Emersyn and Everett, Our Biggest Little Blessings!

No fun

2012-01-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

My poor Ems. Last Friday she woke up in the middle of the night with a stomach bug. I had to cancel a play date with a friend and Emersyn was really sad because her and this friend haven't played in a long time but I told her we'd reschedule. She threw up for half the day, only got it on her bed once (yay) and then by the next day she was good as new, though with a limited appetite.

Then this past week she developed a cough and it has gotten progressively worse. Last night she spiked a bit of a fever and fell asleep on the couch, something she has NEVER done before. Yesterday morning I went with my instincts and cancelled our playdate (the one we had rescheduled from last week) and again, Ems was so disappointed. This morning she's a bit more congested but her cough is a little more wet and that's a good sign that the virus is working it's way through. Today was "pajama day" at preschool and I don't have the heart to tell Ems that she missed it. I can't tell you how many times this week I've said, "please don't cough on your brother". Praying that Everett stays healthy and us too for that matter.

It is so draining when our kids are sick, isn't it? I think of single mom friends of mine and wonder how on earth they do it? I think my mother-in-law is going to come over today so I can run to the store and by the store, I mean Starbucks. :) I need some fresh air. I also need a new can of Lysol. Everywhere I look, Emersyn's sweet little slobbery hands are touching something that needs to be disinfected.

I know this wasn't the most riveting blog post but it's where I'm at right now! Have a great rest of your week everyone.

Miscellany Monday

2012-01-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

{1} Hand me downs are a B-L-E-S-S-I-N-G. Seriously. Everett's wardrobe is 80% hand me downs. They just keep coming too. This past week at the nursery a friend had left a bag with clothes in it and some darling NIKE shoes. I just bought him some Old Navy shoes that I didn't love but at this age I like them to start wearing something on their feet (it's just so darn cute). I can take the Old Navy shoes back now, yay! I used to somewhat hoard Emersyn's clothes and want to make sure I could sell them in the future. Now I am SO happy to give them to friends knowing the blessing they are. Right now I have three little girls that get Ems clothes depending on their ages. They usually go through one girl, are given back to me and then I give them to a younger girl. So fun to see her clothes *live on*.

{2} My hands and feet have shrunk with each pregnancy. When my hands are cold now my wedding ring just about falls off. If only other parts of my body would shrink as well. ;)

{3} We cancelled cable, did I tell you that already?? It's fabulous!!!! We missed it for about two or three days but now we are officially over it. I'd say 25% of our motivation was financially but 75% of the motivation was just quit watching TV just because we had junk recorded on it. It's funny, when the DVR would record something there was almost like pressure to watch it. It's nice knowing that we can watch something on Hulu or Netflix if we want to but we don't have to. It's great. That is all. <--- That was for you Melissa V. ;)

{4} Our pantry project is finally finished. I'm so proud of my hubby!! He painted and finished this all on his own and I'm thrilled with how it turned out!

We just finished it last night so I have yet to fill it full of things but I can't wait for some of the clutter of our kitchen to be rid of. We don't have a pantry at all and it's a challenge, let me tell you! P.S. We need to put something in this pot but what? We just tossed the sticks that were in there....they were 6 years old and super dusty. Or maybe the pot should stay empty. Stay tuned.

{5} My poor Everett's eyes have been so red and itchy lately, the same with the backs of his ears. And it is SO hard to keep his little nails trimmed. I wish you could take your baby to have their nails trimmed like you can dogs. Is that an awful thought?? I just worry about cutting him. I even file his nails down but they are still razor sharp little buggers. So, as a result of his eyes and ears itching they are also cut up from his nails. He looks just awful at times. :(

{6} I made my first sewing lesson appointment!! It's in February after my birthday. Age 31 is going to be the year I get my sewing on.

{7} I'm going to read the Hunger Games!! My friend let me borrow the book and I'm hoping to get a chance to read them SOON!

{8} We are having BBQ Chicken Salads tonight for dinner. I've blogged about what I put in them before HERE!

{9} Ems was wearing a darling outfit last Sunday and decided she wanted to pose for some pictures outside. I just love this little girl!!!

Puddle Jumpers Blog!

2012-01-18T10:35:00.001-08:00

I'm a guest blogger for our church's preschool blog again, this time I wrote an *article* versus last weeks interview. You can find the article HERE!

A year ago today....

2012-01-17T15:00:00.000-08:00

Miscellany Monday

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

1) This weekend consisted of some amazing productivity. Something hit me and I was in the mood to CLEAN. I'm talking deep-cleaning-on-my-knees-scrubbin-shower-curtain-laundering-baseboard-scouring cleaning. It felt GOOD. I cleaned my bathroom and bedroom and the kids bathroom. That doesn't sound like much but it really is in the midst of raising two babies. :) While I was a cleaning fool, Brett was a painting one!

We bought an unfinished pantry from a local furniture store a week before Christmas and just now had the chance to paint it. Brett did a ton of research on what product to use to paint the wood. I initially wanted to just stain it because I think a lot of painted furniture looks too DIY (in a tacky way) but Brett found this "Milk Paint" and I just love it. It's a unique product and it comes in a powder form to be mixed manually. I love how it turned out. Once it's all put together I'll post more pics. Now I'm looking around the house, wondering what else can be painted with it. :) Update: just put Emersyn to bed and spied an unfinished baby bed that is so asking to be milk painted!!!

{2} The week before Everett was born, I bought and spray painted an 8 x 10 frame that I was going to add ribbon to as a way to organize Emersyn's bows. Well, I never got around to finishing it and then I thought I would just use this canvas that Ems had in her room with pictures on it. It's a little small for pictures and I was kind of tired of it in her room so I thought even though it will be WAY too big, I'll just put what I have on it. See above, ha! It was NOT way too big and apparently Ems has way more clips then I realized. And there are a few pairs still missing that are somewhere. It's so cute to see all of these put up! I am a sucker for Gymboree sales, as evidenced above. A LOT of her clips are from there. The entire section on the right are darling bows made by a sweet friend of mine. She has her own Etsy shop and the clips are great quality!!! You can find her shop here: Bebe Boutique

{3} Ems is really into being an older sister these days and now that Everett is more interactive, she can't get enough of him. She was a big help this weekend by playing with him, singing him songs, and reading to him.

{4} Guess who is in his big boy crib now??? It finally happened. Everett slept in his pack and play bassinet longer then it was intended to accommodate him. Or that's what I gathered when it started sagging. A couple nights ago he was having trouble falling asleep and I could hear him moving around so restless. I decided that he was not sleeping well and that he would do better in his crib. Sure enough, my mommy instinct was correct! He slept great. I on the other hand tossed and turned and mentally went over my "How to Prevent SIDS" checklist 1000 times. Ultimately I just had to pray and give that worry over to God. I have to pray and surrender that worry every time I lay him down in his crib and I check on him a million times. It is nice having our room back again and not having to whisper and sneak around in the dark. :)

{5} My church's preschool program started a blog. I was the first featured "M.O.M" (Mom of the Month). You can read my interview here: Puddle Jumpers

{6} We got the jumper out! Everett loves it and Ems loves entertaining him in it. It's time to put away the baby swing. *sniff sniff*

{7} My handsome dude before church yesterday.

{8} My girls got style too. :)

Christmas Day

2012-01-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

My brother is a proud uncle. :)

I was going through my blog drafts and realized that I completely forgot to post this draft about Christmas Day!! How lame am I?? My mom must have been wondering why on earth I only blogged about our celebration with my in-law's and not them. Ooops! Well, better late then never.

My brother David and his wife Jenny.

Ems needed a new CD player for her room. She has a personalized lullaby CD that she listens to every time she goes to sleep so needless to say, this CD player she has had since her first Christmas needed to be replaced. I found a CD player that is also a portable karaoke machine with plug in's for an iPod. It's so much fun and Emersyn LOVES singing into a microphone. She's a natural, what can I say? :)

Emersyn got her brother a present....a sea horse "glow worm". He loves it! Now that I think about it, I totally forgot to get a present from Everett for Emersyn. Oops, ha ha!

My parents are kind of tough to shop for. A big reason for that is that they travel here and we don't want to get them anything bulky or heavy to have to haul home. This year I thought of the perfect gift for my dad....a classic moose mug from our family's favorite Christmas movie "Christmas Vacation". Look at how surprised he is when he opened it! I was so happy to capture this look on my camera. :)

My dad drank egg nog out of it just like Chevy Chase did in the movie. Then he drank out of if rot the rest of the night, even filled it up with sparkling grape cider for when we did communion before dinner.

This Santa suit was totally cheesy and I LOVED it!!! How adorable is he??

Ems in her jammies from Mimi and slippers from Nana!

Happy birthday Jesus pumpkin pie!!

Mimi and Everett.

We had prime rib for dinner and it was a wonderful day!

4 Months

2012-01-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

"Hello there handsome..."

Everett David, you are 4 months old already! How did that happen?

I took you to the dr. today for your 4 month visit and it was our first visit just the two of us. We've always had your sister with us and usually one other person too, either Nana or Mimi. I enjoyed our little *date* to the dr's office.

(Don't judge Mommy's roots....I have a hair appointment on the calendar this month!!)

Upon arriving at the office we got checked in and escorted back to a room where I got you naked and ready for your big 4 month scale reveal. I was sure you were around 16 or 17 pounds at least. I was wrong! 15lbs, 12 oz (52nd percentile). The nurse weighed you twice because she thought you looked bigger too! You are exactly one pound bigger then your sister was at this age! You are 26.5 inches long (97th percentile) , also exactly one inch longer then Emersyn! You are my long and lean boy. The dr. took a good look at you and determined a couple things. For one, you are ADORABLE but I knew that already. Secondly, your eczema has flared up pretty badly and mama is so sorry about this. I feel like it is partially my fault but not because of anything I did knowingly. Dr. Smart says I need to lube you up twice a day and she also gave us a prescription for some medicine that worked really well on Emersyn. I also went a bought you a thicker lotion cream that should help as well. Thirdly, you have cradle cap still pretty bad. :( The cradle cap has affected your ears a bit and they are very dry and cracked. You tend to pull at them at times and the dr. said this is probably because they itch. You are such a good natured baby, I would have never known anything was bothering you. Behind one of your ears got really dry and cracked and is now infected so I have to apply an antibacterial cream.

Seriously, could you be any cuter?!!?

You have been blessed with amazing health so I can't complain too much about this eczema/dry skin. Emersyn had it really bad and now doesn't have it at all. This is encouraging!

Okay, enough boring dr. talk! Let's get to more fun things, shall we? You are my darling boy and sweetest little buddy. Your smiles and giggles bring me such intense joy that I can hardly stand it. I am so honored to be your mama.

During your 4th month of life we enjoyed many fun activities. We went on many many Starbucks dates, some with just mommy and daddy, some with sister too, and lots with Mimi and Grandpa. They have this magical card that is golden and has Grandpa's name on it. When you hand it to the cashier, all the beverages are paid for instantly and it's just wonderful!!

You loved hanging out with Grandpa while they were here for two weeks. You two had some man to man time reading about the car of the year in this Motor Trend magazine.

You are such a sweet and chill baby.

Last Sunday we took you to your first sporting event, a Portland Trailblazers game! We debated taking you or not but decided it would be fun and easier to coordinate with your eating schedule. I was nervous at first but you did amazing. You didn't make a peep! I couldn't resist buying you a shirt at Fred Meyer before the game. It's a size 12 months though so you can wear it all season. :)

Many of our friends warned us that it would be super loud at the game and that you would need ear plugs of some sort. I improvised with my hands instead.

My hands must have worked pretty well because before we knew it, you had passed out! It was so cute!!!

You just adore your sister. Every day when we put her down for a nap, I try to snap a quick picture of you two to send to Daddy at work. You guys just love cuddling.

You are a drooling machine these days!

This is a picture of you looking at your sister. Oftentimes when I take your picture I'll ask Emersyn to help me get you to smile. It always works!

You have started wearing 9 months clothing, mainly for the length. You are officially too big for the 1/2 diapers at Costco so you are in size 2 or 2/3. You are a great eater, though sometimes I run out of food for you. You'll be getting some rice cereal soon so coat your tummy and also give you more iron.

You are just my precious little man and I think God every day for you! I can't believe how quickly you are growing up. I love you forever and ever.

Love, Mama

What I learned in 2011

2012-01-09T14:05:00.000-08:00

I was thinking through some of the life lessons that I learned last year while pondering goals for the new year and these are my thoughts....

* I remember that I was so so worried about transitioning from a working mama to staying home. While I was working, I treasured my days off and made the most out of play dates while keeping my house clean for the most part. I always admired how nice and neat Emersyn played but it turns out, we were just never home long enough to make that big of a mess. Now that I've been a stay at home mama for a year, and spent a lot of the early part of 2011 at home due to me have NO energy and ~~morning~~ all day sickness, I have come to realize that three year olds are capable of making a mess and making it real quick. And you know what? It's just a season. My house is far less put together then it was when I was working and for that I am grateful. It's messy because we are here more, praise the Lord. I used to be really unhappy whenever the house was messy and I took out a lot of my rage on my poor husband but I've learned to let things go and enjoy my family more. For that I am happy.

*I learned that nagging is pointless. I used to get really irate and controlling when it came to things I wanted Brett to do around the house and I just decided to not be that way anymore. It's obviously a simple concept but not easy to do sometimes. Now that the home and our kids are *my job*, I try to make Brett feel appreciated at the end of the day and have gotten better about the nagging. You attract more bees with honey, isn't that what they say?

*I learned that having another baby wasn't as big of a deal as I thought in some ways, but then a bigger deal in others. For instance, during the last few weeks of my pregnancy with Everett, I kind of felt like a chapter of our family was closing. Brett, Ems and I were the three amigos and now we were going to have this other kid with us all the time, ha! It was a strange concept I know. I didn't truly get to bond with Everett until he was born because I think it almost felt disloyal to Emersyn in a way? I'm not sure. But anyways, when Everett was born it was instantly adoration at first sight and he has only enhanced our lives and not taken away from it in any way, just like when Emersyn was born. So in that way, adding him to our family wasn't as big of a deal that I thought it might have been. However, I had no idea how crazy busy it was to have two kids. I mean, of course I knew that I was having another baby which would obviously require more attention but wow, I didn't expect Emersyn to be so challenging in addition to the the challenge of a newborn. I expected sleepless nights but I didn't anticipate the crazy whiny age that three is. I am getting better at finding my balance but there were weeks and weeks when I would feel like all I was doing was wiping bums, changing diapers, feeding, nursing, cleaning up, and then repeat. Two kids is far busier then I expected and in that way, was more of a big deal then I anticipated.

*I learned that there is no such thing as a perfect friendship and that people will come and go in your life. Friendships have seasons sometimes and rather then dwelling and obsessing, I've learn to let things go and just accept the friends that the Lord has placed in my life. I read a book recently that said "start being the kind of friend you want to be and stop thinking about how you let your friends down." (The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers by Meg Meeker). I was so encouraged by that. I can't tell you how many nights I lay awake at night thinking about things that I might have done or not done to let a friend down. I should have texted this friend, I should have written this friend a card, that friend would have appreciated dinner, etc. I have had people in my life tell me that I am selfish and not good enough and that messes with your head. I don't believe those lies anymore though. I AM good enough. There is always room for improvement but friendship isn't something where you worry about not doing enough or saying the wrong thing. It shouldn't be HARD. There are friends in my life that never seem to have time for me due to their lives and schedules and that is okay, they'll come around eventually and in the meantime, I'll love them from afar and still send an encouraging word their way every so often. We're all at different milestones in our journeys through life and it's so much more worthwhile to cheer each other on and learn to be patient with one another.

*I'm less uptight about holidays. I think I've had to let a lot of things go now that I'm a mama to two and having picture perfect holidays is no longer a priority. I used to get upset at thrown together holidays that lacked the perfect table centerpiece and place settings. I've come to realize that hosting and entertaining is a talent and has a lot do with our individual temperaments. Being expressive, I love to make everything fun and decorative. Not everyone is that way and that's is okay. I had a much better holiday season but letting the little things go and just enjoying being with family. Having 4 adults, two children, a cat and a dog that sleeps in a large bed with multiple blankets in my living room made for a somewhat chaotic holiday but it was okay. Memories were still made and they were wonderful.

*I learned that it's not worth it to compete with other moms. Instead of getting jealous and bitter at mom's that plan these ah-mazing birthday parties complete with handmade crafts, I compliment them and admire them instead. I learned that when I realize my value as a mama, I don't have to try so hard to earn my husband and kid's admiration. My kids and husband don't care if I make them a cake from scratch, from a box or buy it pre-made at a store...they just want to sit down and eat it with me. I could run around frantically cleaning when my husband gets home from work while he takes care of the kids but he would much rather we sit and read stories as a family. I'm learning to live more in the moment and worry less about the presentation.

*I learned that I am only able to pour into my kids what I let God pour into me. If I'm not seeking the Lord each day for patience and understanding, I will lose my mind by the time Brett gets home. I am STILL trying to conquer this awful bad habit of not getting up early enough...hopefully that I will be what I learn in 2012.

*I learned that I truly love blogging and sitting down to write meaningful posts. Sometimes I'll write things without thinking and then re-read them and think, "wow...I really needed to hear that". It's like a way of getting a message through to myself.

*I learned that good parenting doesn't equal perfect children. Bummer!!!!!

*I learned that a handmade less then perfect nursery for Everett was so much more fulfilling to create then Emersyn's picture perfect store bought one. Yes, her nursery was darling but the hand made touches that came together in Everett's nursery are just SO fun!!!!

*I learned that the unexpected can be the greatest blessing ever.

