Polanks!

A Weeks Worth of Pictures!

2012-02-15T07:01:00.001-05:00

39/365 - Just my girl enjoying her Cheerios for breakfast.

40/365 - My first attempt at a moon shot..
Will definitely try again when I find my tripod!

41/365 - some of the sugar flowers I was making for my mom's
60th birthday cake! This was my first try at sugar flowers, and
it was so much fun!

42/365 - My wonderful neighbor Lisa brought us a treat the
other night. She works for Stonefield Farms, and they were
handing out boxes of their new organic frozen yogurt pops.
She brought us two boxes, yum!

43/365 - Just a shot of the finished cake. I was pretty happy
with it, and look forward to using that technique again!

44/365 - My girl signing a Valentine for a friend. I cut out the
hearts, she did the rest. I am so proud of how far she's coming
with writing her name!

Seeds - 38/365

2012-02-08T19:52:00.001-05:00

38/365 - Seeds

Nothing too exciting, just a seed head from the garden. I think this is a from a purple cone flower. I like how it actually looks like a flower still, even though all the petals have dropped off. Soon these will become more flowers for my garden! I was having a hard time taking this picture indoors, so I ended up pulling the stem through a piece of white paper, and taping it to the window so it was a bit illuminated from the back. It was a tad dark outside at this point, so I had to set the camera on the chair since I am unable to find my tripod at the moment! Even though I was being circled by Ana, Stevie and Cooper at the time, trying to protect both the flower and my camera, I think it ended up pretty neat!

37/365 - Ewww...

2012-02-08T15:01:00.003-05:00

Yeah...that's what I thought when I walked into my kitchen last night and saw this guy hanging out on the wall! I have seen several of these guys in the basement, but they rarely show up on the main floor of the house. Truthfully, I was heading into the kitchen to get my camera since I hadn't yet done my picture of the day...it was around 11pm. So, yeah...I had to get moving! I had no idea what I was going to do until I saw him there, clinging to the wall near where my camera was sitting. Ewww!

Ewww... 37/365

Winter?

2012-02-07T13:17:00.001-05:00

Such a big girl now!

I love these tights!

It has been ridiculously warm this winter. I'm not complaining, it's just weird! We got outside yesterday to enjoy some of the sunshine, and it was so nice! Ana has been begging to ride her bike, so we pulled it out of the garage and off we went for a walk. She did so great; she rode all the way to the end of our road and back again! It's not terribly far, but for 4 year old legs, I'm sure it was a trek! When we got back to the house, we played in the yard for a while. Ana's mission was mud pies, Cooper's was a combination between stealing Ana's bike, climbing the play set ladder/sliding down the slide and being crazy on the swings. Basically, anything but the mud his sister was trying to sell him! We had a ball getting some fresh air, and we're looking forward to getting out again this afternoon after nap time! Today, cousin Stevie can play with us too!

Trying to figure out how to get on!

Mummy helped him up...
checking out the bell!

Oh yeah! I'm totally a big kid now!

Up - 36/365

and down!

I think she was saying,
"Would you like some cakes m'lady?"

Ana LOVES the mud (that's a heart she's trying to make)

The Lesson - 35/365

2012-02-06T08:49:00.004-05:00

35/365 - The Lesson

No, he's not having an actual piano lesson. He's just sitting with his Nannie at the piano, having some fun. I adore the way he is looking at his Nannie in this picture. It warms my heart! Cooper loves to sit up at the piano and plunk away singing, "la, la, laaaaaa"; it is so cute! He sings all the time, way more than Ian and Ana ever did, and I love it! Maybe he'll be a piano player like his brother!

Still At It!

2012-02-05T09:19:00.000-05:00

I've been taking a picture consistently every day for a couple days over a month now! I am super proud of myself. Even though this week was pretty lame in the picture department, I still kept up with it!

32/365 - Home

Well, Thursday was a long day. I had PTA that night and knew that once I got home if I had sat down, I'd probably be asleep within minutes and I wouldn't get my picture done. So here is my PTA bag and shoes exactly where I left them at the door. I know, exciting!

33/365 - iPod Touch

Yup, Ian has one. I really wasn't crazy about him having one. I mean, if he was going to listen to music with it, that would be one thing, but he wanted it for the games and apps. He had lots of friends who had them, but I just wasn't convinces that a 10 year old needs to be owning one of these things! Anyways, he asked for money for his birthday because he had purchasing and ipod in mind, and combined between all his gifts, he scrambled up enough to go purchase it. So yes, my 10 year old has an iPod Touch. It tries to take over his life; so we have had to set some major boundaries to prevent that from happening! Like, he can't use it until his chores and homework are done, and he has to hand it over promptly at 7pm, an hour before his bedtime. Before we realized we had to make these rules, we were unaware that he was taking it to bed and playing it until late into the night. This made for very bad mornings. This week he asked to download some music to it, and I was very happy, but we're pretty picky about what kind of music we want him listening to. The stuff his friends are listening to are not always what we approve. He's pretty good about this, and know that mum is going to look up the lyrics and make sure it is okay before we add it to his playlist. It is so hard though finding appropriate, but still cool music for kids!

34/365, Knit

I felt really cozy last night curled up on the couch with my cup of coffee, and a knitting project! Actually, this picture had to be staged, because before I decided to take a picture, I majorly messed up the pattern, and had to rip several rows back. I was then too lazy to get up and get a crochet hook to assist getting all the stitches back on the needles correctly, and to be honest, I'm not sure I will be able to tell where I am in the pattern if I do get them back on! Very frustrating, I may have to start completely over. It will be worth it though when these little slippers are finished and keeping Cooper's little piggies warm!

Carrot

2012-02-01T20:14:00.002-05:00

February 1st - 31/365, Carrot

Well...it was one of those days. Kids were nuts. I'm exhausted. Crappy picture it is. C'est la vie!

Nannie and YUM!

2012-02-01T09:11:00.000-05:00

January 30th - 29/365, Nannie

My mum was in the hospital most of last week suffering with complications from pneumonia. On Monday, she finally felt well enough to leave the house, and she paid us a visit. She is still beyond exhausted, but I can't tell you how nice it was to see her smiling again! Everyday brings us a little bit closer to seeing that crazy joyful Nannie we are used to seeing!

January31st - 30/365, Yum

Um....Cadbury Creme Eggs. I know they are loaded with lots of stuff I shouldn't be putting into my body, but YUM! I just can't help myself. Thank goodness they are only around one time a year, but unfortunately, that time of year seems to come earlier and last longer every year!

28/365

2012-01-29T20:01:00.001-05:00

I don't have a title for this one. I was taking pictures of Ian doing this:

and this

when he did this:

So I did this:

28/365

and I'm still in awe every day

how Greg + Cammie = this reddish haired, hazel eyed boy!

All Caught Up!

2012-01-28T14:22:00.000-05:00

Long Day, 26/365

It was one of those days! Look at that mess behind my reclined slippers, arrgh! We spent the morning finally getting our hands on the elusive popcorn salt I searched for for four hours the day before, and going to Wal Mart to get the popcorn, bags and a few other items. This was all done in really icky pouring rain, and we were soaked by the time our tasks were complete. We then went to hang out with my mum who has just spent the majority of the last week in the hospital due to complications from pneumonia. We arrived home in time to see Ian off the bus, and get everything together for the PTA Family Movie Night that I was running. It was a good time, even though my mind was very preoccupied, and things didn't get set up, or started early enough to make it run smoothly. It was just one of those exhausting days! When we got home at 9pm, I just couldn't deal with cleaning up the days clutter. Instead, I put on my nightgown and my cozy slippers, and plopped myself down in the recliner. Sometimes you just have to let it go!

Blue, 27/365

This is Ian. He doesn't always feel the need to see things through. He's a lot like his mumma that way. We get excited about starting a new project, but get bored before it can be finished. Anyways, even though he often gives us a hard time about going to karate class, he always comes back out of it with a smile on his face saying, "Thank you! That was a great class, I'm so glad I went!". I am so proud that he has stuck with karate for almost two years now! He is currently a blue belt with one stripe towards his green belt. I don't know how other dojo's work, but in his, you start with a white belt, then purple, yellow, orange, blue, green, brown and black. So I really feel like he has accomplished something with this! I love watching him go through his movements, he is so precise, and sharp with them. It is good for his mind and body!

Airzone

2012-01-27T15:46:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to post a few more pictures of Ana's field trip to Airzone earlier this week. This attraction was a huge draw for Cooper, my ball and bat lover! The cone blew a sharp stream of air out, and levitated the ball so the kids could hit it with the bat. He got such a kick out of carefully getting the ball in the right place, then waving the bat around yelling, "Go, go, go!!" I'm pretty certain he didn't hit a single ball out into the "field", most of them going backwards or sideways, but he sure had fun!!

Even the grown-ups can go on the slides at Airzone!! Below, I am braving the slide with Ana, and then you can see her teacher, Mrs. Tewell having her turn. It really was pretty fun! By the way, Mrs. Tewell is the same teacher Ian had at Fremont Early Learning as a Kindergarten student; you can see a picture of cute little 5 year old Ian with her here. She's on the left. He was just so cute! I just re-read the post too, and noticed that I mentioned his promise to me that he would still cuddle with me when he's 10. Well, so much for promises! Really, every so often if I'm lucky he will still cuddle up to me...and let's face it he still climbs into bed with us every night. So I guess I am still getting my cuddle time.

And, here are the daredevils. So much fun!

More Catching Up

2012-01-27T15:11:00.000-05:00

Hand Wash Only, 21/365

Febi is a seriously happy baby! I had to set her down to help Cooper with something so I put her on the pile of clean laundry that had started to take over a corner in the living room. It was the perfect prop for her, and she just smiled away at us!

Danger Dan, 22/365

On Monday, Cooper and I accompanied Ana on a field trip with her preschool class to a new place in Exeter called Airzone. It is all blow ups, from slides to bouncy houses. They had a ball! There were a few kids in Ana's class who were weary of climbing the big slide, but Cooper plowed right through them all and went down over and over. I swear this child has no fear. That is how he has earned the nickname "Danger Dan" in our house. From trying to stick knitting needles in sockets, climbing onto counters, bay windows and over the high backs of our furniture; from using rolling toys as footstools to standing on tables and arms of chairs squealing "Wook a me!", he is an accident waiting to happen. He really is the easiest 2 year old out of our three kids, BUT, I am quite certain he will be the first to need stitches or a cast of some sort!

Twenty Piggies 23/365

I know...more feet. I just can't help myself! I love kids' feet and hands! This was Ana and Febi the other day. While the boys were sleeping, Ana wanted to hold Febi so she sat in her Ana sized reclining chair and I propped Febi up in her arms. It was the perfect perch for her and she sat there happy as a clam for over half an hour! I was sitting on the floor, and liked the difference in size between their feet, so out came the camera.

Down Time 24/365

The kids spend a lot of time pretending they are camping. Here they have set up their "sleeping bags" and pillows and are having a little quiet time. Moments before I took this picture, Stevie and Ana were fighting over who was going to hold Febi's hand. Until I pointed out that she in fact had two! You can see that Ana is still trying to be a little possessive. I love how Febi is looking at her though...and that you can see Stevie has a grip on her little hand. He adores his sister!

We Love Popcorn, 25/365

I spent all day yesterday trying to search out ingredients that I needed to make "movie style popcorn" for our PTA Family Movie Night scheduled for tonight. Specifically, I was looking for the Flavacol popcorn seasoning. I had been able to find the stuff online, but the shipping was outrageous! I went to four stores yesterday morning, before calling Sam's Club and discovering they not only had popcorn salt, but 50lb bags of popcorn kernels! I was so excited! I don't have a membership, but the lady on the phone told me I could shop, but just pay a 10% upcharge. Seeing as it would only amount to a couple dollars overall, and that it was still going to be a good deal, I decided to go for it. I got to the store, loaded the 50lb bag into my cart, the salt, and a pack of 500 popcorn bags and went to the checkout line. That's when I was basically told that I shouldn't even have been able to be in the store without a membership. That they no longer do day passes, and that they will let me buy this time, but not again unless I buy a membership. Feeling like a hardened criminal at this point, I whipped out my credit card to complete the transaction and end my misery, I was then told that they don't take Visa.....

huh?

Yeah, they don't take Visa! I was near to tears as I told them I had no other means to pay, and that I was going to have to return the stuff. It was pretty devastating leaving those things behind; four hours of running around yesterday morning got me nowhere!! When we got home, I found the snack that I popped for Ian earlier on the counter, and decided I had to make peace with my popcorn misadventure, so I got out the camera. After all, I really do love popcorn! Sam's Club, notsomuch.......

A Little Catching Up

2012-01-22T16:54:00.006-05:00

Glow, 18/365

No! I didn't miss days with the 365 project! We've had a pretty stressful week and I haven't picked up my Nikon in several days, but thanks to the ease of my phone's camera, and my little Kodak point and shoot, I did take pictures; even if they aren't that great. Anyways, on Wednesday night, we went to see Disney on Ice Celebrates 100 Years of Magic. It was fantastic! I was a little worried about how Cooper would do, and if it would hold his attention. He did get antsy in the second half, but over all, he did great! Ana was absolutely enthralled the entire time, particularly when the princesses took the stage; and even Ian enjoyed the show! We let the kids each pick out a souvenir at the beginning of the show; Ian and Ana picked the snow cone cups, Ian's Bruce the Shark from Finding Nemo and Ana's a Cinderella themed one. Cooper picked a Buzz Light Year glow in the dark sword, and well, you can see by the picture how much he adores it. The entire time, it was either clutched tight like this, or was swinging around, barely averting whacking the grumpy people sitting in front of us.

Hello? 19/365

Oh...yeah. This one is exciting. Lucky I was sitting goofing around with my camera phone that day, or else there wouldn't even have been a picture! I've been fighting a cold this week, and fell asleep on the couch at about 7:30; I didn't wake up until after midnight, and was in a panic thinking I had missed taking a picture that day. Well, I was pleased to remember I did take one! Even if it is just a picture of our crappy old phone! The numbers are wearing off; you can barely hear it when it rings; and look, you have the choice of tone vs. pulse! Mind you, the tone part doesn't work...so you have no choice but to wait while it pulses away. Ian says, "Mom, why does it make that noise, and why does it take so long to dial?!" It's pretty funny actually...I remember having the rotary phones in our house growing up...it was so frustrating when you messed up the number and had to start over! Anyways, it is nice to have a phone on the wall for when I can't figure out where I have laid the cordless phone which happens on pretty much a daily basis. So here it is, in all it's splendor!

Who, me? 20/365

This is a mug I made at a local pottery painting place called To Your Art's Content. Ian and Ana both LOVE going there, and on one of our trips, I decided to make something along with them. I saw something similar in a store somewhere, and thought it would be a fun way to enjoy my morning cup of coffee. If I were to make it again, I would definitely put the mustache closer to the rim. But it is fun to goof around with anyways. This was actually a picture again from my phone that I sent to my sister to make her giggle....I think it worked.

This Little Piggy - 17/365

2012-01-18T16:05:00.001-05:00

This Little Piggy 17/365

Greg had a little procedure this morning and is in a cocoon on the couch, pretty much incapacitated. Of course I've come down with a head going to explode sinus thingy, and feel like I've been hit by a truck. When we went to pick up the kids from Mimi's house, Cooper was laying in the same spot Mimi reported him laying in for pretty much the entire four hours he was there. So apparently, he's brewing something too. It could be so much worse though, so I'm counting my blessings! Anyways, Cooper crawled up in the recliner next to our friend Joe who was visiting today, and promptly fell asleep. He just looked so sweet there with his little feet crossed, I had to snap a picture.

Ana cuddling with Daddy

Cooper snuggled up to Joe

I had trouble choosing between the other one and this one.
I liked that his face is more in focus for this one,
but I liked the exposure, and angle of the other one better.

16/365

2012-01-17T22:14:00.000-05:00

Just a quick one tonight. Could have definitely been set up better, but It's 10pm and I want to finally go sit down and rest, and could not be bothered to even think about a tripod, or further fussing. So, this is what you get! This is my wedding ring, and I love it for a lot of reasons besides the obvious. When we started looking, I knew that I wanted one that was similar to my mother's wedding ring; I just loved the way it had open areas. That was so hard to find! I ended up finding the designer online, his name is David Virtue. He just so happened to sell his jewelry in a shop in Portsmouth called the N.W. Barrett Gallery, and I was so thrilled to find it! Obviously, we ordered it, and while my ring in no way even resembles my husband's wedding ring, I am still in love with the design. We had each other's rings engraved before our wedding day; I engraved his with "Always" and he engraved mine with "Forever". Yeah, I know....pretty cheesy....what can I say?

15/365, Chickens Ordered, Check!

2012-01-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

I haven't been getting the camera out during the day much lately. Gotta get back into that. As I type about yesterday's picture (that was taken late last night), at almost 9:30 tonight, I have yet to take today's picture. Will get on that as soon as I'm done posting this one! Anyways, we're getting chickens! They have been ordered and we will be getting them the end of March, very soon after they hatch. We will be the owners of seven chickens, a mixture of Rhode Island Reds, and Portland Rocks. My neighbors have had chickens for about a year, and have become very knowledgeable in chicken raising, so I feel like we will have some good support to make this a success. I am so very excited, and have wanted to do this for years! I just cannot wait to see those babies, and get started!

A Trip to Mercer

2012-01-17T21:23:00.003-05:00

So, this past Sunday, we made a trip to visit Greg's Uncle, Aunt and 3 kids up in Mercer, ME. This is always a nice trip to make, even though it is a three hour drive each way! They own Greaney's Turkey Farm, and run a slaughterhouse, but also have some cows and chickens that the kids love to see. My plan was to get some good pictures of the animals, but it was so darn cold, I just didn't do it! I took the kids out to say hi to the animals, then we scrambled back into the warmth of the farmhouse. My kids adore their cousins (I guess they are technically second cousins) Emily (15), Ben (13), and Adam (8). Ana always attaches herself right to Emily; she couldn't remember her name, even though we talk about her all the time! She just called her "my friend" which was really cute anyways. Adam was so cute with Cooper too; he got right down with him on the floor and spilled his buckets of Army men out so Cooper could play with them. Cooper loves little figures, or "guys" as he calls them, and had a ball carrying around one in each hand yelling, "Go, go, go, go, go!" as he banged them together. I think he was making them fight...it was pretty funny, actually; which is pretty ironic for me to say since I have never been one to allow guns, or toys that even relate to guns or fighting at all! Adam was very sweet to bag up a handful of "guys" for Cooper to bring home, and he has already had a lot of fun carrying them around the house. As far as Ian goes, we hardly saw him the entire time we were there, as he went off with Ben to play video games and compare apps on their iPods. Anyways, we had a really nice time, and were treated to a fantastic ham dinner. We can't wait to go back; I just hope it's a little warmer out next time!

The day started with a trip to Dunkin' Donuts.
Yes, that is an entire munchkin in his mouth....

Adam playing with Cooper

Ana and "her friend"

Ana and Emily lounging on the couch.
What you can't see is Angel, a tiny dog snuggled just behind Ana.
She says she wants a little dog now!

Ana and "her friend" again.

14/365, Men Down

13/365

2012-01-16T07:15:00.000-05:00

So, I bring some laundry downstairs and come back up to Ana and Cooper standing at the top of the stairs. Ana is dressed like a princess, Cooper has this silver sequined pink feathered beret on his head and a sword in his hands. These kids crack me up! He looked sort of like a knight....which is what I think Ana was going for; maybe a drag knight? Anyways, Cooper just goes along with the flow of any play that Ana dreams up; it is so funny to watch! There is such an age difference between Ian and Ana that we didn't have a whole lot of the "monkey see, monkey do" stuff, but now with Ana and Cooper, we see it all the time! If Ana says, "Hey Cooper, let's have a princess tea party!"; Cooper replies "Oh! Yeah! Pincess tea, pincess tea!!". They are beyond cute together. I'm loving watching their relationship develop.

