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Update on the kids. That's right.

2012-01-31T15:18:00.000-08:00

All pictures taken today. Current, baby!
Seth

Little man is growing up! He'll be 15 months in a couple of days. He understands and communicates so much, a bright guy. He's very good with his hands, Jeremy discovered the other day that he can pry those 'childproof' socket covers off; I was wondering why an outlet was missing one the other day! After Jeremy watched him take one off and told me about it, it all came together. He has always been good with little pieces; he enjoys all the ones that come with the girls' older toys! Third child is completely different with that kind of thing; with H she couldn't be around them until after turning 2. He does remind us of H in looks and personality, but is still definitely his own self. The little engineer. :)

He gets a big kick out of throwing things right now; he'll throw a toy and then laugh, pick it up and repeat. He did that with the drain plug in the bath a few days ago, was having a blast until I had to take him out. He tried to ask for a bath today, but he had just had one yesterday and wasn't in need, so I sadly had to tell him no. I had taken off his pajamas and he was just in his diaper, and kept repeating "bath". The cuteness almost made me want to say yes, but it also wasn't a good time for me, so thus the no. That boy loves his baths. Well, all of our kids always have, so I guess our family likes the water. Word.

That blankie bear he's holding is with him all the time now, that is a recent development this month. He starting wanting it when we'd take him out of the crib, so it's close by during the day. He calls it his 'me me', I think because how he asks for things is by saying "me", and that is pretty high on his list of desirables. "Milk" is up there too, but he knows the word for that. I'm trying to work with him on please, but old habits are hard to break. And also, instead of saying & signing "all done" at mealtimes, he's started throwing his food on the floor. Every kid hits the stage, not my favorite, I try and break them asap. But it doesn't help when the fam starts cracking up sometimes! Ok, I'll admit, I've laughed a couple of times too, but usually I'm the hardball. I've made him pick up the food on the floor when it is bigger pieces of stuff, but things like rice, forget it. And that's the funny stuff that he likes to make rain all over. *sigh* Good thing he's cute. :)

He's been working on increasing his speed the last couple of months. For awhile there his legs couldn't keep up with the speed he was trying to achieve, and was taking a lot of falls, but recently he's had a much more fluid transition from walking to faster-ness. Not sure if I'd actually call it running yet, more like gliding. In running there has to be a moment when both feet are off the ground, and I keep forgetting to watch for that, but I don't think he's quite there yet.

Ada

Freshly 3, oh my. :) So that no nap thing? Ha, didn't last long. She has her internal schedule of waking up early, so the no nap thing just wasn't cutting it. So I started trying to trim her usual nap time of 2 hours in half, and would put her down an hour before we had to pick up H from school. That worked until one day I woke her up and it was like a demon-possessed person; she screamed all the way to the school..... so after that I put her down earlier to let her wake up naturally, and so she usually clocks in an hour and a half nap now. On the demon-possessed thing, myself & H have been known to be in such a state when awoken prematurely, we must have some kind of reaction to a certain stage of sleep being interrupted. That day when Ada was screaming, she finally woke up after H came out, and then wouldn't believe me when I told her what had happened before her head was back in place. The lesson here, don't wake the females in my family unless you absolutely must, because you just don't know what you're going to get!

Ada is a lot different than she was half of her life ago. From the time she could walk until around 2 1/2, I didn't feel safe taking her to the beach by myself. And to be fair, it's not like I even took kids to the beach myself anyway before that, just once when I just had Hayley when meeting up with friends. It's more something we do as a family [with Jeremy]. But anyway, in that time frame, at the beach, it was like all she could think about was being in the water. At all costs. She had no regard for how cold she was, or if there was someone to watch over her, or her life, basically. Her main objective was to get to the water. Period. A tiring prospect, especially when pregnant with Seth! So how nice it is now that I'm able to go to the beach with all three and not worry. I've very much enjoyed our two recent beach goings! The kids all do great listening, and Seth hangs with the girls, so it's nice.

Recently I taught Ada how to fold washcloths; I've been trying to get her more involved with the daily chores, as she does like to help out most of the time. She has assisted in putting away her clothes for some time now, and also in helping Hayley set the table for dinner. And she is a good big sister with Seth, although there is still the not so occasional infraction, LOL. Sometimes she doesn't know where to draw the line; sometimes I wonder where her head is at. Like at the last beach time, after Jeremy came and was laying with us--she went to set herself up as a barricade for Seth because she thought he was straying too far from her imagined zone. Which that was fine. But then somehow he ended up sitting on the sand, and she was pumping his head down almost to his lap. Oh my. It looked hilarious, but was not ok. So I hid my face and had a quick laugh, then yelled at her to come back to me for a talk. Seth was fine, he just went back to playing after she left. That's why we say, he's going to be a tough kid with her as an older sister.

Ada is a kid who loves life. She loves being around people. Different personality than the rest of the family. Not that the rest of us don't enjoy being around people, but we're more introverted. She thrives around others, doesn't matter if they're friends or someone she's just met at the park. Case in point: last week I took the three to a park, and there was a girl around Ada's age who was there playing with her dad. Ada immediately inserted herself into their game, while Hayley hung back. Hayley then started to try and pull Ada away from them, as she didn't know the new people, and also she wanted Ada to play with her, and she (H) was too intimidated to play with Ada along with these new people. (I found all this out later when talking to H.) I had to call H over a couple of times to have a talk with her that I was there watching and it was ok for Ada to play with them, and she could play with them too, etc. etc. I even went over and said hi to the dad, asked him how old his daughter was, to show H that it was ok. Ada was having a blast the whole time. I have a feeling she's going to be a popular girl in school; people seem to gravitate towards her.

Hayley

Hayley just learned how to tie shoes! She's watched some of her friends do it at school, and I sat down with her yesterday to give her a lesson. I found out I didn't have all the patience I needed at the time, so I set her up with a youtube video which her and Ada watched several times, and she followed along and practiced. She had it to where she could do it some yesterday herself, and then this morning she did both of her shoes all by herself, no problem! Score. She had to move into her bigger shoes, which is why she needed to learn--the teacher had it noted at the beginning of school that he did not have time to tie 20-some shoes every day, so they could only wear shoelaces if they knew how to tie them themselves. Which I can totally understand!!

She's doing great in school, was the student of the week last year in the fall, and also made student of the month. We're not putting the bumper sticker on our van though, neither Jeremy or I are into bumper stickers. But we are still proud of her of course! :) She's definitely a good school type, she enjoys sitting and coloring and learning, loves doing her homework packet every week. She reminds me a lot of myself actually. With Jeremy's level of competitiveness. And also some other Jeremy characteristics. Probably a good balance of the two of us in looks and personality, but I think if you asked anyone they'd probably say a bit more of me, so we'll go with that. I can relate to her a lot, which is not surprising after reading the Birth Order Book. She is the same birth position as me, and also a lot like me, so thus the relativeness.

She too is a good big sister, gives her two younger siblings horsey back rides now! How lucky for them. And she watches out for both of them, gives help unasked a lot. I've enjoyed my talks with her about things from school; friendships, things she's learning, different situations. She usually always reports who got in trouble that day. :) She's a good kid. She went to Jeremy's first running meeting last night, occupied herself with art stuff during the meeting. Jeremy joined a running club, Quicksilver. It turned into a date afterwards because Jeremy took her out for an ice cream cone--should have seen the smile on her face when she got back home!

SURPRISE!

2012-01-29T08:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Jeremy had a 50k race up at Stinson Beach called 'Steep Ravine' run by Coastal Trail Runs. This was his first CTR race, and it was good. Great views from these hills! Here is a link to a runner's blog (Leor's); he enjoys taking pictures of trails he runs, and this post was from the area Jeremy was in yesterday. Just beautiful!

And yesterday, the weather was perfect. That morning I decided the kids and I should go surprise Jeremy and see him finish, and I am so glad we did! Gorgeous day, it was fun to see Jeremy and surprise him, and the kids had a blast playing as you will see. Here's a map of where Stinson Beach is; we'd never been there before, so it was cool to explore a new area. We've been to Muir Woods & Muir Beach, which are just south of there. In fact, one of Jeremy's aid stations was at Muir Beach.

That last little bit of the drive where the road is all squiggly? Ya, it's really like that. You feel like you're going back and forth on the steering wheel the whole time, and trying not to drive off the cliff. The views are magnificent though! God's handiwork in show.

Here are the kids waiting for Jeremy at the finish:

He got just under five hours at 4 hrs. 59 min., awesome! Second place overall, and first place in his age group.

So after he got through the finish, we were clapping and saying good job with other runners that were nearby; it seemed as if he looked at us and waved, but then I realized he didn't register that it was us standing there, and he went off to talk to some runners to the left of the pic. I laughed and told the girls he didn't really 'see' us, so we walked over and got our surprise in. It was really funny! I totally understand though, he wasn't expecting us, and not to mention he was tired from the race he had just run! It gave me a good smile though.

After talking with him for just a bit, we let him get some food & talk with other runners and the kids got to play. Climbing trees:

Finding that perfect stick:

And Seth took it to another level and was enjoying the muddy swamp to the max. :)

Then we waved to Jeremy and went to the beach just beyond there. WOW. That beach is incredible! And with that day, it was just so relaxing sitting there and letting the kids play, listening to the waves and enjoying everything. Off-season beach going can be some of the best!

Jeremy came and found us after a bit and relaxed with us. He too was enjoying the moment, only more so because he had just finished his race; that is a feeling all its own. A nice one for sure.

Hayley almost always takes a self portrait when she has the camera. :)

After beaching it for awhile we decided to hunt down some food, so I changed Seth and we were on our way. Had to stop for a moment at this neat little playground on the way, then we stopped at Breakers Cafe.

The kids and I had some french toast and fruit, and Jeremy selected this seafood soup:

Back to the playground after eating:

One last tree climb before the last potty break and heading home.

Thank you God for the wonderful day!

Cypress to the Sea #2

2012-01-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

Remember how last year Jeremy ran from our house to the ocean? [53 miles] Well, Saturday, Jan. 21st, 2012 he did it again. The second annual Cypress to the Sea run!

This year he didn't need us to meet him at the halfway point, because, well, at 31 he's in the best shape of his life. And he still hasn't hit his plateau yet, so next year I could be saying the same thing at 32! Amazing how far he has come in the last five years of his life, running wise. That's when he started this whole running thing; kinda hard to believe in some ways, it is such a big part of our lives now. Keep up the good work, Jeremy!

The kids and I showed up to the beach early on purpose to get some beach play time in. I knew it wouldn't be "beach" weather, but kids don't care about that! Playing with sticks and rocks is a lot of fun! They had a blast making up games and doing all sorts of creative things. The weather was all over the place, pretty windy most of the time, sun was in and out and we even got some sprinkles which is when the rainbow appeared. Beautiful! It was enjoyable to watch them have fun together as siblings & friends. They're a fun group of kids, I love them a lot. :) Here's some pics:

"There's Daddy!!!"

Must touch water, then officially done.

So basically how this all played out was on Friday, I had Jeremy look through the calendar I had made for the year. My tradition is that every January, I go through all the pictures from the previous year, and pick out my favs for the corresponding months of the current year. It's fun to look back and see what we were doing exactly a year ago, and how all the kids looked, etc. We have even done things again because we were reminded of the fun times we had last year; for example, hike at the same spot in the same month, etc. Anyways, Jeremy had been thinking about possibly doing a repeat, and then after looking through the calendar decided it was a good plan for the next day.

The differences:
Last year it was new, he had maps along to look at, we met him halfway, weather was slightly different. This year he knew he could do it, and I don't think he had to look at any maps, he's run all over so much that he's pretty familiar with most of the trails in that area. Still took him around 10 hours, so time was the same, but this time he ran straight through and didn't have the break. He wasn't sore after this time. Must be nice! His body has a speedy recovery rate from running so much all the time. See, if you put effort into something, you will reap the rewards! Overall, a good day, a good achievement.

Seth's Laughter

2012-01-20T22:48:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted pics in awhile, but here's a video I took a couple of days ago! It's fun making Seth laugh. :)

Couple 'O Things

2012-01-18T14:44:00.000-08:00

Accident Link.
The link above is to what I saw on Saturday as I was on the other side of the highway; pretty much identical to what you see in the picture. The top was ripped off of the truck, hanging on one side. My whole side of the highway was slowed down at that area--people like to see what's going on. Definitely a sobering moment, seeing how life is destroyed so quickly. No matter what age, physical fitness, etc., we are at God's mercy for when He calls us home.

At BOB this past Sunday, a lot of focus was on the thought of the eternity of forever with God in heaven. Seems that most (myself included) have at one time or another tried to think of just how long forever is. We get afraid of getting bored with that much time on our hands. Our finite minds cannot begin to fathom no end to time. There were many points brought up about how we of course will not be bored. Just to be in God's presence will be enough. He sustains us now, and how much more in perfect eternity with Him! Just as a dog never gets bored of being with his master, same with us and God.

I just checked my preggo status, and I am 22 weeks and 4 days. A couple of women at the chapel just had their babies (both boys, in fact). I am content to wait my turn on this round, as I know he'll be here before we know it, and will be jumping into life with four kids! I'm excited, just patient. :) I say that now, in the easy middle tri -- just wait till I'm all big in the third, then I might be changing my tune. There is one more lady at the chapel who will be going before me, hers will be a surprise though, but wouldn't that be cool if her kid was a boy too! Four pack, right there. Of course a girl would be fun too! I know it probably sounds like we have a very prolific birth count going on at our chapel, but they do come in spurts.

Oh, the timing!

2012-01-17T22:23:00.000-08:00

I got a kick out of checking my e-mail today, when I noticed I had received one for a recipe chain! I don't think this person knows about my blog, so I feel safe posting this here. As in, since she doesn't know about it, there isn't a chance of hurt feelings or anything like that. If it was from someone who I know well, I would laugh at the joke. :) Here was the main part of the e-mail:

"Hi everyone!
We are participating in a collective, constructive, and TASTY experiment. As such, you have been invited to be part of a recipe exchange concept. We hope you will participate. We have picked those we think would make this fun. Please send a recipe to the person whose name is in position 1 (even if you don't know him/her) and it should be something quick, easy and without rare ingredients. Actually, the best one is the one you know in your head and can type right now. Don't agonize over it, it is one you make when you are short of time. After you've sent the recipe to the person in position 1 below and only to that person, copy this letter into a new email, move my name to position 1 and put your name in position 2. Only my name and your name should show when you send your email. Send to 20 friends BCC (blind copy). If you cannot do this within 5 days, let us know so it will be fair to those participating. You should receive 36 recipes. It's fun to see where they come from! Seldom does anyone drop out because we all need new ideas. The turnaround is fast. There are only 2 names on the list and you only have to do it once."

This just cracks me up. Which is why I posted it.

Food Blog & Prov. 3:5

2012-01-10T22:17:00.000-08:00

The why of the food blog [learningtocookfood.blogspot.com]:
~To document my journey in baking & cooking. (Wish I had started it when I got married! Then you could really see how far I've come!)
~To have an online source for me to access my recipes when someone lets me cook for them in Kansas. :)
~To share with others the recipes I like to make, or a warning of one to stay away from.
~My answer to all those recipe sharing e-mails that used to be rampant; "send one to the first person on the list and you'll get one from someone you probably don't know in the unforeseeable future" . I think I quit getting those because I stopped responding. But seriously, how dated are they when there are so many good food blogs out there, not to mention recipe sharing sites like allrecipes.com? It is time for the recipe sharing e-mail chain to die. *
~To learn tips from others! I have already garnered a couple of tips from comments when I first started the blog.
~So I don't have to type/write out recipes multiple times when sharing on fb or e-mail; just copy and paste the link.

*I think my anti-love for chain e-mail/letters started back in HS when a chain letter for underwear was going around. I sent out a pair, and got one pair, but that was not the 30 or so I was promised! Looking back, how lucky to break even. And also, what an odd chain letter! LOL. To clarify, we did have to specify size, so it's not like we were stabbing in the dark.

Totally switching gears here, last night in bed, before I fell asleep, these words shot clear and true to me: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. It was kind of a 'woah' moment, as in, I had better pay attention. Has anyone else had a verse pop into their head like that? I've remembered verses when trying to think of something specific during the day, but I had nothing on my mind right then at that moment last night. I have a hard time remembering references, so I just googled the words, and it is Proverbs 3:5. Verse 6 is a good reminder too: In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Ada turns 3!

2012-01-09T21:33:00.001-08:00

Ada likes going to the Dr., so I was happy to have her appointment this morning. It's a special outing to her! It was busier than normal, had to wait half an hour in the room; kids were going stir crazy (I had A & S), but we managed. She did a great job, and her stats are: 41 inches tall, 37.4 lbs. Basically really tall (seems to be a family trend with our kids), and the perfect weight for her height. Healthy kid.

Last night I went on a baking spree and made my MIL's orange coffee cake to have for breakfast along with eggs & bacon, and also my grandma's carrot cake for dinner's dessert. Orange [the color] theme going on, couldn't resist. :) For dinner Ada had requested cheese pizza, so I made some dough, and used already made sauce and shredded cheese. Made it on my new baking stone that I got for Christmas (thanks Daniel!), and I have to say it is the best pizza I've made yet. Someday I'll probably make my own sauce, but for now I'm focusing on the dough side of things. The girls wolfed that stuff, we finished off two pizzas, didn't see that coming. I think Hayley's going through another growth spurt, she's been hungry all the time lately, whereas before Ada was eating more than her. Now they've flip-flopped. Kids definitely go through cycles!

I had cut Ada's hair on Saturday after giving Seth a much needed trim. Was in the hair cutting mode, and I knew I wanted to give one to Ada at 3. I have to admit, it was somewhat of an internal struggle to decide to do it two days early, but I decided since I was in the mood I had better go ahead with it. Too bad Jeremy wasn't home 'cause he needed a cut too! He was off in the hills, his usual on Saturday mornings, but this time running a free 50k race. He even got on a blog, click here and scroll down to see his pic. Haha Jers. He had showed me this in the morning, but then wouldn't give me the web address now as I'm blogging. Google is awesome, and wins over his humbleness. I know he doesn't like to brag, but it's kinda like cutting out that newspaper clipping and sending it to family--this is the new way.

Rabbit trailing here. Back to Ada's cut! As I've already told a few people, right as I started in for that first cut, in the bangs area, she moved and that's why her bangs are shorter than I was planning. As for the length of the rest, I really wasn't sure what I was going to go with there, but I like this length on her. She loves it, she likes that it is out of her face, and how it moves now. Yay. I can see her face now! Probably waited way too long to give her a cut, but it was kinda one of those things of let's see how long we can not cut it for. Bad thing was she doesn't like wearing things in her hair too often, so she'd have to push it out of her face all the time. Problem solved. And also she's not so much a fan for combing out her hair, even with detangling spray--not a good thing when you have long hair! All is good in the hood.

Ada has really changed in the past three years. Such a blessing she is. I remember when I was pregnant with her, I knew she was God's blessing in that she moved constantly. I never had to worry about counting kicks, which after Taylor, was a big deal. Ada was moving even when she was coming out, no joke! That car ride to the hospital before she came out in the parking lot, she was kicking me! Definitely the most active kid I have had, or probably will have. Blake seems like H&S. (That is, if we're done after B.) Felt her way earlier than any of the other kids too. She is a strong child, body & mind.

It is nice to see her so excited about Blake. She's a tough big sister to hang with, but it's probably good for the boys. Except for losing finger tips in doors, etc. Her & Hayley are excited about teaching Seth to go potty when he's older, and pretty much teaching him everything. That Seth is a smart cookie, he watches & learns very well. Thankfully most of the time he is good at listening & obeying the parents' instruction about what he cannot touch. There are those exceptions though. Oh man, right now that kid has decided he can live off of less napping time and just go to bed earlier, because he doesn't want to miss out on stuff with the girls. Seems like the afternoon nap is becoming a struggle for him, even if he is tired.

Near the end of our Christmas vacation, I quit giving Ada naps. Which was hard, because she likes taking her naps. But bedtime was becoming too crazy, so I needed to make her more tired. Kinda wish I had started that at the beginning of the trip! But then I wouldn't have the story of how she painted her lips with her sister's new nail polish. She actually did a good job, was very clean with trying out all the colors, I was impressed with that. She still got in trouble though. These days at home, there have been a few where one of us was going to kill the other (figuratively speaking) if she didn't get a nap that day, so I caved in, but besides that so far so good. Bedtime has been way easier with her, as in she's actually tired enough to go to bed when it's time.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised as H quit naps at 3, but it was different with her. Hayley hated naps, but was fine with bedtime, so the opposite thing going on. And on her third birthday, she announced that she was done with naps. And did fine from then on, one or two naps a month since then. It's hard for me with Ada, because I can tell when she's getting tired during the day, and I know she will lay down and take a nap if I tell her, but I must stay strong for that solid nighttime sleep. She still gets up early. Has definitely been our earliest riser.

We love our redhead! Happy birthday Ada!