*I learned that marriage and dates are something to be continually worked on and that having kids makes finding time to connect and just be Brett and Patti, husband and wife near impossible at times. Thus, the importance of dates.

*I learned that you actually can buy too many Groupons, LivingSocial deals, etc. Ooops! :) I blame late night nursing...I can't tell you how many times Brett woke up to me buying something on Groupon at 4am...it's like he sensed the transaction going through!

*I learned that ironing provides the same satisfaction that vacuuming used to. Guess what? Vacuuming no longer brings me the thrill it once did. I think it's because our carpet needs to be replaced so badly and so when I vacuum, it doesn't transform the room the way it once did. Steam mopping however.....don't get me started!

*I learned that finding the positive in situations with Emersyn works SO much better then the negative. Example: "Emersyn Grace, pick up these toys right now!!!!" doensn't work nearly as well as "Ems, you are such a smart girl...if anyone can pick all these toys up and put them away correctly, I know it's YOU!!!!". She really digs the words of affirmation, as does her mother. Maybe Brett should try this tactic with me regarding chores.....

2011 was an incredible life changing year and I'm so excited and looking forward to all that 2012 will bring!!

Christmas Morning

2012-01-03T15:30:00.000-08:00

On Christmas morning we headed over to the Jensen's to celebrate and have breakfast.

I wanted the kids to have matching pajama's this year but I had already bought Emersyn 5 or 6 pairs of Christmas jammies on mega clearance last year and I just couldn't justify buying her another pair just for the sake of matching. Everett wore Emersyn's first Christmas jammies, although they fit him much more snug then they did her!

Everett and Uncle Brock, Brett's older brother.

New TOMS, yippee!!!!

First dress up clothes from Auntie Brianna!

It was a great morning. Unfortunately Emersyn's cousins were with their moms so we didn't get to see them and exchange gifts until New Years.

Christmas Eve

2012-01-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

We have been able to find a good balance with family during the holidays. On Christmas Eve we go to church, then to our dear family friend's house for a dinner and party with my family. Christmas morning we spend with Brett's family and then Christmas afternoon and evening we spend with my parents and my brother and his wife. Then because we spend so much time with my parents for the holiday since they come for two weeks and stay at our house, we always do a New Year's Day brunch with Brett's family at our house and I make quiche, one of my favorite things to eat!

Christmas Eve was spent going to breakfast in the morning and then running errands with my mom and Everett while the men and the Ems watched football. Then we headed to church in the evening.

I bought this outfit at the Hannan Anderson outlet when Ems was 4 months old for $10 ($5 each for the tights and the skirt) and I thought she would wear it the following Christmas. Well, it just this year finally fit! I thought she looked like a Christmas princess.

The Christmas Eve service at church is always so special. They do a story time for the kids, advent reading, sing Christmas carols and then my favorite part....a candlelight time. A little girl sings "Silent Night" and comes into the sanctuary with one candle and then she lights our Pastor's candle and then he goes and lights other people's and then we all light each other's candles. Emersyn wanted her own this year and she was so careful and proud to be holding it by herself. I could feel the people around us nervously watching her and I was too, ha ha. I was totally ready to stomp out a fire on the ground if she dropped it. :)

After the service, we headed over to the Meichtry's house for food and fun! Emersyn got to hang out with her buddy Ian, who she has repeatedly expressed interest in marrying. They are adorable together.

Erica finally got to meet Everett! He was still in my tummy at her wedding this past summer, though he made his arrival less then two weeks after her big day.

Santa always makes an appearance on Christmas Eve!! Last year Ems cried and was NOT into it! This year she was hesitant but way more into it.

Everett was pretty chill although he must have been pretty excited to lose his shoe at some point in the evening.

After the party we headed home to put out treats for Santa! Ems was SO excited!

Sampling Santa's milk to make sure it tasted good.

A healthy snack for Santa, just in case he starts to feel icky from all the cookies!

A Starbucks VIA packet in case he needs a caffeine boost. We also put a homemade sugar cookie on the plate.

And here's how the tree looked with all the goodies underneath! I love my tree and love wrapping presents.

Everett's Dedication

2012-01-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

December 18th was a very special day for our family! Everett was dedicated at our church along with two other babies.

Our Senior Pastor's wife does such a good job doing the baby dedications. She firmly believes that the names you choose for your children can shape who they are and who they become. Everytime we say our child's name, we are speaking the meaning of their name over them. Whenever I say Everett David, I am declaring that he is strong, brave and beloved. I just love his name and love it even more so once I knew the meaning.

These were the verses that Linda picked out for Everett:

Everett: Strong and Brave

Psalm: 27:14 (NKJV)

Wait on the Lord; be of courage, and He shall strengthen your heart.

David: Beloved One

Deuteronomy 33:12 (KJV)

The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him....the Lord shall cover Him all day long.

I love these verses and want to write them onto a canvas in his room.

After the dedication, Emersyn's preschool choir sang us a couple songs and it was darling. I didn't get any pictures but we did get a video. She looked darling and did a great job. She sang all the words and LOVED being on the stage.

To celebrate our special day, we went out to lunch after church with my parents, Brett's parents, Brett's brother and his daughter. We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory, a family favorite.

Emersyn's face in this picture cracks me up....she's so so expressive these days. :)

December Happenings!

2011-12-29T16:00:00.000-08:00

I started writing this post about a week before Christmas but alas, it never got published. I only got the pictures uploaded but ran out of time to write!

Here's a few things that we were up to this past month (with the exception of Christmas Eve and Christmas...I'll cover those in another post!).

Christmas card pictures at our favorite place....Starbucks!!

How did my baby turn into such a little girl so quickly??

Is it just me or does Everett look a little bit like Charlie Brown??

I did pictures of Ems in a Santa bag for her first Christmas too, remember?

The weekend before my parents got here, we went to Great Wolf Lodge for the night! We went on a Sunday night so it was a lot cheaper then their usual really expensive rates. We brought Emersyn's favorite person in the world with us, her 7 year old cousin Annabel.

The girls forgot to bring shoes other then their boots. :)

It was SO much fun!! They had a ton of things to do there, more then we even had time for! They did a really fun story time at night and they even made it "snow" with bubbles. It was a little challenging with all of us sleeping in the same room but we made it work and it was a blast. Emersyn was SO brave and went down all the slides that her size allowed. We are going to make it a yearly tradition for sure, especially at Christmas time. It was so fun to see the lodge all decorated with Christmas trees and lights.

On Tuesday, December 13th Emersyn had her first preschool Christmas program and it was just darling. Her class sang three songs. Of course my girl is totally into music and can't help herself when she gets the urge to dance so during the first song she starts dancing and jumping which then lead to the entire class jumping and singing. It was hilarious and adorable.

Emersyn, Isabelle and Emery

Baby Everett posing as Baby Jesus

So proud of our girl!!

On December 14th my parents arrived in town and the fun began! Emersyn loved having her grandparents stay with us and they had a blast playing together.

Ems and Grandpa, getting ready to go on a walk!

We made Christmas sugar cookies that were delicious!!!!!! The secret is almond extract in the buttercream frosting. :)

We made a gingerbread house with Uncle David!!

There was lots of cuddling with MiMi!

And Grandpa!

Ems helped me send out Christmas cards.....just a couple days before Christmas!

We looked at the lights on Peacock Lane!

We visited Santaland at the local Alpenrose Dairy.

It was such a fun holiday season and it's still going. I think the holdays are officially over once everyone goes back to work, which in our case is January 3rd. :)

More to come later!

"Becoming a Big Sister"

2011-12-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

My amazingly talented brother and his equally talented and beautiful wife

My brother got his degree in film and cinema studies at George Fox University and boy am I glad that he did. He filmed Emersyn's birth and made a very sweet documentary of him "becoming an uncle". Well, this time with Everett's birth he not only filmed that but also filmed the very special moment when Emersyn met her baby brother for the first time. I am so so thankful that he caught these precious moments. It's so hard/impossible to soak up each moment during such a special occasion and now this little mini movie will forever be in my heart.

Enjoy!!

http://youtu.be/Po8y31HuWXM

Five Question Friday

2011-12-02T16:58:00.001-08:00

Both of my kids are asleep right now and while there are a million things I could be doing, I choose to blog...twice in one day no less! A little "me time" never hurt anyone....

1. What is your favorite Christmas decoration in your house? For sure my tree. I love all the ornaments that Brett and I picked for it and now the special ones that have accumulated as we've had kids, received them as gifts, etc. I did a post about ornaments a couple years ago but I should do another one to update it now that we've received and added some fun ones.

2. Do you finish your Christmas shopping early or are you a last minute type? Eh, a little bit of both. I am not one that collects gifts all year by any means but I'm not usually a Christmas Eve shopper.

3. When do you turn on your heat? I used to think that my parents house was fah-reezing and almost to the point of being unwelcoming. Well, apparently I adapted their crazy chilly lifestyle because now my thermostat is set to that chilly temp that was at my parents house, 65. If I am cold I will turn it up to 67 but usually I'll get too warm from doing things around the house. And if we forget to turn it back down to 65, we wake up sweating and HOT at 67. My in-laws keep their house at like 73 and often turn it up to 75. I sweat just thinking about it being that hot and I think that temp is stuffy. I feel like 65 at my house isn't as cold as it was at my parents house though, strange huh? I like having the fireplace on for heat but then it doesn't heat the upstairs and our rooms are freezing which wasn't a big deal before kiddos but now that Ems goes to bed so much before us, we don't have the fireplace on much at night.

4. Do you ever wish your blog was private? YES. There are some things that I'd like to blog about that I don't necessarily want the world to see. I wish you could pick who could see certain posts, like have a list of people approved to see private posts.

5. Do you put your deodorant on before of after you put on your shirt? Before and pretty much immediately after getting out of the shower!

Fill in the Blank Friday

2011-12-02T15:47:00.001-08:00

1. The holiday season is a magical time of year!!! A big part of the magic is that my husband loves it just as much as I do. We love Christmas movies, the lights, the music, all of it. We loved it before we had kids and now we love it even more now that we get to experience it through the eyes of a three year old. I love hearing her yell "CHRISTMAS LIGHTS" and "SANTA!!!!!" whenever she sees the inflatables in our neighborhood. I'm happy that she's pronouncing his name correctly this year, rather then referring to him as Satan like she did last year. :)

2. Snow makes me happy when I'm indoors and S.T.R.E.S.S.E.D out when I'm driving in it. I love the anticipation of snow. If there is even a hint of it in the forecast everyone gets so excited and when it actually does snow, all the news stations get taken over by snow coverage and they usually come up with some cheesy name like "arctic blast 2011" or something.

3. The best comfort food to eat when it's cold out is soup, chili and cornbread. Cold weather always inspires me to bake as well!

4. Winter is the best time for reading, snuggling by the fire, sleeping in (or so I imagine...haven't been able to do that too often for the last 3+ years), drinking white peppermint mochas, getting reorganized around the house, trying new recipes like the one I am trying tonight!

5. I can hardly wait for my parents to get here in less then two weeks!! I'm also excited for a family day tomorrow of finishing up Christmas decorating, running to IKEA to buy a pantry sort of cabinet for our dining room (we don't have a pantry, just one cupboard for food...it's a bummer!), helping out at our church's Christmas concerts Sunday night, a date night next Friday and then Great Wolf Lodge that weekend!!!!

6. When it comes to holiday gifts I prefer to make sure they aren't the focus of the season. I LOVE giving gifts when I can think of something great to give. I hate just having to think of SOMETHING for someone for the sake of a gift exchange.

7. If I were to rate my excitement about the holiday season on a scale from 1-10, I would say I am at about a 10. :) I had no idea that a sweet baby boy would be joining us this year and I'm ecstatic to celebrate the holiday season this year with my TWO kids. :)

'Tis the Season

2011-11-28T09:55:00.000-08:00

Well, the holidays are officially in full swing and I can hardly believe it! We had a great Thanksgiving and I had hoped to take more pictures yesterday but that proved to be hard to do when I realized that I left my camera at home. Oh well.

On Thursday our day started with a visit from Uncle David and Auntie Jenny. We Skyped with my parents and it was nice to have a little chat. After D & J left we went and had a low key meal with Brett's parents, two siblings and two nieces. I made a turkey breast in the crockpot that turned out really yummy. Only four of us ate turkey (the rest are vegetarians) so I didn't want to hassle with a whole huge turkey. The breast was a great alternative and turned out yummy (thank you Allrecipes.com).

On Friday I woke up not feeling well and I don't think it was from eating too much. I really didn't eat more then normal on Thursday. I had woken up a couple times in the night feeling nauseous and in the morning I felt worse. Brett had to go into his work for a half day so he took Emersyn over to his mom's house so I could try to get some extra rest which was nice. After some more sleep, I felt a lot better and got ready. I went to get a couple things at the store and then headed back over to my in-law's for a birthday party for my niece. Friday night Brett and I went on a date. And by date I mean we went shopping for a new washing machine and to the Olive Garden. We are so old and suburban. :) We found a killer deal on a washing machine, praise the Lord. It gets mixed reviews though and that's kind of concerning. Ugh. Still need to research and make a FINAL decision. We bought it but can change our mind if needed. One thing is for SURE, I am sick of not having a washing machine. I have gone to my in-law's twice to do laundry and that's not the most convenient thing. Hauling two kids plus baskets of laundry is not fun. The washing machine that we bought is 3-4 weeks back ordered too. Lovely. Oh well, we'll survive. Luckily my kids have a lot of clothes. Unfortunately this is not the case for their parents. ;)

On Saturday Brett went and watched the Civil War which took up a big part of the day. When he got home he did get some Christmas decorations up outside and I was able to get some indoor cleaning done. We hoped to get our tree up but ran out of time.

Yesterday we went to church in the morning and then down to Albany for Thanksgiving with Brett's Dad's side of the family. It was nice to see people we hadn't seen in a long time and Emersyn got to play with some of Brett's older cousins which was cute. We stayed longer then I wanted to and then Ems fell asleep on the way home and slept from 7:30-8:30 which made me a little nervous for her bedtime. She stayed up until 10 once we got home and then woke up at 8 this morning. She'll probably take a good nap today but I'll most likely be at my in-law's doing laundry so I won't get to reap the full benefits of her nap while she sleeps there.

I've got a fun but busy week ahead. Tomorrow night we're taking a meal to a new mama and hanging out with them in the evening which will be fun. It's always fun watching first time parents and encouraging them. Sometimes you just need to hear that you're doing a great job, ya know? Wednesday night Emersyn's preschool program at church is having a movie night and Brett and I are going to help out. Thursday night we are going to the dress rehearsal for our church's big Christmas concert. I want Ems to be able to see the concert but I don't think she'd sit through the real thing so the rehearsal is a great alternative. Friday night I'm hoping to get to a friend's Christmas party but I'm not sure what Brett's work schedule is going to look like that evening. His schedule can vary depending on what time of year it is and I don't think he's going to get off early enough for me to attend but I'm hoping!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!

So thankful

2011-11-26T14:30:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Day 2011

We are having such a great Thanksgiving weekend so far! On Monday or Tuesday I'll have pictures to post. I didn't take near as many as I should have on Thanksgiving but we still have a celebration to go to tomorrow where several of Brett's extended family will be meeting Everett for the first time so hopefully we get more pictures then! :)

There are a few things I'm especially thankful for. First, my in-laws have been so great about keeping Emersyn for us on dates or when I have things I need to do that are just easier with one kid. Also, I've been doing laundry at their house for the last couple weeks (just a few times) and that is a blessing versus sitting at a laundromat. We got a really great washing machine yesterday on Black Friday but the bad news is, it's 3-4 weeks back ordered. UGH!

I'm thankful for my strong willed, creative, always singing, beautiful, and hilarious 3 year old. She makes me laugh every single day and I am so so thankful to be her mama.

I'm thankful for my smiley bright eyed baby boy that slept for TEN hours last night. We all went to bed at 11pm and woke up at 9am this morning. It felt amazing to get that much sleep and a big reason for that was because Emersyn spent the night with Nana and Papa (and apparently slept in until 10am, holy cow). We've had a tiring last few days, that's for sure.

I'm thankful for my hard working husband that provides for our family and loves me and our kids. We drove by a Starbucks last night that we once spent ALL night talking at waaaay back when we were just friends. Happy memories.

I'm thankful for my friends that encourage, love and support me unconditionally.

I'm thankful for my parents in MN who are forking out big bucks to come spend the holidays with us. It's so expensive to fly this time of year but their family is a priority so they make it happen. They get here in 2.5 weeks and we're so excited to see them! The kids have changed so much since we saw them last in August for Everett's arrival.

I'm thankful for Emersyn's preschool who is instilling great values in her and helping her grow into a sweet little girl.

I'm thankful for a church that allows me to be stretched and grow through ministry opportunities and for providing a place for me to raise my kids to love the Lord and his people.

These are just a few of the things I'm thankful for today.....

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Three Months

2011-11-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

Everett David, you are three months old today!

I am falling more and more in love with you each day. You are absolutely the sweetest baby boy in the world and I'm so happy to call you mine. You are definitely a mama's boy and I LOVE IT!!

You have started teething, or at least I am pretty sure you have. You've started chomping on your hands and drooling a lot. Your sister cut her first tooth sometime around 4 months so I guess you are going to be on a similar schedule at least initially.

You've started giggling a little bit and it's so darn cute. You are ticklish and love being talked to. You are hardly ever fussy and when you are, it's easy to console you with eating or putting you down to sleep. You don't sleep in your crib yet, mama likes having you near and being able to listen to you breathe at night. You sleep in the pack and play in our room and I'm not sure when you will make the transition to your room. I think I might miss you too much!!