So, when I saw his outfit the other day, I had to snap a picture and grabbed the closest camera I could find which happened to be Greg's phone. It's not a great shot, but it does show my crazy Cooper's antics!

11/365 and 12/365

2012-01-13T20:35:00.005-05:00

11/365, Snow Angels

We finally got some snow! Ana was beyond thrilled, she just adores the snow! She was begging from the moment she opened her eyes at "0 dark thirty" to get outside and play, and when we did make it outside, she literally ran out into the yard, flopped on her back and started making snow angels. It was so funny! She had a ball rolling around in it, running around in it, and eating it! We always get a kick out of how, out of all the kids, she has the most tolerance for the cold; she was so meant for our family right here in NH!

12/365, Learning

More Ana. What can I say, she's always up to something interesting! We went to my mum and dad's house this afternoon and my sister was there as well. She happens to own an i-pad that Ian goes crazy over, and she had it with her. Izzy was showing Ana some of the things that can be done on it, and Ana was absolutely unwilling to leave, because she was having so much fun! I promised her that she could play a game on my Nook when we got home. So here she is doing an activity I downloaded a while back called iTouchiLearn Words. In this game, she has to take the jumbled up letters on the bottom of the screen, and match them to the letters that spell out a word at the top of the page. I have to remember I have this next time we are waiting in the doctor's office, or elsewhere because she loved this!

Time Out, 10/365

2012-01-12T08:17:00.002-05:00

Greg just returned from a 4 day work trip. As usual, he arrived bearing a little trinket for each of the kids. Cooper received a little die-cast airplane which has a moving propeller...he adores it! Yesterday was a day that Stevie and Febi came to spend with us. Cooper and Stevie are only a year apart; they like the same toys, and they go back and forth between being great sharers and non-sharers. Stevie was as taken with that little airplane as Cooper was. Overall, they really did great yesterday, with the one exception when Stevie dared to try and grab the airplane from Cooper, and Cooper in turn thought it fitting to smack Stevie in the head with it! Cooper has done this a handful of times to Stevie...he's a bit of a ruffian! He is hands down, the happiest, most laid back child 99% of the time. There are moments though that I'm thinking to myself, "Who is that kid?". Like when he wraps his pudgy little arms around his cousin's waist and tries to haul him to the floor. Maybe we have a football player in the making!

Anyways, I know I'm a mean mom for pulling out the camera for this one. But I couldn't resist not capturing this face!

These Boots, 9/365

2012-01-11T09:55:00.001-05:00

Ana has always been a shoe lover. Even before she could walk, she would crawl around with the shoes on her hands! We found a pair of cowboy boots at Wal-Mart last summer that Ana absolutely fell in love with! She wore them EVERY day, regardless of what else she was wearing (it was August, so a lot of swimsuits with boot looks!). Then one day, she left them outside by the sandbox, and I didn't realize they were there....we looked and looked inside the house for them for days! Meanwhile, they were getting rained on outside. They were absolutely ruined by the time we discovered them, and I had a very sad little girl! Well, yesterday, Ana's friend Emma (who happens to be daughter to our fabulous neighbors, and sister to very good friends of Ian) passed on a bag of clothes and in it was an identical pair of boots! Ana is in her glory! She doesn't even care that her size 10 foot absolutely floats in the size 1 boot. Emma was over to play yesterday, and she cuddled up with Ana and Cooper in the recliner. I took the opportunity to snap this picture. I think it's hilarious to see the two pairs of boots, almost the same size, and one pair on legs half the length! That's my girl...a slave to fashion!

Shadow Flowers, 8/365

2012-01-09T15:04:00.001-05:00

Narcissus have to be some of the happiest flowers on Earth...but they wither away so quickly! Greg bought me a small pot of them about a week ago, and they are already looking very haggard. Nonetheless, they are still sitting on the computer desk, behind my laptop. A little while ago, I was sitting in the computer chair (which happens to be a recliner, weird...I know!) watching Ana do a craft (read, glue stuff to other stuff). I was a little sad, because we had to miss Ana's dance class today due to an "on the way out the door Cooper Poop Incident" (involved shower spray down, possible clothing loss, hair washing, tub scrubbing...yup, it was that bad. I was moping, thinking about how I wasn't going to do a picture of Ana in dance class for my picture of the day when suddenly I noticed the bright sunshine streaming through the window causing this shadow on the wall.

I thought it was kinda neat looking.

So it became my picture for the day...

Ever notice the shadows around you?

ROYGBP, 7/365

2012-01-08T17:22:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I know....it's supposed to be ROYGBIV.

Well, our crayon selection was a little limited,

so this is what you get.

Don't tell Ana I was playing with her crayons without her!

Rare Moment, 6/365

2012-01-07T14:01:00.001-05:00

They fight...a lot!

But, I will sometimes find them sitting like this.

Watching a movie.

Or reading a book.

And it makes me happy.

This picture is technically pretty awful. Out of focus, and underexposed. I literally found them sitting together in the recliner watching a movie and held the camera up over their heads, focused on who knows what, pressed the button and hoped for the best! However, there is an awful lot about this picture that I like. Besides the fact that I caught them actually acting like they liked each other, this one (unlike the others I took of them just looking at the tv) clearly shows how Ian consistently wears his clothes; inside out and backwards. What can I say, it's his unique style!

Party of Four, 5/365

2012-01-06T16:23:00.001-05:00

One of Ana's Favorite Past times is setting up dinner parties for her "friends". This one was thankfully without the usual sneaky trip to the faucet for "tea".

Yes, those are the same pajamas she was wearing in the last photo. They are new, and the current favorite!

Yes, she has worn them all day...

To the store even...

And probably will,

barring a pajama catastrophe,

wear them to bed again tonight!

A Comfy Spot, 4/365

2012-01-06T08:32:00.000-05:00

Lately, Ana has taken to falling asleep in the hallway right outside her bedroom. She's going through an "I'm afraid of my room" phase, and is having a hard time falling asleep. I don't know if it's the comfort she feels that she can see and hear Ian in the next room better, or she can hear us better downstairs, but this is how we have found her for three nights in a row now. She then wakes up and crawls into bed with us (that is; me, Greg, and Ian who still joins us as well). While I don't mind sharing my bed with my kids at all, I'm afraid we are all suffering in sleep quality. Ian is a BEAR in the morning, Greg and I ache from sleeping in contorted positions trying not to squish our children, and though Ana is perfectly chipper first thing, it is obvious by mid afternoon that she is exhausted. Life is not so good when Ana is exhausted! She sure looks cute curled up in this new favorite spot though!

Febi's Piggys, 3/365

2012-01-05T07:25:00.003-05:00

Febi's Piggys, 3/365

Febi, 99% of the time!

I watch my nephew and niece on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I love that I'm building lasting relationships with them, but I'm not going to say it's easy peasy! Having four kids 4 and under running around is absolute chaos sometimes; and that's when they are all getting along! When they are fighting, arrgh! Cooper and Stevie have a love/hate relationship for sure! However, I must say that Ana and Stevie were the same last year, but are best buddies now, so I'm sure next year this time the boys will be good pals! But there are moments. Moments where they are getting along; playing together, doing the same thing; that I can have a few moments to enjoy the little things about having a baby in the house; like tiny toes! I love baby feet, and Febi has some pretty cute little 5 month old feet! So while the kids were engaged in play dough yesterday morning, and Febi was napping, I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of her. She really is such an easy baby, in all her sweet chunkiness!

rolling out the dough takes
a lot of concentration!

making a "guy"!

Play Dough for Ana usually means some sort of "cooking"!

Another favorite game recently.
Pretending to be Elves in the workshop.
Can you tell who the Head Elf is?

A Treasured Gift, 2/365

2012-01-04T07:30:00.003-05:00

A Treasured Gift, 2/365

I know. Kinda boring. However, my camera battery died earlier in the day and I couldn't find the backup one so the first opportunity for a picture was after the kids were in bed; after I was exhausted, and uninspired. Anyways, the subject of the photo is pretty important to me. This was a gift from my kids for Christmas. Greg bought me a Keurig, and I love it! I'm the only one who drinks coffee in the house, and I'm not a big coffee drinker at that. I really do enjoy a nice cup of coffee or tea in quiet moments while reading, or as an after dinner treat though. It has never made sense to have a coffee pot, so I've been drinking decaffeinated instant for quite a while, and it's been doing the trick, but it's nothing compared to a fresh brewed cup of coffee! I think it was Ian who thought a pair of slippers (from Ian) and this coffee mug (from Cooper) would be the perfect gift to go with it (along with a very thoughtfully picked out skein of yarn and knitting needles from Ana). To be honest, this isn't the exact mug they gave me. Unfortunately, the original one broke after the first couple days. Someone knocked it off the counter and it shattered. It was a little different, saying "Live, Love, Laugh" instead, but when I went back, this was the only one they had. I do love it though; it's very fitting isn't it; as my children are my greatest blessings!

Cooper's Guys, 1/365

2012-01-03T09:56:00.000-05:00

Cooper's Guys 1/365

I made this little toy for Cooper for Christmas this year. I saw the idea here while trolling the web for some homemade gift ideas, and knew I had to make some! It's amazing how wooden candle cups, peg dolls, and a little soy paint can make for hours of toddler fun! He calls them "my guys", and loves to sit at the table matching them to their cups. When he completes his task he yells, "Yay!!" and claps his hands, so proud of himself! I will definitely be making more of these for gifts!

Yay!!

Fresh Start

2012-01-02T06:53:00.002-05:00

Ummm...there was content here. A very long post actually. I deleted it by accident, arrgh!

Yellow

2011-03-10T06:31:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday, Ian received his yellow belt in karate! When he got the letter in the mail inviting him to test for it, I could tell he was nervous even though he would never admit it. Then we went away on vacation and I think he forgot about it; as did I, honestly! The day after we returned, I delivered him to the dojo and watched him from the car as he demonstrated what he has learned so far; I was so proud of him! The next week, we watched as he threw his purple belt over his shoulder and tied his new yellow belt around his waist with a very subtle grin on his face, never wanting to wear his emotions on his sleeve. I know he was pretty proud of himself though. It was evident in that he asked to go to karate on the following Saturday even though he had already attended the two classes we ask him to go to a week. Ian often has a hard time getting going to things, but he was up and ready to go that Saturday, with the usual complaining and carrying on we usually encounter. I'm so happy he is seeing what hard work and determination can earn him, and the feeling of accomplishment that comes with it!

Here he is trying to be serious....Lord forbid he let that smile come out! Here the instructor is about to snap the belt to "put the spirit in it":

Receiving his belt:

Taking off the old:
(I didn't get a good picture of him throwing the belt over his shoulder unfortunately)

putting on the new:

My proud boy!:

Ana's New Do

2011-02-27T06:55:00.005-05:00

We've just returned from a trip to NY. We had a fantastic time visiting with my cousin and aunt in NY city, then headed upstate to visit my best college friend in Auburn, and our recently moved and sorely missed neighbors in Farmington. There's plenty of pictures, and I'll put those in a separate post. So why am I talking about our NY trip when I'm supposed to be talking about Ana's new hairdo?

Ana, at our old neighbor's new home, decided to give herself a haircut. She came down to Greg and said "I sorry daddy. Don't worry daddy, it will grow back." Greg sent her to me and she said, "I sorry I cut my hair mummy, I wanted it longer like Elizabeth's". We quickly went upstairs to find the scissors so we could prevent any more damage and found that she had trimmed a little bit in the hallway, a little bit on the bathroom floor, and a few really good chunks that she decided to cut directly into the toilet. I was a little sad since I had just found a website that had tons of really cute braids, and other fancy little girl's hairstyles. Mostly though, I was pretty amused! I know so many little girls who have done the same, and it struck me as humorous! Her hair doesn't like to stay in any style I put it in anyways because she is so active and constantly touching her hair so it really wasn't a big deal to me! I think Greg took it harder than I, but he's a champ. Honestly, it could have been so much worse! The hairdresser said she could save the length by tapering the front, but she really wanted to have a haircut like her friend Elizabeth, and like Mummy (how could I refuse that?!), and it's only hair! So we were off to the salon on Friday and we went for it. She let the hairdresser shampoo and cut her hair and almost fell asleep as she was working, it was so funny. I didn't have my flash with me, so the pictures leave much to be desired, but they give an idea of the experience. They took 8 inches of beautiful shiny black hair off my baby's head, and the result, I think, is positively adorable. Even daddy admits that she looks pretty darn cute with her new bob, and she absolutely adores it so there's happiness all around!

The damage:

The evidence:

Loving getting her hair shampooed

Look at that length!

The first snips

All done!

I tried to get a nice picture at home, but she was so tired, and just wouldn't stay still! It all made sense later when it was ceremoniously revealed that she had become victim to the souvenir gastro bug we brought home with us. Looking back at this picture now, I can really see in her eyes that she wasn't well. Poor thing, less than 12 hours later we were sitting in the ER waiting to be checked out for possible appendicitis. No worries though, she was just victim to the same bug that claimed every one of us at the tail end of this vacation; her body just chose to accompany the awful stomach pain with a 103 fever which is what bought us the 3am ER visit. I'll try to get another picture when she's feeling better.

Ummm, yes......

2011-02-03T06:56:00.010-05:00

I did fall behind on my picture a day project.
I have missed four days so far.
I am moving forward anyways.....

which is a big deal for my perfectionist self who is battling to delete my 365 account and start over from scratch. It's something about myself I'm working on. So forward on I will press! Of course this means that to have one complete year of pictures I will need to continue longer than January 1st of next year but that's okay; I was probably going to try and go longer anyways! My trouble has been finding the time during the day with the little ones to actually get the camera out and play. Greg was in the hospital a couple weeks ago, then spent the week recovering. Ana became ill over the weekend and has needed round the clock nebulizer treatments, and Cooper is just coming down with it. There has been little sleep, and lots of crankiness all around and the last thing I've been inspired to do is take out my camera on many days! It is what it is though. I'll continue what I've been doing, taking pictures when I can. It's far better than the no pictures and blogging I was doing before! Greg just restored the connection to the computer that houses my photo software, so prepare yourself for my catching up!

January 9th
"Running Out of Time"

It was one of those days I hadn't even thought to touch the camera!

January 10th
"Catching"

Another one of "those" nights. The SLR battery was dead so I grabbed the point and shoot. Messy kitchen, dead on flash, ugh! The only thing I like about this picture is that it is of Ana learning how to catch a ball!

January 11
"Izzy's Toesies"

We had a play date at Auntie Shelle's house on that Tuesday. My niece Izzy loves to play with her toes so I had to get a shot of her in action.

January 12
"Gone Sledding"

This was during one of the many snowstorms we have had recently. This particular week, Ian only had 1 day of school due to the snow! It was a crazy week, but Ian sure loved having some time off! Here he was pulling the family sled through the deep snow to go sledding at a friend's house.

January 13
"First Lollipop"

Okay, it may not exactly be his first lollipop (thanks to Halloween), but it was his first treat from the grocery store. It helped ease everyone's crankiness so the shopping could be completed!

January 14
"kissing cousins"

Izzy and Cooper are only three months apart; they are so cute together! I hope they continue to have a close relationship as they grow!

January 15th
"Icy"

I love how ice forms on the windows in the winter.

January 16th
"waiting"

This was the afternoon after Greg was admitted to the hospital; I was waiting for him to be discharged. He had a severe case of vertigo and couldn't even stand up the night before! It was so scary! Anyways, I took advantage of the waiting time by reading from my Nook that Greg bought me for Christmas, I love it!

January 17th - missed day

January 18th
"cousins"

Ana and Stevie. They have a special relationship and are very much like siblings! Stevie spent the majority of the days of his first year with us, which has since been reduced to two days a week. I hope they will be close when they grow up...right now they are either fighting, or conspiring together!

January 19th
"shoes"

Ana has always had a fascination with shoes! Here she is sharing her passion with her little brother, helping him try on her tap shoes. Cooper was more than happy to oblige! I seem to remember dressing my sister and I doing the same to our little brother; and having no arguments from him either!

January 20th
"tossing snowballs"

Ana adores the snow. She will stay outside until she turns blue, and still want to play some more. It always makes me giggle that my little Guatemalan girl can tolerate the cold better than my two New England born sons (and myself for that matter!). She must have spent a good 20 minutes just tossing snowballs around, so I tried to catch the action!

January 21st
no title

This was one of those days I just couldn't be bothered to pick up my camera. I don't remember why I was grumpy, but I did manage to pick it up, and press the shutter release. It's merely a shot of the menu board in my kitchen which is currently covered by a picture of a bird drawn by Ana a little over a year ago, and a picture of Bumpa with his brother (It's sadly leaning forward so you can't see it very well in the picture). It's been this way for a while and is not likely to change, at least not the Bumpa picture. Ana looks at it almost every day and says, "Dat's Bumpa!".

January 22nd - missed day

January 23rd
"origami"

Ian's current passion is origami. He absolutely adores making things out of paper and has taken several books out of the school, and public library looking for new creations to make. He has also taken a liking to using YouTube (supervised of course!) to watch tutorials. I think this one was called a magic ring or something; anyways, he was very proud of this creation. I loved the color combination he chose!

January 24th
"knitting again"

I picked up the needles after a LONG hiatus recently. My first project was an earflap hat by Knitting Pure and Simple (a designer suggested by my friend Amanda) for Cooper. I like the way it turned out, though it was a tad small because I neglected to do a proper gauge swatch (I hate doing that!) and I'm a really tight knitter! Anyways, Cooper's head and ears stay warm and he looks so darn cute in it so I guess it was a success! Next up is KPS slippers for the kids and at some point my first attempt at a sweater by the same designer. I was lucky to discover that they have recently started selling their patterns online (at patternfish), and was so excited!

January 25th
"springy"

These were some very cool springy bracelets my mum bought for Ana for Christmas but never gave to her. We happened to be hanging out at my mum's house and we discovered them in the china cabinet. They looked pretty all stacked up, so I thought it might make an interesting picture. I'm glad I got the shot because shortly after it was taken the kids had them all bound up together in a tangled mess! Well, they were fun while they lasted!

January 26th
"ice feathers"

Okay, more window ice, I know! But, I just think it's so neat! I find it especially interesting that different windows in my house have consistently distinct designs that form on them. This window always gets these soft feathery swirls while the one on the attached wall gets what you saw above, the straighter lines. Is it air patterns? Temperature differences? It's cool no matter what causes it!

January 27th
"a moment of calm"

Don't you love those moments when the kids are getting along? It doesn't always last long, but it lingers in my heart for sure! Here Ana had opened up a book and beckoned Cooper to come sit beside her so she could "read" to him. He sat right down next to her and listened to her stories for a few minutes, it was a very sweet moment!

January 28th
"drip"

I had tried this once before and didn't love the end result when I got them on the computer. I was very pleased with this one though. It's from an icicle on the front of our house; there's a LOT of them right now! Anyways, you probably can't see, but I noticed in my photo program that if I enlarge the drip, you can actually see the upside down reflection of the trees in the distance. It's pretty neat!

January 29th
"choco baby"

Greg was working almost all day this past Saturday so I took the kids to the mall so Ian could get some origami paper at AC Moore, and I could check out a big sale at Old Navy. They were so well behaved, I was so proud! I picked up some ice cream at the grocery store to have a special afternoon treat. Here is Cooper after enjoying his bowl of chocolate ice cream. He really has a sweet tooth, just like his mummy!