Boy #2

2011-12-21T22:47:00.000-08:00

We found out it's Blake in there, cool beans! We took all of the kids in for the ultrasound; they did fairly well. Got antsy at the end, but that is to be expected. I think it was Ada who said Blake looked like a bunny, and his heart a butterfly. Then someone had a dinosaur idea, or a scary monster, and Jeremy said alien, and made a Stargate reference. So then I had to explain to the tech that we watch a lot of sic-fi. :)

My due date is now 5/19/12. If he's 8 lbs 12 oz, that will keep our trend alive. ( increase of 2 oz each kid ) As it stands, each kid will have his/her own season, so that's pretty cool. And between H and A there will be a 3 yr. gap in school, 2 between A and S, and 1 between S and B. Word.

On the Eve of Gender Revelation

2011-12-20T23:50:00.000-08:00

It's exciting. For one, I'm looking forward to seeing the baby on the screen, always love the ultrasounds. Strange to think that back when I was born they were hardly routine! You didn't get to see your kid, and definitely had to wait until birth to discover the sex of the child. Technology rocks.

You know, at the beginning of this pregnancy I was die hard praying for a boy. Nausea is a big family killer, I'll tell ya. But once after that was through, the prayers were (and are) for a healthy baby. And now that we've got a girl name, we're set for either! Although I still need to pick out a middle name for both, but there is time for that. I'm excited for whichever. It's fun to guess what he/she will look like, which sibling they'll take after the most, etc. Visualize the future I suppose. Pretty stoked for this kid, we all are!

A Little Tiny

2011-12-15T22:57:00.000-08:00

Perfect example of how shot my short term memory is: tonight my mom called right as we were sitting down to dinner, so I asked her if I could call her back in ten minutes. Well, I didn't remember anything about this incident until four hours fifteen minutes after she called... oops.

Tonight at dinner a girl's name came to Jeremy that we're both ok with, we were wondering if this means we're having a girl. We're both guessing boy, so we'll see! Ultrasound next week on the 21st. Looking forward to seeing my baby again!

Seth's finger is looking waaaaayyy better. Not even so knobby anymore! The skin is really smoothing out over the tip; there is still a scab on the very top though, so don't have a complete picture of the final outcome. But it's looking very positive. Thank God for His healing!

That boy is such a sweetie, so easy going. He loves to give high fives now, it's pretty cool. And he asks what everything is. And is actually pretty communicative.

Over and out, bedtime now. Oh, here's my new profile pic on fb for Jeremy to see:

Happy boy!

p.s. The title is a quote from Ada. She says it quite a lot, actually. As well as, "Let's do it!"

And so it begins...

2011-12-09T23:33:00.000-08:00

Took all three kids to Seth's appointment today. Jeremy offered to be home with the girls, but I knew it'd be an in-n-out appointment. Kids we're all pretty wound up when we went, and I did think to myself, what was I thinking?, but it all worked out. The title is about how Seth acts when he doesn't get what he wants. There was a Christmas tree with shiny ornaments in the waiting area, and boy did he have his sights on getting to it. I kept blocking him though; he tried all his tactics and nothing was working. He kept alternating between laughing and showing his frustration.

Visit with the Dr. was quick, an unwrap, look, rewrap. He says it looks good, finger nail bed is looking great so he should have a nail start to grow in in around a couple months or so. All the black stuff has come off, he's in the phase of growing skin over the tip now. So I guess when he's done with that we probably don't have to wrap it anymore; I forgot to ask. The Dr. scheduled an appointment for a month later, but I have a strong feeling I'll cancel it. Seems kind of silly to keep going back for more looks, when really nothing more can be done and all it needs is time.

The Boy: 13 Months

2011-12-02T15:33:00.000-08:00

He seems so much older now! Wasn't he just a baby?! Walking & talking, he's one of the gang. 13 months old today, man that went fast. Good thing we've got another one on the way, 'cause I'm ready for one! I feel like I missed out on some of my nurturing with Seth, with having to quit breastfeeding this summer due to my dental work. (Which, is actually the reason I'm pregnant earlier this time around. So maybe it all evens out.) I love this little guy, he is such a joy! He can get really giggly when he's tired, love his laugh, and he's such a happy boy. Really easy going, but tough enough to hang with the girls.

The other night he & Ada were playing a game after dinner while the rest of us finished, so we got to see it. Seth would run from Ada, and she would come up behind him and chest bump him as hard as she could and he'd go flying. I'm actually laughing right now as I'm typing this because it looked hilarious. And not something that should be fun for Seth. But he was laughing the whole time and was into it, so I let them play until he looked like he was getting tired of receiving the knock down. Then I told Ada to lay on the ground so he could climb on her, but then he was hanging back waiting for her to get up so they could play more of their game. But Mom had shut it down, so that was that.

Thankfulness: A look back at Thanksgiving week.

2011-12-01T12:26:00.000-08:00

First, the finger. Tuesday night I was not looking forward to changing the bandage, as I was afraid the tip was ready to come off. (Monday night it was looking pretty flappy.) But it was still on, it's being held by the last remaining stitches in the back. Yesterday it looked a lot better, as the black tip was starting to shrink up, and I could see better underneath--everything looks covered by flesh, so that is good! No bone poking out. The whole finger is still swollen (understandably), and I think once that goes down and the tip falls off and the finger gets a good skin covering going on, then it'll look better. Even better when the nail grows back, which hopefully it does! It'll be a shorter finger for sure, but will still be functional.

Here's a picture I put on facebook the other day, putting it here for Jeremy to see:

I think it's way funny. :)

Yesterday on the walk to school Hayley and I got into a discussion about supply and demand. It happens. I don't think she got my entire drift, as I had to cut our talk short when we got to her classroom, but the seed of economics has been sewn.

I've really been enjoying my time with Ada while Hayley is at school, getting to know her better and letting her take the turn of being the oldest at home. She has become such a good helper! And she does great walking in the store with Seth riding in the cart. It feels a little more chaotic with all three, having to keep track of two on foot, although the girls usually do pretty well. Sometimes the combination can have them feeding off each other's energy though. Such was the day before Thanksgiving, when I was picking up some last minute supplies at the grocery store. They were so wound up, it was crazy! Then a couple, probably around my parents' age (I didn't get the best look at them since I was at the time instructing Ada to stop lying on the floor and trying to keep an eye on Hayley farther up the aisle and also another eye on Seth 'cause he likes to try and grab things off the shelves) (I think I need three eyes, huh.) walked past, and the guy said to me, "Hang in there Mom. You're doing a great job." When I told Jeremy later, I said that felt like a hug around my heart. Much needed encouragement at just the right time! What a kind man. I thanked God for that!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, that was quite a week last week. First, I had decided to paint the living room and dining room. Since I didn't go to church that Sunday due to Seth's injury (I didn't feel like I could leave him just yet), I took everything off the walls and moved furniture while Jeremy & the girls were gone. We went to Lowe's later that day and I picked up my paint, then that night once the kids were in bed, I puttied and put up most of the blue tape. This time I went way more conservative and taped the ceiling and the door frames, besides the bottom trim along the floor. Definitely paid off for me. (Which reminds me that I still have to touch up in the girls' room. )

Monday morning I finished taping, then I painted one coat of blue during the younger kids' naptime while H was at school. That night I did the second coat. Tuesday it felt like I painted all day, which I kinda did. During the kids' naptime, I painted the first coat of green, then Seth ended up waking up early, so I had him in the exersaucer so I could finish up. So then later on in the day when he ended up taking his longer nap, I did first coat of gray. That night my friend Jess came over and we did the second coats on the green and gray. Really thankful for her help! It was nice to get done, and more fun to paint while getting to talk to her.

So I put all three colors in both the living room and dining room, here is the best shot of the three of them together:

In the living room the fireplace wall & the coat rack wall are gray, fireplace blue and the other two walls green. In the dining room, the far wall by the back door is gray, and also the underneath of the divider wall between the two rooms. The main two walls in there are blue, then the wall opposite of the gray wall is the green. Oh, I must give credit for the blue fireplace to Jeremy. I was only planning on painting the top board the brown from the kids' room (the first brown w/o the glitter), but he suggested that and I like it. (And that's his favorite part. :) ) We both like having painted rooms now, a nice change from the same old off white we've been used to for five years now. Yep, we had our five year anniversary in this house last month. My favorite part was covering up all of the fingerprints, etc., that I couldn't wipe off! Very satisfying to see a clean wall. And I'm still undecided what I think of my paint choices and together, etc., but Jeremy says it looks like me. As in, they are colors I like. Don't get me wrong, I'm not thinking of repainting or anything. Just thinking about what it looks like versus what I had pictured in my head as far as the shades go. It is probably a little darker than I thought, but I bought another lamp for the living room so that fixed it.

On Thanksgiving we had a couple of friends over, Jess' family & Roney's family. We had a good time! Jess & Ben brought over some more chairs, and we were able to fit everyone around our table + card table. Here is our buffet line:

From the far end: pretty pink salad (my MIL's recipe), [disregard turkey carcass], green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, samosas in front of them (Indian dish, there is potato inside with spices & I think also peas, they're good), mashed potatoes, turkey, gravy, and more mashed potatoes. Roney brought the samosas and also some rolls, and Jess brought over brownie carmel pie, cranberry pie, and pumpkin bread. (All delicious!!!) I had made my favorite pumpkin pie the night before, the one with the topping, (btw, here is the link to recipes for the stuffing, sweet potato casserole & the pumpkin pie) and it didn't get cooked enough! That is a sad first in my pumpkin pie making career. I think either it was because that was the first time I had made it in my new pie plate that is a different material (like stone/ceramic) or possibly I messed up the timer with my funny pregnancy head. It was a bummer, but we had Jess' yummy desserts so I don't think we missed it.

We got to play games together, and go to the playground, it was fun. It is neat to see how God worked to put us all together! Thankful for all He does. Amen.

Finger Update

2011-11-27T22:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry, haven't posted any updates on Seth's finger situation. So I took him in to the Dr. on Weds., and I estimate 80% of the tip was black, which means that part didn't take. The Dr. said that is not all bad, as at least some flesh underneath will have taken. (And that was the important part, to at least get the bone covered.) So his finger will be shorter, we just don't know how much yet as we have to wait for some of it to fall off. Since Weds., Jeremy and I have had to change the bandaging once a day, his finger looks so awful. Still hard to look at! But I think with the frequent exposure we are getting *somewhat* adjusted. By today, a lot of the stitches have come out, and his fingernail fell off. (We knew that would happen though.) The Dr. said his nail bed looks to be intact, so there is a good possibility he'll still be able to grow a nail again.

The other day Jeremy said I should take a close up picture of it and post it, and I said no way! I don't think anyone wants to see that; at the least it'll make you squirm and want to look away.

A praise is that thankfully there has been no sign of infection so far. Things seem to be on the path to healing, it just has a ways to go. We go back to the Dr. in a couple of weeks, although I'm not sure what more he'll do than look at it.

Our first real Christmas tree!

2011-11-26T21:06:00.000-08:00

Jeremy and I have been married 8.5 years now, and have never gotten a real Christmas tree. Reason being, we always would go back home [Kansas] for Christmas. Although we did not in 2008 [Ada's soon to be birth] and 2010 [Seth being fairly new]. We did, however, buy a three foot fake tree and have put that up every year.

This year, being all in crazy nesting mode (I'm blaming everything outside of my norm on that these days), I had a strong desire to get a real tree. I like the smell, it looks cool, and it'd be an experience to go get one. We have a lot of cut your own tree lots in the mountains surrounding our valley, and I thought that'd be a fun family experience. I can remember one time when my family went to a real Christmas tree farm, and that made an impression on me. It was a lot of fun!

Today was the day, and what a beautiful day at that! I ended up going with a tree farm we always see from one of our favorite hiking spots. There are more flashy farms, with a dressed up Santa and free cider and other attractions (the one that tempted me the most was one that sold freshly made tamales), but I just wanted to focus on our hunt for the tree. And this place has been family owned & operated since the 50s, thought that was pretty cool. Almost got beat out by the tamales place, but it won. :) I always like to do a little research online before I go somewhere, helps me feel more familiar and what to expect.

It was fun hunting for our tree, they grew four different kinds there. So all of us (even Seth, he insisted!), felt each kind of needle. I did not realize the variety that could be had. We tested branches for strength, sized up their overall appearance, etc. I almost went with one whose needles only grew upward, but decided on the soft needle one. Forgive me, I forget what the types of trees are called, so I'm going by needles. Jeremy sawed it down and carried it to the van. Handy being tall, he easily hosted it onto the roof.

After he tied it down and we paid and left, we decided to hop next door to our hiking place, as there is a short walk to a pond that is fun to take pictures at. Parking lot pic:

I was trying to tell the girls to stick their faces in between the slats for a different picture, and then Jeremy let Seth down and he did it right away! Funny. Love the third pic where he's sticking out his booty, Hayley is jumping, and Ada's looking back. Classic randomness right there.

Third family pic of the day:

Seth wasn't too happy in that one as he was enjoying his freedom to run around and then got scooped up. Oh man, so after that, we went down by the pond, and the girls asked if they could climb up and down the embankment. It didn't go too close to the water, so that was fine. They were having a blast going up and down, and Seth wanted to join in. He went right up to the edge and went on his tummy and scooted backwards so he could go down feet first. I hung onto him halfway down, then decided that was just too crazy and picked him up and took him to the top. It wasn't incredibly steep or scary, although he'd need Jeremy or I to spot him, but there were a lot of poky plants and things. He got MAD. All he wanted was to do what the girls were doing, and he was not having it that he wasn't allowed to even try! So then we started back to the van, and he was protesting for awhile there. Very unSeth like, so we knew how much he wanted to do that!
We dropped by Lowe's for a tree stand and more lights and a garland before heading home to set up our tree. The kids all wanted to help as you can see.

After Jeremy set it in the stand, we ate the last of our Thanksgiving leftovers, then had some egg nog and peppernuts before putting the ornaments on. I think I was so tired, because I had no desire to decorate the tree at that point, all I wanted to do was rest. So grumpy Mom took a nap in the recliner while Dad & kids put on the ornaments. Hayley really really liked the one Jeremy got her this year. :) We take turns buying for the kids, I get the even age years, he the odd. The tree looks nice and pretty! I walled it off from Seth with three pieces of furniture, so hopefully that will keep it nice, as long as the girls obey and stay off the wall as well. I need to take a pic without the flash, but that'll have to be another day.

Update on the little guy's finger.

2011-11-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

So our appointment ended up being this morning.... and basically for nothing, really. I decided to take Ada along, because ever since this has happened, she's been talking about how she wanted to go to the hospital with us when Seth got his 'bloody'. So I told her she could be my big helper today. I figured it would be a short visit; Dr. unwraps, takes a look, wraps it back up. Well, he didn't end up taking the wrapping off at all. I've been putting a clean sock on everyday, like I did with Ada, and cutting out a hole for the thumb. So the Dr. had me take the sock off so he could check out the bandaging. Seemed like he was liking what he saw, a nice solid club hand, LOL. He then told me that it would probably do more harm than good to unwrap the hand at this point, as one of the most important things with a skin graft is keeping it immobile for around the first 10 days. And rewrapping Seth awake would not give us as good of a wrapping as the one he has now. He said that with kids this young, they have a very good chance of the piece reattaching, but even if it doesn't, it will still heal up well. So he scheduled an appointment for us to come back next week Weds. afternoon when he'll unwrap it then and check it out. (BTW, this was a different Dr. than the one who sewed Sethy boy up.)

I'm kind of wondering if he's a believer, because he said, "God bless", and usually people don't say that unless they do believe in God. Hopefully I'll get a chance to ask him next week. He seemed really nice, just like the guy who stitched Seth up. Must be the general personality type of plastic surgeons, I imagine they have to be calm, cool & collected to see and deal with the stuff they do! After the surgeon had stitched up Seth in the ER, I made the comment that he's probably seen some pretty awful stuff. He said that he did his residency in a county hospital, and people would come in literally in pieces due to gang violence. That made me feel better, not that people are in that bad of shape, but the fact that he had dealt with much, much worse and this was probably nothing to him. You know, he was the only person at the ER that day who didn't wince when looking at Seth's finger. That immediately said a lot to me when he came in.

Jenny asked me on the phone the other day, and maybe others are wondering too, of just how much of the top of his finger got taken off. Well, look at your middle finger, and imagine a cut in the nail, halfway through. Of course this is on a much smaller scale with a one year old, but that is where it got severed at. Which I realized after the stitching, when I could see the whole finger back together; the nail was basically split in half.

The little guy has been doing well under the circumstances I think. He still plays around, but he needs a lot more cuddle time with me. I think he gets distracted from it for awhile, then he'll remember and come to me to be held. The first night, he woke up at like 4 something and slept with us for the rest of the time, I didn't get too much sleep that night. Then both last night and the night before he would keep waking up and needing me until sometime between 11 and 11:30 when he could finally be so tired to stay asleep the rest of the night. He goes to bed at 7, so that kinda reminded me of Ada when she used to have her crying spell in the 6 to 10pm zone every night when she was 1 to 4.5ish months old. Tuesday's afternoon nap he couldn't fall asleep so I had to rock him, but since then naptimes have been ok. I gave him some Tylenol for the first time last night to see if it would help, and it did not, so oh well on that. I am sure it is just so uncomfortable, plus painful, plus totally in the way with that big bandage, that it is hard for him to deal with it at night. I feel bad for him! But I do what I can, and I know that in time he will be better.

So now we wait, and continue to keep it dry and clean, and continue to pray. I don't think I'll go to church on Sunday, I just can't bear the thought of leaving him right now when he is dealing with this and I am his primary source of comfort. I was so thankful when one of my friends offered to take my post in the nursery last night, so Seth could get more rest. Even though he was waking up periodically, it was good to be able to focus on him. And also thank you to Kassandra doing a lot of my dishes when she watched over the girls for us Monday night, I forgot to mention that on my last post but I know I put it on fb. And also I'd like to mention a family that goes to our chapel, their dad died suddenly on Tuesday from what seems to be a massive heart attack. This was a big shock, and he's leaving behind his wife, son [20] & daughter [15]. So many things to pray for them in regards to this. I can't imagine the pain they are going through. But we know that God gives peace beyond our understanding, and He is our Rock to lean on.

12 Stitches

2011-11-14T23:59:00.000-08:00

Right now it's 12:20am on the 15th, but I changed the post time so I could still speak like it's today. Don't think I can go to sleep yet, still feeling slightly jittery; might as well blog about it.

The last things I remember: dinner was just about ready, Hayley had the table set and ready to go. I went into the bathroom, and usually I shut the door (although when I do I often wonder why as a girl or two will usually pop in :) ), but I didn't this time and suddenly all 3 were surrounding me. Normal Mom-hood stuff you deal with. So I finished, and I took Seth out. Went back to the kitchen. Not sure exactly what happened next, if Ada came out and shut the door, or if she had followed me out and then was going back in. Anyway, some how Seth had his left middle finger in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Ada closed the door on it. He cried in the hall, but it didn't register with me as a more serious cry. Kids make a lot of noise, I block some of it; and I was busy bringing food out to the table. It registered with Jeremy, thank God, and he got the little dude. Then he said something, I look up, and there is blood everywhere.

Oh no. He shows me his finger, and it is just gruesome looking, I could barely look at it. It was bad. I took Seth, I think Jeremy had already started applying pressure with a tissue he had on hand, so then I upgraded to a napkin, then a paper towel. We switched into action mode, and I was kind of panicking like I did w/Ada when she had cut her finger. As in, feeling shaky. Having a kid knock a tooth out is better, thanks for being the easy child, Hays. ;) We formulated a plan; I grabbed our trusty chapel directory and called a couple of families who live not too far away in our city, but no dice. So then I thought of dropping them off at the Valencias' since they are conveniently on the way to Kaiser, and have two car seats for their boys that the girls could ride back to our house in with Kassandra to go to bed. Called, and got that hooked up. Thank you, Valencias!

Reached the ER, nurse wanted to see, receptionist too. (flash back to Ada's situation--everyone wants to see) Got in a room after some preliminary stuff at the desk, and the guy on duty took a look. He wasn't sure at first what was going to happen with it. He said if there was any bone exposed it would have to be taken care of. At first he and us too thought it was just the end of the rest of the finger nail that we were seeing in the bloody mass (the tip of his finger got severed BTW). But he needed to make sure, so we had to take Seth for X-rays. Which ended up being Jeremy's job, since I wasn't even allowed in the room being pregnant. Jeremy said it was a bloody mess. The tech was trying to get certain angles, etc., and Seth didn't want to lay his hand out flat; she seemed pretty flustered when they emerged. It was hard hearing him cry and not being able to hold him.

Turned out that it was bone, so a plastic surgeon was called, and Jeremy was sent home to try and locate the missing tip. We had just quickly scanned around the bathroom door before leaving, but it turns out we scanned the wrong area--it happened near the hinge, not on the doorknob side. I had texted Kassandra after Jeremy left, and she was the one who found it and gave it to Jeremy when he arrived. We were all thinking about how Kassandra keeps finding our missing anatomy that gets randomly lost; she was the one to find Hayley's tooth after she knocked it out.

We had to wait awhile for the surgeon to arrive, Seth finally fell asleep 15 minutes before he got there. I actually held Seth while he stitched him up. Numbed the finger, which Seth woke up and screamed about--you should see the size of that needle. After it kicked in and went numb in a few minutes, he fell back asleep for the stitching part, praise the Lord. Only after he stitched it together did I realize how much actually got ripped off. It was so bloody at the beginning of this that we couldn't tell how much was missing. Although definitely enough to warrant a trip to the ER for sure. Got him stitched up, took some pics, and put a splint on then wrapped the fingers and wrist with gauze then ace bandage, leaving the thumb free at my request. (He only sucks his left thumb, like Ada.) I'll be taking him back on Friday so they can see how it's doing, and get an idea if it'll take or not. (You could pray that it does!)