You like to nap in your swing downstairs all snuggled up with your blanket. Your favorite way to fall asleep is with the blanket all up in your face and sometimes you pull it over your head which I am not a fan of because it's not safe. You love to be cozy and buried.

You sleep great in your car seat. When we take Ems to preschool you will often stay asleep the entire time we are out which makes it so nice and easy for mama to run errands, read at Starbucks, etc. You will often go more hours between feedings if you're snoozing in your seat.

I love getting you dressed, especially for church. You have several little man outfits and you are just SO handsome, I can't get over it.

You LOVE TV! Not that I let you watch a ton of it but sometimes if I put a cooking show on, you just stare at it like you can't get enough. You like shows with music too, like "The Sing Off".

When other mommies ask me how long you sleep, I usually try to change the subject because I just don't have the heart to tell them how amazing of a sleeper you are. You go to sleep around 11pm and wake up around 8am. If Mommy is tired, it is my own fault for not getting to bed on time! A lot of our friends that hang out with you ask me, "is he always this chill?" and the answer is YES!

Everett, Mommy loves you so much. I am so happy to be your mama and get to watch you grow into a little boy. It's going too fast already but I'm determined to savor every minute with you and your sister.

I cannot wait to celebrate your first Thanksgiving tomorrow. I didn't have any idea you would be joining us this time last year. ;) I am so so thankful for YOU little man.

XOXO,
Mommy

Fun but not relaxing :)

2011-11-18T15:25:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I went on a little getaway with a friend and our FOUR kids. :) Several months ago my friend Sarah asked if I wanted to go with her to central Oregon to redeem a LivingSocial deal that she had purchased and been unable to use. She said we could take our boys, relax in the deluxe suite by the fire, maybe get some pedicures, etc. It sounded blissful and of course I said YES YES YES, I would LOVE to go!!!!

A couple weeks before we were to leave, she called me and suggested that we bring our girls with us.

Really? Hmmm. Well........I suppose.....

It's not that I don't adore my daughter, because I do. And it's not like I didn't want her to go with us, I just thought it would be SO different then if we just took the babies. Like, a lot more work different. Sarah really really wanted to take them though so I agreed (and secretly prayed she would change her mind, ha!!). I knew that we would have a good time, it just wouldn't be as relaxing as I might have liked.

I got to thinking though and our trip is a lot like parenting in general. It's a whole heck of a lot of fun but far far far from *relaxing*. Parenting takes effort. God didn't bless me with these kiddos to just hang out with and then send on their way once they turn 18. He gave me them to invest my time, love, energy and finances (right?!) in while they are still *mine*.

We had a great trip and priceless memories were created. I am so blessed to have a friend with kiddos so close in age to mine and everywhere we went, people would ask "did you plan to have kids so close in age". Sarah and I used to walk through the mall and people would ask us the same thing with our girls. Fun memories and still more yet to be made.

Everett and Benjamin. They are seriously the sweetest boys EVER.

The girls LOVED this statue of a chipmunk in our room. Emersyn named her Mary and we talked about Mary during the whole trip. It was funny.

Keeping her baby warm. It was VERY chilly!!

My beautiful babies on the shore of Suttle Lake.

Lifelong friends!!

Ellie and Ems at their first playdate, Ems was 11 weeks and Ellie was 7 weeks. I looked at this picture info and ironically, it was three years ago TODAY!

I feel like I have been so blessed with easy babies. (Knock on wood, I know Everett is still young). People see how old Everett is and comment on how tired I must be but if I'm tired, it's my own fault. My kid sleeps 8-9 hours a night, I cannot complain. The preschool age though is by far the most challenging age that I have experienced. But again, parenting is fun but not relaxing. I have been married for 8 years now and it has FLOWN by. I've been a mama for 3 years and again, it has gone by faster then I ever imagined it could. I am so burdened to pray that my parenting years won't fly by and yield no fruit. I am notorious for living vicariously through anticipating the future. I'll think to myself, "I really need to start working on reading more bible stories to Ems" or "I need to be better at taking pictures of Everett" and just thinking those thoughts almost makes me feel better to the point of then forgetting to follow through with what I planned. I don't know if that makes sense but I've been that way my entire life. I always have an excuse. It used to be "when I have a house of my own, I'll be more organized" or "when I lose weight I'll be more involved or confident". And in the meantime, time ticks on whether I like it or not and whether I achieve anything or not. But now, it's not just me that's affected, it's these two precious children that have been entrusted into my care. In my worst nightmares, I look at my teenagers and think, why didn't I take the time to invest in your future when I had the chance?

My daughter is a special little girl I a believe that God is going to use her to be a leader. However, there are times when I am dealing with a situation and I see the ugly things in myself shining through in her. Recently, she has become rather easily angered and it's like she'll go from zero to raging mad in no time. She gets frustrated with things easily and often times she's tired and that leads to aggression which pretty much brands her with a scarlet letter on her forehead as a child that hits or pushes. I am not saying that those behaviors are acceptable, because they aren't but more often then not, I project my own insecurities in parenting onto her and my pride is the one that issues a punishment, not my heart. I worry more about what other moms think of me versus what I know is right in my heart.

An equation that I have a tough time accepting sometimes is that good parenting doesn't equal perfect children. And also, making a poor choice doesn't equal a naughty child, it's a naughty action. Yesterday I had a rough day with Emersyn and she did something that made me really mad because she knew better and it upset me. I do my best not to parent in anger though, that is something I am very aware of in my life. I took some deep breaths and proceeded to head home. When we got into the house I had a discussion and told Emersyn, "you ARE a sweet girl and mommy will always love you. you just made a bad choice and because of that, you have a consequence. I know you can make a better choice next time" and that was that. No grudges. No further guilt. Emersyn IS a good girl and she deserves a mom that will have her back at all times, not just when she is being sweet and loving. That is always the hope of course, but even at her ornery times she is just as *good* as when she is on her best behavior.

Emersyn is my reminder of how much I need Jesus these days. And I am grateful to her for that and promise to do my best for her. Sometimes I have to remind myself, "YOU'RE the one who wanted to be a full time stay at home mom!!". I'm telling you, the working world is a piece of cake compared to parenting. For reals.

I'm rambling I know, but hey, it's my blog. I can do that. :)

I'll leave you all with a picture of my amazingly sweet and cute baby boy. I could literally black out from joy every time I look at this. My heart is overwhelmed with gratitude to God for giving me this precious precious boy.

It could happen....

2011-11-14T09:47:00.001-08:00

For the past several months I have been witnessing one of my dear friends go through a terrible terrible tragedy in her life. Her husband has decided that he doesn't want to be her husband anymore. They have two kids; her daughter is a month younger then Emersyn and her son is five days older then Everett. Due to a variety of circumstances that I am not at liberty to go into, initially I was hopeful that this could eventually work out and that the marriage could be restored. I'm still praying for a miracle but at this point, it's looking very unlikely as he has decided to proceed with the divorce.

I have cried many tears for my friend and felt my heart literally aching inside my chest for her and her children. Life is so unfair sometimes and my friend is an incredible woman. I've been called to a new level of friendship through this experience and have prayed and interceded on her behalf more then I ever have for anyone else. There's nothing I can do for her except pray and love on her through texts, messages, and playdates. She lives about an hour from me so it's not always easy to get together. I feel so at a loss sometimes. How do you help a friend with this sort of need? Sure, I could show up at her door with a casserole but what she truly needs, a restored marriage, I cannot give her. And it breaks my heart.

Through this experience, my faith has grown. This whole nightmare started before our sons were born and I've been there each step of the way with her. I've watched her go through the various stages of grief and yet, her faith has never wavered. I think when someone goes through something so awful, you take comfort in thinking "that could never happen to me". I am certain that before this experience, my friend would have said the same thing. Her and her husband were a solid couple, involved in their church, lots of friends in the community, etc. I used to think that couples that ended in divorce had to just have ignored red flags in their marriages and that it for sure could have been prevented. Now, I'm not so sure...

What I've learned in all of this is that despite my *best efforts*, this could in fact happen to me. My husband is a wonderful man and I am thankful everyday to be his wife. But the simple truth is that he is human. Does this mean that I should just abandon the maintenance of my marriage? Absolutely not....in fact, since this whole situation has happened I have tried actively to be a better wife, less nagging, more praising, etc. But if my entire existence is based on being Brett's wife, I am setting myself up for disappointment. Brett cannot meet all my needs or be my everything. I must rely on my relationship with my heavenly Father to do that for me.

I don't worry about this happening to me, let's be clear on that. And if Brett were to read this, he might initially be offended because of how much he loves me and I don't doubt that for a second. But I really feel the Lord urging me towards a deeper relationship with Him through this trial with my friend and while focusing on being an excellent wife and mother IS important, those things are a natural fruit of abiding in HIM daily.

I love my children, my husband and my life. It's easy for me to dive headfirst into life and not think about any my own personal walk with the Lord. However, I don't want to end up as a middle aged mom who's kids are grown and I seemingly have nothing left to live for. My own personal faith is the most important thing and out of that, my ability to be excellent in all that I do is attained.

If you think about it, please say a prayer for my dear friend and for me too....I long to be the best support that I can be to her.

Catching up!

2011-11-12T15:19:00.000-08:00

Blogging become daunting when you are soooo far behind! But, instead of trying to get totally caught up and letting that intimidate me, I'd rather just let you know what we've been up to lately and go from there.

I am so in love with my two children. Again, it's not getting any easier but it's getting better and more and more fun. Everett has started interacting more, smiling, and has totally stolen my heart. Emersyn is doing well in preschool and I'm pretty sure she thinks her life is a musical. She is constantly singing songs, both real and made up.

Highlights of the last few weeks:

*I've tried some new recipes! I made THESE enchiladas for Brett's birthday, THIS cheesecake for his dessert, THIS soup last night {Pioneer Woman's Chicken Tortilla Soup}, and also THESE chocolate chip pumpkin cookies (which turned out more like muffin tops and if you make them, be sure to test them before you remove them from the oven. My first batch had to be tossed because they were undercooked).

*Everett had his two month old appointment! He weighs 12lbs 12oz (63rd percentile) and is 25 inches long (94th percentile). Emersyn was 12lbs even and 24 1/4 inches at two months. He is a healthy boy with the exception of some dry skin issues. My poor baby had a really bad rash on his face last Monday due to dry skin. He didn't get lotioned up on his face after a bath on Sunday and for kids with dry skin, this is a big no no. It was my fault, Brett had given him a bath and I forgot to remind him. Anyways, on Monday I texted a picture to our amazing pediatrician that goes to our church. She told me to use 1% hydrocortisone and vaseline and after three days of twice daily treatment, his face is as good as new praise the LORD! Now I'm being extremely diligent with his moisturizing routine and it's working.

*I'm loving my book that I am reading right now, "What Women Fear" by Angie Smith. I've got some great blog posts floating around in my head about what I'm reading and maybe someday I'll actually be able to type them out. :)

*I am really looking forward to the holidays. We have some really fun activities planned and then on December 14th my parents get into town! I can't believe how quickly Thanksgiving will be here. Oh I have so much to be thankful for.

*My women's retreat planning is going great and I am so happy about the wonderful committee that I am working with. It's going to be a great event.

*I've started watching a 5 month old on Wednesdays all day while his mommy and daddy work. It's SO much fun! Yes, it's a lot of work but it's a rewarding kind of work. It will only get more and more fun as Tanner and Everett get older and eventually can play together. This extra money helps our budget too. Right now preschool is affordable but I've got to start saving for next year when it jumps up quite a bit for us I want to have a cushion saved up. The first day that I watched Tanner I felt like super mom. I was able to get all three kids to sleep for about 90 minutes and I got a chance to write up notes for a meeting I was having that night, bake cookies, clean up and take a shower. I seriously felt like a rock star. The second time I watched him I wasn't as productive but that's not a big deal. I shouldn't expect to be productive at all when I've got two babies in the house and a toddler. Ems is so helpful too, loves playing with Tanner and giving him and Everett their binkies.

It's so hard to keep up with pictures on my blog sometimes but I am good about posting them on Facebook. If we're not Facebook friends, we should be so send me your profile and I'll friend you. :) (Since I post so many pics and info on FB, I've made is pretty private so I don't think you'll find me if you look).

Wordless Wednesday- Fall Fashionista

2011-11-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Halloween/Harvest Traditions

2011-11-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

When Emersyn's first Halloween came around, I thought of no better place to show her off then her great grandparents nursing homes in Albany. Albany is about an hour and a half away from our house so we don't get down there as much as we should but for the last four years, we have made sure to get down there each Halloween.

My precious little Mickey and Minnie

Great Grandma Stanton who just celebrated her 95th birthday!

Great Grandma Jensen

I can't get over how old Emersyn looks in this picture!!

We had lunch at Grandma Stanton's retirement home and she was so happy to parade the kids around to each table at the cafeteria. I loved seeing the elderly people's faces light up when they saw my little ones. One precious lady remembered when we first brought Emersyn down in her ladybug costume. We had lunch and visited for a bit before heading over to Grandma Jensen's. Unfortunately, Grandma Jensen is suffering from some memory loss so I'm not even sure she will remember that we came but it was special nonetheless.

We left Albany and headed home. Emersyn fell asleep in the car which was great timing because we wanted to carve pumpkins when we got home. This was our first time carving pumpkins since having kids, can you believe it? We just always run out of time every ear for some reason. This year we were determined to do it and we made it, just barely by one night!

Everett got bored. :)

Awfully proud of herself!

The finished product!

On Halloween night we decided to take Emersyn trick or treating for the first time. I was undecided about trick or treating for awhile but then last year we got home from Albany when there were so many kids out and it just looked like a really fun community activity. Before Ems went out, we got to hand out candy to some of our neighbors and it was a lot of fun.

Ems went trick or treating with her little bestie. Her mom made her Jessie costume, isn't it darling?? Emersyn's costume was homemade too, though not by me, ha! Brett's mom made the skirt and then she just wore a black turtleneck and black leggings. I got the Minnie ears on sale at the Disney store for $5, score!!

Ready to trick or treat!

Everett's costume was a little bit of a splurge. I have always "made" Emersyn's costume with the exception of her very first one so I decided to cough up the $17 for Everett's costume and I am so glad I did. How adorable is he??!

Oh my word I am so in love with this boy!!!

We had such a great Halloween/Harvest time! Emersyn got to wear her costume to school today too.

And now I'll leave you with a collage of my sweet girls past costumes.... :)

(click to make bigger)

Two Months

2011-10-25T02:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Everett,

I cannot believe you are TWO months old already!! You are the sweetest baby boy and I stare at you every day in amazement. You are such a blessing to your mommy, daddy and big sister.

You are a very expressive little boy. You are most often scowling and frowning and I think it's hilarious. Your sister was the same way. You often look as though you are carefully scrutinizing the situation you are in. It's so stinkin' cute!!

This is you and I with our friends Miss Jonette and Emma. Emma is only 6 days older then you are! You are destined to be buddies. We took this picture at Miss Jonette's birthday party. For only being two months old, you have been to your fair share of celebrations already. :)

I love wearing you in the Moby wrap! It is so fun to be able to snuggle with you and walk around hands free. This picture was taken at our first (of three) pumpkin patch trips. You are too little to really have fun at the pumpkin patch but next year you will love looking at the animals and maybe even get to go on the cow train with Emersyn!

During your second month of life we celebrated your daddy's 31st birthday! We made him a special dinner and you were such a good boy by napping and letting me make my very first cheesecake for him!

Emersyn LOVES snuggling with you. She asks to hold you all the time and I've caught her grabbing you and rolling over with you. I'm not sure this is the safest activity but it's making you a tough boy I'm sure. She just adores you and is so good with you. Oftentimes if you are getting fussy she will give you a binky, sing to you, say "it's okay schweety pie" and rock you in the swing if it's turned off. You are so lucky to have a sister that loves you so much. I pray that you grow into being the best of buddies!

You had your first trip to the Apple Farm with your buddy Grace who is 4 months older then you, your sister and her two buddies.

You wore your first button up and sweater vest. This will be the first of many occurrences. You looked SO handsome!!!! (You did wear pants for the record, I just took this picture after I had changed your diaper and thought your chubby thighs deserved a picture!) :)

Emersyn decided to share one of her babies with you and put the blanket on you both one afternoon.

I could just eat your cheeks!!!!!

Snoozin' at the pumpkin patch.

Mommy had a meeting that I couldn't take you to last week so you had your first bottle! You've had several bottles now and you do great! Emersyn wanted to give you a bottle one night so we let her. She just loved feeding her brother!

I feel like this picture should win some sort of award. The expression on your face is hilarious to me. We took this picture at Starbucks on the way to church on your two month birthday. You looked so handsome in your fall shirt that I bought for you a couple weeks ago.

Your stats:

*Still not sure of how much you weigh. I'll find out in a couple weeks at your doctor appointment. It's safe to say you are growing well though. :)

*You are wearing a size 2 diaper now but it's on the bigger side. You pee a lot so I decided to upgrade the diaper size to contain it better.

*I need to go through your clothes and start cycling in the 6 months sized things. You can still wear 3 months but the jammies are getting snug length wise. You are a tall boy!

*You love taking baths and the sound of the water is soothing to you.

*You eat about every two hours but if you're in your car seat you can go longer. This is great for when we run errands when Emersyn is in preschool.

I love you so so very much sweetheart!!!

Love, Mama

Smiley Boy

2011-10-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

Everett David...

He lights up my life, looks into my eyes and makes me swoon....and he burps and toots like a full grown man. It makes me laugh out loud literally. How can big sounds come out of such a sweet little boy??

I just adore him.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite pictures.

