My husband likes to make videos. Which is pretty cute I would say. This video gives some insight into my sweet Carter Moo and his darling personality. He is really quite the entertainer. He has this truck that he loves to ride in over and over. Basically our son is a precision instrument. He has what it takes to really play hard folks- strength, stealth, commitment, and although it takes him some time to stand up due to excess around the mid-section...his high pitched voice and spry run are enough to make anyone smile. Watch it-you won't regret it!!
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Clarissa's Birth Story
I decided to sit down early and write about Clarissa Mae's birth before I forget most of what happened. Crazy to think you could forget details about yourself giving birth...but I am a firm believer that once baby is here, most of our memories of the aches and pains of pregnancy and delivery are erased as part of our Heavenly Father's plan to get us to have more kids :) It's easy to forget things when all you see in front of you is a darling little 6 pound baby just wanting to be kissed and snuggled! So here we go. Keep in mind, this IS a birthing story, so I am at liberty to say whatever I want! ;)
From the day I knew I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to have a natural labor and delivery, no medication, just the clarity of my own mind and body doing what it needed to do as naturally as possible. That was a big step for me since Nate and I would be away from home and family, across the country, and looking only to each other for support and encouragement. My sister Karlie thankfully living out here was a huge help and support system, since no one in the rest of our families really "behind" natural childbirth like we were. Not that they were against it, but you really need people who are gung-ho about it to draw encouragement from. I took a hypnobirthing class that I absolutely loved and would recommend to anyone who asked me! It taught me to relax and be calm, even in my day to day living, and trained me for my sweet baby's birth with breathing techniques and relaxation help. Anyone interested in the method feel free to ask me more, I could go on all day. But to save time and space, I'll move on.
Labor for me started in the early 3rd trimester you could say. I had been having contractions all day every day, but never consistanly. Just enough to irritate. So when I reached my 36 week mark and went into my Midwife's office to check progress, I fully expected to see some pretty great results! With Carter, at this point in time I was already dilated 3 centimeters and 80% effaced. So you can imagine my devastation to learn that I was NOT dilated at all and my cervix was "soft" but clearly not effaced any either. Wow. This pregnancy not having been a picnic like it was with Carter, I cried my eyes out and felt so sad for the rest of the day! That feeling when you think you may be pregnant forever? Miserable. Another week rolled by, now to 37, and the same thing happened! No progress! I took things a little better this week around because I had come to grips with the fact that she was never coming out. But Nate refused to feel the same (which is easy when you aren't the one pregnant) and he took me to the gym to walk and walk and walk some more. By week 38, he even fed me a small dose of castor oil. So supportive :) I thought for sure the castor oil would put me into active labor and keep all of my irritating contractions closer together, but a night of hard contractions and stomach cramps later- she was still cozy inside of me. During week 38 Nate and I also both got hit hard with a 24 hour flu virus. We were both miserable with fevers, throwing up, and sucked dry of all energy. Carter spent that day watching movies. This bug made me think I would be in labor in no time since I could not even keep water inside of me. But all of my contractions lasted 3 minutes apart for a few hours and then slowed down to 4-6 minutes apart. Frustration. I'm not sure Nate had ever had to deal with this version of me thus far in our marriage so he was truly a champ. As you can see, "early labor" is aka the phase of eternity.