I get on the girls all the time about door safety, like when they're running around chasing each other and one will dive into a room and slam a door. That does not make me a happy camper. So I feel like I have done my job in promoting safe door procedures, but then this happens. Jeremy and I couldn't think of anyone who lost part of their finger in a door, so if you're in the same boat, we now all know about Seth. And the redhead who wielded the door. Oh yeah; at first the guy who helped us in our room said that if the bone wasn't showing, they might be able to cover it with wet bandages and encourage it to heal as-is. But then thankfully that was not the case, the surgeon was called, and he took care of things. I was telling Jeremy later, that I felt more at peace after the plastic surgeon got involved and Jeremy was sent home to find the tip. It felt like action was being taken, a plan was made, someone was going to come try and save the finger. After we had just started getting used to the fact that he was going to have a shorter and narly-looking finger for the rest of his life. Very thankful for him coming in and taking care of things, he was great.

So, now we wait and see. It has to be kept dry and clean, I can't open it, gotta wait till our Friday appointment.

Paint! [Kid Edition]

2011-11-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

Future blogging here, I just did Seth's B-day and I'm in the zone. So last week Hayley got sick on Tuesday. I should have kept her home from school that day, but I didn't realize how bad off she was until I picked her up. That morning she was begging me not to go, and I should have recognized that that was not at all normal Hayley behavior. But it was a shortened day, and she seemed fine, so I made her go. Sometimes these sicknesses brew inside and aren't evident until later. As was the case here. So anyway, we missed doing a few things that week, and on Friday I realized we were probably in for a sick weekend and wouldn't be making it to church.

The light went off: perfect time to paint, yo! And I had already gotten permission from Jeremy awhile back, so I was good to go. So on Friday I moved all the furniture out of their room, except for the dresser. Saturday morning, I washed down the walls and took off all the electrical covers. Then after Jeremy's run during the kids' naptime, I went to Lowe's and got my supplies. That evening I puttied, put the blue tape down, and painted the first coat. Olympic zero VOC, worked great, didn't smell at all. I could only smell it after walking into the room after painting it, and it wasn't bad at all. I had tried to blue tape the door frames, but the tape was a little wide and it was a struggle, so I gave up and just taped the bottom trim. Should have tried more on the door frames, but oh well. I will have to touch those up a bit, as well as some spots on the ceiling where the roller touched. I cut in all the edges with a paint brush, but I think I was tired and unpracticed Saturday night. Sunday morning I made a lot less mistakes and it went faster too. Saturday was two hours twenty-five minutes, Sunday was one hour fifty minutes. Word.

Color is Fudge Truffle, and I added silver paint crystals to the second coat, gives it a little sparkle. I like how it turned out! I had thought and thought of what color I wanted for their room. Went out and collected paint chips like a month ago, and decided on a dark brown. All the ones I picked up though were for a different brand, so I picked that specific one out when I went back to the store to buy paint; I knew what shade I was looking for, so it was easy. Wanted something that went with girl colors and boy colors since we have both going on in their room with their bedding.

The girls kept asking to see their room, as I was very strict about not letting anyone in there with wet paint! They thought it was cool. Then by Sunday afternoon Hayley was better and we knew she could go to school the next day, so we went to IKEA and picked up a bunk bed [$159] and two foam mattresses [$99 each]. Including prices because this is the reason I love IKEA, you can get cheap stuff! We have known we were going to get this setup for awhile at some point. As in like a year or two. When you keep having kids, you have to plan on the most efficient use of space! I like the simplistic look of this bunk. And don't be fooled by those mattresses--they are comfy. Jeremy and I can attest, we slept on them one night in the living room. We also have a foam mattress from IKEA, although it cost more. (Bigger size, thicker.) Our anniversary present to each other a year and a half ago. We are fans of the foam mattresses!

So now I am letting the paint set, or 'cure'. Two weeks is what the can said. Before you want to try and wipe it down or anything like that. So after that time, Jeremy has agreed to put up the curtains, and during the next two weeks, or a little over one week now, I'll be moving furniture back in, getting the covers back on the electrical stuff, and hopefully get to my touch ups. The paint isn't wet, it dries in four hours, but I think the curing is for it to get to its driest point and harden and be most resistant to pokes and whatever else comes its way.

The kids have been sleeping in there since last night, they really dig their new setup. Seth can climb up on Ada's bunk and be a squirrel, which he enjoys, although he did have a wipeout today. Thankfully it is not that far off the ground, so it would be hard for him to hurt himself too badly. Ada likes climbing up onto Hayley's bed:

Jeremy had put together their bunk bed the night of November 1st, so this is the girls seeing it for the first time the next morning, on Sethy boy's birthday:

Love the look on Ada's face!
Then she immediately started trying to claim the top bunk (every kid does that!) and Hayley was telling her that no, it wasn't for her, and added that she would be scared. LOL, oh my, the mind control the oldest child inflicts on their younger siblings. Jeremy and I wouldn't know anything about that...

With my title, yes, I hope to paint more. I really want to paint the living room and dining room next, no idea when that will happen though. Kinda have to get caught up on housework first, but oh wait, when does that ever happen! :) Ok, some state of normalcy. I already know which colors I want, it came to me today, the second color, that is. I'm telling you, this nesting thing is the bomb. Tired more, sure, but definitely motivated to get this house looking better before the kid arrives! Nesting has happened earlier with each kid, which I think is probably pretty normal--it takes longer to get things done when you have more kids already! Although I have to say, I am more productive. More to do, more productive, yet more mess. LOL. What a formula. But it's all good, I love kids, am grateful to God for the ones He's blessed us with.

Seth is One!

2011-11-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Seth's first birthday. That first year always goes by so quick! He's been walking all over the place, trying to up his speed lately which is giving him more balance issues. Those sisters are just so fast! He is a great kid, pretty easy going, an easy child to have around. :) We love him lots! He reminds me a lot of Hayley, he's like the boy version of her. Which makes me think it'd be kinda cool to have a boy version of Ada....... and then I think to myself, be careful what you wish for! ;)

Here he is eating breakfast on his birthday:

I don't usually cut up his banana, but for some reason I did. That morning I was up early, and strangely chipper. Makes me cut up bananas I guess. Moving on; the girls and I started singing Happy Birthday to him, and he gave us this look:

It was pretty funny.
Seth & I are like, totally in sync, I knew his birthday wish for dinner would be a Super Supreme Stuffed Crust Pizza from Pizza Hut, as we have never had pizza delivered, and that would be a real treat. Here he is starting in on his piece:

He dissected that thing. Our family of five polished off a whole large pizza that was loaded. Is that normal or do we eat a lot? I know I was stuffed afterwards. Ha ha. Get it, stuffed crust? Ok, moving on.

Jeremy had the great idea for pumpkin pie for his birthday, as we don't make/eat cake too often. I've done cupcakes for the girls in the past. But everyone was cool with pumpkin pie for sure! As I was getting supplies at Target, I saw this mini pie plate on clearance and thought that would be perfect for Seth to dig into! So glad I got it, it was really cute.
Here is his pie ready to be delivered:

He first poked it, then started digging out handfuls. And that is whipped cream, the real deal. Someone conveniently forgot where the Cool Whip was located and opted for the healthier pick. But you know what? I actually liked it. My MIL is doing a happy dance. Ok, jk, can't see that happening. But a smile. For sure.

Jeremy, Hayley, Ada & I ate half of the regular sized pie:

First pumpkin pie of the season! It really is so easy to make, just follow the directions on Libbey's 15 oz can of pumpkin and you are good to go.

I'm not a fan of pictures of kids with food all over them, but this is how he ended up after sticking his face in it a couple of times and mixing in pizza bits and whatever else he could come up with. He was done sitting and gave his monster face!

This pic is from two days before, and I am showing this to you just to prove I'm letting him be a boy, by eating dirt. I just try and keep him away from the potting soil, as that could be really bad. This is an every once in awhile luxury, as I don't feel like giving him a bath every day, although in the warmer months I definitely gave him a lot of backyard time. Getting chillier now though, good excuse to stay inside and..... have him create messes in the house. Word.

Those one year olds are fast destructors for sure. He can take books off of shelves in no time flat, empty cupboards in the kitchen [definitely not my favorite], and get all of Daddy's shoes off of the shoe shelf. He does love messing with shoes. This pic also from two days before his birthday:

He's really into seeing what objects can fit into other objects. The other day, he occupied himself for at least half an hour with a shoe and spoon. He kept putting the spoon in the shoe, taking it out, fitting it back in, etc. Likes to see how random things can fit together. I have a feeling he'll be into legos like his daddy was!

He is such a cute little guy, and I am so happy to have him! The rest of the family too. :) So usually in the past when our kid turns one we start trying for the next one, but we're slightly ahead of schedule this time around. May 22nd is the due date right now (Four family members that we contacted yesterday--I mistakenly said May 21st, which really isn't a big deal, but you know how I like to be accurate.), could change slightly when I have my next ultrasound to determine boy or girl. Which is actually scheduled for December 21st. I've got my second appointment tomorrow actually. Just the regular check heartbeat, my weight, etc. When I was in the icky stage, I was really hoping this baby was a boy so I could be done, but then it passed and I went straight into nesting mode, and now I'm thinking I need to keep having kids to be this productive. You wouldn't know it by all the dishes in the kitchen right now or the mess on the floor, but it's more in the creative decorative movement of things. As in, I recently painted the kids' room. Future blog post, yo.

Columbus Day

2011-10-10T20:11:00.001-07:00

Backtracking here; so on October 5th, which would have been Wednesday of last week, the day after my last post: Ada & I were in the kitchen, H at school. Seth was in the living room, and started calling out "hi". So I went to go look, and he was trying to wave me down! He was waving, and saying "hi", trying to get my attention. Once he made eye contact with me, he started walking, but wiped out pretty early. I realized he wanted to show off for me, so I set him back up to see if he would try again or not. And he did! It was so exciting! He walked 7 steps straight towards me then lunged for me, I know he would have broken his record if I had been a little farther back. But no worries, later on in the day he set a new record of 11. It was neat to see his newfound confidence, from not wanting anyone to watch him take steps, to wanting to show off. Cute. :) Since then he's been taking steps all the time. He still does not stand up on his own and start walking, he always pulls up on something first.

These two pictures are from Oct. 6th:

On Saturday Jeremy ran his first 50 mile race, Firetrails 50. He had a great race, finished 7th overall with a time of 7 hrs. 33 min. He also won the rookie award, which gives him free entry into a different 50 mile race next year in the spring! Overall, a very exciting & rewarding day for him; he said he could tell how all of his training paid off. Nothing sweeter than that. So proud of you, Jeremy!!

In October our assembly here started a two meeting schedule since it is so packed. It is as follows:
8:30am Breaking of Bread
9:30-10 snack time
10-11 Family Bible Hour
11-12 Sunday School/adult prayer time
12-12:30 snack time
12:30-1:30 Family Bible Hour
1:30-2:30 Breaking of Bread

We've been going to the afternoon set of meetings, but yesterday we went to the earlier set so we could have the younger two take a nap before we went on our mini vacation. Awhile back our credit card had sent us a promotion from Hyatt Place for a free stay. So since Jeremy had today off, we booked it for Sunday night. (Saturdays were full, so this was Plan B) We went swimming after we got there. (I don't think we would have gone if it didn't have a pool.) The kids love the water, so going swimming is a huge treat for them. Did that, then got cleaned up and headed up the road to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner. That place is always packed! Good food though. We only take the kids out to eat a few times a year as 1. it is a hassle 2. at some point the kids always turn into zombies 3. well, I think the first two points on this are sufficient.

The hotel room was nice, beds comfy. Overall a nice, free stay. It was kind of like camping in our backyard, since the hotel was not too far away, but yet it was a break from the norm. Had breakfast there as well. Watched a strange rendition of the Pied Piper (we discovered that I had never heard the story before), checked out and went to a new to us park. Here are the 3 right before we left: (gotta love terminator eyes)

Parkage:

It was fun to once again celebrate Columbus Day together, since Jeremy always has it off. Long live holidays!

Steps: Taken!

2011-10-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

Sethy boy is working his way toward walking! Yesterday he got a new PR w/4 steps. And today he was try-trying again on several occasions to beat that, and finally succeeded this evening w/7 steps! He was so excited he started doing his excited crawling with a big smile on his face. The random direction, sharp circle type crawling. He was pretty proud of himself. :) Yay, go Seth!

I can tell he is gaining confidence in his abilities. Yesterday right before his 4 step PR, he was standing and holding onto the love seat, and looked straight up at me. I gave him a smile and on purpose fixed my gaze elsewhere, keeping him in the corner of my eye. Once he decided I was no longer looking he took those four steps. Hayley saw the whole thing, and immediately started congratulating him, and he tried to hide his face from her. So funny! Today he was not quite as shy about his efforts. And still, he only does it when he wants to, not when any of his parents or sisters are trying to encourage him on.

1, 2, 3

2011-10-03T10:09:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Seth reached the 11 month mark. He's 25 lbs. Getting a little heavy to carry around! He is not as chunky as Ada was though, as he is longer and has long limbs too. Just a solid piece of boy. He's been saying "stop" and "up" a lot lately, or at least that's what it sounds like. He's been trying to practice more words, although I think because the girls talk so much he is more listening to them and watching what they do. He loves his daddy; when Jeremy comes home from work, Seth is at full attention, and sometimes will follow him around. I wonder if he knows they're the only guys? In any case, it's pretty cute, and he likes saying "da da".

That boy is such a character. He does this funny thing where he'll crawl fast in a circle, sometimes around someone/something, or else pivot his body around in a tighter circle. Then on occasion he'll try and throw his body in a completely different direction while he's crawling. The whole time he's having a blast, usually laughing or making some noise, it's pretty fun to watch. As to walking, still at two steps. He will not walk when Jeremy or I try to get him to practice. He just won't do it, never has. The only time he takes steps is when he wants to, usually at a random moment and it seems like when he thinks not too many people are watching.

Last week I grabbed a strap from the booster seat in the garage and made it work for the high chair, so meal times have been a LOT better. And now since he knows he can't get up himself, he'll do the sign & also try and say, "all done". And usually Hayley, Ada and myself will do it back to him, I don't think we can help ourselves.

Picture I took of Seth yesterday:

Ada has been a lot more expressive lately, in word form. It's neat to see her progressing and using bigger words and more complex sentences. She's at the stage where she likes to try out the bathrooms everywhere we go. Other potty training moms know about this, so I need not say more. Did you know that I have never cut Ada's hair? At first the goal was to get to 2 years, but now it's 3. It grows in such a nice, natural way that it hasn't needed to be cut, although she does have the bangs in face sometimes. But she likes wearing it down, and has learned to push it to the side.

It is neat to see the changes that she has gone through these past two and a half years, just because she has been our more spirited child. She listens and obeys, I don't have to worry about her running out into danger [i.e. the street], she has a very caring and loving heart towards her siblings, she likes to help with things. One of the neat things she does for Seth now is build a block tower specifically for him to knock down. She'll exclaim that she's building a tower for him, then when she's done she'll call him over, then claps and cheers when he knocks it over. Pretty cool.

Hayley took this picture of Ada on Saturday:

Today is Hayley's first full day of school, where she stays for lunch too. She wants to bring her own lunch to school, so we put it together this morning: PB&J, pear, water. I gave her some other options as well, but she thought that would be enough, so I told her to tell me when she gets home if she was more hungry or not. She hardly ate anything this morning, I think because she was nervous about the change in the school day for her. After she gets more comfortable with it she'll be fine. She likes knowing what to expect, likes to be familiar with the routine, etc.

Oh, funny thing on the alarm clock. It only worked to wake her up last Monday. The rest of the week it was just waking up Seth & Ada, so I turned it off. It doesn't go as long (the ringing part) as I would have liked, and it stops on its own. The alarm clock I used to have (a hand me down from my grandma) had the most annoying buzzer, and would go until you shut it off. Jeremy says the pretty alarm clocks just don't work like the ugly ones. (I got her a pink lego one.) Bummer, wish I would have known that beforehand. Add that to the parent handbook for dummies.

Ada took this picture of Hayley on Saturday. Granted, she had her finger over the flash, she's still working on that. But each time I try and load this pic, it's all cut up and weird. Not sure what's going on there.

Birthday Boy Saves the Day!

2011-09-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hayley slept through her alarm clock, I forgot to set mine on the cell phone--good thing Jeremy had his fun run at work during lunch time today so he took a shorter run this morning, which meant he didn't get up as early, and so he woke me up when he was getting up when he realized we should have been up but weren't. Long sentence there!

Happy 31st Birthday to Jeremy today!

I'm so happy to be his wife. :) He is such a great husband and father, and I respect him very much. Love it that he plays with the kiddos, does the yard work, provides for our family, is disciplined with running, works on his homework, is a Godly man, spends time with me, takes care of the vehicles. He does a lot. A hard worker he is! And with the vehicles, the past few times we've needed work done on them, he drives the truck/van to the shop, runs home, then to pick it up he runs back there. How handy is that! Thanks Jers, you're the best. :)

Hoodies

2011-09-26T22:13:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write this for awhile but keep forgetting; there is a boy in Hayley's class that is taller than her. A lot of the kids slouch against the wall while waiting for the bell to ring, which is why I didn't notice at first. But over time it became evident. When you have tall kids, you notice these things. There are quite a few kids right underneath H's height, and then quite a few shorter. I think no matter what age people are, you will always find a range of heights.

Hayley told me yesterday that she hasn't been sucking her thumb at all during the day. I know she is making an effort, so that's great! Ada on potty training has been saving #2 for pullup time at night, so we need to work on that. I remember H going through that stage as well. I don't think either of the girls have ever woken up dry from nighttime, so not even messing with that yet. Family history on both sides indicate that we should not push things in that area, they'll stay dry at night when their bodies are ready.

I bought H an alarm clock, as I thought that might help her on school mornings. Not so fond of waking up early, reminds me of myself (but now I've been waking up before the alarm). Anyways, this morning was awesome, she came out all dressed and ready to start the day, I didn't have to go in and shut off the alarm or anything, she did it all herself. I think she thrives on responsibility/independence, so this will be a good thing. It'll make the mornings a little easier for me, in that I don't have to wake her up and get her going. Now if I just had a guarantee that this will continue through the rest of her school years... the memories of me in high school; some mornings I was so exhausted and would sleep through the alarm and mom would come wake me up... then racing off to school. In the winter when it was freezing outside, my hair would be icicles by the time I reached school. It would crackle if moved. Then I would defrost inside. Probably would have been smarter to take a shower at night, but I think then I was in the morning shower zone. Now I take one whenever I can fit it in.

Oh yeah, the pic is from this morning. Some mornings the walk to school can be on the chillier side, so jackets/hoodies for the kids. Seth kept messing with Ada's ear or something, funny boy. He likes waving to people now. He totally waved to Kassandra yesterday at church! Then when he got her attention he got all shy and tried to hide on Daddy's chest. And this morning Jeremy said bye to him before leaving for work, and he told me that Seth looked at him and waved goodbye. Awww, how sweet. What is not sweet is him in his high chair--he will sit for a little bit, then tries to climb out. I need to see if we still have the seatbelt for it, or else see if I can use one from the booster chair we have. But it's one of those things where I don't think about it until we're sitting down to eat, and I'm busy with getting food out, etc.

This morning as we were walking to school, Jeremy was running the last two blocks to home, and wow, his running form is a thing of beauty. Yes, he is very attractive to me, but I'm not talking about his body, I'm talking about how he runs. He looks so graceful, so effortless. More so than a deer. Running is an art form with him; his footfalls, his stride. That is what running should look like.

Thumbsuckers Convention

2011-09-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

Title is for the pic, obviously. :) The gene they get from their Mom. Both of the girls went to the dentist recently, (and both did awesome, yay!) and at Hayley's appointment the dentist was encouraging her to lose the habit. She asked Hayley if she'd be ready to quit by Christmas. She shook her head no. A couple of other dates were mentioned, both met with the no shake. So the dentist told her she needs to quit by 6. As that's when everything starts becoming more permanent in the mouth; baby teeth start falling out, adult ones come in, something with the jaw, etc. She seems really attached, and she told me herself that it is when she is with her blanket that she can't help but suck her thumb. So I asked if we need to take it away to help her, but of course she didn't like the sound of that. She doesn't do it at school, just at home when she's snuggled up watching a show, or when we're reading a story, or at bedtime. So maybe for starters I could say the blanket stays on the bed, period. Oh yeah, 'cause sometimes it'll come along for car rides too. Just thinking out loud here for ideas. Any thoughts you guys have?

On Tuesday (20th) Seth took 2 steps. That upped his current total of 1, so I had to record it. He's done 1 step several times, so the 2 in a row was pretty cool. My guess of when he'd be walking has already passed, which is fine, he'll do it when he's ready. Seems to be a little more cautious than the girls in that area, or maybe just too busy doing other stuff. He really likes things with wheels, so cars are really cool to him, along with things that make noise or have moving parts. He likes to figure stuff out, how it works, etc. Starting more now to see the difference in our boy vs. our girls, although I think some of it is temperament/personality as well. He's cool, we all really like him. :) I think it's kind of ironic that he carries the nickname 'Seth Monster', because besides being loud on occasion, he's a very laid back child and hardly reminds you of any kind of monster. But it's a cute nickname his daddy gave him and it's stuck. And I even found Monster jammies for him that I scored on clearance awhile back; I wouldn't have been interested in them otherwise, but the nickname makes them special. :)

This pic I posted on facebook because it's hilarious; this was taken on H's first day of school, 8/25.