Preschool Field Trip

2011-10-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

Love wearing my sweet baby!

(For those of my friends who know Caitlin and are confused, she's wearing a little girl she watches)

This is Emersyn's preschool class at their first field trip to the pumpkin patch. Aren't they sweet? I didn't bring my camera (*gasp*) due to logistics of wearing Everett and not wanting to keep track of an expensive camera but another mom was braver then I. :) Thanks for the picture Caitlin!

MIscellany Monday

2011-10-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

{1} I'm thinking about challenging myself to blog each day in November. Could this actually happen? We'll see. I've enjoyed daily blogging challenges in the past and it kind of forces me to focus in a good way. I'm hoping I'll muster up the motivation to do it over the next couple of weeks.

{2} Last week we went to the Apple Farm with a couple friends, including Emery who we went with last year. Remember these two sweeties?

Well, they are a year older and this year pretty much refused to cooperate with their mother's wishes for a repeat photo shoot. That's okay though, I know that as a three year old there are a lot more fun things to do in life then stop and take a picture! We did get one pretty cute shot though....

Aren't they just angelic looking? Then just a mere seconds later.....

I'm not exactly sure what happened here, I just know that a fight slightly broke out and I don't think that Emersyn was involved initially but then she freaked out and ended up smacking Emery in the head which resulted in Emery bawling which resulted in Emersyn bawling and Isabelle looking on a little confused. Naughty girls. We had a fun time overall, though I was a little exhausted when we got home. :)

{3} This weekend I committed to cleaning my upstairs. I deep cleaned my room and bathroom (which hadn't been done since Everett was born, eeeek) and then picked up the kids rooms, cleaned their bathroom and vacuumed. I decided to enlist some help with the toilet cleaning and Emersyn was thrilled to help!

{4} Last night we went to some friends house for dinner and they wanted to introduce us to a new game called, "Dominion". It's kind of like "The Settlers of Catan" if you are familiar with that kind of game. Anyways, I wasn't sure if we would be able to play given we had a three year old, 16 month old and 7 week old in our midst. But it totally worked out!! I was thrilled because Joe and Carissa are pretty chill about distractions like we are and so we totally played a whole game for an hour amidst random spurts of fighting over toys, crying, etc. It was great and I loved the game!

Everett hanging out with Miss Carissa :)

{5} Emersyn is very into Bibles lately. She pretends that any smaller book is a Bible and likes to pretend to do chapel with her babies like she goes to at preschool. I heard her in her room the other day saying, "who here has a Bible at home?" which I suspect is what the pastor asks during chapel. She found a Bible that is Brett's on a shelf below his nightstand and asked me if she could borrow it. I told her yes and look how happy she is about it. :)

{6} I love how God works. I know that sometimes He likes to bless me with fun things that are like a form of Him winking at me. For instance, I have been waiting for Emersyn's quilt at Pottery Barn Kids to arrive since June/July. It JUST got here last Friday. It's not that big of a deal since it's not like we've had time to paint or anything but still, I was really glad to hear that the quilt had finally come in. Get this though, the day that it came in just happened to be during their once a year unadvertised friends and family event where the ENTIRE store is 20% off!!! Are you kidding me?? I was ecstatic when the lady on the phone told me that when she called to tell me the quilt was in. I hate buying anything full price but I knew that the quilt wasn't going to be going on sale anytime soon because it's been back ordered for so long. A store isn't going to put something on sale that they keep selling out of. 20% off, thank you Lord!!!!!

{7} Speaking of Pottery Barn Kids, I LOVE this bathroom set.

Isn't it adorable and gender neutral?? Maybe after we Emersyn's big girl room done we could tackle the guest bathroom and make it more of a kids bathroom. We'll see. The PBK stuff is pretty pricey though, I may have to improvise with some other options. :)

{8} I told Brett that we need to go to Ikea soon yesterday. Emersyn was in the same room but playing with some toys. She started singing "Ikea was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he". I think she got Ikea and Zaccheus confused, ha ha.

{9} Everett has slept 8 hours for two nights in a row. I consider that "sleeping through the night" big time!!!!!! Yesterday morning I woke up in shock! I was able to pump too which is great since I only just started pumping yesterday and I have to leave Everett for about 4 hours this week which is too long for him to go without milk. Between yesterday and this morning I have 8 ounces for him, perfect! By Thursday I might even have a little extra so we could go on a date this weekend!! I would love a date night.

{10} "Sister Wives" is my Monday afternoon guilty pleasure. I like to watch it during nap time. I don't really have any shows that I watch on my own and this one Brett refuses to watch and that's saying a lot because I don't think he has ever refused to watch a show with me. It is such a strange show and concept but so intriguing.

{11} Last night we got home kinda late and when I came in to the front door I thought that my living room was on fire. I quickly realized that it was not on fire but that I had put the flameless candles on my mantle on a timer and forgot so they were on and reflecting in the sliding glass door. It was scary and funny at the same time.

{12} Okay, the amount of miscellany that has just occurred might be too much. I guess that's what I get for only blogging once a week. :)

Time out for Mommy

2011-10-13T14:45:00.001-07:00

It's taken me a bit to get into a groove with two kids but what I thought would be impossible has finally been achieved.....simultaneous nap times, hallelujah. It seemed like Emersyn was phasing out of the nap stage of life but praise Jesus, I was able to coerce her back into it. She usually sleeps for 2+ hours so I know she still needs them more then she might think. Everett takes amazing naps in his crib while swaddled so we have this wonderful little afternoon routine going. Ems eats lunch, I feed Everett, Ems plays for a big, Everett has awake time, then I put both kids down and they go go sleep for usually at least two hours. During this time I've been working on things for my women's retreat at my church, dealing with insurance stuff, working on real estate, making phone calls, etc. I haven't been as good about housework during nap time because I feel like I can kind of do that kind of stuff while kids are awake, although it isn't easy. Something about my silent house during naps beckons me to work on things that I absolutely cannot do when they are awake, like make phone calls.

Today and yesterday I have been feeling a little weary. Oftentimes our mornings are full of fun activities, playdates, preschool, errands, etc. Emersyn and I aren't good at staying home even though we really need to more often. I find you have to actually be home in order to get things done around your house, go figure. Plus, Emersyn naps much better when she's had a busier morning. But when I have a busy morning, I get a little tired and go figure, I had a baby 7 weeks ago and haven't really had that much sit and rest time (although is that even possible with two kids??).

This afternoon I put my kids down and looked around at the mess that is my house. There are dishes to be done, groceries to still unload from my van (non refridgerated stuff of course), laundry to do, bathrooms that desperately need to be cleaned, friends to email, vacuuming, dusting, etc. But today I remembered something that occurred to me while I was feeding Everett the other day. I can only give to my kids what I put into myself. Sometimes when I'm nursing I'll start thinking about everything I've eaten that day, or oftentimes, things I haven't eaten (like breakfast a lot of the time) and I feel bad. How can Everett be getting the right nutrition if I'm not putting nutrition into my body to pass along to him?

And so this afternoon during nap time, I'm sitting in my living room with toys and dirty dishes silently taunting me but I'm getting some spiritual nutrition so that I am able to pass that down to my kids, even if that's just through an attitude adjustment. I am no good to my kids when my house is clean but I am frazzled and exhausted. Also, I always feel like me being weary is the Lord calling me to rely on Him for strength and not myself. I am a go getter and have no problems go go go-ing all the time. But every once in a awhile, like today, fatigue and exhaustion hit and I know it's God tapping me on the shoulders to re-focus. This afternoon I am being obedient to that shoulder tapping and opening up the Word, my book, and I'm going to even just be still and see what the Lord has for me this afternoon. I'm giving myself a time out. :)

Fear

2011-10-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

**Warning, this is kind of a downer post**

So I am several weeks late to this blog post link up but better late then never, right? I'm excited to be reading the book pictured above, along with other ladies at the (in)courage virtual book club. And go figure, since I committed to reading it, the Lord has provided brief snippets of time for me to read. I struggle with knowing how to prioritize things in life but that's a whole other blog post, right? :)

The gals that are facilitating the book club asked it's members to write about our fears since that is what this book is all about.

I have found that as I get older, I worry more and more. Probably a LOT has to do with the fact that I am a mother now and that has softened my heart quite a bit. As a teenager and even young adult, I definitely feared some things in life, like being single forever or not ever having kids but those weren't REAL fears, more just worries. They weren't life or death issues either, more just an issue about my happiness and personal fulfillment. It was easy for me to trust God with those *fears* though, and again, I use the term fear lightly in that situation.

But as I've gotten older and learned how powerful the love is between a husband and wife and a mother and children, my fears have intensified greatly to the point of being exhausted over them at times. For instance, as I write this, my son is asleep upstairs in his crib and my stomach is in knots over whether or not he is breathing. I've done everything right to prevent SIDS, we've got the breathable bumper, fan on, I don't smoke, etc. But still, bad things happen to good people and I can't control God's plan. I worried about SIDS with Emersyn but it's so much worse this time around. In fact, on the way home from the hospital I remember tearing up thinking that I just didn't want to get too attached to Everett because if something happened to him I would be just devastated and maybe if I didn't love him too much he wouldn't be taken away from me. Absurd, right? I know, totally irrational and probably largely hormonal but still, it's a very real fear for me.

We go to Central Oregon usually a couple times a year and the drive there is very curvy, in the mountains and often through inclimate weather depending on the time of year. I have a fear of driving in general, but on this drive in particular I am always sick with worry. It doesn't help that my neighbors and their son were killed in an accident on this particular drive, leaving behind two teenage children. I can't help but think of them whenever we make this drive.

My in-laws live pretty close to me and the quickest way to get to their house is on a two lane back country road that scares me to death, especially when I am not driving. When I am driving, I feel more in control but when Brett comes home on that road late at night, I am beside myself with worry. I forbid him to pass people on this road and sometimes he forgets to warn me that he is going to pass someone and it completely freaks me out and I usually start bawling because it so traumatic to me. I just fear car accidents and a large part of this is because I was in an accident a couple years ago and since then, being a passenger in a car is really hard for me at times.

I struggle with fear pretty much any time that Emersyn isn't with me. Will she choke on something when I'm not there to cut up her food into mircroscopic pieces? Will she be with someone that won't keep an eye on her and she'll run into the street and get hit by a car? Will she find a coin in a room and choke on it?

I struggle with fear in large crowds due to the sad world we live in and the terrorist events that only seem to get more frequent.

I *sorta* struggle with the fear of dissappointing my husband and children, not living up to my fullest potential in life, etc. but those fears are so much easier to manage because I have a say in them. They are something I CAN control.

I guess a lot of fear is about control in a way, or lack thereof. I do think that a big reason why I am so fearful a lot of the time is because of how easy it is to see all the terrible things that happen in the world via the internet. I have read SO many blogs about mom's losing babies to SIDS, pediatric cancer, etc. My Twitter feed is always full of news stories about car accidents, home invasions, etc.

The part that is so discouraging is that to me, this kind of fear will never end if I don't change my way of thinking. We will only go on on MORE trips as life progresses, it's not like if we just get here, this fear will end. I think of that every time we drive to central Oregon...I worry so much on the way there, then breathe a sigh of relief, and then remember that we have to drive home which is a whole other set of worries. My children will only grow up to be older and I will lose more and more control over their safety. I shudder to think of them driving on their own someday. I'm going to have to invest in some knee pads during that phase of life because on my knees praying is pretty much where I'll be anytime they leave the house.

I know this has been kind of a downer post and I'm sorry for that but I'm really praying that this book and me spending some time really seeking out God's answers to these fears will help me. I am a rational person and I know that things can happen. I know that Brett, Everett and Emersyn aren't *mine*, they belong to God and I can't control how long I get to enjoy them here on earth. I pray every single day that it's for a very long time of course, but I also have to hold them with an open palm and give them back to God everyday. Without a faith, I don't know how people even leave their houses. It's a scary world out there.

If you struggle with any of the same fears I do, I'd love for you to go through this book with me. My BFF in Idaho is going to be reading it as well. :)

Tuesday Ramblings

2011-10-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

For the record, I started this on Sunday afternoon....just haven't gotten around to finishing it until today. :)

Annabel, Emersyn and Everett with their 95 year old Great Grandmother!

*I am sick. I have an icky cold and I'm totally feeling sorry for myself, as I always do when I get sick. Emersyn got to spend the day yesterday with her Auntie Breezy because I just didn't have it in me to take care of two children. I am thankful for family nearby that love and take care of my daughter. Another reason that I am feeling sorry for myself is that my son isn't even 6 weeks old yet and I am exclusively breastfeeding and yet, a certain monthly visitor has decided to start visiting again. Seriously!?!?!

Emersyn *feeding* her baby. She had to completely take her dress off to acheive this. Ha! We were at her great grandparents nursing home and we told her it was time to leave and she said she needed to feed her baby first. Silly girl

*Emersyn is doing so great in preschool. I really think that Everett's birth triggered a big growth spurt in her emotionally. She's come out of her shell quite a bit. She used to be really shy even with our friends but she has started responding when strangers out in public ask her about her baby brother or even ask her what her name is. This is big progress. Yesterday we were in a bike store and she was tearing around the shop on a bike that was a little too big for her but she was fearless. Just a few weeks before Everett was born we had tried to get her to just sit on a bike in the store and she wouldn't. Seeing her ride so confidently made me realize how much she has grown up. She will pray for our food even when other people are around (again, progress) and she sings all the time.

Emersyn does her own make up.

*We started potty training the week that preschool started and she's done really well for the most part with just a few accidents here and there. She is in big girl panties 100% of the time except for overnight. She still won't poop in the potty despite my repeated bribery attempts but she will go in a pull up. I used to think she would NEVER go on the potty.

*Kohls has Fisher Price toys for 40% off. We got the kids 4 of the bigger Little People sets, the firestation, ferris wheel, race track and castle. We also got to use a 30% off our transaction coupon, PLUS got $20 in "Kohl's Cash" which is like a gift card, no minimum purchase required. When all was said and done we got $100 worth of Little People toys for $22. Amazing!!!!! I am so excited to get them out for Ems. We're going to open the fire station first, then another one next month, etc. Spread out the fun. She is so into imaginative play right now, it's really sweet. Everett will loves these toys someday too!!

*I feel like I'm starting to get Everett somewhat on a schedule. It's happened naturally, not anything I planned and I'm thankful for that because Emersyn was never really on a schedule. He sleeps a lot in the morning which is nice because we are often running errands, going to preschool, etc. and he loves his car seat. Then I feed him right after I put Emersyn down for a nap around 1:30 and swaddle him in his crib and he will usually sleep at least two hours. Emersyn will usually sleep for about two hours too which equals two hours of productivity for mama!!!! He is awake and dozes here and there for the rest of the day but then I make sure to feed him around 8ish and then again around 10-11 and then he is out for the night, usually waking up around 5:30 to eat. I can live with that. I'm starting to feel more *normal* each day too, slowly incorporating things back into life, such as cooking and laundry. These are two areas that have slacked big time since I had Everett and actually since right before I had Everett. :) I made a whole meal for Brett's birthday dinner and it was exhausting, I had forgotten how time consuming cooking is/was. I'll have to post the recipes I made from that night, they were pretty good!

*A wise friend of mine that has two kids told me, "it will never get easier, but it will get better". I think this is such an encouraging and true statement in regards to having more then once child! And I totally agree, it's getting better but certainly not easier. :)

*I have a real estate deal in escrow and I'm jazzed! I love being a Realtor and haven't done a deal in awhile due to being pregnant and the market having slowed down. I love putting on my Realtor *hat* though. This deal is with a friend so I've been able to bring Everett with me to a couple things and not feel entirely unprofessional. Him and I have been working a bit at my office (which is in the same parking lot at Emersyn's preschool, score!!).

*I'm so happy fall is here! I desperately need to change out Emersyn's clothes and go through what will fit next year, what won't and give it away to our two little friends that get Emersyn's hand me downs, and get out the fall stuff. I think fall is finally here to stay! We have three pumpkin patch trips planned that I am looking forward to, two with friends and one with Emersyn's preschool.

*I'm looking for some new crockpot recipes for the fall, anyone have anything yummy?

*Tomorrow night is my first meeting for the women's retreat that I am in charge of for next year. Wish me luck, sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I am doing but I know the Lord has me here for a reason.

My SIX week old!!

Emersyn at 6 weeks old

*I have decided to take off this season from Ladies Bible Study at my church. I really feel like this is such a special season with Everett being so tiny and I want more time to savor him. Emersyn is in preschool Tuesday mornings and I would rush to get her there, rush to get to church, rush to leave church so I could pick her up in time, etc. I think that this is a great time for me to just BE and I'll return after the first of the year. After I made this decision, I was really happy about it. I do well in life when I have things on my calendar but too often, I over book myself and the week passes and I feel like it was just a blur. This is such a short season in my life having little kids and I don't want it to fly by without me making the most of it.

*I am going to participate in an online book club reading Angie Smith's, "What Women Fear". I am excited to read this book kind of in place of doing the study this fall. This will be more at my own pace and less of a commitment. I really struggle with fear, especially with having a newborn again and reading things constantly about SIDS, pediatric cancer, etc. I am eager to read what Angie has to say about this, having gone through one of my worst fears in life in losing a child. The book club is at inCourage.me if you want to read along.

Okay, I think that is it for now. I'm sure this is scattered and hardly makes any sense but it's an update and that's what several of you asked for. :)

One Month

2011-09-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Everett,

This past weekend you turned one month old, I can hardly believe it! We were fortunate enough to be able to celebrate your one month birthday in Sunriver with some close friends and it was so much fun.