January 30th
"sleepy"

After Greg worked all day, he was back on the computer late that night and worked until 6am the next morning. He was exhausted! Here, he had volunteered to rock Cooper to sleep at nap time, and had fallen asleep himself. This is not the first time this has happened though. Daddy has a tendency to do this often! I wonder who fell asleep first this time?!

January 31st - missed day
February 1st - missed day

February 2nd
"freckles"

So, since Ana has been sick (and now Cooper too) there's been little sleep, and a high grump factor in the house (all around!). I did miss those two days, and February 1st was the first day of an online class I signed up for through www.willettedesigns.com called the Joy of Love. All of February, participants receive photo assignments centered around our loved ones. The first day is "what they do"; I missed that day. The second is "how they look" so I chose to, at the last minute last night, use Ian as my subject. It always strikes me how his hair and his freckles match so closely! I love that about how he looks, so that's what I photographed. It was under his room lamp, with a longer than desired shutter speed, but I think it came out pretty good anyhow.

So there you have it! I'm as caught up as I can get for the moment! I'm hoping to hop right into the Joy of Love assignments with a little more preparation, but I might have to accept that it might just be too much for me to keep up with at the moment. If I can do that without getting upset at myself, that would be progress all by itself!

7/365

2011-01-08T07:36:00.002-05:00

So I decided to play around a little bit tonight with food coloring. I chose blue only because the theme over at 365project.com is blue this week and I thought I might as well try my hand at entering a theme photo. I love the way food coloring disperses when it is added to water so I thought I would try and get a shot of it. I do like the pattern in the photo I used, but I'm not totally satisfied with it. The focus isn't what I wanted it to be, but I was too tired to play too much. I will definitely be trying this again during daylight hours!

January 6 - Rainbow Bright

2011-01-07T14:31:00.008-05:00

Ana is such a silly little monkey! Yesterday she dressed herself in a summer dress, an apron, a play silk cape, her stripey Christmas tights, and sneakers. She completed the look with a marimba mallet "magic wand" and transformed herself into the "bwah ha ha lady" which I believe to be the equivalent of a villain (I think she looked more like Rainbow Bright or Punky Brewster, but what do I know?). She then climbed up onto the kids table in the kitchen (or her stage as she called it) and proceeded to throw her arms up in the air yelling "bwah ha ha ha!!!" and something about finding "the power" over and over again then jumping wildly (I guess she found the power). She was just too funny! So I got out the camera. This girl just oozes sass, can you tell?

Day 5 - Toss Up

2011-01-05T22:39:00.005-05:00

So, after I got the littles in bed tonight, I challenged Ian to a game of Toss Up, a dice game he received for Christmas. Neither of us had played before, but it was pretty easy to figure out, and we had a really fun time! The basic idea is that there are 10 dice with red, yellow and green faces on them. The goal is to earn points based on the number of greens you roll (1 point per green) and to be the first to get over 100 points. On your turn, the 10 dice are rolled, and you have the choice to take those points rolled and end your turn or to set the greens aside and roll the remaining dice to try for more points. You can keep rolling as long as you want, and should you roll 10 greens, you can start again by rolling all ten again, thereby adding to your score, there is no limit. The catch though is that if on any roll, you don't get any greens, and you roll one or more reds, your turn is over and you lose the points you were accumulating on that turn. I only explain the rules to the game so you will better understand this picture:

He had wracked up 49 points and had decided to risk rolling that last dice to try for 50.
Ooops.
He was devastated!

While I would love to use that picture for my 365 project, I promised Ian I wouldn't, so I won't.

So here's the one I will actually use, even though I don't love it. I had to break out the flash, and set the camera to auto to get the shot (I really need to read that flash manual!); and it ended up overexposed anyways. I'll probably try this again in natural light, maybe with real numbered dice and in black and white? We'll see.

One thing's for sure, there will be more Toss Up competitions for us!

Day 4 - Bewwies

2011-01-04T19:44:00.004-05:00

Ana is a berry-holic. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, you name the berry and she'll eat a pint in a sitting if you let her! Today we had some raspberries at lunch time, and she, Stevie and Cooper when through an entire pint between them in about 5 minutes flat. The conversation went a little like this:

Stevie - "My want bewwies!"
Ana - "Me too, me too! I like razzbewwies!"
Cooper - "Dat, daaat!!" (this is his most common word lately; he uses it for anything he wants; anything from food, to toys, to at bedtime he'll pull on my shirt yelling, "ont dat, daaat!" which is his oh so subtle code that he want's to nurse!)

So I divvy out some berries between the three of them, saving a few (read 5!) for myself. They absolutely devour them!

Ana - "Oh, look mummy! Dey have hairs on them!"
Me - "Yes they do Ana, isn't that cool?"
Ana - "Yup.....oh, and look mummy we can stick our little thumbs in them! Dey like puppets! Take a picture!"

So I did. I took a picture of her puppet raspberries; then I wondered if I could take a close enough shot to do the "hairs" justice. So I laid my three remaining raspberries on a piece of white paper and shot away, while Stevie and Ana circled me waiting for me to be done so they could grab the "bewwies". Don't worry, I handed them over when I was done with them!

Anyways, here's my impromptu shot of Ana, Stevie and Cooper's favorite bewwies:

And of course here's a picture of Ana enjoying her bewwies; as puppets, and as food!

365 Project - Day 3

2011-01-04T08:44:00.003-05:00

Cooper took his first steps shortly before his first birthday, but he still preferred to crawl; it's much faster you know! Well, over the past week, he has decided that walking is pretty cool after all, and now spends more time walking than crawling. I love new walkers; the look of determination mixed with absolute pride on their face; the way they look like they are walking a tight rope with arms out extended sometimes stopping to weeble and catch their balance. I know too soon these shaky steps will become a sturdy run, so for now, I'm going to enjoy every unbalanced step!

365 Project - Day 2

2011-01-02T22:22:00.003-05:00

I've been taking pictures for years, but have not ever delved deep into the technical aspects of it. While I'm quite happy with many of the images I have captured over the years, I admit that I've largely kept my camera set to "auto" mode. I started a New York Institute of Photography course years ago, but got busy, set it aside and never went back to it. I really want to learn more about how to really use my camera in it's manual mode so with this 365 project I have set the dial to manual and will be shooting away! Well, I encountered some technical difficulties today. I've been having some problems with my cards and have been losing pictures on and off which is so frustrating! Anyways, it got much worse today and I was losing about every third image I took. I think I was able to sort that out, but while I was dealing with it, my lens started to malfunction; it turns out, the focusing ring is jammed. Luckily I do have another lens but at the closer end of the zoom range the maximum f-stop I can get is only 6.3, and doesn't lend itself well to the subjects and lighting I was dealing with. I had to ramp up the film speed which brings up other issues. Anyways, I'm not thrilled with the quality of the pictures I was able to get today, but I do like the way Cooper is crouched watching Ana play in the one I've decided to share. Shortly after the picture was taken he moved in to steal some of her peg dolls I made to go with her dollhouse and took off with them. He loves her peg dolls!

New Year, New Challenge

2011-01-01T19:50:00.003-05:00

It's hard to believe we have put another year behind us! Our family leaves 2010 and looks on to 2011 with mixed emotions. There were many fond memories made in moments with our children, and good times spent with friends and family, but the year is largely overshadowed with the devastating loss of Greg's dad in August. The kids continue to work through the loss in their own ways, as do Greg and I. We've made it through the first Thanksgiving and Christmas, and know that 2011 will hold it's own difficult milestones, but I look forward to the blessings that 2011 will hold as well!

I did an exquisitely poor job at blogging in 2010, managing a whopping 14 posts the entire year! That's really pitiful, and I do hope that I will be able to do far better in 2011. The state of my year's pictures is almost as pitiful, most still sitting in their raw format just waiting to be converted to jpegs and shared. I've had an intense desire to get things in order over the past couple months, and am looking forward to being a more organized me this year. Today, I have been working through last year's pictures and organizing them into their monthly folders. I'm feeling good about the progress I'm making! In fact, I've already downloaded the pictures I took this morning, converted them, and placed them into the new 2011 folder, hooray me!

This is all in preparation for something I've decided to take on this year after being inspired by a dear high school friend (thanks Amanda!) who is doing the same. The challenge I've chosen to face is the 365 project, where you document a year of your life by taking a photo a day. Now, I cannot promise that you will see a picture every day here on this blog, but I do promise that I am going to do my darndest to TAKE at least one picture every day. I also cannot promise that there won't be more than one picture a day, because it just so happens that I'm pretty crappy at making decisions and will likely not be able to choose just one! Anyways, on with it!

Today was crazy. We woke up to a shredded poopy Cooper diaper courtesy of the dog. We then discovered that poor Ian was suffering from conjunctivitis and croup. Then, just to keep us on our toes, he threw up this afternoon on the freshly groomed dog who he was cuddling with, and into the torn living room chair (yes, into, meaning the guts of the chair....it was not salvageable). However, between bathing the dog, again; steam cleaning floors and ditching living room furniture, I was able to steal a moment away to build blocks with Cooper this morning. We hadn't had the blocks down in a while and I was amazed at how well he can stack!

At one point he steadily stacked six blocks with his pudgy little hand.

And he was so proud of himself!

Of course we couldn't get through the moment without a little sibling rivalry...

Because Ana wanted to show her skills too!

There you go, 1 day down, 364 left to go!

Every Year....

2010-12-21T06:34:00.002-05:00

I tell myself that I'm going to be done shopping and wrapping and baking and and and.....by the first weekend in December so that I can really enjoy the Christmas season, and every year I find myself a few days before Christmas still plugging along with various projects (and often frantically wrapping everything on Christmas Eve)! I will say that this year I did do better than in the past, I had most of the kid's stuff done before December 1st. All would have been good had I not decided to make several things this year! Don't get me wrong, I love crafting, and I think that a handmade gift is better than any that can be given! It's just that I'm a procrastinator, and I have a really hard time focusing on something that isn't in dire danger of missing it's deadline! I am getting better at this, and have been working diligently on a project for Ana for weeks, but the fact still remains that I still have a lot to do! Thank goodness Greg has the rest of this week off! I hope the kids won't miss me too much as I practically move myself above the garage to my craft room! My new goal? Be done everything by lunch time on Thursday so we can enjoy a leisurely after dinner drive light viewing, and a calm, stress free Christmas Eve!

More to come on the homemade/refurbished gifts I've been working on!

Happy 1st Birthday Cooper!

2010-10-15T22:50:00.004-04:00

Dear Cooper,

I can't believe a year has passed already!
You are an amazing little guy
and have brought so much joy to our family!

Let's see, at age 1 you:

Are not walking yet, but you will take your hands away from support and stand on your own. You have even turned to take that first step and mummy gets really excited but you just psyche me out. You do think you are super cool when you push around Ana's tricycle though!

Can wave, blow kisses and clap.
Sometimes you add the cutest little "haaah" (hi, I think) or "haaalaaah" (we think it's hello).

Had a mohawk
(or a babyhawk as a woman in the store once remarked)
for your first 8 months or so. It was the cutest thing, and I'm a little sad your hair got long enough to lay flat!

Are sometimes jealous.
If I have your sister in my lap (she's been jealous too) you come over and pull on her clothes and yell!

Are a mummy's boy.
Only mummy will do when you are tired. Well let's face it, if you see mummy, you need to be held by mummy or you scream!

Have the most infectious smile and giggle.

Can climb.
Almost anything.
Particularly the bathroom stool so you can reach the sink.
Oh and let's not forget the stairs, you climb them with vigor!
Most of the time giggling all the way up;
especially if you are caught in the act.

Are happy almost all the time. Seriously!

Have a temper!
When we take things away from you, your little eyes get wide, you open your mouth and yell! It's seriously cute, actually!

Don't sleep through the night.
No kidding. I think there have been four, maybe five nights since you were born that you have slept through the night; two of those were before you were 5 months old. You just don't want to give up that 2 or 3 o'clock snuggle time I guess.

Love your brother and sister from your hair to your toes!
Whenever they are around you are smiling, and whatever they do makes you giggle!

Have 5 teeth,
which is WAY more than your brother had at this age! You have been working on a sixth for about a month now but it just doesn't want to pop through!

LOVE the dishwasher.
This is no surprise to mummy though. Your brother and sister had a fascination with the dishwasher too!

Give the sweetest hugs, and the juiciest kisses.

Can say "ma ma" and "da da" and I'm pretty sure you say hat (ahhhhht) when you are playing with Papa and his hat. You LOVE playing with Papa and his hat!

Are very ticklish!
On your neck, pudgy thighs, belly and sides; right down to your feet!

Are constantly in the dog's food or water, and it makes mummy crazy! I have had to change you so many times (mostly after you've just been freshly dressed; and lots of times when we are on our way out the door) because you have splashed in, then emptied the dogs water onto the floor (which you then delight in splashing and crawling around in some more). Let's not talk about the amount of dog kibble I've had to scoop out of your mouth.....yuck!

Are as cute as a button!
Of course I may be a little biased.

We love you so much our little birthday boy!
Happy One Year!

Oh, and take it easy on mummy today, she's having a hard time with this growing up thing.

Ian's Birthday Surprise

2010-09-23T11:25:00.004-04:00

So, Greg has a friend at work who also happens to be a flight instructor. When he heard that Ian was going to be celebrating a birthday, he offered to take him up for a ride in his airplane! We were so excited for him! I picked Ian up from school early on his birthday, and simply told him we were going out to lunch with daddy, so we headed to Greg's work. When we got there, we told Ian what the actual plan was, in that we were going to catch a quick lunch and then head over to the airfield where he was going to get to go up in an airplane! Ian was pretty nervous when Greg told him what his big birthday surprise was. He actually quietly asked me if they were going to crash! I assured him that Mummy and Daddy wouldn't allow him to do something that we didn't feel was completely safe. When we arrived at the airfield, none of us quite knew what to expect. Greg's friend met us and took us out to the field where the plane was waiting and began to explain to Ian how it works. Ian listened intently, and I could tell he was pretty scared! He then showed Ian where he would be sitting, which just so happened to be the pilot's seat! Greg got in the back seat and they buckled in, and put on their headsets. It wasn't long before they were taxiing down the runway one way and then down the other before taking off. Ana, Cooper and I waited in the grassy fields beside the runway, and occupied ourselves with watching other small planes come and go, chasing butterflies, picking flowers, throwing grass at each other and dancing. It was actually a good time for all of us! As I understand, the boys flew all around Portsmouth and even landed at Pease Air Force Base before coming back to check in with us. They took off one more time so Greg could have a turn in the pilot's seat, though this time they stayed right over us and we could watch them overhead the entire time. Ian really had the most incredible time and has in fact declared it his best birthday ever!

Down on the ground, here's what we were doing:

Thanks so much Mike, for giving our birthday boy the time of his life!!

Ian Gregory Christopher,

2010-09-21T00:43:00.004-04:00

I simply refuse to believe you are NINE years old today! Where did my baby go? You are one crazy kid Ian, and despite the insanity you cause your poor mother, I wouldn't have it any other way! Let's celebrate your big day with nine things about you...

1. You are a strange balance of wanting to be the center of attention, but acting like you're uncomfortable with it when you get it. You are definitely the class clown, but thankfully, you know how to pull it together at school because you have never been in trouble with the teacher; they always say what a character you are though!

2. You have decided to grow your hair out, much to mum's dismay; and boy is it getting long! We have always kept your hair pretty short and this is just a shock to mummy's system to see you with this mop on your head! You think it's going to get longer (in fact you think you are beginning to compete for the Guiness Record) but I'm sorry you will soon find that there will be limits to mummy's tolerance with that. It's about as long as it's going to get and there is a "clean up" hair appointment in your immediate future! I won't make you go short again, but I will make you tidy your appearance a bit!!

3. You really love your family. Even though we have our differences; I think you need to shower every day, you prefer to be stinky; I think it's important to wear socks with your sneakers, you....well, again the stinky-ness; you have your moments when you sit with me or dad and give us a little cuddle that lets us know that you really do care; or you ask to read to Ana at night or play with Cooper...I love these moments! Oh, and you still let mum kiss you before you get on the bus...that makes me very happy too!

4. You love music. You always have. You have just come off a Beatles phase which was nice; well, except for the all night repeating of "Hey Jude"...that got a little old after the 46th consecutive night (you are like your Auntie Shelle with that..she could listen to her favorites over and over and over again too!!).

5. You are very indecisive. In fact in a 2 hour period today, you went from wanting your party at the Space Center, to the Pottery place to having a party at home making t-shirts....these three choices have been in constant flux for days!! I think we have you pegged down to a sleep over with movies and t-shirt making though. I'm excited about that!

6. You tell us you don't like school; that was until you started this school year and got Mrs. Eichen for a teacher. I wouldn't say you love school now, but we don't have to fight to get you on the bus every morning anymore! We love Mrs. Eichen!!

7. You like to figure out how things work. Daddy has given you computers to take apart and you LOVE doing that!! You like to work with daddy with electrical and computer projects and dream up inventions that you want to pull together out of all dad's spare pieces in the basement. It's cool to see your mind thinking like that! Not so cool when you leave your inventions laying all over the house though!

8. You still climb in bed with mum and dad just about every night. It is difficult because you are no longer the toddler that we can just slide over when you get in the way; and you do get in the way...especially when mum gets up with Cooper and comes back wanting nothing more than to fall into bed and finds you have rolled into my spot. But secretly, there's a big piece of me that will miss you when you decide to start staying in your own bed.

9. You are still the pickiest eater I've ever met. Your menus are comprised of, peanut butter and jelly (though you appear to be tiring of that too!), grilled cheese, pizza, bacon (the only meat you will eat), cereal, bagels and toast, cheese, yogurt and very few fruits and vegetables and only when they are forced (which they are, much to your dismay!). You are difficult my boy, but at least you don't gag and throw up anymore when eating things you don't like! This is a definite move in the right direction!!

So there you have it...
Nine things about my Ian on his ninth birthday!

Mummy and Daddy have a big surprise in store for you today buddy and I can't wait to see your reaction when you see what it is! It's something I'm sure you will remember for a long time to come!

So, Happy Birthday to you, my big boy!
I love you more than I can express and can't wait to see what this next year brings for you!

Love always,
Mummy

Flashback Friday

2010-09-17T07:20:00.010-04:00

April 25th, 2010, A trip to the playground!

The weather was just getting nice, and Greg had just returned from a business trip so we decided to take a trip to a little playground in Exeter. It's my current favorite because it's completely fenced in which is so good for little escape artists! Cooper had just recently begun to sit up unassisted and I had hoped to get some 6 month shots of him; that didn't work out so well actually. Anyways, we really did have a fun time; the ice cream truck even showed up much to the children's delight! We played until Ana became desperate for a bathroom, at which time we had to leave and go find a facility! Here's a few pictures from the day.

The playground was honestly a little young for Ian, but he made the most of it!

I seriously could not get Cooper to even look at the camera.
I mean really, how can I compete with naked toes and grass?!
What was I thinking?
I love the picture anyways though...

Ana loves to swing, the faster and higher the better! I think we may have a thrill seeker here!

Love this picture of my gorgeous girl. I'm hoping to play with the lighting a bit when I can get around to doing some photo editing again.

This one was fun too. She thought it was real funny
that mummy was laying on the ground underneath her swing!

Cooper wasn't the biggest fan of the swing.
He probably gave it 3 minutes before he was done.
He didn't hate it, but there was no real love for it either!
I like this picture because for a long while, Cooper sported a natural mohawk and you can see it beginning to emerge in this picture!

Dear Sweet Blog....

2010-09-16T23:01:00.000-04:00

I am so sorry I have neglected you for so long! I have a list of excuses, but really I won't bore you with them. Greg had you published for me for Mother's Day this year (a most awesome present!) and I came across the books while tidying the kitchen today. I was reminded of how important you are to me, and about what it means to have lost so much time with you! So here's my plan...