3 days shy of 39 weeks, I went in for my appointment and expected nothing of course. I was SO surprised when my midwife told me I was dilated to a 4 almost 5 and fully effaced and that any day, hour, or minute she'd expect to see me at the birthing center! This was on March 28th. On Easter Sunday, the 31st, I went to church per our usual routine and came home very uncomfortable and restless. Around 1pm I noticed my contractions were every 3 minutes. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to excite Nathan for no reason, but around 5pm when they hadn't changed and were coming some even 2 minutes apart I decided that this was probably the real thing. I was out of breath and stopping to breathe through a contraction now and again, but determined to stay on my feet and help speed things along. Around 7pm things, contractions still 2-3 minutes, I told Nate we should go to the birthing center. We put Carter to bed and left him home with my sister and by 8pm we arrived at the birthing center. My midwife let me know that I was dilated to a 6 and fully effaced so I was admitted and started my journey into active labor. I walked for four hours straight. Pacing the halls with Nate, trying to get things to pick up even more, but everything stayed the same. I used birthing balls, gravity, and all I could to get my contractions closer together but was getting exceptionally frustrated when I noticed them starting to slow down again!! I was dilated to a 6! When my midwife came back after those 4 long hours to check my progress again, I told her I was ready to have a little assistance-so she broke my water. I had not initially wanted my water broken unless it happened on it's own, but when you live in early labor as long as I did, only 4 centimeters from delivery, I was ready to move on. One contraction after my water had broke, I knew it was definitely game on. That one contraction was very different from all of the ones prior and it really took some deep breathing and true concentration. I knew at that moment I needed to relax and make myself as comfortable as possible, so I asked if I could use their jacuzzi tub to relax in for a bit. As I waited for the tub to fill up, I listened to my relaxation cd with the lights dim, trying to remember how easy it was to fall asleep when I listened to this so many nights at home while I was pregnant. But rather than sleeping, it took a lot of focus to simply keep relaxed and limp and let my body do what it needed to do. You learn in hypnobirthing how important it is to keep every muscle relaxed, the muscles in your face, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, all the way down to your toes. So as I breathed through contractions this was my central focus, and it became a challenge to keep telling my body to be still and quiet as my contractions grew in intensity.
By the time I got to the jacuzzi things had really picked up. The warm water seemed to help for awhile until I thought I would die of heat and we had to use some cool water to help try and balance things out. Since at Emerson they don't allow you to give birth in their tubs (which was fine with me :) after 30-40 minutes I told Nate that if I wasn't going to birth in the water then I needed to move back to the room stat. Things got a lot trickier at that point. You feel like the water will be the most comfortable place to be, but when you are so NOT comfortable in the water, all of a sudden my body told me it didn't want to be anywhere! haha that it just wanted to be done or somehow escape! Keeping calm and limp and relaxed became even more challenging, and a mental battle. One side of my brain wanting to panic and the other part confidently pushing those thoughts to the side. I made my way from the jacuzzi to our room, having to stop and grab hold of Nate frequently to make it through each contraction successfully while standing. When we made it back to the room, my midwife and nurse stood quietly to the side and let Nathan talk to me and help me through what may have been the most difficult moments of my life. He was the most fabulous coach and the only person who I wanted to hear. I couldn't believe how silent the midwife was! It may as well have just been me and Nathan alone in that room. He spoke so gently and calmly and was amazing, encouraging me and telling me what it was I was doing and what I was doing it for-that I was almost done and how grateful he was to me and how grateful our baby girl was for the easy birth I was offering her. I had prepared to give birth this way for 9 months, but I feel as though I could have never prepared enough until I just experienced it. I had seen so many videos of quiet mothers not making a sound, softly welcoming their child into the world, and that's how I always envisioned Clarissa's birth. But although I was a little more vocal than expected :) (nothing terribly drastic mind you!) I am truly grateful for the confidence that never left my mind that this could be accomplished. I did ask Nate once or twice why I had decided to birth this way, but he reminded me and that was that. I knew I wanted to accomplish this large goal!