Everett, I am so in love with you. I can't believe that God gave you to us, even when we were not expecting you! I am so humbled by God's provision in my life and you are just another physical manifestation of God's love for me.

You are just the sweetest baby and you remind me a lot of your sister, both in your looks and temperament. I'm not sure how much you weigh or how long you are right now, I'll know more at your next dr's appointment in a month. You are still in size one diapers and in 3 month clothing, although the 3 month jammies with feet barely fit you. You are looooooong and lean. You are so handsome and I just love your dark hair. Your daddy was hoping you would have dark hair like your mommy and sure enough, you do.

You have started being awake more and I just love looking into your big dark blue eyes. I wonder what color they will turn? Dark like your sisters or light like Daddys? We'll just have to wait and see.

I love getting you dressed each morning. I thought boy clothes were going to be so boring but I truly love going through the cute outfits and picking out something for you to wear. I feel just like I did with Emersyn, like I have my own real life doll to dress and I love it.

You are a good eater and I thank the Lord that nursing has come easily to both you and I. You like to eat every 2-3 hours or so but can go longer stretches in the morning. You will sleep in almost as late as I will let you but I often have to wake you up so you can eat something before we head off to wherever we're going that day. You only wake up once or twice in the night and I am grateful for that. There have been some rough nights where you've been kind of fussy but I think that usually has to do with me eating something I probably shouldn't have for dinner, like onions or broccoli. Naughty mommy. :) Sometimes after I feed you at night, I just snuggle you and pray for you. Even though I'm tired, I treasure those snuggles together and know that before I know it, you are going to be a fiesty toddler, just like Emersyn.

You have had a lot of fun during your first month of life. Your sister turned three and you got to celebrate her birthday when you were just 5 days old. You went to your first amusement park for her celebration. You've been to a baby shower, to two of your sister's friends birthday parties, visited your great grandparents in Albany, showed a house with me and acted as my real estate assistant, been out to eat several times, been to church several times and been to many playdates as well.

I can't imagine our family without you Everett. We love you so much and are having so much fun watching you change and grow. Emersyn is OBSESSED with you! She loves kissing you and snuggling with you. The first thing that she wants to do every morning is give you hugs and kisses. Whenever we pray for her before she goes to bed, she reminds us to pray for you too and then she will often pray for you. She prays, "dear Jesus, thank you for Everett, make him strong, in Jesus name, AMEN". Emersyn loves it when you lay on her bed with her and you guys snuggle before she goes to bed. She loves rocking you in your swing and giving you your binky. You are lucky to have a big sister that loves you SO much. Your daddy and I pray that you grow into be the best of friends.

I love you so much Everett David. I'm so thankful that you are my son.

Love,

Mommy

Wordless Wednesday- First day of preschool!

2011-09-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

I used to...

2011-09-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

I used to....

...have shaved legs. I was the kind of girl that ALWAYS had smooth legs, anything else drove me crazy. Well these days, shaving is a luxury of time that I just don't have. My husband is a lucky man. (I do still shower though, bonus)

....be able to remember things, period.

...have more bladder control. Ha!

....be able to see the corner of my bedroom floor and wall before this monster load of laundry was covering it. The load NEVER ends, seriously, I keep pulling clothes from it and washing them and the pile just doesn't go down.

.....blog.

.....read other peoples blogs.

.....remember what it was like to get more then 5 or 6 hours of sleep.

.....take pleasure in vacuuming. Guys, the pleasure is dying down, partially because my carpet is SO trashed that I despise even looking at it.

....have hot water. Yes, this morning the pilot light just completely died despite several attempts to relight it. Why is this great timing you ask? Oh, because my bestie from Idaho is in town and has special plans tonight so she had to take a shower. Very sweetly, she compared the experience to camping rather then calling it was it was, pure torture!!!! An ice cold shower is not my idea of hospitality. She's going home today and oh my Lord, it was SO nice having her hear. Ems will miss her the most I think, she loved playing with Auntie Lou.

.....type with more than one hand. Doesn't happen anymore now that I'm nursing or snuggling with my boy.

These guys make it all worth it though. :)

Seriously though, having two children is not for the faint of heart. I can't even fathom how those do it with three, four, mulitples, etc. :) I know that I will find my groove eventually. I just need to remember to relax a little and enjoy each day, despite what does or doesn't get done. Remember, babies don't keep.... :)

Preschool!!!!

2011-09-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

Several of Emersyn's friends are enrolled in pre-school this year and I have to admit, it made me a little sad. Yes yes, I know that Emersyn JUST turned three and she doesn't NEED to go go preschool by any means. However, I really think that she could benefit greatly from the social interaction and the structured environment. I know that we do a lot of playdates but that kind of socialization isn't the educational side. It would be so great to have trained teachers teach Emersyn things that I am not able to. The big obstacle for us is the financial aspect of preschool however.

I got a text from my friend Caitlin yesterday saying that there is still room in her daughter's preschool class for Emersyn and that it hadn't even started yet. Sensing that this could be a financial issue, Caitlin informed me that the preschool would be willing to adjust the tuition to an amount that we CAN afford and gave me the director's info. After speaking with the director and coming to an agreement on an amount that will work for the both of us, I am happy to say that Emersyn is enrolled in preschool and will start next Tuesday!!!!!!! This is such an answer to prayer and I just know that my bright little girl is going to flourish in this environment. The only slight downside is that I will have to leave my Tuesday morning Bible Study a little early each week but I really think that it will be worth it. Plus, Emersyn will get to go to preschool with one of her besties, how cute is that?? It's only two days a week for 2.5 hours. I'm also so grateful to have an opportunity for one on one time with my little man too.

I am so so thankful for this opportunity and can't wait to see my little girl blossom as a preschooler!!! She is beside herself with excitement and thankfully she got a super cute backpack for her birthday from her Auntie and Uncle that will be put to good use!!

Miscellany Monday

2011-09-05T21:42:00.001-07:00

{1} I love multi-generational pictures. I'm missing my Gigi extra this week. She would have loved meeting my sweet boy.

My mama, Ems and I

{2} I saw this adorable owl hat on a little boy on one of my favorite blogs and I just had to have it. I even messaged the blog owner to find out where she got it and she gave the the Etsy sellers info but first, I decided to check with a friend of mine who is starting a hat making business. I just gave her a picture and she was able to duplicate the hat exactly. Isn't it SO cute!?!?! My friend Jessica is talented and charges really reasonable prices. Her website can be found HERE.

My sweetie boy with his eyes open!

{3} Brett and I ended up taking newborn pics of Everett on Saturday and we got a few decent ones. I now understand why people hire professionals to do such tasks now however. While taking his pics, he of course had to poop and pee everywhere so while our sheets were being washed (they were victims of the bodily fluids) we decided to give Everett his first bath. Of course big sister wanted to join in on the fun. It was a quick bath for Everett but so fun to get him all cleaned up. I love the way babies smell right after a bath. *happy sigh*.

I <3 my girl!!

{4} Everett went to the first of many of his sister's friends' birthday parties on Sunday. Miss Emery May is turning three tomorrow! Her mama knows how to throw a great party and she totally got crafty with the decorations. It was a great party and we were so happy to celebrate one of Emersyn's besties.

{5} Emersyn got a bubble gun from her Nana and Papa for her birthday and it's a really great toy!! She had a ton of fun with it today at the park for our Labor Day picnic with friends.

{6} Last Friday my parents wanted to take Ems to Chuck E. Cheese before my dad headed out of town so we went there for a fun hour or so. While we were there, Brett put Ems on the big monster truck ride. While she was riding it, Brett got too close so the ride froze and started saying, "please stand clear" over and over. It was kind of a muffled voice but eventually Brett realized what was going on and he moved away. Apparently this traumatized Emersyn because every day since then, she keeps talking about how scary the truck was at Chuck E. Cheese and how it said, "dee-mans cleer" over and over. It kind of makes me sad because I think it really scared her but it kind of makes us laugh whenever she brings it up because it was so random! I'm hoping she gets over it.

{7} We're watching "Kate Plus 8" while I've been typing this and I cannot believe how dramatic and high maintenance Kate is!!! Holy cow! I'm not trying to be judgemental but good Lord. She gets to take her family white water rafting and she's throwing a fit about potentially getting wet. Plus she's wearing wedge heels and basically daisy duke cut-offs. Geez.

More Everett pictures & ramblings! :)

2011-09-02T23:44:00.000-07:00

This intersection was about 5 blocks from where Everett was born. :) This isn't where I got the inspiration for his name however, I've loved Everett for a long time!

We are having such a great time as a family of four (plus my parents who have been here for the last two weeks). It's always crazy having family in town combined with the birth of a child, although I don't really know any other way since my parents moved right before Emersyn was born. It's a fun and blissful celebration time but also gets busy which I don't mind. My parents lived here for a lot of years before they moved so they have friends that want to see them and us and our new baby and we've kept pretty busy for Everett's first ten days of life but again, I'm not great at sitting at home so it's fine.

I do find myself hoarding my baby boy though. I let my mom hold Emersyn pretty much any chance that I had to give her away but it's been different with Everett. I don't know if it's because I had to work so much harder for him to come into the world or because I look at my three year old and realize how quickly children grow up. I am enjoying my snuggle time with him and am so thankful that nursing is going so well because that's such a great bonding time with him too.

I'm really hoping to take some newborn pictures of Everett tomorrow. I didn't do those really with Emersyn other then the bazillion snapshots that we took of her. We haven't been as great at taking pictures of Everett which I hear is common with your second child. I want to be better about it though but again, these first days have been kinda crazy and busy. :) I treasure my nights however of enjoying my baby boy before I put him to bed. He sleeps in a pack and play right now next to our bed and God bless him, he only wakes up twice in the night, usually around 1-2 and then again around 4-5. After his 4-5 feeding I often let him stay in bed with us and I just stare at him. I cannot get enough of his preciousness. Is that a word? :)

It always amazes me how God equips mothers. Even when I am so dog tired, I never look at my little baby while I'm feeding him in the middle of the night and feel an ounce of resentment. Granted, I do feel fortunate that he sleeps so well for us. But still, Emersyn woke up consistently every two hours at night for a long time and it was the same thing with her, I never resented taking care of her.....I could stare at my babies all night and never get tired of the amazing miracles that they are in our lives.

Estella, Emma, Emersyn and Everett's first playdate!

Bringing baby brother home from the hospital!

First family dinner with Everett home from the hospital

Snuggling with Grandpa

This weekend is full of fun too. We have a birthday dinner for my brother Saturday night and then one of Emersyn's besties is turning three and her party is on Sunday! My dad heads back to MN on Sunday too which is a bummer but he'll be back for Christmas. My mom is staying another week and I'll be grateful for the help. I have several dr. appointments to take the kids to next week and Brett will be back at work and it'll be great to have my mom here. Plus she gets up early with Emersyn so I can snooze with my baby boy. Every morning though when she wakes up she comes into our room and says "where's Everett?" and then she comes and gives him kisses and snuggles. Then she goes to eat breakfast with MiMi but she always leaves with "I'll come riiiiight back, I promise!". Thankfully, she doesn't come right back but plays with MiMi and Grandpa while Daddy and I sleep in. :)

Okay, that's enough rambling for now. As I've typed this, I've had Everett on my chest and I know it won't be long before he's too big to snuggle with like this. I am so in love with him, I can't get over it. Thank you Lord for my baby boy, I'm so so so blessed to be his mama.

Emersyn's Third Birthday!

2011-08-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, August 28th, my sweet daughter turned THREE years old! I can hardly believe it!!! I can hardly believe that five days prior, I gave birth to her baby brother. I'm glad their birthdays are at least a few days apart and we can spread out the celebration a bit. :)

Sunday was a special day for our family because not only was it Emersyn's birthday, it was our first Sunday at church as a family of four! After church we headed to Oaks Park, a local amusement park in Portland for our church picnic! It was pretty warm that afternoon but the picnic was shaded and we thought it would be a fun way to spend Emersyn's birthday afternoon!

Everett wore a super cute outfit that I bought him from Gymboree, one of the few things I've actually bought him since we've been so blessed with hand me downs!!

Since it was her birthday, I let her have an orange pop. She was THRILLED!! (Don't judge me Caitlin!!!) :)

I could just eat this face up!!!

Snuggling with Miss Rachelle! P.S. Rachelle, your hair is super cute in this picture!

Ems got her rides bracelet and she's ready to have some fun!

Grandpa hung out in the shade with Everett so Mommy and Daddy could have fun watching Ems on the rides!

She LOVED this ride!! It went really high up, my stomach was in knots!!

Pushing baby brother, her new favorite thing to do!

After the picnic and rides we headed home for a bit and then went back out to the Old Spaghetti Factory for a family dinner with both sets of Emersyn's grandparents, her cousins, my brother and his wife, and Brett's sister.

Cousins!

Family of four!

We had such a fun day with our sweet girl. I cannot believe how quickly she is growing up and I am so so blessed to be her mama!!

Introducing Everett David!!

2011-08-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Well hello there handsome!

He's here! My son was born into the world on August 23rd, 2011 at 12:06pm weighing in at 8lbs 15oz and a whopping 22.5 inches long. I've been meaning to write out his birth story for the past week but we've had quite the week! Grandpa and MiMi are here, Emersyn Grace turned THREE years old (more on that later) and we're adjusting to being a family of four.

My parents just left to take Ems on a little date to get some corn for dinner tonight, Brett is upstairs on a conference call and I've got a sweet little newborn on my chest. Now is the perfect time to write out the birth story! :)

I was induced at 6pm on Monday night (the 22nd). I had been warned that the hospital was anticipating a lot of deliveries that day due to the August/September baby boom that seems to be going on. It was very likely that my induction time might be moved up but I called that afternoon and we were all set to go on schedule. It is so surreal getting ready to leave for the hospital to go have a baby. I can't imagine doing it the *traditional* way and just going into labor. I remember when I took my last shower before I had Emersyn and I had those same crazy emotions as I took my last shower before Everett's arrival.

We got checked into our amazingly beautiful hospital room. I can't lie, I kinda picked my OB based on the fact that she delivered at this particular hospital. I had visited a friend here once and totally fell in love with the hardwood floors, mini fridge, flat screen tv's....you know, all the things that are vital to a safe and easy labor and delivery. :) Brett, my mom, David and Jenny were all there from the beginning.

After I got admitted, IV in, all that good stuff it was time to sit around and wait. I envisioned being able to possibly snooze during labor but quickly realized that was NOT going to happen. They started my pitocin around 8pm and my contractions were becoming more steady and more painful. My nurse told me I could get my epidural whenever I wanted which was a decision that stressed me out. I didn't want to endure unnecessary pain, that's for sure. But I also didn't want to get the epidural too early and then have my body kinda stall on the labor process. Plus, Everett was SO.HIGH.UP (I mean SO high) that I worried an epidural might not encourage him to drop. Because he was so high up, having my cervix checked was absolutely awful. I am pretty sure I was bruised from the nurses having to jam their entire hands in to check me. Oy.

The contractions continued and slowly my cheering squad started to pass out, first my sister-in-law who, bless her heart, had been up since like 5am, then my brother and then my mom was snoozing too. Brett and I got up and walked around a couple times to try to help Everett drop and ease the labor pains but it wasn't really working. I was expecting the delivery to go just like it did with Emersyn and it turns out, that was not a good expectation to have. *People* say that your second child is so much easier to deliver then your first and they are liars!!!! :)

With Emersyn I was admitted and my dr. broke my water about 4 hours after I started the pitocin. Well, this time around I was informed by my nurse that my dr. was going to have to break my water since she couldn't and I would have to wait until she arrived in the morning around 8ish. I was not pleased to learn this information. This meant that my labor was going to be significantly longer then it was with Emersyn and this bummed me out big time. I know the water could break on it's own but because of how high Everett was, it was unlikely. I had done EVERYTHING I could to get this boy to drop in the weeks prior, by the way. I walked a LOT, was super active, even danced for 90 minutes at a wedding but alas, this kid was content where he was.

I got the epidural around 3:45 am. I was very tired and worn out from the painful contractions. Because I had gotten my epidural with Ems so much earlier, I didn't know that contractions could get as painful as they do. Ignorance was such bliss. :) The epidural always freaks me out and I was really scared. I know there are certain risks associated with them and that is all I can think about when I am getting one. I feel like it hurt this time more, I could feel more pressure for some reason. The anesthesiologist was great though and did a good job. While I was getting the epidural, my mom, Dave and Jenny went out into the waiting room and fell asleep which was a good thing so then Brett could sleep on the couch in the room with me and I could snooze too.

My nurse checked me at about 7am and I was still only dilated to a 5 and Everett was super high up. I started to feel really discouraged because I knew that if he didn't drop, I was likely going to need a c-section which wasn't my first choice. My morning nurse was amazing and I know that the Lord totally sent her my way because I really needed her encouragement and support. She was confident that when the dr. broke my water, I would progress quicker then I had been for sure.

My dr. came and discussed breaking the water with me around 9am. She was concerned that since Everett was so high up, if she broke the water the cord might come shooting down along with the fluid and if that happened, I would need an emergency c-section. She decided to just do a pin prick instead of fully breaking the water to avoid this risk.

The dr. did the pin prick of my water at about 9:30 and I went from a 4-5 to a 6 right away so progress was happening! I also started to realize that my epidural had or was wearing off and the contractions became more intense and more painful. Everett's heartrate was going down slightly with each contraction too and we started to wonder if the cord might be compromised.

The dr. checked me again at 10 and said that Everett had dropped quite a bit, praise the Lord! She also said that it appeared that Everett was on his side which could make for a challenging/impossible delivery situation. The nurse and Brett flipped me over on my side/stomach (with a lot of help from me which confirmed the fact that my epidural wasn't working well) and we prayed that gravity would help or encourage Everett to turn his head. At this point I was really stressed about everything, the cord, his head, his size, etc.