We have a lot of catching up to do, so I'll set aside one entry each week just to catch you up on what we've been up to; let's call it Flashback Friday, okay? Maybe we can talk about older stuff on other days too, but definitely on Fridays. And from here on out, I will make my best effort to keep you up to date with what is currently going on my friend!

Remembering Bumpa

2010-09-05T08:34:00.000-04:00

Dear Ian, Liliana, and Cooper,

This is hard stuff. I'm writing to you because you have lost a very important man in your life. It's been a month since your Bumpa died and I've been trying to write this ever since then. Ian, I know you have good memories of your Bumpa; you are almost 9 years old and I know this has been especially hard on you. I am so proud of the way you have handled yourself like such a little man through this all. I am proud of how you have talked about your feelings with mum and dad, and even let yourself cry a little; about how you bravely sat at the side of Bumpa's casket numerous times during the wake, no doubt processing what it all meant; how you decided that the flowers from yourself, your sister and brother needed to be placed on your Bumpa's heart before closing his casket and not only did you ask the funeral director yourself if that could be done, but lovingly placed the flowers there yourself, and how seriously you took your role as honorary pall bearer at Bumpa's funeral. You are not always the best at sharing how you are feeling, but it was evident to everyone present that day that you loved and respected your Bumpa very much and for that I am very proud.

You were Bumpa's first grandchild Ian, and I'm certain you reserved a special place in his heart. You loved it when Bumpa would get down on the floor with you and blow raspberries on your belly. I loved that too; he did that with all three of you, and I remember thinking how funny it was to see this man with such a crunchy exterior cooing and ga ga-ing over you guys in a high pitched voice you would never expect to come out of him. He couldn't wait until you were old enough to give treats to. It started when you were about 5 months with, "Can I give him a little piece of cracker?"; to which Mimi would incredulously reply, "Ed! He can't have that!!". Mommy agreed with Mimi, sorry bud. But as soon as he found out you could have treats, you better believe he was at the door just about every Saturday. It started with bottles of chocolate milk and small bags of Ritz Bits peanut butter crackers. Honestly, I'm pretty sure he chose those items because, well you know how first time moms can be, but milk and peanut butter, could mom really deny you that?! You were the first to spoil; and boy did he love to do that!

By the time Ana came along, Bumpa caught on that mummy was a little more relaxed and she knew that you weren't going to wither away by being treated on the weekends so his visits would bring one of a few usual suspects; ice cream sandwiches (always the neapolitan kind), devil dogs, Hostess Donettes (you know, those waxy chocolate covered "donuts" that you guys LOVE!), ding dongs, Market Basket brand chewy chocolate chip cookies, or the most recent addition after finding out Ana's love for it, popcorn. These things will always remind me of your Bumpa.

Liliana, you have handled this I guess like any 3 year old would. We were torn whether to bring you to the wake and funeral, but I do think it was good for you and has helped you understand a little more than you otherwise would have. We were a little concerned when you asked a couple times at the wake for Bumpa to "wake up" but when we explained that Bumpa's body didn't work anymore, I think on some level you got it. At the funeral, you asked to see Bumpa a few times and as they wheeled the casket out you wanted to "go with Bumpa", so I'm sure you knew that even though you didn't see the casket close, you knew that's where Bumpa was. When you went with Mimi back to the cemetery a couple days after the burial, I'm told you did ask where Bumpa went. When Mimi told you that Bumpa was under the flowers you responded with a very literal 3 year old response of "Well, he's gonna get all messy under there!" I do think your presence through all of this added some levity and like to think that it helped especially your Mimi, Daddy and Uncles. I'm certain you don't fully understand all that has happened, which was made clear to me a couple nights ago when you asked if Bumpa was done dying yet so we could bring him chocolate in the hospital and make him feel better. I explained to you again that we wouldn't be able to see Bumpa again and you got a sad face and said, "Oh...dat sad". It is so sad my sweet girl. Liliana, Bumpa really loved having a grand-daughter! I'm told that he always wanted a daughter, and you could tell by the way he looked at you that he thoroughly enjoyed watching you and your girl-y ways. "Ahh-na", he would say, (again in that high pitched Bumpa voice) "look at your pretty dress!" He would always remark on your shoes and how they never matched and were always on the wrong feet, because you do that, a lot! He loved it when you would stay with them while mummy ran errands or had appointments because he was very proud of the fact that he was the only one you would cuddle calmly enough with to fall asleep next to him on the couch. Thank goodness Mimi even caught this on film a couple times. You were definitely his special princess!

Cooper, I'm especially sad for you. You are so young, and your memories will be based in the pictures and stories we will share with you. That's a big reason this was so important to me to get down on "paper". The day you were born, Bumpa had to have a procedure done and he was not happy about it! You better believe though that he was the first visitor bright and early (your Bumpa was ALWAYS bright and early!) the next morning so he could give you an extra squeeze! I'm sad that you didn't get to experience the weekend Bumpa treats like your brother and sister did since it really was something that made your Bumpa especially happy to do. This was not due to his lack of trying though!! I think you were about 3 months when he first tried to give you a cookie crumb to which your Mimi exclaimed, just like she did years ago with your brother, "Ed! He can't have that!!" Cooper, your Bumpa was quite taken with you and how much you look like your daddy; "Spittin' image of Greg", he would say every time he saw you. He loved what an easy baby you are! When you were teenie, he would come over and pull you out of the swing (whether you were sleeping or not) to give you a cuddle; you would sit with him and he would remark, "Such a happy baby!". You loved it when he would pretend to gobble up your chubby little fists, making that chomping noise that only Bumpa could make as you would reach out to him for more. You also loved when Bumpa would get down on the floor with you just like with your brother and sister; no matter how much I'm sure his legs were hurting, he got right down with you on the floor and blew raspberries on your belly too! You certainly were special to your Bumpa!

All in all, I think Sharon summed up your Bumpa the best when she said that he was a lot like a toasted marshmallow; kind of crusty and crunchy on the outside but all gooey and smooshy on the inside. That gooey goodness oozed out whenever he was around you kids. He loved you all with every ounce of that tired heart of his and that's what I want you to remember the most; how much he really loved being your Bumpa.

Three!

2010-07-01T22:13:00.005-04:00

My Sweet Liliana,
You are three years old today!
It's hard to remember you as
the quiet little baby you once were
because you are anything but quiet now!

You love to sing
Quite dramatically actually
and loudly!

You clutch your hands to your chest,
tilt your cute little face upward
and belt it out.

Your songs usually don't have words.
But when they do,
they are ones you have made up
and don't often make sense.
But that's okay, it's wonderful all the same.

The drama doesn't stop there though.
Whether it be changing your clothes 14 times a day
(you are very particular about your clothing)
Or your fiery attitude
(you are a sassy little monkey)
You definitely keep the boredom away in our house!

You are also trouble with a capital T!
No matter how many times you've been told,
you think drawing on walls,
furniture
or yourself
is far more creative than doing it on paper.

You think Milo's food is there for your amusement.
You especially like to mix it with his water,
or to the water drip tray from our water dispenser
or stuffing it into the soil of my ficus plant.
That's my personal favorite.

But you can be so sweet too!
You melt my heart when you offer kisses and hugs
and "I lub you's"
without prompting
or lay a big hug on Ian (whether he wants it or not)
or get right down on the floor with Cooper to hug him
and say "I lub you" Coopie

You are such a loving little girl...
even though you do still give your cousin Stevie a hard time!

Today we spent the day playing outside.
You pushed your baby around the yard in her stroller
Tried to steal blueberries from the bushes
Played on the swing set
Tried to steal blueberries from the bushes
pulled leaves off the forsythia bushes,
and pretended to cook them in your playhouse
Stole blueberries from the bushes
Yeah you LOVE blueberries.

We met Papa and Ian at the golf course
to watch Ian finish his final lesson.
Then Papa bought us pizza for lunch on the way home
and sent you home with
a chocolate chip muffin in a bag for dessert.

You watched Tinkerbelle and the Lost Treasure
for a little rest time
because a nap was not on your menu for the day

Then we played outside some more.
This time Ian joined you,
and you had a ball pretending to drive
back and forth to the grocery store;
loading your cart up with leaves, twigs and dirt

When daddy got home we went to
Ice Cream Haven for a treat.
You requested that specific ice cream place
so you could see the "baby" ducks.
They're kind of "grown up" ducks now
but you can call them babies if you want to.

You wanted a purple ice cream cone.
I don't think you would have cared about the flavor
as long as it was purple.

You took a few licks of that cone
then left it on the table to melt
because feeding the ducks was way more interesting.

All in all, I think you had a great day.
We are looking forward to
celebrating with family on Saturday
and with your friends next weekend for
a yet to be determined
princess or fairy party
(you change your mind hourly).

Happy Birthday to you my sweet girl!
I love you so very much
and can't wait to see what this year brings!

Guatemala 900

2010-05-05T08:51:00.003-04:00

I've met many blog friends during our adoption journey. One story that I have followed with much heartache is Yesenia's family who have struggled 3 years to bring their little girl home from Guatemala. They received their referral a month after we received ours. As you know we just passed our 2 year anniversary of having Ana home with us. They however have had to endure setback after setback in their journey with no clear end in sight. Sadly they are not alone. This is from our agency:

"Some of you may be aware that there are still approximately 500 adoptions, which were grandfathered under the new law, which have been obstructed by the Guatemalan authorities for various reasons. Hundreds of U.S. families are still hoping to be united with the children they started adopting - in most cases, more than 3 years ago. Some don't know where their children are. Some are supporting their child and hoping that child will come home. This is a travesty of justice on the part of both the Guatemalan and U.S. governments.

The Guatemala900 organization, www.guatemala900.org , has scheduled a Congressional Briefing on Thursday, May 6, between 10-12 A.M. They will be marching from the Holiday Inn Capital Hill to the Hart building for the briefing. The adoptive families and their advocates will be attending the briefing, the details are on the Guatemala900 website. BE AN ADVOCATE to encourage Congressional intercession with our Department of State, so that this becomes a matter of the highest priority for them to resolve. Please contact your congressional reps and ask them to attend this briefing. Please contact any families in the DC area to see if they can join the march and briefing. Please, if you are an agency near DC, please attend and show your support to US adoptive families and their children who are caught in this painful situation."

My friends and family were so supportive when we were waiting for Ana to come home. I'm hoping you might be able to help out other families bring their precious children home. There is a petition that will be presented that is directed to the US and Guatemalan First Ladies asking for their support that this will be the LAST Mother's Day waiting mothers will be without their children.

My heart just aches for these families.
I can't imagine the pain and worry they are enduring.
I can't look at my own sweet Guatemalan princess without tearing up.
We are so blessed to have her here safe with us!

Won't you please click here to sign the petition?

Thanks for your help!

Cooper Fast Forward...

2010-03-23T06:17:00.007-04:00

So, after Ian was born I really got into photography.

When he was about 2 months old I took a set of photographs that I really loved and from that point on I decided I was not going to take him to a studio and pay outlandish prices, and hope and pray he would be having a good enough moment to get some good shots.

I decided that I would do them.

And that's what I did.
Every month.
And I was happy.

Along came Ana and though I had the best of intentions and did mostly okay, with a few delays here and there in timing. The difference with her was that I didn't print out oodles of copies every month and hand them out to everyone willing to take one.

I handed out her 1 year photos,

But mostly, they sit here on my computer.
But I'm still happy.
I can look at them whenever I want to after all.

So onto Cooper.
He's quite possibly my last baby.
I want to hold onto every memory even more so.

I've been doing okay.
Well, except that I missed the 1 month and 4 month ones.
Oops.

It's just so hard to find the time;
enough time to set up the backdrop,
to take the pictures,
and take DOWN the backdrop all in one day.
It didn't matter so much with Ian if things were still set up the next day.

But with Ms. Mischief in the house, it most certainly matters!
In a "we would probably end up in the ER with head trauma" sort of way.

Anyways, what I haven't been so good about is sharing with you all.
So I thought I'd catch you up on how much our Coop has changed over the last 5 months.

So here you go, a Cooper Fast Forward:

There you go.
5 months already.
Time really flies.

But I say that a lot, don't I?

2 Years Ago Tonight...

2010-03-17T11:45:00.005-04:00

This cutie became a U.S. citizen.

We were so happy to finally have her HOME...

It's hard to remember her at that age!
She has changed in so very many ways!

Sleepy Stories

2010-03-13T05:18:00.002-05:00

Between having a 4 month old who alternates between sleeping 7-8 hours in his own bed to spending vast amounts of time in between mummy and daddy; a 2 1/2 year old who has just graduated to a toddler bed; and an 8 year old who still climbs into mummy and daddy's bed every single night, there's a lot of chatter in this house about sleep. I've started a couple different posts about different stories and have decided to pool them together into one post.

This first one is from February 8th:
Okay, it's 5:20 am and Cooper has slept through the night, and is still sleeping! Why then, have I been up all night? Well, he's got me freaked out, that's why! Besides the sleeping so long thing which was enough to keep me up, he's insisting on pulling the blankets over his head over and over again. So I've been up for hours just listening to him breathing. We did have a big day yesterday, traveling to Worcester, MA to visit with a college friend and go to an indoor zoo event. He was awake most of the day so I shouldn't be that surprised, but he fell asleep in the car around 6:15, and I had to wake him at 8:15 because he continued to sleep in his seat when we got home. He slept through me changing his diaper, then nursed, but never opened his eyes. I put him down at about 9pm and here we are at just about 5:30. As I've been typing he's starting to finally stir, and is working hard to fill his diaper.

So, fast forward to 8 am...I totally expected him to wake up STARVING; after all, it had been 9 hours since his last feeding! But this is what I was greeted with when I peered over the bed side:

I laughed out loud when I saw the grin on his face, he is so funny!

From Febrary 17th:
Ana has graduated to a toddler bed, or as she calls it, her big girl bed. She's doing pretty good and as I type it's her fourth night in it. We have a gate on her room so she can't get out and wander if she awakes during the night, which apparently she does because each time we go to get her after nap (which doesn't involve sleep anymore by the way) or in the morning she is wearing different clothes than she was put to bed in. Yesterday morning, I go in to check on her in the morning and she sits up quickly in her bed and says, "Oh, hi mummy! I waked up! I put my dess on!" (dess is clothes). Her "dess" of choice was a shirt, tights, and FOUR pairs of underpants! I got a total giggle when I helped her on the potty and counted layer after layer of underpant; it was too funny!

Ana sleeping in her big girl bed for the first time!

Okay, here's the new stuff:

A little more about Ana's big girl bed escapades - Ana has since started to not want to nap during the day, it's far more interesting to empty her drawers and paw through the bucket of out-grown clothes in her closet, putting on multiple layers of shirts, pants and/or dresses. I'm hoping to do a separate post just on her post-nap styling, but you all know my track record, so don't hold your breath! Another problem we have encountered is that the gate we had been securing her doorway with she figured out how to maneuver out of. One morning last week we woke up and she wasn't in her room...PANIC! She had gone downstairs and had emptied an entire loaf of bread onto the bathroom floor and was playing with it. I can't think about the incident without getting sick to my stomach with the possibilities that could have arisen from her being downstairs by herself (she has taken to trying to go outside to play all by herself on multiple occasions). I'm so thankful that loaf of bread held her interest for some unknown reason!

Lastly, lately our bed has been a gathering place for all members of the family. I have come to the conclusion that we desperately need a king size bed! Anyways, after climbing out of bed one morning a couple weeks ago, I got a real kick out of this sight:

I call it "Small, Medium, and Large".

Oh, I guess there is one last sleep story to share. It's pretty involved, and I'm going to save it for another post. I'll just say that we discovered recently that Ian is a sleep walker...and it was in a very scary way that we made this discovery! More to come....

Ana-versary

2010-03-12T05:46:00.004-05:00

Recovering from the stomach bug can do a lot to you, but I can't believe it let yesterday slip by without a mention. Two years ago yesterday, Ana was placed in our arms forever. I simply cannot believe it has been two years already! It seems like only yesterday we were sitting in that crowded hotel lobby holding an 8 month old Ana, in disbelief that she was finally coming home with us. Not hearing a word the hogar director was saying to us, only admiring chubby cheeks and crazy dark sticky up hair that covered her sweet head. Two years later, and she has brought so much joy and laughter to our house. I can't imagine our lives without her!

Happy Ana-versary Liliana Michele!
We love you so, so much!

Oh, and thanks to Debbie over at World of Weeks from whom I stole the term "Ana-versary" from. They will be celebrating their own "Lilianaversary" in just over a week, which also happens to be while they are in Ethiopia picking up their newest addition, sweet Naomi. Congratulations guys, and have a safe trip, we'll be thinking about you and can't wait to see pictures of Lili with her new baby sister!

Hello 2010!

2010-01-26T03:35:00.001-05:00

I cannot believe it's January already! (Okay, so I started this the beginning of January and am now finishing it near the end, so I guess I should say I cannot believe January's almost over already!) I did so little blogging last year, and I'm hoping to change that this year. There's so much that I just didn't blog about, so there's lots of catching up to do! The problem is, I have no idea where to begin! I guess I'll start with just a basic update, then go back and cover the events of last year that I missed. Here we go, onto an update on the kids:

The Beaner

I still find it very hard to accept that he is 8 years old already. I won't lie, age 8 has been met with some challenges; I don't think they are unusual for his age, but they are frustrating nonetheless! You know, back talk, testing, not listening, and a good share of potty mouth! No, I don't mean swearing, he definitely knows better than that. I mean, some days it seems like every other word out of his mouth has to do with boogers, butts, or armpits, and is most often followed by fits of uncontrollable laughter; he just doesn't know when to stop! Anyways, it has been trying. This is not to say we don't have our good days when he is sweet to his sister and plays with her for hours; or gets a real kick out of how much Cooper's eyes follow him around the room and how he gets the biggest smiles out of him when he gets down on his level and talks to him. All in all, he really is a good kid and I think we are just going through a testing phase at the moment. He does well in school, and is respectful to all other adults so I guess I have to be thankful he keeps the difficult behavior at home! His teacher tells us that he is great at school, and that he is one of the kids in the class that she goes to if she needs helpers, so that makes me proud! Anyways, his current interests are reading (even if his favorite is the Captain Underpants series), art (he's started to do some really great drawings!), and using his various building toys (legos, train tracks, dominoes, marble tracks, lincoln logs) to build large intertwining structures; he will spend hours working on them while listening to music on cable's "kidz only" music station. He's still taking piano lessons, and seems to enjoy it most of the time. We also gave him as a Christmas gift, a few karate classes to try it out, so we'll be doing that in the near future. We're hoping it can teach him some self control!

La Princesa Liliana:

What can I say about our little 2 1/2 year old ball of fire? She has about a million personalities, I swear. One moment she can be so very sweet to you, and the next she is literally growling at you! Look at the above picture, she refused to smile for the camera, the picture oozes her attitude! She's pure drama for sure, and we are never short on giggles when she's around. Her current loves are tutu's, and other dress ups which her Mimi has made sure she has a steady supply of, but she'll get down on the ground and push cars around with the boys any time. She'll get down and dirty in the mud, and the next minute be whining that she needs a wipe to wash up. She is often seen trucking around the house in a tutu and mismatched rain boots toting around 3 or 4 bags filled with random stuff. She is intensely independent, and has for at least 6 months now completely dressed herself from shirt to tights and shoes (seriously, I remember still putting Ian's shoes on when he was 4!). Remember when she used to wear shoes around the house on her hands? Well the obsession has not passed and we can't be out of bed for more than 10 minutes before the feet have to be dressed. She is a major trouble seeker and will wait until I'm busy feeding Cooper to find something to get into. Her favorite is when I leave the gate open so she can get into the bathroom (did I mention she can open doors now?); and the gate is no longer enough to keep her from going upstairs, she slips through the railings on the side of the staircase. I'm telling you, she's a total monkey! She loves going through tubs of wipes at a time changing her baby's diapers, she's gotten into my makeup and completely painted her body from the waist down with lipstick, and we've had several incidents where she decides to change her own poopy diapers (most of the time during nap time, arrrgh!). She definitely keeps us on our toes! But at the end of the day, she's a real sweetheart. She loves her brothers so completely, constantly tackling Ian for hugs and will get down and speak sweetly to Cooper and tell him "It okay Coopa" when he's crying. She is full of "I luvs you"s for mummy, daddy and her brothers and she always keeps us smiling!