From the time my water had been broken to the time baby Clarissa joined our family was about 3 hours. Unbelievable. The whole experience was phenomenal and entirely euphoric. About 16 hours of labor start to finish. She was obviously very content inside me the cute little stink. Clarissa Mae was born April 1st (little trickster) at 3:57am. I had labored all through the night and still could not sleep after the fact. I was so excited and amazed at what my little family had just accomplished! The feeling I'm sure cannot be surpassed. I have never loved Nate more in my life. Never loved Carter more for being tucked safe and sound asleep in his bed haha. Never loved Clarissa more for finally coming out!! And letting me see her sweet face and kiss it to no end! And never loved myself more, for following through, even when I thought it was unbearable. For not giving in to what I had wanted from the beginning, and for developing a stronger relationship with my Father in Heaven. I felt very strong after the fact. Was able to get up and walk around, and make things really easy for my nurses since I didn't need their help with much. My recovery has been amazing and no strong medications were necessary after the fact either. Just ibuprofen here or there which amazed me! Since after Carter, my recovery was slow and really difficult. I had energy and felt self-sufficient enough that we left the hospital a day early to come home and be with our family. Even still a week later I am impressed with how quickly my body is recovered and how life just goes on as normal. Sometimes I have to remind myself- "HELLO! You just had a baby! Don't you remember?" But sometimes I forget it has only been one week and I feel amazing. Probably my number one reason for birthing naturally again in the future. The day after Clarissa was born, my sister Karlie was asking me how it went and "would you do it naturally again?". I had to be honest in my response, so I told her I wasn't sure if I would do it again. It was very difficult. But as the moments and days pass, I become more and more convinced I should do it this way every time!
My baby girl is an angel. Babies are such an incredible gift and a blessing that I will never take for granted again. Building a family with the man I love most has been such a ride already, but so exciting to see our little family grow and look into each others eyes with more love by the day. We are so happy to be parents and could never imagine our lives any differently than they are right now! I have found that I have moments in time when I would look at Nate or Carter and want to die of a broken heart at the thought of not being with them. And at 2 days old, I sat on the couch snuggling my little baby girl and felt that pang in my heart so strongly again, reminding me how blessed I am and how my heart would ache without her. Families are the most important thing in the world, and I count my blessings each time I look at mine! Truly one of the most rewarding days of my whole life. See for yourself :)
Because during active labor, modesty was the last thing on my mind....we will cut to the chase and show pictures of the cute little nugget. I look dreadful :) Keep in mind that at 9 months pregnant I was SO swollen with water I may as well have been a blimp!
From the day I knew I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to have a natural labor and delivery, no medication, just the clarity of my own mind and body doing what it needed to do as naturally as possible. That was a big step for me since Nate and I would be away from home and family, across the country, and looking only to each other for support and encouragement. My sister Karlie thankfully living out here was a huge help and support system, since no one in the rest of our families really "behind" natural childbirth like we were. Not that they were against it, but you really need people who are gung-ho about it to draw encouragement from. I took a hypnobirthing class that I absolutely loved and would recommend to anyone who asked me! It taught me to relax and be calm, even in my day to day living, and trained me for my sweet baby's birth with breathing techniques and relaxation help. Anyone interested in the method feel free to ask me more, I could go on all day. But to save time and space, I'll move on.
Labor for me started in the early 3rd trimester you could say. I had been having contractions all day every day, but never consistanly. Just enough to irritate. So when I reached my 36 week mark and went into my Midwife's office to check progress, I fully expected to see some pretty great results! With Carter, at this point in time I was already dilated 3 centimeters and 80% effaced. So you can imagine my devastation to learn that I was NOT dilated at all and my cervix was "soft" but clearly not effaced any either. Wow. This pregnancy not having been a picnic like it was with Carter, I cried my eyes out and felt so sad for the rest of the day! That feeling when you think you may be pregnant forever? Miserable. Another week rolled by, now to 37, and the same thing happened! No progress! I took things a little better this week around because I had come to grips with the fact that she was never coming out. But Nate refused to feel the same (which is easy when you aren't the one pregnant) and he took me to the gym to walk and walk and walk some more. By week 38, he even fed me a small dose of castor oil. So supportive :) I thought for sure the castor oil would put me into active labor and keep all of my irritating contractions closer together, but a night of hard contractions and stomach cramps later- she was still cozy inside of me. During week 38 Nate and I also both got hit hard with a 24 hour flu virus. We were both miserable with fevers, throwing up, and sucked dry of all energy. Carter spent that day watching movies. This bug made me think I would be in labor in no time since I could not even keep water inside of me. But all of my contractions lasted 3 minutes apart for a few hours and then slowed down to 4-6 minutes apart. Frustration. I'm not sure Nate had ever had to deal with this version of me thus far in our marriage so he was truly a champ. As you can see, "early labor" is aka the phase of eternity.
