Thursday, April 29, 2010

PSF: Carnival Time

It's our local Apple Festival here and so there is the ubiquitous food fair. We love to go have dinner every year just because it's fair food... not because it's really all that good! Although we did go for seconds on the mini-donuts that the Young Life booth was selling. Yum!

I did not try these, I just couldn't believe the oxymoron...

Then we went down to the carnival to let Cory try the rides. Last year we bought one ticket and he rode on the motorcycles. He bawled when it quit because he didn't want to get off.

So this year we bought him his own ride bracelet (rip off) and he rode until it was past bedtime. The first one he wanted to go on was these helicopters that went up in the air and then around. I wish I'd had my camera ready the first time he came around... the grin on his face was amazing.


Then over to the cars...

And here are the motorcycles from last year. In exactly the same spot and I'm sure that some of the ride attendants were the same as last year too!

Then he went on some kind of space ride where he actually controlled when it went up and down. Except he didn't realize he controlled it and was making it bounce and that kind of freaked him out. After that he wanted to go on the dragon roller coaster... except he made it halfway around and started crying he was so scared. I managed to catch the attendants attention and he let him off after 3 trips around. He got off saying it was "kind of scary"! I guess there are different levels of kiddy rides!

But the boat rides were the perfect level... and my goof ball son decided he wanted to ride the boat backwards!
All in all, he had a blast! Although for my pocketbook's sake I'm glad this only comes to town once a year!


PhotoStory Friday

Hosted by Cecilyand Caitlin

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Box


A boy and his box... it's a beautiful thing!

(the box our stove came in which Brian converted)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Weekend Adventures!

So this weekend we went down to visit Brian's grandparents in Oregon (a 4 hour drive). We actually did quite well in driving. Noah was a champ. Hooray!

However, then we had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and he screamed the whole time. I'm not sure what they thought!

Then... we went to the Super 8 where I had made a reservation with "name your own price" on Priceline. Note to self: do not ever do that again! We had a reservation for a room with one bed, smoking. And the whole hotel was booked because it was Cherry Blossom Festival. Grrr!

Thankfully while we were standing there someone called to cancel a room and it was non-smoking. It was a king suite with a jacuzzi so of course quite a bit more money, but at that point we didn't care. Oh the irony of the first time we actually get a jacuzzi and we have two small children with us! Cory did enjoy "swimming" in the morning though!


And you know that the Super 8 jacuzzi suite is just a little bit cheesy! The mirrors looked like they belonged in a fun house! And who puts that many mirrors in anyway???

But we did get to enjoy the Cherry Blossom parade. It reminded me of the 4th of July parades in the small town where I grew up. Mostly local entries and people calling out to those on the sidewalk. Cory enjoyed collecting the candy that was thrown and I had a good laugh at a few things:
  • The man on horseback in traditional western wear texting on his cell phone!
  • A marching band all wearing black pants and shoes with one boy in the middle in white/colored tennis shoes!
  • The Greyhound bus that got lost and stuck in the middle of the parade!


We had an uneventful drive home and then got our credit card bill in the mail... where I saw a charge from Charter for our phone/internet for $267! Needless to say I then spent about an hour on the phone (and got disconnected 3 times) trying to figure it out. We hadn't received any bill paper or otherwise since we signed up after we moved so once I got access to the online bill I then had to dispute 3 different charges. I finally got a total of $90 in credits, but I'm not impressed by Charter overall. Just shows that you have to pay attention to your bills or some places will take advantage of you every way they can.

I think I'm finally recovered from the weekend. My house is back to some semblance of clean and I'm working on my mountain of laundry... :)

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Daffodils


I've been driving by this spot (by the courthouse downtown) for days and each time I either had a crying baby or was sans camera. Finally it worked out to stop after church on Sunday!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Super Hero Boy

Saturday was a friend's birthday (the one with the red cape) and it was a Super Hero party. So a cape was made for Cory (pattern here) that I've been thinking about for a few months. If I had to make it again I would modify the pattern, but no matter, he has fun with it! And he picked out the fabric!