Coopie Monster

What can I say about this gushy squishy fellow? I'm smitten for sure. He is the most laid back child I have ever encountered; he really only cries when he's hungry or needs a diaper change. I remember having to carry Ian around everywhere, having to walk him around to keep him entertained (maybe it's that he has constant entertainment with his brother and sister, we're never short on activity in this house!). At night I remember having to rock Ian back to sleep after each feeding; Cooper pretty much eats and goes right back to sleep, it's crazy and I'm so spoiled! For the past week or so, he's been going to bed around 8 or 9, waking between 1 and 3 for a feeding then going back to sleep until 4-6 usually not actually getting up for the day until around 6 or 7, it's amazing (yes I'm knocking on wood)! The only problem we've been having at night is that after that first feeding he really doesn't want to go back into the cradle, he'd much rather cuddle with me in bed; but I have to admit, that's really not a problem for me! Anyways, he's just a sweetie and I wish I could keep him this way forever. But you know how it goes....they grow; and boy is he growing! I had him at the doctors a few weeks ago and he was already approaching 13 pounds! The picture above was taken at about 6 weeks and he's now 3 months old (I just took more pictures, but they are still on the camera), I can hardly believe three months have gone by already! He's a big smiler, I heard his giggle a couple weeks ago, he's started to reach for things and grab onto them, and has started to discover just how fascinating it is to have hands, often spending lots of time just staring at them. We only got a week with Ana when she was this age, and it's so nice to experience it again!

As for Greg and I, we're just flying by the seat of our pants trying to keep up with this crew. We feel like the luckiest parents on earth to have these three as our own. I would have never imagined when we started dating in high school that this is where we would be 18 years later (isn't that crazy?!). It's been an interesting road to get here, but in the end I would change nothing. Everything that we've been through has contributed to where we are, and who we have become. I feel so truly blessed.

The Pictures

2009-11-25T21:18:00.009-05:00

Just before stepping into the flattering hospital wear, my last picture in maternity clothes:

Moments after his birth, the cheeks kill me!

His first picture with mummy and daddy:

Just outside the operating room:

Ian holding Cooper. The black and red sweatshirt is the day of his birth.

Our three kids!

Love how his face smushes in this one:

Just a couple with mummy and daddy. The one of Greg is the day he returned home from Children's Hospital with Ana; he was exhausted!

A couple of my favorites of Cooper that my mum took:

That's all for now. I took some shots at home of Cooper, and I'll get those up next, I just have to fiddle with them a bit more first.

It's been pretty crazy around here. We're all quarantined for Thanksgiving this year. Ana came down with what they thought was H1N1 this weekend and was in the ER with a 106 fever. They called the next day and thought it might be pneumonia. Anyways, to make a long story short, Greg was sick, Ian has been out all week from school with a very mild case, and poor baby Cooper started with it last night. I'm the only relatively healthy one at the moment (knock on wood!). Everyone seems to be dealing with it okay, even with Ana's past breathing issues, she hasn't had any problems this time around. She was never tested, so we're not sure what has invaded our home so Thanksgiving dinner with Mimi, Bumpa, Tim and Uncle Shawne has had to be postponed unfortunately. We're planning on a small meal and an easy day tomorrow. Life is never boring here, that's for sure!

The Story...

2009-11-11T12:10:00.000-05:00

Hold onto your hats folks, this is going to be a LONG post. The past four weeks have been so surreal, I almost feel like I've been watching events from the outside in. So, you know that Cooper joined the family on October 15th; what most of you don't know is what unfolded less than 8 hours after his birth; I'll get to that story in a minute. Let's talk about the good parts of the day first.

We got to the hospital a little before 7am, and started to get prepared for my c-section. When they put me on the monitors, it turned out that I was contracting every 3-7 minutes, so it's good that we scheduled when we did! I was very nervous because I really didn't know what to expect. I did have a c-section with Ian, but ended up being put under general anesthesia for the procedure due to problems with my epidural. So I have no recollection of the procedure, and Greg wasn't able to be in the room for the delivery. While I was excited that Greg would be there and I would be awake, I was very anxious about what was going to happen; especially about the spinal as there's a big difference between getting an epidural when you are in agony knowing you are doing it for relief and getting one when you are in no pain whatsoever. It wasn't as bad as I imagined, a little discomfort, but nothing too scary! As soon as that was set, the action started and to be completely honest, I don't remember a whole lot about it; I was so anxious! I remember the draping and the prepping, Greg coming into the room, the "can you feel this?" test pinching on my belly, the sensation of knowing the cutting had started (so WEIRD! I could feel no pain, but could feel the scalpel going through tissue...too hard to explain), the panic knowing the cutting had started but realizing I could still move the toes on my right foot (seriously, it was almost like being at the dentist anxiously thinking the novocaine is going to wear off before he's done drilling, on a bigger scale of course!), I remember the doctor saying, "Okay, here comes the amniotic fluid", and the PRESSURE! Oh my dear Lord...I've heard it time and time again from others that you just feel a lot of pressure, but my goodness, you cannot really prepare for what it will be like! I could swear they were pulling me apart from every direction! Greg says the doctor assisting looked like he had a wrestling foot hold going on and I believe it! I wonder if Cooper was holding onto my ribs or something! Anyways as soon as he was out, I heard some suctioning going on, and then the cry; the most beautiful sound ever! The doctor told me to peer over the drapes and there he was but to be honest, I didn't see much before they whisked him away partly because my blood pressure dropped all of a sudden and I thought I was going to be sick. Greg says they quickly gave me something that remedied the nausea, along with a nice dose of morphine which is probably why I don't remember a whole lot after that point. I do remember Cooper crying and looking at Greg and crying myself, just in complete awe of it all. I think up until that moment, I was fully expecting someone to come in and say, "Sorry Mrs. Fraize, you were never really pregnant", or to find out that we'd been on some sick version of Candid Camera or something. This wasn't supposed to happen to us; we were not supposed to be able to make a baby "normally"! But there he was, screaming; proof that miracles do happen, it was so surreal. When they brought him over to Greg all wrapped up like a burrito, all I could see were cheeks; this child came out with some serious cheeks! I remember someone commenting on his eyelashes and why do the boys always get the eyelashes, and me saying that he looked like Ian which is really not true; he looks a lot like his daddy actually! I remember hearing them say that he scored a 9 on both Apgar tests, and thinking to myself, "Holy moly, he really is okay even after the flu and pneumonia, and strep and all that nonsense, and...hmmm they would have already noticed if he was missing fingers or toes, right?". I remember feeling like I was floating, and hearing the doctor ask her assistant to hold my bowels in place and thinking this was part of the procedure I didn't need to have knowledge of! Anyways, everything went exactly as planned as I'm told. When I got back to my room, Cooper had already been weighed and bathed and I learned that a couple of our family members had been denied at the door by Greg to get a sneak peek; he wanted me to be able to hold him before they did because everybody held Ian before me when he was born. The nurse laid him on my chest and I was able to get a good look at him, and I remember thinking he looked so different from what I expected. Ian came out with strawberry blonde fuzz and I kind of expected the same for Cooper, but he has a full head of dark hair. He is very much like Greg whereas Ian was my spitting image at birth. After a while, visitors were allowed in and Ian and Ana got their first look at their new brother; Ian thought he was cute and wanted to hold him but Ana really didn't know what to think. I think she just didn't know what to make of mummy being in that big bed with all those tubes and wires coming off. She was happy to play on the floor with Stevie instead. After their visit my mum and dad took the kids back to their house to hang out for a while and Greg and I had the afternoon to get to know Cooper. That's when the day got really interesting...

Greg got a call on his cell phone about 4pm from my mum and she was in a panic. She was chasing Stevie who had decided to try and get up the stairs for the millionth time and Ana who had been playing with a roll of wrapping paper contentedly took the opportunity to get into her purse and had managed to open one of her prescription pill bottles. The bottle which she knew had pills in it was now empty and she had no idea how many were missing, and if Ana had eaten them or dumped them somewhere. Greg told her to call the ambulance, but she was already in the car on her way to the hospital. Greg went down to the ER to meet them. It got pretty cloudy for me here; I don't know if it was the morphine, or the fact that people were pretty much with holding the whole truth from me. I kept being told that she was going to be fine, that she was a little groggy, but she would be fine. Little did I know that a little groggy meant that she couldn't stand, could barely sit, was drooling uncontrollably and was slurring her speech. Anyways, it's probably best that I didn't know the full situation because really what could I have done? Greg was there with her and I felt like things were under control. The doctor from our pediatricians office really wanted her to be under observation by a PICU unit that could monitor her one on one overnight which left us with the option of her going to Boston, Dartmouth or to Portland all of which are over an hour away. The doctor was so amazing and actually came up to my room and talked to me about the decision and assured me that Ana was going to be just fine. That we just had to wait until the drug worked it's way out of her system, and once it was gone there would be no lasting effects whatsoever. So Ana was transported by ambulance with a team of three physicians to the Children's Hospital in Portland, ME where she and Greg spent two nights while she recouped. My first report from Greg was on Friday morning where he told me she still couldn't really stand steady on her feet. I said to Greg, "She can't STAND?" to which he replied, "Well she can sit now which is an improvement from last night." That was my first knowledge of the severity of the symptoms she was having. They returned on Saturday around lunchtime and though I was told Ana was back to herself, she most certainly didn't seem it to me. Her speech sounded slurred and she was walking a little funny. Nobody but me seemed to notice it though; probably because they had all seen where she had come from where I hadn't. At any rate, she still didn't seem herself to me. I don't think she was 100% Ana until Monday actually. I think she just needed a ton of catch up on sleep as Greg had a heck of a time getting her to sleep at the hospital. As I hear they did a LOT of rocking, and walking while she did a lot of kicking and hitting and crying; she was just so out of sorts, and didn't want anything to do with anything or anyone. Honestly, through it all, the things that caused me the most angst were the fact that the ambulance crew didn't allow Greg to ride in with them, and by the time Greg got to the hospital she was already up in her room playing in her crib. It kills me that she had no one that she knew getting her through those transitions and though I know they were hospital staff, it was to me, the equivalent of having complete strangers care for my child for that time. The other thing is that Greg said she cried for me constantly and he believes she was actually hallucinating that one of the nurses in the hallway was me and she was trying to get to her but Greg wouldn't let her go. These two things still bring tears to my eyes, I just hate that she wanted me and I couldn't be there for her, and hate what she may have thought being in that ambulance without her mummy and daddy. I have had a few weeks now to reflect on it all and my biggest concern is that people may have thought I didn't care as I kept getting comments on how well I was taking it all and that if it were them they would be a basket case. I don't know what caused me to take the news so well; there are a lot of possibilities. Like I said, I didn't know the full extent of the situation, and at the time I didn't even know for sure that she had definitely ingested anything; that's probably first and foremost. I was on morphine and though I don't recall feeling terribly loopy, events of the day are a little fuzzy, so that's an absolute possibility. Ana has gotten into so many things in the past and has been fine; I mean we have had to call Poison Control for her more times in her short 1 1/2 years here than we've had to call for Ian in his entire 8 years of life! Lastly, I think I was really focused on trying to keep it together for my mum. She was absolutely devastated that this happened on her watch; I have never seen her in such a state, she was terrified! Even though EVERYONE who was involved assured her that it was not her fault (and many had their own stories of two year old woe) she just couldn't forgive herself. Two year olds are notorious for getting into things, and Ana is an absolute professional! She is very adept at sneaking things, and at knowing the precisely perfect moment to conduct her business. Someone asked my mum shortly after the incident if we were mad at her and I want to make it absolutely clear that there was never any bit of blame put on my mum for this. This could have happened anywhere! Like I said, we practically have Poison Control on speed dial, and we're her parents, AND we live in a child proofed home! It was simply a horrible accident and after all is said and done, she is thankfully fine with no lasting effects at all. It hasn't even stopped her from getting into things unfortunately!

So there you have it; that's the story of Cooper's birth. An absolutely wonderful, yet totally insane day that no one in the family will ever forget and that will likely be one of those passed down through generations family stories. Crazy huh? But did you expect anything less from this bunch?!

I am working on uploading some photos to share...they'll be along shortly!

Mommy and bady are doing very well.

2009-10-15T15:07:00.003-04:00

Introducing Cooper Fraize
Born: 10/15/2009 at 9:33am EST
Weight: 8.7lb
Length: 21in
Hair: Brown

Ten Things Thursday

2009-10-15T00:01:00.001-04:00

My friend Amanda does a list every Thursday called Ten Things Thursday; it can be any type of list. I've decided to give it a go!

Ten Things I'll be doing tomorrow before 9:30am

1. Waking up at 5am.
2. Taking a long hot shower.
3. Coaxing a sleepy husband out of bed to shower.
4. Triple checking my bags.
5. Feeding the dog.
6. Getting two sleepy children out of bed way before they are accustomed.
7. Packing bags and both sleepy children into minivan.
8. Driving to my parents house at a ridiculous hour.
9. Arriving at the hospital by 7am.
10. Having a baby.

Wait a minute.......did I really just say that?

Long Time...

2009-09-24T10:03:00.001-04:00

No blog, I know! I just have not had the time to compose a proper post! And it's not like there's been nothing to blog about, I just haven't kept up! The worst part is when things start to slide, and I do get a free moment I don't know where to begin! So much catching up to do! Things are good here. Ian just turned 8 years old this past Monday, I can hardly believe it!! I will dedicate separate posts to that soon. He's been a second grader for 3 weeks now, and seems to fairly enjoy school. Getting him up and out in the morning can be a hassle sometimes, but once he's there he seems to do well. He has been out two days this week with croup, but seems to be feeling much better today and will return to school tomorrow just in time for his birthday bash with his friends tomorrow afternoon. This years theme is SCIENCE, and I'm thrilled! So much fun to plan, and so many possibilities! Like I said, a separate post and pictures will come soon. Ana is doing great too. She's a true 2 year old, with a fiery temper and an attitude to match. Everything is a battle these days, and when she's caught doing something naughty, and I start to reprimand, she gives me a flippant "bye bye!" before running off and hiding. As exhausting as she can be, she matches the level in cuteness often. Her language has exploded over the past couple weeks and she can now really communicate her needs, wants and opinions in those cute little pieced together 2 year old word strings! This age is frustrating, and adorable all at the same time! Baby number three is still doing well, and I guess I can share with you all that we have finally settled on a name; Cooper (that is unless we see him and change our minds, so don't hold us to it!). I'm feeling fantastic and am having a hard time believing that it's only three weeks until he's here; I have yet to have that "Oh my God, get him out" feeling. I have so enjoyed being pregnant, I guess in a way it makes me feel normal, that my body is functioning the way it should. As much as I'm looking forward to meeting him, I'm pretty sad to say goodbye to pregnancy! I'm still watching Stevie (he turned ONE on September 3rd by the way!), though tomorrow is my last day until some time after Cooper arrives; don't get me started I'm pretty emotional this week. I'm so going to miss having my little Stevie toddling around the house and seeing my brother every day. At the same time, it has been quite tiring lately as Ana definitely has her moments with him and has lashed out at the poor guy on many occasions. Poor baby has been scratched, pinched and bitten on the toe; always followed by "Oh sorry baby", arrgh! She is doing much better now that she has some words under her belt, but when she gets really frustrated, watch out! For a long while there was a common occurrence of, "No baby!" followed by crying, followed by "Oh sorry sorry baby, shhh, shhh, shhh". I'd like to think she was feeling regret and was trying to comfort him, but really I think it's more likely she was thinking, "quiet down before mummy hears and I get in trouble!". She is certainly a handful; but she definitely has her sweet side too. She can be very loving, and shares really well with a little reminder here and there. She mothers Stevie by fussing with his clothes, trying to change his diapers, and kissing his boo boos (even when she caused them). She's coming along, we just need to get that temper under control! So we'll spend the next couple weeks having some mother/daughter time before her world is completely turned upside down again. Anyways, I think I'll close for now. I've got a list of things a mile long I want to accomplish before this baby arrives and have been trying to pick away at it during nap time. It's going slowly, but I'm beginning to see some progress. Mostly it's emptying and reorganizing closets, drawers, and cupboards, and throwing heaps of things away.....is this what they call nesting? I don't remember it with Ian!

No Wonder...

2009-08-26T07:38:00.004-04:00

I'm so darn tired!

Greg snapped a picture (cell phone, sorry for the quality!) this morning after he got up. This is how it usually is when both children join us in bed; Greg ends up with at least an entire half to himself while I share the other half with the kids (plus the one in my ever expanding belly!). You can't see in the picture, but I'm laying with my knees hanging off the side of the bed, and Milo is laying eagerly underneath them waiting for any pillows or blankets to fall off for him to claim; which he does quickly. Add that to the children who lay on TOP of the blankets, and you can get an idea of the miracle that it is that I even have a blanket covering me! Before I was pregnant, turning from side to side on a dime wasn't that big of a deal, but I'm not so graceful these days to say the least and flipping myself in such limited space is quite a bit more complicated! I've even tried sleeping on the other side of the bed, but it doesn't matter, they still find me. Not that I mind the fact that my kids like to snuggle with me, but just one night in a bed by myself these days would be glorious! Oh, and did you notice who's laying next to Ian? His old pal doggie was requested last night; and it made me smile.....

Within Normal Limits

2009-08-14T10:37:00.002-04:00

The nurse just called to inform me that my 3 hour glucose test results were all within normal limits. I am so relieved! Another bit of news I have acquired is the date of my planned C-section. As long as the baby behaves, his birth date will be October 15th, which is exactly one week before my due date. So that leaves us just shy of 9 weeks before he arrives, yikes! Where did the time go?

Baby Update

2009-08-12T09:49:00.007-04:00

Just a quick baby update. Things are going pretty well, I feel great and the baby is very active which I'm enjoying every minute of! Up until my last visit about a week ago, it was looking like the trouble we had at the beginning of the pregnancy was going to be the end of the drama but alas, this is not the story. The first thing, is that I'm measuring 3 weeks ahead of my due date. Now I've not been terribly concerned about this as I've been measuring 3 weeks ahead since my first measurement at my 20 week appointment, and just the week before that appointment, I had my ultrasound that showed the baby was measuring right on target, and the doctor said ultrasound measurement is far more accurate than her tape measure thingy any day. Anyways, after measuring too big for the third visit in a row, my doctor figured we should have another ultrasound (oh darn, twist my arm!) just to make sure things are okay. Like I said, I've not really been concerned about the measurements; that is until last week when I found out that I failed my 1 hour glucose test. Then I started to freak out a little. My 1 hour number was 157 but should be below 140. Bummer. I went in yesterday for the 3 hour test so I'm now waiting for the results. I should add that I failed my one hour with Ian as well but passed the 3 hour with him just fine, but who knows what will happen; I AM eight years older this time around! Having PCOS puts me at an increased risk for diabetes, so there's a real chance I'm heading that way. Anyways, no use in speculating right now; I should hear from the doctor tomorrow, and we'll take it from there. One day at a time, right?!