School is going well for Hayley, she likes it, and I think she also likes the responsibility of it. Getting to be more independent, playing with friends, learning. There have been a couple of times where she mentioned she'd like to homeschool, but I had a feeling that was because she thought she'd get to play more, and I told her nope, she was stuck. I explained that I would have to make her do work, and then she wouldn't have friends to play with at recess everyday, etc. Right now she's got her sights set on being the Star of the Week, a special recognition her teacher has to promote good behavior. She really wants it, and thinks she might get it next week since she has been really good. We'll see what happens.

Our chapel here has started a homeschooling co-op one day a week since there are SO many homeschooling families at our chapel right now. I think it's cool that they did that, definitely a good resource. There is one mom who is like me, she said she would never homeschool, but then she started a couple of years ago. So I always think of her when people ask me about school, and my new response is, "public school for now", even though I have no intention of ever homeschooling. :) You know what, if one of my kids really had a need for it, then I am sure I would do what was best for the kid. But as of now, I can't see myself being in that role. And I have nothing against homeschooling, I think it's great that so many parents are able to do it -- the teacher student ratio is certainly great. But it's kind of like pushup bras. I don't find them comfortable and so don't wear them, but I am indifferent if others wear them or not. LOL, nice analogy, huh.

Sethy boy got another tooth on the 6th, this is #8, on his bottom right. Then a couple of days later on the 8th, I noticed he had chipped his front right tooth. Fitting into the family. :) All of our kids have been pretty rough on their baby teeth, and not just knocking them out, banging them up good, but also chipping. Let's just hope they're getting all that out on the teeth they have now, and will be more gentle with their permanent teeth.

Ada has been doing great with potty training. We had our chapel retreat the 9th-11th, and she wore underwear the whole time, no accidents. Yay! I was definitely very actively involved in making sure she took regular potty breaks, but I also think it was helped by the herd mentality. Being around other kids a good chunk of the time, they took bathroom breaks together sometimes. And she is a very social person. Oh my. Especially with girls older than Hayley; there are a few who really like hanging out with Ada, and she just follows them around. Forgets to tell her parents if she's going to go off somewhere, not to mention ASK, but not that that was the hugest deal at camp, all the kids were playing together and for the most part stayed in sight. There were a few times when she was following them off to a cabin and I was like, "where's Ada?" and went and got her. And when we left on Sunday, she was hugging everyone and saying all of her goodbyes.

I am really enjoying this stage of life we are in, with the girls fairly independent by themselves and not needing too much help with things, and Seth not too mobile right now. That one to two year stage is really harder I think, just because you have to keep an eye on them ALL THE TIME. It is so fun seeing everything through their eyes in that time period, but it is also a lot of work to keep up with them. :) So right now, feels like things are busy, but manageable. And I'm enjoying all the different ages we've got going on right now, and their interactions, and things are good. I think a lot of that has to do with Ada being a lot easier, because she really was a fireball from the time she was born. And not that she isn't anymore, she just has more self-control and understands things much better, and has gone through training. I love her so much, she is such a loving little girl, very sweet and kind. Just don't get her mad at you! :) As long as she is fed and has had enough sleep, she does pretty well. Of course, that probably goes for me too. ;) I can't imagine life without any of my kids, I cherish each one of them and am so thankful for the blessing they are. A gift from God.

Lately I've been on the look-out for a desk for Hayley to keep all of her art stuff on/in and to be her designated art space. If it's the right size, I want to put it where the timeout chair is. She has for a LONG time been very much into art. Her favorite thing making up her own cards. She draws, cuts out ribbon and glues it on, does the paper punches, etc. She loves being creative and likes to have art time every day during the kids' naptime. Younger kids, that is. Although, I just announced today that Thursdays are going to be mandatory nap days for her, because we have club at church late on Weds. night, and she needs to make that sleep up. I can tell when she needs extra sleep, Moms have a sense for those kinds of things. Anyways, I saw a smaller old roll top desk at a garage sale on Saturday, and made an offer of $20 or $25 for it, and the lady said she didn't think her husband would take less than $100, maybe as low as $75. I wonder if she sold the thing, as it was definitely not worth either of those prices. No matter, I shall run into something sometime. Hayley is very sweet and likes to make cards for everyone in the family, and it'd be nice for her to have her own space. She would really dig that. She makes cards for other family members and friends sometimes, but it's hard for me to keep up with that with everything else going on, so that'll be better when she can write on the envelope who it's to, etc. Can't wait till she can read! That'll be awesome.

*update* I just told H she couldn't suck her thumb while watching tv anymore. Step 1.

Potty Training Week

2011-09-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

Last week Ada started demanding changes whenever she'd do something in her diaper, so I started telling her that on Monday she was going to start going on the potty. So starting Monday, I had her in underwear. Monday was half accidents half potty, and she did go #2 on the potty which for some kids is a big deal, so that was good. Tuesday she had more potty usage than accidents, yesterday only one accident, and today two accidents, but to counter those, I did let her take her nap in underwear just to see what would happen and she stayed dry. So overall, I am very happy with her progress, and am so thankful I waited until she was ready. I hated the fact that it took a year with Hayley, and it was because I started too soon. After that I remember reading Mrs. Duggar's book, and she was saying how she learned to wait until they could do everything themselves, and I thought, yes, that is my plan from now on! And it has worked out, and I am happy. :) My goal was to have her trained by the end of the week, and I think we are doing just fine.

It seems to have given her a new sense of self confidence, as she is accomplishing new things and becoming a big girl. I've been trying to give her lots of praise to encourage this going to the potty thing. She'll call out, "I pooped! Come see!" and I and Hayley (if she's home) will race in and talk it up. LOL, this is so funny, and only parents with little kids can truly appreciate this set of circumstances. But hey, it's my life right now, and I can talk poop if I want! Haha.

I think Ada has asked me every day now if she can go to school. It must seem so exciting to hear Hayley talk about the snacks she eats there, and playing with her special friend on the playground. Hayley says she always plays with one friend, a girl who she doesn't know her name but she pointed her out to me; she really likes her because she likes tag too and is just as fast as Hayley. It is so hard for her to find kids to play tag with, so this is huge. Hayley said one day her and her friend were talking about how the boys were eating worms, and then after she told me this she did this whole girly laugh thing, it was hilarious. I love hearing her stories from school! It has opened up a whole new side to Hayley that I haven't seen before. I am glad she likes it, and her teacher seems great, so I am thankful for that too. Yay for Hayley and school!

I think Seth Monster has been teething all week, he's been on the grumpier side, preferring more bottle feeding than eating finger foods, and is always chewing on stuff or has fingers in his mouth. He loves playing in the backyard though. I was telling someone that the girls started sneaking him out to the backyard now. He loves crawling around, exploring, and playing with all the things with wheels. He'll also climb onto the tricycle seat! And then fall off of it, but he doesn't cry. He's a pretty tough kid, from being the little guy with two older sisters who are pretty active. He plays so much better than the girls, and I think that is due to sibling placement, because Ada played better with toys than Hayley. Each subsequent kid gets used to always having people around, the background noise I suppose, and it's reassuring so they can focus on toys and the stuff around them.

I think something I said in the last post is not entirely true. About how the start of school will be the beginning of being tied down with a schedule. In some ways, yes, but also, I have not been free since I have had kids. I have to get up with them, take care of them, when they're little babies do the night feeding, etc. So I suppose it is just another area of scheduling that is factored in. And before I had kids I had jobs to go to. And before that school myself. So you know, that is life, and no matter how many schedules we have that make up our day, we still make choices of how to spend our time that we have.

First Day of School!

2011-08-25T15:03:00.001-07:00

Hayley had her first day of Kindergarten today. Pictures before we left to walk her to school:

( ^ Ada got a little sentimental and was snuggling up with big sister.)

Jenny gave me the idea of holding the grade sign, so I made a little one. :) We took this when we got back from picking her up.

She had a lot of fun! Her school days are short right now, 8-11:20am, until October. Then it'll bump up to 2:10. She's diggin the school scene of things, like I thought she would. I really enjoyed school! I think it was harder for me as a parent. I didn't think twice about it until Tuesday when we went to see her classroom and meet her teacher. It was like the 'this is for real' moment. My little girl taking her first step out into the world. I felt weird all of yesterday--just ask Jeremy, LOL. Apparently I was acting strange. :) This morning I felt better, but then after dropping her off Ada and I didn't know what to do with ourselves, so we watched some Mike Tompkins vids on youtube and other randomness. Didn't see that coming, but Jenny tells me it's normal. I suppose over time we'll get used to it.

Yesterday, I think besides having letting go pains, I was accepting the fact that my life will now revolve around school schedules for a big chunk of my foreseeable future. Getting kids to school on time, picking them up on time, going to school functions, etc. I know I have enjoyed doing things when I want for the past five years, but this will be another slightly painful yet needed character development step for me. I know it will make me be more disciplined, which is good.

Hayley is the tallest in her class. It was funny, because when the kids and I went to meet the teacher a couple of days ago, at first he thought it was Ada who would be in his class. She is tall too, so it's understandable. I was always one of the tallest in grade school as well, then in middle school things evened out. Although, the girls are taller than I was as a kid, so I think they'll be taller ones for awhile.

From our house to her classroom, it's a 10 minute walk pushing the stroller, longer if I let Ada walk. They aren't allowed to bring a backpack to Kindergarten, as they don't have to bring anything, and also there is not room to store them in the classroom.

8/23: I was laughing so hard at this little guy when he had this toy draped over himself! He likes to chew on the pen part, and it somehow must have gotten on him when he was playing with it, because when I first saw him like this he was crawling away from where he had been playing.

8/17/11

2011-08-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

8/19/11

2011-08-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

*Update* Seth's 7th tooth is through today! His top right.

Seth: 9 months

2011-08-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

Love this: seeing Daddy off to work, 7/29.

Seth reached his 9 month mark a couple of days ago. He loves crawling around super fast, slow, and in circles. He's a cutie with his toothy grin and I love it when he laughs! A happy baby (when not teething). Loves to watch those sisters and now he's into crawling over them and his parents when they are on the floor. We call it "off roading". He does that to random stuff too. He likes to stand while holding onto things, and has let go and stood by himself for a second. I predict he'll be walking slightly later than Ada, at ten and a half months. She was just after 10 months.

Seth: Tooth #6

2011-07-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

Seth's 6th tooth broke through this Weds., July 27th. It's on his top left, and he likes to use it with his other teeth to bite everything and everyone.

The Three Kids: Tonight.

2011-07-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

Hayley, freshly five, always ready with a beautiful smile:

Ada, always a plan cooking under those flaming hairs:

And if you can keep from laughing at this picture, you have some self-control! Seth Monster to the max, he was tired and he's been a teething grouch.

Movie-Like Puke

2011-07-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

This was just so crazy I had to write about it. I was out driving this morning, with a white extended cab truck in front of me. All of a sudden, a male adult passenger in the back throws open the back window and proceeds to throw up into the bed of the truck. And it wasn't just any puke, it was a fountain! Like unreal! I was staring in shock that someone could actually do that. He had a couple of fountain bursts, it was nuts. And I was thinking that it was a good thing I am not easily disturbed by such things, I know a few males that would have been throwing up themselves had they seen that spectacle. Although it was almost so fiction-looking that maybe it would have been ok. Anyway, I just had to document this sighting. For unknown reasons.

Seth: tooth #5

2011-07-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

Seth surprised us with his fifth tooth popping through on June 30th, it is on his lower left. He's got such a toothy smile now with all his teeth, it's cute! And he is totally into table food now, loves to eat.

Seth: tooth #4

2011-06-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

Seth's tooth broke through today, yay! This is his upper right.

8th Anniversary today! Love you, Jeremy. :)

2011-05-31T14:36:00.000-07:00

Seth pulled himself to standing for the first time last night! I took this picture today. And he crawls a lot faster now. Goes for everything he's not supposed to, of course. :)

I like this picture of the girls; I took it on 5/25.

Crawling, Running

2011-05-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

Today, Seth's top left tooth broke through the gum; also, he is officially crawling! Monday of last week he could get to anything he wanted by a combination of lunges from the all fours position, a slight variation of army crawling, rolling, and the sit and swivel. Since then he has been working on perfecting the classic crawling style, and today he was a crawling machine. Doing the crawling motions in succession made it "official". :) And now he is all over the place w/speed!

Two weekends ago we went on our annual May trip with the Valencias. Our fifth year now! We visited the central coast, it was pretty. We visited the beach three times, (a different beach each time) the middle one being an evening bonfire. That was something I've always wanted to do! You could even drive out on this beach if you had four wheel drive. (I yearned for the Jeep!) The weekend went by way too fast.

This past Saturday Jeremy ran from our house to San Francisco. 44.3 miles.

May 20th: We had just turned on HGTV's House Hunters show, and it was near the end; we all guessed which house the couple would buy. Jeremy won. Hayley said to him, "Maybe you have a better brain than us." Jeremy replied, "Oh, that was never in question."

Race Weekend / H & S Stats

2011-05-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, Jeremy and I each ran a race. I did the Mermaid 5k on Saturday, and he did the PCTR 30k on Sunday. He won his. :)

I was happy with my performance though, I thought getting under 40 minutes for me in this state of fitness and weight was a good goal, and I did it! 39:46, so just barely. :) This was my second 5k. The first one I ran was in November of 2009; Ada was 10 months old and I weighed 150 lbs. That was up in San Francisco, and my time was 33:13. This time around I am 20 lbs heavier at 170, Seth is 6 months old, and I have not been running as much. I was still happy with my time, and am really glad I did it! Now I hope to fulfill my goal of first trail race sometime this fall. I'm eyeing a couple, so I'll have to see which one works out better with timing and such. Obviously, it would help me if I practiced running more, as that would get me in better shape, and help me loose some unwanted extra weight. :)

Hayley had her physical for kindergarten on April 26th, and her stats were: 42.1 lbs and 45 inches tall.

Seth had his six month check up on May 2nd, and his stats were: 18 lbs 10 oz, 27 1/4 inches tall.

*News Flash* Seth sat up all on his own for the first time this morning! He's already done it a couple more times. Which puts him in between the girls at the age of sitting up. Hayley was six months, Ada was 6 3/4, and Seth is 6 months and a week.

He has been getting up on all fours for awhile now... can't remember when exactly that started, but it was a little before he turned 6 months old. He really wants to move! He probably will put it all together soon enough, seems like once they learn to sit they learn to crawl pretty quickly after that. Exciting times!

May 4th Photo Op

2011-05-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

The kids. All with their own unique personalities. Something you realize for the first time when you have your second kid: God does not make kids exactly alike. Go figure.
I love each of mine very much! I feel so blessed to have them in my life. God is good!

2 New Photos: The girls with their brother.

2011-04-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

[4/16] Seth thought this was pretty cool!

[4/18] That boy loves to chew on things right now. :)

It is so sweet seeing the girls loving on their brother, they are both very kind and caring towards him.

Seth Sitting

2011-04-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

So on Thursday after my last post, Seth starting sitting for longer periods of time. Also that afternoon & evening he got up on his hands and knees at the same time twice, both when he was mad on the floor and wanted to be picked up. He's pretty happy being able to sit longer now! Although since that is the case, sometimes now he forgets about catching himself when he starts to topple over. Before he would gracefully glide to the floor; now he has the occasional head bang. Part of the learning process!

Seth Monster Eats

2011-04-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

Seth really likes to sit and play now, but the only catch is he needs someone to put him in the seated position. He can stay like that for around a minute now. That boy can roll like crazy though! And he's been getting up on his knees more and more. Sitting and crawling are definitely in the near future! Such a fun stage.

Yesterday he had his first taste of peas. It was hilarious. I sat him on the table in front of me, hanging on to him with my left hand and wielding the spoon with my right. I put just a tiny bit in.... and he didn't do anything. ! He just sat there with his mouth hanging open like usual. So Hayley and Ada and I started to demonstrate how to smack his lips together and eat, and he got this smile on his face and kept looking at all of us. We probably looked pretty funny, and I think he was enjoying the attention. Once Hayley brought the camera over to take a picture, he started mouthing the food. :) He ate just a tiny bit, but I wasn't expecting more than that.

A month ago I let him try some of the rice cereal, he just pushed it out. Between that and the peas, I've let him gnaw on a few apple and pear pieces which he was totally into. For some reason the girls think that is pretty cool, because every time I cut up an apple or pear for them, Hayley asks me if I can let Seth chew on the core. (I always hold onto it for him.)

Speaking of Hayley; her whole 'hee haw' production was totally her, she came up with that all by herself. Since it got so many laughs, she has been practicing it more. I told her she should come up with some more lines, so we brainstormed other things that go on at a farm.

Life with kids is never boring! :)

"Elemy"

2011-04-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

Seth: He's been a happier baby now that his two bottom teeth have popped through. I haven't been wearing him on my back hardly at all this week! He's been happy to exercise on the floor and play with his toys a lot.

Ada: I love 2 year olds. She says things in such a cute way that only two year olds can. :) Her vocabulary expands by the day it seems like. She's a fun girl!

Hayley: She is a character. (As you'll see in the video.) She likes to go on runs with me after I put the younger kids to bed, although Ada is usually still awake when we get back. It's a good way for the two of us to have some one on one time.

Skyline to the Sea, 2011

2011-04-12T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hayley took this picture of Jeremy after his 50k race this past Sunday:

He's sporting his finisher medal, and also got a 3rd place ribbon for his age group. He placed 4th overall! (He also got a pretty cool shirt too, that he picked up after this pic.) What a different race for him than last year! Like night and day. Last year at the end his water bottle fell out of his waist belt near the end, and he was really thirsty when he reached back for it and realized it wasn't there... and it was a ways before the next aid station. Not a fun way to end a 50k race!

With another year's training under his belt, and a better training schedule at that, he was even more physically ready to take on this race. That coupled with the perfect running weather made for a fantastic run. He was happy with his performance, and I'm pretty proud of him! :) He also said running those trails on some of his Saturday long runs helped better familiarize him with that section of trails as well. It does help to know what to expect.

Curious about his training regimen? 70 miles a week.

It's All About Food

2011-04-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the 'secret blog' is listed on my profile page, as well being the 'TLC' link on my Links area. Not so secret anymore, wahoo! :)

Santa Cruz on Sunday; Seth's 2nd tooth popped in today!

2011-04-06T21:02:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures from our beach trip this Sunday. Ada's first time going on the rides!

And Seth got his bottom left tooth in today. :)

Seth: five months old today!

2011-04-02T17:20:00.000-07:00

He has been enjoying chewing his toes for a couple of weeks now. That kind of flexibility looks painful!

Growing Up, Youngest & Oldest.

2011-03-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

~This morning I felt Seth's gum, and his bottom right tooth had broken through! Yay for first tooth!
~Shortly after, he started playing peek-a-boo with the blanket! I was surprised he knew that already! It was really cute, and he was pretty proud of himself. :)
~This morning at Target when we were in line at the checkout, Hayley asked if she could go to the bathroom. I was surprised that she wanted to go by herself, but I said yes, as I could see the bathroom entrance from where I was and it wasn't too busy in the store. (This one is five minutes from our house so she's familiar with it.) She did it, and she was proud of herself. :)

Sunny Days Again

2011-03-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

We have sun again! Yesterday we went to the park in the morning and really enjoyed that.

Here are a couple of pictures from the end of our rainy week. This was taken on Friday; boxes are always fun to a kid! Endless possibilities. Seth was pretty stoked getting to sit in this one with Hayley. He kept feeling the sides and looking all around, it was cute.

Saturday--the three.

Yesterday Seth got up on his knees a few times. Pretty exciting! He's blowing the girls out of the water with his earliness in movement.

The Bunny Pic

2011-03-25T09:54:00.000-07:00

On Monday or Tuesday I put the high chair in the garage. I realized that I needed to free it up for Seth in a month or two. Ada had been eating breakfast and lunch in a regular chair anyway, I just used it for dinner with her. She was excited at the change. :) She eats the fastest of anyone, so it has been less annoying this way; before I'd have to take off and find room for the tray. At this age, there is no point trying to make them sit until everyone is done, especially w/slower eaters in the family. (Hayley and myself! :) )

Here is another picture of the kiddos from Monday, I can just imagine Seth saying, "Hey, where's my sucker?!"

I rearranged the living room again on Weds. It happens a few times a year. This picture captures Ada's copying-ness right now. She copies Hayley a lot these days.

Seth likes the exersaucer as long as it's a time span of under ten minutes.

I really like this picture!

Things he's been up to lately: chewing on his toes, and sleeping on his side. His bottom gum feels a little swollen, so I think a tooth is on its way. As in, eventually. :) Oh yeah, Ada calls Seth "Buddy" sometimes, because I do. And sometimes she'll refer to him as "brother". And he loves it when Hayley sits down beside him and talks to him. He loves those sisters! He also likes to kick: his bathtub, doors, walls, couch/chair--anything his feet can reach. He's been grabbing objects w/his hands a lot these days as well.

