The Kids and I

Hiatus

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

I've decided to take a temporary (or permenant, who knows) hiatus from blogging. For a long time now its felt like more of a chore, another thing on my to-do list to get through. And, as you can tell from my frequency, it falls to the bottom of that list.

I started blogging back in 2005 as a way to let family know what was up with our lives. Since having Henry, struggling (sometimes mightily!) with homeschooling, and all the other things that fill up our lives right now, Facebook fits better. I can do just a one or two sentence update and its done. Its faster and easier (especially for photos) than blogging. Almost all my family and friends are there too.

So for now, no more blogging. Maybe I'll pick it up again, maybe not. I don't feel any compelling interest now to do so, but who knows :)

If you aren't already a friend of mine on Facebook, please add me! http://www.facebook.com/kristi.horn

Eeeek!

2011-01-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

Um, yeah, really bad with this blogging thing lately. I promise I have not stopped blogging forever, just short term. We've been crazy busy and the time to write out a longish blog post has not materalized. Between stressful homeschooling session (its so hard with a 2 yo and infant, yikes), extra-curriculars, doctor appointments, etc, etc. I just feel like vegging out when free time appears.

But I will be back. Shortly :)

We’re still kicking!

2010-12-03T17:00:00.001-08:00

Its been sooooo long since I’ve blogged. I say it every time, but life seems to fly by and I keep putting off blogging. This time of year always seems so hectic, even though by most people’s standards we live a quiet life.

Henry had his 2 month visit a few weeks ago and grew a lot! He was 12lbs, 5 oz (75%) and 24 inches (90%). He grew 3.75 inches in a month!

The week of Thanksgiving we had our first snowfall of the year and that was exciting. As is our norm, we braved the icy roads to drive to my Mom’s and visit and let the kids do some sledding. We took our regular route but had to turn around after seeing this ahead

We did eventually make it there when we took an alternate route. To our surprise, Peter and Shelly came up from Federal Way and visited too! Great fun. Note to self, buy son new snowpants so that he doesn’t have to sport “snow capri pants”. Last year these fit fine!

Thanksgiving was good. We celebrated on Saturday as that worked better for our family and it was good to just hang out and visit with everyone.
Henry really liked Uncle Michael

We tried something different and had dessert for lunch, and then followed it with the Thanksgiving meal. Was kind of a neat way of doing it.

My cousin Ben :)

Henry and Aunt Becki

My Mom set up a hot potato game using an actual hot (well, warm) potato!

Oops, someone got knocked out of the game earlier than they wanted…

My sibs

Ethan was the hot potato champ and his prize was the beat up potato!

We celebrated Jenni’s 18th birthday too. My baby sis cannot be that old!

We set up our Christmas tree on Sunday. This year we got a real one. It smells soooooo good. I don’t mind vacuuming up the needles either. Well worth it :)

On Wednesday we went roller skating with Ethan’s Cub Scout pack. J and I haven’t been skating since our early teens and the kids had never been. It was stressful! It was more crowded than we expected and even though we had my sister Jenni to help us, there didn’t seem enough grown ups to go around.
Poor Ethan, he had a hard time. At one point Jenni and I had his hands but his slipping around was so comical that we almost fell from laughing so hard. He was laughing with us too… it was so comical! We got his wheels tightened up and he did better then. Gwen caught on fast!

Elsa did NOT like the siren they played every once in awhile and walked around teh whole time like this

Here are some random pics from the last month.

We got our family pictures taken last weekend and they came out pretty good!

Holiday season

2010-11-04T10:47:00.001-07:00

Life continues to whirl by. We’ve had the kids in swimming lessons twice a week, plus Cub Scout meetings, plus our regular visits to my Mom, meeting with friends, MOPS, homeschooling, and all the various other things that come up have meant we are quite busy. I’m glad tonight is the last swimming class because it means two more nights we get to stay at home. Jason will be even more happy as he’s the one who has been taking them!

The kids have really shown massive improvement with their swimming in this last session. Its tempting to keep them in for another session, but its just too much running around at this time of year with all the other obligations we have. So we’ll skip this next session and see about the next or maybe the one after that. We value our evenings at home with the family and J and I are in agreement that being gone every night of the week is NOT what we want for our family. Swimming can wait :)

We had a blast on Halloween. The weather was perfect, and we went up our street to the church, did their Trunk or Treat (very well done with bouncy house, popcorn, drinks, and fun games for all ages) then came back. The kids got a lot of candy, but not as much as in years past. No complaints from me about that! Aunt Margaret came and watched Henry at the house so we didn’t have to worry about him and that was nice. The kids love dressing up and being their character for a night. Here’s our pics from the night.

Our pumpkins. The kids sketched what they wanted and I carved. Ethan did Henry’s, obviously!

Gwen’s reaction to getting a full size candy bar!

Elsa being chauffeured from house to house in her stroller.

Henry is now 2 months old! Whoa. When did that happen? He’s grown so much and I’m excited to take him in next week and find out his stats. We'd planned on having family pictures done last weekend, but I decided to cancel and wait until he’s smiling more on command. I really want his baby picture to be with a smile! A few nights ago the kids and I gave him a bath and he enjoyed being the center of attention of his siblings and smiled and looked from face to face as they poured warm water on him and tickled him gently. It was a such a sweet moment. The kids love him dearly.

I was supposed to start my healthier eating/living plan this week but yeah… .didn’t happen. For one, Halloween candy everywhere! Makes it hard. Also, I’m so hungry and tired. That combo is not a good one for eating less and working out more. But I’m determined that next week I will go to the gym at least two times and do weights at home at least once. History has shown that I do not lose weight easily (or at all) while breastfeeding, but at least I can build up my muscles again and be more toned. In the past I’ve lost my baby weight pretty much in the first 6 weeks. This time, not so much. I’m basically back at the weight I was last spring when I started working out. So I have to lose all that weight again, plus the extra 10 lbs to my goal weight. Sigh. I’m not going to even think about how hard I had to work out to get there and how I can’t do that now with a baby, but I will just take it one day, one week, one month at a time and eventually I will see some progress.

I’m excited that we’re now in the holiday season. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas… my favorite times of year. I want to really enjoy this year and not get bogged down with the commercial aspects. Every year I try to do that and some years it works and others no so much.
Oh, I wanted to share this darling video of Elsa singing. One night it was just her and me and the baby at home and she wanted to sing. So we did, and I caught it on video!

And here’s another of the girls dancing a few nights ago. They love the Mama Mia soundtrack and can’t help but dance when they hear it.

Been awhile….

2010-10-19T17:34:00.001-07:00

I find time slipping away from me so often these days. Some weeks I am amazed that its time for our weekly get together at my Mom’s or the weekend again because it simply doesn’t seem like enough time has passed.

If you can believe it, I’m STILL sick, though not ragingly so. Its just under the surface. Not really enough to be noticeable, but it kinda feels like there is a sock in my throat and I now have a cough. There is also still some sinus pressure. It just won’t go away. While I no longer feel miserable, I don’t feel great either. Elsa has a runny nose too. I have a feeling that we have a very bad winter health-wise, but I’m praying its not so.

We decided to try hiring someone to come in once a week and help out with cleaning. They came for the first time last week and I was so nervous! I didn’t know what to do. But they were good. There were two ladies and they did a ton of work in 2 hours. They come again tomorrow and I need to decide what I need done. The bad part is that most of their work is completely obliterated in a week, but that happens to me too. Just the nature of 4 kids and two grown ups and a big dog. However, it is pretty nice to not have to worry about mopping the floor or cleaning bathrooms. They cleaned our master bedroom from top to bottom and for the first time in a REALLY long time Jason slept without a sneezing fit.

Last Thursday we joined the YMCA and after we figure it all out we’re hoping to go there as a family twice a week to workout, then maybe J and I will each take a class on some other night. I don’t want to work out, but I do desire a healthier body and I know it will give me more energy overall. I find gyms so stressful. I feel like I don’t know what to do or how to do it and then there is the process of putting the kids in the childcare and all that drama! But I’m going to force myself to it and hopefully it’ll start to be easier :)

Homeschooling is going well. We’re on a roll now and most days we can finish up everything for both kids in about 1.5 hours. They are enjoying it and Gwen has vastly improved on her reading (yay). Ethan is a trooper and works so quickly. I could probably do double lessons if it were just him, indeed, last year we did double up most days because he works so fast.

Elsa is such a charming 2 year old! She is talking so well and many mornings she crawls out of her crib (she does that now) and we have a little chat in our bed before we start the day. My Mom has been taking her to the Y family swim on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and she LOVES it!

Henry is growing fast and still is a chilled out baby. The midwife weighed him last week and he was 10lbs, 10oz! He’d gained a lb in a week! He just started smiling (check the pictures below) and coos a little too. He looks so big already, not newbornish at all anymore.

Jason and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on the 12th. Its our 13th year together! Those numbers make me feel old :) I’ve been so blessed to have Jason in my life. He’s a great husband and Dad. We didn’t do much, but my parents took the kids Friday night and we were able to hit a restaurant, tour the Y, and just enjoy a quiet evening (well, as much as Henry would allow).

Snapped this pic of Miss Gwennie at a friends wedding last weekend. She’s just so darn cute and grown up!

Baby H’s first bathtub bath… He actually really liked floating and having warm water over him.

Some pics I took at random

And then a series I took trying to get a good shot for my Aunt!

A captured smile!

Saving money and other things

2010-10-06T10:49:00.001-07:00

The past week I’ve been immersed in various money saving/making things. Last Tuesday I attended a couponing seminar held by Amber from Coupon Connections NW. Wow, it was so interesting! Lots of good tips and ideas. After I left the seminar I was able to go to Albertsons and buy 30lbs of flour for $6. That didn’t even require a coupon. I will never be a super-couponer, but I realized I could do soooo much better just by reading ads and buying smartly. We already do pretty good (in fact, I’d say quite good!) with our food budget, but there is always always room for improvement.

One of the things I heard about at the seminar was Amazon Mom. Its a program from Amazon.com just for parents and caregivers. Signup is free and no obligation (i.e. no credit card required). You get 15% off all baby items like diapers, wipes, clothes, etc. You also get Amazon Prime for 3 months, which is their free 2-day shipping program. Every time you spend $25 in a single purchase of baby items, you get an extra month of Prime. If you don’t spend $25 in baby items in a single order, your Prime will expire after 3 months. Again, no credit card required and thus no worries about something renewing when you didn’t expect it! I signed up on October 1, nicely taking me through the Christmas season and thus saving me quite a bit in shipping! I’ve never ordered diapers online because I felt like I was getting a fairly good deal in the store. Well, Amazon has GREAT prices! Especially if you sign up for Subscribe & Save, which gives you an additional 15% off and ships items to you automatically after a specified period (you can choose weekly, monthly, or longer deliveries. You can start and stop the automatically deliveries at any time.). I got brand name diapers for .10 cents a diaper, and brand name wipes for .01 cents a wipe! That’s awesome and shoot, can you beat having it delivered for free to your door with 2 day shipping? I highly recommend it!

Another thing I’ve started using this week is Swagbucks. Amber talked about this at the seminar. Its a program that gives you points for web searching. After you earn x amount of points, you can use those points for various things. The best deal is the $5 Amazon gift card (takes 450 points). You can earn points other ways by doing surveys or whatever, but since you already use search engines anyway, using their search engine and being awarded points automatically is the easiest way to accumulate. I’ve been using it for a week and I have over 600 points. They have a toolbar you can download that lets you easily search and earn points.

One more mention, since I have these things on my mind, I’m a member of Opinion Outpost and take surveys through them. Occasionally I do product testing. Its very easy to do, takes just a bit of your time, and you can earn money. Not a lot, but some. I’ve been doing it for about 1.5 years and just today hit the $250 in earnings. I’m saving it up for… something. Haven’t decided yet! After signing up, its important to fill out your profile because this is what generates your surveys. They have to know what you like and have in order to send you the right surveys!

Anyway, enough of that. I just have found all these things very interesting and hopefully they’ll help us save money in the future.

Now, the other things.

I have a bad virus and feel quite poorly. Yesterday it hit me FAST (woke up with a tiny sore throat, raging just a few hours later). I though for sure it was strep and so went to the walk in clinic for a test. Turned out not to be strep, but some viral infection that has been going around. Its pretty miserable. I was so disappointed it was not strep. Sounds funny, but I just wanted antibiotics so I could feel better and not be infectious quickly. I have to admit that I totally lost it on the way home. I just cried and cried. A real good pity party for myself. Then I cried when I was at home and kept crying most the night. I can’t explain why exactly, I just couldn’t stop. I was so tired, and felt so bad, and felt like, “Oh great, another part of my body that is broken/feels bad”. Jason wasn’t home either, so I was trying to feed and wrangle the kids and I just felt like I could not do one more minute of this. I just sat on the couch with the baby and cried.

Some people have wondered if perhaps I’m depressed because I’m crying so much lately, but I don’t feel depressed. I just feel overwhelmed and frustrated. I have to think that those feelings will pass in time. Most days I feel like we get by ok. I just focus on today and what I’m doing that minute and try not to over think. But when something goes wrong or frustrates me, I’m very susceptible to losing it immediately.

The kids are doing ok. Lessons have been going well (though we haven’t managed any since Monday this week) and Gwen is improving with her concentration and effort. Henry is an amenable child and and goes with the flow most days. He’s so awake and aware these days. Next week all the kids (even Elsa… my Mom is going to take her during the day while I school the kids) start swimming lessons again and this will help burn off the energy that overflows in excess this time of year and in our too small house/yard.

Jason was told that he’ll be getting a promotion at work! It hasn’t come through yet, but should in the next week or so. He’s really pleased, as am I! He’s worked hard for Costco and his boss has been great about recognizing this. Now only if his commute didn’t take almost 1 + hours each way…

The new normal

2010-09-28T15:38:00.001-07:00

That’s what I’m trying to find right now… our new normal.

Jason went back to work yesterday and the day went ok, despite me feeling quite anxious about it. Its very strange. I don’t recall ever feeling this anxious about being alone with the kids, but this time I do. Part of it is that I haven’t done childcare on my own for a MONTH! Yeah, that long. I figured it out… I stayed a week at my Mom’s while J was out of the town, had the baby that weekend, then J stayed home for 3 weeks. It feels a little strange now to be the only adult at home during the day. But we’ll figure it out. I always have in the past and I will this time too.

I’ve been struggling with muscle tension and headaches. I think its mostly due to lack of sleep, but also holding this new little creature and muscles that haven’t been used much getting some use. Feeling under the weather does not help my emotional state, which swings all over the place each day. At least one cry a day is typical, as is feeling like everything is fine one moment and then wishing I could hide under a rock the next.

Henry is a good little baby. Not much of a fusser, though he grunts and squeaks a lot at night which makes it hard for me to sleep. He nurses like a champ and today the midwife weighed him and he’s already up to 9.5 lbs! That’s a 2.5lb gain in two weeks. He already looks so much older.

Yesterday I started up lessons with the kids. Originally I wasn’t going to do that until next week but I kinda thought the kids needed something to do. They have been massively bored the past couple weeks. Though our day went pretty good, I feel a little discouraged. Gwen is resistant to my teaching her. I’m hoping that this will ease after we do this for a while. I worry though that homeschooling just isn’t the most effective method for her. Ethan thrives with it and loves doing schoolwork. Gwen has a very different learning style and I don’t know if the problem is that she feels she needs to impress me or she’s scared of failing in front of me or what. Hopefully time and routine will resolve the problem.

On Sunday we took the kids to the park to play for a bit. Here are some pics we took.

Gwen’s favorite pose… the “princess pose”

Elsa’s attempt at a princess pose… I think Gwen needs to work with her a little!

Attempts at a group kid shot. Not perfect but pretty cute. Can 6 year old boys smile normally? I don’t think so!

More pictures of Henry

2010-09-17T17:35:00.001-07:00

Not much has been happening around here. We've kept close to home and haven't done much since Mr. H arrived. We do have more pictures of the little guy though.

We had him in a bowl so we could get his weight. He’s already 7 oz above his birth weight!

He’s a very good little baby, other than his propensity to spit up a LOT! He’s a solid eater every 2.5-3 hours so I am getting a few hours in a row of sleep at night. Unfortunately I came down with a cold (with sinus pressure, ugh) that is making me feel quite poorly and not exactly helping me get back into “normal” life.

He’s here!

2010-09-07T10:53:00.001-07:00

Whew. I just had a baby :)

The last day I blogged, on Friday, I went to the midwife for a blood pressure check and it was up. They really felt that since I was toeing the line of where they were required to transfer my care to an OB that we needed to think about getting labor going. I was pretty upset, but it came down to this. Did I want to deliver in the birth center with a gentle induction or go through the stress of being transferred last minute to an OB and maybe ending up being induced in a very unfriendly way in the hospital? We decided that we’d rather deliver in the birth center.

Saturday they did another blood pressure check and it was again really on the line of having to transfer me. So after running some bloodwork and tests on my urine, they decided that we needed to go ahead with the castor oil. My midwife was actually out of town and I was seeing the on-call midwife. I was a little nervous about this at first, but I couldn’t have been happier with her care. Even though we’d never met before (she is a homebirth midwife who has her own practice) she took her time with us, gave us wonderful care and attention, and actually, I think, ended up being more our style than my original midwife would have been. We were lucky to be in her care. She checked me and I was 2cm and thinned out, so she massaged my cervix and sent me on my way.