At 11 the dr. checked me again and I was at about an 8 and was super nauseous which my nurse said was a good sign. By this time she had called in another anesthesiologist to adjust my epidural med and I was informed that by the time the new batch of medicine kicked in, I may have already delivered my baby. Awesome.

I started feeling a LOT of pressure with each contraction and I was in SO much pain. They flipped me back onto my back and I pretty much had a breakdown. I was crying and so discouraged from the pain and the fact that I was really scared that Everett just wasn't going to fit in my pelvis. I think because of all the ultrasounds previously, I was convinced that he was a giant baby and that he was going to get stuck in the birth canal. Plus, I was in a LOT of pain and hadn't experienced that with Emersyn. I don't even remember anything hurting that much until right when she came out. At this point my dr. had ran up to another nearby hospital to check on another patient. About 20 minuted after the dr. left I had the nurse check me because I was in a LOT of pain and it felt like I was getting close to being ready to push. She checked me and sure enough, I was fully effaced, at a 10 and ready to push. The only problem was, my dr. wasn't there and I was freaked out that he was going to get stuck on his way out. My nurse tried to encourage me to start pushing but I just had this feeling that he was going to come out right away and so I insisted that we wait for the dr. The nurse agreed and we decided just to let my body labor with each contraction and let the uterus do the hard work. Brett put a Michael Buble CD in to try to ease my mind but even that wasn't working so I asked him to turn on Pandora to the "Mighty to Save" channel. The first song that came on was a Phil Wickham worship song and I totally felt like God made that song come on just for me. I needed that reassurance that He was going to help me get through this because the pain was more then I could bear. At this point, I really don't think the epidural was working much at all. I can't imagine feeling more pain then I was feeling at that point. I felt like the Phil Wickham song was a little wink from the Lord to me, saying He was going to get me through.

My dr. got back to my hospital room around 11:45 and got set up to deliver my sweet baby boy. I felt confident that I could push Everett out in just a couple pushes because it just felt like was was right there, ready to come out. The only problem was I was in SO much pain and in order to make that pain stop, I was going to have to push which was going to cause even MORE pain and do you know how hard it is mentally to sign up for that?? I did two little wimpy pushes that my dr. said didn't count and they really didn't because I wasn't giving it my all by any means. I remembered with Ems I couldn't wait until the next contraction because I was so anxious to push and meet my baby girl. I was just as anxious to meet my baby boy but not as eager to push, that's for sure.

Finally, amidst my sobbing, crying out to Jesus (no joke) and hysterical screams of worrying that Everett wasn't going to fit, I decided to suck it up and push this baby out. I did one good push and got the head out. My dr. told me to stop pushing and Brett said that the cord had been wrapped around his neck and dr. needed to flip it over his head to unwrap it. Then one more final push and he was out. Friends, this hurt more then anything in my entire life. I was screaming and yelling and considering I had my mom, MIL, brother and SIL in the room, this says a lot about how much pain I was in. I normally am kinda modest about pain to other people, not to Brett that's for sure (ha!) but in front of other people I don't love to admit that I'm uncomfortable.

In one swift motion my baby boy was laying on my stomach and I felt this incredible joy and relief. My first thoughts upon looking at Everett was that I couldn't believe how much he looked like his sister!! His mouth and chin are just like hers. It was love at first sight. I honestly would have to say that I didn't feel like I had truly bonded with Everett until I laid eyes on him. It's so different with your second child (or at least it was for me). I think because I had a child already to focus, love and put energy into, it made this pregnancy much different then Emersyn's. Of course I was excited to meet him but I just didn't feel this intense bond yet. When my dr. placed him on my chest, I instantly felt this surge of love and adoration for this sweet boy and thanked God that He has blessed us with this child even when I initially questioned His plan for our family.

More to come later on how we're doing as a family of four but I wanted to get the actual birth story written out. I've written this in parts amidst nursing, taking care of Ems, going to dinner at my brother's, etc. so I hope it all makes sense. :)

Here are some pictures of my sweet boy and a couple with his sister too, who can't get enough of him!!

I think this is my favorite picture of him so far. I love his eyes are open. This was taken when he was exactly one hour old.

Our family is complete!

Today is the day!

2011-08-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

Staying cool!

So today is the day! I called the hospital and we are on schedule to be induced as planned this evening. I'm a little nervous but not nearly as bad as I was. I think the *dress rehearsal* of what happened Saturday night actually kinda helped.

Since we need to leave the house in about 4 hours, you'd think that I'd be packed and all ready to go but that isn't the case. I'm still packed from the other night but I want to re-pack just to make sure I have everything I really want (versus the stuff I just tossed into a suitcase on Saturday) and I also need to take a shower and have nice fresh hair.

Right now we're waiting for my brother to get here and we're going to take some pictures of big sister Emersyn. Wish us luck, this is NOT an easy age to get pictures of.

I so appreciate your prayers and well wishes. I'm praying for a miraculously quick and easy delivery. I can't believe this day is finally here. Sometimes I look down at my tummy and can't believe I am even pregnant, let alone ready to deliver. Everett is going to be a very special little boy, I am certain of it.

Signing off for now..... :)

Labor = FAIL

2011-08-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

UGH!!!!!!

So when I left you last I was in active labor, remember?

Well, I decided to try to get some sleep at the hospital on the horrifically uncomfortable bed. I was able to sleep for a little over an hour and guess what happened while I was sleeping? NOTHING. My contractions stopped completely. It was SO strange. I woke up and had a new nurse and she was......interesting. I didn't feel like we clicked well initially and it almost seemed like she didn't believe that I had been in labor which irritated me. She said that since my contractions had stopped that she would talk to the on-call dr. since my own dr. was not on call. I walked around for a bit but was SO tired from getting no sleep. The contractions never really started back up. The nurse checked me and I swear, she nearly dislodged my uterus from reaching up SO high. She couldn't feel my cervix because apparently Everett had decided to go back up in my ribs so she had to go find a nurse with longer fingers. This was strange to me because I never encountered this with Emersyn and each time a nurse checked me at this hospital, I felt like I was being assaulted, ha!

The nurse came in and said that she had spoken with the on call dr. and that she said for me to go home and see if things progress here. I was SO irate. My previous nurse had been 100% certain that he was going to be born today and she has been doing this for over 30 years so silly me, I believed her!! I was also irate that I had to deal with the pain of the IV in my arm. I am one of the lucky 20% of women that has group B strep (whatever the heck that is) so that means I have to have two doses of antibiotics before the baby comes so that he doesn't get it.

We headed home at about 9:30am and I felt about 50% annoyed but 50% relieved. The bright side is, I get another day to savor my girl. I get another day to wrap my mind mentally around giving birth. I also will get a new nurse and hopefully one of the bigger rooms. I guess on a certain side of the hospital you get smaller rooms and I was in one of the smaller ones which wasn't a big deal but more space is always nice.

Brett and I came home but stopped for a donut on the way since I was craving one from watching hours and hours of "Cupcake Wars" while in *labor*. Don't judge me, I earned that donut.

Came home and my mom and MIL were waiting to hear the whole story. Thankfully my mom hadn't gotten to the hospital yet but she had been on her way. My brother and sister-in-law weren't too far from us so they were able to hang out with us at the hospital for 45 minutes or so and witness some of the random antics of our labor nurse.

Another plus is that my brother is borrowing a really nice video camera to film the birth and the birth experience and he wasn't able to get it until tonight.

Brett and I came home and slept nearly 4 hours in our obscenely hot room. Our downstairs is nice and cool but the upstairs is awful. We're going out to the Olive Garden tonight in lieu of missing lunch today and I'm jazzed. My brother and sis-in-law will join us which will be fun.

In other news, I can't quite looking at Emersyn's new hair cut. She is such a big girl!!!!

So as of right now, I'm taking it easy. I don't want to trigger more contractions and then be confused if it's real labor or not and knowing myself I'd be stubborn and hold out and refuse to go the hospital aand then end up giving birth with no epidural on the kitchen floor. That would not be ideal.

Just wanted to update everyone. I'm still scheduled to be induced tomorrow evening at 6pm. Praying everything goes well and praying that somehow the hospital bed gets more comfortable between now and tomorrow. I'm not that hopeful though for that specific wish though. :)

Guess what!?!!?!

2011-08-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

So today was a busy day for us. This morning we woke up and went to visit our friends who just had their new baby. Emersyn and Stella are two months apart and now their little siblings will be about 4 days or so apart.

After we met precious new Emma, we headed to the airport to pick up MiMi! I'm REALLY glad that she got here this afternoon. More on that later......

After we grabbed some lunch, we went to get Emersyn's first hair cut in honor of her becoming a big sister. Her hair has been kind of a struggle to work with lately because it's so thin and she hates it when I comb it. I thought that with Everett coming, now is a good time to chop her hair and let it thicken up a bit. I cannot believe how big it makes her look, seriously.

After Ems got her ~~overpriced~~ sweet children's salon hair cut, we took her and my mom home and then Brett and I headed out to an old friend's wedding. I was a guest book attendant and it was record high heat here in Portland, 94 degrees! It was the first day in 2011 to break the 90 degree mark, which is a record in and of itself I believe.

At the wedding I was definitely having contractions but go figure, I was standing in 94 degree heat and I am almost 39 weeks pregnant.

The wedding was short and sweet and we headed home to pick up my mom and Ems for some dinner. We decided Burgerville sounded good since Ems is such a cheeseburger fan. We even listened to the "cheeseburger" song on her Veggietales DVD on the way there because it was just too silly. :) After dinner we went to the grocery store to get some basic groceries but not too much food since I am was going to be induced on Monday.

Got home from the store, relaxed for a bit and the headed to bed. When we got into bed I noticed that I was having more frequent contractions so I decided to time them. It turns out they were coming every 3-5 minutes or so but weren't very intense. I timed them for about 40 minutes and then decided to call the nurse at the hospital. She said to give it another 30 minutes or so and then decide what to do. After I got off the phone I had a couple more painful contractions and decided that we better head into the hospital and get checked out. We hadn't even packed our hospital bags yet, isn't that awful??? So we packed our bag (and Lord knows if I remembered everything...probably not), I snuck into Emersyn's room and packed her bag and also packed up the bear that she made for Everett. Brett gathered the camera, laptop, etc. I was 90% sure this was a false alarm BUT I just had a friend who didn't get to the hospital in time for her epidural (she was already at a NINE) and I decided to learn from her experience and take a more cautious approach.

I got to the hospital and we felt silly rolling in our mini suitcase but it had our laptop in it and I didn't want my car randomly getting broken into and having that stolen while in the hospital. They got me into a bed and started monitoring me. I was having contractions pretty regularly but they weren't very strong so my nurse wasn't overly optimistic. She monitored me for about 15 minutes and then checked me. She said I was at a 3 still and just about 50% effaced, same as I was at my appointment on Thursday. I was a little disappointed but also relieved because that meant I still had time. I wasn't really emotionally prepared to give birth tonight!!! She said that since this isn't my first baby, they weren't going to send me home yet and that if I wanted I could get up and walk around and they would check me again in an hour. I walked around for about 20 minutes but was tired (at this point it was almost 2am) and headed back to the room. They hooked me up to the monitors again and my contractions were still coming regularly but this time they were painful. Before the contractions were just tight and uncomfortable. Now I could feel them down low and they HURT. The nurse went to check me again and her face changed and I just knew. She said that I was at a 3.5 and 90% effaced. She said I am going to have this baby today. Holy.Cow.

My thoughts: I am thrilled that Everett's birthday is that much farther from Emersyn's. I'm happy I didn't have to be induced and go through pitocin, although I didn't think it was *that* bad but I know inductions can have higher c-section rates, etc. I'm happy that my mom got here just in time. I'm happy I was able to go to my friends wedding this evening and that was really the last big milestone I wanted to accomplish before having my little man. Other thoughts: I'm feeling very nervous this time around just because I know more what I am getting into and because Everett is measuring SO much bigger then Emersyn did. I totally have not wrapped my mind around having my baby today. I had plans to go to church tomorrow, go to lunch...enjoy the last day as a family of three on Monday and maybe do something special with Ems....but it's really okay. I am happy that I went with my instincts to come to the hospital AND I totally had instincts about him coming early too which turned out to be true. It's kinda funny, here I am in labor and I can't even tell anyone because it's 4:45am and everyone is sleeping. I know I could text them all but it's going to be awhile and they might as well sleep. After I post this I am going to try to snooze. My nurse thinks the baby will be here around 1pm today. The kind of cool part is that Brett's brother is down from Seattle for the weekend and also his dad is off on Sundays so he can be a part of the birth (like in the waiting area, you know what I mean).

My plan is to call my mom (who's home with Ems) at 7ish and let her know what's going on and tell her to head on in whenever she can. Hopefully Brett's brother can go hang out with Ems while I'm here and then once Everett's born they can all come up. We'll call Brett's parents at 7ish too. I already texted my brother and his wife and I suspect they will call me once they wake up. :) David is supposed to be documenting this process again but since this took us by surprise, Brett has been taking some video on our little Flip camcorder.

I cannot believe that today was my last day as a mama of one and I didn't even know it. :)

My dear sweet Everett, I cannot wait to meet you. I have a feeling you're going to be a stinker and I love that about you already. Your big sister turned out just like I thought she was going to (for the most part) based on what I got to know about her while I was pregnant with her and from what I know about you, I can tell you're going to be a busy and active little boy. Your sister is going to love chasing you around and playing with you and we all just can't wait to meet you. Go easy on mama today though, okay? No freaky positions coming out, no hands by your face, no giant head, okay? I love you I love you I love you already. I hope you're just like your daddy because I just adore him too.

Wish me luck friends.....I'll keep you posted.

Today I am praying for....

2011-08-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

My sweet girl, saying bedtime prayers for her baby doll

Today I am praying for....

*a friend's marriage that needs a miraculous intervention from the Lord

*a friend who just lost her job and doesn't know where she's going to go

*a friend who desperately wants to be pregnant

*my upcoming labor and delivery

*a friend's mom who has terminal cancer

*an acquaintance whose husband took his own life last week and leaves behind a widow that is close to my age and two young children

If you feel led, would you pray for these things too?

"Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

Monday :)

2011-08-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

Look how much Emersyn has changed since her big announcement in January!

My dr. appointment went well today. Everett is still measuring on the big side but ultrasounds this late in the game are usually pretty subject to a large margin of error. I'm not stressing about it. I pushed Emersyn out just fine, I'm sure Everett will be the same even if he's bigger. I feel like people tend to over react about big babies so I'm not advertising this freely on FB or anything. :)

I am dilated to a three and about 50% effaced. My dr. said that everything seems ready to go and she agreed to induce me Monday evening. She was not pro-induction by any means and I know that everything had to line up for her to induce me so this makes me happy.

Sometimes I get so weary of women and their opinions. Why is it when it comes to having babies that we get so judgmental? Inductions or not, breastfeeding or not, etc. I definitely have some opinions about what I feel is best but I really feel to each their own. I know not everyone in my life *approves* of inductions and I don't think that is very fair. I have out of state family to consider and a daughter with a REALLY close birthdate that I am hoping to avoid. Besides, I have one of the best birth stories that I have ever heard before with Emersyn and I was induced with her. This is just a side rant but I needed to get it off my chest. I would never do ANYTHING to endanger my baby or myself (and neither would my dr. obviously). I am already in an early stage of labor technically being dilated to a three. I plan on being very active again this weekend and getting Everett good and ready to head out. :)

Today I got a mani/pedi and a hair cut. I feel like a new woman. I'm hoping for a burst of energy tonight as we get the house picked up for the cleaners in the morning. I'm thankful to have the time to get in these last minute pampering services. :)

Happy Thursday everyone!!!

Ramblings & the Beach!

2011-08-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

This has been such a great week so far. It's surreal to me that this could be my last week with just one child, my last week pregnant EVER, my last week before having a son.....just so much to wrap my mind around. I am feeling ready though, or at least as ready as I'll ever be. It's funny this time around, I was just getting ready for Emersyn last time and didn't have to care for anyone else in the meantime. Going to work was a lot easier in a sense. My house stayed cleaner, that's for sure.

I had nothing planned for Monday and was going a bit stir crazy around the house which surprised me. I normally love a good day at home, simply because they don't happen as often as they probably should. Something about the summer makes me want to be outside enjoying it, not inside. Anyways, on Monday I decided to take Ems out for lunch at Panera so I could eat this amazing summer salad they have that I was craving. We ran a couple other errands too but for the most part didn't have any plans and I realized quickly that days at home are NOT what I need this week. Thankfully I've had other plans. Monday night I went and saw "The Help" with some friends and it was SO GOOD. I haven't read the book yet but I definitely want to after seeing the movie.

Yesterday I knew I wanted to do something fun and different. I had a playdate scheduled with my friend Caitlin and her daughter Emery and I asked if they would want to go to the beach since it was supposed to be so nice here. We live a little over an hour from the coast. She was totally willing to go to the beach and we decided to take our girls on an adventure.

It was such a fun day in the sun and the weather couldn't have been better. 98% of the time, the Oregon coast is cold, windy and raining. This was a rare day full of sunshine and warmth and it was SO much fun. The only part that was a little brutal was hauling our gear out onto the sand and close to the water. I swear it was 1/4 mile walk from the car to the area we sat which isn't a huge distance except when you are hauling gear and walking in the sand and it's hot. Plus, my daughter is PHOBIC of sand. Initially I put her on my shoulders and then was hauling a heavy bag and stroller that did NOT want to be pushed in the sand so I had to drag it. After about 10 steps I realized that I was going to black out if I kept that up so I put my daughter down and told her that today is the day that she overcomes her fear of sand. She did it, thanks to a little peer pressure. Emery can't get enough of the sand. Caitlin and I were laughing/whining the entire way there and back. I told her that if I went into labor on the beach, they were going to have to lifelight me to the hospital because I was NOT going to be walking back.