This week w/the rain, we played this game at least once a day: I hold Seth facing outward, his bottom in my right hand, and my left arm around his chest; and we chase the girls around the house. Seth gets into it now, kicking and happy squeals. And of course the girls love to be chased. Without Seth in the equation the game is called 'Monster' and I chase and tickle them. Ok, we still refer to it as 'Monster' if Seth is involved, you caught me. Good times. :)

Rainy Week

2011-03-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

It's supposed to rain all week. Tis the rainy season! I let the girls hold Seth on the love seat today for a little photo op. He's pretty heavy, they could only last a very short time. :)

On Saturday I gave Seth his first haircut. It was just a trim around both ears, as his hair was growing over his ears. I just did a few snips while he was in his bath; he's a wiggly baby so it isn't perfect, but at least he's looking sharper. ;) And I realized afterwards that he had his first haircut before Ada! He's lost quite a bit of hair in his babyhood so far, but I hear that is quite normal. I don't think I noticed so much with the girls, as they both had lighter colored hair, and a lot less to begin with.

A week or two ago I started wearing him on my back in the Ergo when he gets fussy and just wants to be held, but isn't quite tired enough to lay down. It's been awesome for getting dishes and cooking done. Which I need to go do now w/him! Ta ta.

Nails

2011-03-16T22:33:00.001-07:00

Yesterday at Target I decided to do something fun and new, and let Hayley pick out a new color of nail polish. She really wanted a blue, so she picked this one. She also thought it'd be cool if I did all of her nails in alternating colors with the one other polish we had at home, the pink her Aunt Jenny had given her for a birthday. I was going to paint Ada's too, just blue though, but she took an extra long nap. And instead of after dinner painting, we decided to walk to the park. Maybe today though. I've painted her toe nails before, but never her fingernails. I like practicing nail painting! Can't stand to wear it myself, but it's fun to put on the girls as they enjoy it. :)

Let's March

2011-03-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been almost a month since my last post. Seth Monster has changed a lot in that time! (That's Jeremy's nickname for him, and it's stuck. :) ) He moves around a lot more, and a few times he's tried several rolls in a row to get to one of the girls. He loves those sisters of his! They're fun to watch. :)

He had his four month appointment on 2/28, and he was 16 lbs 10 oz and 26 in long. He was slightly lower on his weight curve, and I mentioned how he spits up a lot to the Dr. She said it usually isn't an issue unless the baby is feeling discomfort and is actually vomiting as opposed to a happy spitter upper which is what Sethy boy is. (Hayley sometimes calls him 'Sethy', as I think I may have a few times. Her pronunciation of his name is 'Seff', it's cute.) She said what Jeremy's mom told me, that usually they're a lot better at 6 months because they can sit up on their own, and also eating solids helps. (He seems to be like his daddy in the spit-up department.)

Right now, that kid is always needing to chew on something! And he's a crazy drooler like Hayley was. On sleeping at night, he's very off and on with that. More nights that he wakes up than not. But not a huge deal. We went through our sickness spell this week with the girls, Hayley started showing symptoms last Saturday with a low grade fever, but otherwise she seemed fine. When I came home from church on Sunday though, she was definitely not fine. Lots of coughing, losing her voice, sore throat, body ache, loss of appetite, whining, lethargic. I felt bad for her this past week, but the whining was definitely getting to me. At one point she said she hurt her thumb flushing the toilet, that's what kind of little things she was throwing out there. Ya.

Today she was so much better, although still coughing. Ada caught it in the middle of the week, but it mellowed her out. Except she had a hard time one night. She seems to be getting over it a lot faster, but she's not quite there yet. Oh, one night Hayley went sleep walking before Jeremy and I went to bed. Nothing new, she's done that before, but this time she went and laid down behind Jeremy's recliner in the living room. When I picked her up, she said in a clear voice, "I can walk", but she was still asleep! When I told her about it the next day, she didn't remember anything. I know I sleep walked at least once when I was a kid--I woke up in the middle of the night standing in front of our front door, thankfully on the inside. :)

Thankfully Jeremy, Seth and I seem to be unscathed, which is a blessing. I think we did pass over a big chunk of sicknesses after Seth was born, purely for the fact that we were staying home a lot more from church and other places outside the home. This was really the only thing that's hit besides the usual colds, so that is good. It is so scary when babies get sick! Not a good thing. I thank God that Seth has been a healthy baby.

Jeremy has been enjoying the fruit of his labors lately, in that he has placed very high in the last two trail races he's competed in. 3rd and 4th overall, and 2nd and 1st in his age group. Pretty exciting! He did get beat by a girl in the last one, I like to tease him about that. :) Girl power! LOL. Don't be fooled, there are some amazing female athletes out there, and trail and ultra racing seems to even out the playing field a bit. Jeremy is still a stud though. :) I'm proud of him! I see how dedicated he is, it is inspiring. Keep it up, JJ!

I've read a couple of good books lately, not counting all the cookbooks I've leafed through. That's my system, I check them out at the library and copy down any recipes that look good. If there are enough recipes that tempt me, then it is worth putting on my wishlist. Anyways, the two I read are The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are by Kevin Leman and Five Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter. A lot of good food for thought.

Here are a few pics I took since my last post:

Jeremy's parents came out to visit us end of last month, we had a lot of fun with them! That'll have to be its own post. :)

Zombie Apocalyptic Athleticism

2011-02-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

I really wish Jeremy would start a running blog! If you think that would be cool too, leave a comment about it so he'll see it. :) I think it would be great if he took along a camera to capture all the sunrises he's seen up on hilltops, all the beautiful views. Plus sharing all his running tips. He does a lot of research and is full of information. Thankfully for me, I have a great running coach. :) His newest thing is running with just the nose--as in, breathing in and out only with the nose. There are three things the nose does for you that the mouth can't: it cleans the air, humidifies the air, and I think warms the air was the third? Maybe it was something else. Anyway, breathing in and out with just the nose controls your breathing, so you can absorb more oxygen from the air you're breathing in, as well as getting rid of more CO2. Apparently that is why you can only sprint for so long before you have to stop, is the fact that your body can't get rid of the CO2 fast enough. Which is why you'll usually open your mouth for anaerobic activities. Short bursts of activity--sprinting, weight lifting, sit ups, etc.

So, I went running last night. Jillian has motivated me with her new blog, cataloging all of her daily workouts. I hadn't run for two weeks, bad, I know, so I knew it was time to jump back into it. Coach Jeremy hooked me up with a route, he said it was around three miles. Ha! I just gmap pedometered it, and the route was 3.7. I ran 3.2 of it, breathing through my nose the whole time, then I had to walk the last bit home, I was getting really tired and my form was getting bad so I figured it would just be better to walk than try and butcher my steps the rest of the way. It took me 45 minutes to run the 3.2. Running with the Vibrams, your feet do get tired since you are working them out. But it's good, I love running with them--they're so light! And today, I don't feel as sore as I thought I would, maybe that will hit tomorrow, who knows. I've been trying to use all of Jeremy's tips: run with good posture, no hunching over, take light and quick steps, breath in and out with the nose. Oh, and trying to get a good foot fall --no heel striking. That will give you shin splints.

As for the title, I suppose you've been wondering what that is about. I hope Jeremy doesn't mind that I share this, it was just too cool of a phrase to pass up! So on Saturday he was out for his long run, and was at the top of a hill with a trio of mountain bikers. They could see the ocean and were talking about how it'd be cool if there was a trail down to the beach, as the preserve ended at that point. Jeremy mentioned how he ran from his house to the ocean, and one of the guys said that was "zombie apocalyptic type athleticism".

A day with the three.

2011-02-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

This morning I decided to go to the mall. I had a buy one get one free coupon for Gap Outlet, that I thought was only good for today, and also a coupon for Old Navy. Also, I thought it would be nice to get out of the house. :) So we went and strolled around the Gap Outlet store, didn't see anything too exciting that I absolutely had to have. Found a couple of clearance shirts for Hayley, so w/the coupon they would have been $4 apiece. I go to pay, and the cashier tells me that my coupon is for the 12th. OOPS. Slightly embarrassing! Usually I am all about the details, but somehow I missed the biggest one for that. LOL. So I left the shirts. Not sure if I'll be back on the 12th or not, but I'm thinking probably not.

For kids' shirts, I usually don't pay more than $6. Carters, Old Navy, OshKosh B'Gosh, Target & Kohl's are my big 5 for kids' clothes, and sometimes Gap & Children's Place as well. I'm all about the savings. My favorite mall is the outlet mall, as that's where the deals are. Jeremy's favorite is the really nice one that is good for window shopping. :) Sometimes I wonder what Jeremy would do if I wasn't here, as in clothing the kids. If he would go to one store and say, "Ok kids, grab five shirts you like and two pairs of pants, and these are your clothes for the fall." Or if he'd wait till they asked, like, "Dad, my knees are getting cold because of the holes, and my ankles too because these jeans are too short. Can I have a new pair?" LOL, jk, I know he'd take care of them. I can see him doing the one store thing. I like shopping so I go all over. Well, all of those stores I mentioned are at the outlet mall, except for Target, so it's not like I'm really going all over.

Anyways, back to my mall visit today. Found some good deals at Old Navy, so it was worth the trip. I love shopping in the morning M-Th, as it is nice and quiet. Go on any given afternoon or F-Su, and it is a lot busier. The girls like walking around the mall, but they get bored while I shop, so I usually bring snacks to buy some time. And we don't go shopping too much, so it works out. The key to shopping with kids is your expectations. Like today, I would have loved to stroll around and visit a few more stores just to look around, but I knew after two they were done and I'd be pushing it. Always when I shop, I carry Seth in the pack, and Ada is strapped in the stroller. Hayley usually walks half the time and rides the other half. At the mall anyway. In stores, Ada is in the cart and Hayley walks. It works, we've got our system down. As long as Ada can't run off anywhere, we're good! :)

I did forget to mention how our shopping trip started out, which was my whole reason for starting this post. So we were walking through the store we entered the mall through, and H was walking behind me; all of a sudden I hear a noise and "OW!" and then crying. She had walked straight into a table that was in the middle of the aisle holding displays, and smacked her head. My poor Hayley! After consoling her and drying her tears, I asked if she had been looking at her feet as she was following me, and she said yes. She must have veered off course a little. Sometimes I do wonder about her though, because she's had stuff happen to her like that before. Maybe vision is not quite as good in one eye or something? But she does other things really well that require hand-eye or foot-eye coordination, so I'm not too concerned that that is the case. Maybe she is more of a daydreamer or something like that, where she is not quite paying enough attention to her surroundings. And I can be a bit of a klutz, so it could be blamed on genes.

I cut her hair this afternoon while the younger two were napping. She really needed a haircut. Part of her hair was trying to be wavy, and others were straight, and she needed at least a trim, and she has also had this piece missing that she cut out shortly after Seth was born. I'm probably the only one that ever noticed the piece missing. She did NOT want me to cut her hair, I think she dislikes that sort of change. I knew it had to be shorter, and I decided to cut bangs because her hair there is not too thick and doesn't grow as long. I really like it because now I can see her pretty face, and it'll be a lot easier to take care of. I think after she showered and I put mousse in, she was liking it too. Here she is all showered and moussed:

I should have taken another tonight when it was dry, but I'm sure I will sometime. She was moving around a lot during the cut, but I think it turned out ok. I still have yet to cut Ada's hair, I don't know when that will happen. I guess for her, there hasn't been a reason to yet. Maybe Aunt Jenny will get the honors when we visit. :)

Hayley has made comments before about marrying Daddy or Seth, and tonight she brought up how she wanted to marry Seth. And I told her she couldn't because he was her brother, so she said, "Then I wish I would have married Daddy." and I said, "You can't marry him either because you're his kid." to which she exclaimed, "But there is no one like Daddy!" And I smiled and agreed, "You are right." Kids look up to their Dad a lot! A big role to fill. And Hayley says that when she has a boy, she's going to name him Seth too. She mentions sometimes that she is looking forward to Blake so Seth can have a brother. She used to be of the opinion that her and Ada needed another sister at some point, but now she seems to be content with just one more brother. Probably because sometimes Jeremy and I wonder aloud of we'll be done with kids if we have a boy next. And I think maybe now she is realizing that with each kid comes less attention for her from the parents. Only God knows what the future holds. :)

The girls couldn't love Seth anymore than they do though--I'm pretty sure at this point they would do anything for him. Today after the mall, we had time to go to a park. So I told the girls that's where we were headed, and that when we got there I would feed Seth and then we'd go play. We parked and I picked him up out of his seat, and oh wow, major blowout. I had extra clothes for him, but it would have been a huge undertaking to change him there. And he had leaked onto his seat cover too. So I told the girls I was really sorry, but that we would have to head home to change Seth. They were very understanding; I was somewhat surprised that Ada was as understanding as she was, she did not complain at all. She's really matured a lot lately in that area. She can spot spit up from a mile away, LOL. Not too fond of all the grossness that babies put out, but she can anticipate a need and will grab me a burp cloth on her own initiative.

mise en place

2011-02-09T23:55:00.000-08:00

Joy posted this blueberry muffin recipe on fb the other day, and I finally tried it tonight. I so did not have my "mise en place" going on with the blueberries though. I've had this half-used bag of frozen blueberries sitting in my freezer for awhile; actually, I can't remember how long exactly they've been in there. Possibly pre-Ada? I did not check them before I started, and it came time to add the blueberries, and they were...not good. What was I thinking?! I had to come up with a fast solution, so I grabbed some pitted dates and threw them in the food processor and added a cup of those to the batter. Batter tasted really good, and the cooked muffins do taste ok, but definitely not a favorite. (I'll have to try them again w/blueberries sometime.) Oh well! I'm sure the girls & Jeremy will enjoy polishing them off. :)

So you don't go away scared, I want to assure you, I do not have a lot of things in my freezer that have been in there for years. I think the blueberries were it; we just don't eat a lot of frozen blueberries. Well, obviously. :)

You know, I think my girls are really pretty. But they sure like to try and mess their faces up! Not on purpose, but it does seem like they get a good portion of accidents to their faces. Although, they have a lot of accidents, period. So maybe it's proportional. Anyways, on Friday, we had gotten home from a park playdate, and after having a bite to eat I let the girls play in the backyard for a little bit before Ada's nap, since I was going to feed Seth. As I was on my way to collect Ada, she comes in crying, and I see blood start to seep out of a couple spots on her face. Hayley filled me in on what happened. (Ada had wiped out on the "slider", as Hayley calls it--it's a short banana seat w/handles & four wheels that a little kid can sit on and scoot along.) Thankfully they weren't deep, but it would help to have band-aids on them. Not a good spot for that though! I pinned Ada down to try (she was really tired and fighting the bandaging), but they weren't sticking well enough so I finally gave up. Made sure they got a covering of ointment though. The good news is that kids' owies heal exceptionally well.

Seth is definitely teething now, as he had some drool action today. And he has been chewing on everything for at least a week now. Blankets, burp cloths, his hands, my hands, etc. And he was sleeping through the night for a little while there, but I didn't get to enjoy all of that as Ada, on a few of those nights, woke us up at like 3am saying "eat!" over and over, only she was too tired to eat. Then she quit, and Seth started waking up once or twice a night again to eat. LOL! Oh well, he's still our easiest. :)

2/3/11

2/5/11

2/8/11

2/9/11

Today, Ada had me so scared. We were leaving the library and had just reached the van; I let go of Ada's hand to get the keys out of my pocket--normally I would have switched hands with her, but it was full of books. As I was pressing the buttons and the doors were sliding open, she took off as fast as she could, her book in hand. I could not believe it! She was running straight into the part of the lot where the cars go by. (The parking lot is in somewhat of an 'L' shape, and it's a one-way.) I yelled, "Ada! Ada stop!! ADA!" as I'm running after her. I had Seth on me in the carrier so I couldn't move as fast. She finally stopped, I think primarily because she didn't know where to go from there, and also maybe I had scared her a bit with my really really loud yelling. So I reach her and grab her arm, and I was so mad and thankful that she is ok all at the same time. She drops her book and sits. I'm trying to pull her up with my one free hand and have her pick up the book at the same time. Finally get her back to the van and in her seat. She was pretty worked up by then, and I let her know that it was not ok to run out in the parking lot, and again when we got home. I don't know what she was thinking!!! She hasn't done that before, so I wasn't expecting that when I let go of her hand. I always held her hand so she wouldn't get any ideas, but I guess that was one second of idleness too much for her to resist. I was thanking God that no cars were coming! Scary to think about.

Seth: 3 months old!

2011-02-02T22:51:00.000-08:00

It's already February! Our little boy has changed so much already in these past three months. January 17th he found his thumb, so he fits in between the girls on gaining that skill. (Hayley was three months, Ada 1 month.) After that he rolled from his tummy to his back. (Beat both of the girls on that one, they were both around 4 months before any rolling over action.) Also around two and a half months he started sleeping eight to nine hour stretches at night, and last week started sleeping through the night, although some nights he still wakes up for a feeding. Definitely the easiest baby we've had so far! We were a little worried around the 1 month mark that he might follow in Ada's footsteps with the colic crying every night, but thankfully it was not to be. He reminds me a lot of Hayley when she was a baby. He also looks more like her too.

Random photo here from Saturday, our purchases from the Farmer's Market:

I thought it was pretty. I shouldn't have bought the grapes, they weren't good because they aren't in season! Not sure why I did. Otherwise, all good buys.

Took a photo of the boy today:

He is such a cutie!
Also, I know everyone gets excited with all of our kids' dark blueish eye color, but my guess is his will turn brown just like the girls' did. :) I like brown eyes!
He is also "talking" a lot more now too, I love it! He tries to get a word in around the girls, LOL. He loves it when they come over and talk to him; Hayley does more than Ada, but he still gets the love from Ada. And she is a lot better around him now, careful-wise. When he first came home, she was all cautious around him for a week or two, then switched to not so much, then back to cautious, then back to not so much, and now she's been a lot better for awhile. She also has matured during these past few months, so I think that helps as well. She's not the baby anymore! Just our crazy red headed middle child who likes to stab bananas, tomatoes, and avocados with knives. Just putting the warning out there in case she is ever at your house. ;) I love her so much though! All my kids, I am so thankful for. Children truly are blessings from the Lord!

New Year's Eve Hike

2011-01-18T23:29:00.000-08:00

This was at Monte Bello Open Space Preserve; the trail we were on is one Jeremy frequents. We hiked to the top of Black Mountain.

Ada's 2nd Birthday

2011-01-10T16:14:00.000-08:00

Ada had her birthday yesterday, and I had to share this video. She's been using so many more words lately. My favorite part of this clip is when she says, "Happy Birthday, to Ada" :) . And then we all laugh. We love our little redhead, even if she is a ball of fire sometimes! :) I took her to her well visit today at the Dr.'s office. She did pretty well overall; she got to wear a little hospital gown, and it was so cute and I wish I had had my camera on me! Her stats were: 31.4 lbs and 3'1" tall.

Jeremy's Cypress to the Sea Run

2011-01-08T21:36:00.000-08:00

Today, January 8th, 2011, Jeremy made one of his running goals a reality: to run from our house to the ocean.

53 miles total, the first eight being paved sidewalks and streets; the rest, trails.

This quest was not accomplished without much training and dedication to the sport of trail running. Jeremy, at age thirty, is in the best shape of his life.

Today, his morning began at 5:30am, as his started off on this endeavor.

His crew met up with him at "the Gap", Saratoga Gap to be exact. This was around the halfway point for him; and even though the crew was fifteen minutes early for the appointed time, he had already been waiting half an hour--he was flying! The crew arrived at 10:45am with sustenance and dry clothing.

A laugh at the girls' Hello Kitty watch he borrowed to keep track of the time.

Caloric intake.

Father and Son. "Maybe Seth and I will run this together someday; if he even wants to do something like this."

11:10am--off to seek the ocean at the end!

The crew heads home for a bit. The crew leader thinks of how much fun it would be to drive on the curvy roads with a manuel. Like a nice sports car. The crew leader decides she is thinking this because of watching the BBC's Top Gear on Netflix lately.

The crew arrives at the beach.

"There's Jeremy!" "Daddy!!!" "Daddy!!!" As he materialized from the sea of green on the other side of highway one.

"Who wants to come touch the water with me?"

Tired.

"It feels good to sit down."

Subconsciously, I think the girls were wanting to commemorate this momentous occasion. Or maybe it was the crew leader who suggested this activity.

In any case, stones were moved.

Roughly ten hours of running, hiking, moving, and Jeremy completed his quest to run from house to ocean. All in a day's work. We thank God for keeping him safe and giving him this ability to run and push himself to achieve new goals.

Food

2011-01-05T23:15:00.000-08:00

First off, our new favorite pumpkin pie. I found this recipe in the fall, while looking through the small packet of coupons that started coming in the mail with the store fliers last year. This recipe caught my eye, especially for the fact that I had never eaten (or maybe even seen) a pumpkin pie with a topping. I was very intrigued.