Favorite Photo Friday

2009-08-07T07:30:00.005-04:00

O is for "OH MY!"

I love this picture because it's probably the only solid proof I have that Ian, the world's pickiest eater has indeed eaten a healthy snack in his lifetime! This was taken on an apple picking trip three years ago with his kindergarten class. Who can blame him; what's better than apples straight from the tree?! Seriously though, this child is terrible with food! He is notorious for throwing up on at the dinner table when asked to follow the "one bite rule"; meats, any pasta or rice, most vegetables (especially cooked ones), and many fruits are potential gag inducers. We've had to develop a new rule for Ian; he can earn his coveted PBJ at dinner time if he first eats a fruit AND a vegetable in the serving size of our choice. Carrot sticks, celery, cucumber, green and red peppers, grapes, apple slices with peanut butter, and watermelon have all gone down with relatively little fuss. Hooray for glorious puke-free dinner times! And hooray for whole grain bread, natural peanut butter and Polaner All Fruit Grape Jelly; at least I'm sneaking SOME nutrition in! Do you have a picky eater?

Animal Kingdom

2009-08-01T08:02:00.004-04:00

I have to admit. My memory is fading a bit on this day of our trip. I think it's because there wasn't a whole lot that Ana and I could do; in fact there wasn't a whole lot any of us REALLY enjoyed compared to the other parks. Animal Kingdom hit me as a glorified zoo, actually; which has never interested Ian, and Ana was just not old enough to care. I did enjoy the Harambe village where we had lunch at the Tusker House Restaurant and were able to sample African style cuisine. Ian was still able to snag a peanut butter and jelly sandwich so that made it even better! There were some drummers outside the restaurant which we all seemed to enjoy and an area with traditional African drums that the kids could try. Other than that, the highlights were few for us. Ian and Greg rode Expedition Everest and seemed to really enjoy it. Greg took both kids on the Safari ride as it was too bumpy for expectant mothers. He said they didn't see a whole lot animal wise, but the kids (well, Ian at least) thought it was fun to be jarred around a bit. I think the part the kids enjoyed the most was DinoLand, the cheesy amusement park games area; which was slightly annoying because it was like anything you can experience at any number of fairs or even at the beach! Even more annoying was the fact that you had to buy tickets to play these games! At any rate, the kids had a good time and walked away with several cheesey stuffed dino toys. Ian was thrilled, so it was worth it. Oh, I almost forgot about the Finding Nemo the Musical! The whole family enjoyed this one, even finicky Ian! The way they animated the characters was amazing, you really felt like they were in the water, and at the end billions of bubbles poured from the ceiling and was lit so you got the feeling we were under water as well. It was very cool, very worth the wait! On the way out of the park we stopped to get the kids caricatures done. Greg remembered seeing caricatures of my brother, sister and I hanging in my parents house and really wanted to get the kids done. I balked at the price when he informed me that he wanted color face and body ones at $30.00 each; but you know what? It was the best $60.00 we spent, they turned out great and of all the souveniers we returned home with, they are what I will treasure in the years to come. Anyways, on to the pictures which are again far and few between unfortunately.

Gotta love the Disney Photo Pass. The only way we got pictures of the entire family!

The drummers outside the Tusker House Restaurant:

Posing with elephant statues after getting off the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch:

The kids playing "Whack a"...some long dino name I can't recall:

A few shots of Finding Nemo the Musical...it was amazing!

Getting the Caricatures done, they were so patient!

The finished products!

Favorite Photo Friday

2009-07-31T07:39:00.003-04:00

N is for "No!"

Which is exactly what Ana is telling me in the bottom photo!
These were taken back in April. It was way too quiet. I knew she was up to something. I walked into the dining room and didn't see her immediately, but heard a little tap, tap, tapping behind the laptop. I peeked under the table and sure enough, there were two tiny feet hanging down from the seat. I tiptoed out and grabbed my camera before she knew she was caught. After taking the first picture, I veered around the side of the laptop screen and as soon as she saw me, she yelled, "NO!". I'm thinking, "Isn't that what I'm supposed to be saying?!"

Sevin Stitches

2009-07-25T08:49:00.005-04:00

A friend of mine from high school has opened an Etsy shop!

To celebrate the opening, she is giving away this adorable Monk's Bag to one lucky winner!

You must check out her craft blog and her two Etsy shops:

Side by Down Designs - where she uses existing clothing and creates something new out of it!
Sevin Stitches - where she lists everything else she creates

she has some very cute things; don't forget to enter to win!

Isabelle Ruth is Here!

2009-07-19T17:42:00.004-04:00

I have a new niece!

Her name is Isabelle Ruth, isn't she gorgeous?!

My sister went into labor early this morning and by 11:00am she was starting to push. She was AMAZING, I was so proud of how hard she worked! The poor girl pushed for 2 long hard hours but the baby just refused to move so she ended up having a C-section at around 2:00 this afternoon. Isabelle weighed in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. She has peach fuzz for hair that is a little reddish in color just like her cousin Ian, but the consensus is she looks just like her daddy!

Happy Birthday Liliana!

2009-07-01T20:46:00.006-04:00

My sweet Ana

You are two years old today!

We celebrated by:

taking daddy to the doctor for neck spasms, poor daddy!

playing nicely with cousin Stevie, hooray!
unlike yesterday when you did this to him:

having black bean soup for lunch

sucking down too many servings of juice,
how could I tell you no on your birthday?

getting some positive attention from your brother,
so nice for mummy too!

playing with a special balloon picked out especially by Ian

wearing your favorite pair of mismatched shoes,
but what's new?

watching Ian decorate your birthday cake
and stealing some frosting

getting a visit and squishy face kiss from Nannie and Papa!

eating pizza for dinner

getting help from brother to blow out your candle

eating cake and ice cream
(Ian was so proud of his creation!)

Getting a few extra minutes of cuddle time before bed.
Okay, this was more for mummy I think;
you never know how long you will be willing to cuddle
so I'll take all I can get right now!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!
Mummy, Daddy and Ian love you very much!

Regret

2009-06-30T14:14:00.003-04:00

I'd have a hard time even recalling the past few weeks for our family. I know we went camping over the June 12th weekend up in Freedom NH at Danforth Bay Campground. It was a wet weekend but we still had fun with our family and Amy's (my brother Stevie's wife) family. It's always a good time when we all get together. I also know the next weekend we had my sister's baby shower which we pulled off pretty well despite our last minute planning. I will blog again about these events, but the thing we've been consumed with over the past few weeks was the downslide in health of my Grandpa that started that very wet camping weekend. That was when we first heard that he was starting to refuse to eat or drink. He quickly went downhill from there and passed away this past Thursday (June 25th) in the early evening. It's been a very sad few weeks, and honestly one laden with a good amount of regret for me personally. My track record for visiting my Grandpa hadn't been that great. It had, in fact, been about 6 months since I had last seen him when we went to visit those few times last week. That visit 6 months prior was for his 89th birthday, and he seemed so happy to have so much company! It sadly was only the second time he had seen Ana since we brought her home and he was so taken with her! When Ian was little, and Grandpa was living in a senior community close by we would visit him once a week at his little apartment. Somehow when he went to the nursing home, I let those visits seriously lapse, and it got to the point that I really only saw him on Christmas when he would spend the holiday with my parents. He would even ask me, "Cammie, you are home right? Why don't you come visit me?", and I would pledge to myself that I would get better. But I never did. I've been wracking my brain for reasons why this happened and the only thing I can think of is that after he went to the nursing home, he wasn't happy. Whenever we would visit, he would basically ask us to "Get me out of here". And the medications he was on made him very sleepy, and he would sometimes just kind of stare off and almost seem like he wasn't there. I guess I just didn't know what to say. No excuse, I know. At the visits we made at the beginning of last week, he would open his eyes when we talked to him. I'll never forget the way he opened his eyes wide and turned his head when Ian came up to his bedside. He loved his grandkids so much. I just wish I had been a better one. I guess the lesson I've taken from this is that no matter how uncomfortable a situation makes me, that if I care about someone I need to do whatever it takes to show them. Life really is too short to live my life any other way. For now, I'll ponder my memories of my Grandpa; the vanilla sandwich cookies that must always be split and spread with peanut butter before eating, and the lesson in the proper way to store a piece of chewed gum on the tip of your nose until you can resume chewing, the peanut blossom candies, and the smell of tobacco. These things I will take with me. I only hope he knows how much I really loved him.

Typhoon Lagoon

2009-06-06T07:16:00.000-04:00

Ian was DYING to hit the water parks so we decided to spend a day at Typhoon Lagoon. Each of Disney's water parks has a story behind it and Typhoon Lagoon's story is it is the result of the "storm of storms" and in it's wake was left a "topsy turvy tropical paradise". It was pretty cool and like I said Ian was so excited to get started on the water slides. We started at the Crush 'n' Gusher and it was instant disappointment when Ian was informed that he wasn't tall enough to ride (by like a couple hairs on his head!). The height requirement is 48 inches. Now, when Ian was at the doctors in September, I am absolutely sure that he measured 49 inches, because he was 49 pounds as well and I remember thinking how funny it was that he was a pound per inch of boy. There was also the fact that we had spent the last two days at other parks and hadn't had any problems with the other big rides. To say Ian was bummed was an understatement. He was SO looking forward to this park and he was now realizing that he wasn't going to be able to do half of the things he wanted to do. I was really disappointed for him too. We went on to the next slide and they decided to try it, maybe the height bar was a little off at the last one. So they tried the Humunga Kowabunga and to our amazement, Ian was able to go! Well, the first time anyways. The second time they went up there was another person manning the slides and he said that he could go this one last time, but he was really not tall enough to keep riding. So he got two goes at a big slide, and that was better than nothing I guess! There were other slides that kept them occupied, just not as thrilling as the ones he was denied access to. He really had a good time going in the wave pool and the entire family enjoyed the Castaway Creek attraction which was a leisurely inner tube ride around the entire park. Ian to my surprise wanted to go around two or three times and really had fun! Ana was okay with it, she wasn't thrilled as several times around the track there's water spraying, misting or falling on you; this girl does not like getting wet! She was much happier when she and I plopped ourselves on the sandy beach area. She had a ball playing in the sand; rubbing it on her face, eating it, and rolling around in it. She's a wanderer though, so it was not so stress free for me! All in all, it was a good day. We left Typhoon Lagoon around 3pm and headed back to the hotel to shower change and get ready to spend some time in Downtown Disney for dinner and some shopping! On to the pictures!

Here is the Crush 'n' Gusher moments before it broke my sons heart!

Greg and Ian are off to buy a pair of water shoes in hopes that the extra half inch they would afford would be enough to let him ride. Unfortunately we then found out that most of the slides wouldn't allow them to be worn....foiled again!

The Humunga Cowabunga...and Ian coming off of it for the first of the two times he was allowed to ride...

Our pretty princess waiting patiently while brother rides the Humunga Cowabunga:

Ana having a ball in the sand. I think this was her favorite part of the entire day! She literally rolled all around the beach area burying her face in the sand. She was a mess, but she sure had a good time!

The kids enjoyed lunches out of sand pail lunch boxes. That cup Ana is clutching is the third type of cup we purchased for her there. The sippy cup I brought was mistakenly left on the plane on our trip down. Did you know it is absolutely impossible to find a satisfactory non spill sippy cup in Disney World?!

I love this picture of Ian and Daddy:

In Downtown Disney, we ate at T-Rex restaurant. The food was so good and the ambiance was like nothing I've ever seen before! There were tons of animated dinosaurs, a glacier, and a meteor shower every 20 minutes. It was very cool for Ian; not so much for Ana though. She HATED it! She cowered into Greg immediately and we were afraid we were going to have to leave but she quickly fell asleep and remained so for the duration of the meal. I am glad we went, but I did feel guilty that she was terrified into sleep!

Ian's Bone Chillin' Slushee drink which he obviously loved:

Poor Ana...daddy didn't mind the snuggling though!

Ian posing with the Lego dogs near the Lego store.

Breakfast Table Conversations

2009-06-05T07:42:00.004-04:00

Okay, I'm sitting here blogging about Typhoon Lagoon at the breakfast table but I have to share the funniest conversation that just occurred. To set it up, Sabina (our cat) pooped on the kitchen floor sometime during the night as the basement door to her litter box was closed. Greg jokingly told Ian he had to clean it up which got an angry Ian response:

Greg - "You know Ian, when I was a kid, you know what I had to clean up?"
Ian - "What."
Greg - "Poopies"
Ana - "Poopies?"

giggling ensues....

Greg - "Yes, poopies. Big poopies."
Ana - "Poopies?"

more giggling

Greg - "Right. Poopies like three times the size of Milo's (they had a St. Bernard)."
Ana - "Whoooaaa!"

hysterical laughter....

Surely she had no idea what we were talking about but man was it good timing! What do you talk about at your breakfast table?

63% of You.....

2009-06-02T13:26:00.003-04:00

Were wrong, sorry! That's right, we found out this morning to Ian's delight that we are having a boy. The doctor called just a little while ago to let us know that everything looked good, which is such a relief! I didn't realize until just then that I was still holding my breath worrying that there would be some lasting effects from the fever in week 9. But everything appears to be okay! Anyways, sorry Mimi, another Fraize boy is on the way!

Sorry to keep you all waiting....I wrote this yesterday and apparently forgot to push publish!

Wow!

2009-05-31T18:10:00.004-04:00

A lot of you are thinking girl! I finally got around to having Greg take a picture of me and I thought I would share in case it changes your mind.

Some other additional information in case you are interested:

1. At our last appointment, the heart rate was 162 bpm.
2. I personally think there's a boy in there (see the story below).
3. Greg up until he cast his vote on Friday was saying it's a girl but something told him to vote boy.

Here's why I think it's a boy. A long time ago, Ian was about 2 (long before infertility treatments, and way before even contemplating adoption), I was at a friend's mom's house and she did a card reading for another girl who was there. She started to say to her "You are going to get pregnant very soon....". She continued making similar comments and then said, "Very soon, I mean, are you pregnant right now?". To which the girl said, "Umm, yes! I just found out yesterday". She was testing her, it was really freaky to watch this unfold! Anyways, I decided to let her do a reading for me. She basically told me the following:

1. The number 4 was significant. She didn't know if it was 4 weeks, 4 months or 4 years, but that number meant something regarding our next child. Four years to the month that I had this reading we traveled to Guatemala and held Ana for the first time.

2. Our next child would be as different from Ian as can be. Um, can any two children be more different?

3. Our third child would be just like Ian. So I guess there's room for interpretation here, maybe by being "just like" it's just that they are both biological? I don't know, I just feel like it's a boy.

So there you have it, that's all the information I have for you. I don't know if it changes any votes, but just thought I'd share. Hopefully on Tuesday we'll have an answer, we'll see!

Number Three

2009-05-27T08:03:00.007-04:00

So, we have our ultrasound coming up next week (June 2nd at 9:30am). Initially I didn't want to find out what we are having; I really wanted the experience of that last minute surprise! But Greg has always wanted to know so we were kind of at odds about it. Ian is going to come with us to the appointment and would really like to know (of course he wants to know it's a boy, he's calling this baby the "tie breaker") so we're going to see if the technician can tell. What do you think we're having? I've added a poll to the side of the blog so you can vote if you want! Of course you could let me know in the comments section too if you would like your name attached to your vote!

Disney's Hollywood Studios

2009-05-26T10:03:00.005-04:00

Our next day was spent at Disney's Hollywood Studios and I think with a little better planning we could have done more there, but we had a good time anyways! I have very few pictures from that day, I think because both kids were still irritable from the previous long day. Ana was content when she was allowed to wander which was not something we were willing to let her do for obvious reasons. Ana's wandering involved frequent escapes from parental view, and because she was very disgruntled when you forced her to hold a hand, or tried to hold her she spent a lot of time in the stroller! There wasn't a ton for she and I to do there, so there was a lot of waiting involved which she tolerated pretty well actually. Greg and my little daredevil Ian went on the Tower of Terror and Star Tours together; Ian claims the Tower of Terror wasn't scary at all and has a picture to prove it. He was trying so hard to act like it was no big deal he actually looks bored in the photo! I don't know where this macho attitude has come from but it's kinda funny! Anyways, probably the neatest thing we did was the Studio Backlot Tour as Greg volunteered once again to be part of the show. He got to take part in a mini adventure movie and it was very cool! I was in charge of the video and photo taking, oh and not to mention keeping an eye on Ms. Fancy pants (strollers were not allowed and she was feisty as ever!). I did manage a video, but again, that will have to wait for another day, and one lonely photo of Greg all suited up before the action started. It was really neat and we were allowed front row seats because Greg was in the show.

So here's my Greg all suited up before he was literally soaked with water!

Here's Ian at lunch showcasing his growing collection of pins which was his very favorite activity in all of Disney World! You can see how thrilled he is at having his picture taken.

And here's Ana shortly after stealing the raspberries from my dessert plate, little stinker!

Ian posing with Kermit the Frog...

Ana passed out a little earlier that day, about 3:30 amazingly!

After spending a good long time at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play land (absolute insanity, I was a stressball there were SO many people there!!) we headed back to the hotel before dinner and got some swimming at the pool in. Besides the pin swapping, the pool was a very close second favorite for Ian! It was pirate themed with a giant ship complete with water slides. Ana is not a water fan, but after a major amount of watching other kids run in and out of the shallow water she finally decided to join in. Whenever Greg came near she's come crying out of the water because she didn't want to go all the way in! She even hates taking a bath!

This was the day we received our "magical moment". We ordered pizza for dinner to be delivered to the room and Ian was in his glory watching cartoons on the pirate ship bed munching on slices of cheese pizza. Another cool thing we discovered shortly after getting to our new room was a family of ducks that wandered right up to our door. There was a mummy, daddy and three babies that the kids fed crackers to and as they opened the door they actually tried to come in the room! It was crazy, and I only got a single picture of one of the adults unfortunately. I think Greg got some video though, we'll have to wait and see.

I literally only took 15 pictures that day....complete insanity!

Epcot

2009-05-25T13:00:00.006-04:00

I think Epcot was Ian's favorite; and I would say both Greg and I agree. It may have been because it was the first park we visited and we had enough energy to really enjoy it. In fact, we spent a full 12 hours at Epcot that first day. Everyone was up bright and early because of the very early bedtime the night before and it was the one and only day we were all up before 8am. Anyways, I have to say that I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have. It was just so hectic trying to keep track of, and keep occupied both children with such different age interests! I also think I really need to get a little compact camera though too because my SLR is just such a beast to keep track of! I took a little over 200 pictures the entire week, and those of you who know me, know that's kinda pathetic. We do have some video as well, but I'm making no promises as to when Greg will upload them, and that's his area.

So....Epcot! I'll just get on to the pictures instead of trying to recap the whole day which would be pretty impossible!

Here is Ian bright eyed and bushy tailed after his 14 hours of sleep the night before. The first stop was breakfast at the hotel, and a trip to the gift shop to buy lanyards to keep our passes on. Ian chose the medallion as well and was very excited to get on the shuttle and get the day started!

Stickers were given out everywhere! Ana would stick them all over her body, directly on her skin. Now these were the stickiest stickers I've ever encountered so there was pain involved in their removal. Unfortunately this didn't deter her from sticking more to herself the next time she received them!

We started off in Innoventions and Ian loved this area. Here he is trying his hand at making paper which he is now bugging me to do with him at home. I told him we'd do some paper making this summer!

In the Underwriters Laboratory Ian had a ball with this display that tests hard hat durability and the one that tests tv screen strength. Yes, these were the two loudest displays in the area...

Ian got his face painted, he made a special request for flames....

