest loser workouts. I especially love Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. She has 3 different levels of difficulty, and goes at a really good pace (as do all the Biggest Loser workouts). I really feel the burn after doing that! It's only 20 minutes too!

I suggest you stay away from Shiva Rea's Creative Core Abs. That lady is not human. No one should be able to fold like that!

Side note: Some of the videos require hand held weights. I haven't been able to invest in hand weights yet, so I just use big cans of beans! It works!

When I was able to get to the gym, I found myself doing things there that I could easily be doing at home. Stretches, crunches, push-ups, etc. I decided to make it a point to do my crunches at home, and use the time at the gym to do things I wasn't able to do at home. But then, I had trouble remembering to do them, and the only time I thought about doing them was when I was at the gym. It was a vicious cycle, but I found an answer for it. I set a daily alarm on my phone for a time I knew I would be home the majority of the time. 9:15pm worked for me. You should try it! If you need ideas for more variety in your ab workouts, you can just go to youtube.com.

For a lot of us, seeing the number go down on the scale is what keeps us motivated to keep on exercising, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But don't make that your main goal. If that is your only driving force, you are doomed to fail. Think of it as an extra bonus if it does happen. There are also some of you out there who are blessed with a high metabolism, and think "I don't need to lose weight, so why should I exercise?" Well, think again.

Here are a few reasons why everyone should strive to make exercise not just something you check off of your to-do-list, but to make it a part of your daily lifestyle.

Working out regularly will:

- Help you sleep better.

- Improve your mood and due to the chemicals it releases in the brain called endorphins, it will give you an overall feeling of well-being.

- Reduce the risk for several diseases including heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer.

- Reduce the effects of aging.

- Reduce the incidence of injury and also reduce the chances of illness.

- Reduce or maintain body weight or body fat.

- Build and maintain healthy muscles, bones, and joints

When you are having trouble getting motivated, really focus on how good it makes you feel when your done. Taking only 30 minutes out of your day to exercise can drastically change your life, and everyone around you! When I exercise, I feel less stressed and it boost my self-esteem. I am energized, more focused, and just plain old happier after a good workout. Above all else, it keeps me healthy.

Side note: Along with regular exercise, in order to have maximum results, you also need to focus on your eating habits, but that is a whole other post on its own!

My First Blog

2009-09-11T12:18:00.003-04:00

I never thought I would be doing this. Blogging. I didn't really think anyone would want to read what I have to say. Maybe they still don't. I guess what has changed is that...I don't care. I am going to say it anyways!

Two years ago I read Kevin Trudeau's "Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About." It completely changed my life. Although I may not agree with everything he had to say; alien bodies in New Mexico, etc., his book opened my eyes to a whole new world. A world of corrupted, power hungry people (FDA, drug companies, food industry) who want to dumb down America without you having a clue. Well, I have a clue now. I will not just sit back and let it happen to me and my family, and I don't want it happening to you! That is the main reason I started this here blog. To share what I have learned and what I am still learning every day!