3 days shy of 39 weeks, I went in for my appointment and expected nothing of course. I was SO surprised when my midwife told me I was dilated to a 4 almost 5 and fully effaced and that any day, hour, or minute she'd expect to see me at the birthing center! This was on March 28th. On Easter Sunday, the 31st, I went to church per our usual routine and came home very uncomfortable and restless. Around 1pm I noticed my contractions were every 3 minutes. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to excite Nathan for no reason, but around 5pm when they hadn't changed and were coming some even 2 minutes apart I decided that this was probably the real thing. I was out of breath and stopping to breathe through a contraction now and again, but determined to stay on my feet and help speed things along. Around 7pm things, contractions still 2-3 minutes, I told Nate we should go to the birthing center. We put Carter to bed and left him home with my sister and by 8pm we arrived at the birthing center. My midwife let me know that I was dilated to a 6 and fully effaced so I was admitted and started my journey into active labor. I walked for four hours straight. Pacing the halls with Nate, trying to get things to pick up even more, but everything stayed the same. I used birthing balls, gravity, and all I could to get my contractions closer together but was getting exceptionally frustrated when I noticed them starting to slow down again!! I was dilated to a 6! When my midwife came back after those 4 long hours to check my progress again, I told her I was ready to have a little assistance-so she broke my water. I had not initially wanted my water broken unless it happened on it's own, but when you live in early labor as long as I did, only 4 centimeters from delivery, I was ready to move on. One contraction after my water had broke, I knew it was definitely game on. That one contraction was very different from all of the ones prior and it really took some deep breathing and true concentration. I knew at that moment I needed to relax and make myself as comfortable as possible, so I asked if I could use their jacuzzi tub to relax in for a bit. As I waited for the tub to fill up, I listened to my relaxation cd with the lights dim, trying to remember how easy it was to fall asleep when I listened to this so many nights at home while I was pregnant. But rather than sleeping, it took a lot of focus to simply keep relaxed and limp and let my body do what it needed to do. You learn in hypnobirthing how important it is to keep every muscle relaxed, the muscles in your face, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, all the way down to your toes. So as I breathed through contractions this was my central focus, and it became a challenge to keep telling my body to be still and quiet as my contractions grew in intensity.
By the time I got to the jacuzzi things had really picked up. The warm water seemed to help for awhile until I thought I would die of heat and we had to use some cool water to help try and balance things out. Since at Emerson they don't allow you to give birth in their tubs (which was fine with me :) after 30-40 minutes I told Nate that if I wasn't going to birth in the water then I needed to move back to the room stat. Things got a lot trickier at that point. You feel like the water will be the most comfortable place to be, but when you are so NOT comfortable in the water, all of a sudden my body told me it didn't want to be anywhere! haha that it just wanted to be done or somehow escape! Keeping calm and limp and relaxed became even more challenging, and a mental battle. One side of my brain wanting to panic and the other part confidently pushing those thoughts to the side. I made my way from the jacuzzi to our room, having to stop and grab hold of Nate frequently to make it through each contraction successfully while standing. When we made it back to the room, my midwife and nurse stood quietly to the side and let Nathan talk to me and help me through what may have been the most difficult moments of my life. He was the most fabulous coach and the only person who I wanted to hear. I couldn't believe how silent the midwife was! It may as well have just been me and Nathan alone in that room. He spoke so gently and calmly and was amazing, encouraging me and telling me what it was I was doing and what I was doing it for-that I was almost done and how grateful he was to me and how grateful our baby girl was for the easy birth I was offering her. I had prepared to give birth this way for 9 months, but I feel as though I could have never prepared enough until I just experienced it. I had seen so many videos of quiet mothers not making a sound, softly welcoming their child into the world, and that's how I always envisioned Clarissa's birth. But although I was a little more vocal than expected :) (nothing terribly drastic mind you!) I am truly grateful for the confidence that never left my mind that this could be accomplished. I did ask Nate once or twice why I had decided to birth this way, but he reminded me and that was that. I knew I wanted to accomplish this large goal!