So I made it four times, twice in November and twice in December. And I also made my usual, the recipe on the back of the 15 oz can of Libbey's pumpkin, just to compare. Topping wins. Other people besides our family ate it. They seemed to like it too, so I think it's a winner. The recipe stated it was #1 on allrecipes.com, but it did take a little searching to find it. So maybe not technically #1? Here is the link for this pie; I couldn't find the addition of the the topping, I'm sure it's a link somewhere on the page, but I didn't look too hard. I'll post it here: 1/2 cup flour & 1/2 cup brown sugar mixed; cut in cold 1/4 cup butter, then stir in 1/4 cup chopped nuts. (I used closer to 1/2 cup, and I chose chopped walnuts.) After pie has baked 30 minutes at 350, sprinkle topping on pie and bake additional 10 minutes.

And for those of you who haven't made pumpkin pie before, ALWAYS let the pie cool at least two hours before eating. I prefer it chilled from the fridge for a bit after the two hour cooling time. Pumpkin pie is easy to make, and it is super yummy with Cool Whip. :) I've found I like the Pillsbury Pet-Ritz's 9 inch deep dish pie crusts the best. I've made my own crust a few times (I did today, and that is included further down), but frozen crusts make making pie so much easier. And since I've learned I'm not so skilled at carrying a full pie crust filled with pumpkin pie filling, I do this: when I've got the filling mixed, I put the pie crust on a baking sheet, then I open the oven, pull out the rack halfway and place the baking sheet w/pie crust on the end of rack; grab bowl of pumpkin pie mixture and pour into the crust, then slowly ease the rack back in and position the pan in the middle.

I made fennel for the first time on 12/10/10. This came from the Farmer's Market, which we started utilizing more this fall. I thought this picture was pretty, so I posted it.

Sweet Potato Casserole created by my friend Shelly. She had been looking at recipes online, and then tweaked one to this fabulous favorite of mine. I got permission from her to post it. :) I love it a LOT.

2 Large Cans of candied yams/sweet potatoes
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten

Topping:
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup butter
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.

2. In a large bowl, mix together mashed sweet potatoes, 1/2 cup butter, milk, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Spread mixture into the baking dish. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and flour. Cut in 1/3 cup butter until mixture is crumbly, then stir in pecans. Sprinkle pecan mixture over the sweet potatoes.

3. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven or until golden brown.

Now on to Jeremy's new favorite, this stuffing. This too came from friends--Karen to Shelly to me. Karen had found it in Sunset magazine a few years ago, and it took off from there.

Here is the link for the stuffing recipe.

I made our Christmas dinner the day after Christmas, and here were the four sidekicks for the turkey.

Leftovers on the 27th. :) And beyond, but this is when I thought to take a pic. And I know my fork is on the wrong side, but we don't point fingers at forks here. LOL.

One of our new favorite snacks we discovered this fall. SO good, and better for you than crackers. And chips for that matter, but we don't buy chips all that much, mostly for camping trips/parties, etc. Anyways, these are really yummy and they satisfy my need for a crunchy snack.

And today I made a new pie, in more ways than I was planning, lol. I started with the recipe for apple pie in my Good Housekeeping cookbook, because I didn't think I had tried that one before. I made their pie crust, a new recipe to me as well. I decided to use the topping from the pumpkin pie recipe above on this, as I usually use some type of topping on my apple pies as I don't care for a top crust that much. So I had everything mixed, the topping, filling to mix in with the apples, and I made the pie crust and put it in the pie pan. Then I went to the fridge for the apples, and there were only three! Oops! I realized I hadn't grabbed apples for Jeremy to take to work when we were at the store on the weekend, and I had forgotten to tell him I was going to use these ones for a pie. They were good-sized, and I had a pear, so I thought with the pear I could make it work. And guess what--it was really good with the addition of the pear! Funny how some cooking adventures happen by accident. This was a good one, as I would like to try another apple-pear pie sometime. I told Jeremy they pared well together. Get it? Haha.

As you can see, we ate half the pie after dinner this evening. Usually I give the girls half a slice each, but they had eaten well at dinner and I was feeling generous. :) For dinner we had ribs, and the girls have always loved ribs. I used to put ribs in the crock pot with KC Masterpiece and a little bit of water, but then I wanted to try something new at some point last year, and found a new recipe. I adjusted it a tad to this:
4 lbs pork spareribs
2 c. ketchup
2 c. water
1/4 c. worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. white vinegar
1/2 c. dark brown sugar
4 tsp dry mustard
1 large white onion, thinly sliced

place ribs in single layer in baking dish
mix rest of ingredients and pour over ribs
cover tightly with foil
bake for 3 hours

The first time I squeezed it in a 9 x 13, but not all of the sauce fit, so I switched to my big roasting pan the second time around and on after that.

I like blogging about food, as food is near and dear to everyone I know. Just ask my dad what his favorite cake is, and he'll tell you about this incredible cheesecake that he had at his cousin's something or other years ago. It made an impression on him that he never forgot. So much so, that I never forgot, and I wasn't even alive to taste the thing.

Seth's Two Month Appointment Today

2011-01-03T23:25:00.000-08:00

He weighed 14 lbs 14 oz, and measured just a bit over two feet in length. And praise the Lord, the timing worked out perfectly with his schedule, and he did awesome throughout the appointment and getting his vaccinations. I love my little boy! I love everything about him. :)

Yee Haw!

2010-12-22T12:39:00.001-08:00

The girls and I just watched all the elf videos on Tab & Olivia's blogs, and we just had to throw one together ourselves. :)
Here's the picture I used. I wasn't sure how it worked so I just picked one with all of us in it, but you can use a different picture for each elf. We're at the limit of five now though.

This picture is from the 4th of this month.

A little December update

2010-12-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

12/9

12/9

12/11

12/12

12/12

12/12

12/12

12/12

12/12

12/12

12/14

12/16

We put up our tree Sunday evening on the 12th. Had our peppernuts and egg nog. The tree and ornaments got taken down and put away the next morning after Ada pulled it over and broke an ornament. She couldn't leave it alone Sunday evening, and she wasn't leaving it alone Monday morning. Even though she got in trouble each time, it didn't phase her--the pull of the glistening tree was too strong!

Jeremy and I wrapped presents last night and put them up on the coat rack shelf; we can look at them, and they're safe from Ada up there. :)

The excitement never ends.

2010-12-14T23:26:00.000-08:00

You know, it's ironic. Earlier today I was writing a blog post in my head (I do that a LOT, but only a tiny fraction of them ever end up here.) about laundry baskets, and how they provide endless possibilities for play to little kids. Just this afternoon Hayley and Ada invented a game Hayley dubbed "Turtles". It was cute that they were playing nicely together and not fighting. Any parent of two or more kids smiles at this statement. Yes, what bliss. To hear the giggles instead of screaming. Back to my thought of ironic. Early evening, and one of the laundry baskets bit back. Ada was playing with a square one, and ended up totally wiping out into it and smashing her face, which resulted in a trip to the dentist. Yes, you read right--the dentist.

I saw it happen, the kids and I were hanging out in the living room watching a show about crazy huge Christmas light displays while waiting for Jeremy to get home. I had just finished feeding Seth when this happened. Ada was just a few feet away, and it looked like a bad angle, and I was waiting for the cry. She stood up and had a bloody mouth, which turned into bloody face after her hands tried to help. I first noticed her cut lip, a pretty good cut at that, then I saw that one of her front teeth had been moved. Not good. Put Seth down and took her to the kitchen to get a better look. Called the dentist (So thankful for the magnet they gave me with their phone number! Handy spot right there on the fridge.) and they had me come in. Stayed after hours, very nice of them. I was just walking out the door with all three kids when Jeremy pulled up, good timing! So then I went with just Ada.

The dentist said it is good that she is a thumb sucker, because that will help the tooth move back out into position, which is better than her having to move it manually. The one time thumb sucking gets dentist approval! :) Ada did pretty good until it was time to take an X-ray. She didn't like the thing in her mouth, even though she was sitting in my lap, so it took a few tries to get a good picture, but we got it. The dentist said that from the x-ray it looked like she had hit that tooth before. I said I had no idea when that would have been, as she plays pretty rough and has crashed plenty of times before. Thankfully everything looked ok, nothing was fractured or anything like that. The dentist said that this tooth will most likely fall out earlier than it normally would. And guess what: it's the top right, the same one that Hayley knocked out earlier this year. So the girls could be matching at some point.

I think everyone at the dentist's office is getting to know us a little too well this year....

(Hayley took this picture after dinner.)

3 pics

2010-12-09T00:04:00.000-08:00

4 pics

2010-12-06T00:15:00.000-08:00

Post #351 Seth's First Month in 42 pictures

2010-12-02T22:48:00.000-08:00

He's growing!

2010-11-19T15:27:00.001-08:00

Seth had his two week checkup this morning. Stats: 10 lbs 12.5 oz and 23 inches long.

Seth's Birth Story

2010-11-16T21:55:00.000-08:00

Now that Seth is two weeks old, I figure it's about time I write a post about his birth! The short of it: he arrived at 1:55am on November 2nd, weighing 8lbs 9.8 oz and measuring 21 inches long.

The whole story:

It starts on Monday, November 1st. I went in for my appointment that morning, the one I thought I'd never make it to! Funny how things work out. It was with another new Dr., she was cool at first. Everything seemed to be going normally, baby's heartbeat was fine, I was measuring fine. Got checked, she said I was a little over one and a half dilated but not quite to two. Normal for me. Then she says that my blood pressure was a little high and I had protein in my urine sample, and that put me in the preeclampsia zone of things (she didn't word it like that, but you get the idea). She then proceeded to tell me that I had to go to the lab and give some blood for tests and another urine sample, and after that to head straight to labor and delivery for a non-stress test and to hear the results from the lab. She said it was a 95% chance that they would keep me there and either break my water or induce labor, because I was at risk for preeclampsia, and they "don't mess around with that".

I felt a little blindsided, to say the least. I had a bunch of questions for her, and in all of her answers she seemed very sure that I would have to stay that day and have the baby since that was the only way to deal with preeclampsia at this point. She said she'd have the nurse check my blood pressure again before I headed off to the lab. She left, I got dressed, nurse came back for blood pressure taking. I have to admit that I only somewhat pay attention to my BP readings since I've never had an issue with it. (The only time I had high blood pressure was after I delivered Taylor, which was totally understandable since that was a very emotional time, but the Dr. then still wanted a clean urine sample and thus my first catheter experience which the poor nurse really didn't want to do. I was fine.) Anyways, it was like 130-something over high eighties. Which I think it was the same when I had come in that day.

So I head off to the lab, thoughts whirling through my head of what my plan was going to be. I had driven the van with the girls' car seats, not the best logistical position to be in for Jeremy to drop off the girls so he could come to the hospital. On the way to the lab I had peace about driving home after the lab so we could drop off the girls and go back to L&D. Seemed like the best option. Did my thing at the lab, felt all rebellious leaving, it was cool. If I felt like my baby was in serious danger of course I wouldn't have left, but to me the Dr. was being a little dramatic and I knew it would not hurt anyone for me to leave and come back. Got home and explained to Jeremy the situation, and called Kassandra. Dropped off the girls, and arrived at L&D.

Going through this one non-stress test made me SOOOOOO glad that I had called off all those ones my Dr. had wanted me to do! So I gave yet another urine sample, got dressed in a hospital gown and hooked up with the two monitors and laid there. Boring. And depressing, lying there in a very small and sterile smelling room. Trying to come to terms with possibly having to be induced, or having my water broken. I decided I'd prefer to go the water breaking route since I hadn't experienced that before. My BP was still the same, but the nurse said that 140 over 90 is technically when it is considered high, I was just getting close, and also my urine test there came back clean as well as the one at the lab and all the blood tests. Also the urine test in the Dr.'s office showed just a trace of protein. So actually, the Dr. was blowing the whistle a little early and I was fine. All she needed now was for the baby to wake up for a little bit so she could watch his activity on the monitor and then I could go home. She gave me juice to chug. I drank a lot of little boxes of juice, he woke up, he was fine. She asked if I was feeling the contractions, and I said, "what contractions?". Apparently that monitor was showing some mild ones.

Well, I was allowed to go home since I was totally fine. The only contingency was that I had to take a BP kit with me so I could take my own at home twice a day, and a nurse would call me once a day to check up on me. Oh yeah, and urine test strips so I could test for protein myself.

What an emotional roller coaster!!!! Not cool, Dr. of that morning. How do I go from a 95% chance of having to stay to being fine enough to go home? What the heck? And I even asked the Dr. if I could wait until the next day to have any action taken to start labor, since with my girls I had started contractions after being checked when I was at term with them. That was when she made the comment that they "don't mess around with that [preeclampsia]".

Jeremy and I picked up the girls and headed home. It was 2:12 when I was a block from the house and felt the first contraction. Well, a mild one just like the ones I had felt that one Sunday when I thought Seth was going to come! So I noted it, but wasn't sold on the idea that it would lead to birth. Went through the rest of the afternoon, made dinner (kinda), but I was emotionally stressed with the happenings of the day and having these contractions not knowing if they were real or not. (That one Sunday really shook my confidence in knowing what was happening with the start of my labor!) Basically, the turkey breast I roasted was done at a later time than we usually ate dinner at (getting close to the girls' bedtime actually!), and everyone was hungry and I was just on my last straw of hay. I said something to Jeremy about my state, grabbed the girls and we went and picked up dinner at Burger King. With my nicely roasted turkey breast sitting ready to eat on top of the oven. Hey, I'm just being real with you all. :)

I ate a very unhealthy, yet comforting meal which consisted of a chicken sandwich, fries, and a chocolate shake. (fact: it is a rare fast food visit that I order anything but chicken for myself. A burger being the other choice that is. It's how I've always been, and I don't see myself changing anytime soon. Also, always chocolate when it comes to shakes, anything else and I'm just wishing it were chocolate.) The girls were happy about their kid meals, I don't remember what Burger King calls theirs, as we frequent McDonald's more, and Jeremy didn't complain with what I got him. :) Then I put the girls to bed and went to carve the turkey to put in the fridge for the next day, and did some dishes. At 9:30pm I was feeling the need to pour out my frustration to God and ask for peace and also clarity on the whole contraction status of things. I went to my room and did just that. And God is so good. He gave me peace right away, and by 10pm I knew little Seth was going to come out sometime soon!

I spent the next hour working on dishes in the kitchen, had a pile going on from the weekend that I had planned to tackle that day, but the whole drama thing of that morning/early afternoon messed with that. Well, it worked out because standing gives gravity the chance to help out during the contractions. They were ten minutes apart that hour, so I wasn't sure what kind of time frame I was working with. At 11 Jeremy got ready for bed, and as he was brushing his teeth I went and laid down on the bed, and then he came and laid right next to me with his arm around me. I love that. And after he got his hand squeezed through two contractions, he got the idea of what was happening. Don't ask me why I didn't just tell him, women in labor are only focused on one thing, that's all I can say for myself. (Some might say they are out of their mind.)

He called Kassandra, and then went to drop the girls off. He asked me more than once if I was going to be ok by myself while he was gone, and I assured him I was. :) And while he was gone, the time between contractions went from 10 minutes apart straight to five. Ok then! I knew this kid meant business. After he came back, I pretty much told him I'd let him know when it was time to go to the hospital. I wanted to rinse off first. So I did that, and the contractions were steadily getting more painful so I knew it would be a good idea to go. Contractions while sitting in a moving vehicle = not the best position to be stuck having contractions in, but actually for as painful as they were, in between them I was talking and joking with Jeremy. Little different than the ride with Ada where I could feel her head about to come out!

Not sure exactly when we arrived at L&D, maybe a little after 12:30am? Kaiser strongly encourages people to call ahead, so when we got to the desk the receptionist asked about why we hadn't called, but I just told her straight up that I knew it was time. And for doing paperwork ahead of time, they sure have you do a lot when you get there! Basically just signing a bunch of stuff. I was having some good contractions that were getting closer together during this time. I must hide my pain well--they took me to an observation room to get checked and monitored to see if I was really in labor and then would get moved over to an official delivery room. For a little while there, I was getting concerned that I was going to have the kid in there, and this room was not set up for it! Ironically, it was one of the same rooms they use for the non-stress tests, and was right next door to the room we had been in the previous morning!

After getting in a gown and having the monitors strapped on, the Dr. on duty came and checked me, and I was at a six. It was after 1am by this time. The contractions were getting pretty intense after that and I was squeezing Jeremy fairly well. I think it was at that time that I felt like this baby was going to come out at 2am. All I can say is that was the vibe I was getting. So it was like 1:30am that I was moved to a delivery room. I overheard one of the nurses telling another nurse that I wasn't positive for Group B Strep, that it was the other patient, and I piped up and said that yes I was. So they decided to get on the ball with getting my IV in to set up the antibiotics. Sheesh. I was wondering if there was going to be enough time! So a nurse puts in an IV, and I don't know why she didn't tape it down right away because my contractions were getting pretty close together, so she told me not to move my hand--I think she had to go grab the tape or something because when I had my eyes shut through the contraction I felt her let go of my hand and I was trying to keep it still while getting through the pain. The antibiotics were started at 1:40am. Shortly after, I felt some fluid and said I thought my water had broken, so the nurse came and checked. It was just my plug, because she checked and it was just bloody, and right after she was done checking my water broke and gushed. Then I was feeling that the head was definitely moving downward and I mentioned something about that and pushing, not sure exactly what I communicated. I remember the nurse asking if I felt the urge to push and I gave some kind of answer because it was getting harder to focus on other people talking, and Jeremy said, yes, she feels like pushing!

He said she didn't seem to believe him, and she did check me then and said I was at an eight. Jeremy said it was two minutes later and Seth came out. She had him call for the Dr.! She was the only one in there at that time. I remember thinking that I wanted to try and get on all fours or some kind of squatting position, but I was rooted through the pain and focusing on pushing the kid out. And that was the strongest urge to push I have ever felt! I pushed, and it was fast. And the pain, oh the pain! There was a moment of wondering if his head was going to fit, I could feel the stretching going on down there, and tried to push a little slower to ease him out, but that only worked for a half-second, and then I pushed and pushed and he came out. And the relief, wow! He cried right away, and it was beautiful. I laid back all the way, they laid him on me, and I said I felt much better. :)

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T22:12:00.000-07:00

Today was pretty busy. It was nice to be back at church after having missed two Sundays! Two weeks ago Ada & I due to being sick, and then last Sunday we all stayed home since I was having contractions. So that was two weeks of class that I missed as well. I got to help out with Hayley's Sunday School class today, it was a lot of fun! I really enjoy kids her age, they say the cutest things! It's pretty funny watching them interact and copy each other's answers. My friend Yvonne was teaching the class, and she asked them to say something they couldn't do. I forget who thought of this answer first, but they all thought it was pretty good because a lot of them used it! The popular answer: I can't lift my dad. LOL. The point was that although we can't do everything, Jesus can.

During FBH [Family Bible Hour] instead of having someone speak, they had several people share how choosing Jesus was the better choice at some point in their lives. We're going through Hebrews right now, and the title of the series is Jesus is the Better Choice. It was really neat to see how God had worked in these peoples' lives! It's been mentioned several times at our chapel in various meetings about how we need to talk to each other about what the Lord is doing in our lives, besides all the usual stuff we talk about with people like the weather and sports and stuff. Very true. It is always encouraging to hear other believers share what God has been doing in their lives!

I am wondering how many people in the Midwest think that there aren't any Christians in the land of the fruits and nuts. (California) I know there are quite a few, but it is always funny to meet people who used to think that way. Makes you realize how much of a stigma CA has! I know when we first moved here, my mom told me that my two youngest brothers prayed for our safety every night. I think their fears were abated after they came to visit.

Went to class today, that was nice. In hindsight I could have gone last week since my contractions had quit right before class, but I guess I was hoping that they were going to start again! So weird that I had that one day, and nothing since. Yesterday I bought the three tropical fruits that are supposed to help: kiwi, mango & pineapple. I tried the kiwi this evening, haven't eaten one in years!, but after I cut it open I discovered it was not ready yet, oops! It was hard; I ate what I could. Joy, I just looked for your old blog post about cutting up a mango, but I couldn't find it! I tried all three of your blogs. Do you know where it is? Maybe the search thingie wasn't working correctly.

So I got home from class at 5:30pm, and Jeremy and the girls had just gotten home from their walk to the park. We all went inside, and I went to change my top pieces of clothing. Usually on Sundays I go through three shirts, because I sweat so much when I am this pregnant! Maybe TMI, but it's important to my following story. So we all ended up in our room; Jeremy on the computer and me picking out a new shirt and I also wanted to switch bras. The girls were in there 'cause we were in there; kids tend to follow the parents! So anyway, I was putting on a different bra, and Hayley said I should wear the bra she picked out, a magenta one, but I told her I had already picked one so it was too late. Put on the shirt and we hear the doorbell and multiple "trick-or-treats!". Kids were starting early at 5:40pm! So I went to the door and told them to wait a sec 'cause I had to grab the candy, grabbed a bag and came back and handed some out. 11 little kids!

They were all younger than Hayley, really cute and polite with their thank yous & Happy Halloweens. Most of the parents were waiting on the sidewalk, looked like several families going together. I overheard one of the parents say "oh my", and I just figured it was my big belly. :) I got done putting candy in their bags and buckets and tell them to have a good night. They all filter back to their parents and move on, and I turn around to see----Hayley standing in the doorway holding my magenta bra for all to see!!!!!! She had totally forgotten that she was holding it by one of the straps when the doorbell rang, and she and Ada had followed me.... ya. I laughed. I pointed out to her that she was holding my bra, and she laughed. So after that, I wasn't sure if the parent was exclaiming at my pregnancy, or my brightly colored bra dangling from Hayley's hand!