At 3:30pm I took my first dose of castor oil mixed into scrambled eggs. It wasn’t too bad getting it down. I felt nothing happen though. I mean, absolutely nothing. The midwife suggested that I take another dose. I was a little reluctant because I felt like maybe the first dose hadn’t had enough time to work and I didn’t want to overdo it. However at about 7pm I did end up taking the second dose. Still nothing… sure, a few contractions here or there, but nothing serious. No stomach upset, nada. At 9:30pm, the midwife came to our house to give me my dose of antibiotics (for the GBS stuff) and check on me. I had dilated about about 2 more centimeters, so even those mild contractions were working. She then massaged my cervix again and that really kicked it into high gear. My stomach also started reacting to the castor oil which was unpleasant, but did kick everything up. Once she left at about 10pm things didn’t stop. Jason started timing me and it was consistently every 2 minutes and contractions lasting 30-60 seconds. I paced the house and kept loose and relaxed by shaking my hands and my mouth open (someone had told me that if you keep your hands and jaw loose it keeps other parts loose too). After about an hour of these contractions we felt like we needed our backups. Becki came up, and then shortly after I called my Dad to come watch the kids. The contractions were getting a little more uncomfortable so we called the midwife and we decided to head over to the birth center.

We arrived at 12:30am and I kept doing what I was doing…. pacing around and trying to keep loose and distracted. I was checked again and was at 7cm and almost totally thinned out. I can’t tell you how happy that made me. After my last birth where I’d labored and labored and labored and had made no progress for all those hours and then lost my focus and motivation and gave up, I had been worried about that happening again. When I heard that I was practically in transition and had been able to walk and talk through the majority of the labor, that gave me a lot of confidence. My cervix was still tipped a bit back, so they suggested I get into the tub in a froggy pose. So I did that and it felt really nice. Jason would pour water over my back when a contraction came on. The contractions were a lot more painful now, but I still mostly felt calm and able to handle things.

Here’s where my memory gets a little fuzzy though. I felt like I had to use the bathroom. The midwife asks me if its “there is a baby coming out” bathroom feeling or a “castor oil” bathroom feeling. It was a castor oil feeling, so I used the restroom and after coming out things seemed to go pretty fast. I remember getting on the bed on all fours and trying to drape myself over a ball. The contractions were very uncomfortable now and I felt like I couldn’t find the right position. Looking back, I think standing would have been better, but hindsight is 20/20 :) I got very very very hot. I was annoyed and cried. I remember saying I was really scared. The midwife said to me, “You can do this, you’ve done this before” and I started chanting this over and over and it helped a lot. The contractions were really hard at this point and I had the feeling of needing to move around but not being able to find a spot that eased the pain. I know I kept sitting up on my knees when the pain was the worst, and then dropping back to hands and knees when it would pass.

Suddenly, with one big contraction my water broke and it apparently it broke violently and got my midwife wet. I recall her saying she’s never gotten her glasses wet before. Everyone started scrambling to get dry things. Then, and someone else who was there may have to correct me, it seems like the next contraction came right away and I said, “He’s coming!” and I recall the midwives trying to prepare for delivery and suddenly out popped his head. I don’t even remember an urge to push. It was like I felt him descend and then his head was out. The midwife said, “Ok, the cord is around his neck… hold on just a second” but the next contraction was there and he came out. I don’t recall pushing at all, though I did push obviously! To me it seemed to happen so incredibly fast. I couldn’t even believe he was out and I just stayed still for a second and thought “Thank God this is over”. He was a little shocked by his fast exit and so they rubbed him and got him stimulated a little and then handed him through my legs and helped me lie down.

I don’t have a clear memory of much after that. There was clean up, there was a little baby in my arms. He was awake and quiet. None of our babies had been this calm and quiet after birth. He didn’t have goop in his eyes so he could see. It was really nice. His placenta was actually kind of small, but very healthy. I remember Elsa had a huge placenta and this one looked so tiny by comparison.

We ended up staying at the birth center until about 5am. He was nursing by the time we left and I was able to walk and get around. We got home at 5:30, dropped into bed, kids were up at 6:30 and by 7:30 everyone had met everyone else and a new phase of our family life started.

His name is Henry James Horn. Born on 9/5/10. He weighed 7lbs, 5 oz and was 20 inches long (same dimensions as his big brother, just 3/4 inch shorter). From the time contractions were regular to the time he was born was just 4 hours!

Here are some pics… I’ll post more stuff later, but I think this post is waaaaaay long enough as it is :)

39 weeks

2010-09-03T09:23:00.001-07:00

I have almost made it farther in this pregnancy than with any of my others. Ethan made it to 39 and 3 days before I was induced, so I’m right there. My 39 week appointment was uneventful. BP was up, so they took blood and that came back fine. They do want me to come in today for a blood pressure check and if this morning is any indication, it’ll be up again. Ugh. First days back at home are always rough.

I’ve spent the last 6 days at my parents house while Jason was at a conference. It was so nice to stay there, though I know it exhausted them thoroughly. We so appreciate their sacrifice for our sakes!

Jason came home last night and it was good to have everyone home and sleeping in their own beds. He won an iPad at the conference and wow, what a fun little toy that is. I hardly need another device to distract me in my day, but it’ll be useful too. Or so I say to myself….

Great News

2010-08-25T18:33:00.001-07:00

Today I had my 38 week appointment. I was VERY nervous about it after my visit last week where there was talk of stripping membranes and induction and what not due to my blood pressure. I made sure to be totally hydrated (something I haven’t been very good with lately) and relax myself going in. I’d had a really stressful day yesterday and my home readings of my blood pressure were very high and I was pretty sure it was going to take a miracle to come in at an acceptable number.

Well it turned out great! My blood pressure was just a smidge higher than my readings for most of my pregnancy and quite a bit better than where I’d been last week. So relieved. Midwife said nothing at all about induction or anything like that. Unfortunately, I came back GBS+ again (I was + when I had Elly too), despite doing a daily rinse for a week beforehand. I was originally going to turn down the antibiotics if I came back positive but I’ve reconsidered and decided to take the antibiotics. If I did this rinse (which is antibacterial) for a week beforehand and still came back positive, it sounds like I’m pretty heavily colonized and I didn’t feel comfortable deferring antibiotics under that circumstance. Luckily my midwife won’t use an IV to administer them and that was of my big things. NO terribly uncomfortable needles in my hand please! I swear that I recovered faster from my last delivery than having that stupid needle in my hand. Ouch.

My midwife was talking about how I must be anxious to have the baby and I said no, you probably don’t hear this too often but I want to see how long I actually go without being induced… and I want to have a September baby! She said that not many people were excited about actually hitting their due date or beyond but she thought that was a great attitude. I hope that I can keep that attitude up as I get more and more uncomfortable.

Another good bit of news was that we listened to baby H’s heartbeat for two minutes and only heard the irregular beat once! Prior to that we’d been hearing it every 8-10 beats so this was a huge decrease. Yay! It sounds like the arrhythmia is already healing.

Jason is leaving for a conference on Saturday and will be gone until Thursday. The kids and I will be staying at my parents house during this time (bless them for making this option available to us!). I plan on putting myself on a lot of bed rest so that I don’t trigger anything before Jason returns.

No room at the inn?

2010-08-20T07:52:00.001-07:00

I had my 37 week appointment yesterday and arrived at the birth center to find both the labor rooms full and the main midwife gone at a homebirth! Apparently yesterday was the day to have a baby! An assistant, as she hurried in and out of the rooms, told me that they haven’t had a birth in two weeks but today they had 4 in some stage of progress. I had to wait until the fill in midwife was available and I was seen in a small room (closet) with a bed. It was kinda interesting to see how it all worked. I was assured that this was extremely unusual and I would almost surely have a room when my turn came. And if I didn’t, a homebirth wouldn’t be so bad, right? :)

My blood pressure, per usual, is creeping up. The midwife wanted to sweep my membranes, but I declined. For one, at 37 weeks I didn’t feel it was time to use things that might encourage labor. Two, I don’t WANT to go into labor yet. I want a September baby! Three, a big part of me coming to the birth center was so that I wouldn’t be put into the “intervention loop” as soon as my blood pressure went up a little. I don’t want to jump willingly into that loop when the only thing wrong is that my numbers are a little high. I have absolutely no other warning signs (swelling, spots in the eyes, rib pain, headaches, etc). So I said we’d see where I’m at next week and go from there. That was kind of empowering actually. Usually I’ve felt a little scared about what-ifs, but this time I feel utterly confident in waiting and not jumping the gun. If the only thing wrong is my blood pressure, I’m not going to be induced. Nope.

She said the baby felt extremely low (yeah, tell me about it. Ouch.) and her hands were saying he was about 7 lbs or so. Gosh, he feels bigger than that, but who can tell really?

After my appointment I ran some errands and came home for a few hours before heading out with April to Dream Dinners. She threw me a lovely baby shower a few weeks ago and coordinated a group gift of these meals to use after the baby is born. I was able to get 9 6-serving meals and we went down there and prepped them last night. Its a cool concept and executed very well. We hit a cafe afterwards and talked and enjoyed some purely grown up time, no worries about messes or bedtimes!

The kids have been in a swimming class all this week (and M-Th next week) and we get today (Friday) off Oh I’m glad. The Y we’re taking classes at has a looooong set of stairs to the family dressing rooms and that is hard for me! But the kids are doing really well in the classes and Ethan especially doesn’t seem to be having problems with his water fears. I’m so happy about that.

Baby update

2010-08-09T15:31:00.001-07:00

So the day after we returned from our trip, I had my high level ultrasound to check the arrhythmia that they’d found at 32 weeks.

It was good news. They confirmed that the heart structures were absolutely perfect. And that the type of arrhythmia was atrial, not ventricle, which is very good. They considered this a “normal variation” and no follow up or special precautions needed to be taken (unless it worsens or changes). Woo! I asked specifically if they felt it was safe for me to deliver in a freestanding birth center and the lady, much to my surprise, said, “I wouldn’t worry even if you were home birthing, so a birth center doesn’t cause me any concern at all”. Cool. She also knew my midwife and said it was a great place to deliver. I was surprised to hear that from someone who is in the highly medicalized field she’s in. Encouraging! Oh, she also added that based on their measurements and calculations, this baby was near 6 lbs! Now ultrasound estimates of weight are notoriously wrong so I’m taking it with a grain of salt, but it did take me by surprise! Gwen was only 6lbs, 5 oz at BIRTH! This boy could be big.

I had my midwife appointment afterwards and we discussed some of the birth details (eye goo, Vit K shot, etc) and I was so pleased that we were on the exact same page with everything. No “negotiating” needed. Also, I found out that the midwife comes to you 2-3 days after birth for a follow up check of you and the baby. How cool is that?

So most of my readers are aware of the names we’ve been batting around for this child. Right now, Henry James is the leader I think. Jason didn’t like it at first, but he’s come around a bit. We have a list of backups if he doesn’t look like a Henry. Caleb, Adam, Thomas. I like Tobias so much, but that’s my dogs name and that would just be too weird. Henry, as I found out after I’d liked the name, has a lot of family history on my Mom’s side so that is pretty cool. James is the name of Jason’s adopted Dad and is so special to him. I think the combination is lovely.

I’ve seem to hit a wall with energy and zest. I was doing ok up through the trip and even the first week back but since then I’ve been very blah. Sleep is strange, can’t get comfy, grumpy, annoyed, no motivation, daydreams of staying in bed all day reading or watching movies. I’m trying to focus on enjoying these last few weeks as I likely will not have another pregnancy but truthfully these are the least enjoyable weeks of any pregnancy, last or not! I hope they pass quickly.

Fort Stevens/Astoria Vacation 2010

2010-08-09T15:14:00.001-07:00

Its been a week since we’ve returned from our 8 night camping trip and I’m just now feeling back in the swing of things!

We spent 5 nights staying in a tent trailer (amazing… couldn’t have done this trip without it. Thanks L & D for renting it to us!) in Les & Karen’s driveway having a little family reunion of sorts. Everyone came and visited and caught up and we had a great time. Last year we’d met at some cabins in southernish Oregon, but due to time/money concerns, we kept it more local (at least for the majority of people) and low-key this year. Mostly we hung out, let the cousins play their little hearts out (and did they!), and had a few excitements.

Two excitements involved my own children! Ethan got an infected finger and we had to take him to urgent care. It was a great clinic and the doctor set us at ease right away by looking at me and saying, “Whoa, I don’t know nothing about birthin’ no babies” and when Ethan said, “Hey, she’s not having a baby, its my finger that’s hurt!” he turned to E and said, “They didn’t tell me you were bit by a barracuda son!”. Well, that loosened Ethan right up. So, a few hours later, with antibiotics and a bandaged finger, we ended that adventure. Two days later I was there again with GWEN! She had an infected toe! It was just the most bizarre thing that both my kids have to be taken to urgent care (something we’ve never had to do in the past) in the same week. While we are on vacation. The doctor came in, looked at me, said, “Um, I still don’t know nothing about birthing babies” and I told him, “Dr., with the week I’m having, you better start learning because I might be in here by the weekend!”. Her procedure was a bit more painful (they had to drain the toe), but she left feeling better and with her own antibiotic prescription. Whew. Too much stress and hassle for a vacation.

We did get the kids down for some old-timey photos in Seaside and they were adorable. The kids had a blast dressing up and the people really worked to get them in character and play the parts.

Some more pictures…

The one sunny and warm day we had (70 degrees). We took advantage of it!

The kids were all about the bikes this year. Elsa was a little hellion and wiped out numerous times. I’m shocked at how fast she can make this thing go. She needs a helmet….

Ethan and Gwen BOTH rode without training wheels for the first time. I did not think Ethan would do it before 10. We were so proud!

Giving tips on how its done…

Success!

All the kids and the Bakugans

Gwen and Jaden. They are two peas in a pod.

At the Tillamook Cheese Factory (love to go there… my fridge is stocked, packed!, with all sorts of awesome cheeses).

Waiting in line for samples…

Mmm….

Afterwards, ICE CREAM!

Disappointed to find out that rocky road has peanuts…

After 5 nights, we packed up the tent trailer and took off for Fort Stevens to meet April, Su, and another family (new this year) for our 3rd annual camping trip. For Su and April its like their 5th annual I think! I don’t have many pics because, to be honest, I was burning out by this point. I was tired, stressed, annoyed, and, well, 34 weeks pregnant.

Elsa. Dirt.

Gwen made fast friends with the toughest guy in our loop… When I asked what she was talking to him about, she said bikes (he drove a Harley) and “how good I can ride without training wheels!”

Checking to see if Elly is asleep…. Success!

One of the things we did while at Fort Stevens was go to a Civil War re-enactment. It was a little less… um, everything than we’d imagined, but still pretty neat. Lots of cool weapons, wool spinning demonstrations, etc.

Another day Jason took us adventuring down some random road which took us over random dunes (that our car barely sloshed through) and onto this totally isolated stretch of beach. It was pretty cool. I tried doing something creative with the kids. Elsa did NOT cooperate!

Despite my stressed out nature by the end of the trip, we did have a great time overall and I’d do it again. 8 days is a long time to camp when you’re pregnant, but we made a bunch of memories and did something fun and it was worth it!

A little excitement…

2010-07-16T10:41:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was my 32 week visit with my midwife and I finally had questions to ask. I never have questions! I was so prepared, I even wrote them down so I wouldn’t forget.

Well, I get there and due to a mix-up with my blood draw last time they had to re-draw. No biggie. Then we go through the normal stuff of weight, blood pressure (still good, yay!), feeling the baby (head down, yay, lets stay that way), and then checking the heartbeat. We heard it right away, but something was odd. She listened and I listened and we both were like, “huh?”. Every couple beats there was an off beat. She put the Doppler down on another area and we listened again. Yep. Unmistakable. There was an arrhythmia. She told me she wanted me to have that looked at via ultrasound like now. She’d had this happen two times in her 7 years of practice and both times it turned out to be nothing, but better to have a look and make sure everything was ok. So I didn’t get to ask my questions and instead drove to the MRI place and got everyone stewed up with worry (including myself a little, though I know fetal arrhythmia is really common so I wasn’t totally freaked).

I had the ultrasound and the tech and I could see that every 5-8 beats there was a spike. She said that as far as arrhythmias go, this was really minor, in her non-doctor-so-don’t-hold-me-to-it opinion. The heart structures looked perfect, no holes, all 4 chambers, it looked just as it should. There was just this little irregularity. So I left feeling better, went home, Googled, felt better still, then the midwife called. I was a little afraid they were going to drop me because of risk, but nope. They just want me to go in next week for a fetal EKG to double check what the first place found. If it checks out, then no biggie. I can deliver with them, no worries, no need to change providers or take any special precautions or do anything out of the ordinary. This sort of thing often resolves right after birth and its quite possible that in two weeks when I go back in it will have already resolved!

Now, lets just hope that the next appointment will be a little less dramatic, yes?

Yummy recipe

2010-07-15T07:50:00.001-07:00

I have just a moment before I need to get the kids ready to walk over to VBS, but I wanted to share this recipe I made the other night. I have a lemon-thyme plant that I put in just for its lovely smell. I've never cooked with it. Its really taken off and I wanted to use it for something, so I looked around and found this recipe. It was delicious! I was worried that the amount of lemon-thyme would be overwhelming, but it wasn't at all. The sauce was really good!

The only two things I would add to this recipe are this: Drain off some of the fat after browning the chicken and run the pan under a broiler for a few minutes at the end to crisp up the skin. Otherwise, its absolutely delicious as written. My family wolfed it down.

Chicken with Lemon Thyme
from The French Farmhouse Cookbook by Susan Herrmann Loomis (an excellent cookbook btw)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 chicken (3½-4 pounds; 1¾-2 kilos), cut into 8 pieces (2 breast pieces, 2 wings with portion of breast attached, 2 legs, 2 thighs), with giblets reserved
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large onions, peeled and diced
5 cloves garlic, peeled, cut in half, and green germ removed
1 large handful fresh lemon thyme prigs plus 1/3 cup (loosely packed) fresh lemon thyme leaves
1/4 cup (60ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it is hot but not smoking. Add the chicken, season it with salt and pepper, and brown it on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. The chicken should be deep golden.
2. Remove the chicken from the skillet and add the onions and garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, until the onions turn deep gold on the edges, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, and return the chicken to the skillet. Add the lemon thyme sprigs and the lemon juice, and stir well, scraping the bottom of the pan. Add the giblets, cover and cook until the chicken is nearly tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Stir 2 tablespoons of the lemon thyme leaves into the chicken, cover, and continue cooking until the chicken is cooked though. about 10 more minutes. Remove from the heat. Remove the lemon thyme sprigs, stir in the remaining lemon thyme leaves, and taste for seasoning. Let sit, covered, for about 10 minutes before serving.
4. Transfer the chicken pieces, all of the onion and garlic, and any of the cooking juices to a warmed platter, or simply divide them among four plates. Serve immediately.
4 servings

A few moments…

2010-07-10T12:29:00.001-07:00

Whew, life has been flying by since my last post. I had this vision of how our summer break was going to go and its not gone anything like I imagined. It hasn’t been bad, just not what I had in mind!