Here is Ian making his own video game where he is the main character. He loved this! He had to first record a video of himself jumping, running and doing a victory dance. Then he could play the game and see what he created. It was really cool, and very funny...especially his butt wiggling victory dance!

And here is Greg trying to restrain Ana while Ian is gaming!

One of the funniest parts of the day was the "What's Your Problem" show where they pulled members from the audience to participate in games. The last one was for dads and Ian enthusiastically volunteered his dad for it. They had to properly attach a diaper and bottle to each baby before sticking it to their apron; the one with the most babies at the end wins. It ended in a tie, but was seriously one of the funniest things I've ever seen! Look how proud he was of his accomplishment!!

We then went over to The Sea where we rode the Finding Nemo ride which for the most part scared Ana unfortunately. Ian, Greg and Ana were then promptly swallowed by Bruce the shark. As you can see Greg must have been trying to retrieve Ana from slipping deeper into his belly because you can't even see her, yikes!

Fortunately Bruce remembered people are friends, not food and everyone escaped unscathed. After a trip to the gift shop both kids were very content with their goodies; Ian with some very sour candy as you can see by his expression, and Ana with a Nemo lunchbox which she carried around for days afterward!

Ana enjoyed her first popscicle and Ian had an ice cream sandwich as big as his head!

We found an activity that by some miracle both kids enjoyed! When you step on the blocks they make the sound of the subject of the picture. It occupied Ian for a very short while, but Ana had a ball running around while he and Greg went and checked everything else out.

Ian went on Test Track with Daddy a couple times and really enjoyed it. Ian was thrilled that he was finally tall enough to enjoy some of the bigger rides, and he and Greg enjoyed as many as they could!

We then headed over to The Land where we had secured a Fast Pass for the ride Soarin'. It was very cool, and simulated a hang gliding flight over California. It was very realistic; Ian loved it and went on twice, once with Greg and once with me while the other adult chased a very overtired Ana around. We had dinner at the Garden Grill which was had very yummy food, and some characters which terrified Ana unfortunately. Ian after some coercion agreed to a picture with both Chip and Dale which were the only character pictures we secured during our visit! He just couldn't be bothered with the characters this time around. Once in a while he would say he would get a picture but the wait was always awfully long and he didn't want to waste time in the lines; and Ana was terrified of them all anyways!

Even after being there 12 hours we never did get around to the countries which I was really looking forward too. We did return to Epcot on our last full day but even then we didn't make it around to the World Showcase, we were just completely spent and it was the hottest day of our trip! Oh well, we will return someday! One last picture to share...we ended our day at about 8:30 that first full day and Ana finally fell asleep on the way to the shuttle (this girl would not nap during the day!). You can see Ian sacked out on the back of the sit and stand stroller as well, not sleeping, but utterly exhausted!!

Disney

2009-05-20T07:36:00.004-04:00

Okay, I'm going to try and attempt a Disney recap. I remember thinking after the first day that I would just blog every night but, well....you see how that went. We were SO exhausted each night the only thing we could fathom is laying down as soon as we walked through the door! Anyways, it was a really fun, thoroughly exhausting vacation; and one I have vowed I will never take an almost two year old on again without modification. The first modification would absolutely be to buy the toddler their own seat. It would be an extra couple hundred dollars, but well worth the expense! Ana wasn't impressed that she didn't have her own seat and made her discontent known the entire first leg ("I seeeet, I seeet!"). We put Ian in the middle seat to make it more comfortable for Greg and myself, but that was mentally draining as well as he continually complained that Ana was "invading his space" (or hogging the window where I was sitting, Ana absolutely refused to sit with Greg on the way down) which would result in him pushing the invading body part away, followed by Ana yelling "NO" at him while pinching or hitting him. Which of course caused him to yell and get madder....you get the picture. I was so thankful when she finally fell asleep on the second leg of the trip! We planned our airline tickets so we would get to Disney around lunch time and be able to get some extra time in at the parks but by the time we got to our hotel we were so exhausted we could barely function! We stayed at Disney's Carribbean Beach Resort which was nice, but nothing that would make us want to stay there again. It is set up in several different villas named after Carribbean Islands and I have to say that when we were at the hotel we really didn't feel like we were in Disney, but rather in the Carribbean. It was a very strange feeling! Anyways, we started in Martinique, but on Monday we received a phone call wanting to know if we wanted to experience a "magical moment". Well, of course we said yes! It required us packing everything up and moving to another villa, but it was so cool for Ian because the room we were moved to was a pirate room complete with pirate ship beds and treasure chest storage!

This was our room in Martinique:

This was our new room at Trinidad South.
I think Ian was going to jump right out of his skin!

Can you spot the only drawback to this room? It's that very cool curtain at the back. Our first room had a door to the bathroom area, this one was just that curtain between Ms. Ana and the sink area (thank goodness there was still a door protecting the toilet!). I had to remove the tissue box from it's place every day because it was just a game to her to empty them, and we had to keep moving the garbage can because emptying it is a fun game too apparently!

But I'm getting ahead of myself now, I do want to make sure I show you how day one ended:

This picture was taken at about 4:30. Ana and I napped too, yet not as well as the boys. We probably clocked a whole 20 minutes to their couple hours! Ian actually didn't wake up until the next morning! We even ordered pizza into the room, set him up on the bed with a piece but he fell right back over and kept sleeping, the poor kid was so exhausted!! We did get to explore our hotel a bit and check out the beach areas and the pool, but that was about it for day one! I'll leave it there for now....more to come!

We're Alive...

2009-05-17T08:04:00.003-04:00

Did I really let a month go by without posting? Holy moly, sorry! I know there are some of you still checking in because the counter continues to go up...right before starting this post it was at 12,037! Unbelievable! Thanks for not giving up on me. Lots have been going on, but we are actually going to be leaving in a few moments to go out for breakfast so I can't spend the time I need to update at the moment. So in the meantime I'll attempt to appease with a picture, something else I've been neglectful about for a LONG time! This picture happens to be the only one I caught in Disney where my children appear to be enjoying each other's company. The reason I say appear is because Ian was actually throwing sand at her, and although they were both enjoying it, Ian's enjoyment was only through his evil intent. More about the recent sibling rivalry later....

Hooray!

2009-04-19T09:55:00.003-04:00

My friend Irene had her baby this morning! She was scheduled for a c-section tomorrow morning but like her first child (who was scheduled for c-section on September 23 and came on September 21) this little monkey decided to come on his own terms too! She called at 5am and had been at the hospital since 3am, she had been having contractions all night. The super weird thing is that all along I have thought she was having a girl. Well after I got the phone call, I went back to bed and dreamed that I was there for the birth. She had a boy in my dream, and I looked at the clock shortly after his birth and it was 6:52. Turns out he was actually born at 6:45 this morning. Creepy, huh?!

So congrats to the Varga family!
Welcome Jacob Samuel!
7 lb, 3 oz
20 inches

All is Well

2009-04-18T20:43:00.003-04:00

I had my OB appointment this morning, and everything went well! We were able to hear the heartbeat for a second or so before the little squirmer wiggled away and wouldn't let himself be found again, but we did hear it. My OB then said, "But because I know you are going to worry (boy, is it that obvious that I'm a worrier?) we'll take a look as well". So she got her handy dandy portable ultrasound machine, and even though the picture was horrible, I saw the little blob on the screen moving and we were able to get a faint view of the flickering heartbeat. So I was appeased and feel much better tonight. She said of all the things I went through in my illness, the only thing that remotely concerned her was the high fever, but that when it happens in the first trimester, generally it's an "all or nothing deal"; meaning that if there was fetal damage done, I probably would have miscarried. She was happy with the way everything looked, so we're happy too! So tonight I went out and bought some maternity clothes that I was not letting myself do until after the appointment. My mum was very kind to join me in my venture and I was very lucky to find some cute things at both Target and Kohls and feel like I'm now ready to pack up to go to Disney next weekend! Oh, and I ran into my high school friend Amanda and her two adorable children in Target, so that was just the cherry on top of the night; nice to see you Amanda! Oh, and did I mention that directly after our appointment, that Greg decided we needed to pay yet another visit to the ER? Yup, he was feeling that bloaty feeling coming on again. Fortunately the tests this time showed no blockage, they just think it's his body trying to get back on track; so I took him home this time! Unfortunately, this unplanned stop caused us to miss the wedding of Greg's college friend, which was a real bummer. Chison, I don't know if you read this blog, but we are so sorry we missed your big day. I hope it was wonderful in every way, and can't wait to meet your new hubby sometime soon!

He's Coming Home!

2009-04-15T08:40:00.002-04:00

It's been an interesting couple of days, but Greg should be coming home today. He had a CT scan yesterday afternoon that showed no reason for the blockage. The only reason the doctor can think of is that when he came in, Greg's white blood cell count was high so the blockage could have just been a secondary thing to an infection that was going on. Anyways, he had the tube removed last night, much to his relief and was able to get a decent night's sleep. He was allowed clear liquids through the night which he tolerated well and when I spoke to him about 20 minutes ago his breakfast was on the way. The doctor believed he should pretty much feel like himself in the next couple days and sees no reason we shouldn't continue with our plans to head to Disney a week from Saturday! Now we just have to get through this Saturday; my first OB appointment since the flu/strep/pneumonia incident.......

On a Level From One to Shit....

2009-04-14T06:26:00.003-04:00

These are the actual words the nurse asked us last night in the ER. No, it wasn't me this time, it was Greg; yes Greg, the one who is pretty much never sick. But when he does it, he does it good; so good in fact that he remains at the hospital where he was admitted shortly before 2 am this morning. He started feeling yucky yesterday morning and it got progressively worse throughout the day. He actually came home from work early; home from a work day that was supposed to be a late one. In fact I had not expected him to return home at all until sometime today. He was in a lot of discomfort, very bloated, and had lower abdominal pain. He had been extremely gassy throughout the day, but as the the day progressed it was mostly burping that was happening but the burps were horrendously stinky.....like.....well.....let's just say that's why our hilarious nurse Steve asked us the title question. Long story short, he has a bowel obstruction. The doctor said per the X-Ray it seems as though it's a mechanical issue; ie a portion of the intestine is not functioning. He was in contact with the surgeon and was initially going to order a CT scan, but the surgeon wanted them to take a different route first to relieve Greg's discomfort and the strain on his intestines. So a GI tube was inserted in the ER through his nose. Poor poor Greg. It looked like utter agony. As they were inserting it, he began to vomit.....a lot.....over and over again. It actually gave him a great deal of relief to empty his stomach, but the nose tube was very uncomfortable for him. Before they moved him upstairs, they gave him some dilautid to help with the nose/throat/stomach pain and he appeared to be very comfortable shortly thereafter not really caring about the tube anymore; cracking jokes as only Greg can. When I left, he was safe in his hospital bed, starting to snooze so I'm really hoping he was able to get some rest. We won't know more until the surgeon comes in this morning. It is likely they will do the CT scan sometime this morning, but I don't know for sure. Anyways...that's where it stands at the moment. I just can't believe the chaos these first 3 1/2 months of 2009 have brought us.

The Poop Story

2009-04-07T11:52:00.002-04:00

It all started with Milo. He had diarrhea. On the carpet at the bottom of the stairs. One of the most frequently Ana traveled paths. Getting the jist?

Okay, so I'm sitting at the kitchen table checking my e-mail on the lap top and I smell something. Ana is sitting next to me on the floor so naturally I think that she has pooped. So I head for the dining room to fetch a diaper and wipes but realize that I'm still smelling the smell only stronger now. After some investigation I find the mess on the carpet and decide to get the kids situated for dinner and then get to dealing with it. Ian had piano lessons that night so he had to eat soon and with Ana in her high chair I wouldn't have to worry about her getting in the way of the clean up. So I plop Ana in her chair and serve up dinner and turn my attention to the carpet. I get it mostly cleaned up and decide to give it one last stain spray and let it sit for a little bit to really let it work. I check on the kids and find that I'm still smelling the smell, what the heck?! That's when I see Ana's socks...they are yellow and wet. I started to panic, but was starting to put the pieces together (this is why I smelled it in the kitchen when Ana was near, and why there were two small stains separate from the actual drop site...they were poopy footprints). I couldn't be sure where she had been in the time since she stepped in the poop and made it into the kitchen so WHO KNOWS WHERE poopy footprints have been deposited. It was becoming clear to me that a thorough scrubbing of every floor on this level had to be done. Anyways, I took off her socks and started to get her undressed to put her in the bath tub. That's when I noticed it wasn't just her socks. It was on her pants, and shirt and oh my gosh....HER HANDS!!! Yeah, in my haste to get her immobilized, I hadn't washed her hands before she ate and now she's been eating her dinner with poopy hands. I put her in the tub and scrubbed her from head to toe and was just finishing the task when Greg came home. Ian had to get to piano lessons so he had to then turn around and leave. I wish I had showered that day because that was my only reasoning for not taking Ian to his lesson. Because what happened while they were gone...sheesh.

Okay so I get Ana dried off and put a diaper on her and put her in the play pen so I can continue cleaning. She played pretty quietly for a while, which pleased me greatly! I came into the kitchen to get some soap and peeked in on Ana and was sent instantly into hysterics by what I saw. Ana had pooped. Then she had removed her diaper. Then she pooped some more. She then painted the wall and the playpen; and then painted herself. I remember walking into the bathroom starting to sob saying to myself "I can't do this....what do I do? I can't do it....I can't do it!!!". After I managed to relatively collect myself, I put Ana back into the tub and sprayed her down with the shower head. I then put another clean diaper on her (and a ONESIE this time!) and plopped her on the couch saying, "You stay right here...mummy is very angry!" and she stayed there for a good 15 minutes. Poor thing, she must have been scared! By the time Greg got home, I was nearly to the point of rocking in the corner. I literally didn't know where to start! We put the kids to bed and set to work steam cleaning the carpet, scrubbing the hard floors and walls, and dismantling the play pen and it's surroundings. It took all night but we got it done. The last thing we did was to run some hot water through the hoses of the steam cleaner to make sure there was no poopy residue stuck inside. Greg filled the sink with hot water and ran the cleaner sucking the water through the hose. For some reason he decided that this water couldn't be dumped down the sink and he makes his way to the front door with the reservoir to empty it. I suddenly hear, CRASH, SLOSH, "Cammie I'm gonna need your help right now". I was still on my hands and knees in the dining room scrubbing the floor; I was not very happy to hear what was happening in the next room. I discover that the lid to the reservoir has popped off and the entire container of water (yes, this is just what we sucked through the poop containing hoses) has spilled over the newly mopped kitchen floor. Seriously?! I get him some towels, the lysol and the mop and he goes to cleaning up the latest mess. The crowning glory to this story is that he then plops the mop and the steam cleaner container on the front porch and some water splashes back at him and hits him in the mouth. My response? "Serves you right for making an extra mess!" Yeah, no sympathy, sorry....

Bad Blogger!

2009-04-06T11:01:00.002-04:00

Yeah, I know. Between the nausea, and my recent tangle with various body invaders I simply haven't had the energy to put a coherent thought together! I didn't even get to tell you all about the big poop incident we had a few weeks ago, I'll get to that next time, I promise. But I wanted to let you all know that we are still here. I feel I've fully recovered from the pneumonia/flu/strep and besides a little after effect from the antibiotics (girls you know what I mean) I'm feeling pretty much like myself again. As far as I can tell, pregnancy wise things are progressing as they should. I've officially entered that in between stage where by the end of the day I just feel like a bloated mess. Standing in the mirror last night I was sure I could stunt double Humpty Dumpty. My clothes are all still fitting fine, they don't look the same, but can be fastened just fine. I don't know if I had mentioned it, but I had started Weight Watchers at the beginning of the year and was down about 17 pounds before I found out I was pregnant. I can thank that loss for keeping me in my normal clothes longer, I guess! Anyways, just wanted to give a little update, Stevie is telling me in very certain terms that he is all done playing in the exersaucer so I have to go for now. Oh before I go, I don't think I mentioned that we were able to recover our pictures from the hard drive too! So here's a promise for more posting, funny stories and pictures to come soon!

On the Mend...

2009-03-25T09:51:00.003-04:00

It's been an interesting week. Last Wednesday I woke up with a bit of a cough, nothing major, just a little cough. Well, that's what I thought anyways; by the afternoon I had a fever and was starting to feel achy. Still nothing major I thought, and my biggest worry at that point was the fever that didn't want to respond to Tylenol and how it might affect the baby. I was on the phone with my primary doctor and my OB that afternoon and they reassured me that as long as the fever didn't get too high, it would be okay but that I should have an appointment with my primary the next day to check things out. So the fever hovered in the high 99's, low 100's all night long, never really breaking, even with around the clock Tylenol, and I didn't sleep more than an hour stretch. I woke up feeling horrible! The aches, chills, exhaustion; my head was completely congested, my chest was sore, I was a mess! I saw the doctor that afternoon and he did a strep test which came back negative and was pretty sure that I had a run of the mill cold virus and that rest and fluids were the order of the day. He upped my asthma medication as my chest was sounding a little rattly and sent me on my way. By that evening, I was having trouble breathing and after an hour of realizing it wasn't getting any better we decided we should head for the ER. I was diagnosed with Influenza A during that visit, and to make an already long story shorter, was sent home after a few nebulizer treatments only to return twice over the next 12 hours. It literally felt like we would get home, relax for a couple hours and have to do it all over again. It was exhausting to say the least. By the time of my return from the second ER visit we had begun to think that maybe the animals (who don't normally give me any allergy/asthma issues), paired with the influenza may just be too much for my lungs to handle at the moment. We sent Milo to Steve and Amy's and Greg cleaned like a fiend. After the third visit though, we decided I would be better off secluding myself to the room over the garage where the animals have never been until I could get this illness under control. So that's where I stayed from around noon on Friday until noon on Saturday. I slept a little bit, and woke up feeling a little bit better than I had the day before so I thought I was beginning to turn the corner. However by around 10am it was very clear that things were getting much worse. I couldn't move from the bed two feet to the chair where I had my nebulizer set up without completely losing my breath, and my fever was starting to climb. It was horrible, and terrifying really. I knew that I had to get back to the hospital but the thought of making the trek back was too much. I simply didn't have the energy to get out of the house into the car. That's when Greg called the ambulance. I was so relieved. I knew I would receive treatment en route to the hospital, and would get treated immediately upon arrival. I figured though that we would get there, and like the other times would begin to feel better and I would feel stupid for all the hassle. Quite the contrary actually. My temperature upon arrival was 103.3 and I began to panic. I knew it was high, but I didn't know it was that high. Greg wasn't there yet, and I could feel myself starting to lose my composure. I was sure that this fever was going to kill the baby. They decided to admit me at this point and were pretty sure that I was now dealing with pneumonia on top of the influenza. I again was so relieved to stay. I was so afraid to go back home. I knew then that I was going to get better; and I did, I am feeling so much better now. I was discharged on Sunday afternoon, after numerous nebulizer treatments, and IV antibiotics. To top it off, Monday my primary doctor called to inform me that the strep test I had taken in the office the previous Thursday had grown out over the weekend...seriously?! So, to recap, I had Influenza A, Pneumonia, and Strep throat all at the same time. No wonder I felt like a bus had dragged me through town. Anyways, I slept my first half decent night sleep on Sunday night and have steadily improved every day. Yesterday though, at about 2am I started cramping. It went on for most of the day yesterday. The nurse at my OB's office told me that I needed to drink tons of fluids and get as much rest as I can; that my body has been through a huge ordeal, and that the antibiotics that I'm on, yet safe are very powerful and I just need time to heal. So I'm listening. I'm resting, and drinking as much as I can. Ana is spending yet another day with her Mimi and Bumpa. My mum is coming over after work (because did I mention that my husband left for a business trip yesterday?) to help me get the kids dinner and into bed and she's spending the nights with me until Greg returns. My brother and Amy are still hosting Milo the wonder dog. It's been quite an ordeal. I'm just so thankful the cramping has subsided today and I never had any bleeding or spotting, so I'm hopeful that things are still okay with number three. I'm also tremendously thankful for my family and friends who have outpoured their love and generosity to help out during this time. I don't know how we would have gotten through the last week without all of your help and support so thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Gotcha!