Super Hero Meeting

Cutest boy ever!

Super Hero Pose

Off to save the day!

Monday, April 19, 2010

One Month Already

Hard to believe it's been a month already, but time just seems to go by faster now that I have two little boys to take care of!

Noah turned one month old on Saturday. We call him Pukeboy because he is the king of spit-up. Last night and this morning were particularly bad... it was like something out of the exorcist. I had to take a shower both times. I would be worried except that the midwife weighed him on Thursday and he's already gained 2 1/4 pounds over his birth weight. So he must be keeping something down! That puts him at 10 pounds, 12 ounces.

The typical cross-eyed look...


He's not a constant screamer like Cory was, but is pretty fussy after he eats and usually has to be held to fall asleep. During the day it's not a problem, but at 3am when all I want is to go back to bed I really wish he would just fall asleep!


I didn't realize, but I don't think newborns have eyelashes. He's definitely growing some now though and they are super cute! I also think he might be starting to smile at me, at least halfway.

Here's hoping the fussy and spit-up lessens soon!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Wordless Wednesday: April Showers Bring May Flowers



"Showers" being a relative term considering we had 60 mph winds and snow three days after I took these!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Boy Quotes #1

My friend Kristen has 3 boys. She frequently posts funny things they say. Cory makes me laugh quite often so I'm going to try and copy her and post them when I remember...

Recently:

We sang the Itsy Bitsy Spider song and then I told Brian I had it stuck in my head. Cory then asked me "Why do you have the Itsy Bitsy Spider stuck up in your head?"

Cory took his little battery powered drill and with a screw stuck in the end told me he was going to "draw my blood like they did with Baby Brother at the midwife appointment (for the newborn screening)". He then pretended like he was "drawing" on my leg with the screw as a crayon!

And one more that I always forget to write down:
One time I must have told Cory that he would make himself dizzy by spinning or running around in circles. Now he always says "I'm making myself busy" when he does it!

Saturday we had a load of dirt delivered for the garden boxes we're making... what boy can resist a pile of dirt?

Unfortunately I didn't realize until later that it stunk... because there was manure mixed in. Oh joy!

Hmmm, let's see where this can go...


Why yes, down in my pants!


And seriously when we took his shoes off... at least a quarter inch of dirt in the bottom of each one!

Friday, April 09, 2010

Welcome to my Party!

Hello, my name is Krista, welcome to my blog!

Regular readers, if you don't know what's going on, this is a blog party! Click on the button below to get all the details!


Ultimate Blog Party 2010

I'm married to Brian and the Mommy to two little boys: Cory, who just turned 3, and Noah, who is 3 weeks old.


I've been blogging now for just over 4 years and love that I can go back and read through things that I've forgotten. Especially for my boys!

In my "spare" time I like to take pictures and scrapbook. I love to read, although I'm kind of on a fiction burnout at the moment so if you've read a good non-fiction book lately leave it in the comments!

We just bought our first house and many hours this spring have been and will be spent doing fix-its (also curtains!) and planting our first garden! I'm super excited to have enough room now to actually buy things in bulk and/or can and have room for storage! Here's to a better grocery budget! And no, I don't play the coupon game because most of the stuff you can get for free or cheap is already processed food. I'm definitely trying to go "green" in what we eat, use, and put in and on our bodies.

So, nice to meet you! I hope you'll stick around and at the very least, leave me a comment so I can visit you!

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Brothers

Cory schooling Noah in the finer points of all things Mater and McQueen...

Monday, April 05, 2010

A Birthing Story

Men and those who have never given birth might not want to keep reading - just sayin'!

My due date was somewhere around the week of March 28th to April 3rd. You know, 'cuz babies have calendars in there...

On Monday March 15th I had a midwife appointment and she had to do an internal exam (for the record only the 2nd one of the entire pregnancy - yay for midwives!). She said I was about 1 cm dilated and 65% effaced. Farther along than I had been when I actually went to the hospital with Cory in labor. So that was encouraging!