Every week we’ve had a playdate of some kind. With friends or my MOPS group. We have our weekly visit at Nana’s house. Every couple weeks now there is a midwife appointment. Cub Scout meetings. Then there is grocery shopping day. The other days fill up with random things and before you know it, a quiet day at home is not the norm but a treat!

One of the places we went a few weeks ago was the Evergreen Arboretum. My Mom had read about it in the newspaper and we gave it a look. Its VERY small so don’t plan on it taking up more than 30 minutes max. Its shady and cool and pretty though, so it would be a nice spot to hang on hot summer days. There are lots of sculptures through the garden that the kids found entertaining.

There were some really odd looking plants, like this one. It was enormous. I could have sat in the cup of the leaf!

This one was also odd, but also pretty cool. I bet the fall color is amazing. The leaves were enormous… taller than Ethan!

Its in the same park as American Legion Park in Everett, so after taking a walk through the Arboretum, we went to the park and let the kids play for awhile. Then Mom and Jen came back and joined us for dinner. Nice day!

Earlier this week we went to Flowing Lake Park in Snohomish with MOPS. It was hot and I got a bad burn, but it was fun all the same. Not many pics… I ruined my last camera by having it on a beach so I’m paranoid now about bringing it out in sandy environments! I love these rash guard style swimsuits now. They are so good about protecting the kids skin from burns. Gwen was the only one without so the day after this I went and got her one.

Wanted to share this darling picture. Elsa absolutely needs Daddy time when he gets home. She really misses him during the day. He was doing some work on his computer and she came in, crawled under his desk and just laid there. I thought she was asleep at first, but nope. She was happy just chilling near her Dad.

I’m 31 weeks now and time is ticking down… I alternate between moments of panic at the thought of having another baby and then feeling just fine with the idea. In a way, I feel like we’ve really hit a groove with the kids… E & G don’t need as much supervision and little E is gaining independence. Now we’re gonna mix it up again and start from scratch. Its overwhelming to think about. The homeschooling thing is gonna be tough too. How am I going to do it with a 2.5 year old and newborn? It’ll all work out, and that’s why I’m trying not to focus so much on the “GAH!” aspect and trust that things will fall into their own routine, like they’ve always done.

Gwendolyn’s Dance Recital

2010-06-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

Gwen finished out her dance year with a recital in the last week of June. She was so excited! She got ot pick out her own tutu and create her own dance while being part of the group dance as well. The pictures are pretty lousy since there was no flash allowed and my camera doesn’t handle it well. We have video that I’ll add whenever J gets around to compressing it :) It was pretty cute, as soon as she came out to dance she stared hard into the audience and waved at us. Then she picked her nose!

Ethan at intermission, before Gwen’s performance. He was pretending to be Ben10, something he’s really into right now.

Giving Ms. Martha her flowers.

Gwen had never gotten flowers before and was thrilled by two bouquets just for her!

Gwen told us that she’s done with dance and would like to do gymnastics now. I’m glad she got to work with such an awesome and gentle dance teacher and have this experience!

Father's Day

2010-06-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

This year I wanted to do something special for Jason because he's such a great father. Its hard to do things for him because he 1) manages the money so he can SEE what I've bought or reserved and 2) he always tells us not to spend any money on him.

So this time I used the credit card (and told him not to look) and made some plans.

Friday I dropped the kids off at my parents house and they watched them for two nights. All we can say is bless and thank you. What a special treat to sleep in and do things without having to buckle/unbuckle and load/unload 3 kids. Friday night we went out to a local restaurant, then to a bookstore, then ice cream, then home. Fun :)

Saturday, I didn't tell J what we were doing, but that he had to pack an overnight bag. We went and saw a movie (Iron Man 2... not too bad and its not my type of movie at all!). Then we ate at 5 Guys Burgers & Fries (yum). Kicked around Pike Place Market for an hour or two, drank the best vanilla latte I've EVER had, then got to the real surprise part.

We drove to the Silver Cloud Stadium Hotel, which was right across the street from Safeco Field. We got a room overlooking the left field gate. Check out the view from our window.

I had gotten us tickets to that nights game. It was so awesome to walk out of your hotel room door just a few minutes before game time and not worry about parking, crowds, or any of that. After the game was over (they won!), it took us 5 minutes from seat to comfy hotel bed. And then we were able to people watch for a long time too, which was pretty fun!

The next morning we loitered around reading and relaxing, then headed up to Northgate to kill some time before our Father's Day event with my family. Around 2 we met at Becki's house and visited and had some food, then headed down to the Ballard Locks and fish ladder. I haven't been there since my early teens. Looked exactly the same, but it was really neat to see boats passing in the locks and all the fish swimming around the ladder. The weather was dreary, but it was so nice to spend time with my siblings and parents and my own kids and husband doing something outside our normal stuff (which is great, but different stuff is great too!).

Jason ended up staying home on Monday and took the kids to see Toy Story 3. What a busy and eventful this Father's Day ended up being, but we all had so much fun.

Cub Scout

2010-06-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

Ethan just joined a local Tiger Cub den and is loving Scouting! He hasn't done much yet, but just the rough and tumble play time is enough for him :) On Thursday there was a picnic and raingutter regatta. Ethan's boat that he and Jason built did very well and he really enjoyed himself!

Here's a pic of him right before we left in his little outfit. He loves his uniform, and although I do not love sewing on these frustrating patches, I have to admit he looks so cute when its all put together. Note the angry sister in the window. She wanted to be in the picture but I told her it was just for Ethan. I guess she got in that picture anyhow! Cracked me up.

Camping at Flowing Lake

2010-06-18T13:00:00.001-07:00

We’ve started what I hope will be a yearly tradition of having a camping trip with my immediate family. Last year we stayed at the yurts at River Meadow Park in Arlington. I filled out a survey card and ended up winning a free night at any of the parks! So this year we decided to stay at the cabins at Flowing Lake in Snohomish. Its kinda weird to camp so close to your own home, but it definitely has its perks. Definitely.

There were 4 cabins and we rented all of them. At first J and I thought we’d want the one with the deck, but once we got there, we saw that Cabin 2 was better suited for the kids. Lots of flat pavement for them to ride their bikes on!

Ethan being a wonderful watchman over his little sister. And her not appreciating it too much.

A really neat Eagle Scout project at the lake. Free lifejackets that you can rent. You just fill out a little form, use the jacket, then return when you’re done.

We found this little bubbling spot on the edge of the lake and I was convinced it was a spring of some kind. Later I found out it was a pipe with water run off. Totally not as exciting.

Our wonderful puppy-dog Toby, who behaved very well and had a blast swimming.

Elsa showing me her flower

And throwing a fit not 5 minutes later. The life of a 2 year old is fraught with such mood swings!

Making dinner the first night. My Mom brought all the fixings for marinated kebabs and everyone got to make their own.

Becki brought a magazine that had pictures of conception-birth and she read to all the kids. They really enjoyed it.

The early morning crew hiding out under the shelters. This would end up the only non-rainy day of the trip!

Michael and Jenni provided breakfast the first day. It was great!

Heading out to fish

The kids ended up with the most luck of anyone. They both caught a couple fish.

I love Ethan’s face.

My one and only and bestest bro.

Michelle and Peter provided us with lunch, but we all forgot to bring a knife. Somehow, she conquered this watermelon with a plastic knife! Go Shelly!

Gwen showing off her bike skills. Earlier in the day she had a scary incident where she panicked and went down a hill with no brakes and crashed. I have to say it was kinda funny after the fear wore off. She actually looked a lot like this picture. She just freaked out and wouldn’t put her feet on the pedals and use the brakes. Luckily, she got right back on and tried again :)

We went fishing again and Gwen caught this tiny fish. Much smaller than her other catches, which had not scared her at all. This tiny little fish did though!

Elsa, very tired, very dirty, ready for bed.

I ended up catching a catfish, but again, because none of us brought a knife, we couldn’t gut it and eat it! Bummer. But it really cracked us up because Ethan kept insisting that there were catfish in the lake and we were like, “No, not here. We’ve never heard that” and yet I ended up catching one!

All and all we had a wonderful time! Its so nice to get to spend devoted time with your siblings. We are so blessed to have a family that really enjoys spending time together.

Spokane

2010-06-18T12:28:00.001-07:00

Over Memorial Day weekend we travelled to Spokane to visit Jason’s side of the family. The drive went ok. There was construction on I-90 so we decided to take Hwy 2 which was a mistake. We made 3x as many potty stops because you’re constantly passing things and the kids knew that we could stop. When you’re in the middle of no mans land on I-90, there is no place to stop and so it just doesn’t come up as much.

Our DVD player (i.e. laptop) setup also failed, which left us with NOTHING! Now I’m sure some in the older generation are all, “I remember when we used to drive 10 hours each way without a DVD player, or iPods, or video games and we LIKED it.”. This is true and very possible. I have memories of those trips myself! But my kids are used to the DVD player and so are we :) Luckily, after running around town in Spokane we were able to make it work for the drive back.

I have no pictures from the trip, but we did a lot! We saw Shrek in 3-D, had lots of visiting time, and Jason and I even got to go out to dinner without the kids with a friend of his. Good times.

Gwen’s Graduation

2010-06-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

Gwen graduated from pre-K and it was so touching and bittersweet. Mostly because Ms. Patty and Ms. Paula have been teaching my kids for 3 years total and we love them so much. They’ve become a part of our lives. Now we’ll see them in another couple years when Elsa starts up, but it will be weird not to be running over to Calvary a few times a week and seeing them.

Graduation was held at Jennings Park, as usual. Kids had a blast playing around.

Ethan and Elsa eating the good food! There was an incident of Ethan playing with a balloon tied to Ms. Paula’s present and it flying away. He was utterly humiliated about it, though everyone kept trying to make him feel ok. It literally took me over an hour just to get him to get back out in public and even then he just kind of hid in the background. Poor guy, hard lesson to learn!

Ms. Abigail and Ms. Paula giving out her diploma

Ethan and his best friend Laura.

Despite the oddness of not having a preschool or pre-k to attend, I am VERY much looking forward to not dashing out of the house early in the morning and being able to school both the kids at home on my schedule!

Changes

2010-06-14T19:56:00.001-07:00

As you can see I've switched things around. I was feeling so blah about the layout that I've had for ages now! Not sure I like the new look, so it may continue to change. Honestly, I'm not sure how many readers I still have as I update so infrequently, but I will continue to do what I can because it feels good to write and it provides me with a journal of what we do over the years. Jason and I have referred back to the blog many times to remember details of various events (and settle bets on who was right!).

I have a LOT to update on and I've committed myself to doing that this week. I also want to post a poll about baby names!

Not sleeping

2010-05-24T15:27:00.001-07:00

Last Tuesday Elsa and Gwen were in their room taking a nap when a neighbors horn went off for about 20 seconds. My kids are real sensitive to things that sound like alarms and this sounded like an alarm and it terrified them both! Gwen recovered quickly, but Elsa hasn’t. Since that incident nearly a week ago, she has not been able to sleep in her room at all.

We’ve tried so many things I can’t even recount them. The only thing we haven’t tried so far is moving her crib into a different room. It feels like this is not so much about fear any more and a lot about “if I hold out long enough I can sleep with Mommy and Daddy!”. Yet she displays some other behaviors that lead me to think that at the very least she does not like her room at all now (she won’t play in there for instance, even if we all are in there).

For the first few nights we eventually would give in and put her in our bed where she’d fall asleep almost immediately. Then we’d put her back in her bed and she’d sleep through the night. The last 4 or so nights though, she will wake up every hour. As you might imagine, this is extremely exhausting and frustrating. This also applies for naps so its something we’re struggling with all day long and the wee little bit of free time I got every day has been eaten up.

I hate going to bed frustrated and upset, waking up every hour frustrated and upset, and starting my day frustrated and upset! There is no one to blame… its just something to get through. But its still very draining.

I’m having a hard time staying positive. It feels like I’m crying every day. We seem to just be in a real tough streak and that little black raincloud just hangs over our heads wherever we go, making things as complicated and stressful as possible. I feel so worn down. Usually pregnancy is a time when I feel pretty good. As detailed on this blog, I usually have at least one semi-major home improvement job I tackle during pregnancy and I like to get things in order. I don’t know that’s going to happen this time. Seems hard enough just staying on top of day to day tasks, let alone any big projects.

Anyway, enough whining. Off to make some order out of chaos.

Elsa turns 2

2010-05-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

Our little blond surprise! Our stubborn, funny, talkative, and charming baby girl. She has kept us hopping since day one and will probably continue to do so as the years roll by. Happy birthday my Elly-Belly!

Newborn

6 months

1 Year

2 Years

Updates, part 2

2010-05-14T08:47:00.001-07:00

My garden has been doing ok. I went on a little buying binge and changed my plan around, but I’m happy with how its come out. Somehow I ended up with 9 tomato plants! Holy moly, all my local peeps, you may be getting bags of tomatoes from me later this year. We had like 2 days of very strong winds, complete with rough crosswinds, and it demolished some of my tomatoes, despite my efforts to protect them. I had to replace all the special ones I ordered online which was a major bummer for me. I just pray that everything else goes fine. Gardening is supposed to be fun, not stressful! I’m going to try to get a new picture up soon. Here’s what I have though:

9 tomatoes (Purple Cherokee, Gardeners Choice Cherry, Black Krim, Black Cherry, Brandywine, Goliath, Manitoba, Patio, Roma)
1 Brussels sprout (Thanks Aunt Margaret!)
2 squares of beets
3 basil plants
2 parsley
1 thyme
2 rainbow Swiss chard
2 chive
2+ zucchini
2 sugar snap pea plants
mint/lemon thyme
1 butternut squash (thanks again to Aunt Margaret!)

I finally completed a year long project of obtaining a new seat for our Suburban. We have bucket seats in our first row and we needed a bench to comfortably seat 4 kids plus guests. Gray leather bench seats that fit our Suburban are much harder to find than you might think! But I bought one, sight unseen, from a junkyard in Bellingham and I think it will be great. My Dad is going to pick it up on Monday (he is up there for work all the time) so hopefully by Wednesday I can have it in! It’ll be nice to have the full space utilized in the car.

Yesterday we went with G’s pre-k class to a local fire station. What fun!

Ethan, such a good helper, pushing Elsa for me.

Gwen

Elsa in her fire hat

Fireman giving the kids a talk

Inside the ambulance

Gwen driving

Ethan in the captains chair

Elsa liked the back seat

Sisters

Talking about the Jaws of Life

Showing off their newly remodeled kitchen. I love how Elly immediately found the one item of food out in that whole building.

The closest thing they had to a fire dog

Later in the day, I was about to Elly in the tub and noticed how much gunk there was in her hair. Its very fine and straight and resists most attempts at controlling it. So I decided I was going to cut in some bangs. Now I’m bad at cutting hair. Last time I tried it was on Ethan when he wasn’t even a year! And it was bad. But I just got an urge to do something so I did.

Before

After

Now, I don’t think I did too bad considering that it was basically snip here, snip there, between keeping her distracted and happy. Since its dried, it looks a little football helmet-ish on the front, and honestly, she doesn’t even look like my little baby any more! She looks older. But its really nice not to have to constantly battle with the hair.

As for me, well, I haven't been doing so well. For about 3 weeks I've felt like a walking ball of stress and tension. Crying at the drop of the hat, zero energy, just blah blah blah through and through. I posted on Facebook how I feel like a little black raincloud settled over my head for a couple weeks and it still lingers. Everything seems difficult and hard and frustrating. Hoping that things improve soon. There is so much to do and not much time to do it.

Much to update

2010-05-14T08:24:00.001-07:00

We’ve had an exhausting and stressful couple of weeks around these parts. Blogging was something I couldn’t even think about! But I *think* we’re slowing down now and there is so much to write about.

The 25th was Gwen’s birthday and it started off inauspiciously with Elly throwing up a couple times the night before and the morning of. We cautiously hoped that it was a 24 hour bug and made the decision to bring her with us to the party and keep her somewhat isolated. She did ok. My Mom tended her and she held it together for most the day. Unfortunately (or fortunately), right after the party ended she threw up all over the floor. But the staff of Pump It Up! barely batted and eye and had it cleaned up right away. Everyone had a blast and you can’t beat a bouncy house place for wearing out kids (and adults!).

One set of slides. So fun!

Gwen coming down head first

Sick Elsa

Gwen posing

Aunt Jenni taking Elly for a slide

Another of the bouncy things

Group pic

The birthday throne

Ethan and his friend directing gift opening

The boys got a kick out of being teased by the girls

After the party, we decided to go to Burgermasters as a treat and get dinner. We figured since Elly had already puked she wouldn’t do it again, right? Oh wrong. WRong wrong wrong! We placed our order and BAM! Elsa pukes all over herself and the car seat. I hustle to clean it all up and I’m feeling like this is not going to be fun and we need to get home. Our food comes and I’m holding Elly and she throws up again! Oh heavens. Nothing ruins a meal like the odor of vomit. So I tell Jason, “Lets go, NOW!”. He goes to start the car and… nothing. Nothing at all. Huh? He tries again and again and the car is dead. This is not happening. But it is. Our car battery died! We just got AAA so we give them a ring and they say it could be an hour or more. That bites. However, the Burgermaster lady notices our dilemma and says, “Hey, we can jump you right here with this neat thing” and she does and we’re on our way in 10 minutes. What a day! What a stressful, stinky, messy day :)

Unfortunately, the fun did not stop there and one by one we all fell sick. For Elsa it was the worst. She had both vomit and diarrhea for 10 days. For everyone else it was a 24-48 hour thing. We didn’t have it all at once though, it staggered out through the week so it felt never ending!