We took the girls on the merry-go-round, had fun in the sand and water, got them ice cream cones, brought home candy for the daddy's, and it was just the distracting day that I needed. I got home feeling pretty beat and let Brett give Ems a bath while I took a shower.

Today I have a few errands to run and then we're going to swim at Auntie Jenny & Uncle David's pool, whoo hoo!! The first thing Emersyn said when she woke up today was "can we go to Auntie Jenny's pool?". I told her I needed to check with Jen to find out what time works and Ems said, "Oh I already checked with Uncle David and he said to come over". Ha!

Tomorrow I have an u/s and dr. appointment. I'm praying for wisdom and discernment for myself and my dr. Like I said before, Everett is on the bigger side and unfortunately in the medical profession, I feel like this leads to an over reaction among dr's and they start throwing out words like c-section. I've pushed a baby out just fine before and am not worried about pushing Everett out, even if he is a little bigger. But I'm praying that I can be induced so that my dad can see the baby for the most time possible since his visit is shorter then my moms and I would love Everett's bday to be as far away from Emersyn's as possible. Those are both very superficial reasons for wanting an induction and I know that so I won't be devastated if it doesn't work out, that's just my hearts desire right now. We'll see though. I know most of the time women don't get to plan out when their babies are born and that's okay too. I'm trusting the Lord. It's hard when you have a prior experience to compare it to, and that prior experience happened to be perfect!!!!

Friday we are having the house cleaned (hallelujah!!!!!) and I'm going to get a mani/pedi while that's happening. My mom gets here on Saturday and I am 99% sure that we are going to get Emersyn's hair cut that afternoon. She is going to look like SUCH a big girl with shorter hair and I'm not sure that I'm ready for that but her hair is really thin on the bottom from being baby hair and I think cutting it will help it thicken up. Plus, shorter hair will be easier to manage while I'm still adjusting to having two kiddos. Saturday evening Ems is having a date with her MiMi while Brett and I go to a wedding that I'm helping with. Sunday we'll go to church and then I really want to go to the Olive Garden for that soup that I'm obsessed with. Then, on Monday I will be 39 weeks and we'll see if that is the big day......

Here are some pics from our fun day at the beach!

Wedding!

2011-08-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from the wedding festivities this past weekend!

Emersyn really did great considering. :) She fell asleep on the way out to Tillamook both times and she's a little like her mama in the fact that she wakes up somewhat on the cranky side. She was really excited to be in the wedding though. I wonder if she thinks that you just are in weddings each summer. Last summer she was in two and this summer one. I'm sure she's assuming she'll be in another one next year and who knows, maybe she will. :)

Ems at the rehearsal dinner. I love this dress on her. I got it on major clearance at the Gymboree outlet when I was down in California in June and she hadn't gotten a chance to wear it yet. The rehearsal seemed like a great special occasion to wear it to. :)

The wedding venue was beautiful and the weather was a little on the chilly side but not bad. I'd much rather be a little chilly then blazing hot!!

On the morning of the wedding we took Ems out to breakfast and then to Toys'R'Us to pick out a new baby as a *reward* for being sweet and cooperating in the wedding. In the picture above she's introducing her old baby to her new baby. She was SO excited to get this baby out of the box. I was waiting with the new baby at the end of the aisle as she walked down. :)

Brett decided to wait with Ems and the bridal party and I was the one to be at the end of the aisle since she was less likely to want to leave me. She was really shy and hesitant at first but eventually walked to me. She forgot to spread the petals though. Oh well, how much can you expect from a not quite three year old? :)

Since the wedding was outdoors, I just cleaned up Emersyn's saltwater sandals instead of buying her new white shoes and they looked darling with her dress. I got her dress at Target around Easter time and I think it was the most perfect flower girl dress!!

Emersyn and Ian, the groom's nephew. These two are buddies and love each other, it's SO cute.

These two little boys competed for Ems attention all night. Hilarious!

First dance with a boy!!! Emersyn LOVES dancing. The whole day of the wedding (and the rehearsal) she kept saying, "Is it almost time to dance"? She danced for the entire reception, literally from the first song to the last. It was adorable. She also insisted that Daddy be on the dance floor with us. I'm praying that 90 minutes of dancing resulted in a dropped baby for me!!!

This joyful face pretty much sums up how Emersyn felt about dancing. :)

I'm so thankful to the Meichtry and Connolly for including Emersyn in their special day. This wasn't Emersyn's first Meichtry wedding though. She went to Daniel's brother's wedding when she was only three days old. :)

Everett's nursery!

2011-08-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

The nursery is FINALLY done! Oh my word, it took forever! Emersyn's nursery was completed a good 3 or 4 months before her arrival....we finished Everett's about a week or two before his. It just goes to show you how different things are the second time around. :)

As with Emersyn's nursery, the green color in her room is really hard to photograph. I feel like it looks a LOT brighter in pictures then it does in person. Yes, it is a bright green but it's no where near the neon color that sometimes shows through in pictures.

Remember this wall?

Now it looks like this!

I'm really happy with how the blue color turned out. It was SUPER easy to paint over the pink stripes and took probably an hour between priming and repainting. Initially Brett had thought about painting a solid blue wall but I reallllly wanted to keep the stripes. It's such a simple and cheap way to add a lot of flair in a small room.

I'm proud to say that with the exception of the bumper, all of Everett's bedding is hand made and partially by me! When I was pregnant with Emersyn I didn't attempt to get crafty in any way in her nursery. I was working very part time at Pottery Barn Kids and since my discount was so great, it was just easier to buy everything. Everett's nursery definitely has a lot more character and I love it.

We didn't have a changing table in Emersyn's nursery. We had a "hemnes" dresser from Ikea that we just put a changing pad on and it worked out REALLY well for us. Since Emersyn needed a dresser in her room, we let her have the hemnes dresser and bought this changing table for Everett for $40 off of Craigslist! I was happy with our second hand find and I also like that it takes up a lot less space then the dresser did. We obviously lost a lot of storage but we are using an old dresser of Brett's in the nursery closet for now.

We were able to find so many containers that coordinated with our theme! The green basket had a gift in it from Auntie Jenny and Uncle David (such a clever alternative to a gift bag!) and we found the navy basket at Walmart and the teal laundry basket at Target.

This mobile used to have birdies on it until SOME one tore each birdie off one by one during her nap when she was a baby. :) Since then it has been stored away, just waiting to be used again. I was originally going to make some owls out of felt to hang from it but then I decided to embrace the reality that I'm running out of time, patience and creativity and used the leftover pinwheels from my baby shower. Rachelle, did you have any idea your decorations would get THIS much use out of them?? :)

Another baby shower decoration reused. It's just darling, don't you agree?

I love the letter E (obviously). A friend of mine had read a tutorial about yarn wrapping letters as decorations. I thought this sounded fun and brilliant until I tried to do it on more then one letter. The navy E is wrapped in yarn and was fairly simple to do, except for the corners. I was going to get creative with wrapping the corners and in hindsight it might have been wise to use some spray adhesive first for just the corners and get the yarn to stay that way but since I had already completed it, I decided to just leave the corners bare and go for a more *rustic* look (which I've learned is a crafty person's way to say imperfect, ha!). For the yarn wrapped letter I loosely followed THIS tutorial.

The letters were a super inexpensive way to decorate too. All of them were purchased at JoAnn's Fabrics and most of them were bought with a coupon. The large E was $6 and I painted it with the paint we used on the walls. The white letters were $2/each with coupons, the yarn wrapped letter was $4, and the fabric letter was $3 and wrapped with scraps leftover from the bedding.

We got the wicker baskets from Homegoods that were relatively inexpensive ($15 for the set) and the teal baskets were in the dollar section of Target. I used them to hold utensils and napkins at Emersyn's birthday party too.

I made this fabric board using this tutorial but modified it a bit. I covered a cork bulletin board instead of particle board. In hindsight, this was not a good idea IF I wanted to put buttons or something at the ribbon cross sections (like pictured in the tutorial) but instead I was able to just pull the ribbon nice and tight and it's taut enough to display pictures and cards. This was another *rustic* project, ha!

This is the dresser in the closet. It's not white which is why it is hidden and we didn't want to paint it because we'll use it someday in Everett's big boy room where we mostly likely won't want white furniture for him. This was Brett's dresser as a teenager.

Still so surreal to see boy clothes hanging in this closet!!

We had to put a couple pictures of the big sister in Everett's room. How precious is this little face?

This was one of the first gifts I received after finding out that Everett was a boy. Rachelle made it and it's got crinkly paper in it so it will be a fun thing to play with, as well as a cute decoration. :)

I found this little love note in the stack after my baby shower. My friend Caitlin helped Ems right her own little love note to Everett while I was opening gifts and I think it's just darling.

Well, we're about a week or two away from welcoming Mr. Everett. We had a great weekend that I'll blog about tomorrow. Hopefully this weekend resulted in my little man dropping too. We'll see for sure on Thursday. :)

A glimpse

2011-08-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

Today Emersyn and I went over to our friends house to hang out with one of our favorite little girls, Miss Sophia Rose. Since I knew that Sophia's mommy was headed to the opposite side of town from where I live, I offered to come over to her house and watch Sophia there. This turned out to be a great decision on my part because I had no choice but to sit and relax, versus if I were home I would have felt obligated to be productive.

The girls played SO well together and it made me SO excited to see Emersyn with her baby brother. If you had asked me the day before I took the positive pregnancy test that I took for this baby if I was ready for another child I would have laughed at you and said, NO! But the Lord's timing is incredible and even if I wasn't ready then, I am ready now and more importantly, I think Emersyn is really ready. It will be fun for her to have a little playmate.

Emersyn was very helpful and loving with Sophia and it gave me a little glimpse into my future. I'm excited to get to know Emersyn as a big sister and watch her learn and grow. I'm so excited to see my little boy but I'm also excited to see Emersyn in her new role in our family.

Ems decided to entertain Sophia with some of her favorite songs today. Here is a video of their fun times. I know these little girls are going to grow up before our eyes and it's fun to capture random moments on video. :)

P.S. The nursery is DONE!!!!!!! I'm SO stinkin' excited to take pictures and show you all but we had a crazy busy day today. I'm hoping to take some pics tomorrow or Sunday and get them posted. It turned out really cute and it makes everything so much more real. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, I know I know. :)

Thursday

2011-08-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to upload pictures from Emersyn's birthday party but Blogger won't let me for some reason! I wonder if the files are too big? Anyways, the pictures are on FB so hopefully you can see them there. The party was great, just a low key bbq with friends and Emersyn had a great time. This was the first year that she was really into her party and I wasn't sure how she was going to react to the attention. She tends to be kinda shy and not a huge fan of being in the spot light. However, when it was time to sing "happy birthday", she sat and soaked up every word and when it came to us singing "happy birthday dear Emersyn" she totally giggled when she heard her name. Up until the minute her party started I was somewhat regretting having planned something so close to my due date but now I'm so glad we did it. It will be fun to celebrate her again on her actual birthday and hopefully her baby brother will have arrived by then!

Speaking of baby brother, Mr. Everett is still very happy and content in the womb. He hasn't dropped yet but I am 1.5cm dilated. If it weren't for the proximity of his due date and Emersyn's birthday I could care less when he came. But since I'm due the day after Emersyn's birthday, I'm really hoping that he comes early. My dr. has agreed to induce at 39 weeks IF my cervix is favorable and so far it is not. At this time when I was pregnant with Emersyn, I guess my cervix was favorable because I was able to schedule my induction 10 days ahead of time. That will not be the case this time. My next appointment is a week from today and hopefully by then he has dropped and we can schedule the induction. In the meantime, I'm drinking raspberry leaf tea, walking walking walking and trying to get this little man on the move. :)

Emersyn waiting patiently at the Dr.'s office!

In the meantime, we're having lots of fun in the sun waiting for brother to arrive. Yesterday we went to Rood Bridge Park in Hillsboro with some friends. We had lunch and walked around some of the trails along the creek that runs through the park. Ems loves hanging out with these kiddo's and it's cute to watch them interact being all different ages!

After the park I finished the last of my crafty projects for the nursery, a fabric covered memo board. I'm excited to put pictures and the "love notes" that were written to him at my baby shower up on this. We're going to hang it along with the "E" letters that we've made tonight hopefully. I keep saying that every night but then something comes up. I'm determined tonight. Unless something comes up of course. :) Ha!

The memo board isn't perfect but it's cute and it was made with love. I'm learning that practice makes perfect and I am not letting my tendency to INSIST that things be perfect discourage me from being crafty. I feel like I have gotten a LOT of use out of the 3.75 yards that I bought of this fabric. I think it's just so bright and fun and I really love it!

So remember how day one of soccer camp was great and day two wasn't? Well day three was GREAT! The weather wasn't too hot and Emersyn actually got out into the game and kicked the ball. The only thing was she would kick the ball and then be so pleased with herself that she'd run to me screaming with joy that she had kicked the ball. It was really cute.

Today was day 4 and it was similar to day 2, as in a FAIL, ha! It was kinda hot though and that affects things I think. It affects how into I am but I'm 9 months pregnant so that's a good excuse I think. :) Today Emersyn and Emery were hilarious though. They were extra lovey dovey and kept hugging each other during the games. There was one point where they were hugging and then Emersyn looked at Emery very concerned and said, "are you wearing sunscreen??". Then later during the soccer game, Emery asked Emersyn if she wanted to go swing and Emersyn told me they'd be right back and they took off for the playground. They were SO over it today, ha ha. We totally got our money's worth though and it was a great experience.

After soccer, Caitlin decided that we should take the girls to Baja Fresh to celebrate. It was a fun lunch date!

Miscellany Monday

2011-08-08T15:54:00.000-07:00

{1} First of all, how do you like the new layout??! My amazingly creative and talented friend LeAnna always helps me out with blog design and I am SO thankful for her willingness to bless me in an area where I have NO idea what I'm doing. Thank you thank you THANK YOU friend!!!

{2} Do you know how strange and REAL it is to see my two children's names on the blog title?? Holy.Cow. I am hoping to be induced TWO weeks from today. I had an u/s last week and they think Everett is going to be a big boy. I was dilated to a one and not quite dropped yet. My dr. said walk walk walk and get this boy to drop. I've been walking my heart out, let me tell you!!! It's hard with your second child when you already have had an experience with labor and delivery, an in my case, I had a WONDERFUL experience delivering Emersyn. I feel like I have set myself up with those same expectations and I need to understand that it might not be the case with Everett. Yes, mind over matter is important but recreating the exact same situation as I had with Emersyn is unlikely. We'll just have to wait and see.

{3} Emersyn's birthday party was on Saturday and it went fantastic. A family friend who is an amazing photographer took pictures for us so once I get them, you know I'll post them as fast as I possibly can. :)

{4} Yesterday Brett and I had a date afternoon and it was magical. (No Rachelle, not that kind of magical, ha ha). It was really fun to have a date in the daytime. Brett's parents took Emersyn home from church with them and we were on our own. We came home, I cleaned up a bit (which would be considered a date FAIL but I was actually in the mood to clean and we were still trying to figure out what we wanted to do). I really really really wanted to see a movie and there were a couple comedies out that sounded hilarious based solely on their plot. But then after reading reviews and being totally grossed out and offended at what we saw, it seemed like a movie wasn't in the cards for us and I was kind of bummed. But then we saw a preview for "Crazy Stupid Love" with Steve Carrell and it was only PG-13 and looked cute. And guess what? It was SUPER cute and just what we needed. We ran a couple errands before the movie, then went to dinner afterwards at a quaint little restaurant in downtown Hillsboro called "The Venetian" and we were so happy with the food and the service. Plus, we had a Groupon to use there so dinner was half off essentially and we got dessert too. :) Yay for a great date!!!

The Venetian

{5} Today we went to the mall and Brett was playing with Emersyn and wasn't looking in front of him and took this giant leap to get away from Emersyn and nearly landed on top of this 17 year old girl who also wasn't paying attention and was texting on her phone. I saw the whole thing happen and nearly passed out from laughing, all the while maintaining my distance as not to be seen with him initially after the incident. Maybe you had to be there but it was hilarious.

{6} We ordered a stroller for Everett that I am JAZZED about. We are going to sell our Uppa. It turns out that fancy strollers aren't life changing and I had a few specific complaints about this stroller in general. I enjoyed it while it lasted but learned that strollers, much like purses, don't need to be expensive to be enjoyable. We got the stroller for more then half off and it had great reviews and best of all, it was inexpensive!! I wanted something lighter weight for taking out and something that Emersyn could push because let's be honest, that is something she is going to insist on doing from time to time. :)

{7} Remember how day one of soccer camp was amazing?? Well, day two....not so much, ha ha!

This is the face of a very overwhelmed child. Her and one of her besties had their first nervous breakdown together and her mom and I couldn't help but laugh. The girls really mastered the individual soccer skills. But once they had to play a game, Em and Em took off screaming in fear at the other kids running towards them. I think that soccer may have been too young at this age. In every other situation, I tell Emersyn to NOT take balls from other kids but now I tell her to go kick it away? I think it confuses her. :( Plus, a kid ran into her and she didn't understand that it was part of the game so she shoved him away and I worried it would turn into a toddler brawl. Oy. Two more sessions left....we'll see how they go. One of the things that I think wasn't great was the coach decided to do the game indoors because it was so hot (and by hot I mean 80 degrees, don't laugh southern friends of mine) and I think the fast pace of the ball on the smooth service was a little chaotic for Emersyn.