After I got home I started having some cramps and the next day I was walking around like a cripple because I was having one sided cramps. It felt mostly like the ligament stretching that had happened early on in my pregnancy, but I told a friend, "either this has got to stop or I'm not going to make it 2 more weeks!"

Tuesday night I decide it might be a good idea to have Brian find the boxes in the garage that have all the baby stuff in them. I spend the whole evening sorting.

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I got up at 3am to pee (like clockwork) and felt pretty crampy.

4:15am I wake up to a contraction. Feel a slight bit of wetness down there. Roll off the bed and practically gush water all over the floor. Start to freak out a bit!
I tell Brian that I think my water has just broken and page the midwife. While waiting for her to call me back I decide that it might be a good idea to start some laundry - all those baby clothes and blankets that I had sorted the night before!

When the midwife calls back and I tell her that my water broke she says, okay, since I'm strep B positive this means we WILL have to have this baby in the next 24 hours, but not to worry and I don't need to come in until my contractions are a minute long, less than 5 minutes apart, and going on for an hour. At this point I'm hardly having any and they just feel more like cramps so I go back to bed.

The first midwife was leaving for vacation that day so the other midwife - who is also 8 months pregnant calls me in the morning. We schedule a time for me to come in if nothing has progressed so they can be sure it was actually my water breaking. Noon rolls around and my dad meets us at the midwife center to take Cory home with him. While sitting there chatting nicely with the midwife a huge gush of water comes out. Thankfully this precludes another exam since it's pretty obvious what this is!

However, with the risk of the strep B the labor needs to get going so we buy castor oil on the way home. I really really try hard not to take it by taking a nap and letting my body relax, but by 4pm with not a whole lot going on I have to drink it... Let me just say, don't ever mix it with anything! The midwife suggested mixing it with juice, but that just made the little oil globules roll around in my mouth, I think I'd have preferred just one texture! Ew!

At this point I'm still not sure if it was the castor oil or my body just getting with it, but I finally started to have more regular contractions. Still not too painful, thankfully. But after laying down for awhile at 7pm I was starting to have to breath through them and although they didn't feel that long I think they were actually longer than a minute.

We called the midwife, who had a half hour drive, and arranged to meet her there at 8. While trying to get ready and having to stop every couple minutes to breath we didn't actually get there until 8:15. She was there waiting with two birthing assistants (who I totally ignored until he was born, but were fabulousness).

They started the IV for the antibiotics (darn that strep B) and checked me at a 4 already. They had the giant tub all ready and as soon as I got in I could feel my body relax. I knew that I really had to focus on relaxing, but having Brian behind me and no one pressuring me made it so much easier. No lights, just a few candles and a big warm tub.

For the next hour I had super crazy contractions. Things I vaguely remember saying:
"what was I thinking? drugs are my friend!" (the midwives cannot give any pain medication)
"I'm not having any more kids"
"Shut up. I'm sorry" - when Brian was talking and I couldn't think how to ask him politely to be quiet!

Having to get out of the tub to use the toilet was pure torture (stupid castor oil), but getting back in I could immediately feel the muscles around my sides relax. The tub helped allow a break between contractions.

Soon I started to feel more pressure and suddenly I thought I needed to push so I called for the midwife. She had to check me again and was totally shocked to find I was at a 10 already with just a lip of skin holding him up. Then, she made me get out of the tub.
She wouldn't tell me why, only that I had to, but afterwards she said it was for 2 reasons. One, at 8 months pregnant she couldn't help me in the tub and two, after progressing that fast through labor it was a danger to have me in the tub due to possible bleeding afterwards. But she didn't want to have to tell me that in the middle of labor!

So, out we went and made a huge wet puddle on the bed, but after only about 3 pushes at 10:10pm he was out! Everyone was pretty surprised/impressed that I had gone from a 4 to a 10 in roughly an hour. I guess the norm is one hour per cm... which would explain the crazy intense contractions I was having!