After recovering from that, I decided to get Elsa off the bottle. She usually had one at nap and bedtime, but since being sick she’d been totally off them and we thought this was the time. It was hard because she did start to want them again, but we persevered and she seems ok with it now.

Then I decided last weekend to potty train Elly. I don’t know why I decided to do this when we were all still recovering from the stress and hassle of being sick, but there ya go. My friend April had recommended http://3daypottytraining.com and I used their method to good success! She’s now 100% dry during the day and naps. She was dry for a few nights but has started wetting again at night, so I think we may put her in pull ups at night for now. She’s still so young and might not be ready for night time dryness on a consistent basis.

Mother’s Day was rather stressful for me as well! We’d made plans to celebrate at my Mom’s house and combine it with Elsa’s birthday (which is on the 19th) since May is busy for everyone and we weren’t sure we could all get together again later in the month. My Mom came down with the flu though and thought we should cancel because she didn’t know how long she could still be infectious after feeling better. I didn’t get this email though until I’d just completed a HUGE 3 layer 9 x13 cake filled with lemon-white chocolate whipped cream and strawberries. It must have weighed 10 lbs! The thought of all the time and money put into this cake being wasted was enough to drive me into my bed in tears. Luckily though, everyone decided to still get together and we had a wonderful day. I got no pictures because I’ve been HORRIBLE about that lately.

See the next post for more…

Gwendolyn

2010-04-25T14:13:00.001-07:00

Our bright star, the heart of our family, always tender and kind with her little sister. She graces us with (many many many) drawings and her humor. She was born at around noon this day 5 years ago. So tiny. She was a pound lighter and an inch shorter than her brother (6lbs, 5 oz and 18 3/4 inches), but seemed like a fragile little doll compared to him. We are so blessed to have her personality and spirit in our house.

Newborn

1 year

2 year

3 years

4 years

Today

3 years

2010-04-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

3 years ago this week my Grandpa died. I had forgotten about it until I saw the date noted on my Mom’s calendar.

In one way, it seems like such a long time but it also seems like such a short time. We all still miss his presence in our lives.

Boy!

2010-04-12T12:34:00.001-07:00

Today we had our ultrasound and found out that we are being blessed with another boy! We are thrilled!

Everything looked perfect and based on measurements the baby is about 4 days ahead of my due date, but nothing will be changed of course. That's not big enough to make any difference and is really meaningless as babies grow at different rates. They said the baby weighed about 8oz. It was so nice to finally “see” this baby.

Here are some pictures from the ultrasound:

T-Ball

2010-04-10T18:26:00.001-07:00

Ethan is participating in Lake Stevens T-Ball this year and today was their first real game. He did great, and really enjoyed himself which is the important part!

Posing in his Titans uniform

Elsa bewildered by the fence (that ended just a few feet over) and Gwen trying to guide her

Ethan snoozing on the bench…

There, that’s better.

Calling his hit to right field

He made it to first!

Running to home

Gwen and Elsa doing their respective poses

Gorgeous view from the field

My beautiful baby girls

Ethan getting a good throw into first

All and all it was a good day, but extremely long to be entertaining a 2 year old. I think we may come about halfway through next time.

Just a few pictures

2010-04-10T10:28:00.001-07:00

Not much to say, except that my ultrasound was bumped up to Monday. THIS Monday, the 12th! I’m sooooooo excited. Usually by this time we’ve had at least one ultrasound but not so with going through the stand-alone birth center. I’m eager to see the little baby, and I’m eager to find out if its a boy or a girl. I have no patience, I just HAVE to know these things as soon as possible!

Other than that though, nothing much happening. Just wanted to share these photos I took yesterday.

We were at MOPS all morning which means Elsa missed her morning nap and was played out. We got home, had some lunch, and she just crashed out on Gwen. Its so cute how these two love each other and enjoy sitting and snuggling. Any time Gwen is on the couch, you’ll hear Elsa saying, “Gwennie wap? Gwennie wap?” which is how she asks for Gwen to lift her up to her lap.

Later in the day I was making some cookies and I caught Elsa and her stool (they are constant companions in mischief) sneaking some cookie dough from the bowl. I have never had a child so interested in kitchen workings. She fiddles with the stove, tries to stir pots, cut veggies, and just do everything I do in the kitchen. It’s a little scary!

Today we have Ethan’s first t-ball game, along with his pictures and all that. Its gonna be an full afternoon event, so I better get moving and prep everyone for the day. Look for an update on Monday when I’ll definitely be sharing if a little boy or girl will be joining our family!

How time does fly…

2010-04-04T14:11:00.001-07:00

It does not feel like two weeks since my last blog post! Many days seem very long, but the weeks just slip by before I know what is happening.

Nothing too exciting has been going on the last two weeks. Ethan is now reading simple stories quite well and I'm so proud of him. Every unit (which lasts about a week) ends with him making a little story booklet. Here's a video of him reading one of them. I've noticed that he tries to memorize the book, which you'll notice I missed in the beginning part of the book, when he didn't read it correctly. I caught him in the later part. But he can and quite easily does read the booklets.

Gwen has started reading as well, but it doesn't come very easy to her and she doesn't like doing it. Well, I take that back. She likes it, but its hard and one thing about Gwen is that she likes to do things well on the first or second try. Going back over and over something is very frustrating for her so if she thinks it will take a lot of effort she'd rather stop before she starts. For now, I'm dropping her lessons and letting it lie. I'll pick it back up in a few weeks and see if she's in a different frame of mind.

The kids are so different in their styles. Honestly, I always thought Ethan was going to be the more difficult one to school, but I've found him quite willing to work on something until he gets it right and doesn't need constant parental interaction and affirmation. Gwen, perhaps suffering a bit from the wunderkind traits that many people attribute to her, wants a lot of feedback and affirmation. For instance, she'll be practicing her letters and EACH letter she will stop and look at me and wait for positive feedback before moving on. She'll read one word and stop and wait for that affirmation. Its very frustrating and time consuming! I'm not giving her the constant affirmation because I don't think its a good habit to get into, so we often bump heads and she feels like she's not doing it right because I'm not there constantly telling her how good she's doing. We're both learning!

Elsa is very two, though her birthday isn't for another 6 weeks. Perhaps I don't recall the other kids at two very clearly, but she seems to be more precocious than they were! She talks very very well and figures out how to get into absolutely everything. She wants to do everything herself, from warming up her own milk in the microwave, to stirring pans on the stove (which I've scarily found her doing a few times!), to changing her own diaper, to adventuring down the street or across the parking lot in a few seconds time. Yet, she's very funny and loving to her siblings and she makes us all laugh when we need it most. What a lovely little child she is, despite the near heart attacks she gives me on a regular basis.

Pregnancy is rolling on fine for me. I hesitate to post this, but I haven't had a severe headache in a couple days and I'm cautiously optimistic that perhaps that stage ended very early this time? I don't know... I'm not getting my hopes up! I'm still wearing my regular clothes and am barely showing which is surprising! I'm kind of ready to get into the comfy maternity pants!

Last night we had an Easter/Passover celebration at my parents house. I made a huge pot of matzo ball soup and we had other goodies there as well. It was a long day but it was a fun mix of both mainstream Easter traditions (candy, egg hunt) and Passover. My Mom had gotten some EXTREMELY hot horseradish and Ethan put a huge spoonful on his matzo and literally erupted in pain! I tried to give him a drink and he spit it all out and started crying and screaming. I took him to my Mom's room and flushed his mouth but there isn't much you can do but wait it out. As he was crying, he said, "Mom, I'm peeing my pants!" and I just busted out laughing and then so did he, but he was still sobbing too. Oh, my poor little man. His face was so red from the pain and the crying. At first I'd been annoyed and thought he was over-reacting, but when I saw how much he'd taken, no wonder he was in agonies!

Ethan and other news

2010-03-22T16:57:00.001-07:00

Today is Ethan’s 6th birthday. I can’t believe I’m a parent to a 6 year old, and I can’t believe I ended up with such a great 6 year old! He’s my stubborn, smart, sweet, and silly firstborn.

Newborn

1 year (He reminds me of Elsa!)

2 year

3 year

4 year

5 year

6 year

We held a birthday party at our house on Sunday afternoon. There were 7 kids total. The weather held out and thank goodness because it was 2 hours long and by the first hour we’d done everything! The kids played outside and had a great time.

It was funny to see how everyone grouped up immediately. The boys talking Bakugan, Lego and Star Wars…

The girls doing girly things…

We played Pin The Tail on the Donkey. Twice. Because oddly, about half the children pinned the tail on perfectly the first round. Hmmm… that doesn’t seem right! They could see through the blindfold :)

This was Gwen in the first round… getting it perfect of course!

Ethan had me make a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles. Served with chocolate ice cream. This kid is a chocoholic like his Daddy!

After presents and cake, we had a SpongeBob piñata. Hilariously, everyone pulled the string (that’s how they do it these days instead of hitting it with a stick. So not as much fun) and nothing happened. The one string that no one pulled was the “trick” string. After candy was gathered, the kids wanted to bat around the piñata. They really had a good time with that!

Two of the kids yanked off the legs and proudly displayed them to me!

It was so great to see all Ethan's friends here and having a good time. I’m gonna have to get them all together again because everyone played perfectly together and had a blast.

Today, still completely wearied from the party, I had my 16 week midwife appointment. All was well. Blood pressure perfect and heartbeat found. I’m having persistent bad to severe headaches again (happened with Elly too around this time) and like last time I saw a midwife, they don’t seem to get how bad they are. I’m sure many many people complain of headaches, but these are quite quite bad. Not just an annoyance. I think part of it is that they can’t prescribe me anything anyway, but I’d like to hear something other than Tylenol (useless) and massage (impractical). Worse comes to worse I’ll go see my GP and maybe she’ll give me some drugs for the worst days. If anyone reading has ideas for me, PLEASE let me know.

I scheduled my mid-pregnancy ultrasound for April 21. Seems so far away! I’m positively dying to find out what we’re having! Hopefully these next 4 weeks will fly by.

Soft Spring Days

2010-03-15T16:59:00.001-07:00

I don't know if there is a better type of day in the Pacific Northwest than those right before and during spring when the sun is shining and the world is fresh with growing and blooming things. The air is clean, the breeze is warm, and the sun is so bright after the long slog of fall and winter. Its just lovely!

We spent all of our day out and about. First was grocery shopping, which we do every Monday. It was kind of bittersweet because it was Ethan's last day in the store daycare. Next week he'll be turning 6 and have aged out of it. Bummer! I love having the in-store daycare at my grocery. That one hour to get my shopping done is so precious and the ladies that run the care are awesome! I suppose the upside is that in two months Elsa will be old enough to go in, so it'll all even out. I'd much rather shop with a 6 year old than a 2 year old.

After shopping, we ran home and dropped off the groceries, then went to our friends house to have lunch. They run a dairy farm and while we were there I took Elly to see the little baby cows in the domes (see this post for info on the cow domes). Elsa was making me laugh by calling them puppies! They would stick their warm noses out and lick her hands and she just loved it! She would have gone by every single one of them if she could.
After lunch, we packed up all the kids (7 total) and headed out to a local park. The sun was out and the kids played hard. We wrapped it up when both my older kids were crying and the youngest one wasn't far behind. Naptime! It was great to absorb all that Vitamin D and visit with friends.

The only two pics I snapped today, thanks to a failing battery:

Jack and Ethan.

Max and Gwen.

Pregnancy has been going well. Same old stuff :) Occasional nausea and a recent upswing in exhaustion have been my plagues. I'm trying to enjoy what I can about this pregnancy because it will probably be my last. But its hard not to complain! I'm not yet showing enough for maternity clothes. I'm shocked! I'll have to go back and check, but I'm pretty sure that by 12 weeks with Elsa I was in maternity clothes. I guess working out so hard really did pay off by strengthening those abs and putting me in better shape overall. Unfortunately, I've been doing little to maintain that.... working out is SO not something I want to do right now. I've been doing it about once a week which is not enough! I'd like to be doing it 3x a week, but it seems like an impossible task with everything else going on.

Ethan started t-ball a couple weeks ago and seems to be doing well! Practices are every Saturday and wear him out completely (very good!). This was him on his first day (he has more official looking uniform now!):

And for good measure… the girls!

Yep, this is Elsa. And yep, she climbed all the way up without my help (she even told me “No Mommy!” when I tried to assist). I thought Gwen was a monkey…

And isn’t this the sweetest picture? I love how cuddly the kids are with one another.

12 weeks

2010-02-24T10:39:00.001-08:00

On Monday I had my 12 week appointment. Jason came with me as it was thought we should be able to hear the heartbeat. He also wanted to have a look around and get a feel for the place and meet the midwives.

Everything went fine at the appointment and after some searching, we did find the heartbeat so all is well. Jason is still reluctant about me birthing at a center instead of a hospital, but he’s willing to go along with it at this point.

Next appointment will be at 16 weeks and I’ll be able to schedule my ultrasound for a few weeks after that. I’m anxious to find out the gender!

Quiet...

2010-02-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

This morning I got the rare pleasure of waking up to an almost empty house. Its just Jason and I. My parents took the kids yesterday so J and I could go out to dinner at Dahlia Lounge with some friends.

We had an interesting day yesterday. After dropping off the kids, we came home and decided we were going to head into downtown Seattle early because the day was so gorgeous and we haven't explored downtown in years. We wanted to stop and buy J a few shirts and then we thought, maybe we should look at a sports jacket and slacks because its something he's really needed in his wardrobe. So we stopped at Men's Warehouse in Lynnwood because it was the only place I knew of off the type of my head. An hour and a half later we walk out rather shell-shocked (sticker shocked?) at what we'd done! He ended up with a sports coat, 2 dress pants, 2 shirts, and 2 ties. In truth we only walked out with the shirts and ties because the other things were being tailored. That was the most money we'd ever spent on clothes and then we left with this tiny bag. Wasn't very satisfying! Oh well. At least we know he'll be very well dressed for any events that come up.

We got downtown and parked right by the restaurant, then walked to Westlake Center. I used the ladies room and while I was in there, mall security busted in to get a lady who was high as a kite and leaning in a corner. That was kind of interesting. We wandered around for a bit, then headed back to the restaurant and met April and Gregg and had dinner. We were there 3 hours and had a good time. Food was ok. Not amazing, but good and a little different. My favorite was the dessert of freshly made doughnuts with marscapone and jam. YUM!

Today I have some big yard plans, thanks to the really nice weather that has inspired me. I'm pulling out a big bush in the front yard and replacing it with my blueberry which has outgrown its pot. I'm also going start hacking back the blackberry bushes that have been encroaching on my yard for the past few years. They are now officially "out of control" and I'm out of time... if they're gonna be cut back, it has to be now. How I wish I had a goat who could come in here and eat them back.

Freedom!

2010-02-14T17:34:00.000-08:00

As of 2/13/10, we are entirely consumer debt free. No credit cards, no car payments. No monkey on our back. We are FREE! This is astounding. A little over 2 years ago we were putting $200 a month on the credit cards for essentials and totally baffled at why we couldn't live on Jason's income. My friend April told us about Dave Ramsey and his book, Total Money Makeover. I read it first, with a huge dose of skepticism. Budgeting was scary and we'd never stuck to anything we'd tried in the past. I didn't think this would work either. After I read a few pages, I knew Jason had to read it too. He started and got SO excited by it. We saw a far better future for ourselves and best of all, a very easy plan to get there. So we started and we stuck with it, like we'd never ever stuck to any other budget plan before. And suddenly, that very first month, we not only had enough money to pay for everything, we had extra left over. Why had we needed that $200 on the credit card every month? We were not shorted on anything. We could still get an espresso and eat out. We still went on vacations and celebrated birthdays. Our lives were not negatively impacted at all. And best of all, even then, we felt free. We didn't worry about having enough to pay the mortgage or groceries. We knew we had it because the cash was right there in the envelope staring at us.

So I would recommend this plan to anyone who wants to get their finances under control. How we wish we'd done this 5 years earlier. We'd be in a totally different place. Its truly changed our lives.

So... in other news, my commitment to only spend 30 minutes online did not work today. But, it wasn't pointless time killing internet stuff, but research, planning and investigation. I looked for some home organization for the kid's laundry (and found it!). I planned out my gardens and ordered some seeds and starts for delivery later this year (so excited!). I ordered a new cell phone. I am pleased at how aware I've been of my time. When I started just aimlessly browsing, killing time, I left the computer and did something else. Like plant my tulip bulbs... better late than never. Right? Right?

Convicted

2010-02-13T16:08:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling very convicted about how much time I spend online. It never feels like I spend a lot of time at a stretch, but since I'm always popping on and off it does add up. Some days, bad days, I spend most of my day online just killing time and trying to escape reality. I end up eating my breakfast and lunch here, so I can read articles or my message board and my kids watch more TV than they should because Mommy gets caught up in something online. I don't want to be a parent who keeps brushing their kids aside because they are too distracted by the computer.

So, my new goal is to limit myself to 30 minutes a day. I suppose for some people that still probably sounds like a lot! But I will guarantee you that its way less than I spend online now. 30 minutes is plenty of time to check my boards, Facebook, email and read a few things online.

I want to fill that extra time with good, fun things. Not more housework. Nope. That's a sure way to send me back to the computer for an escape! I want to use that time to read for myself or to the kids, finally get back into sewing, work in the yard, or do one of the thousand and one projects I have in mind for this house.