{8} Do you see this smile in the picture above? She's actually laughing.Can you guess what is making her laugh this hard? It involves a certain cartoon character burping. I had to do a lot of driving the other day so I let Ems watch a movie in the van and whenever Shrek burps, she nearly hyperventilates from laughing and asks me to rewind it. Oh dear. I guess she is going to do just fine with a baby brother. :)

Wee Bit Wednesday

2011-08-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

{ONE} What was one thing you valued when you were a kid?
I loved that my parents idea of family time was a day on our boat exploring the river or the lake. I loved getting to sit in the back of the truck with my brother back when that was legal and head down the freeway to the Willamette river. I loved my mom's sub sandwiches that she'd make for our days out on the boat that were AMAZING and I still love them!! Family days on the boat are something I will always treasure.

{TWO} What was your favorite (& least favorite) subject in school?
Hated math. Loved english and actually I loved human anatomy & physiology in high school.

{THREE} Do you remember your first love?
Yup. I wake up next to him every morning!

{FOUR} What one pet would you love to have?
We'd love a little dog, maybe a Yorkie. Brett would get one today if I'd let him but I think we need to wait until Everett gets a little older. I think this time next year would be fun to get a dog!

{FIVE} Would you rather live in the country or the city?
I feel like I do live in the country sometimes. If you go a 1/4 mile south of my house there are tons of farms including a llama farm that I honk at each time I drive by to the delight of my daughter. I'm also a 1/4 mile from a Target. Go figure. It's a cool area *sorta*. :)

{SIX} What do you love about blogging?
Going back and re-reading posts from when I was pregnant with Ems and when she was first born and all the memories we've created. I also love the community.

{SEVEN} What is the first website you visit everyday?
GMAIL

{EIGHT} Will you or have you joined Google +?
I have joined it but I don't really get it and am not really looking to either.

{NINE} What is your favorite scent of candle/air freshener?
Fresh laundry. :)

{TEN} How would you describe your style?

Umm....non-existent? :) Ha!

Ramblings & Soccer Camp!

2011-08-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

Have you ever written a blog post and then re-read it and thought to yourself, I sound like a total downer? Yeah, me neither. :) I wrote out a post and decided that some thoughts are better left unsaid in the blog world and better said in my prayer journal. It's funny how social media has turned our society into one that is constantly seeking recognition and approval from others and sometimes I think that I tend to whine about issues that I want people to tell me isn't my fault or that I'm still a *good* person. But seeking that approval is what gets me into trouble in the first place. So instead I will pray. And instead I will blog about the highlight of my day......SOCCER CAMP!!!!! :)

I saw this class in the local parks and rec guide online and I just HAD to sign Ems up. If I wasn't so pregnant already I would have signed her up for a couple more but we're just about out of time for summer classes. The camp is 4/30 minute sessions at a local park and it was a BLAST! Emersyn had a great time and did really great. She is very goal oriented (no pun intended, ha!) but she totally grasped the point of kicking the ball into the net. My favorite part was where we had to put on jerseys and the parents were on a *team* and the kid was on another *team* and we had to try to get the ball away from each other. Emersyn was laughing hysterically as she tried to keep me away from the ball and it was so so fun. Emersyn's buddy Emery did the class with us too and everything's always more fun when you're with a friend, right? :)

Emersyn tried a dance class probably about 6 months ago that she didn't really love and I was hoping to put her in it again but I think I might try to find something more athletic for her, even like tumbling. I just don't see her doing dance but maybe that could change as she gets older. Most of the programs are so expensive for kids and since she's still so young, I don't want to be too eager to sign her up for things when going to the park is just as fun. This soccer camp was only $16 which is totally in my price range. Plus, it gave me good ideas of how to play soccer with her in a way that makes sense to her. I'm excited to see what they cover in the other three classes.

Brett went into work late today so that he could go to her first day and that meant a lot to me. He really wanted to be there, I didn't even ask him to. I'm so thankful for the flexibility in his job versus jobs he has had previously. He can't be at everything but he can at some things and that's a wonderful thing!

When we got home Emersyn went down for a nap and I relaxed for a bit and then got to work in Everett's room. I got the first load of clothes washed, folded and put away. I had to get out all of the newborn things and put the rest away for now. We have limited storage in his room right now and with things being SO tiny, I don't have the ability to hang things up like I was planning on doing. I think even the three month size stuff will hang up but the newborn stuff is soooo tiny. I have gotten so many great hand me downs from friends and I can't wait to see my boy in things that I have seen my friends boys in. :) I packed my diaper bag with a few outfits for Everett at the hospital. Want to know something funny though? I have totally forgotten what even goes in a hospital bag! I know I don't need to bring diapers and wipes and stuff, although I remember a friend of mine brought her own wipes because she didn't like the things that they used at the hospital. I guess I'll bring a binky, his clothes....I need to pack a bag for myself to but again, totally blanking on what goes in there. I'll look it up online, no need to write out a list for me. ;)

I'm reusing the pinwheels that were used for decoration at my baby shower to make a mobile for Everett. I was going to make some felt owls but I am running out of time, energy, creativity, and motivation. I LOVE the colors of the pinwheels and am really excited to see how it turns out! I'm alllllmost ready to post pictures of the finished nursery. Just a few final touches and a few things left to buy, like the autograph mat that we did for the visitors at the hospital when Ems was born.

We went to Babies'R'Us tonight to buy some final things too, like a changing pad cover, some binkies, and a couple other things. I am slowly starting to feel more and more prepared. :) Putting away the clothes today was pretty surreal...we are having another baby and he is a boy. I was telling Brett last night that thinking back on being pregnant with Emersyn seems like such a fog and is so hard to remember in a way even though it was only three years ago! I feel like I've changed a lot as a person since I was pregnant with her and in a good way and I wonder if that is why. I don't know if changed is even the right word, it's probably a combination of changing and growing up a bit. Still though, it just seems like SUCH a long time ago. I do remember that putting together a nursery was a LOT easier when you didn't have a toddler behind you, taking things out as quickly as you can put them away. :)

How can you be mad at a face like that though? :) By the way, that is the bear that we made for Everett the other day. Ems is just keeping him company until her brother gets here. She thought it was hilarious to sit in the crib. :)

Miscellany Monday

2011-08-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

{1} I'm a big fan of cinnamon LIFE cereal. It pretty much always sounds good to me, morning or night.

{2} At least 3-4 times a week my husband tells me of an incredible invention idea that he has. I am super supportive and excited for him. And then usually within a couple hours of sharing his big idea, he finds it on the internet, already invented and I pretend to mourn the loss of his idea and the potential for our early retirement together. I can tell he appreciates my support. And I think he's adorable for continually coming up with ideas.

{3} I saw this number candle at Winco and asked Ems if we should get it for her party. She studied it and really debated. She decided to keep it and then a minute later put it back on a shelf and said, "we shouldn't get this...it's not on sale". I assured her that it actually was on sale and she seemed pleased and agreed to let me spend the $.68. I seriously think her dad is programming her behind my back to keep an eye on my spending, ha ha.

{4} One of my best friends moved away about 7 years ago and I haven't gotten to see her very much since then. Thankfully, her and her sweet family just moved back into town and I've LOVED getting to hang out with her. Thank you Lord for low maintenance friends. I always feel so refreshed hanging out with her and I'm so so thankful that our kids get to grow up together now!

{5} Yesterday after church we took Emersyn to pick out a "Build-a-Bear" for Everett as a gift from her. After much deliberation she decided to get a bear that was on the smaller size which is perfect and best of all, it was the cheapest bear there, ha! I had said that she could pick any bear but she liked this one the best. We also had a $5 off coupon so the bear cost us a whopping $5. I think Everett is going to like it. We named him "Brother Bear".

{6} After Build-a-Bear we went to check out the last day of the Nordstrom sale. Brett wanted some slip on Jack Purcells that were on sale and he needs casual shoes so we agreed he should get some. Then while we were waiting to try them on, I glanced over and saw the same shoes in the women's section (since Jack Purcells are gender neutral). Yes, it's true. We now have matching shoes and I love it. Now to complete our ~~yuppy~~ family fashion statement we need to find some for Ems. :)

Saturday Mornings

2011-07-30T14:22:00.001-07:00

Brett and Ems have been on their own for the last few Saturday mornings. I have had baby showers, garage sales and various other things to attend and while it's been fun, I do miss them. I also know that my moments alone are going to be far and few between once I'm back to a nursing schedule. I told them last night that they got to have a date together this morning and they both said "where are you going?" at the same time. It was cute. :)

Today they decided to wash my van while I was at a friends baby shower. Brett took some cute pics and they were too sweet not to share. Summer has finally arrived in Oregon and we're having a lot of fun enjoying the sun!

In less then a month....

2011-07-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

My baby will be turning THREE years old. Her party is a week from tomorrow. We're going super simple and basically just having a bbq at the park with friends. I will be 37 weeks pregnant and needing to keep things nice and easy. :)

And...

I will have another baby in my arms. Because Everett was measuring kinda big last time, my dr. is pretty confident that she won't let me go much past my due date (which is officially one month from today).

It's hard to believe how in a moment your family can transform. So much to think about and do still. I laid awake at night, laughing at a story that my friend told me that night about PF Changs and going into labor, and all of the sudden couldn't sleep because I was afraid that if I did go into labor, our camera wasn't going to be charged. I would have gotten out of bed to plug it in but hauling this pregnant body out of bed didn't sound fun and I was too nice to make Brett go do it. Still though, it kept me awake for awhile.

Speaking of PF Changs, I had a super fun girls night last night with some of my closest friends from church. Last year when Rachelle was about to pop, I thought it would be fun to do a "last hurrah" for her before her life was overtaken by a sweet newborn. Who knew a year later I would be planning one for myself and another girlfriend (Stella's mom) who is due just 2 weeks before me! It was a great night!

Wordless Wednesday- Baking with Ems

2011-07-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sibling Gift?

2011-07-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

Pants are optional in our family apparently. :)

As the impending arrival of my sweet Everett David gets closer, I am thinking more and more about a sibling gift. I would say that most of my friends have had a gift for their child from the new baby at the hospital and vice versa. I think this is a sweet idea and I would like the gift to have some sort of special meaning if possible. That is where I look to you, blog friends, for any insight?

We decided that we are going to take Emersyn to "Build-a-Bear" and let her pick out any bear or animal that she wants to make for Everett. I think it will be cute to keep the bear in the crib until he is coming and then when it's time, she can pack him up in the little cardboard house container that they give you and bring it to the hospital for him. If Everett is anything like Emersyn, he will love it. She LOVES stuffed animals and gets very attached to them. She can go to sleep at night and have like 30 animals and babies in her bed (literally) and like 5 minutes after putting her down we'll hear her calling for whatever animal or baby that she left downstairs. It's so funny! Anyways, we are excited to let her pick something out for Everett from big sister.

Now my dilemma is what should Everett get Emersyn? I don't want to get her a stuffed animal from him because she really has so many already. A friend of mine that had a baby girl got the big sister a jewelry box from the baby and I thought that was sweet but more of a sisterly gift. What is a brotherly gift? I kind of want it to be something special and lasting, not like a toy or something. I just don't know. I'm not stressing about this by any means but would like to do something special. Maybe something that they can play together? Hmmm.

Let me know your thoughts!

Weekend

2011-07-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday night I went to a lingerie shower which was actually just what I needed. It was for a family friend that is getting married in a couple weeks and Emersyn is the flower girl.

Side note: We went to a wedding a couple weeks ago (see picture above of the VERY happy girl with her glass of sparkling cider) and when we got home Emersyn saw her flower girl basket for the wedding she will be in later this summer. She picked up the basket and gave me the most pained and distraught look and says, "I FORGOT TO TAKE THIS TO THE WEDDING!!!!". It cracked me up, she totally thought that she had forgotten to be the flower girl. I explained that there is ANOTHER wedding coming up that she will get to use her basket at but she still seemed distraught. :)

Okay, back to my weekend recap. I went to the lingerie shower for the lovely bride to be (who actually used to watch Emersyn for me when I was working) and it was fun hanging out with a bunch of girls and celebrating sweet Erica. It was also a good distraction for me. I tend to obsess over things when people aren't pleased with me and it can literally make me sick and a bit crazy.

Got home from the lingerie shower and we painted the first coat of the nursery stripes!

(Pictures to come)

Sunday morning we overslept for church. Brett was desperate for a morning to sleep in since he hasn't had one in forever. Sleeping in isn't a big deal to me anymore for some reason but he loves it. I told him that we could let Emersyn be our alarm clock and I guess she needed the extra sleep too because she didn't wake up until 9. Brett was thrilled to sleep but I was kind of bummed to miss church. Oh well.

Had a lazy morning, went to Starbucks, ran some errands and came home to get some more things done around the house. Sunday night we went to a friends house for a BBQ to visit an old friend that is in town for a couple of days and that was a lot of fun. Emersyn actually came out of her shell a bit and was running and chasing some of our friends and that was fun to see. Last night when we got home we painted the second coat and then removed the tape and I have to say, the stripes turned out SO cute!!!!

All in all, an okay weekend. I'm so glad to get the painting done. The nursery is about 80% finished now. All that's left to do is touch up paint where needed from shelves and letters that we took down, clothes need to be washed and put away (which makes me so happy, I'm saving it for the last step as an incentive to get everything done), finish some decorative touches, and pack the hospital bag!!

It's going to be a great week, I'm certain of it!

PROGRESS!!!

2011-07-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday one of my dear friends came over and helped me get control of the upstairs again. This is the first time EVER that I have let a friend help me with a mess. Normally I am too ~~prideful~~ bashful when it comes to disorganized spaces but I was desperate and know that Brett is so busy at work and I am growing more and more tired by the day. Britt helped me get the loft totally cleared out and we went through all the clothes and sorted out the NB, 0-3 and 3-6 month clothes for me to wash.

We also got the nursery put together and now all that's left really to do in there is paint over the pink stripe and add some finishing decorative touches.

Today my crafty friend (and now fellow blogger) Rachelle came over and we sewed Everett's crib blanket and crib skirt. It was SO much harder then we thought it was going to be but hey, sometimes you can only learn by trying. All that matters is that it was sewn with love by Everett's mama and potential future mother-in-law if our Sophia/Everett match making quest is ever a success. Here is a sneak peek at his bedding!

I am SO so pleased with the fabric that we have chosen for his nursery and I still have some crafty ideas in mind for decorations for his nursery. Fun fun fun!

It's all coming together, slowly but surely and a huge reason for that is my incredible friends. Thank you thank you!!!!

Family day!!

2011-07-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we decided to take a day *off* from yard work and house work and head over to the Oregon Coast. I had bought a Groupon for the aquarium several months ago and had blocked out this last weekend on purpose to use it. I know if I don't get something on my calendar, it will likely not happen because time is going by too stinkin' fast.

We got up early, started our morning off with a Starbucks visit, and then headed south down I-5 so we could cut over to Newport through Albany and Corvallis. We'd never been that way before but it was a great drive.

Emersyn is not a huge fan of the car. We took our car versus our van to save on gas mileage and it was a bummer to not have the DVD player to keep Emersyn occupied. We had books and toys for her but I could tell she was just tired of sitting in her seat. We are hoping to take a road trip shortly after Everett is born that would be about 10+ hours long....we'll have to get a little dvd player for her or something if that ends up working out.

Ultimately we survived and arrived in Newport at about 1pm!

It was slightly rainy this day, hence her jean jacket. Ems was for sure the most fashionable girl at the aquarium, don't you agree?

This is a popular exhibit in Newport and the line was super long to buy tickets. Thankfully, we had pre-paid for our tickets so we didn't have to wait at all!

Overall, I give the aquarium a B-/C+. I was glad that we had gotten in with discounted tickets and that Emersyn was free because she's under three. It's not something I would have been happy about paying full price for. I was kind of disappointed because I felt like half of the things there we can see locally at our zoo, like the sea lions, otters, seals, etc. The indoor stuff was cool too but not mind blowing cool. I think Brett and I can be kind of tough to please with things like this because at Emersyn's age there is SO much we can do with her for free that she loves just as much so it's hard to decide what's worth spending money on. Anyways, I don't regret going by any means, I just don't want to give a glowing review and I'm not sure that we would go back at this point unless our kids were older and another Groupon presented itself. :)

After we did all the exploring that we could at the aquarium we headed north to Lincoln City to eat at one of our family's favorite resteraunts, Mo's.

This was taken last Fall when my family was in town. See how happy everyone looks? We love Mo's. :)

Emersyn and Twinnie enjoying the view of the ocean from our table.

Twin continued to enjoy the view while we ate our delicious dinner of clam chowder, salad, and clam strips. I know, clam strips sound so weird and they kinda are but I love them! It's my dad's fault, he loves them too. Emersyn had chicken fingers which she normally doesn't eat but I told her she could dip them in ketchup and she was sold. She's very into dipping.

After dinner we went over to the outlet malls, where we decided we shouldn't really spend any money until we get our kids' rooms more organized. Hard to know what you *need* when you aren't sure exactly what you have. We went into one store and then turn around and left. We headed north to Tillamook to look at the cheese factory and enjoy their amazing ice cream for dessert.

Someone REALLY liked their ice cream. :)

Originally I had wanted to stay overnight at the beach but logistics prevented this from happening and it's just as well. It was fun to be able to have a full family day but then be productive the next day (see the post below about our nursery progress).

I can't wait for our family days to include a sweet little boy!! Won't be long now.... :)