From the time my water had been broken to the time baby Clarissa joined our family was about 3 hours. Unbelievable. The whole experience was phenomenal and entirely euphoric. About 16 hours of labor start to finish. She was obviously very content inside me the cute little stink. Clarissa Mae was born April 1st (little trickster) at 3:57am. I had labored all through the night and still could not sleep after the fact. I was so excited and amazed at what my little family had just accomplished! The feeling I'm sure cannot be surpassed. I have never loved Nate more in my life. Never loved Carter more for being tucked safe and sound asleep in his bed haha. Never loved Clarissa more for finally coming out!! And letting me see her sweet face and kiss it to no end! And never loved myself more, for following through, even when I thought it was unbearable. For not giving in to what I had wanted from the beginning, and for developing a stronger relationship with my Father in Heaven. I felt very strong after the fact. Was able to get up and walk around, and make things really easy for my nurses since I didn't need their help with much. My recovery has been amazing and no strong medications were necessary after the fact either. Just ibuprofen here or there which amazed me! Since after Carter, my recovery was slow and really difficult. I had energy and felt self-sufficient enough that we left the hospital a day early to come home and be with our family. Even still a week later I am impressed with how quickly my body is recovered and how life just goes on as normal. Sometimes I have to remind myself- "HELLO! You just had a baby! Don't you remember?" But sometimes I forget it has only been one week and I feel amazing. Probably my number one reason for birthing naturally again in the future. The day after Clarissa was born, my sister Karlie was asking me how it went and "would you do it naturally again?". I had to be honest in my response, so I told her I wasn't sure if I would do it again. It was very difficult. But as the moments and days pass, I become more and more convinced I should do it this way every time!
My baby girl is an angel. Babies are such an incredible gift and a blessing that I will never take for granted again. Building a family with the man I love most has been such a ride already, but so exciting to see our little family grow and look into each others eyes with more love by the day. We are so happy to be parents and could never imagine our lives any differently than they are right now! I have found that I have moments in time when I would look at Nate or Carter and want to die of a broken heart at the thought of not being with them. And at 2 days old, I sat on the couch snuggling my little baby girl and felt that pang in my heart so strongly again, reminding me how blessed I am and how my heart would ache without her. Families are the most important thing in the world, and I count my blessings each time I look at mine! Truly one of the most rewarding days of my whole life. See for yourself :)
Because during active labor, modesty was the last thing on my mind....we will cut to the chase and show pictures of the cute little nugget. I look dreadful :) Keep in mind that at 9 months pregnant I was SO swollen with water I may as well have been a blimp!
Thankfully I only had the pole while I got some antibiotics. Otherwise things may have gotten outta hand..
Water broken.....focus, focus, focus.
Although my heart is filled with joy it took me a second to gather myself together. This may be considered my, "what?? I did it??" face. My hair is wet from the jacuzzi, but let's be real. I have never sweat so much in my life! :)
Clarissa Mae- 7lbs 2 oz 20 inches long. Beautiful and perfect.
Clarissa had plenty to say upon her arrival :) Very talkative, but already so sweet as could be!
I love my cute kids!
She has the sweetest little feet!
My man and support through it all! The one and only :)
My darling niece Ainsley was so cute with Clarissa and did not want to give her up to anyone!
Kiss me that face!