I had only bought three not very big bags of candy last week since I wasn't sure if we'd be around to pass out candy with the kid on the way. We needed more, especially since we already had a third of our total last year in one shot! 33 last year. I took the girls and we went to the store real quick to pick up some more. The cashier asked what we were up to tonight, just making conversation, and I said, "trick-or-treating!". And he replied, "So you're going dressed as a pregnant woman?" Me: "Ya, kind of built-in costume." I am not sure if he really thought I was dressed up at first??? But then after I said that he asked if I was having another girl, etc.

We got home and I fed the girls a quick bite to eat, but Hayley was so excited she only ate just a little bit. Then they put their stuff on and went out with Jeremy. Both of them couldn't wait to go, so it was hard to get a good picture, but these are the best two that I got.

Our fairy & Nemo:

When Jeremy and the girls came back awhile later, I saw that Ada had a balloon! I asked Jeremy how she got it, and Jeremy said that when people would open their doors, Ada would try and go into their houses, and was successful a few times. I guess one house she got into, she saw the balloon (she REALLY loves balloons) and kept exclaiming "balloon!", and the guy said he had bought it for his wife's birthday a couple of days ago but that Ada could have it. That's when I noticed it said "Happy Birthday" on it. I told Jeremy he got a taste of how it is for me when I go to the park with her sometimes. (Will expand on that in just a bit.) Jeremy also said that when people let the girls pick out their own candy, Ada would just keep grabbing candy until they pulled it away, and he said one guy got protective of his candy stash and it was funny to see him try and negotiate with this little girl.

So about the park thing: Ada discovered long ago that pretty much all Moms at the park have food. And when she sees other kids getting food, she goes right up and asks for some, or just helps herself. Almost always I try and remove her, because I don't want her to think she can bum food off of anyone, and it is somewhat embarrassing, even though I know she's not old enough to understand all of why she shouldn't do that. But a lot of the Moms are like, sure, have some, and then she gets the food like she wanted. Well, I have gotten to meet and talk to a lot of other Moms at various parks because of this that I wouldn't probably have talked to otherwise, so in that sense she has helped me meet other people! And I've actually had some good conversations because of this! So.....ya, that is Ada. Pushing her parents out of their comfort zone.

Yesterday when Jeremy was benching the girls (him laying on his back on the floor and lifting the girls up and down), Ada counted to six. The second kid picks up things so much faster, it is amazing! She's been picking up a lot of phrases lately, and the other day it was so funny, she said, "oh bowl, where are you?" Hayley and I laughed at that one. :) The common phrase there was "where are you?" from peekaboo and hide-n-seek, and she added the 'oh bowl' because she had gone to the drawer in the kitchen that houses hers & Hayley's cups, bowls, plates and utensils, because she was looking for a bowl for cereal in the morning. I love this age when they start picking up the language at lightening speed, makes communication a lot better. And it can be pretty entertaining. :).

Back to trick-or-treating. After Jeremy returned with the girls, Hayley and I went out like we did last year to the surrounding neighborhood. A family from the chapel lives a few blocks away so we go there, and on the way to his house there is a house that always passes out Capri Suns. Which both years has been a big deal to Hayley. I guess 'cause it's not candy, it's something more unique, and pretty much the only time we drink those are at birthday parties or occasionally when we go camping. Juice has been a special thing for them; the majority of the time we stick to water and milk at home. Then there is another house Hayley and I discovered last year that gives out whole candy bars. It's actually a favorite of Jeremy's and mine to walk past when we go on our walks in the evening, as it is very well landscaped and they have a lot of cool decorations. I remember the guy who answered the door last year; this year he was outside with another guy passing out whole candy bars (score again!), and there were quite a few people waiting in line. After Hayley and I walked up the line was getting to the end so she went up there and I stayed back a little bit with some other parents, and I heard someone whisper to someone else, "it's a gay couple!". See, even in California that issue can be weird still. Prop 8 didn't pass without the majority still voting against gay marriage.

Pausing for a moment on this topic, how do you feel about homosexuality? Do you feel threatened by it? Are you fearful? My thing is, yes I believe that it is wrong, that people choose to be that way. But they are still people, and they still have every right to be treated with respect and dignity. I am not going to vote for them to have the right to marry, as I believe that is a God-given right to a man and a woman. That is the only combination that can procreate and have offspring, it's the way God designed. Even though I disagree with them, I think it can only help to get to know them and I shouldn't withhold talking to them or anything like that. I have actually gotten to know quite a few during my married life, and what's ironic is that all of them were in Missouri, not California. Everyone sins, we all make mistakes. I say stand firm in your convictions, but press on in the love of Christ.

Back to trick-or-treating, what a difference a year made for Hayley. She was able to walk for longer and carry her bag without issue when it got loaded down, just until a couple of blocks from home and then I helped her out. :) She always was very polite and said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" and "happy halloween" (she got that from hearing the other kids and people passing out candy say it) and a cheery "bye!". It was really fun to watch her interact with the people passing out candy. Last year she needed a bit of reminding about what to say so I had to walk to the doors with her, whereas this year she was all-out prepared and I would usually stand on the sidewalk and she'd run up to the door by herself. Unless there was something scary, she does not like scary things. Which I'm totally with her, I don't appreciate that part of Halloween either. It's amazing how each year brings a new level of maturity and independence.

So Seth is still comfortable, but it was nice that the girls got to go trick-or-treating like they were looking forward to, and that Hayley and I got to go together again. Oh yeah, we had 81 trick-or-treaters tonight. Now Seth, we are super ready for you to come this week!

It's Thursday...

2010-10-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

My new guess is Tuesday November 2nd. Which ironically was my original due date before they changed it to Oct. 30th. I'm picking the 2nd because I have an appointment on the 1st, and with the girls it helped get my contractions going by getting checked. With Hayley I started contractions later in the day after my appointment, and with Ada the contractions started the day after. So I'm thinking there is a good chance of that happening again. Wish I would have had an appointment this week!

Guesses in between so far: Marcie has called Friday, and Joy called Monday. Anyone have Saturday or Sunday? Anyone want Weds.? So funny. I'm already on my third guess, I know some of you are too. Guess I got spoiled with Ada coming a little early, so I was really hoping and thinking he would come sometime this week. Oh well! I can say that I will definitely be way excited when the time comes!

Thought I should give you guys some pics while we're still waiting for the baby.
From the walk on Sunday:

Messing around yesterday, here is a good one:

Pretending to laugh:

Supposed to be a kiss:

Freestyle crazy:

Ada:

Hayley:

Pics from the backyard today:

I've been wanting to try out the peanut butter cookie recipe from the Jif container for awhile now, so Hayley and I made them yesterday. I thought of taking a pic of one today, after I had already taken a bite. I could have grabbed another one, but then I probably would have eaten it too, so we'll just make due with this. They are pretty good! Jif is my favorite peanut butter. And, I was just reading in Good Housekeeping the other day that it is the best selling of all peanut butters here in the US. It was an article comparing organics against each other and then against the top selling of "regular" stuff. A taste test contest if you will. Jif dominated in its category.

Putting the girls to work! They like helping out, it's just a matter of finding things they can safely and somewhat competently do. Snapping green beans is such a work that they enjoy. :)

I love green beans like this:

Step 1. Pull out my 12 inch skillet and fit as many pieces of bacon on it as I can, usually around six. Cook bacon. Set on paper towel to drain.

Step 2. Pour off some of the bacon grease, leaving a little. Dump some chopped onion into grease and cook until tender. (tip: I almost always have chopped white onion in the freezer. You can use it frozen; and that way you don't have to chop onion for every recipe that calls for it. I use onion in a lot of things, so this really helps me out.)

Step 3. Cut off ends of green beans, have children snap into roughly an inch and a half sized pieces and place in pan. Put a little water on the bottom, cover, and cook until tender.

Step 4: Drain green beans, add to cooked onion.

Step 5: Crumble bacon. Reward children with pieces of bacon. Eat some yourself. (all of us love bacon in this house) Add remaining to skillet.

Step 6: Mix, remove from stove, and consume!

It's Wednesday....

2010-10-27T10:12:00.001-07:00

I was checking out the Zombie Runner page on Facebook today and noticed this video; I thought it was pretty good and covered the main basics in the differences between running barefoot and in "normal" shoes. I think Jeremy would approve. :) I am really excited about running again, one of the reasons being getting to try out my Vibram FiveFingers more! I only ran once in them before getting pregnant with Seth. I wore them a lot this year though, up until a month or two ago when my feet got a little bigger from being preggo and so I've being wearing sandals a lot since. But I definitely can't go back to "normal" shoes anymore. My toes have been spoiled! Especially the little toe, it feels squished in regular shoes now, and it's not like I have huge feet, they're actually somewhat narrow. I really really like my Vibrams. :)

I have to mention this, just because it is so cool. Jeremy set a new PR [personal record] in the two-mile yesterday. He is running faster at 30 than he did back in JH/HS when he ran track. Pretty amazing, huh!

In baby news, no breaking news, haha. Get it--water breaking. Ok, that was my lame attempt at birthing humor.

First False Labor, ever.

2010-10-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

Duuuuuuude. What is up little guy? So this morning at midnight I started my usual slow contraction warmup of 15 minutes apart. Had a few before I fell asleep. I was like, cool, he's going to be born tonight or early Monday morning! Had a contraction when I woke up at my usual 4am-ish bathroom break time, then they were still 15 min. apart in the morning when I woke up. After breakfast, I suddenly felt really tired, maybe from thinking about the long day ahead? So I took a good nap, and Jeremy hung out with the girls, took them on a walk and then they were watching a video when I woke up. I was wondering why it was so quiet! :) After nap the contractions seemed to have slowed a bit to 15 to 20 min. apart, so we went for a walk in the early afternoon; just under two miles worth. And what do you think happened after the walk? No more contractions. Like, seriously?!?!

How ironic that the time I tell Jeremy early on in the process that I'm having contractions, that it doesn't work out. With Hayley, I started contractions at 1:30pm on Weds., July 19th, after my Dr.'s visit that morning. I didn't tell him about the contractions until the next morning after we woke up. We went to the hospital that evening at 5:30, and she came out at 8:36pm. So 31 hours total there from the first contraction to Hayley coming out. With Ada, I had my first contraction at 9am on Jan. 8th, and I didn't tell Jeremy until that evening after he got off work. We went in earlier than we would have with her because my Dr. wanted me to, and you know how that turned out--got sent home, and then parking lot baby at 4:51am the next day. So around 20 hours total with her.

You'd think I'd know the process by now, or at least I thought I did. A long warm up time for early labor, and then a much faster active labor time. The contractions certainly felt real, I hate to believe that I got fooled by Braxton Hicks ones which seemed to be the real thing on a timely basis. But that's how it seems to pan out. What a bummer! You know with Hayley, I didn't experience any Braxton Hicks contractions, and with Ada I had a few, but they were always sporadic, and I thought they felt different! I had two before these started this morning, both on different days at different times. So not sure what happened this morning, such a tease. I've been wondering if I maybe shouldn't have taken that nap! But technically it shouldn't have mattered if they were real, so whatev.

Well, he's got to come out sometime.

Everyone: guess again

2010-10-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

39 weeks today, all of our guesses have passed and Seth is still hanging out inside. So, hopefully sometime this week he'll decide to come out. My new guess, which was actually my original guess, is Tuesday, the 26th. Jeremy says Weds. I had changed mine to today for two reasons. The first being the full moon; when I had Ada, a nurse remarked how there were always a lot of births during a full moon. The second being Jeremy's birthday is the day before his dad's brother's birthday, which would have been true of Seth if he had been born today. So what new days do you guys pick?

Honestly, there were a few times this past week where I was thanking God I hadn't started contractions yet. With Ada not feeling well, she wasn't sleeping well, and some days it was really stressful. Yesterday's naptime marked the turning point. Very thankful!!!!

Little update.

2010-10-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

Had a doctor's appointment yesterday morning, with "my" Dr. She asked if I wanted to be checked, and I said yes, knowing that it has helped get things going in the past. We'll see if it helps out this time. :) I was feeling a bit of crampiness the rest of the day and some in the night while getting up with Ada. (She's had a pretty rough last two nights of sleeping due to not feeling well.) No contractions yet though. I felt a lot better yesterday than I did on Sunday, so that was good, but I'm still not fully well. More sleep interruptions may have contributed to that.

When the Dr. was checking out my belly she said she estimated him to be at eight pounds right now. She said I measured 39 weeks. She also had some encouraging news about the Group B Strep--she said as long as I get a dose of the antibiotics a half an hour before he comes out, I should be fine. She said the pediatricians like to get at least two doses in, but one dose has been proven to be effective. So I shouldn't worry about coming in earlier, which I was happy to hear. :) We'll see how things go!

"Ok Seth, you can stay in there just a bit longer"

2010-10-17T22:24:00.000-07:00

LOL, see, God's timing is always best. :) I can be wishy-washy sometimes! The reason for the change is that this morning I woke up with a cold, and Ada is also under the weather, so it'd be nice to be fully healthy for the delivery. But of course whenever he decides to come, it's go time. :) Jeremy and Hayley went for just the last meeting at church today, and Ada and I snuggled and watched a movie on tv. She fell asleep on me, and it was fun snuggling until I really had to get up and pee. Jeremy took Hayley to Panda Express after church, she was really excited about that when she came home! Another date with Dad. :)

Oh yeah, also noteworthy for today: Ada got the best egging of our floor today. She's egged it before, but not to the degree she did today, with over a dozen eggs. Jeremy was watching football, and the girls and I were in my room, and then Ada left and that's the moment she utilized. She is very fast and efficient with her "explorations/experiments", as everyone in this family can attest to. She knows when she's got a moment and seizes it! Jeremy walked in on her first, and called me, and H and I came, and there is Ada in the middle of the kitchen with a huge pile of broken eggs before her, and on her, and ya. She starts talking, probably something like, "Where did this mess come from? I just walked in, and here it was, and then you guys came...I know it looks bad that I have egg shells stuck to my hands, but I was just trying to clean up, really." I just had to laugh. Which was not good when Jeremy was scolding her, but it was one of those moments that is almost so crazy you just have to see the humor in it. I have no idea what her obsession is with eggs and butter and the like. It must be that inner baker in her wanting to bust out!

38 weeks today: "Seth, you can come out now!" :)

2010-10-16T22:14:00.000-07:00

Today was relaxing. One of those Saturdays where we just took it easy; well, some of us. Jeremy woke up at 5:30am ish and went and ran 29 miles. :) But ya, it was good, just hung out as a fam and got a few things done. Played with the kiddos, went on a walk after dinner. Here is the pic I took real quick before we went on our walk this evening. Never know when our last family snapshot will be before Seth's arrival! See, I totally look ready to go, don't I. I'm going to put my weight total up for the running with this one! My highest ever being 207 right before heading to the hospital to deliver Hayley; I weighed 201 at my last doctor's appointment two Fridays ago, so we'll see!

My appointment on Friday of last week was something. So at first I was scheduled with a doctor on Weds., (one I had seen before but was my least favorite--not the one who commented on the weight, but one who just had a weird manner about her, can't explain it) then apparently she had a finger injury and was going to be out of office for awhile, so they scheduled me with my doctor on Friday. Then they rescheduled me with a different doctor that day at a different time. Then a different one at a different time. I was like, dude, what is up?

Anyways, so I saw another new doctor, which is always cool with me. She was good, but it was funny at the end. She asked if I had any questions, I said no, and then apparently she had one for me, lol. She asked if I was interested to know what my weight gain was, then she proceeded to tell me that I had already gained over forty pounds. I forget how she worded this, but she said something about being on the upper end of the weight gained during a pregnancy spectrum. I assured her it was perfectly normal for me. I just thought it was funny that she acted like I didn't know how much I had gained. As if I'm not carrying it around every day, LOL! Thankfully she dropped it there and didn't give me an entire little speech like that one doctor did.

Oh yeah! Another funny thing from that visit. Last week on Tuesday I had gone in for an ultrasound, and for some reason it wasn't on my records when I went in three days later on that Friday. The doctor wanted to see if the baby's head was down, and I told her about the ultrasound, but she went ahead and did one real quick anyway.

Looks like Jeremy's guess of today didn't work out, but I think Joy's guess is next for Monday. I am totally cool with anytime now, this baby is really taking up some real estate on my body. He's at the size where sometimes when he moves it can be painful. Time is up, buddy! You've got a couple of weeks to pack up and move out, but I would prefer sometime this next week! :) I keep going back and forth on my guess for his hair color. I was thinking blond for awhile, but then sometimes I switch to dark brown. Taylor had dark brown hair. This summer a girl Hayley's age started coming to our chapel, and her name is Taylor and she has dark brown hair; looks very similar to how I pictured Taylor like she would look like growing up. First time I saw her, it took me back a bit. So we'll see with Seth, he has quite the range of hair color choices--we'll see what God picked out for him!

Here's some video. First little segment of dancing is from yesterday, the rest from today. Ada has closepins on her dress because I had tried to pin it up more so her feet wouldn't step on the hem, but it came undone pretty quickly and then she just looked a like a girl with random-placed closepins on her. Thought I should explain. :) The last dancing is to Arcade Fire.

An afternoon at Natural Bridges State Beach/Elevator Birth

2010-10-11T22:34:00.001-07:00

Haha, I'm sure the second half of the title got your attention. I really liked Laurie's "non" guess on the last post. :) Wouldn't wish that clean up job for anyone, so I'll try my best not to make it happen, LOL! I liked everyone's guesses, except for Jillian's. Sometime next week sounds good to me! Still seems a little surreal that we're about to have another kid, I know it seems a little late in the game for that kind of comment...but ya, kind of trippy. Although I am getting pysched about another labor. Which is weird in itself.

This morning I had a moment of depression though. Got the results back from the Group B Strep test that was done at my last appointment, which was Friday. Positive, which means I'll have to get antibiotics through an IV during labor. I was really hoping to be negative so I wouldn't have to worry about the IV, as I didn't have one with Hayley or Ada. I had an IV and got induced with Taylor, two things I am not thrilled about doing ever again. And I know that was an emotionally draining situation in and of itself, but induction gives different feeling contractions, not to mention I hated lying in bed, and the IV was just an annoyance. I would rather be able to focus on the pain of just birthing a child, not being distracted with a needle stuck in my arm.

Group B Strep is a bacteria that women can carry but not be affected by, and it's something you can have off and on. It can be harmful if passed to the baby during childbirth, that is why they test for it and give the antibiotics during labor if you're a current carrier. I didn't have it with Hayley, but I did with Ada, although I don't remember knowing that at the time. That may have been why the Dr. wanted me to come in so early with her, which ended up not working out since they sent me home and all. I think I have a lower risk of passing it on since my water doesn't break until the baby is coming out, but after doing research, I'm with getting the antibiotics. Takes the chance down of the baby getting it from 1 in 200 to 1 in 4,000. That's worth a little bit of annoying pain in my arm. I was totally bummed when I first read the test results, and had to pray for a change in attitude. I can't always have my things my way. For whatever reason, this is how things are, and I am ok with it now. God is in control!

Had a fun time at the beach, it's a nice relaxer to be outside and listen to the waves. Hayley got to do some running with Jeremy along the water while Ada held my hand and we let the waves wash over our feet & legs. At one point when we were chilling on the sand, Ada started being ornery and going for Jeremy's visor. She can be really sneaky and totally act like she's not interested in something and then ATTACK! It's pretty funny to watch. Hayley liked her idea and helped her out once. There was a high school cheerleading squad that came to the beach to get their pictures taken. Cool backdrop I thought! Definitely don't have any ocean backgrounds in any of my school sports pics. Kansas, what's with the lack of ocean front property? LOL. I thought it was hilarious though, this old guy and his family had their beach spot all set up way before these cheerleaders invaded the space right next to them to set up their camera--the old dude was sitting there right by this picture taking scene trying to ignore that it was even happening. Then later I looked over, and the mom was holding a towel around her ten year old or so's waist (boy) so he could change right there--probably a little awkward for him! Funny.

Good afternoon of sunshine and family bonding, probably our last beach visit before Seth comes. It was a perfect day for the beach!

Pregnancy update

2010-10-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

This picture I just took. :) It's about as updated as you can get! This morning I went in for an ultrasound to check Seth's growth. I told the ultrasound tech that both of the girls were eight and a half pounds, and she says, "You don't make small babies, do you?". :) She said this one is keeping up with the girls, she estimated him to be just under 7 lbs right now. I'm kind of tempted to change my guess for his weight, I know I said 9lbs 2 oz, but if he was 8lbs 10 oz, that would make each subsequent child I've had 2 oz heavier than the last. But I'll still stick with 9lbs 2 oz, and I'll go 21 inches for length. I'm guessing contractions will start on the 22nd, and then he'll come early in the morning on the 23rd, like at 1:03am. Jeremy guesses the 16th for his birth date. I should explain his guess though. At the last ultrasound, the tech commented that his due date looked like it could be the 21st for how he was measuring (which I attributed to my having larger than normal babies), and Ada was five days early so Jeremy subtracted five from 21 and came up with the 16th.