2009-03-11T20:37:00.000-04:00

Today is Ana's "Gotcha Day". One year ago today, we were in Guatemala, and our beautiful little girl was placed in our arms forever. I can't believe it's been a year already!

Favorite Photo Friday is back!

2009-02-27T15:43:00.004-05:00

M is for Miracle...

So....
I had the blood work done on Wednesday, and talked to the nurse yesterday. The level had gone up to somewhere in the 15,000's which seems to be a good result. The doctor wanted me to come in for an early ultrasound though and got me an appointment this afternoon! I was excited that we would get to know for sure whether or not there was indeed a baby in there, but pretty anxious as you can imagine. The technician put the wand on my belly, and we couldn't see much. She said, "Well, there's the gestational sac, but I'm going to have to do a transvaginal ultrasound to see things better." I said, "There's a gestational sac?! That's good news, right?" She confirmed that it was indeed a good sign, and I hurried to empty my bladder so we could continue. So she's looking around, and I'm thinking I'm seeing something, but it's pretty grainy. Then I see that flicker; if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about....I gasped and said "Oh my God, is that a heart beating?" She took a few moments to confirm, and I instantly started to panic that maybe I hadn't seen what I thought I did, and she was trying to figure out how to tell me. But, she soon said, "Yup, that's a beating heart, I was just trying to get a better picture of it." I started to cry, and blabber my life story to this poor woman, who probably thought I was crazy. She said that the heart rate is about 120 beats per minute which is good for a 6 week embryo. I'm measuring at 6 weeks and 1 day, and my due date according to the ultrasound is October 22nd. I'm still in awe, but I believe it now...I'm pregnant!

Disbelief

2009-02-23T06:53:00.000-05:00

First of all, I want to thank everyone for your kind words and well wishes. I think I'm still in a little bit of shock honestly! We found out last Friday, I just took a random pregnancy test; don't know why, just passed the display, and decided to pick one up! When I did the test at home, the first thought through my mind was, "stupid cheapie Wal-Mart pregnancy tests!", even though I knew it was doubtful it was a false positive. Anyways, to make a long story short, I ended up taking two more different brand tests over the weekend, and got the same result so I called the doctor. I went in for bloodwork on Monday and Wednesday to see if my HCG levels were doubling as they should be in a normal pregnancy, and to my complete amazement, the bloodwork looked good!

This is so strange for me. Infertility and miscarriage plays with your mind in so many ways. I feel like I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop because in my mind, my body is broken in it's compatibility with conception; and even a positive pregnancy test isn't confirmation because the last time I got pregnant, it ended in miscarriage (we think it was an ectopic actually, to further my disbelief that my body can actually get things in the right place). At any rate, I'm choosing to have a cautiously optimistic outlook about this. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled beyond belief at this possibility, I just can't shake the fear yet. I don't think I will be in full belief until I see or hear that little heart beating inside me.

So, I have another blood draw on Wednesday, we'll see what that tells us. They believe I'm about 5-6 weeks along at this point, and I am having a few symptoms such as a little fatigue, and my breasts are pretty sore so that's a good sign I think. I don't remember feeling any nausea with Ian until I was about 7 or 8 weeks, so we're holding out for it (is it bad to be looking forward to that?). I know that whatever happens, it's part of God's plan. I have felt in my heart for a while now though, even though I was afraid to admit it that there was another birthed child in our future. I will also admit that I believe there is another child not birthed by us out there that is meant for our family. Only time will tell...

"What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

2009-02-19T13:02:00.002-05:00

The Yes Game...

2009-02-06T09:13:00.003-05:00

Well, the catch up has to take a back seat for now. The drive where my pictures are stored is not working, and to be completely honest, I'm freaking out about it. Greg says the information should be fine, and should be able to be recovered, but it doesn't make me feel any better. I know he has up to about June of last year backed up, but even from July to now would be a killer! That's Ana's first birthday and camping trip, Ian's birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, oh I don't even want to think about it! So I won't... Let's have a laugh, shall we? It's time for "Conversations with Ana". She answers yes to everything (Well, everything that is not about bedtime, or nap time, that is), and it has become a bit of a game for us. Anyways, this is how a typical "game" goes.

"Ana, do you love mummy?"
"Yesss"

"Ana, do you love daddy"
"Yesss"

"Ana, do you love brother"
"Yesss"

"Ana, do you love Milo"
"Yaaahhhh"

"Ana, do you love squirrels"
"Yessssss"

"Ana, do you love turkey gizzards?"
"Yesss"

"Ana, does Ian wear dresses?'
"Yaaahhh"

"Ana, does daddy wear makeup?"
"Yaaaaaahhhhh"

"Ana, is daddy stinky?"
"Yessssss"

"Ana, do you want to go nu-night?"
to which we get a sassy face and a whine. Ahhh, the attitude!

Ana's First Snow Experience

2009-01-31T07:30:00.006-05:00

A few days before Christmas, we had a nice snow storm here. We decided it was time for Ana to see what the snow is all about. I'm afraid she wasn't all that impressed...

She was quite happy to get all dressed and was ready waiting at the door:

She bent down to touch the snow a couple times:

But this was the face she held nearly the entire time!

Ian was very excited that daddy let him help with the snow blowing!

Our 2008 Christmas Tree

2009-01-30T06:59:00.009-05:00

I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I know, earth shattering confession to those that know me. Anyways, when it came to decorating the tree this year, Ian decided to have a pretty strong opinion about how the tree should look, and let's just say our "decorative tastes" are a wee bit different. It all started when I went out to the store and left Greg and Ian to start the lights. Greg is usually in charge of the lights and I'm the ornament hanger. Greg and I differ in Christmas Tree Decor also, I prefer clear lights and Greg likes the multi-colored ones, so we agreed years ago to alternate years. When I returned home from the store, Greg met me in the kitchen and told me that Ian wanted to do the lights by himself, so to brace myself. I tried to put my perfectionism in my pocket when I saw the tree, Ian was SO proud of himself! He had decided to do a mixture of clear and multi-colored (he told me that since they used the clear ones too this year, we could have multi-colored again next year as well, sneaky little monkey!), and as you can imagine, due to his height, there were about a million or so lights on the bottom (so many strands it was weighing the bottom branches down and leaving a big gap) and a sprinkling on the top that Greg had put on before Ian took over. It was hard, but I bit my tongue. I'm ashamed to admit that my mind immediately went to what we were going to do after Ian went to bed to fix it. When he was younger, that would have been fine, but he would surely notice now and he was so proud of his accomplishment! Greg had to snap me back to reality, he's good at that; and I'm so glad he did because seriously, when he's grown and out of the house, what am I going to remember; the year we had yet another "perfectly decorated tree"? No, I'll remember the year Ian used fourteen strands of lights on the bottom third of the tree, or the year he insisted on decorating the tree with pipe cleaners and feathers. They are only little once! We did end up adding one more strand of lights to the top though, with Ian's approval so the top would have a mix of clear and multi-color as well. Anyways, after I loosened up some, I ended up letting Ian have free reign of the ornaments as well, right down to the single strand of gold ribbon, the fore mentioned feather/pipe cleaner ornaments, and the brand new addition of a 9-volt battery tied to a string he insisted was the perfect ornament addition this year. It certainly didn't end up the way I envisioned, but it was perfect anyways. The memories made are what lasts, long after the tree is gone, right? Okay, on to the pictures!

Ana caught in the act trying to get into the water shortly after the tree went up!

Ian adding the solo strand of gold ribbon:

Ana enjoyed helping hanging the ornaments too, but more enjoyed taking them off after they were on!

Most of her time though, was spent giving Rudolph a new hairdo:

Just a couple of cuties, having fun
(note Ian's "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" grin, I love it!):

The Fraize Family Christmas Tree for 2008
and it's creator, Ian

Please Pray for Abby

2009-01-29T09:50:00.000-05:00

There are many blogs I follow by families with children adopted from Guatemala. One of the families is the Riggs family. They have a little girl named Abby who, at three years old, was diagnosed with a high-risk, aggressive form of Leukemia. Certain genetic complications have put her chance of surviving the treatment at about 20%. Two weeks ago, she started the most intense part of her treatment (and the portion she is least likely to survive), and has been in and out of the hospital with some pretty awful symptoms. Would you visit their blog and read about their little princess? They could really use your prayers!

Kicking the Beast

2009-01-28T21:13:00.005-05:00

The "You're Way Behind Blogging Beast" is sitting on my back and every day that passes he gets heavier and heavier! I'm going to try and catch up in little bites. Christmas this year was literally a blur. Between ice storms, power outages, my new "job" watching Stevie, Christmas just snuck up and bit me in the butt! I ended up doing all my shopping hurriedly online at the last minute, didn't get to do the activities with the kids I wanted to, and I was up almost all night Christmas Eve wrapping and preparing things. My quest for this year is to have shopping, crafting, and preparations done before the Christmas tree goes up. I want to enjoy, and be able to convey the real meaning of the season to my kids this year. It's a very exciting prospect!

Anyways, onto Christmas 2008 recap.
First up, cutting down the tree:

When we moved here, there were four spruce trees on the side lawn that were peculiarly placed. We decided they would be our Christmas trees for our first four years here. Well this year we cut down the very last one, boo hoo! Anyways, we had just come home from Greg's work Christmas party (which rocked by the way and I'm still kicking myself for not bringing my camera! It was put on completely for the kids, amazing balloon artists, musicians, face painting, cookie decorating and crafts, way too much fun!!). We usually put our tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving, but that weekend was so packed we had to push it off a week.

Ian was happy to help once he realized Greg had deemed him old enough to help with the clippers this year. Not sure why he thought perching himself on Greg's back was help, but it was cute anyways. I didn't get to pay total attention to the cutting process, because Ana was running a muck exploring the yard.

The only picture where I got Ana to actually look in my direction!

Stay tuned for:
Decorating the Tree

Vocabulary

2009-01-16T10:03:00.004-05:00

First, thank you all for your comments and stories on my last post! I won't say that I'm happy you all are experiencing crazy moments with your toddlers, because that just wouldn't be nice, but I will admit that I'm relieved that I'm not alone! Anyways, though she is a real monkey, she's still super duper cute even while she's creating all that chaos, and I count my blessings every day that our kids are two healthy, active, thriving children.

I thought I'd share how much Ana's vocabulary is exploding all of a sudden. Here's a list of the words she's using fairly consistently:

please - pees
thank you - da doo
mama
dada
brother - bra buh
strawberries - dabees
down - dow
up - pa sometimes, but most of the time, down and up are the same.
cracker - ca ca
dance - de-as
yes - yesss
no - nu nu
poop - bup
juice (or any drink for that matter!) - doose
shoes - doose
snowman - nu mah
snow - nu nu
santa - ta ta
more - muh
bite - bise

She just started putting words together this past week, our days are now filled with a combination of the following phrases:

"ma ma pees!", "ma ma dow!", "ma ma doose!", "ca ca pees!", often these are strung together in a repetitive circuit gradually increasing in intensity!

Her most recent addition to her vocabulary is "bup" which means poop, and she's using it appropriately! She follows me into the bathroom all the time, chanting "bup, bup, bup", and attempts to pull her pants and diaper down. We have a small potty in there that she will then sit on and wait for me to be done, it's so funny! Well last night at my mother's house, she ran to the bathroom door saying "bup, bup, bup, bup!". Well we decided to indulge her and took her in, took off her diaper and sat her up on the big potty. She sat there forever, actually pushing with great concentration and ended up peeing in the potty! I was just really in shock that she even had a clue what to do, but she really seemed to get it. Of course, she then didn't want to get off for anything! I am by no means expecting to potty train her now, but if she wants to sit on the potty now and then, I'm not going to discourage her!

I don't expect Ian to have funny words anymore, but he does! It's cute when they come out, and I love the reminder that he's still a little boy no matter how big he seems sometimes! Here's a few that I can think of off the top of my head.

diagonal - diangle
permanent - permadent
gluteus maximus - gluteus maximum (thankfully he wasn't talking about anyone's in particular!)

The other day he told me that his friend Tyler is a "lubricant driver" in Mario Kart. I asked him what that meant and he told me that he drives really fast! I'm not really sure what he was meaning to say, but it did give me a good giggle! It does make sense theoretically, I guess!

Lastly, I can't believe I let the day slip by without mention, but January 10th marked the one year anniversary of our PGN OUT day! Ana has been with us for a little over 10 months now, simply amazing!

You know your day is off to a bad start when...

2009-01-14T10:28:00.005-05:00

It starts like this:

12:15am lumber up to bed (I hate going to bed when Greg isn't home, I put if off as long as I can!)
12:45am Ana wakes up screaming, I go in, and too tired to deal, bring her into bed with me.
2:30am Tired of eyeball poking and the incessant "mama, mama, mama, mama...." I tell her that she needs to go to her own bed. We rock for a bit, I put her down and get back into bed about 2:45.
3:14 Screaming again. I realize that even though at some level I knew the upset was over teething issues that I neglected to give her some Tylenol, so I do just that, and bring her back to my bed until it kicks in.
3:42 put her back in her bed because she is insistent on waking Ian by bashing him in the head with the cordless phone I am sleeping with (I told you I hate being home alone!)
3:59 more screaming. We rock for a little while longer, put her down and immediate screaming ensues. I'm done. I wrap her up in her blanket, swaddle style and bring her back to my bed, determined that she will keep her hands to herself. As my head hits the pillow, I hear a strange noise coming from the hallway...it's the dog. He's drinking out of the toilet. A pee pee filled toilet. I know this because after putting Ana in her bed the last time, I used it and was afraid to flush and get her going again. I'm too tired to care. Ana finally falls asleep and I don't feel or hear another thing until 6:15 when my alarm goes off.
7:15 peel myself out of bed after hitting the snooze button repeatedly over the past hour, and reluctantly start my day with a headache for the second day in a row.

Is your 18 month old wreaking havoc on your house? I am feeling seriously overwhelmed this week. A big part of it has to do with the fact that my dear husband left at o' dark thirty on Sunday morning to go to Seattle for work, but Ana is PURE TROUBLE! Seriously, she goes from one thing to the next. While I'm picking up from one incident she has already moved on to the next. It's 10:30 in the morning and she hasn't touched a single toy, only things that she's not supposed to touch. This age sticks out in my mind as being hard when Ian was younger but I really don't remember this much naughtiness!! Now, it's been 6 years since he was that age, so maybe I'm just not fully remembering, I don't know. All I do know is that this week I feel like pulling my own hair out might be more fun than dealing with monkey pants here. My house is a mess (which only makes everything worse; more for her to get into, and just an immediate feeling of chaos when I get up in the morning), I feel like I'm just keeping my head above water here. Sorry for the negativity. I swear I will catch up someday, it just won't be today. As I finally get around to posting this, Ana is clinging to my leg crying because I yelled at her. Why did I yell? She finished her lunch and I let her down out of her high chair, and while I was emptying the left overs into the trash (so Milo won't knock the tray off the high chair spilling food all over the kitchen AGAIN), she makes a bee line for the baby who is sleeping soundly in the living room (which was a feat in and of itself, he was completely sure he didn't need to sleep today) and sees it her duty to wake him up by probing his eyelids. Here's to yet another nap time countdown day.

Ever Have One of Those Days...

2009-01-07T11:28:00.001-05:00

When you are counting the minutes to nap time?

T minus 61 minutes.......

Ooops

2009-01-06T17:33:00.002-05:00

Well, I made it 4 whole days. Oh well. I suppose there are worse things I could have not kept up on; like feeding the children for example, in which case I did okay, really! Anyways, I'm not letting my lapse defeat me, I'll just continue on. I'll admit, the whole getting back to reality yesterday really threw me for a loop. Ian is having a hard time getting back into the swing of getting up for school, which is due mostly to his difficulty falling asleep at an appropriate hour. It's not like we've been letting him stay up late all vacation; maybe a day here or there for a holiday party, or a Christmas special, but mostly we've kept up on the bedtime schedule. He's just having a hard time settling down at night; still laying wide awake at 9:00 sometimes 10:00. Then there's the whole wee hours waking to climb into bed with mum and dad that he still does nearly every night. All of which equals a tired, crabby Ian in the morning. I'm sure we'll get back in the swing of things eventually, I hope so anyways! I'll close with some first grade drama. When Ian got off the bus yesterday, he told me there were three things he was mad about. Before he could tell me, my neighbor came over to talk to Ian (she realized that he had noticed our other neighbors boys were coming to her house until their mother got home from a doctor's appointment) and told him that it wasn't a play date, that they would only be there for a few minutes until Nancy got home. That if it was a play date, Ian would most definitely be invited! When she walked away, Ian said, "Okay, I only have two things I'm mad about now!". He then went on to inform me that there was a new student in his class. He said that he (Ian) used to be the smartest fastest kid in his class, but this new girl was taking his place. He was pretty grumpy that she was able to finish her math faster than him. The second thing was that there was an uneven number of boys and girls and that one of the tables had to have three girls and one boy, and that, you guessed it, he's the one boy at that all girl table (one of which is the new girl who is beating him out in math!). He told Greg the same thing at bedtime and Greg and I had a good giggle over it. Greg told him that Mrs. Dobson must have a lot of faith in him that he will be nice and respectful and help the new student settle in. Today he came home and informed me that he thinks the new girl (lets call her E), might just be one of his new best friends. All because they are both speedy at math...ahhhh young love!

Chipping Away

2009-01-04T21:35:00.009-05:00

It was so nice today to have a little time where we weren't running around to actually accomplish something. We spent the day trying to do some organizing. I got some of Ian and Ana's out grown clothes sorted, got some more of our unused clothes into bags to donate, and finally got some drawer handles on Ian's dresser we painted several weeks ago. The most exciting thing though was the removal of the living room clutter collector we called our computer desk. We have always had the computer in the living room, on a desk in the back corner. Some time ago, we moved the printer and computer up above the garage in what is slowly becoming my craft room leaving the laptop attached to a monitor and a keyboard on the living room desk. It was nice for a while, it was much less bulky than the "normal" computer setup. But ever since Ana has become mobile, she has been making me crazy getting at the computer; tapping away at the keyboard, playing with the mouse, fussing with the wires under the desk, and getting at all the goodies that were stashed in the side drawer. It got to the point that I literally taped the drawer and cabinet closed to save my sanity! Anyways, after our monitor recently bit the dust and we discovered that Ana had somehow managed to reach up and rip the Caps Lock key off the lap top keyboard, I convinced Greg to help me ditch the desk entirely! We still have the computer set up above the garage (where I am currently typing), and the lap top can be used with the wireless connection anywhere else in the house. I am SO excited to have that desk out of the living room! It had become a place to put all the stuff that Ana finds and brings to me (or more likely the things that I have to fish out of her mouth) and was constantly a cluttery mess so it feels so clean to have it gone! Now I just have to figure out how to use the empty space!

Going to Bed!

2009-01-03T21:49:00.002-05:00

I swear I will get some real posts in, but it's just been so busy! I stayed up super late last night making little purses for my sister and sister-in-law, got up at the crack of dawn to felt said purses, wrapped, then was off to do the remainder of my shopping. Then it was home to get the kids ready and we were off! It's almost 10:00 and we're exhausted, and I just want to fall into bed, but I will be catching up with posts and pictures over the next week, there's so much to cover! So check back, I promise it will not be this boring much longer!