So, I start tomorrow. I'm a little afraid to be honest. My computer has been an escape for years and years... even before I had kids! I'm sure there will be some withdrawal pains. But I'm not living in a way I'm proud of right now, and I know technology addiction is part of it.

A beautiful story

2010-02-10T11:21:00.001-08:00

I discovered this through a link on a message board I visit and it was too beautiful not to share. It really touched me. I think it may touch your heart too, so I encourage you to spend the 5 minutes to read through this mothers story.

The Birth of Nella Cordelia

Funny & charming things the kids are doing

2010-02-09T08:42:00.001-08:00

Just so I don't forget!

Elsa has moppish hair, so I often put it up in a spout on top of her head. Its a very tall spout. The girls have come up with a game where Gwen holds the spout and leads Elly around the kitchen-living room-office circuit. Around and around they go, Elsa giggling and Gwen gently guiding her by the hair.

Elsa really gets that Gwen is her sister now and "Gennie" is usually the first person she asks about when she gets up in the morning. I've noticed the last few times we've been out and about, Elsa has run up to Gwen unexpectedly, hugged her legs and said, "Gennie sis! Gennie sis!" meaning, of course, Gwennie is her sister. Its so cute!

Every night I pray with the kids before bed. Gwen always likes to follow up with her own prayer. Its so sweet because she always praises my dinners, even if she didn't like them, and thanks Jesus for her "bestest" Mommy.

Ethan has been coming back with little statements that crack us up. The other day we were in the car and he was cranky. I asked him why he was so sour and he says, "Because I got up at 1 in the morning and ate a lemon". Too funny! When I was trying on my red lipstick for my sisters 40's themed party, he looked at me, wide-eyed, and said, "Mom, those are kissing lips, like in a cartoon!"

Ethan also has good reasoning skills. I have to be very careful to not let him reason his way out of assigned tasks or punishments because he will somehow always talk me out of them. Jason tells me that he did this as a kid too, so I guess E comes by it naturally. On one hand, I admire his ability, but sheesh, this will be a challenge the older he gets. Perhaps I will need to get him in a debate club!

One of the most charming things the older two do is snuggle on the couch and fall asleep in ridiculous positions or fall asleep on their own in ridiculous spots. Here are a few of my favorites.

Ok, they aren’t asleep in this one, but who can sit comfortably like this!

Ethan has special snuggling powers. His sisters can’t stay awake around him!

Times of our life

2010-02-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

Things have been so crazy lately. Seems every week or weekend has some event that takes up every ounce of available brain and body energy!

Last weekend we traveled to my Aunt Daralyn's house in Northeast Washington. Our journey was for two reasons. 1. A housewarming for my cousin Lindy who lives in that area, and 2. hooky-bobbing, which is basically sledding and then being pulled back up the hill (in this case, driveway) by a car.

Our trip out took about 7 hours and went fairly smooth, all things considered. My kids are not strangers to long car rides and they do pretty well. The DVD player helps a lot! As we got closer, we were skeptical that we'd have much snow to sled on as the roads and most of the countryside was snow free. However, my aunt lives on a mountain basically and there was plenty of snow for us! We navigated the somewhat treacherous driveway with ease (what a big relief) and settled in with the scads of other people there. I think at the fullest point there were 31 people in her house, and for 2 nights there were 27 people sleeping there! There were 11 kids under 9, and 5 of them were under 2 years. Oh it was a full house, but it wasn't all that crowded feeling and everyone was able to find a little space to move and breathe.

The next few days were filled with lots of visiting and playing. It was my first time hooky-bobbing and I had a BLAST! I so want to do this next year :) I have an album of pictures that ya'll can see here.

The drive home took about 7 hours too, but was more difficult because my cranky little sis, Jenni, was riding with us (sorry Jen, its true!) and the DVD player was broken. But we all survived and the journey was well worth the memories and enjoyment we had at Aunt Daralyns, even though we had to go to the bathroom in garbage bags the last day ;) Our poor hosts, the sewer pipe under their house was crushed (unbeknown to them) and the influx of all the people using the faciilites clogged it completely. Its freezing with deep snow outside and we are on a mountain. Not many options. So we did what we had to and lined to the toilets with garbage bags and tied them up and put them in the bathtub when they were full. It wasn't so bad. I DO feel bad that my Aunt had to empty all those bags when the sewer problem was fixed though. I have to say that I think it speaks highly of my family that everyone dealt with the issue with good humor. What else CAN you do in that situation?

In other happenings, tonight my sister Becki is celebrating her 30th birthday (technically her birthday was back in January, but we're celebrating tonight). She's having a swing dancing 30-40's style party at a gym. Its gonna be SO fun! My friend April is a whiz with hair and makeup and I asked her to do me up. We did a trial run on Thursday and she turned me from my everyday plain Jane into this. I was SHOCKED. It didn't even look like me! I've never worn so much makeup, but it was fun to do something totally different from the regular. I can't remember the last time I wore lipstick or got all dolled up. It'll be cool to see what it looks like when I'm in my outfit. Thanks April!

My goal is that it won't be 3 weeks until my next blog post. Lets see how that works out ;)

Morning, noon, and night sickness

2010-01-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

That sums up the few short weeks of pregnancy that have passed. I don't recall feeling this sick, this often, this early!

I'm also incredibly tired.

Now this is all "normal", but it seems to me I wasn't weighted down by these things in the past until I was like 8-10 weeks along!

Nonetheless, I'm pushing through each day and doing what I can. Homeschooling is going well, and I've started Gwen doing some early reading prep as well. I hope to have both of them reading at about the same level by late spring.

Both the kids had to go in for fillings and did just great. Our dentist is wonderful. Unfortunately, Gwen has to go in 3 more times and Ethan 1 more time to get them all finished up. I cannot believe my little Gwen had 5 cavities! Both of them will have their teeth sealed when they're old enough as they inherited grooves in their teeth from me.

Elsa has had a cold for a few days now and its a constant struggle to keep that nose clean! She's started freaking out any time it starts to drip, so I have to always have something on hand to get her cleaned up or she starts losing her marbles a bit. Something about a runny nose really gets her worked up!

Jason is liking Costco and the people he works for. The drive, as you might assume, has gotten VERY old. He's spent a lot of time re-working our finances and budget to see if we could move earlier than planned, or maybe even rent, but it looks like we're still here for a few more years (unless we win the lottery... which we don't play). There just isn't any way you can make a grueling 1.5 hour commute home not miserable. Luckily the drive in isn't bad (because he leaves so early), but the drive home just wears him out. I remember those days of commuting and how grateful I am that I no longer have to do it! I can't wait until J either finds a job close to home or our home moves closer to his job and he doesn't have to end his work day drained and frustrated at how little time he gets with the family and leisure before having to go to bed to get up early and fight the drive again.

Short

2010-01-09T19:46:00.001-08:00

Just a few lines while I'm here, trying to rest my weary bones for a few seconds. Tonight I'm watching my cousin Ben and this house is full and noisy with 4 kids all wound up. Guess I should get used to that, huh?

Here's a link to our pictures from Christmas. I took shockingly few pictures for some reason.

Gwen had her first filling on Thursday and did great. I just love our dentist. We'll be back next week for Ethan's, then the week after for Gwen, then Ethan , then Gwen once again. I can't believe Gwen had 5 cavities and Ethan 2! I need to remember to talk about having their teeth sealed to prevent further cavities since they both have deep grooves in their teeth like I do.

Elsa has reached her "terrible twos". During our weekend in Spokane we REALLY saw it emerge. I know how to weather this... I've done it twice already. But that does not make it fun and this little one has a will and determination that I don't recall in the others. As exhausting as it is, this is the groundwork for the future years and we must be consistent and firm in guiding her. So far her favorite thing to do is shriek "MINE!" over everything or "NO!" at the gentlest suggestion or to hit me when she's angry.

Well, Ben was just picked up and I must get the kids into jammies and into bed as they are VERY tired.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that jazz.

2010-01-06T10:50:00.001-08:00

What a whirlwind 2.5 weeks! Life is just starting to return to normal. We had a wonderful Christmas weekend (after spending Christmas all by ourselves) and over New Years, we visited our Spokane family and enjoyed ourselves there as well.

I always feel a great relief after the holidays are over. I enjoy them a lot, but its also a lot of work, a lot of stress, and a lot of money! I enjoy routine so its nice to get back to that.

There is some news... I'm pregnant! I found out the Monday after Christmas but I didn't tell anyone... I wanted to see if Jason would guess on his own. He did, during our dreadfully long drive to Spokane (thanks snow and ice!) and the next day I told family. I'm very early, like only 6 weeks or so, due in early September. The kids are so excited!

We're off to our weekly visit with family, so that's all for now.

Children’s Museum

2009-12-23T11:48:00.001-08:00

Yesterday my friend April, with her three boys, and I, with my three kidlets, headed out to the Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett. It was pretty crowded and crazy and both adults felt exhausted at the end, but the kids had a blast and that’s what it was all for :)

Elsa had so much fun. It was her first time being old enough to do anything and she kept me running all day.

They had a cool room with black lights and glowing things. This was by far Elly’s favorite room. If she escaped from my view, this was where I’d always find her!

Elsa, Grady and Gibson in the water room. Always a huge hit and even I have to admit its pretty darn cool.

April (Garrison on the back) and Grady working the water wheel

Ethan and Elsa… She tried to climb in a few times!

Little (or not so little any more!) Garrison.

There is a small padded play area for kids 5 and under. Elsa was by far the youngest in there but she held her ground very well. When this little girl gave her a push, Elly yelled, “Hey!” and the little girl said sorry. Being the youngest, Elsa is no stranger to being pushed around or standing up for herself!

Ethan’s meal for me, from the kitchen area.

Gwen was too shy to come out to the stage in the theatre area, so Elly just came out and stood there in front of everyone. Then she tried to copy a big kid and walk off the edge. That ended with a face plant, but she wasn’t hurt :)

Grady, Gibson and Elsa watching the coins go down

Gwen was running around everywhere but I managed to catch a picture of her!

On the bus

Being goofy on the train

How can you not love this little face? Gwen is going to marry him one day, or so she says :)

April may not appreciate me posting a picture of her boys fighting over a block, but I did because I saw Ethan all finger-wagging about how they should share! The irony here is that not 5 minutes later I had to pull Ethan away from the blocks because he got mad at Elly for knocking his stuff down and pushed her over. Practice what you preach Ethan! :)

Gwen was proud of how tall she built this tower. Elly-zilla took care of it pretty fast after this picture was snapped.

Once we got home, all the kids took outrageously long naps which was nice and allowed me to catch up on a bunch of stuff.

Today I’m taking the kids over to my parents house to spend the night! J and I will be going out to dinner and then tomorrow wrapping up all the presents that have been stashed in the hiding place and getting things ready for Christmas. Good times.

Ahhh…

2009-12-21T13:47:00.001-08:00

Today I have been highly effective. Yep, I can say that at 1:37pm with half the day still to come. That’s because even if I do nothing, not a stitch more, it’ll still have been a good day as far as housework goes.

Housework is the bane of my existence. I really don’t like it at all, and get little satisfaction from a clean house vs. a dirty one. My Mother is probably gasping at such a statement because I know she gets very much satisfaction from a clean house and tried to raise us that way. Sorry Mom!

A few weeks ago I decided that instead of ignoring things until they really just couldn’t be ignored any more I would start doing them consistently. I’m starting the third week of this novel concept and I have to say that cleaning a bathroom that is only 1 week dirty vs. one that is 3 weeks or more dirty is a big difference! Putting away 1-2 loads of laundry vs. every single item that we’ve worn in the past 3 months is much easier. Now I’m sure I’ve jinxed myself by saying how good I’ve been with keeping up. But yeah I need to brag a little because I’ve been working hard at this and its paying off. Oh, I still don’t get much satisfaction from it nor do I like doing the chores any more than before, but everything goes quicker and I know it makes Jason happier to come home to a picked up and fairly tidy house.

'Tis the season

2009-12-20T15:40:00.000-08:00

Jason commented to me today on how long it had been since I last blogged. I was doing good there with the short ones every day or so, but life got in the way once again :) We've been in a flurry of activity and I've been trying to stay off the computer and get more done around the house.

Gwen had her school performance on Thursday and it was darling, as these things always are. I put the photos up on Facebook and you can view them here. As soon as J compresses the video I'll have that as well.

A few nights ago I made some chocolate mousse (SO delicious and easy) and unwisely left Elsa alone with it for a few minutes. Major mess ensued... My girl does love chocolate!

Gwen and I attended the Olympic Ballet's Nutcracker up in Arlington last Sunday. We had a good time and the performance was very family friendly (tons of kids, shortened from the original) but Gwen still started to fall asleep at the end. It was fun to go, just her and I. When we came out at intermission, the snow was coming down so thick I was a little worried about getting home. By the time we left, the snow had stopped but the parking lot was a sheet of ice. I steeled my nerves and slid all the way down the exit and breathed when I reached Hwy 9 and clear roads. Unfortunately, it was all gone once we reached Lake Stevens and we haven't seen a flake yet. Shoot, this time last year we were positively buried in snow, remember that? Half as much of that would be nice, just to set the mood :)

After a convicting MOPS meeting where we were challenged to be like Gumby and be flexible with our children, the kids and I made some gingerbread people and decorated them. I kind of have a hangup with baking. While not a perfectionist in any other realm, I like to do baking my way and have the results come out as good as possible. Of course when you make things with children, there are complications with that. However, I was like Gumby and let the children take the lead and make a memory :) Pictures are here.

I'm pushing hard to feel some Christmas spirit but have yet to find any. I keep getting bogged down with the consumerist side. One year I want to try something dramatically different like no presents, or only one or something like that. A video I saw a few weeks back is part of that conviction...

Post-Thanksgiving catch up

2009-11-30T08:40:00.001-08:00

We have been non-stop busy since the last time I blogged. Almost every day was filled to the brim. Now that we’ve gotten over Thanksgiving (and all of us getting sick), life returns to normal.

The week of Thanksgiving was particularly busy. Tuesday, my Mom and I drove to Wenatchee to meet Aunt Daralyn and pick up our meat. She had raised two cows for meat, and then sold the quarters to family (and a friend of mine!). Our trip over was easy, and we had a two hour lunch with Aunt Daralyn and got in a good visit. Trip home was also easy and now our freezer is stocked with home-grown, organic, grass-fed beef. Its a beautiful thing. We ended up with about 100 lbs. Top shelf is steaks and roasts, second shelf is ground beef.

We had a small Thanksgiving here at our house. Just us, Mom, Dad, Jenni & Aunt Margaret. The group, minus Elly and I who were behind the camera

Ethan also played Jingle Bells for us. I have this piano curriculum but am ashamed to say that I haven’t really worked with the kids at all. Ethan has taken the initiative though and pretty much taught himself a few songs.

Unfortunately, after Thanksgiving we all came down with a cold with varying degrees of severity. Saturday we had our big family Thanksgiving get-together and quite a few of us were sick. It was still good to see everyone and reminiscent of the enormous gatherings we used to have every year but have had to stop because of how large our family has gotten.

I spent all Sunday morning in bed. I felt so exhausted and worn out. Around noon I arose and was able to resume life again. I still have a bit of congestion but am otherwise ok. Everyone else has recovered mostly.

Today is grocery day so we’ll be leaving shortly to hit up Fred Meyers (they have free childcare so I can shop for an hour with only 1 instead of 3!) and get the kitchen re-stocked. I’m hoping to have enough energy left to get the house cleaned back up and then plan out our week. We took off all last week from lessons and both E and I are anxious to get back into the swing of things.

The best laid plans...

2009-11-16T16:35:00.000-08:00

So my parents took the kids on Friday and Jason and I were supposed to go out for dinner. He did have to work late, but we figured we could go afterward. Unfortunately, it became clear pretty fast that he was not going to be able to meet for dinner :( I stopped at the grocery store and got myself a little steak and made some Gorgonzola butter to go on top, had a tomato salad, and a sippy cup of wine and ate by myself in front of the TV. Although I would have preferred to dine with my husband, it wasn't bad actually. Poor Jason ended up working till 10, then after arriving home worked until midnight.

I'd hoped we could go Christmas shopping on Saturday, but alas, work was still being problematic so he was up at 5:45am and worked all day, only breaking to eat lunch with me at Alligator Soul and make a quick stop at Fred Meyer. I did do some shopping on my own and got our supplies for our Operation Christmas Child boxes and a few stocking stuffers for the kids.

Even with our plans being mangled, we still enjoyed our time and are so very thankful to my parents and little sister who do this for us pretty regularly. We love you guys!

Today we had a playdate with a friend I met through MOPS and then came home and packed our OCC boxes. The kids and I had a great time talking about how the little boy or girl who gets their box will use what is inside. They still have a hard time imagining that there are kids out there who don't have access to many things they take for granted. I'm glad that they're now at an age where they can start to realize and appreciate how fortunate we are and start developing the desire to help those who are not so fortunate. We donated our funds for the boxes online and received a bar code for each box so we will know where our box ends up. I can't wait to find that out! Not only is it just interesting, but I'm going to use it as a good excuse to teach the kids about that country.

The weather is ominous and cold. We're supposed to have some pretty major winds tonight and tomorrow. The weather calls for a soup for dinner. Tonight I think we'll have one of our favorite soups. Carrot! Trust me, its MUCH better than you might imagine.

Pureed Carrot Soup with Nutmeg

Either chicken or vegetable broth can be used in this recipe.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter , or the same amount of vegetable or olive oil

1 medium onion , 3 medium shallots, or 1 medium leek (white and light green parts only), chopped

2 tablespoons dry sherry or white wine

1 1/2 pounds carrots (about 8 medium), peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced thin (about 4 cups)

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or low-sodium vegetable broth

1 teaspoon table salt

ground white pepper

pinch ground nutmeg

1 - 1 1/4 cups whole milk (I use soy or coconut because of Ethan's diet)

2 teaspoons minced fresh tarragon , mint, chives, or parsley

Instructions

1. Heat butter or oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Add sherry and carrots; stir constantly and cook until sherry evaporates, about 30 seconds.