Welcome home sweet baby!!
Monday, March 25, 2013
The Waiting Game!
I have put off my blog for a little bit now because i didn't want to blog again until I had really exciting, "I'm not pregnant anymore!" kind of things to blog about. Sadly, as this is not the case, I thought I'd write down a few last thoughts before little girl arrives. Being 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant with your second child, you start to grow weary of waiting. How long do you have to pray for patience until it actually starts to stick? A lifetime I'd say. I am so hungry with the idea of holding a sweet newborn baby girl in my arms and showing Carter finally that Baby Clarissa IS real, even though he can't see her when he lifts up my shirt! So anxious to feel the success of a natural birth and to put to use all of the pink and purple things that I want to dress her in! I am also anxious to breathe again, to run, to take back my own hormones and let baby Clarissa take hers packing. Anxious to not be swollen, kankle lady! To bend over with ease to pick something up, to not rely on nap time every day to get by, and to be able to get out of bed during the night. The grass is always greener isn't it? I know that once baby is here I will be equally exhausted and have a whole new person and schedule to adjust to, but I am so excited to see her sweet little face! It's a shame that each pregnancy and baby has to be SO different. With Carter, at this point I was progressing great and ready to have him a week early! I have no such hopes for this child sadly. It is even more tantalizing to feel like every pregnant person I know at present (aside from 1!) is holding their sweet baby in their arms...so we will do what we have to do to get her here safely..but with haste! I never thought I would be so excited to give birth! :) But I am truly anxious for the experience again. So here's to all the pregnant people out there who are stuck in the middle of the "waiting game". May there be few days left of sausage-like feet and fingers, and a fast approaching delivery day! Signing off until I have pictures to plaster this page with of a sweet new face :)
Friday, March 1, 2013
Homemade Yogurt
Who even thinks when they go to the grocery store and pick up a carton of yogurt, "hey I could make this stuff!" and puts it back on the shelf? I never did! Because I never knew how! Well thanks to my sister Karlie and her hubby Ryan who have begun a new gluten free and incredibly healthy lifestyle, I have had healthy urges to change the way that my family eats. Karlie says that if you want to start to make that change in a small way, something you can start by doing is making things yourself that you normally wouldn't. Ex. Cream of chicken/mushroom soup, chicken broth, healthy snacks to put on your shelves, yogurt, spagetti or pasta sauces, etc. And all of those things I have learned, can be so easily made on your own! Starting with yogurt. So here is a post to document my almost 2 day project of culturing yogurt myself, and making delicious homemade granola to go with. Hope you find it interesting! If you are up for a fun little homemade project with a yummy finish- do this. It is fun to watch and really healthy for you as a finished product!
The thing about making your own yogurt is not the amount of work you have to do, but the amount of time you have to wait. When I first started making it, I was so anxious to see the final result, but it takes a good amount of time. I followed the recipe at :
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2013/01/diy-homemade-yogurt.htm#
To start your project you'll want to being around 4pm in the afternoon to time things just right. This worked perfect for me. You will need:
*1 gallon of milk (I used whole milk, but 1% or 2% work fine too) My sister has even made hers with substitutes like soy or coconut milk and it turned out yummy too for you who don't have much to do with dairy.
*1/2 cup plain yogurt, making sure that it contains active live cultures. Lactobacillus bulgaricus and S. Thermophilus in particular.
*A slow cooker and candy thermometer
*Cheese cloth
*Yogurt Toppings of choice
To start, you will want to pour your milk into your slow cooker (which should be a 4-5 quart cooker), cover it, and turn it on to heat up. You want to heat your milk to 180 degrees. This takes 2-3 hours usually.
So by about 6:30 pm my milk had reached the 180 degrees. Once it has heated to this temperature, you want to pull the pot out of the heating base, and let it cool to 112-120 degrees. It is really important that you don't A. Overheat your milk to start, and B. You don't let it get to cool. The heating and cooling process is vital to the active yogurt cultures keeping alive. To cool my milk to about 2 hours. So around 8pm, I was ready for the next step.