I dropped off my paperwork at the labor & delivery ward today. It's on the third floor, and I've been wondering if I'll finally have to use the elevator when I go in to deliver Seth. All of my appointments have been on the third floor as well, and at the beginning I made it my goal to use the stairs every time. Total Joanne thing, I am not against elevators at all, it's just like a personal challenge-type thing for fun. I'm always a little out of breath when I reach the top. :)

Ok everyone, now is your time to voice your guess for Seth's arrival date, and how big he'll be. And anything else you want to guess that would be fun to guess. :)

35 weeks tomorrow

2010-09-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic! Everyone says I look ready to pop :) . Yeppers, around a month from now Seth will make his voyage into the world. I get big with every pregnancy, it's how I roll. :)

Tonight I got a hair cut, love it!!!!

Preggo pics from the 13th

2010-09-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

For all the family back home who can't see me and have requested pics. Olivia, I think you win an award at making sure you get good pregnancy shots! :) And congratulations on the birth of your new baby girl yesterday! So excited for you!

Hayley took this one of me:

Too bad we can't see Hayley's face, Ada moved right at the last second, but at least you can see her hand on my belly. She really likes feeling Seth move around. She is very excited for his arrival!

One where you can see Hayley's face. :)

I will have to make sure I get some good ones soon. I remember doing a little photo shoot with Hayley when I was pregnant with Ada, we used the timer in the backyard and got some good ones, maybe I'll try that again if I remember when there is good lighting outside.

Kid news. The last two nights at bedtime Ada didn't try and get up and so I didn't have to put the bungee cord on. Tonight I left the door cracked after tucking them in, and Ada popped out, but after I laid her down again and closed the door and secured it, she didn't get up and try the door. (I had closed the door the last two nights, I should have just done that again tonight.) But it is encouraging to know that progress has been made. Yesterday Hayley was having a complete meltdown emotionally, it was something. Just having an off day I guess. And yesterday Ada seemed so much more grown up, so the saying must be true: "if it's not one kid, it's the other". Just messin, kinda. :) In the evening we had a good time though with Jeremy after dinner. We went on a walk, but we let Ada run around the block first before putting her in the stroller. She's pretty fast, so Jeremy & Hayley ran with her. Definitely some good exercise for the girls! Then we went on our walk, and Jeremy and Hayley ended up doing some runs together, like to the end of the block that we were on and such. It really lifted Hayley's mood--she loves to run, and she loves even more to run with Daddy.

I've told Jeremy before that he needs to start a blog to share all of his running knowledge, and last night would have made a good post; he was sharing some info on capillaries in kids and how it relates to running, and it was very interesting. Hayley and Ada both went barefoot last night. Ada hasn't worn shoes since she grew out of her Pedipeds (an all-leather shoe), and that seems like forever ago, I guess probably sometime before summer started? Can't remember exactly. When I put the next size shoe on, she started tripping some, and hated having them on, so we decided to let her go barefoot. And she's been loving it. Kids her age have that extra pad of fat on the bottom, and they get so much sensory input from their feet. I'm wishing that we would have let Hayley go barefoot more when she was younger, as maybe that would have helped a little with all of her many wipeouts. When the weather gets colder Ada might have to wear shoes again. Socks work ok sometimes if they have the grippy things on the bottom, but if they get wet then they get slippery and it's just better to not have them on in that state. We'll see what ends up happening.

Seems like I have just dived into an all-out Bible study on Women. Sunday was the start of our newest class at the chapel, at a new time and everything! I love it that they decided to do a women's study on Sunday afternoon, that works out really well for those of us who have little kids at home, or who homeschool during the week, or who work outside of the home. They still have the Thursday morning class, but that won't work for me this year with the new baby, that's why I'm thankful for this. I think I might take Seth with right after he's born, and then at some point when he gets a little older I'll start leaving him with Jeremy and the girls. Anyways, that class is called the 5 Aspects of Woman, here is the site about the author if you're curious. Looks like it'll be a good study! Definitely has my interest. And also this week I started reading the book Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur; not sure why I started it when I have homework for the class to do....but too late now, it's good. I just finished the first chapter today on Eve. I really like this author's style of writing, and I learned a lot.

Video Clips from Friday, the 17th

2010-09-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

34 Weeks today, wowza! My last appointment was Monday the 13th, quick in and out. I think I hit the 40 lb mark though, as I weighed in at 196 and I think at my first appointment I was 156. So much for that, LOL! I am curious how much I will be when he arrives. So far I've weighed the most with Hayley, coming in at 207; I'd rather not pass that. :) Seth's head is down, of course he could move again, but he seems to be comfy in that position. I am very curious about his personality. He seems so much like Hayley was in the womb, and I am wondering if he will be more like her after he comes out, versus being more like Ada. I know he'll be his own person (trust me, you find these things out after you have your second child, how different kids can be!), but I'm guessing his temperament will be similar to Hayley's. Ada in the womb totally translates to Ada since she's been out--a total mover. Seth & Hayley move(d) a lot, but Ada took it to another level. At my last Dr. appointment with her before she was born, as soon as the heart monitor touched my belly, she lit up on an all-out attack on it. She surprised the nurse, who said that usually at this point they don't see that kind of movement. Ada was moving until she came out--I felt her moving during the car ride to the hospital! That was weird. Usually during labor the baby chills out somewhat, but not Ada. Anyways, just looking forward to learning more about our little boy. :) I have three more Dr. visits until his arrival, one of those being just an ultrasound. (Dr. being cautious, but I'm always cool with seeing the baby inside.) There is a fourth visit scheduled, but it's November 1st and I'm not planning on making that one. Guess we'll see though. :)

Last weekend was our chapel's annual retreat, but we just drove down for Saturday night. The girls got to stay up way late, and I think Hayley had to catch up on her sleep as she voluntarily took 2 naps at the beginning of this week. Even though she quit taking naps at age three, it seems there are one or two times a month where she'll be tired enough to lay herself down for a nap. And while we're on the topic of naps, this entire week Ada has gone down for her nap with no problem. Still have to use the bungee cord at bedtime since she'll still get up to check, but at least we're making progress! It's funny, with Hayley nap time was the struggle, and with Ada it's been more bedtime. I do feel that Ada has matured some this past week, with listening and such, so that has been good. She is really a lot of fun :) . I love reading her favorite stories to her, she really gets into them, and tickling and chasing and snuggling. The one to two stage is a lot of work, but it is also very rewarding. They are easy to have fun with, and also to see them develop as they learn to listen to their parents. It's like losing weight--you see a little progress, and it encourages you to keep on keeping on, even when the going gets tough. I've already been thinking about my losing weight time after Seth comes--I know that work lies ahead!

This year has also been a new stage for us, the sibling squabbles, which is a stage I predict will last awhile. :) Judging from our personal experiences both being the oldest of five.... but on that note, so far they do seem to really enjoy each other's company, and it is the best entertainment when they are playing together making up new games, or just running around in the backyard and tackling each other. Yes, I know they are both girls, but they totally get into tackling and wrestling. This is Hayley & Ada we're talking about. LOL! Maybe that is all little kids, I don't know, I never had a little sister. And I was always a tomboy, so, ya. Joy & Jenny, Tab & Olivia, do you sister pairs remember getting physical when you were younger? Maybe it wears off at a certain age, who knows. Sometimes the girls do seem to need a break from each other, like if Hayley wants to play with something without having to worry about Ada crashing the scene. Sometimes I'll go do something with Ada so Hayley can have some time in her room to play, but probably more often I'll tell her to save those toys for Ada's nap time, and that at the moment her and Ada will have to find something they can play together. I do try and get in a little one on one time with each girl during the day, I think it's important that kids get that no matter what age. And I know that is going to get harder with the more kids we have, but I know it will work out. It is so cute to see how nice Hayley is to Ada when she wakes up from her nap--she really misses her and is just like all over her with love. "Ada, see this nice picture I made for you" Ada: "woah!" H: "Ada, we're making brownies, do you like brownies?" A:"YA!" (Below is pic of said brownie day, 9/10)

Sometimes Ada can be a little grumpy after nap and will totally disregard Hayley's affection in search of a Mommy hug and hair (she still loves the comfort of my hair), but on brownie day she certainly brightened up right away, especially when she found out she got to share the whisk with Hayley! What a way to wake up from a nap. :)

Fall is in the air.

2010-09-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

Two "fall" movies I'd recommend are The Blind Side and Forever Strong. Both are: based on true stories, "feel-good" types, sweet flicks. The Blind Side is football, Forever Strong is rugby. I've never played rugby before, but I've played Aussie Rules football at Kansas Bible Camp which was totally fun. And is also different than football and rugby. Obviously, with a different name and all. Anyways, two really good movies. Word.

Labor Day Weekend. Jeremy the stud started Saturday off with an ultra marathon, a 50k trail race, which is 31 miles. This is the second 50k trail race that he's done. The first one he ran earlier this summer. He did both under 6 hours, pretty impressive. And, just two Saturdays before, on August 21st, he went out and did his own 40 mile run/hike. So, those are the three times where he has done an ultra marathon, which is anything longer than a marathon. (marathons are 26.2 miles) Like, woah. He loves to run!

While Jeremy was running, the girls and I went and hit up some garage sales. Hadn't been garage saling in awhile and I had the urge. Used Jeremy's strategy of mapping out a route on google maps with the addresses from Craigslist, he's a smart one. He & Spok can be similar in their efficient way of thinking. :) Maybe that's why Spok is my fav on the Original series, because he reminds me of Jers. The girls and I had a good time, they both seem to love garage saling too. It's fun looking through stuff searching for that "find", you know? And Hays loves looking through the toys, of course. :) I think it's cute that her friend Owen calls her "Hays". He is very inquisitive about the nicknames I use, and I guess he liked my use of "Hays"; he's been asking me lately about why sometimes I call Ada "Ada girl". He makes me smile. :)

Back to garage saling, we had a few good finds, and also discovered a new park that we wanted to check out sometime. It looked super cool, and I was thinking I'd suggest it to KV for next week's parkage. Monday night Jeremy and I took the girls there, and man oh man, am I glad I went with him and not by myself! Probably the worst park in terms of Ada safety measures. She is a pretty fast little girl, and while I've been able to catch her when needed so far, this park would not have been easy in terms of keeping track of her and keeping up with her. Part of it was surrounded by water, and there was a built-in rock type climbing area that was a little hard for me to get up and down and around in my big pregnant state. So while it is a super awesome park and the girls had a blast for a solid hour, I was glad Jeremy was there to tag along with Ada. Because she is not afraid of anything, she'll climb the highest what-have-you and try the boundaries, etc.

Pics from the park:

The one garage saling regret I've had was from at least a year ago, I think Ada was a baby at the time; this set of stencils that I didn't buy. I don't know why I didn't buy them, they were cheap and in really good condition, and just like the ones I used to use as a kid. The squares with several shapes to trace inside each square. If that makes any sense--I'm picturing them in my head but not sure how exactly to describe them. Anyway, Hayley is getting into stenciling now and those would have been perfect. Argh. Hayley is really into art--coloring, drawing, creating cards, stickers, stencils, painting, etc. Oh, and now she's into scissors and paper punches as well. She usually spends some time each day engaging her creative side, whether it be an art-type activity or building with legos, both things that are good to do while Ada is taking her nap. :) She also creates story lines with her Barbies or My Little Ponies; builds a zoo with wooden blocks and little animals; creates a tea party with her "cooking stuff". Kids have a lot of imagination! Part of the magic of being a kid, anything is possible.

A Hayley-ism. The girls and I were watching a Food Network Challenge sometime over the weekend, and one of the bakers had pink hair. Then the client turned out to have pink hair too. Hayley was beside herself with love for their pink hair. I asked her if she would like her hair to be pink, and her eyes lit up, and she exclaimed, "yes!". Then we found out that the client's favorite color was pink, and Hayley goes, "my favorite color is pink too!!!". I just had to smile. As far back as I can remember into my childhood, I hated pink because it was so girly, and I was definitely not a girly-girl. I do remember having a favorite purple shirt back in grade school, but that was as close as I got. I don't think I even wore pink until after graduating high school (this was in the age range where I had a say about what I was going to wear); I distinctly remember buying a pink hoodie sweater then, but it was still slightly sporty with some white stripes on the upper arm. LOL. It's neat that Hayley enjoys pink so much; after her birth, I have found that I'm ok with wearing pink a bit more often. :) It's hard not to at least like something that someone close to you is so passionate about.

I should post an update on Ada's progress with staying in bed. We'll start with naptimes. The first few days she only got up a few times, but I held her door knob for a little bit and she got the picture. Today and yesterday she didn't get up at all, and the few days in between I had to use the alternate method which I'll describe in a bit. So Jeremy had that next night, the 1st. He got to spend a lovely hour and a half either lying by her bed to push her back up when she tried to get off of it, or was guiding her back to her bed after he left. I had the next night, and I was just dreading spending that much time on this. I decided to try the doorknob holding method, but just when I'd think she'd stay in bed and I would leave, she must have heard me leave or something and would come out. *sigh* That's when I got the bright idea for using a bungee cord--her door knob with the closet door knob right by it. That is the alternate method that has been working for us ever since. I just take it off before we go to bed. I always give her a chance to not leave her bed before I use it, but so far we have not had a night like that yet. I'm glad that at least naptimes seem to be good now! At least I hope it stays that way.

She is really having an explosion right now in her vocabulary, which is always a fun stage to go through as you discover more of what they're saying, and they feel like they can communicate more and thus less frustration. She's really been singing along a lot more with more of the songs that we sing together, so that's been cool too. I still remember months ago when she started singing deep and wide while sitting in a cart in a store. I don't know if other people would have recognized it, but I did because she started doing the motions and I recognized her words for some of the song words at that time. Cute memory. She's growing up so fast! Tonight Jeremy and Hayley went to the library real quick while I started dinner, CA BLTs, yummylicious. Ada was my helper, so first we went out to the garden to pick some romas. She was all about holding them for me after I picked them, and carrying them inside for me. She loves to help out, it is just trying to find things for this age range to help out with that can sometimes be a challenge. But she is good at carrying things and obeying instructions of where to put them, so that worked out. :) I even brought in one of the stools from the garage and set her up on it so she could watch me cut up the tomatoes and such, which she enjoyed.

Ada, you are a cutie.

I love my girls SOOOOO much!!!

[pic from 9/5]

Clarity & Heat

2010-09-01T09:36:00.001-07:00

Had a moment of clarity this morning. So after breakfast I put the toddler bed in the girls' room for Ada, and moved the crib to our room. Might as well tackle everything at once!

And I just found out that it is going to be back up in the 90s today and tomorrow, ugh. I shut all the blinds and windows; wish that I would have encouraged more of the cool night air to come in while we were sleeping last night, but oh well. The majority of homes around here don't have air conditioning, as we don't usually need it. This summer was actually the mildest here in 30 years, which has been nice for the pregnant condition. :)

Ada came in and wanted a picture taken:

I really appreciated Olivia's blog post the other day. I know sometimes I struggle with that urge to "just check my e-mail real quick" several times a day. Ok, well, I'm getting off now. :)

Oh, p.s. Ada actually taught me a feature of my camera this summer. The girls are going to be running technology circles around me as they grow up!

28th-31st; end of August wrap up

2010-08-31T21:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday night Jeremy and I went on a date! Thank you Kassandra & Joel for watching the girls for us :) . It was much needed! We ate outside in our city's downtown, and enjoyed the live jazz music. Ate at Dish Dash again, we went there something like just under two years ago when I was mega pregnant too. Hmmm, I just tried to find the post about it, I thought it was for my birthday in '08, which would have been Ada cooking inside. I remember eating outside. I thought I had written a blog post about it, raving about the most awesome dish I had ever eaten. Anyways, I tried something new this time, not quite as good as last time but still good. Jeremy's dish won on this round, mine did last time. :) I have two more things that I definitely want to try on their menu at some point, so I'm sure we'll be back. They make some delicious Mediterranean food! Here is Jeremy with the girls right before bed that night:

Sunday the 29th: Ada started being super not good with going to bed at night. *sigh*

Monday the 30th: A complete hour and a half of Jeremy and I tag-teaming Ada with putting her back in her crib. We realized spankings were just not working, we were getting frustrated, Hayley couldn't fall asleep because of the rukus, it was just very uncool. After she FINALLY stayed in her crib and went to sleep, I googled for help and was reminded of the Super Nanny's way of dealing with this issue: NO eye contact, NO talking, just calmly put the child back in bed. Repeat until kid stays.

Tuesday the 31st: I resolved to use this method today. Nap time was a struggle today, (I forget how it was yesterday, but I know it didn't take this long) I estimate around 45 minutes of using this method. Bedtime took exactly 55 minutes, from 8:35pm (the time of the first climb out) to 9:30pm (the time of the last putting Ada back in crib action). Exactly 60 times of returning the girl to her crib. Yes, I counted. With this quieter method, Hayley was able to fall asleep somewhere in the late 20s of the return count, so that was a bonus. Somewhere in the count, a little over half I think, I informed Jeremy it is his turn tomorrow night. It did feel a little less stressful not spanking her or venting frustration with comments like, "why won't you just go to sleep?!", as the blood didn't seem to boil so much. But it was still stressful, and a workout. It took a lot of resolve and prayer for me to not spank her! But I was determined to see it to the end. Jeremy asked if he could just stare at her tomorrow night, LOL. Actually, he did try that once, but he left a little early and she was still awake and got out again. That was maybe like a week ago? *sigh* That girl is something else.

I remember Hayley having a tough time with nap time at one point after switching over to the toddler bed. I had to hold the door knob so she couldn't get out of her room. A few days of that and she got the point. I don't remember her having such a hard time with going to bed at night though. And I can't do the door thing with Ada because she can't climb back into her crib, and I don't think she's ready for the toddler bed yet. (Because of that one time I tried switching her and she flipped out.) Oh, Ada. Jeremy says she has "willful curiosity", and tells me stories that his parents told him of how he was as a kid. They seem to have similar issues. Crying for hours as a baby, not staying in bed, etc. She is so loving though, loves giving kisses and hugs, loves to help out with chores. But she can throw a fit like you've not seen before. That child has so much passion! In every direction. She also reminds me of my brother Daniel sometimes, and those of you who knew him as a kid are saying, "uh oh". But alas, she is only one and a half, we shall see how she changes from month to month and year to year. So ya, whenever that post was when I was saying I could picture three kids just fine, ya, that kinda changed this summer when wild Ada broke loose. I am hoping that she matures to a good level in these next two months. I remember when I was 6 months pregnant with Taylor, before she passed, and wondering how I was going to manage a baby with how Hayley was at that point. (Hayley and Taylor would have been 22 months apart like Ada & Seth will be.) When Taylor's due date arrived, I knew I would have been fine, because Hayley was so much more mature at that point. Each month in the 1 to 2 year stage is such a leap in development! So I am hoping that the same holds true in this case, and by the time Seth comes Ada will be a little more manageable. :) We love our fireball, she is just good at testing everything we thought we knew about parenting. There could not be a more true statement than this: every kid is different. God made us that way! Variety is the spice of life. :)

Photos from this evening:
Hayley really loves to match with her sister. When she gets dressed in the morning, if she knows Ada has a matching shirt she'll get it out and lay it out for me to put on Ada.

The girls love to run! Their new thing is racing together in the backyard. Hayley is of course faster since she's older, but that Ada is going to give her a run for her money someday. She's already booking pretty fast!

Hayley & Ada's new thing is climbing through the window of the house.

Two other points of interest. Last night we managed to watch all of Avatar, Jeremy saw it in theater (in 3D) when it first came out. Dude, like, AWESOME movie. If you haven't seen it, watch it. It isn't the highest grossing movie of all time for nothing.

Today was Hayley's dentist appointment, she was super excited the whole morning for it. Not joking. I'm glad she likes going, that is good. I was a little worried about how Ada would do, I knew they had toys for her to play with, but wasn't sure how long she'd last. Was praying on the drive! She did well. The kind of funny thing was, while Hayley was getting her x-rays at the beginning, Ada was really concentrating by a certain group of toys. She then informed me that she was pooping. Oh well, kept her busy for a little bit! LOL. She then watched Hayley get her teeth cleaned for a little bit, then went back to playing. Right at the end she did start trying to wander off into another room, but for the most part she did a lot better than I thought she might, so that was a total answer to prayer. Oh yeah, before we even went back, one of the ladies there asked if I wanted to spend $39 out of pocket for Hayley to get a "remineralization" procedure after her cleaning. NO. After we got home, I was even wondering if the x-rays were necessary since she just had some when she knocked her tooth out. Maybe a way to get extra mula from the insurance company? Or just to check on things. But if they want to do some again at her next appointment, that might be a bit much on the radiation. X-rays seem so common place it is hard to remember that they can be harmful in excess. I read an article in Good Housekeeping not too long ago about how many unnecessary Cat Scans are being done, and all the trouble that has caused for people. They had a chart of how many X-rays each Cat Scan equalled depending on the area of the body it was being done on. WOW, total eye opener. Obviously, Cat Scans have saved a lot of lives. But that is a LOT of radiation, so be sure you need it before you get one. Word.

Ok, well, that's it for me. I've said I'll that I remember right now that I wanted to say. OH WAIT! No I did not. On Sunday, Jeremy took it upon himself to fix handles & drawers in the kitchen that had gone ghetto. As in, he fixed up my space, yo! Even fashioned his own brackets for a drawer. It lifted my day that he did that for me. :)