Noah checked out perfectly and at 1:30am we came home!

In contrast to Cory's birth... I felt like I had a say in what happened and although it was intense for an hour it didn't drain me like the 36 hours with Cory! Total night and day difference!

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Happy Easter!


Someone found his Easter basket while we were still half asleep... and ate the whole chocolate bunny!

Friday, April 02, 2010

Tiny Prints Announcement

If you've been around the blogosphere for awhile I'm sure you've probably seen or read about TinyPrints. If not, they're one of the top sites for your custom birth announcements, invitations, and personal stationary.

A few weeks ago Jessica (@kikarose on twitter) contacted me after seeing that Noah was about to be born and asked if I'd like to review their birth announcements. That was an opportunity not to be missed!

The hardest part was figuring out which adorable design to pick... What do you think?

I had to go with green being born on St. Patrick's Day! But there are hundreds of photo card designs to choose from. And you can personalize all the wording, text color, and fonts. It's almost too many options for a new mama!

When they arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were printed on premium paper rather than photo paper. The cards are thick and the ink is nice and crisp. I hadn't looked before, but their paper is custom made in Italy and is either 30% recycled paper or FSC certified. I love that they're making a quality product and being responsible about it!

Last, but not least, they have a mailing service. When I sat down with the few that I had to hand label (they don't ship internationally) I was quite thankful that I didn't have to do all 100 of them! For the cost of postage and return address printing you can upload your address book in an excel type file and they will address and mail your announcements for you. What's not to love about that for busy mommies!

TinyPrints is a great company with fabulous customer service. They check your order multiple times and a professional designer makes sure it will look great. Plus, they're so sure you'll love it they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee! (not that I think you'll need it!) And shipping is super fast so you can get your announcements out quickly (or party invites, if you're a procrastinator like me and wait until the last minute!).

Take a look at TinyPrints next time you need some customized stationary, party invites, or are announcing a little person's arrival!

Oh, and in case you haven't quite gotten to the baby stage yet... they also have a sister site for all things wedding related!

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Book: As Young As We Feel

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

As Young As We Feel

David C. Cook; New edition (March 1, 2010)

by

Melody Carlson


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Over the years, Melody Carlson has worn many hats, from pre-school teacher to youth counselor to political activist to senior editor. But most of all, she loves to write! Currently she freelances from her home. In the past eight years, she has published over ninety books for children, teens, and adults--with sales totaling more than two million and many titles appearing on the ECPA Bestsellers List. Several of her books have been finalists for, and winners of, various writing awards. And her "Diary of a Teenage Girl" series has received great reviews and a large box of fan mail.

She has two grown sons and lives in Central Oregon with her husband and chocolate lab retriever. They enjoy skiing, hiking, gardening, camping and biking in the beautiful Cascade Mountains.


ABOUT THE BOOK
Is there room in one little hometown for four very different Lindas to reinvent their lives … together?

Once upon a time in a little town on the Oregon coast lived four Lindas—all in the same first-grade classroom. So they decided to go by their middle names. And form a club. And be friends forever. But that was forty-seven years and four very different lives ago. Now a class reunion has brought them all together in their old hometown—at a crossroads in their lives.

Janie is a high-powered lawyer with a load of grief. Abby is a lonely housewife in a beautiful oceanfront empty nest. Marley is trying to recapture the artistic free spirit she lost in an unhappy marriage. And the beautiful Caroline is scrambling to cope with her mother’s dementia and a Hollywood career that never really happened. Together, they’re about to explore the invigorating reality that even the most eventful life has second acts … and friendship doesn’t come with a statue of limitations.

***

Once again it's kind of hard to read and review a book you haven't received yet... but I've enjoyed Melody Carlson books in the past and I'm sure this one would be no exception. Light reads that somehow still manage to have depth.

If you would like to read the first chapter of As Young As We Feel, go HERE.