Take your half cup of yogurt, and put it into a container. Then take 1 cup of your now warm milk and combine it with the yogurt and whisk it all up! Once it is smooth, you can pour this back into your crock pot and cover it. Now you'll want to preheat your oven to 250 degrees. While it is preheating, you are going to swaddle your crock pot like a wee babe inside a bath towel :) For insulation purposes. Wrap the towel around the crock pot so there are no openings. Once your oven reaches 250, turn it off and put your baby inside.
Quickly close the oven door, and turn on your oven light. Guess what? More waiting. By this time, you will want to leave it in overnight.
When morning comes get excited! Around 8 am, pull your pot out of the oven. It will look thick, and have that watery layer over the top (whey). Something like this...
It made me really excited to the yogurt at this point, and I knew I was almost done! Lastly, comes your cheese cloth. Put a colander inside of another larger bowl, and line the inside of the colander with your cheesecloth. You are going to scoop all of your yogurt into the cheesecloth lined colander, so it looks like this-
Cover it with a lid of some sort, and put it in the fridge for 4-6 hours. The purpose of this is to strain all of the excess why and fluid. And boy will you be shocked at how much there is!! Here is what it looked like after the fact.
SO much thicker with all of the fluid drained! I wish I had taken a picture of how much there actually was! At this point you are practically done! I took my yogurt and put it into my blender and pulsed it to smooth it all out. I initially just whisked it, but it was still a little clumpy (which is fine) but i wanted mine silky smooth. Then viola! You are through! Put it into a container to store for up to 2 weeks in your fridge. But do eat some first. It is pretty tart on it's own, so if you want you can sweeten it you can add some sugar during the blending process, but I highly recommend honey instead. We used raw honey and it is SO good!! Also featured on our yogurt are blackberries, strawberries, and my homemade granola. (Which will be a much shorter blog post to come) Your own homemade parfait.
BON APETITE!
YUM.
Dinosaur Time
Thank you Grandma for sending such fun dinosaurs and crafts for the kiddos to paint! Here's a few photos to let you know it went great. You'll see it was a success because-
1. Everyone got to kick it shirtless for the morning. Alright, not everyone. I know what you were thinking. I was still wearing my shirt ;)
2. Carter only ate one mouthful of paint. So sick.
3. Only one dinosaur was broken, and then poorly repaired.
4. They looked awesome. Here you are!
1. Everyone got to kick it shirtless for the morning. Alright, not everyone. I know what you were thinking. I was still wearing my shirt ;)
2. Carter only ate one mouthful of paint. So sick.
3. Only one dinosaur was broken, and then poorly repaired.
4. They looked awesome. Here you are!
Dean
Carter
Sissy
Best I could get...no one would look at me. Don't mind dean's face. He can't help it living around his parents 24/7.... :)
And to finish it all off- a bath.
Everyone was a happy camper! We love you Grandma!
The Fatal Accident..
Ever wish that when something bad happened you could walk back in time 20 or so minutes to prevent it? Ever wish it bad?? I know I do. The most daunting thing about something like this happening, is that you know before hand you warned yourself that something might not go quite right and that you should not go through with it. Such was the day that Carter's beautiful hair was shaved off.
One of Carter's great features has always been his hair. He has always had a lot of it and we have always gotten compliments on it from complete strangers. And so it became one of my favorite traits of his. Just when you become that much vain, stop yourself. Because this is what might happen next....
One of Carter's great features has always been his hair. He has always had a lot of it and we have always gotten compliments on it from complete strangers. And so it became one of my favorite traits of his. Just when you become that much vain, stop yourself. Because this is what might happen next....