2. Add broth, salt, pepper to taste, and nutmeg to saucepan; bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer; cover and cook until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

3. Ladle carrot mixture into blender. Add 1 cup milk; blend until very smooth. Return soup to saucepan; cook over low heat until warmed through. If soup is too thick, stir in additional milk to thin consistency. Adjust seasonings. (Soup can be refrigerated for 3 days and reheated just before serving.)

4. Ladle soup into individual bowls. Garnish with minced herb and serve immediately.

Sleeping in?

2009-11-13T11:18:00.000-08:00

Today the kids and I are heading to Sky Valley Academy for an open gym time. Our MOPS group is going, so it will be fun to visit and let the kids run off some steam too.

After that, I'll be taking the kids over to Mom & Dad's house for the night. Woo hoo! They are so awesome to take all three kids now and then. Jason is working late tonight, but we plan on meeting up at some point for dinner.

After the kids are dropped off, my plan is to go hit up Jo-Ann's for some yarn and then to the library for a book we need for next weeks lesson on the human body. I've decided to shelve sewing for the time being. I don't have time to make the sewing classes that I was attending previously, and right now J's office is a sty and there is no room for me to sew anyway. Our napping schedule has changed and with working out every day, homeschooling and trying to keep the house livable, there is just very little time for me to get into anything. Jason suggests that I do a little here or there, but for me that is just so aggravating. I hate sewing for 10 minutes and having to stop for the day. Drives me positively bonkers. I'd rather just not start it at all. So I'm going to take up knitting again. Just a scarf or something. Easily stopped and started. Can be done in the living area so little ones aren't pulling pins onto the floor or in danger of an iron falling on their head. We'll see how it goes. I just need to do something. I don't think of myself as a creative person and yet there is this need to do creative things with my hands and brain. When I ignore it, it really does make me cranky.

Lessons have been going great. We just finished up our turtle unit and are now onto "Us", meaning the human body and 5 senses. Each unit is 5 days. Usually we do it in 3 or 4 as I can double up some days without any trouble. Today Ethan started getting into the reading sections and was able to read his 4 words without any help at all from me. I was surprised because we haven't done any reading practice since stopping 100 Easy Lessons months ago but he read it without even needing to sound it out. That's my boy! His handwriting is improving as well. He is easily frustrated and if he can't do it right the first time he wants to give up. Our statement for the turtle unit was, "I don't quit; I will persevere". This is a good lesson for him and he really worked at putting into practice this week.

Busy Day

2009-11-11T14:35:00.000-08:00

We just returned home from a lunch/playdate at my MOPS leaders house. There were 22 people there in all (that's adults and children). She's a brave soul! We had a good time, but wow, I feel so tired.

Unfortunately, my day is not over. In about an hour or so, Mom will be here to pick up Elly and take her along shopping while I take Ethan and Gwennie and myself to the dentist for a cleaning. I'm worried that I'll be having work while they have theirs done. I hope no one has a freak out! Luckily this new dentist is just fantastic with kids and (hopefully) will be able to handle the kids if they get scared.

Since about April I've been doing these online surveys for money. When I say money, don't think that I mean big money. Oh no. I've only made about $80 since April. But it is a very easy way to make a few dollars and if Jason was in a different industry I'd qualify for more surveys and make more. If anyone would like to try it out, its called Opinion Outpost and if you sign up via this link, I get bonus points, which would be totally cool for me :) The surveys come slow at first, but the more you fill out the more will come. Right now I get at least 1 a day and often I get 3 or 4!

Children are cranky and I must go so my 5 minute blog is more like 3 today :)

Cows!

2009-11-09T15:31:00.000-08:00

So since May have I been working out 6 days a week. There have been a few times I've fallen off that pattern, like in August when we went on back to back camping trips, but pretty much its been 6x a week, every single week. I started out by doing workout DVD's (check out 30 Day Shred or anything by Jillian Michaels for a great workout!) but since getting my treadmill back from Mom, I've been using that. I'm able to walk/jog for about an hour before I get too bored. I could do more, but its hard to fit it time-wise and interest-wise. As it is, I must focus fully on the television to get through an hour. If I have to think about what I'm doing I just want to quit! I'm proud of myself. I've never worked out this hard in my entire life, in fact I've never really worked out in a consistent way ever. If only I'd started this when I was younger I might not have so much to lose now! My goal is to lose about 10 more pounds and then I will be at my goal weight. My "deadline" for meeting that goal is in 6 weeks. I lose very slowly, so I'm not sure I can make that time, but even if I can lose 5 by then I will be happy.

Today I woke up with a bad headache and weird crick in my back. Ouch. Days that start like this don't usually go well. Luckily, a sweet friend of mine read of my complaint on Facebook and invited us over to her house. We went and had a great time visiting and the kids had fun running around with her 4 kids and examining her farm. Her and her husband run a dairy farm and live right there next to the cows. The kids find that utterly (or should I say udderly) fascinating!

Tonight for dinner I'm making one of our favorite dishes. Risotto! (see previous post where I raved about this fantastic dish). We're going to do a variation: Butternut Squash Risotto. Because Jason doesn't like "chunkies" in his risotto, I'll mash it up so its more like a puree. That will also provide the creaminess that we won't have since we can't have cheese due to Ethan's food restrictions.

Haircuts and bunk beds

2009-11-07T18:24:00.001-08:00

That sums up our day!

Ethan, Gwen and Jason all got their hair cut today. No biggie for the boys, but for Gwen it was! She had been saying she wanted shorter hair (like Dora The Explorer). This was too short for us, so we compromised at just below the shoulders. She also wanted bangs, which she’s never had. So in we went and the stylist cut 6 inches off and gave her bangs and wow, my little girl looks older.

This picture is her being silly… I tried to get her to take a nice picture, but she was too wound up over her new hair :)

We also decided to move Gwen in with Ethan. They’d been sleeping in the same bed for a few weeks now. Both had been having problems with night fears and were ending up sleeping in the same room every night. So we figured, why not? If they want to share for awhile, its all good with us. So we spent all morning stacking their beds and getting it set up. They are SO excited. They didn’t sleep at all during their rest time and are currently racing around me saying they can’t wait till bedtime so they can sleep in their “new” beds.

Operation Christmas Child

2009-11-06T18:34:00.000-08:00

I forgot to add this into my previous post...

Today at MOPS we watched a video about Operation Christmas Child. OCC is a program where you fill a shoebox with things (all kind of things like candy, school supplies, hygiene, clothing, books, toys etc) and send it to a processing facility. Then they send those out to children in need all over the world. You can include a letter, picture or information about your family and many times the child will write back to you. Last year I wanted the kids to do this but we never got around to it. This year we ARE doing it... at least 3 boxes, maybe more.

This video is about 6 minutes long and it is so touching. There was not a single dry eye at our meeting. Please take the time to watch it!

The Lejla Allison Story from SP Video on Vimeo.

5 Minutes A Day

2009-11-06T17:02:00.000-08:00

My lack of blogging has been weighing on me. I want to do it more, but it creates in me a sort of dread when I think about all I have to update on and pictures... oy, when you have a lot of pictures there just isn't a quick and easy way to get them up here.

So I decided that I will aim for 5 minutes a day. Certainly I commit more than that to Facebook... I'll just steal a couple of its minutes and put them here. When I have pictures, I do generally put them on my Facebook account. You can view my albums here. I'll post a link when I do upload something new there.

Today's news:

The kids and I went to our MOPS group today. One of the interesting things we did was a "stand up if..." type of thing and I learned that there are 2 more people homeschooling that I didn't know about! There were two that I did know about, and one of them is at my table, but I was thrilled to see more. We even got a little ovation when we stood up. Cool :)

For the first time ever, Elly cried when I left her in the nursery. She's realizing that I come and go now, and she notices when I'm not there.

For dinner tonight we're having my Mom's Chicken & Dumplings (with Kristi's changes).

Ingredients

* 5 T. Butter
* 1 cup finely chopped onions
* 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press
* 1 t. dried thyme
* 3 T. Flour
* 1 c. chicken broth
* 1 c. milk
* 1/2 t. salt
* 2 c. diced, cooked chicken(OR 12 oz. can chunk chicken)

For dumplings:

* 1 c. flour
* 1 1/2 t. baking powder
* 1/4 t. salt
* 2 T. melted butter
* 1/2 c. milk

Directions

FOR SAUCE:

Melt butter in 5 qt pot. Add onions, garlic, and thyme and saute over medium heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth and milk, whisking to combine. Cook until smooth, stirring constantly until thickened and sauce comes to boil. Stir in cooked chicken. If sauce is too thick, add milk or broth until consistency of thick cream. Remove pot from heat.

FOR DUMPLINGS:

Mix together dry ingredients in medium bowl. Combine wet ingredients and add to dry mixture. Stir until just combined.

Bring sauce back to boil over high heat. Quickly drop heaping tablespoons of dumpling mixture into sauce. Cover tightly, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, remove lid and cut open one dumpling. It should be fluffy and cooked through. If not done, cover and cook for a few more minutes.

Update on the kids

2009-10-13T10:47:00.001-07:00

Its been too long since I’ve devoted some serious time to each of the kids on this blog.

Ethan (5.5 years) is doing wonderful with homeschooling. He gets a lot of pleasure out of doing his schoolwork and because the lessons are short and to the point, he doesn’t have any problem keeping focused and on task. Usually lessons take anywhere from 30-60 minutes and the time just flies. He’s still very much into Star Wars and Lego and my days are peppered with questions like, “Who is stronger, Yoda or Boba Fett?”. At any given moment you will see him bouncing around the house with a light saber or toy gun playing Star Wars. He’s even gotten his little sisters into it! He recently started calling us Mom and Dad, which gave a little pang in our hearts. We weren’t ready to give up Mommy and Daddy! He loves to cuddle, and he’s often very intuitive and will know when you need a hug or encouraging word. He still loves to organize and be in charge, which are traits we noticed in him since toddlerhood. He is often slow to warm up to people. Suffering from shyness (just like me!) often makes it difficult to make friends and play easily with others. We’re working on that. Physically he’s getting so tall its unbelievable! I’ve always joked that by 10 he’d be taller than me. Recently I’ve been wondering if perhaps it’ll be even earlier than that! I’ve been so proud of how he’s adapted to his diet of no dairy or eggs. I expected a lot of complaining and trouble because he had to give up basically all his favorite foods. Instead, he’s been very conscientious and checks that all his food is safe, and even last night told me that he liked being on his diet because it made him feel better. Although he’s growing up so fast, he still is happy to curl up on your lap and snuggle. I cherish this, as I can see he simply won’t fit on my lap much longer.

I remember reading that one of the definitions of the name Gwendolyn is “bright”. This sums up our Gwennie (4.5 years). She is enjoying her pre-k class and easily picks up the material they cover. She is into all the usual girl stuff… princesses, horses, flowers, anything cute! She has many dollies that she tends to and its not unusual for her to recruit big brother in the mornings to carry her babies down the stairs and set up a little home for them first thing. She is sensitive to other’s hurts. A few days ago I had to reprimand Elsa sharply for pulling Gwen’s hair. Elsa started crying, and so did Gwen! She couldn’t bear to see her little sister getting in trouble. She is a compulsive snuggler and if your lap is free, she will spot and quickly occupy it! She was my smallest baby at birth, but she’s caught up, though her frame is so light that people always think of her as smaller than she is. She’s average in both weight and height, and is surprisingly strong! She loves her dance class and is often twirling and swirling around the house. She makes friends easily and people seem drawn to her vibrant personality.

Elsa (17 months) is our little rebel baby. She’s been so unlike our other two kids in both appearance (bright blonde hair?) and personality that we sometimes feel like this is the first time we’ve taken a baby through toddlerhood! She is speaking very well… what seems to us much better than the other kids at this age. She’s full of courage and fearless. She keeps up with her sister and brother in almost every way. Once those legs grow a little longer she’ll be able to really keep up! She also loves babies and if she sees a doll lying around, she starts pointing and yelling, “Baby! Baby! Baby!”. She enjoys talking on the phone and sometimes will bring the phone to me and ask, “Nana? Jenni?” until I call up Nana or Aunt Jenni and ask them to talk to her. She is, of course, curious about everything and we are in that stage where my cupboards are emptied frequently! Elsa is now sleeping through the night and napping twice a day… a feat we didn’t think we’d EVER reach when she was an infant. She even sits patiently in her crib until you come and get her. She’s a tiny little peanut, taking after her older sister that way. Despite being my biggest baby at birth, she, like my others, grow slow at this stage. Many people think she’s around 9-12 months and are shocked that she walks! I have to admit, even to me she looks far too little to be walking :) She’s also a cuddler, but only when the timing is right. There is so much to see and do that many times she’d rather be anywhere but your lap. We can’t believe how time has flown with our little Elly-belly.

So there, an update on our three munchkins. Hopefully it won’t be so long until my next one :)

I’m getting terrible at this!

2009-10-04T18:43:00.001-07:00

I feel bad that I’m not blogging more often. Most of you readers probably follow me on Facebook, so you’re staying informed. But I want this blog to be a chronicle for myself and the kids down the road and Facebook just isn’t gonna provide that. My current blogging rate isn’t gonna provide it either though :\

So, working backwards, I’ll tell ya what has been going on.

We went to a Mariners game with the kids and took the train from Everett to the stadium. Totally fun and the day was simply beautiful.

The cotton candy might have been the highlight for them :)

The kids love Ichiro and every player *was* Ichiro. If someone got a hit, “Yay Ichiro!”. If someone caught a ball, “Good play Ichiro!”. It was pretty funny,.

Mmm, peanuts.

Gwen goofing off

The lovely Safeco Field.

We had a good time. Gwen is definitely more interested in the game than Ethan, though he’s the one that is interested in playing it. Maybe once he starts baseball watching the game will hold more appeal.

Earlier this week we attempted to go apple picking. We went to South 47 Farms in Redmond and found the trees bare. I wasn't too happy about that as I’d called a few times, mentioning that we were coming to pick, and when we arrived and got our gear for picking, no one said a thing. They let us tromp down there with 6 little kids to find 6 edible (edible, but beat up and ugly) apples . We did find some organic heirloom tomatoes and picked some of those. They were delicious, I have to say. Overall it was quite disappointing though. Luckily, Aunt Daralyn, who lives in an apple growing area, is bringing me a box of apples next weekend so we’ll still get our fix.

Yesterday we did something very unlike us and took off at a moments notice to BrickCon (i.e. Lego Convention). I had heard about it from a friend on Facebook and thought Ethan would just love it. So down to Seattle we went.

Waiting in line. It was a very long line and it was a good thing we let Daddy hope out early and wait for us while we parked.

Smith Tower, in Lego.

Random Lego pieces that people submitted for showing.

Yes… that is a bra and underwear constructed of Lego!

Jason says this is Voltron (I have no idea…)

I thought this was very clever.

Gwen playing in the Build Center.

Elly spent her time playing and/or trying to escape.

You might wonder, hey, you went for Ethan… where is Ethan? Well, something about the convention did not mesh well with him. It was extremely crowded and noisy. Hard to move. He kinda had a meltdown and despite lots of distractions, he never really relaxed enough to enjoy himself so we left after an hour and played outside in the Seattle Center for a little bit. Next year we want to go again, though we will be there when the doors open so we can beat the crowds.

We’ve been pretty busy running Gwen to pre-k 3x a week, doing lessons, and dealing with the everyday stuff. We’re getting into a groove now, which, if not making things easier, does make it more familiar. One thing I’m VERY happy to start up next week is sewing classes. The only thing I’ve sewn at all this summer is Jenni’s Sith robe. I don’t think I ever posted a picture of that… She looks very appropriately evil in it. It was both simple and complicated and I will never ever make another one again!

Anyway, I’m anxious to make Gwen some dresses, finish up that quilt I promised Shelly & Peter and maybe even make a few things for myself! I’ve determined not to buy myself any new clothes until I reach my goal weight, but I can make myself some new things to fit the new and improved body :)

Ten pounds, triumphs, and trials

2009-09-19T20:03:00.001-07:00

That sums up our week!

I hit the 10lbs lost mark this week. It only took me 4 months :| But I’m not going to complain because 10lbs is 10lbs. I’m now working out 6 days a week, doing a mix of high-intensity cardio and sculpting. If I was more strict about my calories, I’m sure I could have lost 2x as much, but I like cooking and eating and that’s not going to change, so I wasn’t interested in going low-fat, low-carb, low-cal when I have no intention of keeping that up long term. Most workouts are 40-60 min and I’m doing them in the mornings at 5am. Not my preferred time, but its very hard to get them in during the days now with school and extra-curriculars and just LIFE. If anyone wants recommendations on good workout DVD’s, let me know. I feel like I’ve tried every single one on Netflix!

Speaking of school, everything started this week and went very well.

Gwen’s first day of pre-k. She was so excited, she even wanted me to curl her hair to look extra-fancy.

This picture is a little bittersweet to me! Last year, Ethan had to talk Gwen out of the car so she’d go in for pre-school because she was so nervous. This year, she didn’t need her big brother to tell her it was ok. She strode in, full of confidence.

Gwen getting her nametag from Ms. Paula

An old friend from last year, Katie!

Sitting next to another friend, Blake.

After leaving the church, Ethan and I stopped and got a coffee (hot chocolate for him) to celebrate our first day of school. We came home and took our “opening day” picture

He worked very hard every day at his assignments. Love the tongue!

Everything went smashing. In fact, as Ethan already knows all his numbers and letters he found the introductory lessons rather boring (they start with the assumption that you don’t know any letters or numbers). After the first day, we doubled up and will do that until we’re done with the introduction lessons.