OUCH. Yeah, this is not a joke. And for a day I had to decide whether or not it was hilarious, or worth sobbing over. Well the good news is, I didn't sob and kept it together- but did have a few tears intermixed with the laughter. What else can you do but laugh when this happens to your child's head?? Not much. Except wish. Wish you'd listened to your inner conscious and stepped away when you should have. This is how the incident played out...
After a morning at Tata Karlie's (Aunt Karlie's) Carter was pretty well worn out. Poor little guy had been teething like crazy, was clingy, grumpy, and tearful all morning. I had gone over in the hopes that Kar would help me cut his hair because it had grown so long. She has cut Carter's hair in the past, and even Nate's and they looked rockin' so who could have seen this coming? The morning flew by and I decided maybe it was best to do it later when he wasn't so grumpy, and I should go put him down for his nap. With our 3 kids surrounding us in what someone might call chaos, I decided "What the heck. Let's get this over with. He won't be happy any time we cut his hair anyways." That was when I should have stopped- gotten things together- and said, maybe next time. Little cousin Ainsley wanted to help her mommy so badly that she was getting in all of the hair that was falling from carter's head (yuck) so Kar gently nudged her out the door and closed it to keep her from getting in a big mess. She didn't like that much, so her crying and waling joined Carter's creating a billowing throng of howls. Dean, the eldest of the three, sat in the dry bathtub throwing bath toys around and playing make believe. I am trying to talk over the noise of it all to calm Carter down, and Kar is being so sweet and doing her best to get it done quickly. On the VERY last stroke of his hair, to finish the haircut and send us on our way, the black comb on the clippers fell completely off, leaving nothing but the razor blade right next to my little man's head. In truth, we are lucky he didn't get cut. But you can imagine how both of us gasped and froze after we saw what had happened to his head!!
I am still surprised by it every day. It reminds me of when my cat got fixed and had to be shaved. Or when she had a sore on her back that needed to be taken care of, so they shaved a patch of her fur off leaving her pink kitty scalp bare in the middle of her soft lovely coat. Yuck. Every time I look at Carter I have to remind myself that he's not hurt, and that he doesn't know the difference. This is my burden to bare haha After the initial shock wore off, Karlie managed an "Oh my gosh......I am SO sorry! This has never happened before!" and all I could muster was, "He's bald! It's BALD!" If you have seen Bride Wars, please refer to the "My hair is blue" line. It was fairly similarly said in my case.
So, now we wait. We wait for his handsome hair to come back. The only regret I have now over this incident is that it hadn't been recorded. The grand prize with America's funniest home videos would surely have been ours!
A Saturday in Concord
There are so many amazing things to do in a town with so much history! And we ought to be doing them more often! But this Saturday we took the bull by the horns and just did it! Per my request, we visited THIS beautiful place-
Near the heart of downtown Concord, lived Louisa May Alcott and her family- the authoress of Little Women. I could not have been more excited to learn about her life and aquaintances and passion! Unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside because SO many of what was inside were their actual items! Furniture, paintings, personal items, and even some of the costumes Louisa made for their at home performances :) (You little women fans will love that-I did) I was amazed at the condition the house was in- so beautiful and all of their belongings so well kept. Incredible!
Ralph Waldo Emerson lived nearby and he actually helped the Alcott's purchase this home. What a pal!
This is a school that Mr. Alcott had built to help educate women and "colored" people of the day. It is right outside their home. They were an amazing family- all of them.
Sadly this is the extent of our photography, but everything inside was truly sensational! Sometimes I feel like I may have been born in the wrong era.....
So after our history lesson for the day, how better to wind down than with some ice cream? This shoppe in Concord is a personal favorite. So quaint, and cute! All homemade ice cream too!
"Reasons to be Cheerful" :) They'll give you a good 15-20 flavorful reasons.
Darling right? Lots of nights they feature live bands downstairs.
Moo loves his ice cream!
Love me some chocolate Ainsley face.
So a truly successful Saturday! So fun and so enlightening! I really enjoy seeing new places and living somewhere new and exciting! More adventures to come!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)