Unfortunately, this week had more than a few stressful moments as well. Ethan has been having some constipation issues (in truth, going off and on for a year now) and this week it became clear that home remedies and waiting it out weren’t gonna cut it. We went to see our pediatrician, had an x-ray done, and found it was no wonder that the little guy was suffering so. He was backed up all the way. So we are on an intensive round of laxatives and other helps to clear things out and hopefully retrain his body to respond appropriately. Its been extremely uncomfortable for him the last few days and very hard for me to be pretty much helpless.

On a brighter note, tomorrow we are taking Ethan and Gwen to a Mariners game and taking the Sounder from the Everett train station down to the stadium. We are all SO excited to do this! Elly is going to stay with Mom overnight so she’ll have a blast too. I’m hoping the kids will be able to stay entertained through most the game, as they are playing the Yankees and I really want to be able to watch and cheer and boo and all the other fun stuff you do with the M’s play the Yankees :)

Just life.

2009-09-14T16:49:00.001-07:00

Not too much going on as of late. Just life. Just taking each day as it comes and trying to handle it the best way.

We've made some changes in our TV and video game usage. We severely restricted the time the kids are allowed to watch and play and, of course, this means that there needs to be something else to fill that time. Its been amazing to see how cutting the TV has immediately resulted in more positive behavior and play. I've started reading them a chapter from the Little House On The Prairie series. We're in the first book, but Ethan wanted to read about boys, so I'm also doing a chapter here and there from Farmer Boy too. Just a few months ago I tried this with them and they were not interested in sitting and listening for that long. But now they eagerly sit and listen. It was funny, at first they were really bummed by the lack of pictures. We had to kind of walk them through how to use their imaginations to "see" what we're reading to them. They're very imaginative kids, but they hadn't thought to use it quite in that way. Now you can see the little wheels turning when I read something... they really are making those pictures in their minds.

Today was supposed to be our first day of homeschooling. However, all the kids and J came down with colds last night and they were not in shape to do school. I had also forgotten about some preliminary work I needed to do and so I scratched the whole thing and decided to start tomorrow, while Gwen is at pre-k.

I should get some video of Elsa and put it up here. She’s been amazing us daily it seems. She talks very well. She understands so much more than she can say. She is, as my Mom put it, quite precocious. The other day she laid down on a stool, put her hands and legs out (think Superman) and started saying, “Whee! Whee!'”. Never before had I seen her do that or say that word. How I wish I’d gotten the camera in time! Last week I was distracted during dinner so she kept chanting, “Momma, Momma, Momma, Momma”. Finally I turned and said, “Yes honey” and she showed me her food and said, “Icky!” and threw it on the floor and looked quite pleased with herself. Oh my, so hard not to laugh.

Ethan and Gwen are doing well, though both are growing up so fast mentally that its hard for us to keep up sometime. They will say something and we’ll do a double take… “They said what?”.

We make little chore charts for them and after they’ve done their work for a set amount of time with no fuss, they get a reward. Gwen wanted a tutu very badly, and we’d been looking for awhile because the kind she wanted we couldn’t find in stores. We finally ordered one online from that wonderful site of handmade things, Etsy.

Its a little big, but that’s GOOD! Its very thick and wonderful. She loves it!

Ethan’s reward was a box of Legos, which him and Daddy assembled one evening. Unfortunately, things don’t stay assembled long, because Ethan likes to play very imaginative and rough games with the figures. But that is ok. The nice thing about Lego is that you can always put them back together again :)

Gwen started dance classes at Martha La Valley School of Dance last week. You may remember that we tried her in ballroom dancing at the beginning of the summer and hated how terribly intense and involved it was. This one is just right. We got a surprise when one of the little girls in Gwen’s class was also in Ethan's preschool class last year. Its just 4 little girls and the teacher. While she was serious and kept them on track, there was lots of joy and fun in that room. Good times.

Ethan started swimming lessons on Saturday and those did not go as smooth. He got freaked out when he realized he was in a class with no one he knew and not even his sister was there. He would only put his feet in. We’re hoping that next week goes better…

I'm a year older

2009-09-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

That's the biggest thing that has happened since I last blogged... My 31st birthday was on the 31st and I feel no older. Though it is rather weird to say I'm in my thirties now as opposed to just being thirty. I found 30 kinda hard to deal with. 31 is easy in comparison!

J and I went with my friend April and her husband Gregg to El Gaucho in Seattle for my birthday (and April's too, which was on the 2nd). Whoa, it was a high-falutin' place. We had a caesar salad made table-side (a first for us), then J and I had a New York steak carved table-side, while April and Greg had rib steak and baby back ribs, respectively. For dessert we ordered 5 things! The boys each got a chocolate ganache, April and I got table-side bananas foster (cool) and then we had to get a creme brulee to try, since its our favorite dessert. Oh we ate like pigs and had a great time doing so.

Mom and Dad had taken the kids overnight, and I got all day Monday (my actual birthday) to myself. It was good. Every now and then its very refreshing to have a span of hours to oneself.

This last week has been fairly calm and quiet. I've been having a lot of headaches for some reason. On Friday we had a whirlwind of a day. Rather unexpectedly I ran out to Aunt Margaret's house to help set up her computer, then we rushed off to Grammy's house, grabbing lunch on the way, where I dropped off the kids and hit Walmart for some schooling supplies. I got most everything I needed, except clothes. I was hoping to buy some plain t shirts for Gwen... just solid, long sleeved shirts. Instead all I could find were shirts splashed with logos, music stars and sassy sayings. I was not happy! I did end up buying two shirts (one with Disney Princess, one with Tinkerbell) that I knew I'd have trouble finding elsewhere and that she would love, but no jeans or plain t's. I've noticed that since Gwen has moved into Girl's sizing that the style is much more mature and I'm just not ok with that!

Today, the boys and girls split up. Jas took Ethan to get the oil changed in the car, haircuts, errands at Target and lunch. I took Gwen and Elly and we searched for a tutu (no acceptable ones found, thank goodness for the internet), lunch, then we went and signed Gwen up for dance classes. We've tried a few different places but didn't like them for various reasons (too intense, too much commitment, financial and otherwise). This one looks to be perfect. The teacher/owner is an older woman (probably in her late 70's) and makes everyone come in and meet her in person to register. I wondered at this, until we showed up and she wrote down, complete with old style cursive handwriting, all of our information on an index card and then put it in a file box. That is her student database! My goodness. She was a very nice lady and her love of children was shining through. From the start she couldn't stop interacting and talking with Gwen and she apologized a few times for ignoring me. She commented on Gwendolyn's name, saying it sounded like a fairytale and that she would refer to her as the "fairytale" girl. This is gonna sound like a Mommy brag (and it is), but she said that Gwen was beautiful and light and joy shined through her face. Well, I couldn't help but be pleased at such a comment :)

Full plate

2009-08-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

A few days ago Ethan's curriculum for kindergarten showed up. At first I wasn't going to use any curriculum (or organized curriculum rather) and just continue working on his reading and reinforcing basic concepts of counting and and such. But as the time drew nearer for Gwen to start pre-k, I got more and more stressed about making sure he'd have what he should need. Its strange. I feel two completely opposite ways on this issue.

1. I feel that kids these days are pushed WAY too young and WAY too fast academically. In theory, I have no problem with delaying all "official" schooling until 7.

2. On the other hand, I see the natural desire my kids have to read and the love they have of worksheets and other typical school-like tasks. I want to take advantage of that natural desire to do those things.

So I ordered the Kindergarten curriculum from My Fathers World. Its pretty cheap (total cost is just slightly more than 1 month of Gwen's pre-k class!) and seems to be a low-key and fun paced curriculum.

My plan is to work with him while Gwen attends the church pre-k that Ethan attended last year. Both kids have gotten so much from the pre-school and pre-k classes and we wanted her to finish that out before going full time into homeschooling. Next year, I think we'll be using Sonlight and have both kids in the same "grade". I say "grade" because they won't be in grades per se but just working at their own speed through the curriculum.

Although both these curriculum that we plan on using are extremely user-friendly and require little prep-work for me, I'm still scared. Really scared. I'm scared I can't do this. No, I know I can do this... I'm scared at how overwhelmed I'm going to feel when I do this. I can't even keep on top of housework and other things I want to do (sewing, how I miss you), and now I'm adding more to the plate.

Another thing pending is changing our diet completely to help Ethan get off dairy, eggs and gluten for at least six weeks. Ideally we should be doing 3 months, but 3 months from now runs us through Thanksgiving and Christmas and I can't do that! So I'm going to aim for 6 weeks to start and that should give us a good idea of how his body is doing. That means I really need to start planning and getting an idea of what we can and can't have NOW. But the very thought makes me quiver in my boots and want to take to my bed.

In short, I'm a ball o' stress. I've not felt this consistently low and overwhelmed since I was on therapy and anti-depressants 2 years ago. I don't feel like I need to go there again, but I need to figure out a way to handle this all. My current method is not to handle it at all and push everything off to the last minute. Hence our last two camping trips in which I forgot lots of things and was mostly unprepared and waited until the day before to get anything together. I keep waiting for the morning when I wake up and feel energized and ready to take on projects again. Usually it does happen that way. One day I just wake up and feel about 1000% better.

Ft. Stevens & Blueberries!

2009-08-26T19:45:00.001-07:00

We vacationed Thurs-Sun with April and her family, Su and her family, Kelly & Tim and Mom and Jenni at Ft. Stevens, just outside Astoria (one of my favorite places btw!). The weather was cool, as it often is there, but that didn’t dampen our fun!

There were 7 children and Ethan was the oldest, so they kept us hopping. The oldest 4 are close in age and everyone played nicely.

Group hug! (Gibson, Heather, Gwen and Ethan)

Our campsites. Mom’s tent was the blue, we were behind and to the right slightly (can’t see our tent), then April’s family. Sue was right behind where I took this picture. It worked very well for our group!

Waiting to go on the Battery Mischler tour.

Entering the Battery. It was damp, cold, totally dark and FREAKY. But really really interesting. I’d like to go again, without little ones who tired quickly of walking in a concrete maze and listening to a guy talk on and on.

Later that day, we went down to Seaside and had lunch. This is how we entertain our children until their food arrives ;)

Gwen and Elly did the annual ride on the dinky little train

Ethan preferred the self-propelled car

We had ice cream at Zingers again... can't recommend them enough. Delicious! A real treat and worth the 18% butterfat :)

Our campsite was mostly sand with a little bit of dirt and keeping the kids clean was a huge problem! I pretty much gave up by the second day. Elsa also hated her shoes so I just let her do what she wanted. She had such a hard time walking in the sand, but the shoes made it worse!

The kids roasting marshmallows

Backtracking a bit… about an hour after we arrived at the campground, Elsa tripped (those shoes!) and smashed her face on the picnic bench. She bit her lip and scratched her chin. She also bonked her nose and under-eye area, but luckily it didn’t bruise. Here she re-enacts how she felt about the incident.

Gwennie posing. First princess, then MONSTER!

Saturday we visited the Peter Iredale shipwreck (which seems much decayed over the past couple years in particular). It was a gloriously sunny day!

Elsa didn’t want to sit. She wanted to stand while Nana pushed her, thank you very much.

The kids were super brave and loved splashing in the icy waters!

Even Elly liked it!

Soaked head to toe

A self-portrait

She touched the sand this time!

My kids enjoy getting as sandy as possible. Its like a challenge to them… how much sand can we carry on our person?

Elsa took off by herself and we watched to see how far she’d go. We got nervous and sent Jenni after her, but she walked all the way to the waters edge without even LOOKING for us. She scares me!

After changing, we headed into Astoria to take the trolley. It was great fun and super cheap too!

We met up with Grandpa Les and Grandma Karen for some ice cream at Custard King. For whatever reason, Elsa HATED this flower. It was so funny! She’d be fine, but put that flower near her and she would get away as fast as possible.

On Sunday we were packing up when a scary thing happened. Jenni had the kids and was playing hide-and-seek with them in the bushes around the campsite. I was on top of the car loading the carrier and I heard Gwen scream. I thought at first she’d tripped or something, but then she kept screaming and screaming and I told Jason that he needed to check that out ASAP because that was her “really hurt” cry. Suddenly Jenni starts yelling, “RUN! RUN! RUN BACK TO CAMP”. Well as you can imagine, this gets the parents attention. Here come 4 screaming and crying children. Gwen is thrashing and out of control and we realize its bees! I jump off the car and rip off her shirt and pants. There are bees all over her and caught in her hair. Mom and Jason are trying to get them out while poor Gwen is just beside herself.

Finally we get them all out and I’m holding her and we start to count the injuries. 17 stings my little girl had :( Ethan had one (which he almost wore with pride… informing us that he was crying because he was scared, NOT because it hurt) and Gibson had 2. We immediately dosed her with Benadryl and people from all over the campground who’d heard what happened (from the screams and from the other little kids in the campground) came with various remedies. We laid her down in the front seat of the car and she napped while we finished packing up.

She recovered very quickly and by the time we’d stopped for lunch you couldn’t even see most of the stings.

All in all, a very fine trip even with our unfortunate ending :)

We haven’t done much this week beside catch up with laundry and recoup! So today I took the kids out to Mountainview Blueberry Farm and we picked berries for about an hour. We did pretty good, picking 8 lbs!

I made a white chocolate-blueberry mousse tart with some of them, then froze the rest. I got 2 gallon-sized ziploc bags of frozen blueberries plus the 4 cups I used for the tart for only 14 dollars. A steal!

Elsa walking…

2009-08-15T16:30:00.001-07:00

Enjoy!

My apologies

2009-08-14T17:24:00.001-07:00

Wow. 3 weeks since my last blog. I think that HAS to be a record. I’ll put the blame on Facebook. Since you can do multiple status messages through the day there, I’ve found its really taken the place of my innate need to share and the poor neglected blog is left unattended.

There is much to write about, and I doubt I’ll remember it all. The most exciting thing to happen over the past 3 weeks is that baby Elsa is walking! Yes, she has crossed that threshold where she is walking more than crawling. And she’s pretty darn good at walking too! The other day she walked around with the broom trying to sweep. Too bad that urge to help out disappears so fast ;) I need to catch it on video and will share it when I do.

The most fun thing we’ve done is our vacation to Loon Lake Lodge in Oregon. We went with some of Jason’s family and had a blast! We were there for 7 days, but also left a day early to break up the drive and took an extra day coming back for the same reason.

There was a quirky little farm by our cabins that the kids would play at. Ethan collected these feathers there.

Our wee little cabin…

Tyler and Elly. She adored him.

The younger set… Ethan, Elsa, Jaden and Gwen.

This peacock wandered from the farm through the campsite. Very tame animals around here (as you will see later).

We hauled Mom & Dad’s jetski all the way out there (and spent a late night before we left getting it fixed) only to find the battery dead. So David and Nicole swam it over to its slip. Long story short, we never used the darn thing and due to an unfortunate slip (literally), it will need some repairs before it is usable again. That was really the only bummer of the trip, not getting use that thing!

Elsa did not like how sand felt on her fingers, so she used this unique wrist crawling technique.

I just love the crazy pigtails

Ethan making a sand angel. You cannot imagine how much sand these children exuded on a daily basis.

The younger girls.

Elsa still didn’t like the sand on her hands, but it didn’t keep her from laying down and resting!

Jaden and Gwen became the best of friends. Aunt Nicole lifted them up on this giant stump.

Big brother terrorizing the girls.

Elsa was so tired every night… Here she is conking out on Grandma Karen.

This deer wandered through and actually ate a pancake out of Uncle Chris’s hand!

The kids fishing with Grandpa Les

Finally she gives in and goes to sleep…

Ethan and Gwen both caught fish, but they were thrown back. Just tiny little perch :)

Checking out the tube.

Love her scrunchy smiles.

The kids taking turns floating in the tube. No, we did not pull them, they just floated behind the boat.

Elsa loved examining Grandpa’s boat.

Initially freaked out by the mysterious hand, but then she found him!

My water babies.

Exploring Grandpa Les’s boat.

I just love this pic!

This is what happens to your baby after a few hours in the water!

Right after we got home Ethan lost his first tooth! WE think he swallowed it because its not been found. In fact, he didn’t even know he’d swallowed it until Daddy pointed it out! He’s getting to be such a big boy.

We head out for another camping trip this next week and I’m looking forward to that one too. Over the past few years August has proven to the be the month where we are constantly on the go and it does get a bit exhausting but what great memories and times we have :)

All for now as I have dinner on the stove and Holly, Cian and Kadin are on their way to visit with us for the evening.

Been sooo long!

2009-07-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

Ugh! My blogging has been terrible lately.

I don't even remember what has happened in the last 13 days. Have to consult the calender...

Last week I decided to take Ethan to a naturopath to consult about his allergies. I've been feeling like following the "accepted" medical course of action wasn't enough. I wanted to do due diligence so that he doesn't have to suffer and take medication his entire life. So we went to a doctor in Snohomish that my Aunt highly recommends (and had good ratings online as well). She explained her viewpoint as the teacup principle. Right now, Ethan's teacup is full with inflammation from from foods he's ingesting. When he has a reaction to grass or cats or the other things he's allergic to, the teacup overflows into symptoms like puffy eyes, congestion, etc. The goal is to reduce the inflammation so that when he has an allergic reaction, the teacup fills up, but doesn't overflow into symptoms. I hope I explained that clearly!

So we had him tested for food sensitivities. We will then remove those sensitive foods from his diet for about 3 months and then slowly re-introduce them to find the level that he can take in without the allergies "overflowing" the cup. Its worth a try in my opinion. I just can't accept that my 5 year old needs to be on steroidal nose sprays and shots and stuff for the rest of his life. Before I can accept it, I need to make sure I'm not overlooking other options, no matter how strange they may sound. I just pray that he's not allergic to wheat or dairy. That eliminates about 90% of what he eats!

After our appointment, we headed out to Biringer Farms in Arlington to pick raspberries. Aunt Jenni joined us and we had a great time! We were there only an hour and I picked over 5 lbs of raspberries and Jenni picked 4!

(I had a smudge on my lens apparently)

The crew

This sums up who was the better picker... One focused on picking, the other doing everything but picking :)

Our bounty

Last Saturday we went with April and Gregg to try a new restaurant, Marimba. It does South American food. April blogs about it, with pictures, here so I won't repeat it all. It WAS good and different though. The ceviche was delish and probably my favorite thing of the night.

Tuesday, Ben came over to spend the night with us. Its the first time the kids have had a friend spend the night and boy were they excited! WE really enjoyed having Ben here, and he even mowed our lawn :) The next day, he spent the money we'd paid him for mowing to buy everyone ice cream from the ice cream man. What a kid.

Later that day, we all journeyed down to Aunt Michelle & Uncle Peter's house in Federal Way. We played in their community pool and then had dinner and dessert with them. We had a great time!

Gwen wore this dress many times. I am happy that Elly can wear it now too!

Ben with the water wings that soon came off. I don't think they were "cool" enough

Elsa LOVED the water. Check out her face!

She also enjoyed bopping anyone who came near her with this noodle

Chilling with Aunt Shelly on the steps

Awww

Gwen loved swimming around by herself

Ethan... not so much. He held onto me the entire time

Uncle Peter entertained Elsa quite a bit. Thanks Uncle Peter!

Gwen even swam without a noodle. She did really well

Our dessert... berries that the kids picked at my Mom's house the day before (huckleberries, salmonberries, blueberries) and a flan

Michelle made us some homemade ice cream too!

A baby sized barbecue!

We had a great time and everyone was thoroughly exhausted. We all actually slept in till 7:30 the next day which is bizarre for us! Nice though :)

Long week

2009-07-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

This last week has been full, but enjoyable.

The kids were at VBS at the church we've been attending, Lake Country Baptist. I was VERY nervous about how they would do as they are at an age where they are overwhelmed by large groups of kids (ok, I'm still at that age :) ) and want to be very clingy. The first day I stayed with them for about an hour, following their group (the Ducklings) around. I'm happy to say that every day afterwards they were just fine. In fact, they were super excited to go! They absolutely loved it and had a wonderful time. They came home singing lots of cute songs, talking about God and Bible stories and of all the friends they'd made. Since the church is close by, we walked there and back most days so we got lots of exercise too :)

One of the days they were there, I went for a haircut. I was just going to get a trim and my layers re-cut. Well, the hair lady did that and I left. I then went to Target and tried on some clothes. As I was doing this, I examined my hair more closely. I did not like it. Oh no, I did not. She'd cut the front part of my hair, the part that would fall on my shoulders, above my shoulders. The only "long" part was in the back. I'd been given a mullet shape, without the mullet. Short in front, long in back. Usually I have a few light layers around the face and crown, but nothing this drastic. From the front I had a bob. From the back I had long hair. So I did something I've never ever done. I went back in there and told her I wasn't happy with how it looked and could she cut all off so it would at least be even all around.

This is the result (un-styled, right from the salon. Not even blow-dried).

Its taking some getting used to. I'm not sure I like it. Its WAY shorter, obviously. I'd say she cut off about 8-10 inches. I think the cut needs more refinement, because she kinda just hacked it all off when I came back in. But I'm learning to work with it. I do have to say that showers are now much faster and my head feels lighter and I no longer get tangled up in my hair at night, which is very nice :)

My garden is doing amazing. Everything is growing well and my tomatoes are making me the happiest girl on the street. I take that back. When I can eat them I'll be the happiest girl on the street. Right now I'm the girl with the anticipation! Compared to last year I'm having a bumper crop. Bunches and bunches of fruit everywhere and more blossoms every day.

My cherry crop

My Early Girls

The cayenne pepper plant that the kids got for Daddy is doing very well too!

The kids are loving summer and spending much of their time outside on the swing set and in the sprinkler. That swing set. Best. Purchase. Ever. (for the kids).

Elsa is still not walking, but can take many steps at a time. I want her to walk so badly! She doesn't like to have skirts or dresses on when she's crawling so I have to wait for her to walk to put her in darling things. Hurry up Elly!

She IS, however, developing quite a will. This morning in bed she was pinching me and I said, "Elsa, please don't pinch Mommy" and moved her hand. She grunted, in the way she does when she's a little miffed, and yanked my hair! This got her a stern reprimand and being removed off the bed. It was hard not laugh a little though :)

This is her new trick. The little stinker. If you forget to put her straps on and turn your back for even 1/2 second, she's on that tray in no time. And she knows she's not supposed to do it too.

I'm on day... um, oh probably 16 or 17 of the 30 Day Shred and its still hard! I haven't lost any inches and maybe only a pound or two, but my body feels strong and toned. Its doing something, even if I can't see it too much.

The 4th (and other stuff)

2009-07-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

The past week the kids have had only one thing on their mind. The 4th of July!

We had my friend April over earlier in the week. It was so nice to catch up with her and wee little baby Garrison! I hadn't seen them for almost a month and he'd grown so much. After letting the big kids play for awhile, we headed to King Charleys (yum) for lunch and let the kids run some more in the big field.

Jason stayed home on Friday and so this weekend has seemed very long. It was quite warm and I had to start my chili for the 4th, so I set up my turkey fryer burner out in the yard and did all my sauteing out there. It worked really good, and that burner is powerful so it took no time to brown my meat and all the other things that take so long using indoor stove. Jason said I looked rather strange, cooking out there in the grass with my accouterments spread all around, but I thought it worked great to keep the house cool!

Saturday, the kids were stoked from minute one. They woke up ready to go! After lunch we headed out there and when we arrived, found a good number of people already at my parents house! A lot of people had been playing Airsoft for hours (even though the heat was quite bad) and so the party had started early for my Mom :)

The blinds on the hill that my brother Michael and a couple of his friends spent much time constructing for the games. They wanted them to look natural so they can leave them there and not have it be an eyesore. There is actually a game going on so if you look closely you can see some guys. Most the time they play back in the woods, but sometimes they play on the hill so we can watch.

The kids had never been on a slip 'n slide before and they really really enjoyed it! I have to say I was temped to try it myself. It was so hot out!

Elsy baby's first pigtails!

View of the crowd from the driveway

The kids setting off a few fireworks

Gwen was just thrilled that there were two girls there. She doesn't have many girl friends in our circle!

Sparklers (Gwen was afraid it would burn all the way to her fingers... but it didn't).

You can really see how smoky it was getting from all the fireworks, and it wasn't even dark yet!

Me and my friend Jen doing roman candles

My two filthy little children roasting marshmallows at the fire pit

I think Independence Day is becoming my favorite holiday (ok, second favorite after Thanksgiving). Its full of visiting, catching up with old friends, games, fire, water, food, how can you go wrong? We got home around 11pm or so and we took a backstreet to get to our house. We'd never done that before on the 4th. We could barely get through because people were setting off fireworks right in the street! The trash was unbelievable! No sign of it today though, so that is good. It was VERY loud here. I think because we are surrounded by 3 cul-de-sacs that people congregate at its like in stereo. They were still going strong at 11pm. And 12pm. And 1am. At 2am I was still hearing a few but most were done. I was up because I had too much caffeine and even though I was so tired I couldn't get to sleep! I fell asleep around 2:30 and then the baby was up at 5:30. Ouch!

On Friday, I decided on a whim to make Gwen a sundress. She'd been asking me to make her a new dress, but I had a self-imposed hiatus on sewing anything but the quilt for my sister and her husband. However, I weakened and whipped out this dress in a Tinkerbell fabric I'd been saving for awhile. Its a little big, but the good thing about kids is that they grow :)

Earlier in the week I went through my mess of a fabric stash (stuffed into my coat closet and overflowing) and sorted it, tossed some, and made neat stacks in an armoire we were given. Its in the garage and gave me a good sense of order and accessibility to my things. I'm quite happy. The drawer is my patterns. There are two more drawers that hold things like my notions and interfacing and such.

Last week, I went into Ethan's room to put him to bed and found this... he loves to play imaginative games. All these things were his "friends" and wanted to sleep around him. We did eventually have to create an opening so he could get out without knocking any of them off, but he was oh so proud of this setup.

On to the weekend!

2009-06-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

This week can end now. It wasn't terrible or anything, but you know when you are kinda in a funk and the days just drag by? Its been that kind of week and I'm ready for the weekend where we can do some things that have been driving me nuts (namely E & G's trashed rooms and the laundry pileup that hasn't been dealt with) but I haven't been able to get done.

Its been a month now that Jason has been looking for a job and there has really been no movement. He had an interview for a contract job but that didn't pan out. Although we still have two months before he's laid off, and then severance and bonus after that to help us last, the waiting and having everything on hold is hard. Its stressful. Not an in your face stress, but an underlying stress that flares every once and awhile.

Elsa is walking so well now! 5, 6, 7 steps at a time. Last night she was even trying to run those steps! I'm ready for her to walk. So so ready! Her personality has had a growth spurt too. She teases us, shows off, and basically endears herself to just about everyone with her toothy grin.

Today the kids and I went with Mom to Flower World, a truly amazing place! Besides the acres and acres of every plant possible, the grounds are park-like and just beautiful... with fountains, geese, a water wheel and streams. Across the street there was a petting zoo and farm (they actually grow food and gather eggs to sell in their store) with peacocks, chickens, goats and sheep. The kids enjoyed that, and then we visited the produce stand which had lots of local produce and fresh eggs. Lovely stuff!

I purchased three hanging flower baskets that were on sale. They are so pretty! I'll have to get a picture. Yesterday, I also picked up a blueberry bush that was on sale, and also a cayenne pepper plant to fill in an empty square in my garden. I"m a little plant crazy this year :)

I'm doing this workout video called 30 Day Shred and man, is it tough! Its really really tough! But the nice thing is that its only about 25 minutes from start to finish.

Chickenpox and stair climbing

2009-06-22T06:35:00.001-07:00

Two things I forgot to mention in my previous post!

On Thursday Ethan came down with these spots

I consulted many a expert (i.e. friends and family) via the Internet and these looked pretty definitively like chickenpox. Ok, well good because they need to have it sooner or later, but kinda bummed it would happen during our camping trip!

However, Friday morning he wakes up and the spots are almost gone. There are no new spots. He is not sick. Neither is anyone else. I'm not sure what happened. He's had just one or two more pop up, but then they go away quickly. He's not felt under the weather at all. I was thinking maybe an allergic reaction (he's already been suffering badly the past month or so), but Mom and Aunt Deanne confirmed that those indeed looked like chickenpox. So it appears that he just a super light case. Or something. A mystery.

Elsa can climb stairs. And not just slowly meander, but RACE. She can make it up 14 steps in about 15 seconds. Anytime a gate is not across the stairs she will now race to the top and then calls us until we come and see what she did. Little stinker! Still no walking, but she is so close. The other day she jumped a few times which was pretty impressive. Both the other kids were walking by now, but Elsa will do it in her own time, thank you very much.

Yurts at River Meadows

2009-06-21T14:33:00.001-07:00

This weekend we went to River Meadows Park in Arlington and stayed in a yurt. We've always wanted to camp in a yurt and were quite excited to do this!

We packed up Friday afternoon. The weather was cool and cloudy, but not rainy.

A tired Elsa, waiting for us to finally leave already!

Our very full car and the excited kids (though Ethan doesn't look particularly excited in this shot...)

Our first vision of the park... Four deer eating berries

We turned into the yurt village and were surprised to find that we could not drive up to the yurts. One had to park in the parking lot, then use a small wagon to tow items to the yurts. If I had known this I perhaps wouldn't have chosen the last two on the road!

The unpaved yurt road

There were two yurts behind me, and these were the last four. Mom and Dad stayed in the very last one, we were in the second to last. Three of the yurts were bigger (20 feet) and #3 (the one closest in the picture) was "luxury", meaning it had two decks, bed linens and additional furniture.

Our yurt.

The interior was still new and fresh, since these opened up just recently. It was a bit sparser than I had imagined, and the sleeping arrangements were different than I expected as well, but overall it was pretty cool. We had two kids sleeping on the top bunk, then I got the bottom and J slept on the futon and the baby in the pack and play. We also had a small table. (Note: The yurt was perfectly clean when we got there. These pictures were taken just as we were leaving so it was a bit dirtier :))

A heater and outlets were also provided.

View from the door

The yurt was incredibly light inside thanks to the skylight. It never felt enclosed or claustrophobic. My one complaint was that in the mornings it was VERY bright as soon as it got light out, which woke everyone up way too early.

Elly was a little ham and kept dropping her toys and saying "Uh oh".

Right after we got all our stuff down to our yurt the rain started to fall. We put up our canopies right away and man, were we EVER grateful that we'd decided that Mom and Dad should bring theirs too. Those canopies saved us this weekend and allowed us to cook and eat and visit in sometimes drenching rain without issue.

My Dad has an excellent technique for starting a fire in hard rain. A road flare! Its also very entertaining for the children :)

We'd only been camping for a few hours when BOTH Ethan and Gwen ripped their pants! Ethan wasn't sure where his ripped.... we think he slid over a log and got caught up. We know how Gwen ripped hers though and I wish I'd had my camera to capture it! Gwen was jumping off the tailgate of my Dad's truck and her pants got caught on a piece of metal. She was hanging there by her pants and started calling for help! Jason rescued her before the pants ripped through, but I tell you, it was just like you see in a movie when people dangle from their pants. It was hilarious!

Gwen helping Nanny do dishes

A very very very tired baby finally giving up the fight. Thanks Jenni :)

It rained all night, but thanks to the lovely yurt we were warm and dry. The mattresses on the beds were thick and even though they were a little hard, we could not complain as it was a lot better than a tent!

The early riser crew (thanks Elsa!). I believe this was at 5:15am.

While I was starting breakfast, she broke into the food bin and stole a hot dog bun. This girl is sneaky!

Nothing makes Ethan smile like hot chocolate in the morning

Jenni had brought her bike and we brought the bike trailer. We hooked it up and it gave the kids lots of entertainment (also handy for hauling things to and from the campsite). I took Elsa for a ride and she liked it! I had not ridden a bike for a couple years and this one had a very high seat (thanks to me being the shorty of the family). Nonetheless, I persevered. I'd forgotten how fun biking is.

Later in the day, we couldn't get a very tired Elly to fall asleep. Jenni took her for a spin, and voila...

Speaking of bikes, Mom suggested that we try to teach the kids how to ride without training wheels. We knew Ethan wasn't ready, but thought we'd try for Gwen. She did really good! She was able to go 5-10 seconds without falling. There wasn't a whole lot of pavement at this park, so we need to practice with her on longer stretches.

The weather was much better on Saturday. Though it started out damp, the sun came out later in teh day and warmed everything up and dried it out.

We bought this game called Lasso Golf (also called Ladder Golf). It was so fun! I don't know why we didn't get pictures of it. You throw these things that have a ball on each end, connected by string. You try to wrap them around the rungs and each rung is worth different points. There is actually some good strategy needed! Great fun for all ages. Anyway, Elsa loved the little throwing things and played with them constantly. She was crawling around exploring and next thing I know she's slung a few of these over her neck and is crawling back with her excited crawl (yes, her crawls have moods!), very proud of what she found.

We left our campsite in the afternoon to visit Jordan Bridge Park, which was about 5-10 minutes away. I have to say... it was not very exciting. It was a bridge, yes. There was a small beach, yes. But that was it. Not a thing else! Still, we made a good time of it.

Not too long after I took this picture, one of those swimmers in the background jumped off the bridge into the river. Not very smart.

I found a rock shaped like a heart and gave it to Gwen who was extremely impressed and excited. Gwen has the ability to find joy in the ordinary and that is such a gift!

We returned to our campsite and Gwen and Ethan started playing with the little kids they had met in neighboring yurts.

Gwen and her "girls".

One little boy just made himself at home at our site. He loved Star Wars and came with three light sabers. Ethan and Ben thoroughly enjoyed this!

Notice how Gwen is wearing different clothes from the picture of her with her girlfriends? Its kind of a funny story. Each kid brought a backpack that was supposed to hold 1 toy and a few books. I didn't check the backpacks. Well, midway through the day on Saturday, Gwen goes into the yurt and comes out in clothes that I absolutely did not pack her (I thought dresses would be too cold). She informs me that instead of packing toys and fun things, she packed two outfits (both dresses...) so that if she didn't like the clothes I brought she'd have something else to wear. We hadn't even had a conversation about not wearing dresses, she just had an idea that perhaps I wouldn't pack them. I wasn't sure how to reply to this except to praise her good thinking and cleverness and then have a good laugh with the adults about how funny kids are sometimes.

We knew that Sunday would be a busy day, so we celebrated Fathers Day on Saturday evening.

The kids gave J a gift they'd chosen all themselves.

It was a collection of darling truffles that we'd run across one day while shopping. The kids could not resist buying Daddy these yummy and adorable treats! The picture doesn't do them justice. They were really charming.

From top row to bottom:
Ladybug, ice cream cone
pig, chocolate Lab (just like Toby!)
a turtle, and an oyster with a pearl.

Card and a hug for Grandpa

We woke up this morning to the sound of rain. Rain, rain, rain. Never a good sound on pack-up day. It never really eased up, so we decided not to dally and hurried through breakfast and started getting things together. By the time we were done we were all thoroughly drenched and soaked. I haven't been that wet to the core in a VERY long time! Jenni took care of the kids while us adults hauled load after load up that long dirt road to the cars. We saw the rangers and asked if they would oh so kindly consider unchaining the posts that blocked the road so we could just drive down and load up, but no go. Much to our surprise, by the time we were fully loaded and heading out it was only 9:30am! We were home by 10:30 (coffee stop ABSOLUTELY necessary) and as of now everything is put away, everyone showered and I'm about 3 loads in on laundry. There are perks to camping close to home!

All and all we had a very enjoyable time. In one way, it wasn't a very interesting trip scenery wise. What we saw was exactly what we see all the time. A downside to camping close to home. But on the other hand, how often do we live outside in what we see? That was nice, and of course family time and the fun of cooking and living outdoors is always worth a trip.